Blades, Mulligans, And Momentum

A teenager shoots 60 on the Nicklaus course and suddenly the game looks younger, faster, and braver. We open with Blades Brown’s breakout and the ripple effect of a prodigy who can go low under cameras and crowds, then zoom out to what early crowning means in a sport that remembers both fireworks and flameouts. It’s a celebration and a caution: talent draws a spotlight, and pressure keeps the bulb hot.

That theme of pressure runs straight into the psychology of mulligans. On the first tee, swagger meets physics, and sometimes the shaft meets a tree. We unpack why golfers love do-overs, how self-handicapping protects the ego, and why charity mulligans sell more hope than strokes. Then we take the idea off-course: the text you wish you unsent, the meeting you dreaded, the decision you delayed. Momentum comes from action, not perfection, which is why Mel Robbins’ 5-4-3-2-1 rule becomes a practical tool. Count down, move, and stop negotiating with the couch. If it must be done eventually, do it now.

From there, the stakes scale up. College football’s NIL era and the transfer portal have scrambled the map, letting new contenders rise fast and forcing legacy programs to adapt. We break down why playoffs feel different, how peak performance compresses into inches, and what we learn from athletes who execute when the clock refuses to wait. Finally, we turn to power, process, and trust around ICE actions and media narratives—because rules only matter if evidence and accountability keep them honest. Sports teach us to accept shared standards; civic life demands the same, or the game doesn’t feel fair.

Hit play for a ride from fairways to front pages, from do-overs to doing the hard thing. If this spoke to you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review with one action you’ll start in 5-4-3-2-1.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage
• 0:38 Meet Blades Brown
• 2:12 Records, Hype, And Caution
• 4:45 What Youth Means For Golf
• 4:45 Money Mulligans Explained
• 9:46 Golf Anger And Broken Clubs
• 13:22 Mulligans As Self-Handicapping
• 16:43 Life’s Mulligans We Wish For
• 18:21 The Doom Scroll Trap
• 20:45 Mel Robbins’ 5-4-3-2-1
• 24:10 Doing Hard Things Immediately
• 27:45 The Playoffs Switch
• 31:12 NIL, Portals, And Power Shifts

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:04

Welcome to Tales. I'm Rich Easton telling tales about golf, about life experiences, observations, parables, and an unadulterated view of my world, how I see things in a world of my algorithms that are built from my search engines and active listening from my smart devices. So you know what they say: garbage in, garbage out. Man, with a name like Blades Brown, you just gotta be good. If you're like me and most people I know, Blades Brown, the 18-year-old golf phenom from Nashville, Tennessee, wasn't on anybody's radar screen. Well, I shouldn't say anybody. If you followed the U.S. amateur, you'd know that he became the youngest medalist in U.S. amateur history at the age of 16. Later, he medaled at the U.S. Junior Amateur as well, joining only Tiger Woods and Bobby Clampett as the only players to medal both. He is now in a category with Tiger Woods. He dominated Tennessee High School golf for Brentwood Academy with three straight state titles. Imagine being that accomplished that you skip college and all of the potential NIL money to turn pro in 2025. He earned the status on the Corn Ferry Tour by qualifying for the tour championship, despite the fact that he started with no status. This kid can play with the big kids and go low on any given day in front of sizable galleries while being followed by TV crews in his backswing. He shoots a 60. That's 12 under par on the Nicholas course, the hardest of the three on Saturday. 12 under par. Breaking the American Express course record at the Nicholas course. He's now the youngest player ever on the PGA tour to shoot a 60 or better. Pretty good start, right? Look, I know it's impossible to predict the effect he's gonna have on the sport of golf, the records he's possibly going to break, and the number of majors he could go low and win. There's so many influences, distractions, and experiences that will affect his life in golf and outside of golf that make all of those grandiose predictions true or false. And I only say that because any athlete in any sport that gets a really good head start are sometimes crowned too early in their careers. Look, I know this. And those demons tend to come out more when their heads in a vice and they're competing against one of the best pros in the world. It just happens. And this kid went toe-to-toe for three and a half days. And with a name like Blades Brown, the media and social media, I guess now one and the same, will have a field day when he's in the hunt. And think about what it does to the sport of golf. Most every great golfer came up watching other great golfers wanting to be like them, be in the same situation, or hopefully beat them. Now you've got a kid he's 18. Think about every kid that's putting a club in their hand or wants to put a club in their hand because there's an 18-year-old that's beating up on these old 35-year-olds. I think it's great for the sport. It's Gen Z versus the Millennials coming to a golf course near you. Money mulligans and the psychology of do-overs. You ever notice that the first tea is basically a stage for self-proclaimed athletes in their logoed gear, pretending like they warmed up for an hour like prose before their their tea time, and then stretched in the gym beforehand and ready to hit their career drive for all to see. And then the rubber meets the road.

