April 7, 2025 • 19 mins
Bob Parsons pulls back the curtain on his extraordinary journey from a troubled childhood to founding billion-dollar companies like GoDaddy and PXG. With refreshing candor, he reveals how writing his book fulfilled two missions: documenting his unique path for future generations and honoring the persistent requests from his Vietnam War brothers who remain close decades later.
The conversation delivers priceless insights into Parsons' entrepreneurial mindset. "I always did stuff I loved," he explains, sharing his philosophy that passion unlocks opportunities money-chasers never see: "When you love something, it tells you all its secrets." This approach led him to walk away from a $50,000 bonus in 1985 (an enormous sum at the time) to launch his software company—a leap that netted him $250,000 that same year.
Parsons' acquisition of Scottsdale National Golf Club showcases his ingenious problem-solving. When developers tried enforcing unwanted contractual memberships, he created "nighttime memberships" that could only be used an hour after sunset and had to end an hour before sunset—rendering them effectively worthless and solving his problem brilliantly. This story, like many others shared, demonstrates how Parsons consistently finds creative solutions where others see only obstacles.
Perhaps most compelling is Parsons' remarkable ability to avoid worry—a trait he credits partially to his Vietnam experience. Unlike his anxiety-prone brother who "worried about everything," Parsons learned early to focus energy on solutions rather than fear. This mental discipline, alongside the profound sense of belonging he first experienced in the Marine Corps, formed the foundation of his success across multiple industries.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bob (00:56):
Well, you know the old saying there's no time like the
president.
And so you know I have alwaysbeen thinking about writing a
book, mostly because I have avery unique past and you know I
wanted one.
You know, when futuregenerations wondered you know
how I did what I did, I wantedthem to see you know exactly how
(01:20):
I did it.
And so that's, that's onereason.
The other reason is the guys Iserved with during the Vietnam
War.
They all kept pushing me.
I'm still in, believe it or not,seven of us made it through
that step and we all are tight,and so they all kept pushing me.
(01:40):
You got to write a book, yougot to write a book.
I said why don't you fuckingwrite a book?
You gotta write a book.
I said why don't you write abook?
And they go.
Well, I don't, you know, I, Idon't know how to write a book.
And I said I, I don't know thatI do either, but I'll give it a
go.
And I found laura martin andshe helped me and off we went.
Paul (01:58):
So I have your book.
I've already.
I read the entire book and Iactually bought the audio book
too, the one that you narrate,which was great because to hear
you tell the story and justreading it in your voice and I
was I was talking to Lila aboutthis earlier Like there's very
few books I've read in my lifethat I feel have a profound
effect on me as a person, andjust like reading and
(02:18):
understanding you and like it,just it's a phenomenal book.
I think it's only one of thebooks of my life I can think of
that good and I'm not justsaying that like this book's
amazing, like so I definitelysucceeded in what you're trying
to do because we really felt orfor me, I felt an understanding
of like kind of who you are andhow you got to where you're at,
(02:39):
and hearing your own words andyour own voice and like
explaining, like you know, know,the myth and the legend is not
there's a lot more to this thanhow I think, how you did it.
So it's an amazing book.
Like I love this book for realwell, thank you so much so I
gave this my mom.
My mom's reading it now, um, andI'm giving out to people just
to read, so I'm like you have toread this book because, um,
yeah, so thank you for it well,there's some funny stuff in
(03:01):
there.
Oh my gosh, the funniest bookI've ever read in my entire life
.
Like I love the stories.
Well, some of the stories youtell are like.
I'll tell you my favorite storyokay, because I can picture you
doing this is when you boughtScottsdale National and like,
how, like you how to get it?
Bob (03:26):
can you tell that story?
Because I love that story, it'sso fun.
Oh man, I'll tell you what lotsof you know.
We had this, uh, indoor rangeover at our office, yeah, and we
would go down there after workand just start beating balls and
kicking ideas back and forth,back and forth, and I remember
stevie telling me he's going,you know, you know, you know,
after we both joined and I saidwell, you know, why don't you go
(03:47):
to Sugar Chicken?
You know, see what you can getinvolved in.
He said nobody will let me doanything Really, and I said all
right, that means we take it toVernal.
And then you know, we did whatwe did.
But my favorite thing in therewas how we got to buy the
(04:07):
housing development.
Paul (04:11):
Is that that way?
