Golfweek Amateur Tour - The Podcast

Three Stories That Define the Tour: Coaching, Leadership & Rivalry

• Tim Newman & Chris Rocha • Season 5 • Episode 2

Share episode

Send us a text

This week on the Golfweek Amateur Tour - The Podcast, Tim Newman and Chris Rocha bring together three stories that perfectly capture what makes Amateur Golf, Competitive Golf Events, and the entire Golfweek Amateur Tourcommunity so addictive. From innovative instruction to new leadership to a cross-state showdown, this episode shows exactly why the Tour continues to thrive nationwide.

The episode opens with Evan Silkworth, a former eighth-grade English teacher who somehow managed to turn pedagogy into a competitive advantage in the golf world. Evan walks Tim and Chris through the unlikely parallels between classroom instruction and golf coaching, how learning styles, sequencing, and clear feedback loops create better players and better experiences for everyday golfers. Now running Hudson Valley Indoor Golf, Evan explains why details like tour-quality golf balls, oversized simulator bays, and data-driven software matter for helping players dial in their game. He also shares his plans as a new tour director, emphasizing high-quality courses, better scheduling, and creating a tour environment that feels professional without losing the fun and camaraderie that define the Golfweek Amateur Tour.

From there, the conversation shifts to Atlanta, where the Tour welcomes its first-ever father-son director duo, Chris and Mike Webb. They talk about stepping into leadership together, honoring the traditions of one of the most active markets in the country, and bringing in modern touches to energize members. Their 2025 schedule blends beloved venues with strategic Monday events that give players access to premium private clubs. They’re also rolling out new engagement strategies, a season-ending Par-3 event, and initiatives that strengthen the Golf Community both on and off the course. The Webbs’ chemistry and complementary strengths make it clear that Atlanta is in for an exciting year.

The episode closes with a rivalry that’s quickly becoming legend: El Paso–Las Cruces vs. Arizona. Two days. Pressure moments. Clutch putts. A championship belt. And a D Flight finish that decides it all. Along the way, both tours come together to launch joint fundraising for the V Foundation, proving once again that even the fiercest competition on the Golfweek Amateur Tour still feels like family when the final putt drops. It’s everything that makes the Golfweek Amateur Tour tournaments meaningful: pride, friendly chirps, unforgettable moments, and a shared commitment to giving back.

If you geek out about Golfweek Amateur Tour, you will love hearing how directors shape the player experience, or simply enjoy the stories that bring everyday golfers together. This episode delivers the perfect mix of strategy, personality, and heart.

Enjoyed the episode?
Share it with your golf crew, follow the show, and buckle up, 2025 is already shaping up to be the most exciting season yet.

Support the show

Podcast Homepage
Golfweek Amateur Tour
Senior Amateur Tour
Facebook
YouTube
Srixon
Jondo Sunglasses



SPEAKER_05:

Welcome back. I hear you had uh you had your your your little rider cup thing going on last week last weekend.

SPEAKER_04:

I don't know about a little. I don't know about a little. 64 players total.

SPEAKER_05:

Sixty-four players, really. That that's that's that's awesome. How'd it go? But I mean, how did it go?

SPEAKER_04:

It was amazing. It was cold. Um it was a battle to probably the last six matches out there in singles match. Um I mean, I'm pretty sure we'll go into detail eventually in this episode, but uh it was a great time, and it's good to have her back. She's where she belongs. It's a nice five and three record for uh team El Paso Las Cruces. Listen, you're gonna do that.

SPEAKER_05:

And they'll have winning record.

SPEAKER_04:

And um I know there's other tours that have thought about challenging us, but I don't know if they really want to, because the team we had this weekend uh came out to play. It was great.

SPEAKER_05:

Just remember something. We we're in the Christmas spirit now. So we'll we don't we don't want to be you know throwing. Oh yeah, I'm I'm giving out the challenge. Oh gosh, here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Well, if we if we're talking about giving out the challenge, I I I I want to share something with uh with everybody. Um let's see here.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh oh you're gonna ruin my parade right here.

SPEAKER_05:

No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04:

Jesus. Like I wanna like I want it doesn't even look anything like me.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh no, it doesn't look anything like you at all. Nothing. Nothing. How about uh let's see here.

SPEAKER_04:

You're really gonna ruin my my parade right now. Okay, that looks kinda like me.

SPEAKER_05:

Alright, I got I got one more and I I'll let you choose which one we're gonna we're we're gonna use.

SPEAKER_04:

Neither, because this is supposed to no, yeah, it won't look better.

SPEAKER_05:

That's actually you!

SPEAKER_04:

I know, they don't want to look better.

SPEAKER_05:

Alright, so we'll use the other one.

SPEAKER_04:

That one look that one looks photo too much photoshopped.

SPEAKER_05:

That was yeah, that was that was a quick Yeah, I literally just did that like like ten minutes ago, but but you wanna you want to use the the second one?

SPEAKER_04:

Sure. But why is it to be on this episode? I'm I'm very happy.

SPEAKER_05:

