Technology
Ryder Cup Reflections, Gear Tips & Nationals Prep — Where Amateurs Play Like Pros
In this episode of the Golf Week Amateur Tour podcast, hosts Tim Newman and Chris Rocha reflect on the recent Ryder Cup, sharing their frustrations and insights. They also discuss the upcoming Golf We...
Ryder Cup Reflections, Gear Tips & Nationals Prep — Where Amateurs Play Like Pros
Technology •
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Interactive Transcript
Speaker A
Hey, there. Welcome back to the Golf Week Amateur Tour of the Podcast. Chris, should we tell people how to join the tour?
Speaker B
Of course. Whether you're a seasoned member or just tuning in to learn more, we're here to help you dive into the ins and outs of the Tour. If you've been on the fence about joining, there's no better time than now. It's a fantastic way to play competitive golf, meet other passionate golfers, and step up your game.
Speaker A
Registration is open. All you need to do is go to amateurgolftour.net click join the tour button and pay your local tours membership dues.
Speaker B
And if you want to keep up with all things Golf Week Amateur Tour, make sure you're subscribed and listening to the podcast on your favorite platform. Don't forget to download each episode, share it with your golf buddies, and if you're enjoying the show, drop us a like and a review. Your feedback helps us grow the community and reach more golfers just like you. Thanks for tuning in. Now, let's get into today's episode.
Speaker A
Chris, welcome back. It's not happy. I'm happy to see you and happy to be back here, but I've got a sour taste in my mouth, and it'll probably be sitting around for a little while.
Speaker B
It will. It was a tough weekend to watch. You hate to see it. You hate to see what the crowd kind of boiled over to, and we gotta wait another two years to get a little crack at it again.
Speaker A
Yeah, I don't like it. I don't like it.
Speaker B
Nothing we can do about it right now, hopefully. You know, they. They bring more live guys to play. I know. I know you don't like him, but I think Brooks could have brought some fire out there. I think Keegan should have played. When you're number 10 in the world, you should play. We need you. And, yeah, I mean, there's a couple other guys out there that could have played, but it is what it is, you know?
Speaker A
I don't know. I. The guys we had should have won.
Speaker C
They could.
Speaker A
Oh, they. They could have, and they should have.
Speaker D
All.
Speaker A
All you got to do is show up, man. All you got to do is show up.
Speaker B
It seemed like they left every putt short, you know, when I was watching, every putt was left short. And if you're putting for birdie to win the match, you want to get it past that. Past that.
Speaker A
Yeah. If you don't get to the hole, there's no way it's going to go in. No. And these guys know that. They should. Well, you know, they should. It's very disheartening to watch, to watch those, to watch that, to listen to that. I did more listening than I did watching. And it's a good thing because, you know, there's not much from a sport perspective that I. That I really invest my time and energy and emotions in, but the Ryder cup is one of them, right? And, I mean, it eats at me, you know, I'm the same way, you know, when, you know, for pretty much all international competitions, whether it's the Olympics, whether it's the World cup or, you know, anything like that. And so I'm perpetually disappointed with our men's soccer team. You know, the US Men's soccer team is just horrible. It's a laughingstock. We can't beat. We can't beat the European team in golf. It's horrible. There's no excuse for it. It's no excuse for it. You know, you're probably not old enough to remember George Allen, he legendary NFL coach. He said every time he loses, a little piece of himself dies inside, is what he said. And that's how I feel. You know, it just. It takes its toll. Let's try not to talk too much about that. We are. We're kind of in that time of the year where it's over, but it's still going on, and it's not quite over yet. It's the law before the storm. It's our last regular season and regular episode of the year, because the next episode will be after the Golf Week National Championship is over. Right?
Speaker B
It's. It's coming on again. It's. I mean, we keep. We keep doing it and we keep enjoying it, but before you know it, we're already talking about National Recap and having to set up all of those mics and fight with Facebook on how to get on there live properly and all that fun stuff.
Speaker A
That's gonna be awesome.
Speaker B
But, I mean, that's what we do it for. We enjoy it.
Speaker A
Yes, absolutely. And so let's just go ahead and roll with. Roll with this episode. We got two great guests, and let's just roll with it.
Speaker B
Let's do it.
Speaker A
Let's go. Let's do it.
Speaker B
Ladies and gentlemen, Gulf Week Amateur Tour.
Speaker C
Proudly presents Golf Week Amateur Tour, the podcast talking about all things Golf Week Amateur Tour, including interviews with tour directors, players, and course professionals.
Speaker B
Now, here are your hosts, Tim Newman.
Speaker C
And El Paso Las Cruces Tour director, Chris Rocha.
Speaker A
Just welcome back. This is both a sad and happy day, all at the same time. Right. Our, our last regular episode of the 2025 Golf Week Amateur Tour, Senior Amateur Tour season.
Speaker B
That's what, third season in a row. Third season closed.
Speaker A
Third, fourth, fifth, Whatever it takes, you know, we'll be doing this for a while, I think.
Speaker B
I think so, too. I think so too.
Speaker A
So your bad pack, are your bags packed? You ready to go?
Speaker B
No, they're not packed. Yes, I'm ready to go. I'm gonna start doing some, some crazy things and waking up a little bit earlier just to get my body used to the time change, because I did get my email from Dennis, you know, after you do an event recap, and he did say, see in a few weeks to defend your Tour Directors cup and compete very high in the B Flight Nationals. So that got me a little pumped and ready to go.
Speaker A
Well, I'm not sure if that means he has faith in you or, or not. He said to compete very high.
Speaker B
Not, you know, I think, I think he has faith.
Speaker A
He does he have faith. All right.
Speaker B
He may not make another bet like he did last year, but at least he has faith.
