Ed Miller of Classic 5 Golf and Mount Pleasant previews the course and field at Augusta for Masters and tells you how and why a golf pro can ignite your game this spring.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
golf, masters, golf course, year, play, golfers, classic, augusta, world, fun, mount pleasant, week, people, maryland, correct, day, ambiance, winter, season, absolutely
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
What about W en s t tell us a little more and Baltimore positive we are positively into baseball season. It’s opening day we’re gonna be doing the Maryland crab cake tour this week. Starting things off in my homeland of Dundalk. its 50th anniversary for the Maryland lottery I’ll be giving these away the instant scratch offs old schoolers will have these Acosta’s on Wednesday, they to have the Maryland crab cake tour Friday morning at fadeless analyzing the market the old market next to the new market. And we’re welcoming a new arena and Bruce Springsteen with an old band with some new members and the Eagles an old band with some new members, and a new arena and opening day and all of that good stuff. It’s all brought to you by our friends when donations 18669 donation, five years 0% financing. They didn’t give me that deal when I got my Windows last year but I’ll tell you what had the windows open this weekend. We had Oriole baseball on we get final for national championship the women are playing local girl doing good things down at LSU and doing the face thing which I didn’t agree with. But it’s also golf season masters among us and azaleas. My wife was out parading with the daffodils here and all the spring flowers. I have a weeping Japanese Willow making pink things happen and we get cherry blossoms. It is golf season. You’ve heard the ads, read your classic five. You know about them because they’re five classic places. And as we’ve done here for a number of years welcoming in the people that know a lot about golf. Unlike me, that’s a little more happy gilmore my pursuits of golf. Ed Miller is the golf pro over at Mount Pleasant if you know him from Forest Park, same guy. Always good to have him back on and it’s golf season. Where are you been hiding? Golf guys, you go running around key with this and said South Carolina dad and hitting the Florida dish and all that. It’s time to get back out local right here. 72 degrees to this week, right?
01:55
Yes, sir. Good morning. That’s true. You’re absolutely right. You know, most of the time, we’re traveling all over the place to chase the warm weather. But honestly, Mother Nature has been pretty kind to us so far. And take the golf season has been off to a rolling start months ago, couple months ago.
Nestor Aparicio 02:10
How many days this winter? Did you have snow on the course where it was unplayable? I don’t mean cold days, but like we didn’t even have any 15 degree days this winter, right? Like we didn’t have anything really horrific at all, like global warming and climate change and all the crazy stuff that’s happening. I would think if you’re in the golf business and how many years you’ve been in the golf business in Maryland
02:32
20 Plus Nestor 2020
Nestor Aparicio 02:34
Plus winters, this might have been a winter where I don’t know you had to shut the course down more than a day or three or five, right? Like school.
02:41
You are absolutely correct. I don’t think we’ve shut it down for more than one day. It’s been a great winter. You know, you’re mentioned about the flowers blooming. I would say that we’ve been cutting grass already for a month. That’s how warm and how nice it’s been at the golf course this year.
Nestor Aparicio 02:56
Well, what does that mean? For somebody that hasn’t played in a while if they’re coming out to hit it? Let’s start with your course. Everybody knows Mount Pleasant in a city and sort of legendary place with a you know, Arnie, Jack, all that stuff. But for what does it mean if you’re a local player this time of year that it’s going to be in the 70s this week that you want to come out and hit the ball? I mean, it might as well be June right for a couple of days. You’re
03:21
absolutely right. And you know in the fact like you just stated that the weather has been so good the golf courses, even though normally this time of year, they’re coming into shape. This year if you come out now the golf courses are already pretty much in mid season shape.
Nestor Aparicio 03:35
Out there no dark dark patches of mess or none of that right.
03:39
No, sir grant, like I said, grass has been growing for about a month they’ve been cutting grass on a regular basis. It’s been pretty nice.
Nestor Aparicio 03:46
Well, I would say for that winter and people to get their game into order, the golf, the golf world if you’re a fan of golf. I mean, we’ve gone upside down since we had that tournament up on the hill, your caves here in Africa, right? Like in regard to the live lives and who’s playing and who’s playing where, but I’ll tell you what, masters are still the Masters, right? I mean, you know, like to kick things off here and talk about how golf begins with their Super Bowl, right? A little bit different, like Daytona used to be a little bit like that too. But But kicking the season off. This is a week where everybody gets their HDL and everybody feels like, let’s get out to the garage, just the clubs off, I’m gonna go hit the ball. And that’s really what classic fives all about, right? It’s not the country club and all that. It’s called on play. It’s accessible for people.
