March 24, 2025 • 24 mins
Shane and Marty are joined in the PING Tour Truck by Erik Anders Lang, film maker and founder of Random Golf Club. They chat about his intro into golf, the origins of Random Golf Club and the Mad Scramble Tour, and his partnership with PING.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The guys from paying They've kind of showed me how
much the equipment matters.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I just love that.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I can hit any shot.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
I kind of want we're gonna be able to tell
some fun stories about what goes on here to help
golfers play better golf.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
Hey, everybody, welcome to the Ping proven Grounds podcast. Shane
Bak and Marty Jersen got Eric anders Lang with us
and Eric, I was thinking about your journey the last
couple of days into golf. Did it start with adventures
in golf? Is that kind of your first step into
that space, like the media golf world.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I mean, that's like the that's like the evidence that
exists in the world. But there's there was a couple
of years before that.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Okay, what were you doing before that?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
But you were a part of it?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, what was that at back nine Network?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Oh? Yeah, that network, babe?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
You remember that?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah? My fit that was my first step into TV
was back then. Word.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
I didn't realize that you were that involved early into it.
I mean, I know you'd had a part in it,
but what were you doing with that crew?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Well?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
The only reason I was on Back nine Network, which,
by the way, I can't believe that was your first
foray into being camera because you were such a professional.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Ill appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
And I had the best time over there. But that
was when we were talking about a film that is
this kind of it's this kind of piece of lore. Right,
So I was working on this documentary about golf and meditation,
which has never seen the light of day. It exists,
it's edited, it's sort of so they have a term
in Hollywood for a film that gets made but doesn't
(01:25):
get released, and it's called turnaround. And so basically, you know,
the film exists, and we've actually had some conversations recently
with the PGA Tour, whom is a large you know,
they're entitled to a lot of the rights of the footage.
So it's a lot of like mid twenty ten's kind
(01:45):
of archive. But anyway, so that film was about golf
and meditation, and so we did an experiment where we
taught golfers of different skill levels to meditate with no
other swing instruction, to see if meditation alone could improve
your results in golf. And the answer was unanimous. All
(02:05):
the fifty golfers who went through the study got better
at the game. But that then then there's like a
dovetail within that where I made this trailer to raise
money for the film on like Kickstarter, and I got
a phone call from the PGA tour and they were like, hey,
you need to take this video down or we're gonna
sue you. Gotcha? And I was like, well, I'm a
(02:26):
child and I have no assets that you could get.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You if you want to assume me, you can have
like my shirts in a couple of kairs.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Of I was like, my pants don't even fit, so
taking them away from it was a thrift store guy.
But then I got another phone call from a gentleman
from the tour and he said, hey, this is SO
and so from the PGA tour and I said, look,
I'm sorry. I don't know what to do. You know,
I'm in the middle of raising money and I apologize
and he was like, what are you talking about. We
want to hire you to be the face of a
(02:53):
new generation of golfers, right, golfers changing, and we think
your take on the game as a host could be interested.
And I was like, oh, yeah, no, thanks, I don't
want to be a host. And then he was like, well,
we'll pay you to do whatever you want and I
was like, never mind, I'll do whatever whatever I have
to do to receive this job. So that was really
the beginning. Yeah, and Adventures in Golf was the first
thing that people saw, But there was a handful of
(03:15):
years of becoming fascinated by golf, falling in love with golf,
you know, just watching golf clips, and there wasn't a
lot out there at that time in twenty ten.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Well, I mean, the interesting thing I want to ask
you about you and meditation, because I mean, you were
always trying different stuff and I'd love to know if
you've ever tried to, Marty. But you know, the interesting
about back in my network not to like talk about
our past, but kind of feels a little ahead of
its time now that you look back on it. I mean,
this is twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen. I don't know how
much you new about it, Marty, but it was a
group of people that were trying to talk about golf
(03:43):
in a different way and bring in younger people. And
some of the videos and some of the even the
some of the stuff they bought in, like those are
the range Picker team and like the ones that would
go out on the swamps and stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Like that.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I mean some of that stuff now would would play
you know well.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I mean, you know, actually, you're totally right. Back nine
was sort of this this really great like roll up
of golf content that right now you see it in
st Andrey, right, you see it in Roger Steel, right,
you see it even in Good Good almost like you
know you're a great player, you were involved. I think
it's hard to make something grassroots and real, like you
(04:22):
think about music, right, like Nirvana that was started in
a garage, that was just pure passion. And when you
look at all the names I just listed, like individuals
taking advantage of the ability to you know, create and
post and host their own content, have their own POV,
that's hard to do from a corporate standpoint, right, And
so I think back nine it was totally ahead of
(04:42):
its time, but it would also be hard to really,
I think, maintain that sense of authorship, right. And I
think on some level it was also just too early content.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
What content did you like?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Eric?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Just of older content, older storytelling and golf, like even
before the two thousands, you don't do anything come to
mind for well.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I didn't get into golf until two thousand and nine. Ok.
So I was like, actually not even not into golf.
I was like anti golf, right, I did not want
to play golf. I was not interested in the game.
My brother, ten years older than me, was sort of
the traditional golfer and I didn't want to.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Be like him.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So really not. But when I got into golf, Matt Janella,
he was kind of this adventurer, storyteller, great writer, great photographer,
and I remember me one of my good good friends
from childhood. He and I had gotten into golf separately,
and I remember we were both talking one day and
we're like, there's this guy, Matt Janella who goes out
(05:41):
and just plays these great golf courses and takes photos
and writes stories about it. And we were both so
inspired by that. And this was the time where Instagram
had no video, right yeah, and you couldn't zoom into
the photos and it was like I don't even know
if there were carousels.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, you only was like one picture, one photo, that
was it.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
And so like Janella to posts a picture of the
ghost Tree and he would tell you about the ghost Tree,
and it was really like a really novel concept of
like how can I learn more about this game that
is like truly rich in terms of you know, personality, place, culture,
all these things. And so Janello was really for me
like inspirational figure in terms of what's possible.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I mean, you think about golf now in your journey,
I mean twenty twenty five and you're doing so many
different things in terms of what you do around golf,
Like what is your relationship with it now? I mean
are you in love?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Like?
