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Golfers Golf and Travel - Masters Preview Week #3

Ole Uncle Randy and a Host of Sidekicks Season 2026 Episode 26

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0:00 | 44:24

Reflection back on Jack Nicklaus winning in 1986, the ZT Response putter he used the hole by hole accounting of how he won, his mother attending for the first time an event...and he won. This is the most exciting Masters ever played and Rory's last year and Tiger in 2019 come close...but every one knew this was the day they would always remember. 

www.liveecostyle.com; Facebook "All the Good Things in Life"; 

SPEAKER_05

As golfers golf and travel takes the air, it's Master's Week, and we welcome you.

SPEAKER_02

Good morning. As sure as the sun rises in the east, the dogwoods bloom and Magnolia Lane awaits. We welcome you to Augusta National for the 2026 Masters. We walk, not run to our chosen spots, entering early and leaving late, enjoying a pimento sandwich, then shopping for many at home. Professionals are gathering on the practice range as we all collectively greet the first major of the year. The world takes a breath for a moment, listening to the echoes of the past, and all senses tuned with anticipation of history, ready to unfold. The beauty of Bobby Jones' creation calls this moment in time to serve us all. With the premier event unfolding before us, sensibilities, and world of golf stands still. This is more than a tournament. It's tradition, history, and moments that live forever. From the echoes of Arnold Palmer and the greatness of Jack Nicholas, to the unforgettable rise and return of Tiger Woods. And last year's tearful joy of roaring, completing the grand slam. We join each other in faith this year. We'll be better than the history that has been written for the many decades before. We come as sportmen, fans, and the golfing family to embrace these few days in April once again. Augusta calls us back each year as the sun warms tall pines. Lush fairways and azaleas come to life, and the golf world awakens with the first drive on Thursday's morning of Master's Week. Today we take you inside the game, the stories, and all the good things in life that surround this is your masters. And it starts today.

SPEAKER_05

But I forgot to uh bring in my good friend out in Pennsylvania, James Algio. How you doing, James?

SPEAKER_04

I'm good. What are you so excited to talk about y'all forgot about?

SPEAKER_05

Well, you know, it was uh Radio Excellence right up until uh I began. You know, uh I can get through the uh the intros, but you know, after that it's just downhill. I'm sorry. So we'll do the best we can. But it is uh Master's Week, and uh, you know, we had a couple things that uh people called and asked me about, which I thought I would go over uh because I do have friends down at the um down at Augusta, and there are places to eat down there that uh actually some of the players do go to. Uh one of the places is called T-Bones. Um typical restaurant, uh steaks, ribs, chicken, seafood, sandwiches, burgers, side orders, beer, wine, and cocktails. Who would think guys would get done golfing and go to a place like that? You know, that's crazy. And the prices are uh, you know, they're not too bad. Uh if I was uh down there, I certainly I would buy you a steak. Uh six ounces or an would you like a six or an eight ounce?

SPEAKER_03

Uh I can I can do an eight rule.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, the eight ounce I'd have to uh you know unload change in both pockets. Uh it's only$34.99. Uh the T-bone, the 18 ouncer, is only now why would you not 18 ounce T-bone is$31.99 or a center cut? Oh, that's a fillet,$34.99. Which would you go for? Depth or quality?

SPEAKER_03

Quality.

SPEAKER_05

So you're an eight-ounce fillet guy.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's sounds about right.

SPEAKER_05

So do you actually uh flame a match underneath it, or are you a medium or uh a well-done guy that gets kicked out of the restaurant?

SPEAKER_03

Well well done, Rosen. Uh you can't do that. It's gotta be medium.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. We were down at Disney long ago in a faraway place and my son who loved to eat uh steak. Now, again, he might have been eight, nine, ten years old. Have you ever been to Epcot, town at Disney?

unknown

I have.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, so they bring in the you know the the real deal food from around the world.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_05

And we're eating in the French restaurant, and uh my son orders a steak, which is okay. We're, you know, yeah, that's all right. But and he gets served that steak. He asked the Matre D, uh, can you give me some ketchup?

SPEAKER_03

Did they throw you out?

