Bobby Steiner is the Director of Golf Instruction at Horseshoe Bay Resort. He is a multifaceted golf professional, fitness instructor, motivational speaker, and author of four books. Renowned for his Bobby Steiner Golf YouTube channel, Bobby also manages channels dedicated to fitness, karate, and success paradigms. A proponent of the mental aspect of golf, he's passionate about helping his students find more enjoyment in the game.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
[1:55] Bobby Steiner shares his multifaceted approach to improving golf enthusiasts' experiences
[4:21] Assisting individuals in discovering and setting achievable standards in golf
[8:57] How to maintain persistence and a positive attitude despite challenges
[14:10] Techniques in creating an exceptional customer journey
[19:26] How putting the customer first can lead to legions of loyal followers
[23:07] How a company's corporate culture influences customer treatment
[30:20] Why becoming accustomed to pressure is essential
[37:10] Insights into the impact of leadership style on golf instruction and beyond.
In this episode…
Have you ever wondered what makes exceptional athletes tick? What mindset separates the driven golf enthusiast who loses their nerve from those who keep their cool regardless of setbacks? Can the secrets of navigating a golf course also help us in life?
Bobby Steiner, a seasoned golf instructor, delves deep into these questions. His philosophy is as much about shaping a person's mental game as it is about their swing. He emphasizes the importance of self-competition and catering to each student's unique journey, recognizing the significance of patience and perseverance. His approach is not just about how to hit a golf ball — it's about cultivating the right attitude towards challenges, both on the fairway and beyond.
In this episode of The Customer Wins with Richard Walker featuring Bobby Steiner, they discuss the parallels between mastering golf and mastering life, Bobby shares key insights for personal and professional growth through golf analogies. They also touch on his dedication to his students' that exemplifies outstanding customer service and how businesses can emulate to build a loyal customer base.
Resources Mentioned in this episode
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Episode Transcript:
Intro 0:02
Welcome to The Customer Wins podcast where business leaders discuss their secrets and techniques for helping their customers succeed and in turn grow their business.
Richard Walker 0:16
Hi, I'm Rich Walker, the host of The Customer Wins, where I talk to business leaders about how they help their customers win, and how their focus on customer experience leads to growth. So my past guests have included Jason Barber of Uptick Partners, Adam Isrow of Wolff Urban Management, and Shabana Nathoo of Navigo Wealth Management. Today, I'm excited to talk with Bobby Steiner of Bobby Steiner Golf Academy. And today's episode is brought to you by Quik! the leader in enterprise forms processing. When your business relies upon processing forms, don't waste your team's valuable time manually reviewing the forms, instead, get Quik! using our Form Xtract API simply submit your completed forms and get back clean, context-rich data that is 99.9% accurate. Visit quikforms.com to get started.
Okay, before I introduce today's guest, I have to give a huge thank you to Ken Schmitz of SalesFish for introducing me to Bobby. Go check out Ken's website at salesfish.com as they specialize in driving results via b2b sales and marketing. Also, I want to dedicate this episode to two friends who are the best golfers I know Bill Gascoyne, the trickshot master and Tom Brogdon, who helped my team win the longest putt and closest to the pin contest. And honestly, that's the extent of my golfing. All right. Bobby Steiner is a golf professional fitness instructor, motivational speaker and the author of four books. He serves as the Director of golf instruction at Horseshoe Bay Resort near Austin, Texas. Bobby has four YouTube channels, which are Bobby Steiner Golf, Bobby Steiner Fitness, Bobby Steiner Karate and Bobby Steiner Absolutes To Success. Bobby, welcome to The Customer Wins.
Bobby Steiner 1:55
Oh, Rich, thank you so much. I'm glad to be here. When Ken Schmitz first told me about this opportunity, I said, I will jump at it, because I saw some of your earlier work and some other podcasts that you've produced, and it's great. So I'm glad to be here with you.
Richard Walker 2:10
Oh, my pleasure. I we're gonna have fun today. So for those of you who haven't heard this podcast before, I talk with business leaders about what they're doing to help their customers win, how they build and deliver a great customer experience and the challenges to growing their own company. I also love to bring other people's perspective who have completely different views and maybe nontraditional business sense. So Bobby, let's understand what you're doing a little better. How do you help people?
