Fairways of Life is joined by our friend Mark Hubbard, a PGA Tour Player who just qualified for the 2024 US Open through qualifying at Cherry Hill in Canada.
Mark is joining us right now the midst of his travels how you doing Mark how are you feeling how’s your energy level uh yeah I’m pretty tired um honestly yesterday wasn’t wasn’t too bad uh the course was a pretty easy walk especially compared to uh Hamilton Golf Club where they had the uh the RBC the week the week prior so uh we we were joking all day that I think we’d rather walk 36 at Cherry Hill than 18 at amilon where are you right now it sounds like you’re in the airport yeah I’m at YYZ just waiting for my flight probably about to go get a Caesar after this and where you gonna where you going to go where where you headed right now you going to try going for day yeah I’m going home I’m not I’m not in h Memorial I can’t get into the Signature Events so uh so I’m on my way home to see my girls which I’m very excited about I was I was excited for uh 3 weeks off but I’ll take the week off week on week off uh a little better when do you hope to get into Pinehurst what are your plans uh yeah we’ll probably get in Sunday sometime um you know I I haven’t been there before so I definitely want to get in early but at the same time like I want to be home I want to enjoy this off week and and rest up and get there you know fully mentally recharged um so no need to get there too early but yeah I’m I’m definitely excited to to get there on Sunday and check it out now in that when you’re home for the week and you’re getting some rest obviously you’re going to be practicing in advance of of the US Open do you have anybody on your team that’s familiar with the golf course and might be able to guide you in terms of practicing maybe it’s a bump and run or whatever it is the shots that you think you might need at at number two um my my caddy has been there before and played there before so he’ll know a little bit um but I mean my coach my whole team you know they’re great with the stats and stuff like that so uh they have all the info from the years’s past and and they’ll write me up a plan and and get stuff over to me to tell me how to practice but I mean at the the day like every Golf Course is you know hit it long and straight and make putts so yeah but see dude that’s what you’ve been doing the last time you were on with us you were telling me that you guys were working on getting more of your body and ground force involved in your golf swing instead of just arms so that you could get more Force get more power hit it long the recipe that you just laid out for us it is so cool to actually watching it happen with you how satisfied are you with the path yeah it’s it’s been great um I mean I feel like that’s that’s why I’ve been playing so consistently well is that driver’s been there I mean there’s even weeks now where I’m gaining shots off the te which uh you know two years ago if you had told me that I would have laughed in your face so uh it’s been fun and you know more than anything like it’s been fun to do it and not sacrifice any other part of my game um you know I don’t feel like I’ve really had to like drastically change my swing just you know little things and try to be more athletic and um um you know I I just I’m really happy with my team right now and uh you know they’ve been pointing me in the right direction and getting me to do the right things and uh you know just made me a lot more efficient what happened yesterday I mean what happened with you being The Medalist by multiple shots at the end of the day you talked about it wasn’t that hard a day you know was kind of flat blah blah blah but what were we seeing Mark hubard in full flight in his full potential or is this just a step along the way going Maddie no no this this is how I’m playing now this is what I’m capable of yeah no I mean honestly I was telling my caddy after the round I didn’t tell him during uh but I felt horrible about my golf swing yesterday I think I was just like really tired after RBC and I just was kind of trying to slap it around and um I had you know a couple different swing thoughts and one would be working for a couple holes and I’d kind of hit one astray and so I’d switched to another one and uh but I just got a super hot putter um which was nice because I made absolutely nothing at RBC the week before but I felt like I was rolling really really well I was hitting pretty much every putt right where I was looking and not even coming close so I I thought I was crazy I thought you know maybe my laic doctor messed up my eyes and I can’t see straight uh I was you know I was going through the the Gambit uh last week so uh to see pretty much everything going yesterday was really really nice 16 events this year on tour Mark Hub you’ve made the cut in every single won four times in the top 25 yet had a fourth at Pebble I want to ask you about your third at the Zurich Classic that zura classic I I realize from the perspective of all the events that surround the year we look at the