Speaker A
Well, we'll see. I've got faith in you.
Speaker B
I know you do.
Speaker A
As long as you get, as long as you get to the first tee one time on Friday morning, I got all the faith in the world.
Speaker B
I'm pretty sure I will. Well, I hope so. We'll find out.
Speaker A
Well, you know, I, I, I'm still very upset about what happened this past week with Ryder Cup. I, I, it's, it's, you know, it's something that, that truly, truly, it eats at me and it, and deep, it's a deep down inside bothers me. Deep down.
Speaker C
Yes.
Speaker A
You know, we, we failed, we've just completely failed to show up on Friday and Saturday.
Speaker B
Yes, completely agree. You know, I, I actually had an event during the last two days and we came in, I think the second group had maybe six holes ago, and seeing all that red was encouraging, but, you know, seeing enough rare cups, you know, that it's pretty slim to come back from a lead like that, especially when they already had a half a point without even any balls in the air with, with the injuries. So I was saying I wouldn't be surprised if European said 10 other guys were injured and can't play and then they automatically win because all those half of points would have, would have counted for it for a victory. So, But I'm glad they went out there and played. I mean, whether they come under the third, the last group.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
So at least at Least we. We fought. We fought, but it was. It was going to be tough to come back anyways.
Speaker A
You can't. You can't come back from that. I mean, it's. Right. Because they had to win two and a half points, right? And, you know, I knew after. After the morning session on Saturday, it was done because we. We had no fire. We just had nothing. Right. Yeah. We need to stop talking about this for a while because I'm. I'm.
Speaker B
He's getting rolled up, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker A
I'm just getting yelling at our guests, but we do have. Again, we've got really good guests in our last regular episode of the year. We'll have. We'll have Roger on, and he'll do a rundown for us of rules you should know going in national championship. But we got. We've got a. A. A new guest to, to bring on, and I'll just go. I'll just go ahead and bring him in. Come on.
Speaker B
We've done this before. We swear.
Speaker A
I know. There we go. All right, we got Drew Flavel from the Jacksonville tour. Drew, welcome to the show, bud.
Speaker D
Thank you. Hey, Tim. Hey, Chris. How you guys doing?
Speaker A
Doing great.
Speaker B
Doing good, Doing great.
Speaker D
That writer cup of. Well, that's hard for me to watch, too. Right there with you, Tim.
Speaker A
And it's, you know, for the most part, you know, this weekend I was, you know, I was in my office working, right? And so, you know, the public couldn't hear me cussing and carrying on, you know, but Sunday I was out in public and had to keep it, you know, know, kind of. Kind of down. But, you know, it's. To me, you got to at least show up. Just.
Speaker B
You got to try.
Speaker A
Now, now, I'm not taking. Taking away Tommy Fleetwood. I mean, he played the best three days of golf he's ever played in his life.
Speaker D
Yeah, he made amazing putts, but, you.
Speaker A
Know, Scotty Scheffler, Sky Shelfer's group won, what was it, three holes in the first three. Yep. Parents. That's unacceptable. Yep. Unacceptable.
Speaker B
Scotty. Scotty hasn't won a team event in the last two Rider cups. Nope. He's winless.
Speaker A
Well, he beat. He. He. He. He. He beat Roy head. Head to head. He. He had to do.
Speaker B
I mean, he does that on a week, Week in, week out basis. He better. He just can't play with the team.
Speaker A
Well, we got to get it together because we can't lose three in a row. That would be. It'd be the end. So, Drew, let's talk about you, bud, because I'm upset, but Chris and I hadn't had a chance to talk about you. And we still have more to talk about, but I don't want to start yelling at you. You haven't done anything wrong yet. So. So everybody welcome Drew Flavel. He's with the Jacksonville Tour and he's got. He's got an interesting business called the. The Golf adapter Store. So, Drew, tell us a little bit about what you're doing.
Speaker D
So I took ownership of the business about five years ago. Five, six years ago. And we sell pretty much any golf adapter that you need for any of your clubs. Ferals, club head, weights, it's on E Commerce Store. So it's all based off of our website or ebay, which will be presented. I'll be actually in person at National. So I have a lot of this information out for everybody at registration for both regular and senior nationals event. But basically, you know, this is. I had a couple of them out. You know, this is. Where's my camera? This is a golf adapter. Some people are pretty familiar with them, some people aren't. This is for a ping driver. It's just another variation. This is for a Titleist driver. So, I mean, we carry everything from Calais to Trixon to Tour Edge. Any brand you need, we can either either carry or we can get very easily. And, you know, say you break your club, whether on purpose or an accident.
Speaker A
Chris, Chris.
Speaker B
Continue.
