How Tony Finau Built a PGA Career From His Garage

Uncover the incredible, against-all-odds origin story of Tony Finau — a kid from Utah who learned golf by hitting balls into mattresses in his family’s garage.

In this powerful conversation, Tony shares the humble beginnings that shaped his career — growing up in a Polynesian household where golf wasn’t even on the radar. With no country-club access and no formal lessons, his father built a makeshift driving range at home, spray-painted targets on old mattresses, and used Jack Nicklaus’s “Golf My Way” as their only playbook.

Finau opens up about how discipline, faith, and family fueled his unlikely rise from those garage sessions to the PGA Tour — and the life-changing decision at 17 that set everything in motion.

In this episode of Straight Facts, Homie, Trey Wingo sits down with Tony Finau to trace his journey from hitting golf balls into old mattresses to becoming one of the most respected players on the PGA Tour. Tony opens up about:
🏠 Building a homemade driving range in his family’s garage
⛳ How Golf My Way by Jack Nicklaus became his first coach
💪 The discipline that shaped his mindset long before fame or trophies

This isn’t a story about privilege. It’s a story about belief, family, and relentless work ethic.

👇 Watch the full episode and subscribe for more conversations with the game’s most authentic voices.

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Uh for people that don’t know, you know, you were going to go play basketball on a basketball scholarship in college at Utah State and then things took a different turn, right? Yeah. I had opportunities to play basketball. I played basketball in high school, but um you know, golf golf was my thing and um I knew by the time I was about 12 or 13 was when I finally wanted to I knew I wanted to be a professional golfer. But nowhere in my wildest dreams, you know, did I did I think that things were going to go go the golf direction. You know, my family, Polynesians in general, uh, you know, we’re football, basketball, you know, we’re great athletes, but we don’t play golf. That’s not uh, you know, and in the neighborhood that I grew up in, for sure, nobody was playing golf. My brother and I were the only ones there and and got made fun of quite a bit that we played golf. But um you know at the end of the day we learned I learned how to play golf. You know my dad had a makeshift driving range in our in our garage. You know we didn’t have the money to pay for range balls. The first time we went to a golf course he basically asked a professional you know how much is it for you know to go out there and hit these balls that I see these people hitting. And like well it’s about seven bucks for 50 balls and you got 10 10 bucks for 100 balls. And and then he pointed to another area where the chipping and putting green were and they’re like well that’s actually free. this is a city golf course. You can chip and putt for free. So, after doing some homework, my dad was basically like, “Well, we’ll come to the golf course and and chip and putt, and I’m going to make a driving range in our garage for my boys to hit.” And that was the attitude that I had. No excuses. Um and and just work hard, outwork everybody else. That was what my dad preached was that uh we’re going to, you know, we’re going to be disciplined to practice every day and and and just get after it. And I didn’t know how different my practice regimen was compared to other kids until I got quite older. Um, my dad did a good job of of keeping me in my own bubble. Uh, work hard and but that’s how I learned how to play. I learned how to hit I hit more golf balls indoor than outdoor probably till I was about 12 or 13 years old. I started playing when I was eight. So for the first four or five years of my life, I 100% hit more golf balls inside than outside, which is crazy cuz we play an outdoor sport. But um those are just, you know, some of the humble beginnings that I’m talking about and and those are the times that you remember when you make when you get a phone call like that. You get to be part of something special like the Ryder Cup. You look back on what got you there and and the sacrifices that were made from your parents, the sacrifices you made yourself to achieve and accomplish something great and and all those all those feelings just come flooding back that um it was all it was all worth it. Yeah. And you know, you sort of glossed over this for people that don’t understand when you say my dad created indoor driving range, he basically hung up mattresses, right, in the garage. I mean, that that was your range that we’re talking about. That’s exactly right. So, if you can picture just a rectangular uh a normal rectangular size garage, um it was probably, you know, 7 and 1/2, 8 ft tall, which was high enough for me at that time. I was only 8 years old when he when he put this up. But the mattress sit sat right in the middle of the garage. And so, my brother and I started together. So we simultaneously hit into the each side. So my dad would would walk around to one side and watch my brother hit into one side and then he come to, you know, come to the other side and watch me hit. But we would hit at the same time so we could practice at the same time. He put it right in the middle of the garage. So we had no space for the car. It was all just a makeshift driving range indoors. Uh cement. We had strip of carpet just on the cement that he just uh duct taped right into the cement. And we learned how to strike a golf ball right off this. And if we got steep, you know, our hands would hurt because it was cement underneath and and so there was a lot of things that we learned. He would spray paint right on the mattress