The land in the north Is thatwhich way it is?
Which way is it?
Bob (04:14):
It is this way, that way.
Okay, Matter of fact, we're onit.
Oh really, yeah, we're on itnow, so you know when we're
ready to go, right after we bust, a couple of days later, the
individuals that own thathousing development.
Now they haven't even brokenground yet on it.
Paul (04:36):
Yeah, the developer guys.
Bob (04:37):
Yeah, they come in and say, you know, well, congratulations
on buying the club, and I wantyou to know that we have
memberships that we're entitledto for every house that we do.
I was like 230 houses and soforth.
(04:58):
And I said, yeah, I'm aware ofthat.
And I said, well, we're notgoing to hire them.
And they said, well, you got tobecause it's in the contract,
this is maybe in the contract,but we, we're not going to honor
them.
And they said, well, you got tobecause it's in the contract,
this is maybe in the contract,but we're still not going to
honor them.
And so this back and forth, andback and forth.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
And so what?
Bob (05:14):
finally brought us together and had them give up on their
housing development becauseunless they had an amenity
associated with it, like a golfcourse right, there was no way
that you know that housingdevelopment was going to work.
So we read the contract againand again and again and then it
(05:38):
just occurred to us you know weget to define the memberships
and I said it's simple, they'renighttime memberships.
These memberships are forgolfers who want to tee off an
(06:01):
hour after sundown.
And they got to be off thecourse an hour before sundown.
He said nobody's going to wantthat.
And I said exactly, it's sofunny and it was just looking at
us the whole time and thatbrought it right together.
I mean we paid a very fairprice for it.
We paid more than we wanted toand they sold it for less than
(06:24):
they wanted to.
Perfect deal.
And after I you know know wekind of flows that deal where I
bought the property, I invitedthe guy to be a member.
Any join?
Paul (06:39):
yeah, that's part like he was.
He was a test and at the endhe's like oh yeah, you know that
he joins, that he joined thebusiness I remember the part in
the book is you're like, cuz youlike woke up in part in the
book because you're like,because you like you woke up in
the middle of the night andyou're like got it, Like you
went and figured out like how tolike join the clubs Because
they wouldn't talk to you.
Right, the owners of theScottsdale National or what was
(07:00):
it called back then Scottsdale,what was it called?
Bob (07:02):
It was called the Golf Club .
Yeah, the Golf Club Scottsdale.
Yeah, that's it, yeah, andeverybody's a valid point here.
Anybody can get on it.
Paul (07:10):
Yeah, exactly, oh, my God, that was so funny.
I guess it takes you to beexcited because you're like I
finally figured out that problem.
So one question I have for youis what made you, knowing how
you were raised and seeing thefailures your dad had as an
entrepreneur, like what made youwant to be an entrepreneur and
(07:33):
like what drove you?
Bob (07:36):
you know, I never thought about it.
I never thought about that.
You know his stumbles and thatsort of thing, yeah, and, and
lord knows he had a lot, um, uhlike, like I told you when you,
you know, he was a gambler, abig gambler.
And he caught wind that at thestate fair one of the horses the
(07:58):
thoroughbred horses was goingto be doped and this thing was
doped so much.
My God, this thing come out ofthe starting gate.
Pop put every nickel he had onhis horse right on the nose to
win.
And his horse comes out of thegate like a rocket.
He's going faster, faster,faster, faster, comes around a
(08:19):
far turn and can't make.
He's so stoked he can't makethe turn and instead runs right
into a fence and he kills thehorse, damn near, killed the
jockey and my father's going.
That's what happens when I beton a horse.
I really just thought, yeah,but anyhow, I you know, it's
(08:46):
just I did stuff I love to do,you know, like, for example, you
know, I started a softwarecompany, you know, when I, in
1984, after I wrote to Kohn, youknow, for a home money
management product and I reallyenjoyed it and I thought, man,
(09:07):
it'd be beautiful to sell thisand have customers and do
updates.
Paul (09:11):
Yeah, we'll make money on this, that sort of thing, yeah.
Bob (09:13):
I never even thought about making money.
I did it just to do it.
You know, and you know what Irealized over the years.
You know it was the same thingwith GoDaddy when I did that and
when I, you know, pxg, when Idid that.
I always did stuff I loved,right.
And when you love somethingtells you all its secrets, all
(09:38):
its secrets.
