1210: Talking Golf with Justin Hueber

[MUSIC] >> Be the right club. >> Be the right club today. [MUSIC] >> That's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. [MUSIC] >> Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up podcast. Sully here, bonus episode edition. What you're going to hear today is a direct lift from the Nest podcast. We did an interview with our friend Justin Huber, Neil and DJ did this several months ago. We are, we're lifting this episode out, giving this to you here on The No Laying Up podcast. As an example of some offerings that we have in the Nest. If you're unfamiliar with what the Nest is, you can go to join.nolayingup.com. Find all kinds of great benefits that you get out of joining the Nest. For $90 a year, you support big projects. We do like strapped and other special interest projects. But you also get exclusive access to the Nest member podcast. Behind the scenes videos, you get access to the Refuge message board. 15% off the pro shop. You get a bunch of great offers from a lot of our partners as well. Extra discounts from them as well. So join.nolayingup.com. If you want to hear more episodes like this one with such a great interview, and a great chat with Justin, he has a ton to offer about his career in professional golf, getting into it, getting out of it as well. If you are looking for the conversation about regaining amateur status, this is not it. That is a conversation to be had with the governing bodies. This is more about some highs and lows from his professional career, dealing with injuries and just kind of a little bit of the of the Huber story. Talk about hitting cups and all the ways he's been a lot of our content as well. So I think you all enjoy this. And again, go to join.nolayingup.com if you're looking for more offerings like this. We did two of these a month and there's a lot of great stuff in the catalog there as well. One of the keys to playing your best in tournament golf is to make sure you've got the right equipment for your setup for your game. For the golf ball title, it has several ways for you to find the right model. From the online golf ball selector tool, you can do virtual one-on-one consults as well. And of course, you can do in-person fittings as well. On the club side, I put simply if you're investing in new equipment, you want to get it right and get fit. There's so many specs to dial in. It is completely unrealistic to go at it alone and get the results you're looking for. I'm probably in the upper percentile of people that understands some of the equipment stuff. I'm far from an equipment fitter or junky. But like I'm in the upper half of that, upper quarter of that. And I would have absolutely no idea how to fit myself. So if you are anywhere below that upper 1% of people in knowledge on this, I doubt you could fit yourself as well. So there's a ton of light bulb moments of getting fit into all kinds of different bounces and grinds for my different wedges for different purposes. And not only that, but just understanding how my liangles have a factor. What tweaks I should be making into weights and drivers and settings, all that stuff. Check out the fitting locator at Titles.com to find a fitting near you. They are going to help you get fit and things. It'll help your brain turn off in terms of wondering if you're in the right stuff. If you've made the right decisions because somebody else was making the decisions for you, Titles.com. Find a fitter near you. Here's our conversation with Justin Huber. My name is DJ. Here with my guy, Neil, who you just heard from Neil. Good afternoon. Hello, how are you? Greetings. Ola Toros. Good to be with you. Good to be with you as well. And of course, we're going to be joined today. We got a special one today. We're going to be joined by, he's kind of like the adjunct professor of no laying up. You know, he comes, he goes. He's always around. Justin Huber, our good friend, Hubs. What's going on? Joe, I'm in pleasure to be here. And I love, love just being on call. You know, it's kind of 24/7 with you guys. I get a text. It's like, hey, we got to do this and happy to, happy to be a part of it today. Outside the bright light to the film room. I would say you're the NLU version of Mr. John Grooton right now. You know, just breaking down tape with us. We just a true knower. I love it, a ball knower in the true sense. I might get you a laser pointer for Christmas. Yeah, I think that would be a nice. I love it right here. Yeah, yeah, good, not good. Get the whiteboard out behind me. Start drawing some X's and then I like it. Huber's calling in from from the office. It looks like the home office, the office, where you at? The home office, Fort Wayne, baby. And a regional vice president of operations office at the moment. She had to run. So I commandeered it while my cubicles under construction. So I love it. We're going to be talking cubicles. We're going to be talking real jobs. We're going to be talking pro golf. We're going to be talking all kinds of different things with our guy. Former professional golfer. Now amateur star out in the in the world of amateur golf. We're going to get to that. I got some questions about that. We're going to we're going to all just feed to the fire there. Hughes left for for people who are maybe new for people who maybe missed it. The first time around. I was thinking back on this. How did how did our circles overlap here? But obviously down in Jacksonville somewhere. Just just general golf circles I think. It was it was definitely I actually thought about this the other day. Someone asked me. And you were with scratch at the time. You had the little house on the beach. And then you knowing up got stood up. And I remember Tron reaching out. I'd followed him. I don't know how it got connected. I'd have to go back in the Twitter sphere a bit. But I remember sending him a messenger. He sent me one about the BMW. When I think he played with Chesson Hadley. This has got to be 2017. Maybe I think so. Might the franchise was cadying. Almost passed out. It was so hard. It was a million. But he got connected because I think he had just moved to Jackson. And we played a practice round together. And that was kind of the the trigger. And then I just hanging out with you down there. Then you came on board. Then all the boys moved to Jackson at the killhouse for a little bit. We had a good run there for a while. We did a lot of golf, a lot of fun. I think a lot of people again are are pretty familiar with you. And your story, you know, from Indiana. Pro golfer for a long time on a not a number of different tours. And then over, you know, in the last couple of years, have left pro golf and moved into a real life, real job, all of that stuff. So I think we're going to talk a little bit about that, that today. But Neil, you got anything kind of off the jump? You want to, yeah, I actually want to start before I know like you were the, you know, class zero of the young hitter program, people know all that. I'm actually curious, you were, I don't know your college career. All right. And so the, well, I guess the question I would have, it's when I asked some of these kids in the U.S. national development program, when did you know you were a dude? Uh, like at what age? So I played other sports in high school as well. I played basketball, high jump for track my senior year. And kind of just grew up playing all the sports. And then when we moved indie and I got became like a bigger passion. I grew up in Arkansas. And we were members of this, I call it the country club. I was our country club, but it might still exist. It was a little nine-holar, had the pool summertime. We'd go to the pool. You get the little whistle blow where the lifeguard has to take a break. And you'd go over and putting green. Yeah. It was like, I'd walk over to putty green barefoot shirtless. And I remember, I'll never forget it. I got some slasms of your balls. And I thought like, I was big time. Had the cat had the cat on the ball. I'm like, I'm the man. And you know, kind of dominated the local junior circuit down there in Arkansas. At the pool or beyond the pool? Both. It was all the above. Little league field, it didn't matter. I was getting snow cones after game-winning walkoffs, you know. And so we moved up to Indiana and moved on a golf course. And that was kind of the trigger there. So I spent my summers. I just walk up to the course and practice all day. I remember I'd get two extra large bags of balls. And I'd go out there and hit them all. Then I'd go chip on the little chipping green. And then I'd go play nine holes or 18 holes and go home. It was like, darn your son up to sundown type deal in the summer. And then high school, I was really young for my grade. So I started college at 17, which at the time, I didn't think twice about now looking back if I would have had it maybe a couple more years of development and been one of the older