Why Not: A Look Inside the Life of PGA Professional Michael Block | TaylorMade Golf

If you watch golf, consume golf, or even just keep up with it here and there, you have heard of Team TaylorMade Staffer Michael Block. The club professional at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club has been nothing short of a legend since placing T-15 at the 2023 PGA Championship, earning him an automatic exemption into this year’s major. We sat down with him and had him take us through a day in his life at the course, reflect on last year’s success and detail how he is prepping for Valhalla. He even shares some words of wisdom on how to mentally take on this challenge and how he wants to inspire others to do the same.

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[Music] yeah so why not that’s been my thing for a long time I use that as my Mantra um to get over the golf ball and basically be why can’t I do that it’s golf right uh and I don’t think every’s going to line up quite as beautifully as it did uh last year but you never know who knows what could happen I could miss a cup by 10 or I could maybe finish 15th again who knows I’m not going to write that story quite yet [Music] [Music] Ryan Michael how’s the fort you guys been holding it down yeah I can imagine my name’s Michael block U the head golf professional here at a Royo chubo Golf Club um I guess it’s kind of the day in the life of uh the busiest Club Pro in uh in in the United States for last year I’ve been gone more over that last year than ever in my life and obviously still come back here I do the buying for the shop so it’s pretty much my job to get everything invoiced out and uh out on the floor so uh today I was surprised when I walked in the boxes Wen to the ceiling I guess there’s so many of them that they had to put them in the other storage room yeah this is definitely I’m living a dream dude this is still still to this day when I’m walking my dog in the morning I’m thinking like this where just I still can’t contemplate quite what happened and how it happened and when it happened because it was so surreal and the moment happened so quickly uh but because of my age I think I was able to enjoy it than more than I would have if I was 25 when that happened which is really nice and also I had all my friends and family and around me which is a a lot of fun last year at o Hill being um the low Club professional and major and PJ Championship but then also uh you know making a cut in a major was always a huge thing obviously the Taylor Made staff bag from the 2023 PJ championship at Oak Hill I keep on trying to be sun me I’m not when I go play in these events I’m trying to be too much of a tour pro I said just put blocky on it this is what everyone calls me my wife calls me blocky everyone calls me blocky and and it worked out sitting down I talked to my wife the other day and I said uh I need to create some more goals for this year and she goes just make the cut so it’s all come full circle here where you know it’s not like oh you need to go get better than top 15 she’s like you just just make the cut okay and uh we’ll be happy so uh that’s that’s where we’re at [Music] so normally my warmup consists of half the times with my 60° wedge this is still the same wedge that I used last year on the 18th hole at Oak Hill so I’ve really worn down the grooves quite a bit but um I’m really looking for a Tempo I always choked under a lot of pressure right I always never played that great in tour vents you know I’d make the cut and then last place for the guys that made the cut um and so I really started to look at I said you know I only have what five six seven more years of plan let’s fix this what am I doing wrong and I realized that I had a lot of lateral movement lower body movement coming through here which would then cause my club to get more underneath which would then because I’m underneath and sliding I’d have to flip my hands and time that fine and dandy when you’re having fun and you’re on a driving range imposs possible to do when you’re out in a major championship or PJ Tour event um or cameras are all over you too you know you know these little routine shots I just hit this little just cover Move I’ll sit here by myself in the back of the range and hit a 100 of those in preparation for Valla so last year I go into oakill and then all of a sudden you know I go of the practice rounds and I on purposely didn’t want to play with anyone and then I get paired with two great guys Thursday and Friday and all of a sudden 7070 happen you know and that’s when I put my arms up in the air on Friday afternoon when I made that par putt on number nine cuz I knew that I just made I I still get the chills right I even saying it and I put my arms up and I’m just like that was just this huge amount of relief but then you know obviously Saturday I mean even though it’s pouring rain on us and the conditions were brutal and the fairways were no longer firm uh I put better than I put in my life that day out of you know the 70 guys that made the cut I would have picked Rory ma to play with that’s who I would have picked to play with on that Sunday afternoon um and of course that’s just how everything was aligning that week and then I do play with Rory and now I’m just like oh my goodness like this crowd is going to be insane oh the first he was nuts Roy couldn’t have been any better he was the coolest guy in the world um I didn’t look at him until probably the fourth or fifth hole to actually watch how cool the shot is that he hits and I’m just like this is that’s a different game that’s a different game and uh it was so impressive so the hole in one obviously I did not see it going in I didn’t pretend like I didn’t see it I did not see that thing going whatsoever uh backstory is Rory goes misses the green to the right I get up they give me a standing ovation they all you know they’re going it’s going crazy I was like my cool you know I sit there for a second and I hit H and then just do the same thing again and so that’s why I just go thank you you know and then Roy turns around he’s like it’s in the hole he turns around gives me a hug passs me on my back it’s in the hole and at that point once again I’m going how is this humanly possible under this situation right now that this is happening cuz I literally felt like I was on this little Cloud about 15 ft above looking down at that point and I’m like this is this is no no chance no way and I literally say it just like that now I said it I go no way it was uh obviously the coolest moment of my life so making that putt on 18 and Oak Hill I had no idea it was tied for 15th I would have missed it um if I did know but it dripped in on the right side um all of a sudden when I’m in you know at I didn’t know at that point either where I finished and uh they tell me that you’re in for valalo [Music] the PJ championship for this year of B is probably one of the biggest events of my life now everyone thinks for some reason once again I’m going to go do exactly what I did but as we know that was you know more than likely a once in life dream week uh but I’m going to do my best I’m I’m prepping obviously getting all 14 clubs dialed into the bag and then trying to dial in the golf swing well you know you always used to hear this putt for dough drive for show you know when you go to a major such as Valhalla and you’ve got 6-in rough You better drive it well because if you don’t drive it well it doesn’t matter how well you put um I got to get that driver just dialed in which I’m loving it I’m loving the qi1 8° I need to go out and just shoot even par better if that’s possible you know um two rounds and then hopefully make the weekend again and after that you know you never know what happens yeah I was fortunate enough to go back to valala a couple months back with Jimmy the owner of the club I’m making some putts all of a sudden I think I bir like 8 and n and make the turn go doing okay again nothing crazy though like it’s not like wow this round’s unbelievable but then all of a sudden I finish up with a couple birdies making 8f footer on 18 and Jimmy looks at me and he goes he goes you just shot the course record everyone kind of visualizes who they are and sometimes we kind of get stuck where you think this is where I’m going to plateau and I feel that no matter what age you are that you can break through that line and keep going up and uh and I’m a huge advocate of that and I’m glad that I kept believing in myself almost age 50 that I could do it and I could go play against Rory and the best players in the entire world and I did it and um I just hope a lot of other people learn from that whether it’s in uh their normal business as a insurance salesman um or somebody working at a at a grocery store as a clerk uh I just hope that everyone realizes that they can keep moving forward [Music]