Golfers : Fix Your Strike | StrikeWedge Co-Founder Chris Rose

0:00Hello everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of the Birdie Golf Club podcast. Similar to last week, I am not going to bore you all with my voice at the start of this podcast. We're going to get straight into it, but as a little teaser, maybe if you hang around till the end of the episode, I'm just going to talk about this week's golf, the news that we've had, what's happened, obviously what happened at Pebble Beach. Jacob Bridgman just experienced in what every single one of us fear doing as a golfer, out on a golf course, especially as prestigious as Pebble Beach. At the time, he decided to do it more a coward waiting in the fairway for 20 minutes. It was, oh, it was just incredible television. So we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about what I think is a huge miss by Adidas or Adidas who cares. What I think was a huge miss by them in their advertising for this year, and yeah, that

1:01would probably be about it. But for now, let's get into this week's episode, which is with the co-found, I believe, and co-owner. I want to make sure I'm getting that right, but I think I am, of Strike Wedge, Chris Rose. It's a brilliant conversation, you're going to enjoy it. I think Strike Wedge is a training tool that shouldn't just be thought of as a training aid. I think it's a training tool that is going to find its way into most golfers' self, enabling them to take what they've learnt in the lesson and put it into practice and actually get real feedback. So let's get straight in to this week's episode with Chris Rose from Strike Wedge. Most of our work now is just a lot of marketing, creating videos, creating content, and we just find it quite fun, so it doesn't feel like work, to be honest. Nice, yeah, because originally I'm guessing you were just in the coaching tool of business, is that where your origin story started from? Yeah.

2:02Yeah, so I guess I've been teaching for probably, probably 18 years, did my training shift in the UK at Edgebusting Golf Club in Birmingham. So that was great. Yeah, came over here, came to Australia 13 years ago, and I've been teaching that whole time. So yeah, that's primary, I still teach, I've got my own coaching business, so that's still a big part of my day to day, but obviously creating this tool has allowed us to do some other stuff, it's taken up a bit more of our time, but it's like I say it's all good fun. Yeah, exactly. I think it comes across really well, I've got my, I've got my injury right here, it's being well used, hence sort of the marks on it and things like that as well. Probably a few, probably a few hits on it as well, I'd have thought, but I think one of the things that really came across with the strike wage, and I think what's resonated

3:04with the golf industry with it, is how simple it is and how effective it is at one of the biggest issues that affects pretty much most amateur golfers, professional golfers may be from time to time, but not probably as much, but just that strike consistency, and it's the word consistency that I'm sure you here week in, week out when you have lessons and I'll get in that's where the strike wage really, the thought process came from. Yeah, I think so, like I say, I was coaching every day, I think the biggest thing for me is when I coach, I try and keep things mega simple, most of the people I'm coaching are, they've got full time jobs, they're not out there hitting a thousand balls a day, you know, they're busy, they've got kids or whatever it might be, they're mid to high hand club golfers, and I obviously keep seeing same issues, keep seeing ground first contact,

4:04that's the biggest thing I see, and then we talk about the strike wage, we talk about kind of fundamentals, things that you want to be able to do really well, or every good golfer does well. And so what I try and do when I teach is just strip it back to those fundamentals, rather than kind of try and build swings that maybe look like Adam Scott, it would be nice if we could all swing like that, but the reality is, people haven't got the time to do it, and it may not even be worthwhile for them to actually improve, so yeah, my main kind of thought was right, how do we create a tool that improves ground interaction, because that's one of my kind of five fundamentals, I say mine, it's not mine, it's impact factors, right? So it's, you know, ground interaction, where you're hitting the ground and how you're making contact with the ground, and so obviously the main use for the wedge was that, like you just whack it in behind the ball and avoid it, but then we thought like how can we fix

5:07some other things, like two of the other things that I really focus on with people are strike location, so where are you striking the ball out of the face, toe, heel, what's your tendency, whatever your tendency is, we can nudge it away from that tendency. And then controlling path, although a lot of people are pretty good at controlling path from what I've seen, like they're consistent with it, it might not be great, like they might be miles over the top, and a lot of path issues, I think stem from club face anyway, but it is a tool that can fix your path as well. So if you're 10 degrees out to in, it can nudge it the other way by putting the obstacle up and I'm putting it in the right position. So like, yeah, I think long story short, it was more just trying to create something that is multi-use, really simple, because that's always how my brain is works when it's come to golf and just, you know, something you can carry around in your golf bag.

6:11I think the simplicity of it also annoys a few people, really, we get plenty of comments and trolls, but it's funny because those comments are often coming from someone who's engaged in our content, they obviously like it, maybe they're annoyed, they don't think of it, but it's, you know, the soul design was to help the players eye coach. And when we realised, we just made like a really cheap thing to start with, like an initial design, and we realised that it was actually helping the people that eye coach and most of them are mid-high handicapers. That's when we realised, I guess we had a product that we could sell to the masses. So yeah, that's where it all started, just with my students basically. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, you're always going to get those people. I'm sure the guy who invented the traffic cone had plenty of people sort of winging that

7:13they didn't do it first, right, and they could replicate it. Well, too late, it's done. I see that a lot. The strike wedges we see now in the structure that it is, obviously, I've got mine here and you've got the add-ons as well to the side. Was that kind of, was that kind of the first iteration of it, or was this like a quite a complex process with quite a few prototypes, obviously, as well? Yeah, but I didn't mention, but my sort of co-founder mate and business partners, Toby, I wouldn't tell him to his face, although he probably watched this, he's a bit of a nutty professor, he's kind of like the brains behind the product stuff. Obviously, I was in the trenches coaching every day, so I was saying to him, this is what I want, because this is going to help them. And then he'd go off design something, make it cheaply, and we'd test it, and I reckon

8:13we had about 10 different versions. The original one was black, it looked horrendous, you know, it didn't have the walls, it didn't have the holes, all the other, you know, it just looked like a doorstop, and we get plenty of, we get plenty of doorstop comments, because it is shaped like a doorstop, but they're not moving. No, no, absolutely, and we've jokes about that ourselves, it is actually a really good doorstop as well. The original, I guess the original design, you could have used anything, because there was nothing adding to it, there was no walls, there was no like, so it wasn't really a multi-use product. And I just used that originally with my students, and then we quickly realised that it would be really useful to have all these atoms. Just quickly, do interrupt the episode, sorry to scare you. But if you do want to pick up a strike wedge, make sure you check out the episode description there will be a link, which will get you to the strike wedge website, and there you

9:15can order one and have it delivered straight to you. If you click that link, if you buy a strike wedge, it helps out the podcast, it helps podcast grow, and I'd really appreciate it. I'd really be appreciative of it, they're not words, anyway, you know I'd appreciate it, help your game, helps out the podcast, everyone wins and would love to hear your feedback as well. Back to the episode, enjoy it. Actually, the reason we realised that is because I was using one of the women that I teach, she was doing a really good job of moving her low point forwards, because the wedge was there, but she kept doing it by coming over the top, that is a way of shifting your low point forwards, is actually swinging way over the top. So I was like, to Toby, I said, can we just add a wall on the side of this? No, it stops her, stops her coming over the top, so that was what we created that, and then we realised we could move the walls around and just play around with the uses of

