Yeah, it is what it is.
All right. And you're not thinking about anything right now. No.
All right. This is a fun one. Brooks,
Ka Brooks is maybe like, too cool for this program. This is a show for golf nerds.
Five golf nerds.
Brooks isn't really that way.
What does he think about when he's hitting balls before run?
I don't know, genuinely don't.
And I don't know if he's gonna let us into that process either,
but
I'm excited to try to get there with him.
So Brooks kept, uh,
warming up
next up on the t
five time major champion. Mr Brooks got
Brooks. Thanks for warming up with us.
I want you to kind of pretend it's a major championship Sunday.
It really feels like one year, I
suppose.
Um, how, how, how far before the round are you getting
onto the driving?
Uh, come on the driving range probably
about 45 50 minutes before my tee time.
Um,
get to the course about an hour and a half. Just do a little physio work and then
I actually go to the putting green first.
So usually start there, put for a little bit and then come around in
your mind here and then you come over. What club do you start with?
I always start with 56.
You wanna
get
a couple of 56 is what
you
be thinking about when you're
honestly,
you're not gonna like this answer, but I don't think of anything.
So
it just doesn't matter like,
how do you, I mean, every go
from
knows you warm up and have the worst warm up of your career and go out and go play great.
Like this year the PGA Saturday, Sunday was the worst warm up I've had in a long time.
Like, what does it feel like bad contact? You don't know where the club is? Like?
Yeah, just so you, you're like, wow, those shots are really, really
poor, like the, the flights on them, you know, I'm like,
I'm afraid of the ball so they might be drawn.
They were,
the divots were steep.
It just, it wasn't good, but at the same time, it really doesn't matter.
It's just a warm up session. So
I feel good.
Shouldn't have an issue with it.
That was kind of,
I think Tiger had some line about that.
Like, it, it was like at the end of a warm up, the question is like, did you warm up?
And that's kind of it. I just use it as a place to just go hit a few balls and
make sure I'm loose.
Um All right. Here is one more here. And, and how far are you hitting these,
uh, just go off field? I just go on field.
Uh, it's just one of those things.
We've got a couple of like stock yardages, but they're all, uh,
they're all field based.
That's kind of the thing. It's never,
I'm not trying to hit it 100 yards just to have
a
small medium
and then three quarter and full.
And so I just go off those fields and whatever those yardages are we,
we've got those banked in.
Is that true when you're on the course too?
Like how, how numbers oriented when you're
dialing in yardages? Are you like if you have an 80 yard shot,
what do you think? I like take a little bit off.
I might open the face just a little bit and maybe throw it up a little bit.
Um,
like we got an 84 yard shot 56. So I just open the face a little bit. Same swing.
Be perfect. That's it. All right. What's next in the bag here? So I'm an odd guy.
I go 975 and then
every time I honestly, you're gonna laugh my cat, he always,
he gets driven nuts by this.
Uh,
all the odd clubs wear out so quick. I was gonna say even clubs get lonely.
Yeah, they don't, they wear spot on those irons is not as good as, as the other ones.
Like even when I'm home practicing, I don't practice with any, any evens.
So, it's the same clubs every single time.
That way,
it's the same thing every time never hitting six iron except in a tournament round.
Yeah.
Really? That's basically it. So,
a couple of these for us.
I mean, how often are you getting, like, new,
how often you get a new set of irons as it is?
Uh, I usually switch out maybe twice a year.
It's always, the British
is a new set.
Yeah, British is a new set. Did you got fresh grooves over there or?
What's the, no, it's just, it's kind of the timing, right.
I've, I've get, I'll start a new one at the beginning of the year work, you know,
four or five months into them
and then by that time you're like, ok, I gotta get a new set.
So just the group patterns and it's honestly just
the 97 and five that I could switch out.
But,
um,
yeah, it is what it is.
All right. And you're not thinking about anything right now. No.
How about once you're on,
like the first hole hitting your approach shot with a nine
ir you think about anything when you stand over that?
No, I just try to make it a reaction sport.
Always think about it. Right. If you've got all the time in the world,
you know,
you ball up a piece of paper or whatever and you just chuck it in the trash can,
usually goes in.
But if you stand there and you think about it and the more and more like you see it,
guys do it all the time, you need the extra waggle.
You're like, oh boy, this isn't gonna be good.
