Making golf available, affordable and fun at Classic Five courses around town

Tom Pierce of Classic 5 Golf educates Ricig and Nestor about the local love of the outdoor game and why folks all over town return to Pine Ridge, Forest Park, Carroll Park, Clifton Park and Mount Pleasant to enjoy a day on the links.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

play, golf, game, sport, years, ball, mount pleasant, hit, courses, cricket, good, rugby, golfer, club, degrees, talk, week, steve, great, watch

SPEAKERS

Nestor J. Aparicio, Tom Pierce, Mike Ricigliano

Nestor J. Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home we are W n s t, Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. I always feel at home when I’m at Coco’s pub. There are parents all over the walls. There’s margaritas here, Marcellus here. There’s crabcakes here. You know I wore shorts today because it’s hot out. And I thought like, am I gonna get cold to sell and I thought, well the doors right here so the hot air will come in but it’s double door and I thought, well I’m right next to all of this refrigeration where the crabcakes are, but the heat from the refrigerator will keep me warm. I don’t know. I’ve been cold since I got here. Summertime. I should just I just wear long pants and summer. I mean I unless it gets to be 112. I’m just cold and air conditioning. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery. These are not cold. These are gold rush. doubler sevens. I’m hoping they’re blazing hot. We’re going to be given these way all over the bar today. On Friday we’re going to be Cooper’s Tavern in Fells Point courtesy of our friends at the Maryland lottery in conjunction with Jiffy Lube, multi care and liberty pure solutions. They keep my water safe and clear if you got to well, if you need clean water they do it better than anybody does it and this guy does art better than anybody does and micro SIG Liano are close with a K. His wife. Jerry’s just walked in his niece Michelle was gonna come on later talking about lemurs and monkeys and stuff like that. And then we have golf. The refined sports the US Open is this week in Pinehurst. We’re near Mount Pleasant, where they also had some historic things happen here. Tom Pierce is here he runs classic five golf. Yeah, I wouldn’t have had you on this week because I already had Edie and I went back and forth about Schaeffler and his butler cabin appearances and his Pinehurst number 12 card and whatever else he got going on number two number two but then I realized I’m coming here and I hit him and I’m like, I get Tom and I’m like wow get Tom on anytime we come maybe have a Papist and powerful than I thought the Phillies are coming to town this week. I gotta get you out. How are you? Man? You know, plenty golf.

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Tom Pierce  01:57

I played once a season. I’m playing

Nestor J. Aparicio  02:00

all these golf pros. You think golf golf guy. And they they’re, they’re like me with sports. Everybody thinks, Oh, your sports guy. Now I used to be I know, I just watched the Orioles and the Ravens because I it’s just too much. Well,

Tom Pierce  02:14

when you’re running the business, it’s you can’t just be out there playing? Um, yes.

Mike Ricigliano  02:17

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I mean, I’m shocked that you only played once this year.

Nestor J. Aparicio  02:21

Every Pro I talked to is what they get they play in winter because I’m not. I’m

Tom Pierce  02:25

not a pro or you’re not. Oh, no, I play golf all my life. But it’s a matter of, you know, when you’re working all day at the courses, I’m around and each of the courses in the office. It’s not something that you know, golf, I’d have to take the time away. And I hate to say it when it’s the weekends your

Nestor J. Aparicio  02:41

weekend, right?

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Tom Pierce  02:42

I’m playing Sunday, right up to

Nestor J. Aparicio  02:43

Mount hubba bubba Bo,

Tom Pierce  02:45

the Philadelphia Phillies are here in Baltimore mayor I know it’s Father’s Day, though. Oh.

Nestor J. Aparicio  02:51

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I went through this with Ed earlier this Father’s Day. Father’s want to speak to that because we’ll do some baseball through Segur and all that. Because if you ever go for St. I don’t know you’d ever write.

Mike Ricigliano  03:01

I would golf once a year with my fellow cartoonists. It was called the Freelancers classic and it would be take place usually in Cleveland. So at least a greeting card cartoon is that we worked with and I was very bad. I once wounded. A squirrel playing I hit it. The squirrel came down, like scurried down and limped away. And, you know, I was crushed that I had done this, but my fellow cartoonists Of course, just did endless cartoons about little squirrel crushes on and just kept sending to me and making me feel worse. So now I am a bad golfer. I have not gone no

Nestor J. Aparicio  03:46

no, this whole thing this week and it being Father’s Day and me trying to be civil to a Phillies fan. You know, on the eve of this momentous occasion when we’re both really good. Yeah, last time was like 83 I think. Yes, really?

