Golf Obsession and Japanese 7-11's

A chance rideshare conversation brings together two passionate individuals at opposite ends of their golfing journeys. When a passenger is spotted carrying golf clubs through downtown Washington, D.C., curiosity sparks a captivating discussion about the sport’s universal appeal.

The passenger, a newcomer to golf who recently began taking lessons at an urban simulator facility called City Swing, contrasts with the host’s decades of experience and deep appreciation for the game. Their exchange highlights the excitement of beginning something new and the lasting connection golfers share, no matter their skill level or background.

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About: Foundation Digital Media | Kuna Video

Transcript

Introduction to Rideshare Road Talk

Speaker 1 0:10

Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk Conversations in Motion, a podcast where we create unfiltered talk space that examines the meaningful lives of my passengers while engaging in personal and topical discussions. I'm your host and driver, John Fondas, and we're cruising the streets of Washington DC. Buckle up, let's drive, let's talk golf. How are you Good?

Speaker 2 0:39

How are you? I'm good, I'm good. All right, tell me the story. The story, yeah.

Speaker 1 0:41

You're carrying around clubs in DC. I'm good, all right, tell me the story.

Speaker 2 0:44

The story yeah.

Speaker 1 0:45

You're carrying around clubs in DC. There's no golf course right here. What are you doing?

Speaker 2 0:50

This right here is City Swing. Okay, it is like an indoor driving range.

Speaker 1 0:55

Well, apparently there is golf in the city. Wow, before we go any further, I do this for a podcast. Oh okay, would you like to be on it? We talk about DC. We talk about anything? Oh sure, and if you want a little QR code to see what it is before you say yes, it's up to you.

Speaker 2 1:14

That's okay, Okay cool.

Speaker 1 1:16

There's no names, no video, it's just conversations. Great, that's all.

Speaker 2 1:22

I'm a huge golfer, huge, awesome, it's my passion it's my thing has been since I was 15.

Speaker 1 1:27

Yeah, fortunate enough, I've been to Scotland twice nice old course. Shot 79 in the old course. Nice like shoot me in the face, my life's complete, that kind of thing right the dream yeah right, tell me about where I just picked you up. What is going on in that place?

Speaker 2 1:41

so that is city swing. It's an indoor um like golf simulator and I just started doing lessons there um, I'm not very good right now, but they are very helpful um yeah okay, bear with me one second.

Speaker 1 1:57

I'm trying not to get confused by the navigation, which is ridiculous and why I want to listen to you. I had no idea that was there. Like the facility like full swing, like can you hit driver in there, yeah. Or like like how deep is the bay that you hit into? It's like, or is it a simulator?

Speaker 2 2:15

It's a simulator. Oh God damn it. Yeah, sorry.

Speaker 1 2:18

See, I thought it was like this big like.

Speaker 2 2:20

No, indoor. No, it's a simulator.

Speaker 1 2:23

All right. Well, that's still cool though.

Speaker 2 2:24

Yeah, yeah, they have that one. And then, down by where you're taking me, their X-Golf just opened. Okay, similar. So that's another simulator, similar dude.

Speaker 1 2:33

Yeah, Okay. Well, you do have like Haynes Point with the course down there and I know there's a range down there. Yes, Langston is there. It's a little dicey but there's a good cheeseburger in the clubhouse there, oh, okay.

Speaker 2 2:50

At least there used to be. That's good to know.

Speaker 1 2:51

But you might get your club stolen too, oh well, there's that.

Speaker 2 2:55

It's a trade-off, you know yeah.

Speaker 1 2:57

I mean, this was like years and years ago. The joke was like I think it was on the 7th or the 8th tee box. You would get held up at gunpoint all the time. Yeah, so you're just starting to play.

Speaker 2 3:10

Yeah, I'm just starting to play.

Speaker 1 3:12

Okay, you know this already probably, but in case you don't, it's the greatest game ever played.

Speaker 2 3:20

I'm learning Ever Quickly, learning that.

Speaker 1 3:22

I'm a football guy.

Speaker 2 3:23

Yeah.

Speaker 1 3:24

Baseball guy Hockey, I get it, I get it all. Golf bar none. It's the greatest game ever played.

Speaker 2 3:32

It's hard. Yeah, it's really hard.

