Golf Talk Live – Coaches Corner plus Co-founder of GetOutGolf.com – Todd Brugger

Welcome to Golf Talk Live! This week starts with another Coaches Corner Panel: Nicole Weller – Class A member of the PGA of America and LPGA T&CP, as well as a member of Proponent Group. She is U.S. Kids Golf and Spirit of Golf Certified.  Brendon Elliott – Member of Proponent Group, and Owner of Little Linksters, LLC & founder of the Little Linksters Association for Junior Golf Development 501c3. Kris E. Wilson – President/CEO The Littlest Golfer Inc. Dan Van Horn – President/Founder of U.S. Kids Golf, the leading golf organization in growing youth golf worldwide. Joining me later in the broadcast – Todd Brugger – Co-founder of GetOutGolf.com. More on Todd: Todd’s business background spans start-up & Fortune 500 companies, and four times he has been involved in launching first-to-market innovations. His experience thinking differently about industries and products/services sparked an idea when he struggled to find time to fit golf into his schedule – packed with work, travel, and family commitments. Get Out! Golf allows consumers to book golf in flexible durations that fit their life. Our mission is to re-engage sidelined golfers, a market significantly larger than the active golfer market. Lack of time to play a full round is the #1 barrier that golf faces today. Tune in LIVE – Thursday 6:00 – 8:00PM Central. Golf Talk Live is available as a podcast at itunes.com & Stitcher.com

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Blog Talk [Music] Radio. Heat. Heat. [Music] All right, good evening everybody and welcome to Golf Talk Live. I’m your host Ted Odico and we’ve got a great show for you tonight this Thursday, April 20th, 2017. Uh, as always, start out with a a great round of uh, coach’s corner. I got a great panel for you tonight. Uh, three of them are on board and one will be joining us uh, in about a half an hour’s time and I’ll introduce uh, each of them here in just a moment. Uh, and then a little bit later in the broadcast, I’m going to be joined for my uh, special guest Todd Buger. He is the co-founder of getoutgolf.com. He’ll be joining me on the second half of the show. Um, looking forward to that as well. But in the meantime, thank you for joining me here uh, tonight on Golf Talk Live. And uh let me just remind everybody, we are live uh every Thursday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Central or 7 to 9 uh Eastern uh for those of you on the Eastern Coast. And uh quickest way to find us, go to blogtalkradio.com, type in golf talk live up in the search key, and that will take you to the main page. And of course, the live broadcast is always front and center. But if you’re not able to uh join us for the entire uh live broadcast, not to worry. You can visit that link a little bit later on and just scroll down to the on demand section and uh you can listen to the uh recorded version of the show in its entirety a little bit later on this evening. Uh if you’re interested in calling in or speaking to any of our guests uh anytime during the live broadcast, you can do so by calling area code 6467164667. Uh or you can email questions or comments to me during the the show or even after the show uh to ted.golftalklivegmail.com. And if you’re somebody in the golf industry and never been on the show and you’d like to come on, I’d love to have you as a guest um you’re welcome to reach out to me at email as well. And again, it’s ted.golftalklivegmail.com. And as always, every week I update on social media. You can go to facebook.comgoltalklive blog. Make sure you have blog on the end there. uh update the show there as well as on my personal page. And also for those of you that follow on Twitter, uh you can go to Ted andBuck CEO. That’s CEO in capital letters at Ted andBuck CEO. Uh and you can get updates there on Twitter as well as well as LinkedIn. Uh and um again, thank you for uh for tuning into the show. As I mentioned, we’re going to be starting off with kind of a special coaches corner with a a great group of professionals. Uh some have been on the show before, and there’s going to be a couple that have never been on my show before. Of course, I’m going to give them an extra special welcome this evening. Uh Nicole Weller, of course, has been on uh many, many times over the years. And she is a class A member of the PJ of America and the LPJ teaching a club professional as well as a member of the proponent group. She’s also US kids golf and spirit of golf certified. Uh alongside is also Brendan Elliot. He’s the member as well of the proponent group and owner of Little Linksters LLC and founder of the Little Linksters Association for Junior Golf Development, which is a 501c3. Uh, and also joining him uh in the first part of Coach’s Corner is Chris Wilson, and he’s the president and CEO of the Little Little Littlest Golfer, Inc., and that is a um creators of the resort quality golf apparel, accessories, toys, uh books, and equipment for infants and children, and one of the fastest growing segments in golf. He’s joining us on this first half. And then a little bit later on in the uh second half of Coach’s Corner, uh Dan Van Horn, the president and founder of US Kids Golf, uh one of the leading organizations in growing youth golf worldwide, will be joining us uh for some discussion as well. Um guys, welcome to Golf Talk Live and Coach’s Corner. Thank you for joining me. Thank you, Ted. Thanks a lot. Well, you guys you guys have got quite the repertoire in your bios. I had to actually edit them down a little bit just because you got too much information. We’d spend pretty much the whole hour just getting all of that stuff out. So, we’ll we’ll sneak a little bit as we go along. But, um what I thought I’d do is is um start off with you, Nicole. Uh just to talk a little bit about um an organization that you operate as well, the littlest uh the little golf train. Uh bring us up to speed on that. Tell us a little bit about what it is uh and where you’re at now. Sure, happy to. Um, I’m the head teaching professional at the Landings Club in beautiful Savannah, Georgia. Been honored to be here now for roughly 12 years um with my PJ husband, Ty Weller. And that is where I hang my hat and um direct a lot of the programs, put programs together for our membership and their guests, uh do a lot of lessons. And it’s really a place where I was able to start working a lot with ages two to five. Um, and I love working with all ages, but um, that, uh, that kind of age group is really interested me. It’s so much fun. And, um, a couple years ago, I matched up with Dr. Patricia Donley, who had a an idea to create a program that we ended up, uh, evolving into Little Golf Train in which uh, we we provide a online certification for professionals and facilities who are interested in kind of getting into this field of working with the youngsters like a lot of other sports are. Um, and so we provide online certification, some information. She’s got a great PhD background on the theory and uh what to expect at various ages and how we should be as a coach. And then we have an online kit um that the coaches can purchase if they’d like. And Chris at the Littlest Golfers done great job with helping us fulfill that. It’s been amazing. And um and then also we have all the training manuals all set to go. So, it’s basically a turnkey program. We’re We passed our first year mark and last year we had 17 pros in five countries. Uh 17 coaches or we call them certified conductors on our train. So, we’re looking to grow and um help people get into that age group that are wanting to develop family time for their their kids. We just had a uh Easter camp and we had seven two to three year olds there in that age group. So, a lot of fun and seeing families get out there and get into the sport. Well, fantastic. And I know with everything that you have your hands on, uh Nicole, you do a fantastic job. I I quite often through various, you know, areas of social media see all kinds of photos and and things that you put up and different posts and uh it just looks like a lot of fun. And you know, I wish we had something like this when I was growing up. Um you know, I obviously got into golf very at a very young age, but uh we didn’t have programs um that you offer and and uh and Brendan and Chris, we’ll talk about that yours in a moment. um you know when I was growing up it just was not around. So it’s really just shows the growth and the expansion of golf and and the creativity that so many great professionals like yourself Nicole and and others um um Brennan what’s what’s happening with with little linkers? Give us an update on that and and what are you doing this week uh with with your group and uh and also talk a little bit about the uh the junior golf development. Uh well I wear a couple hats, Ted, as a lot of you guys know. Um, I’m a a full-time instructor at the Golf Academy America Career College. Uh, in addition to running Little Linksters, we’re actually in the middle of practice right now with PGA Junior League with our preseason team. Um, so we’re having a lot of fun with that. Uh, but with Little Linksters, really the focus of what we do, a lot like Nicole and a lot like Chris, is uh really pinpoint the the younger golfers, ages three to eight. And over the course of the last couple years, we’ve expanded some of our programming to working with kids with special needs through our goals program uh and also working with with older kids uh specifically through the PGA Junior League program. Fantastic. And and Chris, um talk a little bit about uh the Littlest Golfer as well. give uh the folks a little bit better understanding um what you do and what Littlest Golfer uh can offer uh those that maybe have some little ones out there that want to get them involved in golf. What are some of the things that you offer? Well, what we did was we developed a set of training clubs. Um, I always, you know, I saw little kids that could smack the plastic clubs around and, uh, there was nothing that really was, I mean, the eye hand coordination was great, but there was nothing that was encouraging the proper swing. There was nothing that was uh, the hinge, the the balance, um, getting the ball up in the air, which is what we all like to do. and uh not having to use muscles in the body that that you wouldn’t normally use in a in a golf swing, but because something’s too heavy or it’s not the right size or weight. Um, so we start I started kicking around the the concept of the clubs and and growing up in Colorado, if if you if you take a little kid into a ski shop that’s two years old, the first question is, did you ski today? Um, if you take a 2-year-old into a golf shop, somebody might say, “Are you going to golf when you grow up?” Um, and I always felt that that was what was missing. Um, and I met Nicole and I met Brendan, and Brendan and Nicole were both exactly like I was, that, you know, these kids should be playing from the beginning, you know, when they’re playing everything else. Um, and it’s easier to learn and you start ingraining all these things. And uh as a parent, I watched my daughter, my oldest daughter, um who in high school wanted to maybe switch from tennis to golf, but you know, we started her off at golf when she was about six. And it’s a hard game and I think she was very self-conscious. Um and I know for a fact because she’s very curious about going out like maybe this summer and starting to play golf again. um she didn’t stick with it and she ended up you know great news she played tennis in high school and everything was wonderful but you know I’m like what can we do to make these kids stay in it little kids that start skiing it too they’ll always ski you know right they may only ski once a year but they’re always going to ski um so maybe our thought was maybe we can get these little kids in to the game when there is no learning It’s all about exploring. It’s all about playing. And uh Nicole’s used our products and uh you know, it’s been a real joy to on social media and and off in person to you know, walk onto a a one of her clinics and see these little kids with our clubs. And um the lightweight part of our club was key. um none of the almost temple busting in the back swing and uh we have little forced forced grips on our clubs so that they can hold their little hands in the proper position. Um those are awesome. You see so many kids holding a club I call it the hockey grip with one hand on the grip and the other halfway down the shaft. Um y and so you know we’re trying to teach these Well, we’re not trying to teach them anything. Brendan and Nicole teach them. um we watch, but we enjoy the fact that these little kids are keeping their hands together and they’re using, you know, a good golf grip and they’re they’re starting to get results and uh it’s it’s just great. And so what we tried to do is create a whole little world of golf. Yeah. And and you know, Nicole, you have said this before on the show, I know in the past that the key is really to get them um interested and exposed to golf at a very early age. And that’s one of the reasons why you really um have focused on that that you know earlier age group um as opposed to and that’s not to say that you don’t work with others but um you’ve really zeroed in very well on that particular age group um specifically because you know that the quicker they get exposed to the game and sort of nurtured along, the more apt they’re willing to um continue on that journey and play golf as they they grow uh you know as they age and and um you know get out into business or what have you later on. Correct. Yes, I agree. And you know, there’s some really great forerunners out in the industry. Of course, Brendan and Tom Morton, Kate Tempesta, Michelle Holmes, and there the numbers are starting to grow and it’s great to see what other people are doing. But, uh, yeah, it’s it’s it’s nice to see that age group get at least get a taste of it, you know, because there’s there’s no chance to, you know, have them involved in, you know, skiing