SPEAKER_05

Uh only my son. They went and tied him to the steak outside. And his uh his picture is still I was there last year, his picture is still posted on the outside. Never served this young man. So yeah, it's sort of like putting ketchup. Well, you know, in Chicago you don't eat ketchup on hot dogs.

SPEAKER_03

Nobody puts ketchup on hot dogs. No, that's that's awful. You got a mustard on a hot dog.

SPEAKER_05

Sacrilege, yeah, absolutely. So anyway, uh this is the masters taking a look at what's going on in uh, you know, James, what's really cool about this is that um having a person, uh of course I've been thoroughly embedded in golf all my life, but uh back in 1986, were did Jack Nicholas's winning his six-green jacket hit your radar at all, or were you just not into golf, didn't care?

SPEAKER_03

No, at the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Well, those who are into golf uh remember where they were on that day in the same way that people remember where they were when the president was assassinated back in 63. That was such an epic day in golf because Jack had not been playing well, he really hadn't been playing. The Masters was upon us, it was a beautiful day. He was sort of in contention, you know, on the leaderboard, but not really. And then on the back nine, uh the Golden Bear came to life, and it was a remarkable Sunday, and I was sitting in Sycamore, Illinois, in a brown recliner, uh up until the point um uh on the uh on the back nine is when it really started. Uh he bogeied a hole, actually, and then you thought, oh no, I mean, maybe yeah, this is just a dream. His son Jack Nicholas II was his caddy.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. And uh his mother was in attendance for the first time ever at Augusta National.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. She witnessed his final major win.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Yeah. He didn't just win a master's, he shared it with his family in real time, basically. You know? Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

He um that Sunday became very iconic for a lot of different things. I did post up on our our Facebook page all of his uh playing days, he had a um uh wizard, I think it was called a Wizard 600 Ray Cook putter that he won most of his um tournaments with. I actually had one of those in my iconic collection up until the year my son got sick and people broke in my house and stole all my collection, but I did have one of those. But uh in 86 he actually I'm not gonna go into the story until I really researched it. I've had two different ways that this happened. The one that I remember was is that he went into a shop and he saw this putter. It was so different. It was like an over you know what a ping putter looks like?

unknown

Sure.

SPEAKER_05

Okay. Well, this looked like an over it looked like uh ping putter on steroids. Uh 50 to 70 percent bigger. Uh it was called the Response Z T is made by McGregor. And McGregor was actually Jack's company uh back at the time. And uh he only uses putter for this tournament one time. Um yeah. Um because he won. Of course, when people win, they gotta go buy one, of course. Hence I gotta go buy one, you know. So I ventured up to our local golf store called the Golf Shack, and they had one in stock, and I bought two of them at the time, sold one later, and actually have one I put up pictures today on our golfers, golf and travel Facebook page, uh, from my office of the uh of the putter I bought back in 1986 and uh and the putter he used. But um he uh he was really um you know not really uh he just wasn't really in this tournament on this Sunday. I mean he was you know, he was Jack Nicholas, greatest player ever, you know, never count him out, but they were into you know getting into course design. He really hadn't done much of anything. So uh what he did was he shot 30 on the back nine and uh with the for a final final round sixty-five, he was the oldest winner uh ever at the age of forty six of a major. Yeah. And everybody the the world stood still. And I'm just gonna give a recap of the back nine that he went into. The famous things that were said. Number ten, he birdied. Announcer says, he's coming. Number eleven, he birdies. The crowd starts to build. Number twelve, par three. He bogeys it. That was the killer. That was the killer. He was making a rush, and that was a killer.