Tom Pierce  03:58

I was living was that game was a game to win storm day, but you guys beat us at the vet. I was at that game. I was game three. Game 383 It was bad. I was I

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Nestor J. Aparicio  04:10

was there for I still want I missed I was at 1245 So I only mystery. So that was the bending Ayala Game Of course. So the godfathers thing and US Open. And maybe I’m just not in the I’ve watched us opens every year. I don’t necessarily equate it the Father’s Day. My dad was my dad died 30 years ago a bit ago. It really it’s a special holiday. If you are dads live granddad’s alive and you golf. This is Father’s Day is a golf holiday in golf family. Oh

Tom Pierce  04:41

yes, it is a totally. Because it’s a time you can spend with your son if your son plays golf. I’m playing with some brother laws and some friends and my nephew is playing with his dad

Nestor J. Aparicio  04:51

in the morning and then go on kitchen nine innings or no no. We didn’t plan it out. Well, all right. It’s the problem. Of course you can’t get you can’t get you can’t get on And what you know,

Tom Pierce  05:00

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I could have not I could, but I’m not cheating. I don’t want to take it from other customers. And that’s one of the reasons why I don’t play much because the weekends are open. And if I don’t plan it ahead, I don’t want to take it from a customer. So

Nestor J. Aparicio  05:09

this week, I’ve had more golf conversations than I’ve had in a long time. They just mark Brian from Hootie and the Blowfish. And when you think of Hootie and the Blowfish, they’re a golfing ban. Yeah. Right, like a fate. I mean, they throw their party in Augusta every year for 30 years, right. So they’re golfing guys. So I’ve known Mark, over 30 years since crack review. This is the 30th anniversary of the tour. They’re gonna he calls me Monday, and they had five days off on the tour. And he’s like, I’m home. I’ll do anything you want Monday or Tuesday. I’m like a student and now we get together an hour. I said, What do you do? And he’s like, oh, man, I’m playing golf. I’m like, no, no, no, no, you just you have a new album now and I’m playing golf. I’m like, you’re on tour every night. You’re playing like, you’re playing like five shows a week. He’s like, Listen, this is what we do. We get on a bus and we go to the next town. We get up six in the morning. I’m like your rockstar. He’s like, No, we got to get on the links early in the morning. So we go out we play 18 We come back. We go to soundcheck at 230. Then we catch a nap. And then we go play and we get on the bus and we go to the next city. And wherever we are. We get on at 737 45 Early in the morning get teatime in and I said so you’re gonna have more rounds of golf or more shows on this tour. He’s like, Oh, more rounds. Oh, no, that’s and it is for Darius it is. I mean, you people are nuts. Classic five classic five golf you can go on you people are nuts. But it’s a great I agree with

Mike Ricigliano  06:35

you that golfing mentality it just I’ve never understood it completely. It’s

Tom Pierce  06:40

it’s you gotta take it and have fun nor people that take it too seriously.

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Nestor J. Aparicio  06:43

I see.

Tom Pierce  06:46

I’ve always told people, it should be for fun. Enjoy the four hours with the three other people you’re playing with your outside, hopefully having some beers, playing golf jokin having a great time, which you choose to be with exactly that part of it. I like and that’s all what it should be about. I mean, we play because there’ll be eight, there’ll be we’re playing to foursomes, we might flip around at the ninth hole. So everybody plays together doing something different, but it’s a matter of, we don’t really care about scores not playing against each other. It’s about having fun.

