[THEME MUSIC] On this episode of Secret Golf, we rustle up a different side of Oklahoma.

-I never thought Oklahoma would look like this.

PAT PEREZ: I think that's why everyone is going to love seeing the show, because perception is not always reality.

NARRATOR: Elk and fellow Secret Golfer, Pat Perez, horse around as ranch hands.

-I was telling PP I know everything about horses, don't worry about it. He was like, yeah, sure you do.

NARRATOR: And after a long day on the cattle drive, these two cowboys explore the Sooner State's own golf utopia.

-Shangri La.

NARRATOR: Secret Golf is rolling your way.

-[HONKS HORN] Fore!

[THEME MUSIC]

THEME SONG: It's Secret Golf. It's what I'm looking for. It's why I get up every morning, call my good timin' friends, keeps me comin' back for more. Secret Golf. We're headed down the road. We're just loading up the Big Show, going lookin' for the heart and soul. We'll run until the wheels fall off. It's Secret Golf. Shhh, it's a secret.

-Soon as we can some good help, we'll go round these cattle up. I need a couple more hands.

-Alright.

-Hey! What's happening? Looks like my man right there. We got a couple cowboys here that can help. We got some help

-Hey, I've got to run and get something real quick. Can you hold them?

-Yep.

TEV BRACKIN: I know you're great on the course, but I don't know how you are on a horse. So wait until I get back before you get on.

-OK. You got it. You know, I'm an expert.

-Oh, are you?

-I've ridden three.

-Three?

-Three horses last year. I knew what was coming. He didn't. He said, Elk, I don't know about this horse deal. Said, what happens if it just takes off. I said, I don't think it's going to take off. What you do is hang on to this right here. Put your foot in there. Yeah, just get up there. How does it feel?

-That's a first.

-That's a first?

-Yeah. I've never been on a horse. Closest we're ever to a horse is down on the paddock when we're trying to figure out which on we want to bet on. Oh, boy. See, now it's starting to move.

TEV BRACKIN: What in the world are you guys doing?

-We've got it covered, see, see, see, see, see, see.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

-So I go backwards.

-Who's responsible for this?

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

-[INAUDIBLE].

STEVE ELKINGTON: PP.

-I'm going to lead you around a couple times.

-That sounds fine.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Yeah, lead him around.

-OK. You're in control. OK.

PAT PEREZ: I don't think I am.

-He doesn't look like he's in control.

-Hey, hey, hey.

NARRATOR: Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

MIKE WILLIAMS: Most people across the country and around the world, when they think of Oklahoma, they think of Indians and tepees and cowboys. And while we have that, that's a small part of our culture.

-Before I arrived here, my impression was that it would be a real flatlands, more prairie-like setting.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Looks like we're in Vermont. Hilly, lush, trees everywhere, lakes. Turf is awesome. I never thought Oklahoma would look like this.

NARRATOR: The reason we're here nestled in the extreme Northeast corner of the state is an amazing public golf course aptly named Shangri La.

MIKE WILLIAMS: We're on Grand Lake of the Cherokees, which has 1,300 miles of shoreline. I mentioned the fact that Oklahoma has more shoreline on lakes than the Gulf and East Coast combined. Oklahoma is a hidden gem. Shangri La is just an actual crown jewel on the crown jewel.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

PAT PEREZ: C'mon, Mr. Expert. Let's see it.

-Oh, yeah. I'm an expert. I've been on three. How come my horse is in reverse all of a sudden?

-Don't pull back on it. Push the clutch.

-Are you pulling a cup?

-Huh?

-Do you have a cup?

-Do you wear a cup?

-No. Just protect your jewels. Let's go. Here we go.

STEVE ELKINGTON: It's not bad, is it?

PAT PEREZ: No, it's not bad. But I've been on a horse for like 45 steps.

STEVE ELKINGTON: It's like a couch.

PAT PEREZ: It is. It's actually comfortable.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Hey, don't let your horse bite my leg or anything.

PAT PEREZ: They're going to run away from us. They know what's happening here.

STEVE ELKINGTON: You've kind of got that cowboy swagger.

