Chris brings on special guest, PGA Tour Pro, Ryan Gerard. Ryan is a UNC graduate, All-American in 2020 and 2022, All-ACC in 2021, 4th in UNC history in career stroke average, and the list goes on! They discuss Ryan’s career and what it is like going from a Junior Golfer to a PGA Pro. Ryan also gives tips for other golfers aspiring to make it to the pros.
Make sure to follow Ryan on his instagram https://www.instagram.com/golfgerard/
the college golf work experience is more about being comfortable and more about embracing it and having fun with your teammates welcome to the golf Fitness bomb squad podcast with Chris Finn a production of P fors golf welcome to the golf Fitness bomb squad I’m your host Chris Finn and I have a really excited to have a guest here with us uh that I’ve known for quite a while he’s made a a big name for himself this year on tour um and he really has a special place in in our heart P for us Golf and then that we’ve been able to kind of watch and follow him uh throughout his career and for any of you Junior golfers out there or parents of Juniors who are curious kind of what it takes to get from the you know from junior golf all the way to the highest of high levels um you know definitely make sure you’re paying attention to this episode so uh today we’re really lucky to have Ryan Gerard with us PJ tour professional um and I will give you guys a little bit of his bio he’s uh quite the accomplished player he uh he came out of University of North Carolina All-American in 20120 2022 all ACC um in 2021 as a fifth year senior um this guy can play his ball for any of you guys who don’t know Ryan uh he’s actually fourth in UNC history and career stroke average he actually uh has the third and seventh best single season scoring average by byar Hill one of only two players to have multiple seasons in top 10 best averag in UNC history five careers 65 are better which is more than any other Carolina Tar Hill um the list goes on and on and on uh and you to talk about preparation and being able to be ready for for the big stage even in his first professional tournament he was co- medalist for qualifier at the US Open um so Ryan welcome to the uh to the golf Fitness bomb squad and we’re happy to have you man Chris thanks so much for having me yeah man it’s it’s been uh as somebody who who’s gotten to watch you you know throughout the year it’s been awesome to see you this year obviously you’ve been on tours your second year um second kind of you first kind of full season um and what’s that been like what’s that been like for you just adjusting and and travel and I know you got been on the road for quite a bit this year yeah it’s been a lot of fun um it’s kind of been a dream of mine to play golf professionally on the PGA tour for as long as I can remember so just kind of getting to fulfill that and live that dream has been been awesome but uh yeah it’s been a little bit strange kind of getting acclimated to it uh feeling like you’re just going until you you can’t go anymore sometimes so uh it’s a it’s a lot of discipline and um just kind of trying to be as prepared as possible and doing the right thing when you’re out there but trying to enjoy it too yeah so let’s let’s start with you know being on tour I know I know you had uh you told me when we were talking before we jumped on the you know recording here that uh like how many weeks have you been on the road this year um like how how many plane flights or I don’t you have miles traveled like like just to give people kind of a a an idea of like quantify for them what does it mean to be on tour in terms of the the toll that it takes on the body and and the commitment level yeah so um we’re sitting here September 20th is I think I don’t really know what the is but um I’ve played five corn fairy tour events 18 PJ tour events in a major this year um in addition to five mini tour events four Monday qualifiers and a US Open 36 whole sectional qualifier so I think that’s a grand total of like 34 events and we’re like 39 weeks into this year so uh it’s it’s pretty crazy there was a stretch there where I was like on the road for 10 or 11 weeks but I think I did the math and I’ve been physically at my house hanging out practicing for nine weeks this year um so been on the road or playing a tournament in 29 of the weeks kind of leading up to this week and then um I’ve taken 42 flights so far this year and uh the reason I bring that up is I feel like flying when you’re trying to play golf is the biggest thing that makes you more tired or kind of throws off your Rhythm you have to be really really cognizant of what you’re doing um when you’re flying to a tournament or back from a tournament just kind of keep the body uh ready and healthy and um at Peak Performance yeah for sure so and we have a lot of people listening that that travel for work or you know even you know we’re talking you know maybe college kids that are trying to go to you know go to the next level like you have like what are some I mean if you had to give kind of like your your top three tips on how to be