Nestor J. Aparicio  07:13

You know, I’ve done things in life where I’ve had one person in the boat, trying to be too competitive about what we need to do or maximize experience. Golf be one of the things I’ll never be good enough to not to have. The day wreck me I would only be there for the reasons you’re talking about. Sure. At this point. I’m not there to win a prize. I’m not there to brag, and to get a hold on one or something you know, but I mean, I still brag about the only thing I have to brag about my golf game, which was at the media event in 2006. In Jacksonville five, five in Jacksonville, they had the media party, hooting the blowfish story. They had the hoot they had the media party on Tuesday night in this giant gazebo on the TPC at sawgrass right. Oh yeah. Top 10 famous courses in America. Right. And the 17th hole has a famous waterhole with a circle, right. So everybody in the media got to hit a shot on 17 to lose the ball in the water inevitably. Right? Dude, I put it like four feet from the pin. Oh, awesome. Like pretty much I have one shot Ray Bachman was there Casey Wilson was there true forester was there. Like I had real golfers there. And I I had the shot of the group. And so 19 years later, I still get the brag about it. Cuz, you know, like that was when you hit a shot. Like

Mike Ricigliano  08:41

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if you hit that 10 times, how many times Oh, my

Nestor J. Aparicio  08:43

God, if I go down there right now, I’d be there half the day. I’d lose however many balls. Right. I mean, I got it. I got it back. And I just did everything norm for kowski taught me when he just got it just right, hit

09:00

it right. And our primary relaxed.

Nestor J. Aparicio  09:02

That’s the biggest thing. I don’t think I’ve hit a shot since that was that good. Well, that’s

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Tom Pierce  09:05

the thing is you watch people and you can see him like at a driving range where people are really, you know, they’re tense, and it’s like, relax and just having a good time low and happy. I mean, and don’t try to be like the guys you’re gonna see this weekend on TV. Well, let’s talk about that. Those. Those guys are just

Nestor J. Aparicio  09:21

that’s the inspiration. We’re sick. If you’ve been to a golf tournament,

Mike Ricigliano  09:26

I went to the ladies. Is it the ladies man?

Nestor J. Aparicio  09:30

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87 was here. Yes.

Mike Ricigliano  09:32

I went to that. Yes. I went to that. Was that

Nestor J. Aparicio  09:35

Do you remember what I was doing? Baltimore Country Club? Maybe? Maybe. But either way we were the module. It was a lot

Mike Ricigliano  09:43

of fun to watch.

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Nestor J. Aparicio  09:44

I mean, when Nancy Nancy Melton was on the tour back right and like it was a it was a raga. Our publisher we worked at the Baltimore Sun together our publisher. What was his name of Roger? Oh my god, I lost his name. He was from Atlanta. He wasn’t sure origin What was his name? That guy for? Sure, Reg reg Reg Murphy reg MERV Reg Murphy. That was I said, Rod Reg Murphy, Murphy. Oh, my God was a golfing not. And he was the publisher of the sun and the lady. And the sun was part of getting this LPGA huge event here. So that was the time I went to the, to the BMW a couple years ago, I did a ladies major the year before in New Jersey, I covered it for the kid jacket, but you’re sending me to cover golf, I don’t know enough about golf. Go, you’ll be fine. It got rained out. So I never had to write. So and then the next year was here, he sent me because I had to go because we had to cover it. Because the event was here the next year. And he had to get somebody to drive in the car on New Jersey in a Sunday morning. He liked it may 1987, or whatever it was. But getting out to a course and seeing what these guys do. It’s it. I’m a I’m a tougher I go to a couple tournaments a year I see. Really, they’re the people I know that hit the ball really well. And then you go out there to the BMW go out the caves. And you just spend a couple of hours out there and see what these guys do in person. There’s nothing like really, I wanted

Tom Pierce  11:08

something to television doesn’t give justice to how far they hit the ball. Oh, that an amateur somebody that’s I mean, I’m in my mid 50s I can still sometimes drive throughout guards. But these guys are in it 353 60 And they’re hitting it straight. I mean, what they can do, and then they’re hitting when you’re 150 yards out, I’m hitting an eight iron, they’re hitting like a wedge. I mean, just what they can do from a distance with a higher lofted club so they have more control of it can put spin on the ball. They can do whatever they want. So that’s

Mike Ricigliano  11:41

critical. So which is harder hitting a base of a fastball or hitting a golf

Tom Pierce  11:47

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ball? fastball would be I would say it’s harder it will be alright

Nestor J. Aparicio  11:51

I always say about golf and this is me being nasty Nestor flipping my 90s back when my hair was long the first time I would always say the ball doesn’t move. How hard can this be? You know I play tennis all day every day much I played baseball football tracking boat you know moving balls basketball where things are moving the absolute I mean that that really is the whole magic of golf is the frustration is that the ball doesn’t move right

Tom Pierce  12:20

and it’s only you you in the in the air and so if you don’t hit it right, it’s you. You get it wrong. It’s all up in here. It’s simple.

