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
Dedication, Camaraderie, and Championship Moments
Dedication and camaraderie continue to define the Golfweek Amateur Tour, and this week’s episode brings those values front and center.
Tim Newman and Chris Rocha spotlight July Player of the Month, Dan Hubbard, whose commitment to the Louisiana North Tour goes far beyond his own game. Driving 4–7 hours from Texas to compete, Dan not only plays but also pours into the community, knowing every member by name, hosting pre-tournament “Pick ’Em” podcasts with his partner Trey, and creating a family-like atmosphere that elevates the entire tour.
We also dive into the story of 1st Lieutenant Marshall Daniel of the El Paso/Las Cruces Tour. A West Point graduate and active Army officer, Marshall’s balance of military service and golf excellence is nothing short of inspiring. Fresh off rounds of 66–68, he shares how discipline, course management, and passion fuel his competitive edge.
As the regular season nears its close, tour directors nationwide are nominating players whose commitment extends beyond the scorecard; driving hours to events, uplifting fellow competitors, and embodying what makes this golf community so unique. With the National Championship in Hilton Head fast approaching this October, the countdown is officially on!
What you’ll hear in this episode:
- The incredible dedication of Dan Hubbard and how his efforts shaped the Louisiana North Tour
- Why camaraderie often matters more than course quality
- Marshall Daniel’s military discipline and championship-level golf performances
- Stories from across the country of members going above and beyond for their local tours
- How players are making their final pushes for points heading into Hilton Head
Take action:
Register for your final events, lock in your points standings, and don’t forget to submit your August Player of the Month nominations before the season wraps up.
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Chris, welcome back. It's the end of August. It seems like we just talked about it and it was the middle of August, and time is literally flying by. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't even want to think about it, because that means that my kids are growing up quicker. Life's going by quicker too. I mean, every tour is almost done with their season.
Speaker 1:You've got about 30-some days left until the end of the season. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:That's it Crazy, you know. Think about it like this August 25th, by this time, in less than 60 days, both national championships will be done, done, and we don't get a break. I think you're going to get a break and I've got to put together the best of episodes we could break. I mean, we always say I think we talked about, I think I think you're going to get a break and and I got to put together the best of episodes, so we talked about we're doing something, I think.
Speaker 2:I think we're getting close to our 50 episode.
Speaker 1:We've already done 50. We've already done 50.
Speaker 2:No Okay, so what do we do? We? We Was it 50? No Okay, so what did we do? We celebrated the 50 one, right, yeah, when was that?
Speaker 1:I don't know Whenever we are now I'm going to pull that. Just bear with me here. I think you're right.
Speaker 2:I think we did the 50 milestone. I think we're close to either 75 or we've passed that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've got 50 milestone. I think we're close to either 75 or we've passed that. Yeah, we've got a lot. We've got a lot. We'll come up with something good for the offseason. We'll talk about the player of the month and stuff later, but I do have an idea for how.
Speaker 5:I'll run it by Dennis, but how we're?
Speaker 1:going to choose the player of the year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which I mean good luck to the people, the committee, whoever is picking these.
Speaker 1:It's going to be done right.
Speaker 2:Good luck.
Speaker 1:So again we've got the July Player of the Year. This episode, huge, these guys. There's only one more month left, so if your tour has not submitted somebody, august is a month and you know we've come strong. That's all I can tell you. We've come strong.
Speaker 2:Yes, because everybody is going to be jockeying for that last spot. It's probably not the right word, but we're going with it.
Speaker 1:You've got to submit somebody, I've got to submit somebody for Atlanta. There's a bunch of tours out there that have not. I've talked to some guys that they're holding off to the last month and I said, well, that's probably not a good idea that was not a good idea, so anyway, it is what it is.
Speaker 1:Just kidding man, I say this all the time. People say, well, you always say that we got a good episode. Oh, real quick, before I go any further, it but we've got. I mean, I say this all the time and people say, well, you always say that We've got a good episode. Oh, real quick, before I go any further, I got zero comments on the thumbnail for last episode, zero.
Speaker 2:I looked at it earlier and I sent it to the guest from it and I said, does that cow look familiar? And I sent it and I realized that that can go in three different ways. So if you haven't seen the thumbnail, please go see it, because I'm waiting for a response.
Speaker 1:That was funny. When I showed it to Jen she didn't get it. I had to tell her what happened and then she got it.
Speaker 2:No, this was her reaction, ready.
Speaker 1:Oh, I showed it to Jen she, she didn't get it. I had to tell her what happened, and then she got it. And then, and then, no, this was her reaction Ready. Oh, it is what it is, though, but again we got. We got a really good episode. Uh, heck, we've got. Uh, like I said, the the July member of the month, another July member of the month, another double 60s champ flight player.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's some good golf being played this summer A lot of good golf. So, champ, flight A, flight B, flight C, flight D flight, get your game together, because national championship is right around the corner. Right around the corner. Let's go ahead and get started. Let's do it. Let's go ahead and get started, let's do it.
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 2:Tim welcome back Another great episode, Best one yet.
Speaker 1:The best one, yet it's the end of it's the end of august yes, sir so if people haven't moved yet, it's too late. I mean, you're, you're stuck where you're stuck.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I mean, unless you get better fair, unless you get there, I know, I am.
Speaker 1:I'm good with it I would just say right, say get better, get better and bump up. It is what it is and embrace it, enjoy it and go with the next high slope.
Speaker 2:I mean, I've been a I don't know if victim is the correct word for this but I've been on the other side of getting moved up, you know, two or a month before nationals. But it's just a whole mindset change and you just got to get ready, get prepared and go out there and do your best. I mean, you've gotten so good that you got moved up handicap-wise, no reason to stop there.
Speaker 1:No, don't be mad. Embrace it Right, love it, love it. You know it's. You know, and that's what I tell my guys all the time. If you get moved up, I'm happy as hell for you.
Speaker 3:I mean, I'm cheering you on.
Speaker 1:I think it's great, so don't go into it with a negative attitude. Embrace it and enjoy it and figure out how you're going to, how you're going to beat the guys that are in that flight. It'd be fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, and you know, uh, do us a favor, Don't go attack your director and ask him why you got moved up and, uh, what loophole there is to get you moved down before nationals? Cause, there's not there's no loopholes. I've been down that road. There's not, and uh, just and, just like you said, tim, just embrace it, yeah, and have fun.
Speaker 1:You know it's August and we're wrapping things up for the year, you know. So we've got like 32 days left in the regular season. That's it. Yeah, Very some days, yeah. So if you have not registered for these final tournaments, get out there and register, Get all the points you can. But you know, the other thing we need to talk about and we'll talk about later is you know we're going to introduce our July member of the month. There's only one more. So tour directors, tour directors, directors get your nominations in. I think August is going to be a doozy with nominations it's coming down to the wire.
Speaker 2:I think we've had some great ones so far, yeah we really have to be honest, we didn't know how this was going to turn out.
Speaker 2:We kind of took the idea and just ran with it, and I think every nomination every month has been amazing, especially this one, because you know, this one, we've seen and we've experienced what this winner does for his tour, and I mean to be able to just, you know, raise your hand and say, hey, I want to be a part of this and do it week in and week out is just tremendous, really started a movement and started something that was has been picked up by other tours across the country, which which is really I love it and and what we really want to see, right, right, and you know, they have so much fun doing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't catch all of them, but I do try and try and catch them at least once a month when they're doing it and they leave me laughing, which is which is always good. It's good for everybody else around me, right? You know, if I'm laughing, everything's gonna be all right right so you know it's, it's um they they've done a good job with this, but this is a it's not a team award. This is a individual award.
Speaker 2:So right, right. So you, without further ado, let's bring him in From the Louisiana North Tour, mr Dan Hubbard with his amazing director, ms Gina O'Neill, welcome.