10:20it. Yeah, I guess the main thing that it's fixing is low point, so where you find the ground or ground interaction, strike location and path, there are three things. I guess in a very subtle way, it can also help with clubface, because what we found, we spent a lot of time with quite a lot of elite players in Australia, luckily Toby knows a lot of them because he used to play, it's much better player than me. And so he's mates with a lot of them and we've watched them use it and they tend to be very meticulous on where they point the thing, we've just observed them and they tend to line up that leading edge really precisely with the clubface. So I guess you could say it's a good clubface tool as well. Yeah, because it's actually giving you what would be a sort of straight clubface, essentially, you know, a lot of people struggling with, yeah, 100%. And I think like a lot of, a lot of amateurs I watch use it, it's a bit general, it's

11:25not strictly true, but some of them are a little bit blasé with where they place it, like it can be pointing like 40 degrees out to the right and I'm like, do you want to just nudge that a little bit? We tend to see with the top players as I guess in any sport, they're very precise with what they're doing. You know, we've spent a lot of time with Blake Windrid who used to be DP World, he's playing Aussie Tour now and Tom Powerhor and both Aussie Tour. Both good friends with Toby and I'd say they're mates now that I've met them, but they're very precise when they use it, like you just watch them use it. The other guy is Kevin Yuan, who's Asian Tour, who does really well in the Asian Tour. And yeah, you just watch some music and it just shows you how kind of precise these players are, like there's just the finer things and the details that they look at. And I guess through the last year, this thing was blown up a bit and we've been able to spend quite a lot of time with these people and it's been so useful for me.

12:29Not only as a coach, but also just my playing, like just watching how they are a little bit more precise than I am when I play or when I set the ball or whatever it is, but it's interesting to watch. Yeah. I think what it does is it does a great job of taking, you know, what it's like and you've probably seen it time and time again of an amateur goal for we'll go to a range and they'll get 100 balls and they'll finish them in 20 minutes, right? Because they're just, you know, it's even worse if there's one of those auto dispensing things and it's just like bang, bang, bang, you know, great sweating at a good time. My golf's no better, but it is what it is. What I think the strike which does a great job of is that immediate feedback and the reset and almost getting people to kind of start having a routine, admittedly, it would be a range based routine, obviously, but it gives them the idea of actually, you know, I do need to read restable. I do need to make sure I'm doing all these same things. Otherwise, I'm hitting that wedge and I'm not really learning anything, right?

13:31So I think what you said there at the end, like the learning, the feedback is obviously really important. And before we created this, I was using all sorts of things. I was using like towels, bottles, boxes, I was carrying shoe boxes to the range and putting them in certain spots to get people's path the right way. So I'm just a huge fan of like constraints, anything that you can use to pop in the way to get someone to feel a certain thing. Because the reality is like to change your movement pattern is really difficult. And if you're thinking, this is my personal view and obviously there's other views out there. But if you're thinking too internally, if you're thinking about where your wrist needs to be, where your trail elbow needs to be, all these kind of really internal thoughts, which might be true or where your pressure needs to be in the downswing, I think if you're solely focusing on that, then it can be difficult to achieve it and maintain your kind of skill.

14:35Because what I see is I give someone really internal advice and sometimes it works for people, but a lot of the time if I do, they tend to, or their skill level tends to drop, especially initially because they're thinking so much about what movement they're trying to make. I mean, I grew up in the UK, so I did a level PE, right? And I remember learning in a level PE about a theory that was like the stages of learning. And it's kind of shaped the way I coach, and I guess it's kind of shaped creating products like this because there's like, I think it was Cochran and I might have the name wrong. Yeah, I'm not even going to say who I think it was. But the theory is it's kind of like cognitive stage of learning is where you're, you're beginning basically and you're really thinking about what the movement needs to be. Someone's told you this is how you got to hold the club and you've never done it before.

15:38So you're really thinking about that, and you almost forget that you've got to hit all. And so at that stage, it's really, it's going to be really internal. It's difficult to perform the skill. So it's very hard for that person to go out and play the amazing golf because the best golfers are in kind of this flow state when they get out there, and not thinking too much about the technique because they've already built it. And this theory I think calls that autonomous, and nowadays you might hear people say it's a performance. That's a performance phase kind of training. You go out and just look at targets and hit the ball, you try to shape it, or you, it's a bit more advanced. I think that's when people can play their best golf. And I guess it's a roundabout way of saying this tool allows you to self-organize without having to think of all the internal swing thoughts. And that's our, that's our kind of mantra is that we get it.

16:41We understand that mechanics and technical stuff is important. But this is a tool that allows you to reach that without having to think. It's really the way you think. Without having to think too technically or too mechanically. And I think it certainly helped me achieve certain things. If someone says, you know, when I was younger, you're coming over the top, you've got to swing out that way. If they just put something there, I'd be like, oh, okay, I've just got to avoid that. Okay. And start, you start doing it. And it, just from my experience, it really helped. And I get it. Like there's definitely really for, you know, technical stuff, and you want to make a massive movement change. You've got to probably think quite internally at that point, but don't expect your performance to be great because it's not, it's not going to be, there's going to be a lot of sort of reps to do before you can get to a point where your skill comes back, I think, from my experience anyway. Absolutely. I think that's where the golf industry seemed like a big change over this past sort of 20

17:43years, because it used to all lessons would always be golf swing focus, wouldn't they? And trying to get everyone to look a certain way, look like you're Adam Scots and everyone's body is different, especially, you know, I'm 33. The reality is my swing is probably not going to change a lot now between now and when I hang up the clubs at the end of the, you know, hopefully never, but, you know, that's the sort of, that's really what I think's been recognized in the industry and is coming through now that that, like you said, the strike is so important. Somebody probably does have a ceiling with their golf based on their movements, but if you can get them to the top of that ceiling, how much more fun are they going to have? Right. Yeah. 100%. I just think like it's so exactly what you said there, there's definitely, you know, like if you came to me and said, look, I've got, I'm not going to work anymore. And I've got all this time to change my movement.

18:49We might have a look at it and go, well, let's do everything we can to get Dave hitting the greatest shots he could possibly ever hit because he's got all the time in the world. I mean, let's do it. But the reality is, I mean, yeah, maybe we're going to get a spot. But even then, like I don't know, I would wonder if like maybe we, maybe we would just put the focus on striking the ball really well, like getting really skilled and whatever kind of funkiness that you might have in your swing. Let's just keep it there as long as it's repeatable and it works. And you see that on the tour, like I'm watching all these tournaments, whether it's in person or on TV. And I'm looking, especially Americans, like they all swing it so differently, that all different. But they all do those five, I talk about these five fundamentals, they all do these five

19:49things at impact. And that's hit the ground in the right spot, hit the middle of the face. They control path, they control face, and they do it with some speed. If you can do those five things, you're going to be good at golf, but it doesn't matter what your swing looks like. You are going to be good at golf. And I get it, like there's going to be people that say, oh, but you know, what if this? I think the skill and the art in coaching is knowing how to shift the player so that they can achieve back to those five things, those things at impact. So the way I was coaches, and I'm not saying I'm the Messiah of coaching, but this is just the way my brain works. You start with the ball flight, and you learn this in your PGA training, you start with the ball flight, you then look at impact, and then you look at the person, and I think a lot of people, especially on Instagram and social media, they'll start with the person.

