Adam Schenk won on the PGA Tour for the first time in 243 starts, and he did it putting one-handed at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. He joins Ryan Ballengee and Brendan Sweeney to talk about the win, what it means, how he decided to putt one-handed, how the very windy conditions helped him and how winning compares to getting to the Tour Championship.
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All right, Adam Shank, Bounty, what’s up? Congratulations, my man. Boiler up. Uh, what a way to finish the year. I I, you know, after 243 starts to finally come home with a V. How you doing, man? Happy holidays. I’m I’m well. Thank you guys for having me on. Uh, yeah, incredible timing. I haven’t started texting people back for my cell phone yet. I’m starting today. Getting a haircut today. cleaning up a lot of things in my life today. So, that’s going to be um on the agenda. And yeah, you guys are the first ones. Oh, sweet. Okay, let’s go back. Let’s go way back, right? Let’s go back to like Purdue days growing up. Well, let’s go back to growing up in in, you know, western Indiana. Um the conditions in Western Indiana, then going to Purdue and playing two great golf courses up there. Ryan and I were up there this year. It’s absolutely fabulous. The steakhouse is to die for. It’s absolutely just killer stuff. And then um going through college and then playing golf down in in our area down in French Lick and you know the the conditions in French Lake compared to Purdue are two the topography is totally different, right? You’re flat as a pancake up up in West Lafayette. Then you come down to our place and it’s hilly hilly windy windy. Now you’re in the in B in the Bahamas um and the wind is just going crazy and you’re hitting like a five iron 135 yards and coming up short. Tell us about the week. Yeah, it was very very interesting. On Monday it the wind blew so hard the golf course was not playable they canceled the proam because I think a tent got blown loose and it almost hit a couple of people playing the proam. No lie. And you could hit, you know, some people talk about hitting into the wind and oh, I could hit my lob wedge and almost catch it. Well, you could hit balls 50, 60 yards behind you. If you hit like a, you know, I don’t know, a high 80 yard shot, as high as you could hit a lob wedge, it would go clear behind you. There was one while we were putting on the putting green. It landed on the cart path behind the range and then bounced again and then landed on top of one of the shuttle buses that was giving us a ride uh to and from the course. So, it was it was the the windiest I’ve ever played in on the on Saturday and Sunday, but Monday the course was unplayable. I we we just went out to check it out and register and hit a few balls. And while we were on the putting green, hitting a few putts on Monday in this said wind. When a big gust would come up, meaning 50 plus, it would blow every single ball that was on the putting chipping green, it would just blow blow it clean off, you know, down down the little slope that was there in front of the green. So, um, interesting stuff. But yeah, like you said, French Lake is a great place. Uh, obviously been able to practice for a lot of reasons, but the wind up there is I’ve never I’ve only played the course. It was actually this fall was the first time I played it with hardly any wind, but every time you play a French flick, it’s always windy. It’ll be, you know, maybe a little bit of breeze at the bottom of the hill. You go up top of the die course and it’s blowing 10 to 20. So, uh, great to practice in some wind there and you get all kinds of lies. So, you have to be super creative and I think that’s what helped me, um, you know, ultimately get it done in the end in Bermuda. Did you play in the 14 Big 10 Championship at the Lick? Yes, I played I played three of them. Yeah, we had 12, 13, 14. Yep. And I played all those I think in 14 the wind was blowing like just absolutely insane up there. It was it was like the the flag pole was bending and that that’s what it reminded me of of when you were there uh like a couple weeks back. I mean that the wind was just so intense. But congratulations, man. This is so cool. What was it like? I mean all of a sudden you get it and we saw the emotion on your face and and just the the the wildness of the closure of of doing it. But when you picked up the phone and called Courtney, what was that like? Yeah. still sounds crazy to say, but it’s still sinking in a little bit. I mean, it’s it’s just weird when you work for something your whole life and then you finally get it now. It’s like, well, kind of what do I do now? You don’t even know how to feel because you’ve just been pursuing it your entire career. But getting Tyler Duncan was there after I won and he had called Courtney. So, that was that was really special to get to talk to her immediately following. I wish they could have been there, but I always told Courtney if if when I do win, if I do win, it’s going to be out of the country and you guys won’t be able to be there. But I’m like, babe, that’s an awesome problem to have. You know, I’m going to win hopefully in the country at some point because there’s a lot of stuff that has to go into, you know, her getting to run out on the green and, you know, the kids jumping in your arms. Like, that’s a pretty cool moment for a tour pro, but you, you know, you kind of have to be in the last group and you have to make a putt to to win. And I’ve