Navigating the Fairways: From Golfweek Amateur Highlights to RBC Heritage Celebrations

Speaker 1: 0:54

Ladies and gentlemen, golf Week Amateur Tour the podcast Talking about all things Golf Week Amateur Tour, including interviews with tour directors, players and course pros. Now here are your hosts Atlanta Tour Director, tim Newman, and El Paso Las Cruces Director, chris Rocha.

Scott Ide: 4:43

Private Club of the Year Country Club of Salisbury, and then Wednesday we're playing in Edgewater down in South Carolina, just south of Charlotte, which is a really nice semi-private club that's got bank greens and they said the courses are in fantastic shape. So I'm looking forward to that as well. A couple really nice venues that we have and we have a few coming up that are really good as well. Plus, then we have our region on April, which is up in Sequoia National in the mountains. It's about an hour to the west of Asheville and it's a mountain course and it's absolutely fantastic. Golf it's a redded Cherokee. It's got the casino right there. We actually have rooms booked at the casino, so guys want to play and come up for the weekend, play cards and play poker and do all the stuff in the casino and everything like that as well as playing golf. It's kind of a fun time.

Tim Newman: 5:37

I think the problem with having it at a casino is Chris and I there. We spend too much time with the casino and not enough time at the golf course.

Scott Ide: 5:47

Well, you have to spend enough time to play 18-olds and then the rest of it. You can do what you want.

Chris Rocha: 5:53

That can get dangerous. Real quick yes.

Scott Ide: 5:56

I'll tell you from past experiences. It's very dangerous to be up there for two or three days.

Tim Newman: 6:01

So how's turnout been for you so far?

Scott Ide: 6:05

We've had close to 100, we actually went over 100 on our senior event last. The last event we had the one on Saturday. We're right at 100. So it's basically both tours. We're running right close to 100 players per tournament. As the spring comes, like you know, we'll get more and more participation because the weather gets better and better. A lot of the guys keep their eye on the weather to make sure that it's okay. So I think that once we get into April and May, that's when we get our full 120 fields.

Chris Rocha: 6:36

That's great to hear that you're having that many guys at each event. I'm pretty sure those prize pools can be pretty big at that point.

Scott Ide: 6:44

Yeah, we've actually upped our prize pool this year. So our first place is our last event was $500 on every flight and second place was like $250 for every single flight. So we're paying out pretty big payouts. Our total payout on 100, we had 104 in our last event and we had over $7100 in payouts between the tournament prizes and the cash pools. So it's quite a nice thing. We had some guys that won $400, $500 skins. So you know it's a great turnout and the guys love it because you know the payouts are pretty good at two.

Tim Newman: 7:27

Yeah, it looks like competition is pretty stiff already. If you look at the golf week side, you got two familiar names right at the top with Jay Barnes and Joe Jassvers. Jay already has you know 1450 points. He's winning the senior side too, so already. So I mean that's good.

Scott Ide: 7:46

Yeah, he's won every single event so far. He's won all four events, so we bet. So he's kind of on a roll right now. Jay is.

Tim Newman: 7:56

And then the A flight you got, rodgers. Stevenson's got 662 points. That's pretty good for four events, you know. Especially when you've got, you know, large fields, that means he's playing well, pretty much consistently. You go down to C flight, kevin LePage, you know he's already punched his tickets to national championship. He won the regional at C pines, this one, the golf week side. Then down to the D flight, craig Brown. He's got 625 points already too.

Scott Ide: 8:29

Yeah, I mean we've got. You know we're going to very deep fields. I mean most, most every flight is, you know, 15, 20 guys minimum. So, especially when you get to C, c flight, b and C flight, we always have 25 guys in each one of those flights. We have deep fields for each flight.

Scott Ide: 8:49

And you know, as you know, we have a lot of national champions here too. So I mean, we have a half a dozen national champions on the regular tour. We have probably four or five on the senior tour as well. So, and you know we have three, we have two defending three defending champions this year. We have Eric Whitworth in the eighth flight from the regular tour, we have Joe Jaspers, of course, from the champ flight, john Bowman from the C flight on the senior side. So we had three national champions last year, which was really kind of nice. And you know, with Jay Barnes, a past champion, jim Autry, a past champion, and Scott Roberts, a past champion, you know we've had a lot of guys Bill Phillips on the senior side, scott Paddnow so we have a lot of guys that have won national championship and they come back and play and it's a great time. You know we all have a lot of fun doing it.

Tim Newman: 9:48

Yeah, then there's Chris and I, who don't have any. You know we're your tour directors. We've got none.

Scott Ide: 9:58

Hey, I've been on this tour for 24 years and I don't have any either, but you've got players on your tour.

Tim Newman: 10:04

Our tours don't have any.

Scott Ide: 10:06

Well, I see what you got the two. Yeah, I was thinking we personally, I have a little takeout.

Tim Newman: 10:12

Well, I was going to say you know, I got to. You know we need to check into what's going on on the senior side in the A flight because it looks like Scott I that's you is leading in the points right now.

Scott Ide: 10:23

Yeah, I've. Actually I was a points champion both regular and senior tour last year and Charlotte, so I did pretty well last year and I ended up fourth place in the senior national. So I had a pretty good year last year.

Scott Ide: 10:37

I won like seven of that, yeah. So you know it's, it's, I love it. You know I'm getting old. You guys talking about how young you are. I'm going to be 62 here pretty soon. I'm a retirement age and I get, I'm going to get these young guys. I love it because I could hit it down the middle about T10 and they all hit it 300 sideways.

Tim Newman: 10:59

You know we talk about all about that all the time. You know you're much better you know dinking and dunking in and taking your part and moving on, than you know hitting it out in the desert, all right.

Chris Rocha: 11:10

So, scott, you know I'm looking at at your page here and I see something that's interesting and we've talked about this before about. You know, every tour kind of has their own par three thing. You know whether it's closest to the pin. I kind of borrowed David King's idea and do a cumulative score on par threes within the flight, but you do something different. You want to explain that to us? I think it's called Poli's.

Scott Ide: 11:34

That's correct. Yeah, I actually stole that from central Carolina. But yeah, chuck's, chuck has. It's the. It's the pole length of the of the flight stick. So anyone that hits it inside the flight stick length, which is about seven feet on any of the par threes, wins, and then the pot gets divided by how many people hit it inside of that seven foot radius on all four par threes. So first few tournaments we've had between five and I think last week we had 10, but the pot was like $450. So you know 10 guys, 45 bucks a piece.

Scott Ide: 12:18

But when they some tournaments they put the pins in such hard places that you get maybe one. So you know, I'm kind of. So we did it new this year and it eases up a little bit on our side from the administrative side so we don't have to ride back out on the course and gather all the closest to the pin things after the tournament and stuff. It kind of stays a little bit of time and I don't have to worry about the guys coming in and then go. Hey, I want a closest to the pin but I don't have it, so I got to go out on the course again. Right, you know, and it's just and it's been more convenient.

