EP119 - are golf clubs too expensive?, Rick's confession, Phil Mickelson cancelled?

On saturday i reached into my golf bag and hit all three brand new pro v1s which company logo down the range okay welcome back to rich shields golf show podcast everybody i'm your host rick shields i'm here with co-host guy uh episode 119 119. And if you're watching this you'll notice something that you don't normally see i have got a can of pop on the desk normally rick you don't like this deer i don't like it now if i'm dead honestly. But but you've left me off as a treat because we've had some stress this morning a little bit of stress but hey you guys don't need to worry about that on your commute to work to the office whether you're going on a little walk with the dog whether you're playing a game of golf yes you don't need our stresses on you no we'll take the stress we'll take the stress of doing 20 minutes of pure podcast entertainment then.

Find out it's not recorded. But anyway we overlook this not anyone's fault i'm joking overlook this we overlook this anyway guys we have got a fantastic episode coming your way uh we just wanted to very quickly because obviously this is a tuesday. And if you hardcore tuesday listeners are listening you might have overlooked a little cheeky podcast we released at the back end of last week if you have overlooked it it's your fault nobody else's. But we had a podcast with one of the best golfers in the world victor hovland he's the fourth best player in the world and we had him on the podcast and it was absolutely fantastic again if you've not had a chance to listen to it go back a few days you'll see it on friday we also released a video on the main youtube channel which we only did. For special guests yes. So if you want to watch it as well do. So um i think it caught people a little bit off guard. But if if if you have missed it you might think oh my god i've got two to listen to two trees you thought you're in the clubhouse oh no well you've just taken a wrong turn down a one-way street yes you've got to back up. And go back yes listen to victor then.

Come back to this one sometimes people in modern day we get too reliant on technology. And we get lazy for example we get in our car we put google maps on and we just end up at the destination what if google maps is wrong what if we're not our internet signal we need to have something else about us. So as much as i love our hardcore tuesday podcast listeners that are really in the clubhouse you kind of expect this every tuesday every now. And again that'll sprinkling of a little surprise and you've got to be on the ball and if you missed it now's your chance to redeem yourself and listen because it was very very very good um also we we recorded this on the monday ready. For the tuesday we we bumped into each other on a weekend it was very strange because i i walked past rick. And said hiya rick. And you looked and said who are you sorry who's who are you i don't pay switch on weekends you want a selfie please no you went to the driving range twice this weekend right i did well um it's no no secret that um a couple episodes ago i mentioned that one of my closest dear friends um pete stiles who works at traffic what's his actual role at trafford golf center director of golf traffic golf center i'd heard my um envy of you having a essentially a black card. For the driving range where you could go whenever you pleased and just get free balls so pete being the great guy he is. And the great coach the great bloke great father great friend said guy you can have a black card if you want i said you mean that i said yeah. And he regrets that decision ever since i think he does because you've roasted it i have absolutely it's got to the point like where it's almost worn out the card because it gets put in the machine. So often it's not black anymore no it's got like a it's a gray i've got a grey card um. So i went on saturday my wife was going out on saturday to see one of my friends. So i thought you know what i'm gonna head to the range and whack a few by whack a few um it's three 58 degree wedges okay looseners looseners two seven irons full swings long drive com the 75 balls then.

Are under the long drive comp on saturday was going well i was hitting some the wind what we said we've said this before um about top tracer we're both big fans of it it feels like now no respect to drive means that don't have it i know it's a big investment. But when you're driving now without some level of technology it literally does it involves your field doesn't it yeah it does. And um honestly top tracer genuinely has changed practice 100 percent for every funny story on that sunday yesterday there was there was three lads next.

To me young lads having a bit of a knock. And and kind of they saw that i was on top tracer. And it was only then.

To discover it was now free oh yeah their eyes lit up there they were like no way straight away they were on it. And the enjoyment level for the half an hour of practice prior to turning it on doubled that was maybe a four out of ten yeah when they turn on top tracer 9.7 out of 10. well i went on saturday. And the good thing as well as a top tracer is it tracks the golf ball. So if it's win into the face clearly it doesn't go as far when behind it goes further saturday was win behind day i was hitting some good shots. And getting some decent distances i woke up on sunday and thought i'm not doing much to later on to liverpool play and he won the league cup final i'm going to do the dramage again. So i got there then.

Same routine hit hit driver came out opened up just finding my own business opened up my top tracer app to see that ed who worked for those had been that morning and hit quite a decent drive it was gone quite early he mustered i think he was hungover went to try. And freshen himself up okay i then.

Texted him to group chat. And said um sorry ed i'm gonna have to drive you here mate. So next.

Thing rick's reply i'm going to i'm going on the way i was already on route i was believable my uh my middle daughter was at a party. And it was such a nice day i turned around. And saw my two potential budding golf superstars yes not ruling pearl out. But [Music] ivy and jude were sat there. And i thought come on kids let's get let's get golfing so i was whacking some. And you appeared we we glanced and nodded right i ignored your children completely you didn't they really loved you yeah didn't there yeah they did jude was jumping off the bench just catching it into your open arms. And everything that's the kind of guy yeah he does it to everybody. But um so yeah. So you were at that point you were right up there i was yeah leaderboard um after listening to um victor on his podcast without any spoilers if you haven't listened to it he's a very big fan of like heavy metal music i took my airpods listen to music i went from a combination like 50 cent hip a bit of eminem like an eight mile. And then.

