Get ready for a compelling episode of Beyond the Game as host Mike Lacey sits down with Carson Lundell, former BYU golf standout who came within inches of qualifying for the US Open. From hitting birdies in torrential downpours at Alpine Country Club to walking eight miles in Ohio just to watch Tony Finau play before his own 36-hole qualifier, Carson’s journey exemplifies resilience under pressure.
After winning multiple state championships at Lone Peak High School, Carson chose to serve a mission in Tucson, Arizona, sacrificing two years of prime development time that many warned would derail his golf career. Instead, he returned home and immediately captured sixth place in his first tournament.
Playing for legendary coaches Bruce Brockbank and Todd Miller at BYU, Carson discovered that Cougar golf represents more than competition – it’s a family culture where coaches care about your happiness in life, not just your scorecard. Through heartbreaking playoff losses, weather-delayed tournaments, and the unique challenges of playing Sunday rounds in a different time slot due to BYU’s honor code, Carson learned that golf mirrors life perfectly: you can hit great shots and be penalized, make great decisions and catch bad breaks, but character is built in how you respond and bounce back. His philosophy centers on approaching every challenge with confidence and belief but choosing faith over doubt in every aspect of life makes all the difference.
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Video Chapters:
0:00 – Opening
0:52 – Meet Carson Lundell
1:16 – US Open Qualifying Journey
2:12 – Heartbreak at Alpine Country Club
3:06 – Weather and Tee Time Challenges
4:23 – Torrential Downpour at Qualifying
5:25 – Birdieing in the Worst Conditions
6:49 – Four-Way Playoff Drama
8:00 – Advancing to Ohio Sectionals
8:51 – Tour Players in the Field
10:24 – What Happened in Ohio
11:14 – The Longest Day in Golf
12:29 – Caddy Relationships and Scott Pickering
14:55 – Why We Play This Perplexing Game
15:34 – Golf as Life Teacher
17:17 – Mental Approach to Bad Weather
19:08 – BYU Golf Experience
21:22 – Missing the Big 12 Era
22:24 – Sunday Play Challenges
24:17 – Arkansas and Scottsdale Stories
27:12 – Afternoon Tee Times Disadvantage
28:35 – Professional Golf Aspirations
30:21 – Tony Finau Memorial Tournament Walk
32:40 – Touch and Confidence in Golf
34:11 – Mission to Tucson Arizona
35:22 – Immediate Success Post-Mission
36:24 – Regaining Feel and Touch
37:38 – Confidence vs. Doubt
38:22 – Final Message to Cougar Nation
39:45 – Closing Thoughts
you know, people talk about it is like, you know, it’s it’s a game of life. It’s it’s a sport, but it’s also just the way life works. You know, like you can hit great shots and be penalized for it. You know, you can make great decisions in life and, you know, you’ll catch a bad break and, you know, it’s how you respond and how you bounce back um that kind of builds that character. [Music] Hi, I’m Mike Lacy and we are here with Beyond the Game and with Carson Lundelle. If you know anything about links in Utah or golf, even here in the United States, this young man has played at the highest levels. Welcome, Carson Lundelle. Thank you. Happy to be here. You know, I uh I saw your mom had a Facebook post and she had a a newspaper article linked there and a week ago you made the preliminaries to go to qualify the preliminaries to qualify for the US Open. That is I mean that’s rarified error for those of us who’ve never thought about being in a in a tournament. Tell us about you know making that preliminary and then what happened this past week. Yeah. Um, so yeah, that the the kind of the pre the local one is uh been it’s been quite the ride the last couple years. My first two attempts early on in uh my college career, I got through and now you were one of the top golfers at BYU. Yeah. And you made it, you know, by being a top golfer in Utah and at Lone Peak. Yeah. All right. Yeah. And Yeah. So, I I made it my first two years and then I had like three straight like heartbreaks like through the locals where it was like I don’t even want to talk about it. Like that’s how bad it was. Like one I lost in a playoff. I was dead center fairway with 50 yards of the green. Terrible wedge shot into the bunker. Make bogey and a par would have gotten through. And then we went on to the next and kind of just had another bad thing. And then like the year before I make double on my last hold to miss it by one and just like stuff like that. And uh and especially at Alpine like my home course where I grew up playing like there’s that Oh, that’s where that happened. Yeah. And there’s just like kind of that added I wouldn’t necessarily say pressure but expectation and uh anyways it was it was tough. It played really really tough and uh I was at afternoon tea time and it was was it windy? It was blowing really hard. How is that fair? It’s just part of the game, you know? It’s a lot of it is