PGA Tour Player Director Interview-Fairways of Life w Matt Adams-Wed May 8

Matt Adams is joined for an exclusive one on one conversation with 2-time PGA Tour Winner and PGA Tour Player Director on the Policy Board Peter Malnati. They discuss the state of golf, his game, his recent victory, being a Dad, being on the Player Advisory Council, player equity and much more.
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#MattAdams #GolfDiscussion #FairwaysOfLife #GolfTalk #LPGATour #LPGA #LIVGolf #PGATourEquity #SSG #PGATourEnterprises #petermalnati #playeradvisorycouncil

welcome to the most listened to golf in the world the fairways of Life show on air online and around the world with the most candid interviews Unforgettable stories taking you beyond the ropes here’s your host New York Times bestselling author bat Adams what is going on folks welcome into the fairways of Life show pleasure to have your company today so the interview we did with Mike Juan yesterday seems to be creating a lot of news I’ll put it that way the and primarily people are focusing on the comments that Mike made about Live players and the US Open and the fact that I’m paraphrasing obviously that he was saying yeah you know depending on where this thing ends up and where everything settles out I could see a pathway for for creating a pathway as he put it uh for Live players and so it’s it’s really there’s been a lot of people commenting on it and it’s interesting as I think what it relates to is the World of Golf trying to figure out how this all settles out and the difficulty in trying to figure that out when there is not at at least as yet a definitive and clear path we know that they’re working on it but you know we’re told that they’re working on it but working on it doesn’t mean that it’s definitive working on it doesn’t mean that it’s going to come to fruition it just means that there there’s people behind the scenes going yeah we’re doing the best we can to try to see where this whole thing settles so what do you do do you do you create contingency plans as a result so coming up in just a couple minutes today I am super excited to tell you that our guest is going to be Peter malady now we’ve known Peter thankfully for years and years and years on the show and it’s been fun to kind of watch him as a friend in terms of of his development both as a player and as as a human being I mean he’s 36 years old now he’s a dad of two boys Hatcher and dash I bet Dash is really fast when you guys were kids and you got a new pair of sneakers did you think you could run really fast you got them but oh that you could run really fast those so he’s a dad of of Hunter and dash how has that changed him and Hatcher and dash and Peter has chosen to take on a leadership role and to have chosen to take on a leadership role amongst his peers at the same time as he still needs to go out and compete right he’s a professional Prof athlete he gets paid to play and he’s had some really good finishes including a victory this year his first since his inaugural victory in 2015 so there’s much to the story of Peter malady and he’s playing of course this week so we appreciate him taking the time on this Wednesday morning to spend some of that with all of us and it’s a pleasure to welcome multiple time winner from the PGA Tour uh to the program Peter Joseph malady Peter how you doing how’s everything going it’s going great Maddie how you doing man great are you home now or or where where you at it looks or an Airbnb or what’s the story for you yep Airbnb in Charlotte right now just uh got an afternoon pram time this morning so just uh hanging out of the house my family is back home in Knoxville because Hatcher is really into school at the moment which is awesome we want to like if he’s excited about school we don’t want to take him away so they’re going to um we are going to we are going to take him away from Thursday and Friday though they’re they’re traveling you know we live a little less than four hours from Charlotte so they’ll be driving over um after Hatcher school day today so they’ll be they’ll be back with me this evening which I’m super pumped about and then we’ll have an awesome week here in Charlotte who is who was driving over is is your is your wife Alicia driving over alone with them for four hours and two boys in the in the car seats that seems like a do or or a pretty uh challenging 4 hours before yeah so we uh we we definitely decided um when the second one when Dash was born that we weren’t doing any more we weren’t doing any more trips um where it was just Alicia the boys and I that’s just like when I’m out on the course for you know some of these days especially you consider like a weather delay or anything that can happen that means Alicia is alone with both the boys for for a long time trying to just sort out life in a new city away from home so we always either bring my mom who is amazing um or we did we hired a nanny um so we we bring one or the other and this week it’s my mom she’s coming over um and so uh she’ll be either either Alicia or my mom will be playing referee in the car while the other one’s driving safely um so uh so yeah we got to good system going it’s working how fast is Dash uh was you when when he was first born and I told uh my you my I actually just played with him um what last week new two weeks ago in New Orleans New Orleans but I told Russell Knox my good buddy on tour said youo he’s born his name’s Dash and he looked at me real serious and said what if he’s slow I said then he’s gonna be a slow kid named Dash and that’s it um but I don’t think we’re gonna have to worry about that because um Hatcher has Hatcher looks like me so our four and a half yearold looks like me um Dash looks like uh his mom which is good for him but they both uh they both have my my energy um so they’re going to they’re going to pay me back for what I did to my parents as a kid I can already I mean it’s already happening I can tell but they they both have my energy and dashes full speed all the time um you know he’s been he’s been up on two feet now for two or three months um and he he like my walking pace I can barely keep up with him and you know his legs are what 18 in 16 inch long like and I can’t keep so so he’s going to be fast I’m not worried about that that is awesome so dude you are an anomaly in so many ways true when you think about the success you’re having right now in 2024 in in some ways you’re a throwback kind of a putt for do because and I know I’m I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know