Dan Webster Golf: Hello and welcome back to the podcast. It is now episode five. Thank you very much. You're still with us. Got a couple of apologies to make though for today's episode. It was due to be with a guest, a very special guest, Russi Thomas, one of my closest friends. And we did record a really good episode earlier this week. However, once I was editing it, realized the sound quality was shocking. Now, I don't really want to put something out there that's not that great quality. The content was brilliant, but the quality wasn't as good as I was So we are going to redo that hopefully sometime next week. first of all, apologies, big fella. We will redo it. It was a great chat. And the win here is we get to have another chat as well. And yeah, the quality, hoping, will be a lot better the next time we do it. So episode five, we've come quite a way already. Huge thank you already to those of you that are in the lift. Now we are rhetorically speaking there. It's not really a lift, but we've started on the basement. We've moved up, I think, to ground floor now and I'm getting some really interesting comments, really interesting feedback from people who are saying, can we get in the lift? Is there enough room in the lift? Now I was expecting around about 20 or 30 people, bear in mind it's got to be quite a big lift this, 20 or 30 people to listen to our podcast. We've now had around about 700 downloads, 700 streams of this very early in its infancy pod. And I'm trying out different platforms today. Again, I'm going through the video, no cap. No headphones, no label on the headphones. Thank you for those of you that spotted that. Different microphone as well. So please let me know, comment, follow the show. Follow me on the social medias. I've got Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter X. Comment, let me know how you're finding the show, where you're watching it, where you're listening to it, if you are watching it. Apologies. Again, the environment here. I've got that little image over there, by the way. That one there, that is signed. photograph of Tiger Woods and one day I'll tell you how that came about. It involved his security and an open championship. Anyway, so back to the lift. So now with five, 600 or so downloads, we're getting a bigger lift, but we are on that ground floor and we're going to hope to keep moving and keep pushing forward. So really do appreciate your support. My mum, first of all, she has been listening to the pod, watching it as well. I've had to make a little apology because she's actually asked me if she can come on the podcast and I'm like yeah 100 % why would you like to come on the podcast yet so I can tell the truth my okay what kind of truth are we thinking and she said you didn't wear orange trousers on your first day okay she came with me to buy them I remember years and years ago and apparently a bit worried about this they were brown trousers Now nervous first day I'm not sure, but brown trousers paired with the orange shirt. I don't know, in my mind it was a full-on Ricky Fowler look. However mum begs to differ so sorry about that. Mum is going to come on the show and reveal a lot of truths. She did also say you didn't tell everybody about when you delivering pizzas. You crashed your car a few times and one of the crashes you weren't even in the car. So I was actually delivering a pizza in my own car this time as an Escort 1.1 Popular. And I parked on the side of a hill in Stafford called Westway, jumped out the car, legged it across the road, knocked on the door, here's your pizza, there you go, turn around. And there was a car going down the hill without its lights on. And I'm thinking that is silly thing to do. Drive down a hill without your lights on. It was at that point I realized it was my car and I had a left hand brake off and it plowed into the back of a, going back in time here, showing me a just Sierra Sapphire. I had to ring up my parents. I was upset, obviously. I couldn't get home. So I ring up my parents and say, I've had a crash. And they're like, are you okay? I'm like, yeah, I'm fine. Why? Well, I wasn't even in the car. So yeah, that was a a tough explanation. And again, The previous episode we chatted a bit about my pre working at St Anselm links time today I wanted to cover not during because that'll be another episode but why I decided after 22 years as head pro and 31 years working there in total to resign from my role as the head pro at St Anselm links one of the best club pro jobs in the country I would say and certainly a very well respected course and it is You know, it's going from strength to strength as well. My time there was fantastic. Man and boy, 18 years old, all the way through to just turned 50, resigned from there in 2023. And you know, there was no malice. The only reason I decided to resign is I'd taken the Giant Range on the Lytton Golf Academy on 10 years prior. I was running both. felt that I wasn't doing both very well. was managing. of businesses, but not really focused on either. I'd done my time at the Old Links. I think I'd given it my best, some of my best years and met a lot of nice people and the club will always be there. It didn't need me moving forward. Whereas the driving range, we'd gone from 300,000 bulls a year to 3 million bulls a year being hit. I'd brought on a business partner, Janet Thornton, you know, she's a really good friend of mine and she's done a lot for me and we're excited about our new projects together. I'd involved Top Tracer, we'd developed the facility and we've made it one of the