-OK, you guys ready?

PAT PEREZ: What are we doing?

-We're going to go down here and gather these up. Bring them back down here, back up there at that other pasture and get ready to start working.

STEVE ELKINGTON: You want us to stay here and you go get them?

MARSHALL BRACKIN: No, you got to help.

STEVE ELKINGTON: OK.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: Let's go.

-Come on, Sea Biscuit.

PAT PEREZ: Now you're going to tag to the left. You want me center?

MARSHALL BRACKIN: You kind of hang right there and I'm going to get them going and then we'll just bring them around.

PAT PEREZ: What if this thing comes after us now? I want to tackle that little one.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Get 'em, PP. There you go.

PAT PEREZ: Come on, Elk. You're supposed to be doing something.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I've got him by the hair.

PAT PEREZ: Run over there, Elk.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I've got him covered.

PAT PEREZ: You're doing nothing, as usual. I don't like the way that one's looking at me

MARSHALL BRACKIN: Don't let them scatter, Elk.

PAT PEREZ: Come on, Elk. Get in there.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I'm trying to get in there.

PAT PEREZ: I thought you were an expert.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: Better ease up. They're going to go, Elk. Elk.

PAT PEREZ: I got some rough terrain over there.

STEVE ELKINGTON: What happened? You give up?

PAT PEREZ: Give up? You didn't do anything. You're over there supervising.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I pinned them in.

PAT PEREZ: I got to be honest with you. You did absolutely nothing.

-Well, you know what?

PAT PEREZ: You did absolutely nothing. You stood over there and you acted like a supervisor.

-We were able to keep them in line, which would have been easier without the two of them, so to speak But, hey, they did good. They didn't lose anything.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I told you guys I was an expert. Do a little herding. There's so many things you've got to do to be a roper.

PAT PEREZ: You said you were an expert.

-I had the rope, the reins, and then [INAUDIBLE] gave me the rope that was supposed to tie the thing up with the thing

PAT PEREZ: If you get any closer, you can just drop it down.

-Whoa, Nelly. Here comes the reverse. I'm going to go in for my horse license later in the year. It's just almost impossible to be a roper. I mean, there's too much going on. But I try to impart a little wisdom on Pat. Look, I'm an expert at this. I've showed you how to do it, I showed you tons of things. How many times is it going to take you to do this?

PAT PEREZ: One time right here. Watch this.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Here we go. Oh.

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, that big powerful pony I was on. I mean, It's just impossible.

-You got the GoPro.

-I don't know how many lifetimes it would take actually get that down. That counts.

-Come here.

-That counts. That counts.

NARRATOR: Just like the mythical paradise, this Shangri La evokes a calm, peaceful state of mind. It is quite simply a year-round playground for those with a passion for play.

-Shangri La. I like saying it.

-The Shangri La name, of course, originally came from a James Hilton novel early in the 20th century, which was the perfect place, the nirvana the absolute wonderful place to be.

ROB YANOVITCH: It is a really relaxed environment. It's a laid back, relaxed place to play golf and hang out. I think what would surprise people is how playable it is. You look at the scorecard, you look at all the bunkers out there, and sometimes that's intimidating if you look at the length of the course. But the way we set it up, there's five sets of tees. The bunkers are positioned in a place where, if you hit a good shot, you're not going in that bunker.

-I was all over the country rodeo-ing and saw every place there was to see. And then when I got the opportunity because of golf, I decided to go to different places. I want to play everywhere. But nothing gives you this feeling. I mean, I've played all the greatest golf courses in the United States. You just don't get the feel that you get when you're here at Shangri La. And it's just hard to beat.

-Marshall, Pat, Mike. I'm glad to be off the horse. I don't know about you. I'm feeling better back here on this grass.

-Yeah, my back's a little tight today.

-Marshall and I were together a couple weeks back. And we were working on him getting that line of compression. We know this is a 90-degree angle. OK. Undisputable. When we come in, for me to hit that line right there, that is the line of compression. That's a 90-degree angle. Undisputable. But from my angle, it looks way forward. The average guy thinks this is square, which, if Pat puts that in there against that line, you can see that it's nowhere near it. There's a big, big piece here. So the average guy has to learn to be able to aim his hands far enough forward to be able to hit this box.

