Shownotes
The conversation presented herein delves into the aspirations and experiences of Brendan De Jonge, who reflects on his journey to the United States, a culmination of his lifelong dream to play college golf and subsequently reside in the country. Throughout the discourse, we navigate through a variety of topics, including the nuances of spectator behavior at golf tournaments and the evolving landscape of indoor golf, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Brendon elucidates the significance of maintaining genuine engagement in the sport, advocating for a reduction in the distractions posed by mobile devices during tournaments. Furthermore, we explore the impact of indoor golfing experiences, such as simulator leagues, and their potential to coexist with traditional golfing venues. Our dialogue is enriched by personal anecdotes, insights into the golf industry, and reflections on the importance of community within the sport.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Barcelona
- SiriusXM
- PGA Tour
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
Welcome to Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:After Hours.
Speaker A:The conversation that took place after the show ended.
Speaker A:Hey, welcome back to Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:This is the after hours portion.
Speaker A:This is the part that you can't put on speakerphone because of some of the answers.
Speaker A:You know, we just work it that way.
Speaker A:I got Brendan Deyong with us today.
Speaker A:You've lived in this country for a long time now.
Speaker A:When you were a kid, did you ever think you would be living over here?
Speaker B:It was always the dream, jt.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:You know, we.
Speaker B:My.
Speaker B:My dream was always to play college golf and.
Speaker B:And then live.
Speaker B:Live in the United States after that.
Speaker B:I. I knew that the.
Speaker B:The opportunities.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Were endless.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it was.
Speaker B:It was always the dream.
Speaker B:So to.
Speaker B:To be living here is, I guess, a dream come true.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:So we start out easy, and then we work up to the harder questions here in After Hours.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:What's your favorite color?
Speaker A:Lifesaver Green.
Speaker A:Golf clap.
Speaker A:Golf clap for Brendan.
Speaker A:Okay, what's the one song you want to hear on the radio when you go out and get in your car in the morning?
Speaker B:Oh, geez.
Speaker B:That's a. Oh, man, I wasn't prepared for this, jt.
Speaker B:Probably a stone song.
Speaker B:Some.
Speaker B:Some Stone song.
Speaker B:Go.
Speaker B:Go with Satisfaction.
Speaker B:Just keep it easy.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm a gimme shelter guy.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:Give me Shelters.
Speaker A:I think their best song.
Speaker A:That's me, but.
Speaker A:Yep, that's the one they don't play very much on the radio.
Speaker B:You're right.
Speaker B:It doesn't get enough play.
Speaker A:Doesn't get enough play.
Speaker A:You're on the road a lot, Brendan.
Speaker A:What is one thing?
Speaker A:And you go to a lot of the same places every year now in broadcasting.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Name one place that you always look forward to going to and why.
Speaker A:Is there a restaurant or you like the hotel or the weather or.
Speaker A:You know, I don't know.
Speaker A:Any reason.
Speaker B:There is a.
Speaker B:There's a place called.
Speaker B:And I think it is a chain.
Speaker B:There's a few of them called Barcelona.
Speaker B:It's right across the road from the hotel we stay in up in Stamford, Connecticut.
Speaker B:I love to go and sit at the bar at Barcelona.
Speaker B:Go and have a couple beers.
Speaker B:They've got some wonderful IPAs on tap there and kind of a tapas place, so you can just sit there and kind of pick up some finger foods.
Speaker B:But it's always a place that I look forward to getting up there.
Speaker A:So is the.
Speaker A:Is the beer better here or in Zimbabwe?
Speaker B:I think the beer here is getting better now.
Speaker B:It was pretty poor for A while.
Speaker B:I think you're.
Speaker B:Now, the IPAs and stuff over here are a lot better, I think.
Speaker B:I think the last sort of 10 years, the beer has really picked up in this country.
Speaker B:But as far as just your basic lagers and stuff, we had some very good loggers.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, we.
Speaker A:You know, where I live here we are one of the original hubs of microbreweries.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So we've got all kinds of ales and IPAs, and you name it.
Speaker A:And they do.
Speaker A:Well, I'll just put it that way.
Speaker A:They do well.
Speaker A:What's one of the funniest thing, Brendan, you ever saw happen to a colleague on the air that we did not see at home?
Speaker A:Did Johnson's mustache fall off or something?
Speaker A:Or.
Speaker B:You know, I can't think of a specific time, Jeff, but anytime you're sitting with somebody and they think they might have got caught on a hot mic, regardless of what they've said, watching them trying to backtrack or cover it up is always pretty.
Speaker B:Is always pretty entertaining.
Speaker B:And now it's always going to happen.
Speaker B:It's going to happen to somebody.
Speaker B:But, yeah, it always is pretty.
Speaker B:Pretty funny watching somebody scramble.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The one guy that never really gave much of a crap about that was Ferrity.
Speaker B:He just.
Speaker A:He was just.
Speaker A:You.
Speaker A:You got what you saw there.
Speaker A:What's one thing, Brendan, that you wish?
Speaker A:Spectators at tournaments, sans waste management, which is on right now, because that place is a circus on steroids that has just come off Quaaludes or something.