I randomly bought some lincoln park so i'm not listening to it about 2002. i was ramping up like screaming. And ab for some reason i was hitting it well. And my longest drive of said day um was 328 yards. So i saw this you did 28 yards. And my plan for the day yesterday was to go down. And just very casually have a little bit of fun with the kids you might have heard me on the podcast before i've talked about this idea i want to get the kids really into golf and really enjoying it but as soon as they're almost enjoying it take them away go do something different. So they're hungry for it so for the first 45 minutes that was my plan we did circles of five shots ivy would hit five jude would hit five i would hit five. And it's just a bit of fun run the warm-up area of the top trace and to the outs of the average guy looking they looked over to you and thought what a great father what what a what a great role model he's having fun he's including them he's making he's making sure they're safe behind the barrier when each other was hitting. But deep down young rick shields had a little thing in the back of his mind niggling and getting at him and annoying him he couldn't let it go and it was like four days down guy had absolutely mulled one 328. what could you do about it. So well wow or could you well so the kit the back of the driving range is like a little putting green with a couple of holes. And uh when it was my shot the kids were kind of over there messing about like safely i think kind of i wasn't watching them anymore i had about 20 balls left in the in the machine roughly. And i thought um i've got to give this a go well just to put some context in last night um i sent you a screenshot of how well i've done it how well you'd done and you said oh yeah i had five shots at the end i might have told you a little lie oh okay i told you. So not uh not a lie because i did whack the last five shots okay. But i might have hit slightly more than five ah okay put it this way i was at the driving room yesterday. For three and a half hours on my uh listen sis on my top tracer app this is mad it actually says yesterday i haven't guessed how many golf balls i hit on top tracer yesterday 150. uh where's it gone now that's a lot of golf balls no higher 200 higher one more gas 255 total shot yesterday on me on top tracer i best not tell trafford this 388 golf shots oh my word. And let's be honest how many what percentage of that was you trying to beat me uh i can't imagine the kids hitting that many. And not getting balls i reckon the kids probably hit 100 each so you've had about 150 uh 180 odd yeah. So did you beat me let me tell the story of it please. So the first 20 shots in the machine and i had all intentions that that was always going to hit yeah of course i can do this in 20 shots i think i've been speed training i can get some distance on this i managed to get my best shot. And i felt like i was crushing it 321 yards that's cute. So seven yards behind you so i was like oh crap. And i knew you'd bring it up in the fall absolutely oh no. So the kids were like the kids weren't enjoying themselves much anymore that the idea of me dragging them away when they're happy it wasn't i think what really upset you was when i saw jude say to you why does that big strong man hit it. So much further than you you know what was funny though this was funny like my last 10 shots. Or so in that 20. they came and sat on the bench at the back and i turned the top tracer screen at him and so every time i hit i told them all i wanted to know is ball speed number because then.

You can get an idea can't you. So i'd hit one and i said anything over 165 tell me right i'd hit one. And i'll hit it rubbish and go oh daddy that was only 153 i'm like don't tell me those ones. And like and like saying it dead loud i'm like oh or sometimes i hit a really good one and it went offline and like they go oh that's gone along like ivy that's gone a long way to the right daddy about other people around me i'm like shut up so uh anyway the kids kids got hungry i thought that's it i can't do it seven yards i've just got i've just got like actually better than 12. i've got to accept it i must have picked up some distance. So we went in the cafe and as i was walking through the golf shop i actually contemplated. For a minute there was a there was a box of like top flight xl's like 20 balls in a box i must admit a grandson i thought should i. But i didn't good so i went in the cafe we had some lunch um the kids bought some ridiculously expensive dinosaur toys yeah i'm not that really wounded me. But after we had some lunch um i thought how do i how am i going to get more time hitting golf balls now you were fueled you have a bit of rest there's no excuse well i don't know if that might slow me down a bit you know what i mean yeah protein. So um i had a luke says ball i wanted a monster avenue i got a cappuccino to give me a bit of a coffee coffee and uh like injection i thought it was weird what someone texted he said why are we doing stretches in the cafe at trafford golf center. So what happened then.

Was uh the kids were like the kids were like can we go on mini golf because i promise i'm going go mini golf all right without even looking i didn't even glance at because they've got security cameras that show your mini golf without even looking now it's too busy daddy's eagle needs feeding i said it's too busy we'll go on later. And my wife and uh my other daughters were coming meeting us. But they got stuck in traffic and whatever so i thought i've got a window here yeah i've got a window of opportunity yeah. So i bribed them with dinosaurs with ice cream ice cream it's a nice day yeah. So brian with an ice cream went back to the till got a bay okay upstairs this time oh okay. So cheating a bit more elevation went upstairs and uh so the kids were sat at the back eating their ice cream. And i'm thinking this is it come on yeah yeah i can do this right. So i start absolutely talking them and i'm i'm full what are you guys talking about full hill i'm getting ready fastest ball speeds i've seen a ping driver almost ever like yeah one six eight one six seven very solid thinking to myself come on this is it right a lad from the driving range was there called matt who i really like actually he made a suggestion cause i said to him i was telling him the story. And i'm saying i'm saying to you and you know i need to beat guys three two eight i'm my best is three to one at the moment right he said to me should i hit one four years ago no a little tip i'll tell you a bit more in a minute little tip he said if you actually put the target to the left it almost hit like a bit of a raking hook okay. And i must admit i didn't really trust it massively on this so i did it okay yeah this this killed me this killed me right. So now the target's left and i'm in the page with the bra the barriers yeah. So like you've really really got to hook it to it this yeah right i absolutely crush one like the best shot all day did you hit the side right crushed it. But it went exactly the line that i was already hitting like exactly right no word of a lie. And i swear to you on my three kids life and i'm looking at you right in the eye now you are 332 yards three yards out of bounds honestly i could have like because it would have gone in yeah if i would have gotten the target if that ma matt if you're listening you you made me aim right anyway i have to let my off because then.