zura classic as a team event and and it has a little bit of a feel of kind of hit and giggle good time and it should right because it’s a different format and it’s fun but Rory said it it it changed his focus and and how he was play Shane said the same thing granted they were the winning team I get it Zack Blair said the same thing played very well that week you and Brian played extremely well that week is there something about the Cajun food is there something about that event and covering your partners back that helps to focus was that in any way a turning point or an Ascension for you um I don’t know I mean I definitely agree with them it you know it is a fun event but at the same time especially if you’re playing with one of your buddies Ryan’s you know one of my best friends out here one of my best friends in the whole world so uh there is something special about that weekend you know you always want to show up for your buddy I I you know I tell people all the time the most nervous I’ve ever been on the first tea is always the the Friday round there uh for alternate shot um it’s just you know there’s something about wanting to perform for for you’re a guy that you know puts a little more pressure on you than than just if it’s you’re out there on your own um I I joke sometimes that I should play with somebody that I you know don’t even like so I don’t care as much but uh yeah I I really wanted that one uh I don’t know if it was necessarily you know a launching off point but um I did struggle pretty hard on Sunday with the putter um and me and my coach have been working on some stuff for you know a good like six months now um and it was kind of you know the final straw uh a little bit eye opening that the putter I was using was kind of inhibiting me from the progress that we were trying to make so uh you know as much as I was bummed about not not closing that out uh not showing up for my guy Sunday it forced me to finally change Putters and and reassess and I got a new one in my hand and uh uh Spidey was incredible yesterday so yeah to that point yeah I was going to ask you is it techical is it physical is it mechanical uh when you look at what you did yesterday as a Metalist coming out of Cherry Hill in Ontario can you tell us I don’t want you to to talk about something you don’t want to relay but can you tell us what you were working on with your puttting and and what is changing as well as the putter itself yeah I just I historically have always played with a a big tow hang putter with a ton of Arc in my stroke um and I’ve kind of always had a little bit of a a left hand path um and then I kind of drag the putter through which makes my speed control really great I I’ve always been a great putter on on uh really fast greens and greens with a lot of break but just you know from a consistency standpoint it’s it wasn’t the most efficient stroke so we worked uh you know to get my hand path a little more efficient and just a little more straight back straight through um and the putter I was using just kind of was inhibiting me from doing that at times uh you know and being as consistent as I wanted to so um like I said you know as much as as Sunday at Zurich sucked uh it was kind of like okay well now I know for sure that I need to make a change and so I tried about you know 50 different Putters at at Byron I think someone posted a tweet on on uh Twitter or X or whatever it’s called now uh with a picture of my bag and it looked like one of the uh equipment trailer bags or whatever uh with all the putters so but I ended up uh with the tailor made spider I mean it’s good enough for Scotty and Rory it’s got to be good enough for me uh it’s probably the last SP I ever thought I’d use but man I love it right now there’s there’s another element to you mark that uh is clear to me as your friend and have someone who’s known you for for a number of years many years now and that is that to my eye you have lost the intimidation uh it seems to me that you’re comfortable in your own skin you’re comfortable of being who you are albeit you’re continuing to work on your game because now you have belief in in where you are and what you can do do you feel that way do you feel like you’re in the best place for you mentally right now as a result you can build on this solid foundation yeah definitely yeah um I mean I I definitely feel and and know that I belong out here um you know I’ve played with all of these guys and you know I’ve had stretches where you know last last year at RBC I played with Rory both days on the weekend and beat him like I I know I can beat all these guys um I you know I know I’m still searching for that first win but it you know it’s it’s very evident that I belong out here and you know I’m old now I’ve I’ve been out here for a while so I would hope that I’m I’m comfortable what does it mean for you to know that you earned your way into the US Open that after a few days of rest and a little bit of practice probably some good food and I hope a glass of wine that you’re going to be heading to Pinehurst