Our resident Classic 5 Golf pro Ed Miller joins Nestor from Pine Ridge to discuss the fallout of the biggest news in the world of golf and the local summer scene for improving your game.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
golf, play, money, sport, golf course, lessons, pga, classic, pine ridge, talk, good, players, week, tour, tournament, part, baltimore, starting, live, swing
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Ed Miller
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Weโre gonna look at wn st Towson, Baltimore. And Baltimore positive, weโre positively into the spring. And you know, I mean, itโs crab season, itโs crabcakes season, weโre gonna be at spirits West next week, kick it off this summer version of the barrel of crab cake tour with our friends at the Maryland lottery, weโll have these 50th Anniversary Giveaway. This has been a lucky batch. We had a $50 winner a couple of weeks ago, as well as our friends at WIN donation. 866 90 Nation, Iโm gonna get the wacky hat out at some point that theyโll let me son myself, if I were out on the golf course the classic five I would need one of these right now to make sure a little SPF 50 and newer joins us now. You know, we do sports around here right and itโs itโs the Orioles are really good. And I know youโre into that weโre all into that. The Ravens have their camp go in this week and Lamar is in and obj and Ro Quan Smith stone out the first all thatโs going on. But your golf guy, Ed Miller and this, you know, at a classic five everybodyโs out hitting the ball, who is not talking about what has gone on in golf the last two weeks. I had John Feinstein on this week talking about it. I mean, golf is moved above the fold here, with politics with power. And certainly for anybody that plays the game and what the future the game is going to be. It has been wild to watch this unfold over the last like 24 months.
Ed Miller 01:17
Oh, absolutely. Itโs been wild. And you know, like you said over the last two weeks, itโs really ramped up and gosh, I canโt wait to more information comes out so you can hopefully understand it a little bit better. And whatโs going to happen?
Nestor Aparicio 01:29
Well, letโs weโll talk majors, and weโre going to talk about given lessons and all the stuff that you guys do from Carroll Park, the Mount Pleasant to Pine rail all around the beltway. But the the part where you love golf, and you play golf and your golf pro, youโve looked at this one way forever. Thereโs four majors, thereโs the PGA, they have nice little tournaments over here and I know as a player you played tournaments for money or regional this and regional that, that the structure of golf, aside from the country clubs and whatever racism and sexism that still exist. Peter Paul were from a raven told me he grew up on a golf course he couldnโt walk on, because he was black, in South Carolina, like like just create crazy things that have gone on that golf has allowed. And the world is looked the other way on Augusta on women on all of that. But this is a whole different level of palace intrigue for the sport because I donโt expect an ex NFL or USFL to ever come along and play with the NFL. Major League Baseball is an anti trust exemption. They are a legal cartel, a legal monopoly. Now the NBA is all over the world now. Right? premiership soccer has its own factions and different countries, whether itโs Syria or the league, or wherever, whatever youโre into. But Golf has always had one set of royalty and the PGA where all the money comes from and that from jackin, and Arnold through, you know, tiger, right through all of this, did you ever think anybody would throw I mean, this is clearly an illicit government that kills people like me journalists, that they would have this sort of money and say, weโre going to target golf, and weโre just going to own golf. We want to own golf.
Ed Miller 03:13
No, no, not at all. And, you know, in over the last 25 years, I thought that golf had become a little bit more international when you have, you know, so many European guys coming to America because like you said, the PGA Tour is the top echelon of where you want to test yourself and golf. But it is very interesting to see. You know, I think I read something yesterday that the Live Tour has over 600 billion access money so scary what they could probably do to the world of golf if they really wanted to want a
Nestor Aparicio 03:40
journalist if they want to as well. I had Miller is here. You know, tell everybody what youโre doing right now because so many things about MMA classic five, and we Iโm having you on to talk about majors and and weโll get back into that because thereโs no way to get around whatโs about to happen to the PGA and I think none of us can be predictive of it. But for the sport itself, for people that love to play golf, and youโre gonna be shocked. I spent the day on the golf course up in hayfields. Last Monday, for Mt. Washington pediatric. Thereโs still nothing like a charity golf tournament, seeing everybody go out there play basketball being out on the course all day. People love the game, right? So aside from whatever politics that you may want to participate in or not, or what youโre watching on Sunday, youโre part of the sport is still come out and enjoy the sport, come out and play the sport come out and get better at the sport. Thatโs really the world you live in on a daily basis, right?