20:51And that's, I don't mind online coaching, as long as the coach knows what the balls do, and the finer things that are happening, impact to cause that before they start recommending things on the swing, because I think there's so many with the advent of video and all the rest of it. And the Instagram perfect golf swing, it's like the reality is, some of the funkiest looking swing is it creating the best ball flights. And you know, it's not always the case, sometimes you've got a perfect looking swing like Adam Scott and a perfect ball flight like Adam Scott. He's got it all for like, it's horrible, isn't it? I hope it makes me feel better. It's your aim at the Australian Open, and I was just like, he's just still, I don't know what, I guess he's case in point, isn't he, he's like the epitome of the hundred out of a hundred golf swing, right? You'd mark it and go, wow, unbelievable, hisable, great.

21:54But then also, you know, equally his career has obviously been very, very good, but you look at someone like Scotty Sheffler, and the way he swings a golf club, you know, that would that have been taught from a junior age, you know, at that point, definitely, there's no way, right? But look at the success he's having, that's why I like, that's why I think, like something happens in America where they just emphasize like, play golf, get really skilled, get really good, and just get out there and perform, and I think they're really good at that. I think maybe the UK and Australia, like if you actually look at the, I mean, this again is quite a general comment, but if you look at a lot of the swings, they come out with these beautiful golf swings, and maybe you could argue that the Americans are just really good at winning, especially individually, not the right ones, but obviously not. And you know, that is a general comment because there's obviously, there's obviously plenty

22:55of Europeans with all different funky golf swings, but I think the key is, if anyone gets to that level and I certainly haven't got to it, but what I've seen just being around these people is that they all swing it differently, but they all do those things really well. And I think the skill in the coaching or whether you're using a training aid, whatever, is identifying, okay, which one of those five things is lacking, maybe someone's hitting the ground a little bit early or whatever it is at club level. And you then obviously see that it's a fat shot and it's not going as far as it should. And then you look at the person and the person's got his weight on the back foot, well, you could tell that person to shift their weight and that definitely works with some people, but for others, they react really well to just putting something in the way. And the end result, the net result is the same. They still shift their weight, but they've been able to do that through a different way

23:57of thinking. So that's all we're trying to promote. And it honestly, it's not for everyone, but I think it works well for a lot of people, especially if they haven't got a huge amount of time to think. Yeah, absolutely. Too much. Yeah, I've got, I had sort of two casing points went to, because the weather's been dreadful over here. Went to a simulator with a couple of friends, brought the straight wedge along. And there was one friend in particular that I knew would benefit from it, because he, I mean, he's been on the podcast in the early days and we talked about the fact that he just doesn't think when he comes to golf. He's just out there hitting a ball, but he doesn't think about angles, like nothing like that. It just doesn't transfer. So if I was to say to him, you need to move your weight forward and, you know, you need to do this and kind of have that feeling of rolling over on the left. He doesn't have the feelings, like they're just not there. But we put the straight wedge back there and it's good to the point with him where actually he's, he's taken up, just playing with hybrids, because he's so used to just hitting the ball fat that he just needs that help through the, through the ground interaction, basically.

25:02And we put it, we put it behind him, set it up at the right distance with the char and everything like that. And I think he was hitting like a six hybrid or something, so he set it up to about five lines or six iron sort of distance. And it was amazing. The instantaneous feedback that he got, I mean, he hit the first one and I think he absolutely pureed the first one without even thinking and he really wasn't thinking still because he hit it. The next time he actually hit the wedge and didn't even realize, like that's how this our little film he has, like in the nicest way, he's actually very, it gets him all around pretty well. And he was like, all right, okay, the next one, next shot after that, he hit it really thin. And we're like, well, you're moving your weight so far forward and you've done that just through that being there. And then proceeded to hit some great shots afterwards with that sort of immediate feedback. And it was just, it was quite impressive to see that that, that case in point of what

26:06you're talking about there with that goal for maybe struggles with the notions and with the words, you know, and what they body needs to do, just having something there that set up at the right distance, so it's not going to give them wrong feedback is, is huge really. And that was, that was pretty cool to see. That's great to hear because the, the, the whole thing we were just trying to do to start with, like this wasn't a business to start with, I was just trying to help the people that I teach. And so I think like I quickly realized in golf, I wasn't going to play for a living, but I was briefly at college in the US, I didn't say they're very long because I, I realized while I was out there that I liked coaching more, I'd end up like trying to help, I didn't know anything, by the way, but I was trying to help all my teammates on the range rather than actually practice myself. So I knew just always I like helping.

27:07Yeah, I know I like helping people and, you know, I like the theory around everything and I've delve pretty deeply into that the last 20 years. And I think like just hearing stories like that is really cool. That's what, that's what makes me feel like it's all worth it because there's someone on the other side of the world who's using the product and getting something out of it. And I don't think I ever would have been able to probably help your mate if, if I didn't create, or Toby and I didn't create the product. So that's really cool to hear definitely. Yeah, it was amazing. But I like, I think the main thing for him is like, it's probably great that he doesn't think much because some of the best golfers I see, like I'm good friends with Steph, Kiri Arcus, like top 40 in the world on the LPJ tour. And now she plays at our club and she's just great. Like she's got the best mentality I've ever seen, like, but partly because her heads,

28:07like, and she wouldn't mind saying this, but her head's like in the clouds most of the time, but in a good way. Yeah. Like it's just like, she's so good at golf. Like she just, everything's just simple and she doesn't overthink anything. I think it's fantastic. And like the less, from what I've seen and from what I've experienced, the less you can get people thinking is that they don't want more of it better. Yeah. Like I say, that's what it's all about, it's about helping people to just keep trying to do that with whatever we create, I think. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no, I'm interested. I had another friend and he's got some more issues and he ended up testing the durability of the product pretty well, not on purpose, even not with a hammer. Like I've seen you guys doing on the, on the socials, no, no, absolutely fine. You know, I zoomed in afterwards. I was like, you've definitely broken that up for sure, you've broken it because these swings pretty hard as well, but it was absolutely, it was absolutely fine with them, with

29:07the materials for it, obviously, you probably want to go into exactly what's in the product and everything like that, but was that a trial and error basis as well to get it to this point of it being an extremely durable product? Yeah, he's the first one we made, did break a lot, well, we've probably made about ten of these things. So it's, you know, they all broke until this one and we're actually going to try and do a video soon where we just run it over with a car because I don't think it's going to break. I haven't tried it yet, but yeah, I don't think it's going to break, but I think that would be a good vision. Yeah, absolutely. Because one of the big questions we get is, is this thing going to just break on the second hit? No, it doesn't. So yeah, we've done a lot of testing with it and it's really, it's really durable. I honestly think we could probably run it over, but I'll let you know, I could test