SPEAKER_02: 5:23

When the rubber meets the road.

SPEAKER_01: 6:42

Shout out to David Ayres and his team. Every week we would see golfers walking into the shop to replace, quote, unquote, lost clubs. Or the most obvious patrons coming in with two clubs that are actually one because it's broken. Somewhere near the hostle, somewhere in the middle, but they have that same look on their face, like they're about to tell me a story, not to embarrass themselves, because they don't want to show that they're club breakers or club throwers. So it'll be something like you know, I was taking my club back, my ball was in a funny place, and I came down hard, and there was a hidden root in front of my ball. Snapped my club right in half. Or I'm taking my club back, go to hit my ball. I know I'm close to a tree, but I think I can make the shot like Tiger Woods. And in my follow-through, my club shaft hits into the tree and snaps in half. And I would say half of those stories are true. And I'm exaggerating with the half. I would say most were the result of ganger, golf anger. Some golfers haven't learned to control their disbelief that their mind and body are on different pages, or somewhere in their swing they were distracted or lost their confidence, or truthfully had a one in a thousand chance of making that shot anyway, screwed it up, and made the club pay the price for the shitty result. So back to Mulligans. When a golfer calls Mulligan and their playing partners don't protest, he or she gets redemption. That potential double bogey on the first hole because of that out-of-bounds first drive gets wiped clean and a newer, more hopeful round emerges. That is, unless their second drive is as shitty as their first. I'd played with a buddy back in Charleston, let's call him Constantino, who gave out mulligans like Mardi Gras beads. No, no, we didn't have to show our tits, but he never said no to that first drink on us. What's interesting about mulligans is that psychologists have a theory for this called self-handicapping. When we take a mulligan, we're protecting our ego. We're building a thin veneer around our confidence that says, that first one wasn't real, so I can still believe I am great. And by the end of the round, you might still be out some lunch money, but emotionally you're richer than when you first teed it up. Even if mulligans can be bought, like at most charity events I've played, where the winning team posts a 25 for 18 holes. Golfers don't buy them mostly out of greed. They buy them for hope, for the idea that maybe their real awesome swing is in there hidden behind some tension, and maybe that fifth beer you said yes to. It's not that different from real life outside of the golf course. We all wish for mulligans. Like that exclamation in a meeting you wish you could take back. That email you wrote in reaction instead of response to something that just got under your skin. That investment you made without consulting a good financial advisor. That remark you made about your boss to a contemporary who might have been his secret lover at the time. That oral report you did in college on the benefits of marijuana on college campuses just three months before you were supposed to go on that study program in Bogota, Colombia, which you never went on. Or believing this girl in high school that told you that she and the all-American middle linebacker from the football team were broken up weeks ago, except for the fact that he didn't know it yet. And all of these questionably fabricated scenarios would have loved to have had mulligans to mitigate the pain and suffering endured, allegedly. But instead of mulligans, we have a chance to not repeat certain behaviors in real life if we get the chance. In golf, there's always going to be bad shots. Mulligans are a way of making them disappear.

SPEAKER_04: 11:50

One more scroll that'll really begin. Oh, look, a cat video again. I was gonna clean, I was gonna run, but my dad said still. Let's get away.

