Tales from the first tee
Stories about my life experiences and others . Interviews with golfers around the world that have one thing in common...the pursuit of excellence on a golf course and everything else that happens along the way.
Tales from the first tee
Your Golf Game Isn't the Only Thing That Needs Fixing (Re-release)
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Back at the microphone after a three-month break, I return with fresh perspectives on golf, aging, and finding that elusive perfect swing. This episode begins with stories from my recent birthday weekend in Charlottesville, where a Three Dog Night concert became an unexpected meditation on aging and nostalgia. Sometimes, as I discovered watching once-vibrant performers now moving like "zombie dancers from Michael Jackson's thriller," certain memories are best left undisturbed.
Have you ever met that golfer who simply cannot stop talking about every shot they took? My "Too Much Detail" story dives into one such encounter at a local course, sparking thoughts about self-awareness and social cues. Between watching someone's eyes glazing over and checking their watch repeatedly, there are clear signals when a story has overstayed its welcome.
The search for "finding it" – that magical feeling when your swing or putt just clicks – connects us all as golfers. I explore how this feeling represents the holy grail of our sport, why it's so fleeting, and how brain hemisphere dominance might explain our different approaches to the game. Right-brained players like myself (73% according to my recent test) focus on feel and imagination, while left-brained golfers prioritize score and repeatability.
The podcast concludes with reflections on what separates great golfers from good ones, particularly on Sunday's back nine when pressure mounts. From Palmer to Nicklaus to Scheffler, mental toughness makes all the difference between lifting trophies and finishing second. I also share personal insights on sports betting and why I've chosen to limit my wagers to matches where I'm competing.
Give this episode a listen if you're fascinated by the mental aspects of golf, curious about the connection between confidence and performance, or simply enjoy stories from a fellow golfer navigating life's fairways and hazards with humor and perspective.
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you're tuned in to another episode of tales from the first tee. I'm rich easton telling tales from beautiful charleston, south carolina. Hey, welcome back to my podcast. It's been a wonder-filled spring. I've been away from the mic for upwards of three months, mostly because I felt like I've said everything that I have to say about golf, living, sports, gambling, politics. Well, with politics I seem to polarize. People Left, far left and far right Don't want to have anything that I have to say about sitting clearly in the middle. So this episode I'm mostly going to talk about some golf stories, with some of my life sprinkled in. Like most of my listeners, I've been around a while.
Speaker 1As a matter of fact, I just celebrated a non-milestone birthday, and I say non-milestone because it doesn't end in a zero or a five. Even though it was a non-milestone birthday, it was anything but uneventful. If you follow me on Facebook, you've seen my continuous storyline recently and, as Kevin Durant, the actor who portrays Proxima Caesar in the new Planet of the Apes movie, would probably proclaim, I found a mate.
Speaker 2What a wonderful day.
Speaker 1I spent my birthday weekend with my crush in Charlottesville, Virginia. We decided to go back in time by dining at the Melting Pot and attending a concert featuring Three Dog Night.
Speaker 2One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do. Two can be as bad as one.
Speaker 3It's the loneliest number since the number one.
Speaker 1The dining reminded us of life 40 years ago, where skewering food and dipping it in cheese, oil and chocolate was the new craze. I think we both left, both thinking the same thing Some things are best left in the past. After that we walked to the Paramount Theater another walk into the past to see Three Dog Night, and we wanted to see do they still have their A-game?
Speaker 2Wash away my trouble, wash away my pain with the rain and Shambhala. Wash away my sorrow. Wash away my shame with the rain that shone my life. I'm a ruler. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1I'm a ruler. The opening act was Chris Trapper. I only remember his name because he told us to think of Christ Rapper every time we forgot his name. Brilliant, it worked. He was surprisingly a talented entertainer and I say surprisingly because I'd never heard of him before. Great storyteller, singer and guitarist and here's a context clue for the remainder of the evening he was the star of the show. After he leaves the stage, the roadies set the stage for the big act.
Speaker 1The anticipation continued to cultivate as the crowd around us murmured their past experiences going to see the band. As I gazed at the audience, one thing became perfectly clear we were the youngest in attendance. Now, I used to love being recognized as the youngest to accomplish just about anything be in places where I probably shouldn't have been, and try things that reserved for more experienced people. Let me tell you, when you get to a certain age, you no longer want to be the youngest in the crowd. So now the lights dim, signaling that the band's about to hit the stage. The audience applauds and yells and the moment of truth the stage lights illuminate the band walking on the stage. Now, first the drummer, the bass player and the guitar and the keyboard player enter the stage briskly certainly too young to be the original Three Dog Night. They were in their 30s and 40s.
