Secret Golf Podcast

[THEME MUSIC] It's Secret Golf. It's what I'm looking for. It's why I get up every morning, have a good time with friends. Keeps me coming back for more. Secret Golf. We're headed down the road. We just loaded up the big show, going looking for the heart and soul. Rolling 'til the wheels off. It's Secret Golf. Ssh, it's a secret.

This is Secret Golf with Elk and Knoxy. And it's another episode of our podcast. How are you doing? I'm Knoxy, or Diane. And Elk's going to be here on the phone in just a little while.

Now I can't believe it's this far into December. Not long to go until Christmas time, and to the end of 2017. Let's finish this year, because it's been a huge year for Secret Golf. We thought we would do a series of three podcasts, looking behind the scenes at our Clear Channel shoots.

Now last week's podcast was all about Martin Piller. We were with him in Dallas. And we were doing his Player Channel shoot, which is going to be on the website early next year sometime. But we spoke to Martin, we just kind of like looked back at his 2017.

He regained his PGA Tour card. He has a baby on the way with wife Gerina. So it was good to chat to him, and just celebrate the success. He's very excited to be part of Secret Golf, and he was telling us about his actual Player Channel shoot, and what happened on the course.

So if you haven't heard it, go back and listen to that. If you haven't subscribed to the podcast through iTunes, then please go and do that. And then you'll get a little alert when every new one comes out.

But it was Martin Piller last week. And this week, we're joined by a guy who's also going to look back on 2017 as a momentous year in his golfing career. This week we're talking to Chris Stroud. I guess you could say that Chris's year has been a little bit up and down. But it did bring him his first ever victory at the Barracuda Championship on the PGA Tour.

So he's obviously regained his card for the year, which is massive for him, when he was only on a conditional status before that. But also, I guess the harrowing part of the year for him is going to be the fact that his hometown of Houston-- devastated by Hurricane Harvey this year.

So Chris is doing something to help with that. And we'll tell you more about that in just a little while. I gave Chris a call. He was at home in Houston the day after his Player Channel shoot, and we talked about loads of stuff. He's a brilliant guy. And he's a very passionate guy when it comes to talking.

Well, you're going to hear it for yourself. Talking about his year, his golf game in general. He also talks about his beginnings. And how when he started off-- especially when he was at college, why Secret Golf would have just been an invaluable aid when it came to learning his craft.

We're definitely excited to have Chris as part of the Secret Golf team, and you'll be able to hear that he is too. Chris, how are you?

I'm doing great. Yesterday was pretty awesome. I've kind of been watching Elk for a around a few years before he even approached me about this. And it's pretty impressive what he's doing. I mean, it's really impressive. I think he's going to change the world in teaching. I mean, it's going to be incredible.

Well, that's what we always talk about. The fact that-- imagine when you were first learning to play golf, when you were younger or when you were going through college or whatever. To be able to watch someone who's actually doing it. To be able to hear them talk about every little bit of their game. Their back-swing, what they're thinking, about when they're playing in the bunkers. Every little bit, you're hearing it from the pro's.

I started getting really serious with golf probably 12, 13, 14. I mean, I played baseball, football, basketball, golf. Did some summer rec stuff, swimming and tennis in the summertime just for fun a few years.

But I mean, I was outside all the time. I was playing all sports, and baseball was probably my best sport for a long time. And then as I got older, I started to fall in love with golf more and more. And we started getting serious. We didn't come from a lot of money. My dad was a teacher, and my mom, a stay at home mom.

And my dad had a bunch of businesses on the side that made some extra cash. So we didn't have a ton of money. But I will say, we would have spent thousands, even 25 years ago on what I'm seeing on this website, and what Elk is really doing. I mean, I can't even imagine what I would have spent-- what my coach would have spent for the team. For a college team to be a member and have access to these videos and these lessons.

There's so many points of interest here. We were talking about yesterday. We had a bunch of questions, and I was talking to a couple of guys. And they were like, how intimidating would it be for a college player, or a high school player to try to call up a Mark O'Meara?

Shoot, it was intimidating for me to call up Dick Harman for the first time when I was 16. My dad did it for me. That was my first guy to ever really have a true lesson with.

I can't even imagine how tough it would be. Or I can imagine how tough it was when I was 15, 16, 17 years old. And even 18, 19, in college trying to get access to a really great PGA Tour pro. And all of that's broken down. I mean, you basically have all this at your fingertips, and I'm just excited to be a part of this.