busiest facilities in Northwest and we've got driving range owners up and down the country speaking to me on a regular basis, picking my brains, asking for me to help them with their facilities. Bearing in mind, I'm just a, you know, I'm a chocolate seller, I'm a club pro who has then taken on a driving range. It's grown phenomenally well and I decided that my time was up at the old links. I'd done my time. I was ready to move on and ready to focus fully on the new facility, the driving range. And that's what we did. We resigned. The club were okay with that. They've set up a new structure and James Robinson, who was one of my coaches at the driving range is now the head coach at St Anne's Old Links and Johnny Moss. Big shout out Johnny. He was my assistant for a long time. He stayed at the Old Links and... runs the shop for the club now and he's a valuable member of staff they cannot do without, I would say. So yeah, Johnny stayed, James Robinson moved from the drive range over to be the head coach. Neil and his team look after the place fantastic well and I've still got a lot of fond memories. I've got a good relationship with the club. I'm an honorary life member which I'm very grateful for. I don't get there as much as I'd like to but certainly moving forward I hope to do so. And now that Harry's playing a lot more golf. But yeah, I decided that they were good. I needed to make my range a better sustainable business for my family. employ Becca, my wife, and my parents. My mom works there. My mom helped out a bit as well. So that was my focus. 2023 gets on board at the drive range. We're flying. We've got lots of good things happening. Towards the end of 25, which is last year, I actually started to get a few mental health issues. I was working a bit too hard. I was anxious about the weather. We have a challenging winter. Most drive range owners are in the same boat, a very challenging winter. And I was getting quite anxious about the bull picking scenario, the overwhelm with the weather and just doing too much. lot of people out there in the same boat and I had some challenges and I don't mind talking about it and I'm probably going to. bit more depth in a future episode. I got help straight away. I identified the problem and you know, I'm in a good place to talk about it. However, shortly after that, little chat with the landlords of the drive range and they said, look, are looking, we're exploring options to develop it. And it was at that point I thought, wow, I might have my business. I've left the old links to focus on this, this fantastic business. And now there's a chance that it might go. And there is a lot of talk out there and by all means the landlords have been very fair, very kind with me. And they've made some investigations into window samples and they've had a builder have a look at opportunities and there's no planning application put in yet. They potentially will be moving forward when there is, I'll work with them, but I think we're going to be around for quite a while yet. And I have touched on this quite a few times as well. the this episode, this podcast is has come about because of that conversation really a bit of a pivot something that Russi and I were discussing in our chat and he's in a similar situation to me he's he's in his 50 just turned 50 and he's making some big life changes I'm 53 and I feel like I'm starting all over again although I've got a good track record a good good business behind me you know it's a risk Today has been a really exciting day and it was really important for me today to get a podcast episode out. It is the 11th, it's 9-11, 11th September. It's a day that the world changed. I can remember what I was doing exactly, I'm sure you can as well. All those years ago, I'd just played in a PGA tournament at St. Anselm Lynx. was the Max Fly Assistance Championships. I just shot 88, okay? Shocking score, came off. In tears, Head Pro shoots 88 on his own track, you know, wasn't in a good place and then heard about everything unfolding and it just put things in perspective. And again, today I do feel like that's something that we all need to do to remember and put things in perspective. Yes, things happen out of your control. I've had this chat with my children this evening. You can't always know what's around the corner so you've got to make sure. that you live every opportunity out and do what you can when you can and make the most of your life. Every day is a gift. And certainly making a podcast today meant a lot to me, but also something's happened within the performance golf timeline today. So the funding for the project has just been agreed and secured. So we're now in a financial position to push this project forward. That is really big for me. There is a planning application underway. That's going to take a bit of time. It's a change of use from a previous dog training facility to now what will be an indoor golf facility with a small cafe, and bar. So we've got a few hoops to jump through. The landlord is a great guy, really keen to work with him. And he's just made another offer with some land next to the facility today, which could be brilliant for a small outdoor space. In the facility, we'll have four indoor golf simulators, three in an open space, one VIP private with potentially Zen swing stage. That's a movable lie scenario. All the latest tech, we're going to probably feed Sky Sports throughout the building. We'll have a fitness area and a putting area. So golf simulators, fit golf fitness with TPI, putting green, sky sports. You know, it's going to be a