Ed Miller 04:35
Yes, sir. Not to steal a line from an old PGA president but Iโm in the business of fun and thatโs my job is to make sure everybody comes out to my golf course as well as our other courses, but itโs to come out and have a good time. Forget about life. We got you for four and a half hours. Letโs go have some fun.
Nestor Aparicio 04:53
Well, the best part is we get on of course where your cell phone doesnโt work, then you really good for
Ed Miller 04:59
me You know, yeah, absolutely. So and weโre into the season now so everythingโs rolling here at the classic five, you know, everybodyโs playing leagues are playing golf schools are starting so break time to start your summer.
Nestor Aparicio 05:13
Hey, the weatherโs participating, right? Like, I mean, so letโs talk about because that can be a little bit of a scientist, okay? Because, you know, Iโm a fake golf player, right? I mean, I play I can play I can hit whatever. But I literally went out for three hours last Monday, middle of the day, first week of June for a great great cause our friends over Mount Washington. Iโm wearing my Rascon global shirt Linda Raskin and i By the way, heโs got a hell of a putting game. He doesnโt drive he doesnโt pick he just puts he goes a pots and pots and pots. And the first thing you see when you get out first thing I think is how in the hell did they get the grass this tight? You know what I mean? Like I I think that on the greens, and then just how fast the greens were. And again, I was up in hay fields the other day just for but you got your five courses. It just hadnโt rained a lot, man and the weather has been itโs been great for baseball. Itโs been even better for golf. Yes, sir.
Ed Miller 05:59
Absolutely. And honestly, the dryness youโre starting to see some of the roughs burn out but as a golfer, we usually donโt mind when the rough burns out as long as we can keep the Greens healthy and maintain it through the season. Thatโs all weโre looking for really
Nestor Aparicio 06:15
well for us open this week and for and Iโm gonna tell buddy, how they can join you if you want to get some lessons with you or any of the classified pros give given the lowdown on the entryway because Iโll tell you what, my backโs a little wonky. Iโm Iโm working on getting it better. But it bothered me after watching people hit clean shots and thinking to myself, I can do that. I know how to do that, you know, like, but if I wanted to do that I would need you. I mean, if Iโm gonna go out and play I, I if Iโm coming back to the game, I need you, right? I mean, you gotta have you gotta have you got to have a pro tip.
Ed Miller 06:49
Absolutely. Well, if you want to enjoy the game, and hopefully stick with the game, absolutely a little bit of a PGA advice to help you as is definitely a positive thing you can do. And you can definitely set all that up in classic five golf.com Come out and book a tee time in any one of the five courses. And just like you said, you needed to know you need to be taught, come out the Pine Ridge. Weโre home of the Baltimore Golf Academy, we can get you started. And well,
Nestor Aparicio 07:13
you got the simulators out there. Right. So the first thing that would be different for me and taking a lesson with you in 2023 the last lesson I had it was it was the it was the the Masters where Greg Norman blew it. I mean, 9596 Yeah. Yes, sir. All right. So um, Iโve had Nick fouled on the show since then. So. So I took lessons down in Glen Burnie and there was no technology then there was a there was a pro looking at me see him. You know why Iโm why Iโm pulling why on hook and what you know, whateverโs happening. I would think at this point, where would you start me? At? First off, where are you these days? Youโve moved a couple of courses on me.
Ed Miller 07:56
Yes, sir. Iโm now at the Pine Ridge Golf Course. Thanks for asking that, sir. Yeah, and, you know, a lot busier. But
Nestor Aparicio 08:02
what I call that I call that driving range close to home, is what I call that.
Ed Miller 08:05
There you go. Good. Good. Hope to see you a little bit more. Now. When people come
Nestor Aparicio 08:08
out. Do they go to the simulator at Pine Ridge? Because itโs available?