SPEAKER_03

Right there, you think it's over.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. So he falls three back, thirteen and fourteen, he just got pars, and that that's what was crazy because thirteen is a birdie, if not an eagle eagleable hole. Comes to fifteen, it's a par five. And uh puts a d drive in the middle of the fairway on the right side, he's got about a two hundred and thirty, forty yard, and this is back from this from my recollection. And his son is on on uh on the bag, and he has to back off his shot because Tom Kite and Sevi Balisteros both eagled number nine to move way into contention and possibly in front of him. And the crowd just went crazy making tons of noise. And uh he says and and it's a three or four iron shot. And he says to his son, Jackie says, you know, a three would really work here. And his son looks at him and goes, Well, I think it's a four, and and Jack goes, No, an eagle would work here. You know, we can make a little noise. Sort of paraphrasing different things that were happening through this tournament. Now it's power five, sits out there, hits one of his beautiful shots, twelve feet of the hole, and gets up there and sinks it for an eagle himself. Wow. After he had heard two eagles had been sunk. Crowd erupts. Supposedly, the noise of that crowd erupting on that shot was heard by the first for the first time back at the at the club itself.

SPEAKER_03

Really?

SPEAKER_05

You're desperately far away from the clubhouse.

unknown

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_05

And they said, What is going on? And that was Nicholas hitting that eagle.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_05

And you know, now the game is really on. They go to 16, and I remember this as if it was yesterday. He hits a shot on the par three, and the pin is in the lower left quadrant where it always is. And the thing which but people don't know is uh Jack is virtually he's nearsighted, he can't see the ball anyway.

SPEAKER_03

Oh really?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. He can't see it, Land. He just knew it was a good shot. So he reaches down, picks up his tea, and the ball lands about two feet from the hole. Lips the hole, ends up about two feet just below and to the right. Sure, Birdie, and sure enough. And uh so now he's had uh Birdie Birdie Bogey Parr Eagle Birdie coming to 17. And this is the one of the most famous calls in golf. Uh Jack has an 18-foot putt for birdie on 17. Takes the lead, and the announcer says, Yes, sir, as he raises his hands. It's a perfectly timed yes, sir. It's been seen millions of times, and uh takes the lead with that birdie on 17. Now all he has to do is get the 18th part of the hole and turn in his card, and of course he's coming up the 18th fairway, tears coming down his face, and arm around his son's neck, and uh there's still people behind him that could win. Tom Kike, Greg Norman, and Sevy. And Sevy uh they all had trouble. They all just took themselves out of it between then and now. Baliseros hits it in the water in 15, hit it on the left side, can remember seeing that just like it was yesterday. Norman collapses late, and of course, Greg Norman, you know, had all these years of failure and and uh coming close, you know, having balls chipping you know in on him many times at during majors to lose. And Tom Kite misses a putt to miss a playoff. And Jack ends up being the winner. And tears are flowing everywhere around the world, around the country, including myself, sitting alone on my brown, now tear-filled eyes and looking and going, I can't believe what I just witnessed. Still known. I mean, if you haven't ever seen it, go to YouTube and YouTube the whole thing. Watch it. You still today will not believe what you're seeing because you already know the outcome.

SPEAKER_04

Right.

SPEAKER_05

You know? Yeah, and use that goofy putter he only used once.

SPEAKER_03

So if he only if I mean if he used it for that tournament one, why didn't he ever use it again?

SPEAKER_05

It was so far afield from the the the the Ray Cook putter that he was using that you know he he used it, he just honestly I think what he did was, and this is the story I recall, he walked into a shop where this guy said, you know, if this miss might have a different feeling, it's telling me it didn't putt well or whatever. And he picks it up in the back of the shop and he really didn't use it that much or that long before he took it to the tournament, you know. You're 46 years old, you know. Are you gonna get magic in a putter? I mean, how many putts can you drop? Well, apparently he can drop a lot of them, you know. And he has Jack Nicholas, and you have to remember to give you some reflection, you know. Um in my again, going back and you know, cutting our teeth, my age in 77, started watching The Masters in 58 when Arnie came on the scene, and then Arnie and Jack, you know, Jack comes on the scene, I think he wins uh the amateur in in 1960, and uh, and then he uh turns pro. His first check is$33.33 that he gets out in uh I think it was the LA Open. And uh anyway, uh he he was everybody knew he was going to be a great golfer. And he just did things that just were I mean, he's just he still carries today a money clip that he won that when they had the PGA back then, they had the long drive contest. And uh he won it a long time ago in a faraway place, and still today his money clip is that uh was the award for winning the long drive contest with the distance engraved in it. I think it's 333 yards. Wow. And that's with persimmon equipment and balls that aren't supposed to fly that far.

