Emotional Tom Whitney remembers late brother Tuesday Press Conference 2024 American Express ©PGATour

Subscribe to the Ten-Golf channel and don’t miss any more videos HERE:
Suscríbete al canal de Ten-Golf para no perderte más vídeos AQUÍ :

https://bit.ly/3GKikWb

✔️ Visita ten-golf: https://ten-golf.com/es/
✔️ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/ten.golf
✔️ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/tengolf/
✔️ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Tengolf
✔️ TWITTER ENGLISH: https://twitter.com/Tengolf_en

#Ten-Golf #PGATour #DPWorldTour #Noticias #Golf #LPGA #LIVGolf

Good perfect afternoon we would like to welcome Tom Whitney to the media center here at the American Express Tom welome you’re making your PGA Tour debut as a member but your second start here just want to start off with some opening comments what it’s like to be at a place

Where you grew up yeah I mean uh I was a little bummed I didn’t get into the field in Sony um and get my year started last week but um the Silver Lining is I get to make my debut here in my hometown in front of Hometown crowd and um I’m

Pretty comfortable at this place got to play here in 2018 on a sponsor invite and um now I’ve earned my way here and get to play as a member as you alluded and yeah courses are in great shape so far um really looking forward to the week

And shortly after you turned Pro after the Air Force you won here in the area what golf course was that and what event and that was um Avendale Country Club a Avendale something in Palm Desert on the eolf tour and um yeah I think that was like

Less than 7 Days removed from active duty um so that was just pretty cool validation of me stepping away from a full-time job with guaranteed promotions guaranteed salary benefit fits all that jazzz um to chase the little white ball and for me to win my first tournament

Out was um yeah validation that I was on the on the right path for the time being like you said played here 2018 but what’s your familiarity with the courses around here and did you come to this event at all as a spectator growing up I

Don’t think uh I I ever came and spectated um I’m not the the most dieh hard fan at home um don’t I’m starting to tune into golf a lot more now that my kidss are getting into it and enjoying watching it um but uh I got to play

These courses through tournaments and I had friends in high school that worked in the cart Barn that would let me out and um but the kind of crazy thing about growing up here in in the valley is uh I never had a membership at any of the

Clubs here um I I gained access through junior golf and scpga tournaments in the summer and uh giving buddies $5 in the middle of July and the cart barn and then get free rain all day um and that’s kind of how I’ve played most of the

Tracks out here in the valley but yeah never had a membership anywhere I’ll have a couple more for you then but I know Larry has some so we’ll give him the mic um if I remember correctly last time you were here you were in a in a rush

You got a late sponsor exemption and kind of had to get here real fast yeah so I had flown to um I think Sunday morning I had flown from Dallas to Miami to play in the qualifiers um for the international corn fairy events so um they they hold

Back-to-back qualifiers on a Monday and a Wednesday and it’s for the Panama and Columbia tournaments and I had just flown out Sunday morning um I think I had finished one of the practice rounds and then Pat reached out to me um Sunday evening um I I mean early here late late East Coast

And um it it it’s pretty funny I remember taking the call and I I didn’t say yes immediately just because initially I was going through Logistics can I get there on time what what’s it going to cost to get me out there I had just flown out here a few hours ago um

And I I remember just telling him like let me let me call you back real quick and I did a quick search and you know it finally dawned on me like what are you doing Tom like this is what you asked for and I knew I was going to say yes

All along but it’s just kind of kind of silly that I didn’t say yes on that initial phone call um and then yeah hopped on a plane back laying over through Dallas straight into Palm Springs on Monday and then um I think I managed to get all three practice rounds

In uh Monday afternoon Tuesday and Wednesday before starting on Thursday so it was definitely a whirlwind when you’re at Lita I mean you’re going to go to the Air Force Academy the Air Force Academy doesn’t necessarily isn’t necessarily the traditional path to the PGA Tour um

And yet here you are on the PGA tour was this something that you did think about when you were in high school or was it something that came after while you were in the Air Force Academy you played there yeah there might have been some glimpses when I was a high schooler but

Um yeah nothing I don’t think I was making any you know long-term golf career decisions at that point um I was just trying to figure out my my life and where I was was headed and uh fortunately got to follow my brother Bob to the academy and uh um I when he was