Well because well because it's I mean you're getting ready to start your your your uh twelve days of Christmas. Right? I mean and and by the time you know the the next episode, Christmas is over, so we we we we have uh we have a very short time frame to to to use this um and and and get the most mileage out of it. I guess I was gonna show this episode to everybody in Arizona, but now I'm gonna have to hold that because we we you know we know we can't cut it out, but just just tell him that there's a technical difficulties. Tell them to just fast forward. Uh but yeah, well let's talk about Ryder Cup, but you know, at after after our guests, we we've got uh got two two really good guests like like always. Um you know this is the time of year as as we start getting new tour directors um that we start introducing them and and hearing their stories and and welcome welcoming them to the team. So we we got a couple goats.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it's gonna be great. It's like I said before, it's always nice to to meet the new directors, but uh be able to put them out there and and let their people around their area know who they actually are. Makes it a lot easier when you're when you're a new member having to meet somebody who's essentially running the tournament that you're trying to play in. Makes it a lot easier when you already know a little bit about about them.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, and and uh uh the our our our first guest, I mean he he he's been in the golf business for a while, and I'll let him tell his story, but so let's let's just go ahead and and and bring him in and uh and welcome Evan Silkworth, the upstate New York tour director. Evan, welcome and welcome to the team.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, thanks, Tim. Chris, great having you get you know having me on the show. Appreciate it to jump in and say hi to everybody.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, you know, we we talked a little bit before we got started here. Um you were living in Flor Florida for a little while and and you you you decided to go back to New York, and I and I get it, but it's too crazy to get up there.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you know, I mean, you know, it's it's a questionable choice, you know. Golf in the Northeast is like a six-month sport, so I'm just like, hey, I love golf. I'm a golf pro. I'm gonna, you know, not work for six months. Um, but yet we were in we were in Florida. I was uh at PGA golf club in South Florida, which is a property owned by you know PG of America. And I mean I had so many terrific, terrific experiences there. And um, you know, we actually went down there after I was a teacher in New York City. I taught eighth grade English in Brooklyn for uh eight years, and I kind of like accidentally started becoming a golf pro. I'd played college golf and I was pretty good. And basically my Friday afternoon commute when I was uh in the city was a disaster. So I found out I could actually get home sooner if I went to the golf course for about two and a half hours on Friday afternoons. So sometimes I'd play nine holes, sometimes I'd just you know hit balls or whatever and hang out and have a beer and you know, enjoy you know, just being around the golf course and other golfers. And um I was practicing chipping and I was hitting this cool like little low spinny wedge shot into the practice screen, and this guy was like, How are you doing that? And you know, I showed him how to set up for it and we practiced it a little bit and you know, just gave him a couple like real quick pointers. He's like, Oh man, this is awesome! Can I buy you a beer? And I'm like, Yeah, you can buy me a beer. This sounds like a great tips for beer. Like, how does this get better, right? Exactly. And uh one thing led to another, and you know, I saw the same guy, his name was Andre, great dude. Um, and I just you know ended up giving a bunch of tips, and eventually he was like, kind of like pay you for a lesson, and I was like, I don't know, I'm I'm an amateur, I'm not really a pro, I'm not really doing things, I don't want to step on toes here at the course. And you know, one thing led to another, and he kind of just was like, No, seriously, you should do this. Like, you've helped me a lot, just you know, trading tips for you know, tips for beer. And uh I talked to the pro that was there, and he was absolutely looking for some help. And I was like, Listen, it's a part-time thing. I teach English, like I'm just here on Fridays, you know, you can come in on a Saturday and help out or whatever, because I was like, you know, 22. And uh, you know, before you know it, I had a full lesson book and I looked at what my day was like teaching, you know, and was like, I like teaching golf way more than I like teaching English. And I went out on that and I was, you know, left my teaching gig and opened my own instruction business down in the city. And I gave 40 to 50 hours of lessons a week just grinding on the lesson T, and I was just stacked up one after another, boom, boom, boom. And I was like, I need to get trained in this. I was like, I need to become a better professional. And um, you know, a couple guys that I respected in that area were like, no, you gotta be getting the PGA apprentice program and go through that accreditation process. And that's what I did. And, you know, my wife and I were sick of living in the city at that point, so we were like, let's go give Florida a try. So we moved down to Florida and I, you know, literally just cold called. And uh they're like, Well, we don't have a spot for you right now, but you know, we'll bring you, you know, you're obviously experienced. We want to bring you on the team. You know, I was smart, I already had a master's degree at that point, so they were like, Oh, yeah, you're qualified to be here. Yeah, man, let's pick balls for a couple months, you know, just like hanging out. And it was summertime in Florida, so I was bouncing around to these fantastic courses, you know, playing for free and just you know, enjoying that, and uh, you know, moved through the ranks pretty quickly. And by the time I was done, I was their you know, operations director and tournament manager, and you know, I had uh 70 plus direct reports, wow, and you know, was like one, you know, we're running below the head pro who was you know and a great pro. The director of golf was a great pro. The GM was a great pro. Um, you know, I mean, I learned a ton from those guys, they treated me, you know, great. You know, I got to see a ton of stuff um from the PGA tournament team and work with them and learn from them, you know, hosting you know, the pro events. And right, I mean, there were days where I'd have eight or ten separate groups on the four golf courses that I was responsible for. Each group is 40 to 70 people, right? And just simultaneously running, you know, half a dozen events. Um, you know, so it was like I said, it was I had a blast doing that. And then uh, you know, my wife and I were like, well, it's time to start having a family. We were getting like to the kid having age, and we're like, well, we have literally no family in Florida, you know. We were just like, where do we want to, you know, raise our family? And we're both from the Northeast. So, you know, we came back up here and you know, to be around family and everything, and that's how we landed back here. I took a head pro job, you know, worked in the business there as a head pro director of golf at a private club, and you know, then I went out on my own and it's awesome.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, I first off, God bless you for for being a teacher and teaching teaching in in New York City, but w w wouldn't you say that that teaching English and teaching golfers at times is really about the same sometimes?

SPEAKER_02:

Sometimes well, I think one of the things, and again, I've been I'm super, super fortunate in that I've been able to do something that I love every day. Right. I mean, I love teaching, I still love teaching like people, you know. I mean, my son who's seven gets grammar lessons on the daily because he you know, you like you know, doesn't you know subjugate his verb properly? I'm like, what are you doing? No, you know, you know, like I have those knee-jerk reactions. You know, why are you writing a sentence with a preposition? This is incorrect, knock it off. Um but but um just going through and you know all the teaching skills that I had from being a classroom teacher and having a degree in education, I think made me a more effective instructor because I studied how to teach and how to like connect with people and how to look at a student and say, Okay, well, I understand that you know this explanation, you're coming over the top. You know, that doesn't, you know, a lot of guys do that, right? I mean, if you're standing on a lesson T, probably n of the people you'd give a lesson to, you know, slice, and most of that's because of club path. And um that you know, student A doesn't get it when you say it this way, but student B does, then student C needs a third approach. You're saying the same thing, but you have to have 10 ways to say it. Exactly. And you know, like looking at you know and understanding learning styles and understanding how to structure lessons and say, like, okay, to get to this finish line, I can't teach this before I have to teach this, and I've teach this first. And you can, you know, basically curriculum plan or lesson plan, you know, your way through it. And again, you know, I think there are tons of great pros and tons of great teachers that all do the same thing on the fly. Um but you know, again, I think it that's a big part of why you know my lesson business has always been successful, right? No matter where I've been.

SPEAKER_05:

You know, it's it's it's funny you talk about it like that because there's no way I'm a I'm a teaching priority or even close to I mean um shouldn't even be associated with that conversation. But you know, te teaching you know teaching a physical skill does have some of the same concepts as teaching a uh an intellectual or academic skill. But you also have to look at the capabilities of the of the student, physical capabilities of the student. And uh you know a good example, you you talk about golf, which is which is really complex. It's it's not it's not a simple uh singular playing movement. My granddaughter last year she's she's five now, so she actually actually she was she was either four or just turned five when she was doing this, and she was going through gymnastics and the uh the person that was trying to teach her some gymnastics things was was trying to get her to do a handstand and you know at four or five years old. That's that's a very it's a complicated skill to begin with, but she wasn't she wasn't physically able to put the moves together. And so when you start trying to teach people something that they don't either don't understand or can't do, that's when frustration starts, and we've seen a lot of this in golf as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, for sure. I mean, I'm just happy that no one asked me to do a handstand.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay, that well that I'm sure when you were in college you did a few handstands.

SPEAKER_02:

That I think it was dad's something else, you know, more of a key. Yeah, we don't talk about those.

SPEAKER_05:

We don't yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So it's funny, but you're totally right. I mean, you know, the skills translate, you know, and I think you know the learning styles translate too, because you know, no matter what kind of lesson you're giving, like you you know, for physical activities, obviously, you have to look at someone can do, you have to look at you know, age, you know, overall athleticism, um, hand eye coordination, you know, injury history, you know, basic things, you know, how tall someone is, right? The taller someone is, the shorter someone is, their swings are gonna look different, like just just math, it's just angles, right? Right? I mean uh so that makes a huge difference in how you approach it.

SPEAKER_05:

Exactly, exactly. So how how about your your uh um you're also the owner of Hudson Valley Indoor Golf? Tell us about that because you know Chris wants an indoor golf simulator. He he lives in in El Paso.

SPEAKER_08:

Yep.

