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Sam Hahn Video Transcript
Music plays.
Onscreen text:
Charles Schwab Presents
Sam: Beauty is what makes the ball go in the hole.
Sam sets a golf ball on a green and lines up a putter for a shot. Throughout, Sam will be out on a course, trying out different putters and watching others play; or moving about in his office or the workshop, talking to employees; or aerial shots will show various golf courses.
Onscreen text:
The Challengers
A series about people who
Question. Engage. Succeed.
Sam Hahn
Sam: My name is Sam Hahn, and I'm the CEO at L.A.B. Golf.
I left home about 18, and at the time, I was a musician and a songwriter and performer, so I had nothing to do all day. I was always working at night. So I was, yeah, full golf psychopath, and I was always a super equipment nerd. I loved screwing around with equipment. And I became pretty obsessed with putters. All toe hang putters are trying to shut in the takeaway. Why do you want to work so hard to control these putter heads?
I tried everything under the sun. I would bend them, and cut them, and re-grip them, and screw with them, trying to get them to sort of do what I thought the putter ought to be doing.
On-screen text:
Liam Bedford
Director of Player Development
Liam Bedford: Sam is obsessed with golf. And obsessed might even be an understatement for Sam. I think that dude could think about golf 24/7/365.
Sam: There was no moment where I was like, "You know, I think I'd like to get into the putter business." It was just that I had the experience I had with the first Directed Force putter I had, blown away by it. It was changing my golfing life.
On-screen text:
Bill Presse
Directed Force Founder
A photo shows Sam and Bill posing together outdoors, each holding L.A.B. Golf Company equipment.
Sam: Then I met Bill, and then the issues with the original Directed Force company surfaced, and there was an opportunity.
On-screen text:
Why wouldn't you want to use a putter that stays square by itself?
Sam: Why wouldn't you want to use a putter that stays square by itself?
I knew that I could explain to people why this was a better alternative than what they were using. I would just kind of go down their putting journey. “What do you use? What are your good putting days like? What do they feel like? What do you notice? What are your bad putting days like? What do you feel? What do you notice? Which direction's it going?” Just kind of slowly trying to expose to them through these questions, and hearing themselves say out loud, "Well, yeah, I guess I do notice that when I use a toe hang putter, I miss to the right a lot." And I'm like, "Yeah, check out this review. This is why."
We got here a Mezz Max putter. Put it in motion. It's staying completely square all by itself.
On-screen text:
I've played with every single putter that we’ve put out on the market
Sam: I've played with every single putter that we’ve put out on the market, as well as every single putter that we haven't put out on the market.
From a manufacturing standpoint, at this point, I have nothing to do with it. We've got people way more qualified than I to figure out the best, most efficient way to make these putters. But as far as the development process, I have a lot to do with it.
Placards display technical diagrams of different putters made by Sam’s company.
Sam: I'll do a really mediocre job of explaining what it is that I'm hoping to see. They do some seriously technical work to get it on a 3D modeling program. Then we sit down together. We look at it. I say, "Can we do this?" They say, "Yeah," or they say, "No, we can't because of a weight issue," or this or that, and then we work together to get around it.
But we've got a bunch of people in the building that have got a good eye, so they'll all take it out for a spin. We'll go play a few holes with it. We'll see how it actually performs. Come back, give them the feedback, and then the next morning is another round of prototypes.
At certain points in the prototyping process, I'll switch putters three or four times a round. I'll go out with a handful of ’em and sort through ’em. And so I'm always screwing around with different stuff, and consequently, don't putt as consistently as I used to. But yeah, I've tried ’em all.
Kelly Slater is surfing and then golfing.
Sam: We had some really good breaks really early. One of them was Kelly Slater, the surfer. He started using it really early, and we didn't know that. We saw an Instagram post about it. We connected with him. Only a few weeks later, he was playing in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am with Adam Scott and Patrick Cantlay. And Kelly outputted everybody in that group. He made everything.
On-screen text:
Adam Scott
Sam: The following week, I get a call from Adam saying he'd like to try it. He's an amazing guy to work with. And I realize probably all manufacturers say that about the people that they work with. This is totally legit. And we've worked with a lot of players. He is a major golf nerd.
In a tournament, Adam sinks a putt using a L.A.B. Golf putter, and the crowd cheers.
Crowd: Yeah!
Adam Scott: I'm Adam Scott, and I play professional golf.
Adam is, by turns, speaking to the camera and on a golf course, playing. Also, L.A.B. Golf employees assemble, polish, and package putters.