SPEAKER_01: 12:09

It had to sit with me for a while after I read it a few months ago. Maybe I procrastinate. I had just listened to a podcast. I think it was Joe Rogan, Mike Rowe, or the Smartless Trio of Baton Hayes, and Arnett. They were interviewing Mel Robbins on a few of her brainchild aphorisms. She spoke about her deep depression following their restaurant bankruptcy during the 2008 market crash and how she had to develop a mantra of five, four, three, two, one just to get out of bed and move forward. I mean, it seemed like such a small self-motivating initiative that I just didn't give up much weight. How could counting backwards from five to one provoke the inertia of motion when just seconds ago you were content with the inertia of rest? In other words, as my dad would say it, how can a simple countdown get you off your ass to do something that hasn't been done yet? Richard, get it done. The answer is I don't know how it works. And I don't care, but it does work. It works so well that I've used it daily for the smallest to largest projects that need to get done. Most all of us procrastinate for one reason or another. Probably the number one reason is hey, I'm just content sitting here doom scrolling until my eyes tear up, or just doing something that I don't want to change. Number two, whatever that task is that has to get done seems boring, lacks structure or direction, or is just not fun. Hint, I'm a fun junkie. If it's not fun, I figure out a way to make it fun, or likely find something else to do that has greater fun potential. But some things have to get done and they're not fun. To me, house chores, phone calls that put you on tilt, and maybe the other person, golfing and inclement weather. I am a fair weather golfer. Swimming in cold water or taking cold plunges, attending meetings about scheduling future meetings, taking my dog Sammy for a walk at seven in the morning when it's sub-freezing temperatures, any kind of tax prep. Going to PT to endure more pain to fix the pain you're already feeling. We could all name those things that we would love to avoid, but eventually have to do. What needs to be done eventually that should be done immediately, speaks volumes to for our preference to leave things as they are today and maybe tackle them tomorrow. The worst things for me when I worked in corporate life was the decision of having to fire somebody or demote them, usually coming after it became obvious to more than one person that the team and that person with a target on their back is better off with that person off the team. In the large companies that I got a chance to work with, the conversation with the person you have to fire is usually preceded with multiple conversations with HR and other employees that are affected by this targeted employee. That's just building the blocks to justify the action and get buy-in from others so you're not out on a limb when they push back. More importantly, it sets legal justification just in case the employee wants to retaliate. All of that, no fun. And the most dreaded part is actually sitting him down, looking him in the eye, and delivering the bad news. Also, not fun. It shouldn't be fun. And if it's fun for you, I can't imagine what business you're in or what series of events in your life led you up to the getting the exuberance at a swinging the corporate axe. Now, look, I know I get it. Most of the time the fired employee is better suited to work somewhere else. And the firing is a result of the company counting backwards from five to one before the employee does. And I get that most people fire themselves by behaving in a certain way that's or they're just choosing not to do any shit anymore, making it difficult to keep them on the team. But all that being said, unless their behavior breaks laws, crossed the line morally or ethically, or made it impossible for their team to function, it's still hard to look a person in the eyes and figuratively tell them, hey, look, you're no longer needed or wanted. And the income that helps you support yourself or your family needs to come from another place. So again, when I heard the saying, well, must be done eventually, should be done immediately, and then learn the Mel Robbins countdown strategy, it was like a light bulb going off over my head. Like I'm not in the hiring or firing stage of my life anymore. I don't anticipate to, but who knows what the future holds. But I know this every time I have to transition out of a comfortable place, I count backwards from five to one. Every time I get in the pool and it's cold and I've got to swim in cold water, I count backwards, jump in, and just deal with it. Try it.

SPEAKER_00: 18:19

Five, four, three, two, one.