SPEAKER_05:

And he says it's too hot to play in the summer. So so talk about your your the uh Hudson Valley Indoor Golf Center.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so I mean um I mean again this all originated, you know, a bunch of years ago where I was you know basically took the winter off because you know, in the northeast your golf season is short but intense because you really only got you know a couple months where your conditions are really you know in top notch, and then you've got these kind of funky shoulder seasons that can go either way. Yeah. Right. Sometimes it can be nice in you know late March or early April, and sometimes it's almost May. So the month of April is you know a big question mark. Um, which actually is what I've been talking about with a lot of the host courses for the Amtor is I'm like, okay, let's talk course conditions, where are you usually along in your agronomy schedule, you know, during these dates, trying to decide, you know, okay, do you put an event at this stage? Um, but you know, I was home and there was a huge demand. There was no golf to be played in the winter. Right. And I was like, yeah, and it was just as the you know simulators were starting to come open, and uh you know, I really got into it heavy during COVID because you know, honestly, if you know the loan prices at that point were pretty low, so I was able to take out you know a small loan to get all the simulators up and running, and I found a you know nice space that we renovated and I put the sweat equity into it. And you know, a buddy of mine that's a you know really talented contractor um came in and helped me out with it, and we gutted this space and rebuilt it and put in five simulator bays, uh, you know, club building and customization workshop, uh a bar, you know, an indoor putting green, you know, some nice kind of country club style feeling, you know, bathrooms and everything to make it feel you know golfy for lack of a word, right? Um and then you know, since then, since we've been opened, you know, I always try and look and you know, kind of my business philosophy has always been, you know, go for the do the things that nobody else is doing, right? And that way you don't have to really worry about competition. And thankfully for me, the things in this area that were not being done, there wasn't a lot of people doing good custom fitting, right? They you know, country clubs would have like their fitting days and things like that where the manufacturers would come out, but um, you know, nobody there wasn't really a lot of good standalone club fitters. So, you know, I got into that space, I got into coaching, and you know, in my geographic area, there were no simulators, so I didn't really have you know anybody else around. It was a you know hour commute south of me. And then since I've been opened, there are I don't know, probably another eight or ten that have opened up. Um, but I was uh I was really the second one open. Um so you know, kind of being at the forefront of that's been really strong. And then since then, I always just focus on you know golfer experience because some of these places, you know, like you hear about like a top golf, right? And they've got a ton of people going through the door, you know, and having a great time, but not a lot of people come back because it's like an expensive bowling trip, it's a novelty, it's a one time off, right? And for me, I'm like, well, I'm not going after the guy bringing you know an awkward first date on a golf outing, right? I'm going for golfers. Like if you're coming you know to Hudson Valley and do a golf, it's about practicing, it's about data, it's about the quality of the golf software, the course selection. It's about you know, practice is about club fitting. You know, we take that seriously. Like each bay has tour balls only, right? We don't have rain rocks, we only use you know, either you know, Titleist or Callaway or TP5s. Um put tour golf balls in there 24-7. Like I buy them and put them out there so that people don't use their dirty golf balls. I mean, part of that's selfish because it helps the wear and tear of the spoons, which are expensive to replace. But um yeah, I just you know that is part of the experience. The bays are huge. A lot of times you get to indoor simulator spaces and they're really tiny and you feel cramped. Whereas you're used to playing golf outside, and you know, it's obviously you're outside on these, you know, 50 to 100 to 200 acres of beautiful space, so you know you have that openness. Right. So I would try to mimic that as much as you could, you know, when you're still inside. You know. Um, yeah, it's been it's been fun. You know, we've been open, you know, we're about to start our fourth year. Um, we're you know in month 12 of our third year. So you know we open January. So we're coming up on our four year, start the start of our fourth year. And you know, we got a bunch of great things going. So it's been great. You know, and not having to be part of the uh like country club, private club grind. Right. Right. Been really nice. You know, just you know I can kind of set my own schedule in the summers I can teach what I want. And the winters were obviously a lot busier. You know, we've got leagues and clinics and you know tournaments and stuff like that that we run in Sutton. But just you know having that freedom and not being chained to being at the club six or seven days a week. Right. You know is a big a big benefit, at least for me at this especially at this stage, right?

SPEAKER_05:

I mean we all have young kids so yeah the the the course is a good place for them to grow up but it's also you know you're still working right it's it's still business and it's especially from the country club perspective you know there's oh yeah yeah you got you got to take take care of that but you know so so how are you going to transition transition you know the things that you're doing with Hudson Valley into the tour because a lot of it's it's like you know we talked about before the mentality is the same.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah I mean it's I mean you hit the nail on the head I mean the one thing and um you know I talked to you know Jen quite a bit and I've you know been trying to do my best job of listening to what the local guys you know the feedback I'm getting about what they're looking for in a tour right because it's about providing a great experience to the guys coming out to play. Right. You know I I saw the tagline you know and forgive me if I butcher this quote a little bit but it was something along the lines of you know play like the pros play but we're amateurs or something like that. But it was a really clever line that was on the you know the tour website and I was like I like that and I was like that's a great sentiment try and put together a tour quality event you know and put together some of those amenities that you know make people feel like oh no this is a special occasion you know to come and play in this tour you know and let that experience really kind of speak for itself. So um you know and getting you know the schedule right I think is really big you know making sure we're putting the right types of courses on there. There were a couple that I knew by reputation I was like well those are gone. Like those don't pass my sniff test. I'm like uh no that's good you know and you know again I I'm super fortunate that you know um I'm you know friendly with most of the pros in the area so I've been able to I mean I'm working I'm working hard on the schedule you know I've got like probably 15 conversations going simultaneously trying to lock in all the courses and you know up here everybody's closed so everything takes time because you know it's winter break right the pros are done after a long season you know they've been you know beaten up chewed up and spit out you know and they just are starting to pick themselves up after they close usually you know mid-November so you know boards aren't in session so trying to get things officially on a calendar is a little rocky um but you know trying to really put good golf courses on there um you know and it doesn't really necessarily mean like expensive clubs you know we have a great you know we have a couple great munis in this area that are I mean super fun to play you know and we'll have I mean again I think the guys are gonna love it um you know I mean and some of them played it but they're new to the tour.

SPEAKER_05:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

You know so they're you know new locations are centrally located you know trying to look at the schedule and you know spread it out so that we've got some on the southern side of the you know territory some on the northern side you know most of them relatively central just so that you know guys can feel like oh I've got a home match I've got some true away matches where I'm driving to get there you know and then have the most of them kind of middle-ish um you know and then you know get some get some new fresh locations in there um you know and then just kind of try and upgrade the experience throughout you know so um you know it's yeah I'm I'm excited for it. We'll see how it all pans out.

SPEAKER_05:

But it it it it's gonna be good. I mean the the upstate tour has has traditionally done well it's got got a lot of members um yeah but anytime you can infuse new go go go ahead.