Nestor J. Aparicio  12:26

Messed up this club. Club. That’s right

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Tom Pierce  12:32

that’s why it’s all in your head golf so that’s why it’s like the golf game where you just want to relax I mean it’s the only sport I played so many competitive sports in my life I’ve probably played it the longest and never played competitively because I didn’t want to

Nestor J. Aparicio  12:41

free what you do a classified to promote your courses and talk about Mount Pleasant right down the street which has a legendary history, Pine Ridge I had add on this week talking about all the simulators and the toptracer and all that stuff. And every somebody hit the balls down at the stadium last week but nobody’s coming out and winning the masters at Carroll park on a nine right nobody’s going to forest but you can go out there rich Forest Park or Jad at Forest Park and learn the game. Introduce your children to the game but more than that affordably,

Tom Pierce  13:10

affordably play the game available.

Nestor J. Aparicio  13:13

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You want to get on you want to play Mount Pleasant speak and play golf in five years. You come over you get a lesson affordably and get on affordably and you can get back to the game. If this weekend’s the weekend you fall in love because that’s what happens. I fell in love with tennis whenever I watch it whenever I watch it. Oh I want to go racket and I want to play and I don’t want to play any pickleball let me make that clear. All right. But golf doesn’t make you want to play putt putt. I mean it does beyond the swinging thing for golf with my back you see I’m sitting on a by the way we’re seeing I’m sitting on your my face I sitting on your face sitting on my face great. This is the wn this is for six work. Back in the 90s 25th anniversary. I mean I’m not proud of it but I kind of am the 25th anniversary we the first year we had wn st I loved our logo so much nasty 1570 sports all day all night all sports. We were the station with balls, right? So we had and this was a station with we had all the juggling balls here you see little juggling balls and me but this is receives work. This is how good looking I wasn’t what a great artist he was back in the 90s. And so this is back when we had an ASCAP license back and we played music and stuff. So I grabbed the Monty Python song, sit on my bench and told me that she loved me. So that was the song we played. And five weeks ago, I got a text from a friend who was in Bel Air at the Goodwill store. These are $1.50 cent right now if you want to go up to the goodwill and Bel Air, they got a fresh they don’t even have the holes in it for me sitting in it. But because they have wooden seats here Coco’s My back’s bad. So it’s a nice way of me promoting that but but my back’s not good with golf. So You know, I’m like my back legs. So like I can do all this but the putt putt for me feels like I got this, but I don’t have that the work thing.

Tom Pierce  15:12

You gotta tell that I’m ever gonna get it back. You might not I didn’t talk to your doctor or chiropractor for I mean, you still don’t get to see value right?

Nestor J. Aparicio  15:20

Of course I go to Steve Well, I was with him yesterday. He would tell me to be nice to Tom promote classic five go out and pot with Leonard Raskin at the Mount Washington pediatric golf tournament last Monday because

Tom Pierce  15:33

you know, I played rugby with Steve. That’s how I know Steve. He coached us also.

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Mike Ricigliano  15:38

It’s multiple

Nestor J. Aparicio  15:39

Philadelphia guys playing rugby. Imagine that right? That’s what’s a golf guy doing play rugby. It’s really different contact and not so

Mike Ricigliano  15:47

impressive to me like a rugby guy that plays golf or a golf guy that plays rugby. You know, I’m just I know some Rogers and you know, Nick’s of rugger are your buddy. Yeah. So yeah, Steve.

Nestor J. Aparicio  15:58

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Steve’s like the straw that stirs the drink in the

Tom Pierce  16:00

rug. Yes. Well, Steve’s the he’s a solid person. And he’s also stable meaning and how nothing seems ever upset him if there’s like chaos going on. Steve’s like that. That what do they say the something

Nestor J. Aparicio  16:13

very few people you would get me to talk about that. I like more than Steve. Oh, yeah. As a human. I’m hoping that I would say that if you were here. So

Mike Ricigliano  16:21

when you’re saying he’s very stable, is that he’s a rug or two years. Oh, yeah. So it’s stability a because I don’t envision rubbers as a stability and a rug as being a good

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Tom Pierce  16:32

quality. Well, you have to it’s a perfect sport. You’d be good at it because it’s crazy. Yeah. Which add so much is going on in that sport at any one time. Those

Nestor J. Aparicio  16:42

guys like hello de nada are good at it. I don’t want to have contact with that. I don’t want to be part of that with football equipment on let alone without safer without it.