Speaker D
You know that obviously adapter is no longer you can take it off, but nine times out of ten, it's not reusable. So, you know, getting an adapter for a new shaft, for new club head and all that stuff, we sell those direct to consumer. We sell them to wholesalers, club fitters, putting any money in the golf business. So we sell them direct to them through our website or just, you know, through email or anything like that. And so I brought a couple. Where's my one example? So this is what it looks like when it's actually on the shaft. This is just an old Nike one that I had laying around. So that's this. Obviously the club head would go on top of here then. And then you can adjust your lofts, your lies, your settings is different. Obviously, different brands have different ways of adjusting it. And some you can adjust more than others. It's all brand specific. And then this is obviously what it would finally look like at the end. There's your adapter with a club head, you know, already on it. So this is. You can kind of. It's kind of really hard to see, obviously. But this is in neutral right now. You can adjust it for. For a draw or for more of a fade, depending on your swing, swing speed, your swing plane and, you know, all those things. So that's the majority of our business. We also sell the fancy little colored ferrules, which are those little plastic things that kind of join the club head to the shaft. They're pretty much purely aesthetic, which, you know, some people like to spend the money on it, which is fine, you know, look good to play good, so to speak. Oh, yeah, I love it. It's just, it's. You know, there's companies out there that now, they make this. They make them where they snap around, where you don't have to take the club head off. But there's been. I mean, I've only ever tried it once, and there's just been a lot of bad reviews that I've seen that they fall off, they break, they're not made well. I'm not trying to talk bad about them. It's just, you know, unfortunately, to get where it's going to be right, you almost have to do it. Take the whole club head off and. But, you know, I've got. I didn't take them out of the bag, but, you know, I've got colors like that for you Georgia or your Ohio State fans. I figured you in Atlanta, so I figured, you know, some red and black. I got pretty much almost any color you can think of. And if there's a color you. I don't have, I can get them custom made. You know, they're with the same manufacturer for over 10 years. So I've got, you know, my products are the same. They're very consistent. I have very, very few complaints. And if it is, I get it fixed, you know, within one to two days as quickly as I can.
Speaker A
So. So with the adapters, you know, who's your primary target with that? And is that something that. Let's just say, you know, you've got, you got, you've got standard ping head. You can go and take it to. To somebody and put an adapter on. And now it's adjusted. Now it becomes adjustable, correct?
Speaker D
I mean, pretty much these days that's how most of clubs are sold anyways, you know, with their drivers in woods and pretty much your hybrids now, too. But if you don't like your shaft, you know that you have. Say you need a shaft or, you know, when you go graphite to, you know, if you want to change something, unfortunately, you have to change the adapter or buy a whole new setup. You know, this kind of cut down the cost versus buying a whole new setup when you can just, you know, change just a shaft or just a club head, you know, with a simple adapter. You know, the adapter is the cheap part, unfortunately. All the work for is the expensive part.
Speaker A
Right. And I guess, you know, we had the folks from Fujikara on, you know, a month or so ago. And so hopefully we're going to get people, you know, switching into those shafts and, and hopefully they just go ahead and buy your adapters right, right there, right next to them.
Speaker D
Yes, sir.
Speaker A
But, but, you know, I don't know how much you, you, you looked into Fuji car and what they're doing, but the guy, the, the number one fitter said he was fitting people with respect shafts in, in three swings. That's how good the technology is now.
Speaker D
Oh, I believe it.
Speaker A
In, in those shafts.
Speaker D
Yeah, I definitely believe it. Some of the best chefs out there.
Speaker B
So, yeah, challenge accepted.
Speaker D
And, and we'll again, we'll be on site during registration at nationals on that Thursday. And then we'll also be set up Sunday afternoon at the closing ceremonies. And I'll have all my product on site so, you know, have a probably special discount for the national tournament. And um, you know, hopefully if people need to get set up during the off season, I've got the stuff to do it.
Speaker A
Well, Chris, he may not ask you, but I know he's gonna be looking for some burnt orange, you know, ferals.
Speaker B
No, that was the next question is if you can find me some burnt orange ones. I have burnt orange grips on my irons and, and I would not be opposed to putting some on those good.
Speaker D
Old Texas colors, huh?
Speaker B
Yes, sir. All day, every day.
Speaker D
I have some orange. It's, it's, it's a, for some reason, it's a hard color to do. I don't know what it is about it, but I've asked several times and they always give me like, you just give me the run around. I'm like, it's not that hard of a color. Like, it's just dye.
Speaker A
Sorry.
Speaker B
Colors of champions are hard to make.
Speaker A
Oh my God.
Speaker C
I mean, but look at these nice.
Speaker D
Ohio State ones I have.
Speaker B
No, no, no, you're breaking up. You're looking a little blurry over there.
Speaker A
So, Drew, how did you get involved in, in playing on the tour?
Speaker D
Random Google search. Believe it or not is two years ago. I just, I was really fed up with. I was going out and playing with the guys, but it, it turned in just to. No, it wasn't really competitive. It wasn't. I mean, it was fun, but it wasn't competitive. And I just, I have a very competitive nature. So I just randomly searched amateur tours near Jacksonville and I think it was either the first or second one that came up in the Google search and just looked more and more into it, saw the sign up button. I think I signed up two days later and that was just last year. So this is only my second season on tour and I've just, I, I've enjoyed every, every tournament I've been to. I enjoyed the nationals last year. I drive up the Hilton ed probably three or four times a year to play up there.
Speaker A
Okay.
Speaker D
So it's, it's. It's been very enjoyable.
Speaker A
Well, yeah, you had a pretty good day on, on. Was it Saturday? Sunday?
Speaker D
Saturday, yeah. Yeah. I kind of. I failed at the end. But that's all right. I was, I was 4 over after 16 holes and ended up being 280.
Speaker A
That's all right. That's right.
Speaker D
Yeah, it happens.
Speaker A
But how'd you finish?
Speaker D
Tie for third.
Speaker A
That's pretty good. Yeah.
Speaker B
There you go.
Speaker A
Yeah. I know Dennis doesn't like when other people come in and, and take, take money back to their home tour, but hey, I tell Hilton guys to play better.
Speaker D
That's right. I was getting any points anyways because Jacksonville tour ended early, abruptly on a whole nother issue. So I was going up there just for the competitive nature of it. I know some of the guys, you know, getting ready for nationals, and I was just kind of doing the same thing. So it was a good, good day.
Speaker A
So did you bring a few guys up?
Speaker D
I think there's three of us from Jacksonville that came up.
Speaker A
That's awesome. And Hilton Headlights is not a bad place to play.
Speaker D
No. And especially being right there off of 95, it took me not even two hours to get there for miles.