Speaker 1:There we are. Thanks for having us, dan and Gina. Thank you so much for spending some time with us, gina. Thank you for nominating Dan and Dan. We've talked about this before. What you and Trey do with the podcast has done so many good things, not only for Louisiana North Tour, but I don't know if you heard in the intro, there's been other tours across the country that have kind of picked up on what you all are doing and the camaraderie that that does to the local tours is amazing we, we have such a great time doing it.
Speaker 5:It's something that you know. Trey, of course, came up with it his idea and when he thought about it, there was only one person he really wanted to be involved with it, with them, which was myself which was an honor in itself to be nominated by him to do that and we just have an absolute blast doing it. We feed off of each other. It's it's like we've been doing it our entire lives together. So we enjoy it, the players enjoy it and they look forward to us doing it, because I can tell you, there's weekends we get out there that we're like, man, I really don't want to do this, but then that countdown happens and it's like a total different, different time. So, yeah, we love it.
Speaker 2:I mean, I, I will say this I've tried to do it on our tour and, like you said, it's a commitment. Uh, so kudos to both of you. But it is cool when tournament comes and you're like man, you didn't even pick me. Okay, I see how it is Because I know I watched when I went to go visit you guys last year, I watched your bathroom episode and you know you all didn't pick me, you all didn't give the visitor a chance and, yeah, it was a little bit of fire.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you that much. Didn't pick me. Y'all didn't give the visitor a chance. Yeah, it was a little bit of fire. I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 1:Well, dan, let me read the nomination that Gina submitted for you. We've talked about it with other winners. The nomination is a key factor to how these are chosen, you know, and Gina put a lot of time into this and it really says a lot about her and how she feels about you and the tour and so, like I said, if you've got some tissues there, you may want to get them out. I'm just going to read it here real quick. It says I would like to nominate Dan Hubbard from the Louisiana North Tour for Player of the Month. He became a member of the Golf Week Amateur Tour since 2008 in the B flight and has been soaring in A flight since he was promoted in 2021. He has played in 219 rounds, chris. 219 rounds, that's a lot, that's commitment right there, even after taking three years off. Dan lives in Texas and has driven many miles from four to seven hours to support our tour, playing in all of our events. He has played in multiple regional tournaments and is responsible for recruiting seven to ten of our players to support the Western States Regional and the PGA West Regional for the last four years. He won the PGA Greg Norman Shootout Tournament this year and followed up with the win at PGA West Regional the same weekend. Dan is currently in second place in point standings for the 2025 season A flight.
Speaker 1:Dan is one of our podcast pick-em announcers on our LA North Tour Facebook page, which has become, enthusiastically, an overwhelming highlight for our members. If you watch our podcast, you will see how involved he is, knowing and researching the stats of all of our 187 members personally before each tournament. He is a very respected leader for our tour. On and off the field, dan encourages our players along with sharing their accomplishments over social media. Everyone loves to play with him because he supports and recognizes them. Dan Hubbard helps us encourage all flights to interact with and know each other. Dan knows all 187 players by name and swing, literally. This is the kind of player every tour director wishes for. He is a loyal member and a great ambassador of our Golf Week amateur tour and deserves this nomination, dan. That that's amazing. And do you really know all 187 members? Is that?
Speaker 5:I do. Well, we're probably not 100, maybe 185 there. There are probably a couple that are are new this year. That, uh, sometimes you don't get to meet everybody, but yeah, we, we try to to connect with everybody on the tour.
Speaker 1:You know. That's so important and it says it says a lot. I mean, when you, when you go up to a to a player and you know their name, that that just builds connection right away with with them and and whether it's their first time, second time, third time, you know their name, that really kind of hooks them into wow, these people really do care about me and want us to have a good time.
Speaker 5:And we do, and it's you know, we'll do our announcements and we'll pick everybody before the hand and after the round people will come up and they'll be in second place. They didn't win. They'll be like man, I'm sorry I let you down and I'm like you're not letting me down at all. You know great job and so you know they like being recognized, they like being talked about, as we all do at times.
Speaker 1:So it's a pleasure for us to be able to do that for them and give them that spotlight when they deserve it. Yeah, did anybody talk about you? And you went in. You know the regional and the tournament right before that Because you know you got to have a guest on so that you get some recognition too.
Speaker 5:I mean Trey did mention it. You know with me there on the podcast I'm not big on those accolades, but he did bring it up to mention it for me.
Speaker 1:So trey gave me that thunder well, that that's good, and and if he didn't, we'd have to have a conversation with trey chris trey's great, he really he.
Speaker 5:He loves doing the podcast just as much as I do. He loves all the players. Um, yeah, it's great. Matter of fact, you know I just went on. We just went on a big golf trip this past weekend. Uh, myself and Trey, so we do. You know, we're, we're very close, not only inside the golf course, but out of the golf course too. We're all great friends.
Speaker 1:So that's awesome. So how long have you been traveling that far?
Speaker 5:you know, for tournaments Because, I didn't realize that you were doing that I started the Louisiana tour in 2008 and then I moved to Dallas in 2012 and then kind of played a little bit on the Dallas tour for about from 2012,. Probably did 2015. And then from 2015 to today. So for the last 10 years I've been traveling from Texas to play in all the events in Louisiana and then, of course, all the regionals that we go to as well. I went back to the Louisiana one just because of the camaraderie we had all the people that were there and the friendships that had been developed. It was the. The friendships were great and the camaraderie was so. It was the. The friendships were great and the camaraderie was so much better than I'd seen anywhere else that I just I wanted to make the drive to go back to do it, and now I just can't stop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and and that that says something about all the tour directors. You know, I mean, building family and building culture is not easy. It doesn't matter what type of organization you're in, but especially when it's golf and it's competition and it's kind of transient, you know, you only see each other maybe every other week, you know 15 times a year. So so, trying to build that culture of family, it, it, it is hard, but you all have done that in Louisiana for as long as I've been around.
Speaker 5:And I love that and it's great. Gina does a wonderful job. But I'll tell you, you know you've just got groups that all year long, even in the off season, they're going. We're going and supporting other players' home courses, tournaments that they have throughout the year as well. So we travel all over Louisiana. Even when the golf tour isn't active per se, it's in the off season. We're going and playing in everybody's tournaments and supporting all of their events as well. So we just love supporting each other and just helping each other get better and grow as golfers and people as well.
Speaker 1:And again, that's really just so important. What are you working on your game right now? You're in second place in the point standings. We can't have that. We can't have member of the month, you know, second place.
Speaker 5:Getting up to a flight. That's tough. I mean, if you're not working on your consistency, you're not, you're just not going to do it. I mean that's it's tough to to be at the top of the game every tournament and um. So you know, we've got several players that are just amazing golfers on our tour and it's just, you know, any given, any given weekend, there's no telling who's going to be at the top.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you've got a big tour like that, again it's, it's hard because you never know who's going to have that, going to have that good weekend, right? I mean if, if you've got like a small field, if you've got five or six guys, okay, yeah, still somebody is going to have a good, a good round. But it's a lot easier to overcome five or six guys than 15 or 20 guys, right. But you know, dan, your, your handicap is right, smack in the middle of the range at 6.2. And so, number one, you've obviously gotten better. And, like you said, it's about consistency. And, chris, we talked about consistency with Champ Flight over the last couple weeks and this is again A-Flight their dispersion becomes just a little bit more than Champ Flight. But to be a good A-Flight player you have to have that consistency, like what Dan is showing right now.
Speaker 5:Well, thank you. Yes, you know, getting that consistency was big. But I'll tell you another thing is you know, of course, you miss a lot of green, so being able to chip and putt definitely helps as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, Chris, you hear that right. Yeah, chip and putt definitely helps as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, chris, you hear that right. Yeah, chip and putt, I'm working on it. I'm kicking that All right, all right.