like Chris said and swimming and just giving them a shot at, you know, ball and hole. Have a good time. do it kids style. We don’t need a tour pro yet at age three. And and once they have a good time, you know, I had a little one the other day. We did a 45minute lesson. She was four and she did, you know, she’s like, “Oh, we’re done.” You know, and it was great just to see her. She wanted to do more. So, that’s cool. Yeah. And and um and Brendan, I know again in in your uh the little Linksters program as well. again, you’re all about exposing them to um you know, just having fun and and just learning a little bit. Talk maybe a little more specifically of of some of the things that the kids um do as part of the the Little Lingsters program. Well, everything really um for the ages for those younger ages should be in my mind and I’m sure Nicole uh and Chris agree with this really game based um and and try to sneak the fundamentals in there so they’re not really uh knowing that it’s it’s work and they’re putting in some work to to learn the game. Um and that’s really in my mind the key is just making it as fun as possible. Uh, a lot of games we play, uh, tic-tac-toe putting and chipping, and I I every time that we do that, I swear the kids would be out there for two hours if they could. Uh, even at, you know, three and four and five years old. Maybe I think maybe some adults should should uh tackle some of those games as well and get them out and and practice. Uh, let me just follow up with you just for a second. Um, you know, Brendan, uh, just with another question if I may and then and then Chris, I want to get you back in here as well. Um, you know, one of the I think one of the the issues that a lot of um, you know, parents deal with is that there’s so many other sports that compete for their kids attention. Um, you know, right from the get-go as soon as they start getting into school, there’s all kinds of sports and obviously in the general uh, population of our school systems, um, you know, golf is not present. It doesn’t really start getting there. What do you do to to sort of combat that? And what can we do as a profession as a whole, you know, and I hate to use this word lobbying, um, but to to sort of lobby that that um, education system to get golf more in front of uh, kids at an earlier age? What what can we do and and um, how do you compete against other sports? what do you do to to get them more interested in golf and and not um not that you want to stop them from getting involved in other things, but um but add that to the to the list of of their choice, if you will. Well, in my mind, the biggest reason why golf has fallen behind and we are making strides over the course of the last couple years. We’ve really done a good job, but it’s it’s like uh Chris said before, we’re we’re not introducing kids at the ages that they’re introduced to everything else. So golf is foreign to them and by the time they get into it at, you know, eight, nine, 10 years old, they’ve been exposed to so many other sports and and golf’s hard. So if if you if you’ve got a professional out there that may not be working with those younger ages, uh they might not know how to to teach the young, you know, the seven, eight year olds. So then we we lose those kids. They’re not interested uh because they really didn’t have that good first experience. So you know that again that’s really the basis for for us is exposing them early. Uh we have the origins of our program was actually in daycarees. Um and we uh we’re still trying to expand that but exposing kids to daycarees because the extracurricular activities do do they do there foreign language and computer and karate and dance and you know none of that is any more complex uh than than golf. So, you know, it’s the perfect time. But I I do really want to say that uh the PGA has really done a good job over the course of the last three years in in bringing in some programming to entice kids that are that are older that maybe haven’t experienced golf and PGA Junior League is just awesome. I know Nicole has a team. Um the the kids that are with me right now, uh a lot of them started when they were much younger, but we have a couple that have just started within the last year. And and this format, this PGA Junior League format with a team is is really a good way to get some of the older kids in, you know, the kids above eight years old and have them experience golf in a really really fun way. in PGA Junior League, uh, drive, chip, and putt. These type of things, um, have really, I think, tipped the scales over the course of the last two, three years. Yeah, I I would agree with that. Um, Chris, you mentioned, uh, just a few moments ago, um, that you had a daughter who started out very young, but then it sounded like she kind of drifted away for golf, but but maybe getting back into it. Um, what was some of the reasoning? Was it just a time restraints or or just temporarily sort of lost interest in the game? What was her reasoning for sort of drawing away from the game? And then what is her reason for for wanting to maybe uh give it another shot? Well, she started um when she was about six um at our club in in Asheville. And uh it was the normal time um at that club. 6 years old. That was when they started their junior golf program. And and I think it was just and that’s when she truly started. Um it was long before The Littlest Golfer. It was long before any of that. Um I think that she felt very uh insecure. Um she she know there were kids that were as good as her. There were kids that were way better than her. Um I don’t think she had felt that exposed and something that didn’t look that hard was so hard. And I think that there was a a moment in her mind where, you know, do I really really want to try and and maybe not get it or do I want to just not try so much? Um, she had, interestingly enough, she had started tennis before that, you know. Um, right. Kind of in a pro, you know, they just started them younger and she was on the swim team. So, um, golf was hard. It was scary. I think that, um, you know, that was her. It’s it’s uh it’s funny and with my uh I have another I have a son and and a daughter and my daughter my youngest daughter um you know we’re working with her. I she wants to like golf and we’re just trying to expose her to it and give her the opportunity. Um my son I wonder if I didn’t start him early enough. Um and that’s kind of a joke but he he couldn’t like anything he couldn’t like anything more than golf. Um, in fact, we don’t have to police him for video games. He sneaks the golf channel on. He knows every stat. He He just loves it, you know. And uh so and we also found that he so he played basketball for the first time in his life last year and uh that really increased his love of golf. And you know, we want him to do other sports of course, we want him to do team sports and stuff. Sure. Um something with him just clicked with golf and it and it didn’t click when he was three or four. It it really clicked about a year and a half, two years ago, um he just decided he just couldn’t get enough. Um but the beauty is is that he had been exposed to it. And so when you know had he not decided this is something I really really want to try and get better at, um had he not been exposed maybe that moment wouldn’t have come. Um I you know all kids love tour pros. He’s you know he’s the kid I think that is going to be hopefully you know the other day we were out playing golf and there was a I think the guy was 93 years old that was in the group ahead of us and and I was like how about that Griffin you’re 10 and he’s 93 and and Griffin thought that was cool. Yeah. You know I I think too Yeah. And I think guys too, the other um issue that that’s been for a long long time, it’s not just so much the exposure or lack of exposure um but I think you know when when most kids see um you know somebody playing basketball or somebody playing tennis, you know, in their in their local schoolyard or something, um there’s a variety of ages and so forth, but most people their exposure to golf, especially youngsters, uh unless they’ve been exposed by their parents, um is what they see on TV. And do you think Nicole that maybe that there has been a little bit of an intimidation uh for a lot of kids when they see it, they see it as an adult game or they see it as a very difficult game and one that they don’t feel um that they’re going to be able to to master. Not that any of us master it, but do you see that as maybe being a little bit of a deterrent as well with with some of the kids? I I think it could be. And you know, I mean, when there’s parents that don’t play golf, how do you get the kids to the course? Because that’s that that’s a tough thing where the interest is. So, you know, I’ll always say that I love tradition unless it stifles progress. So, golf has been, you know, a game where there’s a certain age like six or eight probably. It seems to be more of eight where the kids are then considered mature enough to be able to handle it. But, um, you know, the game’s changing and you know, some people go, Nicole, how how can you teach a two or threeyear-old? And I’m like, well, how can you put your 2-year-old child or grandchild in a monastery? I mean, they’re soaking it up. They’re learning. So, it’s it’s creating a learning environment, but you know, um I know there’s some there’s some wonderful programs out there like Operation 36 and Junior Tour. Um and they’re starting to really do some cool things with you start playing from 25 ft from the hole. You play nine, you shoot a 36, and then you go and see if you can go back and shoot a 27, and then shoot a 21, and then you go three yards from the green, and then you have a whole new series of challenges, and that we’re actually doing that with our adults, too. And so, we’re kind of changing the game. It’s it’s got to change. It’s it’s um you know, everything morphs in life. So I think finding ways to make it cool and you know bring it into uh the traditions into how we how we do things now I think that’s important to marry the generation. So yeah I would agree and I think another um area that is slowly starting to expand but I think um with maybe the right amount of focus um would be family golf. I I think that, you know, not just, you know, dad going out. Traditionally, it was, you know, dad would go out and play golf and and mom would do her thing and the kids would would sort of do their thing. Um, but I see an opportunity, especially now with with this relationship or or partnership, if you will, uh, of the PJ and LPJ, uh, working together closely. Um, we actually interviewed uh three of the top executives from the LPJ uh the week before last. And one of the things that they talked about as as being a major major uh expander was young girls from the ages of 18 to 24. There was a big spike of interest um and sort of acceptance into the game. And a lot of it is because of what’s been going on with the LPJ. But I see an opportunity for the PGA and LPJ and all of its members really sort of focusing on the family aspect because I think um especially when the kids are very young, you know, when when the parents go and do something, whatever it may be on a vacation, if there’s some sort of golf, it doesn’t even have to be a round of 18, um but just some sort of a golf activity uh or golf related activity just to get that exposure to the young kids and do it as a family component. I think they’re more likely um to be receptive to um you know being interested in golf as they they start to grow and develop. Um do you see that as as maybe being an opportunity as well? Anybody? Oh, definitely. I mean, you’re you’re talking live to one of our participants in the most recent Tall and Small. So, Chris and his son played in the nine-hole division and um Carrie and their daughter played in the three-hole division. So there’s the whole family playing right there other than you know Palmer who’s at home the dog. So yes, but uh yeah, they were all out there playing different divisions, different options, scramble. So I don’t know. What do you think, Chris? Having the family out there. I I think it’s one of the absolute coolest things that we’ve done. Um especially this year with with Ryan and Carrie. But you know, you did it a year ago, the the inaugural. Um and Griffin talked about that for three months and he’s done PGA Junior League. He’s done the um here we’re so lucky um I’m at the landings as well. Um we’re so lucky to have these these pros here that they they keep raising the bar of what they can do. So on Saturday we have uh two teams that play every Saturday of kids. Um, usually one or two or three or all the parents kind of walk along or ride along and and uh the kids go out and play tournament style golf and there’s team points and it’s it’s a great experience with competition but not critical competition. Um, so Griffin’s had a lot of exposure to a lot of golf stakes and for some reason and I understand because I loved it too, but that tall and small he just thought was he just loves it. He loves being, you know, on a team with his with his parent. Um, you know, and, you know, I miss, he misses, you know, and he’s hoping that as it progresses, Nicole, um, maybe they do an alternate shot version. Maybe they do, you know, there’s so many things you could do to make it, you know, interesting every time. I mean, I think he would do it every weekend. He loved it. So, what a great thing. And I and I see and you know the amount of kids that Nicole teaches is is amazing, but the amount of little kids that are playing golf um in Savannah, and when I say little kids, I don’t mean six-year-olds anymore. They’re veterans. I mean, the the three to five year olds, it’s amazing. I mean, it’s a I don’t even think anybody bats an eye here when a when a three-year-old has their little clubs and is walking to the to the putting green or the range. It’s just normal activity. Um and and I don’t know, Nicole, you’ve been doing it a long time and and Brendan, you’ve been doing it a