Mike Ricigliano  16:51

I I was a Coxy for for crew in college. I was a bad one. So they called me wrong. They were sick. But that group of people that I was on the team with were all nuts. I mean, and I loved it, of course, but they I always equivocated those, the crew guys, we thought that

Nestor J. Aparicio  17:16

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lacrosse guys were crazy.

Tom Pierce  17:18

That’s one of the things the nature of the sport is you can’t block people like football, you can’t get anybody’s way. So you have to support them. Okay, so your teammates you’re out with you got the ball, nobody get in the way of the opponents. So they have free right to come and tackle you hit you. So your teammates have to support you. It’s all about support, support support, you want to be right behind them and be there. So the good teams are the teams that the guys are there and whether you like them or not, you’re there with them. And it’s a true team sport, right? I mean, it’s something where you just you don’t mind doing the parts and knowing I might not be the one that scores but if I make this guy miss me for his half a second I’m getting hit. It doesn’t mean get the ball. He

Nestor J. Aparicio  17:55

misses like MMA does, but it’s right up there.

Tom Pierce  18:00

You know, but there’s rules that I mean, they’ve made it so much safer with like, you can take hits, nobody can hit around the neck above the head anymore on professional levels. And without having pads, you’re not a weapon. You put shoulder pads on someone, I can hit you as hard as I can. If I don’t have shoulder pads, and I go to hit you, and I hit you wrong, like I get attacked, you hit your leg and I hit your hip. My shoulder is gonna be numb. So you can’t you can’t really drive at people as hard as you said in pads as well. Without pads. You’ve got to be in control. Can

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Mike Ricigliano  18:28

I Can I ask about one other sports scene

Nestor J. Aparicio  18:30

or thing you do? If I loved you and I’m a family with you, I would say that

Tom Pierce  18:37

that’s what my parents thought.

Mike Ricigliano  18:39

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Cricket. What’s the deal? They’re like, that’s like been in the news all week long. Right? The US one I know. But I didn’t know how other

Nestor J. Aparicio  18:49

sport cricket. It’s like baseball. But with a wick. You know? Like, I wonder if I could ever be proficient at cricket. If I ever I don’t understand the rules night. Rugby I kind of catch on and get riles. You know, cricket. Cricket is slang. You know, any

Mike Ricigliano  19:10

final score of the game is like 190 to 114 You know, like, how did they get there? That’s like a NBA score. Instead of a baseball score.

Tom Pierce  19:19

I’ve had enough guys I played with rugby overseas from England. All those those countries South I mean, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and they love cricket. And some guys have tried to explain it to me. Basically, if you take baseball and if you just push the ball, not even try to bat if like the ball doesn’t want to be fair when they throw it. They roll it Yeah. But if it’s coming in an angle you don’t like you don’t wanna have to swing you can just like a hockey goalie block it and it goes away from nobody. Ever the whole field you’re in a circle. So behind us live also.

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Mike Ricigliano  19:56

So you get blocked simply explain this to NASA. So you

Tom Pierce  19:59

can go That’s how they explained to me. So I’m like, so you can just block like a hockey goalie. And if you run forward and back, that’s one and they’re like, if nobody gets to it,

Nestor J. Aparicio  20:06

I got international tastes man. I’ve been to both fights in Madrid, I didn’t know what the hell was going on. The weirdest experience I’ve had as as like a modern person that I could brag on to explain rules is I dated this beautiful Swedish girl at the turn of the century in New York. And she still loves him. I love her to death. But I took her to a Yankee Red Sox game during the era, say Clemens and Pedro at Yankee Stadium. No, it’s, it’s like I take her to that kind of game and I’m there. And she just doesn’t understand any of it. She our English is perfect. In fact, it wasn’t a language barrier. It was well, that was a ball and that was a strike strike to hers. This ball is a is a noun, not a verb, right? Like, say anything she strikes balls, you run that, why don’t you run that way, like, so all of that explanation of baseball that we take is ubiquitous. It put me into that seat where like, if you’re trying to teach me cricket, and I’m a sports guy, I’m like, like going like, like, ah, you know, like, thinking in the back of the room? Like, I hope I don’t have to don’t call on me to answer the questions, you know. And I remember one time buying this dummies book you know back when bookstores were still thing I have it I have it at the radio station with the rules to every sport in the world. Oh, okay. You can open it up. And you know, there’s a three page it’s like a Richard scary animal book when I was there how to for almost for children, for non. Anybody doesn’t understand the game of soccer or the game of lacrosse or the game of rugby, or the game of bait. It was all in there. And I swear Cricket was the page. My wife’s like, hear this, you’ll finally figure it out. If you

Mike Ricigliano  21:50

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and I’m like, that’s what I need.