successful with that level of travel and still be able to you know play the game at a high level like for you what have been the kind of the key findings I guess you know this year so I think a few things for me um the first one’s really really stupid but it’s really simple if you can get like a small like neck pillow or um like roll up a t-shirt anything like that and just kind of put it in the lumbar support on your back on those mid to longer airplane flights it just does wonders for me kind of keeping everything loose kind of putting you putting yourself in a better posture when you’re sitting there so you’re not slouching or feeling like you’re kind of everything’s rigid with the back of the this airplane seat because I feel like that that has helped me be less just I don’t know out of whack when I get to places and then drinking as much water as possible is another big one and then for for guys that have the uh chance to kind of pick when they’re going to fly uh I prefer flying at night just because I feel like I kind of can do whatever I want in the morning then I can go to the airport kind of know that’s that section of my day is done or last part of my day is just travel go to the airport fly later at night if possible get somewhere stretch a little bit drink a lot of water and then sleep it off so the next day you kind of feel like you’re in some sort of Rhythm whereas um feel like if you’re flying early in the morning and then you’re grabbing your clubs and you’re going from the airport to the golf course or the car or wherever and it’s just kind of like a you almost feel like you’re behind on the day and um it’s hard to really kind of catch back up so I feel like those three things are pretty small things that you can try and do to help put yourself in a better position when you when you land somewhere if you’re trying to play some golf or just feel better in general for sure yeah and so as anyone who’s ever traveled by airplane it never you know for as many flights 40 plus flights I’m sure at least one of them has been delayed or canceled or like what when when that happens to you like what do you do to to recover from that and like kind of how do you adjust you know you go into obviously the day having this plan of this is going to be my day this is what I’m going to do tomorrow when you know the airline throws or the weather throws an absolute wrench in it like what how do you kind of tend to recover from that because you know obviously that’s that’s a commonality that that lots of people have in terms of challenges of travel yeah well luckily I’m young and uh I take pretty good care of myself for the most part so it’s not it’s not the end of the world being 24 stuck on a plane for a little bit but um you just kind of got to roll with it I think that’s the big thing there’s a lot of stuff that is not in your control I only try and worry about the stuff that is in my control kind of what I can do to put myself in the best position going forward and all the other external variables everything else that might happen we just kind of kind of sweep it under the rug and roll with the punches um so I feel like the biggest thing that I can do is not try and get agitated not try and get like frustrated I mean if if you got to go talk someone about getting another flight you could be a little bit hey help me out here please but besides that you just kind of roll with it and um I just I guess that’s my biggest thing is never let the stress level get too too crazy if you’re if it’s something that’s gonna happen anyway I mean there’s no point getting all worked up about it because it just kind of bleeds into everything else that you’re doing 100% yeah and that’s and I think that kind of leads into you know we talk about the controllables the game of golf and and particularly on tour there’s lots that are that is not controllable um you when we talk about the body that’s obviously something that is very much within our control and the physicality of it and so what I’d love to hear is kind of and everyone listening would love to hear like how has your how have you gotten to where you are from the physical side you know your your preparation from the time you were a kid to you know high school and then obviously going to the University of North Carolina and then now you’re kind of you know on your own on tour different different city pretty much every week how have how have you had to adapt to that and how have and what have you found that’s kind of been uh you know successful for you to to play at the level you’re playing um well I used to work out with Chris in the shed way back in the day the good old shed that’s the OG so listening the shed the shed was was uh was the first building that I actually had it was like I don’t know what was it Ryan like 10 by 15 at it couldn’t have been bigger than that right oh it was a small it was on the range at hillindale and Durham it’s beautiful place beautiful beautiful M Municipal cours um I mean nothing like he’s doing now I tell you that much but I remember being in there and