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Is it something that you love? I mean, it's part
of your business, it's part of who you are. But
like do you get excited to go out and play still?
I mean is it something that you want to do
on a daily basis?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, I've gone up and down, as I'm sure you
guys have as well, right, I mean you spend every
day kind of thinking about some version of golf, whether
it's the business of golf or the golf swing or
the equipment right or the content. But yeah, right now
I am absolutely in love with golf, and I'm ashamed
(07:02):
to admit that it's because I watched a thirty second
swing tip that really just figured everything out for me.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
And now you sound like my uncle right now, my
uncle's on Instagram like figuring out golf.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
On the thirty second YouTube, it.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Was it's a video of Rory. I've screen recorded it
so I don't lose it. And it's a video of
Rory at night, like after sunset, and there's even bleeps
in the video, like it's just a cell phone video
of him talking to maybe his friend about his takeaway
and how he's trying to keep his arms outside. And
then the swing really is just one move and so
and for me, I've got this.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Problem the chicken for people listening, yeah, yeah, And.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
This is why you never want to emulate Scheffler swing.
You don't even want to watch him swing. In my opinion,
him and Norman and everybody just like, don't even get
so anyway, this is this Rory. Rory's got the best
swing on tour, I think. So it's so compact, and
it's so the tempo is so nice, and he moves
so well through the ball that I just watched that
video about seventy times, and the last three rounds I've
(08:00):
played have gotten lower and lower and lower, and as
a six handicap, I can easily shoot mid eighties and
right and still kind of be satisfied. But now I
feel like I'm about to just sort of hit several
rounds in the seventies.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Marty.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Your love of golf, I mean, it's your business, and
I mean you've created golf clubs and it's been a
big part of who you are. Does how you play
kind of coincide with how much you like it at
the time?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
No.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I think if it's like I get, I go in waves,
just like you Eric, like little highs and lows. Last
summer I was on a high, like I was into it,
My kids were into it, My equipment was good. You know,
I had a good groove on practicing, the scores were
were showing up with the works. I was getting rewarded.
I just got that momentum.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
So yeah, but I've had other times where you got
a lot of life, a lot going on in life,
and you just got to let it down. But what
I love about golf is a game for a lifetime.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
So it's like it's okay if you have a bad year,
like you can get it back, just put the effort in.
I remember focus second twenty two I had that. I
had a good summer and like you know, qualify for
the amateur and do all this stuff, and then I
remember the next year, the first two tournaments I played in,
I played like a total dog and it's like.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Is this who I am now? You know, like is
this the golfer that I am now? And you have
to remind yourself that it's that's such a micro version
of who you are as a golfer, and like, look
at the macro and what you're able to accomplish. I mean,
you've done so many things, Eric. I want to talk
about the random golf club because when this popped up,
I remember it was a novel concept.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I was very interested in what you were doing with it.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
And then it's you know, you were a guy like
you've talked about being a country club guy and then
kind of stepping away from that and wanting to following
what you're talking about. So when you do these mad
scrambles and you get all these people out of the
golf course like Dobson Ranch, I know you've done that
in Arizona. Like, what's the fulfillment for you at the
end of the day?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Oh man, I mean, uh, well, it's interesting to come
off of the previous question, which is you know my
golf game right right, and I have this kind of
it's sort of a weird, weird take, but I actually
think golf is an inherently selfish game for sure, which
is okay. But the best example is you're playing mediocre.
(10:10):
I feel like you guys are probably beyond this in
terms of a social awareness golf, I Q standpoint. But
for me, I've experienced this on my own, which is
I'm playing below what I was expecting, and it's all
that it's about. Yep, no matter who's around me, no
matter who I'm playing with, Like.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
You kind of get quiet, you're not talking like yeah,
and you're not being rude.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Nope, you're not being like mean to other people.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I'm sulking.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, you're kind of in your own little like bubble. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah. And I'm allowed to salve for sure, because I
should have made that putt. And there's a story of
Bill Murray story where he's playing in a prom. These
guys have paid ten thousand dollars to bee in his
group and he's on the tenth te box. So he's
halfway through the round and he says, look, if I
hit a good drive, I'll be happy in jovial for
the rest of the round. But if I had a
bad drive. I'm not talking for the rest of the round,
(10:56):
and you know, you hit a bad drive and didn't
say another word. And I mean he's obviously, you know,
involved in some other type of experience of being a human.
But yeah, I think I think golf has that inherent
selfishness too, where it's like my attitude and my ability
to kind of ask other people about their shots or
their lives or like what's going on at work, it
(11:16):
goes away the worst I play, which is sort of
I believe that maybe the biggest lesson in golf is
to let my score and my ball striking be secondary
to my experience. Yep. And so that's one side of it.
