(upbeat music) - Hey there, welcome to Big Blend Radio with your host, Lisa and Nancy, editors of Big Blend Magazine.com. (upbeat music) - Hey everyone, this is Lisa and Nancy and right now we are overlooking a beautiful golf course in Tulare, California and this is the Tulare Golf course, right? - Yes. - Okay, everyone, Brett Miller is here and you're the manager of the golf course. - Yes, the general manager. - And that means you get to have the office with a view. - Yes, that's the one perk. - Okay, and what happens, right now you look out front and you've got everybody out there, so what are they doing? They're practicing their swing? - Yeah, they're out on the driving range right now and hitting brand new range balls that we just got in yesterday, every three months we get new range balls in, which we're probably the only ones in the state of California to do that. - No, we wanna make sure that they get hit good golf balls and hit off grass, not artificial turf, so they're on natural grass out there hitting, chipping, and putting and doing everything. - Oh, cool, so now behind you, you've got a beautiful patio, a wonderful restaurant, we had a good time in the restaurant, so how dangerous is that? Like don't you look out there going, okay, I wanna leave the desk, go out and play and then you see food on the other side. - Yes. - How's your work balance? - So the work balance is, it's pretty good. You go out there and hit range balls and then you come in there and have a drink. - Oh, that's it, now we've got the bar. How can I leave the bar? - Yeah, no. - Do you guys serve any signature cocktails? Like golf, golf and fire? - We do have a few signature cocktails, the bartenders are way more familiar 'cause they change them when they want. I don't control that part of it, I leave it up to them. - Yes. - 'Cause they know what our patrons wanna drink and everything like that, so yeah, it's pretty good. - Well, the restaurant was good, the meals were definitely delicious. What's your favorite? - Probably the strongly sandwich, the strongly sandwich is really good here. But yeah, all the food is really good here. I will say that it's breakfast, lunch, even dinner, our dinner menu is a lot smaller, but it's still really good. If you wanna come out on the patio and relax and watch some people hit balls, we have lights out on the driving range, so at nighttime we light up the range. - Oh, cool. - We got music playing. - Oh, that's nice with summertime, right? - Yeah, so it's been very good. Just getting people out and getting families out, we've got with COVID and everything, we've got a lot more families coming out rather than just the guys, and then it's becoming a family place to come hang out and everything like that. - Well, that's excellent, 'cause we hear like golf at one point, I was gonna say maybe five years ago, they were kind of worried about the younger generation of getting in golf, has that changed? - Yeah, it's drastically changed now. I mean, we have a ton more kids coming out to play. And with their parents, just getting to see what's going on out here in that, I think that it's helped them out drastically in that. And we've got a guy that gives lessons out here for kids, and he's not expensive, he's very good with the younger kids in that on getting them going. Golf is a hard sport to play. - Yeah, so the patience, I mean, even when we try, right? And then you do wanna just whack that in the ball. You're just like, dude, I'm gonna take some of these. - It's sitting right there, why can't I get it? - Yeah, but no, but it's hard to think it's moving. - Yeah, it's the golf goes, the golf ball goes. - It's exactly right. - But from the patience level for kids. - Yeah, and that's one of the things that I think the kids now in days, they're so inundated with the computers and video games and everything. Everything is fast paced that we've tried to do some things out here to make golf fun for the kids and just get them out here and start understanding them. Okay, this is where you can play your whole life. I mean, there's not, you don't get hurt in a sport like you couldn't football or baseball. A lot of other things. - Yeah. - And it's a great social thing for people. There's a lot of business deals that get struck out on the golf. - That has never changed. - Huge. - And it's never changed, but doesn't it also, like I know a lot of musicians that play golf, even a spirit like Deepak Chopra, he wrote a whole book on golf. And it's really, isn't it kind of a different form, not gonna get woo woo, but isn't it another form of mindfulness and thinking and kind of, it's meditational? - Yeah, no, it's all of those things. And I tell everybody, 'cause I've been golfing since I was 16 years old. And literally, I have met some of the coolest people on a golf course. If me and my wife go golfing, I don't care who you pair us with, well, I'll play with anybody. And if you can start to understand that, you'll see some really nice people and some cool people in golf and that. I mean, I've got a guy that I met up in Copperopolis literally a month ago. Me and my brother went up and played at a golf course up there. Him and his wife were there. The wife was panicking. Me and my brother were playing from the back teas, the championship teas. And I told her we drove up to them and he's like, "Hey, I'm not gonna go back there to the back," 'cause I said, "You're fine, don't worry about