Speaker C
So.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. So I guess you're, you're north of Jackson.
Speaker D
Yeah, I'm on. On the north side of Jacksonville.
Speaker A
Awesome. So what's been your favorite course?
Speaker D
Wexford. Wexford Country Club in Hilton Hood.
Speaker A
Yeah, that's. You made a good choice coming up for that one.
Speaker D
Yeah, I played in it both years and it's, it's, it's definitely one of my favorite courses.
Speaker A
Yes. What about down in Jacksonville?
Speaker D
I got the chance to play Plantation. I mean, it wasn't a course on the tour. It's private course down here. That's. But on tour, probably Eagle Harbor.
Speaker A
What do you like about it just.
Speaker D
The layout, it just, there's challenging holes, there's, you know, blind shots. You kind of have to use every club in your bag, you know, and I like that about a course. You have to, you know, think about a shot.
Speaker A
Right. And so, so you just got bumped up, you know, I guess, and in the season into the B flight. So.
Speaker D
Yeah, I was actually in B flight half of last year and then I don't know what happened to my game. Lost my game and got moved back. Well, I asked him to move back down to C flight and found my game and then got butt bumped back up just about, I don't know, two months ago, I think so.
Speaker A
Well, that's, that's good. I mean, I, I don't know where you stand on this, but, you know, the more people get, get bumped up because, because they're getting better or they've, they found something that, that, that they, that they lost for a while. This is really what we're trying to do. Try. We're trying to get better and, and, and move up in flights.
Speaker D
Absolutely. I mean, and again, obviously the competitive nature of me, okay, I want, I could go to C flight and I could, you know, probably finish in the top five or something without half, I'm just half trying. It's like, but that's not what it's about. You know, I should have to grind, should have to compete. You know, I, I, I, I don't want an easy, just type, okay, here's a top five because, you know, you're, you're better than half, you know, more than this field. Like, let me go into B flight and be competitive. So I'm, I'm enjoying it. Keeps you more focused too, because, you know, if like what happened Saturday, you can't have, you know, a little bowl cost you quick. You can get older than C flight. Not in B flight.
Speaker C
No.
Speaker A
Well, really, you can't get away, get away from it in any flight because on any given tournament day, somebody is going to have a good day in every single flight. And that goes for D flight too. And so you can't really play around. You can't say, okay, well, I'm where I need to be at hole 15, I can coast in. Because you truly just never know, especially if you're in a rhythm. As soon as you start playing smart or you start doing something that you haven't been doing, you know, for four hours, that, that's when you, you really run into trouble.
Speaker D
Right.
Speaker A
So, so you and Chris probably end up being, being paired at least on day one. Chris, you got any. Chris is famous for, for, you know, throwing out the challenges.
Speaker C
I am.
Speaker A
Yeah, you are.
Speaker B
I don't know all that, but I.
Speaker A
Sat around the table. I, I sat around the table with you last year. No. At nationals. I, I tell you to calm down.
Speaker B
No, you know what? It'll be, It'll be a good time. We can talk about some things when we get there.
Speaker C
Hopefully.
Speaker B
I mean, if. If, you know, the, the higher people who are doing the pairings, that they can pair us together, that'd be awesome. I open. Be opposed to that.
Speaker D
Same here.
Speaker B
So, Tim, make it, make it happen.
Speaker D
Dennis, if you're, if you're listening.
Speaker A
Well, he, Dennis actually does listen. And you know, you know, there are times when I, When I say stuff and he'll say, he'll send me a text. He says, really? That. That's really what you want to do?
Speaker B
You know, he's now wrong.
Speaker A
Yeah. And just, just to double check that he is listening. But, but I know he always does and. Oh, I'm sure he's. He's been a big supporter of the podcast and it's, it's been. His support has been. Been phenomenal for us and our growth, which really, you know, when we started this again, it was more done to help you all as players and the tour. And we're wrapping up, like Chris said, three full years of it. It's been great.
Speaker D
Dawson, I appreciate you.
Speaker A
Would you. Thanks so much for spending some time with us. And we will see you. You're going to be registration and then on Thursday with. With. With product and you'll be there Sunday. And then as. As seniors, we're going to be broadcasting live on. On Thursday, so make sure you stop by and at least say hi. We'll get you on there as well.
Speaker D
Absolutely. I appreciate it.
Speaker A
All right, you take care, but thank you, guys. Let's take a break from the show to hear about Strixon's ZX Mark II drivers. ZX Mark II drivers are for major players, major winners, major power. All new ZX Mark 2 drivers only from Srixad. I just want to take a quick second to explain the next segment. We brought Roger in to do another segment of Rogers Rules. And for whatever reason, the first time we did the interview, we lost all the footage. So we scheduled them again and for whatever reason, again, the footage did not come through and was not. Was not usable. And just want to let everybody know that this segment we've played before, but it's still got really good information for you. And you know, for the last three years, almost three years to date, we've, we've been honest with you. And this is the first time in three years that we, we've done an interview that hasn't take or not produce, let's just say a full episode. But you know, with, with Roger, he always gives good information. So again, we've got a compilation of a, of a previous interview going over some important things that you all need to know as we head into national championship. We're looking forward to seeing everybody and hope you enjoy the segment. Take care as we wind down the season. Obviously we wanted to have you back on and go over some, some rules as we, as we head into the national championship. So what do you have for us this week?
Speaker C
Yeah, so there's been a video going around and I know Chris said posted this somewhere or sent it to me about what they call the two by two rule. Chris, you remember sending that video?
