Fairways of Life is joined by Patrick Fishburn, a PGA Tour Player who is managed to make the FedEx Cup Top 100 with a great showing at the Wyndham Championship, earning him a spot in the end of season playoffs running until the Tour Championship.
what you do along the lines of trying to accomplish whether you keep your card, whether you get in the tour championship, whether you get into the signature events, whether you make the FedEx Cup playoffs, etc. All critically important. Take for example Patrick Fishburn after the Windham where you finish on 13 under par. He moved from 108th to 95th in FedEx Cup standings. So, so critically important. Patrick with 50 PGA Tour starts to his credit. 94 on the corn ferry tour, 16 career top 10s. He won on the Canadian tour in 2019. He finished tied for eighth on that 13 under mark that I just mentioned, which earned him that move. He’s currently 19 115th in the official World Golf rankings. He’s joining us today to talk about the journey so far and what it’s like to be fighting these numbers. Patrick, what’s going on, my man? How are you? Nice to see you. Good morning. Thanks for having me on. Pleasure. All right. So, what is it like as you’re coming into the waning moments of a PGA Tour season? You know that you have to perform and you in your case, you were outside the number going into the Windom Championship. What are the emotions? What’s going through your mind? Yeah, it’s very stressful. You know, like you mentioned that the cards have been cut from 125 to 100 and so there’s just that much added pressure and you know, it’s the dream. It’s been the dream of mine to play on the PGA Tour since I was probably eight years old. And and so, you know, trying to hold on to that dream, stay out there. Um, it’s that’s the goal. And, uh, you know, the competition is so good. Every single week, you got to you got to bring your agame. And with the FedEx Cup points, you’re either moving forward or you’re moving back. So, every single week, you got to show up, you got to perform, and and try to get inside that top 100. And then the next jump, which I just missed, you know, getting into the playoffs obviously, but that would be the next jump in my career to try to get inside that top 70 because then, you know, things can change uh drastically. So, with that much weight on your shoulders, I I got a million different questions going through my mind right now, but with that much weight on your shoulders, I guess, how were you sleeping? How were you handling it? How did you get yourself into a calm mindset? Are you a leaderboard watching? You could tell there’s my my mind’s going crazy right now to try to understand what that’s like. Yeah. Yeah. I you know, I never sleep very good at all. So, um that was just normal. But yeah, you’re just always thinking about I always stress and I try not to uh watch the leaderboards too much, but it’s it’s hard to miss them. They’re right there in front of you and a lot of the time you look over and your you know, your big old face is right there on the screen. And so it’s it’s something that’s just part of the game and you just learn to deal with it. And you know, last week was a pretty pretty wild week, roller coaster week. I was we had the weather delay. I you know, I made a double bogey on the 15th hole or the fifth hole and uh it put me outside the cut. Had to come back and play, you know, three more holes. Looking like I probably wasn’t going to make the cut, but luckily some weather came in. Made it a little bit more challenging. Birded a few holes coming in just to make the weekend to uh to give myself a chance. And so you never know with golf. It’s there’s so many different things that can happen and um each day can be different the way your golf swing feels, the way you feel on the greens. It’s just trying to managing, you know, the best you can control what you can control. Patrick, where do you go to control what you can control? Is it breathing? Is it meditation? Is it taking it one shot at a time? I’m not trying to be trit. I’m just trying to understand in your mind and in your heart, how do you control all these factors so that you can do what you need to do? like you mentioned after the double. How do you make sure that you score the birdies that you need to make coming in to get into the right position? Yeah. Well, that that was a good break because it was it was actually so it was a sixth hole so they blew the horn right when I was when I was standing on the seventh T so I could kind of go home. I had they they canceled the entire day so I was able to sleep on it. But I knew coming back the next day I’m going to have to make at least two probably three birdies to make the cut. And it just, you know, it kind of changes your mindset you knowing that you have to attack that next morning and try to make it happen. And and luckily I was able to do it. But for me, my process is, you know, I try to work out. I do they’re not even really golf lifts. My caddy makes fun of me. He says they’re kind of prison lifts, but I I try to do these things every other day. So my body, so my hands and my, you know, arms try to feel the same. and then um work on the work on the male side of the game. I’ve been doing a lot more of that the last several weeks. Um and the last several weeks, I think I’ve made six of the last seven cuts, my results have been so much better. And just train the mind. the way that you’ve talked to yourself, the way that you, you know, after the rounds, you know, writing the things that went well in journals and really focusing on the strengths and then um just controlling what you say out there and what you know what just how you manage the mental side of the game. But it’s it’s a work in progress. Golfers are kind of weirdos and so we’re always trying to figure out how to manage ourselves and how to uh perform the best we can. I I love the there were so many things you just touched on there that were classic. Amongst