04:36
Absolutely. I mean, we provide the conditions and the ambiance. But you’re absolutely correct. We are the type of place we want you to come out with three of your friends. Have a great time, still challenging golf courses, maybe not to the level of Augusta, but still great golf courses and the weather has been fantastic. So come on out.
Nestor Aparicio 04:54
Well, in the case of following the big boys and we’ll get to some lessons and we’ll talk Like about kids and programs and things going on and what’s going on at Pine Ridge and what’s going on in Forest Park and the other course Carol park all these courses, but for the attention of golf, set the focus for my audience or someone like me, that’s a fly fly over golf fan. Where are we in this sort of winter of discontent in regard to figuring out who’s playing in Augusta?
05:26
Well, I think at this point, you know, luckily, we, you know, they made that announcement about a month ago. But in the way you stated so eloquently, the Masters is the flagship tournament of the tour and the fact that it’s the first big event of the year. It is definitely what starts the season and gets us all excited for golf. It has always kind of been the unofficial start to golf season as the masters and it just is enough to get everybody’s juices going and get you ready. And the fact that they made an announcement a month ago, you know, it’s gonna be an interesting this year in the Masters Nesta when you have the regular PGA Tour players who have qualified, but the fact that they’re letting the 17 live golfers in this year, the field for this year’s masters looks pretty, pretty competitive.
Nestor Aparicio 06:10
So for all the the political, the money, the Saudi blood money, the criminality, all of that that went on the players, the HA Bob, whether the masters will be normal, right? So for after all of this, at least there’s going to be some normalcy of saying, Who’s the best golfer in the world this week?
06:31
Correct? Correct. This year, this this year, the fact that they’re letting everybody play and the live players are coming you truly have the best players in the world. All represented this week at the Masters so it’s going to be fun to watch.
Nestor Aparicio 06:44
And I went to the Emerald tavern the other night see my buddies in the cultivated my buddy Ron West is his own band from my Ridgemont High days. And tequila was involved. I’m not gonna lie. But I got up saying a couple songs you know, had some fun the other night at my old stomping grounds and gave some love to Harvey Meyers who had me at the Emerald tavern 30 years ago, where am I Euler stuff, by the way, I picked up my dad passed areni jersey for the same weekend I was at the Emerald tavern. So I gotta, I gotta throw back here. But so I’m gonna sing to you now and I’ll just say this regrets I have a few. But then again, too few to mention. I had a chance to go to the masters. And I had a chance to broadcast back in 299 2000 2001. So it’s Tiger mania, beginning part of that. And the masters and the Pro Bowl were two events when I was syndicated that because I was afternoon drive nasty nationwide. I didn’t go to the Pro Bowl because I wanted to be at the Ravens parade. We have won the Super Bowl, so I bailed on why I didn’t make it the why for 19 more years. But I didn’t make it though. Why? So I’ll at least I’ve been to Honolulu. I’ve been to Maui once great. I made it. I haven’t been to the masters. Now I’ll say to Augusta, I would say not to the masters. But just to Augusta. I’ve had several opportunities to go to Augusta. When Mike Smith was coaching the Falcons. He invited me down a couple of times is a little bit of like when you coach the Falcons, you have a card, you know you kind of can get in a little bit sure the state of Georgia. I’ve had opportunities to go down there walk the course different points. My mother’s brother lives. Her whole family lives in Evans Martinez. Right there in Augusta. I’ve been to the gates i They lived a mile from the course most of my life, all my childhood. And I’ve been to Augusta five, six times in my life. But because because family I had aunts and uncles that were there, I buried them. You know, I was there for funerals. I was there for when I was a kid like that. But I’ve never been on the course. I’ve never walked it and anyone that has ever for if they were there early in the week to walk around their masters if somehow they knew somebody and got to play or whatever. Give me your story. And I got to have a master story from you because everybody’s got one but I have regrets. What do you have?
09:01
Well, definitely that I’ve been to the Masters myself four times and honestly, you know, from a golfing standpoint, the layout is obviously outstanding, but it’s the it’s the overall ambiance, the healthiness of the golf course the trees. The fans are also very, I don’t even know how you say it, but they’re very educated and they’re very nice. And everybody’s very polite down there. And I would say my man, probably a couple years ago when Tiger came back and he went again a few years ago, that place was crazy. The fan base that followed Tiger, if you weren’t in the front row, you couldn’t see anything and I don’t know I’ve been like I’ve been there four times and and and being a golf having a golf background, the the layout that it’s hard to explain but the hills and the in the it’s almost like an amphitheater out there. But there are certain spots on that golf course, that when the crowds get going in the East It gets going. It is almost like being in a football stadium. There’s about three sections out there that you know and for Bobby Jones and those guys to see that back when the golf course was originally built. That’s one of the things that truly set Augusta apart from other golf courses. The ambiance the like I said the amphitheater on a few holes. It’s pretty impressive.