Adam: Sam and the team can tell you all the great things it does. But essentially, delivering a square putter face is what you want to do, and this technology helps you do that a lot more often. Being a small company in the big pond of golf manufacturers, they've done an incredible job. But that's really because they've made an incredible product. And if they stick to their guns, I think the product can speak for itself, and more and more people will get to try it, and once you try it, it's hard to deny how good it is.
Sam and others watch as someone sinks a putt using one of his putters. They all clap and cheer.
Sam: There's so many “Sliding Doors” moments in a given life, and this one's special.
The way that this opportunity came about, and the lucky breaks that we've caught along the way. I get excited about the idea of people talking about L.A.B. the same way they talked about Callaway when they came out with the Big Bertha and how they changed everything. That's really awesome. It’s absolutely surreal. But I don’t think about it too much. I am at my core just a golf nerd. But I really hope that the folks in that building all say this was the best job they ever had.
In the company workshop, Sam and an employee high-five and then hug.
On-screen text:
Ask questions. Be engaged.
[Charles Schwab logo] Own your tomorrow®
Sam: If you were telling me I'm going to play a U.S. Open tomorrow, I'm probably still bringing a DF. The DF's the best. From a technological standpoint, it's the best putter in the world.
On-screen text:
[Charles Schwab logo] [PGA Tour logo] The Official Investment Firm
©2025 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC. (0225-GDT9)
Music fades.
On-screen text:
Thanks to
Jessica Bowser
Adam Scott
Kelly Slater
Emerald Valley Golf Club
PGA TOUR Entertainment
Nick Schreiber Video Transcript
Music plays.
Onscreen text:
Charles Schwab Presents
An aerial view of Old Barnwell golf course, with mist coming in from the distance. A little boy hits a golf ball. Then he is rolling down a grassy slope. Throughout, Nick will be out on a course, walking or playing; and aerial shots will show Old Barnwell golf course.
Nick Schreiber: It's a great day at Old Barnwell when you drive in through the winding driveway, past the kids' course, and you see a bunch of families out there hitting flop shots or rolling down hills.
Onscreen text:
The Challengers
A series about people who
Question. Engage. Succeed.
Nick Schreiber
Nick: My name is Nick Schreiber, and I'm the founder and owner of Old Barnwell.
Onscreen text:
Aiken, South Carolina
Nick: I built a golf course because when I was growing up, I caddied as a kid. And I realized at a very young age that this game opens up doors no matter who you are and no matter where you come from. And that always stuck with me.
I caddied at a place called Old Elm, north of Chicago. And I was 13 or 14. And two or three weeks into caddying, I was caddying for the CEO of Motorola. And I remember thinking to myself, even at that time, that that's not normal. That doesn't happen in other sports. It doesn't happen, really, in many other walks of life. It’s a game that can bring people together, and I think sometimes we lose sight of that.
Onscreen text:
Can a private club be inclusive?
Nick: The question is: Can a private club be inclusive? I think it can. I think we're proving that out now.
So, from a private club membership, what we were trying to do was focus on those individuals who, yes, wanted to be a part of a great golf experience, but who understood that we have a mission. Our mission is to bring people together through golf. And that means partnering with groups like the Evans Scholars Foundation, who support youth caddies. It meant partnering with folks like Voorhees University, a local HBCU, or the ANNIKA Foundation, where we support aspiring female pros.
A young male and a young female caddy are carrying golf bags. Then a young female golfer hits a ball out of a sand trap.
Nick: The perfect member at Old Barnwell is somebody who understands that the golf is important, but the mission is more important. The member that we are not interested in having are those folks who just want to play those top 100 golf courses.
An architectural sketch shows the plan for Old Barnwell.
Nick: Having the right people is the most important thing. Period. So it really did begin with finding the right designers.
Onscreen text:
Brian Schneider
Blake Conant
Course Architects
Nick: I met with Brian and Blake and said basically, "I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'd like to build a different type of golf club." And I would go look at properties.
Onscreen text:
I'd look at soil types
I'd look at elevation changes
Nick: I'd look at soil types, I'd look at elevation changes. I'd look at how many acres there were in each parcel.
And so I went and looked at 60 or 65 pieces of property on my own, and if I thought it was good enough, I'd ask Brian or Blake or both of them to come down and check it out. So they were the first part of this process.
Onscreen text:
John Lavelle
General Manager
Nick: And then, I’d say, the next big hire for us was John Lavelle. He's our GM. And he is somebody who has an exceptional background in agronomy. Places like Congaree, Diamond Creek, Augusta National. And for some reason, he asked if we might consider him for a long-term role. That was a big deal because I think that what John brought for us was a ton of credibility around the type of place that we were trying to create.
Nick and Kitty are on the golf course, walking and playing.
Nick: And then we were just very lucky that I was introduced to Kitty, who can make anybody feel welcome. And again, I know that golf is much more than that, and that being a director of golf is much more than that. But for me it was, can we create a culture around Kitty's and John's personality?