kids. It could have been a different story, but glad that my path kind of took me where it did. So I finished second in our state tournament my senior year. Kind of, I don't want to say I got boned, but got a little boned. We were there with the team. The individuals tee off early. We, in the first day, we were tied for the lead. So we have, I got the last tee time of the day. Individuals go off in the morning. Some kid goes out, plays a nice round before it gets for a windy. In the afternoon, it blows like 30 miles an hour and just kind of grinded my way in. So finished runner up there. But I went to, the goal with college was I had a good buddy here. Kyle Pearson's his name and we wanted to be a package deal. And so we were like, hey, let's go play college golf together. Wherever we can both go, let's go and we'll be roommates. It'll be a blast. And they just so happen to have a tournament at the course that I lived on for the GLVC, which is the Great Lakes Valley Conference, where I ended up playing. And the University Indianapolis coach was out there. And I walked around, met him and Ken Partridge was his name. So long story short, I, me and my buddy, Kyle, signed with the University Indianapolis. And signed early, it was awesome. Coach Ken Partridge, he was 70 years old. they've been there for 40 years. We called him Coach Tup, because he wore a Tupé, like you'd see him involved, then the next day he'd have this bluscious comb over the gaff and so that was kind of, once I realized I was going to play college golf, it got a little more serious, it always kind of was, but I didn't play any of the big AJG-A stuff. I qualified for two US juniors and that was kind of the springboard and played the first one at Olympic club, about 1,000 and I just, I'll never forget the 17th hole, I tried to hit a six iron out of the rough and I hit it like 10 feet and Brian Harman shot like 65, 66 in a stroke play and I was like, well I'm clearly not good enough. It's like, I didn't grade in my memory him sitting in the clubhouse during a fog delay, just taking a nap and he's tiny, he like, fits on the chair, he's like laid on the chair. Oh God, I'm such a dude in the Georgia golf scene. I'm related. That was TC's year. I mean, I remember him, his name was all over every, I mean, he wasn't playing a lot of southeastern stuff at that point, but it was like Brian Harman was the dude. I don't want to say he could have won on tour at that time, but it's kind of how it felt. Even him in early college was just like, oh my God. That's terrible. I watched him hit wedges on the range. This is another thing, we're at Olympic club, I'm walking past him. He's hitting wedges and I kid you not. He hits the flag stick on two out of three shots from like all our yards. And I'm over there just like, hoping I'm not going to chunk this thing like there's Georgia coach, local and the state coach and I'm just a little dude for me and I'm of high school. This would have been junior year, yeah. And I qualified for it again the next year and made match play out in Massachusetts at Long Meadow in Springfield, Mass. And that was one where I showed up, Ricky Fowler's there, Peter or Sam Saunders was there. He shot like 64 in stroke play and set the course record and I was just like, what is happening? So yeah, made it to match play then and that was kind of like the moment where, hey, I can hang top 64 juniors in the world type deal. I thought I was going to go beat Juan Pablo Candela and won the first hole and that was the last hole. I won I think that day. Well, Pablo said not so fast. He said, no, no, no, no, no, no, nice kid played a Purdue, but then so fast forward then I go to college and my freshman year, I make the all freshman team for division two. I was like one of the top five freshmen up for freshman of the year and I didn't win, but I just like played really good every event. That was super fun and encouraging and I was like, all right, maybe you got to make something out of this. My sophomore year hit a little slump, I won one event and just wasn't having as much fun scoring average went up a little bit and compared to freshman year. And then somehow turned it around junior and senior year, I won 10 times my last two years of school, was a second team all American junior year and then a first team all American senior year and yeah, that was that was the springboard and I said I went to went to school to be a biology major was going to do pre-med and then after skipping several lab classes and getting a D in biology freshman year, first semester, I was like, you know, I'm going to try this golf thing. I don't know if the doctor thinks for me and might regret that a little bit now just, but no, it was kind of a, that was that junior year, one in four times kind of gave me the confidence and then taken it into senior year and I kind of broke every school record that year and did you ever come to full first off? So you may, I mean, you make match play the US junior, did any bigger schools come sniffing around? So I had already signed by that point, I had signed-- that doesn't mean shit these days. Not these days, back then it did, like, that he was worried as a strong as oak, yeah, it's you know, no, I wanted to go to IU or Purdue, that was kind of the thing and you know, it's one of those deals where age AGA mattered a lot back then. Yeah, we know that. Talking to Chris Zambri, he's like, that's, I mean, it's got to be played in the age AGA circuit or we're not going to see it. And I just never did that, didn't play a single one. My dad later in life was like, man, I'm sorry I didn't do that and I'm like, it doesn't matter. Golf's a unique sport where now it's a little different with the PGA to review and stuff, but back then, it didn't matter where you played. You had to go beat everybody, you had to go shoot the scores and if you shot the scores they couldn't keep you out. So a little, a little different set up back then than it is today. And it was great because that, you know, I played every event, every round my entire college career and gained a lot of confidence doing that. What about when you were in college? Any thought of transfer in somewhere south, you're around golf school? Back then you had to set out. So you couldn't just transfer. So it was a, you kind of made your bed and coach to pull out after my freshman year and we got a, got a new guy in and we had a great time there. Our team was good. We went to Nationals, my junior and senior year, finished top 10 in the national championship which was pretty impressive for a Northern school played with Willie Wilcox, my junior year national championship. That was a treat. Yeah. No way of God, baby. No, it's, I don't have any regrets. That's about going to you, Andy, it was, you know, did it prepare me the best for playing on tour? No, but it also allowed me to get a lot better and gain a lot of confidence. So it wasn't, it was a little different college experience than what our good buddy Luke Guthrie had at Illinois, but I'd argue I probably had more funds. Sure. What, so what is that? Was there any hesitancy in turning pro? Was it always going to be turning pro or was it kind of once you hit that junior year, probably like, you know, that's all clicking. Yeah. That's when it kind of triggered, you know, I, I changed my major sports marketing, going to school, not sure what I wanted to do. And then once it started to kind of click, I said, you know, I, I think I might have a chance at doing this. And then just kind of reaffirmed the confidence, but I'll tell you what, I turned pro. I missed Q school that first year, that first winter, I tried it, didn't make it out. And it was a little more, I think it was a little more challenging back then to advance through the stages. Like there were less spots, but I then played the hooters tour and as, so it was my first to then I showed up and the winter was 30 under. And, you know, I shoot like 70, 71 or something like that and miss the cut. