Navigating Success & Parenthood w/ Actor Scott Baio

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[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hello folks, welcome to Beyond the Scorecard podcast. The show where we discuss golf, business, life, current events, and our expertise in the field. I’m Joey Chrysatella, the digital marketing and social media manager of HJGT. Joining me as my co-host, we have our executive director and founder, Mario Ki. And today, we’re joined by someone who needs little introduction. From his breakout roles on classic shows like Happy Days, Charles in Charge to a long and successful career in television and film, Scott Beao has built a name that’s recognized across generations. But beyond Hollywood, Scott is also a proud dad, and his daughter Bailey is part of our very own Hurricane Junior Golf Tour and a major member of our HJGT influencer program. Today, we’ll talk to Scott about building a brand, navigating success, raising a junior golfer, and what he’s learned along the way in both business and in life. Scott, welcome to the show. Thank you, man. Listen, there’s three Italians sitting here. It’s not a bad thing. We can discuss some pasta later. How you guys doing? We’re doing pretty good. By the way, that was a very interesting introduction. You said Scott Bay who needs little introduction. You know, that’s a good point. And we went on and on about that. He needs no introduction or he needs an introduction. I guess we need to to make an apology to the audience right off the bat that we got three Italians in the room. So, it may get a little it may get a little energetic and passionate today on today’s podcast. But, Scott, we uh we really appreciate you being on today. You’ve been a big part of the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour the last couple years. Your daughter’s done an amazing job on the tour. Uh love seeing her progress. Um you know, as she’s been a student at the IMG Academy, and you guys have been residents down in uh beautiful Southwest Florida. Um you know, this is a this is a cool moment for me. You know, I I remember grow I was born in 1984 and one of the biggest shows that I used to watch when I was growing up was Charles in Charge and my middle name is Charles. So like my mother and my dad would always connect the show to my to me and I I remember watching it when I was 3, four, five years old. So really cool moment. You know, obviously you’ve you know, as Joey mentioned, you’ve had so much success. Um now you’re raising a junior golfer. You know, shows like Charles in Charge and Happy Days, which everybody knows. you know, kind of, you know, talk to us a little bit, you know, looking back in your career. What were some of the key decisions or habits that helped you find long-term success and and really such a competitive industry? Very good question. I I do this I have this oneman show that I that I take out from time to time and in in putting together this one man show uh it’s called How Did I Get Here? really it it goes through my career but what it talks about is the people in my life that and you guys if you if you look back on your life you’re much younger than I but if you look back there are people in your life that made you go one way or another somebody suggested this or somebody said do this and I can point literally to people in my life that did that for me. Um, so I I think I think good direction is one, good parenting is another, good parenting is probably everything. I had gotten a big head at one point because I was I was whatever reason I got a big head. And so it it got smacked out of me verbally by my dad. You you have to recognize opportunity and you also um have to stay stay as humble and I mean this stay as humble as you can try you know you’re a great golfer fine so what you know you you you practice like you’ve never won in the golf course you you you play like you’ve never lost so but once you get off the golf course you’re just Joey or Ario. I I think those are important to succeed. It’s not easy with good parenting. Parents are everything. I think number one is is parenting. So, if you have good parents, I think you’re you got a you got a good advantage. Yeah. No, I love that. Um and you know, obviously there’s a lot of parents that listen to the show and and I think, you know, raising a successful junior golfer, you know, it takes a village as everyone says and I think the parents play such a massive role in that. I mean, I over my 18-year career of running in in, you know, the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I’ve seen so many great kids really get out of golf because their parents push them too hard or, you know, don’t appreciate their abilities or or don’t stay humble or or what have you. So, I think that’s that’s a great trait for everybody to hear out there. Raising a a a junior athlete is extremely difficult on so many levels. This is going to sound some people might like this, but raising a a girl athlete is a whole other can of worms. Every parent thinks their child is Rory Mroy. So, everybody thinks their child is that and they’re not. And some people might live vicariously through their kid. I don’t. I enjoy watching my daughter play as hard as it is. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. So, you have to And I’m still learning, man. I’m still learning how to how to deal with her. I I don’t Every day is Every day is a guess. Every day. Yeah. I think that’s an important thing, you know, is is obviously, you know, talking about raising a junior golfer. And I think, you know, one of the biggest things that we focus on in the hurricane tour is like, you know, being a well-rounded individual, right? And and I think, you know, I I I as you were talking about your daughter, I think about my son who, you know, played golf and when he was 10 years old and I pushed him so hard and he he didn’t want to do it anymore and he took two years off and, you know, now that I’ve showed him the other aspects of golf, like using your daughter as an inspiration, like she’s she’s got an amazing career ahead of her with like, you know, off the golf course influencing and, you know, sponsorship branding and things like that. and I’ve showed him, you know, the business side of golf and and all the other opportunities of just networking and meeting people. I’ve met some of the most incredible people in my life on the golf course. I was never a standout player, but what I was able to do with golf uh is I far exceeded what I thought I could do as as a playing career. So, he’s now back into playing golf because he sees all those additional opportunities. And that’s what we try to like, you know, really portray on the hurricane tour is that, hey, listen, just because you don’t play division one golf or or go pro, there’s so many other, you know, avenues in the in in golf, and your daughter is is a prime example of that. Well, thank you. She’s actually going to be going to a a D1 college. There was a there was a bunch of kids um a while back. They were golfers and I and I and I just hanging out. was a tournament, whatever, and I was just shooting the breeze with him. And I said, “Let me ask you guys a question. Would you rather win the Masters or have the money?” What do you think? What do you think they said? I could go either way, honestly. Yeah. Right. And most of them said, “Have the money.” Yeah. And I thought, and I and I said, “Guys, that’s the wrong answer.” Why? I said because you’re you play to win. You don’t. the money comes later. All that stuff comes later. And I try to tell my daughter that you don’t worry about NILs. Don’t worry about the endorsements. She has she has a lot of uh uh brand ambassadorships that she, you know, clothes and stuff and equipment and whatever. Um but I said, “Sweetheart, I am telling you, you you your one your one focus is to win and everything else comes from that. Everything. if you’re going to play for NIL money or you’re gonna play for this or play for free that or you’re gonna get, you know, Callaway is going to sponsor you for 10 million, it ain’t going to happen. And that’s how you get to where you want to be. And I’m not and I didn’t invent this. You I I I didn’t by a long shot. I mean, this is this is the way it is. So, when I asked those boys that question, I was sort of disappointed, but then I thought, well, maybe they’re not in it for the right reason. the passion. My and I’m not saying my daughter’s better than anybody. I’m just I’m just telling you my my daughter, she she wants so badly to win that it sometimes gets in her way. It’s it’s frustrating for her because she’s she’s a tremendous golfer, tremendous ball striker, but she she loses she doesn’t lose she she loses it on management. She’s learning that now. So my my advice to her and any junior player is is you got to play to play to play for the glory of winning and then forget it as soon as you go home. Yeah. I think um you guys have done an amazing job with Bailey and and I think where she’s a prime example, as I’ve alluded to already, is that she’s a well-rounded person. You know, I’ I’ve spoken to her, you know, at an event. I think we were at the for all event down in Palm Beach and, you know, she, as you said, has a, you know, division one scholarship lined up. She is doing things off the golf course. She has a great personality and and again I I’m that’s what I’m like huge proponent of at the tour is like being a well-rounded individual. So you know what are some of the things that you know you’ve seen or or you’ve taught her or or you know just some things that you know h have gone into making her well-rounded not just a good golfer and the whole pie. That’s a very difficult question to answer but I’m going to I’m going to try to give you an answer sometimes. And you said it earlier you you pushed your son. You got to know when to push, when to pull back, when to give them a break. And and you’re just guessing and you you don’t know. Maybe it’s our faith. Maybe it’s the way my wife and I are. We’re we’re we’re good try to be good, decent people. Uh we don’t drink, do drugs, we don’t party, we don’t do any of that. And I never really did any of that in my life. I I I’ll give you a moment that happened with my daughter and I. Do you have Do you have kids that Do you have a kid that plays How old is he, Mario? Um, so my oldest is uh 12 and he’s just getting back into it now. Okay. So, do you watch him play? I do. Yeah, I play. Do you lose your mind when he does stupid things? Uh, I used to. Um, and I realized that if I continue doing that as a junior golf parent that he’s not going to want to play anymore. So, I had to basically attack it in a different way and say, “Hey, listen. You know what? It’s part of the game.” I am still learning that. I I swear to you, I’m still learning it. I and I I I try to I I sometimes a lot of times I don’t go. You see things that young athletes do and you go, “Oh god, why would you do that? Oh my god.” And and and somebody told me something that was so smart. I was talking to the head of golf here at at IMG and he you know I was talking I said why does she do why you know she’s got she’s such a great ball striker and why did and he says listen to me you are looking at her game through the eyes of a 64 year old man she’s looking at her game through the eyes of a 17-year-old completely different seeing what she’s seeing because she’s not out there to fail she doesn’t want to fail she wants to win. He says, “I’ve spoken with her. She wants to win. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn’t.” That was a big thing for me. And also, we were on a we she was in a tournament and she did something that drives me crazy and I got mad at her and whatever. And I and I and we got in the car and she was crying and I went, “Oh god, why why why would I why why she’s crying and she’s, you know, she’s a little girl and you do stupid things as a dad and I and I I’ve said this told the story before and I she’s she’s crying next to me and we’re driving. I said, “Sweet.” I pulled over. I said, “Sweetheart, I have to tell you something. Raising you and being with you out here is probably is not is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. They’re all nothing compared to this. And I want to tell you, and I’m going to tell give you some inside information here. Not you, her. I was giving her I said, “I’m gonna give Bailey. I’m gonna give you some inside information.” 95% of the time, I’m just guessing. I don’t know the right thing. 5% of the time, sure. 95% of the time, I have no idea what I’m doing. Sometimes I guess right, and sometimes I guess wrong. And today, I guessed wrong. And I apologize. You know, I think she got it. So, I try to let her in on some of the of the hurdles that I have as a dad and a lot of young athletes. Parents, it’s hard. It’s hard. You’ve got to leave them alone. It’s hard. It’s hard. They’re not all professional athletes. Yeah. I mean, I think that was all good points that you made there and uh certainly a lot of good advice that I took away there as I’m, you know, getting my second um getting a second shot. Second chance. You know, I do look at as a second chance. I I know, you know, we’re joking around about it, but it absolutely is. I made a lot of tragic mistakes and first goaround and I I I see so much stuff on the hurricane tour that really I take back and now I apply to my son. The body language after he hits a bad shot, how am I responding to it? how does my facial expression is? And and you know, we played we played golf on Wednesday last week and he hit the ball in the water and it was like I I wanted to say to him like, “Dude, did did you not see the water there?” Like, “Why are you hitting the ball in the water?” And and he he you could tell the way he looked at me. He’s like, “Dad, I’m not trying to hit the ball in the water. I made a mistake. Can’t help it. Can’t help yourself.” You know, but you’re right. You can’t help yourself, but I have to work really hard on keeping that emotion inside and understanding. Like you said, I’m looking at it from a, you know, a dad’s perspective. Well, the junior golfer’s perspective is very different. He’s trying hard. He’s not trying to do that, but he also knows I’m standing right next to him, and I put a lot of pressure on him. Plus, and this is not a small thing. We’re Italian. It’s true. And it’s hard to show, it’s hard to hide emotion. 100%. 100%. I’m sorry, but it is. And so, there’s a lot of there’s a lot of levels of aggravation for us. Yeah. And if any early parents are listening early on and I I cannot underestimate and under sugarcoat the fact that you know these emotions that the kids they feel them and and they feel I I’m a prime example of like my son going through it. He he didn’t want to do it anymore because he he I I asked him I said Vinnie why did you why did you not want to play golf? And he straight out told me I don’t want to disappoint you. And that was that was hard to hear. That was hard to hear. But no matter what you do that’s their thought. Yes. Because I introduced my daughter to the game when she was three. So, she thinks she has to she thinks I she and she thinks I’m mad at her. And I say, “I’m not mad at you. I’m just frustrated for you.” Yeah. I’m not mad at you. I know how hard it is out there. I play. I don’t play at your level. I play I know I want to throw my clubs into trees and snap them over my knee and all that. And I’ve done all that. I’m not you. You You are You are much better than me. So, it’s it’s a very difficult it’s a very difficult balance out there. Very difficult. Yeah. And I I I suggest parents let them play alone once in a while. Let them go out by themselves once in a while because then there’s nothing to react to. They won’t be looking for you. Some kids are tougher than others. My kid’s pretty tough. She cries once in a while. But I think that but but I was like that when I was young. If I got upset and angry, I would cry. And maybe that’s an Italian thing too, but uh my uncles would cry when they got crazy angry and I see her out there, you know, getting frustrated and she’ll cry and I get it and then she gets mad, which is a good thing for her. But you So every athlete has to find their find their thing. You know, it’s like that movie any given Sunday where Jamie Fox has to puke before performing well. So maybe that’s what it is. But that’s exactly what is. Yeah, we were talking, you know, off camerara a little bit about, uh, you know, kind of just the future of NIL, navigating it, understanding it. Obviously, there’s still a lot of questions from from from so many people on NAL, but obviously, you know, we’re seeing it’s a big deal now. And, you know, Bailey will have some opportunities down the road as she’s, you know, getting into college. So, just maybe kind of hit on, you know, a little bit of your experience with NIL. What do you see coming down the pipeline for your daughter potentially? and uh you know just maybe you know hit on that topic a little bit. I don’t know where I quite stand on NIL. I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing. We are a capitalist money society and I understand that and I appreciate that. It goes back to my point earlier that I I think young athletes should play to win. Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing Vince Lombardi said. I think the NIL might take away some of the incentive for young athletes. I know there’s that uh college player that had a huge NIL deal and that he figured he’d get more over at UCLA and now he’s in now he’s not doing well. Gordon Gecko greed is good but sometimes but sometimes not. Kid went to do something and maybe it hurt him. So, and again, I think it puts a lot of pressure on them to perform, which you and at that point, you’re not performing to win. You’re performing uh to earn the money that I don’t think you should be earning yet. It’s a different mindset. And it puts if I oh my god, if I don’t win this game, I’m going to lose X dollars. if I don’t win seven G whatever whatever the deal is you whatever they have to do to to to earn these the NIL it puts unnecessary pressure on the athlete my daughter we talk about NIL and I again I say to her you’re going to have to wait don’t worry about it money is not your issue your issue is to play for the love of the game and she loves the game play for the love of the game and everything that you everything that you desire or everything that you think is important to you, which will turn out not to be important to you, will come your way. Yeah, I think um I think you made some really good points there. Um I’m not fully on the NIL train yet. Um I think I think people see the NIL, you see the college quarterbacks, right? Obviously, you know, they’re in the spotlight all the time making millions of dollars. You and I both know the golf NIL is very different than that. And right, it goes back to what you said before. Do you want to win the Masters? Do you want the money? And kids are choosing money over winning the Masters. And in NIL, you’re making decisions based on money. They’re not fully developed. They’re not ready. And they could essentially burn their career before it even starts. And yeah, just for a little bit of money in your pocket. So, right, at the end of the day, as you’ve alluded to, and I think, you know, winning takes care of everything else. If you win, play well on the golf course, everything else is going to fall into place. And um, you know, in one way or the other, I uh I’m not bought in yet on it. I think it is a possible slippery slope with NIL and it’s like one thing leads into another leads into another and these athletes are going to keep pushing for more and more and more and I’m going to be interested to see kind of where this goes over the next 5 to 10 years. Anything else that you’d like to uh hit on uh as we uh wrap up this uh this wonderful podcast today. Well, I’d like to thank you thank you guys uh because you know Tyler and Sarah, you know them? Oh, yeah. I’ve heard of them. Yeah. Yeah. They’re they they’re good people. Uh but no, you it’s it’s a it’s a good organization. My daughter is proud to be one of the um influencers. Uh but she played great and I’m I I’m proud of her. You know, she goes to a great academy at the IMG Academy. We’ve been, you know, wonderful partners with them for for 18 years and I know she’s in good hands over there. And I mean, I can tell you when I go to IMG or I see that place, I’m jealous, man. Like, you know, these kids uh that are living in royalty over there. So, definitely. Yeah. It it’s it’s quite the place and the people all I know all I know are the golf people and the academic people and and the golf people the head of golf is a wonderful guy wonderful man um his name is Kevin Craigs he’s a great guy he’s been very good to us and I can’t thank him enough listen maybe maybe you know my daughter goes away next year maybe she’ll get on the tour at some point God willing it’s what she wants and as long as she’s happy I’m good you definitely admire ired what she’s done and I love, you know, the stuff she posts on Instagram. I’m very well informed of what she does on the golf course by her her her, you know, posts and and what she does. So, definitely kudos on raising a very well-rounded uh junior golfer and somebody that’s going to be very successful in the in the future. And that’s, you know, it’s nice to hear that from other people because how do you know? Yeah. So, uh, thank you for those words. Yeah. No, we appreciate it. And I never thought when I was a four-year-old uh watching Charles in charge on my apartment floor that I would be talking to Chachi himself. So pretty cool moment for me. Um I know my my family is going to think it’s a pretty cool moment, but thank you for everything you’ve done and uh I’ll turn it over to you, Joey. Thanks, man. I appreciate that, man. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we greatly appreciate you listening in on this episode of Beyond the Scorecard with Mario and Joey and Mr. Scott Beao. Please follow us on all social medias. You can find us under Hurricane Junior Golf Tour, Instagram, Tik Tok, LinkedIn X, Facebook, you name it. Follow Mr. Scott Beao on Instagram, thereal Scott Baleo. Fairways, greens, and everything in between. See you next time on Beyond the Scorecard. [Music] [Music]