The Golf Insiders

Golf United Fundraiser for Pulse Announcement

PODCAST NOTE: Listeners can tune in to iHeart Radio 740 The Game or listen in the Orlando area on FM 96.9 Wednesdays from 6-7 p.m. to hear The Golf Insiders live. Add The Golf Insiders podcast to your iPhone as an app. Click here and go to the bottom of the device's screen to create the "Quick Launch" icon for the Golf Insiders. Once you've done this it will add The Golf Insiders podcast as an App to your home screen. 

In the first segment of the show, Holly G along with co host Kevin Sternett, assistant pro at Golden Bear Club at Keene's Point and Will Perry, creative director at EVVUS and social media guru for The Golf Insiders, briefly cover  Dustin Johnson's comeback win at the WGC-Bridgestone and Brooke Henderson's back-to-back wins on the LPGA Tour. This week is the U.S. Women's Open conducted by the USGA. 

Holly G makes a special announcement about the GolfUnited Pulse Orlando Scramble scheduled for Friday, Aug 26, 2016 at the Grand Cypress Golf Club. The scramble benefits the OneOrlando and Pulse of Orlando Funds and starts at 8 a.m. There will also be an After Party and Silent Auction. The goal is to raise $100,000.

Robert Scott, Grand Cypress Golf Club's Tournament Director, calls in to talk with The Golf Insiders about the upcoming tournament. 

The GolfUnited Fundraising Scramble will be played on the New Course at Grand Cypress, which is Jack Nicklaus’ tribute and homage to the famed Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland. 

100% of the proceeds from the Scramble and the Silent Auction that follows the event will go to OneOrlando and Pulse of Orlando Funds. One way to contribute is to donate $49 and "buy" a sign along the fairway.

Volunteers are needed to help out with this major event. You don't have to be a golfer to participate or contribute. 

Participants need to RSVP to reserve their spot by contacting Holly G at 321-303-9684 or Will Perry at 727-364-6384.

The Golf Insiders 06-29-2016

PODCAST NOTE: Listeners can tune in to iHeart Radio 740 The Game or listen in the Orlando area on FM 96.9 Wednesdays from 6-7 p.m. to hear The Golf Insiders live. Add The Golf Insiders podcast to your iPhone as an app. Click here and go to the bottom of the device's screen to create the "Quick Launch" icon for the Golf Insiders. Once you've done this it will add The Golf Insiders podcast as an App to your home screen. 

Holly G is at Dewey's Indoor Golf and Sports Grill in Orlando along with co host Kevin Sternett, assistant pro at Golden Bear Club at Keene's Point and Will Perry, creative director at EVVUS and Golf Insiders social media guru. Dewey's and Ready Golf League are sponsoring the show.

Holly and the gang are joined by Dr Bob Winters, Sports Psychologist/Mental Conditioning Coach and author. Holly, Kevin and Dr Bob discuss the week in golf including Billy Hurley III's magical win at the Quicken Loans National.  

Lydia Ko picked up her 3rd win of the season on the LPGA Tour with her 2-stroke win at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. Her 17-under par is a new tournament record. Dr Bob says that he feels that Lydia's success is that she is happy and having fun enjoying the game. 

Kevin and Dr Bob talk about how Lydia is like a surgeon on the course. The trio talk more on the women's play of late including Brooke Henderson's win. 

In the next segment Holly welcomes Jeff Babineau, Golfweek. Jeff talks about his recent article on the Olympics and mentions that it's an unfortunate situation with players opting out of participating for a number of reasons. It's the first time in over a 100 years that golf is a part of the Olympics. Jeff feels that it's a perfect storm of factors that affect the game. Jeff and Holly talk about the Zika virus, the scheduling and the format of 72-hole stroke play. Holly also mentions that kids don't grow up today thinking about playing in the Olympics but more so a major championship. 

Kevin brings up a lot of the unknown factors at Rio that might be affecting the players' decision. Funding dilemmas, Zika virus, security and more. Golf is only set as part of the Olympics for this year and the next Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The committee will vote in 2017 on the future of golf participating. 

