'He went from YouTube golfer to PGA Tour Winner!' (George Bryan Guest) EP137

All right guys welcome back to the rickshaws golf show podcast episode 137 i'm your host rick shields i'm here with co-host guy um we've got a guest on today.

But before we bring on said guest um we have a little chit chat yes because um the guest was actually a few days ago this is getting recorded early. So this goes out on a tuesday obviously most weeks there's your exception when you've been walking around scotland whatever you're doing being busy yeah it goes a day late. But as a route to tuesday and we normally record on monday so one day before this is actually thursday. So a lot a lot of things could have happened imagine what could have happened by the time tuesday comes i think it will be signed. For live here's my predictions um you're gonna have bigger muscles because you get in the gym every morning you're by the time tuesday comes you're gonna be absolutely shredded i look completely different who's gonna sign i reckon um gary player's gonna come out of retirement nice and sign for liv nice what's your prediction i'm going to predict that by tuesday um i'm actually going. For a genuine live announcement because i think there could be three more because the current roster. For the next.

One has been announced and there's four missing coming soon so on who's to hoveland i'm going to say it no reason why no reason why it wasn't starting the rumors yeah um well last week's episode we did mention at the time of recording there was rumors about uh colin murakawa going about half an hour after we'd done the podcast he squashed those rumors. So i don't think he's going he heard you were chatting nonsense. But also he puts milk in his bowl first or something then.

Cereal that's a bit weird very random um but yeah who knows what the world is going to happen in the next.

Four days. But you don't need to worry about that because you guys know you know that we're wrong in what we've probably said we talk a lot of rubbish we're like a broken clock right twice a day twice um. But speaking of things that we've got wrong i've um go apologize um so so the guys at trafford golf center actually i'm like this hasn't taken you long well the thing is i don't like people that that brag i don't like people that moan. But my kind of i'm going to say now's a bit of both really it's a moan. And a brag um we went to the drive range before traffic golf center great facility mustad and you were hitting a few shots with a purpose to see if you could still hit a golf ball yeah i've not hit a golf ball. For about how long has it been about 10 days and obviously a little bit of issue with my foot and a few aches and pains but actually i could hit the golf ball again so i'm excited about that because we're getting out of the golf course again very soon filming. But uh pete styles your friend of mine director of golf there kind of jokingly no no no it came over let's set the scene. For people listening he came over and he was chatting to you he was giving you a big congratulations. And again rightly so for your um incredible walk and the money you've raised prostate cancer uk and while you two were chatting i was kind of chipping a little bit. And i started hitting some items at first he was like wow guys stripe show today.

I was like yeah uh hitting it quite nicely arranged yeah she's at the range um anyway. And then.

You hit a couple you carried on talking next.

Thing i uh pulled out my driver not a big deal hit a few pretty well and he um he was like wow getting it really good. And he'd also mentioned previously as a lad who works the american golf who's a big muscly guy who apparently bombs it like seriously bombs it and he's been banned from hitting driver because he hit it too far so him and martin borgmeyer both banned because they hit the ball a long way and although it's a long range trap it's a proper serious range if you're a big long hitter you could maybe go past hit a car you're not allowed to so when we were walking back through the shot pete pointed the guy i can't think of his name now george that's judge he's the guy who's banned from the driving range. And then.

Little old me was stood there just not thinking anything about it he said oh. And i think you might be banned guy when it's when behind. So when the wind is behind at trafford golf center i'm officially uh banned from hitting drive. For being too long over here wow how's that made you feel i'm you're not banned he asked me to hit it harder anything no because i hit it really really accurate. So he said it's fine we're going to put a little bucket there the driver. And even if we have to hang it up in the tree 300 yards away you'll hit it you'll hit um but yeah though it's quite funny yeah. But it was uh we had a little nice little practice session i can swing the golf club again. So new brake 75's will be coming out hopefully there'll be no delay um we've also got wind of a big video which i think people we we've probably spoke about in the podcast. But that's going to be coming out soon start july where i play golf with a legend should we announce that a bit should we because we know what's happening let's go. And go for it so with all things considering everything going to plan video released on friday the 8th of july i've got some bad news there'll be no break 75 that friday. But it's good news the very very good news is the video that we plan to release on that day is me little old me little old golf pro used to work at driving range makes a few videos now. And again playing with quite simply a legend of the game janet you have to remind me how many majors yeah i'm gonna say eight i think it was eight yeah with eight time major winner tom watson wow. So that in its own right is pretty amazing that's ridiculous to sprinkle a little bit more magic dust on there it's at saint andrews the old course can you sprinkle any more dusters out the dust settles we've got two more springs got more dust we've got more dust in my pocket we should talk about that on the bottom yeah the other bit of sprinkling dust on this phenomenal magical pie is the pie is it now i play it with tom watson as a team yeah it's me. And tom watson playing as a team yes. But it's still not over yet the last last little little scrapes of i'm saying last little scrapes of dust it's not this is huge it's with tom watson at the old course st andrews playing as a team. But we play in the holes in reverse order i actually think it's too much goodness too much dust in there i think it's i thought you were putting down your goosebumps on your arms it's too much goodness in one video we're spoiling you. But it's quite a bad video in the end that could have been four videos don't watch it it's just too good it's gonna be insane and what we said this i think a couple of podcasts ago. But what a nice guy was he's a five-time open champion eight-time major champion. And he was a absolutely salt of the earth bloke he was he was lovely. So lovely with his time kind of was was very switched on to social media. And youtube and you know he's really really like gave me some really nice pieces of advice he kind of put me at ease which was really nice he stood up on the first tee. And we played alternate shots and he went who would would you like to go first no please mr watson you go first he went hey rick call me tom i was like okay tom. And uh he said i'll take the first t-shirt he had a couple two practice wings. And then.

Just stood up there and just piped it straight down the middle yeah. And if there's even a little bit of more even better news to add on top of that is the fact that there's actually about there's a seven. Or eight videos altogether yeah of you um doing some insane crazy challenges around the old course they're all by this one the rest of the live on the opens youtube channel. So make sure you go over there and check those videos out they will be out in the coming weeks i think arguably this is the best video let's be honest i must admit that the original plan was not to put this video on my channel. But i spat my dummy out it really did actually like a little baby. And i said i want the tom watson video give me that. And they've given me so what was really awkward we were filming with tom. And it was all going really well. And then.

Tom kind of walked away and then.

The rna you guys said oh yeah great days filming today.

Rick. And you said well which one's going on in my channel they said no you went what. And you just sat on the 18th screen wouldn't move and then.

I went over to the cameras i took the sd cards out the cameras and i went over to this wilkin bridge and i will i'll drop it oh we'll do it i'll drop it oh we'll do it. And then.

All the footage is gone if i can't have it no one can have it yeah if i can't have tom no one can have him yeah. So the good news is we've got tom. So yeah that's going to be really exciting loads more videos coming as well um then.

I'm trying what else we've got we've got another that would already be out press week's already been out swinging talk about press rick press wick. So we hinted about it last week in the brit in the podcast about how it was such a magical place. And me guy and dave fleming went and played um hopefully everyone's seen it the viewing figures would suggest everybody's seen it hopefully even though it's not out yet in our world it is in your world um it was good on it it was yeah what an amazing golf course what an amazing story scottish golf full stop is incredible. But being at somewhere with some just a side note i love golf courses that are new that are very kind of forward-thinking that have got amazing like new facilities. And that's great we can't beat those places like prestwick with history and heritage work you always get goosebumps standing where old tom morris stood when we drove into the car park a couple of weeks ago on that monday you instantly went i love it i felt it because you couldn't just tell couldn't you yeah it was all the little finer touches which i think some of these really famous golf courses they can't they can't just neglect it's the fact that it's got this lovely little picket fence the car park is immaculate tarmac yes nice spaces white spaces i had car parking spaces. And this sounds ridiculous with really nice white painted lines don't know why it makes a big difference the putting green right outside the pro shop or the clubhouse it's immaculate it's perfect little flags as you get to the first tee just it's subtle like the markers aren't all americanized and crazy but it's just like yeah you know what the only downside of the first hole is is a big bloody um railway right the way down the right hand side trying to eat up your golf ball. But little things this one things you called out a while ago women did that section on the podcast about little things that make a big difference you said little tease. And stuff whilst you walked out the clubhouse before you kind of got the little like open doors you get your score cards those big press which teas and a little press with tees and pencils you help yourself you take half doesn't you take two dozen nobody knows just such a difference i just it's they are nothing things really i do want we've had a few messages from uh course managers we had a good chat with a course manager that i know really well who thought that every time we we talked about that topic we're having a dig at him. But we weren't but there are things that you just collect from all these little lovely golf courses. And all these established places you go that's nice i like that touch that's it's all those little touches that don't just make it magical quick spoiler then.

If you've not listened rick's going to announce his score on the break 75. So he skipped forward 30 seconds or so what did you shoot again can you remember i shot two over par. So you shot 73 so you played well yeah. So i was three over through four yes i had a terrible start i bogeyed the first two after three putting i powered the par five. And i bogeyed the par four next.

After another three puts then.

I started the went on a nice run of pass hit the flag almost the holy one on nine and then.