Speaker B
I do, yes.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker C
So it's called the two by two rule because they're thinking. And the video that you'd sent describes one thing, but it's really about something else. So this is about immovable obstructions, and they call that abnormal course conditions in the rules rule 16. But it's really about like sprinkler heads by the putting green, whether if they're on your line of play, do you get relief from them? And in the video, they showed how basically not to do it. So there's a couple of things about that. The actual sprinkler head has to be within two club lengths of the putting green itself. And then your ball has to be within two club lengths of that sprinkler head also. And it has to be on your line of play. And think about if, if your ball's on the sprinkler head, it's really something else that comes into effect, and that's the abnormal course conditions. That means the sprinkler head is interfering with your stance or your swing. And under the regular set of rules, you get relief. For a abnormal course condition, you find the closest point of relief and then you get one club length. But let's say on your line of play, that sprinkler head is right there, but it has no effect on your swing or your stance. And people are thinking, a lot of times this comes up pretty often they're thinking, well, I get relief, don't I? It's on my line of play. And under the normal, just the regular rules of gall, you do not get relief. That's Not a regular rule. It's a local rule. And I, like I've always said in the past, local rules, there's so, so many of them. And unless somebody tells me that there's a local rule in effect, then I would rule. No, you don't get relief. But there is a local rule and it's local rule 5F5 1. Not that there'll be a quiz on that later. And that is if your ball is, if the sprinkler head is within two club lengths of the green and your ball is also within two club lengths of that sprinkler head and it's on your line of play, then you get relief from that. But you just got to remember that that's a local rule. It's not just automatic. And that's the biggest thing that guys automatically think they get relief and they don't because it's not, it's not a local rule. And I'm honestly, I don't know on our tour, I mean, some tours may play that rule and other tours, I mean, you know, reasons. I'm not sure what you guys do on your tour if you have that as, as a rule.
Speaker A
No, we. Right. I hope other tours don't do it, but.
Speaker B
But we do.
Speaker C
So it does come up and it's line of play. And, and you remember that's pretty. There's not a whole lot of area there when you talk about that, that's within two club lengths. So if it's a sprinkler head on your line of play, you know, out when you're pitching, you know you're not going to get relief for that. It's just, it's on your line of play. And the reason that is instituted is because if it's that close to the putting green, a lot of times the choices a player will choose to putt the ball, and if you think if a sprinkler head is on that line, then that's definitely going to affect being able to putt it. So that's kind of why they put that rule into effect. And what you do there when they were talking about two by two, that the two is the within two club lengths of the putting green and then your ball within that two club lengths, not two club lengths away. Do you get to drop? That's what that video was showing you. Again, find your closest point of release and then you drop your ball and that's. You drop your ball from that spot and that's your two, two by two rule. It's not two club Lengths away. You don't drop two club lengths away unless for some odd reasons. Two club lengths is the closest point of relief then. Yes, but that's normally not the case. So it's, that's the two by two rule.
Speaker A
Yep.
Speaker C
So other than that one, I really just wanted to talk a little bit about things golfers can do in the off season or things they shouldn't do also in the off season. I've mentioned to you guys that the best, the starting point, if you want to learn a little bit about the rules, is to download the USGA Rules of Golf app. I think every golfer on our tour should have. That almost ought to be a, that ought to be a, what do you call it, a qualification of joining our, the Golf Week Tour. Load that app to your phone. Maybe you guys can. It's, it's free, it's easy. There's a regular. There's the app and then there's an expert section which gives all the clarifications and all that stuff. And it's downloadable on all your phones and it's, it's pretty easy to use. It has, you know, all the rules. It has qualifications, which, not qualifications, clarifications. And it, it pops up fast. You can, there's a search bar in it. So like if you're not exactly sure what you're asking, you can put a search, you know, put a couple of words in and it'll come back with what they think you might be asking about. So that's the USGA Rules of Golf app. And on the opposite side of that, believe it or not, there's, you know what like Internet trolls are or people that just try to cause trouble, I'll put it that way. There's this one guy and it's been going around and he's called. Maybe you guys could look it up or anybody listening. He's called the footy golfer. And I think he came up with that name like using a foot wedge to get your ball out of the woods or something. You know, give yourself free. Yeah. So he posts videos and the thing about it is he's so serious and, and if somebody just came across him, he posts these videos and it looks legitimate, but the rules that he placed that he says are totally, they're, they're not within the rules at all. Like he'll say, do you know, if you're in a penalty area and the grass is long, if it's longer than say your knee length, you get a free drop out of that penalty area. And you don't even have to drop the ball. You can place it. And that's. That is like, one that we did recently, but he's so serious about it. And then he just, like, ends the video, and he's like, he looks like a normal guy. And then you just read all the comments, and everybody's like, you don't know what the f. You're talking about. This. This is not true. Why would you post it? And then he has lots of these. So that's. That's the other thing. So you got to be careful what you see on the Internet is what I'm saying.
Speaker B
Yes, you do.
Speaker C
Yeah. And then, you know, on the flip side, there are. I'm in, like, there's tons of these out there. But there's Facebook chat groups about the rules of golf. One's called the Golf Rules Samaritan, and that's probably the highest level. It has officials that are USGA that I've seen, been to the workshops, and the guys that make the comments, they are the top of the top. And then there's one just called Golf Rules. There's a bunch of them out there. And the only problem with them is I almost. I go on them occasionally when I'm kind of like. I guess when I'm bored, you know, golf nerd that I am. Golf Rules nerd that I am. But somebody will ask a question, and it'll be a pretty simple question with a pretty simple answer. But people start going down rabbit holes like, they switch. They. They twist the question a little bit, and you might learn something, but you never. Like, if you start reading these things, you'll get confused because there'll be a simple answer to a question, but then you'll have. Literally there'll be 75 or 80 replies, because people will throw in things about local rules or they'll throw. Throw in things about what about this or what about that. So what I really like to do is use that USGA website and use those videos that. Oh, shoot, I forget the guy.