long time. Um do you see these kids keeping their enthusiasm and and have Brendan, have you seen a lot of parents getting enthused? Uh, you know, one of the things that we do, and you guys got me thinking about this, is we do a tournament series that’s kind of evolved over the last, this is our seventh year of our tournament series. And I made it, I made it a a something that I was adamant about over the course of the last three years, is to play the best golf courses I can get on, get these kids on in Florida. the entouragees that come out with these three year olds and all the way up to 12. They’ve got they’ve got 20 people, some of them following them around and playing courses like Lake Nona, Disney, Inisbrook, Black Diamond, the best courses in the state. And I think what this has done, one, it gets the kids transitioning from any programming they’re doing out onto the golf course. But two, the reason why I have it at these top-notch facilities is to is to show the kids and the families uh what golf can do for these kids and they they can grow up playing on these courses whether you know it’s for recreation or whether it’s you know they want to kick it into the next gear and play tournament golf. um giving them those opportunities and I and I appreciate so much that these golf courses allow us to do that and and that in itself is encouraging to me that the industries some some in the industry is moving really in the right direction. Yeah, I I agree with that. I I think that you know for a long long time you know you have a a segment of the population I mean I don’t have the stats and that in front of me but a segment of the population that obviously is aging um and you know for whatever reason doesn’t play as much anymore and there really hasn’t been with the exceptions of of you know present company um and and a number of others Nicole that you had mentioned earlier um unless it was some sort of a specific junior program which ultimately was a funnel into um collegiate and and eventually possibly into into some of the tours. Um there really wasn’t a a program or a vessel, if you will, for a long time to really target the youth in golf. It just sort of happened, you know, if if like I said earlier, if dad played or mom played or both, you know, Junior got exposed to golf, but there really wasn’t something targeting. And I think that the PGA and LBJ uh tours and and obviously PJ of America um really have started to come out with these different programs and again what you guys are doing uh is just been a great uh eye openener really for the industry I think and and kudos to all of you for doing that. Um just very quickly before we continue I want to bring it looks like Dan is uh ready to join us here. So let me bring uh Dan on real quick. Uh, as I mentioned earlier, Dan is the uh, president, founder of US Kids Golf and the leading golf organization uh, in growing youth golf worldwide. So, let’s bring Dan on and join uh, Nicole, Brennan, and Chris. Good evening, Dan. Welcome to the show. Hey, Dan. Glad to glad to be with you. Hi, Nicole. Hey, Dan. How are you? Hey, Bren. All right. Thanks. Hey, Dan. Good. Hey, everybody. Good stuff. Well, thank you and and for joining us on on the uh Coaches Corner panel on Golf Talk Live. Um Brendan, I just want to jump to you uh Dan before I give you an opportunity to talk a little bit more about US uh uh kids golf. Um Brendan, I you said earlier that uh maybe some of the kids, are they back yet? Uh do we want to go that route or are they still busy with some other things? No, no, they’re they’re here. They’re they’re ready and raring to answer any questions you might have for them. Okay. Um obviously well welcome uh to all of you uh for listening to the show and thank you for for joining us. Uh I want to ask you um the kids obviously what some of the things that they enjoy most uh about golf. What what do they have the the most fun at doing and what part of their game do they enjoy the most? And that’s to them as a group. Um, I would say I enjoy doing chip shots, driver shots, and maybe some putting on time. What about you, sir? I enjoy driving and putting And you enjoy beating coach in contest, right? What do you like? Okay. What? Same. Yeah. Thanks. That’s it. Sounded like they all said they enjoy beating the coach, so that’s that’s something good. Um, what is what is the um most difficult part of your game? What’s the hardest that you find to do? And what’s the easiest that you find? Just maybe ask a couple of them. My hardest is putting, but really the easiest for me is my nine iron. What about you? What’s the hardest part? The hardest part um making sure my swings don’t go left or right because of my rolling over my hands. Yeah. What else? The hard part is controlling my anger when I hit a bad shot. Oh no. And the easy part is just playing, having fun. Um, the hard part is control. I shot go and the easy part is just like having fun. Well, it sounds like the first and foremost they all enjoy having fun, which is which is really what golf should be about. Um, it can be a difficult game of course, but uh you all should have fun. um is uh is does your coach um help you a lot with some of the difficult areas that you have? Um and when you find that you’re having a a trouble, whether it’s putting or chipping or or another area of your game, um what is what does the coach say to you to give you some encouragement? Coach Brendan, he’s the best coach I could ever ask for. He he really helps in all the areas I have trouble with. If I if I hit a bad shot and I’m really upset about it, he really knows how to fix that. So, I’d say he teaches us to do well. Um, whenever I have like a problem, he helps me with it and like tells me what drills and stuff I can do to make it better. So, so he gives you gives you some drills, some drills and things to to work on to to help practice your game with your game. Yeah. How much um how much time Sorry. Go ahead. Brendan, when I mess up, he tells me not to get upset and he helps me with the different drill. Very good. Well, it sounds like Brennan that you’ve got a good group of of youngsters there that uh obviously are very excited and eager to play. Um how much time, Brendan, on average do they they get to practice? Um and then how much time do you try to get them out there actually playing um you know a few holes and and some examples uh that way. How much time do you try to get them to commit um in order to work on their game? Well, any success that our program have, I really owe it all to the to the coaching staff that I have. Um, my program director, Jordan McJun, who’s here with us now, he he really helps us. We’ve got programs at what, Jordan? 10 to 12 locations throughout Central Florida. So, it’s it’s hard to for me uh to manage everything. So, uh, but as far as getting the kids out on the golf course, um, we try to get them out onto the course, especially with the PGA Junior League as much as possible, but we do have the luxury of, uh, with with me being at Golf Academy of America Orlando campus. Uh, we have the training facility here with, you know, all the technology, Trackman and and V1 and indoor uh, practice facility. And the kids love the technology. And I think that’s a big part of uh really getting the kids interested is exposing them to this technology that, you know, before a lot of instructors would have thought that might not be something uh that you could do with young ages. But these these kids love jumping on track, man. It’s it’s amazing. And they they probably understand it better than you and I do, Brendan, as well. Oh, of course. You know, when you look at they’re probably experts compared to us. Um, let me just ask a final uh question. Uh, and and then I know that they they probably have some things that they’re they’re going to do there, but let me just ask as as a group um what um I lost my train of thought. Uh let me think for a second here. What I wanted to ask them as a as a group is how long is the program that you have them in now? How long does that go? Brandon, I’m going to ask you and then just get them to chime in as well. We started this this is the first we’ve done an offseason PJ once a week for two hours. Uh we’ve been doing this since what November October. We started this in October and we’re just getting geared up now for the start of the regular season next month. Okay. Very good. Very good. And and how many is in that group that’s there? Uh six. six. Well, that’s a good number. That’s a good number to handle. Um, well, Brendan, I want to thank you and I want to thank all of your uh little lingsters there for for chiming in. I appreciate um you sharing and I’m glad that you guys are are having some fun and continue to have fun and it sounds like you’ve got a great coach there and uh I want to wish you all the best and good luck through this year. I hope you improve and just keep at it. Never let uh you know, never let a bad shot deter you from teeing it up and playing it again. So, thank you guys for for joining in and uh and adding some some comments to the show. Thank you. You’re very welcome. Um Dan, thank you for patiently waiting. I I just wanted to give uh Brendan and his group a chance to uh to talk a little bit. Um Dan, why don’t you maybe bring some of those that maybe are not that are listening to the show that are not maybe familiar with US Kids Golf. Tell us a little bit about it. what’s your your uh mission and uh and where things are at now? Start. Thank you. Glad to be on the show and thanks for inviting me. U Kids was started to help my kids um 20 years ago at the time ages six and three. Um I was coaching other sports, but the game I particularly loved myself playing was golf. And um so rather than just baseball when I when I started seeing the lightweight bats that were happening in in baseball um I went about trying to design equipment that was lighter weight. Uh the light kind of went off. At that time they were just taking cut down clubs and giving them to kids or they were labeling junior clubs which are really adult clubs just with a junior name on it. So, I really started US kids with the idea of helping my kids and helping other people’s kids get started having fun playing golf and uh it’s been a great great 20 years and and doing that with equipment and other things. Now, you have the the full spectrum of equipment is not just the clubs, but you have the bag and and and other things you offer as well. Correct. Yeah. And beyond the bag really when you look at any sport like if you looked at soccer for instance or baseball you have u let’s take soccer for instance you have gloves I mean you have uh uniforms of balls and shoes and so forth and then you have games or we call it in golf tournaments and then so that would be the second area we had to address which was the tournament side and then in the middle you have the coach and you have uh practice and play and and development. And so that’s where the coach comes into play. And we have a coach’s institute that we’ve started to help uh but people like Nicole and Brendan are to the best and actually are helping us in the process of spreading the word. But it’s a cooperative effort within kids coaches which I believe is really a specialty um similar to an elementary school teacher if you would for the most part who really has a passion and care and ability to to bring young kids into the game. And so US kids golf really is is age group 14 and below and for the most part 12 and below. And um that’s our passion really. Yeah. And you guys do a fantastic job. I mean you’re you’re literally all over the place uh globally and and uh a very respected brand uh in the golf industry for sure. Um Nicole, just to sort of play off that a little bit and you’re very welcome. Um just what what uh Dan was mentioning about really sort of a a special niche if you will in the market of being able to teach these youngsters and that uh obviously it has its challenges at times but obviously uh is is greatly overshadowed by the rewards um working with the the uh little golf train. I know that you’re in the process of trying to train more others um uh conductors as you call them out there. Um, just as a general rule, what are some of the things that uh, if if somebody in whether they be a PGA or an LPJ instructor, what are generally some of the things that they really need to know uh, if they want to uh, focus more on teaching some of the youngsters like yourself? What are some key elements that they need to understand? Well, good question. And I’ve been to, I think, four of the US kids uh, coaches certifications. They’re awesome. So, it’s a one day. It’s awesome and you learn so much there and a lot of what I learned there I’ve morphed into you know what works at our place and and it’s been a wonderful basis. So when you’re working with kids they learn purely through play. They are not their brains are not developed yet to learn like adults. So when an adult looks down and goes keep your left arm straight, keep your eye on the ball. Where are you aiming? Those are those are adult type things. So US kids does a great job. little golf train. We we work to do a job where the kids are learning through play and so uh coming up with games, lots of color, you know, uh games where they can progress, like um I love what US kids has on the level one, two, and three booklets where you can progress and uh you know, you can earn some pins, but you’re you’re learning and you’re moving on and you’re wanting to get to the next step. So, working with kids, especially the young ones, get down as low as you can on the knee. Be at eye level. Instead of speaking down to them, speak with them. involve them. Um, give them choices and have, you know, have a good time. If you’re having a good time and laughing and joking u with them, they’re going to have a good time. So, you want you want to be with them, not there just at them, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a great point. Um, Chris, I know you’re still with us here. Um, let me ask you because obviously, uh, as a