SPEAKER_01: 18:26

The playoffs, nothing like it. Like many of you, some of you, okay, a few of you like me, when most college and pro sports hit their respective playoffs, I just pay way more attention. And football, both college and pro are my favorite. And it's funny that we still distinguish the two, like college isn't pro anymore. When I first moved to South Carolina, I was told that I had to pick a team. And I'm like, what do you mean? And they're like, it's either Clemson or it's South Carolina. So when I moved there 10 years ago, Clemson was on a run. I like winners. I like seeing their offense. I like the coach Dabo Sweeney, who recently just came out and said, this transfer portal is bullshit. But anyway, when I was there, I had to pick one or the other, and I kind of picked Clemson, but I really, my heart wasn't in it because I didn't go there. I really didn't know many people that went there, but I liked the way they were coached, I like the way they played. In the past 10 years, though, because there's so many transplants from the Northeast, from Ohio, from Alabama, from Georgia, that it's just more about picking two teams. I don't pledge my loyalty to a college or pro team for life for two reasons. One is I was educated in Long Island and upstate New York in Schenectady. Neither have an outstanding football program. Yeah, I know the Jets won the Super Bowl in 1969, and I actually cut the lawn of one of the defensive players, Jerry Philbin, but that in itself is not enough for a lifetime pledge. The Jets, over the past 56 seasons since they won the Super Bowl, they've only had 17 winning seasons, and most of those were right after they won the Super Bowl. That's a long time to watch a team fail to make the playoffs. Since New York, I've lived in eight different cities around the lower 48 and have lived near die hard football fans. I like their enthusiasm, and when we watch a game together, their enthusiasm is contagious. So for that game, I might favor that team and feel the exuberance when they win, but I don't feel that gut punch when they lose. And maybe that's why I don't wager on sports. Besides the fact that there's never enough information on each coach and player's mental and physical state before the game. Besides that, I just hate losing. I hate losing more than I enjoy winning. Oh yeah, where was I? I like watching the playoffs in most sports. The Olympics are at our doorstep, and to me, that's the epitome of the playoffs. These are the best in the world, and most of them had to qualify before they could enter it and compete in the Olympics. So that was kind of the beginning of the playoffs. Even curling catches my attention for a Day or so. Playoffs fill stadiums, get heightened media attention, fuel sp sports talk programs, and capture more eyes and ears than regular season games. The quality achievement is heightened on the field, and we get to witness excellence under pressure. And for those of you that have that Schadenfreud mindset, you might get to see someone or someone's choke under pressure as well. The college playoffs this year were a good representation of the effects of the NIL and transfer portal. Indiana bought an outstanding coach who assembled a team of invincible soldiers to beat storied programs like Ohio State and Alabama, changing the likely football programs to play in the championship game. Miami did the same, and we got to witness what it looks like when there's more than just head coaches making recruiting trips, sitting in living rooms of future prospects, promising them a big stage to play on and great diplomas at the end. And I know I'm stretching it with the whole diploma thing, but coaches needed to know what was important for certain families to hear. So the diploma discussion was another arrow in their quiver. Regardless of how the teams were assembled, as a football fan with no skin in the game with any team in the playoffs, I bought into the media hype and hope for Indiana victory after the first playoff game. The level of teamwork, precision, and love that they had for each other fueled them to accomplish their goals. I also like watching Miami, a number 10 seed, surprising some sports talking heads and putting a team on the field worthy of winning a championship. But they came up against Indiana, who had one more greater play than Miami. Now my eyes are on the NFL playoffs. Barring a couple of shitty weather survival games, the level of the game is at its peak. One-handed catches with two feet barely in bounds, head fakes and 40-yard runs from running backs that over 16 games endured hundreds of hits and still peaked during the playoffs. Quarterbacks flushed out of the pockets to throw 60-yard desperation passes into their wide receivers' stretched-out arms, defensive front lines that pierce through or bull dodge into the backfield to stifle an offense. And all of that gives the media a field day. In my last episode, I tried away the pros and cons of ICE. That was before the Alex Predi incident. Some would call it an assassination. In one of my recent Facebook posts, I compared Greg Bovino, the commander of ICE in Minneapolis, to the fictional character Colonel Miles Quarich from Avatar One, the striking resemblance to the warhawk and the mentality to mobilize, intimidate, and destroy. Our current administration is collapsing the checks and balances of the three pillars of government to give the president unprecedented and unconstitutional powers to intimidate and bully anyone and everyone that doesn't agree with him. His sink of fans justify his every statement and action and have little conscience when lying to the American public about ICE's actions, despite our ability to witness multiple videos that contradict their testimony. I recently watched and listened to an interview by Katie Couric with Minnesota's Attorney General Keith Ellison on her Katie Cork Substack website. He asserts that the 3,500 ICE agents ascended on his state because Tim Waltz and the powers in Minnesota wouldn't comply with Trump's request for personal information on Minnesotans, nor would Minnesota hold any detainees past their legal amount of time once they have been vetted. I'm not doing the interview justice, so I highly recommend you listen to the interview. She also speaks to Sophie Barrett, a 23-year-old journalist in Minneapolis, and Peter Moscos, former Baltimore police officer, also an author and sociologist trained at Princeton and Harvard, who speaks to the questionable practice from ICE agents, particularly in the assassination of Pretty and Good. And let's say whether it was defense or offense, it they killed them. It was an assassination. I don't know what's worse. An uninformed citizen or a misinformed citizen. Our administration is taking a piss on the American public while calling it inclement weather caused by the Democrats. I get that the U.S. has an onslaught of immigration, which has upset certain communities. It's up to the state to determine how to deal with their concerns and how and when to request federal help in dealing with their crises. In Minnesota, the voting public have spoken by electing officials to deal with Minnesota type issues. That administration has been unwilling to respond to unreasonable requests. And where does the US government come off by asking for voter rolls? And when denied, send in masked ICE agents with zero accountability so far. Both situations, incidents, have been void of hard evidence to allow state authorities to examine the facts. The Renee Good crime scene was not police tagged off to preserve evidence. The car was actually removed and the area was contaminated soon thereafter. This is unprecedented. The scales of justice are being manipulated. If it doesn't affect you today, I wouldn't get too comfortable. And look, I understand you might have a totally different perspective of what's happening, and you might like what's happening. Look at the roadkill of previous supporters for Trump, and once they crossed him, how he dealt with them. Marjorie Taylor Green, who I am not a fan of, but to watch the total 180-degree turn on their relationship speaks volumes. And look, if you wholeheartedly believe that we're being led to a better future as a result of the ice raids and tariffs, then I'd have to imagine that you're not living in an ice enforced city. You're probably not reading about it the way I am, and your portfolio growth, your stock portfolio growth, more than exceeds the inflation resulting from the unilaterally decided tariffs. Like I said earlier, my algorithm feeds me information that suggests we're being governed by a dictatorship disguised as a republic. But that's just me. You've been listening to Tales from the First T. I'm your host, Rich Easton, broadcasting from you know where you're going to be able to do it.