Speaker A
The.
Speaker C
The guy who does the great videos from the usga. I can't think of his name right now. It'll come to me. But his little short videos are so good. They really. They really describe things the right way. And. And you can go to just the regular old USG USGA website. And there are lots of videos that are very easy to understand, very easy to. To learn. Learn a little bit about the rules and they just instituted. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry.
Speaker A
And. And for us and what we do, that's. That's Pretty much really what we, what we need, you need the players to do to understand the basics. And obviously, you know, if there's going to be some, you know, some more technical or some more complicated issues, then you know that that's where the, you playing the two balls and getting rulings and, and other people involved comes into play. But, but knowing the basic stuff is, is really what we need our, our players to do.
Speaker C
Exactly.
Speaker A
Yeah, that.
Speaker C
Yeah. And it's funny you mentioned about the playing two balls. That comes up a lot in these chat groups. Like they say, you know, people don't do that enough and they really should because that, you know, play two balls and you know, yes, it's going to take a little extra time, but that's probably the right thing to do. The only other thing, like rules wise, like our tour, we have a really nice three day match. It's not what we used to call a Lava Cup. We're doing something else. So learning a little bit about match play in the off season is a, is a fun thing to do too because match play has its own set of rules there, some of them, you know, that are unique only to match play. And it's good to know those because those match play events are so great and so many tours are doing them. And we don't discuss those that much because we don't play that on our tour. We do it outside. But it's really good to know and it's nice when you get to watch, you know, the President's cup is coming up soon, so it's good to know like, you know, somebody just casual watcher might watch, like why didn't he have to putt that one? And they don't realize, okay, you're allowed to concede putts and, or whatever. It might be so nice to learn about match play a little bit if you don't know about it. So really that was it for that. I was thinking about towards the end of the year here just learning the USDA rules website. Download that app and it'll really put you in a good place when you want to learn a little bit more about the rules.
Speaker A
Yeah. And let me just bring up a couple other, if you don't mind, Roger. Yeah. With, with the Tour Championship that happened back at, at East Lake a few weeks ago, you know, there were a couple of, of, of strange things that the committee did with making, you know, playing the ball out of one fairway actually out of bounds.
Speaker C
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker A
Can you talk about that a little.
Speaker C
Bit so the course can have Internal out of bounds. If so, what they did, as I recall, they. They had a. I think they said it was really for spectator safety. They said. I think they met. I think they. What they declared was it was like the edge of a fairway. Anything past that was internal out of bounds. I think as. As I recall. And a committee can. Has. The committee has a lot of options. Like, they can set many things, and the committee is the committee. They're the ones that set these rules. And I remembered. I didn't. I remember seeing about the. The out of bounds there. But, you know, on. On some courses, you know, you could hit it all the way across a fairway and you'd still be in bounds. But as I recall, I think what they did was say they didn't want players to be. They were basically taking a shortcut. So they didn't want players to be taking a shortcut like it was, let's say, a dog leg. And you could go. If you went the normal route of the course, you know, you'd hit it out to the fairway and then turn right and head to the green. But they said, you know, they didn't want players just driving it right through the turn or whatever. So they made an internal out of bounds where if you put it there, you're going to be penalty. You're going to be. You're going to be going out of bounds. That's how I recall it. And on my course, there's a. One of the courses I play, there's a sign right off the tee box. Players are not allowed to cut across this lake for fear because there's a putting green to the right of the putting green of the hole that we're playing. And they're afraid people are going to get hit on this other putting green. So they make it a penalty that you can't cut across this lake. Basically, you have to hit straight to the fairway. And so then that actually came up in one of these golf rules, chess. Well, how do you avoid that? And it came up that a lot of that has to do with the design of the course. Like, why did they make it so that you could drive over that? And the suggestions were, well, why don't they put up a fence next to the tee box so you can't, like, cut across? And a lot of courses don't want to do that for the aesthetics of it doesn't look good. And then other courses were like, we, we put trees up there, we put a row of bushes, and that solves some of the Problems. But like the course I'm at, they just put a sign up and said, you're not allowed to do it. So it's up to the player to. Yeah, you know, you police yourselves. So that, that's what I recall about that.
Speaker B
I think now with, with the talent that players have, being able to, to think of, of routes like that and driving it, I don't think they were expecting that when they built the courses and now they have to put these new rules in to kind of help with the. Like I said, the aesthetics of the course and the way it's supposed to be played.
Speaker C
Exactly. Yes. That's, that's exactly what this one was reminded me of.
Speaker A
Yeah. And then the other one was Heath Tagalog called a penalty to himself because he, he thought he may have brushed the sand when he was in a sand trap. I thought that was kind of interesting because he wasn't even sure if he did it, but, you know, to play it safe, he called that penalty and it cost him a few strokes and it didn't cost him the tournament, but it did cost. Call State, you know, a couple spots in the money.
Speaker C
Yeah. And that's, you know, it's up to the player to decide, you know, it's, you know, the onus is on the player and kudos to him for doing that. I do remember seeing that, though, and, and other players, like, they never saw it or it was even hard to see, like in the video or anything, or I don't even know if they had the video. Yeah. But he, he said he did, so. And who, you know, who knows? But good on him if, if that was the case, you know, you, the regular golfer is going to be like, wow, that's just like, I'd never call that on myself, but that is the rule. So, you know, you can, you can take it, hit it, and you can hit it in the backswing, but not while you're setting up the ball or, you know, because it might, you know, and the reason for that is they say it could improve your lie some. You know, if you prep, if you put the sand down a little bit behind the ball, then might be easier to hit the ball, that kind of thing. And so, you know, a couple of pebbles of sand, though, it's just, wow, that was that, that was a tough one. Yeah, yeah. It probably cost them with, with that kind of money they were playing for in that tournament, it probably was tens of thousands of dollars.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker C
For sure.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker C
Yeah.