where he felt like a pitching wedge should go and where a seven iron should go and and onward and upward and how high a driver should be by the time we hit it there. And so we were very visual um Phil players because of that. And um but that’s that was the the humble beginnings that uh that I started and how I learned how to play the game of golf. My dad didn’t play golf, so Golf My Way, Jack Nicholas’s uh book that he had back in the day. That was our Bible. That was our golfing bible. We learned how to grip the club from Jack. All the fundamentals uh my dad taught us were all from that book. And and then we just worked at it, you know, and that was um that was it. And we’re known for my brother and I, you know, end up being known for hitting it really far. But the crazy thing is the last club we learned how to hit was was the driver. We chipped and putted. you know, we learned the game from the green bag because that’s what Jack that’s what Jack preached. And so Jack, you know, this is in the middle, you know, this is mid 1990s. So Tiger had yet to kind of really burst onto the scene, right? So Jack was still that guy. And and so my dad was like, well, we’re going to learn from the greatest and we’re just going to um we’re going to follow the steps according to what his book is preaching. So, uh, you know, Jack Nicholas is a huge part of our story just in that, uh, his his Golf My Way book was our was our golfing bible. So, how did you how were you able to translate how it felt hitting into the mattress to then seeing the ball go outdoors? I mean, that that had to be, okay, that sounded good, right, in the in the garage, and it felt like good contact. I think it’s going where I think it’s going. And then you go outside and hit it and like, “Wow, it is it doing what I thought or was it what did that take a little bit of time to adjust to?” Yeah, we would get out on the golf course and it’s crazy how good the ball flew. You know, I think that’s it’s hard to describe. You know, we we’re used to hearing the mattress after we hit, but we would go outside and uh often enough and see the golf ball fly. You know, once a week we would go to this golf in the round in Salt Lake City, which is um an all year driving all year round driving range. So whether it was cold or hot, we’d be out there at least once a week. my dad uh would pay for balls and we would go out and see the ball fly. And so um but it was it was crazy the contrast. I look back now and I still if I didn’t live through it, I I’m just like, you know, that that’s impossible. You shouldn’t learn how to play an outdoor game indoor. Um but having lived through it, you know, it’s it was kind of a miracle looking back. But the ignorance is bliss, as they say. One of my dad’s favorite sayings is the the less you know, the better off you are. And that’s that was him. He didn’t know a lot about the game, but we had the desire and the work ethic um and just the passion once we really had once I really had the passion to um to be to be great at something and and that avenue that I felt like was golf um I really just got after it. it, you know, I look back now and and again, they it seems like it was sacrifices, but I remember at the time, you know, it was it was like something that I’ve really gained a lot of love for and a passion for. And so, I don’t look at it as as much of a sacrifice as more of like, man, I end up just loving it. And I loved being in that garage. That was my soloulless. That was my therapy. Um, I would get mad, go hit more golf balls. I would be happy. I would hit golf balls. that ended up being my place of solace. And so, um, but anyways, a lot of a lot of great lessons learned, um, from those from those types of humble beginnings. I just love that story. I mean, it’s one of my favorite things in the world and to see how it translated is is just fantastic. And and real quickly before we get back to the Ryder Cup, you were all set to go play and then you uh play college basketball and then someone gave you an invitation to some sort of event in in Vegas, right? and you got a sponsorship event into this thing and you did so well you’re like, “Okay, I I think we can do this.” And that sort of launched the whole thing, right? Yeah, pretty much. 17 years old, I had uh I got an opportunity to play in this ultimate game which was in Vegas. There used to be this like big sweep stakes game in Vegas. And um the criteria is basically you just you couldn’t be you had to be um you couldn’t be a cornfairy tour player or a PJ tour player, but like mini tour guys. And then amateurs could also um sign up. And so we had a guy that was willing to um to bet on us. And so my brother and I started it and we ended up playing and I got to the final 12. I won my first two matches at 17 years old, which I I wasn’t expecting. And so I was one of 12 guys that had a chance at $2 million. And that’s where uh a 36-hole finale for $2 million. So I meet with my parents and and basically like look, I had already, you know, verbally committed to play to play golf at BYU. um had an opportunity to play at Weaver State, Utah State scholarships to plat to play basketball, but I you know and so there were opportunities there and so we we meet with my parents and and they basically were like, “Look, all those opportunities are really cool. You have a chance at $2 million. You’re definitely turning pro.” So that’s that’s pretty much how that how that conversation went and on on my way I was at at the professional game. That’s just amazing. And it’s worked out pretty well for you, just in case you hadn’t figured that out. Uh, I think you made the right You think you made the right choice? Well, yeah. I I listened to my parents and I guess it was the right choice.