had that once before at Charles Schwab and missed it. Um so I had the chance for it to run on the green and all that stuff. But um hopefully we’ll do it again next year. But yeah, the overall experience just kind of a little bit of relief. I didn’t know how I stood until 17 Tox and I asked David Cook, my caddy, how do we stand? And said, “Do you want to know?” I said, “Yes.” And I was like like I joked him like that’s why that’s why I asked you. Um cuz I hadn’t looked at a leaderboard hardly all day. and he said, “You’re up by two shots.” And it was kind of that moment I knew it was my tournament to lose. And if I did not win this golf tournament, like, are you ever going to win one? Because this is a gold golden star opportunity. And sure enough, you know, missed a little putt on 17, hit a good putt, and then 18 had four and a half, 5 ft for par. And just very fortunate that that uh that putt went in. And cuz if it was it was blowing so hard, if you had like the putting green kind of sits on a slope that’s let’s call it all left to right um from the angle I’m talking about. So there’d be every putt on the section the green would break left to right but the wind was blowing so hard all those left to right putts were breaking right to left. So it was putting was really interesting on the the four or five holes where the greens were really exposed. So, you know, lots of lots of luck going into any week um on the PJ tour in a sense. The winner has some things go their way, but uh you know, a fair amount of luck my way as well when it was that windy just especially on that last putt not having uh a big gust come up because if if it would have a big gust would have come up, it might have might have broke, you know, cup right to left and it was a right edge putt. So, fortunate that one found the bottom. Well, well, talking about your putting that week, um pretty unorthodox uh change in your in your putting grip, meaning you didn’t really have a grip. You just had you’re putting with one arm. I mean, what what what goes through the process to say, “Look, I’m going to be stay I’m staying committed to this technique that I’m using this week and sure it won’t.” So, gosh, that’s a great question. Pretty weird stuff, right? Um, but it it’s just as simple as I aim the putter a little better one-handed and I don’t pull putts. Like I can putt for 30 minutes with one hand and think that I didn’t really hit any pushes or pulls that really really cost me to miss a putt. And then sure enough, I’ll think I’ll have it kind of figured out and then I can put two hands back on the wheel. And I did this last night actually. I was hitting some putts in my perfect putting mat and um, you know, came to the same conclusion again. I’m just better with with uh my right hand only. So, uh did it wind them championship the first time on Friday and then hadn’t done it in a long time and just kind of the first putt I hit was on Thursday of Bermuda on hole 18, my ninth hole. I hit that putt was the first putt I hit one-handed from 20 ft or so. Almost made it. Next putt was on hole one, my 10th hole. Uh you know, 17 ft on the back of the green. made that one and then made an 8-footer on the next hole and then almost made the next one from 20 ft. almost made the next one from 20 ft. So, so I mean the writing’s kind of on the wall at that point for me if I can’t see that I’m putting better one-handed and I want to go back to two hands just because maybe I’m a little nervous or, you know, you know, everybody’s going to kind of be whispering and talking about it, but at the end of the day, I just make more putts that way. And um you know, I’d like to think I could figure it out and not have to putt one-handed next year, but I’m also not scared to. So, what do you think is different functionally? I mean, I I say this as a casual golfer who definitely makes all the no look eight-footers I do with one hand and then when it counts, you don’t do it. So, what what did you notice that was different that makes one-handed work for you? So, it has to do with like long story short, uh Mike Halbert was the uh he’s the director of golf maybe at uh Eastern ETSU and he works for CBS, played the tour for lots of years. Um he he I saw him at uh Minnesota 3M and randomly comes up to me on the green. We start talking and he starts talking about he puted for two years with one hand on the PJ tour and I think he said exclusively one year. He never put his left hand on the putter and he’s just sitting there. Maybe he hit eight or nine putts and he made every single one of them and the one he one or two that he missed lipped out and started thinking and I just tried it and then tried it a little bit the following week and it just seemed to work better. I I release the putter so much better with my right hand. I release it but I don’t necessarily close the face. So, it’s just a lot more natural with my right hand. And when I put my left hand on the putter, my left hand wants to drag the drag the putter across the stroke instead of like the right hand kind of releases. And if you think about like the butt end of the putter grip coming back into your belly button in a sense when I do it with both hands, you know, it kind of drags a little bit, maybe finishes on my left hip. But when I do it right-handed, it if you stick a tee in the butt into your putter and if you put with just your right hand, the tee kind of points back at your belly button and it just does it automatically. And I just I don’t push or pull as