360. Dylan Wu: PGA Tour Life, Off-Season Prep, Little Brother on the Bag

0:00:04 – Jeff Pelizzaro
The 18STRONG Podcast, episode number 360 with Dylan Wu, pga Tour golfer. What’s up, guys? Welcome back to the 18STRONG Podcast, where we’re here to help you build a stronger game, because we believe that everyone deserves to play better, longer. In today’s episode we are interviewing Dylan Wu, pga Tour golfer, and we get a chance to talk to him about really him working his way onto the tour from Northwestern University through the Canadian Tour, corn Fairy Tour, all the way up to the PGA Tour. We talk about his challenges, his successes and even some stories about him and his having his brother on the bag as his caddy which he’s now his full-time caddy, but some funny stories from when he first started out. And then we’re going to talk about his fitness and his nutrition and really the lifestyle that he lives on the PGA Tour Lot of travel, lot of situations where he has to really plan out what he’s doing, and so his work on his fitness game, his nutrition and really recovery is very, very important to him. So we’re going to talk about all that in this episode with Dylan.

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0:02:05 – Dylan Wu
Thanks for having me, guys.

0:02:06 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah, for sure, man. This is exciting. I’m really excited to talk to you about your career on the Korn Ferry tour the last couple years on the PGA Tour, and we were just kind of catching up about you starting out playing golf at such a young age, like three years old. So give us a little background on you and your history with your family and playing golf with your dad, and then we’ll jump into the rest of the career.

0:02:28 – Dylan Wu
Yeah, so I grew up in Southern Oregon, a town called Medford, pretty close to the border of California, the oldest of four. But yeah, when I was born my dad started learning the game of golf and I have pictures of myself when I was one or two on the button green. I don’t remember them, but it happened and my earliest memory I remember is just carrying a set of Snoopy clubs to the range of my dad. But the one thing cool thing is my brothers are twin brothers, 16 months younger than me and they both played college golf. I played golf in Northwestern. Jeremy, who actually Caddys for me now, played golf at Valparaiso, and then my other brother played golf at the Air Force. And then my sister just graduated this past spring from Lipscomb University in Nashville. So we have four D1 golfers in the family, which is pretty cool.

0:03:33 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah. So I mean, obviously you guys played a ton of golf together and then your brother now is on the bag and has been cadding for you for the last few years. We had some technical difficulties, so you actually just told me the story, but I’m gonna ask you to go ahead and tell it again about you bringing your brother on the bag and what that was like.

0:03:49 – Dylan Wu
Yeah. So I was on the Korn Ferry. This is back in 2021. I actually just qualified for the US Open and he was still working for Ernst Young in tax and accounting and he came to watch me at the US Open as a fan Boosing and just watching golf and having a good time. And I was kind of going in a different direction with my caddy and I wanted to kind of get a little more confidence in my own ability and own decision-making. So I kind of wanted to have Jeremy work one week the following week after the US Open, just carrying the bag and keeping it chill and just having good time. I also remember like told him I’d pay all his expenses at the beginning and then give him a percentage and like Maine is like the most expensive place, he’s eating lobster like 24-7. I’m like this is not a good deal for me but we end up playing pretty well. That week Finished 15th and I was like, okay, let’s caddy for a little bit. So three weeks later, playing in Springfield Missouri, his fourth week on the bag, we end up winning the tournament, which is unreal my only win on a PTA Tour sanctioned event today.

But I remember a funny moment on Sunday. It was around this part three. I’m like there’s four holes left. I have a two-shot lead. And I’m like, what are you doing? You’re not even helping get a yardage. You need to do something. You’re just standing there and I’m like, dude, we’re four holes from winning. Like just let’s get through this.

And he’s like, oh yeah, I probably should do something. And I even look at the notes from that week when we won and other weeks when he first started cadding for me and it’s like the most basic notes possible. It’s like right side good, left side bad. It’s like no notes of the wind or where the pin location is, how far I was hitting it. I’m just like, yeah, you basically were useless that week but we won. We actually just came out with a golf diadis article in October and I tell that story and the first review. I say that Jeremy was useless, but they didn’t really say anything after that. He’s way better at cadding now, but they kind of just left it like that. So I’m like, oh, you guys should probably say that he’s actually a good caddy now.

0:06:34 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah, he’s actually getting better yeah.

0:06:37 – Dylan Wu
So the chemistry now is really good. But yeah, having your brother on the bag is definitely very unique. The one thing is you can be very transparent and honest, which is good or bad sometimes, because sometimes you just want to yell at your brother, Like I’m the big brother, I’m like he’s my little brother and I’m the boss. So like yeah, you should listen to me, I’ll just yell at you.

Talking to some other players, like Harry Higgs has his brother on the bag and we played with Harry one time and he just told me, like if anything goes wrong, I just want to kill Al, his caddy and brother. So it’s kind of the same way. Sometimes you just yell at your brother just to yell at them. But the one thing about your brother is that you can say anything to them. They’re always going to not take it personally and going to be there for no matter what. Like just wants the best for you. So that’s the one thing that’s been going good. Like honestly, my career has been slowly just going up and our chemistry has been just getting better.

0:07:40 – Jeff Pelizzaro
I mean, obviously you guys are good buddies. Has it ever gotten a little heated out there?

0:07:45 – Dylan Wu
Oh hundreds on. Yeah, I mean the stuff you hear between players and caddies. It’s like players are psycho. It’s like sometimes caddy just has to be a punching bag. Like you might be blaming the caddy, but like sometimes the caddy can do anything wrong and you just want to yell at them. You just need somebody to take it, because if you just bottle it inside it’s not going to turn out well. So sometimes I’m just like Jeremy. I’m like just don’t take it personal and just like sometimes just be pissed off and like just let just take it. But there’s times in the beginning where Jeremy is a little stubborn and I’m like he’s like talking back. I’m like why are you talking back? Do you think any other caddy is talking back?