30:10that for you, but, you know, I don't know, I quite enjoy the product, I don't know. Yeah, we've got, I'll let you guys do that. No, that's, that's really cool and, and, and settling on this design and everything like that, it was, was it one of those things that once you'd sort of settled on the exact shape and everything like that that he wanted to be, it was just like, bam, yeah, that's it. Yeah, I think the next thing was like, well, we did a, we did a bit branding and one of my friends, she's from the UK as well, Katie, she's brilliant. She does like, branding for, yeah, brands, but it's, it's really good. Like she got the colors, she got the logo, I think that's why our website looks right and the, and the Instagram, socials, local, all kind of aligned and, yeah, so then, then it was about just popping the logo on it. We wanted to make it quite bright, yeah, because I guess it gets seen, then it's funny actually, like when I do go to teach, I do group coaching a lot of the time with my

31:16players, it's kind of like a subscription coaching model and I get to the range and sometimes like they're already there, like six of them set up and they've all got the orange wedge wedges. So it's kind of a good photo opportunity because they're all just lighting up the range and I think we have like this bit of that as well and it kind of, you know, obviously track man's orange and I think it links quite well with that or use track man in our studio now that we've got. So yeah, I think orange is just quite a good poppy color to do training, yeah, there's quite a few of them, but yeah, we decided on that color. Black wasn't really standing out to be honest. No, that's it. No, I think the orange is a good choice as well because it's enough where it's kind of, it's in your peripheral vision, but it doesn't like dominate your thoughts through the swing, you know, it's kind of like it's there, but it's enough, it's a good shade of orange. Do you ever pick the shade of orange? Did well. Yeah. I'll let Toby know because he's the product guy who's been getting a lot of shots in this

32:20podcast. He's, you know, he really has, he's not all great is, you know, it's plenty of things, plenty of bad things about him, but it's good, the good thing about Toby is that he has, he's a bit of a nutty professor, he's not like me at all, like I'll, I'll be up at 5 AM partly because I've got a kid, but I'll be answering emails, I'll be stressing about certain, like, business, he's things, whereas he definitely won't be up at 5 AM, doesn't have any kids, but he'll be, he'll be slowly waking up at 10, but he'll still be awake at 1 AM thinking of the new idea, but it's, you know, he's very creative, so it's, it works really well because I, I'd be more kind of, I guess, the operations and, and he's like, I just let him, it's like having Dennis Rodman in your team, you just, you got to let him do what he wants and then yeah, yeah, yeah, and then turn up when it matters and, and

33:21I'm fine with all that because it, what, what he'll come up with just tends to be a great idea, like a lot of the time. So then there's been a load of those on this kind of little journey that we've been on. So yeah, it's quite, it's probably quite a good combination of personalities, I guess, and it works, works fairly well for us. Yeah. Plus, you know, that's the other thing with him is he can hit the ball really well. So I just use him in all the videos. So you'll see him, you'll see him in a lot of videos, doesn't take any takes, grows on there all day trying to get the strike. There was one where I saw out the middle, it was like, you hit a big hook and I'm guessing this is Toby in the thing. And he sort of hit just this really sweet like 15 year draw, I was like, if that was, if that was my, I told him, I told him at the time, I was like, we are going to get some hate on this because that's actually a really, he was like, I'll just post anyway, we need to get the ad up and I was like, well, we actually really did it recently. And then I think I did it and I hit like this horrific hook and I just made sure it

34:25put a weightless, such active ass because most of the comments were like, yeah, that was like a great shot, don't we talk about that. But yeah, it will fix it if you do hook. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I am a horrific heel striker. That was like one of my big things. First session, I just popped it down, made sure of a sea that it was sitting with the wall to the right hand side. I had to kind of pull the club sort of feeling of almost pulling the club into wards and I was hitting it out the toe like pretty quickly and that is, that is, I mean, that any time I've into a coach, that's kind of what they're always looking to do, right, shift to the opposite and then find the middle. That's kind of, so casing point, yeah. And that's a good question. Like for me, like, it's not about while you're on the range in this, like if I can give any advice about practicing, I think like while you're on the range, it's not about hitting

35:26a load of perfect shots because like, what's the point, it's like, it's like scoring ten goals in training. Like, what's the point? Let's do it in the game. I know you've got to practice and practice, but, and there's a lot of talk on it at the moment of like varying your practice, I just think like if you're working on skill, you should probably be doing some, be doing some kind of block practice where you're just ball, ball, ball, ball, ball, ball. If you're working on building skill, so if you're working on building skill, though, I think that's quite important. But while you're doing it, it's absolutely fine. In fact, it's essential to fail, like just keep failing because if you're not failing, you're not learning anything, you're not moving away from your tendency, you're not really gaining anything from the session. And like you said earlier, some people get to the range, you get a hundred goals and they hit them in 20 minutes. And like, I don't know what they've gained from that, it might be fun for them. And if that's the case, if that's all they want, then absolutely fine.

36:26But like, if they're trying to get something out of it, I just, I'm constantly saying to people, don't worry about being perfect here, you're here to kind of experiment, really. You're here to like play it round and, you know, if you're, if you're a failure, try and hit a matter of luck. Like, let's just see things do test the boundaries and you will end up like you said there somewhere in the middle, probably, which is going to be better than maybe where you were. I was going to ask you actually, like, how do you say you're a heel striker? How do you, I mean, the obvious thing is if you're hitting chunks, but like, how would you test it? You know, the fade, so do you put tape on the face or what are you doing to see where you're struggling? You know what? Probably not anywhere near enough. I don't, I don't do any of those things, but I've been, and it's one of those very annoying things where I, I keep meaning to just take, you know, what the foot spray with me or

37:27something like that. But I think because, I don't know whether this is a shared thing with most golfers, you're almost afraid of seeing the results of a full session and maybe taking notes of it that you kind of stay away from it, but it's something that I need to do. And probably more golfers need to do as well is actually getting, like you said, not being afraid of the imperfect and just going, that's my tendency, I need to, I need to, need to work on that. But no, there is. Yeah. I was. But like I wanted, I'm trying to sort of develop a way of testing everything because obviously like someone might buy this product and not really know what they need it for, obviously they might go to a coach and they could tell them, but like, it'd be good to, the good to have a kind of series of tests in those five areas, you know, where am I hitting the ground, let's have a look, let's test it, where am I striking out of the face, we'll let's

38:27spray the face and we'll see, obviously if you're shanking it, it's pretty heavy, it's exactly right. Yeah, that one hurts, yes. Yeah. Or, you know, and then the harder tests are like path and face because you kind of have to have a launch monitor track man or something to test that. And then speed obviously you can test on track man as well, but like you can't really increase your speed with a, with a strike wedge. I guess testing those five things would be a really cool thing to start with so that you can engage how to best use whatever product you're using, whether it's ours or whatever, but like, I just thought, like I'm thinking about doing this in the next month for my own game is just working purely on one of those fundamentals. And I think it would, for me, it would be strike location. So if I could, if you said to me in, in 30 days time, you're going to be much closer

