Tales from the first tee
Stories about my life experiences and others as I work at one of the premier golf clubs in Charleston, SC. 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
E-bikes, Epstein, and Eagles: A Golfer's Take on Sports and Society
Golf provides extraordinary moments of courage and unexpected triumph, as demonstrated in three exciting tournaments from this past weekend.
• Grace Kim's incredible "never give up" mindset led to an eagle-birdie-eagle finish to win her first major championship at the Amundi Evian event
• 25-year-old Chris Goderup surprises everyone by holding off Rory McIlroy to win the Scottish Open, securing spots in The Open and next year's Masters
• The American Century Golf Tournament showcases that even elite athletes find golf humbling when cameras are rolling
• Questions about bringing manufacturing jobs back to America need more detailed economic analysis with 7.8 million jobs already unfilled
• E-bikes present safety concerns as teenagers ride recklessly, leading to new restrictions from local municipalities
• The mysterious conclusion to the Epstein case leaves many questions about why buyers of trafficked minors were never charged
Join me next time for more tales from beautiful Charleston, South Carolina.
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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. One of the challenges of making a podcast topical is that if I'm talking about current events and I don't get to produce this episode, then you're listening to things that might have happened weeks ago. It gets boring. Yeah, so I'm going to challenge myself. This week I'm going to talk about golf from last weekend. The televised golf, like the Amundi Evian LPGA event in France, the Genesis Scottish Open, and what kind of bullshit weather was that. It was perfect. I'm watching it on TV. I'm flicking back and forth between the American Century Golf Tournament, one of my favorite celebrity golf tournaments. I like watching it as much as almost any PGA event. But I'm watching the Scottish Open and people on the other side of the ropes are wearing shorts and t-shirts and I had had to be reminded. Yeah, rich, the weather gets nice in Scotland as well, but I was looking to see like blistering wind, storms and rain and people wearing parkas and umbrellas getting flown all over the place and, you know, it looked like almost any golf course anywhere in the world. So anyway, I'm going to talk about those golf events because they were fun to watch. Also, some other topics like bringing jobs back to the good old USA, e bikes. I mean really, let's get the kids out of the house. What could go wrong? And then the Epstein files, or what files? Or hocus, fucking pocus, what happened? Yeah, let me start with my thoughts about the telecast from the LPGA in France this weekend, the Evian event, I think. To sum it up, the phrase never give up, never propelled Australian Grace Kim to the winner's circle in as dramatic a fashion as you can imagine. So, without totally boring you, let's take it to Sunday, the 18th tee box. Grace is two shots behind and she needs a miracle to finish off strong and at least take a playing competitor, Gino from Thailand, into a playoff. She eagles the 18th hole, exciting. Right Now the two of them have to go back to the tee box and, by the way, gino from Thailand is playing great. So they both tee off. Great, so they both tee off. And now Grace, after just eagling the 18th hole, is going for it again. She had a good drive, they both did. She hits her ball. It's heading towards the green, but it's veering off. It hits some land, some rocks, goes in the water. She's got to pull it out of the water. And now she's got a penalty stroke and then she's got what looks like a 40 or 50 yard shot up to the green. Meanwhile Gino, from Thailand, hits her second shot up right next to the green. It's before a bunker. All she's got to do is chip it up and putt. Birdie wins.
Speaker 1:Now it's Grace's turn. She drops and, by the way you are watching, she's there with a rules official and they're going back and forth. Where can I drop it? Where'd the ball go? In the water? And you know her heart is pumping and it's like, okay, I just want to get out of here. And it's like, okay, I just want to get out of here. That's not what she's thinking. She drops her ball, she chips it up, ball hits the green, it rolls, it goes in Birdie. Now it's up to Gino. Gino chips the ball up, has to make a long putt to tie Birdie. She does it.
Speaker 1:Crowds, announcers go wild. They've got to go back to the 18th tee box. So now they go back to the 18th tee box. Both drive their balls almost in the same spots. Beautiful drives right down the fairway.
Speaker 1:Now it's Grace's turn.
