Fairways of Life is joined by our friend Lanto Griffin, a winner on the PGA Tour and now a member of the Tour’s Player Advisory Council (where he will join his fellow golfers in shaping the future of the PGA Tour and golf in general)
So on Sunday the PGA Tour announced the players on the player advisory Council there you see a second name down lanto Griffin is part of the pack he is joining us right now lanto I hope you’re doing well my friend before we get into all this how you feeling how’s the
Back uh I’m I’m doing great the back uh body and the back feel I’m about five years younger than I was in that interview with you at Travelers so uh it’s nice to I just played three weeks in a row um Redeye flight from Hawaii
And and no back spasms and and really no pain so that’s a real positive uh for me cool now the sound that we played from The Travelers in June to where we sit today with you a member of the pack what’s the bridge there what took place why’ you do
It well I got I got voted on um we spent some time in the offseason asking some questions um with a tour and just trying to get some answers trying to get some transparency um with everything that’s going on in the game of golf it’s it’s crazy to
Sit back I was thinking about our interview today last night and just thinking back on how much golf has changed since since the the co pandemic and Liv came along um it’s hard to recognize the PGA Tour and the schedule and everything that’s going on uh it’s
Kind of wild so I’m excited to be on the pack it’s cool to have a voice um I think it’s needed I think this is a kind of a critical time in golf and and for the PGA Tour so hopefully we can write the ship and and try and settle things
Down and and ultimately get back to golf and and talk about Golf and not talk about schedule changes in Signature Events and in other leagues the live tour and and um that’s the goal is is to give golf fans really good golf and and the level of play on the PJ tour right
Now um is incredible I think Nick dunlop’s win at at AMX is it’s going to go down in history it’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen I was I was there that week 27 underpar for the first three rounds was insane and then
For him to close it out playing with Sam Burns and and Justin Thomas and the or maybe yeah final group um just shows you how deep golf is um and it’s it’s pretty exciting time when you when you look at the talent when you when you think of your role on the pack
Lanto how would you define it what do you hope to accomplish I know I’m going to be very firm um I’m I’m I’m opinionated um but at the same time I feel like I’m I’m fair to the point where I know I can recognize how important the top players are and and
How valuable they are and how much we owe to them in the game of golf but I also want to be an advocate for uh rookies on tour the entire membership and ultimately the what’s best for the game of golf um the last few years like I mentioned earlier it’s been tough
Mentally um just always changing the landscape changing ideally um we’d get some kind of agreement worked out between the top players and the rest of the membership and the management to where look if you go out and you play good golf you’re going to move up if you
Don’t play good golf you’re going to move down and and that’s you know the meritocracy that that sport should be it’s everything should be determined on the field or on the course or on the court nothing should be determined in a boardroom when it comes to sports and
And and that’s kind of my view on it and that’s what I’m going to fight for um but at the same time I want to be fair and and and hopefully we can all come together and and come to an agreement do you feel like the equity that that
You’re aspiring to do you feel like that is in the pathway right now or is that something that needs to be built that’s a good question I mean we we worked pretty hard in the offseason just to get some answ and trying to figure out exactly why these things are
Happening and and being voted on the pack by my peers is is obviously um you know humbling and and hopefully we can get to the bottom of it um but that’s that’s to be seen I guess um hopefully we can get some things done and and
Everybody’s happy and I I do know one thing we we we talk about this you know the live golf league and the PJ tour there there’s so much talent in the game of golf to where in in a weird way there’s room for two leagues um I don’t
Necessarily think it’s the best thing for the PJ tour in the game of golf but we’re not going to change that and that’s fine um I think we need to look going forward we need to look at the young guys and and the young stars that
Are coming up the PJ tour has created every Star in the game of golf at least on the US side of of the pond you know so if you look at a will zot tus or you look at a Sam Burns or some of these up and coming young superstars the PJ tour
Is the reason why they are is because they’ve played really well and they’ve gotten a lot of TV time and they’ve they’ve won some big Championship so that’s going to keep happening whether guys leave for live or or guys you know remain on the PJ tour golf’s in a really
Health healthy spot with with what college golf’s done and in the corn fairy tour and it’s just crazy how deep golf is a couple of times in this interview already lanto you have used the phrase top players uh and and top players getting their due Etc I realize who you’re defining as the
Top players and I’m curious how in where you define yourself in the spectrum of professional golf uh in a weird way I I don’t even really when I’m saying this I don’t really think of myself as um as anything I’m kind of looking at it as you know
From an outside perspective um with somewhat of an inside view I’m obviously a journeyman uh um this is my sixth year on the PJ tour I played mini tours for a bunch of years one thing I do look back on is I I played six seven years on the
Mini tours and and PJ tour Latin America um I went to Q School six times so I look back and I imagine myself now coming out of college and trying to play professional golf and make it to the the PJ tour and ultimately win on the PJ
Tour and the road right now would be a lot harder than it was for me when I did it in you know in the mid you know 2015 2016 and I can tell you it was incredibly hard then um you know living at home with your mom and doing Q school
And asking people for money I don’t necessarily think I would have made it um in the current landscape it’s just it’s it’s really hard to do and and that’s what kind of scares me with what’s happening now is is these rookies coming out on tour you know they’ve