Kitty Nicastro: [Laughing.] . . . speed golfer.
My name's Kitty Nicastro. I'm the director of golf at Old Barnwell.
The ethos of Old Barnwell really comes from Nick and his vision of what he wants for the club, for the members, for their guests, and the whole experience while people are here. He wants it to be fun, family-friendly, friendly to all golfers. So not just good golfers. Anybody. Anybody who wants to be here and wants to enjoy being outside and playing golf, we want here.
Nick: I don't care who you are, what clubs you belong to. I want to know that you are committed to participating in this mission. That doesn't mean donate money. It just means, hey, are you willing to take a youth caddy every now and then? Would you be willing to talk to one of our members' kids who's thinking about going into your industry?
A young girl drives a ball toward a pin in a hole.
Nick: As it relates to the community around us, we've got this wonderful kids' course. And what Brian and Blake brought to us was this idea of, "Hey, what if we created a space that was all about fun?"
A little boy runs through a short tunnel near a tie-dye flag. Another young boy sinks a short putt. And another boy rolls balls into a sand trap.
Nick: And so they did exactly that. They built 15 golf holes, 14 of which they designed themselves, one of which was designed by one of our members, 8-year-old Alex Lentz.
Nick: Our hope is that before noon, on the weekends, if you want to play the kids' course, you have to be invited by a kid. Again, it's really about creating a place that's welcoming for those kids and for their families and those spouses, maybe, that haven't played much yet or those beginners. It's a great place to learn. And if you don't leave with a smile on your face, I can't help you.
I think how we define success changes every day. I think what we first created is a community of members who appreciate what we're trying to do and who want to be a part of it. Secondly, I think we've created a really exceptional golfing experience, both on the big course and with the kids' course.
Onscreen text:
Old Barnwell debuted as the 51st best course in the U.S. (Golf.com)
Nick, Sarah, and their two sons walk along a golf course.
Kitty: The Schreibers are amazing. Truly. I don't think any of this could have happened without Nick and his wife, Sarah, and their two kids. I've been a part of a lot of really great clubs, but I've never been a part of any club like this.
Nick: What would be really great is if in 100 years we were just known as a great golf club because all the other golf clubs see some of the things that our team and our members are doing, and it just becomes a normal thing to be this welcoming. But selfishly, the dirty, little secret in all this is that I'm having the time of my life.
And so, sure, would I love to continue to build here at Old Barnwell? Yes. Do I want to go and start building golf courses across the country? I, one, don't know if I can afford that. Two, we've got something really special here.
Onscreen text:
Ask questions. Be engaged.
[Charles Schwab logo] Own your tomorrow®
Nick: Well, it goes like anything else you do with your family. Sometimes it goes really well. Sometimes we have to bribe them with some sort of candy. [Laughs.]
Onscreen text: [Charles Schwab logo] [PGA Tour logo] The Official Investment Firm
©2025 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC. (0225-GDT9)
Music fades.
On-screen text:
Thanks to
Old Barnwell
Kitty Nicastro
The Schreiber Family
Evans Scholars Foundation
Vorhees University
ANNIKA Foundation
Michael Block Video Transcript
Music plays.
Onscreen text:
Charles Schwab Presents
Michael sits in an office crowded with golf memorabilia. Then he’s out walking a golf course, a dog trotting ahead of him.
Throughout, Michael is playing golf, often accompanied by his dog, or is sitting in his crowded office.
Michael Block: I was never that great in high school. But I was kind of a late bloomer. I started playing a little better and better, but at no point was I like, “Hey, let's go turn pro and be on the PGA Tour.”
Onscreen text:
The Challengers.
A series about people who
Question. Engage. Succeed.
Michael Block
Michael: My name is Michael Block. I'm the head golf professional at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club. I asked myself at an early age, “Are you good enough to be on the PGA Tour?” And I realized, thank goodness that no, I wasn't. Because for me to be successful on the tour, I needed to be top 100 in the world, and I really didn't feel like I had that game. I just knew that I really wanted to be in the golf business, and I needed to go to the golf course every day of my life. I didn't want to be anywhere else but at a golf course. So my goal was to be the head pro at a great course, and I've been lucky enough to do that.
Arroyo Trabuco opened in '04, and for, I'd say, almost eight years, I helped the people here to open this club up. I only ran a Tuesday morning skins game for the employees, and that's all my golf was. And then once the club was up and going, I had a lot of people going, "Michael, you need to get your PGA membership and plan these tournaments. You're just throwing money out your sunroof." So I got my PGA membership at age 35 and immediately qualified for the national championship for the PGA Club Pros—312 pros from across the country—and I was lucky enough to win it my first year out. And it just kind of opened up the floodgates. So I shoot some course records or whatever it might be, and everyone's always like, "Hey, Michael, you need to go get on the tour. You need to go on the tour.”
