00:00:09:11 - 00:00:30:23 Unknown Welcome, everybody, to Divots and Skins. My name is Jake Vance, and today I'm here with Brett Varney. And we want to introduce you to this brand new podcast that we're doing. But before we get to that part, we're going to talk about who we are and how we got into the golf. Why don't you start, Brett? I started golfing at a fairly young age as a teenager. 00:00:30:25 - 00:00:46:24 Unknown Girl, I was dating her mother, worked in the pro shop at a local golf course. So we were able to golf, for free. And then took a long hiatus while my kids were growing up and then got back into golf, about 5 or 6 years ago. Went into it full bore. And now I'm, blessed to be a golf addict. 00:00:46:26 - 00:01:04:07 Unknown Nice. So tell us a little bit about who you are, where you're from, and also what you do for a business. So I'm from this region where we live in beautiful upstate New York, here on the Lake George region. And the best way to describe it, most people know we're we're about a half an hour north of Saratoga Race Track. 00:01:04:09 - 00:01:22:18 Unknown Lake George is a beautiful location. We're up here in the Adirondack Mountains. A lot of our courses up here, we which we'll get into later on, are our Adirondack courses. You'll hear us talk about, a different breed from most of the rest of the country. It's it's again, it's a beautiful area. I'm from Hudson Falls, New York, about 15 minutes south of here. 00:01:22:24 - 00:01:42:24 Unknown Southeast of here. I've lived there my whole life. Grew up there, moved out for a very short period of time during college, moved back to the area because I love it so much. And, and now I'm probably here to stay for as a lifer. Nice, nice. So I'm from Saratoga Springs, which is where he was talking about with the horse track. 00:01:42:26 - 00:02:02:19 Unknown I've been in this area most of my life. I moved in, upstate New York when I was about two years old, and then lived in Saratoga until I was about probably about 23 or 24 years old. And then I moved up to the Queensbury area, where I started working in the printing industry. And I've been in that area ever since. 00:02:02:20 - 00:02:22:13 Unknown I absolutely love it. Like I said, we live or just outside or in the Adirondacks. Very, very close. Absolutely gorgeous area. Great golf courses. We love it when it's, spring and summer. I'm not so sure we love it when it's winter, but, that's why we have things like this indoor facility, which is where we're actually recording. 00:02:22:13 - 00:02:51:16 Unknown The podcast is one of our favorite places to play indoor, and we'll talk about them later. But I got into golf probably, I don't know, I was in high school and I got into golf for the first time, played a couple rounds, enjoyed it, but never really got into it. And then probably I would say about 8 or 9 years ago, I started playing a little bit more, and then we met at a business group that we were in together, and both that said, hey, do you like to play golf? 00:02:51:16 - 00:03:15:22 Unknown And we're like, yeah, I do. And I think we started doing a couple scrambles to start. Yep. And some tournaments like that. And then we realized that we really enjoyed playing golf together. And so we started doing other golf and started doing different courses in the area, and then eventually got a membership to a local course, the two of us, and played a lot of golf over the last couple of years. 00:03:15:25 - 00:03:50:09 Unknown And so that's kind of what has basically blossomed into doing this podcast. The reason we're doing this podcast is you and I have great conversations when we're on the golf course, when we're getting off the golf course, and we're talking about how we shot what we could have done better, stuff like that. And so we decided we want to bring some of those conversations to you guys, because we think that it would just be fun for us to share our experiences, whether it's in a scramble tournament, whether it's playing our our home course or whether it's playing the US amateur. 00:03:50:11 - 00:04:08:04 Unknown So why don't you explain to them what is the US amateur, US amateurs affiliated. And that's the very important part. And, eventually we'll have our tour director on, to talk more about it, and I'm sure he'll probably bring this up again. It is a slighted amateur golf tournament. You can't win cash. That's a nationwide rule. 00:04:08:11 - 00:04:27:10 Unknown It's the difference between amateur status and professional. You win visa gift cards, which, as far as I'm concerned, spend just like cash. So it's good and slighted for those who might not be in the know, slighted means you're in a handicapped group. There's six different flights on our, particular tour. And they range. 00:04:27:17 - 00:04:43:10 Unknown They're all named, but they all have handicap ranges that are around four strokes. So you're going to be typically, you know, when you get put into your handicap group, you're going to you can move up as you get better. You can go down as you get worse. But typically you're going to be golfing against people of like ability. 00:04:43:14 - 00:05:09:10 Unknown So it's not somebody that's out there as a scratch golfer. And I want to stress that so much. Someone like myself, I'm a mid-teens handicapper. I don't want to be golfing against somebody that's a scratch golfer, because quite frankly, I'm never going to be competitive. Those days are past me. So I would like to stress that and, especially, for all those who are considering joining any kind of amateur tour, our tour is fantastic for that reason. 00:05:09:13 - 00:05:31:04 Unknown Because when you go out there every, each and every time you step out on the links, you feel like you have an opportunity to win a golf tournament. Yeah. And so if you're watching this in 2026, it is the first year for the Albany region. And so that was part of our, wanting to do this podcast as well as sharing our stories and, and, and having fun with it. 00:05:31:06 - 00:05:54:12 Unknown We really wanted to help promote the Albany region, USA. Tour. The director, Don, as you said, will be coming on at some point to share more about what that tour is. But we really enjoyed playing our first tour stop. But before we get to that, I want to ask you what made you want to join an amateur tour? 00:05:54:15 - 00:06:10:24 Unknown Mine's a little bit more of a complex story that I'm sure some people have. So I played competitive soccer for 30 years. I played from the time I was seven till I was 37. And then I hung up the cleats. For a variety of reasons. The number one being I wanted to watch my kids start playing travel sports as they got older. 