many putts. It smooths out my stroke. Um, and I aim it a little bit better. I tend to aim right. I don’t tend to aim right. I aim right on almost if I ever aim left on a putt, like it’s it’s going to be 100° tomorrow. Like it’s just not going to happen. Um, so with my right hand, the putter sits a little more back as you can picture and helps me aim a touch further left. So, um, still in the discovery process of all that, but, uh, it’s it it really it’s nothing more than, “Hey, I make more putts when I do this. I’ll figure out the rest later.” Going, uh, that’s that’s totally wild, man. Uh, but it works. It’s great. It’s It’s crazy. I’m crazy. I I told everybody I’m like, I know I’m crazy. There’s some people that know I’m crazy. Everybody else might as well know, too. Well, after 243 times of trying something different, this time works. That’s right. No kidding. That’s great. So, uh, after, you know, you’re a PGA champ. Congratulations. Uh, you got a couple years to plan your stuff out. I mean, how how much of a weight is that off your chest? Is it’s got to be just amazing. It it is. And, you know, there’s a a weird part of me that talked to my wife a a little bit about this a couple weeks ago. Um, I guess longer than that, maybe a month ago, let’s call it, going into the the last three week stretch of the season. I was going to Mexico, Bermuda, and then Sea Island. But I was, you know, I was what, 130 on the FedEx Cup 135. But I’ve played the PJ tour for eight years in a row. And I seriously want to continue to do so, but it was also kind of exciting to think about, you know, maybe I was going to have to do something different next year. Maybe it was going to be half PJ2 or half web. like I knew next year if I didn’t play well in those three weeks it was going to be different. So like I was I was potentially excited to to just find out what was going to happen and of course I really wanted to play well. I would have loved to have had a win. I would have taken it then I would have taken a third place or you know I would have taken 110 on the FedEx Cup. So, I was weirdly excited to see how well I could do if I, you know, give it your all for 3 weeks. You’ve been practicing hard and if it’s something different next year, if I it’s a different tour, then, you know, it’s it’s it’s it’s a new challenge. You have to get back to the PJ tour or you play great and then you stay on the PJ tour. So, I was weirdly looking forward to just I’m just excited to see how I do the next 3 weeks and I’ll figure it out from there. and unfortunately um you know came away with the win. But I just found myself thinking about that like okay I know I was if I was you know 90 90 on the FedEx Cup going into the last you know couple tournaments you locked up your card like you know what’s going to happen next year where I had no idea how it was going to be. So I was I was weirdly excited um as I’m sure you know a lot of other people family members my wife um you know how’s Adam going to do in the last three weeks? Is he going to keep his card? This and that. So, I was just excited to see what was going to happen and how all the cards were going to shake out. Um, you know, fortunately it couldn’t have timing couldn’t have been any better. Any better obviously. How how does the win compared to getting to the tour championship? Those two were big achievements, right? I mean, how how do those feel different or the same? Yeah, it’s pretty it’s pretty strange because I still had a pretty bad year at golf and it’s, you know, it’s my first win. So, I I was in the interview in Bermuda and they’re like, “You had two different streaks of six miscuts.” And I like caught me for a second. I’m like, I know it was bad, but it still never felt like I played all that bad. But, I mean, that’s kind of hard to explain. That’s kind of hard to say, oh, I’m playing good, you know, just not having some things happen right now. Like, now it was it was pretty bad and pretty dark at times. But, get the win compared to the tour championship. Obviously, I played a lot more consistent golf getting to the Tour Championship, but I would say I would say getting the Tour Championship, I I want to say this is I don’t think this is debatable, but obviously it’s probably harder than to just have one win possibly. But if you you know, the flip side of that, it also felt really, really good to get my first win and to be able to close it out after having so many close calls because you only get so many chances. And that’s kind of how I thought on 17 two shot lead man if you don’t get it done here like you are you ever going to get it done? And then I had the five-footer on the last hole and told myself I just okay so windy just follow your routine hit it in the middle of the face you know once again I’m excited to see if this putt goes in. Nobody else knows either. I don’t know if it’s going to gust what’s going to happen. So go through your routine hit it and let’s let’s find out if you’re going to win. And sure enough it hit a good good putt and it fell right in the bottom. Um but yeah, w wild wildly different feelings because the last two years have been pretty bare and um you know, still disappointing, but to finish the year out like this um obviously extremely extremely um high note, but um I’m excited to get back at it next year and to, you know, have a little more consistency and um you know, not be as feast or famine as I was this year. And it was mostly famine and a little bit of feast at the end. you you told