Ed Miller 08:12
Yes, sir. Absolutely. I mean, itโs one of the more active driving ranges on the East Coast anyway. But the fact that we have that and you can come play games and get some serious practice. You know, Golf has always been kind of a scientific sport. And like you said, your first lesson, no science, you come out for lessons. Now, you know, obviously, we have video analysis so you can see your swing. But now we have the top tracer that can kind of scientifically break things down a little bit more or less, you know, what kind of path you have or, or how your contact is and stuff like that. So hopefully, we can kind of hit you from all kinds of angles when it comes to a lesson and help you improve faster while having fun with it. For sure. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 08:50
some people call this Fatherโs Day week or Fatherโs Day weekend. Certainly for me being a dad, I hope to enjoy Sunday as well. But you call it US Open week, right? I mean, and certainly for what happened last week. What do you expect in this week, just in regard to fireworks from within the sport. And, boy, itโs messy. Itโs messier than probably anything I can imagine. Because it does. It doesnโt bring out the politics, it brings out the right and wrong and I think it even brings out for people like you that love the sport. When I think of baseball and the Orioles and what Angeloโs and Seelig and Manford at the top of the game and where the money comes from. And for the better or worse. I mean, this year, they fixed baseball, they made the game shorter, theyโve made it better. I think theyโre still working on that and other sports in different ways. But for golf, the games really never changed. Right? The equipmentโs changed a little bit, but this is a completely different thought about the way leadership and where the money is going to come from and whoโs really running the sport.
Ed Miller 09:47
Absolutely. And you know, and honestly the last two majors when other live players were in there and actually competing and you know, obviously won won the last major but uh, you started to already see some of that talk and, and you can go gotta see it in the players like Rory port Rory, when heโs getting interviewed, itโs always about live. Itโs never about his golf. So Iโm sure this week is gonna ramp it up even more at the major. Because theyโre all playing in it. And Iโm sure the questions will be relentless.
Nestor Aparicio 10:14
Well, what did you think when this happened? Did you think it was gonna happen this quickly? That? No, not at all more years years, you know, no way under the American flag and the PGA, would they ever agree? I mean, it certainly felt that way. To me, it felt like, well, theyโre dug in, but theyโre dug in against terrorists who have an unlimited budget.
Ed Miller 10:37
Yeah, yeah, I was definitely worried about that. Some of the stuff youโd read last month, you know how much money the tour really had set aside for that. But youโre right, I thought this was going to drag out for at least the rest of this year. And in the next year. The fact that it happened so fast over the last two weeks is very, very wild. And, you know, itโs gonna be interesting to see when more details come out. Like I know, the poor Commissioner Monahan, he seems like he did a total 180. And I know, half the players see mad at him. And
Nestor Aparicio 11:03
the story keeps asking me about the lawyers, right, the lawyer saying we canโt win.
Ed Miller 11:07
Yeah. And I think they were gonna run out of money based on some of the things that I had read, like you said, the unlimited budget of the Saudis. And the Live Tour was pretty scary. So hopefully, weโll see what happens and see what kind of compromises they make. Because I will say that I think the tour, even though itโs great, and it has great players, itโd be nice to see a couple of those players back and kind of competing internationally, you know, like the Brooks and Dustin Johnsonโs Cameron Smith. I think, if we can get them all together, thatโd be better for the game of golf in the long run,
Nestor Aparicio 11:36
no cost to them, right. I mean, itโs got made whole they got made, they got paid for life, to just sign up with the blood brothers and the Saudis. And now the whole sport is just decided, well bring the money in here better to give it to us and give it to Messi or give it to a soccer player. Right?
Ed Miller 11:50
Yeah. But you know, itโs gonna be see, Iโm sure thereโs gonna be some kind of restrictions on those guys for taking the money. But, you know, itโs more like the guys like Rickie Fowler, who turned down the money. And here is a year later is going wow, I could probably use that couple 100 million dollars. Who knows? So
Nestor Aparicio 12:06
well, meantime, weโd be talking about the snowcapped mountains out in Beverly Hills in the Los Angeles Country Club. And, you know, the beauty of and the pageantry, and they donโt play there a lot like all that will be going on the West Coast, thought about the California Bing Crosby and like all boy, I mean, I donโt know that weโre gonna be talking about whoโs gonna win the tournament so much this weekend, as much as whatโs gonna become of the tournament.
Ed Miller 12:31
Correct. You know, and like you said, itโs a neat course, itโs not like, thereโs a lot of history as far as a ton of tournaments like Pebble Beach at this course, this la Country Club, so itโs gonna be, itโd be nice, nice trip to the West Coast checkout a nice classic course thatโs over 120 years old. And, you know, like you said, though, itโs gonna be a lot more about the live than it is about predicting who the winner is going to be, and so forth. So
Nestor Aparicio 12:53
youโre bringing a major to Los Angeles, right? I mean, they brought a Super Bowl to Los Angeles and Los Angeles one or two years ago, but there is this thing about SoCal in California. I mean, Mr. Cradle golf in Palm Springs, and and, you know, I mean, but that being said, you donโt think of LA and golf much. Nobody says, Iโm going to LA for the weekend to golf. Right. I mean, thatโs not go to California to go fine. But But Los Angeles, that this was supposed to be something that was to be another part of the renaissance of Los Angeles sports in Southern California and all that. And instead, itโs just going to be this the biggest political nightmare theyโve had since OJ was down the street.