What would you say-- you were saying there that obviously your coach back in the day-- your coach would have paid all this money to have access to this to help the players. What do you think is the number one reason why?

Funny thing-- my story is, coming out of high school, I was like top 10 in the country. I was pretty good. I was pretty decently recruited around the country. And I wanted to stay local. I was from southeast Texas, and I didn't move very far.

And the funny thing is, I was going to go to Texas A&M at the time. Last thing I found out, the coaches were going to retire. I ended up not going. Ended up going to Lamar University, which I didn't even know had a golf team. This guy calls me way later, like a year later after I'd been recruited by all these big teams. And I turned everybody down.

[INAUDIBLE] basically because I was set on Texas A&M. When he calls me and says, hey, you need to come check out this team. We're pretty good. I played golf with-- this is back in the day when you could play golf with everybody. And I played golf with all the teams.

So I play golf with this Lamar University team. We had eight guys. I'll tell you what's the story. [INAUDIBLE] I had five birdies, one bogey, on their home golf course. There were eight of us, two foursomes. Six guys beat me, and I tied the seventh guy. I only beat one guy on the team I was like, who are these kids?

So the coach sat me down and said, listen, we are probably one of the best teams in the country already. They just don't know it. We're not able to play and the schedule wasn't strong enough. So the point of that story is, I went to this diamond in the rough place.

I went to this incredible coach, Bratton Nickent, who now works-- he's in Arkansas. They almost scored a national championship the second year in. And he's bringing in recruits. Austin Cook, who won the Sea Island tournament is one of his students. Andrew Landry is a kid he brought from Lamar University, and brought him up to Arkansas with him.

So he is just producing these great players because he, over the years, has sought out a process and a program to find the best coaches for that player. He's privy to find the best he can for each player. He has a great program. But if he'd had access to this, I guarantee you he would spend thousands of dollars to have access like this.

And the cool thing is, it's not that expensive. It's very inexpensive and at the end of the day, it's extremely valuable to not just a 120 shooter, but it's extremely valuable to anybody. Even me, a PGA Tour pro, I can go on the website. and check out-- hey, look what [? Duff's ?] doing out of bunker. Look what Jason Kokrak's doing on the driver. And maybe pick up something, even at my level.

So he's really doing it right. I'm excited to be a part of it. It's just, the sky's the limit when it comes to this.

Yeah. The other thing we're doing is, we're making it so it is tailor made almost for high handicappers, medium handicappers, low handicappers. So really, if there is something that you want to work on in your game, we are almost analyzing your game, and then sending you the videos that are going to be most applicable. So we're using it as a training tool.

And it's going to be one of those things that people can go to the driving range, they can be out on the course, and they can be watching these videos and getting this instruction while they're actually playing. While they're doing it.

Yeah, no question. That's just another level of personalization that he's doing. He explained the matrix to me yesterday, basically in general kind of five levels. Is there the guy trying to break 70, the guy trying to break 80. The guy trying to break 90 the guy trying to break 100. And then the guys that are just beginning.

I said guys. I mean guys and girls, anybody in general. And it really is incredible. And the way he's got-- he spent all the time and effort and money on this website. The algorithms he's built into the program, the software. To be able to spit out the right videos, if you don't need-- because I was just talking to somebody yesterday about it.

If somebody just logs on to the internet, or to that website and goes on, how do they just search through? How do they know what to search for? I said, well, there's kind of two facets of it. You can go in there and look at all the stuff you want, or you just eventually put in your score for the day. Or maybe a question or search, or frequently asked questions. And it'll spit its own video to you.

So it's basically providing you the most valuable lessons, slash videos to you, with you just doing a few key words. Brilliant. I mean, over the top [INAUDIBLE]. It is going to change golf lessons around the world.

Amazing. And it's personalized golf instruction from the best players in the world. You just don't get that anywhere else.

You don't get that anywhere else. And like I was talking earlier, to have access to PGA Tour pros, you're basically getting-- Elk and I were saying this yesterday. You're getting behind the scenes information. Stuff that only tour pros get when they're on the range.

Let's say a guy is well. But he gets out there [INAUDIBLE] after making the cut, and he knows he's really close to playing well. [INAUDIBLE] a perfect example. Rocco Mediate was one of my dear friends, and he still is to this day. And he's on the Champions Tour now.

