The Golf Show 2.0: Recent Episodes
Kathlene Bissell
Co-Hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle interview newsmakers from the world of professional golf.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle reminisce with Larry Mize about his Masters victory on the eve of this year's tournament. Mize was victorious at Augusta National, winning in a playoff over Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman, two of the most dynamic golfers ever to play. Mize grew up in Augusta, and so for him to win meant he became a hometown hero of sorts. He played the Masters 40 times, and this year is the first time he won't have a tee time at the storied club. Find out what he's going to do instead.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Rad Golf CEO Peter Johnson and Celebrity representative Blair O'Neal who many fans know from Golf Channel where she won The Big Break and now appears with Martin Hall in School of Golf. Rad Golf has speakers, GPS devices, hand-helds, rangefinders. In addition they have speakers, one of which can be programed to heckle fellow golfers. Heckle Sounds. According to Johnson, you can type in anything insult or comment you want to come out of the "Heckle" speaker. "You can type anything in it you want to say," Johnson noted about the Heckle device. The range-finder also has a way to track all your shots. "I played golf at Arizona State, and we would track every single shot," O'Neal said. This would have done it automatically.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Julio Quintana, Director of The Long Game, and Julian Works, the Actor who plays Joe Trevino ( no relation to Lee Trevino), one of the five who formed a high school golf team in the 1950s in Del Rio, Texas. The story is a true one about the struggles of exceptional youngsters who found their way and themselves by playing golf. The group went from back streets to winning the state high school championship in Texas, a state that is pretty well-known for golf and golf champions.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Julio Quintana, Director of The Long Game, and Julian Works, the Actor who plays Joe Trevino ( no relation to Lee Trevino), one of the five who formed a high school golf team in the 1950s in Del Rio, Texas. The story is a true one about the struggles of exceptional youngsters who found their way and themselves by playing golf. The group went from back streets to winning the state high school championship in Texas, a state that is pretty well-known for golf and golf champions.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Hughes Norton, one of golf's first Superagents and his new book, Rainmaker. Norton signed, among others, Tiger Woods and Greg Norman, but also Curtis Strange, Ben Crenshaw, Bill Rodgers, Tom Watson, Mark O'Meara, Peter Jacobsen, and Bobby Clampett, David Graham, Nancy Lopez and others when he was in charge of golf at IMG. McCormack, who hired Norton out of college, soon assigned him to the golf division. Two years after delivering at least $60 million in guaranteed sponsorship money to Tiger Woods, Norton was dismissed by Woods. Not long after that, he was fired by McCormack but given a severance package of $9 million. Hughes has been silent since that time. He's now telling his story. The book is a wonderful read, and Norton credits George Peper, former editor of Golf Magazine, who helped him craft it.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle find out about the custom golf bag business started by two women, Erica and Debroah Bennett, who have created bags for individuals and golf teams, including teams for international competitions around the world. Their company is called Orca Golf although they were thinking of changing it to Where Did You Get That Bag because that's what so many people say. Newest product: Limited Edition Guy Harvey Collection, which will have some of the proceeds given to the Guy Harvey Foundation for ocean conservation.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Jay Stocki who set a new Guinness World Record for longest putts with a stroke that went 401 feet before finding the bottom of the cup. It took a team of golfers hitting thousands or putts at Black Wolf Run's putting course called The Baths at Black Wolf Run in Kohler, Wisconsin, to set the new record mark.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle find out how good Jeff Cesario's golf game is. Or can an Emmy Award Winner whack a drive as well as he can write a comedy routine for Dennis Miller and Queen Latifah? Find out what inspired this admitted non-athlete to start playing golf. And, if you dare, watch Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden: Puddy McFadden License to Golf , a short comedy in which a "fallen" professional golfer, Puddy McFadden, gets his second chance at the Viagra Classic. Also featuring Amanda Balionis Renner and Rocco Mediate in the cast.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Emmy Award winner Jeff Cesario who wrote for The Dennis Miller Show and the Queen Latifah Show and also happened to be on the University of Wisconsin newspaper with Van SIckle.