I must admit the last five or six holes i don't for as close as i've remembered i can't remember having as much control over my golf ball in recent months like that was really controlled that that part five down after that path three. And i've nailed drive and i stood there with three we'll just know when i was gonna hit it well i came up a little bit short the next.

Hole amazing driver throwing into the heart the green three-putt annoyingly. But it was there there was signs that good golf is starting to happen because now my last four rounds on break 75 we've had marriott which was a nice confidence booster i think it was a 72. Or a 71 i can't quite remember now but it would break 75 anyway then.

I went and did um saint andrews the week after that was a 72 level par then.

I went. And did royal adam yeah i had a blip on the last hole the double bogey in the last hill to shoot 75. But i can live with that. And then.

Um press wick 73 yeah no it's been good golf it's been a a good level where you've not absolutely shot the lights out. But you've played really well to enjoy you've not let your head get to you kind of that was good the fact that you were three over through four at press week. But still steady the ship because that's something that gets in your head sometimes naturally and you go oh well i'm not gonna probably do it today.

They'll try. And chase birdies and next.

Thing you're eight over or whatever well it was a really good turning point. So after the blind part three i hit a nice shot there and made a nice part that was a lovely hole the next.

Hole i threw flew it over the greens i had a bad lie on the left. And i got up and down and hold like a good ten footer for par and i went to birdie the next.

And so even just those two holes switched the whole thing around yeah because if i'd made bogey there. And maybe bogey on the next.

I'm suddenly thinking i'm like this is a big score. But making par and then.

Birdie i'm suddenly going actually i can salvage this i can get this back. So yeah there's definitely turning points in rounds of golf you know what's mad speaking of um i was gonna try. And do a little segway turning point it didn't quite work. So i forget i said that. But although it's only halfway through the golf season we're already getting the little point we're starting to hear little snippets about next.

Year's clubs which is crazy. And titleist i've just sneakily kind of launched with the tall players the new drivers so there's gonna be i think there's gonna be three to start off with. And they are cool that was a bit weird they are called titleist tsr two three. And a four so apparently i like the name tsr yeah i quite like it they look. So we'll put some images up here if you're watching the podcast of them if you're listening just google it or look on rick's facebook he's put some pictures on there already um there's the two and the three so that's quite common the types do that they have a two. And a three and normally the three is a more per-shaped profile typically. For your better player and then.

Your two is a bit more kind of a bigger what would you how would you describe yeah i think it's like a bigger footprint yeah that seems to have in some ways these has changed because that used to always be the way it wasn't if you're a good player you don't even try the two normally whatever you just go. For three you do see like on tour now some guys switch between the two whatever. And then.

The four is lower spin again. So that is your super low spin driver. So again for your typically your elite golfer or your super high spin player who wants lower spin and will they bring out a tsr one i believe. So before so that will be your much more kind of slower clubhead speed driver. So typically maybe a senior golf maybe a female golf rodge anyone who's got slower clubbing speed and wants a bit more help getting the ball airborne i'm not fully sure yet about the kind of new innovations within them but i know again we'll hear more ball speed more forgiveness higher launch titleist like ping typically release a driver every two years and what titleists do is they give it to their athletes now around the kind of july june kind of part of the year they'll put it in play you'll see it obviously in tournaments. And stuff like that and then.

It'll be available at retail i think around september october i'll certainly start testing it in september time exactly. And then.

It'll be out brought two years so it's a two-year cycle what do you think of telus drivers not only in performance of the last number of years. But in terms of cycle and the fact that you announced them a bit earlier what do you think on that well first off let me talk about the looks of these new ones because they look. And i've seen a few actual video clips not just artistic shots seen they look bloody amazing this year like really simple like an almost um kind of a nod of the hat to the um oh what was it called the one that was like triangular shape that was i think it was a 9 909 i think it was lighter than that oh my god there was a triangular shape drive that was a d something. And the bottom of it had that kind of line or almost like a seam all the way through it yeah. And this has kind of quite a lot of similarities to the new tsr line the 907 d1 yeah. So these new ones have that kind of they look a little bit similar in some senses the tight list from what i've seen is very much tucked up near the toe the tsr two. And three is right down near the heel where the loft normally is. But on top it's super super super clean um i think titleist well they obviously make very good products it's just very interesting that it's not the ones that i'd almost be surprised when we go to driving range let's say. And you're walking down the line you see a lot of taylormade drivers yeah you see a lot of callaway drivers you see a lot of ping drivers you see a lot of cobra drivers don't feel like you see a lot of tireless drivers. And if they do it's normally a player that's got a tour bag yeah. And everything through the bag is tight titleist like i don't feel like somebody maybe uses tailor-made irons would end up going using a titleist driver. And i'm sure there's people listening right now going why i do that. But i feel like as a majority it's not something you see very often i think titleist when i was in iraq well i was kind of just really getting into golf. And it was probably around i think now late 90s early 2000s titus drivers were the ones it was everything yeah the 975 j the 975 the 975 jvs. And they were the drivers that people certainly more serious golfers navigate 983k that was all those ones as well it was the kind of more squashed one. And they actually taste his um slogan back then.

And it might have been even for well it was. For long after it was serious clubs. For serious golfers and i think that was positive. And negative for the brand because it was positive because you're serious golfers saw them as being the the elite drivers they were very serious they didn't have any gimmicky marketing really. But your high handicappers weren't really serviced because back in those days you would get two drivers normally and or even one and they weren't very forgiving at all and i think i'd only really say probably since the last maybe even since ts. And tsi they've become a bit more of a driver for your average golfer really do you think it's gonna just take time. For mass sales then.

Yeah. But even so if i had a friend who was kind of semi get into the golf. And wanted to buy new drive obviously typically it points one more in the second hand market for value but they said look it's my 30th birthday i want a brand new driver what should i go. And try and they were you know a mid-20s handicapper even now i'd probably say go. And try ping uh maybe try a cobra maybe try a callaway i wouldn't really think to say go. And try titles would you no i wouldn't no. And even like i was chatting to a guy earlier today.

And he said i'm kind of getting back into golf. But i didn't want to buy any clubs my mate lent me some irons i said what were they he just said tightless blades. And and it almost to him and i asked him all right it is no other forget more forgiving models he went no i just had tireless blades it's almost tightly still have that connection to blades. And better players and adam scott and players like that that's like they're aspirational in a sense that i want to get to that level to be able to play that golf club but it's not as if it's like it's just not mass and obviously golf ball they've got is mass yeah pro v1. Or any of the line of golf balls mass most golf balls you find the golf course a tight list aren't they really because they're the one selling golf ball um it doesn't wouldn't massively surprise me if a slightly higher handicapper had vokey wedges which are also owned by titleist. Or scottie cameron putter again owned by titlist but certainly with the drivers it just doesn't seem to transcend into this kind of newer golfer well that's it they do definitely service them with irons like the t200s t300s they're there as more forgiving. But yeah i think it's more of a whole brand. And so it's the metals in particular you don't you don't feel like you see in as many bags of high handicappers and mid handicappers but they are very good drives i think they kind of lost their way in some of the models. So the 910 was a great driver um 9 13. And 9 15 were all right 9 17. And then.

You had a couple the the ts i think was the first one that really felt like they kind of hit hit the ground running again tsi was very good as well. So very interested to see what these new drives are like i think the fact they have longer cycles like ping do is good i think more brands should do that. So i was going to turn the phone over get another text um. But yeah interested to see them yeah i'm i am i think they look amazing um should we get our guests out yes. So um just a quick then.

Give us a little 30-second intro into who this guest is. And why it's such a good we've recorded this episode so we know it's a good one it is actually i didn't know what the story was going to be like. But it's a phenomenal one i think you're going to really enjoy it. So we've got an american on the show today.

George bryant he came in in real life because he was over here attempting to qualify. For the open now george bryant and his brother wesley bryant you may have seen him online as the brian bros back in 2015 they set up her instagram page where they were doing trick shots. But quite simply they had two brothers and a sister and it's a whole family of golf which you'll hear in the podcast or with aspirations of being tour players now in this conversation it's quite interesting because george and wesley very close brothers only a couple years apart both had the same dream one of those brothers achieved their dream wesley went on to win on the pga tour and is now still a pj tour player george who we've got in the podcast today.