Onscreen text:
Do I want to have a six-foot putt to pay for my mortgage?
Michael: And I’m like, “Do I want to have a six-foot putt to pay for my mortgage?” And I figured out very early, I am much more comfortable at a golf course being social with the members, teaching. And I know that that's my path in the golf world.
Music stops.
Michael [exclaiming after sinking a putt]: Oh, there we go.
Rhythmic but less intense music begins.
Michael: So a lot of people think that PGA Professionals such as myself, who run golf courses or teach, can't really play golf. But it's so far from the truth. Every year, if you're able to qualify, you can go play against the Rory McIlroys and the Jordan Spieths and the Tiger Woods.
Onscreen text:
2023 PGA Championship
Oak Hill Country Club
Michael is at the 2023 PGA Championship. Hundreds of golf fans are behind him, watching and cheering. He and his caddy shake hands with Rory McIlroy, and then he prepares to tee off.
Tournament announcer [off-screen]: Now on the tee from California, PGA Professional, Michael Block.
Michael: Obviously, the PGA Professional, we don't make nearly the money or have the fame, which they deserve. PGA Tour players are out on the road 35 weeks a year.
Now Michael is playing golf with his son Dylan.
Michael: Club professionals get to be at their house with their family year-round. And I'm lucky enough to where I've been able to kind of do both. I dabble in the PGA Tour world, but there's nothing absolutely better for me than to get in the cart, to have my puppy, Messy, jump in there with me. I love being with my family. And I'm lucky enough to have two boys, Ethan and Dylan, that love the game as much as I do. I always tell my boys and my wife, I say, "Golf gave us this; that golf gave us the food that we have on the table, and it gave us the house we live in." So the sport's been very good to me, and I love giving back.
[After a shot] We’ll take it.
Michael: It's sad to say, but also fantastic. Literally every day, 365 days a year, evolves around the game of golf.
Onscreen text:
When we have a day off we go play golf.
Michael: My family, when we have a day off, we go play golf. We don't go to the beach. We don't go to the mall. We go to the golf course. That's just what the Block family does.
Michael is putting, but his dog, Messy, hits the ball it his paw, knocking it away from the hole.
Music stops.
Dylan Block: [Laughing] Messy’s on my side.
New music begins.
Michael: I love being a club professional. And I feel like we're lucky enough where we get to still go out there and compete against the best in the world. But the PGA Tour pros, they're not afraid of me, a 47-year-old club pro. They're so good. It is unbelievable. For me to just even be able to compete against them is a dream, and I'm very lucky to do that. But I've always lived in this way where, “Why not?” Why can't it be me that hits that low chip, lands just short, and checks to a foot, and I get up and down, and I qualify for an event? Why can't that be me?
At a PGA event, Michael holds an umbrella above his caddy and himself as they walk toward his ball for the next shot.
Fan [off-screen]: Michael!
Seth Waugh: I am Seth Waugh. I'm the CEO of the PGA of America at the PGA Championship.
Onscreen text:
2023 PGA Championship
15th Hole
Michael tees off. The ball sails down the course and goes straight into the hole.
Seth: Michael's hole in one on 15, it was extraordinary.
TV announcer [off-screen]: A hole in one for Michael Block!
Seth: The cheers were louder for the everyman than they were for the champion. And the game needed something like that.
Rory McIlroy, Michael’s caddy, and others hug and high-five Michael as fans cheer.
Onscreen text:
Arroyo Trabuco
Club House
In the clubhouse at Michael’s home course, a crowd is watching Michael on TV and cheers for his hole in one.
Seth: Shining a light on PGA Professionals and what our 30,000 do every day and showcased and why we're the gold standard in the game. There's just so many good young players coming up, and I think Michael has given them even more belief and inspiration.
Onscreen text:
Michael Tothe
Tournament Director
Charles Schwab Challenge
Michael is sitting at a table in a clubhouse, listening as Michael Tothe invites him to participate in the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament. In reaction, Michael puts his elbows on the table and covers his face with his hands.
Michael Tothe [off-screen]: We have an exemption available, and we'd love for you to be at Fort Worth this week.
Michael Block: PGA Professionals have been very supportive. I've gotten so many emails and personal phone calls and letters saying their clubs have been in their office with dust on them, and they're starting to play again. And they're playing in their metro events, their chapter events, their section events, and hopefully going to get a top 20 and play in a Major. It's so cool. The PGA America has given me so much. If I can just repay them in any way possible, I'm going to.