00:06:10:24 - 00:06:31:21 Unknown And, I want to be able to, you know, go to those competitions and not have it interfere with my schedule. And I thought it was their turn. And once I did that and made that transition, I realized that there was a huge void in my life competitively. I'm very I'm very competitive person. Any of my siblings will tell you that, I mentioned before, I'm the baby, the children. 00:06:31:23 - 00:06:50:02 Unknown So there's a competitive streak that runs very, very deep in my bones that I can't shake. Whether it's playing against Jake or our other buddies out on the course, or playing against, you know, my, my family members, when they play against me or other people I meet on the golf course. I have that competition that you. 00:06:50:04 - 00:07:10:03 Unknown They're after. You get past a certain age, most sports. And that's the beauty of golf. Most activities, most sports. Once you get beyond a certain age and you start to lose dexterity, start to lose, you know, longevity in most sports is just not for most. You know, most sports, are not going to be very conducive to that. 00:07:10:05 - 00:07:34:09 Unknown The beautiful thing about golf is as long as you're still able to be upright and you're not, you know, six feet under, golf is still a beautiful game that can be played. And again, because we're in a flighted tour, it provides that handicap, you know, ability, ability being it's handicap to play the course against people that are like minded because they're all out for the same competitive reasons and be very competitive with them. 00:07:34:09 - 00:07:57:06 Unknown So it kind of, I guess, to answer your question in a succinct way, it allowed me to continue to play a competitive endeavor of some sort, but with the lack of athleticism or the drop off in athletic athleticism that comes with age, I'm 51 years old now. So happy to be on the tour. You know, this is my first year on this particular region, on this tour. 00:07:57:08 - 00:08:15:12 Unknown Couldn't say better things about it. And when you meet Dan, you'll understand why, he runs a tight ship. The courses we are going to be doing are phenomenal courses. A lot of fun. The layouts are fantastic. Of course, conditions are great. And Dan's in a phenomenal tour director to be running everything. How about you? 00:08:15:12 - 00:08:37:26 Unknown How? Why'd you get into it? Well, because you made me. Now I would say. Yeah. So it's funny because when Brett approached me and said, hey, I'm going to join this tour, I was kind of hesitant because I am a higher handicap. I'm not ashamed of that. Like he said, it's all flighted. So you are playing against people that are at your same level, so it is competitive. 00:08:37:26 - 00:08:54:23 Unknown You don't feel like you're dragging the group down, you don't feel like you're you're getting blown out of the water. But as a higher handicap, I was like, am I really going to be competitive? And I'll be honest with you, I am, and I love that because it's a group of people that are at the same level. 00:08:55:00 - 00:09:15:27 Unknown So I don't feel like I have anything to be ashamed of. Not that I'm ashamed of my handicap. I am where I am. We always talk about all the time where we wish we had started earlier, we wish we had been more competitive and maybe going into the amateur tour earlier in our lives. But I love the fact that at 49, I'm in a competitive sport. 00:09:15:27 - 00:09:38:00 Unknown I think that's a great way to put it that we can do that at our age and still be competitive. The other thing is the courses. I wanted the opportunity to play, courses that I wouldn't necessarily have thought about playing and so I love the fact that the tour puts us in places that we wouldn't normally go and play, because we just wouldn't think about it. 00:09:38:07 - 00:09:56:28 Unknown And now we're kind of like thrust into the really beautiful courses to play competitive golf. And so that that was my thing when when you said you were going to do it, I was really interested. I was really intrigued. And I think the other thing that surprised me was it's not as expensive as I thought it would be. 00:09:57:00 - 00:10:18:16 Unknown I thought it was going to be hundreds of dollars to play a course, because you're going to be dealing with trophy is you're going to be dealing with organization, you're going to be paying all these fees and stuff like that. And it really is it. It's really competitive pricing to be able to play these courses. Very, the tour director, Don, he, he keeps things, you know, especially being first year, you want to make it affordable for everybody. 00:10:18:18 - 00:10:42:17 Unknown There are some more expensive stops at some really premier upstate New York courses. We'll get into that later. They're a little bit more expensive, but they're also regional or national events in which many, many people come to them from all over the country. That's the other beauty, of this particular tour that we haven't mentioned yet is that we have the ability to play in any region across the country at any tour stop we want. 00:10:42:25 - 00:11:04:27 Unknown So if Jake and I decided to up and pack up the stuff and drive down to Louisiana tomorrow to play a tour stop, we could do that. That's that's up to our own discretion. You don't have to, obviously, but you can, and as far as the price point, we talked about, it is extremely reasonable when you consider what the course is, charge, and then you tack on prize money fees. 00:11:04:29 - 00:11:21:17 Unknown Don, at our last tournament included a voucher for to get either a hamburger or hot dog at the turn. So we had a little bit of snack and everything. The camaraderie is always there. That's fantastic. But to be able to do these courses at an affordable rate, and you typically you're going to get a, you know, tee time that's, you know, very reasonable tee time. 00:11:21:17 - 00:11:50:02 Unknown You're not going to be there, you know, 5:00 in the morning or something like that. That part's nice, too. But I just think, all around, it's it's a very good value for it because there's, you know, most any other sport you play, whether it's bowling or tennis or anything else, pickleball, there's an investment that has to be made, and for some people who want to stay competitive and not just play against their buddies, it's it's nice to be able to have that little prize fund there to win a visa gift card. 00:11:50:04 - 00:12:11:28 Unknown At the end of it all, if you're so fortunate as to have done that. So we're going to talk about our first tour stop, which just happened last weekend. And one of the first things I want to share with you that I thought was really amazing was Don announced every player like it was the PGA? It was a really cool experience. 