Speaker 1:She again. She eagled this hole in regulation. She just birdied it. She hits an approach shot goes past the pin. She has got a long eagle putt. Gino hits almost the exact same shot that she hit in the first playoff hole to the side. She's now got to chip it up and then putt for birdie again to hopefully tie. I mean, you can't imagine Grace hitting another eagle. So she hits her shot up. She's got a long birdie putt. Grace dunks her putt. Eagle wins a major championship, her first major championship. And there's Gino thinking championship. And there's Gino thinking how do you beat somebody who goes eagle, birdie eagle? It's hard. Like I said, never give up, never. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So back to the Scottish Open, where the small brain of mine just couldn't imagine the weather being that nice in Scotland. So but the headlines are that 25-year-old American, chris Goderup, held off Rory McIlroy by shooting four under on Sunday to not only win the biggest purse of his pro career I mean, come on, he's 25. Of course it's probably the biggest purse. It also qualifies him for the Open this weekend as well as the Masters next year. Man, that's big. So I kept asking myself who is this kid wearing all black on Sunday? Chris, a North Easterner brought up in Easton, maryland maybe that's why I like him and galvanized in New Jersey, where he played for Rutgers until the draw of the University of Oklahoma was just too strong. His senior year. He earns the Big 12 Player of the Year and the Jack Nicklaus and Fred Haskins Awards. He was the Myrtle Beach Classic winner in 2024 and earned a two-year exemption on the tour.
Speaker 1:Why is this guy not on my radar? I mean, can you imagine what it's like to compete on Sunday in Scotland with Rory McIlroy, penji and Fitzpatrick breathing down your back? You're 25 years old, most seasoned golfers. Let the pressure get to them on Sundays. I mean, we see it every weekend. These guys are on the tour. These guys have hitting coaches, mental coaches, diet coaches, fitness coaches, putting coaches, driving coaches they have everything. And these guys are really talented and they've been playing since college and some came right out of high school, like Rose, to go right to the pros. These guys are vets.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, on Sunday, what we tend to see and it happens almost every weekend you get somebody that's leading the pack. They're the overnight leader coming into Sunday, or maybe they've held the lead on Friday and Saturday coming into Sunday and you think to yourself okay, these guys have never won before. It's likely that these guys are going to fizzle out. The pressure is too much. And imagine being on the other side of the pond where Rory is playing really well. The crowds are yelling his name Go Rory, go Rory.
Speaker 1:Every drive they yell something which I think is stupid. Anyway, you know what I mean. Why do people yell shit after pros drive the ball? Ham and eggs. You know what? You know? Bop-booey. Well, maybe just because I don't do it, it's stupid, but I think most of you agree. Just go watch clap yell for your favorite player. But you know getting on camera or getting a soundbite so you could tell your friends listen, I was on TV. It's ludicrous.
Speaker 1:Anyway, we're watching Chris on Sunday. He doesn't seem to be affected by the things that affect other competitors in the celebrity golf tournament. And they said that early on in her career, when she was probably teenager, maybe early twenties, she said that she'd come into Sunday and purposely blow the lead because she was deathly afraid of public speaking, which comes along with winning. I mean, could you imagine that? But I think there are a lot of other golfers. They might not be deathly afraid because media is so important now and the players that are on top of the leaderboard are typically doing interviews right after their rounds. So and they probably have you know speech coaches, probably have you know speech coaches but this kid Chris, he doesn't get affected and they are breathing down his neck. He actually bogeys one of the last holes and turns around and goes birdie, birdie. So I mean it was. It was really fantastic watching new blood come into the sport and do the kind of things that we expected Tiger Woods to do.
Speaker 1:And the last of the three televised events this weekend was again one of my favorites the American Century Golf Tournament in beautiful Lake Tahoe, california. The production value, I think, is excellent. Great commentators. Peter Jacobson, one of my favorites I used to follow him when he played golf, actually went to one of his tournaments up in Portland, oregon and got a chance to watch John Daly doing a demonstration hitting golf balls. And then he turns around with a driver aiming it right over the stands where people are sitting and hits the ball up and over their heads. And I think that was the last time John was invited to that event and I think Peter Jacobson almost shit his pants on that one and might not have done it a year after that, but it was a great event. He is a total entertainer. Peter Jacobson used to when he'd entertain at his event he would do imitations of professional golfers. You know the way Arnold Palmer finishes his swing and the Walrus and a bunch of others and he's funny and he's a pretty good guitar player. I think he's in a band as well, but he's entertaining.
Speaker 1:And there's some other announcers as well. But they also get a chance to tell you a little bit about the celebs, a little bit about the athletes. And you know they've been talking to them all week. They've been interviewing them so they know where their golf game is and it's fun. They get to the 17th hole and every once in a while they pull one from the fray, sit down and Smiley Kaufman will interview them and it's always casual, it's light, of course.