Scott Ide: 12:52

The guys like it because all five flights have an opportunity. You know you got the guys hit. Yeah, well, you get the guys on champion A hit from 200 and the guys from you know C and D hidden from 95 yards, and now they don't feel like they're. They have to compete against the champ flight. All they got to do is compete against themselves. It works a little bit better, yeah, so the participation is way up. I mean, like I said, the previous years are C. Our closest to the pins were $250 for four, uh, you know, for the four part threes, and now we're getting $450 and in the pot. So a lot of guys are participating. That didn't last year, so it's really up that money.

Tim Newman: 13:51

See, do you just do that on one hole.

Scott Ide: 13:54

All four part threes. So one guy can win four dice Right and if he gets it within set feet all four bowls he gets, he can get it for it. But, like I said, you know, the C and D guys now don't feel like they're competing against champ flighters all the time. They know that they, if they hit it in there close, they're going to win something. It helps a lot.

Chris Rocha: 14:15

Just curious do you keep track on how many of those turn into birdies?

Scott Ide: 14:20

Uh no, I haven't, and the reason why is because if they circle the hole that I don't know who won, and if they circle the birdie then I don't know if they hit it inside some feet. So I actually have them circle their name and that way I know that they got the polly. But I haven't correlated between you know closest to the pin, and the polly and birdies. It appears to be that it's Vass majority make the birdies. I haven't really.

Chris Rocha: 14:51

Yeah, I'd be. I'd be curious to you know if you had a chance to go back and check it. That would be something that'd be interesting to see if you know 80, 90% are transitioning the birdies, or if you're getting a bunch of pars in there because they're two button from seven feet.

Scott Ide: 15:07

Yeah, I would guess it's probably just just from a cursory look, I would say it's about 80%. Yeah, I didn't see too many pars from polly. You just, you know, I'm just kind of looking at it. It's a fun. Like I said, the participation's up and that's all I really wanted, right, because I wanted more guys to be involved with it and I didn't want them to feel like, hey, look at, I got to compete against a champ player as a deflier, even though they're closer to the pit.

Tim Newman: 15:36

Yeah, like that's the thing is, is, if more people are getting in, I feel like they have a chance to walk away with something. Exactly no matter what yeah?

Scott Ide: 15:45

So, yeah, that works out good. Like I said, we also we increased our flight skins as well. So now we're at $20 instead of 10 and that's also helped significantly. We, you know each flight, we separate every flight, so no flight could piece against another flight first flight skins. So that's helped significantly and, like this weekend, I think, with a hundred guys, we had like $1,600. So basically, you know, 80 of the hundred guys have already paid for it and when they get to the guys that hadn't, most of them pay when they get the determine. So we get over 90% participation in flight skins, which we used to not get as much when it was $10. And we're combining flights and things like that. A lot of guys didn't want to do it because they were just, you know, they didn't want to compete against the higher flights. So that helped a lot too. Yeah.

Tim Newman: 16:43

But a lot on. Ty Word does $20 flight skins too. You know we had Roger Cowan on. You know who does our rules. You know that last episode and you, you know, if you get you 20, 30 guys in a flight and they said 90% of them were getting in that pot gets pretty big.

Scott Ide: 17:04

Yeah Well, like I said, we had a couple of guys last week where one D flyer went 420 bucks. The D flyer right, it was the only skin. Yeah, yeah, d flight, that's pretty good.

Tim Newman: 17:16

You don't pay out parts, do you? No, only birdies, I knew I liked you. I knew I liked you.

Chris Rocha: 17:23

D flyers they had so many birdies. Yeah, I keep telling my D flyers you need to switch because they requested parts are better. And I tell them you don't need to switch to birdies are better because you know paying out $16 per skin is a lot more embarrassing than paying out. You know $65 for three skins and they keep fighting me that they want parts are better and I don't understand it. I really don't.

Scott Ide: 17:47

I don't think that well and I tell the guys all the time. I said, you know, especially like in super skins, you know I get some guys that don't participate in super skins and I said, look it, it's a $10 deal. So if you play 15 events, that's 150 bucks, you win one super skin, you win $300 or $400. Days for itself, absolutely. Just one time.

Scott Ide: 18:09

I've had more guys that don't get in that have won, would have won a super skin. I had a guy make a whole of one. A sea flyer last week made a whole of one and he wasn't in. The super skin it's like you know, cost yourself 300.

Tim Newman: 18:23

You know, Scott, all you can do is shake your head. All you can do is shake your head. I'm going to look at them. You know, there's these guys.

Scott Ide: 18:29

Well, you know I love them and I understand why they do it, but I also tell them look at for the little bit of money that you may spend, the one you get. A year more than days offsets the amount that you spend.

Tim Newman: 18:41

So yeah, and it feels good, put that cash in your pocket, right.

Scott Ide: 18:46

At the end of the day. Oh yeah, they love to catch.

Tim Newman: 18:48

But let's talk about your regionals, you know, because we definitely don't want to repeat of last year, because the weather was was atrocious and you guys got washed out and it's too bad because, like you said earlier, it's a beautiful facility up there. So tell us a bit more about the course.

Scott Ide: 19:06

Well, sequoia National is the is owned by Harris Cherokee but it's a very it's a mountain course, has been grass greens, but it's a players course. You have to hit the ball straight there, but it's. It's also they call it a gambler's course because it has five par fives and five par threes, and also in the eight par four six of the eight par fours are reachable. But it's very difficult to hit the greens because the greens are so small and there's stuff everywhere around them. So it's it's virtually impossible to hit it powerful green, even though you know a couple of the holes are under 300 yards, but it's. It's virtually impossible to hit a green there into eight on a par four.

Scott Ide: 20:01

But the course itself is just. You know, everyone that's gone there has told me the same thing it's one of the nicest golf courses they've ever played. It's always in super shape. They don't get a ton of play, so the course isn't beat up at all and at the end of April it's all lush because it's, you know, it's growing fat. So everything is green and lush and the greens are fast and it's just.

Tim Newman: 20:27

It's just such a fun golf course to play and it really is something special about playing a mountain course at that time of year. You know cause we do? I do what we call our Northern Georgia swing and you know we play two or three courses up in the mountains in in in North Georgia and they're they're beautiful, the weather is nice and there's just something about playing those mountain courses at that time of year.

Scott Ide: 20:50

Oh, I totally agree and, like I said, as long as we're wet, we didn't move it back a couple of weeks this year. So last year was early April, this now it's towards the end of April, which we had we had two years ago, and we caught two beautiful days two years ago when it was 80 degrees both days. So I'm crossing my fingers that we get that kind of weather again this year. You know, the extra two weeks really makes a big difference, especially in mountains. It does so, it really does.

Chris Rocha: 21:19

Yeah yeah, I'm a sucker for a good mountain course. So, Tim, I know we've been talking about where we need to go next year and I'm liking this one. My friend, Come on out.

