Taylor Moore with Gary Williams

Taylor Moore dropped by the 5 Clubs studio to join Gary Williams in person in advance of the Wells Fargo Championship to talk about his career to date. They dove into his lifelong love of sports and baseball, his Arkansas Razorbacks and about his contemporaries on tour. They talked in length about his experience on the Canadian Tour and his more recent success on the PGA Tour including his work with coach Josh Gregory and the improvement in his mental game since working with Sarah Taylor. Moore also shared the scary story of his collapsed lung and the impact that made on him as he continued to chase his professional golf career.

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[Music] welcome into this five clubs conversation I’m Gary Williams there are a lot of guys that are right around 30 that you can look at and go yep yep jelen Thomas and Jordan spe and Xander shafley and Daniel Berger Patrick Rogers Taylor Moore Taylor is somebody I saw when he was 16 years old and I said to myself you know what this guy looks like a tour player well he is now and he’s won on the PG G tour his journey the obstacles the progress the success everybody’s ride is different we’re going to find out a lot more about Taylor Mo coming up right now [Music] in this Split Second your hands make all the difference it was time for a grip to help them own the moment introducing reverse taper technology destabilize both hands for a more Square putter face at impact the most important Split Second in golf reverse taper only from Golf Pride respect the grip with that here he is Taylor Moore how are you my friend I’m doing good thanks for having me on well you look a little conflicted because you have John Calipari but you also have Zeke back with the Cowboys now you’re a big sports fan so let’s let’s let’s try to digest all this as an Arkansas Razer back the whole cow thing when that starts like the rumors where’s your head yeah that’s a great question um I was very excited to get Coach Cal once I you know realized that uh coach mman was leaving and going USC and then I quickly realized I think just as Coach Cal that we didn’t have a roster so it’s like we have zero players at the moment and uh obviously a big time coach coming in so I knew he would figure it out but definitely excited to have Coach K you know on the hill there in faille the um the reason I asked you that is one because I know you’re a h sports fan and you love Arkansas having having gone there but for someone like yourself when I have the chance to talk to to people who doing this pursuit of playing golf professionally um balance is an interesting word um and and trying to leave jobs behind I don’t care what you do it’s hard to leave work at work at times um has has your journey to this now at the age of 30 have you you found what you think is balance in your life for sure yeah it’s been a obviously a a recipe of trial and AA you know right to try to have that OnCourse off course balance and um yeah it’s taken taken a few years to get there but I definitely you know Sports is a big part of it it’s my getaway from golf which you know it’s still sports but um yeah I enjoy all kinds of you know Sports grew up playing a ton of baseball and um you know it’s it’s just fun for me to see other athletes compete at the highest level as well you know I saw you met you when you were a teenager at the junior Invitational Sage Valley 2011 Sage Valley exactly and and first of all I mention your age you’re part of you know your contemporaries it’s a hell of a group uh you’ve been butting heads with with guys like Justin Thomas and Jordan spe and Xander shafley and wendam Clark and Daniel burger and I can go on um but I remember thinking myself after seeing you and and almost all those other guys I could add mat Matthew n Smith uh Robbie Shelton all these guys that that were the best of the best and I left there honestly saying that kid you because one you look like a tour player when you were 16 like you you your your clothes were ironed um you you presented yourself in a way like you knew what you wanted tell my mom that she’d very be very happy to hear her that when did you know one that you wanted to do it and then when did you know that you thought you could do it I fully made up you know my mind I wanted to pursue golf at the highest level I think after my freshman year high school because I was still kind of teetering with the idea of playing baseball at the Collegiate level and um you know that my you know first love and so I think after my freshman year of high school um when I fully committed to golf that’s you know where all my attention was and then I would say maybe a little bit later I realized you know playing events like that against you know competition like that with a bunch of great players in that 2011 High School class and you know my class as well in 2012 that um you know I saw some signs that I could do it at the professional level and um really just wanted to keep growing and learning as I got into college um about myself and and my game Taylor I think that that the talent is primarily innate I think that you know you you have talent and then you refine that Talent um into skill what came first for you the the skill or the competitiveness were you a hyperco competitive little kid absolutely you were hyper competitive like give me an example of things that you got pissed off about if you did not succeed I mean we played a lot of ping pong growing up hated losing in that with buddies and friends pick up basketball was a big part of my childhood whether is in you know the driveway or um you know after basketball practice we would roll out the ball and play more so um yeah I was hyper competitive I had a great friend group you know where I grew up there in Edmund uh we kind of all did everything together and um you know sports-wise super competitive so I think um it was built into to me you know from a young age but also even exuded you know through through my friend group in high school and um just all the all the things we did there the um the the friend group I I love my friends who were my my best friends as a kid um and there were I could I could I could give you the list and and specifically the ones who were just you know as good as as anybody at most everything was there somebody you’re kind of smiling yeah was there who was it what’s his name uh Jordan Thomas yeah yeah he was kind of the one that um he did a little bit of everything actually besides golf he was a terrible golfer but he did everything else at such a high level when we pushed each other and he’s one of my best friends too and um yeah Jordan