Nestor J. Aparicio  21:53

Where would one go to really look because I understand. I went to most games in the world. I went to wait all around the world. gambled on like in a big way. Oh,

Tom Pierce  22:03

Asian India. They played in the Middle East India, as you said. cultures where it’s always been in the West Indies like all the islands play it so it’s everywhere on the world they played here. I seem

Nestor J. Aparicio  22:13

to understand it. I’ll give you one more.

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Mike Ricigliano  22:16

One more weird sport. I have to talk about that. So we have a friend that’s coming into town from Kurdistan. And they replace it isn’t real. For me one of the staff

Nestor J. Aparicio  22:31

not standard Blonsky

Mike Ricigliano  22:33

and it they have a game that I cannot pronounce it and I don’t remember the name of it. But the essence of the game is that there’s a big well in the middle of the field and these are these players are on horses kind of like polo, but they have a dead goat carcass. And they that the object is to slam this dead goat carcass into the well. And that’s how you score and they’re battling me to Google this right now.

Nestor J. Aparicio  23:00

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Saying hang on See I was gonna go insane that the the mic my son lives in my childhood home in Dundalk. The home on Eastern Avenue that I did all of my wiffle ball baseball basketball with the Neighborhood Playhouse that eight six kids and that house has been sold the family’s gone. It’s now been turned into it. I believe they’re Ecuadorian, but they play this volleyball derivative game that my son has been watching because he’s Hispanic to like me, and hidden. He’s like, it’s like volleyball, but I haven’t really figured out what they’re doing. Right? And they’ve turned it into a center, a community center where I believe they’re Ecuadorian, if they’re not gonna hold it against me, but I believe they’re Ecuador, but they play a game that we would look at it and say it’s kind of like volleyball. I remember late at night, there was a game on eat. This is back when ESPN would put log rolling. Yeah, and you know, they was a game called Gaelic. Are you familiar with this? Oh, yeah. We took a wicket it’s hurling. No, it’s a bowl that you It’s you hit the hell out of the ball. It’s almost like a like a I don’t know it’s I think it’s what you’re talking about. I think it was the name it’s hurling it looks like a Berlin hurling hurling is the name for Gaelic Yeah. Because

Tom Pierce  24:24

they’ve Gaelic football so which is like a combination of like soccer but you can run with it right like rugby league rugby it’s

Nestor J. Aparicio  24:31

late night weird things that we’re talking about. Right cool. Tell them about classic five because this week bird Tom

Mike Ricigliano  24:37

came here to talk about Marcus ball Yes. Get

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Nestor J. Aparicio  24:43

your your courses for any to my point. I saw Gaelic once and I didn’t have any work to play it right. Like to your wherever your goat thing is. That’s disgusting. disturbing. I swear that’s a poor thing. I swear he’s putting me on.

Tom Pierce  24:59

No, I’ve heard of that card. Truth about how the country

Nestor J. Aparicio  25:05

calls one of those things that it is so simple right other than wearing the right shoes and not tearing the course up and having sticks and getting good at it, explaining what to do and going to a driving range. It’s sort of for everybody golf. It’s for everybody. It’s

Tom Pierce  25:22

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a life. You can play your whole life as opposed to rugby. Like any other sports that we play, when we’re little you, you kind of you can’t play it in your 30s 40s 50s Golf you can play. I hate to say until you pass I mean we have people that play you know, you see people out there in their 80s and 90s. I mean, you can play and and you don’t yourself and you

Mike Ricigliano  25:39

can be really good and shape like Greg Statler or something you know like and be a really good golfer and not not have to look like you know, Ricky Henderson or so I watched

Nestor J. Aparicio  25:47

John Daly sing songs with Hootie and the Blowfish that night in Jacksonville. They were the band that played that thing. So I’ve seen John Daly, I know there’s