Speaker 1 3:34

Yeah, but you know what the drug is and I don't know if you've hit that yet. Yeah, is that it takes hundred things all sinking at once to hit that shot perfectly. Yep, and you know what? Do you know what that? Shot feels like okay, yeah, I've had it like twice, that's the drug perfection is unattainable right, so you will chase that the rest of your life um it is funny.

Speaker 2 3:58

I'm like, why can't I just do that again, like I just did it like and when you do it it's like effortless it's like, like this thing in the universe opens up, you're like, oh my God, it went forever and it didn't feel like anything.

Speaker 1 4:11

Yeah Right, that's great, that's very cool. What's also cool is this orange chair over here with the person doing these weird 360s in the chair.

Speaker 2 4:24

Oh, I can't see him.

Speaker 1 4:26

I don't know what's going on over there. That's really cool. What's?

Speaker 2 4:30

that, oh, that's. It's like a smitting top.

Speaker 1 4:34

It's like if you're trying to throw up and not enjoy your evening. That sounds like a good start.

Speaker 2 4:39

What is that in front of? Is that a bar? Yeah, it's like a bar, oh so you're drunk and in the spinning top With a spinny chair, nice.

Speaker 1 4:47

Okay, I have questions about that.

Speaker 2 4:50

Anyways.

Speaker 1 4:54

Yeah, the golf thing. My oldest kid is now 19. I had him started when he was like eight. Yeah, and he was a little phenom Like he was a good athlete, got recruited to play football in college a little bit, oh, wow, Okay, and he had to work for those things. Golf was natural, but he didn't care about it. Oh, he was like baseball fine, cool football.

Speaker 2 5:20

Like dude. You don't understand. There's grown men that can't do what you're doing Like you're, so good at this.

Speaker 1 5:22

Yeah, like I could stack him up at age like 12 and tell him to hit a draw or a flop shot with a wedge and he would just do it Dang. And I'm like dude, there's grown men that can't do that. You're like 12.

Speaker 2 5:34

Do you think he'd get back into it or he's not into?

Like Father Like Son: Golf Skills

Speaker 1 5:38

it. No, I think the seed was planted enough where he understands how important of a life skill it can be. Oh, for, sure I like didn't realize, and that's just one of the components that you've already figured out. It opens up doors for networking, for work, and then oh, by the way, every great golf resort on the planet has an incredible hotel, wonderful spa and restaurants, and it's like okay yeah, we visited um glen eagles oh yeah, earlier of course in.

Speaker 2 6:10

I think it was january. Yeah, in january so you've been. That's awesome yeah, and what was funny, that's where I took like my first golf lesson there, because I was like, if I don't like it in Scotland, I'm not going to like it.

Speaker 1 6:27

You know, let's just cut out the fat and get right to the red meat. Let's just learn golf in Scotland. Good for you, man. That's great. That's great. Where's home for you originally?

Speaker 2 6:37

Maryland? Oh okay, yeah, me too. Yeah, that's great. Where's home for you? Originally Maryland? Oh okay, yeah, me too. Yeah, so I didn't make it too far. Yeah, me too. Where in?

Speaker 1 6:40

Maryland. I grew up in Rockville, oh okay, but I've lived in, like Ashton Sandy Spring area for most of my adult life.

Speaker 2 6:49

Gosh.

Speaker 1 6:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2 6:50

Yeah, I grew up in Hartford County.

Speaker 1 6:52

Oh. So pretty far I know, that is like upper Chesapeake Bay kind of sort of yeah, yeah, like basically Pennsylvania. Yeah, okay, that's cool.

Speaker 2 7:01

Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:01

That's cool. Um, you know, sadly, I normally will play year round. If there's no snow cover and it's 30 degrees and no wind, I'll go walk and I'll play. Oh wow, and just you know your, the body heat keeps you warm. But for whatever reason, maybe my head wasn't on straight, but I didn't pick up a club from like right before Christmas until like just last week.

Speaker 2 7:25

Oh, wow. Were you like itching for it, though you were like I need to get back out, or not really I'm such a creature of habit.

Speaker 1 7:31

I can't do more than one thing obsessively at a time.

Speaker 2 7:34

Okay.

Speaker 1 7:35

So if I've got like some work stuff going on, I okay. So if I've got like some work stuff going on, I'm grinding right. Or if I go fishing, that's my thing for three weeks and nothing else in the world matters. That's fair. And then when golf happens, then you know it happens yeah um, but it's so funny. I went with my youngest to the driving range and I told a buddy of mine the story.