But I played a lot of practice rounds with he, and Frank Cliff Glider, and a few other guys. We'd go play at six o'clock in the morning. Well, let's say I make a cut on-- and I get to Saturday, and Rocco and I are going to-- we're hitting balls in the range just before the round. I'm asking him, Rocco, can you tell me, I'm doing this wrong? Or, hey, I don't know why, but I'm hitting this hook.

And Rocco's close enough. He would watch me a few swings, and say, oh, just do this. And he picks it. Because us pros, we work at such a high level, that we can literally fix anybody in just a matter of a few minutes.

That's why those programs are so valuable to the amateurs when we play with them on Wednesdays. Because they're getting a personalized lesson from every pro they play with. Let's say you play with four guys from Wednesday at a program, and you have one guy that can shoot the 70s. You have a guy who shoots in the 80s. And a couple of guys are beginners.

Well, I would spend a few minutes with each guy either every hole, or every other hole. And maybe one guy can really hit the ball well, but he gets [INAUDIBLE] from the green. He can't chip. And I'd go up to him and give him his personal-- I'd say, hey, I don't think you need to be using this club. Maybe it's a different club. Maybe it's a technique issue he has.

And then same thing on the greens. You get on the greens, and maybe one guy can really putt well that's a 90s shooter. But then this other guy, he's close to an 80 shooter, but he putts terribly. And I could give him this personal lesson, and that's what you're getting in the Secret Golf website.

And that's what's impressive to me. It's the personalization without having the intimidation factor, Or even having to fork out thousands of dollars to try to find someone that has that knowledge. You're getting knowledge from the top of the top.

This is the primo top half percent of the information in the world, from the best pros in the world. And you get to learn how they do it. And at the end of the day, you can maybe find a comparison with Jason Kokrak. Hey, you know what? I swing it kind of like him in this way. Or, I like the way he sets up to the putting. I mean, I love how Jason Dufner hits his short. I love [? this ?] [? width. ?]

There's so many different levels. And it's just amazing, the work he's done and put in. And it's like I said, the sky's the limit when it comes to this.

The other side of it that really fascinates me, is the mental side of things. Because I think so many people get out there and they just think, yeah, you know I'm going to spend all this time working on my swing. I'm going to hit the ball. I'm going to make the putt, that's it.

But it's the mental side. And when Elk's talking to you guys, it's one of those things that you guys are part of an elite group. And really, you can only understand the mental side if you've been there before. So Elk knows exactly what to say, and how to get these things out of you. And confidence is a huge part of it.

Oh, confidence is huge. Everybody wishes they could just go buy it off the shelf, but you can't. If you talk to anybody in any industry, the mental side of becoming a successful person in the industry, and obviously we're talking about golf here. It is paramount. It is the most important thing. It's the backbone of anybody's golf game.

If you don't have one. If you don't have a decent mental game. If you don't have a good view of your golf game. If you're not positive to yourself that you don't-- if you're not filling your head with the right thoughts. If you're not completely learning how to commit over a golf shot-- let's say 17 is Sawgrass.

You've got to commit to that nine iron or pitching wedge over the water. If you're not able to do these type things mentally, then you're just going to fold and never going to enjoy golf. You've got to be able to get over those humps.

And there's not one person in any industry, that wouldn't say the exact same. It's being able to get knocked down and continue to get up. It's having that perseverance to be able to keep going. And a lot of guys don't even know where to start.

And again, the mental side is so important. If you don't have it, you've got nothing in golf. And again, you're able to hear these lessons from these guys on anybody.

And you can hear-- either the way they're talking. It's like a confident way they're talking about themselves. Basically they're telling you how they think about it. And that's the mental side of their game.

And you can work hours and hours, and hours, physically on your golf swing or your putting stroke. But if you're over your putt on a four footer, and all you're saying to yourself-- I'm going to miss this. I'm going to miss this, I don't feel [? good. ?] You're going to miss it.

But if you get over a putt, and you have a terrible putting stroke, and you never practice. But you're sitting there saying, I feel good about this. I'm going to make this. You probably have a really good chance of making it.

It's a simple little twist that you've got to constantly work on to keep your mind fresh, keep your mind in a good positive attitude. And having a good self-image, and all these different levels of mental toughness to be a great golfer. And like I said, in any industry, all those guys-- we're all the same.