0:08:26 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah, that’s a different dynamic, having your little brother and because, yeah, I can just picture me and my little brother out on the course and him, you know, spitting it back, but then being the boss and being like, no, like you have to listen to me right now, this is the way this goes. So, as you came out of Northwestern University and then played some Canadian tour, I believe, but then got onto the corn fairy tour, I know that you had a situation where and this was in that article, because I read that article just this past week about where you missed a five foot putt in a Monday qualifier and kind of like really had you kind of put some things into perspective, what happened there and then what was the trajectory from there to you mentioned. Then you won in Springfield, right, but Yomo, I think in the article you said that you know that really helped push you along because you were so close and then just kind of helped move you forward into having more desire to get out there and win.

0:09:24 – Dylan Wu
For sure. Now I look at it, it was maybe a lowest point I’ve been in my golf career. Just because TurnPro in 2018, played in Canada, played decent, did Q-School, made it to Final Stage, which is a good big deal, but didn’t get guaranteed starts, finished like 85th at Final Stage. So I conditional set no status going into 2019. So I had to do a bunch of Monday qualifiers in the beginning of the year and I was in Kansas City. My game was feeling good, I was in the 844 playoffs and the second or third playoff hole I have a five footer to keep on going and it would have been a 3 for 2. After that and the guys who made par like were spraying it in the trees, like getting a little lucky, and I was like, okay, make this, we’ll be fine. And I remember hitting it and leaving it short and I’m like what the hell? I remember. So I literally tapped in, shook everybody’s hand, walked to the car, put my bag in the back of the rental car, closed it drove out like calmly, and as soon as I turned out of the clubhouse, I just remember just yelling and just like slamming my head into the steering wheel and just like thinking to myself like what am I doing? Like what? This isn’t even fun. Like this sucks. Like you can’t even get through a Monday qualifier. Or like when you’re playing well, it’s like every opportunity matters. I was like gosh, but it just shows that Monday qualifiers suck. It’s like it’s a very unique part of professional golf. It’s like one day just shoot out, like golf is four rounds, consistency and like every whole matters. But like if you don’t get off to a good start on Monday qualifier, you’re just like gone. Like anybody can play well on one day, especially on a Monday qualifier courses because they’re usually easier versus in a tour event in harder conditions, under four rounds. So before it still gave me a lot of confidence, but I remember that moment. I was just like this sucks. And honestly, a month later I ended up getting into the cornfield event in Springfield, illinois my second ever cornfield event and I shoot 65, 63 on the weekend getting a playoff. And then I lose on the third playoff hole to the guy who was number two on the points list and he made a 25 footer for birdie. So I went from having conditional status to having full status and being in the rest of the season. So that was huge. Yeah, it just yeah, that was. That was very huge.

And then kept my card going into 2020. So, at full status, going to 2020 on the cornfield, and I started the season awesome. And if it wasn’t for COVID, I would have got my tour card in 2020. Oh, really. But because, yeah, because of COVID nobody graduated and there was two years on tour. So instead of finishing in the top 25 after 25 events, you have to do it after 45 events, which is 10 times harder. Yeah, it takes so many more points. It was so hard and that’s why that Springfield, missouri, was the end of 2021. So then I got my tour card in the fall of 2021. And now I’ve just finished my second year on tour.

0:13:10 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Awesome and you had an event in the Bahamas, I think it was, where you said that you had a seven shot lead. You kind of let that drift away a little bit. But what I thought was really cool in the interview that you were talking about this is that you said that the ability for you to have I think it was maybe a bad a rough Saturday where you lost the lead but then you were able to grind back and get to a T2. And it sounded like you really took a lot away from that fact that you were in the lead, you were able to go low, didn’t quite win, but you were able to kind of bounce back. Is that right?

0:13:45 – Dylan Wu
Yeah, 100%. So first event of 2020, we’re in Bahamas, exuma. It’s like the windiest place on earth and for some reason the first two days I just black out 11 under par, cuts like five over. I have a seven shot lead and it’s like probably one of the worst places to have a seven shot lead because it’s just so windy and there’s trouble everywhere.

I just lost it really easily, not even like hitting that bad of shots and I was just like that’s tough, but I lost it after like the first four or five holes on Saturday and then could have easily melted and finished like what 25th, the 30th and just bad week, but kind of just hung in there and just grind it and then like every point matters on the corn for it when you’re trying to get your tour card.

So finishing T2 was huge and it just gave me a lot of experience from that moment, like I’ve never been in that position before and I just learned a lot and I think that really helped me moving forward a year and a half later to winning in Springfield Missouri when I had the second opportunity and the Springfield Missouri was actually kind of new too, because I’ve never held a 74 hole lead and I think just the experiences when you fail or you just don’t win, like you just learned so much more from those and then, yeah, that just kind of helped me just catapult to the PGA Tour and, honestly, just like all the failures you have or the struggles you have, as long as you learn from them, you’ll only get better. Like, whether you’re hitting a golf shot or arounds, like as long as you see every shot or everything as an experience into your memory bank, like that you’re always learning. Whether I miss the cut or I play really well, it’s all about moving forward and helping you get better for the next time.

0:15:46 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Do you ever find yourself drawing on those moments like legitimately in an event, or like you know, like I got to hit a great seven iron here. Do you ever flash back to like shots that you’ve hit with that seven iron or different situations that you’ve been in that are similar to that, where you know like, hey, I’ve done this before.

0:16:04 – Dylan Wu
Yeah, I don’t necessarily remember images of hitting it before, but having like a positive visual image or a memory or just bring it back, it really helps. Like I’ve been here before, like you said, is what I tell myself you’ve been here, you can do this, you can do this, whether you’re hitting a five footer to win a tournament or to make the cut. It’s like you’ve hit this putz so many times in practice. It’s just like you have to execute it in tournament atmosphere, which is way harder.