Didn't unfortunately fulfill those dreams. But he's decided to go down a slightly different route so for me it's such a phenomenal story because i think often you might hear the story of wesley who made it you know he's he's reached his dreams. But you never always hear the story of the brother that didn't make it and he's still incredibly um he's done very well in his own right but just in a very different way yeah it's it was a story that i knew little elements of in the sense of i knew who george. And wesley are i knew they had a youtube channel i knew one of them had gone on to pj tour. And won the pga tour but by that other bits of content i've kind of dipped into didn't know a great deal but this is about an hour long interview kind of chat it's it's very honest it's really interesting um make sure you stick around listen to this i think you'll learn some interesting stuff. And it's a good way of passing time if you're on a run or from a walk without further delay make sure you like subscribe to the podcast if you're watching on youtube be sure to subscribe on youtube the videos are doing great now. So i really appreciate that and without further ado this is our little chat with george brown well george thanks. For coming on the podcast it's nice to have you over here in in england yeah no this is this is amazing it feels like an honor to be hey just inside the studio you know we watch all the videos. And see like the studio and so it's cool to be actually in here uh being a part of the interview so yeah this is gonna be fun well i'm excited because you've had quite a busy few weeks yes playing a lot of golf bit sightseeing yeah bit of figuring out the difference between fries. And chips i believe which was an amazing place i mean out of all places i learned that in a mcdonald's. Or mackies as i've learned it's called nice or mackyds they call fries question in america we have over here now mcdonald's or mackie's a lot that you want a mcflurry or a milkshake and the machine's out of order is that the same american that's par. For the course over in america that's more like is that that the thing over here yeah 100 yeah. So it's a base it's a pandemic yeah i think it's. So they can kind of bring you back because you know i keep talking about this idea that when i've got my kids into golf i take them away when they're having the most amount of fun yes i think mcdonald's do it where they go well you can't have it this time. But next.

Time you might be able to have it it's almost like this part of like history i don't like him at flurries conspiracy theory anyway george thanks for coming on um i'm i'm so intrigued to dive into your life because you know at the moment you are a golf professional who's just played an open qualifying that's where you're over here you are um a content creator a youtuber. And you have you've been a social media kind of star for quite a lot i would say yeah you were one of the original original og kind of trickshot artists you. And your brother um it's quite fascinating really and obviously the whole background of your family like you your dad's a gold professional you've got a ranch at home where you all practice and play it's like a farm they're just farming these amazing golfers you're just kind of one of them obviously younger brother wes has done pretty well on pj tour which we'd like to dive into as well kind of was was this always the plan was this like the serena williams plan of like golf potentially was there any was how did it start from earlier did you start really early. Or you're late into it kind of dive into almost the early days of george bryant playing golf yeah it's i mean it's it's goff's all i know. So when i was two years old three one i honestly don't know. But my dad would take me with him to the golf course he would teach lessons and say hey you know just come tag along so i'd go watch him teach lessons um fart around hit golf balls but always had a golf club in my hand somehow and then.

By age seven to eight i was kind of not taking it seriously. But like i wanted practice i wanted to get better um and so from an early age all i wanted to do is golf. And that trans um goes to high school college and i knew i wanted to be a golf pro played professional golf on the pj tour that was my goal um. And if that didn't work i'd teach golf like my dad did. So like the backup plan was always golf um. But i always thought it would probably be the more generic or not generic but the you know normal you know hey if you don't make it on tour teach lessons have a golf academy work my dad whatever but then.

Like you said 2014 comes. And we me and my brother kind of stumble into the social media realm and it was kind of on the back end of my playing career not back in. But like started playing battle and many tours and i was like well i gotta make money somehow um. And yeah. So that's how the social media thing started and it but it's been never thought i'd be over here doing an open qualifying and creating content around that is my like job. But it's um at the same time i knew well i mean i mean i didn't know. But like i thought it would my life would my job would be golf um not just it's way different than i thought but honestly i think it's way more amazing um than even playing on the pj tour. And we'll probably dive into that more but like i thought i'd to be like fill my dreams i had to play the pga tour but this is way sweeter because i can spend more time with my family raise a family. And still uh be involved in the game i love it's probably quite similar to my story to a degree in it because you know a hundred percent when you're when you're a kid growing up you have these ambitions of being a tour player and when i realized i wasn't good enough i knew i could move into coaching and then.

Like say social media came around i kind of started very similar time to you i was about 2012 when i started doing social media suddenly now we get to put our golf shoes on every day. But it's in a different light like we instead of cleaning our clubs we clean our camera lenses and it's you know instead of analyzing our round afterwards we we edit a video you know that's the thing though as well we've said this before in the podcast. But and this for anyone that's young listening or got dreams of being a golfer on tour then.

Absolutely go for it but it's also reassuring there's so many amazing jobs and opportunities within golf that aren't playing whether that be a coach whether it be a custom fitter whether that be a brand rep on the tour you know working with the best players in the world in that one-to-one relationship there's so many exciting opportunities out there it's it's good well even the three of us now sat around the desk we all work in golf but in such different capacities and we all watched players definitely the worst of the three of us but no it's um it's crazy yeah. So at home right now describe the home setup because i've kind of seen it on your instagram and stuff have you got like a driving range almost at your house so in uh my parents house in chat well like you guys know where chapin is uh. But anyway my hope is uh south carolina about an hour away from aitkin augusta okay yeah that's that's easy where you say yeah no it's about an hour from augusta um anyway my parents uh they bought this piece of property in 2000 i was a junior. So 2004 and my dad knew he wanted to like have his golf academy on our house wow and so he built this kind of like very rustic uh all i mean you gotta have a vision it's not gonna be it's not gonna have all the bells. And whistles not gonna be the prettiest but it's gonna be super effective um we have a place where you can hit full drivers. And it's down like a power line alley that's 15 yards wide with power lines in the middle so you kind of got to fade it or draw it around and hitting in the fairway and oh yeah avoid the neighbors that are you know wow 80 yards left i don't fancy that. So we have a place where you can hit drivers. But then.

There must be good players hitting drivers only yeah most people don't really ever it's very intimidating um. But you know you have drivers and you have a wedge range in our backyard um then.

We have two bays inside that you know for this with v1 cameras to you know do the lessons um kind of chipping putting wedge green um where you get some bunker shots too. But again we have everything you need but it's just going to be kind of scruffy it's not going to look the best. But it's going to be super effective. And it's i mean as a kid oh. And it's lit the little chipping green's lit so like as a high schooler it's a cool place to like just go and practice and um but it's if you could describe the quality to our audience like let's say let's say if you've got a guster if all guster had done this that's the 10. yeah the 10 of the 10. And if literally you've done it on the worst budget ever that's a one where does the bryant golf ranch kind of sit um. So the experience is an 8 out of 10 okay. For sure uh quality uh well we've got new newer golf balls you got some nice pro vs in there now some uh that you can find. So that bumps it up to a probably a two to three maybe really is that is that how it's just i mean you know it's going to look um i mean i i don't know what kind of grass i mean it's bermuda grass. But it's kind of like your backyard grass artificial turf on the greens um some good like when my dad oversees will be some good like patches in the winter where you can hit wedges full wedges. But for the most part it's going to be you know it's not going to be a gust national um quality. But like you really do you know you get user magic because there's trees everywhere. So you get to work on shot shaping around trees hit high shots slow shots and you really like the thing that's the most important the game is we all know is our mind our imagination our creativity. And like this place is is what it's built on my dad knew that. And he's always preached as i said hey it's not about how good your golf swing is not how you know nickel yeah just get creative. And that's what this place is. So yeah. But it's it's it's an amazing place i must admit i i've heard these stories before about kind of like even just shot shaping and i can always imagine this idea if you put a golfer of any real ability behind like a tree. Or like a power line of what you're talking about and give them enough time and enough golf balls they'll learn how to shape it around the tree or the power line because we can do it anybody who swings they can work a way to make it happen. And probably what you've experienced at the right did you call it a ranch fight we called it anything the gbga the george ryan golf academy the facility um is that your dad's name george as well yeah on the fourth oh yeah yeah g4 there you go that's quite cool. So so you've got all you've got this kind of place now i i can imagine it kind of being growing up that'd be ridiculous like you. And your brother any other siblings uh sister she play golf oh yeah she was uh she played in college college charleston uh four years uh four year starter play played in almost every event. So yeah she was she got into the game late. But she she became like really good really scrappy too and you and probably learning from where you where you are you know it's kind of it it probably brings that kind of grit out in you we had this conversation with lee westwood a few weeks ago about about grit from players. And i feel like sometimes if you're too pampered and everything's perfect you don't develop that real kind of grit and that determination i like to say i'm sure where you practice you've got to go pick up the your own golf balls it's not the perfect grass it's not everything's perfect but that's kind of i kind of like that i think that's got a level of authenticity that's your house as well i mean that must be as a junior with your brother. And your sister growing up that would be my idea of heaven shipping comps and backspin comps in the contest late at night i mean just i mean tears were shed many times uh you argued oh yeah he cheated he did this he pushed my ball away he did it no it was a lot of fun. So from this early age were you always taught by your dad. So you die and does he still give you lessons now yeah. So basically he um start when he was playing kind of full-time. Or whatever he would he started getting lessons from mike bender and that became kind of his mentor and when he got more into teaching he kind of just taught the way mike bender taught and kind of taught his a little bit stack and tilt so it's kind of like you know that's what the people think of it as like because that's kind of what a lot of his players look like. But i don't honestly don't know how to describe it but it's just kind of his own ideology on uh swing anyway dad starts teaching that and that's kind of what we learn and so we go down take lessons from mike um you know probably once a year but it was all. For you know nine hours of the year it was all through dad that's who we um we kind of learned from. And so yeah it was. And that's you your brother and your sister yep and then.

Yeah. And and he took lessons as he took clients as well students yeah. So students will come to the house. And have lessons off your dad yeah. And you you guys were there. And you were either practicing. Or messing about or falling out or like that's crazy how did he in that day then.