Speaker 1:So go ahead, Chris.
Speaker 2:Well, no, I was just going to say Gina, so obviously, congratulations 190 members. I know we've talked in the past and that's a big goal to hit, so first off, congratulations on that. But I know your season's winding down. You have two tournaments left Tamaka Trails as your season finale, which is probably one of my favorite courses in Louisiana. But how do you feel the season went this year?
Speaker 3:Great. Every one of our tournaments sold out two weeks prior to the clothing, I mean to the event. Wow, I'm so happy about it. We did have one tournament, piper Spin, that we had a rain out so I had to change it from Saturday and Sunday and we had nine players come to that. So it really messed a lot of schedules up, but we got a lot more people that were on the wait list. We've been so blessed, uh, to be like wait. I was trying to sign up but it's closed. Well, we've been selling out all year two weeks prior, which is a blessing, you know, it really is a blessing.
Speaker 5:So I'm having a vomit I mean, I I think the last tournament sold out in the middle of another tournament that we were actually playing in. So that's how quickly it goes.
Speaker 3:You know I want everybody to know this too we truly do not have the courses in the North Louisiana area that most tours have. We travel probably two to three hours From our home base here in Bossier City To our courses. So it's just, it's not the courses that keep our Tour together, and that's what I love about our tours so much. And this sounds so cliche. Every time you've ever interviewed me I've always said this, but it's the truth. We have such a family that get together that it doesn't matter what the course is. We are happy to see our brothers and sisters at the courses and we play with each other.
Speaker 3:It's like a family reunion every two weeks. But, yeah, we've been really blessed. So we're draining blood from a turn and put these courses, but the camaraderie that we have built eric simmons built for us, mark cheloso kept it going. I've tried to keep it going, and with help with people like dan and and you know we have such a great leadership team on my tour too uh, a lot of people just get together and they work together and it just blends well.
Speaker 1:And we've just been blessed honestly and you know, gene, I've told you this before. You know, chris, and I talk to players all over the country and to a person. We've only heard good things about you and how you run the tour and when that permeates you know, you may have that in your, in your local tour, but when that message gets out to you know people, whether it's denver, whether it's atlanta, whether it's, you know, new york upstate, and that message grows across the country. That really says something about you and your members and how you're, how you're doing things for the tour and it's it's.
Speaker 3:It's really good to hear well, you know, I run an organized tournament. I try to stay consistent and I think that keep um our players like it and they keep coming back, so I'm really happy about that yes, we do, yeah, we do we have someone driving four to seven hours every single turn that's insane.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean that, I mean that's I mean. But, dan, I've been there and I've done that, but I haven't done it for as long as you did it, and after a couple of years, man, it's just, I'm done, I'm going to take a nap, you know that's just me.
Speaker 5:It's like I look forward, I. I look forward to those weekends, not only just playing the golf, but being with all of our friends just together for the weekend, and you know so it's definitely an enjoyment that you have to have to be able to want to do it.
Speaker 3:And when you have players coming from other tournaments or other tours to our tour to play and they mention things like that. They mention the odd cap and they mention things like that. They mention the odd cap and they mention the players and the camaraderie that we have and the closeness and the bond. They're so impressed. But it's just our players, our players. It's that Southern hospitality. Not everyone has that but we do our best to try to encourage it and keep it going and Dan and Trey on the podcast really help it out. I mean, they've been such a highlight for our tour for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And again, it doesn't go unnoticed, you know, especially when you know I get comments of wow, I wish our tour was like Louisiana North Tour. Oh, and you know, and that's my was like Louisiana North Tour, and that's my member saying that too. They do this and we're always made to feel welcome. We had Trey Coker and Rod Baronet on the last episode. I don't know if you know this, but Rod from Louisiana Senior Tour shot the lowest two-day score in the history of the tour a week ago.
Speaker 3:That's so cool.
Speaker 1:He shot 68-63. God dang, His longest putt out of two days was 35 feet and I just I don't even know what that means. They were saying the same things about you know, their tour that you all are doing and that kind of was permeated. It started with your tour, it started with the golf week tour and then kind of moved over to the senior tour and it's kind of like zoysia grass, you know. You start getting little pockets of it and then it just spreads and again, I just love that and I love what you guys are doing.
Speaker 3:I don't know how many times I can say it we have a culmination of new tours developing that bond and creating their relationships. I'm not taking the credit for it at all, but I think I'm starting to see more tours create that bond. The directors are getting to know the players personally and the players. The directors are getting to know the players personally and the the players in champ light or getting to know the D fighters. I mean that's a huge deal. When I first got the tour in 2011, eric Simmons was our tour director. He's like champ lighter a meet D fighter B Y'all meet each other. I mean he really started this.
Speaker 1:I'd love to take credit for it but he started it, mark Colosso, kept it going. Then the result of their greatness, honestly, and you keep building on what they built right. And what's the next right thing to do for the tour? What's the next right thing that's going to help build connection? What's the next right thing that's going to grow the tour in in really, whatever way you can. And you know, like you say, you may not have access to all the courses that other tours have, but that's not why they're coming to play with you. They're coming to play for that connection and it's it is so important. But let's talk about the courses for a second. And I'm going to tell you that you can't choose Oak wing and you can't choose Tamaka trails. Okay, because we, we we've talked, chris, we've literally talked about Tamaka trails like three episodes in a row. Okay, dan, what's your, what's your favorite course? Not Oak wing, not Tamaka trails.
Speaker 5:Okay, so one that. So my favorite is probably Kasadi Pines. We don't play that every year, but that is probably my favorite. I think I've won there more than any other course as well, so that's another reason why it's my favorite. But then I would have to go with Lynx on the Bayou. It's a true Lynx-style course. I really enjoy that and it's always in great shape when we play it. It's right next door to Oak Wing, so it's very close. But those would be my two top courses that we play.
Speaker 3:Can I ask you something real quick? Yeah, so Dan and Trey do all the research on their players. They spend the week before the tournament doing the research on the player. I mean, dan digs deep, he can tell you pretty much what size underwear you have. He knows his player. So I did a little research today. So since I've been tour director, dan, you have four wins. Since I've been tour director for you, you have 37 top 10s out of 100 tournaments. You have been in the top 10, 37% of the top. That's great.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, that's incredible.
Speaker 3:So very proud of you, thank you.
Speaker 1:That's incredible man man I am, because you know we interview people that have, you know have small rounds, let's say 20 or 30. And then we interview people like Anne, who's got a ton of rounds.
Speaker 1:And then we interview people like Dan, who's got a ton of rounds and, gene, I'm like you, I go through and I try and pull things out like that that are huge. But to have 10% of your rounds in the top 10 when you've got a big tour like that, even I could be in the top 10 in some flights in the D flight or C flight, with a couple of tours every round, because we only have eight or nine guys when you're bringing out 15 or 20 guys every single tournament and you're consistently being in the top 10, that's huge.
Speaker 5:I know, typically in a flight we'll have 25 people, a tournament, an A-flight, so we a lot of people, a lot of people. So you know, and that's always, and that's my goal for every tournament is always to be top 10. My goal is top 10, secretly top five, but top 10 is always my goal.
Speaker 1:Well and again. That's why you're sitting in second place. I mean, if you're consistently in the top 10, I mean you're eventually going to chip away at that point race.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 3:And you know, this player of the month is not basically on stats. I mean, it's so much more than that, oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:You guys gave us the criteria and Dan just meets so much of that. He's so enthusiastic about our tour. He's already shown that he's very dedicated and is such a loyal member to us. He's an ambassador for us. He encourages our players. I mean I think my tour's grown from that. No matter if he's having a good game, bad game, he's still going to encourage the players. He recognizes them, he lifts them up. I mean that is what every tour director wants. When you, when you have one of those and it just bleeds into everybody else, I mean I really contribute a lot of that. I could have nominated and I have so many people I could have nominated because I have great players. But Danny stood out to me for this one because I feel like he's really benefited my tour with his presence and his actions and his loyalty and stuff. I'm just very happy to have him.