So just anything you can draw on from experiences where it’s good or bad, and it’s very helpful, like I think, when, whatever your failures, and then the next time you’re in it you can be like this is what happened last time, like what I think went wrong, and let’s just focus a little more on like trying to not do that. Yeah, I try to do better, but yeah, all of those experiences are just. I mean, I’m 27, but I feel like I’ve had so many experiences already and I can’t even believe guys who have been playing till like they’re 60 and have like 25 years on tour and it’s just so much experience and it’s like sometimes getting mad and getting frustrated like doesn’t make sense, like what’s the worst thing that’s going to happen?

0:17:25 – Jeff Pelizzaro
You’re going to hit another golf shot, so yeah, what’s been the biggest change from corn fairy tour to the PGA tour as far as like the, from the competitive level? Because obviously the guys on the corn fairy tour I mean we’re seeing incredible athleticism, incredible golfers. I mean we see guys coming from the corn fairy tour, straight from the corn fairy tour winning in some of these events. What have you noticed has been a big, bigger change from one to the other.

0:17:53 – Dylan Wu
Honestly, like a really big change is the golf courses and the conditioning. Let’s say like the PGA tour can kind of choose where they want to play every week. Like you’re playing in an area at the best time of the year, perfect conditions or at least ideal for court setup, like rough can be long, firm, it might be windy, but like it’s just, it’s just way more pure conditions versus on the corn fairy it’s a little more wet, greens are softer, less rough, and it’s kind of just score Like until you get to the PGA tour. Like college golf is closer to the PGA tour than corn fairy, almost because you play better courses in college than you do on the corn fairy. Like if a course is not hosting their PGA tour event, they want to host their alma mater. People love their schools, they want to. So like the college events I played in college you play Aaron Hills, olympia Fields, tpc, harding Park. I mean you play every. You play every cool course because people love college golf.

Yeah, they don’t like mini tours and corn fairy events as much, but that’s I’d say the biggest is the setup and yeah, the level is just so razor thin, like I honestly talking to especially guys that play on both tours, like older guys who’ve experienced a lot on the PGA tour and now are playing on the corn fairy a little bit. It’s just like it’s so thin. It’s just like all about playing well at the right time, like that’s what golf is. It’s like anybody can go go hit a good shot, but can you hit it under pressure when it matters the most, like can you get through Q school when it matters the most to further your career? Career, you make the cut. You play well in the back then to make the cut, just like everybody can do it when they’re practicing, but can you do it when it matters the most and it’s just small stuff.

And then being a rookie on the PGA tour is hard because you’re seeing everything for the first time. You really do feel like a rookie when you don’t even know where to register, like my rookie year, like where is parking, like what do I do? Just the small stuff. And then now I’m going to be finishing my second year, starting next year. I remember my second year was just so comfortable and basically you’re going to play all these tournaments the third time. There’s a few tournaments that I’m going to be playing for the first time, which will be super exciting. But being comfortable is also a huge part, like when you’re playing at a new place, where they’re on the Korn Ferry, on the PGA tour. Seeing something the first time, you’re a little uncomfortable. Once you have one tournament, or even one round, you’re just way more comfortable.

0:20:49 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah, and hopefully your brother took better notes the first time around than he used to.

0:20:54 – Dylan Wu
Yeah, seriously, oh brutal.

0:20:58 – Jeff Pelizzaro
How has the travel these days now? Because obviously, being on the tour, you’ve got your schedule laid out a little bit more. And if you could even talk a little bit about the end of the year, what the fall season was like, and then moving into next year, what do you have access to being in? I think you were finished 86 then FedEx Cup points yeah.

0:21:21 – Dylan Wu
It’s so unique right now with the PGA tour because everything is changing. Like my rookie year was two years ago and it’s not even close the same as this year and next year is going to be different. Yeah, like I finished 86 after the Wyndham Championship and I usually would get into the playoffs and the playoffs were top 70. And now these fall series are finalizing the top 125s when in the past it’s the beginning of the season. So it’s so weird. Like I remember playing these fall events in the fall and I’m like this doesn’t seem part of the same season. And this past season we basically had two falls, so you had the fall of 22 and the fall of 23 in the same season and then we’ll start January calendar year in 2024 season. But, to answer your question, like the lifestyle and the traveling is very busy. I’m really looking forward to next year because it’ll be the first year we’re going to kind of plan and pick my schedule At least the normal regular full side PJ Tour events, because the designated events next year are all going to be small fields. So if you’re not a top player and didn’t finish in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup this past year, you won’t be in the designated events you kind of can play your way into if you’re playing well. So it’s just nice to know like I don’t have to play any Monday qualifiers like this past season on the PJ Tour I basically barely kept status after my rookie year because of the guys that went to live.

I struggled my rookie year and I finished in the conditional category, won 26 to 150. And honestly, like kept status by one shot, like two points, two FedEx Cup points over the season, which is one shot at some point. Like I play. I felt like I played horrible that first year but like every shot matters, like I was one shot away from going back to the corn fairy and luckily, with those guys going to live, I kept status on tour and I was able to play my way into bigger events out of the conditional category. And the conditional category this year sucked because you don’t even know you’re in tournaments Like you might be in alternate. Then you get in on Tuesday or Wednesday you might have to finish your tournament, play well, finish 15, like one shot out to the top 10, and then go catch a flight to do the Monday qualifier for the next week because you’re like second alternate. So it’s like the unknown stuff and the travel logistics that kind of sucked this year. But at the same time I was one shot away from going back to the corn fairy and I literally that one shot. I turned it into a really solid season on the PGA tour where I finished 86. Like, I think, my rookie year, I played 30 events, maybe just under, and I made like 13 or 14 cuts, and then this year I made 21 with a lot more better results.