SPEAKER_02:

I'll say that I mean one of the things you were just saying like the upstate tour is really good and I couldn't agree more. I mean I've probably only personally spoken to maybe 30 it you know 25 30 guys that have reached out to me and the one thing that runs throughout all of their commentaries is just like how passionate these guys are about the tour how much they love the tour and you know they all want to bend over backwards to try and just keep it going and make it better. And anytime you can see that kind of just like really sincere enthusiasm for something right you know really makes me as a director say like okay I want to step up you know and you know get something really good for these guys you know to come out and you know just have a blast.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah man yeah go go ahead Chris no I mean I I think you know bringing what you have from from your business over here um you're hitting the head the the nail on the head I guess is what the saying is um I I think you're on the right track. I mean I'm excited to see what what happens um in both your ventures honestly.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah we know I mean like I said it's it's an exciting time for me I'm definitely you know again I always I say this a lot you know you know when you're doing something you love you never really have that bad of a day. I mean you know nothing's always nothing's ever perfect right but you know you're around people that you know love golf in a game that I love you're helping people get better at their game you're putting on a tournament and letting people I mean again that you know you guys have been around it you know you just see somebody make a putt on 18 to win their flight or shoot a personal best I mean the the you know the euphoria that that person's feeling in that moment you can see it radiates through a group like people are amped up they're you know chest bumping and high fiving and just having a great time you know like that you know that stuff is awesome yeah I I think one of the things you're gonna see here is is the camaraderie is is really second to none and and and you you mentioned it a little bit you know for the most part they're they're while it's competitive golf it's it's guys that are playing together that want each other to do well and there's a room for each other and cheering each other on even though they're they're still competing you know where you where you don't necessarily see that in a lot of places that that's one of the things that you really get on this tour is is the the camaraderie and everybody wants everybody to do well. And it's fun to see no I said I that's what I said I mean I I'm stoked to work with you know the group of guys that's here um you know I said I I you know look you I mean you said it perfectly just a second ago is you can see the camaraderie and you know how quickly everybody comes together. I'm actually stoked uh one of the guys on tour right after you know um you know we met before you know I had anything to do with the tour he was like oh my god this base is awesome he's like your energy's awesome I want to do some stuff here and you know again I a little bit ironically because we started planning this before um you know me even having the first of first conversations about anything wheel toward came on we decided to host an all day um you know kind of like elimination style okay tournament um this Sunday and you know uh you know guy sent out and he got you know like 30 people to sign up right away and then you know the field kind of settles itself out because oh sorry I got a birthday party I forgot about it or whatever. Right. And we've you know we got 24 guys that are all a hundred percent in we're gonna do a live draft on Friday night and then everyone's gonna come out on Sunday for literally a day of golf. So if you end up making it to the finals it's gonna be you know oh there was the math on it. So we're gonna do some alternate shot to try and give people a little bit of a break you know so that they don't like just you know have their arm fall off from playing a hundred holes of golf or something. But I mean it's gonna be well north of 60 holes for any of the guys that make it to the end. So uh I said it it should be blown a blast. You know and I've got a big indoor putting green so like we're gonna do some the guys that get eliminated will do some uh you know putt offs and you can do like putt pong you know putt tactoe you know just some really fun stuff to yeah let everybody you know hang out and enjoy a day of golf when it's four degrees outside.

unknown:

Yep.

SPEAKER_05:

So do you have any courses booked yet?

SPEAKER_02:

So is that do you have any courses booked yet that you know that you want to tease anybody with sure so I mean um yeah we got one of the courses that the guys said they liked last year. I think our season opener is going to be at Lazy Swan which is further south in the area which is a you know fun track so I think that's you know that's 99% done. I'm just waiting on a couple contractual things but the pro and I you know made an agreement there so that'll be a good one. And then we've got a nice private club for a weekend afternoon on June 6th that's you know again a great track going to be way longer than I think a lot of the guys are used to in this section um but it's a super fun layout it's got some cool double greens um county golf and country club is on June 6th so we've got those two ironed out um and I've got a couple a couple big ones um that most people haven't played regardless um you know so I don't I'm just gonna I'll just lay say it out there there's some big names that the tour has certainly never been to um that you know I talked to a couple of my buddies and was like hey what's a good you know is this even possible right I know you're pretty snooty uh what's the deal maybe we can sneak out on a Monday and they're like well maybe you know and like how many guys I'm like well you know depends um you know it depends on something what you're saying you know and they're like well there's there's one course um that I talked to in New Hampshire um that has 64 members total um and it's phenomenal it is I mean most people you know having heard of it and you know I'm not even gonna name drop it because it'll I'll probably get yelled at because someone will be like oh yeah I know a guy that played here once and da da da um and I was like and we talked to the pro I was like listen you and I both know you won't see any of your members you'll have zero rounds of golf on the day before and the day after let me bring a super select you know like the first 40 guys that sign up like let me do a little a little thing up there you know because you know that no one gets on and he was like no I was like like what's the dollar amount I was like what if we gave you like 300 a round like you know and he was like not a chance I was just like but you know what if you if you don't ask then you know what the answer is right right exactly you know um you know again a couple other guys that are top 100 courses you know um you know actually I mean there's two courses I'm talking to that in the golf week rankings are you know top 100 you know in our area so that's the teaser if somebody wants to go read the rankings and say okay in upstate New York which top which one top 100s are then there well yeah you gotta remember now you gotta read though you gotta be able to read you do have to be able to read you got to be able to read but here's the one thing one thing our our the golfers on the golf amateur tour are smart that's why that's why they're on the golf amateur tour.

SPEAKER_05:

No well Evan thank you so much for joining us tonight I really do appreciate it um we're looking forward for big things from you I mean you you've got you've got it you've got everything that you need um you you you've got a good base up there um you you've got the the the the history in one of these things we we know that you're gonna just pick up right where they left off and and take off make it even better.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah absolutely thanks for having me you know it's blast coming on the show and you know chatting for a little bit and seeing you guys face to face you know even though it's podcast form. But yeah um I'm I'm you know I'm excited for the season you know it's something new and fun um you know and hopefully I'll be able to uh deliver on the promise year one for some really great courses and you know if not we'll work on it and get it get it next year you know just a good good road in there for the boys and I'm I'm I'm sure you're gonna do great and and uh let's plan on getting you on about midway through season and and yeah absolutely love it sounds good you take care of yourself and we'll we'll talk to you soon yep you too guys thank you let's take a break from the show to hear about TrickSon's ZX Mark II drivers ZX Mark II drivers are for major players major winners major power all new ZX Mark II drivers only from Strixon Tim upstate better be ready because the new guy at the helm is is gonna bring it I think and if they're not ready now they're gonna be in trouble.

SPEAKER_05:

And he and he's got the he's got the background for it. I mean he's he's been the pro. He's got the the indoor um simulator business. Yeah I mean he do did just square it away.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah it's it's gonna be exciting to see where he brings and you know what we're able to talk about next year at the national championship um on everything that he's brought to the table. It's gonna be something to uh to keep an eye out definitely yeah I'm pretty sure it's not the last time we're gonna be talking about talking to him.

SPEAKER_05:

No I don't I I I I agree I would I'm sure we're gonna get him one I throughout mid mid season but my my guess is we we may end up getting him one sooner than that if you know if that trajectory that that we think he's gonna have is uh holds true. Oh yeah I believe so and you we didn't even talk about his uh he's got two guys helping him so he's he's gonna have a lot of help and and you know that's that's one thing that you know I've talked about you know with with other tour directors in the past. You know you you really got to have at least three people in tournament day to to i i if you're gonna play right you gotta you gotta have three people if you're gonna play and to be not including yourself. Yeah and I'm I don't I'm not sure if he's playing or not but um Jen just Jen the voice from behind the curtain I don't know if you heard that but but Jen said Jen said he's not playing. But but that's what you need to to be able to run it so that you know you're providing that that customer service you know at that at that real high level. Not again not knock anybody who doesn't have three and and plays you know I'm just looking at it from a from a logistical perspective um so that you know you you you can provide a a a really good service that's all yeah I mean I have you know two of myself and even then we find ourselves at times running around like chickens without without a head trying to figure out what's what's next or where we need to be or whatnot.