Cesario talks about discovering he was meant to be incomedy, how he learned to "exercise his funny muscle," and what it meant to be on the Johnny Carson show. Well, you can probably imagine that was a big help to his career...
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with 6-time Women's Long Drive Champ Sandra Carlborg as she gets ready for the World Long Drive Championships this week. Her longest drive ever is 401 yards, and before that it was 392. What's really amazing is that she is coming back from having recently had two children, now aged 2 and 4. Carlborg hopes to inspire other women to continue their athletic endeavors after having children and, of course, she wants to win a few more world championship belts. @sandracarlborg
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with 2-time World Long Drive Champ Kyle Berkshire about his recent record drive of 579+ yards hit in Wyoming. Berkshire thinks he can get to 600 with the right conditions. Hear how he approaches long drive and why he decided to go that direction instead of planning a route to the PGA Tour. You'll never guess what kind of shaft he uses in his driver!
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary VanSickle find out about the new Bridgestone E6 golf ball, designed in conjunction with the World Long Drive participants. Adam Rehberg, Sr. Marketing Manager at Bridgestone Golf explains how the properties of the E6 ball allow it to survive being hit by long drive contestants and still be a good ball for average golfers who want to be longer with every shot. And it comes in four (4) colors: white, yellow, pink and orange. ( While there's an unsubstantiated rumor that the yellow one goes farther, long drive specialist Kyle Berkshire likes the pink one.)
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Mason James of TruGolf descendant of a company that has been making video games since the early 1980s. With Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's TMRW Golf program starting in January of 2024, more people may want to have some kind of simulator system, simulator room, simulator garage or simulator basement.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle find out about Neighborhood National, a way for golfers to create a simulator in their garages for use by neighbors who become "club members." Jeff Testa created the idea during the pandemic when he decided to put a simulator in his garage. Jay Hubbard of Ace Indoor partnered with Jeff to turn his idea into a business that can work for for many locations, whether a garage, a vacant retail space, a warehouse. So long as it's safe and secure, it has the potential to become you Neighborhood National Club.
Davis Love III guests on this episode of The Golf Show 2.0 with Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle asking him questions about Ryder Cup, both in his role as a player and as a captain. You'll find out what it was like to win at Hazeltine in 2016, what Whistling Straits was like and what his most nervous moment was as a player.
Hall of Famer Davis Love III is ready for Ryder Cup! Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Love about some of his Ryder Cup experiences, about being a captain twice and about Davis' lost Ryder Cup golf ball.Love's golf course design company is now renovating Hazeltine National GC, site of the 2016 Ryder Cup, two U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and other major championships. He explains what they will try to do there to enhance the course and make the site even better for hosting big events.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle interview Andrew Georgiou, creator of Golf Played a FREE app that lets golfers keep track of the courses they have played, hence the name.
Van Sickle has played nearly 1500, but he's behind the leader in the clubhouse, a golfer from South Carolina who has teed it up at more than 2000 tracks.
Now Georgiou is adding new paid option to Golf Played that will allow golfers to locate other golfers who are willing to them as guests at clubs in a variety of locations around the world.