00:12:11:28 - 00:12:31:02 Unknown It was a little nerve racking, but it was a really cool experience for him to call out our name and where we were from when we were getting up to tee off. And so why don't you talk about where were we playing? We played at a beautiful course called Fairways of Half Moon. I spoke earlier. We're about a half an hour north here of Saratoga. 00:12:31:02 - 00:12:50:29 Unknown Fairways of Half Moon is about another 20 minutes south of Saratoga Springs, New York. Beautiful little sleepy out in the country type, of course, but it is absolutely in tip top condition. I will talk in a little bit about how what I like so much about the course, I've already had that little conversation with Jake about why I think the course suits my game so well. 00:12:51:01 - 00:13:07:25 Unknown But absolutely gorgeous condition. It's one of the few places I've ever seen pull out a fire hose. I'm talking non PGA tour courses. Of course I've seen it on those, but, I've seen him pull up fire horse. Fire hoses during the summertime and water approaches and areas like that that just needed a touch more watering. 00:13:07:28 - 00:13:32:23 Unknown And they didn't want to turn on irrigation because, you know, they didn't want to soak the entire course. They just wanted to spot areas, which is fantastic. I didn't mentioned earlier. I will make a quick aside right now. My background is I'm an, landscaper. So I know a lot about the, you know, the horticulture that comes, with the golf course and, you know, as time goes on, you'll see see me talk a little bit more about that. 00:13:32:26 - 00:13:59:29 Unknown But this course does everything in their power to keep the course in immaculate condition. Yeah, I mean, I, I love this course. I, I've played it a bunch of times and I always love walking down the fairway on the first hole. That fairway is spotless. It is like walking on carpet. It is like hitting off of this very fluffy ground and it's awesome. 00:14:00:01 - 00:14:20:17 Unknown And I always love that first hole because you walk down it, it's it's wide open, which is nice too. You're not dealing with a lot of trees once you get past the the tee box, but walking down that fairway, you could see a bunch of other holes. You can see a bunch of other golfers, but you really get to experience how well it is maintained. 00:14:20:19 - 00:14:38:25 Unknown And and many of the other holes are the same way. But I just love that feeling of when you tee off and you drive your car and you get out to look at your ball and you're looking at a fairway that is spotless. And let's not fool ourselves, Jake. There's also a huge advantage that course they have their own built in brewery. 00:14:38:28 - 00:15:02:04 Unknown They do have their own microbrewery inside the facility that, you walk through out of the pro shop towards the restaurant. And in between those two little cows is a big, big, huge vats of brew brewery beer. Yes, yes, they're working on all the time. It pairs very well with their phenomenal selection of foods there. I partake in it as well as Jake and my wife as well. 00:15:02:06 - 00:15:22:19 Unknown We'll mentioned about how she's on tour. Yeah, with us as well. Again, this is for men and women of all ages. You can't go wrong by signing up for the US and tour. My wife didn't think she'd be able to be competitive. And she's she's in her way. She's been really close. So she's she's going to get there eventually because she's a very consistent hitter. 00:15:22:22 - 00:15:44:04 Unknown She had nothing but great things to say about the course as well. And about the restaurant beer. Yeah, that always helps too. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that is one of the greatest things about this course. It's that brewery that's on there. So what was your favorite hole? Favorite hole is a little bit tough for me. I you know, I don't always go by what other people would say is their favorite. 00:15:44:04 - 00:16:02:12 Unknown Maybe a hole they birdied or eagle or something like that. There is a, par five and it does end up being a birdie hole for me on the day. If there's a par five, it's long and it runs along the woods on one side and the other side's a little bit more open, but, I, I had a really nice drive. 00:16:02:12 - 00:16:21:10 Unknown And then the tricky part becomes. Do you have enough in your game to put it over the big, huge pond? It's right before the elevated green. You know, we can talk about end results afterwards, but I've always liked the risk reward factor on that hole. Is one of the reasons it makes it one of my favorite holes. 00:16:21:13 - 00:16:40:16 Unknown You know, any but most amateurs as they stare down water, they get very nervous. Most decide, and this is a par five hole, most will decide to lay up. Everybody in my group, with the exception of me, I believe. In fact, if my memory serves me correct, all decided to lay up. I chose not to, because I'm a risk reward. 00:16:40:16 - 00:17:00:20 Unknown Guys, if I feel the the reward is high enough and risk is low enough, I'm going to go for it. And on that particular day, I had a very reasonable, amount into the green, but, I, I, I've also talked to Jake in the past. You only have two golf shots in front of you. People always talk about the water being in front of them or the sand trap being in front of them or whatever. 00:17:00:23 - 00:17:16:22 Unknown I've always had the I've been of the impression that you only have two golf shots in front of either a good one or a bad one, so I don't even consider the water. I don't consider a sand trap or whatever else is in between me and the hole. I'm either going to hit a good shot and be happy, or I'm going to hit a bad shot and be disappointed. 00:17:16:28 - 00:17:20:24 Unknown I guess that's part of my competitive streak as well. What was your favorite hole on the course? 00:17:21:01 - 00:17:44:14 Unknown So my favorite hole, this is interesting because I have a lot of holes that I do like there. I think I'm trying to think which hold it. What's the one that you shoot over the water. It's on the back nine. It's before you start going down the hills at 11 on the back nine, shoot over the water. It's where they have all the, strips that they put. 00:17:44:14 - 00:18:02:03 Unknown Oh, the side strips. Yeah, the side strips that. That's whole 11. Yeah, yeah. Hole 11. So I like hole 11. And and it's mostly because you're hitting over water, but it's very, very hard to screw that up now. Yes you could tap the ball. It's going to go in the water. But it's not a huge water feature. Oh a little marshy pond. 00:18:02:03 - 00:18:22:22 Unknown Yeah. But I just like the fact that you're up high. You're kind of shooting down to the fairway and then it's kind of open too, which is nice. So it's a very easy second shot to the green. Correct. And I really enjoy that hole. I will tell you though, there's several holes I don't like on this course. And it's only because they're super challenging and water way. 00:18:22:27 - 00:18:44:24 Unknown Oh so is it why hole three that you could down the hill and you have the hole three is just so strategic. It I, I don't dislike it because it's a bad hole. I just like it because I have to be very, very careful in how I approach this hole. And I will share that. I had trouble with it. 00:18:44:27 - 00:19:07:24 Unknown I shot down the right side for the first shot, got into the rough on the right, wasn't really happy with that, was really hoping to be in the fairway. I went to make my shot across, which you kind of shoot over a gully to go up to the green, and I ended up in this like bad area that was just cut down high grass and stuff, and then I had to figure out how to get out of there. 