when you look at your performance stats right off the tea accuracy Etc I mean with all due respect you’re short and you’re crooked that usually is not a formula for success but Strokes game putting yeah yeah yeah come on come on I used to be short now I’m long and crooked like I I don’t know if the stats back that up because every time I look at my stats they don’t like below average driving distance I hit it past everyone I play with now like every time I play with someone I hit it past them like maybe not I played with Jake knap in uh uh somewhere and he hits it pretty far I’ll get I guess driving distance you’re 134th on tour so this if the distance is new it’s probably not going to be reflected yet well I’ve been bombing it for a little while but my problem is I hit like three trees around that knock it backwards I think that skewed my average like I I I because I’m I’m long and crooked I’m but I’m and by long I mean I’m long compared to where I was 10 years ago I’m I’m I think I I would say like in terms of all like the swing speed ball speed stuff I’ve got to be right on average on tour now maybe a tick above um but I yeah I still don’t hit it straight enough to take advantage of that but you know the week I uh the week I won a few uh what six weeks ago now the Val Championship that’s a tight little dog leggy golf course that actually is not overly short like like it’s it’s it’s an old school course that winds through trees but it’s decently long um I was fourth in the field and strokes gained off the te that week and that’s ite I like that that’s the reason I won the tournament because I’ve always said this like if I can get my Strokes gained off the te to zero so just neutral I’ll have a long successful career um you know contending in tournaments on the PJ tour because I’m good enough everywhere else you know I just you can’t recover from losing you know basically a shot round off the te four shots a tournament off the tea which is what I’ve done for the last four or five years what did you what did you do then Peter how did you gain more space how did how did you get more width in your swing so you could generate more speed what what changes did you make honestly it was never one thing like it was never like this like I I will say I I gained well I shouldn’t say that maybe this because I’m about to tell a story that means it was one thing in the beginning like I gained like six or seven miles hour of ball speed in a day and I still remembered it was the Monday of um no it’s the Sun day before the PLAYERS Championship in like 2016 or 17 um I was still you know banging drivers at 160 ball speed like not like very like bottom 2% on tour for sure um and I was working with a coach at the time named Mitchell Spearman Mitchell Mitchell had me do this Jo he’s like dude you just you never get to your right side you’re always on your left side the whole time so you never have any like power to transfer because it’s always left um so he had me do this drill with my driver where he’s like I want you to you know it’s a basic drill you know I just want you to take your back swing and in your back swing I I literally want you at the top of your swing to have this moment where your left foot comes completely off the ground and then you as you transition tap it back down and go and you know there’s the awkwardness of feeling something different for the first 10 swings but by like the 15th swing doing that I was six miles an hour faster that day like that day so that that was the moment um but then from there I’ve gone from you know 166 ball speed or so that day um and that was just on the Range it wasn’t on course so I wasn’t like I gained those six miles an hour instantly like to play with um but you know from from that day I had like the foundation from swing perspective that I could generate more power and then since then you know I’ve um It’s a combination of a lot of things you know a combination of time in the gym um where you know you can see these muscles right everybody like um yeah yeah you’re ripped um yeah that’s just fact I mean yeah what it is what it is um so but it’s combination of like putting on some good golf strength um and then just you know a steady progression of like I think improvements in my swing have helped me hit the ball more out of the middle of the club face which is a nice thing and then one thing that I think you know might be underestimated is the fact that I mean I’m steadily and progressively become more comfortable on tour even if I’m not more you know I haven’t been more successful and but I’m more like I’m more comfortable I feel more secure and I think it’s just a maturity thing too that I’m like I’m I’m less concerned over my shots than I used to be because I know now that some of them are going to stink some of them are going to be great the weeks when you stink you’re going to miss the cut the weeks when you’re great you need to be ready to take advantage of it um and so I swing with a little more freedom um than I used to and I think that is an underestimated source of speed um to to just you know know that whereas you know before I used to I still I mean I still absolutely hate missing Cuts I hate playing poorly um you know in my career I’ve missed more Cuts than I’ve made which is I find to be an annoying stat because I hate every one of them but I also know that a miscut doesn’t Define anything about who I am or my life and so I’m not like I hate them but I’m not scared of them and that’s a difference that from you know where I was six eight years ago where I was like scared of a miscut cuz I felt like it defined me um and so I think there’s a little bit of freedom in there too that comes from that that’s valuable for Speed you know where we’re talking about this and talking about what you’re working on to improve in your game and what have you I was I was starting down the road too of of giving you praise where you deserve it second in Strokes gain putting which is why I was saying it’s kind of almost like a throwback putt for dough situation with you that that is a remarkable stat and the fact that putting prow us is something that you’ve hung on to for many many years and it is a formidable weapon for you could you talk to us about that and and is putting for Peter malady also a window into the soul um that seems uh that seems maybe I I hope parenting is a window into the soul more than putting um me too um but uh um I I I get a great kick out of this and I don’t know if I don’t know if this is ever true obviously I never met Ben Hogan um