Speaker 1:And I'm glad he's with you too because again, it's not just your tour, he's added value to the whole tour, the national tour, with what he does, his attitude, what he brings to the table, the recruiting, the players, the podcast, all those things. Because again you take that back, you pick somebody that's been out of town or been to the regional and they see this and they go back and they talk about it. They do, and then that's, it starts to breed that attitude and and those types of things in that other local tour, if it's not already there what I love about him the most, I think, is that he's an a-flight.
Speaker 3:Okay, for a good a-flighter he will find a declider they could be the worst e-flighter. He is going to treat that person the exact same way that the people on his this flight. And I think that the D-Flighters you know they, they recognize that and that that means a whole lot to them. Most of those people are just starting out and and trying really hard to get to that A-Flight position, you know. But I think that's what I really love about Dan is that he encourages them and treats them as his counterpart, you know.
Speaker 2:And that's huge.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's huge for sure.
Speaker 7:Thank you, Gina.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you Dan.
Speaker 1:So, dan, you're in Florida. What's next for you, dan, you're in Florida.
Speaker 5:What's next for you? We've got a Mystic tournament coming up, which I love, that course. I love playing it. It doesn't agree with me, but I love it. So just trying to. I just got back from Branson. We went up and played Payne's Valley and Buffalo Ridge and Ozark National. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah Did that. So we just got back Sunday afternoon. So I'm just trying to take a little time off this week and then get back to the grind this coming weekend and just get practice going and get ready. I want to be at the top of the point. So to do that, I've got at the. I want to be at the top of the point. So if to do that, I got to win, I don't win, I don't get there.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean you. You. You've got two tournaments left. You know you're in good position, so just do what you gotta do. I can tell Chris, don't worry about what anybody else is doing, worry about what you're doing.
Speaker 5:That's all I can do.
Speaker 1:You hit your ball every time. You don't hit anybody else's ball, so just take care of yourself, correct? And Gina, we didn't even talk about you. Let me pull you up here. I mean, well, don't shake your head. Don't shake your head, gina, let's see. It's so hard to do it when you're the tour director. I can't, you know, gina, I don't know about you, but but for me, you know, I hardly play at all anymore, but I couldn't. I, when I'm running the tournament, I, my head's not there.
Speaker 3:No, yeah, I haven't. I haven't played much this year, but if I if on our wait list, I can't do that. I can play golf on other days, but I don't want to take a spot from our players for sure. We have a wait list a mile long every single tournament. I don't feel bad being able to play when they're on our wait list.
Speaker 1:Again, that comes with being tour director. It is what it is. You got to do it. I love that you guys are shotgun every tournament. I really do so everybody can get together the champ fighters don't get to mingle with the fighters.
Speaker 3:But I think the shotgun has also bonded us a little bit it has, I'm sure. The course is really, they want us in and out so their members take it on. Of course Our courses down here are very particular and they don't want to take away from their members. So I've kind of not had a choice. But if I do have a choice I always ask for shotgun. They just help everybody mingle when everybody gets done, yeah, but if I do have a choice I always ask for it.
Speaker 1:It's not that hard, it just helps everybody mingle when everybody gets done. Yeah, I mean you could do the awards all together and it turns into not a big party, but support for everybody. Right, because everybody's going to hang out and congratulate the winners. Or, if you didn't win, if you win something the places or Skins, money or whatever it is people are going to want to hang out and celebrate that.
Speaker 5:It helps us for the podcast because we're able to talk to BC and D-Flighters all when they're done and talk to them about how they played, how their rounds went, so that we have that information for the next tournament. So it helps us too.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Well, guys, thank you so much for spending some time with us tonight. I really do appreciate it. Dan, congratulations, and I can't wait to see you here in Hilton Head in October.
Speaker 5:Well, thank you all. Y'all have a wonderful time. Thanks for having us on here. We really appreciate it. I'm honored to be here, so thank you.
Speaker 3:You guys are doing a great job too. I mean, I'm so proud of you guys. This is really. People are looking forward to this, and so you guys have done so much better since when you guys first got started. Wow, boy, you're still awesome. Sorry to be. Thank you so much, and you're you have good information, so I'm I'm really I'm proud for y'all.
Speaker 1:I, I really do appreciate it. You know, chris, chris and I talked offline about, you know, our first episodes, uh, last week or so, and I said you know we're. I think I may just just flush them down the toilet. Um, you know, well, this is great for the for golf week.
Speaker 3:So Dennis has to be so happy. I think I may just flush them down the toilet. You know Well this is great for golf week, so Dennis has to be so happy. But I'm thankful that Dennis chose my nomination. I'm really excited and hopeful about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and again it says a lot about you and what you guys are doing down there and the tour as a whole, and you know I love it. I love you guys and just keep up doing the good work. Can't wait to see you.
Speaker 3:We love you all too. Can't wait to see you.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 5:Y'all take care, all right, bye.
Speaker 1:Let's take a break from the show to hear about Strixon's ZX Mark II drivers.
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Speaker 2:Tim. Great interview with our next member of the month. I think not only every month. We're seeing these great members being nominated. The nominations are getting fuller. From when we started you can tell the passion that these directors have for their members and and it's just cool to see man and you know I've tried to do a podcast with my tour and one of my members and it's not easy to remember to get that done and to do the research and the pick-ems and all that. You know, eventually I'll bring it back, but it's just great to see and I didn't know he lived in Texas, so driving 47 hours in a vent, that's like me going to Phoenix or Austin Dallas area every weekend. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like going when I was living here and going to Atlanta and you saw what it did to me. I was exhausted, literally exhausted. We would drive over. If I didn't stay there because of work, we would drive over. You know, if I didn't stay there because of work, we would drive over on Friday and get back well after midnight on Saturday or whatever. And you know, oh my God, and he's driving a little bit further than I was.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:He must be burning through cars or trucks or wherever he's driving and spending a ton of money on gas and those types of things. But for him to continue to do it again, that goes I said it in the interview it goes to the product that Gina has built in Louisiana tour. You know, building that culture, building that family atmosphere, building those types of things, that cohesiveness, atmosphere, building those types of things, that cohesiveness. And then what? What Dan and Trey have done with, with with their podcast. You know the Pick'em podcast on Facebook and their philosophy on that. We didn't really get into that in that conversation because we've talked about that before, but the whole idea of you know, the reality is people just want to want to be talked about, is people just want to be talked about, they just want to hear their name and that gets them. You know, that makes them feel that they're involved, that they're, you know, really part of everything and they do a phenomenal job with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. And, like Gina said, that Southern hospitality, you know, we got to witness it firsthand when we went down there last year. And it's not just from them. All their members, every member that I played with, they all have it and they all just feed off of what they have at the top.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Absolutely, you know. But you know our next guest. You know we've had a lot of good champ flight players on recently.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And this was coming from your tour, so so set the stage.
Speaker 2:Cause this is a pretty good one. No, I mean it's you know, champ flight guys. You know, when they come, it's nice to see some some really good champ fly guys and be able to witness what they're able to do. And, like you said, yeah, the next one does come from my tour, so I'm a little biased about it. But you know, how can you not get a guy on our episode that has two first names? Uh oh, we got Ricky Bobby. So from the El Paso has two first names. Uh-oh, we got Ricky Bobby. So from the El Paso, las Cruces tour, marshall, daniel Marshall. Welcome to the show, man.
Speaker 1:Hey, how's it going? Guys Doing great. And you know when Chris told me about you. You know because I watch the scores from around the country but really when I'm watching El Paso I'm really looking at his scores so I can give him a hard time Facts. That's really why I watch El Paso and I didn't really notice, you know, the scores that you put up on that last two-day. But I mean you went 66-68.