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, what? Who's Jeff Gore? Who's Brandon Brown? Like, who are these guys? And it just gets to let's sing it. Yeah. Yeah. Ted, Teddy P played it, uh, Ocala, gosh, shot a million under. I shoot like 84 of the second round, like just ejection. And it was a reality check. And so I find all these damn birds. What the hell? It was, I don't, I remember like going back to my hotel and I was like, well, you got two options. Better get really good or you need to be done with this because this is, this is tough. They just, it was like, and I had this, I had a conversation with a guy a couple of days ago about this, like college, you shoot 70. It's pretty good. You average 70. I think I average like 70.1 my senior year, maybe. Um, that's pretty good. You go to the hooters tour and 70, 70 misses the cut most weeks. So it was like, how do I figure out how to turn 70 into 68? And then how can I shoot turn one of those 68s into a 66. And then it became how do you turn one of those 66 into a 65 or four and then turn those 70s into 68s to be able to compete? And I just, I don't know how much I was really maturing, but I just progressively kind of figured out how to do that and get more comfortable being four or 500 par and realizing like, I got to keep my foot on the gas. This is not, oh, I'm four under through seven now. Let's just try to get it in the house all the way from seven, um, tap those breaks. Let's touch the bridge. It's just for a set. That's how we go too fast. Yeah. We don't even go downhill too quick here. That top side lob. Um, shoot. But, um, no, it was, it was an adjustment. So I spent the first like three years just trying to figure out how I could make it work. You know, it was paycheck to paycheck. You pay your entry. You hope to cash enough check to pay your next entry. That's, that was the reality of it and, uh, was able to do it and then made it, uh, made it to final stage of Q school and the end of 2013. So three years out of school was kind of when I first had that little breakthrough and professional golf. And, you know, that didn't go great, um, had made it to final stage, played out at, uh, Kinta, a PGA West and, uh, it was six rounds then. And through four rounds, I was inside the number, like played nice the first four rounds. And then the last two, just very, very mediocre. It was awful. Um, it was awful. So that was the other, well, sorry, gone. I was just to say that was the same year the JT made it to final stage Q school and through four rounds was not inside the number. And then he played his way in the last two. I played his way out. That's kind of the difference in our career trajectories, if he had to put him. That's really the only difference. I don't know. But some of it is just like, like, correct me if I'm wrong, though. When I see these numbers on Monday qualifiers and on Corn Ferry, are these courses set up for birdie bananza like compared to the pro tour? Did you know what I'm saying? It just seems like a different brand of golf that you have to be comfortable being Jacques Cousteau out there. You do. It's the, in my opinion, the only thing that makes a golf course hard is firm greens and rough. Like you could, the length is, length doesn't matter with matters only, you know, if there's like penalty to hitting it offline, it's firm greens and rough. And the Corn Ferry just doesn't get that very often. Only a handful of times a year do you really get that is probably where we're playing, you know, kind of southeast a lot of bent grass in high heat. So you got to keep them kind of wet. It's set up to throw darts. At least it has been when I played. I'm sure it's maybe a little different now. I saw a couple weeks ago, even BMW normally that was high 20 unders and colds one by four last week or whatever it was or five, but, you know, 15 unders. So maybe they're trying, but that's, that's really a course is only defense in my opinion is just firm greens with, with rough to where you can't get it close out of the rough in those many tour days that you're talking about and trying to turn 70 into 68 into 64. Like, I'm sure it's a million things. I'm sure a lot of it's mental, but what was the, what was the one, two, three things that you would most credit for being able to do that? It was, I'd say one, two and three were all mental. It was just a mentality that as soon as I finished the whole, I had to tell myself I had to go make birdie on this one. It was never, it was, you couldn't get caught up in what, and what you were for the day. It was, you know, if you birdie the first four, it's just like I'm starting a new round here, and I got to go try to figure out how to make birdie. And once that kind of clicked, it was easier for me to get comfortable doing it. Before it felt like, I remember I used to shoot a bunch of 68s, and it was like, I can't shoot 67. I'll get to five, and I'll birdie, or I'll bogey one of the holes coming in, or I'll birdie the last to get to four, but I couldn't get to five. And then all of a sudden, I remember I skipped 67 and I started shooting 66 a bunch. It was like the mindset somehow triggered, and then I would get to five, and I make a birdie coming in and get to six. And it's just being in that position. It was, it was truly just a mental hurdle of not being comfortable at three or four under. And it took some learning. I definitely made some doubles coming down the stretch, trying to make birdies, but it was worth it to try to force myself to stay aggressive and keep it going. Very interesting. It's so, it's just it's funny how relatable. There's so many people listening to this right now that are like, ah, that's me, but with $89.75. Yeah, 75 instead of 76. Yeah. Well, I struggle with that mindset, is I struggle with almost like the percentages of it. Like, you know, I've been using the Arcos and you see like your birdies per round and you start to think like, you know, I made two early and then I make a double. It's like, well, then, you know, there's just like a little voice in my head. It's like, well, the numbers are telling you that like, you don't normally make more than two around. So you kind of you should just be out of wasted. Yeah. You kind of wasted those. And then like just the putting, you know, I'll make a few 10 to 12 footers on the front nine. And I'm like, I'm bad at being like, you know, the numbers say that I'm only going to make 40% of these. So I will, I honestly start to think about that like, late and around where I'm like, yeah, I already cash these. Yeah, I'm burned up. I never say I only got so many of them. It's just, I need to just not think like that. It's a, it's truly, I used to get in trouble when I was playing professionally of being timid. I would like, and it would last for two to three holes. As soon as I did something bad or hit a really weird one, whatever it was, it was like, my brain would trigger and be like, okay, now you got to like, now you're allowed to get aggressive again. But like, not allowed to get aggressive. It, my brain went to like, you need to play two or three holes very conservatively and not blow up. Yeah. And I had, I used to work with sports psychologists and he's like, whenever you feel that, I want you to be so overly aggressive that it's almost reckless to like trigger myself back in. And so I started doing that. And it would be like, yeah, whatever, 280 over water. And it's like, I'm going to hit it. Like, I'm going to go, baby. And it would help. Like, and then if I didn't pull it off, it was a, it was easier for me to accept than if I was trying to be, if I was timid and then hit a bad shot, I couldn't handle that. Like, if I went to, it's the worst. If I went to play it smart or do something like that and made a bogey, I would be, I rate. But if I tried to hit a good shot, tried to do something special and didn't pull it off, could accept it way, way, way easier. All right. I'm wired that way too. I might, I might take that one with me because I, I think the worst feeling in golf is the poorly executed iron off the tee or layup shot, which I just have such a knack for that being the bad shot. I'm like, what the man I was trying to play smart? And the iron off the tee thing, if you stuck a flag in the middle of the fairway, you would never miss a fairway off the tee. But it's when you have this vast area to hit your iron. My brain goes, I'm not going to miss the fairway. I'll hold it left, right by foot. And it's, it's the most frustrating thing. So it's getting your mind to, like, if you got a guy that's trying to break 80 for the first time, and you know, he's five over with three to go. Don't start hitting iron off the tee. Like, send it. Get it down there. Like, stay, you have to stay aggressive in your brain to not let those thoughts kind of win. Getting into your actual pro career. I mean, what were your, what were your expectations? What was your, what was your goal for your, your pro career? Were you, did you flip the switch saying, I'm going to go be the number one player in the world where you, what were you, what was your mentality? Like, that, that was never it. It was kind of, I just want to keep getting better. I wanted to, I wanted to win a professional event. I'd won a pile as a junior, one in college, and I wanted to win. And I didn't care what it was. Like, if it was a one day or whatnot, and I couldn't do it. Like, my, I won some qualifiers or whatnot, but like, actual, like, one, two, three day tournaments. And I just, like, couldn't get over the hump. And that was the goal. I was like, I have to win as a professional, no matter where it is. And then obviously the goal is to play the PGA tour. I, they still get bummed out a little bit, watching the guys on TV of like, man, I never got that feeling once, I've teenered up in a PGA tour event. That's, that's a frustrating thing for me. But the