And I'm very fortunate to say it's probably one of my strengths throughout my years of golf. I feel like that's one of my strengths, is being that mental tough guy. You know when my back's against the corner, up against the wall. I feel like I've always been able to persevere and get through, and punch through that wall and get through it, instead of folding, which is the human instinct.

And going to Elk, he's able to pull that out of guys when he's asking these brilliant questions, because he has 29 years on the PGA Tour and a few more on the Champions Tour. So the guy really knows how to pull it out of us. He's all of our mentors.

He's a mentor to all of us. And he's the guy pulling out this brilliant information, so credit to him, to all of his talents. And I'm just happy to be a part of this big vision of his.

Good. Well, you talk about your mental strength. And I guess your story is a bit of a story of perseverance. After 11 seasons playing on the PGA Tour, this August was a momentous occasion for you because you got your first win at the Barracuda Championships in Nevada. And you only had conditional status then, so that win really changed your life.

It did. I am now considered a PGA Tour champ, and they can't take it away from me. Winning the Barracuda Championship this year was a lot of ways, just a dream come true. It's a 25-year-old-- maybe longer, dream of mine. But it did.

It's funny. Now that I'm on the other side of this first win, looking back, I'm thinking, I didn't feel like it was that hard when I actually did it and won the tournament. I didn't feel like it was that hard.

I didn't hit the ball better than I ever had. I didn't putt better than I ever had. I didn't do anything better than I ever had. I just did all the right things when I needed to.

And most importantly, the biggest lesson for me was-- the two things I remember most is, my bad shots weren't that bad. So I didn't make a lot of mistakes all week. And secondly, I cared so little about the negative side of it. I had almost no concern.

If I hit a bad shot, it almost didn't even bother me. I was staying distracted mentally. I was calm. I had enough confidence inside, where, you know what? I'm just going to do the best.

I know I'm swinging it pretty well. I'm hitting the ball pretty nicely. I'm putting it. Everything's in pretty good form. All I've got to do is do this, and commit to my target, and then trust that it's going to go there. That was it. It's that simple.

And it sounds simple, but it is very difficult to do a lot of times when you're not hitting it well-- if you're not putting it well. So my goal now for the rest of my career, is to continue to work hard to get myself into that state of mind no matter where my physical game is. That is going to be the challenge.

And I believe that's what all the greats did. Tiger, Phil, Jack, even Elkington. He won 10 times. Lee Trevino. I mean, all these guys. They found a mental edge to get themselves into that state of mind where they could free it up. And they didn't care about where the ball really went. If you missed it, or if you hit a bad putt.

All they cared about was the simple process, and the thoughts they were having when they have played their best. And then kind of let everything fall in place. And Casey Clendenon, who's still my caddie right now. He was caddying for me then.

He's spent a lot of time with Jackie Burke, and he asked one of the greatest things I've ever heard. Jackie Burke told Casey this when he was playing in the mini tours. He said Casey, remember you're ready. You've practiced as hard as you can. You go to that tournament, you let the trophy come to you. Don't go trying to grab the trophy.

Basically that was a let it go type attitude. Let it go. I mean, I can't tell you. That's a perfect summary of how I felt those few weeks, from Reno, to the PGA. And you know what, I was right there. Last group in the PGA at Quail Hollow.

[INAUDIBLE] on Sunday, in the last group. And I had a chance to win the PGA in the last nine holes. So that's the type of attitude I'm going to be striving for all the time.

Excellent. And now you know how it feels, as you say, to be a PGA Tour champion. And you're going to have that with you forever.

I'll have it with me forever. I am excited for the future. And I'm just I'm grateful for the opportunities that I've had. And like I said, I'm going to spend more and more of my time on the mental side of it. Because the physical game is always going to be there, and it's never that far off. But it's just-- can't I find a way to have a great attitude all year long?

That's one of my main goals this year. But thanks for all the great questions. And if you have anything else, let me know.

Well, you just shot your Secret Golf Player Channel yesterday, so you were with Elk. Tell us a little bit about the day. How did it go?

Absolutely incredible for me. I really enjoyed it. You know, Elk kind of filled me in about a month or two ago, what it was going to be like. But he still said, I want you to come be a part of this. Come see how this is. And he spent 30 or 45 minutes with me before we even started, how it was going to go.