How did he like market himself because i guess it's before social media obviously. And it's not a golf course how did he have a client base. So my dad he started his golf academy in 92 i believe or 93 and so from 93 until now he was kind of you know in colombia where everyone just knew like if you want to take like golf lessons he was one of the guys um. And so all word of mouth um and i guess as we come along we start playing well me and wesley start playing well in junior golf so then.

They said oh well let's you know check out my dad. But no it's just all he just grew up where i guess he worked um his whole life in the golf industry. So he just kind of his name was around around town. And but no it was all grassroots word of mouth um. And i mean now it's you know some social media stuff people go to him because they see minor wesley posts. Or you know he has a little presence um but not really um so but no it's all representing grassroots was that ever hard having lessons off your dad you know because i i do think there's some level of of conflict if you have a lesson from a family member i i remember trying to teach my wife to play golf one time it was the worst experience of our lives we nearly didn't get married because of it it was like it was just awkward because this. And she wasn't meaning to be awkward but i'd ask her to hold the club in a certain way she got i don't like that you say why is your smash fact only 1.41 rick come on i've been playing. For two weeks it's like i you know i was saying to her you've got to she's like look to me man i don't like it i don't want to hold it like that can i hold it like this. And i'm like no you can't hold it less where you don't get that if you go to somebody that's not in the family you know if you're going to go. And pay for a golf lesson and they tell you to hold it that way you're going to hold it that way you know you're not going to argue back you know it's a bit like i can imagine in the future when my kids learn how to drive yeah that's exactly what i was going to say i'm not going to teach them how to drive 100 because i mean i never experienced it because my mom. And dad never taught me how to drive so i did my dad would give me lessons it was frustrating. And i'd have my actual paid for lessons and i'd be like listen to everything you say yeah. And it's probably the same advice but when it comes from your parent or it comes from a family member it's sometimes you you kind of want to fight back you almost want to you know not take that information on was that you seem to be nodding an agreement there is that kind of something that did happen um with wesley about every time i they argued yes um. And who knows what wesley actually does now. But anyway um me dad from an early age he was way smarter than probably i would have ever been. But he probably from seven or eight he was like hey i'm not gonna teach you you're gonna go teach. For my like get lessons from my assistant and i'm like why like okay whatever um. And they probably didn't they were pretty good. But not like my dad knew way more but he knew that he was we were his kids. And he's very stubborn and he doesn't want to he didn't want to listen to his parents so he knew that we're not going to want to listen. So um you know that's he did a great job of like putting giving us lessons he would have his eye he would have his eyes on us. And like make sure we didn't get too far off but um you know when we get a little down the road you know 11 12 13 14 start getting a little better and more aware then.

That's when we start hey dad what do you think about this. And he kind of let us ask the questions um but there's still moments like you know when we get into high school we obviously we're not we're going to take lessons from dad. But it's going to be more like um we're not afraid to kind of get those arguments. Or my dad's not afraid to like kind of hey this is what it's going to be he's not going to tell that to a six-year-old. But um there were still those moments where you're like i don't wanna dad i'm not doing that okay i wanna do it my way. And so there would be those moments like you would have we would have the fights oh my god everything crazy but it was just it was just funny like two got two you know good golfers buttonheads me being a young kid thinking i know it all um. And uh yeah. But wesley was way more kind of free spirit he wanted to do it his way now he would listen to dad's what dad had to say um. And kind of spin it into something that fit him right he always knew more about the golf swing and cause and effect where me i was needed i needed to be told kind of like what to do. And then.

Oh okay this makes sense. But wesley could kind of figure it out on his own um is where's the middle child. And uh him now him my dad definitely but it has more but no it was it was it was a fun dynamic because now the older we get with the more we preach i appreciate that now because it kept me wanting to like hey dad what do you think about my golf swing. And try and build that trust where like he didn't say hey son you're gonna swing like this and we're you know five years down the road you're like i don't want to listen to my dad he's like just kind of drill sergeant what you're saying though obviously he's a golf professional himself and uh rightly so very well respected golf coach his three children are playing golf. But yeah he doesn't sound pushy from what you say at all was he very chilled with you when you played a tournament you had a bad round would he not be hard on you no he um he always told us hey if you want to play golf that's fine i'd love. For you too but if you don't want to play golf find something you're passionate about i'm just i'm listening to story and obviously i'm thinking of myself i'm in a very similar position to you to your dad in some degree about that i've not got a golf driving range at my house yeah yeah yeah. Yet but yeah as soon as i finish this on the phone too. So what did you do um. But i'm constantly working out and i know a lot of listeners will will take this information. And as valuable i'm very conscious that i don't want to either push my kids into it i want them to enjoy golf if they enjoy golf but i also want them not to burn out like i feel like you could have been at risk with having all the facilities that you had all the three of you of like becoming sick of golf like golf was properly your life from day dot. And like say you were wanting to be a professional. But it must have been a very tough balance to make sure that you didn't just turn up one then.

Go can't be asked like golf is literally in my house just get away i'm quitting golf i'm never playing again did that ever happen. Or did it not. And how if it didn't how did it not it's like was it was there a secret ingredient um i really i really it has to mean it has to be how dad handled us when we were you know five six seven eight nine um that kind of informative years when you're kind of wanting to play sports. And do everything. And he never like most i mean what we see most parents just like force golf. Or basketball whatever sport is. And like hey you're gonna practice eight days a week you're gonna you know every day eight days a week yeah it's just like ridiculous. And he was always like hey just find something you're passionate about. And we're going to support it um you know whether it's golf what he said well it's golfer chasing women. And uh like come on i can do both um. And no. And so that like allowed us to basically learn to love it for ourselves not because our dad wanted us to it's correct um and what we saw like especially as as pj pros like their kids are done with golf by their 18 because you know yeah you're i'm a golf pro. And i want my kids to play and they force them into it and it kind of stinks because you know you see a lot of talented junior golfers not make it past 20 because you know their parents you know put them in these img academies and all golf all day every day and they don't really like it they're good at it they don't like it and so then.

Once they have that decision to make it for them or that decision to make themselves they're like i'm done because if it's going to be a career you have got to love it you've got you've got to at least enjoy it. Or tolerate it i think you know you can't hate it. And i think it's. So easy to fall down that trap of of being golfed out at an early age and just going i can't i'm done i'd rather just come play a different sport like almost completely rebel. And that's the thing with golf as obviously we sat here love girl the listeners and what listening and watching love golf but equally is a kind of sport where you can understand why somebody wouldn't like it. Or would get bored of it it's pretty hard and that is that chasing perfection which we obviously we come back time. And time again for but equally you can understand effort in. And not getting much better or struggling it's so easy to go i've had enough of that and quit so early days how did the rank go obviously you're the older brother where's then.

What's your sister called sorry mc you calling mcmc it's slightly easier. For me um was there a ranking what was it were you was there any signs that anyone was slightly better at that time. Or was it just really competitive did you all have your strengths kind of how did it work kind of from a from an early age i mean that was a dominant force to the early age i was just like i was the gap between you. And where's two years i know two years ago four years okay between them. So six years so two and six um but yeah. So my sister didn't really start playing until like high school she played her whole life but never like she danced and she didn't really love golf until really probably middle of high school is when she like actually wanted to practice crazy um yeah. And so it was kind of cool. But then.

Wesley and i early age same basic basic track but i was always better than he was at an early age because i hit the ball better longer. But his short game from a very early age was elite like he just he when i would want to go to the driving range he just want to go to the golf course. Or chipping green and putt and chip right so we were that's why kind of our games are exact opposite my swing's going to look better than his even now worse i don't play practice as much. But it's always going to look better than his where he around the greens is just a freak honestly because he learned like that's what he fell in love with when he was seven eight years old um. And so once i mean obviously he would beat me some in those kind of early years. But once we kind of were you know 12 13 14 kind of that same ish kind of age it started kind of like going back. And forth and then.

When we were in high school it was like you know probably 60 40 me. And then.

College is when it kind of went more it just depend on the season like it would be half. And half but like summer golf he always beat me for whatever reason but then.

College golf i would always dominate him and then.

When we turn pro is when it finally like was probably the most even like did you tell him at the same time he was well i turned pro in 2010. And he was still in college. But 2010 11 and 12 it was pretty similar. And then.

2012 is kind of when he started kind of like overtaking me him beating me a little more. But no early age. And what would you put that down to at the time i mean i. So when i turned pro i came out of college playing really good and thought i'd one year i'll be on the pga tour maybe two years whatever at that point were you almost like that's where i'm headed yeah did all the stars align to that like were you doing. So good in college that that it almost looked like yeah yeah this is what you're gonna get too yeah it would have been i mean it would have been a lock is like what most people would think you know top ten player in the country my senior year um. Or top 20 or whatever it was um. And i turned pro but my issue with golf is always try too hard. And want it too bad and so when i turned pro i was like oh we'll have to practice more i have to do this i have to hold on tighter. And like do what the pros do instead of doing like what you'd already been doing yeah. And so i for whatever reason i end my and couple that with my game got a little bit off and it was kind of weird because i've never i hadn't played bad in like three. Or four years really um and so i just got enough off where it kind of shook some confidence you know pro golf was hard it's hard enough already um. And kind of started struggling or you know i had i qualified for a couple corn fairy tour events um or one had some successful mentors but it was very up. And down like no steady just getting better getting better with like okay have a good week. And then.

