Shownotes
This podcast episode features an engaging dialogue with Steve Wheatcroft, a former tour player and author, as we delve into various aspects of his experiences both on and off the golf course. Central to our discussion is Wheatcroft’s reflections on the evolving relationship between professional golfers and enthusiasts, particularly noting a growing divide exacerbated by the commercialization of the sport. He articulates a desire for greater approachability among players, citing the more accessible nature of female golfers compared to their male counterparts. Our conversation also traverses personal anecdotes, including his culinary preferences and memorable moments from his touring days, which enrich the narrative of his life in golf. Moreover, Wheatcroft elaborates on his book, "Cocktails and Range Balls," which serves as both an entertaining and insightful chronicle of his journey in the golfing realm.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Amazon
- Tiger
- Mr. Palmer
- Mr. Nicholas
- YouTube Golf
- Titleist
- Mulligan Foundation
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
Welcome to Grilling at the Green After Hours.
Speaker A:The conversation that took place after the show ended.
Speaker B:Everybody, welcome to After Hours here on Grilling at the Green.
Speaker B:I'm jt.
Speaker B:We've got Steve Wheatcroft with us today.
Speaker B:If you didn't catch the first part of the show, I would recommend it.
Speaker B:And I would also recommend going in, go to Amazon, get his book, Cocktails and Range Balls.
Speaker B:Good stuff here.
Speaker B:So, like I said, Steve has no idea about this.
Speaker B:He's never talked to me before, and so went out and dug out some goldy oldies as far as these questions, and we'll see how he does.
Speaker B:Okay, you ready?
Speaker B:This really hard.
Speaker B:This is really.
Speaker B:The first part's really hard.
Speaker B:What's your favorite color?
Speaker B:Lifesaver.
Speaker A:Green.
Speaker B:Good man.
Speaker B:What's the one song you want to hear?
Speaker A:Are there wrong answers here?
Speaker A:Are there wrong answers?
Speaker B:Not really.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker B:There isn't a test at the end, trust me.
Speaker A:That's a great question.
Speaker B:What's the one song you want to hear on the radio when you start your car in the morning?
Speaker A:Oh, that's a good question.
Speaker A:Probably anything by Kenny Chesney.
Speaker A:It always takes me back to, like, Island Time and.
Speaker B:Oh, sure.
Speaker A:That feel good.
Speaker A:Just relaxing.
Speaker A:Country music.
Speaker B:If you could play a round of golf, Steve, with one of your golfing heroes, somebody you never got to play with, who would that be?
Speaker A:Somebody I never got to play with, honestly, Probably Tiger.
Speaker A:I never got to tee it up with Tiger, but I know that's a cliche.
Speaker A:Honest answer, but I got to play with Mr. Palmer.
Speaker A:I got to play a couple holes with Mr. Nicholas.
Speaker A: see Tiger in about, you know,: Speaker A:Tiger would have been phenomenal.
Speaker A:But, Yeah, I. I know it's not the.
Speaker A:It's the easy answer, but it's still the honest answer.
Speaker B:Well, it's the honest answer.
Speaker B:I mean, I've always been a.
Speaker B:A Tiger fan, you know, for a long time.
Speaker B:So, Steve, if you were declared Supreme Leader of Golf for one day, what would you, as supreme leader, decree?
Speaker A:I would.
Speaker A:I would.
Speaker A:I would probably look into get.
Speaker A:Getting or establishing a rule about divots in the fairways that drives me insane.
Speaker A:When you do what you're supposed to.
Speaker A:I know the historians are going to say, hey, it's rubber, the green.
Speaker A:You gotta just play it as it lies and all that stuff.
Speaker A:But, I mean, if you hit a.
Speaker A:Just A God's honest, perfect golf shot and hit it right down the middle of the fairway and you get up there and it's in a deep divot and you're in trouble.
Speaker A:I just don't think that's very fair.
Speaker A:And the game's hard enough and not fair enough.
Speaker A:And you should.
Speaker A:You shouldn't be penalized for hitting a good shot.
Speaker B:You know, I got a little inside baseball here, so to speak.
Speaker B:That answer that you just gave is about a 88% answer from people that actually played on tour, on this show or worked in the golf industry.
Speaker B:It's like, get rid of the debits.
Speaker A:Oh, really?
Speaker A:That's good to know that.
Speaker A:I thought I was gonna be out of the box with that one.
