Better Than I Found It

Welcome back to another episode Better Than I Found It, where today we welcome Maddie Luitwieler-Caruana, the assistant coach for the Baylor Women’s Golf Team. Maddie came to Baylor from the University of Texas, who she both played and coached for under Ryan Murphy, our current men’s assistant coach. Coach Luitwieler-Caruana and Coach McGraw also share the connection of having lived in Edmond, Okl...

Welcome back to Better Than I Found It! Today, former Georgia Tech golfer Chris Petefish joins us. Chris and Coach McGraw talk about everything about his career at Georgia Tech, from being recruited by hall of fame coach Bruce Heppler to his ACC championship matches. They also go into his transition to his pro career, as he has been on the Korn Ferry tour for the last few years. A self-admitted &q...

This week we welcome Roy Edwards, long time head men's golf coach for the University of Colorado, to Better Than I Found It. Coming off his 19th year as the head coach for Colorado, and one of his most successful, as his Buffs had nine top-three finishes and finished the season 23rd at the NCAA championship. Coach Edwards and McGraw especially connect on their love for Prairie Dunes Country Cl...

This week we welcome Mississippi Gulf Coast Head Coach, Brad Thornton, to the podcast. Brad, an alumnus of the school, is fresh off leading the Bulldogs to their second consecutive NJCAA Division 2 National Championship. Brad is a young coach, but his wisdom belies his youth. I think you'll enjoy listening to what he has to say. Thank you for joining the podcast Brad! Subscribe to the podcast...

Fresh off winning the 2025 NCAA National Championship, we welcome Alan Bratton, head coach of the OSU Cowboys, to the podcast. Coach Bratton and Coach McGraw discuss last week's championship at La Costa, and later share a trip down memory lane to the NCAA Championships they both competed and coached in, including the one they won together in 2006. Both coaches boast a championship laden pedigr...

Today's guest on Better Than I Found It is Austin native and former Baylor golfer, Matthew Perrine. Matthew played for Baylor from 2015-2018, was an All-American, set several school records, and was the 2018 Byron Nelson award winner, an award given to the most outstanding scholar-athlete of the year. His story starts before his time at Baylor, however, as he played junior golf against Will Za...

Joining us on Better Than I Found It this week is the assistant coach for the University of North Texas, Cory Churchman. Cory and Coach McGraw actually recorded this episode in person as they prepared for a youth golf camp. Despite working alongside Luke Calcatera, a podcast guest just a few weeks ago, Cory shares how his philosophies and ideas as a coach differ from the UNT head coach and how the...

Welcome back to Better than I Found It! Today's guest is former Vanderbilt All-American based out of Austin, Texas: Cole Sherwood. Currently 19th on the points list of the Korn Ferry Tour, Cole is an excellent example of a young golfer who understands the value of good coaching. His college coach, Scott Limbaugh, praised Cole for his ability to improve every year due to his insatiable growth m...

Welcome to the 250th episode of Better Than I Found It! It has been 250 straight Mondays, almost five years, since Coach McGraw and Mikkel first sat down in a recording booth over Covid to tell Coach McGraw's story, and we would like to thank each and every person who has listened to the podcast over the years. We especially would like to thank those who have been there since the podcast first...

Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It, where this week Coach McGraw interviews former University of Texas golfer Marcus Jones. A native of Graham, Texas, Marcus was the number two ranked national junior golfer, just behind Tiger Woods. Because of his ranking he was often paired with Tiger, and he discusses that as well as the challenges of growing up a golfer in a small town wi...

As the Bears prepare for the Big 12 Championship, running from Tuesday April 22nd to Thursday April 24th, Coach McGraw takes a moment to share his experiences from the site of the tournament: Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa. From his father's time working as the assistant pro at the club to, watching Arnold Palmer and Jack Niklaus tee off at the 1970 PGA Championship, to the first time he...

Joining Better than I Found It today is Robby Pickett, assistant coach of Abilene Christian University's Men's Golf Team. Despite his youth, Robby has already served as a graduate assistant, assistant coach, and head coach of two different schools, all before the age of 30. Robby talks about his history with his own golf coach as well as his interactions with his wife, Ali, who is the assistant co...

