Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV Insurance. We've all made RVing mistakes like not pestproofing the RV for winter, but there's one mistake you shouldn't make, not ensuring your travel trailer. Progressive RV Insurance can protect your travel trailer when your auto or home insurance can. Get a quote at Progressive.com, progressive cash routine insurance company and affiliates. Between bad calls and intense rivalries, there's enough to stress about on game day. Keep your mind on the field and off your body odor, with Dove Men Plus Care Whole Body Deodorant, available at Walmart. Dove Men Whole Body Deo provides all-day auto protection from your pits, privates to feed. From pre-game analysis to half-time insights to unexpected over times, Dove Men Whole Body Deo gives you confidence that lasts all day. Pick it up at your local Walmart. [MUSIC] I'm Smiley Kaufman, and this is The Smiley Show. [MUSIC] All right, guys, welcome back to another episode of The Smiley Show. Super thrilled about this guest that we have here today, Jason Day. Jason, man, thank you for taking the time. We see the M, we see the Malbon. I think I didn't know where I was going to get started in this interview, but you've kind of just taken the fashion world by storm this year. When I think of you, Jason, I think of just the tight shirts, and this year, you've just done your thing, man. It's been fun to see what you've been putting on every week. Well, I appreciate you having me on the show, man. This is the first time for me, so I'm excited to have this conversation with you guys today. And then, yeah, it's been kind of interesting to say the least this year. It just doesn't take much to kind of shape the tree a little bit in the golfing world, especially with what you wear, which is amazing. And I think, obviously, like I said, I used to wear a lot of tight stuff, you know, back in the day, you know, where there used to be, you know, with Adidas or Nike, I was wearing, like, very athletic performance type of clothing. And now the clothing is just a little bit baggy. It's funny. And then I was actually talking to the guys. I'm trying to get my shirts baggy next year. Oh, let's go. Yeah, kind of like not to the point of, you know, target 2000, but very close to it. Man, that's going to set the fashion world on fire. I'm excited for that look. I mean, when I was shooting, I was in college watching you light the professional world on fire with golf. I mean, I'm just this, you know, green bean, asparagus looking six foot guy at 145 pounds of Jason days winning golf tournaments in these tight shirts. And I'm like, man, I got to get, you know, start wearing my schmediums and start doing some curls. But now I think you're trying to set us kind of like how football they go through the air raid to running it. They go back and forth. I think you're trying to set us into a new era back to the old era, I should say, which is the baggy stuff, which I'm for. Yeah. I mean, I just think it's like more, you know, I think I just had a, you know, over the years, I got more tired of like wearing kind of the same thing over and over again. So I kind of wanted to be a little bit different. You know, every now and then you wear something on the T box and you walk onto the first T and then you look across T box and someone's wearing the same thing as you know me. So it's nice to be able to kind of go out there and know that like, hey, I'm wearing something a little bit different, different to most guys, which is like, oh, something turns out to be pretty dramatic in the end. But yeah, it is interesting. It's been fun because what I've kind of done is I've gone to the point of like, hey, let's kind of push the boundaries a little bit and then I'll bring it back the next week or the next day with like tighter fitting golf stuff. So it's not, hasn't been dramatic, dramatic difference of like, hey, let's just go all banging all like kind of street wear. There's been some street wear stuff. There's also been some traditional golf stuff. There's, there's been everything in between. So it's kind of nice to be able to shock it up a little bit that way. No, you definitely have, man. And it's been fun to watch. And Jason, I've always been a fan of yours. Just, I think your hard work, your resilience, what inspired me kind of when I was coming up in college because it's kind of the right around the time you were making a name for yourself, major championships and just doing some research for this interview. You know, I thought Dylan Descher did a fantastic piece with you on this breakthrough with goth.com and it really just kind of set the stage for me at the beginning of this interview of kind of just profiling your come up a little bit and how you ended up getting to a boarding school. Can you just talk a little bit about that? Because I think it kind of sets the stage of why Jason Day is one of the most resilient, hard-working professional golfers that we've seen the last couple of decades. Yeah, so I'll, like my story is like kind of large, but I'll try and condense as much. Yeah, no, please. I grew up in rural Australia. Like it was, I was kind of grew up on a farm when I was a kid. And then my dad found a golf club out of rubbish tips. So we used to go to the rubbish tip or landfill is what we call it over here and try and find things that we could use around the house because we weren't well off. We weren't like crazy poor, but we weren't well off. We'd go and try and find stuff that we could use around the house. My dad found a golf club and then he brought it back. And then that's kind of how I started my, like my journey in golf. And we moved away from where I was in Bowdo's and Queensland to a place called Rockhampton, which is eight hours north of where I'm at in Bowdo's, which was quite a significant change. And then my mum and dad were meat workers. And the story kind of gets, like it's like a beer. So when I started playing junior golf, my dad was very, very abusive on the golf course. So he, if I didn't perform, I, like, he beat me. So I remember one thing when I didn't perform play well at a junior event at my home club, he, in the car after the round, he completely beat me. I was bruised all over, all over my body. And then, but what I understood was that if there's ever a positive out of it, like that, was that it forced me to concentrate at a very young age, forced me to focus at a very young age. And I, because I absolutely love golf, golf was just something that I just thoroughly enjoyed so much, even if I wasn't, if I, if I weren't playing with, you know, with my friends, you know, at eight years old. But my dad was very scary. If I didn't perform, I knew that I needed to perform. So I needed to go out there and focus. So I wasn't always like joking around with my friends. And then my dad passed away when I was, when I was 12, of cancer. And, you know, long story short, you look back in, you know, in life and go, and one of those, like, why did, you know, some of these things happen? But then you don't realize some of these things happened for a reason. And there was a lot of good that came out of it. So not saying that my father passed me was a good thing. It was just, it opened up another door, another avenue for me to be able to go to boarding school. And I started falling off the rails a little bit. You know, I started drinking at 12, 12 and half, you know, after my dad passed away, getting in fights at school and, and just going down the wrong kind of path. My sister ran away from, from home for four years. She was 14 years old, so she ran, she was homeless on the streets. You know, I had some other personal issues inside my family that, like, was, was pretty, pretty dark stuff. So, that, I won't talk about that. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of when my mum took a chance on me, you know, she, she borrowed some money. She sent me away to a boarding school, down, back actually really close to where I was born, but as it was actually only 20 minutes away, which is funny enough. And this boarding school, that's when I met Colin Swatt, who used to be my, you know, coach. Slash caddy for a long, long time. And that was the positive that came out of it, was that I got to meet Colin. And he, I think he knew early that I needed structure in my life. You know, there was nothing else to do other than like, because we were in the middle of nowhere in this golf academy. I mean, it was, like, it was literally golf and nothing else. So, he knew that, like, I needed structure. So, he gave me a, you know, structure in my life. And that's kind of, I started to play a lot better since then. That's kind of in a really, like condensed story. That's, you know, how things progress to the golf academy. Well, I want to just talk about the golf academy, because you just mentioned some, some obvious trauma that you dealt with as a kid. You know, with family problems, but also your father passing away. But then there's a love of the game that you found, like during all of this time in which, you know, going to this academy and being around other players and a very good coach and Colin Swatt. And when Jason at this academy, did you find yourself believing in yourself and realizing, you know, the potential that you did have? Yeah. So, it's funny enough, we, what I talk about is this academy that I went to was called Corralbin. And it, Adam Scott went there, Steven Bowdich went there, aged up. Oh, really? That, yeah, a bunch of your life. Oh, okay. Yeah. So, a bunch of these guys that have been too approving went to this golf academy. You know, there was a boatload of other players that went there that, you know, either had Asian tool status, European tool status or PGI tool status. So, it's like after a year of going there, that closed down and we moved 40 minutes down the road to another golf academy called Hills, which was 20 minutes ago. The other side of Bowdich. And that's, you know, after, you know, I think it was when I was around 15. Yeah, actually it was 15 because I, I went and played the Queensland amateur and I was the youngest winner in 104 years to win the Queensland amateur. And that's when I started to think, you know what, maybe I can actually do something with myself and then with this game. And then when I turned 16, that's when I won everything. I won the Queensland junior by 10 or on the South Australian junior by five, won the Victorian junior by 10. You know, I won, I won everything. I won the world junior championship. Yeah, I got you down the junior world's a cowboy and a quarter cup and play good in that these events that that I'm familiar with. And the ones that you just spoke about. I mean, just rocking and rolling from, from that age. I mean, you obviously matured a ton in your game at that time period. Yeah, and I think the biggest thing that set me apart from a lot of my competition was that because I went to this golf academy. We were, I was able to get out and practice more than everyone else. I remember it was like more of a pride thing for me that I gave up to 30 to one and a half hours of practice a week, including school. So it was just like something that I, that I thrived on. And I just knew, because I had everything written down. I knew exactly because we don't have data saving in, in Australia and Brisbane or Queensland. So the, the day started very early. I remember we, I'd get up around four, four, 30 and I'd go practice for three hours, three and a half hours before school. Was anybody else doing that or was it just you? So my catty Luke, who you know, he, we used to be roommates. He did it. And his, his excuse of stopping was that he goes, you started improving and I, I had never improved. So I go, I just stopped. So, but like he was, he was a guy that actually gave me the book about Tiger Woods. And I read the book and I'm like, well, Tiger shooting at 13 years old, 14 years old, Tiger shooting, 68, 66, 65. And why am I shooting 72, 70s and every now and now sprinkle a 69 in there. So that's from that early age, I don't know what happened and why it happened, but my mindset just, all of a sudden said, okay, how do I improve and how do I get better. And it's like, my first thing was short game. I need to save shots around the Greens. I need to be better part of it. And then it kind of just expanded from there. And then obviously now I'm kind of known for my short game and my putting. Yeah, absolutely. It's, you're one of my favorite putters in the world. And during this time, the one question I want to ask about, you know, being a part of this academy. So the golf Australian national squad, when, how do you get on that? Or as soon as you get to the academy, is that when they're like, you know what, we want Jason Day to be a part of it because that seems like to me, that was a huge avenue for you to be able to expand and play against some of the best competition. So, yeah, and it's very important because I didn't realize how, and how thankful I am now to have certain individuals in Queensland and also Australia to be able to not only give us the funding to be able to go to certain places and play, especially overseas. And you just take that for granted. So I'm very thankful to those people. But so essentially what happens is that typically, if you're a good player, you get invited to state squads. And when you get involved, because we don't like, it's not like America. Australia is very big, but we, we don't have many states like we do over, you know, in Australia that we do have in America. So I'm, I'm looking at, you're looking at the states that have the best juniors in them. And when you start to join these, these junior squads in the, in the states, then from there you go away and you play this thing called the interstate series. So it's best juniors from each state and territory that play against each other. And then from that, they typically pick the strange squad from that. And then, that's kind of how it happens. And then you typically play in the Australian junior squad. And if you're really good and you start to play good in amateur events, then you get picked for the men's squad. So I remember representing Australia as a, like the Australian men's squad as like a 16 year old kid. And yeah, I mean, that's, that was kind of it. Like I came over and played this for an international for Australia, which is, I don't know if you've ever played that one. Yeah, so I played that. There was a couple of other things that we were in the Australian squad and we went and played the South African amateur. I was super young. You know, but like we would get invited. I remember some of the guys would tell me these stories from way back in the day and it, at back then I'd be in the state squads. So it was the Queensland state squad and we'd, we'd play this tournament called Lake Macry. And so back then, everyone's young and 18 to 20 year olds. And then after the tournament, they're looking to, to go to, looking to go to go out to the bars and have fun. And of course, of course, they want to say no more. Yeah, they walk into my room and I'm doing push ups in my room. And they're like, yeah, you're going to come. And I'm like, no. And they're like, why not? I said, I'm going to get to number one in the world. And I was