parent, um, you’ve had to, um, work with your youngsters when they were growing up in that, um, obviously I’m sure you agree with what Nicole had just said that, you know, you have to sort of come down to their level a little bit because again, golf can be very intimidating. um what are some other thoughts or points that maybe you could could raise just to to give the the listeners a little bit of a better understanding of of what um what they can do from a parents perspective. Um you know parents want to sort of dive in there and and and uh you know interfere but there’s there’s a place and time for the parents to be involved and there’s a place for them to step back and let you know some of the professionals like Nicole uh do their thing. So, as a parent, what advice would you give other parents out there if they want to introduce their child um to golf? What what would be the first thing that they should do? And um without sounding like a helicopter parent, um what should they sort of keep in in the back of their mind to not do uh if they want to to have that child have some success? That’s as my mind’s racing right now. You know, when when my kids were really little, um I would watch Nicole with my kids and and I would kind of get a lump in my throat. Um thinking, boy, maybe if I approached it like that, they’d react like they are. They’d like it better. um how can I be the one that loves them the most and I don’t communicate as well as Nicole does or or some of these other professionals and some of the the people out there that that are are professionals at this that are good at this. So it really um you know I get some ideas in my head um that aren’t aren’t correct and I get those ideas because I’m a parent and and I want the best for my kid but uh sometimes I’m not an expert. So, I have to uh you know, you have to find somebody you trust. But, you know, my enthusiasm for golf didn’t necessarily create my children’s enthusiasm for golf. Um the people that they’ve worked with, uh you know, the the the little camps that Nicole’s had. Um the other opportunities that they’ve gotten to do. Um uh you know I know that my son looks at the the US kids tour and uh tournaments and and you know that’s something that he’s he’s got on the horizon and the exposure that he’s gotten um with some of these instructors have really ignited this passion in him and and that’s something that he wants to do and and I and I think that um they’re really good at at instilling that and letting the kids do that and and they don’t do it the way I would do it. They don’t, you know, if my son’s goofing off a little, um, to me he’s goofing off and maybe to a a qualified coach, um, he’s learning something or he’s experimenting. And so, I’ve learned to to really just bite my tongue and and you know, the most important thing is is that they have fun and you know, and that’s what I see in my kids. They they come back from golf and they’re happy for hours. So, you know, what what more can you ask? and and I I don’t know that my involvement, you know, I have my job and and they have their job and and that’s uh and I’m not I’m not that good at their job, so I leave it to Right. Um Nicole, would you would you agree that uh that just to sort of add on to what what Chris was just alluding to, um that, you know, it’s great for parents to expose their children to to different things, golf, you know, other sports and things like other activities. Um but not to put undue pressure or push them uh into an activity just because maybe they enjoy it. Um and sort of let it develop naturally. Oh, very much so. And I think, you know, it’s really important for kids to be playing a lot of different sports and getting exposure to different sports. There are a lot of stats coming out now on early burnout and, you know, having kids just do one kind of sport. So, physically and emotionally. So, um definitely working with different sports and and let letting the kids enjoy their experience of the sport, not the parents experience for the kid. And we uh we just came out with um we have like a handbook and we added in a little page on being a supportive golf parent. And I brought it just to read off a couple comments, but like um sure we actually put examples of negative and and positive reactions. So I don’t know if a lot of parents are realizing they’re doing this. It comes from such a good place in their heart and they’re very closely attached and it’s totally understandable, but um you know these are the things that we notice. So, you know, examples of negative nonverbal threatening behavior, eyeball rolling, arms crossed, deep sigh, shaking head side to side, um negative comments such as, “Come on, you can do better than that. What were you thinking? Do it the right way this time. That is not what you practiced.” Or, you know, giving advice. So, you know, great examples that we we want to encourage, you know, smiles and winks, fist pumps, thumbs up and clapping and, you know, verbal comments like, “Good effort, good try, I’m proud of you, nice use of a code sign, love you no matter what. I enjoy watching you play.” And, you know, even though we ask parents not to coach, you know, they I mean, they they want to help and it’s it’s really tough to not cross that line. Um, examples of over coaching include actually, you know, like even in PGA Junior League, telling them what to do. the parents are not the ones playing and making the calls. The kids are. So, it’s hard not to jump in and watch them, you know, they’re going to make a, you know, what you would consider a mistake, but there’s they’re so learning. Um, you know, telling kid, you know, telling a kid what shot or club to hit or telling them it’s the wrong decision that that’s for them to learn. And I think the parents think they’re helping them along, but in the long run, they’re they’re they’re taking the kids ability to create decision making away. Yeah. And that’s that’s an excellent point. Yeah, I think that’s an excellent point because there are, you know, a lot of parents, they think that they’re doing the right thing by by, you know, telling little Johnny or what have you, um, you know, to to play a little bit differently or to do different things. But a lot of times, um, they are actually turning the kids off of wanting to engage in that sport uh, or that game because they’re just feeling the pressure. And at that age, Nicole, and I’m sure you can attest to this, that’s a lot of pressure for a three or, you know, four or fiveyear-old kid to uh to be able to do and on its own, never mind with, you know, mom and dad hovering around, like I said, like a helicopter parent. Um, so that that’s some great great points to raise. Um, Dan, I want to jump back to you here real quick. Um and and because you you sort of talked a little bit about uh uh the clubs and and the different sizes and things like that with with what you experienced with your children growing up, what was available uh on the market. Um talk a little bit about the importance of of making sure that the youngsters are fitted properly because it’s obviously a different process um than it would be for an adult. Yeah, quite a bit. We we took the position that that the clubs need to be sized proportionately for their young bodies uh as they would be when they got to be older. So in order to accomplish that, we couldn’t do it just based on their age. We had to look at how tall they were, how they were growing. And um so I mean just in a for example an eight-year-old, you can have a range of up to 12 inches in height. So fitting by age is not a good idea really. And um then we studied growth and we found that kids grow two and a half approximately two and a half to three inches a year um starting after age two and that happens really right up until they go through puberty. So we we developed a size basically for every three inches. Basically that equates to a years of a year of growth so that uh parents can easily just uh measure their child based on having shoes up on the wall and then go in and and be able to purchase the right product for them. And it’s proven to be a simple way to get started. Um we have several different levels of products because when you first come in, you’re just developing your game. So you really want the product to be as lightweight as possible. And we started, we’ve also started with a yard club, we call a yard club product where the grip, it has a molded grip. One of the things in developing or learning to play golf is really how the grip works. And and having a kid develop a good grip doesn’t come naturally. And so part of helping that process is to be able to have a molded grip. It’s amazing what a training grip or teaching grip can do for a little player to get started. So, those are some of the key elements we do and trying to get kids started. Yeah. And that’s a great way to, you know, to approach it as well because, as you said, you know, that there’s that age range, if you will, where kids just, you know, grow like a weed and um it’s it’s very difficult with traditional club fitting to to be able to to measure up because and also all kids are different, different shapes and sizes and things. Um, a lot of variables in that. So, that’s a great way to do it. Um, what about things like cost though? That that’s something that you hear a lot. Um, you know, golf has always been sort of associated as an elitist sport, very expensive sport. Um, how do you sort of combat that? Um, again, you know, if you’ve got somebody like Chris’s case where he’s got, you know, three uh three kids, they’re not children anymore. They’re growing, but um, you know, it might be difficult for them to fit for all three of them. um give us an idea of what kind of program you have to help uh parents in that situation. Yeah. Well, the internet really helps because the eBay is really good place something like that to be able to take used clubs, but clubs are not really the same price when you look at it compared to adult equipment. So, the average cost for an iron or or a like a yard club they were talking about can start at $25 retail and then after they’re used for a year, a lot of people can get 50% or so of the value if they trade them out or sell them themselves online. Um, I mean some of our clubs as you get more deeply in Chris has probably got a young player who’s looking at tour series and it can it can you know a full set of that might range in the $500 range but again when it comes time at the end of the season he can he can sell those off. So you do have to look at the cost of it. But but but really the the cost when you compare that to the other sports again, baseball gloves and bats and shoes. I mean every every family is making a decision about the priorities of it and and the priorities of cost and and um our equipment costs aren’t nearly as bad as you think when you look at them. So, but most importantly, if you can start with the right product from the get-go and develop some swing speed, um you’re likely to stay in the game and and it’s it’s hard to go wrong when you got a game for a lifetime versus just for a period of time. Yeah. And and Right. And you mentioned too um a few moments ago, you talked about, you know, making using lighter clubs. Obviously, traditionally a lot of clubs um you know when you uh get a little bit older were had steel shafts which is obviously a little bit heavier than that. Um you obviously use a lot of composites and a lot of other types of uh uh shaft materials in order to make it uh a little lighter for the kids. Correct. Yeah, that’s right. And um but you know when I we started you kids the the lightest club but the but is the driver. So when you when we looked at trying to reduce the weight for our youngest uh players, we want I wanted to make it as as light as possible. So people don’t know that the the head itself and the driver is the lightest, but because it’s the longest shaft, it ends up feeling heavier than it is compared to the other clubs. So I knew that if we could take some weight out of the driver, then you could build the set around that. So our lightest clubs are 30% lighter than a adult driver and it and as the player gets stronger and their speed develops then we increase the weight. But for the most part we we’re almost entirely graphite or composite shafts until some of the players at about age 10 can start swinging. And we recommend some steel shafts for some of the best players, but they’re still a very lightweight steel, flexible steel. So, absolutely, weight is a critical critical uh ingredient. It really has helped helped us uh establish their products uh in the marketplace being lightweight. Yeah. And like I said earlier, Nicole, you know, there are so many different things now available. you know, when I was playing, uh, you know, first taking up the game as a as a youngster, you know, my exposure to to clubs was, you know, a a a sawed down, you know, seven or eight iron that dad had. And of course, it was still the, you know, the heavier heads. So, you know, you had a lot of uh uh difficulty swinging. It’s not like it is now and that. Um, Nicole, I want to give you I’m going to ask that if you can do me kind of a favor here since Brendan isn’t with us right now. Um, we’ve we’ve got to wrap this up. Unfortunately, our our time is up. Um, I want to give you an opportunity to let the folks that are listening, if they want to reach out to you and learn more about u not only what you do at the the landings club, but also the little golf train, but also if you can do that on behalf of Brendan since he’s not with us, um, direct those that might be interested in learning more about the little linksters. And then Chris and Dan, I’m going to give each an opportunity as well um to just uh let the folks know if they want if you have websites or things that you can direct people to um if they want to follow up after the show. Sure, definitely. Um yeah, I’m reachable in a in a few different ways. Um littlegolf train information is on littlegolftrain.com. Uh we also have a Facebook page and a Twitter page. Um