SPEAKER_04

Right, right.

SPEAKER_05

So so Jack then you know hits the scene way back in the era of when Arnie's you know winning everybody's hearts by being the swashbuckling kind of guy, full of charisma, smile, guy that looks in the eye, growing the game of golf. He's got um Arnie's army following him, and then along comes this kid from Ohio that was supposed to beat everybody, and and he certainly he and uh Arnie uh had fist fight after fist fight playing golf. But Arnie took him under his arm and uh they became friends and he guided him and um obviously grew to be great friends, but very competitive, and they put on and took off the green jacket year after year after year, because they sort of were swapping it back and forth for a time. So it was really a cool time in golf to watch these classic battles. And uh for me, and I was watching as I was growing up in my game studying them. I was like, man, all you really all you really have to do is hit the ball far down the fairway and then get it on the green and two putt. And if you do just that, you shoot even par, and you know, I can do this, I'm doing it now. Maybe that's the world for me. So I studied you couldn't really study Arnie. Arnie Swashbuckler and Jack was just this classic swing, and um there was uh some stories that I'm still trying to quantify way back when. Of course, back then they weren't playing for a lot of money. I mean, if you win, you might win forty two hundred bucks, you might win eight thousand, you might win eleven thousand. Wow. So Jack and his wife were on the road um together, and uh there was a story I heard and and I I don't think I made it up, but I think that Barbara, his wife, carried along a hot plate and a skillet to make him his eggs and toast in the morning, right in the in the hotel they were staying at. And would always send him on his way, you know, to conserve money or you know, eat out back then. And uh you know, aga again, just life was different. And um when I'd go play in um qualifiers in in Chicago back in the seventies, early eighties, you would see a lot of the guys that were trying to qualify. Uh, you know, from the Chicagoland area. And you could be, you know, put in the group with them. Um not that that really made any difference to me. It was just you know, it was fun to be playing with guys that were really, really good. And um it was a lot of a lot of good fun. But yeah, that was uh Jack it's Jack Nicholas's fortieth I can't believe it's fortieth anniversary of that the greatest day the greatest masters. Now there's been a ton of other masters that were spectacular. Of course Rory's last year would rank right up there in a one-two with Jack. I mean having Rory come back and win the Grand Slam. Um again, what a fine young man. And the way he won it. I mean come on. I covered that yesterday. But uh so as as you're playing golf, uh when you go out, do you ever look at a at a golf swing and say, golly I wish I could do that? What parts of the golf swing do you focus on?

SPEAKER_03

If you do you ever go to a driving range and try to copy anybody copy anybody just trying to see what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Yeah it um I I have a book. I just found it I've had it for years and uh just so you know James it breaks down the 362 different parts of the golf swing and it compares it Bobby Jones to Jack Nicholas the 362 part. So if you want to have come to my 362 part and learn how to learn the golf swing a golf we can complete that in about the year 2182.

SPEAKER_03

So that's where people get paralysis by analysis if you don't know what that's is that a serious real number or are you making it No I'm not making that up that's a serious real number.

SPEAKER_05

Um that gets into I I wouldn't make up anything like that. That it actually gets into okay the left ankle turns this way with Bobby Jones, the left ankle did this with Jack Nicholas, the left knee did this with Bobby Jones, the left knee did this with Jack Nicholas, you know and if you want to focus on your knees you want to focus on your hips, you want to focus on your back you want to focus on your shoulders, hands, wrist, eyes head up, head down, eyes forward, head tilted to the right, you know, loose swing, stiff swing, one arm, zero breaking your left arm. Would you like me to continue?

SPEAKER_03

No. I wouldn't either I'm already on the low.