But the other side is your question about random Golf
Club is you know for me, you know, we host
(11:37):
these great events. It's one hundred people come out. Everyone
gets a chance to hang out and play and hit
and you know, we all are on the same team
and so we pretty much birdy every hole except for
the holes we eagle. And you know, it's wild and
you can be a part of something without even really
contributing to whatever the score is. But but you're a
(11:58):
part of this kind of like really like a metaphor
of like, together we're greater than we are as a
as an individual and so. And really the crescendo of
that for me is at the end of those events,
when people come out and they're nervous and you're hitting
a ball in front of one hundred people. It's like
not normal. Most of us out there are you know,
(12:21):
high single digits, double digits, new to golf. And at
the end of it all, there's this kind of glow
where people realize they've found a group of people.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
There's a kinship involved in all the Oh you're doing.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
It totally and and and what's funny is very rarely
if we were playing golf, three of us were playing
golf and you topped it, I would laugh.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I would expect you to laugh.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
And that's because that's something I've learned, right, is that
that is what should happen.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Well, I remember, you know, there's different cultures in the
way we react to golf, and America is probably the
most serious culture about it. But you know, if you
go to like Asian countries and you've traveled over the
world and played golf everywhere, but there is that laughing
about bad golf clups. That was something when I caddied
at the old course, you know, out of college, and
you'd get these groups of players from Korea and you're
being a bunker leaving in the bunker, and they would
(13:12):
be laughing at their friend, and the friend wouldn't be
taking it offensively, right, they would be kind of in
on the joke. And I just love that approach to
the game because again, I do feel like the moment
your buddy starts going south, everybody kind of wants to
step away from them because you know they're either going
to blow up or they're struggling, or they're kind of
going to that place we were talking about earlier.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
And that's and that's the unfortunate thing is because then
as a spectator or a partner, you're co signing the sulk, right,
And that's what Random Golf Club really aims to, like,
you know combat, which is like, oh my god, you
missed the ball completely, that's amazing. You know, you get
a whole other shot and nobody cares.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
It's all good.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
That's where did you get inspiration? Where where do your
ideas come from? You know you see them from in
other places.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Well, well, the.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Random Golf club inspiration was really too experienced. One is
I was. They happened around the same time. One was
I was lucky enough to be married to a woman
who insisted that we joined a private club. I said, fine,
I couldn't afford it on my own, but but we
joined and I thought it was great. And after three
years I realized I didn't need to be a member
there anymore because I just felt like there were so
(14:17):
many other types of people that play golf. And I
really liked the municipal golf courses in LA. They're so rich,
they're so real, and the golf was fine. Yeah, but
the golf was very The greens were great, and they
weren't the problem, right, My problem was the stuff, and
it's around the greens. And so I drove out of
the golf course after quitting one day, and I just
walked in the club and I said, I quit. I
(14:38):
don't want to be a member anymore, and they were
like WHOA. I was like, you know, everything's fine, you
guys are cool. I'm cool. I'm just doing a different thing.
And on my way out, the door opened and I
was like, man, they're the gate. You know, there's a
gate to the parking lot. I guess you can't get it.
You can't sneak in, which is amazing. And I was
the gate open and I was like, man, it'd be
cool there was a club where anyone could play golf
with anyone else anywhere. And then I sort of chuckled
(15:02):
as I rolled over the spike strip, you know, and
I was like, it'd be cool if it was called
Random Golf Club. So that was kind of the original idea.
And then right after that, I was in Australia and
I had gotten a couple dms from some dudes that
wanted to play golf, and I said yes to everybody,
and after four days I had somehow accepted eleven invitations
to play golf, and I realized, I only have two
days left in this country. Let's all meet at Royal Park,
(15:26):
which is a little nine hole executive course right in
the middle of Melbourne. I was like, let's just all
meet there, and so we get to the clubhouse on
Friday at five o'clock. I walked into the pro shop
and I said, Hey, what's your name, Tom, Tom? Look,
is there any chance the eleven of us could play
as one group? And he was like, no, ilet's say
a problem with that, And so first hole little awkward,
(15:46):
second hole less awkward. By the time we're at the
ninth hole were old friends. And Tom comes out of
the pro shop and he says, hey, I got glow balls.
If you want to keep playing, I'll join you. So
we play four more holes in the dark. We get
back to the clubhouse again. Yeah, and now we got
to twelve and then there were twelve and we get
back to the press shop and he says, hey, look,
I'll open up if you guys want to grab some drinks.
We can hang out here forever, hung out till midnight.
(16:07):
We all exchange numbers. And that was when I first saw.
When I left the parking lot at Wilshre Country Club
in LA, That's when I first saw how a golf
club can be created in a truly random environment where
all of us had really one thing in common. And
that almost seemed richer than being a member of a
private club where there's a selection committee. You obviously have
(16:28):
a certain salary, you live in a certain area for
some reason. You also happen to sell insurance. Whatever it
is you know, whatever type of club you're at. Random
golf club really seemed like there was an opportunity to
just bring together people who really love golf. And the
difference is that we have actually strengthened what we can
learn from each other on the golf course.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Well, you know, you did one of your mad scrambles
at Doobts and ran. So when I lived in Arizona,
I played in a money game. And we've talked a
lot about Friday Adopts and which has kind of gone away,
which is such a bummer, But there was a Friday
honey game every Friday adoptson and what you talk about
with random Golf Club is is very much like what
the Friday game was Adopts and where it would be
a group of seventy or eighty people and you'd have
(17:11):
private club golfers there that were coming down from the
Astantias and from you know, the silver Leafs in place
like that to play in this money game. But I
would play with a construction guy every Friday. And I
would play with a guy that was like he worked
in tech, and you could wear jeans, and you could
wear a T shirt, but you could wear your polo.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
And all that stuff.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
And I always found that Friday game my favorite golf
because it felt it felt inclusive, but it didn't feel
like it was forcing everybody to be inclusive. It was like,
you're coming out because you want to play golf and
you want to play with this group. You might win
a hundred bucks, you might not, but we're all gonna
sit around and have some beers after and enjoy it,
you know well.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And I think also there's there's something about mindset when
you look at you know that when you when you
bring together that group of people, that there tends to
be an optimism and that's really valuable. And I found like, look,
I just as much as anybody else, Like I love
a nice private course, ye for sure. I love great greens.
I love like yesterday. We were at San the other
(18:06):
day thanks to John, and I remember I was on
the range and I hit I put my wedge away
and he goes, can I wait clean that for you?