just doing push ups in my room after the tournament. And I didn't, I totally forgot about that story until one of the guys, you know, you know, this past year, he told me about it. And I'm like, dang, I don't even remember that story, but it's kind of epic story now that like, I'm in there doing push ups. It's like a 17 year old kid saying I'm going to get to number one in the world. And then all of a sudden I, you know, get to number one in the world. Yeah, I mean, becoming number one in the world just doesn't happen overnight. And you just described how, you know, putting the amount of hours that you did 30 plus hours in a week is just insane. And it kind of makes me think, too, at, you know, 15, 16 years old, when you're doing this, you basically skipped an entire, you know, process in which for me, like at eight, I started that process at like 18, 19, 20 in college. So you basically had your college experience where you realize how hard you have to work early. And I imagine Jason, is that why at that point, you realize, you know what, like, I don't need to go to college. I've already kind of had my emotional maturity. I know how to do my laundry. I know how to keep up with myself. I mean, you've kind of just skipped a whole process. Yeah, you're a hundred percent spot on it. And that's, that's so true because, you know, most kids that go to college, there's probably, there's some sort of maturity level that they actually kind of need to go, hey, I've lived with my parents for 18 years. I need to get out and kind of live by myself. And then from there, you kind of mature out and you kind of understand, okay, living life, you know, by yourself. What you need to do, how you need to train, how you need to prepare, how you need to, like, travel, all that stuff. And I was doing that, you know, at 12 and a half, 13, and I did that for a long time. And you throw up fast at that, at that age, you know what I mean? It was something that you had to do very quickly. So, and mind you, like, everything was about golf too. So like, I, everything was fast-tracked. And I didn't have a normal, like, I didn't have a normal life as a kid. You know, obviously, to a boarding school is, is not normal for a lot of kids. And I didn't have a normal childhood, but I'm very thankful for that because of what I built, you know, and the foundation that I built going into my professional. And that, once again, that's why I never went to college because I never, I just felt like I didn't need to do that because I wasn't, I didn't, I felt four years of college. And me and Colby would talk about it all the time. Four years of college would only set me back because I wanted to turn professional and play against the potential competition that I'm going to be playing against on, on tour one day. And I wanted to make sure that I got out there, even though if it was just small-time events, I wanted to set a schedule. I wanted to be able to learn to book flights, book hotels, learn to, like, rent cars or whatever I needed to do to be able to do the travel. And I'm saying, hey, this is what it takes to, you know, set a schedule and this is what it takes to travel because, as you know, because you've been there before, when you actually do that and go through that for the first time, you're like, wait, take kind of catches off guard. Oh, gosh, yes. Home and all that stuff, too, yeah. Yeah, you really got to develop a love for the game. And I see that you turned pro Jason in 2006. And I guess when you just kind of talk about Colin Swatton, I'm generally curious too about, you know, when did Colin decide, you know what, I'm going to be with you every step of the way in this because you guys had a 20 year partnership. And I'm just curious from, you know, he could have easily just stayed back in Australia, but he went with you this entire time. Is that? Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, at the time, when I was thinking about turning professional, he actually went around and tried to search for caddies to try and, like, try out this guy, try out this guy and see what you like. And then we, I think we test drive like a couple of caddies in professional events. And I'm like, it just, I just, the chemistry wasn't there. And then when I turned professional, he like said, hey, what would you think if I started to carry for you? I'm like, great. And what the, what I'm so thankful about Colin and what he did for me, you know, obviously he gave me structure when I was a kid. But we always worth forward thinking. We always had a goal in mind. We always like, I remember saying, we're talking about it. He's like, it almost like it was his goal, but like, he kind of turned it into my goal. We're like, hey, we want to get to number one in the world by 22. I don't know why it was 22, but I think we ended up getting to like number five in the world by 23 and obviously number one in the world by 27 or something like that. But like, it was, it was always, hey, forward thinking, what do we need to do? What are the steps and what are the processes that we need to do to take to get to these goals and having him on the bag? Like, he was a very, very important part of my success in my career just because of we always focused and we had that mindset of pushing. Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV insurance. We've all made RVing mistakes like not pestproofing the RV for winter, but there's one mistake you shouldn't make, not ensuring your travel trailer. Progressive RV insurance can protect your travel trailer when your auto or home insurance can. Get a quote at progressive.com, progressive cash routine insurance company and affiliates. Between bad calls and intense rivalries, there's enough distress about on game day. Keep your mind on the field and off your body odor with Dove Men Plus care whole body deodorant. Available at Walmart, Dove Men whole body deal provides all day auto protection from your pits, privates to feed. From pregame analysis to halftime insights to unexpected over times, Dove Men whole body deal gives you confidence that lasts all day. Pick it up at your local Walmart. So you earned your PGA to work hard in 2008, Jason, and we're going to kind of go, you know, on this journey with you to where we are now in 2024. Because I think from what I'm observed from you, Jason, is that your swing, you know, story of where you started with your golf swing to where you are now. I imagine there's been a swing video or two that's probably made it onto your phone in that period of time. So why don't we just start with, you know, right at the beginning, you know, you're a young, you know, guy that's probably not dealing with injuries. So was the golf swing for you always pretty natural? When did you start running into some back problems? What did you and Colin kind of work on at an early age and in the beginning of your professional career? So we never really worked on a lot of things and I ran and I used to have a few back problems when I was a junior and I had a few back problems, you know, when I started out professionally. And I moved from Orlando in 2008, so I left into Orlando from 2006 to 2008. And I moved from Orlando to Texas to start working with the guy because I hurt my back. His name was Jeff Banisak. He still works out into it. It works with a lot of good players. And, you know, from there, you know, we never really worked on a lot of stuff. You know, it was just, it was always like, the way that coal work was, hey, if you hit 10 balls, right, I'm just going to, like, make it really easy to understand. If you hit 10 balls every single day, you have a baseline. If you hit 