Speaker 7:That's pretty good. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Both the courses were super nice. I got up to New Mexico the championship course back in the middle of June for the state AM up there, so I'd seen that course a couple times, but Isleta I'd never been up to see before, so it was pretty cool getting to see both courses again. Though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Go ahead, Chris.
Speaker 2:No, I was just going to say I mean, and UNM University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, it's no course to sneeze at either. They have US Open qualifiers, they have USM qualifiers, Any qualifier you can think of. They have it out there. And to go with 66 is just. It was incredible to see, and I know the other guys that were in the flight kind of knew they had a battle ahead of them. But to be a 9-stroke advantage is pretty cool.
Speaker 7:Man, Not going to lie, I was kind of watching to see how low you could go that day as well so so did you take your foot off the gas on on day two, when you knew you already had a lead um, so, like my dad was actually out there, um, he followed me around and, uh, he flew in from from nashville and I think it was like there was like three holes to go and like I kind of hit one to like 25 feet and I was like, oh, like, and he was like he's like, oh, it's fine, he's like just hit the middle of the greens and I was like dad, like I'm, I'm up like quite a bit, like I'm still like trying to make, you know, birdies, like on every hole coming in, you know. Um, so I I was still trying to make some more birdies. I didn't make as many putts the last day, but I played really well the last day too. Didn't make any bogeys the last day, so played pretty solid that day as well.
Speaker 1:So any bogeys the first day.
Speaker 7:I made one on that long par three on the front, number eight. It's like 240. 240 par three.
Speaker 1:That's a three, three shot hole for me, man. So I mean so. So jim, just put me down for triple. But. But I don't know if you know this or not, but last episode we had a guy on from the from the senior louisiana tour. He shot the lowest twoday round, the lowest two-day score in tour history. He went 68-63. So you were really close to that. And again, what's your mentality as a champ play player going into these two-day tournaments to? Obviously we just heard a little bit you're still trying to make birdies, but what's your mentality as you're going into these tournaments in terms of course, management, club selections, those types of things?
Speaker 7:I would say just kind of like some of the backstories, I'm obviously an Army officer and have been in the field a lot of this year, did like a, a rotation at the national training center.
Speaker 7:Um, so just try to get as much practice in as I can, like kind of between these training events. So I think some people work, no, but like they're starting to know now that I'm playing in more tournaments. But like before, like there's a lot of times I'll just go back like I would practice like outside of work, like to where, like I'll done with work, go practice at night like an indoor place and a lot of guys at work like probably, like didn't know I was doing all that, and then showing back up the next day to pt and doing that. So, um, just try to get as much preparation beforehand. So then I'm like somewhat comfortable, you know, when I tee it up on saturday and then you know probably having plates is like the round the weekend before. So you just kind of get into like a little bit of a flow get on some fairways, get on some greens, give yourself a bunch of looks and start making some putts, get under par early and then just kind of keep going from there.
Speaker 1:Chris, did you say Marshall? Are you a West Point grad?
Speaker 7:Yes, sir, I am.
Speaker 1:That's what I thought you said. Well, first off, again thank you so much for your service, and did you play when you were at West Point?
Speaker 7:I did. I played four years at West Point. I was captain my senior year, okay.
Speaker 1:And what's your lowest round ever?
Speaker 7:It's 65 in a recreational round.
Speaker 2:Wow, still 65.
Speaker 1:Still pretty close. Wow, wow, still 65. Still pretty close. Wow, are you? Are you planning on playing in in any army?
Speaker 7:tournaments or being part of the the army team at all. Yeah, I for sure want to be part of uh the army team. Just, uh, depending on kind of what work allows. Um, we go to the field a lot in the early spring, so, just depending on uh, if there's like an opening there for me to get out there for a couple of weeks, you know and qualify and do all that, I would love to. I have a lot of teammates um that are, or former teammates that are getting out there and doing it. Some of them are like already out of the army or getting out or, I guess, on the way out of the army like the last few years. If they're deciding to get out, um, so they so they're a little bit ahead of me in their careers, so they have a little more flexibility. But yeah, I would love to, for sure.
Speaker 1:What rank are you?
Speaker 7:I'm a first lieutenant. Okay, good, you know how are you dealing with the heat down there? It's hot. I like it. I'm from Memphis originally, so it's a nice change like being back in the heat like down here, versus being up in New York.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, that's a little different. You know, chris only plays golf when it's like 80 degrees, no humidity, no rain, perfect weather. You put him with, you know which we never get here. Yeah, a hundred degrees, or if it rains, or if the winds blow more like 3 miles an hour, he's done. He can't take it. So Playing down there for you is a little bit different.
Speaker 2:No, the weather. He said it was great Shot a 79 Almost beat 2 of the champ flatters. I'll take that. Yeah, marshall, so Real quick. Yeah, marshall, so so, uh, real quick. Um, you know. So you said you play, you play golf in college. You're playing golf now. When did you start picking up the game?
Speaker 7:uh, when I was about nine years old I started like just hitting some balls in the yard. I lived on eight acres growing up. Uh, I had like an actual putting green there, like with Bermuda, like uh, championship Bermuda Spriggs, like grew it ourselves. And then, uh with my dad and then had a, uh John Deere, uh little push mower that was like 18 inch blade, um, so could go around and like cut it every day and roll some putts and had about 225 yard basically driving range like shag your own balls, like I'd hit them down to the street, then hit them back like 115 yard, shot up to the green, chip them all up on the green, finish a bunch of them out, um. And then that's kind of how I got started, for the first couple years was just playing in the yard all the time that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Does your dad play?
Speaker 7:oh, he used to used to okay who?
Speaker 1:who? Who's better, you or him? You too Okay.
Speaker 7:Who was better, you or him? He used to be really good, so like he would beat me like most of the time until I was probably like 13. Like he'd beat me like every time 13. Most of the time until I was like 13. And then after that I started beating him mostly.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, Can you imagine Chris being 13 and being good?
Speaker 2:My youngest is 10 and he's. He's not anywhere near being me yet, so I guess I'll keep that chip on my shoulder for now.
Speaker 1:You proud of yourself. You'd be proud of that.
Speaker 2:Yep, I mean well, we. I mean we've got a 15 year old that that won that two day event in D flight. So we, there's some ballers up here in El Paso. Everyone thinks we're just in the middle of nowhere, but we got some ballers out here that can play Well.
Speaker 1:I mean again if you can go down there and play on those courses. I think the only issue that you all have is that sometimes that doesn't translate into other places, like coming out to Hilton Head. You know, for you um maybe not played many different places it's hard to make that adjustment. But but for Marshall, you you've played a lot of places across the country. You know you could, you can make that adjustment, especially as a Champlain player. Um, doesn't take you long to to figure out what that adjustment is and make it yeah for sure.
Speaker 7:Um, like college we traveled all across the country like Hawaii, puerto Rico, west Coast, east Coast, a lot in the Southeast so somewhere like Gilded Head, like definitely like more comfortable being around, like that kind of Southeastern environment, like kind of grass a lot of Bermuda grass is what I grew up on so more comfortable probably playing in the Southeast than like out here at Elevation. But it's been cool like learning to play out here over the last I guess almost a year now since I've been in El Paso.
Speaker 1:Where were you before that?
Speaker 7:I was at Fort Benning just for the basic officer course, so I was there for about six months in total by the time I got there and left and everything. And then I spent a semester being the grad assistant at West Point for the fall of the 23-24 season. Prior to that, Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, here it comes back in the day, Back when I was at Fort Benning, it was nothing like what it used to be. Obviously that's right at base training, that's right at jump school and it's very, very different now, Obviously a lot more modernized. But I'm very familiar with Fort Benning. I've got a best friend lives in Columbus, right there. I was in Atlanta for a while. So the heat there I don't know if you were there at any time from really March to October it's, it's pretty steamy.