Speaker 4 (18:12):
And I was like, they like happened upon you at
times and You're like, who's this guy?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
He's a cleaner guy, clean my club between shots on
the range.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Sweet.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
But there's honestly some part of that that I think,
you know, that's not really golf, that's that's service, right.
That's that's like a hotel or a restaurant. Golf is
is just sort of going out and being like, where's
the ball gonna go? And who do I want to
walk with? And and that happens I think more often
(18:42):
at places like Dobson Range, and I think that's why
Matt and the team there has done such a great
job and why I hope the next ten years seems
sees even more places like that. It's probably like grass clippings. Wow, yeah,
really cool, love it.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Eric.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Now, you started your journey here in partnership with with Paying.
You talked about John John K Solheim, our president CEO.
You guys started off kicking off with the break ninety
at Pinehurst last summer. Tell us a little bit about
that and what are you excited about with your relationship
now with with us hare Ping?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Well, Ping for me has long been h you know,
a product and a brand and and kind of like
I don't know, you know, you know, I don't know
if you guys remember when before before you had the
keys to golf, you know what I mean, when you
were just like on the outside, you know, you're looking
at all these brands and for some reason, ping always
resonated with me. And it was the first set of
(19:35):
clubs I ever bought. And which were they? What were they?
I had? I had, I was misfitted. I got black
Dot iTunes off Crankslist. Yeah, I had to regrip them.
They were wrapped in a rubber band, you know. But
I want to tell stories in golf, and I want
to you know, be a part of talking about why
(19:58):
I care about what I care about, right, And you know,
going back to all the random golf club history moments
like those are things that are about authenticity. Those are
things are about real experiences. And you know, the more
I learned about the golf industry, the more I learned
that paying really is unique. But a lot of people
didn't know that. And so that was really where I thought, man, Like,
(20:18):
there's an opportunity to create great content with a company
that cares maybe more about their customer than any of
their competitors. And it shows up in all these different ways, right,
whether it's the commitment to engineering, the commitment to design,
you know, the commitment to the team, right, the staff
that makes these products, the customers, the retailers that sell
(20:39):
the products. You know, they're all treated differently, and so
you know, the more I learn about all this stuff,
the more I just got really really excited about it.
But I kept hitting dead ends, and so finally I
was like, I need to meet John. I need to
meet John K. Solheim. And so we had dinner. It's
almost exactly a year ago, and he didn't know I was,
didn't know anything about what I do, and I was like, Hey,
I'd like to propose something to you. And so that
(21:03):
kind of began this process where I was able to
get a foot in the door here, which you know,
for me was really exciting and it reakes me really
proud because I care so much about not only the
things that we look at when we're filming, but also
how people respond when we share it. Right, So we
(21:25):
have this community that watches our content, right, it's like
and it's like so rewarding for me to see that
people get it, people get why Random Golf Club and
Paying make a great partnership. And I think it's because
of that authenticity and that commitment to quality. And so
it's been really fun to learn more. And this is
probably I guess I had never been to this location.
(21:47):
You know, we're at the headquarters here as of January
of last year. I've been here like seven times since,
you know what I mean, And James got me fitted
and like I've just really enjoyed the journey. So I
don't know if I answered your question, but yeah, for me,
it's just it. It just feels good.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, Marty.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
The wall always stands out to me. When you go
on the wall and you see the years that employees
have been here, it's always just so crazy, like twenty five, thirty,
forty years, you know, and we talked so much. We
have so many players on here that talk about the
Ping family. Yeah, you know what, And it does feel
I don't know if you get the same vibe, but
I felt it for a long time. It's like you
feel like you're a part of the Ping family now,
you know, like like now you're in here and you
know people's names and you know who does what, and
(22:26):
you know when you come back, they're still gonna be here. Yeah,
because they care about it as well.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
There was a there was a moment yesterday during the
pro am where we were playing and you know, on
on the our eleventh hole, the first t came out
and joined us and they carried MATV mcneely's bag and
at the end on the green one of the kids
said to me.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Are you part of the Ping family?
Speaker 1 (22:46):
And I looked at John and I was like, and
John goes, I have the adoption paperwork at my desk.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Clothes. It's gonna work out before we let you go.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
I did want to ask one thing about adventures in golf,
and I know you to get this question a lot.
Is there one destination, one place that kind of stands
out above the rest for you?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Well, we have been trying to get to South America
for the last five years, and there's a whole like
we we have like every episode scripted out. We know
who's in the episodes. You know, we're down on New
Shuaia at the southern tip of like kind of Tira
Dope Weggo. There's a nine hole course we're in. You know,
in Buenos Aires there's a an Alistair McKenzie course. You know.
(23:29):
Uruguay you know has these like there's like these links courses.
There's a course at the highest course of the world.
In Bolivia, yep, there's an Amazon course right when you
get a machete at the tea box. And we have
literally scripted out these episodes we've were on WhatsApp. I
know everybody in these locations, they're all aware of us.
It's been hard to do because of the hemispheres. So
(23:50):
you need to shoot these episodes in you know, December, January, February, March.
If you go in this in our summer, it'd be
too cold in these places. So but for some reason,
the time, you know, it ever works out. I don't
know when we're gonna go. I've never been to South America.
It feels like a total tragedy. But yeah, no, I
cannot wait. I speak just enough Spanish to get myself
(24:11):
in trouble, so I'm really looking forward to that. Part
of it too, is it's like, if I'm gonna go,
I don't want to go for eleven days, right, I
want to go for like a month and a half, correct,
you know? And so that's that's my white Well, okay,
South America.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
South America. Did not expect that to be the answer.
That's cool.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
I know that no Lane up voice just win and
the videos looked unbelievable from there, so yeah, that makes
a lot of sense. Well, Eric, I appreciate the time
as always a good catching up with you so cool
that you're kind of what you're doing and your involvement
with ping, and we appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
This is the Ping proven Grounds podcast.