SPEAKER_04:

So yeah the more the merrier but um you know off topic before we get our next guest on uh gens like the Wizard of Oz just back there calling the shots.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah I'm telling you you know wait it's it's it's it's really funny you you you say Wizard of Oz we um before before we we we started this you know yesterday talked about Elf on the shelf with you and uh she's really the right height for Elf on the shelf Jesus we're not going there I'm not gonna be part of that nope anyways I will not be a part of that I like my shins where they're at oh that's awesome that is awesome well our our next guests they they've been around for for a long time and uh you know they were one of the first people that I met when I when I came to Atlanta um and I think this could be the the first father son tour director combo that we've had I know we got a lot got a lot a lot of husband wives um do this together but I don't know that we have um any any father sons so let's just go ahead and bring in the new Atlanta tour directors uh Chris and Mike Webb Chris and Mike w welcome to the show it's good seeing you guys it's really good seeing you guys and um you know this is uh is really the first year in forever that that I haven't been a tour director and and Mike w while we were waiting on you because you were late here getting into the into the scene um I was I was tell I was telling your dad it's been 10 years since since I came down to Atlanta. 2016 was my first year as a tour director in Atlanta and um you all were some of the first that I met and it's good to see you all taking over to to as tour directors. You're all gonna do a phenomenal job with it and I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03:

We're excited to uh to get it um you know we've been chomping it the bit and you know we played since 2013 was our first year so you know we've had uh 12 years um in the uh in the on deck circle uh to to prepare and and decide you know here's how I would do it if I was in charge and you you know I'm sure every tour has 50 of those guys right but uh now is our time and and I'm sure that there will be a uh uh a million little things that we uh you know tweak or or maybe get wrong the first time around but uh we're excited to give it a go and uh uh uh hopefully bring some bring some energy and um you know big shoes to fill uh uh for Tim Newman so uh I'll do what we can.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah no don't worry about me you you you guys gotta do you and you and you're already doing a doing a great job. And I just say that you know from the Facebook perspective. I mean you you all are doing a great job getting some messages out and some you know drawing some interest in Facebook. Some of the emails that you all have been sending out have have been good have been great. I say some of them all everyone that I've seen has been great. So it's not like okay this one was good this one this one was horrible. All the messages that you all are putting out are are really good and and you're you're really on top of it and and now's really the time. It doesn't matter w whether you're a new tour director or a veteran tour director you know the the time from Thanksgiving to the new year that's a critical time to to start you know getting your message out and growing the base of membership.

SPEAKER_07:

Yeah well I think one of the good things that we bring together as a father son duo if you want to think of it this way we bring the old and the new i i'm here as more of the traditionalist so i look at i look at the courses that we uh uh yeah we want to go back we want to be sure we got that on the schedule or not i don't care if we go back to that one or not and then michael he's from the new side he said wait let's try this let's do this what about have you ever thought about this so we're we're together we keep each other uh going pretty good we're we're excited and looking forward to a a great kickoff for 2026 maybe it's in the works we haven't confirmed anything yet Tim but we are looking for maybe the first February local icebreaker event in Georgia good luck with that I mean yeah but we're going for we're going south of Atlanta to make it happen but we're working even still I mean it's not that it's really that hard to do one of the main reasons for me never doing anything in February is is I was tired. I wanted to take a nap you know but you're not for everybody to get out of hibernation and get some things going so we're looking at adding we think we're going to have a full 15 tournament schedule this year.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh that'd be awesome that'd be awesome so but before we start getting into the schedule what why don't you kind of give everybody an overview of of who you guys are and and um not only how long you've been on the tour but but some of your favorite moments of being on the tour. And I can tell you one of my favorite moments moments of of you all being on the tour was a couple years ago when you both won um your flight on the Father's day tournament that we had. That to me was was really special.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah yeah that was uh you know so there's only been a couple of times like that that we've managed to align together and win on the same day and that's one of them. So those are great memories you know I I almost view it for me and dad connected this too I kind of grew up playing this you know in 2013 I was like 16 years old so you know I there's a lot of yeah there's a lot of growth that happened throughout me playing this tour. So um you know it's it's evolved my my emotions and the ways I handle myself on the golf course has certainly evolved over time. But there's been a ton of great memories. Yeah you like to win but um you know occasionally we get to play together uh that's always fun you know to be able to cheer your dad on um but yeah specifically you kind of took the wind out of my sales there when you used that one Tim because that's that's kind of that one takes escape from me you win the Father's Day event with your dad that's it's hard to beat that you know it is it is how about you Chris?

SPEAKER_07:

Well I am uh I'm 56 years old I am a Georgia boy you can tell by my background my national championship bulldog stuff even shamedly i've I've got a Falcon Super Bowl jersey where we uh lost the worst Super Bowl loss of all time maybe but uh we're we're local to the uh metro atlanta area born and raised we know the courses know the area know the people and um we're we're looking forward to another great year we love the tour I love the tour um me and Mike play on different uh uh divisions we're different flights now and so uh sometimes the ride home gets rough but uh other than that uh some of my some of my favorite events are uh gathering with the guys I mean sometimes it is hard to hard to get a group together if you're the only one around that plays and in our line of work we're we're with a lot of different people and we're weekend warriors on the golf course and it's easy to look at a schedule and say oh man I'm but I'm going to that one and you don't have to worry about who you're gonna be paired with you're gonna have some good guys in your group and you meet friends and uh man we just uh we love we love it and we love the competition as well and uh it's always exciting to uh uh get one where you pull the tape out and get to measure to see if you're closest to the pen or tell the story on the ride back home and say Michael you won't believe it half an inch and I'd have had a hole in one well that's the story of my life because I never had a hole in one but uh Michael's my son he's the middle between two girls and uh we uh we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna be the father-son duo for the Atlanta tour and we're excited to uh make it happen the good bad and the ugly and I will add Tim just before you jump in so dad you know he's in the D flight he's been in the C flight I'm in C I've been in B and we'll both kind of borderline I I'm I want to go up I'm hoping I go up soon enough but I'm only gonna do it when when my index uh arrives there I'm not gonna be uh jumping ahead of it but uh the ride to the course is fun normally we're riding together so that's I I'm trying to coach him up hey you know you know you driver we're having trouble with your driver don't be afraid to pull that three wood you know whatever the the c and on the way back it's either we're talking about the successes or it's how did you manage to shoot 109 bad oh my god what happened and and we're going hole by all so the whole day is fun you know it's it's a fun time that that's awesome Chris I don't know if you want to tell them about what it's like playing as a as a tour director yeah I mean I've been doing this playing and the tour director what eight years I will tell you one thing and one thing only have fun because your phone will still be blowing up no matter what um they will you will have questions that you addressed in the uh pre-tournament rules that you've told everybody and I swear I don't think there's been one tournament that's gone by where not even the second whole gone through and it's hey are we playing lift clean plays today?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah um so when you have those you know just have fun out there um but it does feel a whole lot better when uh you get that victory because once that victory comes and and you had all that and trust me once you get that first victory they're gonna be asking for you to move up so get ready for that as well one of my one of my fondest memories was with Tim and Jen running the tour down at Reynolds and uh uh Michael uh left number nine and went to the wrong number one T box somebody Junior members that so it was penalty it was penalty strokes but I think you came back and won didn't you Michael no I got like third but uh in the money hey if you win money you won something we actually try not to revisit that very much but that but we still laugh about it.