Nestor Aparicio 10:21
I think for anybody that went out to caves who had never been to a Golf Tour of a modern golf when I bought the golf tournament. 30 years ago, I covered I covered the LPGA fun and I covered things back in the 80s jack Evans trusted me even though I didn’t know a golf ball from you know anything. I still don’t to some degree when it comes to talking to guys like you, but no enough to pay attention. And to see what happened at a cage couple of years ago that the energy of playoffs and and then building these tents in the middle of a billion dollar golf course that nobody can even get on for many years. Plenty of you Baltimore never been to caves. Like plenty people in Augusta have never walked into the master into, you know, into Augusta National. Right. Correct. You’ve been there for for the tournament, right? You’ve been there. Real rounds Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Correct? All four times? Yeah. So you’ve never been there when it’s quiet just to like, lay or hang out or walk around when it’s not ma’am. Right?
11:19
Correct. Correct. That would be pretty neat. You know, it’s uh, it’s pretty wild. But you’re right. I’ve not been there on a normal day, quiet day. So with a would be pretty nice to get the walk. But it’s still very peaceful. It’s hard to explain, but it’s, you know, it gets loud in certain areas. The crowd just seems a little different than it was like, say at the BMW a couple of years ago.
Nestor Aparicio 11:39
So well, I can imagine and also the clientele and people coming from all over the worlds like one of the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness? Yes, sir. It’s just it’s a different thing. I don’t know what year he will be there over Mount Pleasant. Tell me what you do in the real world other than just opine about golf. It’s like, you actually like bring kids in and teach them how to golf and like norm because he did for me show me that I have to hold the golf club, not like a baseball bat. Right. But like a golf club. Doing good.
12:07
Day, you got the interlock grip go and it looks like so you remembered everything norm taught you?
Nestor Aparicio 12:11
Well, I mean, I still my back’s a little left off, but I don’t want to put up more. But for people that want to come out and play and they want to do it the right way. And I’ve had a couple of friends that are old people Billick being one of them and I talk about this all the time that never picked up I saw Bill Hicks when the golf club down in Queenstown 15 years ago, and Carl Poehler and, and Todd heat laughing at him and me, because he’s so big, and gangly and, and old and athletic, and all that stuff. Now he’s playing hard. And I mean, he is a guy that at 65 took his first lesson, and is hitting the golf ball at 70. And he’s out playing five days a week, like addicted to it, Marvin Lewis addicted to golf, like guys that played a little bit and Duft a little bit maybe in the 30s, or 40s, or they’re a washed up athlete, or they were doing something else. This is the time when it’s 72 degrees. That may be my bad My back’s feeling better it really is. Because a yoga is that if I were addicted to golf and needed the play, or like I bowled a lot as a kid, and often things like bowling and tennis and golf right now, when I have a degenerative thing, I just I’m happy being upright and doing what I’m doing. I’m really strong again. But if I wanted to play golf, I would have to come and find you, i There’s no friggin way. I would just go grab at 55 A bag and say, Let’s go play. Give me some gloves like I would need you at this point. If I wanted to go back and play again.
13:36
Absolutely. And, you know, thank you for that. But yeah, that’s, that’s the beautiful part about the classic five is, you know, I wouldn’t suggest that you or a friend like that in the same case to come see a person like myself, PGA Professional. We’re not telling you that we need to reinvent the wheel or sign you up for 100 lessons, but one or two lessons at this time of year to get your season started, right? Make sure you got the fundamentals covered. Number one, look at you and
Nestor Aparicio 14:02
say this is how you’re headed. You’re hitting it wrong your body, you’re gonna hurt yourself. Accelerate yoga class. For me, I love instruction, you know, even 25 years into doing yoga when I’m doing something wrong. I love when you know what I like being seen and watched and looked over. Always have when I was when I was wrestling as a kid I liked I’d liked coaching at that, but I liked it in radio, they’re like, just show me how to get better. Tell me how to get better. You know,
14:28
that’s correct. And you know, the fastest way to help you get better. Also to make sure you’re doing things correctly because we don’t want you to hurt yourself in April you got the whole season coming and we want you to put your best foot forward and play good golf for the rest of the year and not just this one time. So that’s usually the goal of the PGA professional we want to obviously make you get better, but we want you to be healthy and we want you to play more than once. So
Nestor Aparicio 14:54
classic five golf can be accessed that classic number five gaols You hear the ads here, we’re gonna be telling you more doing some storytelling in and around all the majors and made and hey, man BMWs coming back here. We’re gonna have a big tournament here soon in the coming years so that there’s a ramp up for all of this. But in this time of the year, man once the weather gets good, and the Masters is that one thing, I mean, look at my weekend. Let me talk about my week. I’m okay, I’ve lived through a plague. Okay, I’ve been thrown out by the football team illicitly. And like, so I haven’t had a lot of fun lately. Okay, so let me just say this cost us on Wednesday, Maryland. crabcake. Tore 50 years of the Maryland lottery Thursday opening day and I’m not broadcasting I’m just drinking and having fun. doing my thing. I might not even make my yoga class on Thursday night, Friday during the show, fade Lee’s crabcakes otherwise would be fade these crab cake on Thursday before the Oreo game too. I don’t talk about that. But you can meet me there on Thursday, Friday broadcasting Springsteen, Friday night, eagles on Saturday night and then Sunday’s like you know if your golf fan like Ramadan, like everything stopped Sunday afternoon, Masters Orioles Yankees in town, like this is 70 degrees. This is a great weekend, right? I
16:11
mean, it’s like a vacation for you. Right? It’s perfect. Right, sir is as a great week.
