This podcast episode features an insightful dialogue with Sean Lanning from 18 Shots, wherein we delve into the intricate dynamics of golf and its relationship with both enthusiasts and professionals. A salient point of discussion revolves around the perception of professional golf in relation to everyday golfers, highlighting the nuances of accessibility amidst evolving competition formats, such as indoor golf leagues. Throughout our conversation, we explore the impact of various influences on Sean's coaching philosophy, particularly underscoring the significance of fostering a comfortable environment for players. Additionally, the episode reflects on the evolution of personal aspirations within the golfing domain, punctuated by Sean's candid reflections on career decisions and missed opportunities. We invite you to engage with these contemplations as we navigate the complexities of the sport and its community.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
Speaker A:
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.
Speaker B:
I got.
Speaker B:
I gotta start the clock After Hours.
Speaker B:
Here on Grilling at the Green this week, we've got Sean Lanning from 18 shot.
Speaker B:
Sean's been on the show a few times before.
Speaker B:
Always a pleasure to have him on the show.
Speaker B:
We're going to start with some simple questions, and we will.
Speaker B:
Then we will get to some not so simple questions.
Speaker B:
You ready?
Speaker A:
Yes, sir.
Speaker B:
Okay.
Speaker B:
What's your favorite color?
Speaker B:
Lifesaver?
Speaker A:
Green.
Speaker B:
Okay, good man.
Speaker B:
What's the one thing you want to hear on the radio in the morning when you start your car?
Speaker B:
What song?
Speaker A:
Oh, if my son's with me, it's got to be tnt.
Speaker A:
I like all forms of reggae music, so anything there if my son's not with me.
Speaker A:
But he does like Bob Marley, too, so I'll go with it.
Speaker A:
Okay.
Speaker A:
All right.
Speaker B:
Name an unsung hero in the golf world.
Speaker A:
Unsung hero in the golf world.
Speaker A:
Jerry King has always been a big influence on the way I've shaped myself, the way I've become a coach and.
Speaker A:
And a friend of my.
Speaker A:
To my peers.
Speaker A:
So I definitely would say Jerry King.
Speaker B:
Okay.
Speaker B:
Name a player you think is highly underrated.
Speaker B:
Can be any tour, any level.
Speaker A:
Mariel Galdiano on the LPGA Tour.
Speaker A:
I first started working with her when she was 6.
Speaker A:
She just got her LPGA card last year.
Speaker A:
This is her first year as an LPGA member.
Speaker A:
I feel like she's going to be a late bloomer.
Speaker A:
She's 26, 27 right now.
Speaker A:
I feel like there's something this year, next year that's going to start transpiring, and we're going to see some really, really good play out of her.
Speaker B:
Okay.
Speaker B:
Okay.
Speaker B:
I may have asked you this before, Sean, but if we put your skills to music, what would the music be?
Speaker A:
Drums.
Speaker B:
And.
Speaker A:
I mean drums and guitar.
Speaker A:
I can play the guitar in a very basic way, but, yeah, I'd stick to those two.
Speaker A:
Those two skills.
Speaker B:
Okay.
Speaker B:
Do you think that professional golf is getting further removed from everyday golfers?
Speaker B:
Meaning the gap is getting bigger and bigger.
Speaker A:
I don't really feel like it's changed over the years.
Speaker A:
I feel like it's.
Speaker A:
I feel, if anything, when Liv took off and the PGA Tour was separated from live, and we see lives starting to kind of fall apart a little.
Speaker B:
Bit,.
Speaker A:
I feel like that's brought the regular golfer back to the PGA Tour player.
Speaker A:
They can all relate.
Speaker A:
The rollback of the golf ball.
Speaker A:
I think that has A little bit of merit to how far the tour player hits the ball relative to the regular golfer.
Speaker A:
So I think there's some give and take with your question.
Speaker A:
I don't know if they can.
Speaker A:
I don't feel like they're too far apart, though.
Speaker B:
Okay.
Speaker B:
Name something that you were originally very enthused about in the golf world when you first saw it or heard it, and with time, your excitement kind of fizzled out.
Speaker A:
Tough question.
Speaker A:
Well, I'm going to say in the golf world, as a golf professional, I dove into being a golf professional folding sweaters, checking folks in for tee times.
Speaker A:
To me, I was pretty intrigued by that.
Speaker A:
I worked at a really cool club in Southern California.
Speaker A:
I was very young and very quickly realized I do not want to fold sweaters, I do not want to check people in for tee times.
Speaker A:
That is the least of my interest.
Speaker A:
And it was one thing I moved away from very, very quickly because I knew what I was passionate about.
Speaker B:
Takes a long time if you start there.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And to get up to the head pro level at somewhere at a, at a really decent facility.
Speaker A:
Right.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
It's very tough.
Speaker B:
If you.
Speaker B:
I probably asked you this before too, but it might have changed.
Speaker B:
If you could play around a golf with one of your golfing heroes, who would it be?
Speaker A:
Without any doubt, Tiger Woods.
Speaker B:
Okay.
Speaker B:
Okay.
Speaker B:
What course do you want to play but haven't played yet?
Speaker A:
Gus?
Speaker A:
National.
Speaker B:
There you go.
Speaker B:
That's a very common, common answer.
Speaker B:
Looking back, Sean, is there anything that you would change in your career or life in general,.
Speaker A:
Personally or professionally?
Speaker A:
Just kidding.
Speaker B:
That's up to you.
Speaker A:
Let's go.
Speaker A:
Let's go.
Speaker A:
Professionally, I would have, I would have stayed at a certain job, a certain location and not followed a special someone to.
Speaker A:
Back to, back to the States.