I know it's what driver he was hitting. So at this point the kids have finished their ice cream so i went and got some more golf balls and it's quite quiet in that top bay so i got them all the bay each which very irresponsible of me because one i always said to myself don't just put them in a bay. And make them hit so yeah completely didn't listen to my own rules. And two they're in the base upstairs good fall off not really being super nice right now i shouldn't apologize to your children for being such a long kisser so my wife texts me again saying like i cleared the traffic i'm on route i'm like great okay. So i've got probably half an hour here okay jacket comes off okay jumper comes off i'm in my t-shirt now i noticed matt has got a sim 2 driver yeah okay in like a hazardous smoke super low spin setting nine degrees. So i said to him what driver you got there let's see do i have a hit it's like yeah it's fine i cranked it down to seven degrees okay. So it cranks it down to seven and at this point i am absolutely muller in it getting some of the fastest ball speeds i've ever seen right i'm getting like 333 a three sorry 323 324 and then.

Finally get one at 3 25 i'm sweating my head off my kids i don't even know where they are i don't even know where the kids are anymore. And like i'm grunted i'm shouting i'm like i went in the bigger bay i'm like going. For it kind of got a blister oh my word literally if people and i couldn't beat you and then.

My wife my wife walks in and i just feel i feel a shadow of a man am i i feel the disgrace to myself and she's going what are you what are you doing where are the kids ice cream in the herd dinosaurs everywhere one of them's in the net hanging off the edge she's like where the kids are oh they just down they were safe. But i kind of it's a long story short i was longer i knew i knew as soon as i logged into long drive i had to commit well i've also got a confession not about sunday sunday was all legit. But on saturday when i went i got this i don't think how to explain it addiction yeah that's the word the addiction of long drives on saturday i went i'm taking some really good ones. And i stupidly put my hand in my golf bag and pulled out a golf ball and it was a pro v one. And whacked it and obviously a golf ball probably one is a better quality ball on the range balls the ball speed increased. And i got a little bit excited by it now i met with a friend a little while ago who i've not seen. For years we should play golf as a junior we're really close friends and he works for solicitors now um like a law firm thing and he gave me um three golf balls pro v1 with his firm's logo on the side cook's lawyers they were these lovely pro-v ones. And said oh thank you. And i don't know if you want me to use them or just keep them or whatever i don't know on saturday i reach into my golf bag and hit all three brand new pro-v ones which company logo down the range so the next.

Person is a traffic if you get a cook's lawyer's pro v1 in your basket that's from me tell him it's better advertising i was thinking um. So i lost those and then.

I walked out and i also had another two i hit six provy ones down the range which is absolutely i'm ashamed of it. So i want to apologize to people listening i could have given them somebody else so um embarrassed so i yeah i went. And hit 250 odd balls at the driving range sweating my notes off no regard. For my children's safety or enjoyment but it was good fun. And nobody was harmed it would've been more fun if i got three two nine um. But yeah that was the story that was hopefully uh yeah we did tell half the story before um i didn't quite get to the point of how many balls you hit. So that was interesting to see that you've actually taken it that is really bad um. And the fact i said to you i just watched five at the end i know yeah i'm wrong bloke you are. But no we've got some great topics to delve into today.

We've got loads of questions on um social media on the facebook page some emails however. we're weirdly we're getting. So many spam emails and it feels like we're getting more spam than genuine emails so if you have an email it's a genuine email don't spam us um email podcast rickshield.com just a quick one then.

While we're talking about spam i think we have talked about it before there are still loads of scam accounts. And it's getting i think it's getting much worse on youtube now there's lots of random youtube the only thing with the youtube ones it's like stupid accounts promoting dodgy websites yeah um i'm sure you can work that out. But it's it's obvious there's no real kind of trickery to that it's much that annoying whereas the ones that claims. For you there's more loads on facebook loads on instagram so please please take it from me right now if i'm going to message you i'm going to do off my official account with the blue ticks verified ticks whatever it may be. Or you'll get a proper email from me and guy with the rickshield.com email address um everything else it is not us it's fraudulent. So please ignore i've had today.