Like you can tell they're uncomfortable. Just make it
a reactionary sport.
I don't care if it fades. Draws as long as it goes close to the pin.
Like I've hit a million bad shots that just look good.
They're crowd pleasers and you have no idea that I just miss hit it and
you get a little lucky. What's the one you get away with the most often?
Like a little thin or something?
Uh
Yeah, probably that's, you know, just comes off differently than you expect.
Like, yeah, there's, there's always that I think probably the one, you know,
the back pain, you're trying to do something and you just, you know,
might tend to pull it.
Um, you know, trying to take something off of it,
I think for me that's kind of the toughest part.
Uh, my body ends up slowing down and end up pull, drawing a little bit.
But that's, that's just one thing I've always worked on.
It's always something.
Seven iron.
Yep. Work our way up.
Um All right, you get to the longer clubs here if you do have to make an adjustment,
like, say you
say you wanted to hit a fade like, what would you do? You just think fade?
Uh, yeah, I just, the only thing I do is every single time I'm religious about it,
I make sure I'm lined up the same, grew up the same
and that's it. Is everything pretty neutral.
Uh, I line up pretty well, pretty far left for me. I've got, uh,
I fade it
so I line up maybe I forget, like, if I look at the target,
I know where my feet should be and then
my shoulder should be just slightly left of that.
Um
I'll have my coach clawed or Ricky stand behind me every time and I,
all I care about is the alignment
and that's it.
Keep it really simple, man. That's, that's just the way, the way it goes for me.
I don't seem
to be working. Ok, so far.
Ok.
But yeah, that's the only thing I'm worried about is just my lined up all night
because then from there,
if I'm lined up, ok,
my shoulders are good.
The club face, I'm pretty much gonna get in the same spot every time,
right? You can tell if it's open closed,
but
just the little things of the basics are the same every time I swing.
I mean, I've done the same swing for, I don't know,
27 years, probably since I've played the games in meaningful ways over that time.
Yeah, because your body changes, right? Like
whether it be injury, things like that or just, you know, size difference, you know,
skinny back in college it was like 100 and £70.
So, a little bigger now, a little fatter now.
But, like, so you just gotta work around stuff like that. But
usually it pretty much stays the same.
How different do you feel now? Compared to
this time, two years ago, I guess, maybe a year and a half ago, a lot different,
a lot different.
I don't even notice my knee anymore. So,
yeah, everybody else just brings it up and I'm like, ok.
Yeah, but I'm fine now, I'm good. I'm healthy so
I'm happy
how much, like, mental relief is that?
Uh, yeah, it's, it's a, it's a big thing. I think
it's just,
I don't think people really knew how, how bad it was.
And then on top of that, you proprioception, anybody that's been hurt. Like
you think if you get on like, a force plate or something,
you can tell like my whole golf swing was just left side loaded.
And
so then you create bad habits and then,
so you're doing that for six months before anybody even notices,
then you're trying to spend the next six months getting out of the bad habits
and you can't really, you don't really know what's, what.
And so you,
you end up wasting a year pretty quickly and
obviously I came back way too soon anyway.
So
I guess it sounds like if you are like
trying to keep everything simple and kind of neutral.
And if John is your, your coach for the day,
all he wants to do is just tell you if you're lined up correctly,
but it wind up being correctly is like
off and that would really,
yeah, I just think it's like I was, I was taught right when I was, uh,
coming up by this guy, uh, Warren Bakke coached me when I was really young.
He was like, it's really simple PGA posture, gripping, alignment, posture.
I'm pretty much gonna sit set up the same every time, but I know the same, you know,
same distance away from the ball.
Um What do you think about your grip
grip? I'm an interlock guy. So interlock it.
Um That's me, I've always done it. Uh It's something just super comfortable.
Um I'm probably kind of on the, maybe the weaker side of it just because
boat at the top,
like not DJ, bold but somewhat, uh, a little softer than DJ. And,
and then from there it's just turn and burn.
Do you think about anything when you look down like where your thumb is where your
arrow is? I was
talking about trying to introduce some new thoughts.
Yeah,
you'll never be able to. But like it's one of those things where it's
right. I
hate to say it but like some people are born to do it right.
You just, you know, hey, this is what I've done for 20 years.
I'm not gonna change it and re invent the wheel.
I'm pretty good at it.
So, just keep going and just master your craft from there
on weeks when it's off, what's off.