Scott Ide: 21:32

Got to sign up early, I think you know it's funny, I think I only have like six or eight spots left already.

Tim Newman: 21:38

Yeah if they don't get on quick, they're out because, like you said, you're almost full.

Scott Ide: 21:45

Yeah, well, it's getting like I said, it's getting that reputation that the guys are out there telling everybody else what a great golf course it is. And you know that kind of reputation. You know bodes well, and now I've also some of the other directors have. We've all kind of coordinated where we don't have a tournament the same weekend that somebody else has a regional. So that helps too. So you know, all the local tours around me don't have any tournaments, so that really helps as well.

Tim Newman: 22:18

I missed a memo on that one. Yeah, that's okay, but you got I mean you're I looked at this last night, you've got, you've got 14 of my guys going up there, which is so far, which is great, and we're actually in the mountains that.

Scott Ide: 22:33

Well, north Georgia, you're more than welcome to come as a tour director. You know you get a deal.

Tim Newman: 22:37

I know, see again we're positive vibes here tonight, but but again you got 14 of our, 14 of our guys from Atlanta so far going up and I know they're going to love it.

Scott Ide: 22:49

It'll be great. Like I said, the best part is is a lot of guys like central doesn't have a tournament, and neither does Columbia and Charleston doesn't, so an upstate obviously doesn't anymore either. So you know, we're in a position where we've got a lot of players that are not playing that weekend anyway. So it really helps, you know, really bring out everybody, and I think that's why it filled up so early this year.

Tim Newman: 23:15

So I think so.

Scott Ide: 23:17

I think you're right.

Tim Newman: 23:18

No again. It's going to be beautiful up there, plus it's going to be at a casino. There's stuff to do after golf.

Scott Ide: 23:24

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, there's fishing. Guys like to fish and they like to haunt places up there. You know there's beautiful fishing areas up there and then for the kids and stuff there's tubing and there's gold mining and stuff like that. You know, if you bring your family there's family things to do. Cherokee itself is all you know Indian reservation stuff that they have. You know a lot of shops and restaurants and things in Cherokee. For the end it's a very family friendly area and they've got tours that go up into. You know they have the railroad tours and then they have the bus tours and then they have the tubing down the river and just a whole bunch of different stuff to do.

Tim Newman: 24:10

It's a good time, so if you have not already registered, I would do so quick. Otherwise you're going to be shut out. Well, scott, thanks so much for taking some time with us tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing how things turn out. It's Sequoia, and hopefully we'll get Cliffs taken care of and we'll be together sometime this year.

Scott Ide: 24:30

Sounds great. All right, guys Appreciate your time. All right, take care Thanks.

Tim Newman: 24:34

Thank you All right. Well, chris, we got to talk to Scott. Had some technical difficulties the first time we tried to connect with him, but it's to me it's always good to have you know tour directors from you know the really large tours, to kind of see what's going on, see what they're doing, so that you know we can take or steal some of what they're doing and bring it to our tours.

Chris Rocha: 24:59

Yeah, it's always great to talk to directors like that. I know we get to do at least one once a year at the big directors meeting, but being able to have them on here I don't want to say stealing, because me and Gabe, I borrow some things he does and he borrow some things I do, and you know we let each other borrow the belt every other year in our Ryder Cup. I like borrowing better than stealing, because eventually I'll get it back. I'll get the idea or another idea back, but no, he's doing a great job over there. You know him talking about how tiring having a hundred members in an event is. Shoot, I can't wait till I get those numbers.

Tim Newman: 25:38

Well, I mean, the thing of it is with him is, you know you've already had a few events, but he's got both a regular tour and a senior tour and he's already had three events each way. You know so far. You know, plus you know he went to both icebreakers. He's got his regional coming up, which you know again. If you haven't already registered for Sequoia Nationally, you better get on it, and get on it quick, because that is probably one of the one of the premium destinations that we're playing this year.

Chris Rocha: 26:05

Yeah, I was looking at the website where we were talking to him and you know it looks. It looks very. I mean, it's beautiful and I got to play, you know, paines Valley and that regional last year and that was fun. I just like these mountain courses. I don't know what it is about it. So that might be one that we discuss for next year's circuit for us and we'll go from there. But I eventually I'll make it out there. That one's probably one I'll take my family out with, because they'll have things to do and they can do schoolwork during the day while I'm golfing.

Tim Newman: 26:36

Well, here's the problem, and I know we're going to get into this a little bit with our next guest. The problem with the date for the Sequoia National for me is that's the weekend of the heritage here on the island, and I mean you know where I was last year and I don't really don't want to, don't want to miss that, so maybe we need to talk to Scott about, you know, changing the date on that.

Tim Newman: 27:01

But but again, there's, mountain courses in mid to late April are beautiful, like I said, you know, we Atlanta, we do our like Sarah, our North Georgia mountain swing and guys, guys love playing up in the mountains at that time of year.

Chris Rocha: 27:17

But we do our beat the heat major championship in the mountains, typically either first of May or end of May. One of the courses we play of is right on the top of the mountain and it's just beautiful sites. I mean, you got deer watching you hit, your approach shots and some crossing the front of you while you're trying to hit, and it's just a great time, great time.

Tim Newman: 27:41

But go ahead and introduce the next guest.

Chris Rocha: 27:44

Yeah, so I mean, like you mentioned, you know we were going to talk about golf and our next guest was excited to get back on. So if you all remember him, if you don't, definitely go back and check it out. But, john Robertson, welcome to the show again.

JR: 27:57

Well, thanks, guys. It's great to be back with you and couldn't have heard you talking about your mountain golf. You all can have your mountain golf. I like the flat courses and you know my father. You know, whenever I'd go home to Maryland and play golf with my father, there's some hills not mountains but hills and I'm, you know, if it's 175 yards down a hill, I don't know what club to hit. So you know it's not 175. So you all can have the mountain courses, but I'm sure they're beautiful.

Tim Newman: 28:32

They are. One of the things I love about it is the ball goes farther. I don't know very far. So when the ball goes far, I say yeah, it's great for me.

JR: 28:41

Yeah, it's, it's a different. You know, the last time I was with you guys, I remember talking about how great golf was with, because you know every swing and every you could play the same course day after day after day, and every shot is going to be different than the previous day. You know, the second shot, a whole three, will always be different than yesterday. And to go to play a mountain course or a flat course or a course in different weather human weather or or or sin air or cold, or it's just every minute is different and that's, that's just what's so exciting about golf.

Chris Rocha: 29:18

Yeah, I mean the course that we play, called Rain Makers. In Alto New Mexico we call it pain makers because it'll make you cry after 18 holes. But you start off with a par five that has the mountain ridge literally on the right side of this hole. So if you go right, good bodyer ball with the island green and then the next part. The next hole, number two, is a par five, pretty straight, but bunkers like every 30 yards down the middle of the fairway. And the third hole is a par three with a 250 yard drop. So you talk about not knowing what club to hit. You pick a club and you pray it's long enough and if not, you hope it bounces off the mountain side and goes towards the hole, because that after those three holes you know everything else is gets easier. But you got to get through those three holes first. So when we do shotgun, bless the people behind the champ flight guys, because I might take a little while to get through those three.