On the facebook group i have a really good post i accepted. And it's got loads and loads of comments i want to hear your thoughts on this so we had a guy called uh derek who he's based in australia and he put a picture of the new stealth driver and in australia it cost a thousand dollars which i believe looking on google the exchange rate about 550 quid so a bit more than is over here. But you know kind of similar is price. And he said this is starting to get ludicrous it's the cheapest i can find on off-the-shelf stealth. For and it's a it's a thousand um us dollars in fact it's 100 sorry australian dollars for 1 100 australian dollars i fully understand the whole saying if you don't like it or don't buy it and last year i bought a callaway um driver 800 but this is becoming silly now surely something needs to be done. Or can be done to bring these prices back. So normal everyday people can afford these toys am i the only one that thinks these sort of prices are driving the cost of everything else associated with golf sky-high i am all forever wanting to make a decent living. But it's becoming stupid um i hate the idea of using a regulated market but it's getting to the point where it kind of needs some regulating from the gulf polo shirts to trousers to hats the golf balls etc um surely i'm not the only one who thinks like this maybe rick and other golf influencers he'd start talking more about these prices with a louder voice so i replied to him the price of the tailor-made stealth was 1100 australian dollars that's just killed me it is um. So i had a response to him and i want to hear your take on this i think this is something that a lot of people are interested in simple question are golf clubs getting too expensive obviously that's the situation where he's in australia. And it does seem like it is more inflated over there exchange rates. Or whatever it may be um yes. And no. And it doesn't answer the question greatly but it's not new for drivers to be 500 pound pounder driver like i remember almost 10 years ago like the first er siege remember that that came out i hired it secondhand as a junior and it still got expensive i was like 500 pounds that was like almost going up to 20 years ago the first one now. So i i don't feel like any this is that new like pro-v ones have been steadily expensive. For 20 years cloak golf clothing it depends what brand you get it but it is expensive um. But on the flip side i do really think. And we've i've we've done a few videos on it recently you can still get brand new equipment. Or you can still get very good equipment. Or secondhand equipment at a much much much much much better price for the example the taylormade m4 driver review i just did last last week that was brand new off the shelf 279 pounds now i don't know if it's in australia. Or how much that would be that's 200 pounds less than the stealth now it's got its limitations you can't always get perfectly fitted or whatever it may be what you saw from that video i actually preferred to feel the sound and somewhat the performance of the m4 driver now you could argue that i still think. But this is where the brands are pushing it i would say probably everything is ten percent slightly too expensive. But also everything else in the world is right now because at the moment with obviously chronovirus. And everything going on now with you know ukraine etc shipping costs go up yep material costs go up unfortunately it's just the way the world these top players sell um sponsorship fees go up yeah r d development goes up all of these categories the price increases. And in every industry when the price increase in in the manufacturing unfortunately gets passed over to the customer they have to stomach up the more fee yeah. So as much as i do think there is a there is a point now where brands are pricier expensive i still think we've never been in a better position than where a lot of second-hand products. Or even new products like the taylormade m4 that's come out recently the new one i feel like brands are addressing it. But in a different way i think as well yeah i think i obviously don't want golf brands to start charging more because it doesn't benefit our listeners our viewers that go. And buy gear so i'm definitely not one that's pro expensive um however. i do think it's a funny one i'm just looking example here. So the odyssey two ball the kind of white hot og version he's 199 quid now when that launched in about 0304 and in fact as early as 02 it launched it was 139 quid i remember once was a junior. And didn't ever get one because it did. For a long time after but it was. So expensive at the time so in terms of yeah it's gone up 60 quid. But in 20 years that does kind of align i believe with inflation. But what really kind of struck me about the point that um derrick was making was that we're kind of if we're wanting that premium stuff it's because we're almost falling. For and use that word loosely the marketing claims of the brands we all kind of know now a lot of people know that watch youtube or listen to this podcast or really into the golf world that year on year there's very very little at changes in golf clubs is that even over the last five. Or ten years really so if you suddenly decide you want the taylormade driver but you're not happy that it's 500 quid well that's the price it is you know rolex is a 10 20 30 40 grand obviously upwards ferrari is however. much now i'm not saying that taylormade's the ferrari. Or the rolex of golf but you can buy casio. For 10 quid it still tells the time you know golf can be expensive. But i'm very passionate in telling people that golf isn't expensive full stop yeah because as we've proven before you can go to sports direct not one second plug in sports direct which is where you get the cheapest golf stuff from you get a drive. For 17.99 yeah i mean overall as a sport golf is definitely more expensive than like a football where you only need your ball. And you play on the park you do need a club you do need a ball you do need a golf bag. And correct shoes and it does add up overall. So we know it's not the cheapest sport in the world but if you're into golf you don't have to spend a fortune to continue that hobby on your equipment yeah. So it's almost like people get annoyed because they want it of course which is it's not like you know if energy prices go up. And gas goes up and water rates go up we as there's essentials we have a right to be upset about that because it's people like petrol goes up whatever but if golf clubs go up i think it's kind of like well don't buy them unless you see what i mean. And it sounds like he's bought one just recently well he has yeah i bought one last year with the callaway driver he said he's not after this one he's just looking at it. But it's like well i kind of get it you know it's like football shirts if you've got a junior son or daughter who wants a new stealth drive for the birthday it's 500 quid and they're desperate for it it's a lot of money and if you're gonna out for them it's a lot of money but again it we know that ben ross wilson cleveland these other kind of semi-premium brands make clubs that perform pretty much as well yeah. But we want the sexier brand because marketing's so good well i'm always fascinated again going back to the store at the driving range yesterday my three hours being there when i was walking up. And down the driving range i mean it was. So busy yesterday but in every bay was you know a golfer with secondhand golf clubs let's say okay. But hand me downs whatever it may be and the next.

Bay was another golfer with brand new everything like spent five grand on their equipment next.

Person had like just a few clubs next.

Person hired some clubs they're all playing golf exactly. And none of them look like the guy who had the most expensive equipment didn't look like he was gonna be the best golfer out such he might have been. But he didn't look it and like you you can just you can get a little bit lost in it um. And i think prices of equipment it reflects the current market. And everything else um and i can understand people's annoyance if they want it. But as you've made some really good points i want i want a ferrari yeah. But unfortunately that's the price of a ferrari we'll just touch on your point then.

When i was at the range on saturday out of the two days of there this weekend the ladies left-handed he was kind of facing me in the bay. But awkward really because i'm hitting that one he's looking each other in the eye almost every shot and he said oh i listened to the podcast oh great whatever i love rick's videos love the podcast. So check great whatever yeah i know what i mean i didn't want to yeah i was like great chatting to him. For a bit and he's really made it we just bought a set of violence from the shop from american golf and they were second hand ping g15s it's quite old irons. But in really decent condition and he got over 150 quid where is it i was like mate he's like yeah yeah i said honestly like unless you want something brand new in a rapper which obviously wasn't bothered about that is an amazing deal. And also i think lastly on this again i know the prices are getting up. And up and up but taylormade callaway etc have absolutely huge global teams who look at the merchandise in the buying of parts etcetera they won't just think of a price on top of the head. And go we'll call it 500 then.

