Golfweek Amateur Tour - The Podcast
Welcome to the Golfweek Amateur Tour Podcast!
If you love amateur golf, the thrill of competitive golf events, and the camaraderie of the golf community, this is the podcast for you!
Join hosts Tim Newman and Chris Rocha as they bring you the latest from the Golfweek Amateur Tour, covering everything from all of the local golf tours through the road to the National Championship. We’ll break down recent golf tournaments, highlight standout players, and dive into what makes amateur golf competitions so much fun.
But that’s not all, we sit down with tour directors, course pros, and players from across the country to hear their stories, get insider perspectives, and maybe even pick up a few tips along the way. And, of course, we’ve got Roger’s Rules, where we tackle the quirkiest, most debated rules in golf (because let’s be honest, we all need a refresher sometimes).
This isn’t just another amateur golf podcast, it’s a golf podcast for everyday golfers who love the game, the grind, and the great people that make up the Golfweek Amateur Tour. So hit subscribe, grab a drink (or a range bucket), and let’s talk golf!
Golfweek Amateur Tour - The Podcast
Tour Tough: How Veterans Compete Like Pros on the Golfweek Amateur Tour
In this special Military Appreciation Month episode of Golfweek Amateur Tour – The Podcast, Tim Newman and Chris Rocha spotlight two inspiring veterans whose impact on and off the course defines the spirit of the Golfweek Amateur Tour and Senior Amateur Tour.
First, meet Jamal Garrett, a Marine and Navy veteran whose global deployments from Australia to Japan helped shape his perspective on life and competition. Now a standout on the Tidewater Golfweek Amateur Tour, Jamal shares how golf became a therapeutic outlet during his transition to civilian life. His unforgettable hole-in-one at Kings Mill is the kind of moment every golfer dreams of, and he lived it on tournament day!
Then we welcome Dave Phillips, a retired Air Force Colonel whose career spanned the end of the Cold War and command positions across multiple continents. Now serving as the DC Metro Tour Director for the Senior Amateur Tour, Dave brings military-grade leadership and planning to our Competitive Golf Events. He shares candid reflections on institutional knowledge, team-building, and running high-quality Amateur Golf Tournaments, even in the face of rising course fees and unpredictable weather.
As Memorial Day approaches, this episode is a heartfelt reminder that behind every tournament leaderboard are veterans, families, and stories of dedication and camaraderie. Whether you're a military family, veteran, or part of our Golf Community, you’ll be moved by the leadership, friendship, and resilience found in these conversations.
Also in this episode:
- Shout-out to Mike Cobb, Charleston Tour standout and April's Member of the Month
- Sneak peek at upcoming Regional events: PGA West, Cabot Citrus Farms, and Fripp Island
- Learn how you could win a set of Srixon irons through our podcast raffle
- Keep those nominations coming for May’s Member of the Month by June 5th!
This is Where Amateurs Play Like Pros, and where stories like Jamal’s and Dave’s shine brightest.
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Welcome back, chris, to the post-Mother's Day. Still Military Appreciation Month episode of the podcast.
Speaker 2:We got a lot going on. Man we do. It's picking up steam and you know this month has been fun. I can't wait to hear the stories today, but we're already halfway through May, man I know it's craziness, it's absolute craziness.
Speaker 1:We got two really good guests. I'm looking forward to talking to both of them, but there's so much going on across the country with golf. There's so much going on with some other things. I do have the Stu shirt with us tonight, so we can show that off we still got to come up with a contest, but we'll show that off. Man, I don't know if you knew this, but it was JR's birthday a couple days ago.
Speaker 2:I didn't. Happy birthday JR. Happy belated birthday.
Speaker 1:I found out and made sure I put something on the Facebook page, but there's just so much going on Right?
Speaker 2:No, I agree, there's a lot going on in my life too, and this month's going to go by before we even know it. I know, I know.
Speaker 1:I mean, you got a family trip coming up here in July. I got a feeling that's going to come up here in one of these interviews tonight, but oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:Well let's just get this show on the road now. I'm pretty sure everyone's excited.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're at the first quarter of the year ago, man. Seriously, it's the middle of May.
Speaker 2:All I know is I've been stuck in the 90s and that's not the year. That's my score. So I'm trying to not think of those six months, but we'll get through it yeah, we will.
Speaker 1:Well, everybody stick with us again. We got a really good episode, two, really good guests. We're going to announce the April tour. Member of the month and lots of good stuff going on, guys yeah, let's get going.
Speaker 4:Ladies and gentlemen, golf Week Amateur Tour 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. Now here are your hosts, tim Newman and El Paso Las Cruces. Tour director, chris Rocha.
Speaker 1:Welcome back, Chris. Hope you took care of Diane on Mother's Day.
Speaker 2:Yep did. Hope you did the same with Miss Newman.
Speaker 1:I did, but it wasn't actually on Mother's Day. We did stuff on Saturday. I did take her out to breakfast on Sunday, but I had a bunch of work stuff that I had to do on actual Mother's Day. But I just wanted to make sure that you know, from at least that perspective, you know we're not going to hell. So happy Mother's Day to everybody, to all the moms out there. Hope you all enjoyed it and you were well taken care of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. We did it before and we did it after, so I think we're good.
Speaker 1:We're good for this year for that.
Speaker 2:We've caught up. At least we're good. We're good for this year for that.
Speaker 1:We've caught up at least. Oh boy, we got lots of stuff going on. We're going to. We got two really good guests to round out Military Appreciation Month. You're going to love them. Really good stories. We're going to announce the April Member of the Month. We'll get him on the next episode, but, chris, we had 12. Yeah, they were solid.
Speaker 2:They were. They were very solid. It was a good turnout, and competition is only getting stiffer as we keep going.
Speaker 1:That's what she said.
Speaker 2:Hey, hey, settle down, settle down. I thought it in my mind as soon as I said it, but you're the one who let the cat out of the bag.
Speaker 1:Oh well, you know it's funny. Yeah, you were on here when you know we were just talking to our first guest and I said up to about nine years ago I thought myself a little kid and guess what? I guess I still am.
Speaker 2:Right, I think we all are a little bit All right.
Speaker 1:So we got a lot of stuff to talk about, but let's just get right into this. You know our first guest. I'm going to let him tell the story, his stories. But he served in two branches, 20 years retired and he accomplished something in a tournament a few weeks ago. It's really pretty cool yeah I can't wait. Let's go ahead and bring in our our first guest, jamal garrett, from the tidewater tour.
Speaker 5:Jamal, welcome to the show bud. Hey, thanks for having me oh, no, worries that.
Speaker 1:You know as you, as you heard, and you know what we talked about before we came on. You've got a great story, two branches. So you were Marines for eight years and Navy for 12 years.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 1:Dude, thank you so much for your service. I think there's more people out there that are doing two branches than people think about.
Speaker 5:I think there was. I really only did it because when I did my first eight years I had got orders that I didn't like.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 5:To make a long story short, I got orders I didn't like, so the Marine recruiter told me hey, you take these orders or you get out. And so I just got out. I'll show you, because it was, it was my, it was after my second combat tour, so I was like, nah, I can't go to a third one, not back to back to back, yeah, yeah, so so where are you from? I am originally from birmingham, alabama okay as you can see, as I can see. Yeah, I wasn't going to bring it up.
Speaker 1:I wasn't going to bring it up, but that's all right, that's all right Roll the dice. Settle down.
Speaker 2:Settle down.
Speaker 1:How did the military come about for you? Were you just graduating high school and then just go right in?
Speaker 5:I did. I played sports and everything growing up and a couple injuries derailed all that. So I ended up talking to a Marine recruiter my junior year and I just kind of signed up for the delayed entry program and just went from. There.
Speaker 5:My uncle was always in the Army. He was an Army. He just retired Army Sergeant Major and he was always trying to get me was an army. He just retired, uh army sergeant major, and he was always trying to get me to come to the army. But we kind of had like a thing back and forth between me and him who was better?
Speaker 1:so yeah, we, we already know, we don't even have to get into it, so we're good but yeah, it was it just kind of it just kind of went from there.