them, the prison lifts are are noting though how you talk to yourself. I want to go down that road for a second. Was Patrick Fishburn difficult, judgmental of your own performance previously? Are you allowing yourself more grace now? Where are you in terms of what that self-t talk is and how that manifests itself? Yeah, it’s, you know, golf it’s really easy to beat yourself. I I see every single one of my shots and so it’s it’s trying to trying to get away from the perfectionist idea and just allow things to happen and can and been working with a great uh guy that I met down at BYU named Craig Manning. he’s been helping me just he calls it proactive selft talk uh rather than you know letting those negative thoughts negative thoughts and sayings come out and different things like that and then you know a little bit of a power statement to kind of encourage yourself when things aren’t going going your way just to get back on track and I think that’s so much that’s so important for me because it’s so important for me to play subconsciously with no thoughts and if I start getting negative and thinking negative um it kind of triggers the conscious mind and then my swing I start steering the ball and so it’s it’s so important for me to basically play thoughtless out there maybe have one swing thought but just to be an athlete react to the conditions and that’s what this year it’s almost I played my best golf on the windy days where there there’s there it’s had to just react and use your hands and use your field and hit shots against the wind keep it below the wind hit it high and different things like that. It’s kind of the stock days where there’s there’s no wind and you’re in the middle of fairway with a wedge trying to figure out what shot to hit is where I struggle. And so it’s just trying to tap in being athletic and using the subconscious but you know controlling controlling the dialogue in your head. We’re out there for five and a half hours and there’s a lot of walking and there’s a lot of time in between shots. So it’s it’s really important what you do after your shot and in between shots. Fascinating stuff because it it sounds very much like you’re a bit of an artist, Patrick, that that when you react to target, uh you put you’re playing better than when you’re just trying to play golf swing, for example, or as you mentioned the the negative uh thoughts when you can keep them at bay. You mentioned a power statement. What is your power statement? Is it is it a consistent one or does it vary by circumstance? Uh it can it can vary, you know. feel like I’ve maybe done some things that other golfers haven’t done. Like I did I served a two-year church mission where I put the clubs aside for two years and I came back and had to relearn the game. I actually came back to BYU and my first qualifying round was a 91 and it was a I was a mess for a year. And so I feel like that experience really kind of toughened me up and hardened me. And so I kind of I used that experience to say, you know, you’re you know, you’re you’ve done some things. You’re you’re tougher than some of these guys. you can you’ve you’ve done that and and then I played a lot of sports growing up and I try to tell myself that I’m you know a great athlete and great hands and just it’s kind of silly but it really it it it triggers your mind and gets you to a spot where you start believing yourself and having confidence. It’s easy to think well obviously when things are going well and so these are some of the things I try to tap in when they’re not to try to re rewire the system and get things going in the right direction. Uh Patrick, I think it’s fascinating and and I mean you it may feel a little silly to you to be speaking about it out loud, but I can guarantee you there’s people watching you all over the world right now going, you know, maybe I could be doing a little bit more of that instead of hitting an errant shot and declaring to the world that I’m the worst ever to fill in the blank here, right? Patrick Fishburn started 108th at the Windham. He ended up finishing 95th in FedEx Cup points. Uh Patrick, who are those little angels behind you? We’ve got uh Bow Tie and Freddy. I got three little boys that are under three, so there’s a there’s a lot of chaos at the house. How much do those kids keep you grounded in terms of all these things we’ve been talking about this morning about just remaining chill and understanding that there’s a bigger picture at play? Uh it’s everything. Yeah, it’s I feel like since becoming a a parent, my practice and everything I’ve done is is more efficient because I I know that I, you know, I want to spend the time on the course, but I really want to be, you know, mostly involved in their lives and and get home as quick as I can, especially, you know, when I’m on the road all the time. When I’m home, I I want to be home, but I also got to keep the game in check. And so, it’s it’s such a great thing. There’s nothing better than being a parent. It’s been it’s been the best uh three years that uh anyone can have. It’s so much fun. They they come out to a lot of the the tournaments on the west coast and um it’s it’s so much fun and I usually play well when they come out because I I play the round and then I forget about golf and I go hang with them and then uh the next day go out and play again. But it just it just kind of takes my mind off of things and it’s it’s not a better blessing in the world. Very fortunate. Have you found that? And and it reminds me of Billy Casper as you as you probably know where you’re from. Billy Casper had 11 kids and I asked him one time about what what happens with the family and he basically told me it’s the reason why he doesn’t feel as much stress on the golf course because he’s got this family to go back to and he knows he has to provide for the family. uh that whole experience for you is that part of the reason why when we look at the time span that you’ve been a dad over these last three years, maybe two years in particular, you keep getting better and better in almost every statistical category and in your performance. Not the least of which, which I think you might find fascinating here if you don’t already know it. You get progressively better by round. If you look at your performances on tour events, Patrick, your first round is your worst performance, your second is a second, your third is a third, and your final round is always your best performance of the week on average, which I find absolutely fascinating. How much does that family dynamic play into this ascension that we’re seeing right before our eyes? Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s everything. Like I said, it just it just narrows my focus and I just it’s just a new chapter, a new thing of life has just opened up when they came to the world and and so you know that’s it’s at times I actually feel a lot more pressure because you know you got these three little kids and your wife it relying on you to play well and so it’s it it just it makes me want to focus makes you want to train harder and that is interesting. You know, I’ve I think last year I was I was number one on uh scoring average for Saturday and and really good on Sunday. So, it’s I just got to get over the the cut hurdle. You know, I miss a lot of cuts, but seems like when I make them, I usually play pretty well on the weekend. And so, it’s just getting through Thursday and Friday. I’ve taken taken some steps to try to improve that start in preparation on Thursday and Friday, and I’m playing better on Thursday and Friday this year than I was last year. Um, but I’m I’m glad to see that, you know, Saturday, good play on Saturday and good play on Sunday is kind of continuing this year when, you know, when it matters. The to the PJ tour is the courses are so hard and they get trickier as the week goes on. And so even if you make the cut on the number like I did last week, the courses are so hard and so tricky that you can still shoot really good scores on the weekend and move up quite a bit. I I kind of saw the on the corn freight tour if you make the cut on the number you can shoot some really low scores and maybe not move up so much just because everyone’s making a lot of burries and so you know if you make it to the weekend you know anything can happen on the PJ tour. We’re seeing a competitive trend in you, Patrick, in that the more difficult the course, the more difficult the situation. I mean, your your your dad and your brother have already told us that when your back is up against the wall, you play your best. How do how would you describe all that dynamic? I don’t know. It It’s been strange. There’s been lots of scenarios like my first year in Canada. I had to win the last event to make it to the corn ferry tour. I went in there, I won the event on the corn ferry tour. I had to, you know, the long season. I had to take a top five that very last event to keep my card. I took a top five. Um, and then just I’m not sure. I think uh I grew up playing money games and different things since I was 11 years old. always playing with something on the line my entire life and maybe maybe that helped uh since I was a kid really feeling like every round had a lot of meaning and um you know that there was something to lose and just gathering that I think basketball playing basketball helped um playing other sports helped um I’m not sure it’s just it I feel like uh it’s such a stressful situation when you’re in the hunt or when you have something on your line where the you know your career is on the whatever. But it almost gets me to a spot where um my feel and my hands and my forearms and and my mind just the the focus just narrows even more when it’s that becomes an extremely stressful situation and I I seem to play better. So hopefully that trend can continue. It’s um it’s it’s it’s been good so far and hopefully I can and uh close out the year well. But I I the key for me is I need to get off to better starts. Get better off better starts in in the season. Seems like I always get off to a really slow start. And even in the week, like you said, I get off a little bit of a slow start. So if I can figure out how to, you know, transition and get that feeling of my back against the wall sooner, I think I’d have better results. Yeah, it’s kind of fascinating, Patrick, because it’s it almost there’s a sense of almost watching the clay get molded right before our eyes here in this discussion where you have this sense of urgency earlier in a particular round or at least in in in starting a tournament rounds one, round two prior to the cut as you were discussing. Is that something that you guys are actively working on aside from just saying, “Well, I’d like to, I hope to.” Are there things you’re actually doing towards that goal? Um, just preparation, looking at all the preparation Monday through Wednesday. Um, making sure I’m using my time wisely. Um, I’ve improved so much in putting the last several weeks. It’s been a huge breakthrough. It’s been the biggest issue probably in my game. And I six or seven weeks ago, I think I was ranked about 140th strokes gained putting. And we kind of evaluated things and knew that needed to make some changes. And so we we started, you know, using some aim point and um using a different putter and went away from using any sort of mechanical training aids and all I focus on now is reading greens and I do speed drills and that’s I’ve gone from 140th to now I think I’m 67th in strokes game putting in five or six weeks and that’s that’s been the biggest change for me as of late. And so it’s just just getting away from honestly getting away from mechanical things and just being athletic and free. And I feel like I’ve I’ve done that with my full swing throughout my career and now I think I’m just barely starting to do that on the putting greens. So I’m seeing some progress there. Hopefully