00:19:07:24 - 00:19:30:25 Unknown So now I'm way low of the green trying to shoot up at it. Then it gets worse. Then you go to hole four hole for super narrow. Yeah, it's that's probably only a 30 yard wide fairway. Yeah. And it is challenging. So if you're starting out it is a tough way to start out. If you're starting from hole one and you're like okay now I got to go three and four. 00:19:30:27 - 00:19:51:05 Unknown But I'll tell you a five to par three. That's a beautiful par three. And it definitely makes up for the last two. But man three and four. Those are tough holes. Those are holes that'll make you think. Make you decide to use an iron over a driver and really make you manage the course, which is something you tell me all the time to do. 00:19:51:06 - 00:20:15:23 Unknown I got to learn to manage folks. So those are tough holes. But I will say I love the course. It's beautiful. It's got a lot of really interesting up and down. It's got on the back nine. It's got a huge downhill hole. You shoot across after that and then you come back up that hill. So it is, it's got some really cool holes, but man three and four definitely challenge you. 00:20:15:25 - 00:20:37:18 Unknown So tell us how the tour stop go for you tour stop went well for me. In the end. Let's start with that. So, I'm notoriously bad. And I think a lot of people are being nervous off the tee box. And after my previous comments about, you know, either a good shot or bad shot in front of you, you wouldn't think someone like that has that mentality would be bad off the first few days. 00:20:37:21 - 00:20:58:26 Unknown But I think something about, it being tour and I have a high expectations for myself. And I want to I want to do well right from the get go and get off to a roaring start. I always go the opposite way. Every tournament I've ever won, I'm the amateur level. Has always been with a horrific start. 00:20:58:29 - 00:21:21:15 Unknown In this case, my first five tee shots were, Well, my very first tee shot was a yank to the left. Something fierce hit the top of a tree, came down in a perfectly good location, in the rough. But I have no issues hitting, rough, so I ended up par in the hole. So you wouldn't think that's that bad a start, but, that was the highlight of my first five holes. 00:21:21:15 - 00:21:40:24 Unknown Let's put it that way. The next four holes, I either doubled or tripled. They were all really, really ugly, and and they were all cause from the same thing, pulling my head or standing out of the shot and just topping it horrifically off the tee box. Some of the holes Jake spoke of three and four that are both difficult. 00:21:40:27 - 00:21:58:13 Unknown I did that, you know, to perfection on those, not something I'm proud of, but something I can work on and correct and keep in mind going forward, because that's all you can do. I tell Jake all the time, it's all you can do is golf is in. Golf is learn from your mistakes. Try not to repeat them like the rest of your life. 00:21:58:15 - 00:22:15:12 Unknown In the end, I was, well, well off the lead. I think I was eight strokes back of the leader after those five holes, ended up, you know, I was at that point, I think I was nine over something to that effect. I ended up finishing the tournament at ten over for the day. I just caught fire. 00:22:15:15 - 00:22:40:26 Unknown Once I started hitting well on all, the water hole that I said is my favorite. I think that's all. 6 or 7. I it's let's see, it's seven. Is the water hole I ended up. It's a par five. I had a beautiful shot, and I did go for the green and two, and I knocked it stiff, had, like, a 11ft putt for eagle, and a blip in that one out and tap in and real short tap in for a birdie. 00:22:40:26 - 00:23:00:18 Unknown That was my first birdie of the day. Which another thing we should probably bring up this tour does do a little side contest with skins, for for some of the groups it's birdie or better off for Jake's group. He's in the Tiger group. It's pars are better again because he's a higher handicapper and I'm a mid handicapper. 00:23:00:20 - 00:23:18:08 Unknown So in my group, as birdies or better, I happen to win the only two of the day. So that was a bright spot because I won another, you know, $120 for that. And then I got the gift card for winning. What you see in front of us is our tour director decided for this tournament that he was going to go bigger prize funds and smaller trophies. 00:23:18:08 - 00:23:37:28 Unknown So he engraved these nice, beard glasses. And you can see I got one here. This is Palmer Flight and another one here, Hogan flight. And you wonder, how did I win two plays? Well, I'll tell you why. Because we had a small turnout. Because it was the first tournament of the year. They combined my the two flights that, you know, that I won the glasses for here. 00:23:38:00 - 00:24:00:27 Unknown So overall, I had a really good day. I was really proud of the fact that I bounced back. I'm. I guess I'm going to start getting a habit of being called a bounce back king. I guess, because when I, the other three tournaments, like, won, I started triple, double, triple, for my first three holes and then went on to win the tournament because at some point, mentally, once you throw away the smart scorecard, I think most of us is amateurs. 00:24:00:27 - 00:24:18:18 Unknown When we're just out having fun, we swing more relaxed. You end up with a better product as an end result. So if I was to give somebody a little bit of advice, I'd say go out with that attitude to start. But I know. Yeah. How'd it go for you? So it was interesting. I had the nerves going off the first hole. 00:24:18:20 - 00:24:40:12 Unknown I did have a decent drive, so I was happy about that. I have struggled with my driver for years, and this winter and indoor, I feel like I kind of got a hold of it really started to drive well, and I was hoping that that would translate to outdoor. So I was really happy that the first hole, I had a good drive and then I was able to kind of go from there. 