15, that means you're getting better. If you hit 5, at some point over time, only hitting 5 balls a day, it'll catch up and you won't have as many reps and you won't probably play as good. So that was my mindset always, that, you know, all we did was, you need to, we had a set practice plan where we know exactly how many balls we were hitting from teeter green on the green, putting all that stuff. I knew exactly how many hours I was going to practice every day. And then we just hit, like, draws of phase when we were hitting 4 swing stuff. The only real things that we ever worked on was just getting it really short and compact. Trying not to, like, get the right hips to go too far lateral that way. And I think deep down, like, there was a lot of success there, but, like, I think restricting the hips over time, and he never would say that we're trying to restrict the hips. I think I just naturally restricted the hips because it was, you know, that's what I thought we needed to do to not get the hips to go latrally right because, essentially, when I would get too lateral, then I'd get lateral this way. You lose your base. Yeah, you lose your base. And I think if I would have just turned in a better way, then we would have accomplished that goal and I probably wouldn't have got as injured as much as I had. But I'm not saying that it was just all golf swing either because I went through a phase of doing all sorts of, like, when I was in 2015 and 2016, I was the best. I was doing super sets of everything. I was, like, training to failure to, I was doing two days, like gym sessions. I was eating chicken and broccoli for every bloody meal of the day. And I didn't have a can of Coke for two years. I didn't, like, I didn't, I would look at a cookie and go now, that's 20 more minutes on a treadmill. Like, I wasn't fully, I was cut, but I wasn't, like, shredded shredded. But, yeah, it was a lifestyle. It was dedication to the lifestyle. But, yeah, I mean, during that time, I never worked on technique. It was just, like, a couple of things and then that was it and we just did everything out there. Pushing my awareness all the way out to the target. It was all target-oriented stuff. And then the injuries obviously came. Right. Well, you're talking to a guy that restricted his hips. So, like, this is all, you're speaking about this. Yeah, you're speaking about vocabulary because I, it would just cause me to get to have an open face. And I was just always kind of battling an open face. But, everything you just described, Jason, just in your work ethic, how you'd have a plan, the super sets, your nutrition, all this reminds me of is how you started this, which is, you know, you wanted to get to number one in the world. All those push-ups you're doing instead of going out to the bar. And then that book that you mentioned of Tiger Woods, this reminds me of Tiger Woods, of how he would train. So, is that kind of how you saw yourself? Is, if you're going to be the best, you got to train to be the best, similar to how Tiger did it? You had to have, it was, to get to the best, it's a lifestyle choice. Your whole life has to be in on that goal of being the best. You can't. It's very difficult. Some of the guys can do it. Like, Dustin Johnson and some of these other guys, they can naturally just get to number one. And just like, how do you do it so easily? You know how it is? It's frustrating. Yeah, they don't practice as hard as hard as like you or I. You know, they're like kind of just naturally gifted in a way that they can do it. And it just doesn't look like it affects their life so much. And then there's like people like me and like even Tiger, for instance, like his, one of his things was like, I'm not as, like, I always laugh at this because it always say, Hey, like what kept you at number one for so long? And he would look at me and go, I'm not as talented as you. So I had to work harder than you. I'm like, that is such a lot of great. He's way more talented than you know what I mean? But he did, once again, what he did great was that he matched great technique with unbelievable work ethic and also a great mental game. And when you have that three-prong effect, it's just gonna, it's just gonna give success. So yeah, I mean, getting back to being number one in the world, it was, what am I eating? How am I sleeping? You know, is there any drama in my life that I need to get rid of? You know what I mean? Because the amount of stuff that happens personally at home affects you on the golf course. So you've got to, you've got to understand that like having a toxic relationship or having a drama off the golf course actually affects you on the golf course. Then you go, okay, how's my practice schedule? How's my gym work? Like, and then you've got to attack it from all different angles and go, okay, well, everything's working in order, go out and play. And then if it, if, like my goal and I'm wanting to do it and I'm willing to push it, then you'll, at some point, if you have all those things working in order, you'll get that regardless on it. I'm like, you can work your way to number one for sure. Well, somebody that's, that's had a wife on tour playing professionally, it's not easy on the, on the spouses and you marriage your, your wife in 2009, Ellie, you have five kids now. So Jason, I mean, Ellie, you know, being there for every step of the way for this and knowing that your priorities are to be the number one player in the world. Has it been difficult on you to manage, you know, your relationship with your spouse also being a good father, you're to your kids and knowing kind of what you grew up in as a, in a bit of an abusive relationship with your dad that you mentioned at the beginning of this? Yeah. I think that's why I got married young. I met Ellie when I was 17. We started dating when I was 19, and then I got married shortly thereafter, you know, at 21 years old, and I just feel like some of the dysfunction that I had in my life as a kid, it was like wanting to have a family and a base around me, and that's like something that I always wanted. And I'm so blessed to have, you know, five healthy kids that are just, like, honestly, the best kids that I could ever ask for. But it is, it is a lot of stress and a lot to ask of a wife when you're an athlete and you're trying to compete, especially in golf, because I think in other sports, it's very, there's certain time limits that, like, if you're playing at team sport, you can obviously practice outside of the team, but most of the time, it's like how you're there with the team, you practice and then you go home. For me, like, and as you know, because you're a professional golfer, the amount of time that is put into the game, and it's, it's to be, yeah, it's a lot, it can be a lot, and that can obviously have, it can affect, you know, your significant other in different ways. You know, sometimes she wants me to be there, but she understands that I'm trying to accomplish like these goals in mind, whether that's, you know, getting to number one or getting back to number one. And sometimes she doesn't want to say things that, you know, there's certain drama that's going on in my personal life, or like in her life, she does, she kind of bites her tongue because she knows that it's going to affect me. So like, like, I'm very, very blessed to have a wife in LA that she understands and supports me the way she does because I don't think I wouldn't be able to deal with, with anyone else. Yeah, well said. Well said. So this is actually funny that I'll bring this up because I remember Dash when he was, you know, just such, I mean, he's so small and