goal was just to keep getting better and make a living out of it. I loved it. I wanted to do it. It didn't work if it was long. I thought I would do it forever. I was kind of the thing once we transitioned here to like post golf career that was enlightening was, I just thought I would always do it forever. And it scared me to not do it. That was probably a big motivating factor to keep playing as well. Sorry, Deeds. Go ahead. No, we might have been saying the same thing. What was the fear on that on that front? Yeah, it scared you to do it. I just, I probably had too much tied up into me thinking, I don't know, me thinking that I was good enough or should deserve to be out there, should be out there. And what happens if I fail at that? And like holding onto it until I, I'd make it happen. And then I kind of had the epiphany that, you know, you don't have to do this forever, whatever I do next, I don't have to do forever. And that was kind of probably the biggest weight off my shoulders those last few years. You could also argue though that the attitude that you didn't have a backup plan is why you got so far. For sure. I mean, my question was, what was your first win? Like when did, when did that first goal? When did you knock that one off? 2015 in Mexico on Latin America. The national open winner. Yeah, the names on the, names on the trophy that they win at Vedanta. Yeah, can't take that away from you. Come on. Sandwiched in between old time PGA guys, then it was nationwide. Latin America for a short bit. And then now back to the PGA tour. And but my name's, names on that one. That was a fun one. That was like, you would talk about like a spark. That was, that was the spark in my professional journey was getting that done. I'd played good for three days. That Sunday, my dad's on the bag. Pretty awesome. He comes down to caddy for me. He had just not long removed from first go round through all his cancer treatments and got him out there. And I'm like playing nice and I cannot get a putt to go in through like, I think of the 11th holes as par five. My second shot hits the flag stick. Like in ricochets off to like 20 feet and I three putt. I miss like a two and a half footer for birdie. And I had looked out the eagle putt, to lift out the birdies. but and I'm about to lose it and he's like I can't I wish I could remember the exact words he said but he was like you're doing everything right just keep doing it and go on play decent couple holes there and then I birdie 15 16 and eagle 17 which is like awesome golf shots you know hit a darn near drove the green on 16 flicked it up there at a few feet 17 hit a nine iron in I hit this like massive drive hit a nine iron to a back left pin to like 10 feet make it and then go to 18 and now I got a one shot lead and I stripe it down the fairway hit it right where I was looking on the green left my first putt from like 25 feet like three feet short and I'm looking at this but I can this is as vivid as it gets for me and I'm looking at it and it's dead straight like there's no movement and I'm just like all you have to do is hit it solid like if you do that you can't miss this and the feeling when I made contact and I knew immediately off the face that it was in and like there's like the picture of me I I gave it like the fist pump whatever of like I it made contact and started the fist pump type deal because it was just a no doubter and that feeling was just it was like I finally did it I beat everybody like I say like I used to but like like I used to I used to have that feeling that I was gonna teed up and just felt like I could beat everybody that did more for me than anything in the the pro world hell yeah and I also for the list was want to say one of my favorite favorite facts about heavers and he's got a photographic golf memory for I only can he remember every shot that he's ever hit he probably can remember the shots that I hit when I played with him I wish it translated into other facets of life it's so sick though it's such a it's so so sick I yeah it's it's kind of dumb to be honest the things that I the things that I forget around the house and my wife's like a like I left I left my my breakfast that I take to work sitting on the locker where I put it every day and just I'll just walk out without it and then she calls me like two minutes later she's like your breakfast still sitting here I'm like sure is totally forgot but I can I can remember chip shots I hit in high school 20 years ago yes well it helps when you're good like that's true I mean I got friends at stink and I'll be able to remember like this shots from the round we just play the how do you remember that I'm like well you also like you just shot like 99 yeah a lot of them to think about the point is it's a storage it's a storage issue it's a point it's really a ram situation I want to talk I want to talk about the grind a little bit so you win that you get out of the corn fairy tour you spend what five six years out there yeah I played that year in Latin American 15 and finished in the top 10 on the money list that was the year I got to play with Couture which was pretty fun that can listen to he was first appearance on the Nilea podcast for some some great stories on that for right that was that was a fun one so I got back I got to final stage that year and crumbled the last round like in a true sense it was at pga national I'm playing in the final group in the third round and this is a four day event so I'm in third place through two days and don't play great the third round fourth round I'm sitting in I don't know 20 or 30 if something like that like all I got to do is go out and play solid and I'd bogeyed my way around the bear trap so I ended up with the conditional status go back to South America the first of end of the year in Colombia and wife on the bag and I win by five it was one of those weeks that didn't really make sense I didn't make a bogey till hole nine the final round and it's because I drove it in a divot so I'd gone whatever the 62 holes bogey free to start to tournament um it was just like I drove it up and nats ass and it was at like 6,000 feet elevation I was hitting it so far and so straight just like every fairway it my numbers were dialed in um that was super fun and then the grind kind of kicked in after that so I got a sponsor invite to a weezy anime maybe because I had status made the cut the shitty match up will back in the shitty macho you want to talk about a great spot man I love that place um so then play out the rest of that year on the corn fairy very mediocrely um don't keep my card so then I go back to South America that second half of the year so I've played I played two events the first half of the year on Latin because we had a week off and I played the Dominican event so through the first half of the year with only playing two events I was still like 10th on the points list because I won and finished like 10th in the other one so I'm like after not keeping my card I got to go back to South America and try to end the year in the top 10 and play the last like six events or whatever um played our eye and finished in the I don't know what I ended up finishing 14th 15th maybe I really don't remember which got me to second stage and so go to second stage I win second stage um that's another fun one the second round there was video game golf for me it was arguably the best round of golf I've ever played um I can I could take you through it but we don't need to do that today but I mean it was like there was I got done I I don't can't remember this guy's name that I played with but when we shook hands on 18 he was like I feel like I just watched a video game like I was watching Tiger Woods on the eight sports like it was it was point shoot every drive was perfect I've already done I think eight of the last 10 and just like yeah where was it uh southern hills down there in Brooksville Florida okay they put the qualifier for the valspar there or they used to yeah the grains were new so they were kind of firm and it was just like dart after dart after dart and made every you know eight to 12 footer so if you win second stage is that get you like it it does now not not when I did it um yeah so go to final stage and then this is where the injuries kind of kicked up I withdrew from final stage because of my back so I had like the worst conditional number and deep on the grind here so now I'm like I gotta get healthy I gotta I gotta get stronger whatever and I go down the workout rabbit hole get a trainer there in jacks and start to like rebuild it back up and I get really strong I go out and play Monday qualifier in Louisiana for my first attempt since I withdrew from final stage and open the front nine and nine under and was like oh baby dad's back um yeah you're gonna talk about tough mentally is when you shoot nine under on the front nine figuring out what you're supposed to do on the back nine in a qualifier