Speaker 5:I always liked it, grew up in a military family, like a bunch of my uncles and my dad. Everybody was in the military, so just kind of fell in line with it.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. You know the whole idea. I mean coming from a military family. People who don't have military members in their family don't truly understand what that means, you know. So I come from a military family. Now I only served a little bit of years, but my father was in, my grandfather was in, my wife's grandparents were in, my brother is retired and that causes a lot of stress, you know, on the extended family spouses, children, those types of things and you know, I think a lot of times that we forget about those. You know the other people that serve but aren't in uniform.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we got lucky, that serve, but aren't in uniform. Yeah, we got lucky.
Speaker 5:My dad had gotten out like years before I was even in the picture, so he only did like his first few enlistments and he got out, but he was doing like I said, my uncle I just see the stress and everything that it had on his family but like we all kind of bonded together and just and just, you know, helped each other out whenever we needed to and he'd always come home and we'd always have like get togethers and everything. Just try to reinforce like we know what you're doing, you know you're out serving and everything, so we kind of hold it down for you while you're gone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's what you got to do and that's you know. You kind of learn. You kind of learn that behavior, um, really kind of as you're growing up, you know, take care of each other and take care of. You know, not only your family, maybe, maybe, maybe somebody else's family as well yep, it definitely did all that.
Speaker 5:It was tight little tight-knit community, absolutely with everybody that's in the military.
Speaker 1:So let's start with your military service. What was your MOS, what were you doing, and give us some of the good memories.
Speaker 5:So, starting in the Marines, a good memory. I had two mls's. I was 0311 and 0151. 0311 is basically just infantry uh, 0151 is administrative, uh, paper pushup, pretty much. So I did both of those and I was always with the uh infantry units out in. I was stationed out in Hawaii, out of Kaneohe Bay, and some of the good memories was like all, even though the deployment sucked just some of the places we went. So, like hands down, my best place that I ever went to was Australia, sydney, australia.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow, loved it to was.
Speaker 5:Australia, sydney, australia, wow, wow, loved it. That was the one place like, if you ever thought about, like not coming back home, it was probably the place.
Speaker 2:How long were you there for?
Speaker 5:We were there for about five days. Okay, but it was a lot of fun days, okay, but it was a lot of fun probably the worst was probably being in out in uh mount fuji, japan, for for one, the only reason it was the worst is because one it was dead of winter oh and so it's super cold.
Speaker 5:And then we went back for some kind of training, like with the Japanese army and stuff, and we had to sleep in the field, and so, you know, they got the Habu snakes out there. So they come around and they're like, hey, you know, just be careful at night. When you got to get up and go to the bathroom or something where you're sleeping, because these snakes might slither up in your sleeping bag or something. Yeah, I slept on top of the humvees after that yeah, I'm sure, yeah, no, we're not doing that, jamal.
Speaker 5:We're not doing that.
Speaker 1:No, not at all, not at all there's only so much I can take you know, and snakes is not one of them but yeah, I've slept outside in the cold and in these sleeping bags and in these, you know, makeshift tents and all this other stuff. That's one thing, but you start bringing snakes around. We're not doing that.
Speaker 5:Yeah, terrified of snakes, hate them yeah.
Speaker 2:And they're sneaky too.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You don't know. They're there until it's too late.
Speaker 5:Yeah, they've already got got hold of you by the time you know they're there, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1:So tell me about living in hawaii though. I mean, I've been to hawaii a couple times. It's fun, I mean, but but but living there, my goodness, could chris you would, chris, you would love it.
Speaker 2:I mean, the weather is nice I'm going in july, so I can't wait.
Speaker 5:You definitely have to go to a luau while you're out there.
Speaker 2:We will. I think we have that planned, and I'm trying to play Royal Hawaiian, which is apparently very beautiful, so we'll see, it is definitely very beautiful.
Speaker 5:I loved every minute that I was out there when we were actually there and not out like training or deployed. But it's super expensive and I'm sure it's probably like 10 times as expensive now, but it's beautiful out there. I loved it so.
Speaker 1:So when you were living out there did, did you get a cost of living bump, or or was it you just got your normal? Oh yeah.
Speaker 5:You definitely got a cost of living bump out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know how you would live, right?
Speaker 5:Nobody would be able to survive out there if they didn't Right right, I think for BAH it was like almost three grand, almost out there.
Speaker 1:That's crazy At that out there. That's crazy at that time that's crazy so every minute though so how about your navy service?
Speaker 5:uh, I was an electronics technician and I came in. I got out of the marines in 2008. I got out for two years. I came in in June of 2010, and I was the electronics technician. I've been here in Virginia my whole time that I was out here that I was in the Navy, I've been on a place called Nick Tam's Land. It's like a little communication center center like a little hub where all the communications go through. And then I was on the uh, george hw bush, the aircraft carrier okay and then I worked.
Speaker 5:I worked at the schoolhouse uh on norfolk naval base and then I retired and now I work back there as a contractor doing uh teaching, navigation equipment and uh communications equipment that's awesome, you know.
Speaker 1:I think that's kind of a kind of a hidden gem, you know, when you retire and then you get get hired, but you get a GS job oh yeah because I mean everything, not that everything's gravy, but I mean you're doing all right oh definitely. You know so.
Speaker 5:Less stress and more pay.
Speaker 1:Exactly. But my brother's the same way and this is I haven't convinced him yet, but so he retired a few years ago. He's got a government job, a GS job, I think. He reports to the general at Fort Polk and like he's his liaison or something. I don't know what he does, but anyway he's got like 150 days of leave saved up, right, and we're supposed to go on vacation together with family. And he says, well, I'm not coming. It's like I'm getting there on Friday. And he said, well, I'm not coming until Monday because I don't want to take that extra couple days of leave.
Speaker 5:I said, dude what are you doing? What are you doing? What is he saving them for?
Speaker 1:I don't know, he's going to retire fully here, I think in like two or three years. I said you know you're not going to lose. I mean you're not going to miss two days. I mean seriously. Take the two days off, dude 150 days.
Speaker 5:Is he worried about two, two?
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly. I'm like come on man, so. But yeah, I mean, it's like he says a lot less stress you know, but he's sort of going to take any time off. But that's also, you know, part of the mentality that you know a lot of us have in that. But you know, at some point, as much time as you served, it's okay to relax a little bit. It really is.
Speaker 5:You have to. That's the only way to keep your sanity.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly. So now you did something special here at King's Mill in March. You got. You got a hole in one in a in a in a tournament. Tell us about it.
Speaker 5:So we were coming up to our last hole and it was 17 up there at that course and you know, 17 is the hole with like it's like right on the— well, it's the one that's right on the water and it's where the ships and everything came in. So they got the flags and everything came in. So they got the plaques and everything out there and one of my buddies this was his first tour event that he played in so we were together and we were talking about it and we were walking up and, um, we're talking about like this is it? You know, just don't even worry about nothing, just try not to hit it in the water. That's all you got to worry about. And so we was like getting the distance and stuff and it was like about 180, 183. So I was like I'm going to play my 185 club or 155, I'm sorry, 155. So I go back to the cart and the guy that was up there, he tees off and everything. And I'm walking back up and was like what are you gonna hit? I was like I'm gonna get a little soft eight iron.
Speaker 5:So the way the hole is, it kind of it's a flat, undulated surface, but off to the left side. You got a heel and it just slopes down right into it and it kind of like funnels down wherever the flag is at. So as long as you hit that side of the hill, it kind of rolls down and you're good, unless you hit, like the front side right. So I'm like I'm gonna just hit the top, try to hit the top of the hill, like right where the green and the uh grass meet, and just let it kind of like roll down. It'll put me like maybe 15, 20 feet from the pin, two putt for a par and go home, get up.
Speaker 5:I hit it and we're all watching and it hits. The hits the side of the hill exactly where the green and the fringe meet, and I'm like, okay, it's gonna be, it's gonna be pretty good. And my buddy taps me like hey, man, it's still rolling. I was like it's still rolling. They're like, yeah, it's rolling towards. It. Looks like you're rolling towards the pin. And I'm like, oh, that's gonna be great. So we're standing there watching it and then just disappears and I'm like I look at him and he looks at me. He's like, did that go in? I'm like I don't know, bro, I think it did, and like one of the other dudes that's with us. There's some guys up on the hill and they start clapping and we're like, oh, sap, it went in.