Bobby Steiner 2:33
Well, so I've got a couple different channels, I suppose, through which I work with people. And then I bring service to my customers. And one is I'm the director of instruction at Horseshoe Bay Resort, I have the label Golf Academy. And my job is a golf professional put simply, is to allow golfers of every level to derive more enjoyment from the game. And that if you say it real quickly, if that's not to involve a golf is already normal. What more can you do? Well, golf is intimidating. And it's a game that a lot of people simply don't go, don't continue to play because the introduction they got to the game wasn't something that inspired them to keep going. It was more nerve-wracking than anything else, we have that they were placed on this, this crowded golf course on a busy Saturday morning, and they couldn't even hit the golf ball.
And I too, wouldn't want to play if that were my first experience. So my job is to try to bring people in and make it less intimidating, make it something that they enjoy and can't get enough of. And Golf was the same for me and for you and for anyone else. And that is if you can go out and just play up to the standard that you found to be your own up to this point, or perhaps a little better than you walk away satisfied. And so that's my job is to help people play better, but also feel better about their chances in the game itself.
Richard Walker 3:51
Man, I love that you said two really important things to me derive more enjoyment from what they're doing. And when I think about this in business, when we offer products and services, that's essentially what we want. We want our customers to derive more value from the things they're trying to accomplish by using our capabilities. Right? Absolutely. I love that you're putting it that way. And the second thing I heard was living up to your standard and pushing that standard a little bit more. How does somebody even figure out what that standard is that they're new to the game?
Bobby Steiner 4:21
Well, it's a great question. All of us want the same thing. And again, it's myself, you Tiger, everybody. All we want is a game that's good for us good relative to how we normally play. Nobody in the world enjoys limping off the golf course after having shot 10 to 15 shots higher than they typically do. And so there's got to be some in order for you to continue to come back. That's why is, Golf is a little bit tougher as there's been a few more years go through your belt because it's difficult to play to that standard. That's why they have different sets of tees and so that you just move up a little bit and continue to do as well as you can and also, it's just like Michael Jordan, when he came back after a little bit of retirement, he learned that falling back jump shot that he didn't rely on so much.
And he continued to dominate with that he had to change the way he did things a little bit once realize that he left three years ago without inflating the basketball. And now he but he still wants to play, he's still competitive, he has to find another way. And so in golf, though, we might hit the ball, might not hit it, like we used to, as you know, back when we had were more supple around the waistline, as you get older, you say, okay, well, that's fine, I'm restricted to what I can do. But it doesn't require raw strength anymore to be good out of the sand, or to be a good putter or chipper a pitcher then, so as that goes, I've got to sometimes change the way people measure their standard, or I should say, try to achieve their standard because you can be done a whole lot of different ways.
Richard Walker 5:54
Throughout my life, I've focused on personal development. And one of the things I realized is, I need to live up to my own standard, because nobody's going to do it for me. Hmm, I love what you're talking about here. And I was fortunate as I took lessons, once for golfer, this is 20 years ago. And I was fortunate because I was trying to hit people who had a lot of strength. And they could just muscle through the ball and hit it really, really far. And I was like, man, I want to be able to do that. And I got to a coach who was my size, my wiry frame, and he could hit further than any of the muscle bound guys. And he showed me it's not about that strength, it's about the technique and the flow and where your mind is at. So how do you approach different people and help them adjust to what's natural? Or what's better for them and help them see it.
Bobby Steiner 6:40
What you say is very real. First of all, you know, strike, and I'll get to your question, but I want to refer it first to something else, you said their strength doesn't count for something in golf, something, it'd be foolish to say that it doesn't, because you know, the person who get the ball, the hardest, can hit it the farthest. But it's not the kind of strength you would use to bend a crowbar over your knee. It's the kind of strength you'd use to crack a whip. And so it's a mixture of that being able to move quickly with soft, relaxed muscles. And so relaxation and the ability to just put that thing in your hand and let it swing, instead of trying to, hit it with every muscle in your body, using only the muscles required to do it really, is what determines who can hit the forest.
But in trying to get into the answer your question more specifically, you know, a person, just the patience and perseverance means the very most, because day to day, if you're relying every single day being better than the next, then you are going to be doomed to disappointment, because that's just not the way that the game is. You've got to say, you know what, I'm going to look at myself not on the day by day scale, but am I better? Are these 10 rounds that I played these past month, might I improve on them, the 10 rounds I have a year from now, will my the average result continue to be better, and not go down day by day because boy, if you judge yourself based only on the outcome of the next shot, then you can't play this game and I'm gonna tell you, the people I've found who I have the most belief in that they'll stick it out and play the games are the ones who don't beat themselves up. And they need help with that they've got to be reminded has to be made.