Bam missed like three cuts in a row play good um and so that that time you know fun start getting low wesley turns pro and he's kind of like you know just starting off um so at this time then.

Was the guys that you went to college with. And played with at college that were now on tour. And doing well i mean who were they you know names that we'll know now we look at them thinking like they're doing it why can't i be like that harris english patrick reed um let's see georgia hudson swafford uh billy horschel um who else we got guys you were kind of battling billy was probably one of the uh he was a year older than me. But yeah uh russell henley we played a lot together um west coast west coast during that time jamie lovemark was like the stud um at my age um he's i think he's i don't know if he's on the tour anymore. But he's corn ferry he's been pj tour for a while um i'm leaving a whole lot of guys off that list uh but you know pj toured multiple pga tour winners now yeah um mage winners though yeah yeah. For sure i love this i need to look back and see because there's some names like oh man i was you know were these guys doing well when you were kind of missing these cuts on the mini tour as well you were looking at them yeah yeah um they're doing fine um when anything crazy. But we would still have similar finishes a lot of these terms but then.

You know one gets through q school gets corn ferry and then.

You know next.

Thing they know the pga tour and they're like whoa like yeah how did that happen yeah yeah yeah i was just as good as him um does that give you confidence that does it go either way if you know you can beat those guys. And have done many times and now they're on the pj tour you know you've got the ability or does it swing in a way where you're looking thinking god they're getting to that place. And i'm not there yeah that's definitely the latter. Or is it ladder former which one's the last time um uh that's kind of what my that was my struggle coming along i had a hard time like accepting not accepting it was like i mean i was just again why am i not on there i should be there like what am i doing wrong um. So i was kind of um look at it from a place of bitterness which is obviously unhealthy not not good. But the older i got the more i was like you know what that's really cool like i mean who cares i'm not a pga tour. But like i was just good at them. And it's cool to see them succeeding because they're my friends they're my like counterparts and so it was more it turned it shifted to more like being happy. For them being like excite like genuinely excited um. But no it definitely is very easy to like kind of fall in that bitterness trap that you're like well why not me yeah. So that through that time as well you were kind of. And would you put it down to almost trying too hard like it sounds like you're almost over analyzing all these things as well like you were you were questioning it. And were you still at this point you're traveling around a bit more i guess were you still going back to dad. For some lessons were you still kind of grinding at the house is that all was that all still happening oh yeah. So the grind i mean until 2014 it was that's all it was is just like you know going to random places in uh north carolina south carolina very not one of the glamorous pga tour stops it was very small town average golf courses um there's some good ones. But like it wasn't it wasn't glamorous and i was still you know grinding i was like i'm just as good like i can be out there i've played with gaza tour winners now like i can do this. And you know mini tour golf is hard you run out of money. And yeah 2014. me. And wesley decided to uh just randomly put a video on the internet and you know here we are. So and then.

Who kind of what was the first ever one whose idea was it i don't want i kind of i'm almost going to delete those videos you're. So bad i was just not just on instagram no it was started on instagram. And our friends and family like the church were like oh my god that was awesome. And some people what was that trick it was just like me hitting it i think i shipped it to wesley um i think i chipped it to wesley from like behind her side. Or whatever and then.

He hit on midair and then.

I didn't maybe bounce it up and down and him hitting out of midair a couple variations but that video we got passed around more than just like our friends and family it was like some random people that i didn't know like oh that's. So cool i'm like like normally when you have a cool thing your friends or family are obviously gonna say that's cool. But like there were people that i didn't know i'm like this is interesting. So i was like hey wesley let's let's put out another video like do a couple more variations of like this trick. And let's just see what happens and that one is the one i think that went kind of viral within the golf community like golf.com. Or pj.com some of these like uh internet blogs would like post a video and it kind of blew up and like all right uh and at this point 2014 are you both set on still making it to the pj tour me kind of. But wesley has been a pro for two years and playing really good on the mini tours like playing some like shooting 65 six to sevens every event basically that he teased it up and so he's playing good so he is. But he was more like dead set where i was like i need to find money like what like what am i going to do i'm with caddy to try to play in this term i'm playing this one cheaper mini tour event um to hopefully make a few bucks. So with you being a little bit older you're let's say 100 trying to reach on tour in 2014 were you at like fifty percent like fifty percent yeah uh yeah wesley was up at once it was like 110 115. he was like he was all in. So behind the scenes in 2014 you set up the brian bros um instagram channel great name by the way yeah it must have taken a while to go actually it kind of did i was taking the mick well we didn't we didn't know what like because you know if it needed to be called like the trick shot boys. Or bros because i didn't choose that we like golf brothers i wish you would have seen some of these like renditions of like names um because there's another guy that one of our buddies that were in one of these videos that went viral. And we're like well you're not bro brian bros then.

Like that means we kick him out we oh my god politics forgot about that we kicked him out yeah no no you didn't we called it brian hey james if you're watching this um i'm sorry sorry sorry i've not spoke to you since 2014. um yeah. So i've changed my number uh sorry yeah. And then.

You kind of went through like a a crazy ride through social media it was i'm telling you it was insane because there wasn't much golf social media like what we're seeing content gotcha is like everyone just uh this is part of. But there wasn't really much of that going on in 2014 like you were putting out stuff. But it wasn't like brands doing like these these videos or like having people sponsor stuff you did like a huge one with bows had headphones. And speakers with rory mcelroy which weren't massive yeah you did obviously ones at st andrews which we were just talking about recently i'm sure you've there's a list of other ones you did when when this was kind of all blowing up how did let's say wesley. Or even yourself stay focused on the golf still as well at the same time yeah. So the basically that we started this so dude perfect was crushing it at the time. And we loved we loved what they were doing. But they did all the sport like all sports trick shot stuff. And there was no one doing golf trick shots. And we were like. And i was like wesley like i mean god we don't i mean let's just put some stuff out there let's see what happens there's no one in the golf world there's like some random golf trick shots. But no one's doing it consistently there was there's golf trick shots because i've seen golf trick shots. For years and years and years but more at corporate days at golf clubs over here like none of it and there were no disrespect to them they were brilliant yeah. But none of them were cool like it was quite a bit kind of a lot of them have been doing it silly pants as well yeah kind of like trousers i'd like a theme to it where two young lads two super talented young lads who kind of look really cool probably have the cat backwards. And it's a little bit quirky it's a little bit different yeah that that hadn't been seen before really we get seen by non-golfers as well yeah big time. So that's what knowledge is like wesley like i don't know where this is gonna go. But let's just put like i i don't i'm not playing tournaments you can keep doing your thing. But let's just like make some videos consistently and see what happens and it was weird because like you put the first two out. And they kind of kind of go semi-viral then.

We have one that goes viral within the whole golf and sport world and it's getting picked up by espn um and and what was that one can you remember that i think it was really viral it was like uh under the lights uh it was like on the espn homepage i remember seeing it um under the lighting what do you mean yeah it was it was at our house. But that's what we titled the video and brian bros got off under the lights so you flick it up and once it hits to him and he hits it over my head okay. And then.

I'd drop one onto a trampoline and you can also it was a collection of tricks yeah as it wasn't just one yes it was like a little montage. And a few i get you sorry right yeah sorry um. So yeah. So that it was just like a snowball effect. And at that time then.

You know these brands would kind of like hey we'll send you this driver and like like whoa like maybe we have a price so then.

We have a buddy write an email say hey for 200 we'll use your club in a video or something and then.

I think they were like yeah it sounds good. And we were like. So we're getting joe what what just happened here we're professional uh we're professional trick shots and then.

That kind of gets the brain spin you're like well if like let's just kind of scale this let's see what happens and by that time people start reaching out and we were like well we can make this an actual business what's like this can fund our golf because like minotaur golf i mean a lot of these people out there listening. And they're good it's expensive everyone a lot of people know that and but it could cost upwards of 20 30 40 000 a year just like in expenses and so we were like hey let's just try to like cover our expenses. For golf get our miniature life paid for and maybe like this helps us get to the next.