Speaker B
I mean, that's just, that's a player.
Speaker C
That'S calling on himself. So anyway, yeah. Glad we're not playing for that big kind of. Well, maybe we are at nationals. How much are we playing for at nationals? Hope everybody's honest down there.
Speaker A
Yeah, me too. Well, Roger, thanks so much for everything you do for us. This year has been great and thank.
Speaker C
You guys very much. I appreciate all the time you've let me have on here.
Speaker A
All right, buddy. You take care and we'll talk to you soon. Yep.
Speaker B
Bye.
Speaker A
Now let's take a break from the show to hear about Strixon's ZX Mark II irons. A great iron set needs more than good looks. It's gotta be fast and gotta be pure. But good looks never hurt either. The all new ZX Mark II irons from Trixon.
Speaker B
It was awesome to. To get Roger's rules back into the rotation. I know we missed him for a while and we're glad his injury wasn't as worse or wasn't worse than what it could have been.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Because especially with what he's told us now with not wearing a helmet while he was riding or allegedly not wearing one, that could have been pretty bad. So was glad to have him back and clarify some of the little rules that might get overlooked at nationals. I mean, you have all these golfers out there, you would hope a handful of them would know all the rules. But just in case we're here to get you covered and there will be a quiz at. No, I'm just kidding. There won't be a quiz.
Speaker A
But yeah, you know, Roger does really, he does a great job for us all the time. And the rules that he went over and brought up for us again, we talk about them at least once a year before national championship. And sometimes for me, it's crazy that people don't know some of the basic ones. And I get it, new golfers, this or what have you. But you know, when you're coming down and you're playing in a competitive event, you really should be knowing the. Some of the basic, basic rules. And if you don't, make sure you ask.
Speaker C
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker B
Ask anybody. The chances are that none of you four know the rules. Play two balls, please. We don't need to have people upset that they had, that their round went down the tube because you were festering over a rule that you could have known or whatnot. Just play two balls. But that's why I was glad we were able to get Roger on because he, he, he's able to clarify in case there's anything like fire Ants or alligators or I don't know what else is out there. I try to stay away from anything that's hazardous.
Speaker A
Well, you know, down here now it's. It's baby snake time.
Speaker B
Baby snake time.
Speaker A
Yeah. So the, the got a lot of copperheads around and what, what people may not know is we do have some rattlesnakes here.
Speaker B
Oh, I know what those are.
Speaker A
Yeah. And so I, I don't know if it's baby rattlesnake time, but it's definitely baby copperhead time. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker B
So just keep me away from those. Please don't get mad at me if I'm not helping. Looking for your ball deep in the woods.
Speaker A
I'm with you, man.
Speaker B
I'm not that quick. So what do they say if you're running from alligator, make sure you have a slower guy behind you.
Speaker A
That's it. That's it. So that's why I don't get out of the cart. There you go. See? Smart. So. So how did your, your last tour of the year wrap up?
Speaker B
It was very good. Had had some good point races that needed to be determined at those events. So it was nice to see that me personally had a great round day one, not so great round day two, but you know, it's bittersweet when, when you have your tour final, I, you love to see the season end and see who wins the points races and things like that. But you know it's going to be, what is it? October, November, December4. Month break for us before we start another event. The guy, you know, your players don't see what happens in the last season to get everything ready for that, but can't wait to get it started again, honestly.
Speaker A
Yeah, Everybody knows I took a little step back this year and it didn't really run many tournaments at all, but I still need a break.
Speaker B
You're doing a lot of other things. I understand that.
Speaker A
I'll still need a break, but I'm looking forward to seeing my national championship, seeing everybody on Thursday. We'll be around all week and seriously, let's plan on sometime either Tuesday or Wednesday. It would probably more likely be Wednesday because you don't get until Tuesday afternoon, right?
Speaker C
Yeah, about three o'. Clock.
Speaker A
Yes. Let's play on sometime Tuesday. Going over to Stews.
Speaker B
You let me know. I'll be there Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Speaker A
All right.
Speaker B
I mean may go get one and you know, it's just a walk, five, seven minute walk to the beach from his spot.
Speaker A
Oh, lesson. Yeah, beach is right across the street. Right.
Speaker B
So Go enjoy a sub on the beach.
Speaker A
That'd be great.
Speaker B
And who knows? I. Honestly, it seems like it's going to be an easy trip for me. I don't have much golf planned just because I've played every course out there. Kind of remember the ins and outs, but hit a range here or there, so you let me know and we'll make it work. I can't wait.
Speaker A
We'll see what we can do. But again, we're definitely doing live feed live podcasts on Thursday 4, 36, 30 at the clubhouse at Arthur Hills. Come see us when you check in. Bring $10. Enter the raffle. Yeah, I'll have the. The used clubs.
Speaker B
Out there.
Speaker A
You should I. You want me to. No, no. Keep them box up.
Speaker B
No, because then we have to get some new ferals from Drew. We don't need those.
Speaker A
All right. I'll bring the brand new club still in the box. I'll bring them and, and hopefully we'll. We'll. We'll. We'll be able to give them away.