I mean, yeah, the first year was a struggle for sure, but I’m just looking forward next year to just knowing I’m in the field. I don’t have to check it all the time. Now I can see who’s in the field at the end. It just makes it easier to schedule stuff. I can plan something for, say, like John Deere Classic next year already now. I can plan for the fall next year if I want to. So, like going forward, I hope I can just plan my schedule all the time because that’s what the big guy’s going to do and I haven’t really had the opportunity yet. So I’m looking forward to that. But I’m definitely not going to take it for granted, because you just got to keep on working hard Until you really win on the PGA tour, your job’s not really secure. So yeah, I mean I love having a time this off season to rest because it’s been a busy year, but I’m excited to get back going in January and just keep it going. It’s awesome to be on the PGA tour. Sometimes the golf’s the easiest part. The travel, the lifestyle just being constantly on the road is probably the worst part. But there’s no better feeling than playing inside the ropes, hitting shots under pressure, like in front of the most fans possible, like.

Some of the coolest moments this year were on Saturday at the Players’ Championship On 17,. I hit first in the group, hits like eight feet First time I hit the green. The first three days I hit like on the fringe and then in the bunker. The first two days Hits eight feet. But it’s like four o’clock on Saturday, place is pretty buzzing. I hit a pretty good shot, cheer in and then my buddy Aaron Ryze, playing right behind me, oh right, no. Ting next in the same group Makes a hole in one and it was just one of the sickest moments that I didn’t even hit a shot. But I was like Holy shit, this is so cool, like the place is buzzing. Luckily I already hit my shot. Glad I didn’t have to go next. But luckily I made birdie. But that was a cool moment. I mean really cool moments this year.

I couldn’t imagine, like at the beginning of the year, like these things happening, like I just had such a big increase to playing well on my second year than the first year, like I shot 61 this year at the American Express, 11 under I made an Albatross and rocket mortgage from 262 yards. I had to play with John Rom at the US Open. But that’s the one thing too is like I want I want to play against the best players in the world and see how I stack up against. So, like every time I’m playing in a big event, I want to play. I want to get paired with somebody who’s a big name. It’s just to watch them and just also learn and see how my game compares. That’s what you want. You want to play against the best. And yeah, I’m just looking forward to next year for sure, just trying to get better every year. Luckily, my career has kind of been slowly going up and up, so I hope I could just keep on getting better and better, and that’s all you can ask for.

0:27:31 – Jeff Pelizzaro
So what does that look like this offseason? Because that sounds like you had a little more time to kind of relax, recover a little bit. But I know you’re working with Adam and fitness wise and putting in a lot of time and effort. What does the fitness side look like? What are you working on golf wise? How does that play out right now?

0:27:47 – Dylan Wu
Yeah, yeah, 100%. Like right now it’s nice to have a little offseason, so like right now I’m kind of addressing some of the stuff I need to improve fitness wise and then also technical wise in every part of my game, like, say, fitness right now One of the things we analyzed is that like I did a really good job of take care of my body the whole year and working out and feeling good, nothing hurting, and everything like that, and I feel like I’m strong enough to hit the ball far if I want to. But to help me gain speed this offseason it’s kind of just do things that are going to help my deficiencies and like one of the things is my overhead mobility. Like for some reason, like growing up kind of had bad posture. Growing up I wish my parents like told me, told me the stance rate, or like when I was like eight, not when I was like 16. But like my overhead mobility is not as great. So like really even like straightening my arm here it’s like really hard to do, like even the basic stuff. So like I think that’s why in my swing, sometimes when I get to the top, it’s a little harder to hold and stabilize or like pause Sometimes, like when I’m working on something, you want to slow it down, you want to pause. It’s really hard.

So I’m trying to do a lot of like more corrective stuff, like that posture stuff, like I’m doing some kind of glute strength and just small stuff versus like heavy lifting, because I do a decent amount of that during the season and I feel like my strength isn’t the problem in the gym, it’s more making sure I’m being doing the right stuff to create speed and it’s kind of correcting the deficiencies a little bit. And I feel like I’m doing strength, making sure not just being able to like, say, squat, but able to like put my leg against the wall where I’m like in a position where I can’t use any other muscles to compensate, and like use strictly glute Like. I feel like my body is good at cheating yeah, cheating. And so like trying to make it where it’s really hard and your brain kind of works a lot, basically doing corrective exercises the past week where I spend like not even that much time but like 15-20 minutes, but it’s like very brain heavy versus like working out and doing a lot of exercise where it’s golf exercises, like rotation stuff, like that. But I know it’s not going to help me as much, as if I can get a little more range of motion in my upper body and like maybe it helps me hold the club a little stronger here or helps make it help my posture, helps me get less maybe kinks in my neck over the season, just from golf. You’re just so rounded all the time but just doing that stuff.

And then on this on the technical side, I saw my coach on Monday. He came to Scott, still from Chicago, just doing more block practice right now. And one thing we’re trying to change my backswing a little bit. It’s getting getting a little deep in the cross now. It’s kind of hooking the ball too much. It feels more laid off and more in front of me. So it doesn’t feel great because I’m like the club’s like pointed this way.

But it’s crazy thing with golf is like you try to change something in your swing and it feels so different and it’s like you may, you may be changed, the club like this much.

Yeah, you just got exaggerated so much to make changes and that’s the one thing right now with an offseason, you can actually make changes and embrace it.

So, like I’m, the process right now is like when I hit balls in practice and just try to do the motion right, like just getting comfortable doing that, not really caring where the ball goes.

Right now it takes more like I played golf in Oregon the last two days with my brother and my dad but I didn’t really care where the golf balls going, because I’m trying to work on this stuff, because of I it doesn’t matter, I’m just playing with my buddies and stuff like that, but I want it to matter when it when I’m playing in the Sony and I start off in January.