Mike Ricigliano  25:57

another and what we’re seeing,

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Tom Pierce  25:58

especially after COVID More people are walking, which is great. We let you can walk at any time. walk into court. So if you’re walking five, six miles depending on how lengthy the course is, you’re getting good exercise. It’s it’s not it’s low impact exercise for your exercise, not only swinging the club, you’re carrying your bag, you might have a pull cart, but you’re walking to get that exercise. And because there are some courses that you only walk after a certain time, we’ve always had all of our course you can do at that time, but it is something for everyone. And the best thing is if a family can play, you know you it doesn’t matter. I mean when your children get to be about five or six, and they can swing the club on their own

Nestor J. Aparicio  26:35

or jailbait, your courses and with kids. You tell me if I’m wrong because you appear to be almost my age we talk. I have a feeling that when I was 14, and I think I’ve told you there’s only one person in my neighborhood really played golf, Mr. Frank cross street. It was an adult game. He played experience point. Yeah, pose clubs that Saturday was a cop, you know, and I would see him go out, but there were not a lot of older men. It was bad. But all men Colgate in the 1970s. Who played I didn’t have an entry way to play golf. Right? You don’t I mean, it wasn’t available to me. And had I gone with him down to Sparrows Point on a Saturday morning and 1982. I wouldn’t offend anybody my age there. I don’t think

Tom Pierce  27:14

No, I think he probably would have it might not have been a lot of people. But you never know. But I have a

Nestor J. Aparicio  27:19

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feeling now based on what I know and see on my timeline. Golf is it a sport that I would want my grandkid to play because he’s not getting hit in the head. We’re gonna have shoulder pads can get on can travel with it can keep it on Lifetime, right can play with me and my son and can be generational, then depending on me nothing else I could sit here and pimp, maybe shooting hoops with your dad or whatever. But at some point, you stopped the fastball. You can play a little, you know, touch football and Thanksgiving if you don’t pull a hammy or whatever. Golf really is the sport for for lifetime. It

Tom Pierce  27:52

is and it’s for everyone. And you know, and even still people. It’s not like the cliche. They used to be in the 70s 80s Oh, what’s the businessman making deals, people are still doing that. I mean, it’s not necessary.

Nestor J. Aparicio  28:02

To me 30 years ago, hey, you get out of the car, she’ll do business with the right people. I’m like, one

Tom Pierce  28:09

of the one of the coolest thing about golf is you can go up as a single, you know, you make a tee time or if you can look online, like everybody can book it. You see, oh, I want to play by myself, oh, there’s three people already there. I booked that one. So you can meet just anybody. You’ve never met these people before in your life, have four hours with them. You get to meet people, maybe you know, they could be good. They might you might like them. You might not you never know it doesn’t matter, but you’re getting experiences from other people. So you’re, you know, as a community, you’re playing together. And it’s a great thing you do a lot of times that people it’s like, this is my Foursome, and we play together. And we do that all the time. But it’s great, because I love when I go to the course and just see the different aspects of our community. You know,

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Nestor J. Aparicio  28:50

it’s the same people, right? Because you all belong. And there’s a real high high bar. I mean, I even think this one I go to a Rolling Stones concert, but it’s a high bar who can come who can afford to be there, no matter what it is, you know Oriole game to some degree, although that’s certainly more affordable than the Ravens game or hockey game or whatever. I would think your courses and you know, yeah, neighborhood if you live in this area. We’re sick. If you were a golfer, you can

Mike Ricigliano  29:16

go right on the clip. Yeah, yeah. Golf. Clifton. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you’re

Nestor J. Aparicio  29:19

right around. Mount Pleasant. You get a corner from you. But I would think on your courses because of the openness of it. You will see a wide variety of people but you have regulars for sure.