There and I was finishing up school in in high school um I I had met the team and and the coach and seen the facilities and you know really just kind of fell in love with it and thought it would be cool to at least um at least

Start out there and give it a try and then thankfully after I got there and got through that first year I’d really fallen in love with the place and and really the idea of just being part of something bigger than myself um and um you know a calling if you will of of

Just being part of that that greater Mission and um so that’s how I ended up there still playing golf for them division one School Mountain West um yeah not not necessarily A Powerhouse um but still got to compete with some of the best teams in the country week in

And week out um and you know I think I had five individual titles um during my tenure there I um I had a I had a pretty impressive string of top 10s um either my sophomore junior year and um and my senior year I spent a

Good chunk of time in the top 25 individual rankings and I think it was at that point that I I truly knew like okay I’m going to honor my commitment to the Air Force I’m going to finish that out and then I’m going to give golf a go

Because I I can’t not try and be able to live with myself if I didn’t do it so and now you’re here now I’m here 10 10 years later yeah uh since then it’s been a variety of Tours that you’ve been on um what I did you just play the best

Golf you’ve ever played last year or did it just the breaks went your way and you played that well before um I I think I it it’s a combination of of I’m getting better and more consistent um on a weekly basis but honestly some of the best golf I ever

Played was back in um 2015 when I was on the mini tours um and I mean that’s the the golf I played last year was definitely better than that but in that year playing on the mini tours it was kind of the the the start of the

Decline of many tours in the in the states where the swing thought tour um no longer had you know the $200,000 purses and the money leader being in you know 200 300,000 in his pocket at the end of the year um it was kind of on the

Decline and and I think I uh the money I earned that year with four firsts and four seconds um throughout State opens and and proam and just all the mini tour events I played um the money I earned would have qualified me for a graduating

Spot at number 25 on the web.com list at the time um so so that was again another one of those those moments where I you know I’m not there yet I don’t have the status but I know I’m good enough to compete um keep keep my head down um

Keep trucking along and um yeah spent year and a half on the mini tours then uh ventured down to Latin America and uh spent a year there and um graduated out of the top 10 category and earned conditional um conditional web.com status corn Fairy status and uh and then

Fought for 2 years with conditional status on on corn fairy and and uh I’m probably going to um lean on a lot of those experiences because you know I I’m a status carrying member on this tour um but it doesn’t quite feel you know like

The fully exempt guys so you know I show up to Sony last week and and and start or end up second alternate um in the field by a good bit here but not in not in Phoenix maybe not in Mexico um so I’m going to be I’m

Going to be on the bubble for a while um and we’ll definitely have to lean on the lessons I learned from playing Mondays and and being on the edge of the commitments list um from those two years on corn fairy um and then at the end of

Those two years I fell back down after a bad year in 18 um kind of reassessed my game what I was doing wrong and and focused on my time management Monday through Wednesday and um in a in a lesser capacity so I was I was doing too much work you know

I case in point flying out here I it it was mandatory for me to play to see every single hole before teeing off where a wiser me receiving this invite at that time would probably see one or two of the cour es and maybe walk and

Putt one of them and and save my energy um but that’s just kind of stuff you you have to learn along the way and um yeah and then six years of of learning lessons on on corn fairy in total and and finally made it here we have Todd

Right behind so to the point you just made is being a 34 year old rookie far different than being a 21y old rookie yeah for sure um prob probably lagging a little behind in the in the energy um but Miles Ahead in just the life experiences and um there’s so many

Things that you you can’t learn out here without having experienced it and I mean I’m I’m looking back at a lot of pieces of advice I’ve received from veterans and they kind of went in one ear and out the other and you you don’t really internalize those until you live it and

Uh experience it yourself and um I mean kudos to the young guys that have already figured it out at this at this point but um yeah I’ve learned a lot in my 10 years I I wouldn’t I wouldn’t trade it for getting here any sooner uh

I think the timing is perfect God’s got me right where I’m supposed to be and um yeah just looking forward to entering my Prime wanted to ask you about something else you touched on about being bummed about not getting in Sony and just kind of how a rookie is looking at things