but i’ I’ve I think a lot of people carry this um uh carry this sort of mindset that that I heard I heard that he said once that putting should only count half or something um and and I feel like a lot of people carry that mindset because I always hear people say stuff to the effect of I played amazing I just didn’t putt very well or I played amazing I just couldn’t get a putt to go in and my response to that is always that’s roughly half of the game like it’s roughly half of of the game of golf like if you you figure on a good day on the DJ tour you’re going to hit 60 you know 60 on a great day 64 on a good day 69 on a bad day 73 shots and you figure roughly on an average day 29 28 29 of those are going to be putts um it doesn’t make sense to me to ever say oh man I played great but I putted badly like putting is half of playing like you could say I hit it great and I putt it badly but if you played great that would have to include putting and I’ve always I’ve always sort of had that perspective of um you know the 300 yard drive and the tap in you make after you miss the four-footer both count as one shot toward your total um and so you know if you can avoid having to tap in after missing the first putt that’s a shot you get to take off your score and um so that’s always been something that I you know I’ve known is a strength for me um you asked if it was a window to the soul I don’t I don’t know that seems that seems a little uh you know overly poetic but I what I will say is I think despite the fact that you know everyone who knows me knows that I’m very socially capable like I I I guess the more accurate way of saying that is I talk a lot um everyone who knows me knows that but you know my actual like the place that I go to like restore who I am is either like you know alone time with my family which is not very restorative at the moment with a four-year-old and a one-year-old but but aone Time Quiet Time by myself is like where I go to like restore my spirit my I can have that on a putting green like I can have not so much on the PJ tour usually because it’s crowded but when I’m home I can go to a putting green with a putter in one ball and for an hour or 90 minutes I can be so present so content um and that’s been always something that I’ve really enjoyed and so I think putting um you know I I I I think I think there is something you know there is something kind of poetic about that for me that um I’ve I’ve always enjoyed that peacefulness and and and the challenge of working on it and the creativity and the feel and everything that goes into being the good putter has always been something that sort of resonates with me um so yeah I’ve uh like yeah putting putting is a big part of My Success Peter that’s what’s different about you guys that are great Putters that’s what’s different about you guys is that you guys that are great Putters I by and large you don’t over complicate it and somehow that that part of the game that is I mean Gary play himself told me you relive your sins over three-foot Putt in a major championship right and so for the rest of the world that are dealing with all sorts of demons that that choose to to rear up from from the ground when they’re on a putting green you guys somehow are floating on a cloud and I always try to ask the question I got to take a break here so I’m not going to have you jump in just yet my friend I I always ask the question great Putters give me your philosophy on putting and and usually it’s like he it’s my solitude it’s it’s where I find myself that’s why I asked you if it was a window into the soul and then and then I say we’ll try to explain it they go you know the best way to do it is just go out there look at it and and hit the PT get it to the hole I’m like the vast majority I I think that’s why I think putting somehow is a gift we’re going be back with more with Peter Mady right after this we’ll keep going down that gift Andrew go back to that shot that we have at Peter monat because I love where he’s sitting the way that that picture is framed behind him just shows us all of the rhythms coming right from his brain right now as we continue on this conversation more of it with Peter monad after these words the PJ TOUR Superstore is the presenting sponsor of the fairways of Life show number one golf retailer Coast to Coast yeah nearly 70 big beautiful stores you need it swing it wear it learn from it you’ll find it inside of those walls where you are shopping with the best shop with the pros every January PGA TOUR Superstore Pros meet every manufacturer learn about the latest equipment log thousands of hours of training and together hit over 100,000 balls all so they can get you the perfect fit in Ireland golf is more than just a game come and experience our world famous lyx courses and our world famous Parkland courses all set alongside world famous scenery and visit our world famous historic sites and while you’re here enjoy our world famous Hospitality fill your heart with Ireland at ireland.com golf Ben Hogan golf equipment is back established in 1953 we serve golfers who demand Excellence of their equipment designed by The Game’s best Engineers forged in the world’s best foundaries and built to order in the USA don’t settle for off the rack disappointment elevate your game with custom clubs at direct to Consumer pricing exclusively at Ben hogan.com that’s Ben hogen golf.com the Gen 6 iron is a culmination of everything that we have learned as a team the absolute best golf club I’ve ever hit it’s something special say hello to the New pxg Gen 6 iron the longest most accurate irons we’ve ever made they go higher and farther than any iron that I have hit to date and they’re so easy to hit super excited for the consumer to try these they’re going to love them pxg nobody makes golf clubs the way we do period baseball nah football done it I think I’m going to go after the PGA tour playing on the PGA tour is not easy but you know what is easy getting the 524 series from Tour Edge getting linebackers at home runs used to be easy out here you’re going to need all the easy you can get introducing the 524 series from Tour Edge the easiest clubs you’ll ever hit even the best players in the world can use a little easy I like the sound of that look out PGA Tour pound-for-pound nothing comes close Bo golf provides the Ultimate worldclass Golf destination with 10 Championship caliber courses spanning three Resorts centered in Michigan’s Northern lower Peninsula the courses are the products of some of the game’s Masters including Robert Trent