The guys from paying They've kind of showed me how
much the equipment matters.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I just love that.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I can hit any shot.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
I kind of want we're gonna be able to tell
some fun stories about what goes on here to help
golfers play better golf.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
Hey, everybody, welcome to the Ping proven Grounds podcast. Shane
Bak and Marty Jersen got Eric anders Lang with us
and Eric, I was thinking about your journey the last
couple of days into golf. Did it start with adventures
in golf? Is that kind of your first step into
that space, like the media golf world.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I mean, that's like the that's like the evidence that
exists in the world. But there's there was a couple
of years before that.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Okay, what were you doing before that?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
But you were a part of it?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, what was that at back nine Network?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Oh? Yeah, that network, babe?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
You remember that?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah? My fit that was my first step into TV
was back then. Word.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
I didn't realize that you were that involved early into it.
I mean, I know you'd had a part in it,
but what were you doing with that crew?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Well?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
The only reason I was on Back nine Network, which,
by the way, I can't believe that was your first
foray into being camera because you were such a professional.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Ill appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
And I had the best time over there. But that
was when we were talking about a film that is
this kind of it's this kind of piece of lore. Right,
So I was working on this documentary about golf and meditation,
which has never seen the light of day. It exists,
it's edited, it's sort of so they have a term
in Hollywood for a film that gets made but doesn't
(01:25):
get released, and it's called turnaround. And so basically, you know,
the film exists, and we've actually had some conversations recently
with the PGA Tour, whom is a large you know,
they're entitled to a lot of the rights of the footage.
So it's a lot of like mid twenty ten's kind
(01:45):
of archive. But anyway, so that film was about golf
and meditation, and so we did an experiment where we
taught golfers of different skill levels to meditate with no
other swing instruction, to see if meditation alone could improve
your results in golf. And the answer was unanimous. All
(02:05):
the fifty golfers who went through the study got better
at the game. But that then then there's like a
dovetail within that where I made this trailer to raise
money for the film on like Kickstarter, and I got
a phone call from the PGA tour and they were like, hey,
you need to take this video down or we're gonna
sue you. Gotcha? And I was like, well, I'm a
(02:26):
child and I have no assets that you could get.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You if you want to assume me, you can have
like my shirts in a couple of kairs.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Of I was like, my pants don't even fit, so
taking them away from it was a thrift store guy.
But then I got another phone call from a gentleman
from the tour and he said, hey, this is SO
and so from the PGA tour and I said, look,
I'm sorry. I don't know what to do. You know,
I'm in the middle of raising money and I apologize
and he was like, what are you talking about. We
want to hire you to be the face of a
(02:53):
new generation of golfers, right, golfers changing, and we think
your take on the game as a host could be interested.
And I was like, oh, yeah, no, thanks, I don't
want to be a host. And then he was like, well,
we'll pay you to do whatever you want and I
was like, never mind, I'll do whatever whatever I have
to do to receive this job. So that was really
the beginning. Yeah, and Adventures in Golf was the first
thing that people saw, But there was a handful of
(03:15):
years of becoming fascinated by golf, falling in love with golf,
you know, just watching golf clips, and there wasn't a
lot out there at that time in twenty ten.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Well, I mean, the interesting thing I want to ask
you about you and meditation, because I mean, you were
always trying different stuff and I'd love to know if
you've ever tried to, Marty. But you know, the interesting
about back in my network not to like talk about
our past, but kind of feels a little ahead of
its time now that you look back on it. I mean,
this is twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen. I don't know how
much you new about it, Marty, but it was a
group of people that were trying to talk about golf
(03:43):
in a different way and bring in younger people. And
some of the videos and some of the even the
some of the stuff they bought in, like those are
the range Picker team and like the ones that would
go out on the swamps and stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Like that.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I mean some of that stuff now would would play
you know well.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I mean, you know, actually, you're totally right. Back nine
was sort of this this really great like roll up
of golf content that right now you see it in
st Andrey, right, you see it in Roger Steel, right,
you see it even in Good Good almost like you
know you're a great player, you were involved. I think
it's hard to make something grassroots and real, like you
(04:22):
think about music, right, like Nirvana that was started in
a garage, that was just pure passion. And when you
look at all the names I just listed, like individuals
taking advantage of the ability to you know, create and
post and host their own content, have their own POV,
that's hard to do from a corporate standpoint, right, And
so I think back nine it was totally ahead of
(04:42):
its time, but it would also be hard to really,
I think, maintain that sense of authorship, right. And I
think on some level it was also just too early content.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
What content did you like?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Eric?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Just of older content, older storytelling and golf, like even
before the two thousands, you don't do anything come to
mind for well.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I didn't get into golf until two thousand and nine. Ok.
So I was like, actually not even not into golf.
I was like anti golf, right, I did not want
to play golf. I was not interested in the game.
My brother, ten years older than me, was sort of
the traditional golfer and I didn't want to.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Be like him.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So really not. But when I got into golf, Matt Janella,
he was kind of this adventurer, storyteller, great writer, great photographer,
and I remember me one of my good good friends
from childhood. He and I had gotten into golf separately,
and I remember we were both talking one day and
we're like, there's this guy, Matt Janella who goes out
(05:41):
and just plays these great golf courses and takes photos
and writes stories about it. And we were both so
inspired by that. And this was the time where Instagram
had no video, right yeah, and you couldn't zoom into
the photos and it was like I don't even know
if there were carousels.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, you only was like one picture, one photo, that
was it.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
And so like Janella to posts a picture of the
ghost Tree and he would tell you about the ghost Tree,
and it was really like a really novel concept of
like how can I learn more about this game that
is like truly rich in terms of you know, personality, place, culture,
all these things. And so Janello was really for me
like inspirational figure in terms of what's possible.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I mean, you think about golf now in your journey,
I mean twenty twenty five and you're doing so many
different things in terms of what you do around golf,
Like what is your relationship with it now? I mean
are you in love?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Like?