Level because like having that financial freedom and teeing up in these mini tour events like not having to worry about where the money's coming from this week is massive. And so that's kind of where we always had it we we always viewed them as a means to an end not like oh let's start a brand and try to make a bunch of money and so we had we kept that in the back of our minds which allowed us to practice to grind to like we'd shoot these videos within another four days a week we're you know playing and competing because the ultimate goal is to get on the pga tour. And so now it didn't happen for both of us but for wesley like it i truly believe without this he's not on the tour because it allowed him a newlywed to have you know money to live and pay for he can miss every cut on tour um. And still have a very and pay for all the bills pay for the house pay for um whatever else and so it freed him up mentally like let's just go play golf like i don't have to worry about you know paychecks that would be a huge thing yeah very lucky um. For sure yeah i mean did you ever get any like kickback from either either family members. Or people who knew you closely that that almost from the outside looked like you were you were taking your eyes off the prize oh yeah. For sure for sure i mean i think our dad at this onset was like why are you doing the stupid stuff like this is dumb now that that didn't last long it actually switched probably you know a few months in. Or six months in but like he had those like reservations let's lay it back but yeah the friends. For sure like people in the industry like hey why don't you instead of go travel into savannah or travel in atlanta do this video like go practice your golf game you don't need to like stop doing the stupid trick shots i think in fairness those people though like is he now that sounds ridiculous because one you're successful your brother's successful. And two social media and youtube's so much more established if you go back to like 2014 2015 we didn't know what it could do i got a lot of i got a lot of like why are you making these cheaper videos like i got a lot of peers other other golf professionals going why giving all these free tips away why are you making these videos why are you wasting your time. And at the time i didn't really know why i had an agenda to get busy as a golf coach but i never saw it i never had a why really i enjoyed it and i kind of did it where like. For yourselves i must admit even me i i got to meet you quite early on we kind of obviously hooked up in like 2015 i think we were saying before in orlando. But even me looking for the outside probably thought they probably should be practicing a bit more yeah i mean like because yeah if they're trying to make it on tour. But obviously what you don't see behind the scenes and what you wouldn't have filmed every single bit of as you mentioned it probably only took you a smaller period of time of you of your whole week to create a bunch of these tricks because you're pretty good at it yeah it didn't take you long. And then.

Boom you can practice again. And right say fund and whatever it would be correct that's crazy so fast forward a little bit 2014 we hooked up in 2015 at the london show do you remember what happened when we hooked up we uh i think one of us broke a golf club. Or something or hit you or pete or me or uh me my golf guys some we something happened i think we was it you i lost the driver yes you lost the driver yeah. So we were at orange county golf club it was orlando golf show. And we've done a video earlier in the day you me um pete and your brother yeah. And we did like a trick shot kind of like funny match. Or whatever it was quite fun at the time. And then.

Later on me my golf joined us or might have been the day after we're doing some trick shots on one of the holes and these these lads would just do it like ridiculous yeah it was it was stupid i know you're known as kind of the setup guy. But you can walk out the air as well can't yeah i mean i can. But not very well i'm legitimately this i'm this i'm the setup guy like just not as frequent as wesley because he can do it oh yeah every time it was i mean it really was ridiculous to watch like the late the the longer. Or the later uh we got doing it or the further on after we started in 2014 like 2015 like when you were kind of grooving it got like silly he'd be hitting these fades. And draws and like working it out of mid-air and it's like if you've not seen this before as well so um george with his brother would george would kind of flick it up and do some tricks. Or hit it against a slab like a bank or hit it off a roof or over somebody's head over rory's head i don't know it was over his head flopped it over me. And then.

Wesley as the ball is in flight it's not going to hit the ground he absolutely smokes it with his driver out of mid-air. And like i say hits all these different types of shots as well as he got better so we were on the 18th hole at our accounting we were trying these shots. And we were trying to set it up inside the other. And uh i think pete was flicking up to me. And you guys were all going you need to swing what feels closer to you yeah cause that's the big thing you need to swing closer to you i'm like okay i've got this flicks it up pete flicks i'm gonna i'm gonna absolutely smash this i'm gonna absolutely i'm gonna show these brian bros yeah. So richard is in the house right we saw it it's coming this ball's in mid-air. And i think i'm going to crush this i've got my brand new ping g30 driver. And i i it hadn't been released this driver hadn't even been released in the public yet this was like pre-embargo. And i go to swipe it and i hear connection i've made it i go into my follow through this club feels a bit lighter as i see the club head and majority of the shaft probably a good quarter of the shaft go flying off into the six reeds by this water not patrick reed reeds like water reads never to be found again that driver might still be there right now and it hadn't even been pre-released it was ridiculous um. And ever since i always think to myself i'm gonna practice it i just can't do it it's. So difficult to try and hit people you really can't do it it's. So bad i really struggle with it and they got all these now young lads all the bloody good good lads be able to do it. And just easy gm golf josh kelly i'll still put wesley like mid like well wesley's his peak i'll put him up against anyone but josh kelly it's impressive what he can do. And same with garrett like their hands are just insane. And then.

Josh like he's been doing it for a while i haven't seen him hit drivers much out of mid-air but um but he way better than i and he's super good um as well you you kind of i felt like you guys what was sorry matt which was a pop in the studio um i feel like you guys though really did start this kind of like wave of light of new trick shot talent like say garrett from goodgood jim golf like say coach rusty holy one's trick shots they came all after you didn't they yeah it was right they were thank goodness they weren't like before us because they were all they were all better they were honestly way more talent coach rusted what he could do was way more like way more talent than what wesley. And i had because they they did spend more time yes. But like they would have blown us out of the water like content-wise but we had what we thought was like hey we're two brothers we're both professionals we have this kind of like back story um whatever. But no we kind of started. And they it's kind of cool that we were kind of the front end of that allowed people to kind of like make golf content. And like put this crazy stuff on the internet people to enjoy it that's what's unique for me though is the fact that like you see in soccer. And football people like can do really cool tricks. And they're obviously decent players but they're not like actually good good players but the fact that you guys are doing these tricks. But actually very good goals i think that adds a bit more to it prestige if any of those guys said they were inspired by you i think they really all do which is still it's it really is crazy to think like that we two kids from like small town south carolina actually people were watching. And they're still and those guys are doing content because of kind of the videos not maybe not directly because they're like hey if they can do it like there was an opening yeah. And so yeah coach rusty uh josh. But they were like yeah we watched your stuff. And we were like you kind of were oh geez yeah which is like it's wild it's crazy. But otherwise the other thing as well they probably where you spent maybe i don't know the percentage five percent of your time making these trick shot videos because you wanted ninety-five percent of each time trying to become a tour plo pro they probably went well actually we can just spend a hundred percent of our time becoming a trick shot artist yeah that's why they were they weren't really trying to become tour pros i don't believe anyway that's correct that's why they were that's why they would absolutely dominate us dominate us in like an uh difficulty cool like trick shot like we shouldn't have the time um. Or desire to like work on it hard but yeah they were really good the last topic on this kind of brand what was the coolest thing you did in that period of time when it was kind of social media. And the brian bros brand was kind of blowing up what was the number one thing you did that you thought wow that was amazing it had to be rory like he was the number one player in the world at the time. And we convinced bose like we pitched in this crazy idea of like hey roy's one of your guys like we have this idea it won't take long we pitch it to them and they got back to us they're like i think we've got 30 minutes during one of his uh media days at whistling straits can y'all get there. And we were like yes we can. And so it was just like at the time it was you know the twenty shot really well as well i remember yeah it was a cool video. But like it was that we like you're letting a trick shot uh two trick shotguns film of video. And content with the number one player in the world like it was kind of like wow what are they doing. But like if that's probably it'll probably go down with one of the best days like content-wise because we meet rory number one playing in the world and he was asking oh you know you guys play like asking us about our lives we're like like this is really cool we're playing we're going to be trying to beat you soon yeah i'm sorry. And so that was that's just going to go down as like an all-timer because awesome just awesome guy like made us feel welcome. And like what he actually genuinely was like intrigued. And like oh this is really fun. And cool what you guys are doing like wow let's go you also we're both on big break golf channel show big break not very long. But yes we were uh we were both not on it. For very long no we got knocked out back-to-back episodes no way thanks. For coming what year was that then.

2015.. So do you think this sorry do you think social media got you in that as well i think a little we knew some people within the like that helped out the show. But i think the social media it was right as it was coming along uh our brothers i think that's what the reason they wanted us uh. For sure on the show without missing out too much of the story then.

We've gone from 2015 where it's still kind of in its infancy you've obviously filmed with rory 2017 your brother wins on the pj tour that feels like quite a short space of time how did he get to that level insane what how it i mean it really like when you think about it just from like if you take a 30 000 foot view. And look at like wesley's career my career it's like he went from no one knew he was in a professional world like that everyone knew he had a good he had a good amateur college career. So whatever um but then.

Like we're doing the trick shot stuff so everyone kind of forgets about his golf game even like when he's playing well winning many tour events no one really like knows about it uh. But he gets his q or he gets his corn fairy tour card through cue school in 2015. and so i think that opens eyes like oh wow. So he can play. And not just do trick shots he wins in his like third event on the corn ferry tour um. And then.

Wins again like two events later basically locks up his card in five events because is it do you win three if it if you win three times you automatically get onto the pga tour yeah. And then.

And then.

Then.

Like two months later he wins for the third time he won three times in like 10 events or 11 events get goosebumps just thinking about it it's ridiculous um and where were you at this point i was caddy i caddied. For him the first event or for up until his first win knockout caddie half the year basically i've got 10 events 11 events but i would you know do some qualifiers. And he'd have some buddies fill in or someone fill in if i couldn't be there um and then.

His third win he was like hey george bus in the summer you're not counting. For me because you need to go work on your golf game i was like fine um stuff i want to do if i want to do q school like that i get it. So that the like my last week well i thought was my last week he actually was like hey you're not on the back this week i'm getting my guy that's going to go with me on the tour. And then.