SPEAKER_05:

Uh you do oh my gosh look at Tim that put that took years off of his life man I'm telling you right now it wasn't a bike big deal to me at all but it didn't affect me don't follow the people in front of you so like I said listen to the listen to the rules that's it my God Chris let me tell you so the the course we were at had had three different nines right yeah and we were we were util we were usel we were utilizing all three nines okay okay so we had five flights using th three different nines for two days so um it just depended on what your rotation was on any given day so so that you got to play all three um and the group in front of Mike didn't follow directions and so Mike's group didn't follow directions and luckily the group behind Mike did follow directions so I only had to deal with with with two of them so they I think they started on whole eight of one nine so they played eight and nine and then they went to hole one of that same nine as opposed to going one of the whatever nine they were supposed to start the to to go to it happens it happens that's the first time in my life that's ever happened and you come to El Paso. Well it's that maybe that could maybe that's like saying something about El Paso and in Atlanta.

SPEAKER_04:

I don't know well well also I don't know why you would you use all three nines but I mean it is what it is.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah we had we had two yeah we we were we were doing what we do we we pack horses down here down here in Atlanta we're not you know a uh 70 or 80 you know torrent we we we get people to show up who's we I don't know about this we anymore do you that ship it was a regional you you left that ship a long time ago don't say we see see oh gosh so what what do you guys have planned for this year um for for who's doing the Facebook post Chris or Mike Chris it's got to be you uh well we've we we've got we've got some help mike's wife is uh roll her and so she's she's social media guru she's helping a lot oh yeah was putting time uh was putting time on some of that you know he'll something will pop into his head and he'll throw it on there I had one that I thought was gonna be really good and it was a total bust I had a kind of a guessing game thing and I was gonna get something away for first person who guessed it right and literally you know a damn Danigress and within five minutes gave the right guess it was so he guessed I I was gonna ask you about that because that's it that's a brilliant idea I love what you did but he guessed it right that that was the right one that's yeah I thought I thought I was like being really clever and it was uh uh Christopher if you don't know there's a porch down here called Chateau Elon and so I just put a picture of a Tesla and I was like here's a hint of where we're gonna do our finale at our season finale and uh I thought it was like really clever and the very first comment was Chateau Elon uh the test was being Elon Musk make and book make it was pretty clever I didn't figure it out till you just explained it just now oh you didn't know what it was oh this is gonna be this Chris we're gonna we're gonna have fun with these guys this year I oh man that's I just put Elon together so I said oh that's what that was about I had no idea that's the old and new that's that connection right there and yeah well that to be fun so what what other surprises you have that that you want that you want to tell us now and I know you you've got you're doing the 12 days of Christmas starting but uh I I guess it's uh um it's by the time this is out Sunday we start Sunday okay yeah we start sunday and go through Christmas day so you so you can give me at least one because this will come out after it starts if you want i uh it'll it'll be a secret i i won't let it out before monday i promise well we're doing a we're doing a two day at Carahee we are uh we we hope to do a three-day event with two two for points but one a fun day at the par three at Chateau Alan for our tour championship and are you asking what we're giving away or are you asking about no I'm just it it just give give me something on the schedule that you would that you're that you're oh oh schedule wise yeah we're we're I'm sorry I I misunderstood the question we're pumped about the schedule I I don't didn't think I would have this much fun scheduling courses um yeah the two day at Curry we're pumped about um the season finale two day at at Chathoon it might be we might have a Friday skins game we're kind of trying to finalize that um but we've just put Lanier Island on the schedule and and Chris you know if you ever come down here Lanier Island is it's just a crazy course like it seems like every hole's on the water uh there's gonna be some time numbers that day but um it's gonna be a fun time um dad could share with you some of the others we've we tried to kind of merge keeping some of the courses that everybody loves we don't turn over the Apple cart so to speak but we're two weekday events this year going to do two Mondays just to get just to get a better course that they won't book us on a Saturday so uh we're gonna do Windermere on a Monday and uh who else we got on a Monday Michael uh we just booked Lanier Islands on Monday Lanier Islands and Windermere are both Mondays yeah uh we think it's funny I was texting I was texting some of our tour guys today just follow-ups and trying to you know uh make connections and I texted one of our guys about uh they register don't don't forget herby bird that kind of stuff and uh he staked the back he was like yeah I'm gonna register for the end of the year and just say that I'm bringing like four guys to Windermuth for the member guests.

SPEAKER_05:

I'm like okay great you know we love that and a couple a couple things we're doing in our 12 days of Christmas to try to generate new members is uh we're giving away like both of those Mondays we're giving away a free entry into the tournament but it has to be someone is not a member of Golfwick it's a guest you can bring a guest for free and so it encouraged you to bring bring a guest kind of thing so uh we're doing that just to try to promote as well so that's awesome and Windmare's a good course I obviously look you know a great course um and and should and they should be good draws for you we got bears best we're working on TPC sugar loaf it'll probably be next year not this year though so yeah that's a you know that's a that that's a one I obviously everybody wants to play it it's just number one you got to get into the rotation you you you gotta have the I mean it would be a Saturday yeah it was it's not gonna be a Saturday that's for sure it it'll be a Monday um and uh you just gotta be able to get into the rotation on on a on a good weekend that's on I mean on a on a good on a good week let's just put it that way right so you know that's uh it just it it is what it is you know everybody wants to play it but it it's just that's just a hard one to uh to to get scheduled and um you know I I do think that you know we we've been to a lot of the same courses recently and so infusing some some new courses or some ones we haven't been to in a long time that'll be really good for membership. Yeah that's what we're gonna try to do so we're going back to Bears Best uh some of the some of the old standbys that we love to go to we're gonna them so I'll say this Tim I think that uh I will probably never make another suggestion to a tour director of hey why don't we play this course because uh you know after after calling and and talking to like 50 it's not just you don't just pick up the phone and say hey I'm gonna play this part yeah it's a real challenge to align a schedule you know we really wanted to space out the right way not playing three weekends back to back you know it's it's putting a puzzle together it really is so uh been fun but it is challenging in this not just picking up the phone and and booping it out we love shotguns because everybody's there for the award ceremony but they hate doing shotguns on Saturdays so you take what you can get to play good courses but uh we do have we've we've got what five or six shotguns I think but some of them are straight T's but um think what you get one we're gonna have a great season yeah I I I think you are too and uh what I'd like to do you know I'm I'm telling this to all the especially all the new ones but love to get you on probably about mid season see how things are going and and get you guys you know promoted uh um from from promoting your tour and and hopefully you know some of your some of your uh regional major winners as well that'd be great you know at Atlanta is always always does well in regionals I mean we we we always have three or four uh regional winners every year so if we don't then I'm looking at you guys it's your fault well we if we've already picked the ones that we're going to this year we I went to Branson for the first time last year and I loved it so I want to go back and take Mike with me this year but uh we're probably gonna go to TPC in Louisiana going to the nationals uh Sequoia National we're gonna well I think we're gonna do Sequoia this year we try to pick out three or four we want to play so um we're looking forward to it but I I have learned some new terms remember I'm not your social media guru but I have learned some terms everybody that watches this find our Facebook page like and share there you go there you go here getting there that's what I like to hear well guys that thanks so much for joining us tonight I I really do appreciate it it's it's always good seeing you and and uh I'm sure I'll see you here real soon. Thanks guys thank you appreciate care let's take a break from the show to hear about Trixon's ZX Mark II Irons a great iron set needs more than good luck it's gotta be fast and gotta be pure but good look's never hurt either the all new ZX Mark II Irons from Strixon I really think that Atlanta's gonna be in good hands this year with uh the webs Chris and Mike they they've been around for a while they they've been they've been itching to to be tour directors somewhere you know they've been asking around the last couple years and uh you know let's put it this way they got the schedule done quicker this year than I ever did for Atlanta.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean they've got their get their schedule done before I even have my schedule done.