Speaker 7:Oh, yeah, for sure. I think I ended up leaving there um July 15th of 24. Okay, so I was there a lot of the summer doing some training earlier, earlier in the summer, like kind of may into the beginning of June, and it was, it was warm.
Speaker 1:Yeah it is, but you know it is. I would much prefer that than, uh, up in New York, up in Minnesota, where, where you know you, you can only play golf or it's nice out for you know know, maybe two weeks a year. Much prefer it down here yeah for sure.
Speaker 7:Um like kind of that period too, like I'd kind of like not played golf in really like at all for like about six months. Um, I I didn't really pick up a club while I was at the that basic course and didn't really have like that much of an interest there wasn, wasn't like a super good group down there that I was like to play with. Courses were like okay, like they got Columbus Country Club but I mean it's just like random dude like to just move there. It's going to be there temporarily. You don't really have the connections to like get in somewhere like that to play like regularly. So I really wasn't playing much golf until I kind of got back to El Paso and late the fall of 24, I kind of got back going pretty seriously Um practicing a lot.
Speaker 7:Um. I got studio golf next to my house, which has been a really good facility. Um, and the guys over there like have been have been great Um letting me get in there and, you know, always offering a little bit of advice here and there. Um so been good um being able to play a lot more in El Paso, especially since the weather's more consistent all year round yeah, so so are you.
Speaker 1:Are you self-taught or you had lessons?
Speaker 7:you had a regular coach, or yeah, so growing up I had a couple different coaches growing up, um, that I saw like some somewhat regularly, I guess I would say like not super regularly, like maybe once, I mean maybe average, you know four or five lessons a year. I would say like by the time, like all high school, like last couple of years of high school, I didn't really see anybody. And then in college I think, uh, I had a couple of lessons, uh, maybe my junior year, but other than that, um, I've kind of just remodeled my swing by myself over the last few years.
Speaker 1:So is there something that you're working on?
Speaker 4:with your swing now, or you you've um kind of happy.
Speaker 1:I mean I. I can only see three scores for you 72, 66, 68. So I can't imagine that it's you know you're tinkering, yeah yeah, just always like some small stuff.
Speaker 7:Um, yeah, kind of some small stuff, just trying to get a little bit better wedging and, uh, my ball striking really was like my weakness in college, so like I really struggled hitting the ball, and then I would say like now it's like one of my strengths, um, it's just gotten kind of better as I got out of college fixed my swing a little bit over time. It's easier having a little bit more time in between practice sessions, I would say, to make like some larger changes that needed to happen. Um, but obviously it's still difficult to make yeah, it is.
Speaker 1:it is and I guess for somebody in your caliber you know obviously you have a much better feel than than the, the higher handicappers, of what's going on with your swing and you know, a little adjustment it's. It's, it's big for you but it's really not, it doesn't really change that much.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I mean it's kind of like fractions of a stroke, right. Like, yeah, um, I mean, if you kind of follow like the decade golf um, I don't really get super into it, but like the best way, like I describe it, is like I see, like certain shots I hit throughout the round, like I'm saving almost a fraction of a shot, like if I hit it in the woods, but I can get it out and then give myself like a decent look at par and you know I might have just saved. You know I might not have made it that time, but if I every time I do something like that, I can get it back into position and give myself a chance, you know I might save a half a shot there, have a shot somewhere else and those shots really add up over the course of one round. Or if I mean you get in a two or three round tournament, you know that could add up five or six shots and make a huge difference yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:so have you played with HB? I have not, oh my God. I bet that would be a really good pairing.
Speaker 2:I mean, we've got some great guys that come out and play and you know, regardless of who comes out, it's a competition every time. And I think Marshall just you know, coming out with those two scores was just eye-opening because we haven't seen scores that low all season, at least on my tour, and you know, with the trend that we've been having lately, tim, with our episodes, with all these low scores, it's just it has been a crazy summer with so many low scores.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, just like I said, just recently we had the senior with the lowest two-day score ever. The episode before that we had a guy who shot 63. And this was, I think, his second 63 over the last two years, and a 64 the year before that and then the week before that we had a 64. So we've had a lot of low scores here recently and we also had somebody who qualified for the US. Senior Open this year. I say this year.
Speaker 2:I mean he always. He qualified for three years.
Speaker 1:He regularly qualifies for US Senior events, whether it's whether it's us senior, am us in your open and um you know. So the, the, the across the nation. We do have, um you know, quality champ play players. And don't forget about the guy from Minneapolis. He shot 60, I think he shot 62. Right, yeah, so it's it's. It's really good to see, and especially if we can get all you guys that are shooting these low scores down the national championship, love seeing that yeah, for sure I can't promise I'll make it, but like I'll try my best, I'd love to be there.
Speaker 7:I've played a lot of golf on Hilton Head in college. We normally spend like our spring breaks somewhere in that area. My senior year we spent like the whole thing there. I played a few of golf on hilton head, um. In college we normally spend like our spring breaks, uh, somewhere in that area. My senior year we spent like the whole thing there, um played a few of the courses around that area what's your favorite course down here um?
Speaker 7:I liked uh secession, it's a little bit away. Uh the secession club, I think it was yeah, I don't know that one. Um, it was pretty good. We played harborbortown a couple times and obviously that one's good, real tight yeah, I think you went through that one.
Speaker 1:That's not a, you know, a banger, of course. Yeah, well, what do you like about the tour? I mean, you're new to it, but you know what do you like about it and what actually brought you out.
Speaker 7:So I kind of was just looking for some amateur events to play in the area when I first got here, um, just just something to look forward to. Even I don't really care for the fields, like small um, I just like to go out and compete and play um. So it's been a good place to do that. Um, I I don't know it's nice to be able to tee it up in a competitive format and you know, you see some of the tournaments that have like some pretty solid fields, so some good players on the area, and it's a good way to meet other good players around like my area kind of. So I think I've played like a couple of them.
Speaker 7:Like I end up playing with, uh, alistair um in in a good amount of them. So I think I saw him. I think I've seen him at both the ones I've played in. I know I really originally saw him at the like the Skaga, like spring classic. So it was kind of cool to like see some players around the area and just kind of get to know them. Um, you know, because I don't know anyone really here, like I've only been here for about a year in the golf scene.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then when you're out training, you know, for almost half that time it's hard to to make those connections and and and do those types of things.
Speaker 7:So yeah, I mean yeah, for you know, not everyone's going to be free, uh, just any weekend. So kind of getting these organized events like it's going to draw more people and uh get more people to play. So it's easier to like link in with these people that I've met um in the past and just get back together with them and play yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, marshall, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for your service. Hopefully we'll see you here in a few weeks.
Speaker 7:I appreciate it. Thank you all for having me on Take care.
Speaker 1:Let's take a break from the show to hear about Strixon's ZX Mark II irons.
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Speaker 2:Uh, marshall's such a great guy so it's such a great addition to our tour. Um, and you know I it's just, it's great to see good golf. Everybody was talking about it after, after day one, and just curious on how low can go on day two, on the easier, the two courses. Yeah, and it's just, it's just crazy. You know a lot of the guys that we've talked to, the champ flight guys. It doesn't seem like they take their foot off the gas regardless. Right, they continue. Even he said you know I wanted to make more birdies. Their goal is to play the game the way it was designed and get the lowest score possible regardless. And that's what I hope everybody does is try to get the lowest scores that you can that weekend.
Speaker 1:Every shot, every hole. It's crazy, though I mean, think about what he said. He hasn't really been playing. He hasn't really been playing. After work, I go and I hit some balls. Maybe I can play once every other week if I'm lucky. And, by the way, 66-68. Think of what it would be if he was really locked in, really playing, really focused. You do have a lot of good champ players, but I would love to see he and HB.