it." And I told his wife, I said, "Hey, don't worry, "you're with the right guys today. "We're a very nonchalant, just hit it and go have fun." And it took all the pressure off of her and what's funny is next weekend, they're coming down to our golf course to play golf with me and my brother down here and they've never been to Slary. So it's just-- - Oh, wow. And so, do a lot of people travel according to golf courses? - Yeah, they do. I mean, the course we went and played at me and my brother hadn't been there in like 11 years. And it's a really cool course and everything up there now, but we just saw a thing and wanted to go play. And it was just the two of us. So, I think that people, if the course is good or there's good customer service, I think people are willing to go-- - Just have a different experience? - Yeah, to go, yeah. - So what makes a good golf course? - I think what makes a good golf course, it's gotta be somewhat challenging if it has the amenities. My owner, Steve, what they try and do here is, we wanna bring the country club lifestyle to the just working man, that's what it is. So, the amenities that you have at country clubs, you also have here in that, but you're not having to pay a huge-- - So it's not the private kind of golf course? - Yeah, it's not like that. You'll have the amenities of that, but you won't have to pay the private fees that you would have to pay at a country club and that. I mean, you can become a member here. If you're a senior, you can become a member here for $125 a month, you know? Or if you're not knocking in the other private courses, they all have their things, but you can be paying $300, $400 a month. So, a lot of people, I think, are starting to come over here since my new owners took over, they've drastically changed the face of the golf course here in that. So, I mean, I've been here for 23 years now. I was the superintendent out on the golf course and then they moved me into the general manager's position when they bought it. And so, me being out there has been able to help change a lot of the things that need to be done out there that the previous ownership just, you know, they owned it for 40 years and they were just tired, which, you know, happens, yeah. So, the new guys, they've influxed it with some money and did some things that I thought needed to be done here and that and, well, we've really taken off. I mean, it's been crazy. - Well, I know you've got a lot of expansions planned. - Yeah, we've got expansions. We're gonna build a banquet hall that's gonna seat 500 people, probably here in a year and a half. So, we'll have a nice wedding venue that will have a place for photography outside of the building set up for, you know, so they can go do their stuff right out there. Yeah. And we've got horseshoe pits, which I don't think has ever been done on the golf course before. - I know, I think it's appropriate. - Are you gonna have a cornhole too? - It will be set up for cornhole, but right now we're setting up pretty much four horseshoes and that 'cause they're gonna be state certified and stamped so we'll be able to hold state championships here. And with the patio being literally 20 feet from the pits, you could have a drink on the patio and watch what's going on. - No, I'm right here. - So, there's been a huge interest from some people already. I'm not a horseshoe guy. You know, I've thrown some in the backyard now, but we've already had like three or four tournaments contact us and they wanna come here. They're just wanting to know when it's gonna open and I'm like, oh, okay. So, yeah, let's go. So, we're giving it the first class when it's done. - The patio is awesome to me 'cause it, you know, this is a nice, beautiful view. What is your sunrise sunset like out here? - Oh, it's some days, barring, you know, if we don't have the smog in that, it's absolutely gorgeous out here in the morning. I get here at 5.36 o'clock in the morning every day. And, you know, when I roll up the blinds and you can see the sierras and we got some snow on 'em and that, which we need a lot more rain here. It's no, but when you can see that there's nothing like, that's why the patio has got rolled up last doors. I mean, 'cause we wanted, my owners wanted to make sure that we never lost that view out there. So, you can see about the tree lines and everything like it is and evenings and that, it's pretty cool to be out here now. I mean, it's a cool place to be. I mean, it's family friendly. You can take your wife, you can take your girlfriend. I mean, it's a pretty cool place to hang out in that, so. - No, no, she was asking about, you know, what makes a good golf course too, about all the amenities, but the actual greasy, but yeah, the course itself, what makes it something that people really enjoy as a golfer. I mean, to me, it's like, you know, if I'm horse riding, I'm gonna be in a different place and that one's maybe a little challenge or something to grow with. So, what does this course, I mean, about 18 holes right now, so what makes it for the golfer, aside from the amenities, what is the green? - Yeah, so the golf course, depending on what set of teas you're playing from, it obviously has to have some kind of challenge. So, you gotta have it set up to where you have a person that's got a zero handicap, which that means they're shooting 72, which is par, out here, all the time. Okay, so you gotta set the course up to where you