00:24:40:14 - 00:24:59:19 Unknown But I'll be honest, today wasn't my best round. I wasn't really happy with the end result. Had a little bit of trouble with the mental game. We'll talk about that a lot. That's something that I struggle with when it comes to golf. Brett and I always talk about the fact that I have a bad hole, and I'm still thinking about that bad hole. 00:24:59:19 - 00:25:18:00 Unknown The next one I go on to. And you can't do that in golf. It'll just ruin the next hole, the next couple holes. And I struggled a little bit with that. The other thing I struggled with that I've really got to get a hold of is time management. So time management is a super important thing with this, tour. 00:25:18:02 - 00:25:37:29 Unknown Don is a stickler for making sure that we stay caught with the group in front of us, caught up to them, make sure we're staying with them. And he came by just to let us know that we were falling a little bit behind. Nothing major. He didn't yell at us. He didn't do anything like super negative. But it got in my head and I felt rushed. 00:25:37:29 - 00:25:57:24 Unknown I felt like I had to catch up. I felt like I was I was behind and when I talk to him later, he's like, well, it's something that's very important to the tour, so you're going to have to learn how to manage that. And so it's something that I'm definitely going to have to work on, because I would say, I think it was like hole 7 or 8. 00:25:57:26 - 00:26:14:26 Unknown No, sorry. Hole six was on it. I talked to us on six because it was after the par three. We came up the hill. He was there and he's like, hey, just let you know you're falling behind a little bit and then I didn't do so bad on hole six, but it felt like that par five, it just fell apart. 00:26:14:27 - 00:26:38:14 Unknown I tried to fell apart. My hybrid I topped and then it just was like one thing after another. And I eventually kind of settled down, probably about hole 1011. We had a little bit of an issue with a hole ten trying to get caught up and, and waiting for some stuff, and it just, it just compounded how I felt. 00:26:38:17 - 00:27:07:21 Unknown But what I'm sharing with you is that that's part of the game. The mental part is a huge part of the game, and it is something that I struggle with, and it's something that I am working on to try to get better at now. I finished second to last, not great, but I'm also, again, I'm a high handicap, so I'm not expecting to make a run at Brett's group or make a run at the championship group, but I do feel like I could have played better. 00:27:07:21 - 00:27:29:25 Unknown I had a lot of confidence going into this first tour. Stop thinking I could play better and boy, golf will humble you over and over and over again. And so I definitely got humbled that day. I'm okay with that. I had a blast. I walked away, not in last. So I guess that's a positive thing, but I know I can play better. 00:27:29:25 - 00:27:50:20 Unknown I know there's places that I can improve and it's definitely a big part with the mental game. I think we should mention to Jake, to people listening that this tour also has a senior division. Course, just like the PGA tour starts at 50 years old, I qualify for the senior division. I did not sign up for the senior division. 00:27:50:22 - 00:28:08:24 Unknown I would like to think that I can still hit with the young guys. As the group grows bigger, I certainly will not be afraid to switch over to the senior division. This is a first year tour, so right now he hasn't separated and has not separated out the seniors from the rest of the pack. He's making them all hit together. 00:28:08:27 - 00:28:24:26 Unknown Only because of the fact that it's a small number of, you know, of each. Really? If you said it, it'd be almost half right now. I think half us would be seniors and half of the, the younger players. But if he split us in half your prize funds, you know, go down, you know, obviously in half. 00:28:24:28 - 00:28:49:25 Unknown So it was it made more sense for him to just lump everybody together. And if truthfully, at the amateur hack level that we are, if you are a senior but you're still at a 13 handicap, you're going to be able to play with the young guy and a 13 handicap, you know, as long as you're typically used to playing that same tee length, and the tee lengths on tour, again as per handicap group, they are separated. 00:28:49:25 - 00:29:08:03 Unknown So Jake hit shorter tees than I did. Our Jake was in the same flight as my wife I in the Tiger Division, and I was I was in the Palmer, Hogan division, and we, I think I hit 300 yards longer than you for the day or something. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. So very reasonable for me. 00:29:08:06 - 00:29:23:22 Unknown Didn't feel super long. I want to talk a little bit in a little bit about one of my favorite parts of the course, as far as why I think it suits my game. How do you feel like it fits with your game. So. 00:29:23:25 - 00:29:54:09 Unknown It's wide open, so it's very forgiving in some ways. Even though it's wide open, there are some places you can get yourself in trouble, especially as you get further into the course. The first couple of holes and the last couple holes seem to be pretty open, so that kind of plays to my game. If I have any pull or any size or anything like that, that it's a little bit more forgiving so that I can recover from that and hopefully get that bogey or double bogey instead of getting worse than that. 00:29:54:10 - 00:30:20:15 Unknown Yeah. I, I would also say I felt like I putt pretty well there, there greens are fast low right now. Fast. They are fast right now. And again this course is is pristine. So it's not surprising that the greens would be fast. But we got there and we were on the practice green and we're going wow, this is very, very fast. 00:30:20:18 - 00:30:50:29 Unknown But I had some really good longer putts that I felt like I not that I could necessarily read them, but I felt like I could get the speed really well. And so they just happened to drop I had a 20 plus footer, one that I was really happy with. I had a couple others that were probably around 10 to 15ft that I was really happy with, and I just felt a confidence about my Potter that day that I hadn't felt since, like last year. 00:30:50:29 - 00:31:11:27 Unknown I mean, obviously indoor putting is ridiculous and we'll talk about that at some point. But I think it it suits my game because it's forgiving of a course, but it's still challenging. It waits for me as well. So. So tell me, like, why do you think this course suits you so well? Typically every time I've been down there, it's shot it well. 00:31:11:27 - 00:31:30:06 Unknown So I kind of went back and I kind of looked at, you know, and I've done it maybe I think I want another time, on a different tour years ago, two years ago. And, so I, I don't have expectations of winning when I go there. I have expectations based on the few times I've golfed it privately that that I'm going to shoot. 