then you're, and then your other, as a loose heaves your second. Is that right? Yeah, absolutely. So Lucy was, you know, a little Michelin girl at the PGA Championship. This was at Baltis Raw. I'm standing Ricky's house that week, and you had come over and listen, you're your number one player in the world. You had had six top fives and majors. I mean, you were arguably the best player in the world and I was thinking to myself, it's like, man, like two years ago, I was, you know, at a bar at LSU, like I didn't, I just had such a fast rise on the PGA tour that suddenly I was sitting next to the people that, you know, that had worked to try to, you know, compete against one day. And so with that being said, just the parenting side is now that I'm a father for you, you know, how have you been able to manage, you know, being such a hard worker that you are in demanding excellence of yourself. And now Dash, you, I saw him last week at the President's Cup, and this guy sprouted up, but I can't believe how tall he is. You know, how have you been able to be a parent and manage, you know, those high expectations that you have, you know, for your kids, but also not try to push them too hard. Yeah, it's interesting with golf. Well, with my life, there's only, I don't really have outside hobbies other than, you know, there's three things in my life. There's three pillars in my life that are important. Family, golf and health. They're the only three things that, like, fuel my life right now. Like, I don't wish to go out and party, I don't wish to do anything else. I don't like, you know, I've got my friends that hang out with every now and then, but like, they're the three things that I need to focus and take care of. And the good thing about me is that I'm fortunate enough to have this facility in my backyard and be able to accomplish two things. Now, Dash, as you saw last week at the President's Cup, is he's 12, and he's 5, 11, you know, 12, which is like, he's a monster. He's going to be able to talk to me. Through having this facility in my house, I'm able to, you know, have the kids out when I practice. And like, why this facility happened was I was practicing over at Mirafield Village. And I was thinking about my family, I'm like, well, I'm in the car 40 minutes a day, going there and 40 minutes back. I'm like, well, if I can own the land next door to me, put a facility there, then I'll save, you know, that time of driving. And nobody bothers you either. Nobody bothers you, you can get your work done, you'd be more efficient with it, but then, like, Dash, he comes out to practice with me now. You know, I wrote my third, he comes out to practice, even on my fourth, he comes out to practice now. We were literally at a golf course called Big Walnut, which is like this little country course, and I had the three boys and we're out there playing. But, yeah, it's just, it is difficult to balance, you know, personal life and professional life as well. And then obviously trying to not really push, I got pushed into the game, you know what I mean? Like, obviously my dad wanted me to play, like, he pushed me into it. And I remember the feelings of getting pushed into it, and then all of a sudden I had this, like, unbelievable passion for golf, and that's why I loved it, and that's why I stuck with it. But my thing was to never kind of push him into it. And then I just want to, I'm like, slowly, like, kind of nudging him in the right direction here. Or, like, down the direction that I think he'd actually thrive in. And I just want him to be able to find the passion for golf, like I found the passion. And if he can do that, then he's got to be the one out here practicing by himself. And he'll do the little things and be out by himself grinding. Because as you know, when you're practicing by yourself, it can be very, very lonely and it's like very boring in time too. So if you can, if you really love the game, you enjoy that. And that's what I'm trying to instill not only in him, but all my kids as well. Yeah, that's where I fell in love with the game is just those hours spent by myself in the middle, you know, late night, sunset, chipping around the green. Those are the moments I definitely don't take for granted. And I think it's time to nerd out on some swing stuff here, Jason. Let's really go into the archives here and nerd out. So, all right, so you split up with Colin Swan. You know, had just an incredible run of over 20 years. And you hire Chris Komo. And I think this is a fascinating discussion because for someone like me who's still on their swing journey of trying to make changes from, you know, the swing that I won with. On the PGA tour with to where I want to get to, which is a much more functional swing to where I can play the game for as long as I want to, but also to where I just don't have to think about all of the things of trying to get everything in order. I feel like getting your body to move the right way and getting the face to match that. It's not easy. So tell me how difficult this journey has been and how did it start and where do you think all the progress that you made along the way where you're at now? Well, yeah, it is a bit of a journey. Like I started getting injured through. I actually really started getting injured in 15 to 16. I was fighting through some pain there when I was number one in the world. But like my mindset was I'll fight through it. It doesn't matter what it is. I'll just keep pushing because, you know, well, I get another opportunity. This maybe, maybe not. I'm just going to keep pushing through it because that's just like that was the way that my mind worked. And then I realized that caught up to me pretty quick and doing some wrong training at the time. I was lifting some significant weight, doing a lot of powerlifting stuff, went from super setting stuff to like straight powerlifting stuff. Holy crap. How much were you lifting? Like, do you remember? I was lifting four, ten, and then I'm going three, six, five. And they were like, it was like, that's those. It wasn't like, hey, we're just doing one. We're doing sets of these, which is kind of crazy to think about. Like, yeah, it was like, it was crazy. Like, I remember doing sleds in a blizzard. Like, it was like, and my buddy was training with me at the time because I was working at a place for Westside Barba, which is like this powerlifting Jim Mecker. And I was very, like, I thoroughly enjoyed my time. It was so much fun. But I got to a stage where I'm like, man, I'm a golfer and I'm like, this NFL guys walking through here. I'm like, I'm not a football player, man. I hit the ball. You know what I mean? But then I started getting injured soon thereafter just from, you know, wrong technique on, you know, with my swing and then losing mobility. Like, I was very strong this way. Like, and I couldn't. And when I started adding, like, twisting motions, I was quite actually quick, quite weak. But it was soon thereafter, like, and I fought like 2017 through 2022. So there was like a good five years of just like complete pain, you know, two and a half hours of partying every single day. Pretty much through my career. And I got to a point where I couldn't do 15 minutes of partying. And that kills you. Then you start, like, then you start to practice faster. And when you practice faster, then you create bad tendencies. And then when you create bad tendencies, then you take your strength and turn it into a weakness. I started creating. I remember when I went to see a buddy in mine, and he has said putt lab. And I was cutting across the ball five degrees on a putter. He was insane. He was