There’s guys that have played on corn Ferry for five six seven eight years finally got their due um they finally broke through and they’re on the PJ to on the PJ tour and now they’re not going to get you know very many starts um the American Express field was incredibly
Deep um you know the field last week at Farmers was incredibly deep so these guys they finally achieve achiev their dream they don’t have that fall buffer that they used to have you know the six to eight tournaments to kind of get their feet wet and and get some momentum
And now it’s you know you’re in to play this week and then you you get a month off and and you’ll you might get in that event and then you can go play opposite field event with you know three to four times less points and than Signature
Events so you look at these rookies and you know your rookie is going to be hard it’s always been hard for a rookie on the PJ tour but now it feels like your back’s really against the wall and it’s not so much play better it’s play much
Much better if you want an opportunity lanto Griffin foundation.com if you want to check out his foundation L what’s the what’s the purpose of the foundation what are you guys working on I know you have a charity event don’t you ronoke yeah Ron o Virginia at Bal hack
Golf club uh it’s going to be the third week of September and and basically we’re raising money for families that that are battling terminal illnesses and also Youth Sports uh the goal there is to give to give kids that um that want to be good they want to earn a college
Golf scholarship or a college basketball scholarship hockey whatever whatever sport it is give them the opportunity to get coaching equipment travel to tournaments um travel leagues whatever it may be so it’s not so much just golf it’s I just remember being a kid and and really wanting to be uh really wanting
To play sports I played soccer basketball baseball and golf and and my family couldn’t afford to you know put me on travel teams and and so this is a way that I had a lot of people you know help us financially when I was you know
A kid and in college and and helped me to get to where I am so hopefully find some kids that really want to be good they’re working hard and all they need is a little bit of financial support and and guidance and uh it’s amazing what a
Having an opportunity what it does to your your soul it makes you it makes you hungry gets you excited about you know waking up and going and chasing your dreams so that’s that’s the goal behind our foundation those two things what is your advice then to kids of all ages who
Are trying to chase their dream as a winner on the PGA tour that has reached yours I I anything’s possible uh hard work it it comes down to discipline sacrifice and and perseverance for me um you know maybe not going out with your friends every night um going to bed
Earlier reading books practicing harder um and then obviously having some good opportunities with coaching and and and in golf in general any young young kid and parent you don’t need to travel all around the world to play junior tournaments if you can find competition 18 hole nine-hole tournaments in your
Local area putting a score on the scorecard is is incredibly important uh you know golf feels different in tournaments than it does on the driving range or if you’re playing at home um so it doesn’t need to be some big extravagant travel uh spending a ton of
Money just find a really good local tour um and play as much as you can obviously you can’t do what you’re doing on the world stage of golf unless you have support I see Stanley on your shirt how important are the sponsors that you have built it’s incredible it really is the
The amount of people that we meet in the game of golf at prams every week and and the cool thing about a lot of my sponsors or they they support my foundation so we obviously have a um a partnership but then they they also give back to local charities in in Virginia
And around the country that that I support so that partnership it the the relationships with these um with all my sponsors are really important and you know it’s they they they go past the game of Golf and and a partnership to the friendships and and um it’s it’s
Really cool a lot of my sponsors will travel and watch me play and we’ll have dinners and um it’s you saw from some of those pictures the the lonto hats I’ve I’ve seen pictures of those on airplanes and it’s it doesn’t make sense to me Gilbert Romos might be watching he
Started that and um but it’s flattering and it’s really cool to have that support um on the shirt that’s that’s Gilbert right there so you know having uh having sponsors you know that that want you to do well in golf but also outside of golf and in life is really
Cool very cool uh Scott for plank was on the program before you I asked him the question is golf at the end of January 2024 better than it was at the end of January 2023 what’s your Take Ah that’s tough I don’t think it
Was that good in the end of 2023 so um I’m I’m optimistic about the future getting golf back to where it’s decided on the course is is my number one goal um everybody’s on a Level Playing Field if I were to play better than you or you play better than me
We’re you know we we get rewarded for that so I’m going to uh I’m going to say it’s about the same um same or Worse honestly do you have hope for the future of the game I think there’s a lot of greed um going on in the game of golf right now
Which is frustrating uh in a bubble and um that’s tough to see because the PJ tour is so special um the communities that we play in and the and the Charities and the competition there’s no better feeling than than playing well on the PJ tour and making the cut and being
In contention having a chance to win that that hasn’t changed and that will never change so what golf what golf can do to you and it can bring people together that’s still there I just think we need to figure out behind the scenes how for everybody to get along and and
For greed to kind of get out of it and and get back to focusing on Golf and honestly not having conversations like why does a signature event have you know two to three times of points of a of a full field event get back to where you
You’re just out there playing and if uh if you can play 15 to 20 events a year and and make TOUR Championship and win then you have every right to do that but give the entire membership an opportunity well that behind the scenes is exactly where you will be as a member
Of the pack good luck my friend thank you very much for your time fascinating insights awesome thank you Matt thanks for having me on
