221: Freddy Couples Podcast

In today’s episode of ‘Finding your Summit’ podcast, host Mark Pattison, former NFL Player, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and Mountaineer who has climbed the Seven Summits, talks with guest, Fred Couples, an American Professional Golfer. He talks about his golf journey, tournaments, The Masters and future goals. He also discusses why he feels blessed even after having a back injury.

Listen to “EP 221: Freddy Couples: Master Champion. What it takes to be great..” on Spreaker.

Episode Highlights

• 2:00 – Fred says he has done a little bit of homework because he is meeting host Mark through a good friend John Bracken.
• 2:13 – He asks Mark, what kind of timeframe is that—once you take your first step?
• 3:52 – Mark inquires, “Where did that golf bug come from?”
• 6:51 – Fred highlights that Seattle was an unbelievable place to grow-up and for him to play golf.
• 8:16 – He shares that his parents said that they can’t keep giving him money because he was ruining it in the rain—so he learned to play with no glove on.
• 10:26 – As per Fred, working hard is what we have to do.
• 12:11 – Fred states that he is a big Seattle guy. It’s just so hard to live there and travel that he really never went back, but he enjoys going up there.
• 15:03 – Fred shares that he got a break by going to Houston the very first week he qualified for tournament—made the team and he played all three years with a team.
• 16:38 – Fred points out that their coach would always say that Jim Nantz was going to be president someday, but he never told them that we were going to be great tour players.
• 17:43 – The guest says that their coach would come home at night and he would have clips of Nolan Ryan and Bum Phillips as well as all the Warren Moon moments.
• 19:31 – He states, he went 3 years to the University of Houston.
• 21:02 – Fred mentions that he needs to stay healthy, keep plugging along and work a little harder.
• 22:36 – He discusses where he is in terms of a healthier back and what he is able to do.
• 24:27 – Fred informs that his hands are an integral part of him making contact and hitting it hard.
• 26:58 – Mark asks Frank – “How do you keep the consistency, knowing that you want to have at least one more win on the Players Championship Tour?”
• 30:00 – Fred was more of a Visual Player and not Mechanical. He was never mechanical so that it really made his life easier playing golf.
• 34:38 – In Fred’s opinion, sometimes people just work on their swing only, but they need to get their swing as well as their game down for each course that they’re playing.
• 36:00 – Fred talks about his friend Tiger Woods and his bond with him.
• 38:50 – According to Mark, the beauty of golf is that we can keep playing it as old as we want.
• 40:37 – Mark states that there are so many guys who are not able to keep that consistency; it’s so hard to be at that level for that long time, yet Fred did it.
• 47:15 – Fred says that if there’s a tournament he probably could have won again, he would say Augusta could be one, but Riviera—he should have won at least once or twice more.
• 49:52 – The guest talks about his wife and says she was a homeopathic; she did a lot of things and then she just ended up, she couldn’t fight it any longer.
• 51:30 – Fred shares that once his wife started doing better, she came to Seattle to see tournaments, and she started enjoying it, but she wanted to be by her kids all the time.
• 53:15 – Mark asks Fred about his radio show (SiriusXM).
• 56:39 – In Mark’s opinion, there’s a certain style when people go through and they just kind of check off the questions that they already have pre-planned and that’s just not a great way to have that spontaneous interaction.

Three Key Points

1. 

   Fred’s goal is to win one more Champions Tour event. He needs to stay healthy and keep plugging along and work a little harder. He doesn’t want to play the Champions Tour just to finish 20th and 30th. Instead, his goal is getting one more win and then seeing where it is and if it’s a major, then he can say goodbye.

2. Fred feels blessed that he never had a thumb injury or an ankle that was broken or neck. He can play around his back. He can get it around but when he can’t really swing, then it’s that he just gets away from it and lets it heal.
3. As per Mark, sometimes blessings can come through adversity that we go through and we know we’re better for it—even though the end result may not be at the time.

Tweetable Quotes

“I said no, what I need is to eat, drink and sleep basketball.” – Fred Couples

“I still have the little check—$250 that I won as an amateur, and I don’t even know what the pro would have won, $3,000 or whatever, it doesn’t matter.” – Fred Couples

“He would talk about them, but he never really looked at myself or Blaine and said you guys are going to be great tour players.” – Fred Couples

“I won’t ride off into the sunset, but I want to win one more Champions Tour event.” – Fred Couples

“I wouldn’t say my core in my belly is like concrete, but I have very strong legs and that’s how I swing. If you watch, I pick the club up and make a huge turn.” – Fred Couples

“I know what LeBron James is going to do. I don’t need to watch him for 40 minutes—so I look at everyone else and how they run around and do things.” – Fred Couples

“And maybe your back injuries were a blessing, because it allowed you to kind of take off and, like, keep those grinds going that maybe it was a curse. I don’t know.” – Mark Pattison

“I didn’t win any after 43; I wanted my last chart when I was 43. It bothered me but it didn’t really crush me.” – Fred Couples

“I just couldn’t believe in 1983 that many people were watching me, but they’re watching everyone because there are 3,000 or 4,000 people.” – Fred Couples

 

Resources:

Fred Couples

Fred Couples Interviews Mark Pattison on his SiriusXM Show > For SiriusXM Subscribers  }| Highlight