They know there's a massive demand for it yeah. So when they start charging too much and people don't buy the products that might be the time when they start decreasing them but until that day happens don't think it ever will it's just part of golf isn't it i'll tell you one very quick funny story. So at the driving range on on sunday that's all i've done um i bought dude a little driver he's been desperate for a driver you saw it yeah rapper he took the wrapper off. And everything i was like you're gonna review it. And um so my daughter my middle child who if you've got middle children you'll understand um that their personality sometimes she wanted one obviously so when she come back from the party she wanted one so i managed to get her one as well she didn't hit a single shot because she was mobile about ice cream whatever right what this is a really funny story walking down the steps at trafford okay grab the club i'm still in like a rapper. But just a cellophane wrapper holding the handle dragged it down almost five or six steps and i was like i was behind her. And there was like loads of people queuing up. So i couldn't just go i can go feel a little bit quick really quickly picked it up. And i was like pearl you can't do that you can't drag it all right makes a good noise i went don't drag it along the steps wow. So i taught to hold it by the head and my fault really should have taught her but um anyway i've got a good day rick for you then.

So we've not had a derrick for ages um and again if you want your um question answered by this miracle worker rick shields who has the answer to everything i believe other than how to gain a few more yards which you can answer. So this is from um i'll say anonymous actually i never know with this whether to keep people's names in. Or not but hi rick and guy my name is x i'm from vancouver canada. And i'm writing to you to ask about something which i've started to believe every golfer experiences i'll start off by saying i'm 19 years old and i've been a hockey player for all my life i decided to pick up golf when the pandemic hits and since then.

I spent almost all my free time playing golf either at the driving range or playing around and i've managed to get my handicap of 8.9 wow you must have some natural ability from the hockey it's really good um although i'm very happy with my improvements that i've made in a relatively short space of time i can't help but feel like after every single round even if i played well in shots my handicap that i feel like i've left countless strokes on the golf course and usually really poor like kind of obvious ones are short portal ever. And out of bounds here or whatever i'm wondering if you think this feeling of never playing to one's true potential is essentially just the same as be it's kind of not very easy to explain. But basically it's just part of being a golfer and if so are there any mental remedies that you would suggest to lighten the self-imposed pressure that us golfers on ourselves. So in a nutshell he's gone down from not playing cuddle to nine handicap in no time really which is very impressive. But he always comes off the course feel like he's left some out there i've got yeah i've got some really good points. For this i think you me grew up when we were we grew up playing golf yes. So we've been playing golf 20 odd years yes right i feel a lot of that kind of disappointment of finishing around the golf was almost i'd done it all very very early yeah probably the same. And anyone that started golf young would have gone through those disappointing times it's your absolute life at that age as well as yeah you've got school. And golf and the amount of times i went home like crying after a game of golf stuff like you know let let things not go the way i should go or whatever it may be at the age of like 13. yeah yeah um. But so i think coming into the game late when you are an adult sometimes you don't have that time to learn those silly mistakes. Or just get through them or get past them or forget knowing that is part of golf 100 i want to give them a really top tip. And it's actually a tip that tommy fleetwood talked about remember in the in the little kind of uh i don't know it right yet but coaching video that we did oh that's a fifth point yeah he said every time he's played a round of golf. And he his dad taught him this very early on in his kind of golfing career after every round of golf whether he's played great whether he's played terrible write down your three best shots that's it yeah just josh your three best. And keep a record of that because if you remember that and you write those down and you vividly remember those three really good ones it doesn't matter if you could write 10 bad ones everyone could hunt there yeah i remember hearing like players who've shot like a 59 out on tour they've not played perfect golf yeah because there is no such thing as perfect golf perfect golf is effectively 18 under par. But you could even say you could eagle the par fives i mean perfect golf is 18 shots yeah. So you're never gonna get perfect golf it is unrealistic. And i think sometimes what we do is golfers it's very easy to attach our emotions to the negative the short put the bad bounce the shot that just went three yards out of bounds. But we forget about the ball that lipped in i know or the ball that just avoided that bunker or the ball that just navigated past the water that like the lucky one i've done that a million times so i'll play in a comp and you'll hold on on 16 you'll hold a 30 foot for birdie and then.

Miss a foot one on 18 or whatever and obviously that's what you think about. But you think well how often would have held that put on 16 very really kind of evened out. So really top tip unfortunately you've not been playing golf that long so some of this will just be once you've done some reps. And you've played more rounds you'll start to realize bad shots do happen. But if you can ever after every round of golf write down your three best shots yeah. And write them down quite detailed and keep a little notepad of them and the next.

Time you play just remember those last three shots that you hit and the last round and go oh yeah god they were really good i think as well yeah really good advice i think as well. And i've not played a team sport since being a junior when i played football for a season of voice bro then.

Football that brought back bad memories i was absolutely trying to play. For the second team i couldn't even get on the on the uh 11 i was rubbish. But i had a year when i was about 13 trying to play football. But it didn't really last so bar that i've never really played a team sport massively but i imagine it might be wrong here so if you're listening and while you're watching in the comments let us know if i'm wrong but i feel like when you play a team sport obviously individual performance is important. But typically it's winning the match so if you play football or hockey and your team wins even if you've not played that great the team feeling i imagine would be we've won three points whatever it might be whereas in golf you very very very even the best turbos win an event so more often than not you've not won so you have that euphoric feeling and there's always that thing of what you've done wrong well again if you play football and you're right back you don't play that well the team wins you've still got the three points you can move on from it we very really win golf comps do we even even like the lead in top rows i mean it's not that often like rory actually wins is it. So more than not you've come out a loser if you want a better word and when you come out as a loser naturally you're going to think well if i'd done that. And i've done that and i've done that had i been in the playoffs you self analyze yourself you might have given away a penalty in the football match but your team might have carried on winning exactly exactly so i feel like in golf and like you said with the actual in terms of actually a tournament you very rarely win although you can i mean if you won the green jacket. Or you won the open i'm sure you're not going to bother to put you missed on 16 because you've won. But that's very rare but the actual format of golf like you've said there's no perfect round think about this now let's say a hundred people playing the masters just. For argument's sake there's only gonna be one goal for walking away from that that um place saying like being fully happy with the performance well that's it because even if an amateur came second and they're lost out by three shots and they'll go yeah. But this amateur is the next.