That's okay, expect 20 more of those bad shots like that. But what counts most is that you can bounce back, and those who really do celebrate the good shots, they don't limit the bad shots, and they celebrate the good shots. And then I say, you know what, it doesn't matter whether you have any physical skill or not, you have the mental approach that's just right for the game. And so that's, that's the big thing, encouraging people to stay on the positive. And that's not always easy, because some people particularly those who have been successful in other in other sports, and other endeavors and picked up to them quickly, golf just not that kind of game. It's easy, you know, for some if they start young, but it's certainly not easy to start as an adult and play at the same level that you did under sports.
Richard Walker 8:57
Yeah, and I think a lot of what you see with teaching is about technique. It's about form, it's about the tactics, etc. But a lot of what cements the training is up here. And it's your approach. It's your attitude. It's your belief set. So I liked the way you're going with this and I want to ask a kind of a different question because I was thinking about people who are hyper-competitive, the guy who slams his racket on the ground because he hit the ball wrong and tennis that kind of really hyper versus people who are self-competitive versus non-competitive. What do you find is a successful attitude when you're approaching this game.
Bobby Steiner 9:34
I found the person who can get the most out of their ability box on the tee and their mental approach is something like this. So they're playing against whomever and maybe this whomever is a formidable opponent, they realize it, but that mental chatter that must go on goes something like this, you know, so and so. You're pretty good player. And I'd have to play pretty well to beat you. But I think if I stick in there this stay in there and really try my hardest, I might just do that. That's the mental attitude that I see in the best player you keep because you can't go beyond that you can't say, well, I'm going to beat him no matter what. Because, you know, there's a winner and a loser all the time. And the way the golf handicap system works is you're playing on pretty level ground most of the time and so it's beyond any reasonable expectation that you'll always win.
So you've got to just keep it up and say, You know what, I've lost the first three holes here. But I bet if I hang in there, I bet if I just hang in there, something good can come my way we're not done. It's easy to believe. And this is what really holds a lot of people back that every time I miss a short putt, the whole field just passed me by or when I hear a roar from a distant part of the golf course that it was like a blow from a close pursuer that wasn't hit that resonated with somebody could have been that some out of the running player happened to chip in while some other players waiting gallery happened to watch it, but your imagination runs right? If you could just say, you know what, I'll stay within myself and control what I can control and not be so worried about things going on around me. And we'll count the cards whenever these eight dinos are up, see just who did the best. I can't tell you the number of times when people there's a expression used in golf and he bagged, meaning he quit mentally quit maybe didn't walk off the course.
But he quit trying on number 13 Because it was windy and the blue, blue is facing him or a ball blue out of bounds or something. And he's just had enough and he can't keep trying. And then he gets then that same person gets in realizes that I just played average on those final six holes, I would have won the whole darn thing. But instead I gave up and that is so common. And there was an old quote by Harry Vartan, who back around 19. Between 1898 and 90. Well, one about six British opens best player the world just before Bobby Jones. And he said, what's the best advice you have? Someone asked him. He said, just keep hitting your ball. Sometimes you never know. It could be good enough. Just keep hitting the ball. And I think that's probably good life advice?
Richard Walker 12:01
I think it is I lived by a thought since I started into my career out of college that I'm not competing with my peers. I'm competing with myself. And I thought about how would my bosses judge my work, if given my effort, and what I realized is if I always give my best effort, if I try my best, how can they fault me for not being good enough? They can train me they can tell me I'm in the wrong role. But they can't say I didn't try hard enough. So I think about that what you're saying if you're, so one of the friends I mentioned Tom Brogdon, I went golfing with him at his course out in Las Vegas super-hot.
I was destroyed by the heat after nine holes, but nine holes. I lost six balls out in the desert. And he was so gracious and so nice. He's like, here's another ball. Let's just keep going. And he was the one encouraging me. He's the one who gave me that. Let's just keep playing through. And then of course, at the end, I'm like, Oh, how many balls? Have you lost? He's like, I don't lose balls. I played with one ball for the whole year.
Bobby Steiner 13:04
Yeah, well, there's a there's a real lesson in there. You know, and just if you just keep going, oftentimes if you spend time lamenting, you know what everything is, it's kind of like life in general, when all of a sudden you've got this car that goes out on you, and you're in something, some expense that you didn't anticipate, and all sudden you got to spend $3,000, expect to have to spend, it's easy to get down at no cost. Look at this. But if you average it out over the year, hey, you had just as many times where something came out of nowhere that you didn't see coming that turned out to be fortuitous.
And so my thing is to is not given too much of the highs and just say you know what it's like this is a we want to maybe even out the flow of our chart a little bit. But generally speaking, there's no reason to spend too much time worrying about that which it's already happened and therefore can't be controlled.