And when you work for money,people will never work as hard
as I worked for the love of it,for the passion, and so I think
that was the difference.
And so people, they look at meand say you're an entrepreneur.
Yeah, maybe that's what.
(09:58):
I am but that's not why I did it.
It's because you were excited,I did it because I wanted to do
something fun.
Paul (10:06):
When you walked away from the job that you had when you
started the software company.
Who does that?
Give you a bonus right At theend of the year.
Bob (10:12):
Yeah, I left it on the table.
Paul (10:14):
Yeah, who does that right?
Everyone's like you're crazyand it's like, yeah, that didn't
matter.
Bob (10:19):
That's slowing you down.
Yeah, that bonus.
I had $50,000 on the table.
That's a lot of money right In1985?
That's a lot of money, brother.
That was some long green for methen, but there was no way I
would get a tax program done intime for the season if I stayed
(10:42):
there.
And you know, that year, whenthat year was over 1985, I made
a quarter million dollars.
I never made that kind of moneyin my life.
Took my wife down to theCaribbean and went to a new
beach Me and her told one aroundthat we went around there, did
(11:12):
all that kind of stuff.
But anyhow, you know they werefun times.
Paul (11:17):
I just think what I love about the book is like you tell
these stories and you'reexplaining like stories that
people haven't heard before.
You know what I mean.
Like people they see yourachievements throughout but like
, how did you what you?
What was that?
You know what made ittransition?
Right, like leaving that job,and you're like kind of tired of
you know.
You know your boss promisingyou stuff, right, like people
(11:38):
always hear these things a lotof.
You know, like you see, a lotof time, um, people write about
false promises, right, and it'slike, well, you know you get
tired of it.
You know I'm gonna do my ownthing, I don't need it whatever.
There you go, um.
The next question I have foryou is one thing I really like
about the book, too, is how youopened up like right off, right
(11:59):
off the bat, right, you had toopen letter to yourself from
when you're um.
It says what was that?
Was that a therapy or a retreat, or was.
Bob (12:06):
Yeah, yeah, I was in my, I was in my I guess was in my, I
guess, late thirties.
Paul (12:11):
And it's like I think it's very profound and you get right
off the bat too and like Ithink, like to me, it opens up.
It opens up the whole bookbecause you see, like this is
serious, like this is how wehelp who.
He is a person Right.
But even being able to like forsomeone who's I'm in my 40s now
I'm in my 40s to read that andyou can, I don't know, I got a
real sense of like.
(12:31):
Okay, I hear that same story.
You know what I mean.
So I think what made you wantto put that right away, because
that's pretty.
I mean, we already know you'reballsy.
That's ballsy right, because alot of people will not put that
out there you know Paul mylife's always been an open book.
Bob (12:51):
I mean, I have always believed that if I had something
that I wasn't quite proud of, Iembrace it.
I don't try to shy away from itor cover it up, I embrace it.
And I did that with with thatletter, you know and that was.
(13:13):
You know the letter was whatthat I wrote to myself when I
was just a kid and my mother wasgoing nuts in the house and you
know, and little bobby washaving trouble with in school
because all that shit and it'sheavy stuff.
Yeah, and I told him that youknow, I know you better than
(13:35):
anybody alive, right, and that Iknow one day you're going to
overcome all this.
So, no matter what right, justkeep dreaming about being in a
better place in time, becausethat will be what saves you.
Paul (13:57):
You've always been a dreamer right and that's what
kind of guided you when you werea kid in the basement, always
playing with the soldiers andstuff.
Do you feel a real strongconnection when you joined the
Marine Corps?
I know you would say in thebook that was the first time you
felt that you had a home right,a real family.
Bob (14:20):
Exactly, yeah, when I was with, you know, I was with the
Marine Corps Rifle Company andin my rifle squad, the guys I
was with and I served with Imean I just have never been
(14:41):
closer to any guy, you know, anygroup of people like that,
before or since, and it'd be thetype of thing.
Like you know, the mostimportant thing in the military,
particularly when you're incombat, is mail call Mail.
Letters from home are soimportant.
(15:01):
But I take what we do.
I mean you know some days you'dget mail and other days you
wouldn't.
So when I got mail, I read mymail, and when I didn't, I read
their mail and they'd read mymail when they didn't.
And I mean we got to know eachother really well.
Paul (15:22):
That's right, so you can really understand each other's
world and where they're comingfrom with these letters from
home back then.