Ed Miller 13:31
Yeah, yeah, heโs right. Itโs gonna be really really and like I said, to watch these players press conferences starting today. And how many guys is going to be asked about live is going to be really interesting.
Nestor Aparicio 13:42
Heโs here heโs being asked about live right now. Is it? Has it been the over the weekend, when people come out and play is it the only thing golf players are talking about?
Ed Miller 13:51
It has definitely dominated Iโd say over 80% is really neat. And the interesting part is sitting on the ground level at the golf course itโs a itโs a lot more mixed than you would believe. You know, 50% support the live guys and taking the money and 50% donโt itโs been a pretty wild debate over the last week watching everybody get into it for sure.
Nestor Aparicio 14:11
Youโre bringing blood money into a capitalistic society, right? Like weโre all trying to make the most money we can without compromising whatever it is that we find sacred. Right? And I guess in the case of the golf guys and taking the money or not, I mean, Messi turned down a bunch of money to go play in Miami because he felt like that was better for him. Right and I think it is different when youโre Phil Mickelson and whatever money youโre making is money you canโt possibly spend other than on private jets. I mean, these guys have had a pretty good life from the beginning itโs not like the live people and the Saudis just took crappy golfers and said weโre gonna pay you $100 million dollars I mean, they they really select the guys that were already made guys anyway guys with jackets guys with lots of money, guys that were better for better or worse set for life, right? I mean, all those guys were set for life. Thatโs Whatever the name players,
Ed Miller 15:01
yep, yep. Yeah. And that is true. And thatโs probably the, you know, the hardest thing is a tour fan is the fact that they came in and took big name players that were already established had a fan base in America and itโs wild, you know, in terms of golf to, you know, the tour, Tiger 20 years ago would always get appearance fees to go play overseas and stuff like that. But I think what makes this so unique is the fact that itโs, you know, the questionable past of the live guys and what they do to people and all that kind of stuff. But itโs also the amount of money that theyโre thrown is so much different than what it was 20 years ago, you know, Tiger get a million to go play in a tournament now thatโs fine. But when you start doing one, two 300 million in the rumors of offering tires, 700 men, whatever it was, they offered them. This kind of money is almost like fake money.
Nestor Aparicio 15:47
A billion and a half for Messi. I mean, Messi could have taken the money and come over here and you know, and and bought, bought the lien literally bought bought the MLS. I mean, like, itโs, well, I mean, weโre gonna continue to talk about it, but there is the golf part of this where theyโre gonna play a tournament this weekend. Crown a major amidst all of this does. Ed Miller, meanwhile, is up at Pine Ridge ready to teach you how to play golf teach me how to play golf. So I did wonder this because I did being out on the course Iโm hearing the birds Iโm seeing the birds. Iโm hearing the click of the ball. Itโs really quiet on the golf course. Right. So more quiet than almost anywhere other than being in the woods itself. Other than the sounds of golf balls and carts coming by and having some some beverages. If I were to start again, and I come and visit you give me an entryway like if I were to come there and see you and come see you 10 minutes or 10 minutes away from where and I stopped buying say all right. backswing screwed up trying to pick my game up played a little putt, putt down Ocean City. Where do you put somebody in? Do you start them on? simulator? Do you start them saying let me take a look at what youโre doing and what you got? Let me see your clubs. What are the questions you ask for a 55 year old guy that says I want to come back and start to play golf again?
Ed Miller 17:08
Well, first thing is definitely to double check your physical capabilities, see what kind of injuries you have. Make sure that we you know swing within limits of that number to definitely check the equipment out. See what you have see what we need to modify or change. Thatโs the other neat thing about golf now too. We can customize clubs or even existing clubs to match your height, your swing speed, that kind of stuff to just make sure we give you the best tools to succeed. And then we will slowly work our way over to that top tracer driving range. Take a few swings start to assess your athletic kids want to get there first, right? Yeah, kids always and hectic starting next week, we got Jr camp. So thereโll be kids everywhere out at Pine Ridge. But yeah, we take you there we assess you for about 1520 minutes, and then weโll come up with a game plan. You know, how many days week do you want to play Nestor all that kind of good stuff and present a nice game plan to get you going. Because ultimately, not that we want to, you know, we donโt want you to take 100 lessons. But we want to give you enough lessons that we know that weโve given you the best chance to succeed on the golf course and have a good time because ultimately, thatโs what itโs about. If youโre having fun, youโre gonna keep doing it. If youโre not having fun, youโre not going to do it.