Gary Van Sickle does The Rankings for Sports Illustrated every week. This time, he's sharing with The Golf Show 2.0 his Ranking of the Top 10 Players of The 21st Century. Who's in, who's out? You'll have to watch to find out.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Tom Purtzer about the patience pros have in playing with amateurs, his victory and miraculous Texas Wedge shot from the bunker back of the 13th hole at Colonial CC, the sectional qualifying for U.S. Open where Larry Mize and Purtzer pulled a prank on Van Sickle, what Purtzer thinks about the distance issue and the proposed roll-back of the golf ball, what he thinks about the LIV situation. And Purtzer reveals that he has a new career in real estate.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with George Perto of The Golf Heritage Society and Dr. Blyth Bell one of the historians from the Club Room at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Petro shows more from his collection including The Open Championship gold medal from 1947, which belonged to Bobby Locke, the replacement medal which was used for champions after the famous Championship Belt was retired due to Young Tom Morris' three victories, as well as a silver bowl that once belonged to Harry Vardon and a medal from the French Open golf tournament. Dr. Bell talks about important amateurs who won The Open Championship including John Ball who was the first amateur and first Englishman to win the tournament; Harold Hilton, an amateur who lived near Hoylake where the club is located and who won his second Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in 1897; and Bobby Jones, who won The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in 1930, the year of Jones' Grand Slam. The Open Championship was the second leg of Jones' Slam.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary VanSickle find out about the special historic collection at Merion Golf Club from John Capers III, club historian, and learn how George Perto , at large director of the Golf Heritage Society, found his collecting dreams come true with golf. We see some of George's U.S. Open medal collectibles from 1955 (Jack Fleck defeated Ben Hogan) and 1897 when Willie Anderson was kept from winning his first U.S. Open by Joe Lloyd. He also shows collectible pins, one formerly belonging to Ray Floyd. Then there's autographed memorabilia including items signed by Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els and Tiger Woods. John shows the putter used by David Graham to win his second major, U.S. Open in 1981 at Merion, and the shoes Justin Rose wore winning his U.S. Open.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle discuss several topics with Ted Bishop, past Pres. of the PGA of America. Included in this jam-packed show: The improved quality of high school and college golf, how the the transfer portal has affected the sport; the surprise of the new entity that will be created by the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and PIF and how that affects players who did not take leave the PGA Tour; the money and the PIF and 9/11; the question of whether PIF can grow the game compared to PGA of America members; whether or not the US government will let the "merger" happen; whether the US LIV players will be able to play Ryder Cup -- Ted explains the PGA of America's rules on that issue; the reported size of the Tour's legal fees; why the PGA of America moved to Texas from Florida and how work from home has helped increase rounds of golf.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Dr. Mike Sheehan one of the owners of District 1 Brewing which has created a beer for Steve Stricker called Strick 9. Poisonous name for a very nice guy. They are debuting it at the USGA Senior Open this week which is being held at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where District 1 is also located. Hear about Stricker's brew, Strick 9, how it happened, what the label and cans look like, and how you can get some!
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle interview Tygh Campbell, one of the owners of The Retreat at Silvies Valley Ranch, and the golf course architect, Dan Hixson, who created their courses, including one that measures 8000 yards called the Hankins Course.
The Hankins Course is also reversable. They play the course the regular way and then reversed, alternating days depending on whether the day is even or odd. The 5th hole, played the normal way, is super long, playing as a 680-yard par five. Reversed, who knows?
The resort also has another 18-hole course, a 7-hole course, a 9-hole par 3 course and a reversible putting course.
Part of the charm of the 7-hole course, called McVeigh's, is that you can have a goat caddie. The goat caddies are selected from the herd of 3000 goats on the ranch.
In addition, to goats, the ranch raises cattle and has plenty of wildlife on its 150,000 acres.
The location of Silvies Valley Golf Resort is high desert in eastern Oregon which gets only 9 inches of rain or snow each year. ( This is similar to Palm Springs, California.) It is east of Eugene between five and six hours by car. It is west of Boise, Idaho about 2 1/2 hours.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with former PGA Tour player Terry Diehl about the most recent PGA Championship, which iwas played at Oak Hill in Rochester, NY, where Diehl grew up. Diehl's father got him a junior membership when he was a late teen. The pro at the time got him bunker play lessons from Claude Harmon, who Diehl said ignored him for two days until he was sure the young player really wanted to learn. Once convinced, Harmon stepped in and gave him a lifetime of lessons in a few days. For this upcoming PGA, Diehl said the removal of hundreds of trees and wholesale changes of several holes to go back to the Donald Ross original design will provide a different look to those somewhat familiar with the course. Diehl suggested that the winner of this PGA would be someone who is mentally strong enough to not be worn down by the notorious Ross greens which require players to place their golf ball below the hole or suffer the consequences of more putts than they want. Who does he pick to win? It might be someone from a competing Tour! That and more entertaining stories from the 1970s and 1980s of PGA Tour life when a total purse for a tournament could be less than $500,000.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary VanSickle discuss Retro Golf with its creator Cory Crelan. Crelan offers sets of Retro Clubs, persimmon woods and blade irons plus vintage putters and wedges, for use in Retro tournaments or outings. Clubs are from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Crelan talks about how he found clubs, what he did to restore them to playable condition and how this vintage of clubs has gone unnoticed over the last 40 years but still offers fun experiences for golfers. It's a step back to the days of the DeLorean
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Mark Russell, one of the leading experts on pace of play at PGA Tour events and golf events in general. Russell was with the PGA Tour rules staff for 40 years overseeing course set-up and making rulings on every imaginable situation found on a golf course.
Cohosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van SIckle discuss Michael Bamberger's latest book, The Ball in The Air which follows how golf weaves in and out of the lives of three amateur golfers. The title was suggested by something Billy Harmon said when asked what his favorite part of golf was. Harmon said Ball in The Air. However, since Bissell, Van Sickle and Bamberger all write about golf, it was impossible to stay on one topic and the discussion ranged from the recent Masters, the weather at the recent Masters, whether Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth or Jon Rahm will be most likely to win the next major or the next grand slam. In addition, some of the topics in Bamberger's recent best seller, Men in Green were covered. Men in Green seems like it would be about men in green jackets, but was actually about 18 different people in golf, including Arnold Palmer, Fred Couples, Jack Nicklaus, Ken Venturi, Tom Watson to name drop just a few. Mike Donald, a former Tour player and long-time friend of Bamberger's, joined him for several of the interviews and added extra insight to Men in Green.
Bamberger's early prediction for Rory McIlroy's career: 4. But he has a theory that pressure gets greater as athletes age and that's one reason McIlroy hasn't won a major recently.
Collecting Masters Memorabilia.
Is it a disease?
Pins 6.44
Pencils 7.15
Plastic badges from the ‘60s and ‘70s 7.50
All the badges -- The Challenge 8.50
’34 ’35 badges 9.52
What he’s been offered 12.20
Pins 13.50
Pairing sheets 14.06
Spectator guides 14.40
Player gifts 14.55
Last badge to complete set 15.24
Longnose clubs 21.00
Book jacket 22.44
Desk 24.40
Cliff Roberts Desk John Garrity
Books 25.04
Golf balls signed by champions, flags signed, signed photos 27.58
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle debate: Watch for The Masters ClockThe USGA & R&A were smart to bifurcate the ball to reign in distance for the pros. Why/why not? Yay or nay. Should the PGA Tour go along with the bifurcated ball rule since US Open, British Open will definitely go with shorter ball, likely Masters too.Why or Why not? The PGA Tour's idea of 16 elevated events, some with no-cut limited fields is a good idea. Yay or nay. Tiger Woods will play in a tournament other than the Masters, PGA or Open Championship before this season is over.If yay, which tournament and why?
This is a one-of-a-kind.
There's a golf course in Ohio where a Mastodon skeleton was unearthed. Really.
And there's a pond / bog on the property that the owner thinks might be hiding some additional prehistoric skeletons.
Could you take a divot and find something of museum quality??
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle update on LIV golf and who recently jumped and why.
7.10 Guest Andy Rapp who is a member of Foxburg CC, the oldest continuously operated golf club in the U.S.
Different Hickory Championships and the Foxburg CC Hickory Championship
You can rent hickory clubs and play at Foxburg
Discussion of Foxburg – the course
20.00 Historic lantern from St. Andrews, Scotland, which is being restored and then put on display at Foxburg
Hole No. 7 has an 1887 look
27.00 The Big Quiz
33.00 Andy Rapp predicts when Charlie Woods will win his first major and what will happen after that
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with the Golf Ball Wizard, John Calabria, who has worked for all the noted manufacturers of golf balls and is now advising OnCore with their newest line of balls.
Calabria explains what the purpose of the different layers in three, four, five and even six-piece golf balls.