39:28to the middle than you currently are because you've just solely focused on that for a whole month. And I'd be like, I'll take that because I know my path and my face aren't too bad. I know I can swing it fast enough. And I know I hit the ground in the right spot most of the time. So I know, personally, for me, if someone said to me, you can hit the middle every time or really close to it. And I know it's unrealistic, but you can get it better. I would 100% take that. If you think about that with your own game, if someone said to you, you could hit the middle, like most of the time, I think you'd play way better golf. And you know, and it sounds really obvious, of course, but like, I don't think people focus enough on like the exact point where they're hitting the face, you know, like if you're a critter, you can have like the perfect forward drive technique, but it could come out of the edge of the bat every single time and you're out every single time, you're

40:29going to get any runs. And it's the same with like tennis, you could have the perfect serving technique, but hit it out the rim every time. So just the skill of finding the middle is just, so I'm going to do, I probably do like an experiment in the next month, I've just working solely on that so that my brain is just fixed on where I'm hitting the face. I'll let you know how to do that. Yeah, I love that. I think also that directly impacts all the other things, you know, you're talking about the striker edge can't help with speed. Well, you all know that if you hit the middle of the face, your speed is going to go way up. Anyway, Smash Fracto goes up, it's all going to help. And I think one of the things I personally, one of the things I struggle with, a heel striking, is an issue, but it's, it's more of a sporadic sort of issue. It's a, it's almost a situational sort of thing. My thing seems to be that, especially with my wedges, I tend to hit the ball a little bit fat, like a lot. And the closer I get to the green when it's in that awkward yardage, I hit the ball fat.

41:33And that's something I need to work on, you know, like you said there, that block practice at the range, having the striker edge that a little bit closer as well, is, I know the middle. So here in the yellow seat, with that, obviously being, being a coach, I'd get it, like there, there could be like fundamental reason as you keep hitting the ball fat. Like there could be, I haven't seen you swing, so you'd have to go right, he's fatting it. It's not going as far, but the ground interactions too far back, we can use this tool perhaps alongside some kind of technical advice, whatever it might be. Or it could just be as simple as put the tool in and try and avoid it. We don't really know, but I guess that's a kind of caveat to what I was saying earlier, is there's still a place for, obviously, all the technical stuff, like I'm a coach. We have a load of affiliates or ambassadors, we call them now for striker wedging, most

42:34of them are coaches, we like to really support the PJ members and the golf coaches throughout the world. I'm chatting to these people a lot, and we're on the same wavelength, because we're all doing the same job. And so I'd never try and back down what they're doing, because it's doing the right things, but some of these tools just make the job a bit easier. That's all I'm saying is it can be like a supplement to what they're doing. So in your case, it would be interesting to see, see your swing, and obviously you know the issues, and I think it could, like I said, sometimes it is as simple as popping it in behind, but sometimes there might be something that's causing it, but that's the skill in the coach. If you've been living under a rock, then you wouldn't have heard of the Shot Scope LM1. But if you're like the normal person, the normal golfer, then it is anything anyone could talk about is the LM1 and how exciting it is for average golfers, everyday golfers to

43:37have a launch monitor in their bag, and the LM1 is coming soon. So make sure you're heading over to Shot Scope. Make sure you're hitting the link, which is in the episode description right now, so that you can be first in line ready to get hold of that very special portable launch monitor. Also, whilst you're there, check out all the products that Shot Scope have to offer. Watches, they're incredible handheld GPS devices. The club tracking, everything that they've got there is unbelievable. So make sure you're heading there. You get 15% off site white by using the code birdie golf club. So click the link in the description, it helps out the podcast. We really appreciate it. I say we, it's just me, really, I'm under the podcast, but we're a family, really aren't family, but anyway, head over to Shot Scope. Make sure you hit the link in the description. Get your game ready for 2026 and make sure you're first in line for the LM1.

44:40I went recently to James Sharp, who I had on the podcast and he's a brilliant coach out of Brighton Golf Club and he's a great player, like the order of merit for Sussex and played on the Alps tour and stuff like that as well. And we worked on a lot of the stuff, which was, you know, that had set up essentially just too neutral. So difficult for me to get to the point I need to get to, especially with a little bit of a sway and stuff like that. So it was all, so we were working on those things and I was a little bit worried off was because I posted a video of me using the strike wedge and I thought, because he said during the lesson, he said, ah, you know, I really hate training aids. And I was like, ah, he's not all, not all of them. He did, he did cover these, I, I, he said, there's a lot of them, which I just think are too gimmicky and it takes away from what you're actually going to do. And I then posted a video of me doing using the strike wedge and I was like, waiting with baited breath, like, oh, no, James is going to see this and he's not going to like it. It is a tell.

45:41And he just, I was so relieved when he put in the comments, one of the very few training aids that I think are great. And I think the reason, yeah, I think the reason for it is that I always say to friends that you can go and get a lesson and it's great. It's amazing for someone else with, with all knowledge to see your swing. But the one thing that's really difficult is implementing the change because you might do it in that half an hour lesson, but then your old habits are going to come back in. If you don't work on it, you know, I gave a friend a thing of 10 times the amount of time the lesson was, it's probably how long it's going to take to implement the change. And it's really hard to do that. If in the lesson, you've got all these tools that they can use and you've got the immediate feedback of them being there with you and I think feedback is the big word. And I think what the strike wedge does, it sits perfectly in that, in the lesson, it can work really well. But for the individual going home, with their head full of, okay, this is what I need

46:45to work on, the strike wedge just makes sure that they are at least, very leasing, just getting strike right, you know, because like you said, you can sometimes be a bit paralyzed by change and it can make your swing a little bit more difficult. You're going to get pretty immediate feedback of what you're doing wrong. And yeah, I thought, I thought it was a great tool to implement the changes that you've made with a pro. And I think that really speaks into what I saw into David Hunter who's a shotscope CEO and he was basically saying, you know, with all this technology and everything else that's happening, it's amazing, and he's like, AI and all this stuff that's going on is brilliant. He's like, but golf will always be about giving back to those that are giving to others. And we can't take away jobs through things like AI and these other little things that we're doing apps and stuff like that. We just need to give the tools to the professionals so that they can make people better.

47:47And I think strike wedge leans into that. I think with that, I was good to hear it because like I always say with my coaching, is that there's so much information now that's like readily available. Like if you want to fix your spice, it's not 30 years ago, we had to like pay to go ask someone how to fix. You can find out in 30 seconds, like everyone knows that you've got to swing from the inside and close the face to the path to draw the ball. So that's not valuable anymore. There's no value in the information, but the value like you just mentioned there is implementing. And if there's anything that can help you implement, like we just say like nothing beats doing it, but you just got to do stuff. And whether it's golf, life, business, just do things and other things will happen. That's what I say, like on the range, mess it up, like just try things and mess up because failing is just vital to move in any direction.