And he basically summarized the whole day, and broke it down in pieces how we're going to do this. And I said, I'm in. Because it's easy for us pros because we've been doing these things in the Pro-Ams for years, for free. To all these amateurs that play in the tournaments with us.

And so all he did, was go in there and ask different level questions on the simple stuff like the grip, the backswing, the downswing, the transitions. The follow through. What are you thinking about? And there's so many different levels you could answer those questions. And that's what he was so good about.

He brought out some amazing questions for me yesterday. We had absolutely incredible weather out on Carlton Woods-- the Fazio Course. The golf course was in incredible shape. And [INAUDIBLE] just took perfect care of us.

And it was fun. I tell you what. And the funny thing is, after the day was over, I realized when I'm explaining-- like my dad was a teacher, so I kind of have that in me. And I'm not afraid to talk in front of a group. I'm not afraid to talk about golf, because I know a lot about it obviously. And I've learned a bunch about it, I have a lot of experience.

But it's amazing. When you talk through what you're actually doing, you do it better. And I had a coach of mine, we've worked with for a couple of years. And really, that's what we did a lot. When we practiced, we didn't work on technique as much as we did-- he wanted me to talk through what I'm seeing.

Talk through, like, verbally say it out loud. So it's like a triple effect. It's not just you thinking about it and being quiet. He said, you have to think about it to say it. Then when you say it, you hear it. When you hear it, you're literally triple doing this the substance of whatever you're saying, and it's coming to life.

And you really have no room to put any negative thoughts in there. So all you're doing is, you're almost putting two or three types of energy into the same thing. So if I was talking about a chip, I'm saying, I'm gonna do this. This is my set up. I'm going to hit this chip to that spot. I'm going to land it there, it's going to roll in the hole.

Well, it took effort for me to think about that. And there was no time for me to think about anything else. And all of the sudden you do it, and it goes in. And at the end of the day, all the sports ecologists over the years, and all the great coaches know, if you can keep a player completely focused on what he's trying to do, he's got a great chance of doing it.

And it's the one thing I saw. And I think we all say the same thing. When you talk about it, talk about your visualization or you talk about the shot you're trying to pull off. It's almost easier to do. It's like, why don't we do this all the time? So I'm definitely going to be putting that into my practice.

Well, there's definitely something in that as well, because when we shot the Player Channels with Patton Kizzire and Brian Harman, both of them said something very similar. That they are all about noises and sound effects, so they almost replicate the noise of the club hitting the ball. And where they're practicing, they're going--

[CLICKING SOUND]

You know, they're physically doing the [INAUDIBLE], so they know.

I heard Patton Kizzire's thing on Twitter today. I just was listening. That's pretty funny.

Yeah. It's amazing, so it definitely does make a lot of sense.

Yeah. Everybody's got their little quirks about how they get things done. And maybe a word, or some sounds or noises. And it's pretty interesting. And it's like our own way to teach ourself to ingrain something. It's fascinating.

It's funny. I'll be out there practicing, who knows? I may be out there putting and going through my routine, and I'm actually verbalizing what I'm thinking. And people look at me like, this guy's crazy. But you know what, the funny thing is, it works.

So I'm one of those guys, I don't care what anybody thinks. If I think it's going to work, it's probably going to work. Because at the end of the day, if you think you can do it, you can do it, right? Something Martin Luther King said.

Is there anything-- Elk's very hands-on during the Player Channel shoots, and he likes to get right in there. And as you said, he asks the questions. He wants to delve deeper and deeper. He also likes to give little tips. Is there anything that he may be taught you on the shoot that you thought, oh, that's an interesting way to think about it.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, he is just a-- I mean, the guy is full of great information. He had a couple of words that I really liked yesterday. One was streamlined. So basically I was telling him, all these years of experimenting and trying all these things, and trying that. I was [? talking ?] about my equipment and things like that.

He said basically, you have done-- he was telling me this. He said, you've done 95% of the work. He said, I'm here to streamline you. Basically he said, you already know what you need. You're down to it, he said. But I'm here to keep you from getting distracted by something else.

He said, you have your tools of the trade. You've got them dialed in. He said, now you need to streamline them. He said, don't let anybody mess with them. Don't let anybody touch them. And you know exactly what you need to do. And you know when you're 60 degree needs to be changed out because of the grooves.