Speaker 5:So we went from like three rings of emotion like is this true? Confusion, like is it true, to happiness, to scared. The reason it went to happen is because, obviously, it went in right when we saw it disappeared. The scared is because the water's right here on the right. I threw my club up in the air, oh, and so I'm like, oh, oh, no, my club is gone. But it didn't land in the water, it landed like right on the side of the hill. Yeah, it was. It was pretty awesome, my first one ever dude that's awesome.
Speaker 5:People still talk about it and they're like it was, it was awesome, it was awesome on it.
Speaker 1:Well, you can be talking about that forever. And you know, you know you had. You know my buddy, thompson Sawyer was in your group saw that he's such a good guy it must have been fun to play with. Did you play golf when you were in the military or was it something that you picked up after you got out?
Speaker 5:It was something I picked up. I played a little bit while. I was in. It was something I played a little bit while I was in. I really started playing probably when I got here in Virginia, like around 2011. I got a couple buddies on the tour with me Kevin Bryars, tim Sales and another buddy, ed Sicko. I met them.
Speaker 5:They were the first group of guys that I met while I was out here and they kind of got me into it okay and my buddy, kevin and tim told me like yeah, you should probably play pretty, you could probably take a serious and start playing for real. And I was like, nah man, they talked it up to me and everything, and so, like I've, I've gotten better over the last three, three years, like from where I was at to where I am now, and it's been pretty fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is. What would you say is probably, and you can't say, only one of your best memory now.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:What's your best memory about playing golf on tour Because you guys have Tidewater's got I would say probably one of the best. You know tours and tour directors you know in the country uh, yeah.
Speaker 5:So, lyle, speaking of lyle, this is the one. Uh, this bottom one right here is the one that he had made for me, him and another guy on tour, mike hale. They both uh found out that I had the hole-in-one, so they bought the flag and uh made it up for me, and the one that's on top of is the one that the course actually sent me dude, that's awesome so.
Speaker 5:Lau. Uh, the the best part, the best memory, was me and Lau were talking trash and I told him I was gonna win, win the Stonehouse course last year. And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, there's a bunch of good guys out there, so it was going to be tough, so I ended up winning. It was a two-day tournament. I ended up winning it that day, so I get bumped up to Sea Flight this year. And I told him I was like was like, yeah, you know, this is my course. I love this course. Stonehouse is my course. It's always the best, that I always play the best there. And I ended up finishing in second place. I lost, uh, by one stroke. Uh, the guy that beat me shot at 86.
Speaker 5:I shot at 87 wow so that's winning. I've won a couple of tournaments, so those are probably the best, the best ones, but Stonehouse is probably my favorite.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Number one, you know, I think winning a tournament is obviously awesome, but you know, moving up a flight and competing right away, that that's also gotta be a really good feeling, because not only are you getting better, but you know a lot of times when people say, well, I'm getting moved up, I can't compete. But you can compete. You just have to change that mindset a little bit it definitely is.
Speaker 5:Uh, a lot of guys just um, it's a, it's like I said, a few of the guys on the tour. They actually like talk to me a lot and help me out with a lot of stuff and they always tell me hey, man, just go out and play your game one swing at a time. Once that swing is over, move on to the next one. There's nothing you can do about it now. So they kind of keep me level headed and they always tell me when I talk to them they're like you, you'll be fine the way you play, you'll be all right. You never know, everything might click for you and you should have 77 again. And this will be the day you get bumped up to C flight I mean B flight now, after we're in the wind.
Speaker 5:So, just go with it.
Speaker 1:Don't calm down a little bit. It can happen, but calm down, we don't want to make too big of a jump. It can happen, but calm down.
Speaker 5:We don't want to make too big of a jump. Definitely not, definitely not, but it's a great time, wild Run's a great tour and we got the DC one coming up next. So if he's listening, I'm going to win that one too, oh Uh-oh.
Speaker 1:So we made a deal with somebody from the louisiana tour earlier in the in the year. I said if you win three in a row, you know you get a regular segment.
Speaker 5:so just keep that in mind so you gotta win three in a row you gotta win three in a row.
Speaker 1:You get a regular segment, okay I'll.
Speaker 5:Uh, are we talking like on tour? We're we talking like Tiger Woods golf on PlayStation? No no no no, no no, no, no. I almost had one of my players do that.
Speaker 2:He was real bummed when he got second place.
Speaker 1:It's got to be three in a row. It's got to be three in a row. So what regionals are you going to do this year? So what?
Speaker 5:regionals. Are you going to do this year what?
Speaker 1:Which regionals are you going to do this year? I know you generally go to one or two a year. Which ones are you doing this year?
Speaker 5:Well, we're doing the one in Blacksburg, oh yeah, yeah. And we usually try to travel corn, me and my buddies, and we're going down to uh frip island, we're doing that one and then we're doing the another one, local, another one uh, I forgot which one it was. I've signed up for all the all of our tours, everything, so I don't even there's so many different ones, I can't remember which one it is yeah, well, you don't miss a tournament.
Speaker 1:I mean, you've been on tour since since 2023 and you've got 62, 62 rounds.
Speaker 5:Yeah, well, I try to make every one of them Doesn't miss.
Speaker 1:How about that?
Speaker 5:It's. It's a lot of fun and a lot of money. Thank God for the retirement Exactly, thank God.
Speaker 1:So, so you can't take any days off. You, you, Exactly so you can't take any days off. You got to make sure you.
Speaker 5:Nope, oh man. It's a lot of fun, though. Meet a lot of good people.
Speaker 1:It really is Well, jamal, thank you so much for your service. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Thank you for joining us tonight and spending some time with us, and good luck this weekend and beating all those DC guys.
Speaker 5:Thank you, I appreciate y'all having me on.
Speaker 2:Hey Jamal, just real quick hook them horns, all right.
Speaker 5:Oh hey, we're still one and one, right now, so you know, I guess in another year. That's when the tiebreaker happens.
Speaker 2:Let's do it. I'm excited. We'll make a bet when it comes around.
Speaker 5:Hey, you know where to find me oh. I got you. I got you.
Speaker 2:All right bud, all right bud. Yeah, have a good one.
Speaker 1:Take care.
Speaker 3:ZX Mark II drivers are for major players, major winners, major power. All new ZX Mark II drivers only from Shrixod Tim.
Speaker 2:Well, dude, great conversation with Jamal. You know it's cool to have guys hit hole-in-ones I mean, I've been close before, uh but to do it in a tournament and specifically for him his last hole, uh, yeah, that's pretty cool. Now he I didn't get to ask him, but he did mention how scared he was, um, because he thought he lost his club. Uh, I would have been more scared of how big that bar tab is going to be than losing the club, because it might have been more than of how big that bar tab is going to be than losing the club, because it might have been more than an actual replacement of that club that's where I thought he was going with it, because that was a pretty big tournament there, and you know but it bears the question where does it come first, the chicken or the egg?
Speaker 2:do you pay for everybody at the tournament or just your group? That question has yet to be solved.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it's me, I'll take care of everybody Might as well. Let's have a good time.
Speaker 2:That's a big bar tap.
Speaker 1:That's all right.
Speaker 2:I mean he probably wanted to get a good bit of money If he played him.
Speaker 1:He played, he did, he did. We're just going to go with that. We know that he did and he played.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm going to take your word on that one.
Speaker 1:But you know the other thing with him I mean Marines for eight years, Navy for 12 years. God bless him, brother Right. That's awesome it is. You know he seemed a little disappointed that he didn't go anywhere for his Navy career, just stayed right there in the Norfolk area.