These days on the PGA tour as far as trying to get in these early events so when you were trying to map out your schedule did you have a pretty decent idea of what you’re going to get in and what you’re not and how difficult is

That to just want to play and be delayed in that yeah I think um part of the experience piece is I’ve learned that hey whoever signs up ahead of me is outside of my circle of influence I have no control over that so um I want to

Play in in everything um I won’t get every opportunity but there’s nothing I can do to change that you know other than entering a Monday qualifier or you know that route but I’m not going to dwell on the stuff that I don’t have any control over so um you know that made

Last week a little more um a little more passible and um look at the schedule I mean Phoenix will probably be near impossible impossible to get in Mexico is still uh kind of on the on the fence they’re also 132 and then cognizant is another 144 um

But the PJ tour is in uncharted waters as far as they don’t have metrics on who’s going to play what and who’s going to take what off so um we’re all kind of in uncertain holding pattern and just kind of figuring out as we go can I ask

You about being second alternate how were you sitting there kind of looking at updates on who’s not in and who’s in things like that and how how late did it go as far as you kind of still hoping that you’d be in um I think

I think the Hope kind of dies out um at least after the first wave finishes and you know I’m still holding number two um number two alternate but um I wasn’t going to leave the property until the last group exited because you don’t want to be part of

That story where you know the last two guys got food poison and or you know whatever and they pulled out and Tom’s nowhere to be found um yeah that would I I just can’t even imagine being a part of that scene so um yeah I was at the

Practice facilities just kind of doing 30 minutes of practice 30 minutes a break just um being in the area ready to go and um fortunately I I got some really good practice in that week uh got to do a practice run on the tournament course on Tuesday and off-site pram on

Wednesday I played in the Monday qualifier um and then kind of utilized the practice facilities all day Thursday and then flew home Friday will you be at Tor mhm okay that was one of the ones that obviously bigger field so you’re able to get in yeah so that’s another two course 156

Players so um yeah I should be in by 10 or more does it feel like a lot of pressure to perform when you’re going to get your opportunities because there’s a a lot out there as far as rewards for playing well I I don’t think so um there there was more pressure coming

Here in 2018 on a sponsor’s invite you know um and now I was chatting with my cad earlier today and you know it feels like I belong out here I’ve I’ve I’ve earned my way um to hold this card and I mean Monday morning I’m I’m in bre

Breakfast and JT’s eating with JT is eating with another guy and um I could sit by myself and and be at a table alone or i’ join go join those guys and i’ go join them and meet them and um I mean we’re all peers out here we’re all

Trying to get to number one spot we’re all going through highs and lows and you know we’re going through it together it’s it’s honestly pretty similar to the stuff I learned at the Academy going through basic together um everyone has highs everyone has lows uh everyone needs help from different

People at different times and we’re trying to beat each other but we’re also all trying to get better at the same time um your backstory obviously is kind of known at this point uh people have have mentioned it it’s not like you were making pizzas or selling insurance there

Um are you are you surprised that people know have have learned that story uh about your time in in the Air Force no I’m not surprised anymore I mean i’ I’ve been grinding away for almost 10 years now so um you know I’ve put myself in the in the public

Spotlight or or tried to get myself in that Spotlight for 10 years and um yeah there’s been a lot of fantastic writers that have written on my behalf and and given a glimpse into what my life has looked like in the past part of the Air Force and and the journey afterwards

With um my wife and our four kids and being 34 as a rookie and um yeah it’s it’s cool that um people get to know my my background and how I got to where I am but your background is not like some Tom Clancy movie if I remember you talk talking to

You about this he said 12h hour shifts and they were kind of dull yeah um they were yeah so nuclear missile operator 24-hour shifts with a crew partner eight times a month um and I think in total spent uh around 200 shifts underground um by the time it

Was all said and done and yeah lot lot of dull moments um it’s not a it’s not a sexy job while you’re doing it um and at times can not even be very enjoyable but um I I’ll tell you it didn’t take very long after I separated and and left that

Job and started Golf full-time to to where I I missed it and I completely misgauged what I had and you know you think the grass is literally Greener as you’re entering the career of golf and um man I had it easy people told me where I had