Speaker B:No, no, it's a good thing.
Speaker B:Do you think that the professional golf, the golfers at that level are getting further removed from everyday golfers?
Speaker B:I mean, there's always a gap there because they're pros.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But I mean, as we talked about in the show, you've got guys with the top 30, 40 guys.
Speaker B:You know, they're flying on Learjets or whatever.
Speaker B:They're doing this and that.
Speaker B:The golf club companies say, you know, hey, Steve hits this title as, you know, XG1C driver, so you should too.
Speaker B:And that's just part of good marketing and stuff.
Speaker B:But do you think there's a.
Speaker B:That divide is getting bigger.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:With the exception of YouTube Golf, which, I mean, love it or hate it, it is growing.
Speaker A:And I think that the.
Speaker A:I think the public is able to get a lot closer to tour players off the golf course.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Through the YouTube Golf.
Speaker A:But as far as the.
Speaker A:The interaction side of it or.
Speaker A:Yes, I think that it is.
Speaker A:Because I don't think it's ever been as far as what it is now.
Speaker A:I just think that the guys are so unapproachable and it's just a very.
Speaker A:It's become such a business and it's become such a corporation instead of more of the.
Speaker A:The laid back feel that it used to have.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I've said this before in the show, but I think the ladies, for the most part, the ladies golfers are still very approachable.
Speaker B:We have a.
Speaker B:The Portland Classic here.
Speaker B:And you can go up and talk to any of them.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:I was at the one in Phoenix a couple weeks ago, same thing.
Speaker A:And I walked inside the ropes for the Pro Am with, you know, Nelly Corda, Michelle, we.
Speaker A:And they were great.
Speaker A:They talked the whole time.
Speaker A:And during the tournament, I met all these girls and they were super nice and friendly and, you know, it's.
Speaker A:It's very different.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah, very different.
Speaker B:Put on your time travel hat and going backwards for a minute.
Speaker B:What was the best part of the travel when you were on tour?
Speaker B:And then, of course, I'm going to ask you the flip side.
Speaker B:The worst part.
Speaker A:Well, for grilling at the Green Guy, you should understand, I love food.
Speaker A:So there was always some restaurants and places that I would love to stop in different cities and, you know, find, you know, the steakhouse that was in Charlotte or the.
Speaker A:The restaurants at the John Deere.
Speaker A:So I would always go try to find the good restaurants.
Speaker A:The good.
Speaker A:You know, I wasn't a big partier bar scene guy, but I'd love to go sit at a good restaurant, just sit at the bar, watch whatever sporting event was on, have a couple cocktails, and have a great meal.
Speaker A:So I loved that part of it.
Speaker A:And I just.
Speaker A:I don't know, I just loved seeing different parts of the country, too.
Speaker A:I loved going to Boise, Idaho, for God's sakes.
Speaker A:I love going to Palm Springs.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I enjoyed seeing different parts of the country.
Speaker B:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker B:The worst part, besides getting bumped from.
Speaker A:Yeah, I was gonna say the.
Speaker A:The flights are just brutal because they would get.
Speaker A:You know, we're trying to fly out late Sunday night to either get home.
Speaker A:You know, there's nothing worse than shooting like, 76 and free falling down the leaderboard on a Sunday.
Speaker A:And then you're trying to pack your bags up, get it in the.
Speaker A:The car, get it back to the airport, you're dragging a couple of bags from the rental car place back to the, you know, the check in, you're soaked in sweat.
Speaker A:Then you find out your flight's delayed.
Speaker A:Then you're spending the night in Atlanta or Chicago.
Speaker A:Those nights were the absolute worst because they just felt like they would never end.
Speaker A:So, yeah, those nights, for sure.
Speaker B:I spent, I'm sure, two weeks in Cincinnati one night, you know.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:That's the way it feels.
Speaker B:That's the way it feels.
Speaker B:Steve, if you could dine with a historical figure, who would it be and what would be on the menu?
Speaker A:I met President Bush Jr. One time, and I would really like to have had a longer run with him.
Speaker A:I would have liked to have sat down and had a dinner, had a beer, whatever you want to say.
Speaker A:Just be able to sit there and talk with him a little bit longer.
Speaker A:What would be on the menu?
Speaker A:I'm pretty simple.
Speaker A:I'd love a good steak.
Speaker A:I'd love some.