such tea time dependent and it’s just the way it goes. Now, are the other guys that people are the other people that are equivalent to you in standing, are they going in the same weather? It just it’s or is it random? It’s a pure luck of the draw. Oh. and the last couple years you’re not going let’s let’s say you’re at the top of the leaderboard and there’s 60 people trying to get in this preliminary you’re still your tea time’s going to be assigned randomly randomly. Oh man. Yeah. So the first tea time I think was at 7:30 and the last one I think was around 12:30 and I was at Yeah. or 12:20 and I was at 1150 maybe. And sometimes the the wind here in northern Utah County can get heavy. Yeah. Yeah. comes through AF Canyon and it and it blows and I was hoping we were it was going to be okay and anyways it was like my last 10 minutes on the range it started to come and I’m like okay here we go here it goes and uh it was playing tough like Alpine was the greens were running super fast they were firm really good pin locations and then we make the turn and just a torrential downpour like the hardest what month of the year was this this uh it was just uh what are we May May early May. It was early May and that’s a lot like I walked from 9 to 10 and by the time I got on 10T box it was like like the probably the hardest rain I’ve ever played through. Really? Yeah, it was crazy. It was crazy. And we get on 10 green and it already was puddling and I was like, “Oh man, they’re going to call this like this is this is insane, right?” Um, but I just, you know, I’ve been practicing more in bad weather to kind of prepare for times like those. And so luckily I kind of just felt this like like boost of confidence that was just like, “Okay, like this is why I’ve gone out in the pouring rain the last little bit.” and you know kind of try to take advantage of that where maybe some of the other guys are like pretty uncomfortable cuz it’s just it’s not that fun to play in. No. And I ended up birdieing two of the three holes when it was at its worst. You’re kidding. Yeah. And so when when it’s puddling on the green, do you just have to pound your putt or what? It’s just like I mean if they don’t call it Yeah. It’s or you chip it over the puddle like Wow. I mean, yeah. I I thought they were going to call it. Okay. Yeah. And then it kind of let up a little bit like on I think when I got to like 12, 11, 12ish, it was like a little bit letting up. And then by like 14 it was still raining but not like that downpour. But you’re sloshing through water. Sloshing through water. Yeah. And you’re sping wet. I mean everything’s you’re just you’re just trying to stay dry. You got And the guys that started at 7:30 Yeah. they in a clubhouse. They’re at home. Their last two holes maybe caught a little bit of wind. Okay. Probably the guys that teed off all before 9 9:30. Had it pretty nice. Wow. But uh yeah, and just was able to make a couple birdies. rolled in a really nice birdie on 16 and uh anyways it was actually got another playoff and I I didn’t know what I was at or I I didn’t know where I stood and actually I got a really lucky break on 18 and was able to make par and kind of hang around for the last couple groups come in and found out I was in a what was it a four four guys for two spots playoff right then. Yeah. Yeah. So if you’re in a playoff, those guys, if uh one of the guys from 7:30 is in the playoff, he has, you know, wherever he is, he has to come back and hit. Yeah. Yeah. I think they all hung around cuz I think they were all like before 10 or 9:30 and you were the one that played in the wet. Yeah. Yeah, it was. And rain. It was ugly. But that’s interesting, Carson. Yeah. But I mean, talk about adversity. Yeah. Yeah. It was it was uh when this is a big goal of yours. Yeah, it is. And I, like I said, I’ve just I felt like the last couple years I just felt like I was going to make it to the US Open. Like not just through locals or sectionals, like I thought I’d be playing just felt like I’d be playing in the US Open. And this is the same way I felt this year. And anyways, just to get in that playoff under the circumstances, um I was pretty happy and I knew like, okay, I just played this hole. Like I’m a little bit more fresh, but it’s still coming down hard. And anyways, I ended up making par on the first hole and that was good enough. So good enough to go on. Good enough to get through. Yeah. Good. Yeah, it was. And And so when you’re starting a playoff, you start at hole number one. Uh, no. So, we actually went back to 18 and we’re just going to just do 18 as many times as it took. Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. And 18 was playing super tough. Like super super tough. And it plays tough for me, too. Yeah. And just the weather, the wind, the rain, the pin. It was like I knew par would probably get you there. Get you there. So, again, you had two guys were going to make it out of four. Out of four. Yeah. And you hit a par. So, you got to go. Yep. Yep. Par ended up being good enough, which And was that was that I mean, help me with this was this year and that’s what got you to this tournament in Ohio. Yep. Yep. That was early May. And and then yeah, you get through and then uh you kind of just you have your you’re you get like three options of where you want to go and as far as locations for the sectional, the final qualifying. And I chose um Columbus, Ohio because there’s a lot of tour guys cuz they just finished they just finished up the memorial on Sunday and so like all the tour guys that aren’t in the US Open yet, it’s like 15 minutes from the course and so they’ll just stay the extra night and play in the in that qualifier. So normally So okay, keep going. Yeah. So, normally they’ll have a like extra spots. So, there’ll be more um just yeah spots to get through because of the strength of the field. So, like we had 15 to 20 tour guys, you know, guys like Ricky Fowler, Max, but they’ve already made it, right? They’re just playing. Oh, so they’re playing to get into Yeah. What is that more challenging because they’re there? Um, it can be, but with the more spots, um, there’s not as many guys that will catch lightning in a bottle opposed to like three, two, three, four spots. Like, you know, anyone can get hot that day. But I feel like if I played well, it would be good enough regardless of, you know, who was in the field. And with the more spots, there’s not going to be six guys if I play well that are going to, you know, catch that, you know, that fire. Lightning in the bottle. Yeah. All right. So, you told me, you know, tell because you were right there. Yeah. What happened? Oh, man. Share with us. I know. Maybe it’s too painful to go over, but it’s sad. It teaches us sad. Yeah. Um, so I Yes. I So, it’s one day, 36 holes, right? All right. Stop there. All right. These professional golfers, we all think of golf as, well, that’s not even a sport. You might as well be playing chess. But that’s not true because these guys have to walk, you know, and when you walk uh from the tips, the blacks or whatever, and if you’re walking the whole course from from the T- box to the to the and then to the next T- box. Uh that’s a long way. You might do eight miles or 10 miles. It’s long. It’s Yeah. So they can they or like it’s known for being kind of like the longest day in golf and like the golf channel always does these big because you’re doing 36 holes in one day in one day and almost all of the the qualif the sectional qualifiers are that day June 2nd and so whether you’re in Ohio or Florida or wherever California yeah Washington like there’s like eight or nine of them that happen that day and it’s just kind of like mayhem cuz it’s like you have all these, you know, anyone can get in. Like literally the open that’s call it the open. Yeah. Anyone can get in. Like I think there was like a dentist that got in that he doesn’t even play. Like he like doesn’t play full-time and he got in in Washington or like you hear these really cool stories about these guys that like, you know, just go out and have a great day and next thing you know they’re teened up at Oakmont with, you know, the best in the world at the US Open. So, it’s like it it’s considered, you know, and I don’t know if they like trademarked it, but it’s like Yeah. Like the longest day in golf because it’s the one day 36 holes and you’re just walking it like it’s pretty taxing. Who’s your uh Do you have a caddy? Um, I don’t have I if I can I like to have my old assistant coach at BYU, Todd Miller, do it, but he had some stuff and I had a buddy uh named Scott Pickering and he was able to fly out literally he was like it was so clutch of him cuz he got in Sunday night at like 1:00 in the morning and I was asleep. Whoa. And trudged the 36 and went home the next day. So, it was like super clutch of him to come out and help me with that. Well, and tell us what what relate. We all read about Tiger Woods fired his caddy or so and so, you know, says that his caddy helped him win or this caddy gave him some great advice on this shot or, you know, what’s your relationship or what’s the average relationship with a caddy on on in the professional tour and then how does that affect you? Um, yeah, that’s kind of a loaded question to be honest. Um, I’m a little bit more picky because just the way that I am like I don’t I just have my process and so they might get in the way a little bit, you know, if they say the right thing, stand in the wrong place or whatever. Exactly. Exact. Like standing in the wrong place is a big deal and like that can happen, right? And then it’s like, oh, you know, your caddy was standing in the wrong place. Either messed me up or my playing partner. And then you’re like, takes it a little bit away from it where it’s like, oh, dang. You know, where are they at? You know, moving forward, right? But then it’s just like, you