00:31:30:06 - 00:31:53:07 Unknown Well. And I will tell you something, that, again, coming from a landscapers background, I'll give you a little important feature on the course. They're so pristine. The fairways and even the rough is really nice. The cut on the rough is very consistent. From one spot to the next. If you're six inches off the off the fairway into the rough, or if you're 16ft off, you're probably going to have, you know, occasionally. 00:31:53:07 - 00:32:11:06 Unknown Yeah. Your ball nestled down into the rough versus a high lie. But typically you're going to have about the same length of rough cut, in either of those locations. But for me, I don't have a big, huge issue hitting out of rough. I, you know, I know when the club up and stuff like that. The big thing for me is the turf. 00:32:11:06 - 00:32:34:05 Unknown So this underneath the turf, you have your roots, obviously. Underneath your grass, you have the roots, and then you have your, your soil system. Because they have such beautifully manicured fairways. I'm a high ball hitter, which means I come down steep with my irons at the at the ball that leads to taking a dip. It, I take I would call it a PGA did it. 00:32:34:05 - 00:32:57:27 Unknown And I'm not saying I'm anything remotely close to a PGA level player, but I take very big divots. I come down really steep on the ball. I come really strong through the ball. A lot of courses and especially we're familiar with this at the new place, we have a membership that we got memberships at, and but most of the courses up here in the Adirondacks, you can't peel the sod back in other words, you can't take a divot at full back. 00:32:57:27 - 00:33:20:16 Unknown Nice where you can still get through the ball nicely after you've taken your did it. So it kind of kills your momentum on the swing at courses up here in the Adirondacks down there, they're doing everything right. I can tell you that this the sand base, that they have underneath the fairway grass is so beautiful that if you hit like I do, it just suits your game really well because everything folds back. 00:33:20:16 - 00:33:40:09 Unknown You can follow through like you normally would. And, you know, your your direction ends up, you know, being much better than a lot of other courses, but more importantly, your distance. I think for most amateur golfers, you want to know that when you're hitting a particular club that it's going to go the distance you anticipate. So that's why I think it suits my game. 00:33:40:09 - 00:34:05:25 Unknown I think so well, because I've golfed very few courses that I can say that about up in this region, we have a lot of beautiful courses up in this region, but there are not many that play. I can know that my irons are going to play super, super close to the numbers. I anticipate them flying it. So yeah, I think that any course in the area should look at fairways and be like, hey, how are you doing this? 00:34:05:27 - 00:34:27:02 Unknown Because I feel like and we've talked about this, if they're doing this and they have this kind of course we need more like this. It is absolutely gorgeous. And you're right, like the fact that you can peel that back and get that distance and, and feel like you're playing in that type of environment in the Adirondack area is huge. 00:34:27:07 - 00:34:47:10 Unknown Yeah. If if I would make a, if I could make a carbon copy of that course, you know, with different layouts and everything else, like I said, they're doing everything right. And I'm looking at it again from a landscapers eyes and I look at it from not just, you know, the dollars and cents and all that, but I look at like, how they take care of the people that walk in the door. 00:34:47:12 - 00:35:06:00 Unknown Everything from the, you know, the late, the lady that does beverage cart, you know, the people in the clubhouse that serve, they have a big outdoor gazebo that we didn't talk about. Big pull barn looking area. Yeah. Has microbrew beer, served out there once the weather gets nice. And they also do, I believe, breakfast and lunch out there. 00:35:06:03 - 00:35:22:23 Unknown I don't know about dinner, but they might more than likely. They probably do hamburgers and hot dogs all the way up through dinner time there as well. So, just a beautiful facility. I don't have enough nice things to say about it. And as far as how well kept it's, you know, how well kept it is, I think every course in the area should copy them. 00:35:22:25 - 00:35:48:07 Unknown Yeah, so do I. Yeah, so do I. And and I think that it was a great way to kick off the tour this year to play such a nice course. And yes, it's early in the year and we're still getting our legs are getting our swing I guess you would say going into the season. But what a way to start off a play such a beautiful course and to play such competitive golf. 00:35:48:10 - 00:36:08:00 Unknown It was a lot of fun that day. It definitely was. I got it, excuse me, got to take a moment to give a little props. The luxury box here, where we're situated as we speak. I watched Jake's game progress. Specifically, he talked about his struggles with the driver. He wasn't happy with his distance, despite his direction last year. 00:36:08:00 - 00:36:26:21 Unknown Getting in the last two years, getting better and better. He's putting way more balls in the middle of the fairway. But he still wasn't happy with his distance. And I watched him over the course of this winter. The nice thing about Luxury Box is it gives you all your stats, every stat you could want. You can bring up weird ones that I would never use in a million years. 00:36:26:24 - 00:36:45:11 Unknown You know, peak altitude and all that stuff. But, you know, some people need certain numbers, other people don't. But we we paid attention to some really, important ones for, for Jake, which was over the course of the winter. We want to know what his total yardage was, what his carry distance was, and what his spin was. 00:36:45:14 - 00:37:06:18 Unknown Yeah, the spin was a big one. Both backspin and total spin. We want to see those numbers. And what a phenomenal, you know, this isn't just meant to be a plug for the luxury box, but for simulator golf in general. Dave here is awesome. At the luxury Box, the owner, he he will explain how to use the system and get the, you know, peak use out of it. 00:37:06:25 - 00:37:25:23 Unknown And I watched Jake gain 20, literally 25 yards on his drive over the course of the winter. Now, when you are hitting against the screen, the beauty of it is you never have to fish a ball out of the woods or on a pond and you don't. So as a result, you get a little braver. You can just learn to stretch back a little bit more, learn to put a little bit more behind it. 00:37:25:25 - 00:37:48:02 Unknown He learned obviously very well, having gained 25 yard average, on his drives, and for his, his grouping and his age level, he's probably right now, I would imagine, really close to national averages. That's all I and folks just see, you know. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I have a certain drive distance that I hit routinely again and again and again. 00:37:48:05 - 00:38:05:04 Unknown And I wish it was a little straighter, like everybody does. But I'm right at the national averages, so you don't have to come out here on tour and, you know, be the longest hitter on tour to be successful. You can just be plunk it down the middle type of thing and keep the ball in play. And you can be very, very successful on this tour. 00:38:05:07 - 00:38:23:21 Unknown I'm not a testament to that because I do it completely backward. I had some really good holes in that. I have some atrocious ones. And, and Jake's trying to work towards becoming that type of player that where he. His mistakes are smaller. Yeah. Where, where his, his blow up holes as right now would be a triple bogey. 00:38:23:24 - 00:38:41:00 Unknown There is no max on this tour. There is no max amount you can get on a hole. So everybody's playing the same game. And it's it can be tough at times to know that in your head, because most of us is amateurs at home. You know, when we're golf with our buddies would take double par max, or we'll take triple bogey max or something like that. 00:38:41:02 - 00:39:08:07 Unknown Jake's trying to get to the point, and I am to, for that matter. We're our blow up holes are a lot smaller. We're. Maybe we're just a bogey or double for our big numbers instead of triples and quadruples and, well, even higher numbers at times. Yeah. So funny story, that I want to share today. You had a shot that you had one foot in a bunker and one foot out of the bunker, and we always laugh because you don't get that in indoor. 00:39:08:09 - 00:39:33:11 Unknown You're in a bunker or you're on the side of a bunker. It's still flat. It's still a flat surface going into the screen. So watching you today, it was humorous to be like, man, I wish this was an indoor shot. Yeah, yeah. It's one of the beauties of, you know, simulator golf. Indoor golf. Is that you? You know, again, you don't have to chase balls, all that stuff and then you get to see all your numbers. 00:39:33:11 - 00:39:53:01 Unknown The downside is it doesn't perfectly replicate what we're as amateurs, what we're all forced to have to do at some point, whether it's a punch out or whatever, doesn't perfectly replicate that. Not even close. And in some instances, like mine today, if it was a little bit closer to that, you know, your facilities at indoor would be an awful lot bigger if they had to replicate that. 00:39:53:07 - 00:40:16:11 Unknown Yes, yes. And and we'll talk more about what benefits playing indoor has. As you said, I found that extra yardage in my driver, I think more than finding that extra yardage was finding the confidence, the confidence to go to outdoor and be like, okay, I've seen the numbers on the screen. I've seen the distance on the screen. 00:40:16:13 - 00:40:44:08 Unknown I'm just going to replicate what I've done indoors, and that has worked for me. That getting up and doing the same routine, the same setup, everything that was the same as what I was doing indoors has translated to outdoors. And so it's been really good to feel like, okay, I have the confidence going into outdoor because of what I learned in indoor, and I think we'll share more stories about that and what we use indoor for and why it's so important to us. 00:40:44:10 - 00:41:05:06 Unknown Again, Dave from Luxury Box has been awesome. He has actually allowed us to record this podcast in one of his bays, and it's an awesome opportunity to show you the size of the screen to show you where we play indoor, but also to promote Dave in Luxury Box because we really appreciate that he's allowing us to do this. 00:41:05:13 - 00:41:19:02 Unknown one of the reasons why we ended up, you know, coming here and staying here for the last two years now, right? Yeah. Yeah. For for all winter long. This is where we golf was because of the fact that Dave stops in and talks to probably 90% of the people that are golfing here. 00:41:19:04 - 00:41:34:26 Unknown He'll he'll stop in and visit with you if you're open to conversation. He'll have conversations about just about anything. And, that's what he's doing right now is he's down south golfing. I wish I was a little bit warmer weather like he was. I think he's in South Carolina right now, golfing. But, at some point, very soon, you'll meet Dave. 00:41:34:27 - 00:41:52:16 Unknown Yeah. And I'm sure he'll he'll get into some more in-depth stuff with you about the luxury box, but, I just I couldn't say enough good things about Dave as well. I think we're in a good position. We're we're, We got Don as our tour director. Don frame is his name. And then we have Dave here, running our simulator show for us and letting us be kind enough to use the facility. 00:41:52:16 - 00:41:58:03 Unknown And last but not least, we got, you know, all the friends and stuff we've made, on tour already? 00:41:58:06 - 00:42:21:01 Unknown So one of the things we want to do as part of this podcast is talk about some of the rules of golf. Now, we all know the ones that everybody else knows. And we talk about those all the time. But there's a lot of obscure stuff that very we see the PGA deal with. We see when we're on the tour, like what we have to deal with. 00:42:21:04 - 00:42:26:18 Unknown And so we're going to start doing a segment called rule of the day. 00:42:26:21 - 00:42:45:13 Unknown So what's the rule of the day? Rule the day is about hitting out of the hazard. Obviously we're not talking about hitting under water. Although some of us could learn to you. You know, I wish I could, I wish I could, but we're talking about areas that are adjacent to water that are beyond the, red states. 