Jones senior Arthur Hills and Donald Ross from the all-inclusive vacation package is Elite instruction with the bo Golf Academy tournaments and so much more Bo golf truly offers an unrivaled Michigan golf vacation experience just log on to Bo golf.com [Music] welcome back to the fairways of Life show our guest is multiple time winner on the PGA tour Peter malady do you like the sound of that Peter when you’re introduced now as a guy You’ won on the PGA tour and and that was a distinction of Honor no doubt but to be a multiple time winner on the PGA tour did you feel like it validated something in any way either to the public or to yourself I mean like of course it like it’s an amazing feeling to to win on the PJ tour and it was you know the first time I won back in 2015 I really felt like it happened um I use this phrase I happened by accident which which isn’t a good accurate description but like I didn’t start the week um back in 2015 at the Sanderson Farms Championship thinking this is my week I can win this tournament I’m gonna go out and do my best and I can win this tournament like I was just like I’m back it’s the second event or maybe third event of my second season on the PJ tour my first season on the PJ tour hadn’t really gone that well um and I was just saying let’s let’s let’s try to build some positivity let’s try to you know Bank some points um and let’s go and and you know we had crazy weather I think I had 27 holes to play still in the tournament by the end of the day on Sunday and so I know play I played 27 holes on a Monday morning or not Monday morning all day Monday I played 27 holes at Country Club of Jackson and went on to win the tournament and it just all like it was like I mean until I was maybe on the the 12th hole of the final round it still never occurred to me that I might win that tournament like it really didn’t um I was just I was just really hopeful to to bank some points and get off to a good start after having kind of a a rocky rookie year you know the my first time on tour two years before that um and so you know when it all came out and I I you know played such a you know beautiful golf those 27 holes on Monday and I won the tournament I was like wow like that’s really really crazy um and then you know even though I haven’t had you know any any level of like consistent success since then between then and now um I really like I’ve been you I’ve been doing like like the changes in the golf landscape how much more competitive it has gotten you know the the creation of this new signature series of events on the PGA Tour all of that combined with kind of where I am in life now as you know uh relative to the PGA Tour an old guy um I feel super young but relative to the PJ tour I’m an old guy you know I my my son’s now you know been I’ve seing the sacrifices my wife and family make to support the lifestyle that I love you know getting to play like I I really I really started to to dig in and get pretty motivated um you know in the in the fall last year like like I don’t want to just you know scrape by and keep my P tour card like which is a great accomplishment like a really great accomplishment to do it’s not easy but I don’t want that to be like what I’m content with like I want my kids to see me work hard and be great um and so I made made some changes this year um I uh I went and I went and saw a new coach because you know as you pointed out very accurately um I have not driven the ball well enough to be successful on the PJ tour in ever um and so went and saw a new coach the week of the LA open um we’ve been working together now for what is that maybe two or three two and a half three months um saw some immediate progress uh really dug in and I’ve worked really hard and then you know when I when I um you know when I Ted up at the the cognizant classic the old Honda Classic at PJ National The Players Championship and Val Spar to those turns like I’m teen up in those thinking like I’m going to go out and you know my my mindset is always the same I’m gonna go give my best effort on every shot but if I do that well and my game comes together I think I can win these weeks and you know I played really well at PJ National I was in great position through three rounds at the Players Championship and then you know I obviously um went into Sunday at the Valar in the second Group Two Shots behind the leaders and then played a really steady beautiful round of golf and won the tournament um you asked if it’s validating like I think it’s validating of the process that I’ve been through and this the the the steps that I’ve taken to to try to take my game to another level uh very validating of that um is it validating in terms of like you know the what I project outward to you know people who are watching who like I don’t know and I I’ve genuinely gotten to the point where I I’ve I care but I don’t care what like I don’t look at you know I was when I was earlyer in my career I looked at Twitter comments and it mattered to me that you know people liked that I won and care I I I don’t I don’t look at it anymore I don’t care did is that the armor that you used you you got a sponsors exemption into the AT&T Pebble Beach and and you maybe maybe you had yourself insulated enough that you didn’t hear the the clamoring of critics that were like w board member gets gets an exemption d d da but you finished 14th that week and I was thinking to myself I wonder if he heard some of the chirping and was like went out there and proved to him that that you deserved it that you can play very very well uh was any of that the case or or did you just go out there and do your thing as you just described it and you finished 14th because you’re good enough to finish 14th yeah I mean I I didn’t you know I don’t need uh I don’t need extra Motivation by any means I’m I’m you every PJ that motivates me enough but you know I did I did I actually didn’t hear the clattering until a reporter asked me about it on Tuesday of tournament week and then that for me was so like it’s so easy for me to respond to that kind of criticism because like I I felt so comfortable asking the tournament at P Beach for sponsor exemption because of the fact that I I’ll just I mean I’ll say it I I feel I feel like the the nine times prior to this year when I play that tournament which is every year I’ve been on tour you know the Amer that I’ve been paired with has had the a great experience playing with me I totally embrac that format it’s amazing for me to play in the proam format because I actually have someone to root for