Holly asks Jeff about the WGC-Bridgestone this week and the French Open. Dr Bob and Jeff revisit the recent U.S. Open ruling debacle and the USGA's ruling. Dr Bob said that it was like the USGA held everyone hostage not knowing the final ruling.

Next week's event at the Greenbrier has been cancelled due to the deathly flooding. Holly and Jeff talk about Bubba Watson's efforts to help bring attention to the golf world and others about the devastation and helping the people in the area.

Dr Bob, Jeff and Holly talk about Tiger's return to golf and when he might come back.

For the final part of the show, Holly welcomes Josh Broeker from Ready Golf League, an innovative combination of both networking and golf, created for motivated business professionals in Central Florida. Lee Goldberg a ready golf league participant mentions that it's open to the public on the last Wednesday of the month at Dewey's. There are also golf tournaments that are cheap to participate in and around the local area. Golf is a good conduit to bring business and people together. 

The Golf Insiders June 22, 2016

PODCAST NOTE: Listeners can tune in to iHeart Radio 740 The Game or listen in the Orlando area on FM 96.9 Wednesdays from 6-7 p.m. to hear The Golf Insiders live. Add The Golf Insiders podcast to your iPhone as an app. Click here and go to the bottom of the device's screen to create the "Quick Launch" icon for the Golf Insiders. Once you've done this it will add The Golf Insiders podcast as an App to your home screen. 

Holly G is in the studio with co host Kevin Sternett, assistant pro at Golden Bear Club at Keene's Point and Will Perry, creative director at EVVUS and Golf Insiders social media guru. The trio kicks off the show talking about the great week of golf including the U.S. Open, won by Dustin Johnson.

One of the main distractions for this year's U.S. Open and DJ is that the USGA had a questionable ruling on DJ on the 5th hole of his final round where the ball moved before he grounded his club behind the ball. He called the rules official over and told him that he did not cause the ball to move. The official told him to play on with no penalty. However, the USGA confronted DJ on the 12th hole and told him that they had reviewed the video evidence and requested that he review the footage after the round. Then it would be decided if he would incur the one-stroke penalty.

Bob Harig, ESPN.com, calls in from Congressional to talk about last week's U.S. Open and the USGA's ruling on DJ. Bob said that in the media center that it was chaos and absolute disbelief as the events unfolded. 

Kevin talks with Bob about the fact the ruling controversy not only was hard on Dustin, but it impacted the rest of the field not knowing how each player chasing the leader should attack the rest of the round. They did not know if Dustin was going to incur the penalty or if his current round's score was accurate. The team and Bob talk about the player's honor being called into question, which is paramount in the game of golf, not only for Dustin but Lee Westwood who was playing alongside DJ. In the end DJ was able to win by more than one stroke, which saved the USGA from an even greater PR nightmare.

Bob said the key was that DJ had not addressed the ball. "Outside the USGA, I don't see anyone else who agrees with them." It happened to Shane Lowry the day before when he called the penalty on himself. USGA Rule 18b was revised in 2016, which was supposed to help shed some clarity on the subject.

Tony Austin, Director of Programs for Core Golf Education in Orlando and also serves on the board for PGA of America as a member of the rules committee, call in for the second segment of the show to talk more about the ruling that affected this year's U.S. Open.

Tony said that he felt for everyone involved including the committee. He said that he would have ruled that DJ had moved the ball because of his close proximity to the ball when it rolled, that DJ caused it to move. The problem was that the ruling wasn't made until after the round and not immediately when it happened.

Tony pointed out that the rule is written that the committee can always take a look at something to get it right. It seemed like a non incident in real time. But the committee taking so long to bring it up and get it into the mainstream of the world was chaos.  

Tony said as he was watching the event on TV, he didn't think that DJ caused the ball to move. He said he thought differently after he reread the rule. There didn't appear to be any wind, and DJ stood very close to the ball, and the fact that he put his putter down to the side and it touched the ground to some degree, Tony would have given DJ the penalty ... based on the way the rule is written.  The USGA and R&A definitely need to take a look at the rule and see what the intention of the rule is.