you can also reach me Nicole Weller on Facebook. You can message me through there. Um, and I have a business page called Stick to Sports, and that’s on Facebook as well. So, a couple different ways to reach me there. Um, I work at the Landing Club for our members and their guests, but I’m always happy to reach out and talk to anybody about questions. Um, you know, feel free to message me and, uh, be able to, you know, touch base with you there. And, um, as far as Brendan, uh, little linksters.com and he has a couple different, you know, foundation and information there. So, um, and Brendan’s also on Facebook as well. So, happy happy to help out. And of course, you know, if anyone reaches out to you to get a hold of me, feel free. So, h happy to help anyone out with anything, I can. Will do. Um, thank you again, Nicole. Um, Chris, um, how can the folks if they want to find out a little bit more about the Littlest Golfer, um, find out more about some of the things that you offer, where can they go? Is there a website? and and if they want to reach out to you personally. Yep. Our website is www.theittlestolfer.com and we’re also on Facebook and Twitter and all those good things. Facebook is uh the Littlestgolfer Inc. Um and you can reach us through our website or you can reach me Chris Wilson on Facebook or through our page. Perfect. And uh and finally, Dan, um kids want to find or parents want to find out more about uh what’s available through US kids golf. How can they go about doing that? Uh is there a website? And also if they want to uh reach out uh is there some contact information that you can give as well? Yeah, just um it’s just as it sounds, usgolf.com. And uh if they want to do it electronically, just um there’s contact information, customer service for both equipment or for for um for the tournaments. But we also have on the site a coaches tab, people like Nicole around the country. Nicole again and Brendan and Chris are doing unbelievable things. there are other people out there and so we have a coaches tab to try to help parents be able to find a a recommended coach in their area. So they can find that again at uskidsgolf.com. Right. And these are obviously the uh the coaches that have been certified through usidgolf. Um if somebody also they can reach out through that website if if uh some of the coaches that are tuning in tonight that maybe uh aren’t affiliated with you, they can reach out there to find more information about that as well. Correct. Yeah, that’s right. There’s there’s information there about how to become certified uh and have their um their uh junior program recognized and and have people try to find them. We we have many many people coming looking parents looking for good coaching always. So, it’s always a good thing to do. Perfect. Well, guys, I want to thank you very much for joining me tonight on Golf Talk Live’s Coach’s Corner. uh was very interesting conversation and uh sort of a special coaches corner. We talked a lot about um the youngsters out there, the the littlest golfers if you will uh in our community that we want to to help sort of foster. And again, Nicole, many thanks for for helping to coordinate the guys uh uh coming on the show and I appreciate it. And and please give a special thanks to Brendan again as well for for joining us. I know he had to cut out early, but uh Nicole, Chris, and Dan, thank you very much uh again for joining me tonight and I look forward to having you guys back on a future show. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right. All right. You have a great evening. Bye. You too. Bye. Bye. Okay. That was uh my very special guests on the Coaches Corner panel. Uh Nicole Weller, uh Brennan Elliot, uh Chris Wilson, and Dan Van Horn. Um very interesting conversation. Uh lots to to learn. And of course, if you missed the live uh portion of this show and you’re just sort of tuning in now, uh not to worry. If you go to blogtalkradio.comgolt talklive, um you can listen to the recorded version a little bit later in its entirety. And uh lots of great information. And as the the gang said, uh you can reach out to their respective uh websites and social media um to find out a little bit more uh how to get involved with uh the little golf train uh the little linksters and the littlest golfer as well as us kids golf. So um tune in to the show uh a little bit later, listen to the recorded version in case you missed that first half. But uh anyways, I want to move on to my special guest now. Uh I spoke to him actually a little while ago and has a very interesting business. Uh it’s called get out and uh get outgolf.com and uh gentleman’s name is Todd Buger. He is the co-founder of that uh organization. And just give me a little bit of background. Todd’s business background spans uh from everything from startup to Fortune 500 companies. And uh four times he has been involved in launching firsttom market innovations. uh his experience uh thinking differently about industries uh products and services sparked an idea when he struggled himself to find time to fit golf into his busy schedule and packed uh workday as we all do with travel and family commitments and things like that. Uh, Get Out Golf allows consumers to book golf in flexible durations that uh fit in their lifestyles and it’s their mission to re-engage uh what he calls sideline golfers market uh as he’s indicated significantly larger than the active golfer market. Um they’ve sort of had lacked the time to play a full round uh is uh in his opinion the number one barrier that golf faces today. So uh without further uh hesitation, let me bring up my very special guest tonight uh from Get Out Golf, uh Todd Buger. Good evening, Tom. Hey, Ted. Great Hey, great to be here with you. Thanks for having me. Not a problem. I I appreciate that. Um, and uh, you know, you and I talked a little while back when we were first sort of setting this up, but just give maybe just a a general overview, if you wouldn’t mind, uh, of uh, Get Out Golf, just for the listeners, just to give them a better understanding what it’s all about and and how it actually works, and then we’ll get into some other questions. Yeah, sure, Ted. So, um, as you mentioned a little bit in our intro, we’re a company that’s aiming to turn around this decline that’s been going on in golf for about 15 years now, um, by eliminating the the biggest barrier that there is to people getting out and and playing the game, which is time. And that’s not just our viewpoint, but if you look at any surveys that have been done, the many surveys that have been done by the golf industry, uh, time far and away comes back as the number one barrier. cost comes after that and then the big gap between the the various other things that keep folks away. Um so how do we do that? So we’re a marketplace uh which means we’re a two-sided business. We look to connect golfers and golf courses uh with golf courses that have excess inventory or in this case tea times that would go unused. Um, and what we do is we give our partner golf courses a set of tools that allows them to um, in a real time manner open up inven us that would otherwise go unsold and then we present that to the consumer or golfers um, through an app and allow them to book a tea time. So what’s uh what’s new and novel our model is when you book a tea time uh through Get Out Golf, the consumer actually gets to tell the golf course how long they want to come out and play in flexible duration. So we sell any 30-minute increments. So our our biggest sellers are kind of 90 minute and twohour um golf outings. And then those are uh those are prrated um based on a four and a half hour round. So, the golfer would pay a percentage of what they typically would um would play to go out. And that’s really the core of of what we do. Um uh incidentally, the the first hour of the show talked a lot about um getting juniors and youth involved. Uh while flexible durations and and timebased golf is where we we focus, we also have what we call on-ramp options or on-ramp offering to try to get newer people out engaged the game. And so, um, two very basic things, junior rates, which in some markets are very, very hard to find. Um, and then and then playing 100 in. So, if you’re an adult but newer to the game, um, obvious we all know that it’s easier to start uh, learning the game closer into the holes. So, we provide those options as well. And and you actually shared an kind of an interesting story uh yourself um because you live if I memory serves me correct um literally I think right across the street from a golf course and you yourself mentioned about how you found it difficult sometimes um to be able to go across and and play as much as you want. share a little bit about that story and then I want to talk about um again about the the market the differences between sort of the sideline sideline golfer and uh and or lapsed golfer as you refer to them. Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. So, um so a couple different components to my um my golf story and experience that that led to me thinking about this innovation. Um one of them is a is a is a crystal clear moment in time. So maybe let me tell that story first and then I’ll back into my own my own personal experience with golf. But uh so I have a I have a couple of daughters um and so uh one of them plays club soccer so she’s very busy with that but she’s getting to the age that we both really would like to see her um play a little bit more golf. She she has a long view of it and understands that one of the beauties of the game is that it can be a lifelong game. And so you know he’s asking me to get her involved. So I take her over and so we’ve had she’s been in in different junior golf groups and clinics and um so we walk across the street to the driving range one particular evening. We get over there, get the bag set up. Um we’re just there for a few minutes and and she she looks at me and she’s like, “Dad, this is boring.” And I’m thinking to myself, “Okay, great. She’s she’s not into it. She wants to go home.” And so she follows that up by saying, “Let’s just go out and play a few holes. like I don’t want to be on the driving range. And I think a lot of people, you know, can relate to that. Right. And um Right. And so she really was not in the mood for the driving range that evening. And uh we packed the clubs up and and started to walk home. And I just said, “Honey, that’s that’s not a thing. They don’t they don’t allow you to go out and play holes.” And as we’re walking off the course, you know, I’m looking around and like so many golf courses in the US these days, the fairways are are pretty much empty. you know, it’s afternoon and and I literally thought that day as we walked off the course, there have got to be a bunch of folks like us and there’s got to be a better way to do this. Um, and you know, as as somebody who’s, you know, kind of a business guy, I’m thinking to myself, man, you I’ve got the money in my pocket and the golf course is just turning me away because they don’t have the product that fits me. And that’s actually kind of in the entrepreneurial world that’s a term a product market fit. And really the thesis for our business get out golf is that the product market fit for golf has deteriorated over the decades. And literally if you go back and you and I had this discussion Ted, right? If you go back decades, our society was a lot different. Our world was a lot different. And yeah, you know, dad could go off to the club on a on a Saturday morning um and spend half of his day there and play golf. And and today we’re all so busy um we’re all suffering from time poverty uh that that we believe the industry just needs to change and adapt a little bit and put something out that will connect with people that aren’t avid golfers uh but have an interest in participating in the sport. Yeah. And and you raise a you know, you touch on a really interesting point and and we again we discussed this when you and I were were on the phone privately. Um you know, you’re exactly right. I can remember growing up as a youngster, you know, dad going off to the golf course. You know, on occasion I would go with him because I started playing fairly young, but a lot of times he would go and he would meet some of his friends or or associates uh and they would again make a an afternoon of it uh or a morning of it, whatever the case was. And you know nowadays as you said with time restraints and also too there wasn’t as much competition for our time back then uh as there is now there’s so many other things um uh you know with social media and all and especially for the younger groups um they don’t have as much time. They’re not willing to commit you know four to six hours to play 18 holes um you know on a regular basis. So the industry has kind of missed the boat, if you will, for for years. So this is what really kind of intrigued me about the the the service that you’re you’re providing here is you’re kind of feeling in a niche, if you will. Um something that the golf industry obviously hadn’t thought of before. Um but really, like anything else, is is slow to change. But you’re you’re starting to get momentum now uh with what you’re doing. And I think you’re going to see over time that more and more of them will come around and recognize what product that you’re offering is something that they all need to jump on board with. But um give the explain a little bit the terminology if you will. So so some of the listeners out there that may not be familiar with it what you mean by uh sideline golfers. Yeah, sure. So, um, when you look, maybe I’ll give you the the macro, um, view of of the industry and the problem that that’s happening today. I think I I think I may have said in my intro intro, we’ve gone from 30 million million active today. Um, and then really when you break that down even further, that 21 million, there are about 11 million that are really active golfers and they’re generating 90% of the rounds. And then there are 10 million that occasionally play. But there’s