JR: 30:23

Exciting. It's really exciting.

Tim Newman: 30:26

So so, johnny, you played in the senior icebreaker a few weeks ago. How'd you do?

JR: 30:32

Well, I was registered to play in the the the regular icebreaker. A few weeks earlier, the first time I was a guest on your show. I'd, you know, had my winter cold, you know, and I don't know if you remember sort of losing my voice. But that cold lasted, you know, all in half of December, all of January, half of February, and so I had to pull out of that the regular icebreaker on Fortsland, harbour Town and Trent Jones, commodore Dunes. So that's why I was excited to play the senior icebreaker, because I was, you know, ready to play the senior icebreaker this year here at Hilton Head. We had it at CPI's Atlantic Dunes and then, or was it, heron Point first.

Tim Newman: 31:19

Anyway, the two, the two, the dudes in Heron Point.

JR: 31:23

Yeah, that's how well I did, because I forgot which horses first. You know I, I, you know I played pretty well. I didn't. You know I never played that well at Atlantic Dunes I.

JR: 31:34

I think Atlantic Dunes is a real professional course. I mean that's, you've got to be on your game, especially when you hit the. You know, try to hit and hold the greens and putt. All those grains are really magnificent greens and they didn't used to be, you know, they used to be great greens before Davis loved, redesigned the course. But when the course Atlantic Dunes, the original course was called the ocean course. You know the CPI's ocean course and actually that was the very first golf course built on Hilton Head in 1960. Charles Frazier at CPI's built that course, is the very first golf course on Hilton Head and he called it the ocean course because one all, all 15, the green is a part three. The green is right on the ocean. So and then over the years that green, they redesigned the green a few times. It was one at one time a real big bowl green, another time is a little bit flatter. So now it's a very fair green, although if you miss it right it goes straight down that hill. But when Davis love came in to redesign they renamed it the Atlantic, atlantic Dunes and the greens and around the greens. Just very challenging. So and that's why it's such it's, it may be one of the top three courses in our area. Needless to say, I didn't play that great, you know. Day one Atlantic does, I don't know, I think it was middle of the pack. Day two at Heron Point.

JR: 33:07

Heron Point was CPI's second golf course that they built adjacent to Atlantic Dunes and it was the original name of Heron Point was Cmarsh, it was called the Cmarsh course and then they redesigned it and renamed it Heron Point. And I love Heron Point. Heron Point seems to be a bit fairer Is that the right word? More fair and it's, I'm not going to say easier, but it's, it's a little bit more gettable, I guess. The greens art is undulating and they don't seem to be as quick. So you have a little bit of chance to to two putt maybe.

JR: 33:49

And I tell you, I think we get a lot of golf courses in our area down here in the Hilton Head and Bluffton Savannah area, but I think the 18th hole at Heron Point is one of the best closing holes around. It gets in your gut. It's a tee shot with water all the way down the left side and a little strip of bunker. You know, sort of like pebble beach 18, there's a little strip of bunker down there and you can hit it and it goes parallel to the water and I think they put it there to to make it a bit more fun for tourists.

JR: 34:22

But you know, you want to obviously hit right side, right center of the fairway, with a little draw to draw towards the green. But the green it's more like a peninsula grade, it's not a an island green, but you've got water left, water backed and it's sort of at an angle. So you've got water on three sides of that green and boy it's, it's. It gets in your gut, it really gets your attention. That approach shot on 18 at Heron Point. Love it it's, it's exhilarating.

Tim Newman: 34:53

Yeah, that hole you can watch from, you know, from the Langdudon's clubhouse which is beautiful, by the way, and and you see guys you know coming in. It's a great place to sit from clubhouse. You know, out on the deck there it's a great place to to watch Cause, you know, on one side you can see 18. If you go around to a little bit, you can see number nine of of Atlantic dunes as well, right there on the water.

JR: 35:18

It's right. You know from that clubhouse and you know the the owner of sea pines and manatees is also the owner of Kiowa Island and you know if you go to Kiowa Island it's you know they absolutely. Their golf resort is one of the best in the country and you can see a lot of that Kiowa personality in the Atlantic dunes and Heron Point clubhouse. It's called plantation clubhouse, right. And then you go over to Harbor town and you look at that clubhouse. It's just very, very regal and and it's when you get the chance to play golf at sea pines. You know either Atlantic dunes or Heron Point or Harbor town. You know it's, it's, it's a real treat. You know it's not just ice golf but it's, it's real. You know you feel like you're in a real special place.

Tim Newman: 36:07

Yeah, I agree. And you, you, you talk about the greens and Atlantic dunes. I think everybody that came off the course on Friday was saying how fast they were. You know, you know hard to get the ball to stop again. Yeah, I know I said this a bunch in the last episode but the guys were putting the ball off the green into the water on hole number nine. You know, pretty much regular that's how fast they were.

JR: 36:31

Oh yeah, and you know there's two holes at Atlantic dunes, they're both part fives. One of them is hole number nine and one of them is hole number 17, where, if you, better be careful, because if you go forward in two, even if you go forward in three, if the pin is back or on one of the edges of the green, there's nothing to hold it. You know, if you, if it's rolling, if you hit a little bit too far, you know it's just green and it goes right down to the water. You know there's, there's no fluffy grass, there's nothing to catch. So you do have to pay attention.

JR: 37:03

And when, when we played Atlantic dunes hole number nine that weekend, the pin was right, it was right. And if you, you know your second shot, your second shot, if you're laying up, you of course you want to hit the ball left, left of the fairway, so you have a better angle. But if, if, for some reason, you're right side, like I was, you're literally hitting over a bit of that water to a, to a small, maybe 15 yard section of that grain, you know it's. It's, it really does get your attention. And that's what golf's all about, you know it's. It's fun to play courses that don't hurt you. You know and you have, you know it's pleasurable. But when you play a course like Atlantic dunes and and Herod Point and Harbor Town, you know it, it gets your, it gets your attention and it just that's what. That's what you practice for Right.

Chris Rocha: 38:10

So let's shift gears real quick from event that you played. You know Tim was talking about a regional might having to be moved, but you're in the same area. So tell me, are you excited for the event coming up in your area, or at least the PGA wise? Or how do you feel when, when the heritage comes out?