There you go.
Yeah, I remember that incollege and we still had letters
and people would send lettersto people.
That was the best not to allthe emails.
One last question before we goOne thing you said in the book
(15:42):
was you never worried?
Ever, even as a kid, you neverworried.
I think it's a very strongtrait.
You were talking about how it'sa waste of time to worry about
something because it makes itworse.
It's like pushing through andfiguring it out.
That's what's helped drive youthrough all these years and all
these things you've created.
You're you're never worriedabout it.
(16:04):
It's always solving the problemto make it better, instead of
being like, oh, it's not goingto work Right, or just giving up
or something.
Bob (16:11):
Well, the you know I I learned that in in Vietnam for
sure, you know, reinforced itand when I was a kid, you know I
didn't have too much to worryabout.
You know, other than you knowmy situation was my situation
and you know I learned to tuneit out is what I did.
(16:32):
I got really good atdisassociation, which you know
can be a good thing and not agood thing yeah, it comes back
later on, when you get older.
Yeah, yeah and then um, I um,you know it's just um a lot of
(16:54):
stuff.
You know that you, you know youtalk to people they worry about
and it never happens.
In other words, yeah, and so Imean in all this time, this
mental anguish and so forth, youknow and it's got to kill them
right.
And so, you know, never did it.
You know, my brother was afirst-collegiate martyr.
(17:15):
He worried about everything.
I mean he worried abouteverything.
He worried about the federalgovernment's deficit, he worried
about state government'sdeficit.
He worried about if his golfcourse was going to be able to
pay the bills so they can stayopen.
I mean all this stuff he wouldworry about if the Baltimore
Ravens would make the playoffs.
(17:36):
He went to a psychologist onceand he said and you know, he
went to a psychologist once andhe said you know, I want to be
like my brother, my brotherdoesn't worry about anything.
And she says you know, you canget.
There were in Spain and we gotto go, we're in some city and we
(18:08):
want to catch a plane toPamplona.
And you know, the guy told ushe goes.
You know it's going to be verydifficult for you to catch the
plane, you know, because youknow it's getting ready to leave
and all this and my brother'sgoing.
Oh my God.
Again I said, brother, if wedon't catch it, we'll get the
next one.
Paul (18:28):
He's like really stuck in fear of his life.
Bob (18:31):
Yeah, so stuff like that.
Paul (18:33):
Well, I think it's, I don't know.
I think it's a phenomenal book.
So thank you for writing it andthank you for inviting me out
here again and talking to me.
I appreciate it very much.
It's always a pleasure, myfriend.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I love talking to you .
Thanks for listening to anotherepisode of Behind the Golf
Brand Podcast.
You're going to beat me.
Stay connected on and off theshow by visiting
golfersauthoritycom.
Don't forget to like, subscribeand leave a comment.
Golf is always more fun whenyou win.
Stay out of the beach and seeyou on the green.
Well, you know the old saying there's no time like the
president.
And so you know I have alwaysbeen thinking about writing a
book, mostly because I have avery unique past and you know I
wanted one.
You know, when futuregenerations wondered you know
how I did what I did, I wantedthem to see you know exactly how
(01:20):
I did it.
And so that's, that's onereason.
The other reason is the guys Iserved with during the Vietnam
War.
They all kept pushing me.
I'm still in, believe it or not,seven of us made it through
that step and we all are tight,and so they all kept pushing me.
(01:40):
You got to write a book, yougot to write a book.
I said why don't you fuckingwrite a book?
You gotta write a book.
I said why don't you write abook?
And they go.
Well, I don't, you know, I, Idon't know how to write a book.
And I said I, I don't know thatI do either, but I'll give it a
go.
And I found laura martin andshe helped me and off we went.
Paul (01:58):
So I have your book.
I've already.
I read the entire book and Iactually bought the audio book
too, the one that you narrate,which was great because to hear
you tell the story and justreading it in your voice and I
was I was talking to Lila aboutthis earlier Like there's very
few books I've read in my lifethat I feel have a profound
effect on me as a person, andjust like reading and
(02:18):
understanding you and like it,just it's a phenomenal book.
I think it's only one of thebooks of my life I can think of
that good and I'm not justsaying that like this book's
amazing, like so I definitelysucceeded in what you're trying
to do because we really felt orfor me, I felt an understanding
of like kind of who you are andhow you got to where you're at,
(02:39):
and hearing your own words andyour own voice and like
explaining, like you know, know,the myth and the legend is not
there's a lot more to this thanhow I think, how you did it.