know, sometimes they try to give too much information or it’s just it’s it’s a hard balance. And I think that’s why we see when guys find someone they like, you see these multipleyear um kind of relationships with the caddies. True. Um, but it’s that’s a great question. Catty, it’s it’s tough to find someone you’re you you know, you click with. And Pickering was your was your caddy. Yeah. What’s his first name? Scott. Scott Pickering. Yeah. So, he carries your bag. Yeah. Hands you the club. Mhm. Does he know the yardage or, you know, are you allowed to to shoot it or Yeah. Yeah. Doing that yourself? We can use our rangefinders. And he would typically just hand me the rangefinder and then I’d tell him how far it was and then, you know, have a short discussion about where the pin’s at on the green and, you know, where the best place is to land it and to give myself the best chance based on where I’m at in the fairway, the rough or why do we play this game that is so perplexing? Uh, I think Max H said it best. He’s, you know, I think a month or two or however long ago, he made a comment that was just like, we’re all we’re all one swing away from retirement, but we’re also one one swing away from believing we can win the Masters. And it’s like there’s never been a truer statement where it’s like it’s true. Yeah. It’s like sometimes you just don’t know what’s going on and other times you’re like, I don’t think I can ever play bad again. like how does golf, you know, what does it teach you, you know, in your you’re young, but what does it teach you in your young life? Um, well, I think golf is uh it’s a little cliche because it’s just the way, you know, people talk about it is like, you know, it’s it’s a game of life. It’s it’s a sport, but it’s also just the way life works. You know, like you can hit great shots and be penalized for it. you know, you can make great decisions in life and, you know, you’ll catch a bad break and, you know, it’s how you respond and how you bounce back um that kind of builds that character and you know, vice versa. you can make, you know, some mistakes and end up okay. And it’s, you know, I think that’s one of the great things about golf and getting into it young was it’s, you know, hard to learn and, you know, when you hit a bad shot, it’s easy to get upset and easy to get down on yourself and let that affect you moving forward. Um, but I just, you know, it’s just the same thing in life. It’s like, you know, you make a couple mistakes and it’s like, you know, how are you going to bounce back from this? You know, are you going to learn from it and be better or you going to, you know, be down on yourself and let it affect you for the next little bit? How do you deal with that attitude of, hey, this wasn’t fair? It’s hard. It is hard because because of the way it is and how the conditions can change from, you know, within a couple hours. Um it’s hard but you know everyone at some point has to deal with it and you can either approach it as you know I’m getting you know the short end of the stick or you know let’s make the most of this opportunity and just I feel like it’s the way you approach it. How did you do it though? You you said I think you parred I mean you birdied two of the three or three of the four. Yeah. When you when you had such bad envir or uh conditions. Yeah. Yeah. How did you do it? Um was it mental or was this It was a lot mental because because I had decided um earlier this year like I’m not just going to practice when it’s nice out. I’m going to go practice in the gross conditions, the stuff that you hate to be in that you would never want to go be in. I decided that I’m going to do that to better prepare myself for when those happens because they will happen. like you’re always going to have a day or two or sometime along the year when you’re playing in conditions you don’t want to be in. And I think that gave me a lot of confidence and it did. I remember being in the fairway on 10 when it’s just an absolute downpour and I’m like like everyone else is in trouble cuz I’ve put in the time in these conditions and like I’ve I’ve done the work and gave me this boost of confidence and yeah rolled in a couple nice putts on 11 and 12 and ones that were really tough birdies at the time and was able to kind of then get one on 16 too which was which was great. But it was just that kind of mentality and the and the approach of and yeah, I’ve been playing it so long and been in so many terms that I have had times where the weather will come and I’m just like, “Oh, this sucks.” Like gosh, like you know, get me out of here. Just let’s just get through this. Go home. Yeah. And I’ve had that like everyone has. And I just think that the approach changed when I had put in the work in the in those conditions to where it was like, “Okay, I’m ready for this.” Yeah. Like like, “Let’s not just get home now. Let’s let’s attack.” That’s cool. Yeah, it was cool. All right. You were a