You know if-- for me, I like to change putters through the years. I may use a putter for two, three, or four weeks and then change it into a new putter for two or three weeks just to have a honeymoon effect of just feeling-- looking at something different, but then going back to it.

So I've got my little parameters I could stay in. But I like the word-- he said, streamlined yesterday. He gave me a couple of [INAUDIBLE] about the bunkers. And I'm a pretty good bunker player, but I've never been great. I've [? hit in ?] a bunch of bunkers, but I want to hole some out.

So he had a couple of really great tid-bits yesterday about, hey, you've got to get the ball to spin perfectly backwards. It can't be side spinning, that's going to give you your best shot. And then he said, you've got to simplify your move. And because I get in there, and I'm a little bit wobbly in a wide stance. And I move my legs too much.

He said, you've got to simplify that. It's a lot more arms. A lot more still with the body. And it's dimes. I call them dimes. Just unbelievable pieces of information at such a high level. But at the end of the day, it just simplifies everything.

The more I've learned, we're all just trying to simplify to such a small, tiny little thing, that there's no reason to fill your head with junk.

You've got enough to think when you're out there.

We've got to simplify. Get back to the basics.

Now this time of year, it's an off-season for a lot of people. You get a little bit of time at home with your family. But it's busy for you, because you were born just outside of Houston. You live in Houston, it's your hometown.

Obviously we're all so aware of the devastation that Hurricane Harvey caused. And you especially, it's in your neighborhood. It's with your friends. Your family were at home, weren't they, when Hurricane Harvey hit?

I was in New York, actually. I'd just left Greensboro, and I had a chance to come home. And I had to figure out, can I come home before this hurricane hits? Or if I come home, am I going to go get out? And I decided not to go home. And I flew up to New York for the Barclays Tournament, the first term of FedEx.

So I'm sitting in the hotel, watching this hurricane come in. And then it sits here for five days. And it just flooded the area like everybody knows. And then on top of that, they got so much rain, my house got close to 50 inches. Luckily my house just happens to be on this little knob of a hill, and I was very fortunate. And my neighborhood was pretty fortunate.

We had about 300 or 400 homes, and only about 30 of them flooded. Which is a really good thing compared to some other homes that have 500, and 600, and 700 homes in them, and every single home had three or four feet of water. So you can just imagine the construction that's going on down here.

You've recognized the fact that you are in a very fortunate position, that you can actually do something to help by arranging this Pro-Am fundraiser.

Yeah. This Harvey Relief Pro-Am, is what it's called. And Bobby Gates is from the Woodland. And we're all putting it together. And we've got a great team of people. Our goal is to not have any expenses. Almost everything is donated.

Our goal is to have 25 PGA Tour pros, LPGA, and Champions Tour guys. And we have about 25 pros right now, committed. We're going to have a Monday dinner. And then Tuesday, we're [? doing ?] Pro-Am at Bluejack National. So we've had a great team of people together, 16 or 17 teams sold. $25,000 and $50,000. We've raised about $600,000 so far.

It's looking like we'll [INAUDIBLE] maybe have a big auction. So it's exciting to be able to-- I mean, in 3 and 1/2 months, we've put this thing together. And it's incredible the amount of energy has been put in for all these people, from all these people. Including guys of Bluejack National, and [? Sparity. ?] We have [? Brian ?] [? Nazo ?] and his secretary, [INAUDIBLE] has helped.

And then the HGA, we're partnering with this year. Steve Timms and Amanda Hansen. So we've had an incredible amount of help, and it's looking like it's going to be really great. And we have our websites up and running for donations. And people that need to apply, it's called harveyreliefproam.org.

So it's just going to be up and running forever. And we're hoping to do this more than once for-- we learned a lot this year, when we did the first one. And if we don't do it annually, it will be at least biannual. But the website will be up and running all the time.

And we're just going to hopefully have a lot of applications. And then when people qualify after a little questionnaire-- once they qualify, it'll go to the board. There's seven of us on the board, and then we just pick the most qualified families. And we write a $25,000 or $30,000 check to them.

It's an incredible thing you're doing, so well done. And it's just going to make a huge difference to so many people in your hometown. Devastation that you've seen, you're going to be making a huge difference to get people back on track.