Speaker 2:I'd have been okay with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, doing the good work. I mean he served on a couple of really good ships and now he's got the opportunity to stay there and teach. Doing the good work, I mean he served on a couple really good ships, you know, and now he's got the opportunity to stay there and teach, Right, so you know good for him and just relax, kind of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and you know it keeps him in that area to be able to stay on the tour with his buddies in Lyle on the Tidewater tour. You know Tidewater's got a ton of military with them, just like DC, just like East North Carolina, like I told you before. You know up and down the East Coast you know lots of military members on tour.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's where I would assume a bunch of bases are. I mean, I'm not real familiar with it, but it seems like we usually get a lot of guys from the East Coast that I want to get on our podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think they just want to talk to you. Probably, probably, that's it. Well, well, you know, uh, our next guest I've known. I've known him for a long time. You know, when I first met him he told me he was going to retire. And then, uh, next year he said he was going to retire, and then next year he said he was going to retire, and then next year he said he's going to retire. Finally he retired, so retired. So I'm glad he did that. And now he's dealing with farm animals. But let's go ahead and welcome in our next guest, the senior DC tour director, dave Phillips. Dave, welcome to the show, bud. Thanks, yeah, you had an eventful evening.
Speaker 6:Already eventful. Just when you think work can't be any more hectic, you find out there's other stuff that happens when you're not around. I understand. Now I get to deal with what she dealt with.
Speaker 1:There you go. Well, you would rather be doing that than doing what you were doing.
Speaker 5:Don't lie, don't lie. It's a mixed bag.
Speaker 6:You were doing. Don't lie, don't. It's a mixed bag. You know, I still have a dedication to achieving mission I it's one of those things that never goes away.
Speaker 1:Once you did military, yeah, so so how long you're an air force veteran? How long were you in the air force?
Speaker 6:uh, I actually had four years at the Academy, plus 26 years seven months as active on top of that.
Speaker 1:And what'd you retire as?
Speaker 6:As an Air Force Colonel.
Speaker 1:God bless you, brother. Thank you so much. And and you know I think you're the first person we've had on that that was Air Force Academy graduate. Yay, no, it's, I mean. That was Air Force Academy graduate Yay, no, it's. I mean that's Go blue. But you know, I, I think people don't truly understand. You know what it takes, number one, to be able to get into the Academy, any Academy, whether it's the Air Force, whether it's, you know, naval Academy or West Point. It's not just you, just go in, I mean, oh.
Speaker 6:I tried the first year right out of high school and tried it on my own, did not get in. I ended up going the first year to Boston University and had to pay for that and did ROTC for a year. But college is expensive and didn't have the money and the loan kind of structure. So I applied this time because of where I worked was at Sperry Univac. They were a defense contractor for the Navy, of all things, and I worked for them and went to the local plant president and the ops manager because my dad had worked there before he passed away and so they all kind of had taken me under their wings when I was in high school working there and said, all right, we're going to write the letters of recommendation.
Speaker 6:Turns out the plant manager turned around and called the senator and was like, hey, can you help us out? Is there a shot? And next thing, you know, I flew from boston for the interview and met a few people during the interview and it turns out there were like four of us in that waiting room and it was the four of us that actually went in that year together because they screened the records and everything else. And it's like okay, terry, lee travis, all those and it was just like wow, and you see them, their freshman year and you remember who they were. And then you get to do all four years at the zoo. You don't get a free pass and do only three years.
Speaker 6:They make sure you get the gristmill.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm sure. So you got that bonus year at.
Speaker 6:Boston University.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's awesome. So what was your, what was your MWS, what was your job?
Speaker 6:I was in the communications electronics when I came in and, being at the academy, first thing I did when I graduated hey, here's my dream sheet. I'm ready to go anywhere in the world. Send me remote, whatever. And they sent me 20 miles down the road in the same city. So I was just like seriously, you guys are going to do this to me.
Speaker 6:I'm like I wanted to go see the world and I got sent down the road, so but it was a good four years because it was a good learning experience, right, and I did the base level unit and after the three years, okay, I needed to do something else and I got into the headquarters because one of my jobs was helping move the headquarters that was off base onto the base in their new building the Air Force Space Command at the time and we affectionately named the building Space Catraz at the time.
Speaker 6:So that was kind of fun and because you go in and it looked like one of those movies you know with right what either jean-claude van damme or jason statum and you see all these railings and offices and you look and feel like throwing somebody over the railing. No, it was actually good, but volunteered from there. I ended up overseas after that because they're like okay, short notice assignments where you want to go, do you want to go? I'm like I don't even know where that is. Can I call you back? And it's like well, you have until four o'clock today to decide.
Speaker 1:And it's 3.50.
Speaker 6:And actually it was two o'clock, but I ended up looking it up and it turned out to go to Holland.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 6:So I ended up in Holland, the Netherlands, because they're like Systerberg, the Netherlands. I'm like I don't even know what that is, because Americans, we call it Holland.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 6:That's called the Netherlands, nederland. So you're just like okay, so it's interesting things, you learn along your career and then went over there, did a bunch of different stuff and met my future wife there. Even though they did a base closure on us, I scrambled and ended up going to Japan but I wasn't sure if I was ready to marry and so I left. But she's like okay, you're not getting away. She bought a ticket from Holland to Japan, said I'm going to come visit you. She did. That was the longest fishing pole I've ever seen.
Speaker 1:Well, it worked. It worked it worked. That's awesome man. So where'd you go after Japan? Back home, I did two years there.
Speaker 6:I actually did finish my master's at Japan, and so they had this thing called Daedalus, which is your assignment system. And I'm like, okay, I applied to all these jobs and I applied like 26 jobs in the volunteer system, if you will. And it's like, okay, I called headquarters Pacific Air Forces. What am I doing wrong? I'm supposed to go to a major command next. What is it? And he's like he called up, I'll get back with you. Two weeks later he's like, okay, you're coming here to Hawaii. I'm like, well, I wasn't trying to go away. I've already been overseas twice. Now I need to go back to the city. He's like, no, you're coming here. The assignment people were doing some shady stuff, so you're coming to Hawaii. I get to Hawaii. He retired two weeks prior.
Speaker 5:And I was like, wow, that was sweet.
Speaker 6:And so it was kind of cool Three years roaming the island 30 miles around in a circle. It's fun, especially when you can go. Being in the Pacific Air Force you get to travel back to Japan, korea. You also get to go back to DC and other headquarters offices to pitch ideas for the command. So I was either going five-hour time zone east or five-hour time zone west. Wow, and it was just like, and when you had to do it in back-to-back weeks you had no clue what time zone you were in.
Speaker 6:But it was a great assignment because we had a great bunch of guys there at the time and even to this day I'm still friends with some of them because all roads from there led to DC when I ended up on staff there and some of the people that were in Hawaii are actually here in DC area still. Yeah, I kind of figured that would happen and some of the people that were in Hawaii are actually here in DC area still. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I kind of figured that would happen. I mean, if you're flying into DC all the time, you're making those connections and it's my guess is it was a relatively easy transition.
Speaker 6:Somewhat, I mean everywhere I kept moving to, kept getting more and more expensive. So it's like, okay, I'm based in Japan, not too bad, hawaii getting more and more expensive. So it's like, okay, on base in Japan, not too bad, hawaii, a little bit more expensive. I mean milk $5 a gallon back in the late 90s. And you're like, wow, okay. And then you turn around and get to come to DC and it kept going up. So after that it was like, where do I go? So I did a joint organization. Then I did joint staff. After that it was like, where do I go? So I did a joint organization, then I did joint staff after that.
Speaker 6:So I did three years there because general croon pulled me up and then I'm like, okay, boss, where do I go? He's like, well, you need to go back to another major command. I'm like, okay, you need to go here and you may or may not make colonel after reading the records, because it the higher you climb, the harder. It is Right and it sometimes it's being in the right place at the right time. It's not necessarily that you're a bad person, but they only have so many slots, right, right. And I ended up going from there back to Scott Air Force Base, which is outside of St Louis. From there back to Scott Air Force Base, which is outside of St Louis, and I was there for like 10 months and they had a no-notice command slot that popped open and I went to Colonel Matthews, the command lead for comm, and was like, okay, should I take this command job Because it's outside the communications career field, running a military entrance processing station? So everybody that recruiters bring in these guys vet them.