Speaker A:
I was in a really good opportunity, a career driven opportunity working in Hawaii.
Speaker A:
And I feel like it was a perfect fit for me long term.
Speaker A:
And I left there because my spouse was not thrilled with that part of Hawaii.
Speaker A:
So you learn valuable lessons in life.
Speaker A:
Sometimes when you look at the grass and you think the grass is going to be greener on the other side of the mound, like it's sometimes not so green.
Speaker A:
And so that's kind of, sometimes taking a step back and kind of realizing what you have and being grateful and thankful for the opportunity that is in front of you.
Speaker A:
So, yeah, in hindsight, yeah, I could always look back and say that.
Speaker A:
But I'm very grateful and thankful for what I have and people around me.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Sometimes that greener grass is just a result of more fertilizer.
Speaker A:
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:
Okay, a couple more here.
Speaker B:
What do you think is the toughest part of your job?
Speaker A:
Oh, very simple.
Speaker A:
It's.
Speaker A:
It's attempting to lock in and engage in the persons that I have in front of me and their personality, their learning patterns, and ultimately being able to communicate clearly with them.
Speaker A:
And I have a five minute window when I first meet somebody new where I have to be able to do just that in that five minute window.
Speaker A:
And that is my first impression with a player, whether they're going to stick with me or they're not.
Speaker A:
So again, I think what I learned from Randy Chang, which is a really good friend of mine from Southern Cal, he was really good about saying, hey, when you have a player that walks up to you, the first thing that, that you have to do is you have to get them comfortable because they're, they're tripped out, they're nervous, their anxiety levels are through the roof.
Speaker A:
You have to get them flat out comfortable in that quick environment and you just have to find a way to get through to them.
Speaker A:
And I think that's probably one of my strengths, but it's taken some time.
Speaker B:
Do you think that places like tgl, indoor places, do you think that one of these days that will be considered like real golf?
Speaker B:
Because if you look at the breakdown, Sean, golf has exploded, especially since COVID Yeah, but when you look at the breakdown, there's about half of the people that just are playing simulators and that they're not actually getting out on the green grass, the real grass like that.
Speaker B:
You get some stodgy people.
Speaker B:
And I'm not going to tell you where I fall in on this, but that's like, yeah, that's, that's cute, that's fun.
Speaker B:
Simulators are for working.
Speaker B:
They're not for really playing 18 holes.
Speaker B:
And then other ones that are like, no, it's very similar like that.
Speaker B:
So where do you come down on that?
Speaker A:
Yeah, I mean, real simple.
Speaker A:
I think you definitely will see TGL golf leagues like that turn into more serious competitions like it has been, where it might actually, I don't think it'll ever affect official world golf ranking, but I definitely feel like you're going to have a lot of competitive forms where people are competing, players are competing, whether you're pros or amateurs or college players or junior golfers.
Speaker A:
Indoor golf takes a quarter of the time.
Speaker A:
It costs pennies to the dollar for the golfer.
Speaker B:
Right.
Speaker A:
And I mean, if you go play pebble beach Again, you pay 695, $700 per person, plus all the extra dolls and whistles.
Speaker A:
Well, you could play pebble beach at a simulator for $65, and you could actually split that $65 between three pals.
Speaker A:
So, I mean, it's a completely different world that we're in with simulator golf, but for the busy people that are out there that want to play golf and want to maintain playing golf throughout different seasons, different weather patterns, you've got indoor golf, which is a fantastic.
Speaker A:
If you're playing in.
Speaker A:
In this environment.
Speaker A:
And again, you've got an hour to play nine holes between two, three, four people.
Speaker A:
I mean, we're talking.
Speaker A:
That's a great way to work on your process because you get your club, you look at the target, you take a practice swing if you want, you walk up and you hit your shot, and it's fun, it's fast, it's socially driven, and the entire world is behind it.
Speaker A:
I mean, there are so there are indoor facilities that are opening worldwide.
Speaker A:
And two great examples, you've got Mulligan's up in anchorage.
Speaker A:
You've got 18 shots that I've owned and managed down here in Pacific Northwest.
Speaker A:
And you've got studio golf that has Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, San Diego.
Speaker A:
And all three of those locations are locations that I take care of my players up.
Speaker A:
And they are massive indoor facilities that really cater to the indoor golf and the social scene.
Speaker A:
So it's such a unique spot.
Speaker B:
All right, last question.
Speaker B:
If I gave you a box with everything that you've lost in your life in that box, what would be the first thing you would reach for?
Speaker A:
My Social Security card.
Speaker B:
Is there a story behind that?
Speaker A:
I left it on my.
Speaker A:
In my wallet on the top of my car when I lived in Maui and I was out surfing, and I came back to the car and tossed everything in the car, and I drove away and never found my wallet again.
Speaker A:
Everything was.
Speaker A:
I got everything, you know, replaced.
Speaker A:
But that was a pain in the royal butt to get all that replaced.
Speaker B:
Oh, absolutely, Absolutely.
Speaker B:
Sean, real quick again, tell people where they can find you.
Speaker A:
Yeah, absolutely, Sean.
Speaker A:
Lany, golf.com or 18shots.com if you're local to Portland.
Speaker A:
Just swing by Trails End Golf center in Oregon City.
Speaker A:
That's where you'll find me.
Speaker A:
18 Shots is right here at Trails End.
Speaker B:
Okay, very good, Shawn Landing.
Speaker B:
Thank you very much.
Speaker B:
That's going to wrap it for after hours this week, folks.
Speaker B:
Remember our motto here.
Speaker B:
Go out, play some golf.
Speaker B:
Have some fun.
Speaker B:
Try to be kind.
Speaker B:
If you can't use a seven iron, we'll see you next week.
