Augusta National Golf Club

It's a major warning, and they're aware of it.

I mean, we know every place ain't going to be like Augusta National.

We get that.

But they had the people at TPC Sawgrass.

I want you to listen to today's guest with that in mind as he shares with us how he first came to work for Schooley Mitchell.

I spent just about three decades designing and developing product for global brands like Augusta National, The Masters, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tommy Bahama, Peter Millar, a long list of products.

And my partner and I had a small design business on the hospitality side.

We did projects for Hyatt Regency, Rory Resorts, and built a really profitable, exciting business with stellar clients.

But for the most part, things continued.

And then COVID hit.

And Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy, Tommy Bama closed three divisions, Augusta National already owned their inventory for that year and had to postpone the event and on and on.

So I would say the silver lining of COVID, if there was such a thing, was that while we were all at home sheltering in place, we got to ask ourselves really hard questions that were taboo and you almost didn't dare to think about when you're caught up in the day-to-day of everything.

Well, and I think the other thing, too, that's in there is, for me personally, if you're going to have a best logo with it in quotes, air quotes, the criteria for me has to be recognizable without having the name of the club written out in it.

You know what I mean? Like, if you see the Augusta National logo, you know that's Augusta National.

There are certain logos that are just like, okay, if you have to write down the Gary D'Amato Golf Club because people don't know what the logo is, that's where I think it gets hazy.

Yeah, that's a good point.

So you've already succeeded at this level.

And one of the things that I always try to get these kids to remember, 168 yards at Augusta National in the first hole of the Masters, is 168 yards in Nashville and 168 yards in California.

You've hit 168 yard shot 25,000 times.

Do not let the environment that the 168 yard shot shows up in influence.

that's it's not quite like that but it's like that closer to that than other majors from what i understand i see

and then culturally i don't have a massive grasp on it i know wimbledon is kind of the like uh thought of as as like the snooty exclusive one uh of of the bunch which of all the like rules for guests and whatnot but i i guess the u.s open has kind of a similar hallowed ground-esque uh tradition almost i did see some a headline that they were like like paying influencers just to show up and quote look hot at the u.s open and some tennis people were kind of outraged that that sort of content is what the u.s open was looking to uh produce and that that Similarly, hallowed venues like Augusta National would not do such a thing.

So I'm I'm kind of curious as to what in the world any of that is has to do with anything.

And that is all I know about the US Open.

Okay, Arthur Ashe seats 23, Louis Armstrong seats 14, and the grandstand seats about 10.

So, total, not that many people can get in, which is why it's still a fairly exclusive event.

However, behavior does not seem to be, like, in the same way we would think of, like, Wimbledon or Augusta National.

Like, okay, I know this is a children's podcast.

Nine holes.

Alistair McKenzie, who's had such an impact in this area in addition to Augusta National.

And it's just great superintendents.

They're the most important people for us golfers because we care about the condition of the course.

Alistair McKenzie

design.

What an incredible portfolio that guy has, huh? Augusta National, Cypress Point, to name a couple of them.

That little course in Santa Cruz, Paso Tiempo, and Northwood Golf Club.

So the first one, your dream course to play.

Augusta National.

Yeah.

The answer for everyone that's easy.