I can continue. It’s awesome and it’s exciting to see what you’re doing. Uh as you guys can tell as we’re talking with Patrick that there’s this theme that’s woven through it about him as an athlete. I mean, he’s over 6’4, big guy, strong guy, all state in basketball, etc., etc. Your family, Patrick, has a horse ranch. And I’m curious, when when you’re around animals, these beautiful, majestic animals that that your family is a part of raising and training and selling, what kind of perspective does that give you? Did did is there any connection any way that your experience there contributed to you becoming one of the best golfers in the world? Um maybe I uh at this point in my life I try to stay far away from the ranch as I can. Luckily my my brother Andy, he’s the one that kind of he runs the show over there and it’s it’s an amazing horse operation. It’s incredible what what they do over there. My dad’s involved. I try to stay away as far as I away uh from that place I can. But I think uh I think more so playing a lot of different sports growing up has been been so important for me growing up. I played all through high school. I played six months of basketball and not touch a golf club and then I played six months of golf and and not touch a basketball. And I feel like that was so important for my development growing up doing a lot of different things, you know, having the team aspect. If I would have just done one or the other, I guarantee I would have been burned out by the time I got to college. Um, but just doing that, you know, I actually got to college my freshman year, and I’d never I’d never played golf in the months of January to May, and so I played some awful golf. My coach Brockbank and Coach Miller were probably wondering what they did by recruiting me. Getting such a, you know, I was shooting in the 80s and high 70s. But just just doing a lot of different things growing up is so important. I I see not that I know anything, but I I see a lot of kids like specializing in different things. I just I don’t know if I agree with that because I feel like there’s you just miss out on so many so many different things if you’re just doing one sport or and there’s so many things that were with basketball that transferred over to my field and you know my my hands um my swing my golf swing. I’m a very handsy player. I rely on a lot of timing and a lot of um you know manipulation with the club. And so I feel like just developing the hand those hands with basketball, golf, you know, baseball. I didn’t play baseball long, but I played it through uh you know, elementary, but just just doing a variety of things, developing different skill sets, you know, not just golf movements, but all all sorts of different skill sets. and I’m sure busy on the farm that we were seeing those beautiful shots of courtesy of the PGA tour as well. I I have to imagine with the work that it takes to help running a farm when you were a kid and playing these sports and the lifestyle that you had at that time, uh that had to give you a strong resolve. Obviously, you mentioned already you had a strong resolve when you decided to be to go on your missionary trip which lasted what two years if I remember correctly. Uh Patrick, why did you do it? What was the decision there given where you were at that time? You were at the peak of your athletic prowess including uh your golf game at that time and you decide to make this very significant commitment in your life. Yeah, for sure. It was it was a it was a hard decision. You know, I played a year at BYU and then I didn’t originally plan on on going on a church mission. You have the choice to go and um I felt like it was something that I needed to do. I felt like the Lord had blessed me a lot in my life and and I wanted to try to give back to him and try to give back to other people. And so I I left for a couple of years. It’s a pretty it’s a pretty hard thing. You’re out there pretty much all day every day. Uh you’re riding bikes. You’re out in the middle of the the sun. You’re you’re trying to talk to people. You’re doing a lot of service. You’re trying to teach people of of Jesus Christ and help in any way you can in the community. And you pretty much do that every single day for for two years. You have one day on Monday where you kind of do a little bit of your laundry. You can play some basketball and do some different things. But, you know, the rest of the week you’re you’re up sun up to sun down. And you call home I only they’ve changed it now, but I called home on Mother’s Day and uh and Christmas. So, you’re pretty much detached from your family for a couple years. And so, that really makes you grow up very fast. And while you’re on this church mission, you you know, you see a lot of people that are going through struggles and going through hard times. And that definitely puts puts your life in perspective coming from, you know, a nice place in in in Ogden, Utah, and you’re going to different areas that people are really, you know, down on your luck and you’re trying to help them. It just kind of opens your eyes to what the world is really like out there that, you know, there’s people that are struggling. And you have, as a golfer, you’re really, we’re really selfish people. We’re always worrying about ourselves, worrying about our own games. But for two years, I had two years of trying to focus on other people and help other people. And so I feel like that it just really helped me as a person. But yes, when I came back, I was a terrible golfer. It took me months just to shoot in the 70s. It took me a year probably to shoot even par or better. But the mental side and the perspective and different things like that without doing that two-year um mission, I I know for sure I wouldn’t have made it to the PJ tour because I feel like it helped the mental side of things, how I manage bad situations on the course. It’s never really that bad compared to what’s really going on in