SPEAKER_05

Just I have a really good friend from my hometown who uh is suffering uh trying to get his swing back and he he texts me every morning and I told him at Christmas time I helped him write a book at Christmas I said he says I'll you know I'll I'll buy you steak dinner for help me with the book but you know can you help me with my golf game? I said yeah but I'm gonna make you do one thing. Don't do anything because I heard from the golf pro in Freeport that you're out there every day and of course this guy is very athletically minded. He was a high school football coach and uh I said now don't do anything until the you know I can get up there and we can begin from the beginning. Okay. So now once a week I know I'm getting YouTube videos from him. Well I'm gonna try this I'm gonna try that I'm gonna try this going that's not what I said. I said don't do anything you know because you're just gonna confuse yourself some more. So I did I did do a couple things. Hold on just a minute I have to um grab a uh oh I wanna I wanted to I I wanted to grab my my ticket to the masters because there were some items on the back I had promised that uh when you read on the back of it the rules for getting a ticket. And uh yes and it's two pages single line some of it in red um and again this is for media but before I get to that I did get some more uh prices for uh what things are gonna cost when you go to the masters pimato cheese sandwiches a buck and a half egg salad a buck and a half chicken and ham sandwiches save some money those are gonna be three bucks soft drinks are two dollars beer is five dollars and muffins whatever that is is two dollars and fifty cents okay the cheapest food in major sports while everything else is expensive whatever that means um you'll spend ten thousand to get there and you'll eat like it's 1975 not all bad everybody loves it um anyway uh I wanted to um this rather short show but I I did get uh my credentials and I the ticket agreement that was uh laid out um as you get this ticket. Um okay uh and these are not tickets this is a license okay the ticket is I'm reading the ticket is a limited license which may be revoked by Augusta National at any time with or without cause at the discretion of Augusta National. All hospitality and tournament policies signs verbal instructions of tournament officials traditional customs of etiquette proper attire decorum behavior must be observed at all times protests of all types are forbidden hospitality tournament policies are available at the masters.com and if you do not understand these do not attend they didn't put that in there that was mine tickets are valid only on a date indicated on the face of the ticket they reserve the right to suspend the tournament or close the golf course hospitality because of adverse weather in such situation no refunds rain checks exchanges or replacements will be made now remember we found yesterday you could pay$8,000 for a one-day ticket on Wednesday save that paper not worth a thing to have fun with that this agreement does not entitle ticket purchaser to receive future tickets and no rights of renewal expectations of property rights exist or implied. Things that are you cannot electronic devices including phones, laptops tablets, beepers, drones are strictly prohibited at all times on the grounds in any association associated hospitality venues any device being used to record and or transmit voice video or data is strictly prohibited. Cameras are strictly prohibited during tournament days no resale this is the interesting part custom national is the only authorized seller of tournament tickets. Tickets may not be offered for sale bartered or sold or rented through to third party resellers or marketplaces including but not limited to ticket brokers, travel agencies, hospitality entities or scalpers So James your idea of driving to the gate yesterday and scalping a ticket not happening. No the sale resale or other transfer of tickets for a value in excess of the face value is prohibited and is also restricted by Georgia law and they quote the law tickets may not be used for advertising promotional purposes such as prizes, raffles, auctions tickets may not be sold, transferred rented or packaged in conjunction with any other thing of value including hospitality services, home rental or other products or services a ticket obtained in contravention to these provisions will be seized, forfeited and will not be honored. So I'm just sort of curious with all that verbiage in there how they resell those tickets you know pretty much scenario This is your ticket you will use your ticket you will be quiet while using your ticket you will enjoy your ticket you will leave and you will be forgotten. If not we will discard you along with your ticket so a funny little story I was reminded of a few years ago many years ago they announced that practice rounds at Gusta National were going to be held on Monday and Tuesday. Um everybody knew that you know it's a good day to show up. Now back I would say even ten years ago you could get a practice round tricket for maybe a hundred and fifty bucks but before that maybe it was less you know people didn't understand so on one of the practice round days on the Monday a guy drives up in his car, pulls his clubs out with his rickety old aluminum two-wheel cart and his old leather bag and clubs that probably his grandfather handed down walks up to the gate and says well I'm here for my practice round He thought anybody could show up They actually have a picture of him standing there. I just saw it I'm here for my practice round no you're