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Is it something that you love? I mean, it's part
of your business, it's part of who you are. But
like do you get excited to go out and play still?
I mean is it something that you want to do
on a daily basis?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, I've gone up and down, as I'm sure you
guys have as well, right, I mean you spend every
day kind of thinking about some version of golf, whether
it's the business of golf or the golf swing or
the equipment right or the content. But yeah, right now
I am absolutely in love with golf, and I'm ashamed
(07:02):
to admit that it's because I watched a thirty second
swing tip that really just figured everything out for me.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
And now you sound like my uncle right now, my
uncle's on Instagram like figuring out golf.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
On the thirty second YouTube, it.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Was it's a video of Rory. I've screen recorded it
so I don't lose it. And it's a video of
Rory at night, like after sunset, and there's even bleeps
in the video, like it's just a cell phone video
of him talking to maybe his friend about his takeaway
and how he's trying to keep his arms outside. And
then the swing really is just one move and so
and for me, I've got this.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Problem the chicken for people listening, yeah, yeah, And.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
This is why you never want to emulate Scheffler swing.
You don't even want to watch him swing. In my opinion,
him and Norman and everybody just like, don't even get
so anyway, this is this Rory. Rory's got the best
swing on tour, I think. So it's so compact, and
it's so the tempo is so nice, and he moves
so well through the ball that I just watched that
video about seventy times, and the last three rounds I've
(08:00):
played have gotten lower and lower and lower, and as
a six handicap, I can easily shoot mid eighties and
right and still kind of be satisfied. But now I
feel like I'm about to just sort of hit several
rounds in the seventies.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Marty.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Your love of golf, I mean, it's your business, and
I mean you've created golf clubs and it's been a
big part of who you are. Does how you play
kind of coincide with how much you like it at
the time?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
No.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I think if it's like I get, I go in waves,
just like you Eric, like little highs and lows. Last
summer I was on a high, like I was into it,
My kids were into it, My equipment was good. You know,
I had a good groove on practicing, the scores were
were showing up with the works. I was getting rewarded.
I just got that momentum.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
So yeah, but I've had other times where you got
a lot of life, a lot going on in life,
and you just got to let it down. But what
I love about golf is a game for a lifetime.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
So it's like it's okay if you have a bad year,
like you can get it back, just put the effort in.
I remember focus second twenty two I had that. I
had a good summer and like you know, qualify for
the amateur and do all this stuff, and then I
remember the next year, the first two tournaments I played in,
I played like a total dog and it's like.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Is this who I am now? You know, like is
this the golfer that I am now? And you have
to remind yourself that it's that's such a micro version
of who you are as a golfer, and like, look
at the macro and what you're able to accomplish. I mean,
you've done so many things, Eric. I want to talk
about the random golf club because when this popped up,
I remember it was a novel concept.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I was very interested in what you were doing with it.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
And then it's you know, you were a guy like
you've talked about being a country club guy and then
kind of stepping away from that and wanting to following
what you're talking about. So when you do these mad
scrambles and you get all these people out of the
golf course like Dobson Ranch, I know you've done that
in Arizona. Like, what's the fulfillment for you at the
end of the day?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Oh man, I mean, uh, well, it's interesting to come
off of the previous question, which is you know my
golf game right right, and I have this kind of
it's sort of a weird, weird take, but I actually
think golf is an inherently selfish game for sure, which
is okay. But the best example is you're playing mediocre.
(10:10):
I feel like you guys are probably beyond this in
terms of a social awareness golf, I Q standpoint. But
for me, I've experienced this on my own, which is
I'm playing below what I was expecting, and it's all
that it's about. Yep, no matter who's around me, no
matter who I'm playing with, Like.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
You kind of get quiet, you're not talking like yeah,
and you're not being rude.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Nope, you're not being like mean to other people.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I'm sulking.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, you're kind of in your own little like bubble. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah. And I'm allowed to salve for sure, because I
should have made that putt. And there's a story of
Bill Murray story where he's playing in a prom. These
guys have paid ten thousand dollars to bee in his
group and he's on the tenth te box. So he's
halfway through the round and he says, look, if I
hit a good drive, I'll be happy in jovial for
the rest of the round. But if I had a
bad drive. I'm not talking for the rest of the round,
(10:56):
and you know, you hit a bad drive and didn't
say another word. And I mean he's obviously, you know,
involved in some other type of experience of being a human.
But yeah, I think I think golf has that inherent
selfishness too, where it's like my attitude and my ability
to kind of ask other people about their shots or
their lives or like what's going on at work, it
(11:16):
goes away the worst I play, which is sort of
I believe that maybe the biggest lesson in golf is
to let my score and my ball striking be secondary
to my experience. Yep. And so that's one side of it.