JR: 38:30

The heritage is. You know, I've lived here on Vildenhead for 34 years and I came to Vildenhead as a tennis pro and I taught tennis at C Pines Racquet Club for three years. So I was down in the heart of Harbor Town for those years and during the spring we had a professional women's tennis tournament and then the week after was the, the. It was called the MCI heritage back then, but it was the heritage golf classic, um. You know, the week after the, the family circle magazine cup tennis. The heritage, the RBC heritage, is the absolute gem on our on our calendar for any. Any event, on Hildenhead, everybody you know Islanders, most of the people that live here full time, really focus their their full attention to that week and it's the. Either have friends come in town or family, you know they they only Islanders do the best to get tickets and there's a lot of tickets handed around. You know it's a lot of many years I and I really didn't purchase tickets, but people would have them and say, hey, jr, you want to take it, sure I'll go. So you always got a chance to go down there. But over the last few years I just want to make sure I'm there and I want to bring friends and maybe customers. You know real estate clients of mine and I want to make sure that I'm there and I want to make sure that my favorite people are there with me. So it's, I tell you, when the heritage is here. Last year it was maybe the I had the most fun being there. The weather was great, the golf was phenomenal the year before Jordan Spieth won it, and how great, how great is it for a hometown to have a PGA tournament when Jordan Spieth wins it? You know, you carry your little chair around or you carry a drink or two around, have you have your hat on, and it's not just watching golf, but it's really a big party.

JR: 40:33

If you watch those, you know who are listening to this, if you watch it on TV. You really should watch it on TV because they show a lot of Hilton head. Cbs has a great job of showing off Hilton head Island. You see the lighthouse and you see the Calabogi sound and you see the Fusky Island which is across the sound. You see the ocean, you see birds and you see dolphin and you see palm trees and it's all real. That's Hilton Island and that's pretty much how it is here all the time. But what goes on when you're watching on TV? You're watching. You know the players compete in a tournament, but when you're there it's almost like a party in the background. A lot of people go there just to be there and you see a lot of women wearing the springtime dresses and hats, carrying around fun drinks. Everyone's dressed up and you don't see many T-shirts and cut-offs. You see a lot of golf clothes and people sort of get dressed up to go and it's a real special, very special week here on Hilton.

Tim Newman: 41:40

Yes, it's like this Southern culture week you know week and it and Chris, you don't it's a big deal. It's a big deal for the island for any number of reasons. You know Jared's talked about it before. You know how the island has been rated one of the best islands in the country, right, but this is a big deal because all of golf is focused on Hilton Head for a week and you know, not only talking about the revenue that it brings in that helps sustain the island, but it's a major driver for tourism, you know, for people that haven't been here before, seen it on TV. It drives them in. It drives in for the golf community who's never been here before so sees it on TV and brings it in. But, like Jared said, if you want to find somebody on the island during Heritage Week, you need to go to C-Pines because that's where they are.

JR: 42:37

Yeah, and let me tell you, let me give you a little bit more background, two things. One so the guys on the golf week amateur tour, a lot of them will not only go to be spectators. You see them all. You see them all out there, but a lot of the guys participate in the tournament. You know, for a few years I was I caddied for the Pro-Am. You know, I would caddy for the Monday Pro-Am and for the Wednesday Pro-Am, just partially to be inside the ropes. And you know, you're with your amateurs. But each group of amateurs has one a real professional as part of the group and it was. It was very exciting and unique. Of course, as a Pro-Am caddy you get paid by the PGA and or by the tournament and you get a ticket to come watch for the rest of the week and it's, it's super exciting. And you know, once in a lifetime almost.

JR: 43:30

And some of the other guys you know, there's a guy, one of my greatest friends on the tour. His name is Rich Davies. He also volunteers for the tournament. I don't know what his title is, but he, he's one of those guys that that walks with a foursome. He's the guy that that sends through a computer, sends the stats to I don't know CBS, and that's when they flash up, you know how far he hit it and what club he, what club he used, and and you see the, the line in the air when the ball goes up and then comes down. That's, you know. There's. That's why there's so many people in a foursome following the players. They've got to do all those kinds of things. So Rich, he's done that for years and he takes off from work all week, you know all week, and that's where he is. And so you see a lot of our guys who play our golf week tour. They're at at Harbor Town during the heritage and it's, it's, it's a once, once a year kind of great golf celebration.

JR: 44:32

But one one thing about the, about the heritage, and maybe a lot of people don't know this is the reason for it. Let's go back to. It's not a long story, but in the 1950s there was a guy named Charles Frazier who decided to come to Hilton Head Island and develop a big track of land and he called it sea pines and it started back in 1956. And that's when he started to create a resort for people to come and build a house and be down here part of the year or all year, and then to to attract more people, they started building golf courses. So they built the Atlantic Dunes course first, then they built the Heron Point golf course.

JR: 45:19

But then they wanted to attract an international audience. They wanted to attract national and international. So they started to build the Harbor Town marina and in 1969, they created the very first heritage golf tournament. It was a PGA event, started in 1969. And the whole point of it was to attract and get and have people from all over the world learn what sea pies is all about.

JR: 45:51

That was the main reason why Charles Frazier created this golf tournament and the very first winner do you guys know what the very first winner was of the heritage? I don't, it was Arnold Palmer. And in 1969, that was and for Arnold Palmer to win it, that put Hilton and Island on the map and you see a photo of Arnold Palmer holding his trophy and in the background is the Harbor Town Lighthouse, which wasn't completed yet. It was scaffolding on it and it just wasn't completed yet. So the whole point of bringing a PGA event to Harbor Town was for Charles Frazier to put sea pines and Harbor Town on TV and to bring attention to sea pines. And he sure did, he sure did.

Tim Newman: 46:40

And that's a lasting legacy. But the other thing we talk about how big of a deal it is for the island. It also raises a ton of money for charity through the Heritage Foundation and we talk about it here on the island a lot, how important that that tournament is and what it does. But I think it's a lot like other tournaments in other places. Yeah, they know it raises money for charity, but they really don't ever really see the benefits of it. And I think we're lucky here because the island is the island, we do see the benefits of having that tournament and what it does for charities.

JR: 47:18

Absolutely, and the tournament director's name is Steve Wilmot and he's been doing what he's doing as long as I've been here and I assume he's been doing it since the 80s. Just as important the tournament is just as important as the charitable arm of this event and they take that very seriously and it goes to a lot of good causes and locally golf related, children related, and it's the best. If you want to come to the island for one week of the year, you choose the Heritage Week and that's always in the week out.

Tim Newman: 47:57

Oh, John, hold on now. You've got to come for two weeks.

JR: 48:03

You've got to come for two weeks. There's two weeks. There's two weeks. I mean, if you're a golf spectator, the best week to come if you want to watch. Well, there's two weeks. If you want to watch, go all. You come in mid-October and you come in mid-April Probably two of the best events on the planet.