Speaker A:You know, I mean, that's just a nutty place there.
Speaker A:I used to live down there.
Speaker A:But one thing you wish spectators would.
Speaker B:Not do, you know, honestly, Jeff, and this is never going to happen.
Speaker B:I wish that cell phones were not allowed to actually.
Speaker B:Where people are watching the golf like, you know, it's so refreshing watching Augusta every year and seeing how engaged people are with the people that they're with talking and actually watching the shots instead of having their phone out there and trying to film the shots or.
Speaker B:Or trying to film their buddy doing something.
Speaker B:So that if.
Speaker B:If you could somehow enforce some rule on the PGA Tour where cell phones were not allowed, I. I think that would just add to the.
Speaker B:The golf watching 100%.
Speaker A:I think stun guns would help.
Speaker A:Taser.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:I'm for that, too.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker B:That would be a very entertaining.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, you could catch it on.
Speaker A:On broadcast and then, you know.
Speaker A:But if they're out there doing a selfie with somebody, you know, Scheffler putting behind them, and they're doing this crappy.
Speaker A:Just, you know, that.
Speaker B:That I, I hadn't thought of that.
Speaker B:But that might be the answer next time I get asked that question.
Speaker A:Well, you know, I mean, there's always that.
Speaker A:Name a player, Brendan, that you think that.
Speaker A:That you see, and it can be on any tour you want, that you think is underrated.
Speaker B:There's a kid, and I think he's always not a kid.
Speaker B:He's been around a little while.
Speaker B:He hasn't won yet on the PGA Tour.
Speaker B:I think he's playing well this week.
Speaker B:His name's Sam Ste.
Speaker B:I think Sam Stevens is very, very underrated.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:He goes about his business quietly.
Speaker A:You look.
Speaker B:Look up at the end of the year and he's had another solid year.
Speaker B:I think he's been out there for three or four years.
Speaker B:I think Sam Stevens is.
Speaker B:Is one of those guys that jt.
Speaker B:When he gets that first win on the PGA Tour, there's.
Speaker B:There's going to be several that will follow pretty quickly after that.
Speaker A:You ever.
Speaker A:I'm gonna.
Speaker A:I. I honestly don't know him.
Speaker A:Know who he is.
Speaker A:So I'm going to.
Speaker A:I'm going to check it out here.
Speaker A:Do you ever think that sometimes the.
Speaker A:The announcers and I noticed this year they're not doing it as much, but we're pretty fresh into this year.
Speaker A:But they'll go, you.
Speaker A:You get somebody coming up and they're.
Speaker A:They're fairly new and they.
Speaker A:Maybe they don't win, but they're in the top five, whatever.
Speaker A:And then somebody says, this guy's going to win a lot of.
Speaker A:Lot of tournaments in his career.
Speaker A:They say stuff like that.
Speaker A:I've always.
Speaker A:In my career, I always try to shy away from those kind of blanket statements because you can end up with your thumb in your ear very quickly.
Speaker A:Guy could be off tour in six months and you never see him again.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think it's one of those things.
Speaker B:It's very easy to kind of have that recency bias where you see somebody play a very good event and you think that this is going to lead to many more.
Speaker B:I know I've been guilty of it several times, but yeah, it is.
Speaker B:I think it's.
Speaker B:It's kind of the business we're in.
Speaker B:You're a little bit reactionary as well, but yeah, I think there's certain.
Speaker B:There are certain guys that you watch them over a period of time and you can.
Speaker B:You form that opinion of.
Speaker B:This guy's going to be a world beater.
Speaker B:This guy's underrated.
Speaker B:This guy's overrated.
Speaker B:And, you know, if you kind of have some idea about what you're looking at, you, you typically, more often than not are right or somewhat right.
Speaker A:Brandon, what's the first thing you reach for when you're done with a round?
Speaker A:Now, I know you're not playing competitive anymore, but what's the first thing you would come to your mind to go, I'm going to have an IPA.
Speaker A:I'm going to have M&Ms.
Speaker A:I'm going to get a foot massage.
Speaker A:What is the first thing you want to do when your round's over?
Speaker B:I mean, what I wanted to do would be have a beer.
Speaker B:JT that wasn't always the case.
Speaker B:One thing I'd reach for, I mean, typically you'd finish around, you'd go in and you'd have lunch right away.
Speaker B:So it would be.
Speaker B:You go grab a plate and get in the buffet line.
Speaker A:Do you.
Speaker A:What did you.
Speaker A:That did just give me kind of a ancillary question here.
Speaker A:What did you keep in your bag that your caddy could fork over to you if you were?
Speaker A:It's a long round, and especially as you get in spring and summer, it's hot, you run out of energy.
Speaker A:You know, now these guys are eating, you know, boiled chicken with cucumbers or some stuff like that.
Speaker A:Wouldn't be my first choice.
Speaker A:But what did you keep in your bag?
Speaker B:I typically have a couple bananas in there and then maybe grab a couple more at the turn and maybe maybe a protein bar of sorts.
Speaker B:Just something to try and keep the energy up.
Speaker B:You know, you're out there for five hours plus for the most part.