Thomas was was kind of my guy the um you mentioned your class of 2012 and then the 2011 class I mentioned some of those guys did you start measuring yourself against some of these guys and and if you did who I think that 2011 class you know just being a year younger I kind of put a chip on my shoulder right of like you know you hear about obviously Justin Thomas and Jordan spe and Daniel burger and Patrick Rogers and um once I started getting myself into tournaments where I was playing against them it’s like obviously they’re great and you know they’re going to do great things in this game and at the next level in college but I want to go show them who Taylor Moore is too so I kind of put a chip on my shoulder a little bit and tried to you know mix it up with them as best as I could at the time and um I thought it was great great learning experience for me did you um and and maybe you still do this um as far as measuring yourself I I there’s a there’s a line that I’m a big believer in that that that comparison is a thief of joy that it’s one thing to understand who your competition is it’s it’s another thing to get wrapped up in looking at where they might be in their progress like to me yeah you’re running a race but it’s your race and the point is to just keep running sure and wherever you are at a certain mile marker did you ever fall prey to comparing yourself uh to others that it caused frustration I think yeah a little bit you know I think I was guilty of that when I was on corn fairy because I had some you know friends and buddies and um guys I grew up playing with that were already on tour and I was on corn fairy for you know four seasons and in 5 years and I think you know it was a pivotal moment for me just to really Embrace where my feet were and you know I’m on the corn fairy I’m here right now I need to you know be fully present here in order to take that next step on the PJ tour so yeah there’s been a few times throughout my career where I definitely have maybe fell victim to that the um the the the process of transitioning from college to professional golf I’ve always said this like like the PJ tour and and what you now do because of where where you’ve ascended to it’s a TV show professional golf is corn fairy tour it’s it’s playing golf in Canada it’s PJ tour Americans I mean that that’s that’s Pro Golf that is you know what I’m I’m going to go through this drive-thru I’m trying not going to eat like [ __ ] tonight but I probably am anyway and I hopefully I can get my dry cleaning done and it’s not being done for me and I don’t have free daycare and there’s no tricked out Courtesy car that you got you’re now part of a television show which is the PGA Tour did you ever find yourself going God really I mean this is what it’s going to be a a little bit yes but also at the same time I was just so excited to be playing professional golf right so I was yeah I was I was fully into like this is my journey get to PJ tour and I’m just going to you know embrace it I really like you know I didn’t my journey is a little different cuz I didn’t like I’ve never played a mini Tour event so I went from National Championship in Oregon my senior year straight to PJ tour Canada finished third on that money list went to the corn fairy tour that next January so I never had like the hu School mini tour you know side of professional golf which a lot of people as a part of their Journey to the yeah right do so I never like Canada corn fairy I spent a decent amount of time on corn fairy but I know ultimately worked my way on tour the the Canada experience did you like it I did yeah it was my first test of professional golf and I think I really liked it because I finished second my first event so I got off to a good start there and um yeah it really taught me it was my first you know trial of traveling on my own playing four rounds of golf having a cut like you know there’s some amate events that had a cut you know Western am and USM and things like that but yeah I I really enjoyed it um had to learn how to be a pro really fast and and a different foreign country as well so it was yeah it was did you um if I asked you to name some of the places some of the golf courses that you play could you name them can name a couple more of the towns like I loved Colona British Columbia I thought it was the coolest town you know I visited while while I was there um yeah were the golf courses any good there’s some good ones yeah uh I won in Thunder Bay obviously bias but I thought that was a really good golf course and you know a lot of places where like maybe older country clubs in the town um not really big ballparks but there was a few like Thunder Bay had some you know longer par fours and challenging part fives and had appreciation for that place for sure but um yeah maybe not specific golf courses but so so if I said to you as a baseball player that you were because I find it interesting when guys who are great college players where they enter professional baseball and in the SEC where you played golf similarly with baseball um you know some of these guys may play some rookie Ball but you know in knowing something about that system in terms of that the highest Talent entry point what was Canada like if I said to you the talent level there it was average what was it I would say maybe similar to baseball be like double A or you know High a ball would Beall yeah and then I would say you know Triple A is kind of the Corn fairy level and then obviously PJ tour and MLB lineups so yeah I thought the competition I mean it was good and I traveled you know Matt neith is a great friend of mine and he played at South Carolina the same time I was at Arkansas and we went straight to Canada together and roomed a little bit and then um Taylor guc who played on tour for a few years and as Oklahoma boy he was out there the same time I was so like we had some guys you could absolutely absolutely yeah and a guy that year Dan McCarthy won four times in 11 events that I was out there and I thought he was the greatest player in the world like why people talking about this guy no no see here’s the thing Taylor is that I find this stuff interesting that you see people and and you’ve seen Elite Talent since you were 10 years old was he the guy that you looked at I mean I’m talking Talent winning is great and it’s a skill it’s the most important skill then you went this guy’s gonna make it did you think he would make it Dan McCarthy yeah talent-wise probably not okay yeah was there someone you saw there that you’re surprised to today that they haven’t made it anybody did your memory you go that gu that guy was good more of my age like Max rutli