then kind of working throughout high school with him and I think that kind of really set the foundation for me um just having that base level of strength kind of a little bit more coordination in the movements um a lot of kids that play a lot of other sports growing up kind of get the coordination like if you’re playing two three Sports in middle school high school it does a lot for your development but um I really really quit everything kind of middle school to focus primarily on golf so I feel like I lost a little bit of that I wouldn’t say coordination but just kind of the development of playing multiple Sports the different kind of physicalities that you get from them the different movements so Chris really helped me kind of fine-tune some of those motor skills I remember sitting in there trying to throw a ball left-handed and looking like a complete fool so I think we won’t share Baseline uh kind of getting a baseline where I felt like physically I was comfortable um and from a relatively younger age kind of helped me be H have that good foundation and then kind of going into college uh started doing a little bit more heavy lifting I’d say kind of doing whatever the team’s been doing so um it’s tailored to you but it’s tailored to more of a group so it’s it’s a bit of an interesting setting and you’re doing it at weird hours and you’re going to class and um then you’re trying to practice and it just becomes a little bit of a I wouldn’t say a grind but it it becomes more of a hey you got to do this at this time and um that’s just kind of the rule and that’s fine and I I I didn’t mind it I I just would say it was it was harder for me in college than it was in high school uh just because of everything else that you have going on and then now that my job is full-time to focus on golf um the physical aspect has been a little bit easier for me because I can kind of plan my schedule around when I like to do stuff um kind of plan what I like to do in general um and do whatever I think is going to be the best for me I I do a lot of stretching I do a lot of like kind of body weight Mobility stuff I don’t really do a lot of weights right now I probably should start at some point but um yeah I’ve been playing pretty much straight for the last year and a half without having too many long breaks so the uh the weights are hard to put on in the middle middle of a season so that might be an offseason project but I’d say stretching is the biggest thing that anyone could do out there if you’re if you’re looking to just kind of try and do better um in terms of feeling better every day hitting the golf ball maybe just a little bit more consistent um that that that’s been huge for me is just kind of getting into a routine with uh a little bit of dynamic stretching a little bit of static stretching drinking a lot of water all that good stuff it goes a long way yeah for sure and I think that’s something we always and then the research supports is always talk if you think about remember the food pyramid the base of the food pyramid for golf really is being able to have mobility in the you know the RO rotary centers right the neck the shoulders and and the hips um Ryan let’s I’d love to hear more about college and what that’s like that we get a lot of questions from a lot of our Juniors and um you know we see it on social a bunch too kind of like kid people and Par kids and parents really have no idea like how to prepare and what college is like I think there’s a a vision of what college golf is going to be like and then there’s obviously the reality of what you lived and and how different it can be and what is what were some of the you know if you were talking to to Juniors and their parents who were looking to play college golf what would be some of the kind of know the things that they probably don’t know that that you think would be helpful for them to know in terms of how to you know be successful and then how prepared uh for a great college career yeah uh so I went to UNCC and it was a little bit more academically rigorous school I’d say than than post so I think that definitely factors into the um level of stress or competition or whatever you want to call it but um college golf as a whole is is a fun experience but but it is is a grind sometimes um I mean I remember some Fridays you’re doing 6: a.m. workout and then kind of going to class for a little bit getting out at one going to the golf course beating balls for a couple hours then just trying to go squeeze out as much possible time to play and then all of a sudden it’s 800 PM some nights and you’re like gosh man it’s Friday night like what am I gonna do I’ve been up since 5:30 and I just want to sleep but um for the most part I’d say the college golf work experience is more about being comfortable and more about embracing it and having fun with your teammates and kind of being on top of all that stuff that we can get into the like the individual workout stuff and kind of what it looks like to be a part of that but I’d say the biggest thing is if you can find a group of guys and a