Speaker 1Then, like a horror movie Day of the Living Dead, the septuagenarian and octogenarian singers enter the stage with a gate resembling the zombie dancers from Michael Jackson's thriller. They weren't doing a bit. That's how they moved. They sung a few notable songs, gave self-deprecating stories about their lives in a rock band, particularly at their age, and struggled with the high notes that built their fame. It was hard to watch so I closed my eyes at times to imagine how they used to perform. And just when I'm ready to give up on them, they do an acapella song from a new album and blew me away with their vocals. Now, this song was written with their current vocal cords in mind, so it was perfect.
Thoughts on Age and Politics
Speaker 1The song led to their last song, jeremiah Was a Bullfrog, which brought the house down and ended the concert. No encores because, quite frankly, they had very little left in the tank and that long walk, often on stage, would have given the audience members a chance to leave. So we both left the concert thinking the same thing Some things are best left in the past. But it also underscored how we both saw the world together, which made the birthday weekend blissful. Jeremiah was a bullfrog, was a good friend of mine. I never understood a single word he said, but I helped him a-drinking the wine and he always had somebody to find wine. Singing joy to the world.
Speaker 2Like I said, I've been around a while.
Speaker 1You know, in some cultures I'd be part of the elder tribesmen where the tribe seeks our knowledge and thoughts on how to navigate the future. Now, I'm not certain if it's the sign of the times everywhere or if it's just a North American enigma, but age and experience are seemingly marginalized unless your bank account ends in nine zeros or you're running for president. Actually, age is a sore point there as well. Anything less than that. Gray hairs are a punchline or are invisible in our society unless you're driving behind them. Now I get it the get off my long moniker earned by the Karens of our generation. I didn't respect those stodgy, hard-headed, prejudicial, change-resistant elders when I was a kid as much as I don't see eye-to-eye with them now. That being said, I also can't relate to the protesting youth on college campuses that seek a tribal community based on what they might think as fighting the oppressors. It's led to the most anti-Semitic voices in action since the 1940s in Germany. Now imagine this scenario 1,200 citizens are brutally raped, beheaded and killed, 240 more are taken prisoner. The scene is in a small community in Texas, or Moscow, or Beijing. What do you imagine the government's responses would be in each of these countries and what would their citizens think about the response? What would the global community think about the response? If the United States went to war with the regime responsible for the attack in Texas, how many college campuses would be protesting? The response Certainly none in the Longhorn State.
Speaker 1The Middle East conflicts are long, complicated and filled with ancestral retaliation. Hamas and Hezbollah have one clear objective annihilate Zionists. Palestinian oppression is documentable, just as well as Hamas' infiltration in Palestine. Separating the innocent from the perpetrators is wishful but unattainable. There's no clear, workable solution in a hostage situation without unintended consequences. Protesting and preventing colleges to peacefully educate and graduate a population of students that have already been cheated out of years of pandemic life is a sophomoric and self-harming solution. Anti-semitism on the rise reveals the hidden underbody of those looking for a villain in their life.
Speaker 1I've always been told when you point a finger at someone or some people that you believe are causing you problems, make sure you're standing directly in front of a mirror, because that's where the problem and the solution resides.
Too Much Detail: Golfer Stories
Speaker 1Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, happy birthday to me. Enough of the politics. I've got a few golf stories. One's a local story, the other two are personal observations. First, the personal story. I'll call it too much detail.
Speaker 1When most people connect, the common inquiry is how are you doing? How have you been? How's it hanging? I never got used to that one what's up? Or millennials sup.
Speaker 1A greeting is meant to acknowledge and solicit a response, hopefully small talk, like all good living, the dream, great, how are you? For golfers it's more like how'd you play today? How's your game? Also meant to acknowledge, connect and solicit. Just enough small talk to let the other golfer know you see them, or for some to wait for their question to you about your game so you could share an immortal conquest. I think generally, unless it's your best friend or somebody you haven't seen in a while, the dialogue should be kept to a tolerable time period. One man's tolerable could be another man's insufferable. Which leads me to my story.