top golfer at BYU and uh I mean, what a legacy BYU has in golf, right? Yeah. You mentioned Todd Miller, but the Miller name and all the crazy good golfers that have gone through, including Carson Lendell. How was it golfing for BYU? What What were your best experiences? Golfing at BYU, I tell everyone, is like it is the greatest thing I honestly think that anybody could do, like ever. Really? No, I was going to say football, brother. I don’t know. And like I I I’m sure football’s great, but all my buddies that played football at BYU wish they were on the golf team of And I I’m teasing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I do too. Yeah. Um there’s just something about it. BYU is just different. It’s a different place that, you know, just and the golf team’s just different. Like they just there’s this culture in the golf team that’s just like a family. And it’s like from the alumni to, you know, all the coaches to the administration, the different faculty, like everybody just loves BYU golf. And it’s like I just I mean, it was always one of my dreams to play there. And when it happened, you know, I was excited, but I didn’t fully understand what it was kind of going to be like. But it really is just set up from, you know, the coaches and the administration. Like the coaches, Bruce and Todd, are just like the best people in the world. And, you know, they want you to play good golf, but they they want you to be happy in life. And I think that’s just so different where it’s like they’re concerned. So, it’s not only golf. I mean, they’re they’re concerned about you as an individual 100%. and they just like have so much belief and love for you and just it’s just like it’s like indescribable how amazing it is. But the people that have played there understand it and it’s like just this big family and just everybody you’re able to meet, you know, I just look at my time there and I’m just like, wow. like I can’t imagine like going anywhere else and not experiencing that. And you uh you had some good championships there, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We had a couple really good teams and uh I had a couple good years um individually, but I think that’s the like that’s just the fun part about being on the team is like it’s cool, you know, to go win to to have good finishes to play on TV and whatnot, but it’s like, you know, the time and the experiences and that you have with the team is like what you remember even more. Huh. Oh, yeah. So, all right. Well, then you didn’t play. I I think you were done before we went into the Big 12. Is that right? Unfortunately. Yeah. I missed my one year. Oh, man. I know. It was super sad because think about that. I mean, there’s some competitive teams and I’m sure you played against those teams. Yeah. But not not on the regular schedule. You know, golf’s a little bit different where you don’t you don’t have like a conference schedule. Okay. So, you kind of play pick and choose different tournaments. Um, the biggest hurdle with BYU was the Sunday play. Uh, yeah, it’s kind of funny going back to this about the whole fair stuff because Oh, sorry. This is Yeah, this is one of those instances where I I have a little bit different opinion only uh in one location. So, my freshman year we made it. We played in Arkansas and every so you go play your practice on Wednesday and the girls championship is Wednesday morning and so you you tee off like five holes behind them and anyways we actually end up catching them and yeah and so they were like they’re finishing and they’re kind of Yeah, they’ve got the championship match and they were on 16 and or 15 and we had caught them and like the golf channel came over and they’re like hey like you guys got to stop slow down. Yeah. So anyways, oh man, you’re on a roll. Well, that was just the practice round. Okay. Yeah. So that wasn’t a big deal. But then the next day, everybody goes out, plays their practice round, and then they go out, they cut and roll the greens, change the pins, and we go out around 3 to 3:30. Oo. which is in Arkansas, which yeah, it was it was tough and the course was brutal, but it wasn’t like a it was actually one of the coolest experiences for me because you’re at this amazing golf course. Absolutely spectacular golf course. And it’s like, but the greens weren’t tamped down because everybody had played that. Well, they Yeah, but but they went out and cut. Okay. All right. But it’s like you got all five of your teammates one by one like every hole and you’re just playing like it was like I remember by herself and I just remember like being on what was it 10 or 11 9 10 or 11 and just I could see almost all my teammates and I’m like wow this is this is actually really cool like interesting it’s kind of twilight or afternoon late afternoon. Yeah. And uh there there’s something beautiful about golf. Yeah. in the late evening or there is. Yeah, it was Arkansas peacefulness that just hits