Speaker 1:Charles Barkley is there and had his career day on Friday. I think he shot an 81. And I think it translated to nine points because they use the Stableford system and that was his best ever, probably in his life, because Saturday and Sunday came and it was the Charles that he knew to be the golfer, which is not a great golfer. Now he is. He has finally gotten that hitch out of his swing so it's not as ugly. You don't have to turn away when he swings. You know he would say this he's just look, he was a professional basketball player and now he's not in the best of shape and every once in a while he'll tag a ball and it'll be a great drive. But for the most part he said he's there for two things he's there to drink and party. And then there's golf and he said hey, by the way, there are only like six or seven really good golfers here that are playing to win. Everybody else is coming here to play, and when he says play, he doesn't mean golf. So it's fun to watch.
Speaker 1:And what's great to see is professional football players that are top of their game in football, great athletes that could hit a golf ball and their egos have to be 20 miles long. To be a professional athlete in most anything, you really have to believe in yourself and you've got to believe you're better than the other guy. But when they tee it up and play golf, when they're playing off season and they're playing with their buddies, that's one thing. But now there's a competition, it's televised and it's a different type of pressure. They all say the same thing. They all say, hey, we are professional football players, soccer, whatever that is. When it comes to golf, it is a whole different thing. As big as their ego is, they know that when they tee it up, golf happens and everybody wants to do well and they want to do well for themselves, for their peers, because these are the guys they compete against for the gallery and, of course, for the cameras. Every one of these celebrities had visions of greatness before they came to Lake Tahoe and teed it up on Friday morning.
Speaker 1:But then golf happens Little things, creeping your head somewhere between the setup and shot execution. The club takes the wrong path on the backswing. They might go too far on the inside in their backswing and dip that lead shoulder. They might cast the club on the downswing because they are out of alignment in their backswing. Cast the club on the downswing because they are out of alignment in their backswing and it was the only way they were going to get the club head to the ball without jamming it 10 feet into the ground, a foot behind the ball. Maybe they lifted their head before they made contact with the ball and we know what that translates to Tops, hooks, slices, but none of this was their intended outcome. But sometimes golf happens. So when you see a celebrity golfer not hit their career shot, it wasn't because they suck at golf, although I'd agree with Barkley, he does suck at golf. It's because whenever they tee it off does suck at golf. It's because whenever they tee it off, golf happens. But watching Joe Pavelski play golf this weekend was entertaining and proof that talent, hard work, dedication and retirement all work wonders for the game of golf.
Speaker 1:Bringing jobs back to the good old USA. All right, raise your hands if you don't want to create more job opportunities here in the United States and for most in the state that they were raised in, in most rooms you're not going to see one hand raised when I ask that question. Most everybody wants options to elevate their lifestyle and, for some, to surpass the lifestyle afforded to them from their parents. Now let's park the subject of jobs for a minute. The reason we want jobs is to afford housing, utilities, food, clothing, medical care, transportation, a connection to the internet and cell service. And if you plan on raising a family, I want you to add all of their needs and their demands to yours. And of course, you're going to need savings to pay for the unexpected and plan for your future. So now you have these needs. The cost of housing has risen so far ahead of adjusted income that for most people they can't afford a house, particularly on one income. Okay, so now you need two incomes. Oh and, by the way, you need child care. It just doesn't end. And to add cement shoes to that scenario, the cost of higher education far exceeded the growth of housing prices.
Speaker 1:Post-covid, pricing on most everything skyrocketed and comedically it seems that eggs have taken the place of the gold standard. You know, and I love when politicians talk about how inflation is slowing to a snail's pace. I mean that doesn't seem to make me feel much better because for me the cost of almost everything that I purchased is higher. So the fact that inflation is slowing just means that it is ridiculously high and it's not going to grow at the same rate as it did between 20 and 23,. But it's not going backwards. And economists would say well, salaries will eventually catch up to inflation. And it hasn't happened to this point. I don't see it happening. It hasn't happened to this point, I don't see it happening. So how do we afford the new normal.
Speaker 1:Bring jobs back to America. And here's a newsflash there are 7.8 million open jobs as of 2025. Does that mean they're shitty jobs? I don't know. What it means is there are 7.8 million jobs that either people don't want to do or that they can't match up with people's skills. So now you're going to bring these jobs back to America, and a lot of these jobs are being done in Southeast Asia, where people are getting paid far less and want to work, paid far less and want to work. I would say generally, the new generation of Americans are not enthused by the idea of working. So these are the questions I'd ask.