To be when I had to be there what I had to wear how long I had to be there for what I was going to get paid um I pretty much knew what I was going to be fed um I mean all the dec all the hard

Decisions were made for me and I just kind of had to follow a checklist um now going from corn fair to here there are so many unknowns that you just kind of learn along the way um and I mean this is just a an impressive venue three courses um massive Clubhouse great player

Amenities um massive driving range I mean you’re just navigating around this whole property trying to figure out where everything is um where the where the media room is and um beautiful mountains that you probably took for granted the entire time you were here yeah yeah these are

Mountains I I came from Colorado well you’re from Colorado I’ll give you that yeah um yeah it’s uh yeah but now you want to get now you’d like to be known as the the guy who is successful on the PGA tour and not talking about that stuff anymore right

Yeah but you know at the same time uh I I think the reason Everyone likes to stick to that is because there’s there’s three of us in the you know in the modern era of golf that have gone on this J Journey Billy Hurley Kyle West Morland and myself so

Um we didn’t come from a Powerhouse golf school um we didn’t go to you know professional golfy for high school um we served our country and then decided to take a gamble on this career and and I think you know whether you’re a serviceman and you’re reading this and

You can identify with you know just just the drive or or um the the journey or if you’re someone that just thinks well that’s that’s different that’s really cool um so yeah I’m I’m fine that people are are still considering me you know the Air Force guy rather than the the PJ

Tour player because you know that’s always going to be part of who I am before we go back to Todd mentioned Kyle West Morland have you spoken to him about advice on how to attack the rookie season um not yet I uh I was rooting for

Him um final stage man he was so close to to coming back here um in the in the the corn fairy finals category and um know I haven’t reached out to him yet he’s he’s off to a good start in Bahamas and um yeah I’m sure at some point there

Will there will be some questions asked of all right where should I stay this week do you have any Air Force connections at any events coming up that I that I can mooch off of but um yeah that’s I mean that’s that’s the cool thing about um even up at this level is

You know I can still lean on the the 20-year veterans and ask them where to stay where to eat um how to go about things and they’re they’re pretty willing to step in and help back to Todd then Mark can you explain what your underground job was mhm what was it yeah

So I was a nuclear missile operator um that means me and a crew partner were um positioned about 100t underground in a um Personnel Silo um directly wired and attached to our nuclear nuclear missiles so we have three nuclear missile bases in the United States one in Wyoming one in

Montana one in North Dakota and I was stationed at Fu and Air Force Base in Cheyenne Wyoming and um of those 150 missiles uh myself and my crew partner would be in primarily in charge of 10 of them and um you would you would show up to the

Base let’s say on a Monday and Mission plan for two to three hours you talk about expected weather expected maintenance maintenance that happened over the last 24-hour period uh any intelligent relevant intelligence threats or situations um and then just anything else that that can overall affect your upcoming alert then you

Drive out to the site which can be anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 and 1 half hours from the base um everything’s spread out among Wyoming Colorado and Nebraska so it’s a it’s a good sized field um or we call it the missile field uh it’s about the entire complex is

About the size of Rhode Island and um and if you think about it there’s 150 missiles 15 Personnel sites and the base and everything is hardwired underground so just the engineering and planning that went into it um to install these these um pressure sensitive cables and

And and um trenching all that to connect everything it’s a really cool weapon system U so you get out to the site you go underground um and you transfer over with the previous crew get briefed up on everything that happened and then once they’re gone you have anywhere from an hour to three

Hours of just routine checklist items um going through all your daily tests um inventory and everything and and then it’s just whatever is scheduled for that specific alert sometimes you have maintenance scheduled on one of the missiles um sometimes you have retargeting measures that that all the

Crews have to send out um where we change the targets of of where the missiles are aimed based on current intelligence um sometimes there’s just uh um communication systems repairs or maintenance we have to accomplish uh we respond to security situations and so so basically we have like I don’t know,

1500 pages of technical data and as misers we are trained to know how to prioritize what happens and where to look to follow the checklist so um anything that happens to the missile goes through the missile crew uh which I was a part of so uh if maintenance is