Richard Walker 13:55
Yeah, no, I love that. I love that. You can't change the facts, you can only change the attitude you have towards them.
Bobby Steiner 14:01
Absolutely. It's a well set, particularly politically, once the as you say, once they've happened, that's it. Yeah, do the best you can.
Richard Walker 14:10
So Bobby, let's switch gears a little bit. Because in your role of helping people, they come to your resort, they get instruction, they work with you maybe one time maybe they're there for just one weekend, out of their entire life. Or maybe you have people that are there every weekend working with you. What is the customer journey like? I mean, what experience are you delivering to them? And how are you helping ensure they actually get the most enjoyment from the game while they're experiencing their time at your resort with you?
Bobby Steiner 14:36
Well, so golf is one of these things and if you've ever been around an avid golfer, you already know this and that is a golfers own game means more to them than anybody else's game means to them. Most people don't want they, so what the service that I provide is I am their teammate for the time that they're there. I'm that one person in the entire world who's not talking about his own game. But he's rather focused on theirs. And that means so much to the person asking second, third and fourth-level questions. And each question that's asked, is not just part of a routine of five questions that I asked. But rather it's in responses questions that develop based on the answer to the last question. So the path we take is customized based on what I'm hearing and what they're feeling.
And let's go address what you told me. And people know whether they're being listened to or not, there's no denying it, and they don't care how many tournaments I've won, they know that mean, it means nothing to them what they need to know. And what my mission is to accomplish is that I am there to do whatever work I've done on my game is back here we are on your game today. And so that's what I tell my youngest structures, guys, you know, if nothing else, these people got to leave that hour, knowing that that person in front of them was all about them for that entire hour, because that that is what they feel. And that is what they'll remember.
Richard Walker 15:58
Man, there's so much that translates to everything we're doing in business. You know, there's a book that I love. I think it's Donald Miller, The Story of Brand, Building Your Story Brand. He talks about using the hero's journey as a premise to build your brand. But one of the concepts is your product is not the hero, your customer is the hero, and your product or service is the trusted guide. And that's what you just said, You are the trusted guide for this person, you are making your customer, the hero for the hour that they work with you.
Bobby Steiner 16:28
And they feel it and they know the difference they know. I'll never forget I was I was giving and it sounds like a name dropping I'm not trying to but this is a story that I can't tell without name dropping, I was giving a golf lesson to Bruce Nordstrom, of the Nordstrom stores. It's been almost 20 years now he was the chairman at the time, his grandfather started Nordstrom, back in the early 1900s. And I was giving them a golf lesson. And before it was at the finish of it. I said and I don't know if you know about the Nordstrom return policy changed a little bit lately. But it used to be if you buy something in Nordstrom, and you want to return it you may do so that day, a month later or a year later, five years later, whether you want it whether you've not worn it, whether it's clean, dirty laundry doesn't matter, you bring it back and you get a full refund. All they ask is that you treat them fairly.
And you get to determine what fairly is. And so as I'm wrapping up this lesson, I said Mr. Nordstrom, I don't know how to say this. But my girlfriend, she says she thinks you're probably a pretty nice guy, because your return calls. And Mr. Nordstrom gave me a penetrating stare. And he says Bobby is sort of spoken. He's had a very resonant voice sort of spoken his parish shape tones. And he said, Bobby, what is your girlfriend's name? And I said, Courtney. Will you tell Courtney from me, but I hope I'm a nice guy, I certainly strive to be me being a nice guy has nothing to do with my return policy, I have that return policy in place because I am a bottom-line businessman. And I know if I take care of my customers, and always give them what they deserved. And I'll always have legions of loyal customers blocking my 152 stores, Bobby, you can never lose by taking too good care of your customer. And it was like, oh, wow, talk about now I get it. Now I get it.
And his rationale was, hey, I might get not beaten on this deal or that deal or untreated or treated unfairly by this person or that person. But that will be more than outweighed by the number of people who will continue to come to my store because they know they are treated like the equal of Kings when they come in here. And so that's a lesson for us all. And something I try to remind my instructors about and something I try to adhere to myself, if I have to at the conclusion of a golf lesson, say, because sometimes people are confused, and you go, you know, I started this wrong, I should have changed direction when I realized that you weren't picking up what I was putting down. You know what, there's no charge for today. Come back, let's do it tomorrow.