not no you're not here for that be so embarrassing there is a whole nother page that goes with this ticket I'm not gonna read the paragraphs but it talks about uh release and indemnification holders likeness publication inspection dispute resolution so apparently I must have to get a lawyer to go to this thing then in red at the bottom it says failure to observe any of the terms of this agreement or any tournament or hospitality policies may result result in forfeiture of limited license and the holder's removal or exclusion from the tournament and the original ticket purchaser's permanent loss of tickets without refund man I'll tell you what you go there and behave you know there is no uh no opportunity but yeah Jack Nicholas I mean incredible uh a couple Jack Nicholas stories just to wrap up um he determined one year that he was overweight and the way that Jack gets determined he uh went and told his wife they lived in Ohio at the time going to Florida and he was going down there to practice get in shape and he went down there and uh he said uh make a date with our tailor to come meet us down in Florida uh because I gotta get ready for you know planning the Masters. So in that period of time uh he lost I an incredible I mean he went from being fat jack to being Jack skinny Jack. Wow and uh and again he you know he's just absolutely determined to uh to uh to get that done but anyway it's master's week it is Friday and the anticipation is completely unreal tomorrow. Today is uh the only thing that's going on down there guys are down there practicing um potentially away from uh from the tournament central uh the girls are playing at Augusta National. Even if you didn't make the cut the girls all the girls get to play today and then 30 T off tomorrow. Sunday one of my favorite dates is with uh the kids the chip and get up early in the morning if you want to see a a really fun event. Um it's uh it's it's you know it's just kids that are qualified to get there and now they're at Augusta National and they got they got they got two balls to hit as a drive two to hit as a chip and two to hit as a butt and they and they're all broke down by age. And one of those kids Akshay Batiya was had won it years ago and he now is a professional golfer and actually won the API this year. So it is cool. There are some really really really good stories that come out of it. But it's such a cool day uh my son Adam um not to get into the weeds on this but Mutual of Omaha sponsored through the golf channel years ago and this would be back in um well I would say oh three oh four national long drive contest and my son Adam actually won the Midwest region on that back in the day. And uh yeah it was a lot of fun. In fact he hit it he was hitting the ball so far he hit it out of the r the range of the range they were playing on it was like yeah the kid could hit the ball those things are fun um and great memories. So James what are you doing for the weekend? Anything exciting? Well it's Easter weekend so Grampy gets to cook you know looking forward to that and uh gotta make macaroni and cheese and making banana bread this afternoon for everybody that they can take home. You know people in the Midwest are known you know after you get in going to a party you know they always say hey you gotta take gotta take some you know take some leftovers here they are you can't leave so and that's always been our tradition no matter when getting together as a family and um no matter who's going but my son Ryan is um cooking a ham and we'll get together for Easter with all the grandkids and you know gather around. I just love seeing my family and love cooking for them. And it's a very important weekend in our religious belief system. So we passed over an Easter uh Good Friday today is uh is one of those days that I I just am when we're done here gonna be going to church and and join that service. So anyway James thank you very much and we're gonna end up with this music talking about what happened because a lot of people love this song what happened if Arnie and Bobby Jones look down from heaven every year to watch the Masters. James you have a great weekend we'll talk to you soon so upcoming is a song I put together uh using AI but apparently people enjoy listening to it concept is is that as our golfing friends pass on as we get older is that do they look down and enjoy watching and here's a concept Arney and Bobby looking down from heaven when April finds the Georgia sky and the sailors start to rise there's a place beyond cloud where the game is played like you always did jokes like join that heavily with those two of the round Tuesday comes for the champions delete closely my jacket with the first two they don't leave they just go back to play another nine till Augusta calls them again well everybody hope you enjoyed our golfers golf and travel uh masters edition leading up to masters next week want to thank James LGO for joining us and uh upcoming in our next adventure we've got uh young Joanne's gonna be joining us coming into the crowd featuring all her travels and outlooks on life which we're really looking forward to in a way that uh is really really meaningful for us and uh happy to have her join us on the trails. Anyways Olika Randy for the Discovery channel LLC productions of travel James Algio Onlookarandy next time

SPEAKER_00

But it'll buy you the world if you try.

SPEAKER_05

Always remember, leave a better footprint. Because that's just what my grandfather said.

SPEAKER_00

Leave a better footprint. Don't leave a better mark.

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