Nestor Aparicio 18:14
I saw the guys in the cart over on the night Hall. You know, trying to find the ball. Yeah, thatโs not fun. Thatโs not fun.
Ed Miller 18:22
Well, you know, thatโs you just you take extra balls, and you drop one out of your pocket, take a penalty move on that kind of deal. But you know, thereโs always obstacles on the golf course. And you know, Pine Ridge, we got a lot of water a fields, they got a lot of that love grass, you know, so every course has their own challenges. But the more fun you have, the more youโll keep playing it. But I would also tell a guy like you with a bad back. As long as we swing within ourselves and we do the right things before and after golf. You can play golf, you know, you might not be able to swing like say Tiger Woods in his prime. But you can go out and play golf. Iโd invite you out at Pine Ridge on a Monday and watch our senior group play off. And I can promise you that physically youโre youโre in good enough shape to where youโd match at least half the guys in that group.
Nestor Aparicio 19:06
I went out took three putts last week and it was moving too fast for me and I had picked up a putter since I donโt know Ocean City, you know, 2017 or something like that. So I havenโt picked anything because I put them up back at 19 Itโs been a mess ever since so. But Iโm trying to hold it together. And I am holding out hope that Billick has picked up his game at 65 and started to play golf every day of his life that there that it was nice out on the course last week. I want to tell you that you know, itโs like The Godfather, they kind of want to pull you back in to get competitive every once in a while, right?
Ed Miller 19:40
I mean, Iโve always said that. Thatโs why Iโve loved golf. You know, you get four hours out in nature. Itโs beautiful. Itโs quiet, itโs peaceful and then you get four hours with hopefully some good good company, your friends, family, whoever youโre playing golf with. And thereโs nothing like it. Honestly, itโs a great break in the week today. Whatever it is youโre doing. Golf can be a lot of fun and in As we get older, not playing basketball, not gonna play tennis anymore. So Golf I can physically do you know, kind of keep it within a certain limit. But golf is one of the things that you will be able to do until weโre 90. Thatโs
Nestor Aparicio 20:13
next weekโs lesson youโre gonna have to teach me not how not to be a jerk on a course with a with a cart. So where Iโm allowed to go next to greens and like, Iโm always afraid when Iโm gonna go I feel like a visitor that doesnโt like like, Iโm the guy from Dundalk. You know, Iโm afraid of breaking the glass, Iโm afraid of like doing something wrong, you know what I mean? So Iโm, I just I am on my best behavior. I always feel like Iโm wearing the wrong shoes. Iโm wearing the wrong shirt. I feel like Iโm not you know, so youโre gonna have to dress me up when it comes out. So I donโt make a fool of myself. I had met where can be found over at up at Pine Ridge part of the classic five whether itโs a Mount Pleasant or Carol park or forest park wherever you happen to be, check them out a classic five golf and make sure youโre out taking lesson make sure youโre out swinging it and this week and if youโre watching the US Open from the Los Angeles Country Club, and itโs and it reminds you like hey, I want to go play and drive go see Ed go see your friends at Classic five and leagues right so any opportunities to get involved in that or is that
Ed Miller 21:11
a couple of weeks might have reached their their limit but man we have leagues for men leagues for women. We have mixed leagues and then like I said you have kids for the summer house nothing to do Junior camp start next week itโs time to get everybody involved letโs letโs enjoy the next three months and letโs go off
Nestor Aparicio 21:27
alright man, just stay off the beach and letโs itโs the kind of beach I plan to be on. You know, they added to say a traps. So a lot of that going on last week as well. And Miller can be found at a classic five golf. They are our partners. We talk about them all the time and in the golf space as the weather gets better. Itโs been perfect golf weather and certainly a perfect storm of politics and money. And just a mess with the PGA PGA and the live folks will be assessing that John Feinstein joined us for a long long, a good walk I should say out on all things PGA so make sure youโre checking that out of Baltimore positive as well. I am Nestor we are wn st am 1570, Towson Baltimore. And we never stopped talking. Oriole baseball, ravens football, a little bit of golf and Baltimore positive stay with us.