Big thing that's an amazing achievement. But they might think about that oh. For that four days just three shots i could have easily like so i think unfortunately that's the nature of golf. And one thing that stands out to me as well kind of similar on this topic was when we did our first video with john robbins when you played with all your clubs. And sorry one club he had all these clubs i can't remember i can't remember the numbers at the time but he said something like once i can break i think 90 i think he said i'll be really happy i know i'm saying i said you won't. So that's a great achievement but you won't because once you can break 90. you'll be looking at breaking eight he says oh no won't be bothered. And now he's in that place what you want your expectations will always keep getting lower well not higher. But the score gets lower and lower you're never happy no. And that's what drives us forward that's what makes us better you'd like to think just a quick one did you see the incredible um feat that ximenez did hold them once it's unreal isn't it how ridiculous is that yeah. So uh jiminez yes that was just his name why haven't i just got his name wrong there i think the girl the wrong way miguel angel jimenez he has got some ridiculous holy mom records i was looking before. And actually weirdly think it might be more than this it said online that he's had 10 holy in professional gold. But i i feel like i already know five of them in the last five or six years yeah i think with he gets. So much air time and rightly so you kind of see him so often it might appear like he has more but even so he hurts a lot doesn't he seem like they're always that kind of similar like shots they're always about the same distance kind of 160 170 and i was thinking about this i wonder if there is some level of science behind the way he plays into par threes to get a holding one you've got to get the ball on the ground. And kind of roll him really yeah like getting up in the air unless it's going to spin backwards like soft greens are really hard to get hole in ones on because as soon as the ball lands it's not going to move that far yeah you've got if you can get the ball rolling. And and a lot i was. And there's a bit of research i lost a lot of his holding ones that he's had a lot of them are these kind of little drawer shots where the pins kind of middle to slightly left of the green he'll land it at the front. And it runs up towards the flag well that's why i don't know the stats of this but i think this is true quote me if i'm not. But when i was a member of a golf club people used to get a hole in one they'd get like a bottle of whiskey in the bar. And there's like a thing printed out the name on more often than not it was actually slightly higher handicappers all the short hitters were like used to roll in like a three you wouldn't do a part three. Or a five iron whereas the better players were they're landing them better it's very rare. And even on tour you see a lot but you see a lot because there's so many great guys playing and you play a lot of golf i do feel like people get the most holy ones are the ones that are running it in i also wonder if better players would get have a better chance to get ahold of one. Or firmer green possibly like a link i've only had one hole in one it was on link's golf course where it was like baked out. And i landed it similar to what ximena's did kind of front middle of the green. And it kind of rolled around and went in it was on the it was on the ground. For a long time before it went in um but it's just ridiculous i mean like they've they're racking up. So much now he was like. So blase about it and then.

I've read another stat today.

And i just want to make sure i get this one right as well i'm sure he's won something along the lines of 66 of the tournaments he's played in this year on the tour that he's playing on wow i'm just works out uh lavaliers he played he might have played on only three just one two out of three something like that anyway but he's a legend i really like it another question on facebook which i quite liked um and it was from cameron willis. And he said what are your opinions on graphite shafts now assuming means irons because gone are the days where you could buy steel woods really graphic i'm in the graphite shafts just typically being really expensive like is there much price difference now normally yeah if you're buying a let's see about a set of ping gains. For example and you're on the graphite version you're normally looking at at least 100 pound more for the set maybe even a bit more than that i i like graphite shafts i did a video um of them i think we did a golfbidder video actually where i played with graphite shafts. And i actually really like the feel of them um tip normally they're a bit lighter than some yeah normally you can get a bit more clever speed sometimes you can get a little bit more feel off the head because you almost a shaft just got a little bit more of a kick in there um i i wouldn't really i almost don't think enough players potentially use graphite yeah again i'm nice to fit in the olden days i'm a huge fan um sadly. And i get it though some people wouldn't want to use them because of an ego standpoint because they often get seen as people who have naturally slower clubhead speeds whatever and i think a lot of golfers still have ego like we do the long drive yeah. But like you said normally if you're looking at um a steel shaft nine might be 120 grams. For round figures the graphite might be 78 to 60 you know it depends it's a lot lighter um which if you struggle with clubhead speed and even they do feel really nice. So i would definitely recommend if you try an iron i feel like you get almost like a bit of a kick oh yeah i think it's germany i said i've had to see before. But i think in germany i've been to a few retail stores they're golf shops. And graphite over there is much more of a thing um. But yeah the downside is you want to look at the more expensive. But i think it's a good good thing to try um i've got another question. For you then.

This is a bit more of a um kind of one that i think is a bit more of a serious one. But i think you'll have an answer to this as well um from colin i love the show um i've got a question how do you find new people to play golf with particularly if you're not a member of a golf club. Or competing in competitions and that's what it got me because when i was a member of a golf club naturally you do play in comps. And you get purged somebody's quite sound and they're next.

Thing so we'll have to have another game and before you know it you know you're in the clubhouse you have a drink if you're not a member of a club and you're not playing competitions how on earth are you going to meet new people to play with could do with an app called glint glinder. So it comes up right let me picture this now you have the app right it comes with a picture of the person's bag right doesn't have to face it well they look like it's relevant but how they look after their clubs could be important yeah very much. So it says the handicap they have to haven't officially proved well there's no um like trolls. Or no catfishes what about like though it's not got a handicap just average score best score yeah okay we can deal with that. And i think best score is quite quite like subject to location. So you know that not too far away yeah you swipe right. Or you swipe left very much like tinder you swipe with someone you match you then.

Say hey you like your irons say thanks just got off graphic have you got stiff shaft do you want to play my balls um then.