Speaker B
I think we will. I. Yeah, come. You know, it's a good time because most of the directors are there. So you can get to see your directors. They usually have their team shirts there they're handing out. You get to see guys that you met last year or previous years or maybe even some of these regionals that you haven't seen. And it's just good to catch up. It's a little time to kind of just, you know, the calm before the storm, I guess.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Just get to relax a little bit and then, you know, wake up Friday morning, hopefully on time, and make it to the course.
Speaker A
Hopefully on time.
Speaker B
I'm gonna have an alarm set every 10 minutes.
Speaker A
I'm feeling good. Feeling good.
Speaker B
And an alarm set on my iPad too, so that I make sure it goes off. I have. I'm telling you, I could have sworn I got up. I guess I. I don't know. I'm just making excuses, man.
Speaker A
Hey, you made it there in time. That's all I care about. Just make sure you make it there on time this year and it. You'll be good.
Speaker B
Yeah. Second year, the directors cups, which is going to be fun. See who claims those. Hopefully there's plenty of directors in each flight that. That there's some competition out there, actually that. Back to back.
Speaker A
Let me take a look at that real quick and see do we have any directors that are in Deflight?
Speaker B
You'd probably be able to spot them quicker than I could.
Speaker A
I'm looking. Oh, yeah. Patina no, no, she's in C flight.
Speaker B
Oh, bring it on.
Speaker A
Let's see here. Who else? Vic, but he's a. He's a senior. Vic Werner from the new. New Senior Arkansas Tour Director. But he's senior, so I don't. I don't know if that counts. Yeah, we do have some Thompson from D.C. so one for sure. Dave Phillips. But he's senior, so I don't know if that counts. D.C.
Speaker B
Well, it should count if they're playing in it.
Speaker A
Yeah, but. But they're not. Golf Week Tour director. That, that, that's. That's what my question is. Yeah.
Speaker B
Yeah, I guess I can see that.
Speaker A
They could be at me. I. I just don't know.
Speaker B
We have a good amount of people on the wait list too for A and C flight. So any of you see players that want to come tackle a B flight, let's go. The more the merrier.
Speaker A
Bring it. Right. Well, okay. So unless I'm missing something. All right. And it's possible, unless I'm missing something and. And that the senior tour directors aren't eligible for Golf Week, then we already have a winner. Congratulations, Thompson. And again, I could be missing something, you know. So. So we'll see.
Speaker B
There might be a last minute entry.
Speaker A
Yeah. Are there any despot Deflate spots left? Two.
Speaker B
No, two.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah, two. Say 2.2D spot. Two deflate spots are left, two seal spots are left, and then a few B.
Speaker B
And.
Speaker A
Little less than half of champ. So that's that. But I'm looking forward to it. Got a lot of good stuff going on. Looking forward to seeing everybody. So this, this again, the. The episode after this. Let's just make sure everybody's clear on this episode after this comes out on December. Excuse me? December.
Speaker B
December.
Speaker A
Wow. It's crazy. October 20th. So that's the weekend after Golf Week National Championship and right before the senior start. So we will put something out. I don't know when something will come out. Something. Something will come out. But it'll be. There's just a way for me to turn something over on. On Monday.
Speaker B
Yeah, we'll have. We'll have something available.
Speaker A
I'll tell you what me was.
Speaker B
We'll keep it a surprise.
Speaker A
Well, let's. Maybe to. To seriously, let's just say for sure next episode will be October 27th. That way we don't promise something and can't get it done. It just gives us. Gives. Gives us an extra week.
Speaker B
That's fair.
Speaker A
And so next episode, next regular episode will be October 27th. And that'll that'll more than likely be a roundup wrap up of of national championship and. And a brief look ahead to 2026 season.
Speaker B
Yes, sir.
Speaker A
And in no time at all, we'll be sitting right back here next year. Let's go fly by.
Speaker B
Don't say that. Don't say that. Well, you know, I'm ready to get this year by us.
Speaker A
It's been a tough year.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker A
Been truly tough. Yeah.
Speaker B
I don't want it to go by too fast.
Speaker A
Yeah. Quicker. We can get through some things. High school next year. Seriously, you gonna be all right?
Speaker C
No, I'm not.
Speaker B
Right now.
Speaker A
Who's worse off, you or Diane?
Speaker B
Probably Diana, but okay. It's. And I mean, you know, when.
Speaker C
As they get.
Speaker B
As they get older, you remember what you went through.
Speaker A
Oh, I do.
Speaker B
So, yeah, you've been there. You're a grandpa now.
Speaker A
Yep.
Speaker D
You're a pretty awesome Pops.
Speaker B
Pops.
Speaker A
Pops. Yeah.
Speaker B
You look like a pops.
Speaker A
Yeah, don't. Don't get started. All right. But do me favor. Travel safe, and I will see you next week.
Speaker B
S2 Soaps.
Speaker A
You got it. All right, buddy.
Speaker B
All right, brother, we'll talk.
Speaker A
Talk to you soon. All right, that's a wrap for this week's episode. But, Chris, after all this time, you would think we would remember this stuff.
Speaker B
We forgot to tell people how to register, didn't we? Yep.
Speaker A
Take it away.
Speaker B
Well, if you're not already part of the Golf Week amateur tour, what are you waiting for? Grab your clubs, join the fun, and see what competitive golf is all about. You can sign up today and start meeting some incredible folks who love the game as much as you do.
Speaker A
All you need to do is go to amateur golftour.net, click the join the tour button and pay your local tours membership dues.
Speaker B
And hey, don't forget, if you're enjoying the podcast, you can click catch us on all of the major podcast platform. Be sure to download, share with your golf buddies and throw us a quick review. If you're feeling the love, it helps us keep bringing you the good stuff and reaching even more golfers out there. Thanks for hanging with us. And until next time, keep swinging and having fun out there.
Speaker A
We'll see you next time. Take care.