was a okay I thought Talent off the charts and um had a you know really good college career Arizona State he was my age um but like Aaron Wise finished fifth in that points list and like wow I just played with him you know the National Championship in Oregon at Eugene Country Club and he was a duck and like I and he’s won onour yeah and like he was a great player super talented I was like this D is the next like tiger of art class coming out I just thought the world of him at the time so how about how about accommodations in Canada like where were you staying what what what are we talking about yeah host hotels I mean similar you know a lot of uh like Fairfield in yeah entry level Marriotts right Spring Hill Suite Fairfield like um you know sometimes they would have like their downtown kind of Convention Center where we’d stay and we’d get shuttled out to the you don’t have any nightmare story of any place that you stayed when you were playing in Canada like one place this is horrifying not really nightmare accommodations yeah I thought everything was pretty you know smooth sailing up there um I’m trying to think like weather a little dicey sometimes but also it’s their great time of year in the middle of the summer basically June July you know kind of August so um yeah no nightmare accommodations no we found our like four to five spots to kind of eat in each City too right they have kind of like you know the keg Cactus Club kind of things like that so there like Chili’s and Outback I guess comparison here for us is an Outback in every every city every corn Fairy St I can promise you as we found it uh so you mentioned Matthew n Smith how important did you think it was to have a buddy someone that you could count on conversation I I just you know look it’s a great Pursuit it’s you know you’re early you’re ambitious you’re enthusiastic but to have somebody that you could count on to have a meal with sure um how valuable was that just have some comfort too right you Matt and I like I said go way back till 15 16 years old and we’re traveling on the junior circuit and then um you know rooming together in amateur events in the summer when we’re off from school and yeah I think just have that Comfort level and you know playing practice rounds together trying to figure out the golf course together um try to take a little bit of that you know team aspect we had in college and implement it a little bit into professional golf obviously knowing Thursday comes around we want to beat each other but it’s same time having prep and dinner and things like that was was a nice nice start what when you got to the PGA Tour was there anything that did surprise you you know Golf Course wise I thought you know watching every kind of place on TV over the years nothing really Golf Course wise surprised me except maybe a few of the majors in Augusta but like just the overall infrastructure on what goes into a Tour event like there extraordinary it is insane like outside the ropes like obviously on TV on camera you’re seeing the golf right and then when you’re actually inside the ropes playing golf and like just the busyness of what’s going outside it maybe a little bit of an adjustment but like there’s golf carts everywhere it’s a full on production there’s tents and you know everything I thought that was like a little bit just shocking when I first got into my you you you know you you you drive into these facilities in a courtesy car you pull up to to essentially the you know the locker room with the ballet you get out there’s an insulation that that players feel to the experience and the truth is I don’t think there were a lot of guys who played for a living they may have gone to a tournament when they were like I don’t know a teenager but you probably haven’t attended an event as a fan when was the last time you went to a golf tour as a fan like to the magnitude of what you’re talking about um we in college we got a writer cup experience we played Olympia field and college and we got to go to the rder cup which was really you know fun and unique um so in 2012 yeah 2012 Madina oh you were there yeah I was there what day were you there we were there the we got to go the First first day cuz we played before so we got to go see the first round what what okay I I I think it was the day before Rory showed up you know or was that singles that Rory that was singles singles I was walking with him he and McDow played they were paired together on Friday morning day one um playing snaker and Jim furick um and and Madina as you know Madina is a huge piece of land and three golf courses and and just it’s it’s massive to begin with the enormity of the Ridder cup I don’t think people understand like just to as a fan if you do it as as a common fan so to speak what you see before you see a golf shot is a city a city that has been built uh what what about that particular day stands out beyond the fact that it was massive yeah just atmosphere atmosphere yeah it was I mean coming from a baseball Sports background I’m like I’m at a game like I mean this you’re at a game yeah like I was at a game the crowd’s going nuts USA this Europe that like it was unlike any golf tournament I really had been to before so I thought the atmosphere of the crowd the the player crowd interaction I thought was unique because um you don’t really see that in any other golf tournament um so I thought that was definitely unique and then anytime I could see tiger tiger in person was was pretty special had you you had seen him before in person right yeah first time was uh 07 PJ championship in Tulsa I grew up about an hour from there and um sweltering oh my gosh fans are dropping left and right players are like yeah trying to hydrate it was now were you there the day that he lipped out for 62 I was that was my first like um you know real real memory of what obviously watching him live but like yeah that was really my first golf tourament I got to go to as well so that was very special moment you know for me and my dad to be able to watch that um he had kind of been going my dad had been going throughout the week to practice rounds and hosting you know some clients and stuff and then I got to go Friday and when he livt out I was was insane yeah you know you’re I I believe that your generation uh is the greatest Generation in terms of the one that he spawned and it’s that that guys who were younger than you were not inspired by him but these younger guys didn’t see him at height of his powers like doing things it’s not just winning it was like his impact on Sports and culture oh absolutely so so you know at that time in 2007 okay so 17 years ago you were a 13-year-old