JR: 48:26

One of them is, of course, the golf week national championships. So that's partly why I live here on Hilton Head, because there's these kind of events. There's a lot of towns in America and all over the world that have golf tournaments that attract some of the greatest players In their town. They do a great job, hosting and charity and so forth. But I tell you, to live on Hilton Head is a great. It's such a pleasure and part of it is being at the heritage and if you've never done it, then reach out to me and I'll help you get tickets. It is absolutely well worth it and part of it is because it's springtime Around the country. There's different times. The springtime it gets nice in different times, but here on Hilton Head you start to smell the spring, sometimes first week in March, sometimes middle of March, sometimes late February, for God's sake. But by the time April comes around, the sun is out, you're wearing shorts, you have a visor on or a hat, you're wearing your sunglasses, you're outside and it's exciting, and it's a party and it's celebration and all of a sudden the heritage is starting and you're standing there on hold, number two, watching.

JR: 49:50

I remember maybe 30 years ago I was watching, it was 1992. I was on number two two, green, sorry, number two T-Box, part five at Harvard Town watching the Freddie Couples and he had just won the Masters that year or maybe it was 1991 when I saw him. But I had never seen such a pretty, such an easy swing where the ball went so far from watching the Freddie Couples. It was just the most amazing thing. And you see it over and over and over my favorite player, favorite players, jack Nicklaus, obviously because of statistics and how incredibly powerful he was. But I think my favorite player to watch was always Raymond Floyd and I think I mentioned this the last time I was on the show, but this was 1992.

JR: 50:46

And the heritage is always the week after the master, so oftentimes you get some of the players who played well at the Masters who want to come and continue their good play. So we've always had good players come to Hilton have. And this was in 1992 when Raymond Floyd was tied with second, 49 years old, tied second behind Freddie Couples, and I'd never seen Raymond Floyd play. So I got a ticket to go.

JR: 51:16

It was either day one or day two and so I started following this Raymond Floyd guy and I'd heard of him but I really never paid attention and just watching him play at 49 years old he had incredible lengths. He was an incredible putter of the ball, very good touch, one of the best around the Greens. From 50 yards in he was unmatched and he shot a 63 that day and I watched him all 18 holes. And when you've got a two-some or a three-some walking down fairways, you've got caddies, you've got scorekeepers, you've got a lot of people, but he would typically be behind everybody walking down the fairway with his visor, right above his eyes, looking like General Patton. I mean, it was such a treat to watch that old legend play.

Tim Newman: 52:13

I just pulled up the RBC Heritage website and it says tickets for Saturday are already sold out.

JR: 52:20

They are Because I bought them all. There you go.

Speaker 1: 52:23

I didn't buy them all, but you got to buy them early you do.

JR: 52:26

Once Jordan Spieth wins here, you better start buying your tickets early. It's that popular. But yeah, you're right, saturday's sold out.

Tim Newman: 52:33

Well, you know he stays at the motor coach resort, does he when he's in town? Yeah, absolutely, which one? The North End? No, down by Seapines, the South End, I don't know so what? So funny story. And that's where Jen and I stay. You always know when the PJ players in there, because at least last year they were in the blue BMW. So you drive around, and so you drive around, and Jordan was there and I kept telling her. I said his wife was out with the kids. I said please leave them alone. Just, please, I'm begging you, just leave them alone. We never saw Jordan, but we left the course Sunday so we were the last ones to leave After the presentation and everything. It started raining a little bit. We get back and it was dark and their rig is pulling out and Jen said oh, he's just pulling out. I said no, jordan's already on his jet heading back. He said no, he's driving. And I said Jordan's feet does not drive this rig.

Tim Newman: 53:39

And she said yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so we followed it out a little bit and we pulled into where we stay and right down the road you can see where they hook up the car, and she said, please take me over there. I want to see him. And I look out there and it's the tow car that they've got. It's a pickup truck with Missouri license plates on it. I said, honey Jordan's feet, number one is not driving this and number two Jordan's feet, does not drive a pickup truck with Missouri plates.

Tim Newman: 54:11

He's from Texas, and so she says, well, I'm going over there anyway, she walked over there and it was the guy that they paid a drive for it. Oh right, that's really yeah so, but yeah Right. So, anyway, how's real estate on the island?

JR: 54:28

Real estate is good. I remember when I was the guest on the show was it early January, I think it was maybe.

Tim Newman: 54:34

December, it was December, it was December, but we aired in January.

JR: 54:40

Okay and I think what I was first on. You know my response was it's a little slow. But then I thought you know it's typically slow after Halloween. You know people start to get ready for Thanksgiving. The traveling kids, you know better, get into school and do well. You know Christmas and holidays are coming and you know people tend to.

JR: 55:06

Here on Hilton Head, you know a lot of the transactions are for second homes or investment property. So it's, you know it's, it's rare to have a family that moves here full time. You know it's mainly second homes and that type of thing. So sometimes people put it on the back burner during the fall into the winter. So, but at the same time interest rates had popped up a little bit. I remember saying to you all I'm pretty sure it's just slow and a little quiet, but after the holidays it's going to pick up and it has. It has it's it's, you know, as long as properties are priced right and you know appealing, what's appealing? It's somewhat renovated, it has a little bit of a view. You know when people come down here and they want a second home or vacation property, they want to sit on the balcony and look at something nice you know like a lake or you know golf course, maybe an ocean or or a river or something pretty.

JR: 56:06

So you know, if all those boxes are checked, then people are. People are purchasing right. You know the COVID years, you know 2020, I'd say 2022 was the peak give or take. And you know sometimes, yeah, as an owner considering selling, if you're in that kind of a market, then it's almost you could name your price and that's pretty much how it was. But then when the market changes, where it gets a little bit more normal, some sellers are still holding on to that.

JR: 56:39

So there there are some properties that's still a little overpriced, but that's okay. You know, seller wants to sell it for as high as they can sell it. So there are some properties that are sitting but buyers are looking and buyers are making their choices. And biggest thing right now and this is a message to buy to sellers anywhere it just seems that buyers today, unlike maybe 15 years ago, buyers today prefer a property that's been renovated.

JR: 57:09

You know, there there's still a lot of folks who say, well, I want something that needs a lot of work because I'll get a better price and then I'll renovate it at a wholesale price. So there's still people like that, but, but more and more people prefer a property that's shiny and brand new, you know new looking and pretty and, you know, has bells and whistles. So a message to sellers, you know, is renovate your property as you go. Or if you decide to sell your property, then make sure there's a little bling and it's it's. It's updated somewhat. You don't have to go nuts, but, you know, just make sure it's it's not original condition, like my grandmother's house was.

Tim Newman: 57:52

But but, john, it's funny you say that because my wife and I were having this conversation, you know, just the other day. You know we were looking at a couple of things and I said, look, these things are not price rate. I mean they're, they're, they're priced a little too high and that's why they're not moving. She said, well, you're probably right. But the other thing is, do you think the whole idea of, of buying something that's already been renovated has anything to do with inflation and the costs of materials, and you'd rather have somebody else put that, that money out and then you just pay for it when the back end, as opposed to you, you have to worry about paying for those, for the cost materials, especially, you know, lumber and paint and all those other things.