Um,
but
there's so much that goes in the golf. Right. Your body might not feel right.
Um,
it could be something that stupid of like,
usually. Right. I've got,
most people don't have it but they'll do like,
alignment sticks or whatever and I'll make,
I might have Claude there and Ricky there and just, you know, you,
you'd be shocked at how often the ball position gets up a ball.
It's like, hey, move it back a ball and one of those things are like, it's,
it just kind of floats around and
are you trying to do, like, it's bowling kind of right?
You, you wanna have the bumpers on
and just stay in that lane and I'll be all right. Are you good at bowling? Uh,
no, no, Mookie bets put it that way
would be sick. All right. So, where's your ball?
Like, where do you, where do you want it right in the middle?
Yeah, I'm, I, I'm probably, I've got seven.
I'm probably a little bit more back than most people. I would say.
Most people are probably seven iron right in the middle of mine.
Might be just a hair back.
Um,
but obviously I'm lined up left. So if you look at it from,
from that angle it's a little bit different. Um,
but yeah, from there
just turn your body and go just a one yard draw.
Yeah, that wasn't too bad.
All right. And see if I have Iron Deck
go
down
triple
three.
Um, and then how different would your prep be like?
All right,
it's the first round of a live event versus the final round of a major championship.
Same thing. There's no difference.
Treat everything the same um, same warm up routine,
same clubs.
Uh The only difference might be like, hey,
if I notice I'm getting a little funky or something's a little bit off.
A lot of times
like I spend the first when I go back to hit balls, I'll spend the first
like month I won't hit anything above seven. I,
I don't even hit driver don't hit. Yeah, it's all seven iron and below
and like even going into
majors like my prep for that month before. From March,
I practice, I won't barely hit anything above a seven iron
just trying to make sure I have full control of the flight, full control of the spin,
the shape, everything,
scoring clubs. Yeah, I guess you could say that um
scoring clubs, but I also think if you can't hit a seven iron,
I'm definitely not gonna be able to hit the driver,
right.
So if I can master the uh the iron play and that's, I think why I've been so,
so good in the majors.
Yeah.
So, how much do you practice at home?
Uh, quite a lot
on.
Well, see, there's a difference though in my head. I don't work hard enough
in my head. I'm the laziest guy in the world.
But you watch me, you come practice with me
there
quite a bit,
you know, like
I would say
I was at Grove right before Augusta last year and I think
even everybody was getting tired of seeing me there. It was like all day, every day.
And that's what I do. Yeah.
So what, what,
how in your mind is that not working hard
because there's still time when you're not working.
Yeah. I just always think that
if you always think you're not the hardest working
guy drives you to work a little bit harder,
right?
If I always think somebody's not working me,
somebody's better than me. Somebody's doing this. I have to, I'm playing catch up
and so it's like, it motivates me to be like, ok, I gotta get to this point.
I've got to get to that
and then
even when you win, it's still not good enough.
Yeah, there's gotta be something a little screwy about you to get
you.
There's something wrong with every great athlete with all
the guys that are like the best at,
at what they do.
There's always something a little bit wrong and they think they're a little,
a little crazy.
So I guess
I definitely go into that crazy category.
What if you have to move the ball?
Like, how often do you have to hit a big huck or have to hit a big slice? Not that often.
I think
a lot of it might come down to
more of the yardage,
like, ok, yeah, you're behind a big tree, you gotta slice it or hook it, whatever
that happens. Right. And we've all, we practice that.
We do that stuff, you know, we practice all funky lies,
that stuff that's natural to like a, a tour player versus somebody that just
goes in place. But
um a lot of it is basically just yardage based.
Like if I'm hitting it three quarters, I'm drawing it.
If I'm hitting it full, I'm fading. It,
it's just one of those things. It's a weird thing. Most people never understand it.
I don't understand it. I just know a
three quarter
here.
It's a little baby draw.
Yeah, I mean, the set up is still the same or it still feels the same to me,
but I just don't turn as hard.
And are you thinking draw there or you're just thinking
swing?
And this is just what happens when you, I just think my setup is already set for that.
So I'm already set up for that to happen.
And then from there it's just a matter of speed. Like the,
I hate to say it the harder I swing. So the faster. I'm rotating
everything just lines up.
Like if you go on track man or something like that,
it'll line up and the numbers will be per like perfect for a fade.