Mike Kern, Philadelphia Daily News, calls in to the show to talk about the U.S. Open Championship. Mike talks to Holly about Dustin Johnson's play. When he is on he is as talented as anyone on the Tour. His putting usually holds him back. Holly asks Mike about Jim Furyk and the rest of the Top 10 on the leader board at the 2016 U.S. Open. Mike discusses the age of the Furyk and Mickelson and the fact that they don't usually win major championships in their 40s. Not that they can't but it's something that is usually not done.

Jeff Shain, The Island Packet in Hilton Head, calls in to wrap up the show. Holly asks Jeff about the Olympics and the people like Rory McIlroy deciding not to participate in the Olympics due to the Zika virus. Jeff said that the golf schedule has a huge event over other week this season and a week off is a big deal to the players. None of the LPGA players have backed out of the Olympics. Jeff said that it seems that it would be a female golfer who has pulled out of the Olympics.

Kevin, Will and Holly discuss the fact that it seems the women players seem more interested in the Olympics and not the men in the U.S. 

The Golf Insiders 06-15-16

PODCAST NOTE: Listeners can tune in to iHeart Radio 740 The Game or listen in the Orlando area on FM 96.9 Wednesdays from 6-7 p.m. to hear The Golf Insiders live. Add The Golf Insiders podcast to your iPhone as an app. Click here and go to the bottom of the device's screen to create the "Quick Launch" icon for the Golf Insiders. Once you've done this it will add The Golf Insiders podcast as an App to your home screen. 

Holly G is in the studio with Will Perry, creative director at EVVUS and Golf Insiders social media guru, on the eve of the season's second major championship, the U.S. Open. Holly starts off the show talking with Todd Lewis, the Golf Channel. With all the talk about how hard the golf course set up, Holly asks Todd about the course at Oakmont.

Todd asked the Tour players which do they fear the most, the fairway bunkers or the rough. Todd also points out that 6 of the 8 winners at Oakmont are in the World Golf Hall of Fame and big name players win at Oakmont. 

On that note, Holly asks about Phil Mickelson's chances. Todd said that Phil can't get too excited and put too much pressure on himself because he is playing so well. That was his problem in 2013.

Holly asks Todd about the Big 3's chances of winning this major. Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy. 

Todd spoke with Dustin Johnson on the practice range and he feels that Dustin is playing well with every club in his bag. DJ put a 2 iron in his bag and will probably back off the driver this week. Todd says DJ can hit the 2 iron 260 yards in the air.

Holly and Todd talk about the international players chances. Todd mentions past champion Martin Kaymer, and little known Matthew Fitzpatrick who has won twice on the European Tour twice. He finished tied for 7th at the Masters this year. 

Jeff Babineau, Golfweek, calls in from the media center at Oakmont. Holly and Jeff talk about having the U.S. Open at such an historic place as Oakmont. There are no trees or water at Oakmont. 

Will asks Jeff about Adam Scott who has won twice this season already. Jeff said that when you talk about the success of the Big Three, you tend to leave out great players with a chance like Scott, Snedeker, Mickelson, Bubba Watson, etc.
Golfweek has a lot of coverage of the U.S. Open this week. 

Brooke Anderson beat Lydia Ko to capture her first major last week. Bernhard Langer won another major on the Champions Tour as well as Daniel Berger win at the FedEx St Jude Classic on the PGA Tour.

Mike Kern, Philadelphia Daily News, calls in to talk to Will and Holly about the U.S. Open. Players say that this is going to be the toughest test this year. Winged Foot, Oakmont and Olympic are three of the toughest courses. 

Holly G asked Mike about Jim Furyk's chances. Mike also points out that McIlroy, Day and Spieth have done at the past seven majors is phenomenal. 

Mike mentions that it is supposed to rain on Thursday, which is going to have an impact on the tournament that is already a formidable task to win.

Steve Eubanks, Global Golf Post, wraps up the show talking about the KPMG Women's PGA Championship won by Brooke Henderson beating Lydia Ko an d preventing Ariya Jutanugarn from winning her fourth consecutive tournament. Holly asks Steve about the U.S. Open. Steve feels that over par will be the winning score this week. He likes Jason Day's chances of winning.