JR: 58:32

Now I don't. It's a good time. It's a good question, though. And that, and the answer would have been yes during the COVID years, that's when no one could get anything during, I mean, covid years. And even today, when we're a few years out of it, I still hear some companies say they're understaffed, which just sort of afflows me. But but with the, with the material topic, you know materials, that that was a real issue during COVID. But now, now it's not.

JR: 59:03

And most, most buyers, you know, when a seller or an owner decides to sell and they say, well, should we, should we take the carpeting out and put in luxury vinyl plank, or you know faux wood, or you know travertine tile or whatever. And then the question is well, what if we put that in? And then the buyer doesn't want that. You know, the buyer loves our property, they love the view, they love the location, they love the size, the number of bedroom, but they don't like the flooring. What if they want to put in something different? So then the buyer or the seller feels well, we don't want to spend, spend the money that Renault, when the buyer it's not a value to the buyer. So that that's a topic, right, you know. So that's why when you see properties that have been renovated, because they look pretty vanilla, you know. So a seller, an owner, may paint the walls like a real basic color. That's not going to offend anybody, and they, they may, you know, put your basic quartz, stone countertops and you know nothing over the top. But as long as an owner, over the years, they, they just keep up their property.

JR: 1:00:20

Yeah, there's so many, there's too many properties where, where, in fact, I just helped a couple put their condo up for sale and we just, we just got a buyer and now we're under contract. They've got a condo here in South Forrest Beach. They're not golfers, so I know they're not listening, but yeah, they've owned this condo for years and years. They're from Atlanta and it's a second home and it's got an ocean. It's an oceanfront condo but it's straight out of 1985, you know the flooring and the, you know the countertops and the cabinets and the furniture and the popcorn ceiling and everything you know. So so when I'm there to help them price their, their condo for sale, I've got to hackfully let them know that maybe it's not going to.

JR: 1:01:16

You know, we shouldn't list it at the very high end because a buyer will come in and they'll say hey, I love the location, I love the view, I love the size of the condo, but we're going to have to renovate, we're going to have to do this, we're going to have to do that. So that's a big deal, you know. And and the misses, you know, she's she. This is a very comfortable condo for her and for them it's, it's a great value. But for a buyer, they have to to them, they've got to do a lot of work. So that's why I recommend just renovate it as you go, so you don't have to do a big project at the end.

Tim Newman: 1:01:54

So so you do, you know who's great at renovations and interior design and vision and stuff like that. You know who's good at that.

JR: 1:02:02

It must be. It must be Chris. No, no, jennifer McCormick, yes, she is, she is phenomenal. You're not kidding, and I know I know Jennifer might be listening to this, but I would say, yes, she is. Anyway, I, I helped Dennis and Jennifer sell one of their condos years ago and it was the best one, the best, one, of the best ones in the community. It really was. I mean, it was a, it was a beautiful condo and they really, they really prettied it up and it was. It sold very quickly.

Tim Newman: 1:02:34

You know, when I first was getting to know them, you know she showed me some stuff at the you know at their house in Charlotte and stuff at the condo that she sold and that there was one piece that I said, oh man, I really liked that, and she said she made it, it was welded together. I mean she, she welds. I mean she's got incredible vision. She's Chris, she's phenomenal.

JR: 1:02:56

She is, she really is, and I wish we'd see her more often. I mean, we see her at the finals, but I wish she uh Jennifer could come out to some of the other, maybe the two day regionals. We need to see her out there.

Tim Newman: 1:03:07

I agree, and let's put it this way If she's not listening, this will be a test. We'll ask her say did you hear what we said?

JR: 1:03:17

I like it. Jennifer, you better be listening.

Tim Newman: 1:03:20

But, jr, thank you so much for spending some time with us tonight. I really do appreciate it. It's good seeing you again. Good, when did you? When are you playing again?

JR: 1:03:29

Every tournament that Dennis has and, uh, when this airs, I will have played, uh, the uh, atlantic dunes tournament. Oh, yeah, yeah, uh, up 10 days ago and I'll tell you next time how I did.

Chris Rocha: 1:03:43

Awesome. No, no, no, no. The bigger question, tim. The bigger question is when are you submitting a shirt to the shirt contest?

JR: 1:03:50

You know, I saw that. Yeah, I'll be honest with you, I don't know much about that, but um, hey, if it's a contest I'll get. I'll get into it.

Tim Newman: 1:03:57

Well, you've got to submit a unique shirt that that uh represents any course that the golf week amateur tour plays. You have to wear it during the tournament the entire time. It's got to be worn outside oh, we're not having more cold weather here, I don't think and you have to have a? Uh, a picture of you, a picture of your group, and then it's got to be uploaded to Facebook with the hashtag and what kind of shirt could it be?

Tim Newman: 1:04:26

Just a regular golf shirt, I mean, it's something that's that's unique. Um, we've gotten some. I know some guys who haven't started playing yet have sent me some some pictures of what they're doing Very interesting and ultimately there's going to be one winner and they're going to win free entry into national champ.

JR: 1:04:43

Um, and it's just me, right? I mean, everybody does have to wear the same shirt. It's just what I'm wearing, Just what you're wearing.

Tim Newman: 1:04:48

But, but we want to get it but we want to get a group picture of everybody that's in your group that day.

JR: 1:04:54

Okay With me wearing that my submission? Yes, correct, right. And is there a deadline for this?

Tim Newman: 1:05:00

So each month, so okay, so, um, it's the, and again you have to look at the rule sheet. I don't want to say something online. You know, kind of like my students, you say one thing and maybe off a little bit, and then they say, well, you said this, right, okay, it's, it's each month, it's got, it's got to be submitted by the end of the month for the tournament. So if the tournament was in March, you have to submit it in March.

JR: 1:05:20

Okay, I'll do it. I'll do it and, chris, I plan on winning. There you go. All right, I'm going to talk to you and looking forward to talking to you again.

Tim Newman: 1:05:32

All right, but take care, we'll talk to you soon, bye guys.

Chris Rocha: 1:05:35

Bye, I've been in an interview with JR. I mean he knows more history about that island than I thought I'd ever know, um, so it's great to hear it. But uh, I mean he, he's just I can imagine going to that tournament with him. I mean with him, with you, with Dennis, and just having a great time. It'd be something that might have to be in the books, hopefully in the near future.

Tim Newman: 1:05:59

Yeah, he knows a lot and uh, he's fun. Fun too, he makes. It makes the whole thing fun and interesting. I thought it was really funny when he said uh, if you're only going to come for one week, it's got to be heritage week.

Chris Rocha: 1:06:15

Both of us at the same time had the, had the bullet off.

Tim Newman: 1:06:18

But the funny thing is, if you look at the weather here on mid-April, when the heritage is, and October, when we generally have national championship, weather is generally perfect. You know it's not high, generally Cool.

Tim Newman: 1:06:35

Generally. I mean, it's perfect time, you know, you can still go to the beach, you can still do all those fun things without the sweltering heat or the cold. And, again, perfect time for families and so forth. Just make sure everybody's clear. Like JR said, there are two weeks of the year. Right, if you're going to come to Hilton Edge, you can skype in one of those two.