But the other side is your question about random Golf
Club is you know for me, you know, we host
(11:37):
these great events. It's one hundred people come out. Everyone
gets a chance to hang out and play and hit
and you know, we all are on the same team
and so we pretty much birdy every hole except for
the holes we eagle. And you know, it's wild and
you can be a part of something without even really
contributing to whatever the score is. But but you're a
(11:58):
part of this kind of like really like a metaphor
of like, together we're greater than we are as a
as an individual and so. And really the crescendo of
that for me is at the end of those events,
when people come out and they're nervous and you're hitting
a ball in front of one hundred people. It's like
not normal. Most of us out there are you know,
(12:21):
high single digits, double digits, new to golf. And at
the end of it all, there's this kind of glow
where people realize they've found a group of people.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
There's a kinship involved in all the Oh you're doing.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
It totally and and and what's funny is very rarely
if we were playing golf, three of us were playing
golf and you topped it, I would laugh.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I would expect you to laugh.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
And that's because that's something I've learned, right, is that
that is what should happen.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Well, I remember, you know, there's different cultures in the
way we react to golf, and America is probably the
most serious culture about it. But you know, if you
go to like Asian countries and you've traveled over the
world and played golf everywhere, but there is that laughing
about bad golf clups. That was something when I caddied
at the old course, you know, out of college, and
you'd get these groups of players from Korea and you're
being a bunker leaving in the bunker, and they would
(13:12):
be laughing at their friend, and the friend wouldn't be
taking it offensively, right, they would be kind of in
on the joke. And I just love that approach to
the game because again, I do feel like the moment
your buddy starts going south, everybody kind of wants to
step away from them because you know they're either going
to blow up or they're struggling, or they're kind of
going to that place we were talking about earlier.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
And that's and that's the unfortunate thing is because then
as a spectator or a partner, you're co signing the sulk, right,
And that's what Random Golf Club really aims to, like,
you know combat, which is like, oh my god, you
missed the ball completely, that's amazing. You know, you get
a whole other shot and nobody cares.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
It's all good.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
That's where did you get inspiration? Where where do your
ideas come from? You know you see them from in
other places.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Well, well, the.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Random Golf club inspiration was really too experienced. One is
I was. They happened around the same time. One was
I was lucky enough to be married to a woman
who insisted that we joined a private club. I said, fine,
I couldn't afford it on my own, but but we
joined and I thought it was great. And after three
years I realized I didn't need to be a member
there anymore because I just felt like there were so
(14:17):
many other types of people that play golf. And I
really liked the municipal golf courses in LA. They're so rich,
they're so real, and the golf was fine. Yeah, but
the golf was very The greens were great, and they
weren't the problem, right, My problem was the stuff, and
it's around the greens. And so I drove out of
the golf course after quitting one day, and I just
walked in the club and I said, I quit. I
(14:38):
don't want to be a member anymore, and they were
like WHOA. I was like, you know, everything's fine, you
guys are cool. I'm cool. I'm just doing a different thing.
And on my way out, the door opened and I
was like, man, they're the gate. You know, there's a
gate to the parking lot. I guess you can't get it.
You can't sneak in, which is amazing. And I was
the gate open and I was like, man, it'd be
cool there was a club where anyone could play golf
with anyone else anywhere. And then I sort of chuckled
(15:02):
as I rolled over the spike strip, you know, and
I was like, it'd be cool if it was called
Random Golf Club. So that was kind of the original idea.
And then right after that, I was in Australia and
I had gotten a couple dms from some dudes that
wanted to play golf, and I said yes to everybody,
and after four days I had somehow accepted eleven invitations
to play golf, and I realized, I only have two
days left in this country. Let's all meet at Royal Park,
(15:26):
which is a little nine hole executive course right in
the middle of Melbourne. I was like, let's just all
meet there, and so we get to the clubhouse on
Friday at five o'clock. I walked into the pro shop
and I said, Hey, what's your name, Tom, Tom? Look,
is there any chance the eleven of us could play
as one group? And he was like, no, ilet's say
a problem with that, And so first hole little awkward,
(15:46):
second hole less awkward. By the time we're at the
ninth hole were old friends. And Tom comes out of
the pro shop and he says, hey, I got glow balls.
If you want to keep playing, I'll join you. So
we play four more holes in the dark. We get
back to the clubhouse again. Yeah, and now we got
to twelve and then there were twelve and we get
back to the press shop and he says, hey, look,
I'll open up if you guys want to grab some drinks.
We can hang out here forever, hung out till midnight.
(16:07):
We all exchange numbers. And that was when I first saw.
When I left the parking lot at Wilshre Country Club
in LA, That's when I first saw how a golf
club can be created in a truly random environment where
all of us had really one thing in common. And
that almost seemed richer than being a member of a
private club where there's a selection committee. You obviously have
(16:28):
a certain salary, you live in a certain area for
some reason. You also happen to sell insurance. Whatever it
is you know, whatever type of club you're at. Random
golf club really seemed like there was an opportunity to
just bring together people who really love golf. And the
difference is that we have actually strengthened what we can
learn from each other on the golf course.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Well, you know, you did one of your mad scrambles
at Doobts and ran. So when I lived in Arizona,
I played in a money game. And we've talked a
lot about Friday Adopts and which has kind of gone away,
which is such a bummer, But there was a Friday
honey game every Friday adoptson and what you talk about
with random Golf Club is is very much like what
the Friday game was Adopts and where it would be
a group of seventy or eighty people and you'd have
(17:11):
private club golfers there that were coming down from the
Astantias and from you know, the silver Leafs in place
like that to play in this money game. But I
would play with a construction guy every Friday. And I
would play with a guy that was like he worked
in tech, and you could wear jeans, and you could
wear a T shirt, but you could wear your polo.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
And all that stuff.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
And I always found that Friday game my favorite golf
because it felt it felt inclusive, but it didn't feel
like it was forcing everybody to be inclusive. It was like,
you're coming out because you want to play golf and
you want to play with this group. You might win
a hundred bucks, you might not, but we're all gonna
sit around and have some beers after and enjoy it,
you know well.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And I think also there's there's something about mindset when
you look at you know that when you when you
bring together that group of people, that there tends to
be an optimism and that's really valuable. And I found like, look,
I just as much as anybody else, Like I love
a nice private course, ye for sure. I love great greens.
I love like yesterday. We were at San the other
(18:06):
day thanks to John, and I remember I was on
the range and I hit I put my wedge away
and he goes, can I wait clean that for you?