kid I mean that is I can remember when I was 13 it was it was it was it was Reggie Jackson I mean it was Earl Campbell it was guys I’m like oh my God these are deities you had to feel that way about tiger yeah absolutely and I mean if it’s probably you know if it’s not for a tiger I’m probably playing baseball or you know trying to trying to play baseball at the Collegiate level and then yeah go from there I mean he to your point of sparking the Next Generation spawning the generation of golfers I just think a lot of athletes at the junior level Junior sports level found golf really really cool at that time so maybe where they’re playing other sports baseball basketball you know whatever they’re like man if I can do what Tiger’s doing I’m going to go try golf especially where I grew up it was a big deal yeah the um so you know you get to the PGA Tour adversity is it comes in all forms it could be it could be personal issues uh it can be physical and you dealt with something that had to be scary as hell because I’ve had a few things happen in my life that I wasn’t I didn’t know what was going on physically um and it’s it’s one thing to fall and know that you broken your wrist it’s another thing to be dealing with like abject pain and not know what the hell is going on the collapse lung uh take me through like the before you knew what it was like what what what happened well we had a month off uh of our corn fairy season in the early spring and so uh was living in Dallas at the time and we shot out to Scottdale to get some practice in and chase some good weather and so yeah I was out in Scottdale hanging out practicing for a few days with you know Kevin dhy and Brock McKenzie and a few guys um yeah and last the night before I was supposed to fly home up all night food poisoning Sy symptoms just like kind of going through it and that next morning I’m still not feeling great so I moved my flight back a couple hours and I’m like still fighting a little bit of nausea and I’m just like trying to find the close to CR cuz I want to get home so I’m like I’m just going to go get some nausea medicine and um you know see see what they have to say and hopefully get on a plane this afternoon and go home and uh ended up being in that hospital for 3 days with a tube inside of my chest and lung deflated and so were you did were was was your breathing impaired were you struggling to breathe that was the oddest part about it I didn’t have any sharp chest pain I didn’t have any shortness of breath um so I had no like symptoms of so how did they find out what did they just take a picture of your chest or well so yeah sitting there in the hospital and um and it came up in one of the tests that they were doing just their overall scan and they were like you know we think we want to image CT scan um your chest and abdomen area and I was like I really think I’m just sore from throwing up all night I think that’s what led to it is I complained of a little bit of abdomen like but I’d been up all night obviously throwing up and so they ran the CT scan and I just I’ll never forget the nurse around in the corner scanning hand he’s like uh yeah you’re going to need to make a couple phone calls you’re going to be in here for a few days and I was like excuse me like so I’m not getting on a plane tonight he’s like no shot he’s like you’re actually you need to be very very thankful that you didn’t get on that plane cuz it wouldn’t have been good cuz you’re long as 50% collapse right now wow so that was uh yeah crazy I’m getting kind of chill as telling it again yeah did so does that does does hearing that because you didn’t get on the plane were you relieved because you knew what it was and also that you didn’t get on the plane so it didn’t it didn’t scare you more did it no and they being in that profession I guess they kind of see everything right so they were very calm and had some normaly like yeah it’s almost unnerving how calm they are they’re like this happens from time to time you know males 18 to 30 low body fat like this and that cone shaped lungs versus square like really yeah that was the whole thing like lung shape and low percentage of body fat I’m like at the time I’m like dang I knew I should have that cheeseburger I need to get a little bit of weight on me but um yeah so Mom and Dad flew out to to Scottsdale there you know spent a couple days ran some more tests and there’s a couple I mean that’s not even the entirety of the story right so I drive back from Phoenix to Dallas uh with my parents because I can’t fly yep and do some follow-up tests three or four days later which the doctors in and Phoenix recommended so I go in for um a follow-up appointment and my lung had collapsed again wow straight from that doctor’s point straight to the ER did you were you feeling anything physically no I had that was the oddest thing I had no like that’s scary yeah it was the odd like holy crap kind of like what’s going on and uh yeah so I ended up having surgery about two days later to permanently fix the issue and have had no issues since and since then we think it might be somewhat genetic um my brother who’s four and a half years younger than me he’s at dinner with my parents about 6 months after my incident in Arizona and he’s complaining shortness of breath and of course my mom and dad are like oh we’ve seen this before his lung collapsed six months basically the day after mine um so we’re like we chocked it up to some sort of genetic that maybe we didn’t didn’t know but um yeah that was that was a really absur scene time that that’s crazy so did your brother have the same procedure that you did so he his lung inflated back up with the initial tube and stuck to the lining of the lung and he didn’t have to have surgery mine just wouldn’t stick to the lining and so obviously with my profession and um you know traveling a bunch that was kind of the the surgeon comes in and he’s like what are your thoughts on your career I’m like well I’m working my way to the PJ tour what do you mean like he’s like are you sure you want to do this cuz like if you’re going to keep traveling like you need surgery now and it was kind of like that life decision like he’s like if you were somebody that you know 9 to5 didn’t travel much like you probably wouldn’t have to have this procedure but if you really want to get to the PJ tour travel and play like you need this done in the next 48 hours it’s like okay like guess this is what I’m going to do W so uh I I’ve got to ask about this drive with your parents from from Phoenix to Dallas okay how many hours is that that’s that’s a long drive 15ish okay so you are you’re an adult and you are now