Speaker 1 7:57

I've got a wicked good short game just ridiculous to the point where it's just it's like chess for me. Like I know, I can get anywhere near the green in regulation, wow, and my short game is so refined that I know I'm gonna get up and down and convert at least 50% of the time. Yeah, that's an 85 without blinking. So throw in a birdie or two, a couple extra streaky holes. There's a 79 there. So, anyways, I go to the range. I'm 56. I'm fat, I'm out of shape. I used to be flexible.

Speaker 1 8:31

I'm not anymore. I go crack a joint or two, hit five wedges and on the fifth one I kind of feathered one into about two feet from 130 yards away. I was like you know what? I'm going home. I left the bucket and I just went home because I know it's there.

Speaker 2 8:48

Yeah, like why corrupt it Just go. Yeah, that's fair.

Golf Reading Recommendations and Mentality

Speaker 1 8:52

I hope you get to that point. I hope so too, where you can hit five shots and just leave yeah, that would be, that would be nice yeah, yeah, your folks still uh in that part of maryland they are. Do they play golf too? My dad does um what do you think about your adventures?

Speaker 2 9:08

he. I haven't told him yet which is crazy. I should tell him you should, um, but yeah, it's just like so new that I haven't got to talk about it, but I'm sure he'll be excited.

Speaker 1 9:19

That's cool.

Speaker 2 9:20

Yeah, he like goes through phases, though where he's like I like golf, I hate golf Like.

Speaker 1 9:27

Everyone has it. Right, Everyone has it. It is a love hate thing. I mean anyone that plays golf for any considerable amount of time has the same narrative, where you go out and just nothing is working.

Speaker 2 9:46

Yeah.

Speaker 1 9:46

You're spraying it, you're stroking off the tee, you're just piling up. Big numbers are happening everywhere. Yeah, and it's like divine intervention last hole, last somewhere, there's always that one shot.

Speaker 2 10:01

That's what my friend was telling me that you just capture, that keeps you coming back.

Speaker 1 10:05

Yeah, there's always one thing at the most unlikely time, and it's probably because you're so frustrated, you surrender and then from there it's like your muscle memory just takes over.

Speaker 2 10:15

Right, that's the point I'm trying to get to now, I think, where I'm not overthinking because there's so much to try and remember yeah that I just like do the individual movements enough that their muscle memory are you committed to the process like are you geeked out about it yet? I'm pretty I wasn't. And then I think, like this week I started like watching the videos and being like what are some drills I can do at home?

Speaker 1 10:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2 10:40

And so now I'm like Maybe you're walking through DC?

Speaker 1 10:43

Yeah, exactly, With my clubs. You know what a stupid question on my part. You should be like, hey, asshole, I'm walking around DC with these clubs. What do you think?

Speaker 2 10:54

I haven't taken them on the Metro, though that's my line. Yeah, yeah, I haven't taken them on the Metro, though that's my line. I was like I need to take the ride share.

Speaker 1 11:00

That's so funny. There are a few books actually, and everyone's got an opinion. I'm not going to tell you anything about how to swing. One is called Harvey Panik's Little Red Book. It is literally the Bible. It is antiquated, it is simplistic in its form and that's the beauty of it. Walk or run Do not walk to get this book.

Speaker 2 11:26

Okay.

Speaker 1 11:28

The second book is called Zen Golf Okay, by Dr Joseph Parent. I believe his name is Big like psych guru guy for a lot of the guys on tour or things like that. Oh interesting. He presents the mental side of the game in such a way that it's so easily absorbable. And when you talked about focus is why it struck me.

Speaker 2 11:53

Right.

Speaker 1 11:54

It changes the focus and the scope to not be focusing on the ball or the cup, but the focus on the whole scope of the horizon in front of you.

Speaker 2 12:03

That's interesting.

Speaker 1 12:04

And what that does? You take everything in and lets you kind of kind of absorb and kind of just balance yourself out and all of a sudden you're free swinging and it's just. It's a spectacular exercise in the mental approach to the game All right. So anyways, and there are quick reads too.

Speaker 2 12:21

Yeah, I'll check those out.

Speaker 1 12:22

It's something just to keep on a coffee table too, or an end table randomly.

Speaker 2 12:27

Yeah.