whereas you know in a normal PJ Tour event you’re out there and it’s like if you’re having a bad day or a bad week your week is is shot but like I’ve I’ve played that event before and played really poorly but helped an amater in my group have the time of his or her life and that’s something that I take a lot of pride in and so I didn’t I didn’t like I don’t feel the least bit bad in asking for an exemption to that tournament um because that’s what that tournament has always been about um and you know that’s a role that I play well and a role that I enjoy so I uh um that’s not it’s just not that hard for me anymore like I used to I used to care so much cuz there’s critic out there for for everything all the time there are people out there that are tripping this week that web Simpson has a sponsored exemption into an event where he has done like he and his wife have created a school in Charlotte for for families that that need to schol like they they have done so much in this community that like he I don’t care if he had never won a tournament on the PGA tour much less having won a Players Championship a US Open however many he has like he deserved spot in this tournament for what he means to this community and you know people people are going to chirp and that’s that’s just that’s just okay with me now like I I don’t I I I I want to make sure I got a great piece of advice from my uh my mentor and really dear friend Don colerin um when the pandemic started and we no one knew what to do no one knew anything you know he was still in his role he was the uh the CEO of FedEx Express and um and I was talking to him about like PJ tour stuff and he said to me he said Peter you just you have to understand that when things like this happen you know it’s not the first time we’ve ever had an experience like this he but the Playbook goes out the window there is no Playbook so you just have to make doing the right thing your North Star and those are words that like have resonated so strongly strongly with me so I’m like if you make doing the right thing you’re North Star you can handle the criticism you can handle what people say um and so that’s sort of been that’s sort of been something something that i’ I’ve tried to live by since he told me that so when we come back with Peter Mady I want to go down the road of some of the things that Peter is touching on and part of that is the world we live in now the society we live in now that that uh it isn’t so much about listening to another person learning from them and maybe modifying or even changing your perspective it’s about digging yourself in on one side or the other and whatever side you’re on the other person is wrong and vice versa is there a middle ground can there be voices of Reason where does all this head how does one get to a point where they have the maturity and the comfort in their own skin to sit back and tell us the things that Peter is telling us right now we’re talking about life things on top of golf things and that’s one of the reasons I love talking to Peter malady which is a conversation that we’ll continue right after this every January PGA TOUR Superstore Pros meet every manufacturer learn about the latest equipment log thousands of hours of training and together hit over 100,000 balls all so they can get you the perfect fit in Ireland golf is more than just a game come and experience our world famous Lynx courses and our world famous Parkland courses all set alongside world famous scenery and visit our world famous historic sights and while you’re here enjoy our world famous Hospitality fill your heart with Ireland at ireland.com golf Ben Hogan golf equipment is back established in 1953 we serve golfers who demand Excellence of their equipment designed by The Game’s best Engineers forged in the world’s best foundaries and built to order in the USA don’t settle for off the rack disappointment elevate your game with custom clubs at direct to Consumer pricing exclusively at Ben Hogan golf.com that’s Ben Hogan golf.com the Gen 6 iron is a culmination of everything that we have learned as a team the absolute best golf club I’ve ever hit it’s something special say hello to the New pxg Gen 6 iron the longest most accurate irons we’ve ever made they go higher and farther than any iron that I have hit to date and they’re so easy to hit super excited for the consumer to try these they’re going to love them pxg nobody makes golf clubs the way we do period baseball nah football done it I think I’m going to go after the PGA tour playing on the PGA tour is not easy but you know what is easy getting the 524 series from tour Ed getting linebackers and home runs you to be easy out here you’re going to need all the easy you can get introducing the 52 four series from Tour Edge the easiest clubs you’ll ever hit even the best players in the world can use a little easy I like to sound to that look out PGA Tour pound-for-pound nothing comes close Bo golf provides the Ultimate worldclass Golf destination with 10 Championship caliber courses spanning three Resorts centered in Michigan’s Northern lower Peninsula the courses are the products of some of the game’s Masters including Robert Trent Jones senior Arthur Hills and Donald Ross from the all-inclusive vac packages Elite instruction with the bo Golf Academy tournaments and so much more Bo golf truly offers an unrivaled Michigan golf vacation experience just log on to Bo golf.com stride by zero friction the first ofit kind personal cab walk in comfort and style with strides remote and follow me technology The Stride handles almost any terrain and its 54 hole range will last all day the lightweight design and removable front wheels makes it simple to handle plus it easily fits golf carts order yours and save visit zerof friction. strive or scan the QR code to order yours today stride your personal [Music] cavy Our Guest is Peter Mady here here in the fairways of Life show today Peter are you getting recognized more or when you take off the bucket hat do people have difficulty uh you know knowing that it’s you yeah as long as I’m in street clothes I can still go anywhere and do anything I want for now um which is like I’ve joked I’ve joked over the years with my proam partners um in like the Wednesday proam tour events I’m like you know I’ve found this really really sweet spot where for like six seven eight years in a row I’ve kept my job on the PJ tour but I’ve not played well enough that anyone has ever heard of me and so it’s nice like it’s it’s actually nice and like I said I’m motivated now and