So it's an amazing book.
Like I love this book for realwell, thank you so much so I
gave this my mom.
My mom's reading it now, um, andI'm giving out to people just
to read, so I'm like you have toread this book because, um,
yeah, so thank you for it well,there's some funny stuff in
(03:01):
there.
Oh my gosh, the funniest bookI've ever read in my entire life
.
Like I love the stories.
Well, some of the stories youtell are like.
I'll tell you my favorite storyokay, because I can picture you
doing this is when you boughtScottsdale National and like,
how, like you how to get it?
Bob (03:26):
can you tell that story?
Because I love that story, it'sso fun.
Oh man, I'll tell you what lotsof you know.
We had this, uh, indoor rangeover at our office, yeah, and we
would go down there after workand just start beating balls and
kicking ideas back and forth,back and forth, and I remember
stevie telling me he's going,you know, you know, you know,
after we both joined and I saidwell, you know, why don't you go
(03:47):
to Sugar Chicken?
You know, see what you can getinvolved in.
He said nobody will let me doanything Really, and I said all
right, that means we take it toVernal.
And then you know, we did whatwe did.
But my favorite thing in therewas how we got to buy the
(04:07):
housing development.
Paul (04:11):
Is that that way?
The land in the north Is thatwhich way it is?
Which way is it?
Bob (04:14):
It is this way, that way.
Okay, Matter of fact, we're onit.
Oh really, yeah, we're on itnow, so you know when we're
ready to go, right after we bust, a couple of days later, the
individuals that own thathousing development.
Now they haven't even brokenground yet on it.
Paul (04:36):
Yeah, the developer guys.
Bob (04:37):
Yeah, they come in and say, you know, well, congratulations
on buying the club, and I wantyou to know that we have
memberships that we're entitledto for every house that we do.
I was like 230 houses and soforth.
(04:58):
And I said, yeah, I'm aware ofthat.
And I said, well, we're notgoing to hire them.
And they said, well, you got tobecause it's in the contract,
this is maybe in the contract,but we, we're not going to honor
them.
And they said, well, you got tobecause it's in the contract,
this is maybe in the contract,but we're still not going to
honor them.
And so this back and forth, andback and forth.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
And so what?
Bob (05:14):
finally brought us together and had them give up on their
housing development becauseunless they had an amenity
associated with it, like a golfcourse right, there was no way
that you know that housingdevelopment was going to work.
So we read the contract againand again and again and then it
(05:38):
just occurred to us you know weget to define the memberships
and I said it's simple, they'renighttime memberships.
These memberships are forgolfers who want to tee off an
(06:01):
hour after sundown.
And they got to be off thecourse an hour before sundown.
He said nobody's going to wantthat.
And I said exactly, it's sofunny and it was just looking at
us the whole time and thatbrought it right together.
I mean we paid a very fairprice for it.
We paid more than we wanted toand they sold it for less than
(06:24):
they wanted to.
Perfect deal.
And after I you know know wekind of flows that deal where I
bought the property, I invitedthe guy to be a member.
Any join?
Paul (06:39):
yeah, that's part like he was.
He was a test and at the endhe's like oh yeah, you know that
he joins, that he joined thebusiness I remember the part in
the book is you're like, cuz youlike woke up in part in the
book because you're like,because you like you woke up in
the middle of the night andyou're like got it, Like you
went and figured out like how tolike join the clubs Because
they wouldn't talk to you.
Right, the owners of theScottsdale National or what was
(07:00):
it called back then Scottsdale,what was it called?
Bob (07:02):
It was called the Golf Club .
Yeah, the Golf Club Scottsdale.
Yeah, that's it, yeah, andeverybody's a valid point here.
Anybody can get on it.
Paul (07:10):
Yeah, exactly, oh, my God, that was so funny.
I guess it takes you to beexcited because you're like I
finally figured out that problem.
So one question I have for youis what made you, knowing how
you were raised and seeing thefailures your dad had as an
entrepreneur, like what made youwant to be an entrepreneur and
(07:33):
like what drove you?
Bob (07:36):
you know, I never thought about it.
I never thought about that.