He won his third time with that guy like late summer um and went to the tour did you literally win. And you've got your pj tour castro and is the money good on corn ferry like if you win if you're winning yes. But like if you're like twenty thousand dollars or something for winning so when in court ferry he made like 500 grand that year oh wow that's a good good thing but if you're one of the guys that are just barely keeping your card i think it's about 80 90 grand you're to win. But with expenses you're not negative and this is yeah this is right below the pga tour. So unless you're in the top 20 30 you're not you're just like making okay money. And basically paying for expenses and living but yeah then.

Fast forward 2017 like eight months later he wins on the pga tour. So in like a 13-month span he went from zero or eight thousand the world to like 37th in the world yeah i was just looking then.

The east after that event obviously you know you get to 37 in the world. And he was playing in the masters the open he's playing all four majors right it just kind of came out of nowhere obviously does he get to play in the rbc heritage forever yeah he'll get a sponsor just because he's past champion. But he being the first south carolinian to ever win it he's going to get into that tournament as long as he's playing pro golf um which i mean. But i mean it's still crazy that like he's got a pg he's not playing that well this year it happens um. But he has his pj tour card for his the sixth straight year i mean. And he still is there any risk of him losing at any point this year yes uh. But he'll still have past champion status for what does that actually get you then.

Past champion status the the longer you get from your win not a whole lot. But like next.

Year if you lose this card this year you'll probably get five events on that past championship you do well in a couple couple sponsor exemptions that must be obviously we said at the start of the conversation about you know everyone wants to be a player unfortunately. For most of us that doesn't happen and we go on to work in golf ideally that's the next.

Best thing but you've kind of got the next.

Next.

Best thing you've literally got your brother who i'm guessing you're so close with has actually got on the pj tour and won that must feel so good for you you're so proud it was cool because i mean i was playing latin america this time pj truly in america. And i was on about i was on a plane heading to argentina like as he was kind of like about to win. And i'm like or i was about to go to the airport i'm like wesley. Or i'll say do i go like um yeah. And i called wesley basically on the way to airport he facetimed me from the top of the uh um the lighthouse and i was like do i pull out this tournament do i do i need to come in like do we need to do like can we celebrate this do we need to like post some videos. Or he's like dude go play i'm like okay fine. But no it was. But it was really cool because you know we've you know been brothers obviously our whole life been best friends. But then.

Doing the whole you know brian bros thing together we formed the spawn of like working and then.

To like see him win and it really was one of the coolest things ever to like to the fact that he actually did it it's amazing well genuinely i know we've only met up a few times. And it has been a handful of times really i remember watching that and feeling like oh my god like he's he's actually winning it the feelings of you like watching it yeah. And i suppose as well i think there was a real strong tidal wave of love because i do genuinely believe. And i i see on my channel when you've got a social media channel you've got support they feel connected to you yeah like there's a level of connection that goes far beyond a connection between me. And me and a top pro that i don't really know a lot about yeah like when it's social media. And this this relationship has been forged i feel like there's so much outrageous support that really kind of pushes you through almost yeah you know. So much so much love it's really cool i mean you you see it on a much bigger scale than i. But like it's really is cool that um kind of what you know you know fast forward to like kind of what i'm doing now. And the the community that we're trying to build is like we want to build a golf community that's not like fans they're not like fans. And people support like it's like we want to build friends and community that we love golf and it's yes i'm centered around our videos yes like we can chat with each other in the comments section we can ask hey how's your day you know build that connection that we can just it's all built on golf. And it really is i mean it's it's insane to me like even just at the open qualifier yes i had you know 10 12 people out there watching all from just me posting videos. And like i got to meet each one talk to them learn about them and it's cool for me to like just talk and get to know different people because like they're supporting me they're sending me encouraging messages which in our profession like it's a very 98 time you're getting beaten up in golf yeah. And so it's cool to have people say hey man uh think about you uh play well uh good luck. And then.

If you don't play well hey man still rooting for you and so it's really cool um to have that because golf can get very lonely at times. And yeah it really is um one of the coolest things about this whole social media is the kind of community that you build. And like the friends i mean it's kind of we are just friends kind of doing this. So it probably moved quite nicely to the kind of next.

Chapter of your life at the moment where are you clashing you're obviously still a god professional yeah are you still have any ambitions to be on the pga tour i'd say i have a dream to play in a pj tour event yes um like that's why i'm doing this open qualifier um if i'm over here the us open qualifier that i did i have these dreams to like to make it into a tournament just see what my game would be like like a big tournament an open a us open. Or or uh somehow you know i don't know how you'd get into another pga tour event sponsor exemption or just qualify but like i right now where i'm at i have almost zero desire to like chase it like wesley does um because what people don't see is like you're traveling 20 30 40 weeks a year um you're prac like it's no again playing golf. For a living is amazing like that being work doesn't matter how much you're traveling that's still like that's a great job. But like if i want to like i have a one-year-old i want to spend time with her raise a family and like have her see me around get her going to school in her in a school getting her friends out assembly you don't miss a christmas carol that's your doors. Or whatever it may be so yeah yeah. And so like i want to do that. And like this golf kind of thing that i'm doing now allows me to do that now i still trap like i'm over here. For two weeks um i'll have random trips throughout um but it allows me to like spend time with my wife uh raise a daughter in a way that i kind of want to do it. And so like that's taken precedent not me you know want to plan on pj tour which is kind of crazy to think because my whole life i thought i had to be on pj tour to be validated. But now it's like i don't i don't want to do that like it's kind of kind of crazy. So would you clash yourself now if somebody if somebody asked you not met you before what's your name george what do you do. For a living what's your response now uh make youtube videos great content yeah um with. So like golf pro is like my side hustle now like i play. And you know five or six i think we were talking about it before is like i played five. Or six terms a year just because i want to compete i want to play really well um in tournaments and like kind of prove to myself that i still have some game um and because i'm a competitive person but like i enjoy more now creating fun videos and playing golf and kind of making a video putting on the internet and just like doing the whole content thing again it's just i'm able to make fun videos but also able to help people get better at golf because ultimately i have a passion much like yourself i want to get i like helping people get better and this probably got from your dad yeah yes. And 100 and so like it's cool that i can do this on this platform i mean what because wesley has a wealth of knowledge i have about ground. And golf my dad and so like i want to use what we have to like to kind of give back but also if people want to just watch videos to you know see two two brothers kind of compete um and not learn anything they they can do that too obviously with the channel then.

You've done it together from the start how. And obviously um where's he still on the channel now does does he still have that passion to to feature on it. Or is that something where it's more you call in a favor in his free time if he's playing golf competitively he's traveling a lot does he still actually enjoy getting on camera. Or is that something he does he doesn't like doing all yeah that's it's probably i mean it's kind of it's kind of fun peeling back the uh the layers a little bit because you know it was great 2014 15 16 like we're like traveling around together yeah yeah this is amazing well he gets his corn ferry to her car. And he's like ah we got you know yeah i gotta focus on golf which again that's i knew that was the case. But then.

He gets on the pj tour and it's like he didn't want anything to do with the kind of social media which again that's not his job like our whole goal with brian rose was to get to a place where we get on the pj tour well it just only one of us got there. And that left me like what the heck do i what do i do is that more it was a distraction. For him it was just time. And both i think. And he just didn't want to do it. But then.

Suppose again there's no there's no real history of of pj tour pros kind of being able to have a successful social platform. And he could have been the first yeah you know. And he still probably probably is really i mean i thought bryson's doing it now bryce's post though isn't it like with yours it was before the success yeah um. But now fast forward like so 2017 18 19 it's kind of weird i didn't like didn't know what to do because i'd be like hey you posed as much back then.

Did you no i was trying to focus on like my playing. And um i just kind of kept it alive because i knew one day like you never know like i'll just post here and there just so that the channel doesn't die um well then.

2020 comes and i'm kind of getting back up like two three videos in and wesley calls me i was like oh. So you're making videos you don't want me on channel anymore huh i'm like you've been gone three like what does this mean. But what that meant like he said he's had i think at the time he had a daughter his heart's a little softer um. And he at the root i think he just wanted to help me out because he knew this was like my job now yeah. But that kind of sparked something in him uh it was cool because he hadn't made that comment before i was like this this is different. And since then.

