The Approach Shot

This week on The Approach Shot our guest is Tim Laird, America’s CEO – Chief Entertainment Officer! Tim spent many years with Brown-Forman Distillers in Louisville, Kentucky. In that capacity he became totally familiar with every label under the Brown-Forman umbrella like Woodfood Reserve, Old Forrester, Jack Daniels, etc. He is also an expert on wine and Champagne. His 2 greatest talents are his...

Carl Lee III was not heavily recruited out of high school by D1 teams. He accepted an offer from Marshall University in Huntington WVa. He was from Charleston WVa so Marshall was the obvious choice. He won a total of 8 games in his 4 years there. He was drafted in the 7th round by the Vikings. He was told he was too small, too slow to make it in the NFL. He was cut before his rookie year started,...

Katie Laurino helps athletes who have retired create and maintain their legacy. She helps them create their personal charitable foundations. She counsels them on fundraising, setting up the foundation along IRS guidelines. She mentors them. Some might say she mothers them. Katie loves golf, plays golf, and talks to us this week on The Approach Shot Podcast. Support the show Hosted by Simplecast, a...

J Marc Chambers is a comedian and a golfer. He has friends that are comedians and golfers. They decided to create a business that incorporates both golf and comedy. Add to those two the element of fundraising and you have their business, Hole Hecklers. J Marc and his friends will come out to your golf outing, charity scramble, even a client appreciation day, and set up shop on a par 3 hole. Unless...

Matthew Laurance is our guest this week on The Approach Shot Podcast. Yes, the same Matthew Laurance you remember from Beverly Hills 90210; from Eddie And The Cruisers”; from guest appearances on “Cheers” and countless other TV guest shots. Plus, he was on SNL of an entire year. Matthew Laurence currently does radio in Lexington, Kentucky and plays lots and lots of golf: bad golf. Yeah, for someon...

Garrett Johnston has covered golf for outlets around the world for more than a decade, including the hometown papers of most players on the PGA Tour. He also has contributed to GolfDigest.com, Golf.com, USOpen.com, China Daily, The Irish Examiner and New Zealand Golf Magazine. Sadly, he has not improved his golf handicap since he left high school, and covering 30 major championship hasn’t helped h...

Chris Mascaro is a member of the Sports/Golf Podcasting brotherhood. And being one of our brethren, we welcome Chris in with open arms. Chris does two podcasts: Next On The Tee and Thursday Night Tailgate. His podcast, Next On The Tee has been around for quite a few years. On it, Chris interviews some of the most iconic names in professional golf (Gary Player is a regular guest). You might expect...

Bob Picozzi is a television and radio announcer who was employed by ESPN and Fox Sports as a play-by-play announcer for college football and basketball. You are familiar with his voice if you ever listened to Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio, he is the man with the updates. His coolest gig though, in our own humble yet never-the-less expert opinions was the Play By Play guy for UConn Women’s Basketba...

Chris Smeal is a PGA Professional in San Diego California. He works primarily with junior golfers, the kids of today that will become the greens fees paying adults of tomorrow. And we all know that is the only way to assure this game will continue to be a constant choice for recreation. Through junior leagues, junior lessons, Chris makes sure Junior Golf is strong on the area of southern Californi...

This week we welcome Gill Capps as our guest on The Approach Shot Podcast. Gil is an Emmy award-winning content creator. He has spent his entire working career in golf media, having founded a regional golf magazine right out of Davidson College and written extensively about the game before jumping into television. Capps has worked on-site at more than 500 tournaments around the world – most spent...

You know how they say you should never go to the grovery store on an empty stomach? It seems when you shop fr food while hungry you tend to buy too much because everything looks delicious. Well, this episode of The Approach Shot is much the same. Do Not Listen On An Empty Stomach! Everything will sound delicious. In fact, everything will sound delicious even if you’re full. Our guest, Jeff Tracy,...

Michael Whalen has shelves full of Emmy Awards. He was a big time producer at HBO for years. And then a good ol’ boy from Birmingham Alabama approached him with an offer to put a brand new cable channel with a brand new concept on the air, Even though many told him people won’t watch golf all day, Michael Whalen ignored them and took the gig and helped to build The Golf Channel! Michael talks with...

This week on The Approach Shot Podcast we are excited to welcome a true golf legend. One of the women who built the reputation of the LPGA, Jane Blalock. Jane still holds the record for consecutive cuts made: 299. That’s over 12 years without missing a cut. She won multiple times. She holds many records on the LPGA. She is currently playing on the Legends Tour and is still winning. Jane is so much...