Calabria talks about the importance of the cover on the ball and what it does and the difference cover materials make.
He summarizes the changes in golf balls between the late 1990s to the early 2000s and what the changes meant to golf ball performance.
With the changes the U.S.G.A. wants to make in the ball, Calabria's expertise is more important than ever.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Gary D'Amato of Wisconsin.golf about his recent visit to Marco Simone Golf & CC outside Rome, Italy. D'Amato describes the course and the kind of challenges he thinks the course will present for this fall's Ryder Cup, particularly for the US Team.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with inventor Jesse Koenig who created a small device and software to keep golfers from leaving clubs on the course. Koenig has spent his life in the satellite and defense industries and two took years off to create Club Catcher because he was tired of forgetting them himself. Club Catcher uses your phone to let you know you have left a club so that you'll go back for it before you get to the next tee.
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle discuss the end of 2022 PGA Tour season and LIV
Should Cam Smith have received PGA Tour Player of Year in 2022?
Will it be Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy?
Is McIlroy's putting now good enough to win at Augusta National?
Gary Van Sickle on anniversary of Tiger Woods debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open. Tiger played in pro-am as amateur. Then had Hello World press conference.
Van Sickle was on hand that when Woods won his first tournament! Do you remember that where?
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle interview inventors of the Zoom Broom which is a portable leaf blower for that fits in the golf bag. Anyone who has played golf in the fall in the northern US has wished for one of these. And inventors found that people wanted them to blow off decks and driveways in a faster and easier fashion than typical leaf blowers.
Gary Van Sickle announced his golf awards after the 2022 Tour Championship. Some go to LIV players and some go to PGA Tour Players.
Player of the Year, he calls the Mail Man Barky... was it Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy?
Nearly Man Award, almost gave to Will Zalatoris but Zalatoris won. So who was the Nearly Man? PGA of America gaveit to Cameron Smith.
Best Performance by a Mullett: You can probably guess that one.
Best Performance by a Fake Mullett: Joe Dirt
Left Fielder Award: That Guy from Chile
And More...
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk to Bernard Bernacki, President of the Golf Heritage Society, and George Petro, At-Large Director of the Golf Heritage Society, about collectables in golf. Bernacki and Petro explain what to collect and what to forget. In the collecting category there are some pricey pieces, like the $87,000 paid for an original snapshot of Bobby Jones, a collecting card worth $27,000, a signed book by architect Charles Blair MacDonald worth $15,000. In the not quite valuable department, Van Sickle shows off his Masters clock, his Brandel Chamblee rookie card (worth 99 cents) and other items from his semi-vast library, most of which is worth very little. The experts were so good, The Golf Show 2.0 intends to have them back for more in collecting guidance.
Cohosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with David Millington whose family business Golf Bands Inc., purchases old golf brands and brings them back. Most recently, they reintroduced the famous Zebra putter, updated for today, and MacGregor irons.
- 2:30 Explains design of new version
- 3:55 Historic victories with original Zebra, Raymond Floyd, Nick Price
- 5:49 Exploded view of Zebra design
- 6:56 All 4 putters
- 7: 08 Blade design
- 7.33 Hole design
- 7:55 Fang design
- 10:30 Living in Hong Kong for 12 years
- 13:09 Best comment “Like having a Guinness with an old friend.”
- 15:00 Discussion of Teardrop putter relaunch to come
- 15:35 MacGregor relaunch
Co-hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with Jill Spiegel, newly named President of PGA Tour Superstores about their growth, expansion plans, why golfers as a group are now getting younger and what makes PGA Tour Superstores stand out in the retail crowd.
Co hosts Kathy Bissell and Gary Van Sickle talk with inventors of The Wright One putter by Caliber Golf. Tim and Chip Wright, two hockey and golf playing brothers from Kenosha, Wisconsin, created a new club to solve Tim's issues with four-foot putts. They combined a hockey stick with the last seven inches of a putter and voila, The Wright One. Four-footers, five- footers, six footers sunk easily.