-And we were able to make sure I'm doing it right. And you always think you are until you get one of those guys to really help you define what it is. I was glad we got to get out there and work on that one fundamental that we'd been implementing here over the last couple weeks.

-Show me impact. People will notice from that view that the hips are open, shoulders are square, hands feel forward, but he knows they're not. Go back to address. Let's see you hit one again like that. Takes a little courage to get up there. You've hit that right of the tower. Beautiful shot. Well done, Marshall. He's around some expert instructors so he's pretty much set. I hope you don't hit too many drives like that today. We'll have a hard time beating you.

We got super caddie over here, H. Come over here, Mr. H.

PAT PEREZ: That's your partner.

-This man right here is the current PLAYERS Champion Caddies' Champion, which is nearest to the pin on the island green. Tell me about it. Three foot something.

-Three feet, seven inches. Every Wednesday before the tournament all the caddies hit a shot. And all of us guys, we put the money in the jar. When we go by, we put a couple hundred in the jar, and the nearest to the pin caddie wins the whole jar.

MIKE HARTFORD: Winner take all.

-In this case, it was--

-$8,200.

-I've been to that many times and never won $8,200.

-I text the Cat that night, and he put in $200. He got $200 of Tiger's money.

-You're the only one that's got $200 of Tiger's money. Well, congratulations, partner. We got a do-over here. I got THE PLAYERS Championship and we got the super caddie right here. OK, guys. We have made our way out to the Secret Smackdown. I've got my partner, H, here. Ticket and PP, why have we chosen number three here at Shangri La as our first hole of the Smackdown?

-Number three is a great hole. It's kind of a driveable par 4 for the longer hitters. Sits on the lake.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Not today. We got the--

-Not going to be able to get there today with that wind coming right at us. But it is a good hole.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Well, H and I, we really want to take down Pat somehow. And I know he wanted a piece of me because that's what he's living for. He wants that action.

-We're never scared. Knowing that it's Elk, yeah, there's pressure because you've got to beat Elk. Because if you don't, you're never going to hear the end of it. Yeah. Shot.

PAT PEREZ: OK.

STEVE ELKINGTON: PP. Once the Smackdown is on, the teams are chosen, and then you got to go. It's like war. Oh, nice. Good looking shot.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: What are you doing? Get back here.

PAT PEREZ: Oh, baby. Nice shot, Ticket. And then Elk got in there and hit his little 55-degree Elk wedge. And I guess it was a kick in. I mean, just a few inches so it was pretty good.

MIKE HARTFORD: Great shot, Elk. That's my partner.

PAT PEREZ: What's going on?

-Stelkington got up there and greased one in there.

PAT PEREZ: I don't know about that. Are you going to make us putt that?

-Good [INAUDIBLE].

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

STEVE ELKINGTON: I can see your short stroke.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: And then but he made us putt ours, which was uncalled for.

-OK. I need one more insult. Ticket, Ticket, that almost missed the center.

-Well, I know. I know. I can't believe they even made us putt that.

-That would have went into a mouse's ear.

PAT PEREZ: Ticket's on the horn, yeah. I know he was going to make it anyway. It hit dead center. Make that, tie the first hole. That's just Elk. He tries that gamesmanship on us.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: That's right.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

PAT PEREZ: What are we doing?

MARSHALL BRACKIN: We need to get that tractor and get some hay out. Can you guys at least drive a tractor?

PAT PEREZ: I can drive a tractor.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I can drive. I want to do it.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: Alright. Let's go get the tractor.

PAT PEREZ: OK. Let's go. What do we got here?

STEVE ELKINGTON: That's called a tractor.

PAT PEREZ: Thanks.

STEVE ELKINGTON: What do we got, Ticket?

MARSHALL BRACKIN: Since you're an expert, can you teach Pat how to pick up that round bell and get it out there for those--

STEVE ELKINGTON: Sure. No problem. Where's the lift on this, Ticket?