Speaker 1So I go to this golf course. I'm going to play golf at this local course in the low country. I don't play there often so I don't anticipate running into any familiar faces other than the three other guys I'm there to play with. So I'm at the putting green waiting for the starter to call us to the tee box and I hear a familiar voice calling my name hey Rich. I turn around, it's a well-known golfer from my home course. I say how's it going? I find that greeting a lot more acceptable, living in the South, than hey, how you doing, hey, how you doing. After saying how's it going, I expect a quick retort, but instead I get this my game is going to shit. Now. I could have responded with that's golf, but instead now I later kick myself in the ass for this. I say how so it was.
Speaker 1At this moment he knew he fucked up. He goes on to tell me how he was one under par going into the 14th tee box and then double bogeyed 14, 15, bogeyed 16, made a lip out putt for par on 17, and missed a birdie putt on 18 for a 76. Before I could respond, he gave me the minute detail of every shot, starting on the back nine, each shot, each unfortunate bounce, rubber, the green partner, distraction, all of it. Meanwhile I'm looking at my watch Now that is a context clue of all context clues and anxiously waiting for the starter to call our group's name, which he did. Okay, finally, this is going to end, but my friend Motormouth didn't pick up on my clues, despite the call to the tee box. I finally laughed and said hey, sorry about your 76. You need to play better, and walked off the putting green.
Speaker 1Why do some golfers find it necessary to drown us in their unfortunate misgivings and unfairness that the golf gods bestow upon us In this case? I think this particular golfer was humble bragging. That's his MO. It's like saying oh, my Mercedes is in the shop again. Oh wait, I think I used that as an excuse why I traded it to Carvana. Okay, let's forget that one.
Speaker 3Is it cold in here? I'm so cold. We went out on my dad's yacht last night for like eight hours and I'm just like still cold.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, I don't even do anything to my hair, it just looks this good.
Speaker 3Naturally, I actually have to leave early today. I have to go to the consulate or wherever to get more pages for my passport, apparently.
Speaker 2Ugh, it's so hard to go jean shopping because all the jeans just fit me too tight in the frontal area.
Speaker 3I mean my boyfriend's super hot, but like I gotta sleep, you know I can't have sex all the time- yeah, so I take my sailboat out with my family on Sunday and we didn't even see one whale.
Speaker 2We saw a shark, but that was scary.
Speaker 3Yeah, I got invited to all these Oscar parties again. It's just annoying because, like I don't have that many dresses.
Speaker 2Ugh, I had to turn down tickets to see Louis CK because I have backstage passes to meet Taylor Swift.
Speaker 3What did I tell you? My email got hacked. Yeah, so, like Ryan, felipe just got spammed for me.
Speaker 2Man, I'm so mad right now. The boss just took me out to lunch because I've been doing such a great job and he bought me drinks. Now I'm drunk, I can't even do any work.
Speaker 3I'm so hungry, I have to eat so much. My metabolism is so fast and it's just like I have to keep feeding it. I wish that I could gain weight, but I just can't.
Speaker 1I guess we could all be guilty of it sometimes. But five nonstop minutes and you start imagining that the person's going to back up off the green, get attacked by an alligator, pulled into the lake for a death roll. But knowing this guy, the alligator would spit him out after he started sharing his big fish story that took place in a similar lake, at which point all of the alligators would exit the lake and scurry across the green to a local high-traffic road, just in hopes of getting run over to stop the ringing in their ears from this guy's story. At what point are you aware that you're boring people to death, watching them continuously look at their phones or watch they yawn repeatedly, their eyes glaze over or they try to inject a sentence that suggests they've had just about enough. You know, in situations like this, what do you say? I mean, the Sopranos would use one line all the time hey, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you?
Speaker 2going to do.
Speaker 1What do I do?
Speaker 2What the fuck else am I going to do? What are?
Speaker 1you going to do? I guess most people just end it with that's life, that's golf or oh, I forget, I have this thing. I have to go to Look. We all know someone in our circles that overstretched their cordial welcome, and if you can't think of somebody, maybe it's you.
Speaker 2What are you going to do?
Speaker 1I found it. I think I really found it. That's right. I found it. I solved my personal golf puzzle.
Speaker 1How many times have we heard golfers in their post-game interview where they state I found something on the range or on the practice putting area that carried into my round today? Finding something in a practice area is common to most golfers that continue to search for that feel which translates to a better ball flight or a more pure stroke of the putter which sends the ball on the intended line. The term I found something is tantamount for the search for the holy grail or the ark of the covenant. But in golf, as in life, just when you think you're on the right path, misfortune and dismay find their way into your journey. Finding that feel that sends your golf ball to its intended target is like no other feeling in golf. I mean recently, when being interviewed, scotty Scheffler was asked don't you get tired of hitting approach shots that land right by the pin? And he said are you a golfer? No, that is the greatest feeling ever. That's what I practice for. Well, get ready for the rabbit hole.