Speaker A:You Know, shrimp on the side, you know, a little blue cheese crust on the filet, one of those kind of things.
Speaker A:Give me a, you know, a good dessert of some kind.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:I'm a meat and potatoes guy, so I could just give me a really good steak with a side of seafood and you know, like a blackened fillet with like a blue cheese crust.
Speaker A:Sounds really good right about now.
Speaker B:It really does.
Speaker B:I mean, maybe we should stop and I'm going to go throw some stuff on the grill here.
Speaker B:What's the.
Speaker B:Change the subject a little bit.
Speaker B:What's the first thing you do when you get up in the morning and you can't say I go pee because.
Speaker A:I've already had people say there's so many different random things here.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's such an easy answer.
Speaker A:You know what I it.
Speaker A:This is not a great one, but I've gotten hooked on diet soda and that's like my coffee in the morning.
Speaker A:And there's a gas station down the street.
Speaker A:It's about a three minute drive for me.
Speaker A:And usually as soon as my kids go to school or as soon as I drop them off, I run down to the gas station and get a 44 ounce diet Dr. Pepper.
Speaker B:Yeah, my wife, my wife would love you.
Speaker B:She loves diet Dr. Pepper.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:What's the, what's the worst concert you ever attended?
Speaker A:This is a tough one because I'm not a big concert goer.
Speaker A:Boy, I saw this one back.
Speaker A:I mean, I don't even remember who it was.
Speaker A:It was like a club MTV thing back when I was in high school and it was just awful.
Speaker A:This is going to be a terrible answer for you.
Speaker A:Yeah, I don't.
Speaker A:That's the thing.
Speaker A:I don't go to many concerts.
Speaker A:So if I do go to it, I must really like the person, you know, I've seen.
Speaker A:You know, like, I just got back from the Darius Rucker, the Hooting, the Blowfish Monday after the Masters Pro Am and I've seen Hoodie played several times and I love watching him go.
Speaker A:I've seen you two in concert.
Speaker A:They're awesome.
Speaker A:Seen Dave Matthews band a bunch.
Speaker A:They're awesome.
Speaker A:So, like, if I'm gonna go to a concert, I usually have to really love them.
Speaker A:So I, I won't go to too many bad ones.
Speaker A:If I come up with one, I'll give it to you here before the end of it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
Speaker A:I want to be a bird.
Speaker A:I'd love to be able to Fly.
Speaker A:I just think it'd be so cool.
Speaker B:Leonard Skynyrd in the background.
Speaker B:Freebird, freebird.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker A:I just want to be able to pick up and go and just.
Speaker A:I don't know, man.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It'd be pretty cool to be a bird.
Speaker A:Plus, I mean, if you're any other kind of animal, you're always watching your back because there's a bigger animal waiting for you and there's not too many things waiting to get a bird.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And they're too, too quick.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:A couple more things.
Speaker B:Sometimes I ask people if they had any regrets in life, and I don't.
Speaker B:I don't want to go there with you because that's.
Speaker B:We talked about a lot of reasoning to go get you where you are today.
Speaker B:But that being said, what's one thing you miss about your twenties?
Speaker A:The way I used to be able to eat Taco Bell at three in the morning and lose weight somehow.
Speaker A:Now if I drive by a Taco bell, I gained 10 pounds.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Just the ease of how easy life was and how easy it was to stay in shape versus older you get.
Speaker A:And my God, it's impossible to lose weight and stay in shape.
Speaker B:Trust me.
Speaker B:You gotta be a.
Speaker B:An old guy and an old fat guy in the food business, in the media business, where you sit on your ass a lot.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:It's tough.
Speaker A:It's very tough.
Speaker B:It's very tough.
Speaker B:Speaking of.
Speaker B:Speaking of food, what would be your last meal on death row?
Speaker A:I think I just gave you part of it.
Speaker B:I think you did.
Speaker A:Give me a black and fillet with either some mushroom like grilled mushrooms on top or like a blue cheese crust.
Speaker A:Give me some shrimp on the side.
Speaker A:Give me a lobster Mac and cheese.
Speaker A:Give me a creamed spinach for the vegetable.
Speaker A:I'm gonna get started with like some.
Speaker A:Either, like some, Some crab meat or some, like, ahi tuna.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:For an appetizer.
Speaker A:And then for dessert, man, it's gonna have to be some kind of ice cream because I'm just a.