Nestor Aparicio 16:17
Well, and I think for anybody that loves golf or loves the tournament, this sets up, give me a little look at where we are, you know, the tiger mania days are over with, but I don’t want to say an Open tournament. But really, it’s always a wild tournament for who can hit the ball well on this course. And you mentioned the hills. You mentioned sort of the the length and the treachery of the course in general that this is this is a weekend to see who’s playing well right now.
16:47
Correct? Correct. That kind of like the old saying that cream rises to the top. But this year, ironically, the PGA Tours got to be pretty excited as they’re the new big three. You know, they used to call Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, the big three but the new big three of a Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and John ROM, all have multiple wins this year. They’re all playing great. And gosh, those guys with their experience at the Masters, I would definitely tell you that I think on Sunday, it’s going to come down to at least two of those three in contention.
Nestor Aparicio 17:22
Well, you know, what’s interesting is the state of Maryland you can now just with your phone, you know, you can you can decide what these opportunities in these short term investments might be. We we would tell everybody wager responsibly but when I think about the sports wagering world and I, obviously talking about and forced to talk about it, and where we are, you know, this is something like betting on a Mac. This is a this is a fun, interesting thing where you can bet a horse if you like, and it just makes it a lot more fun. In for the casual golfer, why not the way you thought about 20 or 30 years ago, you thought about it differently. Or if you’re in Vegas, you thought, Yeah, put some money on tiger on Stellar on whatever. But in the modern world, it becomes even more like a proposition in that way. Right?
18:08
Yeah, absolutely. And not that we want to condone it, but I picked a couple of golfers at the match play. Luckily, one of those two golfers was Sam Burns. And yeah, it’s a
Nestor Aparicio 18:18
with the fact that a new master shirt, I see that it can take a flyer quicker for sure. So for you and people coming out to Mount Pleasant for you, or any of the pros, the classic five just told me the way to do that. Just as simple as calling saying, Hey, I could get in on Wednesday. It’s like getting a haircut like literally, right?
18:38
Absolutely. Well, you got two different ways you can do it. You can absolutely call the golf shop, talk to any one of our staff for the golf pros. Pick the day that you’re free and booked a tee time. Or you can always get on the classic five golf.com book a tee time that any one of the five classic golf courses, or even just book a lesson. Everything is now available online. But the phone call is always the the last resort or the or the safest way to do it. I guess you just call the shop, talk to myself and we’ll get everything straight.
Nestor Aparicio 19:08
All right, that’s for any of the classic five courses all around Baltimore, whether it’s Forest Park, whether it’s Pine Ridge, and by the way, the simulators all of the latest technology available now at Classic five courses, so we’ll be out telling their story all summer long. Always good to have you on. I can. I can almost hear the whistle of the birds. Are they piping that in or is that is that real when you’re there? Do you really hear those birds?
19:32
I’m not there yet, but I’ll be there soon. All right. Well, I definitely real
Nestor Aparicio 19:36
I’m just making sure on me because it sounds fake. It looks fake. But it looks like Willy Wonka, but it’s real. It’s the azaleas. It’s the Masters, Ed Miller can be found over at any of the classic five for our friends. Classic number five golf.com He’s over Mount Pleasant, but yeah, well, we’ll be talking to all the courses. I’ll be getting down to Carroll Park. We get moving around a little bit here as the weather gets better Better opening day crabcake tour fun concerts springtime lacrosse I’m Nestor we are WNS TA and 1570 Towson Baltimore we never stop talking Baltimore positive