Speaker 6:And so I was like what do you think? And he's like well, my dad was the Phoenix MEPS commander back in the day, so if you want it, I think you should go for it. So I only spent 11 months in Illinois and went to LA for the next three years and two months. Um, and it turned out it was the largest MEPS in the U? S and had all sorts of headaches, um, but we ended up getting recognition and ran into a few uh investigations that I stumbled onto some irregularities and they're like okay. Next, you know cid is visiting and arresting recruiters for some shady business, but oh, wow turns out the, the army recruiting commander for the whole entire u?
Speaker 6:uh the general. There happened to be the general that I worked for when I was in the? Uh, the joint organization in the national military command center about that and and it was just like because it's weird, you never know who you cross paths with right again.
Speaker 6:I mean so you never rule number, never burn a bridge, exactly Because it will come back to haunt you and bite you sometimes. But he was there and the stuff that I had stumbled on. He decided to have all his battalion commanders in the local area because he had fired the. They had fired the local battalion commander on the stuff I found out, fired the local battalion commander on the stuff I found out and the replacement guy. He and I started working together and they brought me in and I just stayed in the back of the room and he called me out in the middle of all the battalion guys saying, hey, do like what Wolf is doing, along with the battalion CO there.
Speaker 6:That's how you got to do it. You got to team up, you got to work together. You cannot have friction because we all have a job to get done and the country needs us. So we did that. I mean we MEPS went the way we were running it because it was hard recruiting days. During the time I was there, I was in at 5 30 in the morning and I wouldn't leave till 11 o'clock at night and I wouldn't leave till 11 o'clock at night, so when was this?
Speaker 6:This was 2005, 2008.
Speaker 1:Wow Okay.
Speaker 6:And it was. They had to do mission month days because they were still behind. So there were two weeks where we were doing six days a week. I mean doing it Saturday as well, because we just swamped and even the Marines were having a really hard time. There was one Marine unit that was trying to get mission and they had their last kid. But I had sent all my doctors home and I called up Spokane. I'm like, hey, yolanda, can you has this guy come through your line? So the Marines put him on a plane, got him up there, got them through their dock so they can make what they call mission month. They have a certain quota they got to make and Yolanda helped them make 108 mission months straight. Wow, wow, otherwise that streak would have been broken. And this CO, he pulled out all the stops, he was bringing them all through the board and the docks. I mean he pulled out all the stops, he was bringing them all through the board and the docs, I mean my, my docs had the integrity.
Speaker 6:He's like sorry, you're not qualified, we can't put you through. And so they were bringing everybody. They needed X amount that were qualified and they're like, ah, they're throwing the kitchen sink, almost what would stick. And they finally got the last one up to spokane and he passed and they made the mission and their marine uh general came out and did personal handshakes to everybody that helped out on that process and I ran into him when I went back to joint staff the next time and he was a three star at that in time it was kind of weird sitting next to him again in one of the meetings.
Speaker 1:That's crazy. But 108 mission months in a row, that's nine years.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that's amazing Orange County is in that little nexus between Camp Pendleton and.
Speaker 6:LA Right. So there's a lot of former military dependence of military. That kind of helps them get over that hump Right. And it also covers the Riverside Air Force Base, march Air Force Base, that's over there, temecula and things like that. So then you go down to San Diego, which is a big Navy town, but San Diego had its own maps and that was kind of the cool thing being, even though I was LA and we were largest, I also owned what we call a cluster commander, so I had Sacramento, san Jose, phoenix and San Diego under my command, as well as satellites, if you will, even though they were independent. So, but we coordinated. Here's a new process, here's something new to try. We tested 26,000 kids a year in the high schools just to see if they could qualify.
Speaker 6:It was big stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm sure my goodness.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so ended up from there, came back heading to Air Staff but didn't get promoted at that point in time. So I was like, okay, once you don't make that first pass, sometimes that's it. But General Maluta, let me jump into a special project program and I went up in the three, the three star chief, assistant, vice chief of staff picked me up and let me do this job, which is a startup, because we didn't have a chief of staff at that time, because he got fired, and so everybody the a3, a8, everybody at this peer level were fighting right, and so they needed this thing to coordinate things so that at least the vice chief could say things right with one what we call one voice, and it was kind of cool.
Speaker 6:And after that I got picked up and got. It was a surprise. I'm like, okay, hon, you ready to do another three years, because she's like you're still. After that I got picked up and got. It was a surprise. I'm like, okay, hon, you ready to do another three years, cause she's like you're still going. I'm like you tell me Right. And then I went to joint staff again and that's where I ran into try on and became a division chief, got pulled up to the DOD chief information office for two years.
Speaker 6:But then again, colonel's group doesn't work like any normal assignment system. You go where they tell you, you do not talk to them, you do not say boo, otherwise you get the worst assignment you could ever imagine. And I was doing a special project that the deputy CIO had started and he called up the colonel's group for me and said, yes, I know you're going to talk to him about going to Germany again, to go to Garmisch, which is a great spot, but it's like I need him to finish this out. But the colonel's group said, ok, you get one free year and then he has to move. I was like, okay, I'm good, but moving horses kids, junior and senior in high school. And it was like, okay, let's retire.
Speaker 6:So I retired military at that point in time and then I joined. It's like okay, 90 days leave, go back to contract. Ended up with Booz Allen, let's try the civilian commercial world. See if I can survive and succeed in that world. Well, the deputy CIO found out I worked for Booz Allen and they, by name, requested me to come back as a contractor to work for them again. So I got stuck right back with the same shop that I left and then I did 10 years of that before I finally pulled the plug here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's just put it this way. I was surprised, but not surprised because you know, you kept telling me you were going to retire. You kept telling me this is it. This is really it this time. No, this is really it. But I'm glad that you did, because I mean, you've done so much. You've done all that you can do. It's somebody else's turn to step up and start. It's tough to let go. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 6:When you've done it so long. I mean, even though I left 31 January, I mean I still talk to, like the last team I had as contract team, the gal that I brought back in. I knew her all the way back in 1989, 89 is how far back I went with her and I finally convinced her to come on the job and she'd been with me over a year and a half and I finally convinced her to come on the job and she'd been with me over a year and a half and I'm like, okay, you need to do this. She's like I don't know all the things you did, because you know the contracts and all that and the budget, but she is a great PM project manager and I let her run with that.
Speaker 6:I had a great satellite communications, so we had a great team, but then we're now in a budget shrink and DISA had started having to cut back and but I'm still helping them. Okay, where do you need to go? Make connections for them to keep the team going, because that's rule number one Right, take care of your team.
Speaker 1:Take care of your team Well. God bless you, man. I appreciate everything that you do, have done and continue to do, because you know it's a big responsibility, especially doing what you were doing. You know a lot of times doing things that we don't even know about, that, we don't want to know about, that have to be done, that have to be done, want to know about that have to be done.
Speaker 6:That have to be done and I'm still somewhat in the on the hook in the background, because the office has still called me three times now to try and get me to come back. Because Congress approved money for the project that I drafted for the strategy for and they dropped the money this year. So he's like one October you can come back and lead up a team to implement the billion dollar program and I was like but I don't like the commute here in DC.
Speaker 6:No no, commutes are a killer, but all the systems we got to touch. You can't take it home Right, you have to do it in the office, yeah.
Speaker 1:So what are you gonna do?
Speaker 6:um, I told them I could do part-time, I could do a couple hours a day if they're really serious, but I don't have to do all the legwork. I can be the orchestra conductor because even to this day, he's a civilian three-star equivalent. Right now, okay, he calls me up, asks the question and I can answer it still to this day, because I was one of the few people that knows it inside and out. Right, and there's only, like you can probably count them on one hand, how many people knew all the material that we're doing across the department? Yeah, and so they need people that can connect A to B, to C to D, right?
Speaker 1:No, and I think that's you know, in a way it's good because you've got control over a small group of people. But in a way it's good because you've got control over a small group of people, but in a way it's not so good because if something happens to somebody right, Because I mean that institutional knowledge. I mean, what do you do?
Speaker 6:All my files are in the cloud officially now on what we call the low side and the high side. Unfortunately, the three people I tried to groom to replace me none of them wanted my job. They're like, we don't like we don't want to deal with the headaches you've been dealing with. I'm like, but that's what came with the job.