Speaker 1I learned today after taking an internet brain test to see which of my hemispheres are more dominant I'm 73% right brained, 93% right-brained. No wonder my search for feel on the golf course is never-ending. Left-brained people would be more concerned with score repeatability. Right-brained people focus on imagination and the feel it takes to flight a ball to its target. It's like art in motion. Left-brained people just ask what did you score on that hole? I want a left brain golfer to keep score from my group, but not tell me every single hazard to avoid. Right brain people might suggest a tree line out in the distance to aim towards. And left brain people will tell you how they might come to hate a golf hole because all of the times they dunked it in the water, into the woods or OB. Right-brained people will alert you to the upcoming signature hole or tell you how great the weather is. I like a mix of both. When I play the scored card doesn't care about what, where or how, just how many.
Speaker 1If you're playing with me and hear me say, man, that felt great, you can be assured. What I'm really saying is I found it at least for this whack of the ball, at least for this whack of the ball, and trust this. What you find today might work for today might only work for one hole, but let's say it works for today, let's say it works for the weekend or maybe even a week or so. But eventually something else creeps into your setup posture, ball position, grip, take back, follow through. That neutralized that brilliant discover you had when you were flushing irons, pounding drives down the middle or stroking the perfect putt down the intended line into the center of the cup. And that's why, with very little exception Scotty Scheffler, rory McIlroy, tiger, John Rahm Most players will find it do really well.
Speaker 1And then something else happens and they just disappear. So what do they do? What do we all do? My advice is get back to the practice area where you found it in the first place and try and find it again. And if you can't, just find a pro that you trust, and have them observe what you're doing. It might be something so small as just a minor adjustment and setup. And bam, there it is again. Oh shit, here we go again. Who's the man Looking good? You the man, you the man.
The Mental Edge in Professional Golf
Speaker 2Hey, it's the man.
Speaker 1Like some of you, I really like watching PGA Tour golf, particularly the signature events and majors. They attract the best of the best and the production value, barring all the commercials, has improved a gajillion percent since I was a kid. That's back when Jack Arnie, tom, gary Lee, seve and Raymond competed. The production value to me was boring. I picture my dad fast asleep on the couch watching the PGA after playing 18 holes, listening to whispered commentators and very, very light golf claps. I mean, back then even Major League Baseball seemed more exciting than golf on TV. Well, that's all changed with the enormity of the production value, streaming worldwide with purses topping $20 million and above for signature events with star quality athletes that average over 315 yards per drive. What a change from 270 yards per drive. Tiger cleared the way with personal discipline for fitness and golf toughness rarely ever seen before. Every PGA Tour player, and even the live tour players today, grew up idolizing Tiger, which informed their fitness, diet and practice regiments. Because of that, the leaderboard now gets bunched up at the top until the back nine on Sunday. That's where mental toughness and confidence separates the great from the really good. This is certainly an arguable point, but over the last five decades there have been 10, you could probably name more players that continued to win multiple tournaments because their confidence level was so high and they rallied on the back nine Arnold Palmer, jack Nicklaus, nick Faldo, tiger Woods, tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, tiger Woods, jordan Spieth, brooks Koepka, john Rump, rory McIlroy, Scotty Scheffler all have that one thing in common they go to the golf course with the utmost confidence and as they get to day four, sunday, they get to the back nine. There's something that they're doing or something they're not doing, that other players do, that keep them in the running and make it to the finish line. They all have that same thing For these 10 players during their era of greatness, whenever they teed it up on Thursday, the announcers and the camera crew followed them until they failed to produce their best that week. All with the exception of Tiger, who continues to be followed, even though he might come in last place at the Masters. I was having this conversation while playing golf the other day and one of my playing partners said I don't care what place Tiger's in, I will watch him anytime they're going to have him on TV, because you just never know what he's going to do next. That's because Tiger has been the man for so long we still have hope that he can be the man one more time. Now it's Scotty Scheffler. I mean, he just seems to keep it together on Sunday, particularly the back nine when everybody else starts to falter. Rory did it last week at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. I mean trailing by one shot. Coming into Sunday he found a way to win by five strokes, claiming the Wells Fargo title for his fourth time and his 26th win on the PGA Tour. When Rory tees it up, he reminds us of Tiger. He does his confidence as high as anyone I've seen. So it'll be fun to watch this weekend to see whether Rory or Scottie take the title.