Speaker A:Probably like a peanut butter ice cream.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:Peanut butter ice cream.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:A couple more here, Steven.
Speaker B:I'll let you go.
Speaker A:Yes, sir.
Speaker B:What's one thing you wish spectators would not do during tournaments?
Speaker A:The mashed potatoes guy just has to go.
Speaker A:I know this is a food podcast, but my God, man, it was.
Speaker A:It was old 10 years ago.
Speaker A:And I know you're trying to get on tv, but just quit yelling mashed potatoes the second somebody hits a ball it's just, it's not funny.
Speaker A:No one laughs anymore, but that guy's still doing it.
Speaker A:And yeah, that's, that's a big one.
Speaker A:Just don't do that.
Speaker A:And don't, don't, don't tell other golfers that, you know, you're better than they are and just, just don't.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, just go enjoy it for what it is.
Speaker A:Like you're not going to go to a basketball game and watch Michael Jordan play basketball and heckle him and say, you're better than Michael Jordan.
Speaker A:So don't, you know, because a guy misses a five footer doesn't mean you're gonna make all the five footers.
Speaker B:No, no, no, it's, I, I, you know that one.
Speaker B:And you know, they're hitting it off the tee and they, and it's a 535 yard hole and they yell, get in the hole.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Where's that coming from?
Speaker A:Yeah, that's the same guy that yells mashed potatoes on the next tee box.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think they, I think what they could do to cure that guy or the group is go in and lock them in a porta potty on 105 degree day and then open the lid on the top of the roof.
Speaker B:Not the lid, and dump mashed potatoes on their head and then lock it up again and let them stay.
Speaker A:I'm not opposed to it.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm not opposed to it.
Speaker A:That sounds good to me.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's all learn.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Last one here.
Speaker B:If I gave you a box, Steve, with everything you've lost in your life, what would be the first thing you would reach for?
Speaker A:Well, that's a good question.
Speaker A:Oh, I know what it is.
Speaker A:Big Ten Championship ring.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, I lost a Big Ten Championship ring.
Speaker A: We won one at Indiana back in: Speaker A:So last time the school won the Big Ten Championship in golf and somehow in moving, I believe it got stolen, but I'm not 100 sure.
Speaker A:I had my car packed up and I was actually moving some stuff from one house to my new apartment and my car got broken into and they took a bunch of stuff out and I think it was in a backpack that got stolen.
Speaker A:But yeah, I would love to, I would love to see that again because that actually does, that actually, that, that meant something to me.
Speaker B:I bet it did.
Speaker B:I bet it did.
Speaker B:Steve Wheatcroft, former tour player, author, right here.
Speaker B:Cocktails on range balls and one too many 10's not enough.
Speaker B:How about that?
Speaker B:Been there, done that.
Speaker B:And also the CEO of the Mulligan Foundation.
Speaker B:Steve.
Speaker B:I again, tell people where they can find you real quick or the foundation.
Speaker B:And it's been a great show.
Speaker B:I've really appreciated you.
Speaker A:Yeah, you got.
Speaker A:You got two minutes for a quick story on the book?
Speaker B:Sure, sure.
Speaker A:Funny side story on the book.
Speaker A:So I've been told for years I needed to write a book.
Speaker A:And I always said, no, no, I'm not writing a book.
Speaker A:Nobody cares about reading any of this stuff.
Speaker A:And then a friend of mine who's in kind of the recovery circles came up to me one day.
Speaker A:He's like, hey, you should write a book.
Speaker A:I was like, yeah, I got it.
Speaker A:I've heard that before.
Speaker A:He's like, no, no, you don't get it, man.
Speaker A:Your story's powerful.
Speaker A:And, like, you need to write it.
Speaker A:Not for you, but for him.
Speaker A:And I go, who's him?
Speaker A:He goes, you're only going to know when you write the book.
Speaker A:And I was like, God, that's the guilt trip I didn't need right there.
Speaker A:And so I waited a couple months, then I started jotting some notes down, and sure enough, the whole book came out.
Speaker A:And I was really proud of the book.
Speaker A:And for those that, you know, haven't read it yet, it's a very late.
Speaker A:It's an easy book.
Speaker A:It's 130 pages.
Speaker A:It's easy to read.
Speaker A:It's fun read and talks about a lot of the Tor life and my story and whatnot.