you. Yeah. Yeah. And and it was one of those moments for me really. It was really cool. Um we didn’t play we didn’t play great that year, but uh anyways, a couple years later we got to we got uh to national championship again. We went I played in three of them. And uh it this time we’re in Scottsdale. And so we go out do our practice round, you know, prep. Everyone goes out the next day, Thursday, for their practice round. And Arizona’s different cuz the morning to the afternoon changes drastically. And so our first tea time is 3:00 and they go out and cut and and roll the greens and they and this is again your Thursday. This is our Sunday. So same thing solos and we get out there and they hadn’t cut or rolled the practice screen, but they went out and did it to the course. Oh no. And so now you’re you’re kind of adjusted to a faster p I mean a slow pace. Yeah. And on the putts within our first I think it was three holes we had four three putts and two four putts as a team as a team and they were just lightning fast and then you’re playing it and it’s 105 110 even faster and it’s like and then you add to that you know it’s 3:00 in the afternoon 3:30 is when I teed off. I mean the greens were just absolutely baked. It was rock hard. It’s desert. You don’t have any spotter. So if you hit a ball offline, you have to go find it. Yeah. Like you don’t have any. And after that first year, I was like, “Oh man, that was tough.” Like, but oh well. Like we just didn’t play good. We go back the next year, same thing happens. And I was like, “Okay, this is this is really tough.” And cuz outside of that, I think the last tea time is like 1:30 um for like the regular play and we get 3:30 and it’s like So on Sunday the late the latest start is at 1:30, but you’re going out at 3:30 on Thursday. Yeah. And so we’ve got two afternoon tea times. Wow. Two of our three rounds are afternoon tea times. And some guys are in Arizona is kind of hard. Very hard. And you’ve got some guys that are teeing off at 6:40 in the morning. In the Perfect. Perfect. and they’re still dew out there. And so they’re spinning the ball, it’s soft, and you know, however many hours, seven, eight, nine hours later, it’s completely different golf course, right? Yeah. And like I played Yeah. I played solid my senior year that round and I had nine pars and nine bogeies. Oh man. And like I felt like I played Okay. Yeah. And it was just a bummer. It was contrast to the next day. How did you do on the first official? So that doesn’t go in until Sunday. Right. Right. So on Friday, so Friday, Saturday, our team was in like seventh or eighth and I was in like 16th individually. Wow. And the top 15 move on to the final day Monday. Um and our Sunday round goes in and we dropped to 24th and I dropped like a hundred. Oh. So it was so my mind So it changed a little bit there. I can understand. Yeah, it changed there where I was like, “Okay, that was that was different.” But that was the last year at Greyhawk in Scottsdale and now they’re in uh what is it? Is it Laccasta or uh in San Diego where Yeah. where it’s the weather is so much Yeah. It’s going to max out at 75 and the team played great this So just curious, lack of understanding, but when you’re in the Big 12, does you still have freedom to go to all the different matches or do you have some conference play, too? Um, so you always have your one conference play like with your whole conference, but but the Big 12, they’ve got they’ve got two of them, which is cool. They got one in the fall and the spring, one’s one’s a match play event that I really wish I could have played in. Oh man. And then the conference championship, which they have them at like the coolest courses ever. Yeah. Yeah. So, it was it was I was super sad that I missed it by by a year. Well, Carson, you have so much potential, so much capacity. What are your you know, what’s your biggest goal? How are you going to get there? Yeah. To that next level? Because when you were describing, this was before we went on, but you know, it sounded like you hit a really good shot and it just lipped into the into the bunker and now you’re at the top of the bunker and you could only go out sideways. So the most you could do was a bogey on that hole and you were right there in contention. So I mean golf is a game of inches. Yeah. And you know the the best golfers and on tour and the lowest guys on the tour, I mean what divides them is pretty small, right? Incredibly small. How do you get into that rarified air? You know, a lot of it is is timing and a little bit of luck because there’s so many good players and it’s like if you can get hot at the right time then, you know, you kind of set yourself up and you know, but it’s hard because it’s like those opportunities don’t come often. You know, you have Q school once a year where you’ve got to play great like you just and that’s like your real one chance like of getting status. Yeah. And if you don’t