and I and to my like that credit of what I was talking earlier I kept hitting driver it was like I could punt but I'm gonna keep it going and I got to was I 11 through 14 I think it was 11 out of through 14 then you what you had then and got a little weird down there he's got things things really weird I actually see a smelling colors it was crazy um no I I knocked it on a two on 15 to par five and three putter for par and I was like because at this point I'm thinking 59 and then 16 yeah sure 16 was like semi drivable and I could have just laid it up and I was like this is my last chance like if I if I can birdie this then we can still shoot 59 and didn't make birdie and so then 17 and 18 is when I went to punt and I punted and I bogey the last two to shoot nine under and cruise with the qualifier but no problem with that yeah it was it just I like missed the green on purpose on the last toll to not hit it in the water it's like I have from left edge of the green to the to the parking lot like just hit it over there yeah but yeah then and that kind of sprung board and boarded me in 2017 then so that year had conditional from being a final stage Monday didn't there made the cut and reshuffled in and then I kind of I would say got hot um played really nice that year that was I think I was number one on the corn fairy yeah yeah I was like number one on the all around um for the year like I'd scoring average was low um I finished like top I'd top 25 a bunch maybe top 20 a bunch it was just like that was like when it started to click of just like going out and shooting 67 and finishing turn emits it 15 to 20 under par consistently made it to the finals that year I think I finished like 50th ish on the points list. the money list then with missing the first like quarter of the season because of conditional status played in 18 and then and so I didn't get my card that year that was where you had to get it through the finals um the corn fairy finals there were no pj2 records at key school and did get it down there and then 18 had another good year with a couple top fives and uh I would say I was close to getting my card but I don't remember what I needed but until Cleveland and the finals is I had a good shot there and let that one get away hitting iron off a tee back to the original original conversation it just that one still chaps my ass of this day um gosh I'm an idiot but yeah um that was your best corn fairy finish third in Savannah right before DJ's birthday party was Sunday before we headed up to uh we're rainy moss made an appearance yeah that's right hi what a what a two weeks of golf history there what a I mean that arguably my two greatest weeks of my golf life were Savannah, Georgia and then your birthday how about that right I remember you had that crazy crazy great Sunday then yeah hit the road and drove up yep yeah it was awesome right that was great well okay and then the third reason yeah yeah then it gets in the injuries and fighting back and injury again what do you think the injuries were was it wear and tear is a hip right yep both hips yeah I the doctors say that it happens when you are having your growth spur and you're making the same repetitive motion over and over and your body produces more bone um so my ball joint had extra bone growth on it my socket had extra bone growth growing down the side of it and then making that motion over and over ended up with a uh porn labrum and both hips where they have to go in and shave the ball down, shave the socket down and reshape everything and had my right one done in the beginning of 2019 and then had my left one done in the beginning of 2022 what's the actual like when you are healthy when you are playing what do you remember most about kind of the non golf elements of those years, I mean it was so focused on golf like I had it I had it really good um living in jacks getting to practice at TPC playing every day that I was home we could play first off in the morning I got married in 2014 right at the start of when like things started to take off she would travel with me to the fun ones um I missed like the the freedom and camaraderie like having buddies and jacks on an off week and you know I'd just we'd go play teen in the morning go eat lunch and then we go practice and play fun practice games in the afternoon and it was you left happy every night and that was a that's that's the thing I missed the most yeah gosh it was good when did he taking a trip down memory lane right now in my mind it was it was fun you're talking about the bus graph view uh I think about I kind of have freedom of that guy here in a minute when the kids come along I kind of think about my jacks days the same way yeah yeah yeah then the then the kids coming it it changed everything for the better but also made things significantly more difficult um I'll never forget leaving the airport in jacks and jack my oldest son jacks and was maybe two at the time probably one and a half something like that and Sarah and him drove me to the airport and he I'd tell like open the door to tell him by and he just sticks his arms out and he's like like for me to get him out of his car seat and that's like buddy I I can't take you like you have to stay here and he started to cry and I'd just shut the door and I walked into like the terminal and I was like well that sucked and then I sit and they're like this is probably going to get significantly harder and then we have the Lincoln and same kind of deal and at that point you know with the injuries and whatnot I kind of told myself like my family's way more important than my dream of playing the PJ tour I would love for them to be a part of my journey on the PJ tour but I'm not going to sacrifice my family for making it to the PJ tour well it's just so hard with the momentum coming off an injury you've been at it for so long and it's just like there's just a new dudes every year you know yeah like just get better to fresh recruits that are hitting it farther now oh shit yeah that's that's just mentally exhausting and I'm sure it's hard to grind when you're like golf games not good and I'm not with my family is it tough yeah it's a lot tougher to stomach the bad days I'm sure it was I remember like missing cuts and just wondering like what am I missing at home when I miss this cut like I should be home and then when you play well you know it's rewarding for a short amount of time but you want them to be there to to share it with and then you're just by yourself and you're like well this kind of sucks um good to play and think about you yeah let's get a double double meat burrito and true I like fortunate that I had a lot of good buddies like I was able to make a lot of friends I wasn't the guy out there that was a loner and you know just grinding at the range laid every night by himself eat dinner by himself like I the thing I miss the most was the that friendship from Monday to Wednesday like give me a Tuesday practice round with my boys and a fun dinner after that and just that Wednesdays we'd go play other nice courses in the area if we weren't in the pro-AM and like that that's the you want to talk about like the peak of professional golf like that was it right there um and I think that's when I realized like maybe this isn't for me if I'm enjoying Tuesday and Wednesday more than Thursday to Sunday like maybe have that associate that maybe I should be coming in flew it through I need to figure this out so well I do remember I'll remember for the rest of my life at Pacific Grove max home it came out uh watch me smother one into the left trees and lose to my brother and we went out of this Mexican restaurant after Italians I can't remember we went somewhere in Pacific Grove and I was all but hurt and he's like dude share up you know I'm not to play good like you used to play golf for a living you have to play good you kind of got it made that man and I was like got good point he's like I feel like I did that I'm like that's a great point I've never forgotten that um it's it's true like the pressure of it it wasn't like pressure of the moment that got to me it was the pressure of like me supposed to be enjoying this when I really wasn't enjoying it if that makes any sense that yeah I've got it made in sense uh you know yeah you just get so down on yourself when you're getting mopey like what's wrong yeah yeah that that there's there's nothing harder than the uh I should be happier uh feeling yeah who's a tough I called my wife from the Denver airport um and I've probably shared the story before but I play this was post-COVID my first year like back from surgery and I just played well in Utah the week before if there's like 13th but I was like in the lead with four to go but the leaders were behind me I shot like 29 on the front or something dumb 30 and it vaulted up there and didn't finish it off as well that like following week and then Colorado make the cut on the number shoot 