coaching staff and stuff like that that you like and you think you’re going to fit in with that’s probably the most important part because whatever you might go through with those guys at least you’re going through it with with them and that’s making your life that much easier just because you have I guess friends resources whatever you want to call it along the way to kind of help go through it together um from a physical side from a workout side it’s just a lot of weird stuff going on I mean I was living at uh living in a dorm that was like Bas basically the size of the shed like 10 by 20 and then um with a with a roommate and it’s just it’s just different than what you’re what you’re used to so a lot of change a lot of interesting hour you’re trying to focus on school you gotta play good golf you gotta figure out what you’re going to eat you gotta maybe cook for yourself like do laundry like that stuff’s like crazy man um but I’d say in terms of like the team physical aspect usually I’d say it’s usually like three workouts a week Monday Wednesday Friday it says pretty standard um occasionally you’ll throw in like a Thursday workout in the off seon or like a Thursday like yoga session in the offseason um when you’re not playing all the golf tournaments in the world so I’d say those kind of those that’s kind of what to expect in terms of like schedule for a week and workouts um for the most part they’re pretty pretty standard with like a hey you do a pretty heavy Dynamic warmup um you do some sort of like dumbbell complex or you break out into small groups and you have a couple different groups of guys depending upon like what stage they are physically doing a few different things anything from squats to box jumps to sled pushes to um band work I mean you name it like it kind of runs the gamut but I’d say for the most part you kind of work up in in the system most trainers do a really good job of putting you in a position where you’re going to succeed and if you’re a freshman or a sophomore like someone younger not going to really force you into the the crazy stuff um right away you’re going to you’re going to kind of get to work into it so I think a lot of it is kind of that I mean finish occasionally with some cardio or some stadiums for us we we worked out in the bottom of the football stadium so we just run around the whole field up and down the stairs sometimes um just trying to kind of keep everything physically good but uh for the most part man like that stuff it it feels like a grind when you’re in there you’re always kind of that next set mentality like oh I just got to worry about this set we’ll worry about the next set when we get to it but um no it’s it’s it’s very they make it very easy for you to follow for the most part they make it very easy for you to kind of do um I mean obviously there’s there’s some sort of like team discipline involved like hey it’s a 6 AM workout you’re there at 5:50 like and that’s early for a lot of people especially in college uh but ESP especially in college but that’s that’s one of those things where I feel like as you go you kind of get a better grip on it better understanding of it and um it’s it is it is different than anything you’re ever going to do but you kind of enjoy the ride and the people like kind of going back to what I said initially like the people that you’re doing it with make such a big difference because if you’re waking up in the morning and you get to go basically hang out with your guys for an hour and a half before class like it’s a lot easier to look forward to it than oh man dude it’s 5:30 I got to get up and I hate these freaking guys and my coach is such a hard ass and like I know they’re gonna run us whatever so that’s I can speak to that actually my uh my my oldest Lucas um who wasn’t even born when we started working together he’s 10 now um but he he’s gotten in he’s he’s asking to go to the gym now in the morning with me so he literally the last three mornings like 5:30 he’s like d we’re going to the gym right normally i’ be like I’m kind of tired I don’t think I’m going to go today my 10-year-old is literally forcing me to get up and go to the gym and there’s there’s a gym attendant there and he’s he says oh you got your workout partner huh I had liter look at the guy yeah I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my 10-year-old today like so so having that camaraderie whether it’s your 10-year-old or your college teammates 100% it’s there’s an accountability factor to it and obviously makes it more enjoyable too um I think kind of to not take all of your time today but I would love and I know we’ve gotten some questions in the past like people are curious what is that Tor trailer like right people like like behind the scenes like you go in there like like what happens in there like I know obviously there’s there’s physios and those sorts of things in there you know what kind of equipment are do you see like hundreds of different types of workouts the guys tend to do the same things um so I think you know that’ be kind of like the