So you just want to embrace the change, because a lot of time in the middle of the season, it’s a lot of maintenance. You can’t really make changes, like on Tuesday and you’re trying to change your swing thoughts and you think it’s going to, you’re going to trust on Thursday or Friday. It’s just so hard. So this is a time where this week I’ll do a little block practice and then basically a little before Christmas is when I’ll ramp back into like tournament prep, hitting shots, executing, practicing more no one say practice with a purpose, but like mastery and just doing things that’s going to help me perform better and execute and get ready. Get ready for a tournament versus making this swing look pretty Right to make sure it’s functional.

0:32:45 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah, yeah. So like kind of getting a little bit more into almost like games, game kind of situations where you got it, I got to hit this shot, or I got it, I got it. You know, dial in your distances and things like that For sure.

0:32:56 – Dylan Wu
Yeah, just doing like drills for mastery and just try to get better. And then when you do those drills and you’re so you’re doing track men drills, hitting numbers, hitting the shot shapes you want, and like doing putting drills, working on your speed, pulling out a lot Then it makes golf just normal golf easier. You’re just Making your practice more tournament like.

0:33:24 – Jeff Pelizzaro
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I got a question for you, since you were just out playing with your buddies. When, when you’re playing with your buddies I mean, are they all different calibers of golfer? And when you’re out there, like what are the things that you see them do? That you’re like dude, that’s just, that’s just silliness that you’re, that you’re trying that yeah, no, it’s funny.

0:34:45 – Dylan Wu
I put with a lot of Normal players and pro-am, so whatever. Like I put with my brother, cat is race is a good golfer now. He’s actually better now that he was in college, which is hilarious, probably just from watching good golf. Try to think of the things that people do. It’s just, it’s really. It’s for me, it’s like if I see them swing one or two times, like I can, I can give him a pretty good tip and make it pretty simple and it helps them and they’re like surprised, like oh wow, it worked. I’m like, yeah, I know what I’m doing. Guys do this for a living. Like I can help you. Um, but just a small things I tell people, like when I do clinics or like I teach a little bit, say, if we’re like a Northwestern outing for my coach, like some small things that I try to do to help people are like go on the range and Hit the shots are actually gonna hit on the golf course because most people just play the course that they’re playing All the time.

It’s like you know what you’re gonna hit, why you gonna hit. What you name is five iron. When you’re not gonna had five or when you’re playing Just makes no sense, right, I mean you might feel better but you’re not gonna hit that shot. So just practice like you’re gonna play a little and it makes it simple. It’s like just hit a few drivers and then put a lot chip. Probably not gonna hit every green, but it’s just funny watching a People play and like the stuff they say after it.

It’s like I knew that was, it’s gonna go right. I’m like you guys are mental midgets kind of exactly yeah, like it’s like it’s gonna go right. I’m like how about we hit this left? Like people think that pros Don’t worry about like out of bounds or water, which is not true at all. Like I’m on a team like don’t. There’s.

Some thoughts were like a don’t top this, like I can hit a bad shot. But it’s like I Acknowledge what’s out there, like the trees that abounds or the water, and I’m just like, okay, I’m gonna aim at this tree, I’m gonna hit this shot this way and see that I’m right here. The winds, here it’s gonna be. Now you’re just so focused on the shot you’re trying to hit that Hopefully you execute it decently well, but most of the time you won’t hit it out of bounds or in the water. You’re likely to hit in the water and out of bounds when you’re thinking about it, but also sometimes when you’re Pretending like you’re not, like oh, it’s not there, but then deep down there, it’s Behind, it’s just there. It’s like when you’re hitting a shot and like, oh, you know, I acknowledge in the water, like oh, it’s an easy hole, I’m like just Full-shitting yourself.

0:37:28 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah, totally. When you’re out there, are you? Do you feel like at at your level and most of the pros out there? I guess you can’t speak for anybody else, but when you’re playing, are you ever Thinking swing thoughts? Or have you found it a way to really visualize your shot, feel the shot, pay attention to the shot, not so much what’s going on with the mechanics of your swing?

0:37:48 – Dylan Wu
I wish I could just Think the shot I want to hit and hit it. Like that’s one of my best friends, davis Riley, who’s a really good player on tour. I Just joke with him. He stripes it. I’m like, yeah, your swing thoughts are turn turn. That’s not everybody at all.

I’ve always been a player that like has to have a few swing thoughts to play well. But it’s like not letting those swing thoughts like you have to control the shot you’re trying to hit. You got to feel like you have like ownership over it. Don’t just like, oh, I put this club in this position and I did that right and the shot turned out bad. Like no, let’s have, let’s have a little control and like Feel like you can hit this shot this way by doing this, you know. So I think that’s how I do it.

Like I visualize shot I wanted a high cut. I’d be like, oh, did I cut? I need to make sure I do this backswing a little better for the hand. My hands are a little higher top Because I get the club a little more on plane. I don’t think like Because it gets more on plan. I’m just like I know if I have my hands higher here at laid off, it’s gonna easier to cut the ball.

But I’m always a firm believer there’s like a few good swing thoughts that helps, just helps you keep it simple and have something to think about to produce the shot you want to hit. Because I mean, I had Thousand times more balls than other people and if they’re just like, imagine the shot and then just swinging, probably not gonna turn out exactly perfect every time, you got to practice quite a bit, but if you, if you know what you need to do to produce that shot, then you just focus on that a little bit and more or not it’s gonna get closer to hitting that shot, like when players slice it. I’m like let’s swing towards first base Like everybody plays baseball. Let’s get this underneath and swing right Like people. You understand that you need to swing right to draw the ball and you swing right To cut the ball and you swing left to cut the ball, which is weird. So Just small things like that.

0:39:57 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Now, you played hockey grown up in and I believe that it took a little while to get your slap shot out of your golf swing. Is that what I heard?