Speaker 4 (18:12):
And I was like, they like happened upon you at
times and You're like, who's this guy?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
He's a cleaner guy, clean my club between shots on
the range.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Sweet.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
But there's honestly some part of that that I think,
you know, that's not really golf, that's that's service, right.
That's that's like a hotel or a restaurant. Golf is
is just sort of going out and being like, where's
the ball gonna go? And who do I want to
walk with? And and that happens I think more often
(18:42):
at places like Dobson Range, and I think that's why
Matt and the team there has done such a great
job and why I hope the next ten years seems
sees even more places like that. It's probably like grass clippings. Wow, yeah,
really cool, love it.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Eric.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Now, you started your journey here in partnership with with Paying.
You talked about John John K Solheim, our president CEO.
You guys started off kicking off with the break ninety
at Pinehurst last summer. Tell us a little bit about
that and what are you excited about with your relationship
now with with us hare Ping?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Well, Ping for me has long been h you know,
a product and a brand and and kind of like
I don't know, you know, you know, I don't know
if you guys remember when before before you had the
keys to golf, you know what I mean, when you
were just like on the outside, you know, you're looking
at all these brands and for some reason, ping always
resonated with me. And it was the first set of
(19:35):
clubs I ever bought. And which were they? What were they?
I had? I had, I was misfitted. I got black
Dot iTunes off Crankslist. Yeah, I had to regrip them.
They were wrapped in a rubber band, you know. But
I want to tell stories in golf, and I want
to you know, be a part of talking about why
(19:58):
I care about what I care about, right, And you know,
going back to all the random golf club history moments
like those are things that are about authenticity. Those are
things are about real experiences. And you know, the more
I learned about the golf industry, the more I learned
that paying really is unique. But a lot of people
didn't know that. And so that was really where I thought, man, Like,
(20:18):
there's an opportunity to create great content with a company
that cares maybe more about their customer than any of
their competitors. And it shows up in all these different ways, right,
whether it's the commitment to engineering, the commitment to design,
you know, the commitment to the team, right, the staff
that makes these products, the customers, the retailers that sell
(20:39):
the products. You know, they're all treated differently, and so
you know, the more I learn about all this stuff,
the more I just got really really excited about it.
But I kept hitting dead ends, and so finally I
was like, I need to meet John. I need to
meet John K. Solheim. And so we had dinner. It's
almost exactly a year ago, and he didn't know I was,
didn't know anything about what I do, and I was like, Hey,
I'd like to propose something to you. And so that
(21:03):
kind of began this process where I was able to
get a foot in the door here, which you know,
for me was really exciting and it reakes me really
proud because I care so much about not only the
things that we look at when we're filming, but also
how people respond when we share it. Right, So we
(21:25):
have this community that watches our content, right, it's like
and it's like so rewarding for me to see that
people get it, people get why Random Golf Club and
Paying make a great partnership. And I think it's because
of that authenticity and that commitment to quality. And so
it's been really fun to learn more. And this is
probably I guess I had never been to this location.
(21:47):
You know, we're at the headquarters here as of January
of last year. I've been here like seven times since,
you know what I mean, And James got me fitted
and like I've just really enjoyed the journey. So I
don't know if I answered your question, but yeah, for me,
it's just it. It just feels good.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, Marty.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
The wall always stands out to me. When you go
on the wall and you see the years that employees
have been here, it's always just so crazy, like twenty five, thirty,
forty years, you know, and we talked so much. We
have so many players on here that talk about the
Ping family. Yeah, you know what, And it does feel
I don't know if you get the same vibe, but
I felt it for a long time. It's like you
feel like you're a part of the Ping family now,
you know, like like now you're in here and you
know people's names and you know who does what, and
(22:26):
you know when you come back, they're still gonna be here. Yeah,
because they care about it as well.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
There was a there was a moment yesterday during the
pro am where we were playing and you know, on
on the our eleventh hole, the first t came out
and joined us and they carried MATV mcneely's bag and
at the end on the green one of the kids
said to me.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Are you part of the Ping family?
Speaker 1 (22:46):
And I looked at John and I was like, and
John goes, I have the adoption paperwork at my desk.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Clothes. It's gonna work out before we let you go.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
I did want to ask one thing about adventures in golf,
and I know you to get this question a lot.
Is there one destination, one place that kind of stands
out above the rest for you?
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Well, we have been trying to get to South America
for the last five years, and there's a whole like
we we have like every episode scripted out. We know
who's in the episodes. You know, we're down on New
Shuaia at the southern tip of like kind of Tira
Dope Weggo. There's a nine hole course we're in. You know,
in Buenos Aires there's a an Alistair McKenzie course. You know.
(23:29):
Uruguay you know has these like there's like these links courses.
There's a course at the highest course of the world.
In Bolivia, yep, there's an Amazon course right when you
get a machete at the tea box. And we have
literally scripted out these episodes we've were on WhatsApp. I
know everybody in these locations, they're all aware of us.
It's been hard to do because of the hemispheres. So
(23:50):
you need to shoot these episodes in you know, December, January, February, March.
If you go in this in our summer, it'd be
too cold in these places. So but for some reason,
the time, you know, it ever works out. I don't
know when we're gonna go. I've never been to South America.
It feels like a total tragedy. But yeah, no, I
cannot wait. I speak just enough Spanish to get myself
(24:11):
in trouble, so I'm really looking forward to that. Part
of it too, is it's like, if I'm gonna go,
I don't want to go for eleven days, right, I
want to go for like a month and a half, correct,
you know? And so that's that's my white Well, okay,
South America.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
South America. Did not expect that to be the answer.
That's cool.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
I know that no Lane up voice just win and
the videos looked unbelievable from there, so yeah, that makes
a lot of sense. Well, Eric, I appreciate the time
as always a good catching up with you so cool
that you're kind of what you're doing and your involvement
with ping, and we appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
This is the Ping proven Grounds podcast.
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