Happening if security response is happening if a test exercise fire um underground shocks from an earthquake uh whatever we have to respond to basically we are we’re the go between um between security maintenance um and uh everything else and uh ultimately our our main training

Part of the mission is we are the ones that launch the missile of the president sends the order and uh it goes from the president to us stratcom us stratcom to us so so there’s only one p um one entity in between us and the president

Um if if we are launching a a nuclear missile did that change your life perspective oh absolutely I mean golf golf is just what I am currently doing and and I’m completely blessed to do it um but I I could I could still be

In the Air Force at um at a place I don’t want to be um I Could Be In Harm’s Way I could be fighting enemies um I’ve I’ve lost friends and loved ones in in the armed forces I have friends that are deployed um and I’m here in Palm Springs

With 2 miles per hour win 75 degrees getting paid to play these fantastic golf courses um absolutely out have a different perspective um because you know I I signed up to basically saying I’m willing to give my life for this country and never came anywhere close to

That point but I mean that’s kind of that’s kind of what you’re agreeing to when you uh when you join the military and um just just understanding that like man there’s tough days out here but in the in the grand scheme of things I get to

Play golf for a living I get to represent some awesome companies um I get to do what I love and and pretty much have control over my schedule and um what I do dayto day and so yeah it’s it’s definitely fixed my perspective on life have Mark Tom you obviously have uh

Built some a lot of good relationships um in you know during your time in the military do you still stay in touch with a lot of those guys do they do you hear from them do you text with them and and what what what are their opinions or

Thoughts on what you’re doing now oh yeah I’m I’m in touch with uh with quite a few from all aspects of of my military life um I’m part of a group uh of all of the military golfers on the active duty side um every year uh the Air Force

Hosts an air for all Air Force wide golf tournament and uh the Navy Marines and army do as well and then at the end of that competition um the six members that make make up each of those teams come and gather and play in the armed forces

Event and then the top six players from that tournament represent the US military at the world military championships um and I got to participate in those for four years while I was on active duty and still keep in touch with a lot of those guys

From that group and um I I keep in touch with one of my roommates and and groomsmen um still to this day and and I have a buddy that played on the football team that um we’re still in communication um daily and um yeah I mean it’s the Air Force is essentially a

A massive fraternity that you will always be a part of and uh you know the coolest part is I have the air force behind me I also have all the other services behind me um I mean it it feels like I have the entire arm forces

Rooting for me and um I I think everyone thinks it’s cool that you know I served my time in the Air Force and then you know I I have a skill set that not um not many people have and I think at orientation we were told that only

1,600 people have ever had a full PJ tour card um that’s a that’s a real Slim number um when you boil it down um so you know the fact that I could I could serve my time in the Air Force and then transition over to this job and and have

Success um is is really cool just following up on that any of those friends have they Departed the military and gone on to do something that you’re kind of in order of them you know doing something else in public BL yeah um I’ve had I’ve had some friends that have left

And and started their own companies um I got one buddy John sep he uh he purchased a bison Ranch in Montana and um just the Outdoorsman and me is super jealous and uh his company is go roam free and and and he supports me on on

The snacking side as well um but but yeah I mean he um he he served his time and got out and started pursuing his dream and um he’s had some major successes running this this bison Ranch and now he’s in I think multiple Costco throughout the nation and

Um um another another friend runs uh runs a top 100 security cyber security company in the world and um it’s it it’s really cool to see people leave the military and then go on to do great things um because not everyone is is going to be able to serve a 20-year

Commitment um you know we there’s an understanding that we’re all going to go our separate ways um the 23 grad just won Miss America a couple nights ago uh from the Air Force Academy she um she was crowned Miss Colorado and then just just was crowned Miss America for 2024

Like that is really cool and it’s cool to see that there’s people that have passions outside the military but also the determination and skill sets to pursue full-time careers active duty and be um um be competent enough to keep up their Journey Journeys on the on the side of whatever they’re pursuing

Outside the military as well um so yeah it’s it’s um I feel like I have a lot of fans um from the Air Force side that are excited to see me excelling outside of the uniform and just one more um is there something that you could consider the most challenging part of