64 on saturday and vault myself up into the second the last group and that Sunday I didn't want to go to the cough course and I had no explanation why I had no interest in going and playing a tournament around and it was like this is a problem like you got yourself up next to the lead and you don't want to be there so I drive the course sit in my car for a little bit and I'm like I don't even want to go warm up um go out there and I just I felt awful like you should it was like started from early in the day of like you should be thriving right now like you're clearly playing well you should be loving this moment and I had no interest in being on the golf course and drove the airport we're supposed to fly to San Antonio for the next two weeks and I was like I'm going home and change my flight called my wife from the airport and I was like I don't know if I can do this anymore like that makes this is so little sense that this is what I work for and I had no interest in being out there today um and that was kind of the start of the I don't know what you want to call it the the transition um I kept playing it out that year. And what was that feeling though was that was that homesickness was that like it's like the joy was sucked out of it and I don't have a really good explanation as to why it's just like like you should look, this is what you worked for, you should be just eating this up, even if I was nervous, like good, but I was just like, I anxious to the point that like, I didn't wanna do it. And I fought through that because it was still that mindset of, no, I, this is what you're supposed to do. This is what you've done your whole life. You gotta keep going. And, you know, I'd drug it out there for a little longer than I probably should have. But, that final round in Q-school in 2022, my dad was going through his cancer stuff out in Nebraska and that final, my final professional golf event was that second stage in Alabama. And it was the most freed up I've ever been to play golf in my life. And I don't know if it's 'cause I knew that this was my last shot. If I didn't make it, I was gonna be okay. And I'd like come to terms that like, I don't have to do this forever. Let's go and try to enjoy yourself. And it was awesome. Like, what, like in terms of me ending my pro career, is the best experience I've ever had to not succeed at something. And I was like fired up for the last round, ready to go. I shot, what I ended up shooting. Six under, five, six under, made one bogey, birdied 17, knowing that I needed to make a late run and hit two really good shots on 18 and just missed a putt. And like I got all the congratulatory texts afterwards 'cause it looked like I was gonna make it. And in my heart, like I knew that I wasn't, I called my wife walking to the truck and I was like, I think that was it. Like that's the last round we're gonna play, but I had a heck of a time doing it and I'm okay. And I just drove back to Jacksonville, like seven hours and missed it by one. And that's when the real world started. - I could fucking bob Jones shit right there. - Exactly. It was, I wish I could bottle up that feeling. I get felt so good to know that I didn't have to do it forever. - Yeah. - That's the only thing I can equate it to. It was like this literal weight just completely gone. And I said, you know what, go have fun. Give it your best, you're really good at this. And if it doesn't work, we're gonna go figure out the next steps. And it's the most-- - Well, there's power in making decisions. You know, like that is freeing. I'm like going on offense with something like that. That's fascinating. - What would be, like if there's somebody else, you know, if you're talking to yourself from five years ago, what's like the question that you think would be clarifying for that person? You know what I mean? Like trying to identify that feeling in Denver, like trying to get to the answer quicker, you know? - And just, I wish I could have removed myself from the situation I was in and been like, dude, you're gonna be okay. Like you don't have, like, it's the advantage of like, I didn't have to do it forever, but it was so ingrained in my brain that I was gonna have to do it forever, that it just added this extra weight. And I wish I could have just had that conversation with myself in 2019 when I had my first surgery, that like, hey, if you don't come back and you aren't as good as what you were before, it'll be okay. But I carried so much weight during that rehab process of like, what happens if I suck? What happens if I hit it left now? What happens if this, and all that? And I'm serious, I-- - What happens if I put the left missing play? - Yes, it was like, and then the left miss came and play. That's like, I willed it into existence. - Yeah, listen, I can tell you, you could still live a long and productive life with the left miss. That's okay. - Yeah, it's gonna be happening now. - It kept me up at night legit. I would wake up. I'd have like, bad dreams that I hit a ball out of balance and it turned into that I had to play in like two years, like in Omaha the next year. Like, you usually hit it out of bounds of 14. How'd you hit it out of bounds of 14? It's not even out of bounds there. Just like weird mental stuff like that that just, it sucked the joy out of actually competing. - Sure. - But I did, yeah. I found my journal from like six years ago. Two days ago when I got a new truck, shout out Shepherd by the way. - Shout out to four. Turn a former sponsor. - No, that's a deep-cut new Shepherd's GM to eat. (laughing) But I found my journal from, like it's literally from six years ago where I'd written in there and it was describing everything we just talked about. Like why I don't want to be out there. I can't figure this out. And it brought back some like scars of like holy cow. Like this has been six years. And I'm thankful that I've passed that now. But like that was a dark time in terms of my golf career. And I do regret that I never played a PGA Tour event. I would love to play one just to get that feeling. But if I don't, you know, it's, I'm okay. And- - How close did you come into the US open? - I played two, I played two, two sectional qualifiers. - I never did the local one for a lot of years because it always coincided with a corn fairy week. And, but I played a, played one in Memphis, had a rangelade with two holes to go. And I was one outside the number. Come back out after the rangelade. It's almost dark. Play 17 or my 35th hole, make par. Go to my last hole, it's a par three. It's like 220 fading light, back right pen. And I lace this four iron, dead at the stick. And I hear it go clink, and I'm like, oh my gosh, like, did I just make a hole in one to make it into the US open? - Why about the one in the US open? - I'm like, this is it. So I'm walking up there. And I probably shared it on this before, but like, I'm trying to contain my excitement because I'm like, I just made a one to qualifier the US open. Like, I'm gonna be on the news. Like, this is elite, this is what like books are written about. - Yeah, no, hit this sprinkler head on the fringe and line with the stick. And I was on the chipping green, 40 yards over the green, made double. (laughing) - Oh, it was tough. Yeah, so that was as close as we, that was as close as we can. - Well, I bring it up because I'd like to see you keep the dream alive with between the mid-AM and the US open. - It would be fun. - And listen, like, is it a bummer for me that guys like you got their amateur status back? Does it kill my dream? - Yeah, maybe, you know? But that's fine. I can live, I can live, you can still do it. My point is you can still do it. Like, you can keep that. You played on the PGA tour, but you could play in a PGA tour event. - Yeah, I would love that the US open would be just so special. I tried the qualifier this year. This is, I was my first round of golf of the year. - Sure. - Outside of a five-man scramble wasn't my best, you know, preparation. So it didn't make it through the local one. Actually, similar story. I had to birdie the, I think I needed to birdie the last two. Maybe just birdie one of the last two. And then I rinsed it in the pond on 17 and there was lightning, and so I drove home. (laughing) But no, I, I, I give him, given myself a couple more years to try this kind of mid-AM thing before kids sports get too crazy and just life in general. So I, I played a mid-AM event out in Virginia this year at the beginning of May and that was incredible. Just experience of all of it. It was mid-AMs and senior AMs and we played Ken Locke and I can't sing the praises enough of that place. Like it was spectacular. Played 51 holes even par, played three holes in 10 over. I mean, is what it was? Or nine over? Yeah, it was a, no, it was 10 over in those three holes. Made a, made a quintuple my first round and then a double and then a triple. So, but just, just missed. Just fairly, you