this changing landscape like I really do I want my kids to see me work hard and be great um so I’m very motivated um to do to do well but it is it is super nice that like you know even in my hometown I mean we’ll occasionally see someone who knows who we are something like but we can go we can go to do Bros our little uh counter sered Mexican place that we like like we can go we can go anywhere we want and it you know it’s no one no one bothers us knows who knows who I am knows who we are it’s it’s it’s just really it’s great have you had any skin problems in the past skin cancer what have you as a professional player because obviously wearing a bucket hat like that is so important for so many of us I have skin cancer so I deal with the issues nonstop uh have you ever had anything like that was that part of the motivation my mom my mom and my older sister have both uh my mom had my sister had a melanoma caught incredibly early just had to do you know a deep biopsy um and that was it they didn’t have to do any any other treatment because they got it early enough and got it all my mom had um I’m not actually familiar with the terminology but she had like a squamous something that was like right on the tip of her nose she has a she has a little divot out of her nose which is just a constant reminder to me of why I wear the bucket hat why I’m diligent with my sunscreen in the mornings um and uh so so the Hat is very much a practical thing for me yes and it also is a very very very important and safe me message for so many people because you’re on that platform you’re on that stage Peter I’ve asked you this question for well over a decade when we’ve had a chance to be together or talk you and even more so now now as a multiple time winner and recent winner it’s even more acute you are also your own brand you’ve spoken multiple times already today that part of your motivation is to make your boys proud of you to understand who you are and what you do but you are still the Peter malady brand as a professional athlete what do you want that brand to represent to the world um man this is why I love talking to you Matt because you’re you’re you’re good and um you ask you ask real questions and um I have a conversation with my son a lot so Hatcher’s four and a half I’ve probably been talking to him about this for about a year already now so I started talking to him when he was three and a half because you know you know he like like adults like teenagers like me like like all of us you know he does things that are just to get attention you know he’s been doing that since he was two but I’m 37 and I still do that um do things just to get attention so this is a conversation that I’ve tried to have with him a lot that I want to embody in my own life because it’s something that you know even at like I said even even as an adult who’s been on this Earth for 7 years I forget this um so I I talked to him a lot about this idea of contentment and how I think in life a lot of us would all say you know say like like like what’s the secret to life what’s the goal to life what’s what are you after in life and we all say just you know happiness I want you know happiness for my family happiness for people I care about happiness for for myself but that’s I think that misses the mark because happiness um happiness is not happiness is always fleeting like like there’s situations in life you’re not supposed to be happy like you know you know you you know on a small scale you you know your kid gets a tummy buug that’s miserable experience for for everyone involved um you know most of all the kid but like miserable experience not supposed to be happy um you know bigger scale like stupid stupid stuff happens like kids that are innocent have done everything right get cancer and go through chemo and miserable treatments and sometimes have bad outcomes and it’s like the absolute worst like no way you’re supposed to be happy so when we think happiness is what we’re striving for that’s wrong um what we’re after is contentment um and you can be absolutely miserable but still feel content like contentment means that you did your best that you gave what you wanted to give to the situation that you are proud of who you are at the end of the day you’re proud of who you are and what you’ve done um and so I talked to my son about that and like does he understand what I’m saying yet no of course not but I’m having that conversation for me as much as I’m having it for him um because it’s just something that I need to reminder of all the time is that like we’re not we’re not in this um you know we’re not in this because we know if we do what’s right we’ll always get the outcome that we want we’re in this because we should always do what’s right um and and so this this like striving for contentment is is really I think it’s you know in a world where there are eyeballs on the um you know not not many by the way I’m I’m very aware of that that still the major you know majority of probably the majority of golf fans don’t even know who I am much less like you know the greater public but but when there are there are eyeballs on me that that is like that’s the brand that’s the image that I want to project is like you know a guy who finds contentment in doing the right things in doing my best in contributing what I can in every situation um and that’s something that like you know like I said doesn’t doesn’t mean happiness it doesn’t mean you get the outcome you want every time but it does mean when you put your head on your pillow at night you can feel good about who you are and and that’s just something that you cannot you can’t put a price on that you chose a leadership position on the tour and you happen to have chos it at a time that’s probably the most turbulent in the history of the men’s professional game that the only time I can go back to that would even closely compare would be the late 1960s when the PGA Tour essentially was formed out of the players division of from the PGA of America and that split took place so my first question to you is why why did you assume this role and has it been what you expected of it um I’ll answer in reverse order there it has not been what I expected of it from a um from a time commitment I I you know the the the timetable of becoming a player director on the PJ tours board is kind of drawn out um you serve a year in a role that is mostly um it might be a little like Preparatory but it’s mostly just a name they call so you get elected and they call you the chairman of the pack of our player advisory committee