You know his stumbles and thatsort of thing, yeah, and, and
lord knows he had a lot, um, uhlike, like I told you when you,
you know, he was a gambler, abig gambler.
And he caught wind that at thestate fair one of the horses the
(07:58):
thoroughbred horses was goingto be doped and this thing was
doped so much.
My God, this thing come out ofthe starting gate.
Pop put every nickel he had onhis horse right on the nose to
win.
And his horse comes out of thegate like a rocket.
He's going faster, faster,faster, faster, comes around a
(08:19):
far turn and can't make.
He's so stoked he can't makethe turn and instead runs right
into a fence and he kills thehorse, damn near, killed the
jockey and my father's going.
That's what happens when I beton a horse.
I really just thought, yeah,but anyhow, I you know, it's
(08:46):
just I did stuff I love to do,you know, like, for example, you
know, I started a softwarecompany, you know, when I, in
1984, after I wrote to Kohn, youknow, for a home money
management product and I reallyenjoyed it and I thought, man,
(09:07):
it'd be beautiful to sell thisand have customers and do
updates.
Paul (09:11):
Yeah, we'll make money on this, that sort of thing, yeah.
Bob (09:13):
I never even thought about making money.
I did it just to do it.
You know, and you know what Irealized over the years.
You know it was the same thingwith GoDaddy when I did that and
when I, you know, pxg, when Idid that.
I always did stuff I loved,right.
And when you love somethingtells you all its secrets, all
(09:38):
its secrets.
And when you work for money,people will never work as hard
as I worked for the love of it,for the passion, and so I think
that was the difference.
And so people, they look at meand say you're an entrepreneur.
Yeah, maybe that's what.
(09:58):
I am but that's not why I did it.
It's because you were excited,I did it because I wanted to do
something fun.
Paul (10:06):
When you walked away from the job that you had when you
started the software company.
Who does that?
Give you a bonus right At theend of the year.
Bob (10:12):
Yeah, I left it on the table.
Paul (10:14):
Yeah, who does that right?
Everyone's like you're crazyand it's like, yeah, that didn't
matter.
Bob (10:19):
That's slowing you down.
Yeah, that bonus.
I had $50,000 on the table.
That's a lot of money right In1985?
That's a lot of money, brother.
That was some long green for methen, but there was no way I
would get a tax program done intime for the season if I stayed
(10:42):
there.
And you know, that year, whenthat year was over 1985, I made
a quarter million dollars.
I never made that kind of moneyin my life.
Took my wife down to theCaribbean and went to a new
beach Me and her told one aroundthat we went around there, did
(11:12):
all that kind of stuff.
But anyhow, you know they werefun times.
Paul (11:17):
I just think what I love about the book is like you tell
these stories and you'reexplaining like stories that
people haven't heard before.
You know what I mean.
Like people they see yourachievements throughout but like
, how did you what you?
What was that?
You know what made ittransition?
Right, like leaving that job,and you're like kind of tired of
you know.
You know your boss promisingyou stuff, right, like people
(11:38):
always hear these things a lotof.
You know, like you see, a lotof time, um, people write about
false promises, right, and it'slike, well, you know you get
tired of it.
You know I'm gonna do my ownthing, I don't need it whatever.
There you go, um.
The next question I have foryou is one thing I really like
about the book, too, is how youopened up like right off, right
(11:59):
off the bat, right, you had toopen letter to yourself from
when you're um.
It says what was that?
Was that a therapy or a retreat, or was.
Bob (12:06):
Yeah, yeah, I was in my, I was in my I guess was in my, I
guess, late thirties.
Paul (12:11):
And it's like I think it's very profound and you get right
off the bat too and like Ithink, like to me, it opens up.
It opens up the whole bookbecause you see, like this is
serious, like this is how wehelp who.
He is a person Right.
But even being able to like forsomeone who's I'm in my 40s now
I'm in my 40s to read that andyou can, I don't know, I got a
real sense of like.
(12:31):
Okay, I hear that same story.
You know what I mean.
So I think what made you wantto put that right away, because
that's pretty.
I mean, we already know you'reballsy.
That's ballsy right, because alot of people will not put that
out there you know Paul mylife's always been an open book.
Bob (12:51):
I mean, I have always believed that if I had something
that I wasn't quite proud of, Iembrace it.
I don't try to shy away from itor cover it up, I embrace it.
And I did that with with thatletter, you know and that was.
