00:00So you've coached so many high-level players that were playing for you collegiately.
00:05You can think of, of course, Patrick Reed at Augusta State, Henrik Norlander,
00:08and then you go over to SMU and, you know, your first year on the job there,
00:12you're recruiting Bryson DeChambeau.
00:13You have a guy who's on the PGA Tour now in Austin Smotherman.
00:16I'm sure there's plenty of other players that I'm forgetting, but of all of these,
00:20you know, Harry Higgs, yeah, who could forget the big rig?
00:23So of all these players, you know, what's the difference?
00:27Like when you look at a player who's in your program that just knows that they're going to take it
00:33to the next level
00:34versus maybe a guy who lacks a little bit of that free will confidence.
00:39Like I was probably more in that bucket, but when I had a coach, you know,
00:42really start to give me that positivity and confidence, like an Austin Smotherman comes to mind,
00:46like how talented he is, right, Josh?
00:49But, you know, just maybe the confidence isn't quite there to really realize what his true potential is.
00:54For you, Josh, like when you evaluate players and then have those guys have been your program,
01:00like where do you net out on all of this, like from all the years of watching players
01:04and looking back, being that collegiate coach?
01:07Well, difficult question for one, because there's no rocket science behind it.
01:12If we could always identify players, we knew we'd get to the next level,
01:16then we would have five first female Americans every year,
01:19and you'd never lose a national championship.
01:21But I think there are intangibles, you know, when I look back at probably my two most high-profile,
01:27you know, players in college, you know, where Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed,
01:32well, they had the – there was no backup plan for them, if that makes sense.
01:37So Patrick told me from the moment he transferred to Georgia and struggling there,
01:41wasn't even – wasn't playing very good golf, to be honest, and he said,
01:44Coach, I don't have a backup plan.
01:45He said, I will play major championships.
01:47I will play the Ryder Cup.
01:48I will, you know, win on the PGA Tour.
01:52Bryson DeChambeau, from the moment I met him, and Bryson gave me one of the coolest compliments ever.
01:57We were – when I took over the job at SMU, we weren't very good in trying to rebuild the
02:02program fast.
02:03And he chose us over UCLA, Stanford, and Oregon, a few other places.
02:06And I remember asking Bryson, I said, well, why did you choose me?
02:10And he said, you were the only coach that allowed me to be me.
02:13He said, everybody else didn't think my way would work.
02:15They didn't think the single-length clubs would work.
02:17They didn't think my way would practice would work.
02:18And I'm sitting here thinking, man, the guy averages 68, and he has a 4.0 in the classroom.
02:23If I just get him to the tee on time, he's going to be just fine.
02:26So the intangible of that just like, this is what I'm going to do.
02:32You know, they got a toughness about them.
02:36They're not easy to coach.
02:38They want to be challenged.
02:41They're not afraid to kind of give it back to you, if that makes sense.
02:44And then you look at kind of the other end of the spectrum, and you've got the Austin Smotherman,
02:48who's arguably the sweetest kid I've ever been around.
02:51But he's so darn talented that he figured out how to get here.
02:54And then when we started working together, along with this full swing coach, you know,
02:59Cameron McCormick earlier this year and kind of took over his putting and some of his practice,
03:03like he needs his hand held a little bit.
03:06He needs a relationship.
03:07He needs a shoulder to cry on, a big brother or somebody to talk to.
03:11And that's kind of my specialty is the relationship.
03:13So understanding how to deal with each guy differently, understanding that Patrick Reed wants to be pushed to the utmost.
03:21Pearson Cootie wants to be pushed to the utmost.
03:24There is no sugarcoating involved in that.
03:26Austin Smotherman needs a kick in the butt, but he also needs a hug every now and then because he's
03:31such.
03:31So bringing out that competitiveness in him that I know is there, but he needs to be a little meaner
03:37if he wants to be great.
03:39And so we're starting to get a little bit of that now.
03:41But having said that, a lot of times, as you know, that comes from results.
03:45Everybody says, well, how do I get confidence?
03:47Well, sadly, results lead to confidence.
03:49All the other stuff can help.
03:50But at the end of the day, I remember David Duvall saying when he became number one in the world,
03:54I just decided to have fun that year.
03:56Well, no kidding.
03:56When you shoot 59 and you're winning every event, it's pretty easy to have fun.
03:59You miss four cuts in a row and tell me how fun it is.
04:02That's right.
04:03So I think those are the intangibles that you try to pick up on, you know, when you're meeting with
04:08a kid.
04:08I mean, Jackson Coivin comes to mind.
04:10I mean, obviously I didn't coach him in college, but coached him now.
04:12And this kid has just such an air about him that just knows that I'm going to do this.
04:18And yes, he's had a lot of success.
04:20But even from the moment I met him almost three years ago when he was good, but he wasn't who
04:25he was now.
04:26There was just a confidence about that kid that, hey, I am going to play the PGA Tour.
04:31And how do I get there?
04:33That was the reason we started working is, hey, help me with my short game.
04:36But how do I get to the PGA Tour?
04:38And there's just no backup plan.
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