insane. And then you're sitting there going, well, no wonder I can't control the bloody ball and the speed because it's starting off left and, and then the speed controls. I'm hitting the slices with my parts. So, but that's what happened was I started to race through my practice, just so that I'm like, hey, I need to get these reps in. If I don't get these reps in, then I'm not going to be able to compete against these guys. And then I just started creating bad tendencies. And then it just got worse and worse and worse. And I just, I just despised going out to practice because it just hurt so much. And then it got to a point where it take me like 10 minutes to get up out of bed. I had to roll out of bed. And then when my back did go out, I was crawling to the toilet, you know, I wouldn't be able to go to the toilet. Like I, it was literally I had help, you know, people helped me up and walking me around. And it was very difficult. And then I just said, you know what, this is enough. I can't handle it anymore. I'm either going to have to get surgery at some point. And I've had small procedures done or I'm going to have to make some change. And so I started, I said, you know, I'm going to make some change because like, you know, making change in your life is very difficult, especially in the second half of your career. So that's when I got, I ended up, I stopped working with Cole at the end of 2017, then I went for a couple years. And then after that, it was two or three years. And then I started working with Chris. And from there, I have a lot more knowledge about the golf swing now that I ever have. But like, there is a double edged sword there too, because like, I mean, you sometimes get a little bit too technical. You can hit a bad shot and go, Hey, you know, why did that happen? It wasn't because of this. But sometimes you can just hit a bad shot, you know what I mean? So it's just. Can you believe the holidays are here? I know. This year went by so fast. I want to help the schools in my neighborhood by giving to donors, too. Because during this time of the year, it's all about the kids. That's a great idea. Donors choose is the most trusted nonprofit connecting teachers and students to donors who believe in them. Now, more than ever before, students across the country are eager for a season of learning, community and celebration. Visit donorschoose.org/local and give today. Hey, Fidelity. What's it cost to invest with the Fidelity app? Start with as little as $1 with no account fees or trade commissions on US stocks and ETFs. Hmm, that's music to my ears. I can only talk. Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Zero account fees apply to retail brokerage accounts only. Sell or assessment fee not included. A limited number of ETFs are subject to a transaction-based service fee at $100. See full list at Fidelity.com/commissions. Fidelity brokerage services LLC. Remember NYSE SIPC. It's rewiring your brain, Jason. You play the game at the highest level a certain way for your entire golf career. And all of a sudden now, you're changing your body pattern, the windows in which you see shots. But most importantly, the hardest thing that nobody talks about is why guys are so good is because they know what their misses are and they know how to make adjustments on the golf course. That to me are when guys like Tiger go and change swing coaches and make all these adjustments and are able to still be the best in the world. For somebody who's gone through it, I'm like, "How? How? How did you do it?" Tiger is a very interesting one because at the start of his career, all the way through probably to Sean Foley. Sean Foley is probably when he started changing his release pattern. I don't feel like he changed his release pattern too dramatically through the butchers and the haney years. And then obviously once he started working with Foley, I think that's when he just started changing his release pattern a little bit. And I think that's some of the stuff why potentially he potentially may have got back injury because of it. But it is. You're right. I mean, you're like, you're starting, you find strength in a certain way that you swing. And then all of a sudden you're like, "Hey, now you've got to do it a different way over why yourself." For me, I didn't have a choice. I had to go out and make changes. And then it was the hardest thing in the world because I'm sitting there going, "Okay, I need to make these changes." But I also need to go out and play golf. And well, it's your expectations. How do you trust that? And, you know what I mean? I'm sitting there going, "Okay, well, everything that Chris told me to do, it felt like I was doing the complete opposite of what I used to do." And I'm just going, "Man, I can't find." Not only does it feel uncomfortable, like you said, it changes the way the ball comes out. You know, it changes the way it spins. It changes everything. And then you've got to kind of fight through all of that. Because some weeks I'd be hitting it high with no spin. And then all of a sudden I'm hitting it low with a ton of spin. And I'm like, "What is going on?" And then you can't trust anything at all. You're sitting there. I'm going to hit this 56 degree wedge. And I'm supposed to hit it 95 yards. And all of a sudden it's coming out high and loopy. And then the next week is coming out low and spinning. On soft grains spinning off, you can't control. So my big thing is that the ball flight never lies. No. If you are going to make change and it looks like what it should ink on camera and you're like, "Wow, that's perfect." But the ball flight's not matching up. And the spin's not matching up. You will never make the change. I don't care who you are. You literally have to change the way you think about your windows and how it spins to make that change. If you're making a change and then you're sitting there going, "Okay, the change is not quite there, but the ball flight's really nice and the spin's really nice." I really like that window. Then that's when you start to finally make change. And you get confidence finally. Yeah, you get confidence. You never trust a swing or a swing change if the ball is coming out on the wrong window and/or spin. It may look perfect. It may look Instagram ready that you can put it on Instagram and go, "Wow, that looks mid." And I know plenty of guys that do that and I'm like, "I'm looking at it. I wonder if their ball flight's really good." Or they're just doing it for Instagram, you know what I mean? Because if you're really... Because you know how it is, rain swing or a golf course swing is dramatically different. It changes. So, yeah, there's been a lot of changes in what I've had to do. Some of the things that I've been working on is release pattern stuff, trying to get the correct release pattern. What does that mean? What does that mean for you? So, essentially, what I'm trying to do is create the hand path going up. You know, old school Tigers used to do it. Some of the best ball strikers in the world used to do it. So, once you... I'm going to get up here. I'm going to show you. Yeah, please. Yeah. So, I'm going to see if I can get back far enough. So, and this is something that I learnt off Chris. So, essentially, what I want to do is I want to be able to have the path to go from... or the hand path go from low to high like this, right? Gotcha. You know what I mean? Gotcha. So, actually, from there, I can actually get the hip far enough forward with enough forward press to do this. And once you're hitting up on the ball, like, old school Tigers used to do that. And I'm not saying that he doesn't do it now. I'm just saying that, you know, he used to do it really, really well back in the day. And then, some of the other things that I'm working on is obviously right hand, making sure you taught you talked about a little bit having that face open. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I tend to have a drag. You know, my old school thing was like, and now Brandon, I still do it now where I will... as I play a tournament, my grip will slowly get incrementally get stronger and stronger and stronger. That's opposite of me. I used to get weaker and weaker, so it did not open up in face. Yeah, so I get stronger and then I actually hold and drag like that. Yeah. I got that heel shot now. So, what I'm trying to do instead of... I'm trying to get, essentially, my... I'm trying to get hit and range. So, if I come through here, I'm going to stand back up again. So, I'm trying to get this in and range, but do all my rotation through my forearm. So, I'm in and range here, and I get all my forearm... all my rotation through my forearm. And then, when I do that, I can't rotate anymore. Like, if I have a pretty neutral to weak grip, it's not going to go any further than that. And then, I'm trying to get this on top, and this... the crux of my elbow kind of more on the out, because that creates... like, if I was going through... You get some path now going that way, which is good. Yes. Exactly. So, if I... this is going left when my arm goes like that. So, then, you know, how my big thing was, I'd go underneath, stand up, and then... The arms would go, kind of like that, and just like my arm would go like this, separate from my body, instead of having my right arm go underneath my body a little bit more. So, I'm trying to get that, and that both hit and range, and get a little bit more forward press, get that path going up. All right. All I see, there's a stable face. That's essentially what I'm trying to do, because I don't... I think a lot of people, when they get in there and hold the face through an impact, it's a fake way of having a stable face. You still need to release it. You need to release it, but like how many guys and guys that work on holding the face, they'll have like what they think is like very a stable face, and like they still hit a left. I'm like, how do you have like, look like an open face that's still hit a way left, you know? So, it's just like, when I was number one in the world, I used to release the snort out of it. And yeah, I mean, it was just, yeah, they're kind of the things that I'm working on right now, but like a lot of release patterns, stuff, a lot of right hand stuff. Man, I love it though, and it's, and where do you feel like you are in this? As far as, you know, I think the word that we always hear from guys is ownership, right? You know, I think you described, you know, 2015 and even those years before, is that you had a great regiment and practice schedule. You knew exactly what to work on, you knew what your game was, and you were just confident as hell. So, this form of you, like you'll never lose the talent and the ability, that never goes anywhere. But this ownership piece, Jason, where do you feel like you are in this to get back to where, you know, which I know where you want to be, which is the top player in the world? It is interesting to say that, like I don't feel like I'm that far away with the swing, per se, like I feel like it's, I can get a little bit technical. How do you turn that off? How do you turn it off? Like, how do you think you can turn that golf brain off and have that ownership and just go play golf? Do you think that's something that will just come with the more you just trust and play with this, this new swing? I think one of the ways to do it is switch the camera off and don't look at your swing for a while. And just go out to what is a ball flight doing? And is it spinning correctly? Because if you're standing there, you're like, for instance, like, when I hit like these flighted shots, like, if I'm hitting a pitch, you're going to 140 yards, I have a flightage, I have a 10 o'clock swing that usually goes around 127, then I have a 9 o'clock swing that goes 117 and an 8 o'clock swing that goes 107. And usually it works 10 yards, 10 to 12 yards off, like from all number, but like then 10 yards off after that. If I'm hitting these flighted shots and I'm going, that's a good window. If I'm playing on firm green, it's just most likely going to bounce 5 and then stop. If I'm playing on soft green, it's going to go like this, like this, and stop. And it's not going to razz back. I remember watching, I was playing with Rafa at Cabraya Bayo at Pebble Beach one time, and I'm hitting these low little punches in there and they go on one bounce stop. And he's hitting these 4.56s in there, like that, you know what I mean? That's the college way. Well, yeah, exactly. But like, I mean, when you have full control over your ball flight and speed control, it just opens up so many more possibilities. And so many more shots in your bag. It's a ball flight for you. Yeah, and what was that, sorry? I said, so ball flight for you is the way in which I think honestly think that just switching off the camera and just trusting that the swing is not going to get too far out of whack for a while. And then just seeing a ball flat and going from there would be great. Man, that's, that's all such good information. And the last question I have in this is how to revert back. So how often have you gone through this journey, and you feel like that you just, the old things in which you used to try to fix on the golf course. How hard has it been for you to not go to something that you know you've had ownership of in the past because that's something for me that I struggle with with years. It's like, I have this plan that I'm trying to work. But as soon as you go out, you know, and you're on the golf course and it's just you and you got to get the ball in the hole. You know, sometimes all that stuff and that information that you have, it's like, it's so easy to just want to throw it out the window and just gravitate towards something that you know you have ownership of. Yeah. It is difficult because you're trying to, you always, you always tend to like, especially when you're competing, it's hard because you like tend to like just like, I got to get it in the hole. But then you're like, well, I'm trying to work towards, for me, I got injured. So I said, you know, screw it, I'm going to have to make change and the only way to make change, like true change and commit to it is make the change on the golf course. So I was doing, that's hard. I know, I know, it really, really is hard. But like, you have to, you have to just slowly incrementally do it. But like, I just did it. I'm like, you know what screw I'm going to do it on the golf course and, and where it leads me to leads me to. But, yeah, I mean, it is, it is difficult. But you, if you, if you want it now, you're going to have to do on the golf course pretty quick and understand that the results aren't going to happen the way that you think they are. Like, change, like, small over time, it'll be longer, but you'll still have the control. Do you know what I mean? And yes, but it will take a lot longer. So essentially what you're like, if you're making like big changes like I did, I mean, it was three years of like some success and not so much success. But like, now I feel like I'm to the point where I'm like, okay, now I'm starting to see. Like, even more so just recently, I'm like, starting to see a lot of good things in my swing will start to see a lot of good things in my ball fight. But it is