SPEAKER_05:

No so that you know they're they're on top and they they've got some good courses too.

SPEAKER_04:

You know course that we haven't been on in a while so I I'm sure Atlanta is is in good hands um w with them I know they're gonna do good things that's for sure I I think all the the new directors that we've talked to are going to bring some some good things you know and and they're gonna just like anybody else they're gonna bring their own little flair you know their their own personality um and you either come to like it or you don't but either way it it brings something different. And that that's what we're all about. I mean I think golf week as a tour as a whole is something different. Right. And I mean we you know we're not the number one amateur tour in the country for a reason or for no reason.

SPEAKER_05:

For no reason right and you know that's I can't remember if you know if I said that you know here or or when I was talking to somebody else you know they when when a tour director changes yes we we're gonna miss them but the new one's gonna bring something new to it. And and you know the the the the the things that that they bring to it just because it's not you know what somebody else is doing doesn't doesn't make it bad it's just something that it's that's gonna add to it. There's certain things you know from a from our brand from the from the Golf Week amateur tour brand is going to be the exact same you know no matter which tour you play in. Right. But some of the local flair some of the local um culture some of the local you know things that that you do are going to be different. No um j j just pull up a website from from from you know pick pick a tour. You know go to the Canada store. Five or six different cash games. It's awesome. Yeah. Look at the cash games that that Lyle does. Or, you know, in DC, they don't do close to the pin, they do polies. Um, so you know, it's just different things that work in different markets, and it's it's part of that part of that culture. And you know, outside of the new tour directors will bring in something new, that's gonna add something new and exciting to that tour. So it's it's right, it's it's fun to watch.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it's it's if I had all the money in the world I can travel to every tour, it'd be great, but it'd also be fun because you get to see the different cultures.

SPEAKER_05:

Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. So, you know, this is uh this is the la last episode before Christmas. Before we start talking about that, we we do need to to to talk about that thing that's hanging off your shoulder. I sorry.

SPEAKER_04:

But it was a great time, you know. Both tours took out 30 plus players, 32, I believe, total, uh, which is amazing, you know, to get 30 guys to drive from Arizona to uh middle New Mexico to a little town called Elephant Butte, that unless you know where it's at.

SPEAKER_05:

Did you say the town's called Elephant Butt?

SPEAKER_04:

Elephant Butte. B-U-T-T-E. Settle down. Don't disrespect.

SPEAKER_05:

I don't know. We're just no, we just you know.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh it's it's a well-known, it's got a big lake that everybody goes to, but uh, you know, we we we competed two days. Uh started off really cold. Um really cold. But uh as you can tell, Team El Paso Las Cruces won. Uh came down to the last couple matches in D flight, which anyone will tell you, even the D flighters will tell you that's no for sure gimme. Like you still gotta earn it, and you can lose it real quick, too. Um now we pulled out the victory, it was pretty cool. We had the the mayor and the congresswoman there that the course invited to to enjoy the festivities. They had a party for us. Uh our sponsors got us championship hats that we that we got to keep. Um, it just feels good, man. This this belt has been missing from our tour for a year, and uh, you know, Arizona would jab us with pictures here and there, but they're not ready for what's coming this year. Okay, they have no idea. And on the side note, you know, we raised um a little over a thousand dollars for the V Foundation to start off our our uh joint fundraiser for next year. So that that's a plus side. That's I mean, you know how Arizona raises money, they raise money, they raise money. Um so that was something new that we did this year was uh you know, do our fundraisers that we do, and then winner gets a little more than half the winning team, and the loot and the losing team gets the rest, and that's how we start our funds. So we're already up.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, well you're the the you're you're you're already up a belt plus or whatever percentage you you went with, but uh um I I I like that that you all are doing you know joint fundraiser and and you and you split that because again, isn't that really what it's all about?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it is. And and you can see the passion that these that these players had. Um I mean you you see the passion that they have all year long, you know, asking how how can they give you makeup points because they're in the points race, or or what you know, what's happening next, or in even during the tournaments, you can see the pressure that they're having, but to be able to come together and you know who you're playing with because you play with them all year long, right? Um you know, hey, let me play with so-and-so. Hey, I think me and so-and-so are a great match. You know, we want to go up against these guys, we know we can beat them. It it's a lot of fun. We had a huge welcome party Friday night, and me, Gabe, and his assistant Daniel did like a fantasy football draft where we would announce the matchups and they would come up and take pictures and we give them their their cool swag that we got, a hoodie and a polo, and I felt bad for the other party that what they were having the courses having on the other side of the patio because we were loud. In our little corner, we were a little rowdy, but uh it was a good time, man. It was it was a good time. Next year we gotta go to uh your favorite course, Tupac. And we're going to Tubak next year, and and we're gonna try and be the first the first time to go back to back. No one's ever won on opposing soil. And uh if we can bring that same team and the same energy, we have a good shot.

SPEAKER_05:

That's awesome. I love I love look I love the way you guys do that. And you know, the the camaraderie that that you all have built, the you know, the competition and the fun that you that you guys have built. Um it's it's good to see from from you all, especially out west. You there's tours out here that that are much closer together on the east coast that are like that. And yeah, you know, when when you've got I mean, you you said yourself, you're you're you're say it it's not real close, you know, how how you all are, but but even though you're it feels like it is right, it feels like it is, and that's that and that's the key, and that that's really what what we want to do. But let's let's jab uh Gabe in Arizona while while we can um while he's not on here. I just pulled up your your member numbers, and I know you all have a contest.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, oh yes, that was also brought up.

SPEAKER_05:

Um he's sitting at at 19 as of this recording, and and you're at 35.