Seth: Because it isn't about the 18th green for us. It's about leaving this game better than we found it.
At the 2023 PGA Championship, Michael retrieves his ball from the cup at the 15th hole as the crowd loudly cheers his hole in one.
Onscreen text:
Ask questions. Be engaged.
[Charles Schwab logo]
Own your tomorrow®
Michael is playing golf with his son Dylan. As they walk away from a hole, they fist bump.
Michael Block: If my boys are in a PGA Tour event, or even better, a major championship, I can retire. I could basically just put the clubs to the side and be the happiest guy in the world.
Onscreen text:
[Charles Schwab logo] [PGA Tour logo]
The Official Investment Firm
©2024 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC. (0224-4P5E)
Music stops.
On-screen text:
Thanks to
Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club
Dylan Block
Geoff Cram
Davis Holman
Gabriella DeGasperis Video Transcript
Music plays.
Gabriella stands on a golf course, wearing a red hoodie. Her breath turns to steam as she talks.
Throughout, Gabriella is often on a golf course, practicing different shots, performing tricks with her clubs and golf balls, explaining what she does.
On-screen text:
Charles Schwab Presents
Gabriella DeGasperis: There’s a lot of fake stuff on YouTube, but I’m not interested in that. I want to give people the real me.
On-screen text:
The Challengers.
A series about people who
Question. Engage. Succeed.
Gabriella DeGasperis
Gabriella: I’m Gabriella DeGasperis. Golfer and social media content creator. Most people know me as Gabby Golf Girl.
Her Gabby Golf Girl golf bag stands upright on a course. Then Gabby is driving balls. Then old footage shows Gabby as a very young girl, playing golf.
Gabriella: I started playing golf when I was two years old. My parents got me a set of golf clubs. They were pink. And I kind of just fell in love with it.
Gabriella is on a course, practicing putting. She misses her first putt.
Gabriella: I love the game so much. I love that I have to put in a lot of work to get better. I love a challenge, and I love sharing that with others. In my experience, junior golf is so competitive that it can take the fun out of the game. And that’s not me. I don’t want to be a part of that.
On-screen text:
Can positivity make me a better golfer?
Gabriella: Can positivity make me a better golfer?
On-screen text:
Shorter backswing warmups
Grab each end of the club
Stretch the take away
Clips from some of Gabriella’s YouTube videos play.
Gabriella: I make all types of videos. Tips to help people get better. Tricks for fun. I challenge people at the random golf courses. I do collab. I always try and choose the tips that I’m working on myself.
On-screen text:
This is a great feel drill to do for chipping off extremely tight lie
Gabriella [in a video clip]: This is a great feel drill to do for chipping off an extremely tight lie.
I’m working on something, I’m like let’s do a tip about that. I just want to make it as authentic as possible. Right now, what I think needs the most work in my game is putting. And I think that’s just because I’m more of a mathematical person. Not really that feel-oriented. So I have a hard time with speed on putting.
On-screen text:
For me, this is the best putting drill.
Best putting drill
Line up 6 balls
Gabriella [in a video clip]: For me this is the best putting drill.
I’m learning the game, and I’m teaching the game at the same time. Helping someone else play well makes me feel just as good as playing well myself.
On-Screen text:
Oh.
Gabriella: I’ve had a billion coaches, but my best coach is my dad.
Ron DeGasperis: My name is Ron DeGasperis, and I’m Gabby’s dad. And obviously as a dad, I’m super proud of her. I’d love to tell you that I’m there really managing her time. The fact is that she really is managing her time on her own.
Gabriella: Every day I kind of set out to do two things: Get better at my game and help others to find their love for the game.
On-screen text:
I’m the first tee time in the entire club.
Gabriella: I’m the first tee time in the entire club. I play for about an hour and 30 minutes. That’s 18 holes. And then right after that, I usually go home, early lunch, do some homework. Then I’ll come back, practice, film for social media. Anything that I have to do for Instagram reels or any other social media, I’ll do then. Then I come back, edit all of it, do homework, 9 to 11 o’clock at night.
Gabriella and her dad use a phone to make a video. Then she uses her phone and a laptop computer to edit the video.
Gabriella: I analyze what I do a lot. If you open my laptop, it’s YouTube analytics on the top. And we’ll have a spreadsheet. We’ll say, okay, which videos gained the most followers? Which videos have the most comments? And we kind of put them in categories, and then whatever’s doing the best at that moment, we’ll put out more. The best video that ever performed was the one where I just introduced my mom.
Her laptop screen shows her YouTube page and then the number of views some of her videos have gotten.
On-screen text:
Meet my Mom
Gabriella [in a video clip]: It’s Mother’s Day, and I’m bringing out my mom. So meet my mom.