Being in in service and then maybe the most rewarding part of being in service in your time in there that might um lend itself to helping or assisting you in your um Pursuit now as a professional golfer um the most rewarding part by far was just having the team around you um

That that was one of the toughest things to to get used to out here um you know you’re in the Air Force you’re assigned to a wing uh which is a base and in that Wing you’re assigned to a a group inside that group you’re in a squadron inside

That Squadron you’re in a flight and you have all those levels of organizations that you’re a part of and um just the team aspect is really tight um it’s it’s uh it’s just a Brotherhood um inside of your units uh inside of your squadrons and uh you get out here

And it’s a very lonely sport or or it can be at times um you know golf is an individual sport um sometimes you got to figure it out on your own um a lot of times you got to bring in uh teammates to help you whether it’s a swing coach mental coach

Fitness coach um but but essentially you’re kind of traveling on your own and and figuring out as you go um so yeah I I miss I miss the Brotherhood of the Air Force for sure um I think that was half of your question what can you ask it

Again rewarding challenging just oh yeah that was one of the most rewarding one of the most challenging Parts um probably just giving up control to the Air Force and allowing them to tell me where I’m going to live and what I’m going to do um I was I was truly devastated when I

Received my initial assignment as a uh as a missile operator in cheyen Wyoming um young young Cadet Tom was when he filled out his uh requests for base assignments put San Antonio and eglan Florida and Phoenix Arizona and um all of the warm sunny places where I could keep my golf game

Up and then um in order to station me with my wife they gave me two hours more north of the academy in cheyen Wyoming and uh I mean there were there was a good amount of Tears shed that night just at the feeling of not being in

Control um not getting what I thought was the best thing for me and um it it’s really one of one of the testimonies of of my faith Journey as well because um fast forwarding and looking back at that chapter in my life um working shift work in nuclear missiles was probably the

Best assignment I could have had to keep my golf game up U because when I was complete with my duty for the day I was I was clean uh uh clear and free to practice golf um on my off time I there was no obligation to sit behind a desk

From 7:30 to 5:30 like a lot of the regular jobs in the Air Force require um especially the service jobs where um you know if you’re in Personnel or Finance you’re you’re Manning the desk in case someone comes up with an issue uh in missiles you work your shift you go to

Your training and other than that you’re you’re good to go um and and we grew up uh or in in Fort Collins where we lived we were surrounded by a awesome new church and and just the the foundation of our marriage was strengthened um living and being surrounded by that

Community there and um yeah so um it was it was challenging to not be in control but at the same time has taught me some great lessons of um I I can make the plans of how I think things should go but but um I’m old enough now

And wise enough now to realize that they’re not always going to go my way and and I’m learning to roll with the punches and just be patient and enjoy where I’m at in the present while we get a microphone over to Doug for the final question um

Sticking with the Air Force theme been coordinating the flyover for Friday what kind of goes into that process of getting that through yeah it was uh it was kind of a doozy not it it was a lot more involved than I expected but there’s an official form

Uh and request that you have to send to Big Air Force um Big Air Force then recognizes the request and then it’s on me to coordinate with the FAA so I had to take that that form and um send it to the Riverside FAA office and get

Approval for them uh or from them and then coordinate with the March Air Reserve Base down in Riverside um who that was the unit that wanted the fly over and um yeah so quite a good bit involved and then um coordinating the best time to do it because we basically

Play Until Dark and the Air Force has rules about flying after dark just for safety and especially being so close to these mountains Hills mountains whatever yeah that’s fair um uh yeah so we we were able to squeeze it in it’s it’s set for Friday um right

After play ends right before the Keith Urban concert um and you know I just wanted to do something cool for the tournament um that’s been so nice to me and and also for all my fellow players you know coordinating this uh I think you mentioned it I’m probably the first

Player that’s ever coordinated to fly over for a tournament I feel pretty safe in sting that yeah um so that’s just kind of cool you know a little way that I can give back and um the unit’s really looking forward to um representing the Air Force and um they’re going to have a

Handful of guys from their Squadron out watching the golf this week and um it’s just cool to bring part of my brotherhood that I talked about earlier you know into the tournament what’s what’s flying over uh I think it’s f16s uh I got to I got to