know. I think I got some wagger points though, which is a big deal right now. I hang on, moved up in the mid-4,000s. We're, you know, we're, we're trending. Little goals, yeah. Yeah, so now it's, what? Then go ahead, Deach. No, I was just going to ask about a transition to civilian life and what that's, what that's been like on the non-Golf front. It's been, yeah, I think people still have this conception that like I play golf all the time. I practice all the time that like, just, maybe I could, but I choose not to, I would say. You know, I play maybe once a week and haven't had a range session yet this year. It's just kind of an issue. I think we're in a similar boat there, Hubert. A lot of people, like, you must play a lot of golf. And like, let me, let me tell you that. I don't. Let me, let me bring it back to reality. No, it's, you know, I got it. I got a good job. Not only that, but the little golf that I do play is usually on camera. Yeah, so you see all of it. Yeah, yeah, which is kind of tough and is the thing. But I do think like I, what I love for you is one, you take a care of yourself. So like you're, you know, I think you have a lot. long horizon on golf. And you mentally, you've been Jacques Cousteau, which is something that I, that's what I really struggle with is just like the, the, the mental block of. I don't even know what it's like. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like I can't get there mentally to go that low. Like I could, but I got to, I'm going to have to work really, I'm going to have to work a lot harder at it where I think, you know, a freed up, you were with some free time and a practice plan could, could, you know, could get, yeah. I'm just lightning in the bottle of qualifiers. I'd like to, I got the USM qualifier in July. I was exempt through the first round. They had one up here in Fort Wayne, Tony Romo made an appearance of here in Fort Wayne, played the qualifier. But now I'll play my, my final stage of that in mid July. And that's always been a bucketlister. I never got to play it as a kid. I'd love a, love the opportunity to play the USM. And then, um, then the mid Am at the end of September at the same ball. I can't wait. I know. Uh, give me one, we're going to have a lot of, a lot of work and stiffs, uh, listen to this podcast. Give me one. Like I didn't realize X, Y or Z about, uh, corporate life. Uh, it's just, uh, uh, wow. This is how you guys live. You guys do this all this, you guys do this every day. Holy smokes. Just like the concept of, like it just never stops. Like the vacation is not worth taking because of the ketchup afterwards. Um, it's just, my life was a vacation before. Like there was no extra work. It was just practice and get better. Now it's like, you know, I'm gone for three days and I have 200 emails to sort through and 50 people to call back. And I'm like, Holy cow. Like maybe I should just not take a vacation. Um, it's just, it just, it never stops. But it's okay. Like it's, it's the reality of it. And, you know, I'm fortunate to be where I'm at and having a good time doing it. Yeah. I maybe wish I could play more tournaments or whatnot. I had to turn down. I got in the national singles at national golf links of America. I was on the wait list, got in last week. And I think it's next week. I had to turn it down just because work and life, which is okay. But like that's a, the, the adulting in me has to be, uh, somewhat responsible physically and, uh, you know, work wise. Are you, uh, are you coaching still? Yep. So we got regionals tomorrow. I didn't, I didn't even. For those, for those that don't know, coaching, coaching, well, what's the, what's the deal? Leo high school, um, the high school that I played at, I'm our volunteer assistant. But we set the school record last Friday, wearing our knowing upsurbs that we got last year. And shot 278. We won sectionals by 40s. The fourth lowest score in Indiana history at sectionals. Um, when we got some, we got some dogs. We got some, we got some talent. Um, I've said, uh, what kind of, what kind of jewels you dropping on these kids? Oh, just little nuggets ever. All just hit drivers, hit driver everywhere, send it like whenever you're nervous, it's interesting is kids nowadays, like they're driving range golfers. They're track man and driving range swings. And it's like trying to teach them, like you don't have to hit a full nine iron from 145 into the 20 mile an hour went and just shoot it up in the air. Like hit a golf shop. Like start, like play the golf course. Um, and that's been fun to kind of try to pour into them. And uh, yeah, we had three guys. Watch, I'll get this one. Watch what you got here. You'll coach, you'll coach is going to show you something right now. Watch coach now. You talking to the third person yet? You know, go back and mind it, coach, you know, coach, coach could really make it now. I got myself dad. Um, like that, that still got it. Um, it's been, it's been a ton of fun with those guys. So we got a regional tomorrow. If we make it the, they'll bend to the state tournament four years in a row, which is kind of insane in Indiana, because it's not class specific. It's all classes together. And I don't know what the stat was, but there's only been a few teams from public schools, smaller than 1,000 kids, make it to the state finals and finish in the top 10. And our team has done it like eight out of the 10 occasions of all time. Type D also. We got some, some hitters and uh, it's been, it's been a ton of fun. So coach and that, coach and Jackson's baseball team, we got pitching machine going on right now. Um, playoff start next week. So we're really ramping up. We're eight, uh, we're nine one and one on the year. Um, Jackson snagged a backhander at pitcher last night. Just guy rips a liner, shoots his glove to the side, picks it up like out of air. I'm going nuts. The team's going nuts. Kids can't believe it. Um, just, just a lot of things at the moment, but it's really fun. Yeah. God. That's great. I got, uh, I got to say one thing here. I took the finance team out to lunch today. Just a little team building activity. You know, um, we got a new VP of finance. So one to get the squad together and uh, sit in there, standing ready to order my food. Guy walks up to me goes, are you Justin Hubert? I'm like, yeah, he's like, I love the no lay enough stuff. Did you just go away? Yeah. I'm going to kid you not today. He's a national open winner. Yeah. Yeah. It was like everyone in my office. It was there. They were like, what was that about? I'm like, yeah, I mood light as an interest. Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal. Um, I just think I do it. These, these guys, you know, it's just a sponsor engagement. It's still going. It's weird. It was, it was really funny. He was like, hot. I love it, man. I love you. And I said, or are you a nest member? Because there's a nest pod. He's like, maybe I have to sign up. So maybe I got another one on maybe I got no one to eat. Yes. Yeah. It's, it's, it's negotiated. We're going to have, uh, gonna have a plenty more hitting cups coming out this year. I'm very excited for that. Those were a blast to do those. Uh, what do you, what do you like about what do you like about that? Why, why do you like sitting and watching, uh, bad golf, bad golf TV and talking about it? You could be doing watching time. You don't have to be doing that. I love watching how other people try to play. Like it's fascinating to me seeing how people think about a shot or seeing how they read a putter, think about a chip shot. Like it's that whole, the whole mentality of how you approach what's in front of you is one of my favorite things and getting to do it, watching you guys has been a treat, especially with you, Dej. I mean, that's, I haven't laughed that much in a long time. I know it's, uh, at Ben and Sally's expense on the last one, but, um, that's just, it's just a ton of fun. I can do that all day. That's great. We got, uh, we got a couple. If you got a second, I love this drew, drew through a couple of rapid fires, uh, in here. Just, just kind of some superlatives from your, from your pro golf career that I really enjoyed. Uh, he, he wants to know saddest range bucket you've ever hit and saddest in terms of like, I can't believe this is the rage. This is where we hit balls like what? I wish, can I put a picture on the screen right now? Because I'm sure I have it. Yeah. Yeah. You're a gway. I'll send it to you guys. You can, you can update this. I mean, you want to talk about this was, I'm going to paint this picture for you real quick. This range sits at like a 15 degrees slope forward. So you're hitting off a downslope. There's like 17 blades to grass on the range total. And the, where you're hitting it too is just like sparse grass and sand. And there's guys out there with football helmets on and sticks with a bucket at the end that are picking up your range