You play golf with them. And then.

And then.

Maybe they can get married. Or whatever it almost doesn't does it almost needs something like that to a certain degree like i mean we've seen it a few times on our facebook group if you're not part of the facebook group make sure you are facebook search rickshaws golf show join it um people sometimes will put in there i'm playing at such a venue. Or any other podcast listeners around about live podcast people played together that day last time we did a live podcast to celebrate 100. And so many people from all different columns of the globe because they were coming to manchester met up. And and played golf together because they had a common interest and that's something like again i'm just not trying to plug the group again but i will always accept those posts because if people i want to see people playing golf personally i do quite enjoy playing golf on my own. But also it's i do really enjoy playing with the people. And if you're a bit sick and tired of playing your own you want to play with new people and you remember that group and you put it in and we'll accept it hopefully we'll find somebody to join up with you but holistically i don't i don't quite know the answer i think we can do something about this i always think if again if we if we almost sold like bag tags i know. So keeps teasing you with merch like some way that people could go oh you listened to rich shields oh yeah let's get it getting it even be you could set up a twitter account called whatever. And every day you just put like there's a tweet just let you be monday the first monday the 28th feb people below that can just comment. And say i have a tea time at 10 45 at worthy park and then.

People could so i don't know this way maybe we could do something actually quite nice because um like you said if you're not a member of a club let's keep they keep saying that. But it's true and when i first read that actually that's a really good point because if you know mates who play golf or yeah how would you do it yeah i don't know it sounds daft i've kind of got off my badminton kind of uh at the moment that the racket's collecting dust. But unless my mates play in i don't really have anyone else to play with that's true like i need a bad ender [Laughter] no that doesn't work right um i've got some quick fire uh instagram questions as well. So i say that and i get it ready and i start looking at them a lot often they're quite silly so the other one we could call it plenty of golf plenty of golf yeah copyright you heard it here first yeah um somebody said hi guy. And rick uh what's your favorite packet of crisps for them it's cheating on your mccoys oh i've got multiple answers to this let's have you can have one safety crisp that's like if forever there was one pack of crisps you could have okay pick that. And then.

Pick more of an exotic twist okay because my safety grips are very plain. And i'll get hate for this i'm gonna tell you now my safety crisp would literally be a ready salted walkers everyone's gonna annoy that let me just hear me out it's versatile i do like i i like those it's more-ish it's good in a sandwich it doesn't it looks like the sandwich it's just there in it it's just there if i was going more exotic i'm a big fan of salt i'm going to get hula hoops i like popping on my finger eating them nice. And we have i'm gonna have five pictures oh we have five let's have your this lifetime crisp lifetime would be uh salt and vinegar salt and vinegar mccoy okay the crinkly ones yep worcester sauce waters okay skips okay real light skips child in the grab bag though i really like um salt. And vinegar pringles yes i'm a huge fan of them lastly probably my most eaten crisp um sweet chili sensations walkers nice i've given you five. But i've had another question um that i think actually might be a bit of a broader topic. And i don't know if you're keen to talk about this but i think you will be uh somebody said is rick going to do a review of the new museum ions. So should we chat about how we've perceived reviews going forward a bit more. Or or not um let's keep that slight under wraps at the moment but there's a better chance than ever before that i will be doing more reviews yes science sets. And clubs in general yes. So yeah we've we've had a bit more of a of a brainstorming idea around reviews um. So hopefully soon you'll see many more of them on the channel i feel like it's mad review season at the moment isn't it mad equipment season i think sometimes what's harder the reviews as well is people might ask you because they might be after a certain product. And you know you shouldn't necessarily buy a product based on a review but if you're after something if you're in the market for something it's nice to see it you know just images of it hear people's thoughts about it and maybe watch a handful of reviews and if there's one particular thing that comes up a lot so for example i would say at the moment from my experience or whatever the stealth driver is good. But it's not that forgiving and it feels like a lot of people are saying that. So that doesn't mean that. For everybody it's not forgiving but if you're after one you watch a lot of reviews and they all say that you might think right i'm gonna you know have that in my mind um. So people when they want a product want to see you review it but obviously i've said it a million times we can't review everything you wouldn't have the time. But yeah there might be a might be a little bit of a different plan with that stay tuned ben has asked why don't you do course logs anymore rick oh that's a good question um well i just said they've adapted a little bit. So i've you know break 75 is coming back again soon which was super successful last year um. But just being able to have like a a match against somebody else isn't always feasible people aren't always around um i'll sprinkle in a few every every year that's kind of what i like doing so um there'll be some with the lads again pete we've actually been chatting yesterday pete carter carter's back over from dubai soon um i think pete's in the country who knows he travels more than uh more than most. So um i think once the lads are back friar pete carter will get some more course logs in the bank yeah. And then.

Last one what is your dream final purring balling out. For the 150th open for me ryan says it's tiger and rory has to be tiger yeah i thought it was just a given he would want him battling against i'm gonna throw a bit of a curveball there i don't think you're gonna expect this answer manually no. But i'd love to see it for the 150th open mickelson yeah don't know why i just i just fit i'd love to see him go against minwoo lee. Or like i said any of the lads we've had on the channel. But i just think him versus mickelson there's been there's been a weird relationship between those two over the over the course of their careers to be walking down the 150th a bit like a bit like what mickelson had with stenson if that was tiger i'm all. For that i think we said this to um victor on the podcast last week that the athletes when they go into these majors a lot of them try not to treat like any different because it's just they have the mindset it's a normal event they all get on some people like brooks kepca go in with it thinking this is a major going to win. And obviously there's different mindsets work for different people but one thing i mean any major to be leading going down the final few holes is i'm imagining a hell of a lot of pressure certainly you know the masters. But i feel like this one 150 at st andrews it does feel different does. And you'd think whoever is doing well in those final few holes it's got someone that's ex experienced because it's gonna be. So much pressure it's gonna be amazing i'm very excited to see who's got it did you see mickelson's statement this week is there another one. Or the original one that he did oh yeah it was it was last tuesday released it yes. Or maybe wednesday yeah seeing the sponsors that have dropped it yeah obviously callaway have paused his partnership kpng have dropped him um there'd be a company who sponsored him it's a funny one to stick with mickelson there's been um i suppose rightly showed some degree a lot of outrage with how he's behaved there's been other people kind of questioning well why is it that bad like he's obviously not handled himself very well. But why is it worthy of getting dropped from every kind of sponsor. And i can see both sides i think to come out. And basically say that he was in talks with the saudis who he thinks are very dodgy to try. And just leverage the pj tour feels a bit bad on both sides really he he was kind of playing both paths yeah um which is which is a very risky game well then.

