Tom Green sits down with former PGA Tour pro Mark Wiebe during Masters Week to talk Augusta National, the pressure of playing in golf’s biggest tournament, and what separates contenders from the field. Wiebe shares stories from his career, including his Masters appearances, his first PGA Tour win, and his Senior Open Championship victory. The conversation also dives into how the modern game has changed—from equipment to player development—and why feel, creativity, and individuality in a swing still matter. Plus, unforgettable moments from the tour, caddie stories, and insight into what makes golf both brutally hard and endlessly rewarding.
Masters Week sets the stage for a wide-ranging conversation between Tom Green and longtime friend and former PGA Tour winner Mark Wiebe. From the nerves and intimidation of playing Augusta National to the evolution of the modern game, Wiebe offers a candid look at what it takes to compete at the highest level. He shares firsthand stories from his career, including his breakthrough win after missing five straight cuts, the validation of his second victory, and his unforgettable Senior British Open triumph. The discussion explores how distance and technology have reshaped golf, why today’s game favors power, and what’s been lost from the artistry of past generations. Wiebe also reflects on teaching philosophy, emphasizing individuality over perfection, and delivers practical advice for golfers of all levels. Along the way, the episode is packed with memorable stories—from caddying experiences and Masters pressure to friendships, family life, and the journey through professional golf.
00:00 Opening: Masters Week & famous caddies
01:19 Mark Wiebe intro + 1993 playoff story
02:06 Making the cut & early tour memories
03:35 Dream caddie: Bill Murray stories
04:57 Masters Week preview & Augusta expectations
05:38 First experience playing Augusta National
07:07 Nerves, pressure & intimidation at the Masters
08:25 Course fit: who has the advantage this year
10:16 Long hitters vs shot-makers in modern golf
11:30 Players to watch at the Masters
13:04 Teaching philosophy: swing your swing
15:12 Unorthodox swings & talent vs technique
16:03 Miller Barber story: ball striking mastery
19:54 Path to the PGA Tour & early career grind
20:32 First PGA Tour win & validation
22:42 Career ups and downs before Champions Tour
23:29 Transition to Champions Tour at 50
25:39 Winning first Champions Tour event
27:24 Senior British Open win & Claret Jug story
30:05 Strategy, timing & winning at Birkdale
32:20 Career reflection: regrets & near misses
35:04 Meeting Tom Green & early friendship story
37:59 Life after golf: family & grandkids
39:20 Golf equipment debate: distance vs skill
41:06 Talent vs power in today’s game
42:52 Simple golf advice: consistency & feel
45:27 Closing thoughts & Masters excitement
'OTGS' is sponsored in part by RedBird Farms
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00;00;00;06 - 00;00;22;11
Tom Green
Hi there. Welcome to another edition of the other Tom Green Show and it is Masters Week. So we're going to be talking golf today. I'm going to start with talking about caddying. And there are some caddies who got awfully famous over the years on the PGA tour. And the key to being a great caddy is have a great player who you carry the bag for.
00;00;22;11 - 00;00;44;16
Tom Green
I mean, if you look at people who became famous caddies while they were usually standing to Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods, you look at a guy like Fluff Cowan or Steve Williams and now famous they became or Jim Bones Mackey, now on TV. But he was on Phil Mickelson's bag for so many years. But I also think of the great caddies that we really enjoyed, those guys who did the job in movies.
00;00;44;16 - 00;01;04;20
Tom Green
I think the first one that comes to mind is, is likely Danny Noonan from Caddyshack. I mean, obviously that was pretty important role he had there. Let's see, will Smith played Bagger Vance. He was pretty good. Oddjob in Goldfinger strikes me as a guy I'd want to have on your back or just around in case trouble popped up.
00;01;04;23 - 00;01;19;12
Tom Green
But I had the pleasure of carrying a few times on the PGA tour for my good friend Mark. We be including when he did this in 1993. You know.
00;01;19;14 - 00;01;36;04
Mark Wiebe
We have a tie in at his firm, and you could not have planned that better. I guess he is a pretty good wedge player. And he said he's a good putter. That's why he laid up. Well, we wondered about that. His decision to wrap up in those last two rounds, 6766 and just didn't.
00;01;36;04 - 00;02;06;23
Tom Green
Make the cut and now is in a playoff. I always wonder if my being on the bag either helped him get into that playoff with Vijay Singh in 1993, or maybe cost him the one shot that would have had him one clear of Vijay, who eventually won in a three hole playoff. But our guest today to talk about golf, the Masters and life in general is my good friend Mark Wiebe.