0:40:05 – Dylan Wu
For sure. I think a lot of my golf swing is from a hot, like I’m a very shallow, very open rotation, like I gained speed. When I think of a speed in my swing, I don’t think like arms or like pushing up anything, I think just rotating, and it’s probably just because I opened up for a one-timer, that’s, I was a right defenseman and then every time I was on a faceoff on the right side of the zone I Would be ready for a slap shot and that’s probably why I have a really weak hand left-hand grip Because of just your stick, that versus like clothes. So a lot of it comes from hockey. I mean, that’s what, deep down on, like God, I wish I had a normal grip, like a more conventional swing. But you got a note you got to figure out which, what makes you play good golf and your golf DNA and like what makes your golf swing good, like the stuff that you grew up doing well, and your swing is probably what’s gonna be good the rest of your life. But yeah, hockey, hockey was great, it was. It was so fun. My brothers that played good way to get anger out Versus golf at backfires pretty quickly.

But the one thing I loved about golf more was that like it’s all on yourself. It’s like the highs are high but the lows are low, because you have nobody else to rely on. You have a caddy but you don’t have teammates to pass the puck to To like bail you out. And I was. I was a good hockey, like really good hockey player, my brothers and I were, and I was like the captain of the team. But I would just I’d be a little mean to other players because like you guys can do better, come on like let’s, let’s do your job. But I think that’s why I love golf so much, because it’s all on myself and I’m not afraid to tell myself Like I can do it, but I can. I’m not also I’m afraid to tell myself like that was a terrible golf shot, like it’s got to be honest with yourself. So it’s that blend.

0:42:07 – Jeff Pelizzaro
As you’re kind of ramping up in this offseason. You’re working on your fitness. You know you’re working on some of the block practice stuff, working on the golf game. I know that nutrition has been a big thing for you too. What are you focusing on nutrition-wise? How has that played an impact in your game? And, I would assume, when you’re traveling, that can be a big deal too 100%.

0:42:29 – Dylan Wu
Yeah, I’ve been fortunate enough to surround myself with a good team, whether that’s my trainer, sports psychologist, my golf coach, but also I have a great sponsor in my fitness pal. They’ve been great with me. It’s been just coming up on two years. It’s the number one diet I’m tracking up in the country, just so easy for me to kind of track what I’m eating and make sure I’m eating healthy. But also making sure I’m hitting my calorie goals, because, honestly, when I’m walking around a golf I’m bringing a lot of calories. I might be working out in the gym before I even play. This is like I mean, every week I’m walking 9 to 100 holes. So making sure I’m hitting the calorie goals, like the macros, making sure I’m eating enough protein, just doing the small stuff, like making sure I’m supplying myself on the course with good snacks to keep my energy up. If I do all these things along with my fitness, then I know when I say perform badly, I’m not just performing badly because of my fitness or nutrition. That’s not a reason. And I feel like that’s a good component because you want to know why you struggle and you want it to just be basically golf. You don’t want it because you’re sleeping bad or eating bad, or feeling bad or injured, like if it’s golf. That’s why golf is sometimes the easiest part. My fitness has been great. It’s just so easy. I travel, go to grocery stores and then you can scan stuff so easily in the app and it goes right in there. I can just track what I eat really easily.

I think for normal amateurs people don’t snack enough on the golf course and as a pro it’s hard to do too. Luckily I have a caddy that helps me tell me when to eat. Half his job is like all right, we’re at the turn, we’re at every six holes, let’s eat some food, or you need a snack, you need to drink water. You’re sweating a lot Like electrolytes. It’s just so important, I think. Just the fitness and taking care of your body whether that’s eating healthy or working out more or making yourself feel better by just doing a lot of mobility and stretching it’s just so important in our career, just because we’re constantly traveling, like in airplanes, driving, you’re just constantly on your feet and it’s just it’s kind of busy. So if I can kind of keep everything routine and just do the right stuff, especially when I’m on the road, that’s all I can ask for.

And then I definitely I’m a big foodie, so I don’t have the greatest diet, especially a holiday season right now. Like I love to eat different foods and everything like that. But when I’m at tournaments I’m definitely a little more disciplined, like eat a good breakfast and lunch, especially when I’m playing, because that’s I just want to make sure that I’m not feeling bad or anything because I’m eating a bad meal. Like most of the time I’m eating breakfast on the road, I’m eating like an omelet with a bunch of veggies, a smoothie with protein and like spinach and stuff like that, and then some sausage or bacon, some protein or hot blood eggs, and for lunch I’m a lot of salads with salmon or chicken. Then dinner time is when I like mix it up. But I mean sometimes, when you finish around and it’s dark, just go straight to Chipotle and get a chicken bowl. That’s. That’s a go to that every, every loves.

But yeah, my, my sponsor, my fitness has been great and for me, like I want to play golf for a long time and taking care of my body is a it’s a big thing and I just want to make sure that I can stay healthy, like Tiger’s playing this week Will’s out of sources coming back. He’s Will and I are the same age and he’s been out for seven months and he’s one of the best players in the world. If I can go my entire career without any problems or being basically being injured, free and healthy with no health problems, that’s all I can ask for. Yeah, so it’s just been been great to have a good team of sponsors, where it’s my trainer or my golf instructor all the way to all the sponsors are represented, and my family my wife it’s just been takes a whole team to to live in the crazy world of golf.

0:46:57 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah.

0:46:58 – Dylan Wu
Especially right now. It’s really crazy.

0:47:01 – Jeff Pelizzaro
There’s so many different things to manage right, and I don’t think that people give their nutrition and their hydration enough credit to how much that really impacts their game.

As far as just making decisions or being and you know, most of us are playing 18 holes of golf not for, you know, not a full week of golf and for very competitive rounds, but even through the course of 18 holes or playing, going on a guy’s golf trip or something like that, where you know it just messes with your decisions, it messes with your fatigue and your ability to hit shots when you want to hit shots. And then, regarding my fitness pal, because I’ve used it quite a bit, I think that everybody benefits from track, like tracking the calories, at least some point in their lifetime to just understand, like, what am I really taking into my body? You know, here at 18th round, we’re all about fitness and health and nutrition and so a lot of our listeners are looking to get in better shape and lose weight and it’s like, well, if you don’t know what you’re taking in and you don’t know, you know what you’re expending, you’re kind of, you know, just shooting at it, shooting missiles in the air and not really understanding it.