um so I was elected to be the chairman of the pack in January of 22 which means I was asking people to vote for me um late summer and fall of 2021 but I didn’t actually take a seat on the board until January 1 of 2023 so I was asking people to vote for me um and sort of campaigning if you will you know late 21 for a seat that I took starting in 2023 so I didn’t have the for sight to really see where this was all going um but what I did have was this really really powerful um understanding of the fact that good governance should involve broad perspectives and you know it was just important to me that that someone who was curious and open-minded um and had the perspective of of you know being kind of a a grinder strive to keep your card sort of hang on on the bottom end of the PJ tour was at least in the meetings to be there so that that was why I ran for that seat um I did not have any idea that we were going to be involved in like geopolitics and um you know essentially an existential fight for the future of professional golf didn’t know that’s what I was getting myself into you know having um you know the timing of things you know having this all coincide with the birth of my second child and having you know two boys that are young and full of energy like and also a career that is really really difficult you know where I’ve you know I’ve spent I’ve spent you know seven of my 10 years on the PJ tour as very much a fringe player scraping to keep my card um that was part of the reason I ran to be on the board because I thought it was important to have that perspective but now that I’m on the board and the time commit that it brings um it definitely you know if I had it all do to do over again knowing everything I know now I would still do it the same way I would ask for votes I would campaign I would try to be on the board but man it doesn’t mean it’s been easy it’s been really really hard and challenging um but also very meaningful and impactful so um you know that a a long-winded way to say uh it hasn’t been what I expected but the reasons I wanted to be on the board have proven to be really important for me and uh and it makes it really meaningful that I’m there it’s also impactful it’s also meaningful when a member of the board describes what you’re engaged in as an existential fight for the future of professional golf uh is it that are are we at a are we at an edge here of a risk of some way and if so what is that risk yeah no I don’t think there’s I don’t think there’s risk of um like professional golf at the highest level like you know going away that that’s that’s not really it’s just a matter of you know what like what will professional golf continue to look like like what what will the landscape be like this model that we have on the PJ tour that has been so um I use the word impactful again in a different sense here it’s been so impactful um on the communities where we play um you know because the tour like when uh when when Dean Bean was like you know building the modern business of the PGA tour with like you know he he wrote Into the fabric of it that is it is you know at its core an organization to benefit local communities Charities um you know that model still like resonates really strongly with our core fan base I feel like um and you know that’s just something like as we as we go down this path and you know you know right now we’re in this little bubble where the the value of professional golf has been incredibly inflated mostly mostly artificially um but you know but also there is tremendous value and like we have we have star power on the PJ tour right now that is just like through the roof like the talent level on the PJ tour the pipeline to feed the PJ tour like look at look at lud Vig and what he has has done like there there are and I I don’t want to say this as if they’re all the same because they’re not but but there’s a pipeline of ludvigs that are coming to the PGA Tour like like there’s there’s no real um in my mind you know I used the word I I did say existential existential threat to the or existential um fight you know I said as if there’s an existential threat to the future of professional golf it’s not that there’s it’s just you know how do we maintain a model that we all feel proud of that benefits the players the communities um you know most importantly the fans who make us you give us the platform to have an opportunity this like like trying to get all those pieces right in a time right now where the value of a professional golfer is is probably you know in some ways like the encourse value has inflated to an unrealistic level like how do we continue to just build this and feed and serve all the constituents from the players to the fans to the local communities to the organizations that uh that host these events like like how how how do we do that all figure all that out um that’s the part that just is going to be I think you know we’re grappling with a lot of it right now um and and we’re in the middle of it and and and we don’t necessarily have um we don’t necessarily have a clear path forward in terms of what the the model looks like like you know are we partnering with with the piff are we not partnering with the piff like we don’t have Clarity around that yet um and and I don’t think I don’t think there’s like a risk of of us losing you know there’s not a risk of us losing men’s professional golf as as something that is you know incredibly entertaining for fans around the world and Incredibly um you know you know powerful to do good I just want to make sure we keep we keep that as part of the PJ tour’s Mission and and keep the PJ tour as the premier ultimate place for you know professional golfers to apply their trade less than a minute left here Peter before I have to take a break but can an argument been made that Signature Events increased purses etc etc hasn’t you as a PGA Tour player and others benefited from the existence of Liv no question no question right now the question is have we done this in a way that is sustainable and and can we continue to to give the players the product of the PJ tour the the stars of the PJ I point to myself meaning the Stars like the other players like me who are better than me can we continue to give them what they want and feel they deserve while also um carrying on the brand of the PJ tour in a way that is is positively impacting you know all the constituents around us all right when we come back with Peter malady our final segment today I do want to ask him about who he has aligned himself with because