00;02;06;26 - 00;02;34;05
Tom Green
And here he is. My buddy Mark will be joining us from down in Scottsdale, Arizona. Longtime Colorado resident, he's now headed down south like old people like us do. Mark that that 1993 clip was so much fun for me. I remember it so well. That week was was odd in that it looked like we were going to be doing a slam in the trunk and heading home after Thursday and Friday, but you grounded out and made the cut on the number.
00;02;34;08 - 00;03;01;10
Mark Wiebe
Yeah, that was crazy. I don't know. I, I knew I was playing great, I was beyond pissed off when I got done with my second round, and I was throwing stuff around the locker room and banging my locker, and I remember coming in and Maltby, Roger Maltby was there and said, what happened? And I said, man, I'm at what a whatever.
00;03;01;10 - 00;03;22;14
Mark Wiebe
I was 4 or 5 over something stupid because I knew I was playing good. And he said, Bud, you're going to make the cut. And I said, really? Because I thought I had blown the whole deal and your cat in. And I wanted to play. Well, obviously when you got your buddy out there. Yeah. And I just remember knowing I was fine.
00;03;22;14 - 00;03;35;25
Mark Wiebe
Well, although I made the cut on the nose, that guy three putted a whole bunch of times, and then all of a sudden I played like I felt like I was playing the last two days and, that was an awesome week.
00;03;35;27 - 00;03;45;22
Tom Green
So as far as, me caddying, take me out of the picture. If you could have, job or Danny Noonan. I mean, who's your dream caddie? Who would be on your bag?
00;03;45;25 - 00;04;05;23
Mark Wiebe
And, you know, probably probably Bill Murray, if I could, if I had to have somebody, he caddied for Scott Simpson. Yep. One year at the though, I can't remember what it's called. It used to be called the Western Open. Hog Hill.
00;04;05;26 - 00;04;06;08
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;04;06;15 - 00;04;32;04
Mark Wiebe
And, I have never laughed. It was myself, Scott Simpson, and Tom Byrum was the third, and I had never laughed. That hard in a round of golf, ever. And I know Bill Murray. I had met him and had conversations with them beforehand. I just didn't know what was coming. And I got to tell you, that was one of the I like I said, I think I laughed more of that week than any ever.
00;04;32;10 - 00;04;41;27
Mark Wiebe
And I was watching Bill Murray the whole time. If I wasn't hitting, I was watching Bill, because you have to you have to watch. Sometimes he doesn't say a word and he cracks you up.
00;04;41;29 - 00;04;43;15
Tom Green
And especially in his hometown.
00;04;43;18 - 00;04;57;09
Mark Wiebe
Yeah. Oh, I we go, there. I have so many memories of that too. But yeah, probably somebody like a Bill Murray just so I could laugh that way if I didn't play good, at least it'd be funny.
00;04;57;14 - 00;05;24;10
Tom Green
I'm having a great time shooting six over. Yeah. So, it's Masters Week, and we're taping this on the Wednesday before it gets started. So maybe some of this stuff will change by the time it makes air. But, you played in the Masters three times, and I always thought I haven't had the chance to go see it or play it, but if I went there, I said I'd love to play it twice, because the first time I think I would just stagger around trying to figure out how I got here.
00;05;24;12 - 00;05;38;07
Tom Green
It did. It was intimidating, even to a pro. Was it difficult to play? I mean, you've seen you'd seen a lot of it on television growing up, but was it something that was harder to do than just going to play some other course? You'd never seen?
00;05;38;10 - 00;05;45;01
Mark Wiebe
Yeah, that's probably the most, I don't even know the word a little bit.
00;05;45;01 - 00;05;45;29
Tom Green
As.
00;05;46;02 - 00;06;09;22
Mark Wiebe
Just being afraid. Yeah. And I was scared of what could happen. And I will tell you that the air was thick. I mean, there's some ghosts that live there. And I hadn't met them yet, so they introduced themselves to me early in the week, and I started thinking, oh, my, I don't I don't have the game to play this golf course.
00;06;09;22 - 00;06;33;16
Mark Wiebe
So to me it was more of a what am I going to do? Because I don't I've never played here. I've seen it on TV, watched it my whole childhood. But, out of all the majors I played in that one, especially that first year, it was I was out of my comfort zone, for sure. It was not my sweet spot.
00;06;33;19 - 00;06;41;14
Mark Wiebe
And I'm playing with guys that hit the ball long and high, and I. I could hit it high. Wasn't going very long.
00;06;41;17 - 00;06;43;08
Tom Green
So there's an either or.
00;06;43;10 - 00;06;44;06
Mark Wiebe
Yeah, I can hit it.
00;06;44;06 - 00;06;45;28
Tom Green
Long or high. But it was.