But it just so happens to move a little slower
three quarters trying to take speed off. It,
it just, the path happens to kick out a little further,
ride the face a little more open.
So it draws.
Do you laugh when you hear how complex other pros make this stuff sound? Yeah,
because I mean, I look at, I mean, I look at all the same stuff
but there's only like a couple of numbers. I'm looking at,
what are you looking at? I'm just looking at
a lot of times I won't even bother with the launch.
Um The I look at the attack angle
a lot um attack angle the distance and then, you know,
obviously the spin just to make sure because you wanna verify,
I think you can get buried into
the track man and just be sitting there at the and I've done it.
I've, I've done it in guys. Do it. Yeah.
And then don't even look at the ball just straight to the number.
Yeah, but you also can get so involved in that and you forget that man like,
hey,
the numbers just because of where you hit it.
If you hit it a little bit off the toe or a little bit off the heel,
it can change those numbers quite a bit by like a half degree.
And so you might think you did something and, but you're looking at it going like, oh,
wow, this is way different than what I actually saw.
Like, the best track man is your eye.
So try to make every, I try to make all golf just feel because right at the end of the day
you've been doing something for,
I mean, 25 plus years,
like
I kind of ii, I feel like I know what I'm doing.
But then again, you know,
you also get lost and you gotta go back to the
basics and then rebuild the foundation and you come back up,
then you need Ricky here and Claude there.
Yeah,
but that's all it is. It's all very basic stuff.
It's literally every day it's alignment, ball position.
And I still,
I mean, I, I can't line up
like I'm every golfer in the whole wide world.
I'm like, Rick will be like, what are you doing?
You're 20 yards left to where you should be. I'm like my bad dude.
He's like, all right.
So then you know that whole day might be, hey, we're just gonna work on alignment.
All right.
I gotta feel like my feet are right at
the pin because usually they might be 20 yards left
and it just, it feels a little weird, but you just gotta trust it and then, ok.
All right,
then you start. I start, yo, yo and I go right and then it's, I get left buddy.
So
it
out. All right. Let's see. A nice full one here.
It's gonna be a one yard, cut
the next
I
far five iron flying for you.
Me, I think probably about just over 2,
10, 212 I think is what the numbers I have to ask.
Rick has that fluctuated over time like, uh,
18 months ago, was that shorter? Because you were
all banged up. It's all, it's all pretty much the same.
Um, believe it or not, my bo my golf swing is a lot of upper body.
I don't really use my legs that much.
Um,
I don't, you look at like a guy like tiger or somebody, you should,
you should try to get stronger. I should,
I should.
Um, I just can't turn like my hips don't move as well as everybody else's.
You look like a guy like JT who's just full blown gone at, at impact and it's not me.
Um,
but then again, that works in my favor because stability, I never hit one.
That's crazy, crazy offline.
Um,
but yeah, it's, it's just, it's a weird thing. I've got, um, a
lot of upper body but
the distance I don't think
we've got like summer and winter yardages,
but it doesn't go further than probably about seven yards.
So, depending on the temp,
you kind of know what, uh, what the deal is when the pressure is on.
I mean,
I imagine you try to keep everything the
same based on everything you've been saying,
but it's gotta be hard at a certain point, right,
in certain circumstances with a certain number of people around you, a
certain major championship on the line, something like that. How do you, how do you
make sure everything's the same? I think, I mean, I just,
I literally, we don't, I don't talk about the golf shot.
Don't really care about it until I get to the ball. So I'm not worried about it. It was,
hey, it might be behind a tree. All right. Well, it's fine. I still got a chance.
Um I never,
I don't get nervous because I think when you get nervous,
you start thinking about results.
Like
if I said throw a ball in that bunker right now, you could. But if I,
if it was like life or death,
you might, you might start to really think it and question what you're doing,
but that's what that's, there's consequences to it,
right?
Everybody, when you're playing golf, you already know there's a consequence
of the shot. Ok?
I might lose this golf tournament if I miss the green or if I make bogey here.
So now then you start to get nervous.
But if you really don't think about the consequence, hey,
just trying to hit the shot,
done it a million times. It's, there's no, but yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong.
Do I get nervous? Yeah, absolutely.
Like everybody else but you just try to minimize that.
Is there other stuff that you're really good at? Like,
like, fair to play
beer pong or,
uh, darts or like
other stuff where it's kind of stationary in that same way
and involve some, like, mental toughness. Corn hall.