48:51And I think there's too many people trying to be perfect, although like hearing you talk is really encouraging because I think there's a big change happening and I think more and more people are getting more educated on how to actually get better and the proper things to focus on. And I think that's what the tech is doing, like shots go, I know you had the guy from decade on, I love the decade stuff, it's just so useful for golfers now. And so just extracting the right information and then implementing it and maybe having a human being to try and help you implement, or some kind of product or training aid obviously, but anything, like if you're doing, and I think I speak to Toby a lot about this and he's elite, like is it unbelievable ball striker, he's just probably wouldn't mind me saying he likes drinking and going out too much to make a career of it, but, but he's really

49:54good. And the only way he's been able to get to that point of striking a golf ball and doing it with speed and like just you see the flight and the sound and everything and the same for all the people we've been hanging out with recently, he's obsession, there's just absolutely obsessed with it and they get good guidance from the right people and good advice. But at the end of it, they figure everything out on their own really and they have a few things to help them, but they are there just grinding, like we did, I mentioned Blake Windred earlier and he's just a lovely guy, like he's an Aussie guy, he's a member of the Australian here, Toby's a member there as well, which is great. And we spent a bit of time with him recently and just chatted to him about everything. He's got a great short game, like it's ridiculous. I was watching him, I was like, how are you even hitting these shots? And I was just asking him all these questions and most of what he was saying was he messes around a lot.

50:55So he also loves doing it, by the way, he's completely obsessed with it. But he will stand there and he doesn't care if there's three members on the other side of the green. He'll grab a seven iron and try and hit a flop shot with it and like just test boundaries all the time and he'll scull it across the green or something and but he's trying things, he's constantly trying, he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. And then suddenly he grabs a lot of wedge and it's just every, it's just magic. So this is easy on the, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's an, I could talk all day about short game in this particular, in this country, I came over here and I thought I was good at chipping. I'm not good at chipping, like the rain and like I was like, what on earth is the rain chipping off here? Yeah, like it is mad. So if you get anyone, personally, I think anyone that gets really good at short game in this country or in this particular area, they are unreal and it would transfer everywhere

51:59else. But my point with that, with that little story is that Blake is just like, yeah, I just try things all the time, I figure stuff out. And I think that is, that's so key to getting better at anything really. It's just really delving into it. And yes, you get good advice, but at the end of it, you just need to like, just do it by, that's the best, that Nike slug just one of my favorites. Yeah. Favorite. I've seen Strix in this year going with that exact outline of, you know, just be obsessed with it, you know, just absolutely love it. I think one of the things that maybe happened to golf at some point is it got to grown up. And I was strong believer and you watched like a kid and I think back when I was a kid and I was learning different sports, I would, and I was talking about this on the podcast before. So sorry, listen, I'm going to do the same story again, but you would, you know, I'd go into my back garden and I love tennis and I would just, I would, I would literally play

53:00out a Wimbledon final against a brick wall with me being both players, you know, and I would try and beat myself almost like every time with it, which is insane, but it's childlike. And you know what? I got, I got decent tennis just by playing that way, same with football, I literally just be in my garden, just like trying all these different things. And I think we've golf, golf allows us to be children. It's just sometimes the reserve nature of what we think you have to do, stops it. And I think with that growth stops as well, and it's a reminder, you saying that it's a reminder to myself of not being afraid of just hitting some bad shots, but having fun with it. And then, and then like you said, suddenly you got a 60 degree in your hand instead of a seven iron, and you're like, this is a breeze now. Yeah. It's like Pat's in, it's like Mara Donner doing KP apps with a golf ball, like he gets a real horn. It's like the easiest thing ever. It's just, you know, I think you're so right there, like having fun, like Blake standing

54:05there and trying to flop a seven iron, he's never going to actually have to do that, but he's just trying to figure some stuff out. Like we're obsessed at the moment with figuring out why when you wet the face of a long iron and the ball, it creates more spin than when it's dry. So we put this all over the social, that doesn't seem so far. So if there is anyone listening, then just tell us why it's so yeah, there's a, but there's a crossover point. So the longer clubs with wet conditions, and it's general because we tested it and kind of, you know, very sterile conditions, but like you wet the face of the, of the longer club, hit a ball, a wet ball, and it creates more spin than if it's dry. We tested all the clubs and with Toby, it crosses over about a nine iron or a wedge where it then starts to react how you'd think it would because with the, with a wedge, when

55:07it's where it spins less, it's all grabbing on the face as much as it, yeah, yeah, it doesn't grab. It's a slide at the face, but, and I didn't know this until we started just getting obsessed with finding stuff out, but I still haven't found anyone that can tell me why that's happening like the scientific reason we don't know, but we'd know that it does create more spin. So yeah, if there's anyone out there, tell me. I know there's a ping, apparently there's a ping study years ago, but I can't find any information on it. It's going to be one of those equation ones, isn't it? Like S plus, it's going to be, but yeah, I mean, I'll probably see the answer and still not know. It'll be like, okay, explain it to me again, like a full year old. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's the ones like that. We don't really need to know, we're just obsessed with it, so we really want to know, like I really want to know now. And the same with, and you mentioned the other sport, so football, growing up, especially

56:10in England, like everyone at lunchtime, everyone pretends to be their favourite player and like, I was, I'm probably better at football than the golf, to be honest, but and I was obsessed with football, absolutely obsessed and probably still am, but two-old, two-old to be running around. I still do it, but like, it's that kind of love for a game that just keeps you coming back and I don't think I was ever in football told, like, the finer details of striking a ball or a count. You just play so much, yeah, you figure it out. And I think golf is obviously more technical, so there has to be a bit, but like, let them figure it out a bit, because I think there's a lot of self-discovery, self-organisation that goes on with learning anything really at any time. I love using football as a crossover, like, reference point for my friends, because we're all sort of kind of getting to that age where I stopped playing four years ago.

57:15I think it was three years ago or so, because my ankles were just done and slowly my mates have all sort of migrated over to golf that hadn't been playing before. And some of them were just like, I just don't get, I'm now like holding this thing and I've got a ball down there that's still like, I was like, mate, it's just a free kick situation. I'm like, just view it like that and I said, think how you'd hit a curler with the inside of your foot. That's a draw. I'm like, and if you were just peeing one with the outside of your foot with the cutting across it, that's your fade. And like, what I do is start of a lesson or whatever it is, they've turned up and then knew I'd just ask if they'd played any other sports. And if I can relate it to those sports, but yeah, often football is, I just talk about back and free kick is a draw and Carlos with his left foot is a fade. But yeah, it's the same thing is like, how do you, how do you create the curve on the ball?