us uh last time that we talked to you that you kind of felt good about where your game was and that maybe you were trending in the the direction you went to to a win and that was months months ago when things weren’t going as well. So what what did you have in your brain or or heart or both that’s convinced you that that was the case and did that kind of belief help you when the opportunity did present itself in Bermuda? Yeah, absolutely. I think it I think it had a lot to do with it. And like in my opinion, like confidence is a tricky thing. You just can’t have it always if you keep hitting if if every time you hit a shot in a left to right wind with the driver and half the time you hit the ball and you can’t find it. If you’re stepping up over a T-OT with tr trouble left or right and it’s a big left to right wind, like why why would you have confidence over that shot? because you know half the time that you hit it, you don’t really you don’t you have no idea where this ball’s going. Once again, you’re as excited to see if it’s going to miss right, left, just as excited as everybody else. So like standing up over that, it’s hard to just say like, “Oh, have confidence.” But, you know, with putting in the work that I did, I saw the results and I saw the consistency and I saw it was there and I believed in it. So once you see something and you’re able to repeat it in a somewhat repetitive nature, of course there’s always going to be ups and downs, um, you know, throughout a golf season. But when I started to see more consistent results when I’m practicing in tournaments, um, and it always shows up last in tournaments, right? You figure it out on the range, you take it to the course, money games, practice rounds, then you have to figure it out, you know, in the tournament, and then you have to, okay, you can take it a step further. I have to figure it out when I’m in contention. All right, I’ve got a chance to win. Okay, now it’s blowing 500 miles an hour. So, there’s there’s another variable thrown at you, which was probably a blessing and not really in disguise. It was an absolute blessing that it was that windy. That’s the reason I won. Um, but it just comes from I think it’s as simple as being able to see consistent results and you can predict the shot that you’re going to hit. So, if you if you don’t know what’s what’s going to happen, you know, when you pull the trigger, I mean, why would you have confidence? Um, and fortunately I was able to to start to see some good results while you know the last couple months um you know leading up to the fall series and I think that uh seeing it and that belief uh definitely propelled me. So uh hey man uh how about a shout out to your sponsors? I know you have a lot of local guys um that have been with you for years. Uh we’re very proud to be on your sleeve. Um French Lake Resort. But who uh who else you got up there? There it is. Showing those pythons off, baby. Let’s go. Yeah, I actually did get the blood test last week at R two weeks a RSM, whenever it was for the HGH. So, I promise you I will pass, but it’s it’s always kind of funny getting drug tests after you uh after you win. Um front of my hat, big letters, XPTt commercial insurance, Kyle Kyle Stevens, Karan. Um they’ve been a partner of mine for I believe two years now. Uh Pens Oil uh for 2 years. Obviously French Lick I believe this was year number two. Uh Casewear um I believe that’s for two as well. And then uh one flight um they uh give us a phenomenal deal and access to some planes which were able to um leave out of the old airport by uh Benson’s Lawrenceville International Airport. So, um, it’s old military airport, but it’s 15 minutes from our house and with the kids and being able to take the dog. Bunker’s back here. Hey, Bunker. What’s up? That’s who I’ve been petting. I’ve been reaching down there. Um, and then United Reynolds, uh, I carry their corporate bag. Uh, Local IQ. They’ve been a longtime partner. Brinkers Jewelers, which is, uh, you know, basically my wife’s sponsorship. So, she gets she reaps the rewards of that one. But, um, great. I’m sure I’m sure they’re going to get a knock on their door coming up for Christmas. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And Fuway uh Fjoy providing me I wear FUA clothing. Um which is phenomenal. So a lot of partners, a lot of people, a lot of efforts went into this. Um but still can’t believe it. So still pretty crazy, but I’m glad I finally got it done. Hey, dude. We’re so proud of you and we’re so glad that that we’ve had time to spend, you know, together. Um, I’ll probably see you at Bay Hill and uh if you need a caddy for the ProAm, give give your guy a day off and I’ll walk walk the course with you. How does that sound? Perfect. He’ll take you up on that new golf course at French Lake at the Ridge View. And I heard that I think we’ll be getting some sod from your farm which is which is uh you guys are very very helpful to us when we built the die course and and over the years we got a great partnership with you and your family. So, uh, Red Skelton was a very most famous guy coming from Vincens’s Indiana, but not anymore. We have the other, uh, the other famous guy, PJ champion, Brian Shank. Unbelie Unbeliev Out Loud. All right, bud. Well, hey, thanks a lot. Have a great holiday, man. Best of the family. And we will see you soon. I’ll probably I may see you up in Jacksonville, too. You never know. Perfect. Holler at me. I’m always available. Thank you guys for having me on.