Speaker 1:Right, that's what you have to do, and it's well, Dave, you know, it's just like anything else there's good things about every job, there's bad things about every job, and you know if you just have to deal with it right, I mean it just.
Speaker 6:I mean I've had bad bosses throughout my career. Thankfully, I've had better ones than bad ones, and all my promotions even though I was Air Force, all my promotions came on the tail end of working in a joint environment, working for an army person above me.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 6:So luck of the draw.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 6:I mean I was commissioned by a Navy captain and I was retired by an army general.
Speaker 1:How about that? And I've had Air Force promotions in the middle.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. That's amazing. I don't know if you heard the last podcast, but Warren Hodges in the Navy, one time when he I think it was his second re-enlistment he was re-enlisted in a building that was named after his grandfather, cool, on a military base, I mean you know. So there's a lot of these cool stories like that and like, like what you're doing, you know or what you did and you know the, the, the teamwork and being able to work with, with different people in different environments, from different branches, it branches, it's so important and you know. Again, I think most people see or think that the Army is over here doing this and the Navy is over here doing this and the Air Force is over there doing that. There isn't ever really any mission where we're not all working together anyway.
Speaker 6:It's not even just the US Right, where we're not all working together anyway. It's not even just the US Right. I mean, when I was in Europe I did a six-month I guess you could temporary duty opening the Marshall Center in Garmisch, germany, back in the day, when all the NATO ministers of defense and four stars and the Warsaw Pact in the day, with their ministers of defense and four stars came in for an official ending of the cold war. Wow.
Speaker 6:And and I as a oh, you're just commonserate, hey, we need your help. Let's we gotta do some bilateral talks, so we need your help with translation stuff. So I got to meet had Secretary Aspen I think Les Aspen and the Russian Minister of Defense in a private session and meet them on the side to help them do their thing. And you get to learn to deal with protective services detail, all the things that aren't in your normal career field. You just you have to adapt, you do and that's that's you have to adapt, you do, and that's that's, that's everyday life.
Speaker 1:Let's talk. Let's talk about golf a little bit.
Speaker 6:I mean, oh no, here we go. Handicap sucks right now.
Speaker 1:So so, dave, I've known you for for at least 10 years, right? I mean at least.
Speaker 6:Yep, we're at 10 years.
Speaker 1:And you've taken over or started the Senior DC Tour. Is this your third year?
Speaker 6:Yeah, Started late on the first year, but we got rolling second year and we're on the third.
Speaker 1:Yes, and things are going really well. I mean, you've got a good group.
Speaker 6:I've got a good core group.
Speaker 1:You do which everybody needs, every tour has and every tour needs to be able to grow. And number one DC market's tough.
Speaker 6:It is, it just is. Prices have gone, haywire this year Haywire yeah, yeah, I mean Whiskey Creek. I couldn't even get on Whiskey Creek because they wouldn't give me before 2 PM and they wanted 160 bucks at 2.
Speaker 1:PM. Yeah, and that's, and that's before you. You do what you gotta do, and that's before adding anything else to it.
Speaker 6:Right, so I was just like so I I've been hunting around, but they like it because, like what you and Jen originally did, the core group we have they enjoy finishing the round. A lot of people aren't just leaving right after the round.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 6:We hang around and there's crosstalk. I mean this last Saturday I was golfing with John Smith and Ken Jones, two guys from A-Flight, and because sometimes we don't have enough, and Ken Jones, two guys from A-Flight, and because sometimes we don't have enough, I'm mixing B and C, right, and they learn each other and they sit down and talk about the game, talk about the course and other things in life, right, and they like the family atmosphere again. Yeah, that's the big thing. And we're pulling up new courses that they've never heard of, never played before, and they're like, hey, and pulling up new courses that they've never heard of, never played before, and they're like hey, and even though I think the majority of them didn't play as well as they thought or hoped, they want to put it back on the schedule again next year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you're talking about Sly Fox, right?
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So tell us about that course, because that is a new course that we'd never been on. And where is it and what do you like about it?
Speaker 6:It's out in Front Royal area. Okay, it's one exit past. Well, actually you can take the same exit that you do for Blue Ridge Shadows. Okay, yeah, yeah, exit six. But you turn at the red light before and you go another few miles west of that. But the terrain is a lot of undulation and unfortunately they had aerated greens about three weeks prior and they hadn't completely closed. But aside from that, reading the greens and the slope, just when you think it's going to break one way, it went the other way and you're just like, okay, that shouldn't have happened. And and it's just the gotchas. When yeah okay, there's.
Speaker 6:There's a hit that the hidden, uh little ravine marsh to the right that you couldn't see because there's a lot of blind shots okay so when you have the blind shots, that are like but all in all they're like okay, the fairways were decent shape, the grass was taken, the rough was a little bit thicker and it was hard to get out of in some cases. But people just struggle with putting at that at the end. Chris, I'm looking at you.
Speaker 2:I know the feeling.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I know the feeling. Yeah, I mean my putting came around. After what was it Black Rock, when we did that one. Cause I putting has been my strength throughout what I've done, cause I can save my round that way. But man, I was three putting that day like crazy, and so I redeemed myself did a practice round at Bull Run and Sly Fox.
Speaker 6:Okay, no, no, more than two putt Got it. Cool, we're good, we're getting it back again. But when, when parts of your game go off, it just drives you nuts sometimes, yep Well what about Breton Bay?
Speaker 1:What's that course like?
Speaker 6:Breton Bay is going to be June 19th and 20th. Um, that one is like links at Perry cabin. They're both a lot of water around the course, so I wanted to give people a challenge for the two day. It's a private club down by Pax River Dahlgren area.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 6:So Bretton Bay, we're looking forward to. Um, they it's a challenge from what everybody said and they just have to keep it dry. That's the biggest thing. That's. That's always a key. Yeah, well, that that's going to be the wake-up call for everybody, because our season-ending championship kind of thing is the two-day at links, at perry cabin, over by st michael's. Like you go towards queenstown harbor, go south, hit st michael's and if you look on the website, island green water, yeah, you got a fairway that ends in a green that sticks out in the water. So if you're long, you're. It's like, uh, atlantic dunes, number nine. I believe.
Speaker 6:But the greens, the green sticks out even more in the water than what Atlantic dunes does. Atlantic Dunes does, Hmm, so it I mean, but it's so pristine and um, using some of the, the sponsorship and some of the other funds from throughout the year to help defray the costs on that, because otherwise I'd be charging people 500 for the two days.
Speaker 1:Wow. Well, it's, it's, it's, it's a good price at at a 385 right now. I mean you know you talk about the prices in C going up, but you've got some really good deals Like Locust Hill for $99, that's a steal Stoneleaf for $115 is a steal.
Speaker 6:I'm trying to get it so that people can afford to maybe come into the senior because retirees. Yeah, I'm already dipping into a little bit in the investments because I'm not eligible for Social Security or anything.
Speaker 1:That's because you've got to retire, I mean you have to stop working.
Speaker 6:I stopped working, but I'm not old enough. I'm still a young pup, so to speak. Okay, almost, Almost, even though the gray hair doesn't tell you much. At least I have hair still. My cousin lost his hair at 29. Oh geez, oh my God, I'm probably one of the only guys in my family chain that still has hair. I'm lucky.
Speaker 1:You are lucky. You are lucky. Well, dave, I appreciate everything that you do. You know your service, your friendship. I love what you're doing with the senior guys. Thanks so much for joining us and tell everybody down there we're up there, I say hi.
Speaker 6:Will do.
Speaker 1:You take care, we'll talk to you soon All right Thanks. Tim, let's take a break from the show to hear about Strixon's ZX Mark II irons.
Speaker 3:A great iron set needs more than good looks. It's got to be fast and got to be pure, but good looks never hurt either. The all-new ZX Mark II irons from Strixon.