balls. I mean, it's like, it's literally seen from a movie and like I walk up there and I'm like, what are we doing here? And they're not like normal range balls. It's like your muni range balls that you get a nitro in there. You get a Jeff fuel. You get a laddy. You get, it's just a dealer's choice of colored balls with guys and and not even like, go ahead and get loose. You're not even like the, you know, like a lineman's face mass. This is like the old school like Johnny United single low. I'm like, what are we doing here? That's the saddest spot I've ever hit balls in. I honestly don't know if it'll ever be topped. I mean, it was just it was you had to send that picture. Yeah. I'll fire it up right after this. Let's do, let's do best and worst tournament meal. Best one, BMW championship and went to, this was awesome. So trademark on accident one the week before and North Carolina and JT Poston had finished like third or something like that to like kind of get a status. So we had a celebratory dinner at Hall's Chophouse in Greenville and I'll never forget to say let us eat free. It halls that week. And so we got like 20 guys rolling into like the wine room at Hall's Chophouse. Just like Jonathan Bird was, I mean, just like we're about to have a feast. Waiter comes in. and gives us this field. This is the top 1% of the top 1% of the beef in America. These are the three ranches that's from, you can pick Yada Yada. And at the end, he gets done with all this stuff. And he's Jonathan Berg's like, "Hey, just FYI, we're with the tour and I believe these cards allow us to eat for free." The waiter laughs, he's like, "Thanks, we're joking." And then we're like, "No, we're serious." So he's like, "Hold on." So he goes back, manager, whatever comes in. And he's like, "Yeah, you guys are good. You get to eat for free." And so I'm ordering, I got a 14 ounce bone in rib eye with a lobster tail, oscar sauce on my filet. I mean, my meal alone had to be like $250. I'm getting desserts all the sides. I literally, and so we had to pay for the drinks or whatnot, but I think Tray's agent picked that up. So I literally ate and drank for free the entire time. Get back to my hotel. I got to wake up for a practice round in the morning and I am almost about to throw up 'cause I'm still so full from the night before. Like it was, I had to eat like 4,000 calories at that meal, but it's an all-timer. I mean, it was spectacular. That's the best one for sure. Sorry, I get a lot on a little tangents here. Worst one, it's gotta be somewhere in South America. Holly, I'm gonna go with probably pointless areas at the Jockey Club ordered the grilled chicken for lunch. And it came as just a piece of grilled chicken with no seasoning on a bed of arugula. And I'm like, that's the grossest thing I've ever seen in my life. I spent two weeks in Argentina, and it's just, yeah, it's a lot of just like, it's meat and tomato and lettuce. Yeah. And I don't eat, well, but it's like not much. Typically, yeah. You wanna sauce, yeah, we don't really do that. Yeah, can I get some ranch, so a little French combo, maybe a little honey mustard for this? And no, here's your dry arugula and a plain chicken breast. It just, that whole, that was the week that I ejected after that flew home on a Friday or Thursday night. But yeah, that's probably the low. Let's do best player you saw out there in person. Gosh, Sungjae was good. He was just kind of different. You know what's funny about that? We asked Max that question in like 2019. He said that I was like, who's a guy that hits it? Nobody talks enough about, he said Sungjae. It was told me that in the kill house years ago. He was the only player I've ever seen that I've ever played with that hit every iron to the flag. Like, he was trying to make every iron from the fairway. And if it didn't get whole high, he was angry. And like, I'm like trying to plot, keep it below the hole. He'd fly the green from like 180, be perfectly fine with it to a back pin and just flop it up there and tap it in for par. And I would have been like dog cussing myself. I mean, he was just like, it was, it was really impressive. Well, I can't, I mean, God, he, because he, we did the beginning of the year. I think he was the guy that fell the farthest in the ranking. I think he went from like, he had an entire hundred. He had a weird little wrist injury during his tenure in the service. To be pushed up, so maybe, yeah, I'm not sure. Neil, you got any others? No, I think that's what's the. Wait, now you kind of answered that already. Like you're eight, you're apex of golf was that. God, what did you say the second round qualify? When the guy said you're playing video game golf. Yeah, I think that's funny. That's a good question for us. Like, what's the best round you've ever played? Yeah, yeah, you answered that question. That was, that was a fun, that 10 whole stretch was pretty special. Well, I look forward to, to do more videos with you, having you on the pod, doing all kinds of, all kinds of fun stuff to come, seeing you more in person. It's good being in the Midwest with you. Yeah, I want to finish with one thing. I got the new title of the woods yesterday. Yeah, I took the, took the three would out. The driver came while I was at work, but I had the three would first, or third hole of the day, hit a decent one. It was like, like, 280 wasn't sure how it was going to be. First swing with it hadn't had a range ball with it. Hit a pretty decent, just right to the green. Next hole, or two holes later, it's 260 yard par four, with wind in off the right, and it dog legs left around this giant tree and a pond up front. And I was like, well, it better time to try this. So, slung hook up my 16 and a half degree, and try a 40 yard hook to about 15 feet from 260. And I was like, OK, this club will play this club. Watch coach now. Yeah, don't sleep on dad, so the driver's going to get a lot of run as it, as it very much should, the fairway medals are so good. And the offset color, it just looks like something that we would play for like 15, you know, exactly reminds me of my childhood. It's, it's so cool. I love the new ball ball, what ball are you playing, Heaver? The X. Yes, I like to spend, I need to spend. I wanted to spend as much as possible. And then just you take spin off. You're one of those guys, it can downshift what he needs to. Nice to hide it, not whatever. It's, and the course that I play here most of the time, I mean, the greens are typically a 12, 12 and a half, and they're firm, and they're not big. So if you don't spin it, I honestly don't know why anybody plays that place. That's above like a three handicap, because you just, you can't hit a green regulation. You just chip all day. Even for me, like seven iron on some of the par threes. It's, you know, it releases 20 feet minimum, even on a flush one. So I try to get as much as possible out of the ball. That way I can kind of, like with my driver, I can have less loft on it, have it look more fady, but still get the ball to spend enough to stay in the air. Yeah, even this, even this is fun to listen to. Real, I thought it was just the same thing as a non-gearhead. I'm like, it's, the spin is one thing that you can't get enough of. You just figure out ways to take it off. I've had so much success with this left dash. It's so less than for me off the tee, but it doesn't, I still get the check around the greens. I mean, it's just been like, you know, I don't know enough to know, but it's like, God, I feel like that numbers, but it's, it's really made my, my driving game a lot better. Yeah, because you probably, what's your driver said at that? I mean, you know, I'm in degrees. So yeah, mine's, mine's like eight, because I want that toe open to look fady. I don't want to see a bunch of the face because then it looks like it's going to draw. So I want that to have a little loft and then play a spinnier ball to get my number right. For you, you may want a little more loft to get it in the air and then have it knocked off on the on the ball flight. Exactly right. Yeah, it's just a, it's a preference thing. But within, what with irons though, like, I can't spend that left dash enough with a five iron to ever get it to stop out here. It's just going to be lower and, you know, 4,000 RPMs instead of 5,000. See, that's the 401 class. For me, I'm just like, can I hit this five iron flush? Can I, can I get this airborne? Yeah, it's, it's more like, can I hit the fairway so that I can have the five iron into the green? Exactly. Why don't we start there? Well, here's, this is great, man. As it always is great to catch up with you and I appreciate you sharing more of the story. You got it. I appreciate you boys having me on. I look forward to the hitting cups here in the future. And I got to get up to San Valley with you here soon. We got to make it away. Can't wait. All right. Neil, appreciate your money. Yeah, good to see you later boys.