Like, are you,
I'll beat you in bags all day long.
Yeah,
that DJ. He knows
the way you even just said that
you beat DJ.
DJ is pretty good.
Yeah, DJ is pretty good at bags.
But yeah, it's fine. I just like anything competitive.
I'm, I'm gonna go, uh, were you always that way?
Yeah, it was always that way with my brother. Um,
my dad never let me win.
So it was kind of, uh, when was the first time you beat him at stuff?
I was probably maybe 1213, I think the first time at golf.
Um,
and it was one of those things I learned a lesson earlier on.
I got a little cocky and started smiling and,
you know, I got two holes left.
It was like, hey, I can get you about a shot or two and then
here to teach me a lesson
early on, let's see, one more of these and
I'll go up three. Yeah, we go up three.
So we always go to three and then, then drive and then work back down.
But when I work back down.
I go back to seven. It's just my
straight to seven straight to seven. You all right. Three iron.
What's different about this one ball position?
Uh, just ball position is a little further up. Um
We've had this club in the bag forever and ain't going anywhere.
Yeah. Do you re grip it? Do you do anything to it? Like
when you have to or are you talking about like the like, actual grip?
Yeah. Like how often are you gonna replace that grip? I don't know.
You can look at the shaft, you can see how much it's been in there. The
rest of it.
I changed the grips probably three times, four times a year.
Honestly, you laugh. Ricky is the reason I end up changing.
I don't change equipment.
It'll be one of those. Hey, dude, have you felt these grips lately?
And, you know, you just kind of,
you get so used to your playing every day you don't really notice the small changes
and it'll be like, I think it's time or he'll just go do it himself and I'll notice it.
But, uh, but yeah, shafts, I've had this shaft in since
16, maybe 1516. Whenever I switch to them, I've had it in there.
The driver shafts the same. It's all
just, I don't, I don't tinker, I'm not a tinker. I know what works and I like it.
I'll go with it.
They're on top of each other,
they really are. It was the same Zach Ball Fly.
We were talking to Phil yesterday and he was talking about how
he sort of has like a reservoir of shots in his mind
that he can tap back into, from, you know,
a shot that he had in 2013 and under pressure in a big tournament.
And now he can,
you know, like
when he sees a shot tomorrow, maybe he'll think about that. Do you do any of that?
No, I don't think about anything I've done in the past because I also think too,
I like, I like to think I'm better than I was 68 months ago. Right?
Like, with practice or anything like that.
So I'm like, ok, well, I can do that better. You might hit
it, hit great shots under pressure, hit, you know,
I can go think of probably three or four just off the top of my head right now.
But
don't go back to that rolodex probably like he does. Right.
What do you have a favorite shot that you've ever hit?
16 at Bell Reef?
I remember that
before.
Me and Ricky were, I, we weren't arguing but we were discussing a which club to hit.
I think, uh,
he wanted me to hit something.
It's about the only time I've ever gone against what he said in like that situation.
Just one of those gut feelings and he was like, I love it. Let's do it
and did it pulled it off, great shot
and there made the putt and it was just
the moment the situation, all that stuff involved it was,
the quality of shot was really good too.
And does he help you with
your mindset and, and keeping you like the way you like to be? Like?
What's his, what's his function in that?
Uh, he keeps a light. He's his big thing with me is
we, we're not gonna talk about golf while we're out there. It's very serious.
I mean, a lot of times you probably even see, I don't even,
I don't talk much when I'm out there.
Um,
I, I'll talk when I'm off the golf course, but it's, it's my job, right?
Like anybody that sits
on the desk 9 to 5, it's,
you don't wanna be thinking about something else where
you're just thinking about what I gotta do.
I'm like, I just gotta get to 18, finish that hole, sign that score card.
And ok, now I can relax,
but until that point, uh, he keeps it light,
he'll try to joke every once in a while and he knows kind of when he cracked the whip
and be like, hey, man,
what's the deal today? And then there's other times where,
you know, I can think of, uh,
we're in Memphis one year one and I hit
one in the water and immediately just turned him.
I was like a little bit stiff he's like, we've been playing golf,
we're on the third hole.
You had a full warm up or whatever and you're still stiff.
I'm like, yeah, don't worry about it. We'll be fine.