like what’s it like but then number two I think you know I’d be real Curious for to share kind of how you’ve utilized it and um you or not this year on tour to kind of you know continue you’ve obviously had an amazing run here and how you’ve been able to kind of keep that going um so there’s two tour trailers for for those who are interested it’s actually really cool um there’s a physio trailer which has more of like the uh kind of the massage tables with um usually there’s like two or three PT in there um a chiropractor uh like normat Tech legs basically just like recovery stuff some other hyper ice equipment um couple Cable Systems on the wall couple benches couple dumbbells um some bands like pretty standard pretty I’d say anything that you’re going to find at your local hotel gym you’re going to find in that that physio trailer and that’s mostly for like hey my back’s feeling a little tight just got off this flight like come in there do some PT work do some soft tissue stuff um Chris’s favorite thing ever scraping out the old hip flexors um there’s no better time Ryan I I don’t know what you’re talking about everything there’s a there’s like a few things in there that like happen all the time all day every day chiropratic some guys really like getting adjusted some guys don’t I kind of fall into the camp where I’ll do it if I need to but besides that like uh it it feels a little weird sometimes so it just kind of depends um what you feel like you need but I’d say for the most part guys spend a lot more time in the physio trailer than you than you’d think just because the resources of the guys in there are incredible I mean you can just walk in there any time of day no appointment just kind of whatever you’re dealing with or whatever like it could be as simple as like hey I just feel tight or hey can you help me kind of stretch out like my hamstrings or my quads a little bit and um like having the resource to go in there and be able to do that is awesome the other trailer is a fitness trailer uh I haven’t stepped foot in there quite as often as the other trailer the physio trailer um but that’s more just because I haven’t been just pumping iron recently um um I don’t think I have 225 close grip in my near future so I I just say that the fitness tell that by looking trailer so I was thinking at least 315 just looking at I appreciate that man yeah yeah incline obviously exactly and then um it it’s a big bigger trailer has more free weights more open space um stuff like that where uh there’s more accessibility more movement like more kind of openness I mean you got the cable machines on the wall you got all all the good stuff free weights squat rack you name it um but it does give you kind of that more openness to hey if I I I can kind of set up my own spot here I can move around a little bit I can kind of do what I need to do and it basically mimics anything that you could possibly want or need um for your Fitness there’s there’s usually one or two guys in there that are pretty good at helping guys out um you see guys doing a lot of like rotational stability work a lot of core work um a lot of lower body I don’t see that much I mean I don’t see that much like upper body like strength work I mean you do see guys doing the occasional like bench press I’d say dumble bench is pretty big like one-handed kind of doing like the asymmetrical thing where you’re trying to kind of get both sides of the body linked up and working together um but for the most part uh it’s it’s a lot of like core work um kind of getting that stable base legs and then um rotational stability is huge for a lot of guys sure well Ryan it’s been awesome having you on getting to getting to chat with you um obviously last time I saw you was I got to walk around with the your mom and dad watching you at the US Open which was pretty pretty surreal for me so I can only imagine what it was like for you but um for everyone listening who wants to kind of follow you you know as you know as the season goes and career goes what what’s the best place for them to to link up with you just follow me on the PJ tour app or on Instagram it’s not that uh I don’t really do too much crazy stuff on social media I’m not chucking medicine balls but uh now we’d love to have you kind of tag along and come say what’s up if you ever make it out to a golf tournament for sure awesome round well thanks so much for your time brother it’s great to see you having the success and the dream that you said you wanted to have back in the shed and uh it’s really haven’t done this for over a decade there’s not a lot of lot of guys that actually say that uh you know at that that early age and actually get to live it so uh excited for you man and um you know from the P fors you know Golf Community like we’re you’re you’re one of the top guys we follow we love watching you and um you know for any Junior out there who has a dream uh this this guy is is living proof it happens so thanks for taking the time today Ryan and I appreciate having you on the on the podcast thanks so much Chris appreciate it