Let's do it tomorrow. Give me another chance. People see that and they go, suddenly, the frustration that they felt like I'm not only not good, because that happens once in a while, if they're just not communicating and just didn't happen. Not only am I frustrated even more than ever, but I'm gonna have to pay for this now. Let's do it again. Let me let me help her. I'm more educated now. Because I realized the approach I took was wrong, employ it now. It's not just oh, that they'll recommend you to other people. But so that you can, you can sleep at night and you can and because of that, you know, they'll have a better experience and they will refer people to you, because they realize you're not trying to cheat them.
Richard Walker 19:26
Well, and you're doing this for your personal fulfillment too. You wouldn't be doing this if you didn't love what you're doing is so for you to come out of that lesson and have had a poor outcome. You're right. How do you sleep with that? How do you feel good about what you just did? Exactly. This echoes the sentiment my own company, we sell our software and services to larger enterprises mostly. So business to business sales. And every now and then a customer has a challenge and we had a customer completely sign our contract send us their payments startup get three months into them. limitation and realize just wasn't going to work for them. I know competitors or other companies in the industry where they just say, well, you signed an agreement, keep going, keep paying, we tore up the agreement refunded 100% of their money, we said, look, we have a simple rule, no unhappy customers, if it's not the right fit, it's not the right fit. But I'll tell you, as a business owner and a business leader, it's hard to get to that mindset when you're thinking, oh, I got to make money, and I've got to pay payrolls and things like that.
Bobby Steiner 20:24
Right, it put that aside the short term and see the big picture. That's, that's, that's not easy, but boy doesn't take long to find out that that's, you know, excuse it. My thing is, hey, I'm gonna make it I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna live out on the streets, because I treated the customer to fair, no, put me out of business, I was too fair, that's just never gonna there's, there's systems in the universe that works to prevent that from ever happening. Something probably two or threefold is gonna cut. In fact, it's gonna go the opposite way. The other way, but sometimes I think people feel I'm talking about the uninitiated, those who can't see past this transaction, people fail to see beyond that and go, You know what, I got to get a leg up on every deal. So that, you know, I can at the end of the month, I can count me leg up. So and but what they don't see is that next month, you're going to have less opportunities to get a leg up. If you stay with that mindset, and so I think Customer Services is where it's at. And, you know, you look at USAA, I don't know if you've ever dealt with them, but you get on the phone with them.
And you see what customer services, Discount Tire, sometimes I take my car and there to get my tires rotated to bring my laptop, I think I'm gonna do some work, I just kick back and I just watch these guys take care of these customers. I'm like, I would love to have someone work for me to trade discount, tire, Chick-fil-A, same thing? Well, it's way different in terms of and you say, well, they had a better hiring pool, no, they had the same hiring pool, they took the time to train them and say, This is what we do here. And you and I think now I never worked at Chick-fil-A. But it looks to me like Not only have they trained them to do a better job, but it's clear to me that those employees are happy to do so that they see themselves as a cut above. And so they're glad to do it, it's the greater development of those people, as well and makes them, if you've been trained to, to say, I think you're many fries you want, and then you're gonna be looking at the clock the whole time, you haven't set yourself apart.
So I think that those training your employees like that, not only is good for the business itself, but it's good for that individual who learns to do it, because they're gonna find themselves, as I say, not looking at the clock as much kind of seeing, having a race to see how many people they can serve, who leaves happily and then they become sensitive to it too. I think some people, if they're not lucky enough to train in it, like that, and value customer service, then they don't even tune into it. They couldn't even tell you after the transaction, whether or not that person like to experience or not, because they're just not tuned into it. And so there's a lot to be said, for that.
Richard Walker 23:07
I think a lot of that stems from the company's corporate culture, and how they want to treat people internally and externally. And the kind of IDX or, or principle statements they have adopted for themselves. I know, that's what we have done. When we were talking offline, we were talking about how you ensure that the customer matters, is that the core of your culture?
Bobby Steiner 23:32
Well, thanks. I would like to think that is number one. And ask that way. I guess I'm not, I've never stated it like that. But yes, what's more important than that, that they walk away going, I was just a star in that show. I think you've raised it like that a moment ago, I was just number one, in that little thing for those three days. And people know the difference. It's there's, there's just no doubt about it. People know, whether they're being listened to, I saw a thing on, I don't remember where it was, but it talked about people who would bring lawsuits against doctors, physicians from our practice.
And across the board, something like 97% of the cases, in addition to whatever else, what other troubles that they said the doctors, brought about, through their malpractice, in 97% of the cases included and that was, he wouldn't listen to me. I wasn't heard. He I tried to tell him anything. And he already had his mind made up. And this way we're gonna do it. So in other words, I didn't matter I often don't put an input. And I think about that sometimes, at the very least this person is going to walk away feeling like they had my attention. And if I can do that you can be sure that at least that's a big step and making things go right.