Speaker 1 12:29

That's cool. I always get excited when I meet a young person that's just taking up golf. That's cool. Good for you.

Speaker 2 12:35

Thank you, I'm excited.

Speaker 1 12:39

You're gonna have some challenges finding places to play that are convenient. That, yeah, I can tell you that.

Speaker 2 12:44

Is what I am finding now. The simulators are expensive and I'd rather be on a course.

Speaker 1 12:53

And look, golf is expensive now too. Right, it's almost to the point now where you're, where you're better off, not you, just in general. Yeah, joining a private club, you know. Uh, initiation fee aside, but like round for round, if I play four to six times a week, oh, wow it's the same, I'm sorry, not a, not a week a month.

Speaker 2 13:13

Oh, okay, I was like a week, Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 13:15

I have no time the pro. Four to six times a month.

Speaker 2 13:20

Yeah, that's pretty good.

Speaker 1 13:21

And then you know your couple of range sessions, yada, yada, you're spending more on public golf. Now there's plenty of places, at least in suburban Maryland, where you can get a midweek membership for probably the dues are probably you know four or five hundred a month. Yeah, that's not bad.

Speaker 2 13:41

No, if you play that much one day maybe yeah that's how much I feel like I have to play to like get better. Like I can't just like go to a lesson once a week and get better.

Speaker 1 13:54

Well, hey look, you need the foundation right, and lessons are great, but just remember, you know, one teacher isn't a panacea to the game. Everyone's full of shit in their own way. Some people communicate better than others. So, you know, enjoy the process, but don't be afraid, once you have the foundation, to put the work in yourself Right and and find your way that way, especially with the short game, because that's all feel anyways.

Speaker 2 14:21

Right.

Speaker 1 14:26

Well, did you play anywhere else when you were in Scotland, or what else were you doing there?

Speaker 2 14:30

No, that's all we did. We were just there for like a weekend to kind of get out of DC.

Speaker 1 14:35

Wait, you went to Scotland for the weekend, well, not the weekend. What does that mean?

Speaker 2 14:40

Like a four-day long weekend.

Speaker 1 14:44

The flight almost killed me. I went for two weeks.

Speaker 2 14:47

Yeah, we went to London and then Scotland. Okay, cool and the flight's not too bad.

Speaker 1 14:55

No, it's not. We did the the Iceland route, which was a nice little yeah, we didn't before to get to Germany yeah, we didn't stay over, but it was just nice, because it's like five hours and you kind of stretch and then you're from there, it's like two and change.

Speaker 2 15:08

I just got back from Japan actually, and that's all my list.

Speaker 1 15:15

Oh, like, literally, like I'm gonna go in the fall, I think oh, please, yeah, you really really should like my fascination with that culture is ridiculous and it's not like you're Stereotypical, like guy bullshit, like samurai swords and crap right. Like I'm fascinated by like the communal culture, the way the, the elderly are kind of revered, and then the food scene and all that.

Speaker 2 15:39

All of it, all of it is so good and they're like in the future so much with so many things, but like also still in the past with so many things.

Speaker 1 15:46

Right Like from my research, kyoto is probably a good example of that right. Where it's all like the old temples mixed with the modern. Yes, yeah. Or a good example of that right when it's all like the old temples mixed with the modern, yes, yeah.

Speaker 2 15:55

Or, like you know, they have in the train stations a bento box where you can pull a string and it heats up, Like you don't have to put it in anything, it just heats up by itself. But like they give you a paper train ticket and if you lose that paper train ticket you're out of luck.

Speaker 1 16:12

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 16:12

So it's just like very interesting.

Speaker 1 16:14

Okay, what is this about the 7-Eleven egg salad sandwich that I keep hearing about?

Speaker 2 16:24

Oh, my gosh, so good Is that really a.

Speaker 1 16:25

Thing.

Speaker 2 16:28

Yeah, in every 7-Eleven. And then you get the they have like chicken, like cutlets that are heated, and you open up the egg sandwich and put the chicken inside and eat that and it is so good. I think we probably had at least one meal a day from 7-Eleven.

Speaker 1 16:43

Oh my.

Speaker 2 16:43

God, just because it's so convenient.