difficult to make change as you're playing as you're competing. Um, because you do want to revert back to something that gets wrong. You know what I mean? You're like, oh, just get me back to, like, I've got to get this ball in the hole. Okay, whatever. I'll just like, kind of feel whatever I did. And then you just, you're constantly fighting yourself. You know what I mean? Yeah. The positive and the negative. And they're just constantly fighting. So, yeah, I think you just got to be very, very patient. Know that it's like, once you start this journey, it's like, hey, we're just going to make change over time. And it's going to get there at some point. Has there been one shot that you've just struggled with so much, whether it's a 75% six iron to a tucked right pin? And you know, you can't miss right. Is it a certain shot that that you've had in which you failed over and over again? And which recently you finally have had that shot and you've been able to pull it off and you're like, that's it. That's the shot and then being able to build off of that. So, when you're changing a swing, it's kind of funny. Like, you'll feel like you're like, oh, okay, I've got the shot. And then the next week you've changed your swing and you're like, that shot's completely gone now. It's like, I'm hitting like these big spinning, flairy looking things. I'm like, what? The world's going on. Then you go back and you're hitting it low and it's coming out with no spin. And then I always come back to ball flight. I literally always come back to ball flight. It's just it never, it never lies regardless of what happens. Like, you'll sit there and you go, okay, that ball flight is good. That spin is good. If I'm hitting and I always always come back to my off speed shots, because I struggled with spin control. I would hit, like, let's say, for instance, I've got a 52 degree and I hit my 52 about 130 yards. I'm trying to hit a nine o'clock shot, which is 110 yards, right? And I'm hitting a shot into relatively firm greens and they're landing and spinning back. And there's no control whatsoever. I'm like, I'm sitting, I'm like, I'm handcuffed. You know what I mean? I'm sitting there going, I cannot get this shot. Even if there's a tuck pin back in the back, I can't get this shot close because it's a nine o'clock swing and it's spinning back five, seven paces. I'm like, I'm not going to get it close. Whereas when you use to finally go, I understand it's like I'm starting to feel like I'm hitting more up on it even though I'm not. But like, it's creating that certain flight that I'm looking for. It's creating the one bounce stop. Yeah, there are the shots that I look at. I'm like, now my swing's in the right spot. And your visual visualization is something that I'll always remember from when you were playing your best and being able to just, you know, stand there for it felt like hours, but really it was just, you know, you just trying to get the image in your head of this is the shot. This is the ball fight. I imagine that's what you're trying to picture. Are you still going through that similar type of process? Are you trying to just picture ball fight? Are you trying to like not think about swing while you're thinking about ball flight? So when I asked you a question, like, what is your draw seven on look like? Yeah. You know what I mean? And then all of a sudden you start to think, like, okay, the draw seven on look like this. So when you ask a question, your brain has to answer. So essentially what I do is I ask myself a question, like, what does that look like? And then from there, I go in. What does the draw seven on look like? I visualize a shot and then I'm trying to feel that shot of what it feels like. Like, and then I go in there and try and create that because it's like you're trying to create the sensation through your body and go from there. God, it's beautiful. All right. Let's have a laugh on the way out. This is the last question I got for you, Jason, is the 2014 WC match play when you played Victor Dubuisson. Yeah. I still laugh about the wild things that happened in those last couple of holes for it to go to extra holes. Do you think about that event? That almost went away, right? Like it was insane. Dude, all the time, I'm like, this little, this Frenchman won't go away. I'm like, because I was like, in my mind, I'm like, I'm going to push as hard as I can. And we're in the first play a poll. And he hits it in the back over and into a cactus. And I'm like, watching this. I'm like, this is great. All I have to do is hit the green. I missed the green short and left. And then it literally, he gets up there and it takes maybe 15 seconds. And he's in there and he just hits it without even thinking about it. And then he's like hitting the Y, the TV, Y, and everything. It's coming out, boggling out, coming out, going through the rough. He gets it down to like six feet or something like that. And then I'm like, I hit my bungal shot to 10 feet. I'm like, holy crap, I'm going to hold this because if I don't hold it, he beat me out of a cactus. And then I end up holding it, he holds it. And then he does the exact same thing the next hole. He hooks his second shot left into a cactus, gets it, gets somehow gets a drop, I guess. And then, and then he hits the shot up and over. And then I'm just like sitting there laughing. I'm like, what do I got to do to beat this guy? You know what I mean? Oh, gosh. I'm real. But as the playoffs went, I ultimately ended up beating him. But I just felt like everyone against me, you know, when I first opened up with those two playoffs. I'm like, what do I have to do to beat this freaking guy? Man, you know what I mean? That was one of the best TV golf matches that we've had in a very long time. And I still look back at those highlights and thinking myself, man, Jason almost didn't win that tournament. Victor Dumasan almost wanted it for somebody that is in TV. Now that was chef's kiss. It was so good. And yeah, Jason, thank you again, man. This has been a great conversation. And I think a lot of people that are either junior golfers, amateur golfers, people that are trying to make changes in their game. I think we'll have learned a lot from this. I know I have learned a lot from this just in my own personal golf journey, which, who knows what that looks like. But it's your, Jason, you've been something I've looked up to. And this has been a lot of fun. And I appreciate you coming on, man. Don't worry, man. I love talking about golf. I love talking about technique. So if you want me back on, I'd love to do that too. So thanks again, man. I appreciate it. Just a bunch of golf nerds. Just what we're just, we're just hashing it out. Of course, it's disgusting how many golf swings I have on my phone. Me too, buddy. Just join the crowd over here. Send the best to Ali and your kids, man, and hope to see you soon. Thanks. Yeah, we'll do. Thanks, mate. Talk to you soon. You know, I listened to this podcast. It's really cool. And all of our other brands and subscribers. But make sure you like it from scratch. It's cool. See what you guys are doing. I know golf fans appreciate it, but we do too. So please keep it up. For all the good people of YouTube, like and subscribe. You guys have some good tech, so I'm happy to come on and shoot the... Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV insurance. 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On this episode of The Smylie Show, Australian golfer and 13x PGA Tour winner Jason Day joins Smylie Kaufman as they discuss his remarkable golf journey, marked by resilience and a relentless pursuit of excellence.