Richard Walker 24:51
Yeah, for sure. And a lot of my listeners to the show are in financial services, serving individual was with their professional needs. So I think that also resonates with them. You want to give your attention and focus to your customer at that moment when you're working with them, and deal with their specific circumstances, not put them into a bell curve and say, Well, here's the average, here's what you should be doing. Right, absolutely. So Bobby, I want to ask you another question. I would be remiss if I didn't ask for something related to golf technique, but I'm not going to ask you to stand up and show us swim so they can go to your channels, your YouTube channels for that? Well, I want to know is if golf is really a mental game first, how do you get somebody to quiet their mind? Do you have any techniques to help them create a stronger focus and gain clarity for that shot they're doing right then?
Bobby Steiner 25:44
So? Well, not right, then that from the outset, it's a process. And here's what people everybody knows right from the start. And this goes from me and you all the way to the tour players, is everybody recognizes that they can play well on the range? Well, I'm talking about a beginner, when no one's watching. As soon as everybody walks out, they can't hit good shots anymore. Okay, then they progressed to the point where they can hit pretty good shots on the range, and even when their buddies watching, but they still can't play well on the course. Well, then they get to the point where they can hit balls on the range by themselves with balls with anybody watching and play well on the course, until the heat is on them. And they're leading the bet, coming to the ninth hole.
And so in every one of those cases, its interference. And here's what I mean, your performance will always be equal this exactly it is your potential minus interference, you will always live up to your potential. If there's no interference on the range by yourself, there's no interference, your buddy walks up, that's interference now instead of being single-minded about the task you're trying to do for him. And so what sports psychologists have found is that the only way you can learn to deal with interference is to introduce it more and more often. So the reason that guy can finally play well on the golf course with his buddy is because he's done it so many times now. And it's not so much he until he gets in the lead until he's coming down to the ninth hole. Well, I've only done that four times, and I blew it off four times, well, you're gonna have to blow it about another 10 times. And then it's just gonna be another day at the park. And finally, a breakthrough. And that happens to tour players all the time. There's so many guys who get paired with Tiger on Sunday. And they should add to and they're there.
They're among the also RANS at the end of the day. And you go, wow, he shot 67 yesterday, he got paired with tiger on Sunday. And it's interference. Suddenly, he's got a mob of 20,000 people following them around yesterday, he had 18. I mean, it's just a different thing. And that happens. I've got to tell you, I'll never forget the time that the US see him, you may already know this, but to get to play in the Masters at Augusta, you they that brings in more amateurs than any other the major tournaments because Bobby Jones was an amateur and he's the founder of the tournament back in 1934.
And the so the US public's champion gets to play in at the NCAA champion gets to play in the US amateur champion gets played well that this one year 1987, the US amateur champion, and the US public champion, got paired with Jack Nicklaus, who'd wanted the year before and Arnold Palmer respectively the year before, these guys are just amateurs, and they're paired with Jack who just wanted the year before at the age of 46. He's got the biggest crowd ever. And the poor guy shoots 85 and the other guy playing with Arnold Palmer shoots 84 They then because they were in last place, and the whole tournament got to go out at 7:30 The next morning.
And because they were at 7:30, they don't let the gallery in until 8:30. So they got to play by themselves and just to score devotion both to 67 amongst themselves, right and with no crowd. And so that just goes to show you it exists at every level. It's what it means to the individual, and how familiar they are with being in that territory. Tour players are great when they're playing, especially if they just go back and play with their buddies back home here to shoot 63 put them in a tournament and it's gonna be closer to 70 and put them in the lead if they've never been in the lead before they're gonna go they're gonna sink and that's why Tiger when there was one year Tiger one and 11 years old, he won 37 tournaments in one season one year 37.
So playing with the lead meant nothing to him when he got to the tour he'd been he's so used to that it's unbelievable, no matter what. So that's it. So to answer your question, how do you deal with that? It's a process and there's no way to rush it. And this is where particularly successful athletes have a hard time with it. They say that, you know thing is once I get scum, so used to pressure I'll be able to play once I learned this golf game, I'll be able to play great in tournaments. Afraid that's not the way it works. You're gonna have to fail for a while and you're gonna have to play there's nothing like shooting a practice round of 72 and then shoot an 80 in the opening round. It happens all the time. Rarely goes the other way, or almost never might go that way for nine holes but not for the 18. In fact, there's an upward limit to how many shots better than ones average one can shoot on the night, before they make up the entire difference on the back now happens all the time shot 35 on the front, 45 on the back, back where you believe you should be.