MARSHALL BRACKIN: On the right. You probably got to lift that up a little bit, do you? That's good. And put it in D. And should be able to back up, right? That's your deal there I think.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Where's the gas? Isn't there another little knob that makes it tilt the little-- the thing forward? Look at me, look at me. Oh yeah, boom. OK. Now lift up the whole show, more, more, more. A bit more, a bit more.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: There you go.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Give her the tomahawk, straight in. Boom. There you go. Now lift her up.

PAT PEREZ: What's this? Do you have to shift?

STEVE ELKINGTON: I think you can just go in that gear I think.

PAT PEREZ: Are you about that?

STEVE ELKINGTON: No, no.

PAT PEREZ: See, now we're talking. I'm going to drive over the top.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Do forward a little bit.

PAT PEREZ: I'm in. I couldn't be any more dead center.

STEVE ELKINGTON: That's the old game of putting the little round thing in the round hole.

PAT PEREZ: Exactly.

STEVE ELKINGTON: That's golf. We're golfers. I'm so glad that you're working on your foot because we've talked about that for years.

PAT PEREZ: A lot of times, yeah. I've always thought Elk's had unbelievable right footwork, but I never really incorporated it into my game.

-It's one thing to hold your foot on the ground and just try to hold it. But the real move is to get that ankle to lay over, and then you push off of it. Today we were focusing a bit more on his footwork. He's been focusing on it and he knows what he's got to do. It's just a matter of him working that into his game.

PAT PEREZ: My right heel kicks up, which kicks up my knee as well. So it's harder for me to get the club from the inside, get the smashes I want on it, and have the line of compression that I want as well. I try to do it, but when this foot comes up this way, I've got no space to get my right elbow by my body.

-And you can't get up to the spot.

PAT PEREZ: Something like this, you got all the space in the world, you could play out to the right As soon as this comes up, this comes up, pelvis comes up, now I've got no space, so I've got to go out, which now I've lost my line of compression through the ball. If you look at all the great hitters, their foot is down. And they all have, this is extended, their wrist, they hit, and it has that illusion at 90-degree. It's been a problem for a while. And I'm just now kind of fixing it.

STEVE ELKINGTON: I'm stripping down a layer. I need some smash.

PAT PEREZ: That's why I don't have a jacket. I'm freezing.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Ticket, are we sure this is Oklahoma? Are you sure you haven't tricked us and this is not like Vermont or something? The second hole of the Smackdown was a par 3, number eight. It was playing into the wind. And they picked that hole because it really does show off a little bit of the terrain around here and the mature trees. They're everywhere.

MIKE HARTFORD: Good looking shot, Elk.

PAT PEREZ: It's going to be expensive here.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Whoa, whoa.

MIKE HARTFORD: Beauty partner.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Whoa. We mean business. I hit a real nice five iron that kind of just stayed low all the way, ran right back there. We couldn't see how close it was because we can't see that top level.

-You see that little low fade? You see that? That's called--

-I saw it alright.

-You know what's it's called. And then, boom, here comes Ticket right out of the chute.

PAT PEREZ: Good looking shot.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: Get up there a little, hustle.

PAT PEREZ: Ticket. Ticket. Good shot.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Ticket on the course. There we were, side by side again.

-Look at two.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: Is that two? Was that a two?

PAT PEREZ: What a filthy animal. This is starting to get insulting to make me putt these.

-Ticket brought it right in. I mean, Pat hadn't hit a shot yet. I mean, they're tied with us. I mean, who would have thought that we've got to fight off Ticket? He carried PP really. I mean, he hit two unreal shots. First two.

PAT PEREZ: Oh, man. Here we go.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: He was. He was shaken over it because the last thing he wanted to do is to go to a par 5 down.

PAT PEREZ: Oh, g shot. Who's in there? Is Johnny Bench in there? Good catch, hole. Good catch.

NARRATOR: One of the coolest and most unique features at Shangri La is the ninth hole on the Legends course.