life. Yeah. For other people. And so it’s there was so much that went into that that has helped me. Uh it took a took a few steps back obviously but was able to take a lot of steps forward and and get to uh where I am today. How much are you looking forward to the FedEx Cup fall? I love playing in the fall. Last year it was really important for for my game because I think I went in outside I was probably 120th going into the fall. So, it was really a kind of a stressful time. And you know, some of these courses I’ve played already, like the one in Napa, I went there, I’d already played quite a bit out there. Um, my assistant coach in college is Todd Miller, Johnny Miller’s son. And so, we would, Johnny has ownership in in that area, and so we’d go out there and play a little bit. So, I really looked forward to playing that tournament, played that tournament. Well, and then just a great schedule. We play uh play in Utah, which is always fun. play down in Black Desert, a brand new resort that’s really incredible place. Really anxious to get down there and play in front of the home crowd. And um it’s going to be great. I love playing in the fall. I seem to play my best golf this time of year. And uh you know, really looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun. So many great stops the rest of the year and very important especially for us that are outside that top 70 number that are you know vying for our cards and vying for position next year. been so crucial these last, you know, seven events for us in the fall. Yeah. And how much because I love your attitude. I love your energy. I love your enthusiasm. The vision that you have. Let’s jump past the fall if you would allow. How much are you looking forward to 2026 with who you are now as a person and as a player? I think I’m like you mentioned, I think I’m progressing every single year from the Canadian Tour to the Cornfrey Tour. Every year I’m I’m making some progress on my game. So, I I want to keep that momentum going. I want to make sure that I lock up that card for 2026 because I I feel like I’m just starting to understand these golf courses. Just starting to understand the way that the tour sets up the golf courses, the firmness, how it gets firmer as the week goes on. Um, you know, the intricacies to some of these courses. You know, some of these guys have been playing these courses for for 20 years. And so, when you show up to a spot, you feel like you’re a little bit behind. And so getting that third year out there, I feel like I would see a lot, you know, a big jump forward. Um, you know, knowing just just understanding things a little bit better each year. And I’m really I’m most excited about the progress that I’ve made on the greens. I feel like this could open up a new level to to my performance on the course, just having uh a putter and having a method, a practice method, something that I can rely on that’s consistent week to week. I’ve I’ve been a very streaky putter. Um, but I’m starting to see some consistent results that will take a lot of stress off my game. You know, I’ve I’ve relied on hitting it close, hitting on the parfives and two to make birdies, but now I can I can see a few more putts from beyond 20 feet going on. 15footers just takes a lot of stress off the game if the putter can cooperate. I love it. I love the whole theme of taking stress off across the board. Everything that we’ve been talking about today. Uh how about sponsors, Patrick? Who have you lined yourself with? I’m so lucky. You know, a lot of my sponsors are actually from this from this Ogden area. had such a a great community for me to grow up in. They’ve I have so many people that have backed me. I don’t know if there’s a a professional golfer that gets more support from his community than I do here in Agnut. And so, uh, great companies, local companies that that help me, support me, um, through thick and thin and and I’m very lucky. And I, you grew up playing at Ogden Country Club where they just had the corn ferry event. So, it’s it’s a very tight-knit community here in in Ogden and in Utah. And so I’m very lucky to have so many sponsors and so many great people that are they’re willing to take a chance on me. It’s awesome, man. All right, the last thing I want to ask you today and and we’ve touched on this in so many different ways, but but I’m going to ask you in a different perspective if you’d allow. There are so many people watching us right now where whatever it is, the hope, the dream that they hold in their heart and mind. What message do you have to those people about perseverance and vision and execution and allowing yourself to be the artist instead of the tactician to accomplish your goals? What is your message to all of them? Wow, that’s a great question. I don’t know if I’m qualified to answer that, but I would I would just uh probably be kind to yourself. I think it’s so easy to to focus on the things that we don’t do well, but I think there’s so many things that that all of us uh can that are doing well and that we can improve on and and just keep learning. I I love studying the game. I love studying the mental side of the game. Just just selfmastery, finding ways that I can be a better father, be a better person. And I think everyone within us has that. We just got to just got to unlock that. But start with being a little nice to yourself and and uh not always dwelling on the negatives, but enjoying life and being positive. There’s so so much good in the world. It’s easy to turn on the TV and and maybe see some negativity, but there’s a lot of good people, a lot of good things going on. I tell you what, dude, you are a ray of sunshine. Uh Patrick Fishburn, we wish you the very very best moving forward. I know these are some very important weeks and months that still lie in store for you. We can’t wait to see what’s around the corner. Thank you for your time. Yeah, thank you for having on. Enjoyed it. Appreciate it.