Chris Rocha: 1:07:02

Right, and then he did mention October was before April, just throwing that out there as well.

Tim Newman: 1:07:07

Yeah.

Chris Rocha: 1:07:08

There you go.

Tim Newman: 1:07:10

And hopefully he does a shirt too, which he probably will. He probably will. I hope that he does. And real quick is before we start actually get into anything else. Please, please, please, make sure everybody reads the rules and how to actually submit the shirts. If you text me your shirt, it doesn't count, or you email me the shirt, it doesn't count. You actually have to file the rules and post everything to Facebook, like outside in the rules, for it to count.

Chris Rocha: 1:07:44

Right, I mean we're trying to. We're trying to build engagement, you know, especially on our podcast page and all of that, but it allows other people to see it and actually get a true vote. And I mean, I know, with our first winner, you know, the last couple of days before voting ended, he just sent out a mass, not a mass but a post asking his friends and family to, you know, give them one last vote before closing, and that took them from being from behind to think, you know, close to 10 votes to winning by almost 10. So that's our whole goal is to try to get you guys out there, to get your home tour some recognition and see some some pretty unique shirts out there. So we're already halfway through the season, or through the month of March, and we want to see some more entries. We want to have a big vote this month.

Tim Newman: 1:08:41

And if you haven't seen Jordan's shirt, it is posted on the website and you know. Again, we may have to go through this for a while, but it's kind of like finding the regionals, although it's not on the front page of the other website. But if you, if, if you go to find a tour near me, the drop down menu, go down and there actually is a selection for the podcast and you can find all the information from the podcast there, including the rules for the shirt contest, jordan's pictures up there, and I've already started to populate the page with previous episodes, so you find everything there.

Chris Rocha: 1:09:22

Yep, we're making it easy for everybody and you know, if you can ask any of my members, are they sending me a picture of their shirt? I send it right back to them with the the instruction, because I'm not about to post for you.

Tim Newman: 1:09:35

But what do you say? Yeah, what do you think it will look like? You don't have to keep reminding me.

Chris Rocha: 1:09:39

Right, right Cause I I mean, I probably encourage them to post it, so I send them the rules as well. And you know, any tour director has listened and helped us out. If you see unique shirt out there, your events you know be before the round even starts. Just give them the ground rules and let us hope that we can get a some more entries and maybe one of your guys on your tour will win that free entry fee to national championship.

Tim Newman: 1:10:08

You know, I actually hope it's one of my guys, but I do hope that other tours get represented and and have we get a ton of shirts you know being submitted. You know part of this is is fun, but part of it also is to kind of highlight, you know, the tours across the country and and see where they're playing and the members itself. So, right, yeah, we're going to Chris, you and I are going to have some fun with it. Yes, I hope the rest of the tour joins in and and enjoy some of the fun.

Chris Rocha: 1:10:41

Yeah, I mean, at least I know I have one, one entry into the elite eight that we could call for for the shirts. So I'm one step closer.

Tim Newman: 1:10:51

Yeah, so. So this weekend, you know, you've got two day tour coming up and my season actually opens up and I see some good shirts on open weekend and we get some, some good posts.

Chris Rocha: 1:11:07

Yes, I would really hope.

Tim Newman: 1:11:09

Tell me about your two day, what you got coming up?

Chris Rocha: 1:11:12

Yeah. So we got our first major of the year, the EPLC masters. We're going up to Hop, new Mexico. If you're ever in the area, it's literally you blink and you're going to miss the town. But they have a gem of a course there and one of my favorite holes that I've ever played is a par five and they have literal I don't want to say a fairway bunkers because there's no sand in it, but it's like a pothole of grass and they're in the middle of the fairway going down this part five with a rock wall down the left side and this green, I mean obviously, where you can't see what I'm doing my hands, but it's a bowl green and that hole is usually in the middle of that bowl. So if you get it anywhere within that area it's going to be close to the hole and it's just a fun hole to play. But if you land in one of those little potholes it might as well be hitting out of a bunker because you can't really see over it. It's cool. It's cool.

Chris Rocha: 1:12:17

Rockwind community links playing a two day out there. They have a par three walkable course. So we do a shootout and we all tee off on the first par three and whoever is the last one to get their ball in is out, you know, with the highest score, and we keep going until we have a winner and we have guys carrying speakers around and we just have.

Chris Rocha: 1:12:41

We have a great time. So you do that both Saturday and Sunday, or Typically Saturday afternoon, so we'll play the round early and then any guys that want to hang out and you know, grab a burger real quick to eat or a hot dog while we're doing scoring, and then let's head out and I do. There's a kick. You can only take three clubs, okay, and that includes your putters.

Chris Rocha: 1:13:05

So if you're going to take a putter, that's one of your clubs. So these guys have to get real strategic of what clubs they want to take with them.

Tim Newman: 1:13:15

Sounds like fun idea. Yeah, so it makes a good time.

Chris Rocha: 1:13:19

I will. I will take a lot of pictures and you know, we got a sponsor for these majors this year, which is something that we haven't had in a long time, and he's given away a TV for everybody that goes to a major gets to collect some raffles, raffle tickets and at the end of the year, at the tour final, which is our last major, will raffle off a 55 inch TV. It's also going to be a pretty cool year. I'm super excited for this year. Awesome.

Tim Newman: 1:13:51

Oh, we kick off this weekend and we're starting generally started at another course, but we're starting at a high end private course, first tour of the year. So really looking forward to that. So it's a pretty good get for us. It's also going to be our, our member guests, so we're starting our season opener member guest right right from the get go. So we're looking forward to being this course. Having been there in a number of years, I'm sure it's going to be great.

Chris Rocha: 1:14:21

Yeah, that's not a bad place to have a member guest, especially at, like you said, a high end private course. So that's going to bring a lot of exposure to you guys.

Tim Newman: 1:14:31

One of Saturday, though, honestly.

Chris Rocha: 1:14:34

Yeah, I don't know what you did over there.

Tim Newman: 1:14:38

We've talked. You know pretty much all off season how hard it's been to get some courses, and we really kind of lucked into a private course on a Saturday, so can't complain too much.

Chris Rocha: 1:14:51

There you go. That's awesome.

Tim Newman: 1:14:53

All right, man, let's get. Let's get some short entries and welcome back for your vacation. Hope you're not rested and and let's get back to work, not rested.

Chris Rocha: 1:15:05

I want you to vacation off a vacation, that's. That's because you know how it is when you go on vacation you're drinking too much. You've seen me at a hill on the head when it's vacation after golf tournament. It's a fun time.

Tim Newman: 1:15:20

It is All right, my friends, we take care of. Good luck this week, and we'll talk to you soon.

Chris Rocha: 1:15:25

Likewise. Yes, sir, you be safe out there and enjoy your private course. You got it.

Tim Newman: 1:15:31

Take care Bye.