Speaker 1:Chris, I'm really glad we got to have Dave on. He's much more modest than what he was. Some of the things that he's done. He's one of the types, he's one of the people that if he told you some of the things he'd have to kill you. Oh shit, you know with with his security clearances and some of the things he's worked on, some of the things he knows.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Some things he's been involved in. Um, you know that that's the kind of level, that that, that, that he's at uh working in the Pentagon last 10 years. Uh, you know some of those types of things, um, but obviously you know great guy uh down down to earth. No you could tell that his whole persona is about service. Right, he's doing a great job in the DC tour for the seniors. It's a tough market right now with courses and prices, but he's doing a really good job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean he's doing a really good job. Yeah, I mean it's. He's traveled the world. You know, bringing up that story with the signing for the cold war, I can imagine other stories that he could. He has that he can't even talk about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I mean you know, like we talked to everybody's, it seems like golf is getting more expensive because the popularity is getting up there. So everybody around the popularity is getting up there, so everybody around the country is feeling it. But from what you know I was looking at he's done a really good job with what he's got and I mean you can just keep getting it better and better every event.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but think about this have we ever had an episode where two people have lived in Hawaii on the same episode?
Speaker 2:Right, that was pretty cool, for that Got it. I mean, especially with all the veterans and military guys that we have had on here. I don't think we've had one episode and for all our listeners. It wasn't planned, we don't know where these guys have gone or where they've served, and to have two there, and I mean it wasn't just like, oh, I stopped there to refuel, like they were there for a good while, so that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but both our guests, you know great stories, both retired military, you know it's. You know I've told you before, may is my favorite month. You know doing this because it's we're focusing on our veterans. And you know we've got Memorial Day. Memorial Day is coming up next week and when we're talking to veterans, we have to remember that Memorial Day isn't about veterans. It's about those that have given us all that we have.
Speaker 2:For sure. I mean, it's a big deal and I think sometimes it gets forgotten. I think sometimes it gets forgotten. Uh I know, last year when we did, uh, american dunes, you know it, it makes you remember, um, or maybe sometimes some people even learn the sacrifice that that people make for us, uh, so since then it's been, it's been a bigger how do I say this? It's a bigger part of my life to at least remember, you know, everybody that's given, like you said, given the ultimate sacrifice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So thank you to all our veterans, thank you to all our active duty. We really do appreciate what you do for the country and glad you're with us with the tour.
Speaker 2:Yes sir, definitely for the country, and and glad you're with us with the tour. Yes, sir, definitely.
Speaker 1:But you know we've got, we've got. Uh, I mentioned in in the opening we we had 12 nominees for the April member of the month and you know, as I was looking through they were, they were solid. You know Dennis had his work cut out for him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he did. Yeah, I mean, we gathered them all up and there were some good stories, some good nominations. We've got to teach Louisiana North to not hold down the all caps when they send in their nominations. But that's neither here nor there, and if she's not listening she doesn't get the jokes Too bad. But you know, dennis took his time, he read over it and I think, like you said, he had a tough decision to make.
Speaker 1:I think, like you said, he had a tough decision to make, but I do want to announce it tonight. But let's just go through, and you know, with so many we can't read all of the nominations like we've done in the past. It's just they're so good, we just don't have that time. So let's just go ahead and go down the list. So Alabama submitted another strong nomination in Blake Pipkin. Blake.
Speaker 2:Pipkin yeah, california. Although we were going from one side of the country to the other, julian Vo was their nomination, was their nomination, and then Cleveland Akron was Joe Murky's M-E-R-K-Y-S.
Speaker 1:I hope.
Speaker 2:I said it right, joe Indiana, western Kentucky, wayne Fugati, fugat, fugate, fugate, fugate.
Speaker 1:See, you're going to get me in trouble with all these names. He's not Fugazi, he's Fugate Wayne, fugate, fugate, see you're going to get me in trouble with all these names.
Speaker 1:He's not Fugazi, he's Fugate, wayne Fugate, thank you. Now Louisiana North is Kevin Odom, and I do want to say something about Kevin real quick. You know, obviously we had him on, you know, a few weeks ago and he was really close to winning three in a row. No the hell, that third. I believe he was sick for that third tournament and ended up finishing second place being sick. But Kevin close. And thank you, gina, for nominating Kevin out of Louisiana North for the April Member of the Month.
Speaker 2:Yep, I mean that would have been cool to have our first free Peter on here, but we live, or we survive to live another day with just us two. Milwaukee we got Roger LaFave.
Speaker 1:Roger LaFave. Yeah, he's, oh Awesome. Nashville Was Kevin Ingram.
Speaker 2:Not the. Was he a football player, kevin Ingram? No, not Different Kevin.
Speaker 1:Kevin Ingram.
Speaker 2:Right, right, new York Upstate. Oh goodness, joni, resto Different. Kevin Ingram Right.
Speaker 1:Right New York Upstate.
Speaker 2:Oh goodness, Joni Resto.
Speaker 1:Joni Resto Okay, north Central.
Speaker 2:Florida was Michael Ray Yep. St Louis was Albert Delamarte, delamarte, albert.
Speaker 1:Delamarte, albert Delamarte yeah, awesome guy, I don't want to get this wrong. Delamater, delamater, albert Delamater yeah, awesome guy, I don't want to get this wrong. I'm not sure if he's still serving or he's a veteran. He may still be on active duty, just to put it that way. So, albert, thank you so much for your service. Buddy, and then Tidewater was Richard DeJesus. So another strong nominee from the Tidewater tour. So thank you all tour directors for your nominations. Thank you guys for doing what you do for the tour. But the April member of the month that came out of the Charleston tour, that was Mike Cobb. So, mike Cobb, congratulations, and we'll get you scheduled on the the the uh, next episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we'll we'll, we'll read, we'll read the winning nomination at that point and hopefully get a tour director Tim Sumption on um with that as well. Yeah, I, director Tim.
Speaker 2:Sumption with that as well. Yeah, I mean I thought you know it's getting down to nitty gritty, honestly with all the nominations, but I mean there's just some points on here that just kind of stands out and congratulations, mike. I can't wait to talk to you about it.
Speaker 1:It's going to be great. It's going to be great. So make sure everybody gets your nominations in for May. Remember they're due by June 5th. So get them in and let's make this work a little bit. Let's see if we can get 20 nominations. Make this work a little bit to do this. But thank you so much. Great, great nominations and hopefully we'll get mike on the next episode yeah it.
Speaker 2:It'd be nice to have to have him really think about who he's gonna pick so, yeah.
Speaker 1:So last episode, you know, we, we finally put the stew subs to bed and I told you, jen took, took the shirt home, uh, but I got the shirt here with me, okay, so we've got a nice stew sub shirt.
Speaker 2:That's a cool shirt. I'd rock that shirt?
Speaker 1:No, this is actually. I looked at it, it's a kid size shirt. Um, it'd be, it'd be like an extra medium on you. Um, but we'll figure something out, we, we, we do have to figure out a contest uh to to, uh some for stew subs. Um, yeah, they're, they're the best, I just want a stew sub.
Speaker 2:That's all I want now. Every time you bring it up, I just get really excited, and I don't have one in town.
Speaker 1:So very very depressing. You gotta. There's only one way to get in town. So very depressing you got to. There's only one way to get stew subs.
Speaker 2:Only one way. I know, I know, but if I have it every day in Hentelhead, I'm not. I'm going to make the overweight scale on the flight home.
Speaker 1:What are you trying to?
Speaker 2:say, because I could have like two a sitting times twice a day. Why don't we have stew subs, catered nationals, might as well? Do that now.
Speaker 1:Oh boy, here we go.
Speaker 2:Yep, I'm just a can of worms, can of worms.
Speaker 1:So you know what's going to end up happening. Okay, Dennis is going to send that over to Jennifer and I'm going to. She's going to be mad at me. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:That's fine.
Speaker 1:Look, I'm trying everything I can to to to not cause any problems with them. I mean they've got dude, they've. They've got so much going on. You know, I feel I feel bad for them.
Speaker 4:And um, I mean they're, they're, they're really going through it right now.
Speaker 1:So seriously, I try to no problems. No problems, but they'll get through it. And when everybody comes to Nationals in October, make sure you, instead of Dennis buying you a beer, make sure you buy Dennis a beer.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure there'll be plenty of beers out there. I think, so and whiskey and wine and scars.