Speaker 1:When a politician says we're just going to bring jobs back to America, first, what are we doing about the 7.8 million jobs that are unfilled? Then look at the jobs that they want to bring back to the United States. I would venture to guess that most of these are manufacturing jobs that are currently being outsourced to lower cost labor markets. Who's picking up the bill to keep the increased cost of labor from affecting higher prices? So let me explain. If a company is making a widget in China, vietnam or India and paying lower wages to make that widget, a US laborer is going to demand the going rate, the higher rate, and if it's union, it's going to be a much higher rate in the United States, which is much higher than Southeast Asia. How will that company that's bringing jobs to America and paying higher prices pay the higher wages to make that widget in the United States without the higher cost in their selling price? Or will automation be a big part of the strategy? Or will the government subsidize the higher labor costs, just like the US farm subsidies?
Speaker 1:Obviously, I'm uninformed, so maybe the decisions that are made up in the White House are, maybe they're playing 3D chess, where tariff threatening, labor subsidies, tax reductions, automation and ribbing cutting ceremonies make us all feel better about the fact that we're going to be spending more on education to land that job that will help us pay for the unreasonably priced home and inflated prices. Hey look, and while we're talking about hope as a strategy, maybe, I don't know maybe the Buffalo Bills will win their first Super Bowl and 250,000 of their fans won't care about jobs in America because the Buffalo Bills just won the Super Bowl. Okay, enough of the fantasy segment. Look, bringing jobs back to America seems like a great statement. It gives people hope, but when you sit down and start doing the math. It doesn't make sense in terms of solving the problems that we have in the cost of life. Life costs way more than it used to, and bringing jobs back to America is not going to make life any cheaper.
Speaker 1:Hey, e-bikes, what could possibly go wrong? I'm not going to bore you with my history with motorized bikes. It's sufficient to say I like them more than they like me. For anyone who enjoys conventional bicycling, imagine that you can go just as far and just as fast, maybe even faster, with a lot less effort. I mean, I love the technology Battery powered, love it Rider assist to help you get to your comfortable speed without the heavy lifting. Now, certainly for you hard, healthy workhorses or traditionalists, I mean, who needs a reason to work less hard? But for the other 98%, it's a cool way to get from point A to point B without any excuses of look, I've already done my 10,000 steps today. I don't need a bike as well. It's like. I'm not sure anybody's ever said that, but I think you know what I mean. But as my partner always says, if you keep fooling around like that, somebody's going to lose an eye.
Speaker 1:And I say that because e-bikes have made their way into the hands of teenagers and I think it's screwing it up for all of us adults. I mean, recently the barrier islands of Charleston have enacted zero tolerance for e-bikes on the beaches. I mean, there just been too many incidents with young riders flying through crowded beaches, risking accidents with families or slower moving humans. Riding the beaches at low tide has to be a vacation highlight. Not to mention, one of my friends living on Sullivan's Island used to go out weekly on sunrise and sunset and ride his e-bike and have adventures on the beach. These are the things you look forward to in retirement.
Speaker 1:But what happens when you give a teenager a motorized bike? I mean, what do you think happens? Parents of teenage children? I mean, weren't you a teenager once? When I was 16 and could drive at night? I used to play games with my buddies and it was who can drive in the dark down a country road and turn off the lights in the car and see how long you could ride before you're freaked out and pull the lights back on. I think the record was 20 seconds, not done by me. I mean, if I hit three to five seconds I'd freak out. It was done by one of my lacrosse bros, whose name I'll conceal. This guy had that crazy look in his eyes on and off the field. I think you know people like that. Once he hit 20 seconds, we yelled at him and I think some of us might've even pulled the lights back on. He could have gone longer and perhaps I wouldn't be telling this story.