Speaker 2:That would be a good one. That would be a good one. I'd like to see him with any of the champ flight guys in Gulf Week. I think he can compete with the best of the best that we got out there. Might have to find the extra large luggage and sneak him on the plane with me to get him out there. Maybe I'll go talk to his superior and ask him for the weekend off.
Speaker 1:Do what you got to do.
Speaker 2:I don't think it'll work, but at least I can ask.
Speaker 1:Hey, again, we got to do what we got to do with it, you know. But 68, 66, not too far off the lowest two-day, no Three shots.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm curious. So obviously we had the lowest in golf week, but it was a senior event. I'm curious what the lowest for golf week itself is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know. I still have that spreadsheet with the lowest scores. It would have to be somebody in that double 60s range, obviously.
Speaker 2:Right, right, right. We'll get an update for everybody next time. I'm pretty sure from now until then we'll have another Champ Flight guy come out and shoot another 60-60 something and he'll be on there. We can have that information. Like I said earlier, you know there there's some great golf being played there is.
Speaker 2:And I don't think just not just in champ flight. I've seen some good golf in all the flights, at least on my tour. Um, I think it's going to be a a big national championship and it's going to be some record-setting scores out there.
Speaker 1:Let's hope so. I mean, I love seeing it. I love seeing those shootouts with those champ guys. And you know, if you get on the course then anything can happen. And they're firing at pins and making birdies.
Speaker 2:Love it, and I mean with the new format this year, with some flights playing three different courses. Come on, now, Anything can happen. Anything can happen Because now you got to be able. You know before you you played both courses and you kind of knew what to expect. Now, with this third course coming in, if it doesn't fit your game, you need to learn quick how to adjust. So it's going to be interesting.
Speaker 1:I mean, we speak about champ. Champ players are really good at being able to make that switch almost immediately, right, a-flight does better and then it kind of goes down and it goes back to some of the things we've talked about Play what you have that day, play to your strengths that day, you know. Play smart with the course. You know you don't always have to drive. Let's put it this way If champ flight guys aren't always hitting driver off the tee box, right, why, as a D flight player, why would you hit driver? I tee box right. Why is a deflate player? Why would you hit? Why would you hit driver? I mean, think about it put, take whatever the longest club you got that you're going to be able to hit straight into the fairway.
Speaker 2:That's going to give you your best shot I learned that that that tournament, if I'm hitting greens in two, I'm making a lot of pars right with some very chances. If I am not on the green and two, it's bogey, you know, unless my, my tripping game is on, and and that's night and day. So, um, like you said, you gotta play the course and that's the most important thing is, you're playing the course, you're not playing everybody in your group because at the end of the day the course is going to win, regardless of what the scores are out there.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, but thanks for bringing him out and getting him on Fun to talk to. I wish him the best. Hopefully he can get out to TPC and to Hilton Head, if not one or the other, but you know, next time you see him tell him how much I appreciate his time, his service and for joining us.
Speaker 5:For sure.
Speaker 1:And look forward to seeing him on the course. But Player of the Month, another, another good one. But why don't we run through the the other nominees, um, why don't you start with dallas?
Speaker 2:yeah, and and, like I said earlier, these nominees are getting longer, um, they're getting more detailed, and and that's what we want. I mean, it's just, it's cool. So let's start with Dallas, and I think this is the first one. We've actually gotten a good morning, so nice to see the DFW. Yeah, the DFW Tour would like to nominate John Crossan as the member of the month for July.
Speaker 2:John joined the tour mid-season of 2019. He became a full-time player on the tour at the start of the 2020 season Interesting season to start, by the way. Since then, he has had 105 rounds played, which includes five regional events and five straight years of competing in the national championship. John lives almost two hours away from DFW Metroplex, yet still makes almost every event throughout the season, which just shows his dedication and loyalty to the tour. John is a great ambassador for the tour and a player that everyone enjoys to play with. Lastly, but most importantly, about John the person. Six years ago, him and his wife Lacey lost their daughter Lily to amoeba, which is a rare bacterial disease. Lily was just 10 years old at the time of her passing. Since then, john and his wife, his wife lacy have joined with kyle's cares omiba awareness foundation that helps spread the word to other families about this rare disease, so no family has to endure what they had to go through.
Speaker 2:Love like lily is her is their slogan and anytime you see john, he will have a hat on with this motto. John embodies what this tour is all about.
Speaker 1:I hope you guys will consider him as your nominee for this month. I can't imagine what's going through. I really can't, you know. I know I can't put into words what they had to go through and to deal with that, and I think the solace is that they are a part of the organization that may help somebody else, but to lose a child, I can't even begin, can't begin.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 1:No, so it's John. Thank you for being on the tour. We appreciate you. We appreciate the tour. We appreciate you. We appreciate your service. We appreciate your dedication. I can't imagine what you go through every day missing your daughter. So we appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:Okay, got another nominee from yeah, got another nomination from the Indianapolis store and Chris before.
Speaker 1:I read this. I appreciate Amal more than anybody could have imagined, because he has taken this to heart and he's really looked at his members and appreciates them and everyone that he has submitted has been worthy. He's not just throwing people out there and you know that to me he's taking the time every month to submit somebody who is definitely worthy and I really do appreciate it. I mean he really embodied the idea of this from day one. So let's go ahead and look at his nominee for the month of July. I'm absolutely thrilled to put Jeremy Wilson's name forward for the June. He forgets what month it is. He. He wrote June, but this is. This is July. I'm absolutely thrilled to put Jeremy Wilson's name for the July player of the month for the golf week amateur tour.
Speaker 1:Jeremy has shown incredible dedication to our tour this season. He's already played a remarkable 17 rounds, consistently showing up up for every event on our Indianapolis Golf Week Tour, along with three regionals and other tour events. His commitment to playing and supporting us across various levels has been truly outstanding and something I've noticed all year. Beyond his impressive commitment on the course, jeremy is a true ambassador for our tour. He always shares such positive feedback and has been instrumental in welcoming new members into our Indianapolis Golf Week Amateur Tour community. I generally couldn't be more grateful for his continuous support and valuable contributions. He really embodies what we look for in this award and he did submit a picture. And again, amal, I really do appreciate what you've done and you've taken this to heart. And Jeremy, thank you for your support and your dedication to the tour.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and again, like you mentioned, thanks to Amal, because he's been real consistent with this and if we had a director to pick so far, I think he'd be in the front running for that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 2:And our last nomination for July, not June, is from the Michigan tour. I'm not nominating Steve Shepard from Michigan per the below reasons he recruits new members. I can't say he actively recruited new members per se, but I know he has his son join and Steve only ever has good things to say about the tour to anyone and everyone. Steve is only ever positive in his interactions at events, no matter what he was part of the reason. I thought about just one Michigan tour. As Steve lived in the middle of the state, I had to choose either east or west and then only get partial points for the non-local Michigan tour events, simply because of where he lived. He played as many east and west, regardless of being able to earn points from them or not. He just likes to play. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's like you know, the Louisiana tour, how they have a north and south and I'm pretty sure they both have Guys that go back and forth. No one ever has.
Speaker 1:No one has ever complained About playing with him and he has been requested as an opponent or partner when we play against South Louisiana, getting called out well, I, so I'm, I'm, I'm gonna take the side that they want to play them because he's nice, not they want to be the opponent because they're going to beat him. We're going to say that because he's nice to play with and he's fun to play with, right that's what we're we're going to go with.
Speaker 2:We're going to have to find that one out. We're going to have to get a reporter out there. He has offered to help many times. I actually could use his help once and I took him up on his offer. He would have helped for free, but I still only charged him half of the event entry fee anyways, just for his offer to help. Well that's nice, was worth it to me. I don't know if that goes against. Michelle, you're good. Yeah, you're good. Let's see here. My regular assistant just couldn't participate in it. Hold on.