Today we welcome Conrad Ray, the longtime director of golffor Stanford and former teammate of Tiger Woods, to the podcast. Over his 21 hall of fame years at Stanford, he has coached his teams to five Pac-12 championships, 15 national championship appearances, six top-10 finishes, and two titles. He’s coached 31 All-Americans, 11 of which have been first-team All-Americans, and is a two time Dave W...

Welcome to Better Than I Found It, Luke Calcatera. Luke is one of the great up-and-coming coaches in college golf. Currently in his second year at UNT, Luke found great success at the division two level, as he spent over 10 years at Arkansas Tech, his alma mater. Luke’s teams set a national record of five consecutive trips to the Elite 8, including when they won the 2021 division two national cham...

Joining us this week on Better Than I Found It is the head coach of Ole Miss, Chris Malloy. Chris has seen immense success over the course of his career, including an NCAA divisional championship, a Fred Haskins Award, and just this year leading his Rebels to their first AP number one ranking. As of this recording, Ole Miss is ranked fourth in the country. Thank you Chris for joining the podcast!...

Today on Better Than I Found It, Coach McGraw again shares stories from his "Stuff That Works" journal. In this episode Coach uses his journal to illustrate the dedication required to be a professional golf player. Using his experience coaching a litany of players, from Kyle Jones to Rickie Fowler to Johnny Keefer, Coach exhibits the different paths players have taken to go pro. The shar...

This week on Better Than I Found It, Coach McGraw once again draws from his book of "Stuff That Works" to share experiences from his storied career. From changing the rules of high school golf to allow coaches to follow their players, to the legendary Mike Holder being challenged by a referee on a bylaw he wrote; I hope you enjoy and gain some interesting information from this episode. Subscribe t...

Today on Better Than I Found It, Coach McGraw delves into his book of "Stuff That Works." Coach gets personal with the audience as he discusses his former tobacco addiction and how he overcame it to be a better example to those around him. He speaks on how he imparted this lesson onto his players in the 1988 Oklahoma High School State Championship. I hope you learn a lot from this episod...

Today's guest on Better Than I Found It is Scout McNealy, former Baylor Golf Player and current PGA tour caddy for his brother, Maverick McNealy. Scout has been caddying his brother throughout his recent run of success, which has included a victory in the RSM classic and a runner up finish in the Genesis Open just last week. Scout and I discuss his work caddying for Maverick, including how it...

Today we welcome to the podcast the associate head coach of Notre Dame and former head coach of the University of Miami, Ohio, Zac Zedrick. As the coach of Miami for fifteen years, he led the Redhawks to the 2015 MAC championship. After he joined John Handrigan in South Bend in 2021, the Irish qualified for the NCAA Finals for the first time since 1967. He has coached multiple All-Americans over t...

Joining us on Better Than I Found It for the second time is golf strategy expert, Scott Fawcett. Scott is the founder and CEO of Decade Golf, an advanced course management system, and has been teaching his philosophy of course strategy for a little over ten years. His work has had an enormous impact on the play of golfers at all levels of competition. During our interview he gives an alternative p...

Our guest today is longtime head coach of the Auburn Lady Tigers, Kim Evans. A member of the WGCA hall of fame, Kim coached Auburn from 1994 until her retirement in 2015. During her time there the program was a consistent national contender and captured 8 SEC titles. We discuss her golf career, and even her battle with cancer, which she, the fighter that she is, won. Thank you so much for joining...

Our guest today on Better Than I Found It is Glen Millican, the head coach of the University of Missouri's golf team. In his second year at the program, Glen has made a huge impact so far. We also discuss in detail his years at New Mexico, where he went from player to assistant coach to one of the youngest head coaches in college golf, as he coached the Lobos for 22 years. Glen's teams at...

Today's guest on the podcast is the former head coach for UT's women's golf team and my most recent hire as a Baylor assistant coach, Ryan Murphy. Ryan's coaching record is outstanding in every way. Over 23 years and four different coaching positions, teams he has coached have won 12 conference titles, five regional championships, and one NCAA national championship. Teams that he h...

My guest today on Better Than I Found it is former Auburn First-Team All-American and 2002 Curtis Cup Team member, Courtney Trimble. Courtney and I talk about her relationship with Hall of Fame coach Kim Evans, whom she both played for and then was an assistant coach for at Auburn. Courtney describes how Evans prepared her to be an effective head coach, which she would be for UCF and later Louisvi...