Speaker 1:My point is, teenagers do stupid things, particularly guys. Look, but I don't want to be sexist. I'm sure there are a lot of females, a lot of Riverdale, euphoria, panic and Pretty Little Liar co-eds doing unsupervised stupid shit as well. So why is it that we, as parents, provide e-bikes for our teens? Parents provide e-bikes for our teens Keeping up with the Joneses? I mean, some parents are giving their kids cell phones before nine years old and their smartphones it's just not a flip phone to tell them where they are. Are they doing it just to get the kids away from Game Boy? Or kids away from Game Boy or PlayStation, xbox. I mean, some of these games are addicting, yeah, so I could understand why a parent would be like I got to get my kid out of the house. And, by the way, johnny down the street has one of these and his friends have it and maybe if I get him a regular bicycle, there's no way he's riding it. But if I get him a very cool e-bike and his buddies down the street have one man, that'll solve all these problems with them staying inside, and if I do that, maybe I'll be a cool parent. If I'm coming off as judgmental, trust me. I think I might have done the same thing for my son if we lived in an area where the streets were less traffic-y, or maybe just because they hadn't been invented yet.
Speaker 1:I sold my Heritage Classic Hog when my son turned 16. I projected myself on him and thought no way he's not taking that bike out for a ride when I'm traveling. So now take it to current times. Most of us see these little evil Knievel daredevils flying down the road doing wheelies for a hundred yards. Now, I'm not certain what type of bikes those are, but I know this. Moms with strollers, senior citizens and dog walkers are all worried. A dog walker lost her dog to an e-bike incident a few months ago. I mean, that's where I lose my shit. There's just no coming back from that. Now all the local municipalities are enacting some type of restriction on motorized bike usage. Now enforcement. That's an entirely different challenge.
Speaker 1:The Jeffrey Epstein list Finally, we're going to see it. What's that? What'd you say? There is no list. Well, hocus fucking pocus.
Speaker 1:In 2008, jeffrey Epstein is convicted of procuring children for prostitution. He takes a plea deal and gets 18 months in jail, but only serves 13 months in a county facility, with daily work, release and a bill for $128,000 to Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department. Not because the court ordered it, it was for extra services that he required during his stay, $128,000 in extra services. He didn't pay a dime in penalty to the state or to his victim. Say what that's right. You heard me Now. If Joe Blow did the same crime in the state of Florida, he'd still be serving time if he wasn't beaten to death by the general population in the prison. Now, fast forward 10 years.
Speaker 1:The federal government now accuses Jeffrey and his accomplice, giselle Maxwell Gislaine I can't pronounce her freaking name, call her Gislaine, gislaine. They accuse them on five counts of sex trafficking minors, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, enticement of minors to travel to have sex, conspiracy to entice minors to travel to have sex and then transportation of minors to have sex. So I guess there's separate charges for planning a felony and executing one, a felony and executing one. But Jeffrey never made it to the federal trial after being found dead in his prison cell Ghislaine is serving time for the crimes. For the last six years there's been an investigation on Jeffrey's death, suicide or homicide, as well as the list of Johns that had sex with the trafficked underage girls.
Speaker 1:Jeffrey's been known to associate with high-profile, very wealthy individuals that if discovered in a disclosed evidentiary document, would be ruined and would have stink on themselves, their families and their associates. So everyone who is not on that supposed list was eager to learn the names. Those on the alleged list not so much. And why do you think I think there was a list? Well, probably because our Attorney General, pam Biondi, mentioned that she had this binder on her desk and that the list was as deep as 250, and she corrects herself no, 260 people deep. But in a dramatic turnaround of events last week she announces the case is closed. Nothing to see here, people which pleased at least 260 people. So there is no list. Hocus, fucking pocus. I'm a little confused. Well, I'm always a little confused, but hear me out on this.
Speaker 1:I think of arms trafficking, drug trafficking and sex trafficking as similar in structure. They're the masterminds or the planners. The feds call that conspiring. They're the sellers. You know they are the marketing and sales function of the operation. You know they are the marketing and sales function of the operation. There are the distributors. They're the logistics group that gets merchandise from point A to point B. And then there are the buyers. They possess the said goods after the transaction Got it. Planners, sellers, distributors, buyers In most federal cases, all of them are culpable for crimes.
Speaker 1:If you buy a weapon, fentanyl or an underage girl to make sex with, you're most likely going to be charged with a crime. So now let's get back to the Epstein case. He and Giselle were charged with planning, selling and distribution. Who was charged with buying? You'd think there have to be buyers on the other end of these charges. Who were the buyers? Well, I think we all have a pretty good idea of who they were, and if you've ever watched any movie that involved conspiracy at the highest levels, then you'd know that rich and powerful people don't like to be exposed or fucked with. So, pam, I don't know what influenced you to go on national television and say you have a binder on your desk with 260 names. I guess she doesn't watch the same movies that we do. Thanks for staying to the end. You've been 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.