have that all the way to a person that's a 40 handicap that you would never see them go to the back teas 'cause they would just, they would hate it. They would just be miserable. You have bunkers on the golf course, out in the fairways, that from the back teas will come in to play way more than if from the front teas where the men, or what we call the white teas, and that where they would, that bunker does not come in as play as much. The greens on the whole front nine, they're all elevated greens. But the reason they're elevated, which is crazy, when the guy built the golf course here, there was a pilot that came through here. And at one point in time, this area was flooded. - Oh, wow. - That's why the front nine, 'cause everybody asks us, why are the greens so elevated on the front? That's the reason why they wanted to make sure that if there was ever a flood that the green itself, the fairways might get flooded, but the greens would still be above water and everything like that, which I was like, really, I did not know that. - It's so cool, but that's kind of good math. - Yeah, and on top of that, now you've got this raised green, say the greens eight feet in the air. So now you're hitting almost to a target. - Yeah, exactly. - Rather than, you know, if it's something that's slowed down, or if you missed the green, if you missed the greens on the front nine here, it's hard to get up and down. I mean, 'cause they drastically slope off and go down the sides of it. - Oh, wow. - So you're going up, down all around. - You easily do it. - So in other words, it will take me a year to finish one for two volts, obviously, with the way I had it. - Oh, yeah. - Well, you know, that's, well, you haven't seen my golf lesson video. - It was called me, it was the first goal. - But I did, I did finally whack that little sucker, and it went way across, and now it's like score. - Yeah, it was, it was, no, anyway, I'm first going to go on the golf course, that's all I'm saying. - But yeah, well. - Hey, golfers are very unique. All it takes is one good shot, and then I'll bring them back. I mean, you can ask all of us every golfer, if you hit it good one time. - Yeah, it's like a trap. - It's like, yes, I'm going for the second. - It's addicting. - That's awesome. - So. - In the whole golf cart thing, I think there's something about just driving golf carts, it's fun. - Yeah, well, we got, we're in a very unique setup here with my new ownership, because if you look at our golf carts right now, you'll see red, white, blue golf carts, and you put any other golf course, and nobody has three colors. Usually it's one color, maybe two colors, but my ownership, and me included, we are very American. - Yeah, mm-hmm. - And so everything that you see out here is based on that principle and that. And that's one thing that my ownership has really bought into, 'cause I said, you know, we have a bunch of veterans that come out here, we have people from a more naval air base that come playing golf out here. - Okay, yeah. - And so luckily, my ownership, they are very dedicated to those kind of things. We have tournaments for them out here and that, we donate stuff to them and that. I mean, I believe anybody that's willing to put on a uniform for us and give us our freedoms, we've got to do whatever we can to help them people. - Absolutely. - So that's, I mean, that's our whole thing. - That's right. - Is around there and that. That's the first and foremost what we do around here. So it's, that's got, everybody says, Mike, when the golfers come in, they're like, you got red, white, blue carts. Yeah, it's all about Americans, sorry. I mean, they're like, dude, that's the coolest thing ever. - That is cool, it is. - So, but that's when we talk about full community then. - Yes. - It's very inclusive and I think that's important. And especially, you know, I think, and not knocking others because every place, every one has their thing. What I like is to get the younger generation involved, to get everyone, I think we do need community now more than ever. - Yes. - And places like this are important, you know? And you, and listen, it is hard work. - Oh yeah, I know it is and to do things right and to try and make it as best as you can make it, there's a lot of things that go into it. It's the little things. I mean, my job is to put out, you know, the fires in that. But most of the time the fires aren't, they're not bad. - No. - It's just, how do we make things better? - Keep tuning in. - My ownership is, hey, we're here right now, how do we get to the next place? And, you know, and I'm driven like that too. So we're constantly trying to not reinvent the wheel, but just do things a little bit better, you know, than anybody else. And we don't always do it like that. We try like, hey, I mean, it doesn't always work out, but I think, you know, we probably have 50 tournaments a year here. - Wow, that's a lot. - Yeah, for a bunch of our communities. I mean, we host baseball tournaments for baseball programs. We got soccer clubs. We have all kinds of stuff that come out and play golf out here. - So that's it. Those are all fundraisers, a lot of them. So that's a beautiful part of it. - And we understand that those people are the ones that are coming out golfing here, besides their tournament, they come here and they might buy a monthly from us. So we have no problem helping and giving back to try and help their programs in that. 