Speaker A:But anyway, so I released the book on Amazon on November 4th, and on November 5th, I woke up to a message, private message from social media from another PGA Tour player saying, hey, I saw the message about your book last night.
Speaker A:I really need to talk to you.
Speaker A:I'm really struggling.
Speaker A:And it was the exact guy that I've been trying to help from the moment I started this whole foundation.
Speaker A:And then from this time I started this book.
Speaker A:And it was a.
Speaker A:A gentleman who's playing on the PJ Tour.
Speaker A:He's playing really good golf, but he's just been struggling with alcohol.
Speaker A:And he's like, look, I haven't been on this social media platform in two years.
Speaker A:For some reason, I got a random email about my account this morning.
Speaker A:So I went on there, and first thing I saw was your book.
Speaker A:He's like, I just felt like I needed to reach out to you.
Speaker A:And I was like, well, it took me 15 hours to find out who him was.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So that's where.
Speaker A:That's the reason I wrote cocktails and range balls.
Speaker A:But, you know, I said, the book could have Gone away at that point because that's.
Speaker A:It did its purpose and it helped somebody, and, you know, hopefully it continues to help other people.
Speaker A:But more than anything, I hope it just provide some entertainment for people.
Speaker B:Well, it did.
Speaker B:It's, it's.
Speaker B:It.
Speaker B:Like you said, it's an easy read.
Speaker B:There's some fun stuff in it.
Speaker B:I don't wanna.
Speaker B:I don't want to give it away for people.
Speaker B:We want them to buy your book.
Speaker A:So, yep, there's a lot of fun stories.
Speaker A:I, I.
Speaker A:In between every chapter, I put a tale from the tour, so to speak.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I came up with a really funny story or things that happened out there during my time, and there's some really, really good ones in there.
Speaker A:So it's.
Speaker A:It's definitely worth a read.
Speaker B:Yeah, the, The.
Speaker B:I forgot how you called it, but the arrogant golfer with the.
Speaker B:Got a surprise in his golf balls.
Speaker A:That's the one everybody goes to.
Speaker A:We'll.
Speaker A:We'll clean it up because this is public radio.
Speaker A:But the, the pooping bandit.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, that's.
Speaker A:There was a gentleman who decided I won't.
Speaker A:I mean, I can tell one of the stories that you'll, you know, just show you that there's more stories like this in there.
Speaker A:But, yeah, there was a gentleman my first year on the Corn Freight Tour that decided he was going to police the tour by himself and that there were a few guys out there that weren't very well liked, and they needed to know they weren't well liked.
Speaker A:So he started taking.
Speaker A:We get three dozen golf balls every week in our locker.
Speaker A:And he would go in there and take the dozen golf balls out, and he would go into the.
Speaker A:The stall and leave a nice smelly present inside the box.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Put the lid back on.
Speaker A:Put it in the guy's locker.
Speaker A:And that was his way of saying, hey, clean yourself up here.
Speaker A:You're kind of an.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:You're kind of an a hole.
Speaker A:And, yeah, I kept going throughout the summer.
Speaker A:But there was a kind of a surprise twist in the end of it where there was a copycat bandit.
Speaker A:But yes, that's, That's.
Speaker A:That's about as well as I can clean up that story.
Speaker A:But, yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It's called a copy crapper or what.
Speaker A:Yeah, there was no.
Speaker A:It was just funny because I was standing next to the actual bandit.
Speaker A:And when he found out that somebody else had gotten a guy and he was.
Speaker A:He wasn't laughing.
Speaker A:He wasn't excited about it.
Speaker A:I was like, what's wrong, man?
Speaker A:You didn't get this.
Speaker A:He's like, no, we have a copy.
Speaker A:Copycat.
Speaker A:And I said, how would you know?
Speaker A:He's like, because I was the one that got the first two.
Speaker A:And, yeah, it was.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's a funny story for sure.
Speaker A:But, yeah, that was my introduction to the Corn Ferry Tour back in 06.
Speaker B:Oh, there you go.
Speaker B:Steve Wheatcroft.
Speaker B:Thanks, buddy.
Speaker B:I appreciate.
Speaker A:You got it, Jeff.
Speaker A:Thanks for having me on.
Speaker B:You bet.
Speaker B:We'll be back next week with another edition of whatever this is after hours.
Speaker B:Until then, go out, play some golf.
Speaker B:Have some fun.
Speaker B:Be kind and take care of yourself, people.
Speaker B:See you then.