Speaker B:So, yeah, you needed to make sure that you ate a little bit.
Speaker B:And then I was pretty good about drinking enough water on the golf course.
Speaker B:I did a good job of staying hydrated.
Speaker B:I mean, I'd go through 10, 15 bottles of water on a golf course through a round.
Speaker A:Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker A:I mean, even as a.
Speaker A:The lowest ranked amateur player in the world, I would, I would.
Speaker A:There are certain things I play in where it's almost a bottle of water per hole.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:You know, and we're in a cart, by God, because it's a scramble and it's a charity thing and all that, so you're not hoofing it.
Speaker A:And it's like, yeah, I got to keep this up.
Speaker A:And then, you know, you don't have to go use the bushes all the time either, because your body's just exactly right.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Is there a course that you want to play but you haven't played I mean, you've got opportunities that the mere mortals don't.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, I, I've been invited out to Cyprus several, several times, and I, I just have never had the time or it just hasn't fit into the schedule.
Speaker B:I, I think in how to play Cypress Point would be one Pine Valley as well, actually.
Speaker B:I've had that opportunity many times and just have never been able to take it up.
Speaker B:So those are, those are two for me, that to play sometime fairly soon.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:Brendan, do you think indoor golf, like tgl, that's kind of the, the pinnacle right now of indoor golf, like that, you think that has a place?
Speaker A:Because one thing we are seeing there was, you know, right after Covid, a lot of people opened up with these simulator shops, if you will, little storefronts, and you could go in there and hit balls.
Speaker A:And some of them are the ones I think that are attached to the.
Speaker A:A bar or restaurant or a casino tend to do better.
Speaker A:But the standalones, but we've also seen a bunch of them close down.
Speaker A:So, you know, you're up to your neck in this business.
Speaker A:Is there a place going forward for things like TGL and these simulator leagues and that type of thing?
Speaker B:I, I think so, jt.
Speaker B:I, I think there is, I think there's a, there's a place for it.
Speaker B:And I think what you have to do is you just kind of, you put it in its own lane.
Speaker B:You don't try and make it, make it as golf.
Speaker B:Don't, don't sort of poo poo on it because you've got these weird designed holes.
Speaker B:Like, just, just let it be like that.
Speaker B:It doesn't need to be like you're playing pebble beach on a simulator.
Speaker B:You know, if you've got these weird designed, designed golf holes, that's fun.
Speaker B:It's, it's something that's a little bit different.
Speaker B:So I think, yeah, there certainly is a place for it.
Speaker A:Okay, only a couple more here, Brennan, and we'll cut you loose here.
Speaker A:When you were playing, what's the weirdest thing you ever said to a reporter?
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Something you may look back on and go, God, I wish I hadn't said that.
Speaker B:I, I mean, I, I, I don't know if I ever said anything really weird, Jeff.
Speaker B:I think probably, I mean, maybe telling a white lie and telling a reporter that I really didn't have any time or I, I needed to get going.
Speaker B:Would the strangest thing I said, I was typically pretty good about standing there and answering questions, and it was easy to do Because I didn't have to do it that often.
Speaker B:I would imagine it would get.
Speaker B:Get very tiring if you're.
Speaker B:If you're one of those players that's got to do it every single week.
Speaker A:I understand.
Speaker A:Okay, last one here.
Speaker A:Brendan, if I gave you a box with everything that you've lost in your life in the box, what would be the first thing you would reach for?
Speaker B:That I've lost my favorite pair of sunglasses that I left in a rental car.
Speaker B:I. Oh, I was very disappointed when I got home and I remembered that I'd left them in the console in the rental car.
Speaker B:That was very disappointing.
Speaker B:That's one that jumps to mind.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I've got.
Speaker A:I don't know where it is here, but little ear, this little job.
Speaker A:I don't know if you can see this, folks.
Speaker A:This little earpiece for my phone, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I have left those lots of places.
Speaker A:When I put it on, I forget it's there, and that's fine.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But you talk about a rental car you're getting.
Speaker A:You don't want to take it to.
Speaker A:Into the restaurant, so you put it on the dash or whatever, or, you know, and they disappear.
Speaker A:That's a real pain, and it's really dumb.
Speaker A:So it's.
Speaker B:It's frustrating.
Speaker B:Very frustrating.
Speaker A:Frustrating.
Speaker A:Brendan DeYoung, thank you, buddy.
Speaker A:Again, Tell everybody about your radio show with Johnson and how people can listen to your work.
Speaker B:Yeah, come listen to us.
Speaker B:We are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 11 Eastern Time.
Speaker B:SiriusX, MPGA Tour Radio, channel 92.
Speaker B:In the car, Johnson, Wagner, myself, the Wagyu Fillet.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's good fun.
Speaker B:It really is good fun and it's hopefully a decent listen.
Speaker A:I'm sure it is.
Speaker A:I'm sure it is.
Speaker A:Brendan.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:That's going to wrap it for after hours.
Speaker A:We'll be back next week with another edition of this.
Speaker A:Until then, like always, go out, play some golf.
Speaker A:Be kind, but have some fun, too.
Speaker A:Take care, everybody.