back in a car with your parents on did you ever do any long road trips as a kid with your family yeah we did a few you did between baseball and golf did did you did you break up the 15-hour drive or did you go straight through we drove yeah we left the hospital in afternoon I believe we stayed in El Paso okay for a night what was okay so were you in the back seat and your parents were was like oh my gosh you’re yeah exactly 100% my dad’s got classic rock going my mom’s sleeping and I’m like trying to figure out what I’m going to do so it was yeah yeah it was a definitely a throwback at the time well it’s funny that you say classic rock you like Leed Zeppelin oh yeah okay you like Blue Oyster Cult yeah okay you were born at the wrong time I was in the wrong era my first concert was Journey heart and Cheap Trick yeah you’re kidding me is that because of your dad oh yeah yeah big classic rock fans and uh yeah how old was your dad uh 59 okay oh he’s right in the wheelous man born in 65 grew late 70s early 80s like oh yes that was huge yeah that that’s that’s fantastic um The Voice in your head um you have to find your own voice but you also have to find somebody that you respond to and that’s where I want to get to Josh Gregory here um because look there are a lot of people out there pedaling their Wares that that I can be your guy you know you look up and down the range and it’s like my God God there are a lot of guys out here right physios and and mental coaches and instructors um in the era of the instructor um like instructors are stars now people know who they are they have their own podcast they have their own television shows um why why was Josh the right guy at the right time for me it was just finding a like a coach because that’s what I responded the best to so my dad baseball you know coach growing up high school college level and so I’ve always responded well to more coaching um yeah and Josh came into my life and my career at a great time and um really from day one preached this mindset of we’re just going to get better today and then we’re going to you know come back tomorrow we’re going to get better tomorrow and he’s like I know you’re not happy with where you’re at right now and I know there’s certain parts of your game you want to get better at but he’s like I promise this is going to work he goes I’m a coach at heart I’m going to be with you you know from start to finish and I said all right let’s do it so it’s been a just over four maybe 5 years now yeah um you you had you had an interlude with sha Foley sea is a worldclass instructor and absolutely wildly interesting person uh to to boot um why did you go to Shawn in the first place I was seeking just some help in my golf swing from the technical side I had you know I wanted another opinion about what I was doing and a lot of it too was just learning um you know that was after my fall season my rookie year so a lot of it was learning um um you know how these golf courses reacted um from like a firmness standpoint and I was really like craving some height in my long iron did you see something on a golf course maybe in the state of California that affected you yeah Palm Springs final around my rookie year uh playing with with Justin Rose and uh you know we’re hitting similar distances coming into some of these greens and he’s hitting and his his Ball’s stopping 10 to 15 ft and I’m 15 yards on shipping and I’m like okay what is going on and reflecting I’m like not enough height not enough spin for firm places and so yeah and and at the time you know it kind of lined up um in my head and you know with conversations with as well people on my team like um you know Shawn is very close to to my Cairo and PT Craig Davies and you know I assumed at the time like it was just going to be this smooth sailing relationship because there was so much alignment with you know how my body moved how I SW the communication with Shawn and Craig and um you know unfortunately it just didn’t work out but I I think there was a lot of good intention and like you said Sean’s a great great person um great teacher has a has a lot of uh brilliant you know ideas and stories but he’s uh he has ideas yeah he definitely does but um yeah and you know I was just trying to get better it was I was trying to get better I was trying to learn I was trying to you know add some things to my Arsenal that I thought could you know help me contend and win more out here and um yeah it was it was great learning experience for me you know Taylor there was a story that Steve alington shared with me early in Tiger’s career he was paired with them at the old Buick which was in state of Michigan at Warwick Hills and you know anything tiger did the reaction from the crowd was I mean that’s the greatest thing we’ve ever seen and so he was telling me that they were I I can’t remember the whole but it was a was a front pin with a two-tier green and tiger was about he was about uh 12 yards behind Steve and he hits this you know full out wedge um and sucks it back like 30 feet and people go crazy and he hit it high yeah and so here’s elkington who flights a little short iron low and it takes two skips and stops and there’s no reaction and and they get up there and elkington’s 6 feet and Tiger’s 30 and elkington didn’t say anything mhm but elkington sense that his body language was what the hell was that like I don’t have that and he said six months later he was paired with them and he hit that shot he hit the shot that elington hit and he looked at C he said I got that shot now that’s so cool okay I mean that that’s what that is the maturation that is the evolution absolutely of of of players it’s not that you’re getting wrapped up in what others are doing it’s ENT to be observant and and to see what you might not have that you think is going to be required in Your Arsenal so you went down that that road with Shawn and and it didn’t work but what is what would maybe the by product from a constructed positive standpoint of doing that what was the benefit of doing that again I think I just was you know learning about myself and how I wanted to attack the PJ tour and um you know being a student of the game and being a competitor you can have both like you were saying I can be observant and learn while I’m playing you know with somebody or prepping during the course of the week but also be this this competitor that I am and so um yeah I think it’s a little bit of trial in air when you’re first on tour is a little bit of like you know I played with JT and in Phoenix for 36 holes on the weekend and I was pretty enamored by how he hit his wedges and I’m like this pacing is unreal spin is awesome