really good environment. So where you want to be through the winter. the news today, like I've said, we've got the funding secured and in a position to draw down. This is really exciting for me. Big risk borrowing money to do this, but I'm backing myself. I know I always will. We've got the landlord on side. He's keen. My business partner, Janet, is really keen as well. I've got some great ideas between us and designs. Along with my family, they all know exactly what's happening. yeah, we're really, really excited. the reason what, again, one of reasons I set this podcast up is not just to share with you what's happening, but also to document this myself, document the timeline of, you know, from an idea all the way through to hopefully opening sometime before Christmas. Now, something else happened today as well. We've received our first booking. Yeah, so January the 24th next year, we have a booking in place for a group to use the facility and really fingers crossed, really hoping we will be open up and running and ready for guests, golfers from across the field by that time. I think we will be, but you never know. We are in the hands of the Fire Borough Council and we appreciate all the work they're doing for us. The building is sound, not a lot of work to do inside it, but the fit out will be probably a four week process. So we're hoping to get this up and running by Christmas. It'd be great if we did. There's going to be membership opportunities. There will be pay and play. There'll be tournaments. One of the ideas I'm looking at is on a Saturday through winter. we can get 96 golfers out in a Pairs, Stablefoot or Pairs, Better Ball or Medal competition from 8 a.m. till 10 p.m. Now, just think about that, your Saturday comp that might get rained off this winter, we will be able to host you, host your golf club and provide a very good event with prizes and a club feel indoor. Weather controlled, nice warm room. and a sensible bar and fitness area as well. So yeah, really excited. Today feels like a big day. And I really wanted to share that with the podcast, with those of you that are already in the lift. Now, everything I've explained about the facility, if you've got questions, if you want to come pay us a visit, if you want to learn a bit more about it, there's so many forums, so many ways you can get in touch with me. First of all, YouTube, we are on YouTube now. You might be watching this. Comment below. I'd love you to comment, tell me what you think. I had a really nice voice message left to me today by a good friend, good golf professional. These people that I look up to, these are my peers, a lad called Jamie Hillier. Really appreciate your words, Jamie. And he spoke very nicely about the party, he's listened to it, he gave me some great feedback. And you know, these kind of things. Although I know of the many reason I'm doing this, you do question why would anyone want to listen to this? Why would anyone want to watch what I'm talking about? I know I've got my reasons why I want to do it and I'm sharing them with you on a regular basis. But for Jamie to take the time to not just text me nice pod damn well done, but to leave a two minute voice message. Brilliant, really pleased with that. Also golfers that I coach, Lidl people that I've met out in the town and I see them in town. they're actually coming up to me saying, I love the podcast. Wow, we're still early. I didn't really think that many people would be listening just yet. And I kind of hope they wouldn't so I can get get familiar and practice sort my screens out sort the studio out, get the microphones working correctly. It's a learn as we go project. And I'm going to keep saying that, you know, please bear with me, but at the same time, do value that feedback. Another good friend Gary Melling, really appreciate your words Gary. Again, he's commented nicely on the podcast. I'll give his lad Lucas a shout out here. Some golf for that boy right now. He's having a great year, just won the Ashton Trophy, which is a big part of my life, the Ashton Trophy, for 32 years, 31 years at St. Azar links. It was always Sunday, early September. I was always up early on that day, get the Ashton Trophy ready, do the presentation. and we'd see some of the best golfers in the country compete for that prestigious prize. And this year, the junior captain, I'm going to say just 15, maybe just turned 16 years old, Lucas Melling has won this prestigious event. His handicap now is around plus two, almost plus three. I he's got a good future ahead of himself. So well done, Lucas. Yeah, you know, I am a big part of the Lytton Golf community and I will talk a lot about golf in Lytton. We're hoping that we will be getting some guests on. Like I mentioned, Russie will be on the next podcast, hopefully sometime next week. He's got a great story, great to listen to. He's my voice of reason, probably kept me alive. And we'll go into that in little bit more detail. I've also spoken recently with pals from the PGA days and some people off tour, reps, tech reps, people that have worked in the trade that you'll really enjoy what they have to say. And this goes back over the last 30 years. So there'll be some good content coming. So please stay with us for this journey. Do appreciate you listening and taking the time to comment. Stay in that lift with us. Let's see how far we can get up the building. I'm waffling now. Time for me to go. I'm gonna go and see the kids. Thank you again for listening. You have a great weekend. Enjoy your golf if you're playing and we'll see you all very soon.