58:15And I think if, yeah, if you can put it in their language, then it helps it. tennis is quite a good one. I was going to say the cross side is probably the best cross side of the right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, baseball, I suppose would be good, but they tend to have very baseball swings and don't know that. And it's sort of like, right, this is good. You're going to swing this way. That's just the way it is. Yeah. They do. Yeah, it's like anything like that where you're trying to propel something in a direction as fast as you can or athletically. You'll see the sequence is very similar, you know, like javelin. Yeah. I'm not a boxer, but like a big right hook and, you know, it's body first and then solid. And then that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there is definite cross overing in most sports, actually, so it's, it's quite easy to relate to, to a lot of different sports when you're coached. Yeah. Absolutely. And coach, I mean, a strike wedge, as obviously, probably seeded your expectations as

59:16far as like, you know, is this technically still its first year of, of it being, yeah, it is. It is. It's actually being, so since we properly start, I would say proper start was like middle of last year because that's when we organized all the logistics. So where the product comes from, the distribution, we have distribution in the US, we're just about to get UK Germany and here, of course, like we send the ones to the Australian market. But all these things that like we didn't have a clue about have only really been so like middle of last year. So I guess like seven, eight months. And so in that type, yeah, we've been able to help, I think over 20,000 people now. And so like that's, that's all I really like the biggest thing is just making sure people are getting better at golf or at least understanding what it takes to strike a ball better.

1:00:20Like that's, that's the biggest thing we've trying to achieve with it. And the more people we can help, obviously, the better. And we, you know, we're still, we're still so early, like we've built an app that comes with the product, which we're still trying to build out. It's okay at the moment, but I think it can be better. But that's what we do now, like we're constantly working on things like that. So it will just get better and better. And the people that have already bought the product will always have access to that, to that app that comes free with it. I guess that's a bit of a differentiator as well. It's like, yes, you can use a bottle or a towel or a box, like I used to use all that stuff as well, but it doesn't come, it's made sure it doesn't come with the protocols that we try and increment. We've also got like a lot of slow mode footage on there of different impacts, which is quite cool. That was another actually really good idea from Toby. We decided to hire a camera for a week that you can record impact to like 40,000 frames

1:01:26per second. Yeah. And luckily, one of Toby's best mates, as is a videographer and he helped us actually use the thing and we got tour players in to use it and it was amazing. And some of the content that we've produced from that is just getting like millions of years. And I think it just helps to educate everyone on what impact looks like, whether it's good or bad, that's another thing that we've got inside that kind of app that comes with the product. So that's cool. But yeah, we'll keep building that out and keep just trying to help people and that's our goal really. I think we get kind of trials, she can imagine, but it's really, nowadays it's like water off a ducts bat because the way I look at it is like, you've obviously looked to the product and you obviously like the idea of it, you've just annoyed about something and it's more of a reflection on them to be honest, most of the time. So I'm just like, look, if it's not for you, that's absolutely fine.

1:02:27Like it will be for a lot of people and those people are the ones that I'll spend my time rather than focus on. So yeah. So yeah, unfortunately, those people, a lot of people talking about before, you were saying about do things normally you find they're, they're people that don't and it's just a frustration and hopefully that changes for them and they can find something they're passionate about and do it and feel good about it and stop worrying about what everyone else is doing so much, you know, and just enjoy what's out there because like you said, it's been designed to make people play better and if they, you know, and that's what it does. So what is there ready to, where's there ready to win, you know, that's, that's definitely a, like, you're right. I think like it is funny how many people will I keep talking about football because I'm obsessed with it. It's funny. We can talk football and do football. It's on there. I'm fortunate. Unfortunately, I was tired. Oh. I'm, I'm falling to the southern man United fan but I am a man United fan.

1:03:32I'm already cool. Good. But yeah, like, I watched spares and like, quite clearly, we're struggling a bit but like, when you actually watch the players on the pitch, they're all elite athletes, like these are like the tiniest percent of people that are doing the job that we all wanted to do. And I'm like, you find yourselves sat there like criticising these like amazing athletes. It just makes me laugh. I'm chair athlete only. I mean, I come on there. He's actually brilliant, like he's unbelievable, but it's just like the level is outrageous. And I do, I do think last year of doing this whole thing, especially in the Gulf industry has just allowed me to realise how good these players are, like it's just ridiculous. Yeah, you're all not on that note. Are you Frankie and all Frankie, or what's the, what's the, I just want to pop you back. Really? Okay.

1:04:32Yeah, yeah. Yeah, just for nostalgia, yeah, just for nostalgia. It probably will fail just like the rest of them, but it would just make me feel good about the culture. The chance now Levy's gone, it's probably a better chance that I happen in, because he might see a project there now rather than just Levy controlling the financial strings. But just think after the World Cup, he leaves the US and just back to his players and then we'll be happy for about a month before the actual season starts and we start losing again. Yeah. Probably the reality. But if Carrick keeps winning, I don't see how we can't give him the job, but if, if he doesn't, I suppose we could be in the market for Pots as well, so it could, we could, we could cause you some tears there, maybe. I really like, I like him and just turning into a football podcast now, but I like him. I loved him as a player, obviously, yeah.

1:05:32He was at Spares and I loved him, absolutely loved him and I was a bit guided when he went to United, but even when he went to United, I was watching in there. He's such a, he was such a good player. Pure class and a little bit underrated. He's pure class. We are, we're a unique club because you can't just have anyone inserted in as manager. It just doesn't work. You do need someone who's got some roots in what the 90s and 2000s were and what it meant before that. And I think you, you see that immediate change, yeah. So yeah, it's been, it's been pretty exciting. I've been, it's been fun to, my son is like five and his first match that he watched the full 90 minutes of was the awesome game and it was, oh, it was unbelievable. I was like, yeah, this is what it was like to be a United fan. This, this is it. Not the last ten years. I was really. That was amazing about that result as well. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're, how you welcome. Although I think we've got you this Saturday, I think, well, this Sunday, I think. Oh, that's fine.

1:06:32You're, that, that guy would be able to get his hair cut soon, I reckon. Honestly, if you, yeah, it's over you or West Ham, isn't it? I think you're going to cause him some serious pain on that fellow. He was not expecting that was he for that. He lives in Spain as well. Absolutely. Nightmare for the good. Yeah. No. Chris, I really appreciate, I really appreciate you coming on and, and sort of, yeah, talking more about the strike wedge, I think by the sounds of it with what you guys are doing, you probably won't be the last thing that you're looking to try and create once you've got into this space where I'll be wrong. Yeah. Yeah. We've got some, some thoughts on the next, next few things. One, one is digital, more of a digital product, looking at, and then the other one will be a physical thing. So yeah, watch, watch the space stuff. Start exciting stuff. Well, I'll, I'll put a link to all the strike wedge website and to the socials and everything

1:07:32like that as well. And yeah, thank you, yeah, thank you for letting me test products, you know, and with, with my mate, I'm, I'm going to let him borrow it for a little bit longer as well for him getting out of those hybrids. He's, it's a full bag of hybrids at this point. Yeah. Like just on that as well before I go, like any, anyone that does get the product and needs any help with it, then just DM us on Instagram, if you're on there, because we, we're still, like yes, because, you know, there's a lot of people that have to, like if you need any specific help, like you need to know what you need to use it for or whatever, just, just reach out because we always get back to people on there. So, yeah, just, just so everyone knows. Absolutely. That's brilliant. Thanks. Thank you so much, Chris. And yeah, I hope you have a nice rest of your day, end of my day here, but rest of your day there. Yeah. Thanks, Chris. I hope you enjoyed that.