SPEAKER_04:

And mine's about to go higher because we're about to start the the 12 days of Christmas, and in order to get eligible for those drawings, you gotta be a member. So that's probably gonna kick up pretty quick in the next couple days as this recording's being done. Um but yeah, we have another competition, you know, race to 100 that we always do. Uh we brought that up, and and it's looking like it's it's gonna be a short race for Team El Paso, uh, hopefully, knock on wood. Um I mean, Gabe Gabe's my brother from another mother, but I'm always if funny thing. So we we had the news crew out there for a little bit, and uh they wanted me and Gabe to do a segment, and they're like, Alright, here's what we want. We want you both to hold the belt, and I'm gonna ask you the question, who's gonna win? And you both say your tour's name and look at each other and you know, bicker back and forth, and here's some examples. And me and Gabe both look at the guy and we say, Stop, we've got this from here. We got we got this. And they're like, Well, do you need to no, just hit record. He's like, Alright, hits record, says, Who's gonna win? And we both say it, and we both look at each other, and then we go back and forth, and uh, you know, it's a two-minute clip, maybe, but right. We finish, and the guy's like, That's the best interview I've done is this weekend. I'm well, I told you we do this on a daily basis. So it was it was it was nothing to uh to practice or rehearse. It was all natural.

SPEAKER_05:

That that's awesome. That's awesome. Uh and it it's it's to be expected too, though, with with you guys, and and you know the you know, for for those of you that don't know, Gabe is the one who's who's been a mentor to you, um, right as the tour director in El Paso, um, and and kind of passed it off to you. Um and so it's it's it's good to see that. But that's but again, it comes back to that's what the tour is about anyway.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, all the way around. It is. And and you know, for for two days, um you can hear the trash talking from both teams, but you know, from before the tournament started and after, then you can see the the respect that both tours have for each other. Yeah. Um and and that's what it's all about. Because we could go, you know, we can go to an Arizona event and shake hands and and act like family, and we can come they can come to No Paso event and the same thing. Uh before that, those those two days in the year when when the belts up up for grabs, um it's like you know, big brother, which is us, and little brother fighting over a little cookie.

SPEAKER_05:

There you go. I love that. But you know, on on the other hand, he he has beaten you on on the he's he does have a schedule posted. That's fine. And I love this. I always love this schedule. You you know that, don't you? Having been out there and spent some time out there, you know, looking at those courses, I'm like, man, I love playing those courses. I love playing things.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, it's it's it's yeah, when he has a hundred courses to pick from, it's a lot easier to pick nice courses.

SPEAKER_05:

I'm not saying you don't have nice courses. I've just never been been there to play, right? Well, come on. Love to. I would love to.

SPEAKER_04:

What you need to do is come down to our our our writer cup. See see what the real circus is all about. You can be our you can be our our host, our on-the-mic host.

SPEAKER_05:

Well you know, I I don't want to talk out of turn here. I don't know how I would pull this one off. I I I probably can't ever pull it off unless you unless you do that do it on a different date. Or a different week. And I'm I'm I'm talking about two-pack.

SPEAKER_04:

I was looking Oh yeah, that that's never changing, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, by the way, guess what? I'm allowed to say it now. Well I'm gonna be another I'm I'm gonna be a grandfather again.

SPEAKER_04:

There you go. How about that? They didn't get a TV in their room. Jesus.

SPEAKER_05:

Exactly. So and it's really funny, it's it's my youngest daughter and um her first child was due on July 13th, let um a little over a year ago. So so he'll be two in July, but he was actually born on July 7th, which is my father's birthday. Okay. Okay. My oldest grandson, which is from my oldest daughter, he was born on July 13th. Okay. So he's he'll he will be for this coming July. My daughter is due with her s second child, the youngest daughter's due for her second child, due on July 13th again. So her first due date was July 13th, this one's due July 13th. My guess is I is uh i it it would be strange, but if this one was born on July 7th as well, so she'd have twin birthday dates with two with two different kids.

SPEAKER_04:

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_05:

But that that gets me into why I don't know that I'll ever be able to go to that if if it's at s number one, if it's at the same time, because it's you know i his birthday time on the seventh, and um depending on on when the weekend is, that's that's when we have it.

SPEAKER_04:

Right. Understand.

SPEAKER_05:

So if you want to have um you know I guess well what's the weather like out there in in December? We're gonna find out. You say oh, so you all haven't done it there in December?

SPEAKER_04:

No. Last time we did it there was um Halloween weekend. It was actually on Halloween now that I think about it. Like four years ago.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Three years ago.

SPEAKER_05:

So ask it.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh the dates up in the air, but I think so. We have a couple dates that that we're gonna we're gonna try and see what we can do.

SPEAKER_05:

So so do just do me a favor, find find out what what temperature's like. It's not too hot. That's not what I'm talking about. You know that. Don't don't tell me it's gonna be you know 80 and you know, no humidity, no wind, no rain, and I get out there and it's 40 degrees. Uh that that'll be a problem.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, it's it's Arizona, it's not gonna be that cold.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, I tell you what, and this this is no joke. When I um when I took sabbatical out there, and I'd go out there and play golf, and we and we actually did a a tour director meeting out there as well. That I think that was like one of the last times we did a tour director meeting, and it was at um it was at uh oh shit, I don't think he's playing a course this year. Um it was just north of of Phoenix. I'll I'll I'll wake up at two o'clock in the morning with the the the name will heavy. But it was it it was it was cold. It it was it was really cold. And you know, September September wasn't it it was really mid-October, November, where in the morning you you'd get up and it would it would be 40 degrees. Now 40 degrees isn't cold, but compared to being out there when it's you know 90 hundred degrees, 40 degrees is it's pretty cold.

SPEAKER_04:

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_05:

And for me, you know uh if it's that cold, I'll just sit inside.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it'll be fine. It'll it'll get to 60 in an hour.

SPEAKER_05:

So as I as long as it's not Las Vegas cold, because that was that was pretty cold. I didn't like that either.

SPEAKER_04:

Well Las Vegas does get cold, but it's it's higher up though.

SPEAKER_05:

So so anyway so two uh Tupac is that's in the mountains?

SPEAKER_04:

No. It's south of Tucson.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay. I'll look at it. I'll look at it. Oh my goodness gracious. Well, Chris, let me let me tell you something, bud. I I'm I'm so thankful that that we're partners here. I I love doing this with you. Um hope you and the family have have a very Merry Christmas. We have you know we do have one more episode for for the year. I think so the latest we I think this is the latest we've ever closed out of a year, but also for the for those that celebrate Hanukkah, have a happy Hanukkah. Last night, December 14th, was the first night or tonight, or I think it starts on the 14th. Let's just put it that way. I don't know what today is or what whatever it is. Um but happy Hanukkah. I'm going to hell.

SPEAKER_04:

Happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, happy Mother's Day.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Don't forget Mother's Day. Let's just throw let's just throw them all out there right now because I know.

SPEAKER_05:

We're not good.

SPEAKER_04:

And just FYI uh two buck, Arizona is 61 degrees right now. Wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay. That's something to think about. You know I'm thinking about it hard too.

SPEAKER_04:

I know you are. But that that we'll we'll cross that bridge when we get closer.

SPEAKER_05:

We got 50 weeks to figure it out. Yeah. It'll be here before you know it.

SPEAKER_04:

My shoulders are gonna be sore by the time that that tournament comes, you know.

SPEAKER_05:

All right, my friend. You you have a very Merry Christmas. Tell Diana and the boys the same. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04:

Likewise.

SPEAKER_05:

Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah to everybody out there. Take care, and we will see you in two weeks.

SPEAKER_08:

Have a good one.

Head Shot

Tim Newman

Host
Head Shot

Chris Rocha

Co-host