Speaker 1If you like to bet on sports and you like to bet on golf, you can't leave Rory at your decision set for the PGA Championship at Valhalla this weekend. His odds are second favorite to Scotty Shuffler. But for me, I'm done betting on sports. I'm done betting on anything that I'm not competing in. Now, that might seem selfish, but I, and I alone, know my chances to beat whoever I'm competing against and for whatever reason, if I don't think I have my best stuff to win, I either don't play or certainly don't bet big on myself. Look, I know my physical and mental status before I tee it up. How's my back doing? How's my swing been? How's my confidence level? My hope when wagering on myself or on my team is that my body's ready for the torque. My swing has been honed through practice or play and, as a result of my confidence, is it a place to be worthy of a battle? Or, as bad as I might feel, the guy or guys I'm playing against are worse.
Why I Stopped Betting on Sports
Speaker 1When betting on professional sports, you have to rely on stats, experts' opinion and your gut, all of which get hard gamblers in the worst of trouble. Case in point in the worst of trouble, case in point, fierceness was the overall favorite to win the Kentucky Derby at 5-2 odds. All the experts weighed in and said, yeah, fierceness, it's the horse, and they told you 100 reasons why. Meanwhile, mystic Dan, at 16-1 odds, won by a nostril, but not to the favorite, who finished 24.5 lengths behind. I can't predict how any athlete feels going into their event. They might appear confident, but under the surface, something within their sport, within their life, or how they react to their own bad play, or how they react to their competitor's great play, or how they react to their own bad play, or how they react to their competitors great play or they. How they react to fans of theirs or fans of their competitors, how they react to that smoking hot femme fatale trying to veer for their attention, or in the replacements, trying to avoid the mob in the stands reminding them to miss the kick or get a bullet in the head. My point is this Vegas odds try to comprehend most all of those things, with an algorithm that computes almost every possible scenario.
Speaker 1I've told this story before in previous podcasts, but I spent close to an entire summer's wages painting houses in Saratoga, new York, on a sure bet at the races in Saratoga, and lost, and that's why they play the game. That's why they run the races. Nothing is certain. Here's how I decide whether I'm going to bet or not. If the feeling that you get from losing weighs heavier than the elation you get from winning, stop betting Without any wagering on my part. I tend to feel better watching the awesome athleticism when an individual or team wins. I wanted San Francisco to win the Super Bowl this year, but after watching Patrick Mahomes, kelsey and Taylor Swift manifest a win, I found myself amused with the battle and the outcome. I was happy that they won. No money lost or won, but a lot of stories to bolster the win. You know, sometimes I feel like I'm alone on an island when it comes to gambling or, in my case, not gambling. Here's the thing I've got buddies that compulsively bet multiple sports, multiple teams and individuals each week. They get excited about the possibility of winning big, which they do occasionally, and they don't seem to be down when they lose, maybe because there's always another bet to bring them back.
Speaker 1One of my favorite comedians, sebastian Maniscalco, stars in this sitcom called the Bookie. I think it's on Primer Max. He, his partner and his sister run this sports book in Los Angeles during the era where online, legalized sports gambling is coming in and challenging his survival. To make a buck, each episode introduces degenerate, unstable clients that most likely couldn't get credit anywhere else to gamble, so they go to him. It underscores the highs and lows, mostly the lows, of an unbreakable gambling habit.
Closing Thoughts on PGA Championship
Speaker 1I'm pretty sure if I won big back in Saratoga in 1976, I would have gone on to bet more races, bet more sports, because that thrill, that rush of winning would have gotten into my bloodstream. I would have probably ended up as like a caricature on this new show the Bookie. A caricature on this new show, the Bookie. But as the story goes, I learned the hard way early enough to leave big wagering to people who can predict all of the future winners, whoever they are. So who's the man? Who's the man this weekend at the PGA Championship? Who's the man going to be at the US Open, the British Open or in the Olympics in Paris? Your guess is as good as mine. I'm just going to enjoy the games and try and win some milk money on the golf course. That's it. Thanks for listening to another episode of Tales from the First Tee. I'm your host, rich Easton, telling tales from beautiful Charleston, south Carolina. Talk to you soon, thank you.