-The famous Mickey Mantle hole, which is very unusual. It's got two greens. And here at Shangri La, if you have the honor on that hole, you have the right to nominate which green you're playing to, either one over to the island, or up the hill a bit further. They're both par 5s. It's just a cool feature.

-Yeah, number nine, the Mickey Mantle hole, is a very special hole. Mickey Mantle double eagled the hole. That's how he got it. It was his favorite hole. He had a celebrity tournament here for years and years. And the second green is up the hill a little bit further, 60, 70 yards. But most people choose to play that island green because of the risk/reward. It's just a lot of fun.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Hey, it's an island. You're the caddie champ on the--

-Yeah, let's take the island.

-Let's go island.

-Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, let's do island.

-Alright. It's all yours. Your on, your honor.

-I like the Island Guy name because that competition, the Caddie competition, that TPC Sawgrass is like the highlight of the caddie year for us. So The Island Guy, that's kind of a cool nickname.

PAT PEREZ: Yeah. Alright, Marshall. Well done.

STEVE ELKINGTON: It was going to be one of those finishes where if someone could hit an incredible shot on to the island and get an eagle putt, that was going to win it.

PAT PEREZ: Oh, wait a second. Island Guy.

MIKE HARTFORD: Hang in there.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Hole, please. Hole, please. Thank you. Thank you.

-And, look, I've been playing the tour for 30 years. I hate playing four iron shots to island greens. OK, let's be honest about that. But I did hit a good shot and it just caught that bunker. If it would have gone one more foot, it would have probably hit and gone right down next to the hole.

PAT PEREZ: Big sky. Big skip.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: Go. Jump. OK.

PAT PEREZ: And unfortunately, Ticket went in the water and I hit a five iron up there on the green and we had a true match play right there to try and win that thing.

-And our strategy was, hey, they have a tough putt. If they miss it, we're going to have a bunker shot to try to win.

-Get away. Nice putt. Stay away.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: I hit what I thought was going to be a good putt. But it was maybe a little to firm. A little too much in it. And then my partner just kind of got it offline a little bit.

PAT PEREZ: Whoa, we got a shot.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: And it kind of dropped off below the hole, so they had a chance.

PAT PEREZ: I wanted to make that so bad. I don't know. Kind of wanted to make that just to have it on, it would have been awesome. Oh, man. That was really close to being in.

-I was going to do it like a show wrecker. I wanted to make it in the worst way.

PAT PEREZ: Oh, man.

MIKE HARTFORD: Good try, partner. Whoa.

-If I would've made that, I might have retired right there because Pat would have been just-- It's all we taught. It was a great match. Whenever we think of Oklahoma, we think of the flatlands, wheat, cattle, horses, oil wells, wind. And we're trying to show that real big contrast with Shangri La.

PAT PEREZ: I'm glad I got to see this for two days. And it's really different. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was a great experience. Glad we did it.

MARSHALL BRACKIN: Any time I can be with my buddies, I always have a good time.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Are you the only true player that's herding cattle the day before the tournament? Mike Hartford, Michael Hartford. Which one?

-H.

-H.

-H.

-H.

-You need another one.

-That's a great shot up there, Elk.

PAT PEREZ: Not bad. Top 80 on the Champ tour. I think you should [INAUDIBLE] with shots like that.

STEVE ELKINGTON: It's just hard to explain. We didn't think there was such a spot. But we've seen it so many times on our show where we go to these little places off the beaten path, meet really cool, interesting people, and we see fabulous courses. All those ingredients that we base our show on, boom, it's right here at Shangri La.

NARRATOR: On another episode of Secret Golf.

STEVE ELKINGTON: Reno is an old-school feel town. And it has that name, the littlest big town in America. Elk uses a different kind of draw with Secret Golf's own cartoonist.

-For the better part of five years, Elk and I have been collaborating on cartoons every single day.

-I think he's one of the best caricature artists in the country.

NARRATOR: And our high-stakes Secret Smackdown begins with a local custom.

STEVE ELKINGTON: The loser gets no golf today.

NARRATOR: Secret Golf with Steve Elkington has been a presentation of Secret Golf, Incorporated.