do that, you just have to wait another year. Um, so it’s tough. It’s it’s really hard and obviously you have that pressure that you know that and it’s like Q school is everything. Now you told me though that uh you chose that was it in Ohio where you went and saw Tony. Yeah. Yes. That was that was tell that story because you have the next day you have this you have 36 holes to play. You got to walk you know I don’t know 15 miles at least I guess. I don’t know. Yeah. This was it was quite the blunder. So So what happened? Tony Fen now is playing and what what happened? Yeah. So So um I don’t know if we talked about So that Yeah. So they didn’t on on the tape. So So that’s why I want to They were playing another tournament at the same time. So they’ve got the memorial which is one of the bigger tour events of the year. So like most of the top guys in the world are playing. Okay. And the guys, so only the top 50 in the I think it’s the top 50 in the world are exempt for the US Open. And so there’s a lot of guys at that memorial event that aren’t qualified for the US. Haven’t qualified yet. So they’re not invited. Yeah. Yeah. So they have to do qualifying as well. And uh so there were a lot of those guys that were in my field in Ohio. And I I know Tony and have a good relationship with him and wanted to go out and watch him uh after my practice round on Sunday. And so I’m going and there’s like, you know, all these signs of where to park and whatnot. And they have us park at this zoo. And I like pulled in. I’m like, they’ve got to have a shuttle. Like this is because I had it on my maps. I’m like, we’re four miles away. Like they for sure like this is insane. and I just see all these people walking and I’m like, “Oh no, like they’re going towards the bridge. This is not good.” Anyway, so I I ended up walking it. Literally took me like an hour, hour and a half. And then when I got there, Tony was as far away as you could go on the course. On the course and there’s so many people in different ropes and it was like I just I kept figuring out Yeah. And I just try to get to them. It was like every route I took like in the fork in the road, I chose the wrong one where I had to go longer and I’d like look back and be like, “Oh, you got to be kidding me.” And anyways, I ended up catching Tony on like 12 or something and was able to, you know, follow him in and um it was really cool. That course is amazing and, you know, was able to see Sheffler hit a couple shots and, you know, it was cool. And on the way back, I was like, “Okay, they’ve have to have shuttles. Like, this is crazy. There’s no way. I’m walking back and I just there was nothing. Anyways, I went the whole way again and sure enough, I get to my car and I see one of those buses pulling. I’m just like, “Oh my gosh.” Like, and I’ve got 36 tomorrow that I’ve got to walk like and yeah, it was it was brutal. So, it was I I woke up I woke up a little sore. I remember in my day of playing football, you know, playing to me being a quarterback, being a three-point basketball shooter, or being a target shooter from golf. There’s some of us would say, “No, he’s really lucky.” But you’ve got touch, you’ve got practice, you have confidence that comes from all that practice. And so you can dial in your range of error, you know, whereas mine is still out here. And so you can have a level of confidence. Um, this Q school, the the range of confidence when you’re when you’re hitting that ball, what uh what gets in your way? Because I was going to ask you about you at Lone Peak and in the state of Utah had one of the best scores for an amateur. you did really well and you were consistently doing well. Um, in my day in football and in basketball, they weren’t really too excited of the with these technical guys like the shooters. Mhm. Um, or quarterbacks to go on missions because you lose two years of timing. You know, it’s different. Um, you did go on a mission and I’m very proud of you for doing that, but you know, there’s some sacrifice there. Mhm. How did that affect you when you came back from your mission? How long did it take for you to get your touch back? Um, that’s a good question. I uh So, I got home and it was really cool. And where did where did you go? So, I went to Tucson. Okay. Arizona. And uh no golf there. Yeah. Yeah. Luckily, I had one of my areas the uh I think it was the Ward mission leader was the high school coach. Oh, wow. So, one of my areas I played like four or five times which on Pday or what? Yeah. That’s so fun. That’s cool. It was awesome. But uh yeah, so I got home and I kind of I just planned on red shirting like I just at BYU. Yeah. And I got back and uh somehow played good and coach wouldn’t let you red shirt. They wanted me. I don’t know. Like I guess they they Yeah, we had a conversation. He said, “Yeah, I think I think we could I think you could help us this year.” I’m like, “Coach, I I’m awful.” Like we just went to Africa with