(13:13):
You know the letter was whatthat I wrote to myself when I
was just a kid and my mother wasgoing nuts in the house and you
know, and little bobby washaving trouble with in school
because all that shit and it'sheavy stuff.
Yeah, and I told him that youknow, I know you better than
(13:35):
anybody alive, right, and that Iknow one day you're going to
overcome all this.
So, no matter what right, justkeep dreaming about being in a
better place in time, becausethat will be what saves you.
Paul (13:57):
You've always been a dreamer right and that's what
kind of guided you when you werea kid in the basement, always
playing with the soldiers andstuff.
Do you feel a real strongconnection when you joined the
Marine Corps?
I know you would say in thebook that was the first time you
felt that you had a home right,a real family.
Bob (14:20):
Exactly, yeah, when I was with, you know, I was with the
Marine Corps Rifle Company andin my rifle squad, the guys I
was with and I served with Imean I just have never been
(14:41):
closer to any guy, you know, anygroup of people like that,
before or since, and it'd be thetype of thing.
Like you know, the mostimportant thing in the military,
particularly when you're incombat, is mail call Mail.
Letters from home are soimportant.
(15:01):
But I take what we do.
I mean you know some days you'dget mail and other days you
wouldn't.
So when I got mail, I read mymail, and when I didn't, I read
their mail and they'd read mymail when they didn't.
And I mean we got to know eachother really well.
Paul (15:22):
That's right, so you can really understand each other's
world and where they're comingfrom with these letters from
home back then.
There you go.
Yeah, I remember that incollege and we still had letters
and people would send lettersto people.
That was the best not to allthe emails.
One last question before we goOne thing you said in the book
(15:42):
was you never worried?
Ever, even as a kid, you neverworried.
I think it's a very strongtrait.
You were talking about how it'sa waste of time to worry about
something because it makes itworse.
It's like pushing through andfiguring it out.
That's what's helped drive youthrough all these years and all
these things you've created.
You're you're never worriedabout it.
(16:04):
It's always solving the problemto make it better, instead of
being like, oh, it's not goingto work Right, or just giving up
or something.
Bob (16:11):
Well, the you know I I learned that in in Vietnam for
sure, you know, reinforced itand when I was a kid, you know I
didn't have too much to worryabout.
You know, other than you knowmy situation was my situation
and you know I learned to tuneit out is what I did.
(16:32):
I got really good atdisassociation, which you know
can be a good thing and not agood thing yeah, it comes back
later on, when you get older.
Yeah, yeah and then um, I um,you know it's just um a lot of
(16:54):
stuff.
You know that you, you know youtalk to people they worry about
and it never happens.
In other words, yeah, and so Imean in all this time, this
mental anguish and so forth, youknow and it's got to kill them
right.
And so, you know, never did it.
You know, my brother was afirst-collegiate martyr.
(17:15):
He worried about everything.
I mean he worried abouteverything.
He worried about the federalgovernment's deficit, he worried
about state government'sdeficit.
He worried about if his golfcourse was going to be able to
pay the bills so they can stayopen.
I mean all this stuff he wouldworry about if the Baltimore
Ravens would make the playoffs.
(17:36):
He went to a psychologist onceand he said and you know, he
went to a psychologist once andhe said you know, I want to be
like my brother, my brotherdoesn't worry about anything.
And she says you know, you canget.
There were in Spain and we gotto go, we're in some city and we
(18:08):
want to catch a plane toPamplona.
And you know, the guy told ushe goes.
You know it's going to be verydifficult for you to catch the
plane, you know, because youknow it's getting ready to leave
and all this and my brother'sgoing.
Oh my God.
Again I said, brother, if wedon't catch it, we'll get the
next one.
Paul (18:28):
He's like really stuck in fear of his life.
Bob (18:31):
Yeah, so stuff like that.
Paul (18:33):
Well, I think it's, I don't know.
I think it's a phenomenal book.
So thank you for writing it andthank you for inviting me out
here again and talking to me.
I appreciate it very much.
It's always a pleasure, myfriend.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I love talking to you .
Thanks for listening to anotherepisode of Behind the Golf
Brand Podcast.
You're going to beat me.
Stay connected on and off theshow by visiting
golfersauthoritycom.
Don't forget to like, subscribeand leave a comment.
Golf is always more fun whenyou win.
Stay out of the beach and seeyou on the green.
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