Mrs. DeGasperis [in a video clip]: When Gabby was little, my husband and I would write on her gloves motivational quotes.
Gabriella: I don’t know if I can remember the best comment. But really, I do like the tips comments because I feel like I’m helping others. That makes me feel so good. They’ll say, “You shaved five strokes off my game.” “I loved when you said this.” I’m like, that’s what I’m trying to do, you know?
[A very young Gabriella in an old video clip]This is the two-ball chip shot.
When she hits the balls, one goes straight up and she catches it; the other ball rolls toward the hole and sinks. The young Gabriella screams joyfully and runs off.
Ron: I think the exciting thing about this journey on social media for Gabby is the fan base that she’s created, and it’s growing so rapidly. So for us, it’s exciting as a family to see her wherever she goes to build that momentum and that support of the fans that she has. And if she does make it to the LPGA, then it would truly be unprecedented to have that massive following going into that LPGA Tour.
Gabriella: A fan base for any player, I think, is extremely valuable. But women apply a lot of stress to themselves. Whether it’s in sports or in just regular life. And sports even heighten more. I do it. So do a lot of the girls I play with. And so do a lot of women on the LPGA Tour. And I think that if women can make themselves a little bit more relatable in those tough times, people would sympathize and understand.
Gabriella [in a video clip]: I always want to be transparent and honest with you guys about my golf game. I shot 80 today.
Ron: We obviously have concerns of her being in the public eye. But I think there are concerns in anything you set your kids out to do.
Gabriella: Sometimes the comments are negative. But most of them are really positive, so I’m super grateful for that. Listen, I can’t control what people say. I can control what I put out there.
[in a video clip] I’m just gonna go after every shot the best I can, be as confident as possible. Here we go.
Ron: She’s super mature. She’s super responsible. And we definitely, as a family, have a good management over it. I think she’s gonna have a lot of opportunity just from what she’s learned along this journey. And we’re proud of her no matter what.
Gabriella keeps a golf ball in the air by repeatedly tapping it with a club; then, before the ball can touch the ground, she drives it down the course.
Gabriella: If I played you on golf, I will pick that based off how much do I love the team. Not necessarily the level of golf, but I would want to love the campus, the coach, and the kids that I play with. That is most important.
On-screen text:
Ask questions. Be engaged.
[Charles Schwab logo]
Own your tomorrow®
Gabriella: You know, golf is my life. But there’s more to me than just golf. I’m still 16. And I don’t know the future. I don’t really know what’s gonna happen.
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Thomas Szymanowicz
Jeff Massa
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Andy Johnson Video Transcript
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A golf bag full of clubs leans against a shelf. Andy sits before a computer working, and then is out on a golf course. Throughout, Andy will be out on a course, walking or playing; sitting in an office, often in front of a computer; or aerial shots will show various golf courses.
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Charles Schwab Presents
Andy Johnson: [Laughing] At this point in my life, golf is my life. I am either talking about it, I'm writing about it, I'm thinking about it at, at all hours of the day.
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The Challengers.
A series about people who
Question. Engage. Succeed.
Andy Johnson
Andy: I'm Andy Johnson, and I'm the founder of Fried Egg Golf. I grew up playing golf. I was playing competitively as a Mid-Am into my late twenties. And I was the person that watched golf on the weekends, played golf on the weekends, read about golf during the week, and just absolutely nuts about golf.
The things that I was interested in weren't always the things that were covered in mainstream golf. And understanding golf-course architecture really brings another dimension to the game. I have this theory that if somebody's interested in something that means there's thousands of other people that interested in that too.
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What if we made golf architecture approachable?
Andy: I thought, “What if we made golf architecture approachable and simple and easy to access?” So, I started with Fried Egg Golf. Obviously, you want a golf course that makes you make decisions and makes you think. I thought I should play over here, and I ended up in a terrible place. But then, you know, what's beautiful about golf architecture is the art of it. If you hired ten different architects to look at a piece of land, all ten would come back with a different design.
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Meadow Club
Fairfax, CA
Andy: Were at Meadow Club, which is in Fairfax, California. It is an Alister MacKenzie design. Back in the 1920s, they didn't have the ability to move a lot of earth, so what they had to do was they had to use the natural features of the ground. And one of the things you notice at Alister MacKenzie's golf courses is he was excellent at picking out the most interesting parts of a property and jamming as many holes as possible on those parts.
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8th Green
10th Green
11th Green
Andy: So here in this just small vicinity you have the 8th green right behind me. You've got the 10th green just to the left. We're on the 11th tee, and the 11th green plays right on the ridge. The 7th hole comes right back on the back side of this ridge, and then the 8th tee comes from on top of the . . . It's probably, maybe one of the most dramatic parts of the whole golf course.