We went on to win but, like, just one of those things that sometimes it is like, trust.
Right. I've got a,
he's got a trust that I know what I'm doing and I know what he's
doing and he's the only guy out there that wants me to win besides myself.
So
I love the guy. I trust him, trust him to death.
Can you get us a big slice just to humor me?
Yeah.
Just curious what it looks like
all
what your set up looks like.
Uh I'll try to go right around these trees. How about that?
So
just open the hell out of my feet
there
a way left.
I just feel like the club never passes my hands.
That's the only goal, move it back a little bit.
Um
And just never let that face rotate.
That's pretty sweet. You like doing that?
I think it's just more, it's more of like a crowd pleasing thing.
Like, you know what I mean?
Like I'm never gonna really,
I might hit that shot once every six months
because I'm behind trees or something like that,
but it
doesn't happen that often. Do you love golf?
I love the competition.
Like,
I think
the misconception where I didn't fully explain it when everybody says that.
Yeah, I love, I love playing golf. I love
working, but it also is a job,
like
any athlete can say when they first start playing golf,
it's very,
it was fun. Right?
And then you realize that there is a business side of this, there's a
competitive side
and it's not just, hey, I'm just gonna go out there and go, have some fun today.
Like, no, like
I have to go play. Well, I, I want to, I enjoy the competition. So that's my big thing.
Like, if you're, what's the most fun part of golf to you play, play in tournaments?
Yeah.
I was gonna say, other than, like, being in contention, like, if you're just at home,
I'm awful.
I go play if I go play with my dad and my brother, I mean, I'm lucky to break par.
Yeah,
it's, I can't, you can't get in the same place. I can't do it mentally.
I can't get in the same place. I can't, like, I can't just hit a golf shot for no reason.
Like, that's, that's part of why I struggle too.
Like, when I'm practicing for the majors, it's like every,
every ball I'm hitting on that range or every putt means something to me.
Might not mean anything to anybody else watching. They would never know.
But I care so much about that
in the, in the lead up to it where it's, it's every ball means something.
So, even with, I mean, you've talked about this a ton obviously, but,
but even with like lesser events leading into majors,
that's why you just can't quite get there.
It's not, it's not that like I might be using it for prep for something or I might be,
hey, I'm trying to work on something.
It's just
the only reason with the majors is just every bit.
It's very, the, the bigger the pressure, like not everybody's built for it.
I hate to say that, but there's just certain guys you can pretty much see, I mean,
over the last 10 years of who's won
the majors, it's pretty,
there's a group of guys that are just consistently winning and those are the top guys
and they usually do it. Yeah, week in week out is great. I'd love to do that more often.
I'm not saying I don't care about any other event, but it's
the whole year. I mean, I spent all December working for Augusta.
So you tell me, so you tell me I'm five months out and I'm already working on that.
So my head's already there and I'm just trying to count down. Use it for,
use it. Yes. Use it for prep, but I also do care.
Yeah.
Fascinating. All right. Hit it. You're here on the fourth hole at Augusta
one. Maybe we'd have to be into for you at this club.
Yeah, probably. Yeah. If they want to go all the way back now. Yeah,
let's see.
Put some air under it
and like Sunday right in the bunker from bunker.
All right. Take us back down your what? Seven I
seven. So I'm doing a great job as caddy right now.
So yeah, so get done, I'll work all the way up with driver. Come all the way down.
Yeah, I, I don't wanna, I don't wanna hit anybody.
Yeah.
Um, but yeah,
come back down to seven and then honestly this is where on
the way back down is where I start taking speed off.
Everything is just,
I don't wanna say like full swing just very fluid on
the way up and then on the way down it's OK.
I want a three quarter. I wanna hit a little low shape. It the other way.
Are you picturing shots you're gonna hit specifically on the course?
I just wanna feel like, hey, do I have I have an understanding of,
hey, if I wanna knock this down, I wanna throw some air under it, move it right to left,
left to right.
I've got it or I feel like, hey, that everything feels natural today. Got it.
All right.
So for this, you're taking a little something off of it, take a little something off,
we'll keep it, knock it down and cut it, go right down.
A little flag.
Yeah. Yeah.
All right. Knock down, put
seven iron right out to the green.
Good enough, but I did what I wanted to do, right. Like that's my whole thing.
As long as it's
go a game of mistakes, man, you're never gonna hit every shot. Perfect.