0:48:05 – Dylan Wu
A hundred percent. I feel like when I use the app. It was a lot of knowledge I learned in the beginning, like how easy it is to eat unhealthy sometimes and like if I just do just simple stuff like I don’t know, just eat good food, there’s plenty of good food out there that’s healthy for you, that’s good tasting and just hydrating is just a huge part of it. But my fitness pal does a great job because you can kind of do everything with fitness, like your calories, losing weight, researching foods all under the same umbrella, which is great, yeah. So I’m proud to be an ambassador for them and I’m hoping I can stay healthy and fit for a long time. I mean, hopefully in a couple of years I will. I can be super fit like Camille of Ajegous he’s probably a perfect example of it but I’m a big foodie and I love enjoying different and sometimes I have a sweet tooth, but I just know taking care of your body is just so important. I think it’s really good for mental health too. Like you just feel better Sometimes. I always joke. This is like my slogan. Like the players challenge you, they’re like what’s your slogan? I’m like my slogan is like eat well, play well. It’s not necessarily eat healthy all the time, but it’s like eat good and you’ll play well. It’s like also feel well, feel good and you might play better. I mean sometimes it’s placebo effect. Like sometimes, if you think something’s making you feel better, you’re actually going to play better. Yeah, I mean, you’re not going to play worse by eating healthier. I’ll tell you that I think that burger on the turn is probably not going to help or that hot dog on the turn. But like when the couple snacks I carry all the time in my bag are like nuts are super easy jerky. I think it’s like go macro bars that a lot of players and caddies like to use Fruit banana. There’s some people who are players I’ve seen in the past who are very extreme. Like one guy carried a whole orange bell pepper. I’m like what are we doing? I’m like that’s a little extra.

But yeah, probably nutrition is just so important.

It’s just like, yeah, for me I just want to feel good when I’m getting to the golf course, like if I had 30 minutes I don’t know if I said this before, but if I had 30 minutes before around a golf and it’s going to the range without any warm up in the gym or spending 30 minutes in the gym and then rolling to the first tee. It’s probably 50-50 on what I’d rather do, because I feel so good warming up and activating the muscles that I need to swing well, when I get to the range in the tournament I feel good right away, versus, say, your junior golfer, you’re a weekend four, you just roll up, you’re like the first couple swings kind of sucks, my body is hurting, and just doing small stuff really helps. I travel with bands and I put my bands in my golf bag when I’m playing for fun with buddies, just because, even if I don’t have time to do some fitness stuff before, I can do some small stuff to make my body feel more stable, more flexible and swing the ball better.

0:51:35 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah, it makes a huge difference Just getting everything activated, getting it loose and ready to go. All right, man, before we wrap it up, I got a couple questions that we’d like to ask everybody that comes on the show. I might throw an extra one in for you that I didn’t prep you with, but first of all, are you more of a caddy shack or happy go more guy?

0:51:54 – Dylan Wu
Definitely more of a caddy shack. Now, the funny thing with my brother he’s never seen oh, he saw happy go more, but until this year he’d never watched caddy shack. He thought the greatest golf, the greatest game ever played, was the best golf movie. I’m like what are you talking about? That’s like the worst one. I’m like geez, dude, get us together.

0:52:14 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Little brothers, come on. All right, what would your walkup song be if you could pick a walkup song to the first T-Box?

0:52:21 – Dylan Wu
So when we played the Zura classic with my buddy, justin Bull’s entrance song, sirens, which was really cool, but I think my personal walkup song, I think growing up my favorite song, like in high school, is Hall of Fame by Script pretty cool one, or I just I just feel like it was pretty amped. Another one that we loved for hockey was Lose Yourself by Eminem. Yep, it was a classic but probably Script of Hall of Fame.

0:52:53 – Jeff Pelizzaro
All right. Is there a book that you’d like to recommend to people that has meant something to you, or that you’ve read multiple times, or you’ve gotten something out of that you’d like to share with people? It doesn’t have to be a golf book. It could be really add to anything, it’s got to be.

0:53:08 – Dylan Wu
Some of the I think it’s Golf’s not a game of perfect Some of that golf stuff books I read my dad I learned golf basically the same time I was learning, but I just love learning about the mental side of the game. Just read so much like books like that and every shot is a purpose and Zen golf they’re just like so important to my success just how to properly think. There’s definitely some other books that I’ve read that are better for my entire outlook on life I just can’t think of right now. My wife’s a big reader, so it’s more of her recommendations that I read. But yeah, I think, yeah, that’s probably the best one.

0:53:57 – Jeff Pelizzaro
All right, if you could pick a celebrity foursome to play with. You get to spend four or five hours with whoever you want past, present, whoever who you’re playing with.

0:54:10 – Dylan Wu
I mean got a first one, but Tiger I think I just put one golfer in it, but Tiger’s just so instrumental to any professional golfer who’s played in the last I don’t know 10, 15 years. He’s the reason I wanted to play golf and he’s the reason why we get to play golf for a living, for more money nowadays. I definitely want to put a football player in there. I feel like I would want to play with Patrick from the Homes, just because it seems like a good vibe. I loved watching the Netflix show with him in it. Quarterback seems like it was just a good, just all around good dude. Steph Curry I want to play with because he’s a good golfer. Yeah, and he’s unreal. I mean, he’s the best shooter of all time. And I’m trying to think of a fourth celebrity, I think another celebrity probably. This is pretty selfish of me. My crush growing up was Blake Lively. She probably doesn’t play golf, but I’ll probably throw her in there and he probably want to throw a girl in there.