much churn going on in the industry. Somewhere in the ballpark of four to five million people a year kind of come in their toe in the water, play a little bit. Um some of them stick, but there’s a there’s an equal well actually the way the math works, there’s a slightly greater number um that leave the industry um every year. So with this churn, what’s happened and and these numbers by the way come from um Boston cons doing some studies for PJ of America. Um they believe that there are about 60 million um sidelined or laps golfers that uh that have an interest in playing. Now there the total number is greater than that 60 million but according to their survey work there are 60 million that are sidelined and still interested in getting out and playing. Um, and that’s the group that is is sort of at the heart of our focus and that’s the group that I think the industry just doesn’t quite stand um well enough to serve and and I’ll I’ll go a little bit deeper into my views on that but in addition to the 60 million we think remember that that 10 million u of the 21 throwing out a lot of numbers so there’s 21 million that are active 11 million generate 90% of the rounds the other 10 million are just playing occasionally, right? So, they like golf enough that they’re getting out there, but we really believe um being able to have a bite-size experience that could fit into 90 minutes, right? Like going for a hike or going for a run or going to the gym, we think we can really ignite the number of rounds those folks are playing. So there’s there’s that group of golfers and then um on top of all that there are people that you know have not even played but uh if given the opportunity to go out and and play golf that fits in their life they would come out to the course. So, think of this. I sometimes I love the analogy, sometimes I hate it, but think of kind of what’s going on with Top Golf. Right now, Top Golf, right? Um, the numbers, I forget exactly where they are. Something like 70% of customers at Topgolf are not golfers, um, so to speak, but they’re coming into the industry in some way. They’re having a golf experience. So there’s a there’s a big opportunity um you know to to get them into the real green grass experience um if we if we play this the right way. But the so my view of of avid golfers versus sidelined and and a and a big challenge in the industry is the industry is run by avid golfers. Right? So, I’m going to generalize a little bit, but the avid golfer, you know, to the avid golfer, 18 holes is not enough, right? They’d play 36 if they had the opportunity um to fit them in, right? Um they’re they’re they’re concerned with their handicap or their ability to score. Um they they make time for golf a priority in their life, right? So, they they fit it in there. Now, the casual golfer, uh, so someone like me who loves the game, but but doesn’t get out nearly as much as they’d like to, um, again, generalizing, they view golf more as a break or distraction from their daily grind, right? It’s a stress reliever. You know, figuring out how to hit that little white ball as this magical ability to wipe away whatever your stress of the day was. Um, now whether they they get a a birdie or a or a par or a double bogey on the hole probably isn’t going to make or break their experience, right? They’re just out there getting distracted. Um, they view it as a to spend time with those most important to them perhaps. Um, and you know, this is this is a this last point that I would make about these casual golfers is probably not something that I um appreciated or understood before I started the Get Out Golf journey. I’m always amazed at the number of people I talk to about golf that play a little bit that say, “Boy, after about hole 12, 13, 14, I’m pretty much done.” And then I’m just trying to get through the rest of the round. Um, so they really don’t want to be out there even for for the 18. Now the problem is, as I said, the industry is run by avid golfers. And then you also think about the people that are running these operations. Um, who are they seeing day in and day out? Who’s generating 90% of the rent? Avid golfers. So what’s their entire view of the industry? It’s the product that the avid that the avid golfer wants. Um, but as I said with the earlier numbers, we think there are about eight times as many people who are out there. If they had a different flavor of golf, one that sort of made this product market fit thing work for them. Um, I I think we’d see a lot more people out there and that’s the mission we’re on. Yeah. And and you know, the other thing too, Todd, that that comes to mind, and you know, obviously where I am here in in the northwest part of of Florida, you know, there’s a well, in Florida in general, there’s a you know, a ton of golf courses around, but in in my specific area here, um you know, there’s quite a few. And much like yourself, you know, when I drive along, uh a lot of times there are courses throughout the day where there’s hardly anybody out there playing. And you know, we haven’t even got into the thick of, you know, the thick of the the summer season yet. So, um, you know, you’ve got vacationers. I mean, I’m here out in the beach, so vacationers coming down. Some are going to play golf, some are not. Um, you know, they haven’t even gotten to the heart of the the golf season yet. And, you know, normally by now, you’re starting to see an increase. And and one thing that I’ve noticed that and you maybe have noticed where you are, one of the mistakes that I think that golf clubs did is instead of being a little more creative, they tried to dump product on the market by, you know, cutting their co their um cost of a a round uh basically giving away huge discounted uh u golf rounds as a way of enticing people out. But it wasn’t really dealing with the problem that you’re talking about here is there’s a time issue. Not everybody has four to six hours um to be able to play. And if if somebody So whether you’re, you know, being charged $100 around or $65 around, if you don’t have time to play 18, then it’s not, you know, you’re not going to get that person out to the golf course anyway. So, they need to be a little more, as you put it, a little more creative and inventive uh with their process. And this is really what you’ve done with Get Out Golf. Correct. Yeah. No, you’re exactly right. And um and you describe the situation very well and and it’s it’s unfortunate and it’s tough for the golf courses and um and maybe a little bit later we’ll talk about how we were very thoughtful in creating our business model that’s that’s very pro golf course. But here’s the challenge for the golf course operator. Um at the end of the day, there’s a huge supply demand imbalance problem, right? So the the number of golfers have been declining. Golf courses um do not close down very quickly. Um not that we want any golf courses to be shutting down, but in a lot of business markets, supply would shut down and you’d get to some sort of equilibrium where in this case, golf courses are very slow to to to shut down. Um, I think we we have somewhere in the ballpark of of 16,000 courses uh in the US and I think we have about 100 closing a year or maybe it’s 150. Um, so the implication for the operator is that unless they figure out how to offer something different and they’re offering basically the same commodity experience, um, there’s this race to the bottom, right? Because their volumes drop. to the golf course down the street um their volumes are dropping and they just start undercutting price and in that scenario there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Um the only light at the end of the tunnel is if we can uh you know generate more demand and that’s where we come in and do something different. So that’s why we’re truly focused on bringing those laps or sideline golfers back into the industry. So it’s an incremental golfer to the golf course. It’s incremental round. um we do it in a way that is um price positive for their for their overall rates and you know that doesn’t even get into you know food and beverage and other you know pro shop consumables that um that could be picked up and and will be picked up just by getting more more bodies out to the course. So it’s a it’s a tough business um right now for for the operators for sure. Yeah. And and like I said, you know, I think that uh you know, some of the earlier guests that I had on uh on the coaches corner panel, you know, that are dealing specifically in junior golf, um you know, they’re they’re addressing a specific um area of golf and in the growth and development. The problem is that most of the golf professionals out there are dealing with uh as you said the avid golfer and you know there’s literally thousands of teacher professionals and coaches and you know golf gurus if you will out there all competing for the same uh group of golfers and that group is dwindling and dwindling and you know with the onslaught of uh social media and you know free video content and and free instructional content out there. It’s becoming more and more difficult for some of these professionals to to make a living and especially um and I’ll give you a good example with myself. Um you know, I I teach basically to a lot of corporate types and I went to a golf course. I’m not going to name the name, but um a couple years ago and I had a select key group of of um individuals that I could bring to their facility um you know basically any time that I wanted and I because I don’t work at that specific facility but it’s it’s in proximity of where I am. I said, you know, I wanted to approach the the GM and and obviously the professional and that because I didn’t want to step in any toes. And I said, look, I’ve got a group of XYZ uh number of players that I can bring to your facility. I want to be able to do this, that, and the other um and you know, I’ll give you whatever in writing um that, you know, I’m not going to solicit while I’m here. I’m just simply want to do. and very respectfully, mind you, but they declined um because they didn’t want to have somebody else in that position uh on their facility. And I thought to myself, now I practice there all the time. I’ve been there just as we were talking about earlier about, you know, seeing blank fairways. Uh, I’ve been out in the practice tee many, many times, you know, playing in my own game and I’ve never seen, you know, any of their professionals out there giving a lesson. And I thought to myself, and it goes really to the point you were making is they’re selling themselves short. Here’s somebody saying, I’m going to come with X number of people on a regular basis. And they didn’t want to uh do that. And I’m sure when you first were, you know, approaching some of the the uh golf managers and that that that was probably a bit of the feedback that you got from them. They were very slow to change. Is that something that you experienced as well? Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean I I think I think that’s definitely the case. Um I think it’s a you know it’s a very conservative um industry that that effectively from a from a business standpoint and running these um these golf courses that there’s there’s been almost change um over the decades and so that’s you know that is a big challenge and I think it takes some time you know for for these new ways of of thinking that they hold but uh well and and I’ll als also tell you this. I mean, I I more deeply appreciate that now. Um, you know, being in the golf industry, but when I came into it, you know, I’m I’m not from the golf industry. Um, I would not have tried to to bring an innovation to this market had I’ve not uh observed that the industry was really effectively almost in crisis mode. Um, and I know that, yeah, you know, there are some people out in the industry that are are are are going to the mountain tops shouting that, and there are others in the industry that are saying, “This is just a little blip. You know, we’re we’re fine.” Um, and you know, time will tell who who is right. But, um, but I think that that being in that near crisis mode is something that, uh, that’s that’s going to hopefully drive people to to go try stuff. Um because you know without making a change we we’ve got the I cited I mean it’s 15 years now. It’s it’s been since 2002 that uh that we’ve been losing golfers and and when you look at the data uh the last few years um the declines have increased. Uh it hasn’t been getting better. So hopefully that’ll that’ll spark some people to move. Yeah. And and the stats don’t lie. I mean and you know part of it and in all fairness um you know the age of golfers I mean as as people unfortunately pass on which is something a fact of life uh death is a fact of life um you know that is a big proponent I mean many people 50 and over is probably a a big chunk of core of your avid golfers. So, as people, you know, have health issues or or pass on, um, and new golfers are not replacing that, uh, that’s one area that numbers are going to decline. And, and this is why, you know, it’s important for, as as I mentioned earlier, uh, with the guests on the beginning, it’s even more important for them to get into, um, you know, different avenues, if you will, to get some of the youngsters out there, um, learning the game in whatever fashion. Again, it doesn’t have to necessarily be, you know, a round of 18. Uh it can be in in what you’re proposing here, just to to get out and and and just enjoy it and have a few holes and and maybe in a 30 to 60 or or 90 minute uh play as opposed to 2 to four hours. And this is something that I think the industry is starting to recognize, but like everything else, it’s been slow to change. So walk me through a little bit and for the listeners uh a little bit the process from the golf courses perspective and from the consumer’s perspect perspective how get out golf works. What’s what’s what’s the first step if somebody wants to uh uh to get involved? Yeah. So so let’s start on the golf course side of things because we have to have