'Cause I mean, at the end of the day, we could all, we could sit out here on an island, but something's gonna happen and there's nobody gonna come showing back up before I'm willing to get back to the community in that. And I think that's, one of the owners believe that too. So we do a lot of things for the community in that. We try to do things for them like a lot. - The pro shop, we have the pro shop, which is great. For golfers, that's pretty much, I mean, you can probably get things online, but don't you want to kind of feel things and have someone there to help you? - Yeah, so our pro shop has completely been revamped compared to what it used to be three and a half years ago. Next month, we're getting ready to open up the brand new simulator room that this thing, we have a launch monitor that it's the same one that Bryson DeChambeau on the PGA Tour uses. And we've got overhead projector, TV's on both sides, and you go in there and we have shafts, clubs, everything on the walls for you to hit. And we have Robert, my guy that runs the pro shop, he's very technical and understands all of that stuff. You can go get fitted in there, four clubs, personally made for you from Callaway, Taylor made or Mizuno and that. So that's a very cool setup. And it's hard because you're dealing, you're competing with online stuff in that, but if you come here at the end of the day, you'll get a better experience than just buying something online in that. I can tell you that right now. I know for a fact, it might not be cheaper, but it's not gonna be very much more in that. We're trying to do everything to compete with that. And the people that we've had come through that have bought clubs from us and everything like that, they've been happy. Right now, I'm not gonna lie to you, it's been a mess because of COVID and everything's backward and everything takes forever. And it doesn't matter what industry it is. - The bicycle industry, they can't even get parked for two years. - Yes, no, you're exactly right, because my wife's bike that we bought up, I say a bike shop, great people, no joke. I said, "Hey, I need you to get the bike to that." Okay, it's gonna be three weeks. I'm like, "Good Lord, okay." So it needs some hearts. They're like, "Hey, it's gonna be at least four weeks "for these parts." And I'm like, "Don't worry, dude. "I'm gonna say stuff. "I'm only in golf. "It's the same thing." - Yeah, and we sat there and had him on the big show. (laughing) - The big news, that book, that stuck in the space. - No, that's what happened. - That's right. That's what happened. - So he was getting ready for me to start, aren't you? And I said, "Don't worry, I'm in the same situation. "You are, it's only golf." - But that's the thing. Everyone has to have a little bit of like, patience and calmness and understand, "Hey, you know what, it's at least we're able "to start doing things again." So let's just be happy about that. - And with that, I think the patience that people don't have right now. - Get it out there. - They just want to be outside doing something. So here we are, we have the same. But I can't provide the club though. It's going to take four weeks to get it. So I understand why they're going to add to a point. I mean, and it's just golf has gone through the roof over the last year with COVID. It has, before COVID, golf was finally on the upswing again. It had bottomed out and it was on about a 2% to 3% rise now. Well, across the country, you look right now in the last year, we're up about 12 to 17%. Our golf course here personally, right now, we're up about 41%. We are skyrocketing past the national average, but I think it's because of all the things that we've done here. All the new changes that we've made, I think people, we got a really cool course. I just think people are coming back now 'cause they're like, "Oh my gosh, man. "Every month I come back, there's something new." I mean, and it is. It literally right now, there's so many things going on. I call it the construction zone right now, but we try and still give everybody a place to park, a golf course to play on in that that's good, and just bear with the changes in that, that are coming in that. And so far everybody has so far has been very pleased and very appreciative of what the free family has done, the owners, and then what they've done out here in that, to make it to what it is today. - Well, everybody looks happy. - Oh, yeah. - Yeah, I know. - So what do you trust us with a golf cart right now with a Bloody Mary? - Oh, yeah. (laughing) - That was a big question of the day. (laughing) Everyone, check out the website, teleregolf.com, and again, it's teleregolf course, and I like your Mallard Duck logo. What are you like ducks? - We have ducks out here. - I know you like to take this whole area is beautiful with Latin, too, so. And it says, your logo says, "Bring your best every day." - That's what we're trying to do. That's what our-- - I like that. - What we're feeling is-- - Yeah. - And that's in the pro shop, that's out on the golf course. I just tell everybody, "Bring your best every day." - Yeah. - I know it every day is not gonna be either-- I know it's not gonna be, but try and bring your best every day. - Yeah, love it. - That's why it's my logo. - Love it. Thank you so much for having me. - You're welcome. Thank you. I appreciate you ladies coming in today. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