Everybody knows the Masters, those roars on Sunday.
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Augusta National
August, GA
10th Green
17TH Green
7TH Green
2ND Green
15TH Green
Andy: One of the reasons they echo through the golf course is that the holes are so close together because the greens, the tees are all placed on these really interesting ridges. So they're just kinda packed together, if that makes sense. A lot of his courses feel so intimate because you visit a place, you go away from it, and then you come back to it. And it creates this sense of familiarity, but you're coming at these really cool features from different angles.
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Pasatiempo
Santa Cruz, CA
Andy: So when you start to kinda take a step back and look at the entire golf course wholistically, it gives you another thing out on the course that brings enjoyment other than how you play. You can look around and say, "Oh, what a cool bunker that is." Cuz it's amazing how this hole goes over this piece of land. And it kind of takes away the pressure of, "I need to make a par to break 90 for the first time.” That's still part of your golf life but it gives this other thing that brings enjoyment other than how I played today.
A buck stands on a golf course, casting a long shadow from the low sun.
Andy pulls a camera from his golf back and takes pictures of the course. Pages from his Fried Egg Golf website flash by, each featuring a photo of a different golf course.
So I thought one of the biggest gaps in golf coverage was golf course architecture. And that's when we started to dive in and really focus on taking great photos of great golf architecture and explaining it in really simple terms. When I started doing that, I was not good at it.
Kaley Johnson [off-screen]: Yes, he’s colorblind, but he is a photographer. He couldn't write, but he taught himself how to write. He teaches himself whatever he wants to learn.
Kaley: My name is Kaley Johnson, but most people know me as Mrs. Fried Egg. I'm Andy's wife.
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We put out at least one piece of content every single day.
Andy: We put out at least one piece of content every single day on The Fried Egg.
Kaley: He is a writer now, the great podcaster. He's such a natural.
Andy: Excited to chat with Tom Doak today on the latest episode of The Yolk with Doak.
Andy sits in front of a microphone, recording a podcast. Then he’s in a rocky area with tall grass, send a drone into the air.
Kaley: Everything just continues to evolve and expand. And it's cool to see the audience continue to grow.
Andy: One of the coolest things that happened a couple years ago was Rory Mcllroy in a press conference before Southern Hills PGA talked about how he got ready for the tournament by watching one of our videos.
More pages from Andy’s website flash by.
Professional golfer Rory McIlroy stands before a microphone at a press conference.
Speaker 1: Rory, on knowing the golf course, what did you do to know and to work on once you got here?
Rory McIlroy: So The Fried Egg did a little video with Gill. So I watched that.
Andy: That was really cool. [Laughing] At eight years in, I feel like The Fried Egg's working. [Speaking to a fellow golfer] “I was trying to hole it, so we don't have to hit another one. “
And I think the thing that probably I feel the best about when people talk to me is when the say things like, "I've played golf for 20 years, and I loved it. I never thought I could love this thing more than I used to. And now because of paying attention to golf courses and the architecture of them, I love the game of golf even more than I did before."
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Tens of thousands of golfers watch, read and listen to Andy’s work every week.
Fried Egg Golf’s architecture videos have been viewed more than 1,000,000 times.
Ask questions. Be engaged.
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Andy: All of my friends send me pictures every time they get Fried Egg lies. And when I get a Fried Egg lie in the bunker, I do feel a little bit of pressure.
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Thanks to
Meadow Golf Club
Jim O’Neal
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Tom Coyne Video Transcript
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A lawn mower rolls along, cutting grass. Then Tom is sitting in an office chair in a garage.
Throughout, Tom will be playing golf, working to maintain the course, or sitting in the course garage. In Addition, many shots will show different areas of the course—the greens, fairways, woods, and streams.
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Charles Schwab Presents
Tom Coyne: I thought this would be fun. I’d get to live every golfer’s dream. It’ll be like we bought a zoo. And it’ll be a good time.
On screen text:
The Challengers
A series about people who
Question. Engage. Succeed.
Tom Coyne
Tom walks under some trees, toward a golf green. Then he is sitting in a small maintenance vehicle.
Tom: My name’s Tom Coyne. I am a golf writer turned operator of Sullivan County Golf Club in Liberty, New York.
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Sullivan County Golf Club
Liberty, NY
Photos show Tom walking along an Irish road, carrying a golf bag on his back; squatting in a green field, holding a golf bag, with a dog lying at his feet; walking uphill on a narrow country road, several cows walking ahead of him. Then images of his book covers go by in quick succession. Then Tom is walking a golf course
Tom: I’m probably best known in golf for doing some pretty wild, ridiculous golf adventures. I walked the coast of Ireland for four months with golf clubs on my back. I played every links in Scotland. I played golf in all 50 states for different book projects. But it got to the point where I’d moved around so much, and I’d explored so many different places that I thought, “I really wanna tell the story of one golf club.” And I didn’t expect to be running that golf club. But a story needs a challenge, and this place brought plenty of problems and plenty of challenges.