inventory to to make the marketplace work. So, so for the golf course, um, what we do is we provide them with some tools that that we go in and we look at what is your, you know, what does your week, what are your seven days look like right now in terms of utilization. And to to to make things very simple, we sort of say you’ve got some areas on your T- sheet where you do pretty good business. Um, don’t think about us at all in those areas. And then you have some areas in your T- sheet that are pretty wide open. And and for the most part, the way these T- sheet looks, that’s, you know, that’s kind of the case. You you’ve got good steady flow where you have basically nobody. And so what that what we do is we define those blocks of time as default inventory. That’s that becomes available through Get Out Golf. Those blocks of times being times when when they’re, you know, typically not very heavily utilized. Um, and then they have some some very simple tools that allow them to basically just point click on on areas of time and turn them off. So if they have an outing going on this afternoon that’s not typical, they could turn those times off for get out golf or if they’re more wide open than normal on a, you know, on a Wednesday morning, they could turn those times on. What that does is it allows those tea times to be available golf. Um so so that’s the very simple inventory availability piece of of the model for the golf courses. Um and then the second piece is pricing. So we work with the golf course on pricing. Um what we do is we we view uh most courses as having a 4 and a half hour pace of play. Um and we take the rates that they charge. We prrate it based on the four and a half hours and then we price it at a slight premium. Um, now we don’t do that because we want to, you know, we think we should be price gouging anyone. It’s not that type of a of a premium, but what we’re doing is we’re protecting the golf course um from having the group of avid golfers that are out there that play a lot. Not that all avid golfers do this, but there’s a group of avid golfers that are extremely price sensitive and they’re always out scouring for discounted rates, right? And so there are a lot of those out there and there’s nothing wrong with that. Oh yeah, that’s you know a lot of consumers. So so we implemented this this slight premium pricing into our model just so we could say to the golf courses, look, you know, we want to help you with your distressed inventory, but we’re not a discount channel and we’re not going to bring you a bunch of discount golf and we’re not going to hurt your overall pricing, right? So you can um you can help fill your t-shirt. you could bring golf golfers back off the sidelines and you’re actually going to help your discount problem um by working with us. So, we work with them on the pricing that way. Yeah. And and that’s a great point to to to mention because that was what what I what I said earlier was one of the criticisms that I had with what a lot of golf courses uh have done is they’ve just felt that the the way to fill up that time sheet uh or T- sheet is to you know discount and discount and discount and actually had the opposite effect. You know some of the avid golfers as you said um were like buzzards and and and got in there but it didn’t really do anything to generate many new golfers. Right. Right. So, um, so if I paint the picture of of Get Out Golf for a golf course operator, I would say, listen, first of all, we want to sell a product that effectively doesn’t exist today, right? We want to we want to market that and communicate it to people who are not coming out and playing golf today or are not playing very often, right? So, we want to get net new golfers on your facility, generating net new rounds, and we want to do it in a way that is price positive to your facility and not not a drag and a discount. And we’re going to do it in a way where you, Mr. Golf Course operator, are always in control. So, what does that mean? You’ve got real time tools that allow you to put inventory out onto our platform or take it down. um you’ve you’ve got control over your price and so you’re always going to be able to use us in a way that’s positive for your facility and for your operation. And then the other thing that I would say to golf course operators is um I think about in today’s world there are sort of two ways that you can market your facility and we want to be a third. Um, the first way you market your facility is you market it yourself. And um, and so when you market your yourself, you basically want to say to golfers, come play our facility. Here’s the reason we want you to play our facility. Now, the second way it gets marketed is through a third-party marketer. And there are a couple of well-known that are out there. One very well known. there other smallers um third party but the main lever that a lot of those thirdparty marketers use is price so where the golf course marketing for themselves says come play our course I would generalize the third party marketer is saying lowest price is over here right that’s how I’m going to attract eyeballs and maybe they come to that golf course what we want to do is we want to go out with a message that says you should be playing golf and now you can play golf because we have a product that works for you, right? So, completely different uh message and model from what exists in the marketplace today. And uh and so that would be kind of all those things together would be, you know, the way I would explain how we want to partner and help um golf courses. The other Yeah, go ahead. No, please go ahead. I was just going to say I was going to say ask if you wanted to to talk about anything before we transition to the consumer side of the of getting alcohols. Yeah, ju just very quickly just to sort of reiterate um what I was saying earlier, this is this is something that I’ve seen in the golf industry for a long long time is this sort of traditional third party marketing and and as you mentioned there’s some major you know uh a couple of major players out there but uh and and a few smaller ones and one of the issues with that is is what you just pointed out and and what I’ve mentioned as well is is that it it it sort of takes the eye if you will in a direction that is not beneficial for for the course operators. Um because what it’s doing is essentially cheapening their product and there’s a danger to that and there has been a danger to that because again as you said there’s a pool of avid golfers that you know are looking for that. Um, and it’s like sharks swimming in water looking for somebody chumming uh that water. And that’s what the some of the third party marketers are doing. And and again, what it’s done is it’s not increasing the number of golfers. It’s just taking away from the the course operators bottom lines because now they’ve had to, you know, greatly in some cases discount these these rates. and because they’re not getting enough inventory being sold, they’re actually losing money um trying to fill those slots. So, you’ve essentially flipped it and done the opposite. You’re not, you know, you’re not taking away the potential revenue. You’re creating a product and or service that is going to appeal to a broader spectrum of people as opposed to, you know, having tunnel vision and saying, “Okay, well, you can only do this.” Now, you’re saying you can do this or you can do this or you can do this. So you’ve given them uh many other options to think about. Uh and I would say would would that be a fair assessment? Yeah. No, I I think very much so. That’s that’s a good way to put it. And and and let me let me not let me not be um let me be fair. It’s it’s not always a bad idea for a golf course operator to use a third party marketer, right? And it’s it’s always bad situation, but um much like you said, it’s it’s it’s different and um you know, and and so you have to think about your entire marketing mix and your entire marketing strategy and you have to figure out where it makes sense and you have to figure out how to manage that relationship. Um so while the way I’ve described it, um it it uh it it it may sound like a negative, in some cases it is. in some cases could be a positive. Um it’s there’s no one-sizefits-all for for an operator, but there’s definitely a place to to use a third party marketer if they’re used in the right way. Yeah. Yeah. And I agree and I think there’s a timing and and a place for everything. Uh I think uh and I hate to use this word but I think when that gets abused to the point where a a course operator is relying too heavily uh or solely on that third party then ultimately what ends up happening is as you mentioned that they’re basically giving away the shop. And you know there’s nothing wrong with discounts. Everybody likes to get something discounted once in a while. If you get into a pattern of that um then what happens is the consumers after a while just say well hey don’t play play from from you know January to such and such or don’t play from June to to August just wait here because the prices are going to go down and they they anticipate that and as I said it’s not doing anything but hurting the bottom line. So let’s move into the the consumer side of things. So from a consumer standpoint um what do they uh need to do? Yeah. So, so the consumer um the consumer will download our app. So, we we do all of our consumer interaction through an app. So, we’re on um we’re on the Apple App Store as well as Google Play. And uh when you open the app, you’re presented with a list of golf courses um that have uh that are on the platform and have inventory available, have tea times available. Um, we offer today and tomorrow’s uh tea times right now. And we did that um we did that basically as another means to help uh protect the golf course from having to make um inventory allocation decisions too far into the future. So, sure, you know, set another way, golf courses. One of the So, one of the things that we’ve had some operators um say to us is like, well, boy, why would I want to, you know, let’s just for for simplicity say it’s a it’s an $80 around course. So, they would say something like, well, why would I want to sell through you for $40 um when I could sell that tea time for $80 if I sell it as a full tea time? And our answer is, well, geez, if if you can pick one of those two, for sure all day long, pick the $80 round. Um, but guess what? If you’ve got, you know, tea times perishing for no revenue, which is half of your t- sheet, uh, wouldn’t you rather have the $40, um, you know, person come out and play for a couple hours, uh, instead of having that that go away? And very quickly they realize that, yeah, boy, that makes a lot of sense. but they still have that question in their mind of if I sell this for 40, could I have, you know, sold it to somebody else for 80? And so we felt like if we just put a couple days of inventory out on the platform, um, you know, a golf course is not going to have something sold five to seven days from now and and and feel like maybe I could have gotten a full round out of that. So that’s that’s another piece of our business practices around the the golf course operators. But the consumer then would see today and tomorrow um they would see a list of of golf courses that have availability um their search capability, right? So if you wanted to put times of day or you know filter by distance and things like that, you can do that. But effectively the consumer then picks a golf course nearby that they’re interested in playing. um they would be shown a list of tea times that are available with the corresponding um hourly rate that goes along with that. Um golf courses could set, you know, different rates throughout the day just like their T- sheets or their rate sheets um show today. The consumer picks their tea time and then they’re um they’re presented with the ability to pick a duration. So that’s where they would pick, you know, any 30-inut increment as I mentioned earlier. Um, while you can technically you can book as little as 30 minutes. Um, I don’t think we’ve ever sold 30 and I wouldn’t anticipate it, but uh, but that’s available. Um, all the way up to four and a half hours, but by far and we’ve sold um, we’ve sold a lot of one hour. Um, but but definitely 90 minutes and two hours are the the most frequent thing that people are buying. um you know we’re we’re seeing a little bit uh some people buying three three and a half hours but 90 minutes to two hours and then uh you you have uh as a consumer set up an account right so you sign in the first time with your email address um you put your credit card information into the app so just like you do with an Uber or any of these other um convenience apps uh you do that once and then you’re ready to to book your rounds so it’s about a 30 second process. Um if you know the course that you want to play, you find your te time, pick your duration, your number of golfers, uh and then um book it. The golf course gets the booking and you’re ready to show up and play. The other um the other thing that we’ve built into the platform for the consumer is, you know, golf is a social experience. You can actually build a friends list in the app. Um, and then when you book your round, if you if you’ve not uh if you don’t already have a foresome and you want to invite or at least alert a few of your friends to the fact that you’re going out and playing, um, you’ve got an option after the booking to invite friends. Um, you’re presented with your friends list. You can select anybody that you want to get the notification and then they would get an alert on their app. Um once they get that, the recipient of that alert can actually join your group with uh two taps on the device. So they would uh they would tap the alert to see the specifics of the booking, the golf course, the time, the duration, etc. And uh and they’ve got a a book now button at the bottom of that if they want to join you. That’s fantastic. Now, is there a a statistical component to it as well? And um