00:42:45:13 - 00:43:13:01 Unknown Yellow states, white states are the one exception to the rule. Yep. Wait. Stakes. Once you're over them, you're over them, and there is no coming back. But red and yellow, are different stories. So go ahead and talk a little bit about what your knowledge of the rule is. Yes. So one of the things that happens is a lot of times when you go into the red area, a lot of amateurs will be like, oh, I got to take a drop or no, if it's red or yellow, you are allowed to play in that area. 00:43:13:01 - 00:43:38:06 Unknown If it's a playable ball, you're allowed to play there, but more importantly, you're allowed to play it like any other shot you would play, whether you're in the fairway, rough stuff. And so for example, if there's a loose impediment in front of your ball, like maybe some small sticks or a bigger stick, you can move those as long as it doesn't move your ball, you can move those out of the way. 00:43:38:09 - 00:43:55:24 Unknown Another part is you can ground the club. A lot of people think that you're not allowed to ground the club like you're in a sand trap. No, that's not the case. So what are some other things that people need to think about when it comes to that area? You can also swing your club, take normal practice swings. 00:43:55:24 - 00:44:18:23 Unknown Another thing you can't do in a sand bunker, you know you can't. You wouldn't be able to touch the sand, typically in a sand bunker, when you're taking practice swings at the kind of moment and keep the club floated above the level of the sand. But in the hazard area that's, you know, over the Red stakes, yellow stakes, whichever you may have, it's perfectly legal to hit a practice swing just like you're in the middle of the fairway. 00:44:18:23 - 00:44:37:26 Unknown And that's what it boils down to, is anything you can do on a fairway, you can do in a hazard area, as long as the ball is in play. Now, some of those areas may include trees. So doing a practice swing around your club, there's probably a lot of stuff in the way. You just have to deal with it. 00:44:37:26 - 00:45:05:29 Unknown And you got to make a choice whether you decide to play that ball or sometimes, of course, management say, hey, it's not worth trying to punch out and maybe going the other way or going in the water or going out of bounds. Sometimes even in a red area, it's worth taking the drop. It is. And another thing I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it is, and I don't know if Jake's even aware of this, when you're in those areas. 00:45:05:29 - 00:45:24:24 Unknown So, all hazard states, you know, typically courses have hazard stakes on. Not all of them. I will say, we're out of bounds. Stakes. So red and yellow stakes can be removed if they're impeding your swing and then just placed back as close as you can find to where you originally took them out of the ground. White stakes can never be touched. 00:45:24:24 - 00:45:42:18 Unknown White stakes have to stay put where they're at. Again, there's no reason to move on because of the rule in which, you know, white stakes. You have to play a drop. You know, you're, you're dropping from that area or you're hitting from the tee box. That's another quirky rule we'll get into later on. But weight stakes are a different thing. 00:45:42:18 - 00:45:58:27 Unknown That's not the same as what we're talking about when we're talking about hitting out of a hazard. Again, that's only for yellow and red. But if on your back swing or on your follow through of your swing, one of those stakes is in your way, pluck it out of the ground. And, you know, set it to the side, go ahead and hit your shot and then put it back in. 00:45:58:29 - 00:46:17:11 Unknown So a real quick question about that white state. So for example, if I'm behind that white stake, but I'm still inbounds and say I need to take a shot that might actually be directly at that white stake, I can't move that. I'm going to have to come back to you on that one, Jake. I can look into it. 00:46:17:13 - 00:46:40:21 Unknown Typically, if you're if, if this if it's going to impede your swing, you can't remove it. I'm going to say more than likely that stakes got to stay put and you're going to have to deal with it. And so around it or whatever. But we'll, we'll check back on all these rules. Again, there's a lot of, as all you folks know, back at home, there's a lot of obscure rules in golf. 00:46:40:21 - 00:46:58:00 Unknown And that's part of the reason why I wanted to. This little segment is to talk about and bring shed some light on these make them a little easier to understand. We'll do everything from basic ones like this, and we'll get into some of the really complex ones, and some of them, quite frankly, that I've learned from watching PGA tour golf. 00:46:58:03 - 00:47:22:04 Unknown The USGA abides by essentially the same set of rules. I, I will we and we will talk to you about ways in which some of them can help your game, quite frankly. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, let you know that we will have links in the description for Fairways of Half Moon, obviously for the US amateur and specifically for the Albany region. 00:47:22:06 - 00:47:39:25 Unknown If you're interested in that and have questions, please reach out to Dan. Through that you'll be able to find this information on the website. Or if you have a question, you can reach out to us and we can forward it on to Dan. Also, there'll be a link to Luxury Box so you can find out more about them. 00:47:39:27 - 00:47:57:19 Unknown And also please remember to like and subscribe and also turn on that notification bell. That way you know when the newest episode comes out, we will have this on YouTube. We will have this across all different kinds of podcast apps. 00:47:57:26 - 00:48:20:02 Unknown We'll also have the website Divots and skins.com, where you can go there and listen to the podcast as well. Is there anything else you want to share before we close out? Quick mention that we didn't, say before, just so everybody knows, it'll get mentioned again by Dan, but, there is a national championship on this tour, should you care to partake and you qualify for it. 00:48:20:04 - 00:48:36:18 Unknown They have what's called an order of merit for every region, that let you know whether or not you qualify in your flight, to move on to national championships. Some of the smaller tours, pretty much everybody that wants to go can go. And boy, do they do them in some beautiful locations. We'll get into that later on. 00:48:36:21 - 00:48:56:19 Unknown But you're going to be excited by some of these. Some of these are ones that the big guys up on the PGA tour swing at. So that's where some of their national championships are. I know there's one in particular that I'm chomping at the bit for, and we'll talk about that on a later podcast. Awesome. The other thing is, if you have any questions for us, especially around the rule segment, we have rules that you're not sure about. 00:48:56:19 - 00:49:08:18 Unknown Or once you want to suggest we talk about, please send us an email. You'll find that in the description as well. And with that, thanks for listening to us. And never leave a birdie putt short.