Speaker 1:We don't want to talk about that too much, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's, that's a the Masters Green Jacket Club only a few.
Speaker 1:Get in. You had the beat.
Speaker 2:The heat had a little bit of weather up there.
Speaker 1:The Masters Green Jacket Club, only a few get in. You had the beat, the heat. Had a little bit of weather up there this time we did, we did.
Speaker 2:We saw rain, we saw wind, we saw sun, we saw a little bit of hail, just a little Okay. But hey, man, unless it's course issues or lightning, we're going to play and we played and crazy enough in the rain we saw five under par scores in our champ flight that course.
Speaker 2:We saw some deer on the course. We saw some elk on the course. I had stories of elk taking golf balls off the green and just walking off with them. Um, pretty cool, fun time. That's awesome. That's awesome. I saw on the on the sunday course. I saw a hawk chase a little bird in the sky. Felt bad for a little bird but I don't think he made it. It's circle life. Oh, that hawk was chasing him for a while, Poor guy.
Speaker 1:Like a stew sub man yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but no, it was a good time. It was a good time. Yeah, almost had five playoffs, which would have been crazy.
Speaker 1:That's nuts. And if you had weather coming in, what would you have done?
Speaker 2:They still would have played. Okay, they'd be like, get out there, we're not doing no putting contest, let's go. No, let's go, we're going to wait. All right, go back to 18 and we'll just cheer while you're trying to putt and see how you can deal with that pressure. See, no, it was good, it was. You know, my guys gave a special moment. It was my, my oldest, 13th birthday that sunday, wow. Um.
Speaker 2:So we brought cake and the guy sang him happy birthday and he really enjoyed that like it's I'm sure when, when we run these tours or we play on these tours, sometimes it's it's hard to miss moments like that. Yeah, so being able to take them, you know, out of town and just rent a cabin and have a good time, um, and then be able to do that with with the memories, is he'll remember that for a while yeah, good for him glad they enjoyed it. Okay, I'll probably remember the cake more than the singing.
Speaker 1:I like cake too, so I probably remember cake too. Anyway, it is what it is.
Speaker 2:What else you got going on? Nothing much, man, Just getting ready. July you might be by yourself for an episode.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I'll be going to Hawaii, yeah, unless we can figure out something, unless you want to figure out something with a six-hour time zone difference. No, no, here's an idea. Here's an idea From now until mid-July, if somebody wins three in a row, they can be your co-host for that episode. Oh boy, I threw it out there. You better hope and pray.
Speaker 1:We'll see. I actually do have a couple ideas, depending on how long you're gone, but I don't want to announce it yet because I haven't talked to you about it. I haven't talked to them about it.
Speaker 2:We'll talk. I'll only be gone for 12 days.
Speaker 1:So is it just you and your wife, or is it the whole family?
Speaker 2:As of right now, it's me, my wife and the boys. Okay, we're celebrating my oldest being 13. My youngest is now now double digits, which is kind of scary. Um, and then me and my wife are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary. That's pretty awesome, just you know a couple.
Speaker 1:see, I thought I thought it was a wedding anniversary trip and maybe it just can be to you becauseyear, because you guys need to get away.
Speaker 2:We I mean we have plans. Okay, the resort we're staying at might have a kid zone that they can go to, and we'll just hang out and figure something out Kid jail. You know there's. We do travel a lot together, without the boys as well, throughout the year.
Speaker 1:Okay, because you got to take care of her. I mean, she lets you do all this other stuff.
Speaker 2:So Right, right it's, it is what it is. But I mean, you know Jen also. Well, I make her sign up my my charging block, so I saw that I saw that Like a librarian over here with your matching outfits.
Speaker 1:That's true, it's true.
Speaker 2:I'm going to put a picture of that in the show notes.
Speaker 1:No, we're not doing that, dude, are you kidding me?
Speaker 2:I tried. I tried See.
Speaker 1:How mad she'd be. Do you not have any idea how mad she would be if I took a picture of her and didn't tell her and put it up on the show notes?
Speaker 2:I mean, could you imagine? Well, you would tell her.
Speaker 1:No, I wouldn't Again. I'm trying to stay out of trouble, right, I want to be good, I want to be good I want to be good, right, right, you know. Anyways, I'm the troublemaker here, I guess it it, it, you know it, it is what it is. Uh man, I think that's all we got. I guess it you know it is what it is, uh man, I think that's all we got.
Speaker 2:I think that's all we got once this airs, man, we're almost halfway through the year, yeah, and I think we're at the point now where every tour is in full swing, even the ones way up north yeah, they're all they're.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're all playing, they're all playing. Yeah, we got to get Roger on. I don't want to give it away, but you know something happened this past weekend, from rules saying it was you know, we were copying on it, right, kind of bizarre.
Speaker 1:So hopefully we can get Roger on if not the next episode, the one after that, because it's been a while since I've had him on. But I do want to talk to him about that. I know how I would handle it, but I would be interested to see what the official USGA is going to say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that with that situation, I think it's a good conversation to have for players and directors, not giving anything away, but it will be a good conversation that you don't want to miss in the next coming episodes.
Speaker 1:At the end of the month. Let's put it this way if you haven't gotten in, you know signed up for some of them already that's coming up at the end of the month. You're too late, too late, yep. But so you got Memorial Day at PGA West, you got Treasure Coast at the Wanamaker and Dye Courses in Port St Lucie, cajun Classic and then the Sunshine State Regional at Cabot Citrus Farms. Get on it. And then, you know, middle of June, lowcountry Regional at Fripp. You heard Jamal talk about that.
Speaker 2:That's a great place, honestly, and you got the Midwest Regional at Big Cedar through the end of June and then we're getting down to it bud yeah, before you know it, we'll be seeing each other in Arizona or we'll be seeing each other at Nationals.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's hope so. Hopefully Arizona.
Speaker 2:We'll make it work.
Speaker 1:I'd like to get Arizona to work. Also, I'd like to get Cabin Citrus Farmers to work, but I'm not sure that at this stage that's going to happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a little close. It's kind of close, but also remember everybody, we have our raffle for the irons.
Speaker 1:Irons yes, All you got to do is it's not like you're giving me the money. I mean I'll take it, but Venmo me At Tim N-A, TimNATC, TimNATC. Just send me Venmo. Once we hit, what did we say?
Speaker 2:100 entries now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it was 100 entries, 10 bucks a pop. We will raffle them off live on air in the old wheel of names. There we go, how about that.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to spoil it now, but I'm working on getting a big promotion with the Western States and if a winner comes out of the Western States, there's going to be a nice prize for that. So get ready, cause it might kick up real soon.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's do it. You'll announce that next time.
Speaker 2:We'll announce that next time, yep.
Speaker 1:Awesome, lots of big announcements coming up.
Speaker 2:It's like a pregnancy gender reveal.
Speaker 1:See, I don't understand that stuff. I know, whatever man, I just roll along, yeah. But the funny thing is, neither one of my kids were into that either.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't, I mean, when did they have their kids?
Speaker 1:So my youngest will be one in July, July 7th.
Speaker 2:Okay Then maybe. Yeah, I was going to say they're like older, I don't think it was a thing back then no, no, no.
Speaker 1:And then you know, my oldest just turned five. That's why you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can see that I'll. I'll allow that that comment.
Speaker 1:Allow it, allow it, yep. Yeah, I don't understand it, but I just do it up to as a grandfather.
Speaker 5:I just do whatever.
Speaker 1:You tell me what to do, and that's what I do. You know how it is.
Speaker 2:Again, I'm trying to stay out of trouble. Well, I don't know how it is, but I can't wait.
Speaker 1:All you got to do is just stay out of trouble.
Speaker 2:I try, I try my best. That's all I can say, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1:Alright, my friend, good luck, have fun, we'll talk to you soon. Best to everybody, make sure you tell Diane Happy Mother's Day.
Speaker 2:Likewise and uh.
Speaker 1:Tell your son it's a happy birthday. I don't want him mad at me either.
Speaker 2:We'll talk to you soon later. Thank you.