0:55:13 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Nice, I love it.

0:55:15 – Dylan Wu
Pretty unique force up there. That’s pretty weird one.

0:55:17 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah, yeah, Pretty good, though. Pretty good, All right. Now I know you guys don’t get to go and travel to play. You know some of the bucket list places that a lot of you know the recreational golfers do, because you guys are always traveling to play golf for your job. Is there any place that, if we said, Dylan, we’ve got the 18STRONG jet, we’ve got it fueled up, we’re picking you up, we’re going, we have access anywhere. Where are you going?

0:55:41 – Dylan Wu
Place I’ve never played. I mean, I have never played in the Masters in Augusta, but I think I’m going to wait until I make it, hopefully in the near future. But I would love to play, probably Pine Valley, that’s supposed to be the best one. But I also want to go play golf overseas, like right now they’re playing golf in Australia. I’m looking. As long as my year goes well, next year I’m probably going to try to go play Australian Open next year. I mean, playing in the sand belt just sounds awesome, just looks so pure, firm and fast. Fans look awesome. But no, I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of the best courses in the world. My favorite course I’ve ever played right now is Cypress Point. I love Pebble and Monterey so much. That’s just the best area in the world for golf. Just the views are unreal and it’s like nice sweater weather usually and it’s just such fun golf.

0:56:39 – Jeff Pelizzaro
All right. So the question that I don’t ask everybody, but I know that you’re a True Links wear guy and we’re big True Links wear fans here at 18STRONG. What’s your favorite on and, off course, true Links wear shoes.

0:56:53 – Dylan Wu
Yeah, so funny story of True Links how I got into it. Middle of COVID or the summer after COVID of 2020, I was playing on the corn. Very we’re in Omaha by now, wife. It’s like you need some new shoes, just casual shoes. We’re just at a shopping mall in Omaha. I’m just trying on some shoes and I’m like, oh, looking at these knits, and I’m like these are kind of cool. And I get two of them and I’m checking out. I think I’m wearing golf clothes and they’re like these are golf shoes and I’m like what? Oh, like it’s a golf shoe company that makes this. And after buying it, I’m like doing research. I’m like I’m from Oregon, this is from the Pacific Northwest. Like how have I not even heard of this? So, literally after that, I remember reaching out to True Links after that and be like that try wearing your shoes. And it was a little different first, because I was wearing Nike shoes but I had some feet problems where, like the feet were too tight, I was getting like blisters a little bit and I was like I’ll try these shoes and I love them. But they didn’t have any spikes and I was like I was going to be an issue in the beginning but I’m like after one day with them they were awesome and I mean they’re made in Seattle Washington. They were rains like more than any other place. I’m not going to slip on the golf course. These shoes are probably waterproof. They’re probably good in the rain because they’re made there.

My favorite off the course shoe it’s probably the knit. It’s like the knit threes Like I literally have every color and I travel with two or three of them I just wear. They’re perfect. I can wear them off the golf course. They look good for dinners where I’m wearing them in casual or something nice. I don’t mind using the ripstop sometimes. If I’m back home they’re pretty good. But my go-to shoe golf shoe is the Lex Tor. It’s last year’s model. That’s when I’ve been wearing a lot and the one I’ve actually been wearing the last couple of weeks. It’s like the dead golf or knit one knit hybrid, which is really cool actually, but truly it’s been great to me.

I love those guys. The guys Jeremy Moore and Jason and Ryan all the more brothers that got a found. It are great. Jason runs true. Jeremy’s now my agent because of true Really. And then I get to play golf with Ryan. I mean, he’s an unreal golfer and from the Pacific Northwest, but it all happened from me as my wife telling me to go buy some shoes just casual shoes in Omaha. So that was three and a half years from now ago and I love wearing them. I mean, I sent truths to all my friends. I got married last year For all my grows and we got custom true shoes. They’re great, that’s awesome. They’re awesome.

0:59:54 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Yeah, those guys are great. We’ve had Jason on the show a while back and they’ve always been great to us. And I mean we’ve got a bunch of guys here in St Louis now rocking. You know, like we’re in the Midwest, nobody knows what true links wear is, except when you come around, our group of guys playing golf, so really cool. I got one last question for you what’s the best piece of golf advice that you’ve ever personally been given?

1:00:17 – Dylan Wu
I don’t think it’s necessarily golf advice, but for me and my golf career it’s like the quote I don’t know who said it, but hard work beats talent. What talent doesn’t work hard? I think it’s from MJ. I don’t know if Michael Jordan said that or Kevin Durant, but it’s a quote that I think really speaks to me.

It’s like you just gotta work hard and go get after it. Like a lot of things in life won’t be given to you right away. You gotta go work hard for it. And sometimes, when you take things for granted, that’s when things go downhill. So, honestly, being really humble and just working at it and just kind of keeping your head down, like I tell myself like and tell people like if I can just keep my head down and I look up and I’m like 50 years old and I’ve still been playing on the PGA Tour, then I’ve made it Like just work hard Cause then you have no regrets. It’s like on the golf course, like I can keep my head down for all 72 holes, no matter if I had bad shots or make mistakes. Like I know I’m leaving the golf course, leaving it all out there, playing my best, and that’s all you can ask for.

1:01:30 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Such great advice. Dylan, I can’t thank you enough for coming on. Man, this was a lot of fun getting to know you, getting to hear a little bit more about your story and the whole 18STRONG crew. We’re gonna be pulling for you next year, in 2024.

1:01:42 – Dylan Wu
No, I appreciate it, guys. Thanks for having me.

1:01:47 – Jeff Pelizzaro
Thanks for listening to the 18STRONG podcast and if you found this episode helpful, don’t forget to share with your friends. And, of course, go follow us over on Instagram at 18strong. Thanks again. We’ll catch up with you next week. Straight hard, practice smart and play better golf.

Transcribed by https://podium.page