Richard Walker 30:20
You just ended up with the right word, the belief. And I there's so much corollary to how people go about their lives and their careers and advancement. I was just having a conversation with a friend who I won't name, who was telling me he's been given the opportunity to advance in his role to another level. And there's a mind block, there is a perception challenge, there was interference, as you're saying, because suddenly now more eyes are on him more pressure is on him. And in his mind, at least there was and he just got to play it. My advice to him. I mean, just outside advice was like, go for it. Just try it, go through it, because how else are you going to learn it? But I also really appreciate this, Bobby in the sense that there is no fast way to get to the finish line. You've got to do the whole race.
Bobby Steiner 31:06
You got to tell me what your friend decided to do. Where is he and all that.
Richard Walker 31:11
This is only two days ago? Oh, okay. I'm pretty sure he's going to move forward. Because he thanked me the day later say, Man, you helped me really get some clarity here. But I think a lot of the challenge was that he had certain perceptions of what the role meant. And I said to him, why do you have that perception? Is that a real perception? Is that your perception or somebody else's? And why don't you stop and redefine it with everybody on the team instead? Yeah. Because that created a certain pressure for him like I can just imagine with golf, I have to play a certain way. Why maybe you don't, maybe you could play a different way, your way, exactly your way. I could never swing the golf club, the way that I see people who were 50 pounds heavier than me. And I'm super muscular could swing, I can't do it. I want to have the same build. So why should I have the same expectation.
Bobby Steiner 32:02
More shots more, that's probably everything in life really. More often than anything, a person ruins themselves by trying to copy the method of the other person, instead of trying to learn from that method and turning that method into something of their own, whatever that is. And I see that particularly in putting, oh, when a person drops a few putts they're playing with it, you start looking at them and go home, I notice he stands a little taller than me. Maybe I should try that.
Well, you have to make one. Because after all, sometimes they do go in you go ah, just like that stand taller, then then someone else says, well, you try to keep the putter lower the graph, I happen to make that one now and pretty soon you guys two thoughts now three. Now for now, pretty soon you have a putting stew and absolute utter route is coming your way. You're about to destroy yourself, and you're not going to know which one of those pieces failed you. And so I think so often, a person has to keep your eyes and ears open, and never tried to blindly adhere to the exact philosophy and fit into the exact mold of somebody else in or particularly in your like you were describing the expectations of others. Hey, you define what this role is? Don't let it define you.
Richard Walker 33:17
Yeah, yeah, man, I want to give some bad golf advice. No, I'm just thinking about one of the things that I came through on my swing, because I am terrible at driving, like the driver is my weakness. And when I stopped trying to hit the ball is when I could start using the driver again, because I had the singular focus, like I got to hit the ball just right. And I stopped saying that I said, Just swing the club better. Just don't worry about where the ball is and just swing the club and get comfortable with that. And my swing improved. I don't know if that's good or bad. But that was for me an improvement.
Bobby Steiner 33:50
That is the best advice in the world if a person can take and that is just make a good swing and let the cards fall where they might just make a good swing. Just make that your priority not hit a good shot, not keeping them to do just make a good swing one way hold the finish and do it in a relaxed manner. And trusted results will follow that but most people do it the other way. Most people are trying to hit good shots. And then what that makes them do is it makes them micromanage and have their all their brainpower down at the ball.
Richard Walker 34:18
Oh yeah. Like, am I doing this right? That my hips just right? Did I step the right way? And there's too many thoughts.
Bobby Steiner 34:24
You can ruin yourself. I've always said that you can play golf with one shot with one thought, if it's the right one, sometimes too. But if three or more thoughts are required for you to swing that golf club, then you're just going to have to go on playing poorly until you can reduce the number of thoughts, either one or two, preferably one. And if it's two thoughts, one has to be at address that is your setup before your swing, you know, and then wondering why you can't have two thoughts during this way. That's just never gonna happen. It takes less than a second. On average, it takes just barely less of a second. less than a second to take the club back and return the impact, that doesn't provide any opportunity for two thoughts. And it is a form of mint and the problem with that is, if you have two thoughts, and the shot fails, you're not sure which thought went wrong.