the team on this foreign trip and I was horrible. And like some of the boosters were like, “Oh man, like this guy’s bad.” And I’m like, “Well, I’ve only been home for a week.” Like anyways, just had nothing. And I still have this tan, you know? I don’t know. Yeah. Have all my baby fat like from all the, you know, the food and Yeah. But uh I got back and qualified and they were like, “Yeah, we want to take you.” And came back and I took sixth, my first event home and then I took second, my next one. had a chance to win. So, you jumped right back in. Yeah. And then I almost won in Alabama the following week and they were like and I think I I got up I think I was ranked like 35th in the country after three events in the NCAA. Yeah. And I’d only been home for three months. Wow. But I didn’t feel I don’t I don’t know. I mean that that was a long time ago and I just somehow picked it up. But I wasn’t a good chipper and I was a very good chipper in high school. And that didn’t that didn’t feel like it it really came back. And same with like I like my putting with my just kind of feel for distances and speed control that didn’t feel like it really came back until about a year later. That’s the touch, right? Yeah. The touch just being able to have that feel and Well, it takes just tons of practice, right? Yeah. to get so that was a strength of your game if not the strength. Oh yeah. And then% wasn’t there yet. Yeah. Yeah. And it I remember coach Miller after we played Pepperdine’s event. It was the first event of the spring and like I played really good but my chipping was like out of this world bad. And I remember him being like, “Oh man, like dude, this is as bad as I’ve seen.” Like he kind of just gave it to me. He’s like, “Yeah, you got to work on this.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I know. Like, I I I have nothing. Like, I just want to get it within 20 ft.” But, uh, and when you’re when you’re such a great Well, I don’t know. Do you pay attention to BYU’s basketball or Well, think of Jagor Demi. Yeah. You know, I talked to coach Burgess um the other day and he was talking about Jor and how great of a shooter he is, but he just kind of fell into a slump middle part of the season. And can you imagine being a three-point shooter and if you’re taking that shot and you don’t have supreme confidence like, hey, this is going in. It’s probably not going to go in. It’s not It’s No, it’s not a good place to be. I know. So, it’s not a good place to How how does that you know I mean you have to put in the practice but you also have to have the confidence. Mhm. Oh yeah. Same thing, right? Exact same thing. Exact same thing. Carson Lundelle, I have kept you a long time. I we were neighbors when my my wife and I and our family lived in Alpine and uh so proud of you and Stockton. Love your parents. They own the what? 24-hour fitness. Anytime. Yeah, Anytime Fitness, right? Sorry. Anytime Fitness in Highland, best people in the world, Chris and Susie. Um, what would you like to share with Cougar Nation about golf life, your experiences, the future? Um, what gives you hope? Just you just got to believe, you know, like it just all comes down to your approach, you know, like how are you going to, you know, whatever it is in life, like the way you approach things is everything. And it’s like, you know, are you going to go in with the belief that you can do what you want to do or, you know, you’re going to or you’re going to lack confidence? You’re gonna Yeah. You’re going to let the doubt kind of, you know, creep in and and let that control you or you going to, you know, have the faith and belief that, you know, you can do what you want to do and everything will work out. And I think that’s kind of the biggest thing for me and you know what I still try to work on because everyone has that imposttor syndrome where you know you want to you know doubt or compare and I don’t belong here. Yeah. And it happens to everybody. I Steph I just read something the other day where Steph Curry you know was talking about it and it’s like if Steph Curry has it like you know everyone deals with it but you know just to really try to keep that approach of confidence and belief in yourself and you know everything you’re doing in every aspect of your life I think you know kind of go a long way. That’s wise and applies to all of our lives. It does. Carson Landell congratulations. Best of luck in the future. You and Tony Fen now. Go get them. Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Thank you, Carson. [Music] Thank you for watching another episode of Beyond the Game. Remember to click here to subscribe and click here to watch our recent videos. Also, please follow us on social media and remember, Goks.
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We use to trip over Bobby Clampet s golf ball s I’d picked up quite a few and give them to Floyd. I gave one to Paul James
Chasing dreams, learning always. 👍