Well, we're trying. I mean, it's sad how many people have been dislocated from their homes. And some people are still in shelters. And people are living with their other families and friends. And it's just sad. So I was one of the fortunate ones that did not get affected. The first thing I thought about, how can I help people?

And I'm just I'm so thankful to see how much people have helped, and how many people were willing to do whatever they can to get people back on their feet. And you know, it's going to take years. It's not like-- once this first one's over, it's going to continue. And it's going to take 10 years to rebuild all the homes and infrastructures that were ruined.

Houston is about two million people inside the city. But in and around Houston, there's probably six or seven million people. And then if you go all the way down to Beaumont, where I'm from-- an hour east of Houston, you've got another half a million people there.

So you're talking about 8 million people affected. And out of those 8 million, probably half had some sort of flood problem. So three, four, five, million people with some sort of issue they're having to deal with, and it's going to take years. But we are going to do our best to hopefully raise more and more money, and continue to help people get back on their feet.

Yeah, that's the thing. Everyone does their bit, and it makes a huge difference. Elk's going to be there. I know he's going to be there. So we'll hear all about the fundraiser from him. And good luck with that all, because I'm sure it's going to be an incredible day.

Thank you, Diane. And it's going to be exciting. We're looking forward to it. Hopefully the weather will hold up. I mean, this is the best time of year. We should be fine. It's been incredible here for three straight weeks. Absolutely perfect like Napa, San Diego, LA weather right now. So we're really loving it.

That's what you want. Excellent, Chris. Thank you so much. Thank you for being part of Secret Golf. It's great to hear you speak about it, and be so enthusiastic and excited about it. We're really excited to have you as part of the team. Congratulations on an incredible 2017 season with the win. And long may the successes continue into next year.

Thank you, Diane. Thanks for having me on. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be an exciting journey for all of us. I can't wait to see what can happen. It's going to be a lot of fun.

So that was Chris Stroud on the Secret Golf podcast. So good to speak to him. He's so passionate, and so enthusiastic. And really good to hear from him, his take on 2017. Hear all about the big win, the first win on the PGA Tour. And also why he's so excited to be part of Secret Golf. Obviously, we're super excited to have him here. And his Player Channel is going to be on the website early next year sometime.

Also, I just want to say right now, good luck to Chris and to everyone else involved in the big fundraiser that they're doing for the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. It's happening this week, and already I'm talking about the amount of money they've raised. It's not going to be a one off. They're going to keep going with this. And Elk is going to be there supporting him every step of the way.

I have Elk on the phone right now. I don't know if you heard what Chris said. But he said, Secret Golf and you, over the top brilliant. It's going to change golf lessons around the world. How do you feel about that, and how do you feel about Chris Stroud's game?

Well, I do think it's going to change the world [? that ?] way, because there's never been an opportunity to be able to get a personalized golf lesson for your handicap. So he's right, but that's a very-- I'm very flattered to hear him say that. Chris's game is so good right now. He has so much confidence.

He just had his first win on tour recently at the Barracuda, just a couple of months ago. And as you can tell from his enthusiasm, and his love of golf. And just love of the journey. The struggles, the highs and lows. He is-- everybody's going to be, everybody's favorite guy to listen to on the podcast.

And his channel-- another short game genius. His ranks in putting and chipping, and sand are at the top of the tour. And to be honest with you, I looked at these guys, and I'm like, man. They have got some tools. He is going to be a force, I hope, this year.

And when I spoke to him, he did say that a huge part of the work that he does is on the mental side of things. And he said that that's what he really took away from talking to you, is how to think and behave like a champion. And now that he is a champion, it's how he takes that moving forward.

That's great to hear.

It is great to hear. And he's a great guy. We're very happy to have him here at Secret Golf. Still to end 2017, we're doing a series of behind the scenes podcasts from our Player Channel shoots. We've done Martin Piller, that was Chris Stroud. Next week, we're going to be joined by Bronson Burgoon.

I know that Elk's going to make fun of the way that I say his name in my Scottish accent. So I'm just preparing you for that already. I've had to prepare myself. But yeah, Bronson played web.com. He was on the PGA Tour actually, a couple of years ago for the first time. But he's been plagued by injury. Web.com he played this year and he finished within the top 25 to get his PGA Tour card.

Already, he's got off to some good starts, and he's definitely a name that we're going to be looking out for. Next week, we're going to be going behind the scenes on his Secret Golf Player Channel shoot from Houston.