I suppose i suppose the only reason why then.

I'm thinking the brands have if they just thought i don't know why they he gave him the option he gave the option to pause. Or end the contract that's callaway all of them all of them all right in that statement he mentioned if any of my partners wanted to saw this statement then.

Which one it's quite a long one so i won't read it all out but look at that let me just try and find the little bit that he said um because he meant like say mention this idea that if if any brand i've got it here in front let me just give me one second. And that's another thing though i think this day. And age now which you understand with social media and stuff that brands have to be very careful with what their ambassadors their athletes kind of say and do. So they are often owned on the very cautious side. So this direct quote he's talking about the partnerships yeah the last thing i would ever want to do is compromise them partners. Or their business in any way and i have given all of them the option to pause or end the relationship as i understand it might be necessary given the current circumstances end quote so it's interesting because like some of these are really long time partners of him yeah feels do you think it's more that he's coming out quite badly which is why they want anything to do with him rather than what he's actually said if that makes sense because well i don't think what he said although it's not great he's never said anything that's that like i don't think the brands would not be associated with him. For that is it marge that he's in the really bad light. And they don't wanna you know what i mean i think he's just put himself in a very precarious position exactly. And i think because of of ongoing because he's not the only player he's not the only player that's been talking about a breakaway league yeah like he's not all the only player that's come out. And said change needs to happen he's not the only player that's come out. And said about the pga tour may not always be the most fair. But he's he's been the most vocal but he's also the only ones come out and said he had no essentially no intention doing it just done it yeah that's the difference i think if somebody came out. And they won't do. But said i absolutely want to play that tour. For x y and z so okay like they've got a lot of hate. For it but fair enough that's why but he's come out and said oh i've got no intention doing that i've just done it to try. And make the pj tour give us more money for nfts and whatever i find bizarre i don't feel like i'd fully believe him in that statement the only thing is again i'm not one second on mickelson's side i'm a kind of middle of the road i don't dislike him i don't like him i just kind of whatever. But it does it is quite bad the internet culture where like when you're down everybody just jumps on you isn't it like it might not be a night i mean he's done it himself. So far enough like he's a big boy i'm sure he can handle himself. And he'll probably come out the other side of it and people might forget in five ten years time i'm sure they will i can't imagine his whole career will be tarnished by this. Or i'd like to think it won't um you know tiger came back from things i'm not saying i was bad. Or as good but you know things that in his life weren't great but it does feel a bit bad when everyone. But i wonder what the fans are going to react like when he plays in his next.

Tournament i mean first off at the pga talking about him i don't think they've made a decision on that just. Yet yeah can they ban him. Yet i thought i don't know i think the only thing that's in the clause is there's something in the clause. And again i don't i don't think it's wrong. So i better be careful what i say something along the lines of something that c claws where if you've had um extended conversations about a breakaway tour or something there's something around that i don't want to get it completely wrong but what i don't know if the fans next.

Time he plays in the tour event how they're going to react because as you mentioned there with tiger he obviously did a lot of naughty stuff off. And away from golf this is golf this is directly influencing golf i i just don't i mean he's a fans favorite yeah a lot of the time he's a fan's favorite spends time signing autographs like people seem to love him he seems to be great on social media. But yeah he's going to come back. And it's going to be very hostile i think i think i would say is two things firstly people do forget over time they don't know those other famous sports people are singers. Or whatever you've done terrible things or bad things and after time you get forget and also the other thing i would say is that you can't always take social media as gospel because a lot of the time people on twitter are the ones who like to shout the loudest on twitter yeah of course a lot of people have no interest in you know going on twitter um. And might not have that much opinion on it and also as well again it's a massive story in the golf world you know the people listen to this podcast they'll go on to online you'll have average golfers going to the open it won't know this even happened they will it seems mad there'll be. So many people that have no idea about the saudi golf league yeah there'd be literally hundreds. And thousands of them that was true. So i do think if he does it well it might come out of it in the end okay in the short term it's gonna be quite hard to ride out i guess um if you want to come on the podcast phil yeah. And explain yourself yeah open invitation yeah feel free yeah i'll sponsor you every little rick shields logo on his hat would yeah would you sponsor him right now yeah wow hands down what if we lost loads of subscribers i'll retract that hopefully this is recorded this whole podcast if not we'll be doing it again we're not we're not doing it again we're never doing a podcast again until next.

Tuesday thanks. For listening everybody hopefully you enjoyed it enjoy the rest of your week um again i don't want to get kind of political but prayers go out to the guys who are in ukraine at the moment very very scary time. So if you have any ukraine listeners or anywhere around the world stay safe and hopefully uh families and friends are safe. And uh we're praying for you um and we'll be back next.

Week we might do a guest episode next.

Week if not it'll just be me. And guys talking about hitting long drives and getting free golf balls yep as always cheers [Music].