So Sean Smith, the greenskeeper, reached out and said, “Hey, there’s this wonderful course, but it’s gonna close at the end of the year. Would you like to write about it? Do you know anyone who might like to take it on as a project?”
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Sean Smith
Sullivan County Golf Course, Superintendent
Sean sits in a golf cart just outside of the course garage.
Sean Smith: The place used to be quite a club. It was built in ’25, and all through ’50s, ’60s, ’70s it had a very strong local membership. And through the ’80s and the ’90s, like so many of these small clubs, it just got lost in the wash of big golf, bigger golf courses, more amenities. And it just got forgotten. I know we don’t measure up in a lotta ways to other places, but in a lotta ways we do, and he sees that.
The inside walls of the garage are covered with old signs, some of which are humorous. Tom is just inside a garage door, hitting balls out into a grassy area.
Tom: So there is this question of how good can the golf get with the resources that we have? Because we have very limited resources. So I have had to think a lot about what makes a golf course great?
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What makes a golf course great?
Tom: What does a golf course really need? And I found that it’s a lot less than I thought it was. You need good greens. You need grass on the fairways. You need the tees to be in pretty good shape. But I also think, to make a golf course good, a golf course also needs to be accessible. We had to keep this place affordable. And we wanna maintain what’s special about the place. It should feel old. It should feel Catskills. But it can also keep getting better. And that’s the challenge.
As a writer, you have to be pretty comfortable being by yourself. And now I spend hours at a time on a mower or out on the golf course with my thoughts. And it actually gives me a lotta time to think about, “What am I doing here? What is the story? Are we going in the right direction? How long does this play out? What is the endgame here?” It gives you a lot of time to daydream about where it might go. But also think practically about, “Okay, what’s the next step?”
Sean: Tom Coyne is a golf nut at the end of the day. To my eyes, he’s no longer Tom Coyne the writer or the podcaster. He’s been kind of our third full-time guy this year on the maintenance crew. It’s not just been having someone so influential in the golf industry here, but he’s been able to contribute down in the dirt like a proper golf nut. Not just someone who’s here for the pictures and for the golf. He’s contributed at every level.
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I mow the fairways and the tees.
Tom: I get here early in the morning. I’m on the machines, and I love it. Yeah, I mow the fairways and the tees. I’ll cut holes. I can change pins. I fix a lot of ball marks. I rake traps. Getting to know a little bit about what a greenskeeper knows on a golf course has changed my perspective as a golfer and has changed my expectations of what I want in a golf course.
It’s funny. People ask me, “Are you writing the book? When is the book gonna be out?” That’s not sort of how I work, and I also don’t know what the ending is. I really don’t know yet if this is a comedy or a tragedy. I hope it has a happy ending. I think it’s going to have a happy ending, but the story is being written every day that I’m out here. But I know that this place should exist for a lot of reasons. And so I feel a responsibility here that maybe I didn’t expect to feel.
A Sullivan County Golf Club flag flutters in the breeze. The course’s clubhouse—a small building—is situated near houses in the small town.
Tom: This is a point of pride for this town. It should exist cuz it’s got this great history. It should exist for golf. And it certainly should exist for the people who work here. We need to make sure that we maintain the spirit of what it actually is—a Catskills Mountain nine-holer. We can’t lose that soul. So that makes it a special place for me.
It’s the sort of dream thing, right? A golfer who runs his own golf course. And I have to remind myself at the end of the day, I’ve never been an early riser, but I find myself waking up at 5 o’clock in the morning thinking about, “Did I order golf balls? Is that mower running? What are we gonna do about the dandelions?” All these things running through your head. And you sometimes do have to step back and think, “What we’re doing here . . . we are doing enough. We’re giving it everything we have. And it’s enough because people are showing up, and they’re having fun.”
I was up here a few weeks ago, and a member had just finished his round and went in and had some beers with his friends. And he walked out, and I was standing outside the pro shop. He said to himself, “That was a great day.” I thought, “That’s why I’m here.”
Sean: We’re gonna end up with twice, maybe three times the rounds that we’ve done in the last three years. It’s a big, scary future for a little place like this. But he’s made all the difference in the world.
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Ask questions. Be engaged.
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Tom: If old Tom Morris came out of his grave and said, “I’ll give you nine more holes,” I would say no thank you. Just now that I know the work that goes into taking care of nine holes, nine holes is plenty.
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