Gary Reasons has two Super Bowl rings. He won them while playing with the NY Football Giants. He was a linebacker. Gary played next to Lawrence Taylor. LT’ s number has been retired. Gary is still know for “the hit” (check out the video on Youtube). Gary is currently a College Football Analyst for Fox Sports TV. He plays a mean game of golf too. Be advised, you want him on your scramble team. He h...

This week’s guest is the top rated Golf Architect in Latin America, Augustin Piza. He has worked with such golf icons as Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and now has teamed up with Brandel Chamblee to create the most original idea in golf course design since the bunker. He calls it the Butterfly effect with 3 6 hole layouts you can play in any combination for any number of holes from 6 to 24. And that’...

Connie Willis is the weekend host for Coast To Coast AM Radio Show. She also has a few of her own on-line shows all exploring the weirder side of life. Ghosts, Aliens, Big Foot are all topics you will delve deeply into with Connie. And she plays golf. Yeah, the truth is out there and Connie spends most of her free time looking for it. Spend some time with this episode of The Approach Shot Podcast...

Keith Hirshland is an Emmy Award–winning sports television producer with more than three decades of experience producing live and pre-recorded programs that aired on ESPN and ESPN2. Among the first forty people to be hired by the Golf Channel in 1994, Hirshland was in the middle of the action when that network debuted in 1995. He provided his talents for Golf Channel, as its live tournament produc...

Joe Greiner is this week’s guest on The Approach Shot Podcast. Joe is Max Homa’s caddy. Joe is also Max’s boyhood friend. They grew up together, played golf together, and are both pretty good golfers. In fact, Joe holds a course record at the course they both grew up playing. He only rubs it in a few times a year. Joe talks about his own golf prowess, about how easy it is to work together with a g...

On this week’s edition of The Approach Shot Podcast we are so lucky to have the most beautiful, gracious, and talented Heather French Henry, Miss America 2000. Since winning that crown Heather has been tirelessly traveling the country espousing Veteran’s Rights and Benefits, she has coached other pageant contestants, she has designed a line of evening wear, she has helped her husband in his effort...

Old Rockers never die! They start Golf Podcasts. Our guest this week on The Approach Shot Podcast is Frank Basset, host of the podcast, Golf Talk America which can be heard on PGATour.com. Frank is also the founder of the Golf Talk America Network, of which The Approach Shot Podcast is a proud member. While we know John and Neal are old (although the word “former” might sound better) DJ’s, Frank i...

Kiel Christianson has the job everyone wants. No, not the one in Linguistic Psychology with advanced degrees from Michigan State and UMass, Amhurst. No, the one where he travels the world, playing golf, reviewing courses and getting paid! Yeah, that gig. To say we are jealous would be a vast understatement. The dude played a round in Finland at midnight on the Summer Solstice. He played in Ireland...

With best wishes from the beach, and we mean the real beach not the bunker. Here is one of our most popular episodes of all time. Listen for the first time or the 20th, it will be informative, fun, funny, and entertaining conversation with a true Renaissance woman. To enter to win this Abstract vision of The Ocean Course go to: https://kingsumo.com/g/lxqbwm/the-ocean-course-abstract/68zzege ? Supp...

We spend some time with Tony Casillas, former defensive stud for the Dallas Cowboys. The man has two large hands, each with a Superbowl Ring. His hands may be large, but they are soft. Yes, Mr. soft hands is killer on the golf course. He carries a 6 handicap but still won't play with Romo. Listen this week to some fun, funny, entertaining conversation with Tony Casillas of the Dallas Cowboys on Th...

This week on The Approach Shot Podcast we feature conversations with author Jim Flynn. Now don’t get confused (like we did). There are 5 other authors on Amazon named Jim Flynn, so ours calls himself Jim Flynn Six. Jim comes from the world of finance so that’s the setting for what he calls his Financial Thrillers”. J.R. is the main character. J.R. is an avid golfer and a terrific golfer, even play...

This week on The Approach Shot Podcast we spend some quality time talking to PGA Tour Pro, Max Homa. We talked together on the eve of the Travelers Tournament in Connecticut so we didn’t know then that, unfortunately, he would miss the cut this week. After hearing this dude and realizing how funny he is, we will start rooting for him on a regular basis. Support the show Hosted by Simplecast, an Ad...