it’s our way of saying thank you to professional golfers for joining us to say who are your sponsors why you associated with them back with more the fairways life show after this I got ball fit in 2000 when on a little run then Bridgestone fit me again and I went on another one [Applause] I just got fit again for the new tour BX the ball fitting has been helping me will it help you Bo golf provides the ultimate World glass golf destination with 10 Championship caliber courses spanning three Resorts centered in Michigan’s Northern lower Peninsula the courses are the products of some of the games Masters including Robert Trent Jones senior Arthur Hills and Donald Ross from the all-included iive vacation packages Elite instruction with the boing Golf Academy tournaments and so much more boing golf truly offers an unrivaled Michigan golf vacation experience just log on to Bo golf.com I think when you’re training for other sports or you’re what why most people go to the gym is so that they can like have muscles and you know be strong and be healthy and a lot of the reason why they struggle to play golf is their body doesn’t move properly for them to be able to hit a golf ball and when you’re training for golf it’s a little bit different because you’re focused more on flexibility and mobility and being uh strong in motion when you’re able to kind of have a warm-up and have a workout routine and kind of gradually build up to where you’re training your body to move properly yeah you’re going to get a lot of big dividends on the golf course every January PGA TOUR Superstore Pros meet every manufacturer learn about the latest equipment log thousands of hours of training and together hit over 100,000 balls all so they can get you the perfect fit what if we started a company and the company was under no time constraints no Financial constraints the one constraint is their clubs had to be exceptional performers and much better than any other alternative I was told time and again it’ll never work it worked like a house of fire and I’ll tell you what I think our customers love it bxg nobody makes golf clubs the way we do period stride by zero friction the first of its kind personal c walk in comfort and style with strides remote and follow me technology The Stride handles almost any terrain and its 54 hole range will last all day the lightweight design and removable front wheels makes it simple to handle plus it easily fits golf carts pick up your stride today at a local PGA TOUR Superstore near you or at zerof fr.com back/ Stride stride your personal caby [Music] as we welcome you back to the fairways of Life show Peter Mady has been our guest in today’s show it’s been amazing his insights are incredible it’s the reason why we had him on the show so that you guys could get to know hopefully the Peter malady that we have always known a deep deep thinker a person who truly cares uh Peter you have aligned yourself with companies and I know that when you do it it’s not simply about the money it’s part of what you do as a professional athlete but it’s also about aligning with your own personal philosophies uh who do you who do you who are you sponsored by who do you represent yeah so I mean you can see a couple of them right here on my shirt which is great these have been core sponsors for me since honestly I was um you when I was a senior in college playing pretty well I got reached a representative from tius reached out to me um and since since then you know they’ve been incredibly loyal to me so I’ve played I honestly I think I may have used a a different three-wood for maybe two events my rookie year and with the exception of that I’ve played 14 Titleist clubs every event I’ve ever played on tour um foot Joy also under the ACC cushioned umbrella um they’ve uh they’ve been incredibly awesome to me and my whole family um so I think uh you know from head to toe they make they make the most comfortable best golf gear um so I’ve been been lucky to do that I have a little sleeve logo here that’s oh no wrong sleeve sleeve logo here that’s um uing outdoor supply it’s uh a yo total um it started as an irrigation company but now it’s total uh landscape Hardscape company um they are really impactful in the golf space now but they’re also they also do Residential and the reason I aligned with with Ying um there CE was a guy named Doug York but it’s it’s a family business um Doug married I think into the Ying family if I remember this right but um it’s it’s a family business that’s been passed down just through generations of of the Ying family and and I get to do a a cool uh a cool little tent visit with them when I’m in um Scottdale because that’s that’s where their headquarters is it’s just an amazing company um so that that’s great and then you know on uh I’m really lucky um on the belly of my bag I have uh a club back home and Knox I’ve always had a course called Holston Hills on the belly of my bag because holon Hills when I was first getting started gave me privileges for free it’s an amazing Club um and I now have a course on my bag called fox den um fox den Country Club in Knoxville they’ve given my family a membership they treat us like gold um my little boy can come out and you know he can hit 30 balls in four minutes on the Range because he just goes rapid fire Hatcher does and uh and so so that’s really great and um I was telling um I was telling Dom this your producer um my Splurge purchase after the uh after the win I’m not into cars I’m not I’m not into stuff in general I don’t need a lot of stuff um but I want things that make my life better for my family um and so my Splurge purchase um I bought a Jet card with a a company called fly Alliance and so on weeks when my family travels with me and we can’t get a direct flight on commercial airline um we’ll be able to use fly Alliance to um to fly us um and that’s uh that’s something that’ll be really important for for my family n so uh yeah it’s great and I’ve had a lot of good sponsors over the years that have helped me too a ton that that aren’t with me anymore but like kind snacks was great to me and um uh Lum mady’s pizza in Chicago which was so organic um was was was so cool so so really really really thankful for for for all that all the support I’ve gotten it’s awesome Peter we are out of time but we appreciate the time that you have given us I love what you represent love who you are my friend we wish you the very very best as you know always and to all of you thank you so much for joining us today until we’re together again goodbye for now [Music]