Speaker 1:So, michelle, remember now, we didn't choose this. Dennis chooses the winners, but as far as I'm concerned, if it only happens once, it didn't happen.
Speaker 2:No, I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1:I wasn't even there.
Speaker 2:As mentioned above, he would play as many non-local Michigan events, whether he would get points for it or not. He goes to as many non-local Michigan events, whether he would get points for it or not. He goes to as many regionals as he can. He just played in the Louisiana TPC event this past weekend. Members since 2020, 13 events, including one regional and one championship. 2021, 13 events, including one regional and championship.
Speaker 2:22,. 16 events two regionals and a championship 23,. He also had two regionals and a championship. 22, 16 events, two regionals and championship 23,. He also had two regionals and a championship. 24, 15 events. He traveled to Florida and Kentucky events, two regionals and a championship, and 20, 25, 13 events so far, including Indy and Southern Louisiana events. I have no reason to think he will. I have no reason to not think he will be at the championship Wow. Always liking and sometimes posting positively on their social media, not only Michigan posts, but also the national Facebook posts and other tourist posts as well, and he has previously talked about some of the podcasts only some so I know he listens to them.
Speaker 1:Well, he's probably to the point where, you know, he only comments on the ones that are truly outstanding and have poignant points to share, which would really, to me, mean all of them.
Speaker 2:It gets better every time it does.
Speaker 1:It does, it does. But again, great nomination from a show up in Michigan for Steve Shepard. Steve, again, thank you so much for your dedication to the tour, your support for the tour. It does not go unnoticed and keep up the good work and Michelle's already got you locked in, so we will see you in Hilton Head in October.
Speaker 2:Yes, and if not, we're going to come after Michelle and see what's going on, because Exactly, exactly. Because she already said yes, you have no choice now.
Speaker 1:She said you're in, go ahead and send your money and we'll see you here Another good month, chris. But, this is it, august. Get your nominees in bud.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I need to get mine, like you said.
Speaker 1:Number one. If you haven't done one, you still got to do one, and if you have done one, if you have somebody worthy, put them in. I mean because you know this tour is for all of us and it's great to hear some of the good things that players are doing all across the country. It's great to hear some of the good things that players are doing all across the country.
Speaker 2:And I can tell you I really appreciate hearing the stories. It's fun. It's fun to you know, read them when they come in. And I think you know it was a good addition that we added, or a good change, because every tour has a member or a handful of members that they can nominate, but it's good to see that there's people that go out there and are actively living and playing what we hope a Golf Week member would do. Yeah, I'm going to make a transition on that living and playing what we hope a golf week member would do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm going to make a transition on that. You know, we've got the iron raffle right and I got a. I got a Venmo deposit today.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:From Sean Redman. You know we've had Sean on a couple times. You know the Richmond tour director and you know I saw him down at the regional. He put in 100 bucks and this is what he said. This is what he said. I'm going to read it to you. I've got to get over here to my to his messages. And again, you know we talk about the tours of family. You know he sent me a hundred bucks and you know I texted him. I said you know, are you sure it was a hundred? Cause you know, if it's $10, okay, that's one thing, cause it's $10 a piece and I do what I mean. If you only want to do 10, 10 is fine, but if you only want to do 10 and gave me 100, you know I don't want to want to make sure, right. And what he said, this is this is how we responded. That's from the Richmond tour. We support our people. That was nice, nice, that's, but that's it.
Speaker 4:That's that's we responded that's from the Richmond tour. We support our people. That was his goal, nice.
Speaker 1:But that's it, Number one. That's who he is. That's what he feels about the tour. I really appreciate it, and so I'm throwing it out there to other tour directors right now. So we're only selling 100 spots.
Speaker 1:Challenge accepted Venmo me You're going to get as of now. They're still new, chris. They're still in a box behind the sheet back there. Oh, there goes the thumb. There goes the thumb. It hasn't popped up in a long time. No, we avoided that for a good point. You know I didn't do it, you know. So let's get these things raffled off and give them a good home. They'd be much better use in somebody's bag than in a box here in my office. Right, and it's not doing it now.
Speaker 2:No, um it doesn't have to write once every nine months.
Speaker 1:Once every nine months, it'll work, oh my gosh. But again, sean, thanks buddy. I appreciate you, oh my gosh. But again, sean, thanks buddy, I appreciate you. There you go, you did it. We appreciate all you do for the tour.
Speaker 2:This is what we look like when we don't get tickets sold.
Speaker 1:Just don't start doing the hearts. You better not do the hearts do not. I like the confetti.
Speaker 2:Let's see see you got me okay, I'm gonna stop see, like my grandkids.
Speaker 1:You know we FaceTime the grandkids a lot and when they're on the phone they always want to do the faces, the animal faces, the animal heads.
Speaker 2:Yep, the FaceTime Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Anyhoo. So what else you got going on, man.
Speaker 2:Nothing much dude, just trying to survive the rest of the season. I'm actually excited for Nationals. I feel like, you know, besides everything that's happened this year, I feel like after the 79 I had, I kind of figured something out went a couple days with my friend, shot at 80 at my favorite course, so, um, we've got a couple events left. See how that goes. And uh, you know, like, like I tell everybody, play, play the chips where they fall. And um, I just want to be back in hawaii. Honestly, such a great time. It's hard getting back to work when you have a vacation that long.
Speaker 1:Oh, and real quick, I don't mean to interrupt you and I just got a text from Roger. He sent some pictures and this is what he said. He said I'm fine. Really, I think I told you I ride my bike a lot, not like those lycra-clad bike cyclists. Thanks for sharing that piece. I'm glad because I never would have wanted to see that anyway on anybody. But casual rides and mountain biking, I ride my commuter bike to work a couple times a week. I've been doing it for about eight years now. Never had an accident, even ride on a separate bike path off the road itself. Even ride on a separate bike path off the road itself. Anyhow, wow, a car t-boned me at an intersection.
Speaker 1:Totally their fault, jesus. So, roger I I know you listen take care of yourself, but I don't like these pictures at all yeah, for sure. I mean when I saw but at least he's well enough to text. So you know, it could be worse. Roger, please take care of yourself yes, it could have.
Speaker 2:Um man, I'm just glad he was able to send those messages because it could have been. You know, when you say a car to people in another car, you can just imagine how it is, and for somebody riding their bike with no protection like that, that could have been worse. So again, roger, you know, take your time, get better. Rules will always be there. It just gives us some time to get some scenarios ready for you. So, take your time, man. Get better, because that's the most important thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, got to get better, man, get better, because that's the most important thing. Yeah, gotta get better bud, and you know that goes back to you know one of the things that you said. You know everything's happened this year. This has been a hard year for the tour.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, it has.
Speaker 1:With you know, again, it's not our story to tell, and some some people know what's going on, some people don't, um, but it's, it's gonna be from my perspective, and I'm just talking about my perspective here um, it's gonna be really good to get everybody together, yeah, and see everybody, and um, I'll just, I'll just chris, I'll just leave it that no, I, I agree it's, it's gonna be good secret it's it's been be good scenery.
Speaker 2:It's. It's been a rough year and I'm pretty sure you know everyone else has had their, their personal issues that have come up and and you know, for those who've had a great year, congratulations like well deserved um, but life is life and and things come up and things come down. And uh, to be able to get out there on a Saturday or Sunday if your tour plays on Sundays, uh, some Mondays for the senior tour and and be able to enjoy your round and have a good time and be out there with your buddies, um it's just nice to have, and sometimes people just need that moment just to put life aside and just have a good time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, could say better, I think, that's a, that's a, that's a good way to end it. Yeah, I'm playing some golf.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We'll swing it. All right, buddy, best of the family, take care of yourself.
Speaker 2:Likewise you be safe. Thank you.