And so all it does is bring doubt and uncertainty and that's and doubt uncertainty. They're a form of mental strain. Well, mental strength wouldn't be bad if it weren't always accompanied by muscular tension. mental strain is always accompanied by muscular tension. Well, what follows that an errant shot what follows that more doubt, more uncertainty, more muscular tension, and the thing just is, it's a thing that you can't get out of until you go, you know what? I'm going to rid myself with thoughts of results. I'm just going to make a good swing. What you just said, Perfect. Well, it's hard to say it's a hard sell, though. It's a hard sell. People think it's yeah, how can that be good? No, it's the best advice and it's actually only good players that can see the value in that and go you know what, that's a good thought. I'm gonna control what I control. I'm just gonna make a good swing and let what happens.
Richard Walker 36:00
Well, I'm not a good player, but I've enjoyed playing when I have and the next time I take a lesson, I'm driving up to Horseshoe Bay, because you're not too far from where I live.
Bobby Steiner 36:08
This is cool. I feel like you're just a long hallway separating us here.
Richard Walker 36:12
Yeah.
Bobby Steiner 36:12
Pretty big springs, right?
Richard Walker 36:14
Yeah. Yeah, we're like an hour, hour and a half away. At most an hour think. Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, Bobby, I'm so loving talking to you. And I have one more question. And before I get there, what is the best way for people to find and connect with you?
Bobby Steiner 36:27
Well, you can go to B Steiner. Now for those of you who have been around Austin, you're going to pronounce it Steiner. But it's bstinner@hsbresort.com. That's my email address. Also, you can go to bobbysteiner.com and click on that. Click on the Contact tab and read all about what's going on there. I've got plenty. I've got a membership site. I've got lots of videos and everything like that. If I can help you with your golf game I'd love to, or anything else.
Richard Walker 36:58
Yeah, no, the golf videos are awesome. You are such a good teacher. All right, here comes my last question, who has had the biggest impact on your leadership style and how you approach your role today?
Bobby Steiner 37:10
Well, there are a couple who leap to mind. But what I'm going to mention, and this might be a surprise to some people, because he's 15 years younger than me. There's a fella by the name of Anthony Holder, and he is our Director of golf. He's in charge of our entire 72 whole operation. And he and I worked out in California together. And when he acquired this position here seven years ago, he was here about six months and gave me a call and says, you are going to come be my director of golf instruction. And the reason I admire him so much, and he's made such an impact on me is I remember the day he started in the carpets. He was only 22 years old. And he didn't have any, you know, no experience, no college education, no nothing and you want to be an assistant pro look, we've got guys who played at Duke University on the golf team waiting in line to be an assistant Pro, what makes you think we're gonna give you this stuff and he said I'll take whatever you can give me all scrub clubs, good scrubs, clubs, he started scrubbing clubs, outdoors, outside service staff member. And that's the lowest job you can possibly get at the golf course.
And but there was something different about him. And that was when others were professing this doom and gloom love none of those 12 guys even tip this, how are we supposed to make a living? Anthony was different. This was 22 years old, I'll never forget. He's out there. And he says, guys keep your head up, we still got 30 cards come in, and we got a chance to make some money. Well, it didn't take long for the head Pro to see that he was different than everybody else. Six months later, they invited him in to be a System Pro. Six months after that he was first assistant. Three years later, he was head Pro. And three years after that he was director of golf in charge of the $12 million operation. No college. It was his attitude, and his work ethic. And he's got a sign you've probably seen it says, work hard, be nice to people. And that's his philosophy. And now he's in charge of a $54 million dollar operation.
He's just turned 40. And so when I see the way he keeps his head down, and works with people and sees people, and his philosophy is this, if people walk up on a group that has among the people in the group, the leader, no one should be able to tell who the leader is. We should all work together. And so I had this for 40-year-old guy who's much younger than I am. It may be sound interesting to some people who that say that he's been someone after whom I'd like to model my leadership skills, but that's who it is.
Richard Walker 39:23
Love this. Okay, I want to meet him. I'm definitely gonna meet him too. Sounds like an amazing guy. I love that attitude. Just do the best help people. Yeah.
Bobby Steiner 39:34
Yeah, you should have him on the show. He would be a delight.
Richard Walker 39:38
Awesome. That is awesome, man. All right, I have to give a huge thank you to Bobby Steiner of Bobby Steiner Golf Academy for being on this episode of The Customer Wins. Go check out Bobby's website at bobbysteiner.com. And don't forget to check out Quik! at quikforms.com where we make processing forms easy. I hope you enjoyed this discussion as much as I have and will click the like button share this with someone and so Subscribe to our channel for future episodes of The Customer Wins. Bobby, thank you so much for joining me today.
Bobby Steiner 40:05
Pleasure is mine Rich, thank you so much for having me.
Outro 40:08
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