Verify what um what kind of fire base it is and we’ll take final one from Doug okay hey Tom you kind of answered with Mark’s question um people can make the argument that you can learn a lot about yourself on a golf course would imagine you can learn a lot about yourself in

The military as well just curious as to maybe if there’s one or two particular things that you kind of grew into or became through your time there that you are glad you became because of the military and how if possible that has helped you on the golf course in other

Words take the old Tom add the military experience who’s the new Tom that came out and how has that helped him on the golf course yeah I think one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is just um your your specific sphere of control and stand inside of that and by that I mean

Um you know there’s going to be things outside what you can control and if you let that affect your emotions uh you’re going to be in for a world of hurt and there there’s a lot of things in the military that that are outside of your

Control call it you know call it red tape call it whatever you want um but there there’s decisions that are made at uh many levels above you that come down and you may or may not uh agree with but um at the end of the day we are

Reporting to um specific officers we are reporting to our president and and in my specific job I signed the line to um saying if if I was given a lawful order to a nuclear missile I would do so um and that uh just learning that lesson

Over time I I think has really freed me up and given me a lot of peace out here um just on the dayto day I mean I flew a direct flight from Dallas to here Sunday night and my clubs didn’t get on somehow and um I I would say the old Tom would

Have gone down a a a deep spiral of okay my Monday is now screwed up I can’t I was supposed to tea off at 8:30 my clubs aren’t here they’re not Landing till noon um I’m I’m missing all these checklist items that I had planned to

Accomplish and the new Tom is okay well I guess I’ll hit the new wedges for an hour or so and get used to those um I needed to work on wedges anyway so um you know it’s almost almost a blessing that my clubs didn’t show up because now

I can more intentionally focus on this aspect um just just kind of learning to view things from a different perspective of realizing well if if I let go of control of of stuff that I couldn’t control in the first place well then it’s a lot easier to roll with the

Punches um that’s probably the biggest lesson I’ve I’ve taken from my time there it’s a pretty good one yeah thank you yep perfect um we do have one final one if you want to just come closer just to we can hear you if you don’t mind going on the mic

That we get the transcription is so I I just have one quick question um obviously you talking about being stationed where you were how did you keep your golf game up you said you had time to keep it up how how did you do so because I know not everyone’s living

Here in Palm Springs right now I think it’s probably an interesting piece of advice for a lot of those dealing with a lot of winter cold weather and keeping their games up as well yeah yeah great question so um TimeWise you know I would I alluded to those alerts that last for

24 hours and they kind kind of span over a day and a half um I would on on a really good efficient day if I went out on an alert on Monday I would get back Tuesday around 2:00 or 3 and that would free me up to play golf until sundown

And I mean summers in Colorado it gets dark at 900 p.m. so um and then sometimes I would have multiple weekdays off in a row where the course is empty everyone’s either at work um or you know taking care of real life stuff and I’m I’m at the course by myself and

Have a have free reain over the practice facilities um cold wise for Collins was actually better than I expected um they’re kind of protected by um some of the mountains near them and um it’ll it’ll snow and it’ll be 65 a couple days later and the snow will be gone and one

Cool thing about most courses in Colorado is they don’t shut down um they if it’s warm enough they’re open um so you know a lot of courses kind of on the East Coast where it does get pretty cold you know they’ll shut down for the offseason that’s that’s not really how Colorado

Operates so um I think every year I lived there I was able to play in short sleeves every month of the year at least a a few times um so it was it was better than I expected going into it um and then I I was very blessed to have access

To multiple um clubs out there um when I lived in Fort Collins and uh you know with some indoor facilities to do work and um part of that outside of the my my circle of influence I mean I can’t control the weather so I learned to be

Patient with that as well and if I was planning on working on my game and a snow storm rolled in um then I would just focus my time elsewhere um on something that I needed to get done and I wouldn’t I wouldn’t put so much pressure on myself that oh I’m getting

Behind on my game um I you know I could be productive it’s just okay well I it’s snowing out I’ll do I’ll do something else and when it’s sunny again I’ll go back out there so yep perfect Tom thank you so much for the time we wish you the best of luck

This week and look forward to the flyover Friday all right yeah