number two and competing in the US Open there yeah it’s great this is this is my second open but the the first one I played at Wing foot was during the co year so I mean I guess I technically earned it because they went off the FedEx Cup or world ranking whatever so my you know my play did get me in but it was definitely a different feeling you know having to go through that that qualifier it’s it’s a brutal day and uh you got to stay super mentally focused especially after a long week at RBC um you know it takes a lot out of you so it definitely means a little more and I’m also you know like I said it was the co year last time so I don’t I don’t feel like I got the full US Open experience with the fan so um to be you know at an iconic venue like Pinehurst and to have have the full fans I’m I’m really really excited how cool is it when you get home to the family still uh Mark when you see sad and you see Hara it I I presume it doesn’t matter what what Daddy shot they just glad you’re home and hanging out with you yeah 100% And um you know one of the things I’ve been working on with my coach mentally uh I can get down in the dumps a little bit and so we’ve been working on a thing uh it it’s worked for Harry higs who also works with my coach he’s pretty much every time he’s teed up recently uh but we’ve just been trying to have one positive thought before every shot uh and you know the first couple times I was doing that it was all golf related and I I found myself yesterday the majority of my positive thoughts were just about my kids I love them so much and I’m I’m super excited to see them so uh I know they don’t care that I play golf but I also know Carlo’s going to love my uh my medal that I’m bringing home to her and uh you know they like watching me on TV and and uh we’ll probably go the course a little bit and whack it around it’s beautiful you’re in the airport right now hat on backwards skeleton hoodie on have you are people starting to recognize you nowadays oh no absolutely not not not even at my not even at my home golf club that is very funny you know I love to ask you about your sponsors it’s our way of saying thank you for you to take the time to join with us so you can spread a little love back to them you want to tell tell us about who you have aligned yourself with yeah well we you you mentioned the skeleton true link swear uh Ryan Mor and his brother’s uh clothing and shoe company they’ve been they’ve been great the last couple years uh we got hubs peanuts uh oh yeah got to rep them still still they they’re one of my oldest sponsors uh definitely want to give a special shout out to Scott McCutchen incented by he’s one of my newest Partners but uh he’s actually moving to front of hat coming up um and and we just formed a great relationship and partnership so definitely want to give him a special shout out he’ll be at Piner with me um and we got MGM and uh centa financial and uh I know I’m missing some but oh uh USA Today and local local like you so yeah they’ve all been uh amazing like I you know like I said earlier my whole team team’s been great um you know I feel like one big family and uh I feel like that’s definitely a big reason for my recent success you know in the last thing I want to ask you about today because I but I I think because when we have an opportunity to have someone of your stature on the show it there is the opportunity that someone somewhere is going to hear a message that’s going to help them in their life whatever their goal whatever challenges they might be facing so I’m going to ask you for your words of inspiration you have been out there for the long haul you you have come to trust who you are and Define your success by your game not someone else’s definition of the same what message do you have for people that are chasing whatever the dream is in their heart yeah I mean obviously work your butt off but I I get way too caught up in it sometimes and and when golf is my number one priority it’s when I’m at my absolute worst and usually when I’m when I’m playing my worst so I know you got to I know you got to be a little bit of a a crazy person to you know be successful at anything and you got to put in the hours but at the end of the day like enjoy your life uh love your family uh love your friends um and you know there’s there’s more life than just your job there’s more life than just golf like obviously I’m so fortunate to get to do what I do but uh you know when I when I’m at my best it’s it is just my job and uh it’s just you know a means to an end to get me home to my family gratitude hard work perspective all of that part of the secret of Mark hubbert’s success we are so delighted to see it very very proud of you in the path that you’re on kick butt and Pinehurst number two I know you’re going to learn the course Very quickly and like you said hit it in the Fairway hit it on the green make the putt we wish you the very very best my friend thanks for the time so easy right great to see you guys like that we hope all right we’ll talk to you again safe travels