flight’s great and then you know I’m kind of a little bit trying to do that at Players a few weeks later and I’m like chunking wedges and I’m like hey that’s not me right like who am I and like what how do I operate and what do I do so I think it was just a great you know learning experience and really um understanding that like my game and what I do is not only good enough but I don’t have to constantly try to do what these other great players are doing while actively you know being on the PJ tour and playing against them you know uh you said about Josh you said coach um that to me is a broader more impactful uh definition of somebody in your life I I think instructors when I think of instruction I think technicalities and and mechanics when I think of Coach I think that there is there’s messaging there’s motivation there are things that he’s doing with you that go beyond the cleaning up of of things it might have gotten sloppy um what does he say to you like how does he know to get you to respond in in in positive good ways are there things that he knows about you that he can say to you that is the kick in the ass that you need when you need it I think it’s a combo of that but I also think he’s just like he’s a super positive person Thursday through Sunday he’s super like um loving you know it doesn’t matter whether I shoot 80 or 65 he’s going to come and give me a hug and be like we’re going to get better tomorrow so I just love the consistency and the positivity in the relationship which is you know I think helped me get to the level that I’m at right now but um yeah and I think you know anytime you have a new student you’re trying to learn how they tick right and so we went from a lot of maybe drills and like um you know physical technique structure to to competition so instead of doing an hour of like positions in the golf swing we do 15 minutes and then like let’s go hit shots let’s compete let’s do wedge distance let’s do this and that so I love that aspect and then I obviously saw results within that and it’s been uh it’s been a lot of fun uh Sarah Taylor um this is another person who is part of uh your team the the people who put you in the best place to be successful um I’m particularly fascinated by these people um because just so you know like I I had the dexterity to do virtually anything when I was little um and I love to to do everything but then I hit my ceiling at a very young age but what I found Taylor is that I was blown away by Elite Performance in all sports that’s why I wanted to cover Sports um but it’s it’s having the mind to feel like things are slow being present and and staying in moments that is where someone like Sarah Taylor comes in a a mental coach how did you get connected with her yeah Sarah and I connected over uh social media and um I was so it was during our twoin one season on corn Ferry after our first part of it out of some downtime before we got you know going that next um January in Bahamas and I was I was frustrated I was at a place where I just came off lung surgery I felt like I was healthy enough after that to play you know good and I just wasn’t I was 70th something on this points list with you know our second half of that two in one season to go and um tried to just figure out what was missing and you know for me I ultimately realize it was um kind of that mental performance Sports psych and like to your point of you know just observing other athletes at the highest level you know how’s Kobe operating how’s Tom Brady operating what are these guys doing at the highest level and am I missing something and you know we got connected ultimately and started started to go to work and um it’s been awesome process she’s been a huge you know key into to what I do and been you know just a great person for me to have in my life on and off the golf course to uh to trust someone to share like the the most important things that are going on in your head about what is your passion and your Pursuit which is to play professional golf how long did it take for you to trust her didn’t take a long time at all I mean I say after our first couple of of sessions of of conversations I had full trust in her and her ability to you know help me and it’s it was funny because you know I’m like how can I get in a flow State how can I do this how you know what drills can I do to get better and she’s like uh read this book and start meditating and I’d never like like excuse me like is there not a putting drill I can do is there not you know do I need to hit 50 drivers instead of 25 like in order to get better cuz that was my whole like kind of thought process behind getting better and getting to the next level is I just Associated it with you know hard work and playing more practicing more and she’s like now read this book and and start breathing you know a little bit more and meditating and uh you know Circle back with me and I’m like okay this is different from what I you know what was the book chopwood carry water okay yeah so I’ve uh read that one a few times um mind gim was my second one and so yeah just these little lessons and different perspectives and um you know she she works with other athletes in other sports and so I’m like that’s you know being a sports guy I’m like this is awesome and so yeah we uh created this great friendship first and obviously working relationship and she’s been an awesome asset for me to have you said I think maybe one of the most important words that that we all should be aware of as humans breathe um I I don’t think people understand how many days people go weeks months without consciously breathing yeah you breathe but conscious breathing is I think with respect to athletic performance uh if you’re not consciously breathing um you’re you’re at a disadvantage you are you doing something to your body uh that is restrictive um conscious breathing meditation getting your mind quiet Solitude Serenity all those things um none of us have enough of it right how do you how do you do you carve about a certain amount of time during each day to give yourself the quiet time you need to get your mind in the right place absolutely you know I think for us too part of our structure that we’ve created is routines and so I have an AM routine I have a PM routine I have a preg golf routine pre-round routine and then obviously you know some quiet time as well built in and so I think that’s been huge for us is just being consistent in our structure being consistent in routines um you know it’s funny because we’ve gone to this place of like you know if I tea off late right I have my routine before how many intentional breaths can I get in before I get to the range you