He's like now when he's practicing for tournaments there'll be times where he tells me like hey i gotta grind but like he wants to do this again which is cool because like he doesn't have to um. So that tells me that he wants to like have that balance again where it's not just grinding he wants to have fun make some fun videos now it he knows it helps me out more this helps him but at the same time he sees the value in it um but he also enjoys being on camera and filming his videos again so it's cool that he's you know come full circle who kind of backed how we started but he's he's involved in the channel if you like now he will say like hey man i can't do it this week. But it's not like it's not a an ask anymore it's more like he gets mad when i don't ask him sometimes and i'm like dude this is he taking it has it helped him a little bit seeing the guys at bryson doing it is that kind of giving a bit of a nudge think actually i can balance this the pip the pitman there yeah i don't i really don't know i think it just like it's i knew he enjoyed like the reason he played. So well because he had something to take his mind off golf and it and he really did enjoy the trick shots. And the stuff back in the day and i think he just enjoys a spending time with me um because we don't get doing much. So when we film videos like we naturally have to be together um but i think he just enjoys it he enjoys that like on camera banter. And like you know we have a couple of other characters that come on that just like this this what comes out in youtube is just like a lot of fun. For him so like it's cool to see because again he doesn't have to it's just fun because i know how important it is. And like actually if he not goes all in on content but like it'll help his golf game um if he just relax a little bit just film some more videos like take his mind off you know the grind he's very dry as well into with his sense of humor yeah people love that too. And he's very mean to me. But that's as a brother like it's fun because like everyone says wesley's the worst like so mean. And a his response is like well someone's got to be the villain on the channel. But b like that's just how like brothers yeah it's just fun i mean i i like it it's an interesting question when when he's out on the pga tour. And i'm sure you've obviously been around and spectated or maybe even carried let's say it's him playing in a group with another player of similar stature world ranking wise does wesley get more support from fans because of the social media. And the channel do you feel like he's got more of a social presence. And more support because of that for sure yeah it's that's one of the that's that was one of my talking points that i always try to like hey man like i'm help i can help you out too. And uh like whatever but like it is fascinating because you know if he's 800 in the world like he's going to get just as much like love. And support from people at a tournament like wanna people want to come watch and like talk to an 800th right or whatever is 500 in the world versus someone that is probably like 80th in the world yeah some guy that's having a really good career good year top 75 on the pga tour which is very good. But like they would probably rather watch and hang out and see and talk to wesley someone who's i mean 195th because of the videos. And it's kind of i think it's kind of cool because like it just shows you that you don't have to like be. And play like great golf to to make a difference that's me that's me over here but it's true like if i if i played in the tour event i'd like to think if i proper advertised it we'd get. Or even just promote it i'd probably get i'd be confident i'd have one of the strongest support in the tournament look at like followers on instagram yeah not metal obviously there's tall pros. And more followers than you i know it's all about followers but there's not loads and loads i feel like we'd probably have one of the biggest kind of groups following almost really and that obviously comes from social it's definitely true because obviously i'm completely aware of who your brother is. And who you are. And stuff and i've done it for years and you know there's obviously a lot of other guys who have won once or twice on the pga tour which is obviously an incredible achievement. But i wouldn't maybe know them in the street or would you even know the name and leaderboard you sometimes see and it's bad for my part you'll see a golf and they'll say oh yeah such a buddies 200 today.

You know he's already won once. And i got i don't know who it is i'll be honest i don't yeah. And like obviously people know who brother is. And yourself so it definitely is hell when um at the moment i think it's a good opportunity to kind of plug your youtube channel now like. And would you class it as your youtube channel or do you class it as you. And your brother's youtube channel um and give give the audience a bit of an insight of what you actually create on there yeah. So it's i'd say i'll people what's as just hey george that's your channel you do all the work like it's if someone like if you watch your videos you're the face of them like yes. But it's our story it's our channel like we started in 2014 and like the story like brian bros golf i think is as compelling as it is because it's ours it's two brothers trying to be making the pj tour. Or were now we have one brother on the pj tour. And one just professional golfer making fun videos um whatever so it's ours um but yeah you'll find uh fun kind of golf vloggy like just me playing 18 holes. Or nine holes you'll you'll see me playing matches against wesley uh me and wesley playing a couple other pros that um shout out cardboard and will miles um just two other characters that we have lunch you know they're both high level pro golfers um. And so we love we have a lot of those kind of matches against each other on the channel but also i play tournaments um and so we'll i'll go to these little one day mini tour events film it um kind of because i do i want to play pro golf still at like not a high level. But like i want to compete i want to see like see what i can do. And so like i'll film those videos so there'll be some tournament vlogs and i'll also follow wesley long um a handful of times a year and kind of give an inside the ropes look of like what his you know practice rounds look like what is what a tournament golf round looks like from outside the ropes from my perspective. And then.

You know practice runs i can get inside the ropes. And do some cool things. So it's really in a bit coaching on there as well um there'll be some like little tips i want to do it because i have a passion. For it and my my dad's great i'm decent at it but not like i couldn't do a video like you. And and put out a solid coaching video yet uh but i want to because i want to help golfers and there'll be some more the coaching that i do is more like in a golf in a kind of a golf log where i just say hey i had 185 to a back left pin. And didn't love the yardage so i played it to the front right again so it's more like strategy like hey watch kind of what me and wesley do. And this is maybe almost like more on course management yeah yeah. And you've also got the advantage if you've got the the wealth of knowledge to lean on with wesley like get him on the channel and say okay yeah you've just played augusta. Or you just played whoever how how did you play the greens what was your tip on really fast greens. Or something and yes. And it's got that instant authenticity and that that validation because it's coming from him really yeah. And we had a conversation a few months ago if you remember on the phone and also i saw wesley recently talk about it you've got slight nightmare haven't you you have a little bit of a of an issue when making videos am i right what the the intros i believe the intros aren't quite as easy for you they've gotten better okay they've gotten better that's fine it uh. So i was never the best on camera i was always wesley was very even all through life he's been just more like his personality that's just who he's gonna be he's gonna be same off camera on camera doesn't matter if you stick a camera in his face he's going to be who he is me i would always struggle with trying to like think. And talk at the same time i'd be like okay i got to get this perfect word out like what am i trying to say. And then.

I start thinking about it and just kind of like okay we gotta start over. And so that was kind of like actually what i did all the whole all the time. And so we get the channel started back and you know me trying to do intros again it's just like oh gosh tonight it came back like i had to do this in. So long and so like hey guys welcome back to chat oh and wesley what george just come on i've just heard i'm like wesley it's it's fine i'm coming i've got i'm teeing off canadian open ten minutes mate come on i need to go so no it's something that i definitely struggle with. But the more you do videos the more comfort you get the more you realize like you don't have to have it perfect like. And so once i realized that and okay just if i stumble here who cares like just be more natural be who you are um. And know i have gotten better but i mean like you know it gets it's intimidating sometimes guys see me do many you know by the way you're not the only one you guys see me doing many many many many intros. And sometimes i'll get it wrong and stop and and sometimes i've nailed it oh god that was really good i look at ganny goes oh you missed this this. And this off i'm like oh great let's do it again that was spirit though it's like it's the the thinking in your head like if you went into a i had it myself if i go into a shop. And i've got like a faulty item because i'm planning what i'm going to say i walk in. And start fumbling but then.

If you just answer the phone to like your wife or a friend or finds the phone to rick you just talk normally with no thought. And it flows off great just talk yeah no. But anyway i think you're doing a great job um obviously open qualify didn't quite go your way yesterday. But i'm looking forward to seeing the video and i highly want to watch and recommend even though i've not watched it yet i've heard great feedback about the open video that they did about you which would have been pretty cool. So i want to check that out um they can follow you still on brian bros yeah brian bros golf it on youtube. And instagram uh so yeah it's been uh having been fun it's a shame i've got ninja i'd love to have a bit of a game with you this week. But maybe you don't want to get beat maybe i don't know he's just uh i don't know i'm playing for him i'm not playing all right i'm playing about it recently um maybe i can come out to the ranch i mean you if you come over to south carolina you're i'll make a road trip. And i'll come get you we'll we'll take you we'll give you a tour of the uh the facility and and all of its uh the splendor for sure and can you get me on augusta yeah i mean wesley wesley could even get me on august. And he played in the terminal i'm still bitter about that yeah i thought i was i mean i've played now luckily i have played a couple times with my dad. But like i thought i was like hey he qualified. For the matches i know what that means like i know that he like every player can kind of get one person you know playing a couple times. And he didn't he couldn't or he didn't he did he could he said he was like well you know it's different this year. And it'd be my first time i'm like you're one job come on now that would have been a good vlog yeah if you could have filmed it my dad actually. So vlogged the entire week in 20 like fought 2005 before whenever he played he vlogged the entire thing we have the vhs on my channel who played national meet my dad and wesley you put your you've already played august next.

Week all right twice you say he well i saw i've seen the video footage a camcorder him filming every hole yeah i was 14. you definitely need to convert that into a youtube video i thought about it i mean i'm telling you in that. And like he's doing kind of think about it do it he's commentating on he's like oh that's going in the water i was like even if you even if you react to it you. And your brother react until you play in augusta that would be sick i mean it. But i think we'd get banned like i feel like if we were to do that we get blacklisted from augusta forever don't worry you'll get loads of ad revenue off youtube. So you can just retire. And sail off into the sunset i'd be fine with it say rick shields said to do it about that yeah anyway do what i can what's the saying now rather than ask. For permission beg for forgiveness yeah i have to think about this yeah we have the footage that's awesome that's. So good that's really fun i enjoyed it thank you george i know sir thank you guys for uh being hospitable and kind of letting me see the place having me on the podcast i do appreciate it it's been fun to watch it. So it's fun to kind of be a part of it awesome we'll keep it up buddy yeah. And uh look forward to whatever you do next..

And make sure you subscribe how many subscribers are you on now i think 143 000. 150. For the 150 for open let's do it get it to 150. hey all right thanks george.