Speaker 1 16:45

But here's the thing I don't understand the supply chain. No one in their right freaking mind would eat an egg salad here in a 7-Eleven. Yeah, you've got to be insane, but there it's like people travel thousands of miles to eat sushi, like they had fish, like all that. I don't think I would want to leave.

Speaker 2 17:04

I don't think that was my problem as well and I was worried because we went for three weeks.

Speaker 1 17:09

We did like a perfect, south korea, japan, like kind of double thing.

Speaker 2 17:12

Okay, I was like, oh, that's way too long, I'm going to want to come home. I did not feel like I wanted to come home.

Speaker 1 17:17

You had wanderlust. Yeah yeah, that's cool. That's cool. I should have done it when I was younger, but maybe it's better now that I'm more appreciative of what it is I'm seeing and doing.

Speaker 2 17:30

I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I think any time is good.

Speaker 1 17:34

What I need to dial into is there's got to be like a component where there's, like Japanese people or students that are interested in practicing their English.

Speaker 2 17:48

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 17:49

And maybe there's a swap where they become your friend for the week and you're just buying them dinners and stuff or paying for their food and they show you around.

Speaker 2 17:56

Yeah, they have like meetup things for that. You should look into it, because I've definitely heard of that before.

Speaker 1 18:01

Yeah, because I don't want to just wander and be like, oh, I don't want to miss things, yeah and it's, it's really overwhelming.

Speaker 2 18:08

That's what it looks like there's so much to do, and I was really worried about missing things too yeah and I think I had to kind of like lean into the fact that I was gonna miss something right yeah and just be like this is what I'm gonna hit this time did you do the Mario Kart in the street? We didn't.

Speaker 1 18:24

I saw oh my god, I saw it. Do you live down there, this area.

Speaker 2 18:40

Yeah, yeah, I live in this building right here. That's cool. Yeah, how do you?

Speaker 1 18:42

like it. I mean, it's got to be great when the games are in town, right Well?

Speaker 2 18:45

so it's actually funny.

Speaker 1 18:46

Or is it chaotic?

Speaker 2 18:47

It's chaotic and my boyfriend and I really hate baseball, which is ironic because, we live right across the street from the stadium.

Speaker 1 18:55

Kind of deserve it, so okay and so like I hate baseball. Let's move next to that spark.

Speaker 2 19:02

Yeah we like the water and like we have a dog and okay, like the dog park right there is, so so good yeah it's cool um, but yeah, we're like baseball season starts our quality of life just like nosedives.

Speaker 1 19:16

Oh, they like close the roads, traffic, drunks, that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 19:19

Well, my love of closing the roads is like you can't really drive anywhere.

Speaker 1 19:22

I noticed that they actually shut the bridge down All the way out to the highway. Why?

Speaker 2 19:27

It's insane.

Speaker 1 19:28

I don't know. It's not like the executive branch is here and they're so mean.

Living Near Nationals Stadium: The Irony

Speaker 2 19:32

Yeah, when you try and get through, because they give us like a little piece of paper that says, oh, you can get through, and the cops are so mean when you show it to them, I was like I'm just trying to get home, like I've cried before.

Speaker 1 19:44

What Half of them are probably like, whatever.

Speaker 2 19:45

Yeah, exactly, I mean, they don't care. Oh, look See in as little as an hour. Yep, yeah, right over there, right under the stadium.

Speaker 1 19:54

I think that's serendipity. That's what that is, that has to be, I mean what are the odds?

Speaker 2 19:59

Come to a game Play golf while you're here. Yeah, that's so funny you in this little offshoot alley thing here.

Speaker 1 20:06

You can just turn right in here. Yep, yep, I think I've bridge and all that. It's nice.

Speaker 2 20:18

Yeah, we definitely enjoy it cool um. Thank you, I wish you much luck and joy with the game.

Speaker 1 20:20

Thank you, enjoy that thoroughly. Do not give up, no matter what.

Speaker 2 20:23

Okay I will stick with it and get fitted when you finally feel comfortable.

Closing Thoughts and Thank You

Speaker 1 20:28

It's so important. Oh, there we go. Everyone struggles with it. Take, take care. Good luck to you. Bye now. Thank you for listening to this episode of Rideshare Road Talk. If you've enjoyed what you've heard, we'd love for you to review the podcast on your favorite listening platform, like Apple or Spotify. Your support helps us so much, and don't forget to reach out on Instagram with your feedback or topic suggestions. Until next time, let's drive.