know when I tea off at 7:00 in the morning it’s a so you know early and it might be a little bit tougher but you know things of that nature have been um really important for me and have really helped equip me get to this place of all we’re trying to do is get me as comfortable as I can get before I tea off and as and we call it neutral how neutral can I be on a scale of 1 to 10 you know if I’m really heightened and really excited I might you know value myself eight or nine out of 10 so then I have a recipe to get myself to five and vice versa so it’s been uh it’s been a lot of fun just being able to create this plan and this structure with her and and go out and implement it under the gun the uh one of my favorite books is Ryan holiday who’s written a lot about the stoics he’s got a handful of books one of it one of his books is called Stillness is the key to get the Mind still and and clinically it’s been proven that if your when your mind gets quiet it’s inclined to drift toward the things that matter most to you which are things Beyond yourself it’s it’s your family uh it’s the people you care about the most it’s the things that matter most not material things um and that it’s essential that we try to find those places and the only way I think for people like yourself to get into a flow state is to experience a quiet mind it’s not a lazy mind no there a very big difference um when you won valpar did you feel like you were in a flow State I don’t think I was in Flow State then during that time but I was very quiet so I don’t think I was necessarily in like kind of that flow like making seven birdies and eight holes kind of flow um but I was I was very quiet I was very um accepting I was very um consistent and my conversations with you know my caddy during that back nine and so yeah that was a that was a very fun time um another book that I like is Raymond PRI wrote Gul beneath the surface um and it’s it’s talking about and he actually he he gives you a really good understanding of how the brain operates and the difference between nervousness and anxiety and nervousness is something that happens literally in the moment anxiety is fretting about what might happen and the truth is really nothing bad’s going to happen it’s not it’s not um do you think you do a good job now of staying present shot to shot I do a way better job of that now I don’t think necessarily what you used to do do you used to think like holes ahead or would your mind drift like naturally I’m a very forward thinker I think cuz I was you know I think every athlete to an extent a little bit of a goal Setter and a forward thinker and 6 months I want to be here and then next year I want to be there kind of but um sometimes it you know might be hard to get to those goals if you don’t take care of today and right now and uh yeah that’s kind of been been the message but yeah I used to really forward think while playing and I used to you know if I make birdie here you know I got a par five there and play 16 through 18 even par and I’m on whole number four so it’s like what what are we doing but it’s uh yeah it’s been a little bit um yeah it’s just it’s constantly learning it’s constantly trying to improve it’s constantly trying to you know create a recipe week in and week out to have you know and success looks different for everybody right and so I think you know ultimately we all want to win but like sometimes this a very successful week for me is having a very quiet week and being you know as present as I can be each and every shot and uh remaining neutral 72 out of 72 holes and like that that’s a win for me that week sometimes so it’s um yeah what we’re you know it’s it’s okay to think about what’s ahead marriage family um do you see yourself doing this in 10 years absolutely you do yeah you love this and this is going to be like you’re you’re playing into your 40s yeah I yeah if I’m playing at 40 on a PJ tour I would yeah that’s which is an amazing thing anybody who is an exempt player for 20 years is a you’re all freaks to begin with you do things that I don’t think people have a great enough appreciation of It’s kind like going to a baseball game and understanding like hitting some Wicked slider and pulling it down like you guys are aliens to do what you do but to be an exempt player for 20 years and is an amazing accomplishment um motivation is motivation easy for you it is and I just I don’t think I like necessarily need it like I’m I’ve wanted to do this since you know we talked about 14 15 years old and 14 I I think as I’m getting older though I’m enjoying it more but I’m also going to squeeze every bit out of it I can cuz like my 15-year-old self would have been very thankful to be on the PJ tour at 40 and 45 and 30 or whatever so like I’m trying to squeeze every bit out of it I’m trying to enjoy it but also at the same time like I don’t I I don’t need any motivation to do it this is what I love doing um before we wrap this up with with five quick questions being an ath aete what does being an athlete mean yeah obviously you know for me coming from a sports background I was a natural athlete you rolled a ball out on the court I was going to figure it out you know go to the baseball field with my dad and his high school and college athletes I was taking ground balls with his teams at 10 years old abil yeah like I’ve had the innate ability to be an athlete yeah um you know for me now and being on the PJ tour being an athlete on the PJ tour is slightly different than maybe my 10 12 15y old self and vision there’s a lot more that goes into it than just um you know teeing up on Thursday with bunch of the best players in the world so I think it’s been a process of learning um what what an athlete is on the PJ tour and how to manage everything but being able to separate separate those things and then actually just go be an athlete Thursday through Sunday it’s been kind of cool absolutely I want to ask you about one other word before we we get to these questions uh one of the words in in Sarah Taylor’s literature is is there’s a handful of words that you focus on acceptance that’s a big word man I mean Acceptance in life is it’s not easy at times and I’m not talking about accepting the fact you made a soft bogey I’m talking about the in the grand scheme of things acceptance and and and being good at acceptance um has that been arduous has it come fairly easy is it is it a continuing process definitely continuing process and I don’t think it has been easy because it’s I know I’ve been my hardest critic for the longest time and so you know you have this standard for yourself and what you want to do and how you want to you know go