1:08:33It was a really good conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Chris. Sorry, we went a bit off tangent, we'd sort of spoke a bit of football, but that's what this is. It's a conversation. And honestly, the short wedge is a training aid. I've used many training aids. And I don't want this to come across, like, by a strike wedge, it's going to change your life because you still got to hit good shots. And I've used training aids where I've used some, which I felt was just gimmicks. I've used some where it's hard to replicate the feel when you've used them and, and, and then take them away and you can't get it. Strike wedge is just really good at enforcing what we're all trying to do, which is just perfect strike or trying to get as close to perfect strike as we can. So I hope you enjoyed that, and I enjoyed talking to Chris. And, and hopefully there's some more opportunities where we can, we can sort of make some content

1:09:36together down the line. And I wanted to get to the, the Pebble Beach Prime, but actually before that, I want to get to AK and is unbelievable win in Australia. Live gets a bit of a bashing, including on this podcast, but at the end of the day, I think that's probably the storyline, perhaps already of the year, which is pretty unbelievable really, isn't it? And that's not just a clickbaity thing to say, it is truly remarkable what Anthony Kim has done after disappearing, being the golden boy of golf in the early 2000s, and then just disappearing off the planet. He had so many struggles that he had to deal with. And I think it's his right also not to have to go into depth about all that stuff, like that is his past, and he doesn't want to deal with it, perhaps there'll be a book down the line. But I think with the line of questioning sometimes it gets a bit pushy on that, and he's not

1:10:36really interested in talking about it. He's got his, his new life now with, with his wife and his daughter, and he just wants to get back to doing what he loves, which is playing golf, but most importantly, being a dad and being a husband and being a friend. And I thought his win was really fantastic, unbelievable to do it against Bryson and Rahm as well in the final group and sort of blow him out of the water on the final day. And he's got nine under to win the tournament, coming from five back. I mean, it was just proper golf, proper golf. So so happy, Anthony Kim. I've actually exchanged a few messages with Anthony on social media, and he's always been nothing but really kind. I know he's too interested in coming on podcasts, and I can't necessarily blame him. The door is open. Would love to have him on, but equally, I know that he's probably concerned about how much people will probe him about his past, making it clear.

1:11:38I don't want to. I'm not that kind of podcast host, and hopefully people know that, but either way, if he ever comes on, be wonderful to have him in and to talk about golf and his journey. But what a story. What a beautiful story to come out of golf and forget to live and the PGA divides. I think everyone was just happy to see it. Obviously, we had the Pell Beach AT&T Pro Am, which for the first two days is a weird tournament, right? Because you sort of see half the shots and you have these weird celebrity shots, and it seems like a bit of a hitting giggle. And then Saturday comes, and it's like, right, serious tournament time. The weather wasn't the best. It's always nice to see Pebble playing in nice conditions, really, because it's just a beautiful thing to look out on the TV screen. Tough to see it when it's like bucking it down with rain and wind and all that stuff. The greens were super receptive, so the scoring was really low, and then the wind came in and made it a little bit more tricky, but those guys are so good at golf, funny enough.

1:12:42Right for Colin Morricawa, Kenny Dunn, we have to talk about Jacob Bridgman, having just such a big blow up on that last hole. Like, to be fair, his score wasn't even that bad in the end, but the fact that Morricawa, the fact that Morricawa had to wait for 20 minutes plus after he hit his tee shot, waiting in the fairway. And it's bad enough, he's like gone so long with the greenies on the beach, Bridgman. Like, he then duffs that one into the water and then decides that he, rather than hitting that shot again, he's going to go all the way back in line with the tee box all the way back to outside of the bunker, which is basically up to near where Colin is waiting again. To hit his next shot. And I just thought it was just poetic. Look, I mean, he didn't hold the part, I think for a double, which was really impressive

1:13:44after all that, but it was just so funny to see what we all fear as golfers, right? We all fear being that guy holding everything up on the golf course pace of play is a hot topic. Everyone wants to talk about it. We're all terrified of being that guy and to see in the second to last group with the winner, waiting to hit a high pressure shot into the 18th, an iconic shot with that much wind as well and holding him up, making him cold. Like Morrigale was freezing by the time he had to hit that shot and he still hit an unbelievable shot. So credit to him, but I just, I can't imagine how much Jacob Bridgman just wanted to pick his ball up at that point, but probably a lot of money on the line. So fair play to him. He finished it out. He got it done. And it was great to see, sometimes people complain about the US open being so hard, he makes them look silly, but sometimes it is fun to see them look a little bit silly because it's just, it's like golf is hard and you guys are proven it because you're the best at

1:14:46it. So that was great. Huge win for Colin Morrigale. Really nice to see him. I think he was talking about he wanted to get the fun back into his game and to feel like a kid again out in the course. And you got a sense of that. It's from a lot of them and joking a lot with Sep Stracer. And yeah, it was just really nice, really nice to see him get that win. It means a lot to him, his wife came onto the green, both crying together, it's just, these guys worked very hard to be good at this game without, you know, they had the financial reward, but these guys want to win. They want to win trophies. That's what they do it for. So big, big one for Colin and yeah, really, really cool to see. And to see Tommy Fleetwood literally just raiding the Pebble Beach Pro Shop as well. Just such a fun era seeing Tommy just wearing what he likes, which is, which is weird now, right? Well, so used to these guys being tied to a parallel contracts and everything like that. It's kind of weird just to see a guy just raiding Pro Shops weekend weekend.

1:15:47But I love it. Again, he's being every golfer, what they would do if they were in his situation. So really cool stuff, really relatable stuff, which is great. My final point of the week was, I've seen the new Adidas Adidas, however you're going to put it, sort of media ad thing for the year. And it's a really cool advert, like goes through all the creators and pros with Adidas and, you know, not about playing by the rules and all that kind of marks in sort of stuff. But the fact they start it with Dame Laura Davies, like smacking the ground instead of bending down to put a T in. I know that's her thick, like there's going to be some people that isn't doing it and go, you're dead wrong. That's her thing. And it's cool. Sure. It's not, though, is it? Just use a T like everyone else uses it. I know there was a time where that was done, but that was before they made T's and T's

1:16:49are very easy to use and save the green keeping stuff from watching you just smash apart their T box for sort of no real reason. And it's stupid, like I really don't like it, I really don't like it. And the fact the advert starts with that, immediately I go, I don't think I'm ever going to buy another piece of Adidas Adidas clothing ever again. That's my little friend about it. Let me know what you think. It doesn't really matter. It's just not a huge fan of Dame Laura Davis to do great golf, don't like that. That suggests to me, you know, don't like it anyway, it's stupid. Thank you. If you're here now, this is nuts because we are well over and out, so I tell you what, flood the con, if you got this far, and I'm probably not a lot of a lot of you are, but put Dame Laura Davies in the comments. If you got this far, Laura Davies, Dame Laura Davies, whatever you want to put, and your

1:17:52opinion as well, would love to hear it. So thank you so much. Thank you for watching and listening to another week of the Birdie Golf Club podcast. As always, if you're enjoying it, thank you. I love doing this. If you could, leave a five-star review, leave a comment, follow, subscribe, whatever you have to do. Thank you so much and see you all again next week.