Tom Pierce  29:31

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We totally totally we definitely have regulars, that people to play all the time. We have leagues. Definitely a

Nestor J. Aparicio  29:36

country club, but it’s open to other people. It’s

Tom Pierce  29:38

up to everybody else, right. I mean, we’ll work with them that if we’ll have like the senior men that play wins every Wednesday morning at Mount Pleasant. So they do that Forest Park. There’s a senior men that to League, but they run it themselves. We don’t run it. We just make sure we’ll block the times for them. Just like if people have outing charitable outings at the courts. They run their own thing like yeah, and they do their own thing but we make sure the course is set up for him perfectly and they can have A great time and it’s all about the camaraderie we actually a couple of years ago, changed it because they used to be all up what you say the first tee, a foursome will go first we’ll go for some will go. And their numbers were going down. So we decided to shotgun them off meaning, you know, depending on they’ll tell us the day before will block the normal amount of time like because the club in Mount Pleasant has about 100 members. So we’ll say, Oh, we’re gonna have 90 Tomorrow. We’ve already blocked it. We’ll put them on each of the holes. They all go off at the same time. They finish at the same time. So they come back have some plans right now. But they come back together and they have the camaraderie. So it’s not just the people you play because they’ll mix them up who they play with. But you get that camaraderie of the club and the group because you’re all finished at the same time. Yes, exactly. And and we found that that’s helped them again, just bringing people together and enjoying it and having fun outside. That’s the best thing. I think it’s like you’re outside just enjoy the weather. If Mother Nature is Mother Nature’s cooperative. Enjoy it with the people you’re with. It’s been a good year for weather. Yeah. April May really wet right away. But

Nestor J. Aparicio  30:58

I mean, winter standpoint, you can get on Oh, yeah, I know. You want to shut down for 90 days because we had blizzards.

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Tom Pierce  31:04

No, it wasn’t those years when like the whole month of February were shut down to like,

Nestor J. Aparicio  31:09

more palatable. 55 degree days in January. We’re like, anybody who loves to play will long pants who want to go out and play not 35 degree day, but like something that might be a little bit more, right. Today is a nice enough day to play in the winter. Right, right. Oh, definitely.

Tom Pierce  31:23

Well, I think we’re a little socio sociology of, I feel we’re creatures of habit that it’s early November. And it’s 50 degrees, people have jackets and sweaters on. It’s 50 degrees, January 20. People have shorts on, right, because it’s been cold, and they’ve gotten used to that cold and 50 just sounds so much warmer than 40 to 38 degrees. And it’s amazing. You’ll see people out there with their shorts planted 5051 degrees in January,

Nestor J. Aparicio  31:50

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you don’t have to ice your clubs in Maryland, like maybe you would have 25 years ago or fly to Florida or fly to play. You’re gonna get opportunities to play in Maryland in the winter. Oh, yeah. In a way that maybe you didn’t 20 years ago? No. And I mean, I think you got to keep the course better for that to Oh, it’s

Tom Pierce  32:07

well, there’s limitations because the grass doesn’t grow. Right. So there’s things we you know, there’s limitations of how well you can take care of the course, when their grass growing. And there’s more times and we’ll try to keep him off certain areas of the course. Because if something dies in November, it’s not growing until it’s dead. Yeah, it’s, so you want to have that setup, right. But I always feel playing in the wintertime, it’s a good, great time to work on your game. If there’s one part of your game, that you’re not doing well, or you feel that you can improve. That’s the time to practice it. Because the courses aren’t as busy. So again, you’re playing so you can you’re not playing late afternoon like you can now you’re playing at one o’clock, two o’clock, even on the weekend, you want to work on those things because the grass isn’t as thick because it’s the wintertime, pot, the greens tend to be a little slower because we can’t mow them as often because nothing’s really growing. So you can really work on your stroke, your tempo, how you’re getting your swing down so that way, it’s just that where they say that muscle memory. That’s where you can build it. Because it is a game that I remember as a kid my parents would say when they’d watch and like Jack Nicklaus and somebody else and my mom would always go, oh, well, they said, This guy’s got like a head cold watch him because he’s not in his head anymore. He’s like, he’s just thinking they just relaxed and I’m just going I’m just swinging. I’m just swinging right? That’s why I think you see a lot of the pros they look like they don’t care. They they’re either really controlled in their mind. So they’re not thinking every little detail. Everything happened.

Nestor J. Aparicio  33:32

They’ve all been trained to think their body is gonna go with their mind, right? If you’re tense Oh, you’re gone.

Tom Pierce  33:36

You’re gone in any sport. Yeah, in anything, but it’s really big and golf. Right if you can, but they’ve got it so good. Now they can even put the tempo and increase it and get that extra power into their game, that it’s hard for an amateur we swing hard that balls going all over the place. They swing extra hard.