about your business and so it did take me a while to to accept um you know not only outcomes but it to took me a while to accept you know feelings and um things that happen in life and family and so it’s been uh yeah it’s been cool to to get to a place where I can actually accept things but uh yeah definitely take some time and you know that’s life too Life’s a life’s a ever-flowing process and things happen sometimes and yeah it’s uh accepting is hard but I’ve learned to gotten better at it for sure it’s actually it it it is hard uh but when you genuinely do it’s also a really comforting thing to just hey man yeah what it is and and and there’s very little you and I and everybody else can control uh self will is a dangerous thing um and and you control what you can except the fact that you can’t control most things it’s so hard you want to control everything sometimes especially me but yeah no question and that is you know for me uh you know on this journey that has been you know one of the first of all enlightening and also interesting comforting things is hey I do what I can I you know I’ve got I’ve got grown children now and I look at them and and they’re getting out of college and my wife looks at me like can you believe she did that yeah actually I kind of can I kind of can and the fact is I can’t change it right and nor can you all right let’s get to these questions all right number one the place you would survive getting stuck at for one week like if I said you’re going to get stuck somewhere for a week and you’d go this won’t suck like is there a place like golf anywhere anywhere anywhere oh man I had a unbelievable time in Maui this year that’s the first place that comes to mind I could definitely that’s not a bad place mean that was my first time on the islands there in Hawaii and I I’ve never been it is unreal yeah surf golf walk Trails Hotel whatever I’m like yeah if I’m going to get stuck anymore it’s going to be yeah it’s amazing food’s great people are awesomei good answer thank you all right the last time you paid for a round of golf and I know you didn’t when you did your little Recon to to Piner number two for you did I did not gosh I paid somewhere recently no you haven’t yeah I did really yeah where was that do you remember where that was where was that as he appeals the first one that comes to mind is uh Rangers Golf Club in Arlington when I was on corn fair I went to go try to scout that place too cuz we’re going there in a few months showed them my little corn fairy card and all that and they’re like yeah that’s cool uh with a card it’s going to be like 105 I’m like okay the little corn fairy card right but you got a discount to 105 I I think I did I think they gave well I also didn’t realize this may be a little bit naive of me I didn’t realize we were PGA like Class A members either so I got the the P discount yeah absolutely so was that your final answer that it was no actually I just remembered uh it was Jordan Thomas my buddy his bachelor party in February we’re in Scottville and uh Wigwam Golf Course got charged there oh you did yeah I did that was the first time you didn’t play the you do you know who I am is that the one right behind wig is that what’s right behind again he’s appealing off camera to Shawn who is his his Lifeline here sorry that’s not it’s quite all right I paid paid for golf in February that was the first time since Rangers Golf Club about four years ago what do you remember what the what the the ticket on that was at Wigwam was it north of $200 no they gave me Class A too I think oh so you let them know who you were to some degree or did somebody else let them know that I just oh you flashed your card yeah my card hasn’t worked I need a better card all right what is what is the most precious or Irreplaceable item that you own precious or Irreplaceable item wow could be anything maybe it’s that card that’s getting discounts that’s a great that’s a great question um um I mean sentimental but also of Great Value in my life my parents gifted me a uh pretty cool Bible Journal Bible for my 18th birthday that that’s very precious still still have that one obviously and yeah it’s definitely something I’m not getting rid of that’s a very good answer um all right the celebrity crush you had as a 15-year-old oh God so half a life ago for you that feels like like Fox Transformers that was kind of my first like had to be who is that girl running on the beach kind of thing like yeah I’m going to go Megan Fox in the Transformers movies kind of my first there’s nobody your age who’s going he’s not wrong they’re not say know that right they are not all right the the player you would love to walk in the most meaning this is a this is a term that John Cook loves beaten somebody in a match play situation and walking them in from like the 16th green so good he who would you love to walk in the most I mean the easy answer is Tiger being able to play a match play event against him would be a lot of fun let get personally somebody that you would love to just oh my gosh make them take the Walk of Shame from 16 green back to the clubhouse so I was stroke play medalists at usam with Lee McCoy Atlanta Athletic Club and there’s a kid that beat me in the first round there and knocked me out and I was bothered me for a long time cuz I I did not want to get beat in the first round obviously uh I’m I’m not going to name him but I would I would love I would love I would love to just I would love to have another crack at it with him at at right here we’re in the safe house you’re not going to give me his name um I believe is Andrew Cohen okay I believe he played collegiately at Northwestern okay he Andrew Cohen he spanked me like yeah I mean it was he just crush me listen uh it’s nice to be right occasionally like I was when I saw you when you were a teenager I said this this guy’s going to this guy’s not only going to play professional golf he’s going to be successful more importantly the way you’re going about it uh it’s good to have you here thank you for taking the time to come in here absolutely and I look forward to seeing you down the road uh as you continue this journey thanks very much yeah thanks so much Gary it’s a lot of fun I appreciate it really appreciate Taylor more coming in and spending an hour with me talking about his life his path if you are of my vintage and you know that he listens to Blue Oyster Colt how could you not now be a fan of Taylor Moore and I’ll excuse the fact that he’s a blue jays fan where that came from I have no idea but I greatly appreciate his time most importantly we all here at five clubs appreciate your time we’ll see you next time [Music]