Like it, it was low. I'm good with it.
Nine iron go. Nine.
Where's your mind at now? Are you like stealing yourself or? Ok.
There's gonna be a lot of people on the first tee.
There's no
too much,
but like
that's what I want.
Right. That's what
if you, if you wanna win a golf tournament, you know, there's gonna be people around.
So that's just gonna be a constant and
you just deal with it, you get on with it.
Um, the only thing is, you know, when everybody starts thinking about pressure,
it's the only other thing.
Yeah. And does other stuff get to you?
Like, if you have a playing partner or, like, God, I don't really,
I really don't like playing with this guy.
Like, is there a little stuff like that that still gets to you or?
No, I don't. No, it's not, it's not that it gets to me, it's, uh,
I think
there's sometimes where, you know, you play with guys, you like, you don't like,
sometimes I think it's tougher playing with friends.
I think that's the toughest one
because they wanna chat with your dad and your brother then. Yeah.
Well, like, no, I'm saying like,
at a tournament because you get your friends and they wanna chat and I'm like,
I don't care how good a friends we are.
We ain't chatting
like I'm there to do my work and then we're done. I'll meet you in the locker room.
We'll, we'll chat and we'll text, call, whatever it doesn't matter. But
for those four hours, five hours that we're out there,
I just want to do what I wanna do. I wanna go play golf. I'm gonna deal with Ricky.
We're gonna go get a game plan, go figure it out, go to golf course, then we're done.
We'll be friends.
One of the most fascinating friendships in golf from the outside
is you and Rory because it seems again from the outside like
you can each kind of borrow something from each other.
Is that accurate? Is there anything that you can learn from him or he can learn?
Yeah, I think especially, um,
when I, when I was first coming up, maybe
from 12 to 16, like, obviously I don't wanna say, like
idolized, but that would be kind of the wrong word, but I,
I've looked up to him a little bit
and so, ok, trying to figure out how he goes about it.
And that's what I think I did a really good job of is picking guys.
I could pick DJ G Mac Rory
because he's playing so good at the time.
It's like, ok, grab little things from this guy here, this guy and make it your own.
But then our friendship just developed over the years.
Um, I've enjoyed playing with him, playing against them.
Um, I'm pretty sure he's done the same thing. But it, it's, it's a lot of fun, man.
We just,
we practice at the same place you live in the same area. I mean, how could you not?
All right. What you got there?
I,
no.
Yeah, I got one more and then we'll pop to the wedge.
Yeah. I mean, Roy's a good dude. I've enjoyed, we've had some good talks and
get some laughs out of it because everybody just,
all the stuff going on in golf and sometimes you just gotta sit back and laugh.
I know.
Well, I always sort of think that, like, from the outside it's like, oh,
what are they talking about?
And it's like they're probably talking about, like, a restaurant.
Exactly.
That most of the time when everybody thinks we're
sitting there talking about golf or talking about this,
it's, it's
probably, there's probably both. Right. Like, imagine you guys would talk about
stuff. There's a lot going on. Absolutely.
And you know, the funny thing is we'll do that when nobody's around.
If I want to talk to somebody, I, you know,
at the range of Grove and I know there's nobody else back there
and me and Rory back there and I got something I wanna say,
or he's got something he wants to say to me pop over and we'll talk to,
you wouldn't do it.
In a practice round at the masters. Yeah.
No,
but that was just,
that was just happened to be funny and everybody freaked out about it.
But
like I said, we're all, we're all pretty good friends.
We're all close and I think everybody,
everybody understands
everybody's position.
Um,
they got no ill will, man. They gotta do their job. I gotta do mine. And
as long as you're honest, if, if we're honest, I think Rory was honest with me,
I was honest with him and
goes a lot better that way.
What's the final shot of your range session?
It's usually just a little, I take it off. Um
Is like you have to make the last three before you finish warm ups or something.
So I'll finish with these. I hit a little wedge.
Go chip, get yelled at by Pete Cowen because I'm doing something wrong.
Um
You get a few chips and then go hit puts
and then I'll make whatever.
I'll just hit a couple like tappings or like 3 ft
and just make a couple of them before I go.
That's the big thing. You see a ball go in the hole. It's like, all right cool.
Get it going. And then from there, first T
Brooks. Good luck today.
It's a lot of pressure on you.
Thanks for warming up with it.