do the are the rounds or the bookings stored within the uh device so that people can see um and track what they’ve done? Is does that have that ability at all or like a a reporting feature if you will for somebody that wants to um you know know how many rounds they’ve played in in the over a month or something like that or partial rounds? Yeah. So yeah. So so great question. So right now um there is a bookings tab that would would have logged all of the bookings that took place. So you could you could go through and you could review all of those bookings. Um we have not yet we have not yet built reporting and other things like that in the app. Um one of the things that you know there’s this concept of gamification and I can’t remember if you and I talked about this before. um we haven’t put it in you know right now we’ve we’ve we’ve followed this MVP or this minimum viable product approach to to doing a startup. So we’ve said okay what do we what do we feel like is really important to have in there at the start. Um but one of the one of the future things that want to do is something around gamification which just means um figure out you know you asked this question can you look at your statistics and how many rounds you played. So, what we want to do is talk to to uh customers and figure out what’s interesting for you. Um, what might you want to do that sort of could create either your own tracking or maybe a competition amongst friends, etc. and and start to put some of those things onto the platform. So, that would be a future capability, but certainly something we want to do. Now, what about in a situation um and again, obviously this would fall back, I’m sure, to the course, but let’s say for argument sake, um you picked a tea time tomorrow and uh you’ve got it booked and and um you’ve got your group assembled and obviously weather conditions, you’ve already obviously prepaid, I’m assuming, through the app. You’ve paid for the round already. Um is there does the typical rain check policy happen through the course? uh or what happens in a case where where the round gets cancelled not from the user standpoint but because the course uh weather conditions or something like that how does that work? Yeah. So so great question. Um we do want to build something automated into the platform to handle that um as as something more in the future. Right now, the way it’s handled is that it comes back to our platform and um and then we either through at the golf courses discretion either they just reschedule um a different time that that golfer is going to come out and play or we could handle a refund process. Um the reason that we’re not more robust around that today is because our launch market is Phoenix and our unlike Florida um our rate of incident on that is so incredibly low um that it hasn’t been a big focus for us but we certainly want to automate that um in the near future. Yeah, I think you get what a whole three days of rain or something if I’m not mistaken uh in a in a calendar year. So, yeah, you’re you’re pretty lucky that way. So, obviously, as you just mentioned, you know, you’ve launched this in in the uh you know, Phoenix area and that um obviously I’m I’m assuming you’re planning to expand that market. What What’s the next stage? What’s the next step for for Get Out Golf? Um how are you going to start implementing it uh into other areas uh outside where you are now? Yeah. So, so a few things. Obviously, we’re going to continue to expand um here in Phoenix and and our original thinking was that we would go sort of metro area by metro area. Although, right, we’re about to do something um we’re about to do something interesting. So, we we had a a golf course and um I don’t I don’t want to I don’t want to steal their thunder, so I’ll allow them to to do the marketing communication when they’re ready, but I will say at the golf course in Alabama and um so they heard about what we were doing and they reached out and said, um we think this is really interesting. Uh how could we participate? So, we had a conversation with them and and they basically want to launch. And so one of the things that you know we talked about is um you know we’ve got all the technology that allows you to do this but we’re not in Alabama so you’re going to be you’re going to be left to market this for yourself. And so um so we have marketing collateral and and digital tools and other things to help them. But um but they’re basically gonna going to be pushing it themselves. And so um it’ll be interesting to see how that goes. I’m actually fairly bullish uh because I think a lot of um a lot of the success depends on an operator having the right mindset and being you know very progressive in in how they think about things in market and this particular operator definitely fit that bill. Um, so after we launch there, we could consider um not doing metro by metro area uh like the next Phoenix, but we might say, “Hey, as long as we have a golf course operator with the right mindset and capability, you know, we basically can can turn them on.” Um, and our our, you know, sort of infrastructure and process to turn on golf courses is pretty efficient. Um, so that will that will be interesting. And and I I got lost for a second in in my thoughts. There was one point I that that this got me thinking about. Um, it’s interesting how much opportunity a golf course has to market a different product um, very very easily just looking at their own database. So, we did we did a deep dive um into one of our launch partners and and they’re fortunate to have their uh their T- sheet integrated with their customer database, right? So, they could see rates of play and and all of that stuff. And this particular operator um 81% of their customer database had not played around at their facility in the prior 12 months. Um and and and these guys are not struggling, right? So this is this is not a distressed golf course. This is just the reality of their database. So 81% had played um 16% played between one and five rounds and then you know that somewhere around 3% that had been playing a lot. Um and and so it just goes to show you that, you know, you’ve got as a golf course operator, you know, you have the ability to reach out and touch a lot of people that are right are voting against your current product, if I could say it that way, and you could put this out in front of them and and potentially get them, you know, back out engaged in your facility. So, it’ll be interesting to see um what we experience with this Alabama golf course, right? And they’ve already got, you know, an established database of of golfers and and things like you said um that they can um basically market to. So, yeah, it would be interesting and and I’d love to hear more about it as as it develops. Um, well, Tat, I want to thank you very much and I want to give you an opportunity before we we wrap up finally here just to to let the folks know that are tuning into the show tonight um where they can go to to learn more information about it. Um, and obviously if there’s some uh golf professionals that maybe work at facilities across the United States that may be interested in it well and finding out how they can uh maybe utilize what it is that you’re offering uh how they can reach out to you as well uh personally and maybe get more information about uh uh having it um you knowworked with with their uh uh courses and so forth. But um how can the how can the folks that want to uh get a hold of this how can they do it? Yeah. Uh no, thanks Ted for that opportunity. So uh they could go out we we don’t have a lot of information on our on our website for golf courses because we try to make that a little bit more consumerf facing but we do have a website getoutgolf. Um so www.getoutgolf.com. Um, but for folks that in the industry, you know, in instruction or operating facility, if they want to reach out and understand how we might be able to work together, I would invite them to reach out to me directly. Um, my email address is toddoutgolf.com. Um, and I’ve got some information that I can share and would uh would be happy to have those conversations. Perfect. Well, Todd, I want to thank you very much for joining me. I’m glad that we connected and and it is a a very interesting concept that you have and and obviously it’s it’s uh it’s happening now and and I I can see it growing and expanding um here over the next uh several years. I think it’s you know as we’ve talked about before uh in our conversation it’s definitely a niche that you that you’re filling in this market. uh you know the golf industry regardless of who you talk to um on both sides uh golf certainly has declined in many ways for very varied reasons um and I think that it you know it’s about time that the industry recognizes this and you know gets proactive a little more than what they have been and it sounds like you’ve got a certainly one avenue here for them to seriously consider. So, I I appreciate you coming on tonight and sharing that here with my audience. And just to again for the consumers out there that want to find out uh about more about the product, they can go to getoutgolf.com and uh get all the information there. And uh for those that want to reach out to Todd, again, your email address again, Todd? Yeah, it’s todd odd dgetgolf.com. Perfect. Uh again, Todd, thank you very much for joining me tonight. and uh keep me posted. Let me know how things uh work out and if there’s anything that I can do in future to help uh spread the word about Get Out Golf, I’ll be more than happy to do so. And uh I know my audience uh will enjoy hearing uh some of the great things that you’re doing with uh with your product and service. That sounds good. I will I will keep you posted and thanks for having me on, Ted. Not a problem. You have a great evening and great weekend and uh good luck. Thank you. Take care. All right. Bye-bye. All right, that was my very special guest, Todd Buger, the co-founder of getoutgolf.com. Very interesting uh uh approach, if you will, uh to the golf industry. Uh something that’s definitely been needed for for many, many years, and uh I can see it uh continuing to to grow and foster uh and and hopefully help grow the game. This is something that we all want is to uh golf is is certainly a fantastic uh game and a lot of people have enjoyed it for years and and many others want to but maybe just don’t have the time uh to get out there and play that full round of golf. Well, here’s another option uh that’s fast becoming available. So, go to getoutgolf.com and learn more about uh Todd’s uh great uh great product. Uh, and I want to also thank uh, again my special guests this uh, earlier in the show, Nicole Weller, uh, Brennan Elliot, uh, Chris Wilson, and Dan Van Horn for joining me on a special coach’s corner panel earlier this evening. Enjoy it always having Nicole and her group on. And, uh, got to to meet, if you will, some some new folks uh, to the panel. And uh I know that they’re doing some phenomenal work with Little Linksters and Littlest Golfer and uh Little Golf Train and US Kids Golf. Uh just doing some phenomenal work to help grow the game in that capacity. So thanks guys for doing all that you do. And of course, first and and foremost, I want to thank uh take this opportunity to thank all of the listeners worldwide for faithfully tuning in to Golf Talk Live uh each and every week. I certainly uh do get a great amount of pleasure and enjoyment out of having a number of highly talented coaches uh teaching professionals, authors and entrepreneurs like Todd Buger uh stop by the show and it’s really through their participation and guest appearances that helped to make Golf Talk Live uh a first class show. Uh special thanks to some of the sponsors and supporters of the show. Jonathan Leairard from South Coastgolf Guide. Uh go to South Coastgolfguide.com. uh great uh publication out there that advertises many of the the great uh golf courses throughout the southeastern part of the United States from Texas right over here to uh northwest Florida. Uh Meredith Kirk from Meredith Kirk Golf, a great uh teacher professional out in the Myrtle Beach area as well and uh the former uh 2014 Mrs. South Carolina uh winner. Uh great young lady and great asset to uh to the game of golf. uh to Nikki and his lovely wife uh Tiffany Litherland. Uh thank you for all of your help uh in spreading the word as well. And to of course to my good friend Mr. Bernie Pender from ONC. Go togolf.com uh to see some great putters uh that uh Bernie and his uh group there have put together. And Sean Kelly, owner of linkedgolfers.com uh a great social media platform uh bringing some of the best in the business together on linkedgolfers.com. and of course my friend, fellow golf professional and club fitter, Mr. Peter Doyle from Doyle Golf Solutions over in Ireland. Thank you, Peter, for all of your great work. Um, but it’s time to wrap it up and uh I look forward to joining you all next week uh on another episode of uh broadcast of Golf Talk Live. Uh until then, God bless everybody. Thank you again to all my guests this week. And uh next Tuesday on the Women of Golf Show, uh the show that we canled this past week featuring our very special guest Alicia Larson, uh will be aired this coming Tuesday, Tuesday, uh April the 25th from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. uh Eastern Standard Time uh on the blogtalkradio.com network. So just type in womenof and join us next Tuesday from 9 to 10. Uh myself, Alicia Larson, and my uh wonderful co-host, LPJ Professional, Cindy Miller, will be here live on blogtalkradio.com’s Women of Golf Tuesday morning uh this coming Tuesday. So, make sure you tune in and join us and uh come back next Thursday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Central and join me here on Golf Talk Live with some more uh guests and uh another Coaches Corner panel. We’ve got a good one planned for for next week as well. So, again, God bless everybody. Have a great weekend and I will see you next time right here on Golf Talk Live.