00;06;46;01 - 00;07;07;02
Mark Wiebe
It was a scary tournament and super nervous. I mean nervous if you can think about the most nervous you've ever been. I was probably at that or maybe even higher. Never been that nervous in my life playing golf ever. That first year at Augusta was, was a holy crap. What was it?
00;07;07;04 - 00;07;14;18
Tom Green
What was it fun? Because it it was a struggle. You didn't make the cut that first year, but was it or fun later to look back on it?
00;07;14;21 - 00;07;40;28
Mark Wiebe
Yeah, it was fun later to look back on it. I guess it was fun, but I think there was too much getting in the way of me having fun. I was pretty honored to, because, yeah, at that time, I think you had to win a tournament to get into the Masters. And I won. And I remember thinking, oh man, I'm in the Masters when it comes around thinking it was going to be really cool.
00;07;41;01 - 00;08;04;18
Mark Wiebe
Yeah. And, you know, it was cool, but it wasn't like anything like, what I had envisioned. It was, it was just as nervous. My stomach hurt all the time. I think I probably even got headaches from it because I was trying to figure out not just being there. I was trying to figure out how am I going to play this golf course, because this does not suit me.
00;08;04;18 - 00;08;25;16
Mark Wiebe
This is not one of those golf courses that I can play. I mean, I can play Pebble, which is one of the hardest and under the certain elements that you can ever play. But this one was a different this was great weather and I, I just I remember seeing it up and going, oh my God, honest to God here we go.
00;08;25;18 - 00;08;25;20
Mark Wiebe
Yeah.
00;08;25;23 - 00;08;48;29
Tom Green
So so as we get ready for this to get underway this year, the Masters at Augusta, which I always think of as a tradition unlike any other. I don't know how you feel about it, but, Yeah. You say the course didn't suit you, and I get the feeling that year in and year out, the course doesn't suit maybe a third or half of the field, and you can kind of knock them out.
00;08;48;29 - 00;08;55;05
Tom Green
Whoo hoo! Does this year's. Who in this year's field does this course suit?
00;08;55;07 - 00;09;21;24
Mark Wiebe
Well, you know, I've been watching, like. Like you have. I've been watching a lot of the interviews. And from the so-called experts, their opinions. And what's come up? Is it this year, for whatever reason, the longer hitter is going to have quite the advantage. And I kind of feel that's the case every week you play the longer hitter always has the advantage.
00;09;21;29 - 00;10;03;23
Mark Wiebe
Sure, but, I could I could compete when, playing against long hitters. If the course was difficult, narrow and had some wind, rain or both. Right. It became a different golf course almost. And, so I, I think you always have the advantage one year longer, but I do think, after hearing it described to me yesterday, that the, the higher ball hitter that also hits it long, usually they accompany each other the higher the longer, we'll have the advantage going into the greens.
00;10;03;26 - 00;10;16;19
Mark Wiebe
The tee shots, of course, are always an advantage. But, you know, if if somebody is hitting, an eight iron or seven, I need to the green and most of the other players are hitting a 5 or 4 iron into the green, or even a six.
00;10;16;19 - 00;10;17;17
Tom Green
Iron if.
00;10;17;19 - 00;10;23;19
Mark Wiebe
We know the, the 7 or 8 iron is going to stop quicker than the 4 or 5 iron. So.
00;10;23;19 - 00;10;33;29
Tom Green
So the usual suspects, I mean, is it Rory and Scottie and now Bryson DeChambeau? I mean, those guys with can really air it out are probably going to have an advantage at least going in.
00;10;34;02 - 00;10;54;26
Mark Wiebe
I think so. And and you know and that would be my you know the the expert picks are those guys. I also look for somebody that's been playing good golf, not just last week or the week before that's been playing pretty well this year and maybe even last year into this year. And that brings in like a Matt Fitzpatrick.
00;10;55;02 - 00;11;30;14
Mark Wiebe
Sure. Who is playing great golf. I know he didn't, he finished one behind at TPC, but then he won, I think the next week or the next time he played, or maybe two weeks after, whatever. I look at guys like that too. They're playing some good golf, and I don't know that. I know he's longer than he used to be, because he has the big toe kick out on his left foot when he wants to hit a drive long, which I think is so awesome to watch that, I think, Scotty, side note I think Scotty opened the door for these people that think your feet have to be still and attached
00;11;30;14 - 00;11;32;14
Mark Wiebe
to the ground. We've seen.
00;11;32;14 - 00;11;32;26
Tom Green
The best.
00;11;32;26 - 00;11;53;21
Mark Wiebe
They're now the best player in the world. Looks like he's doing some kind of a shuffle. So, And I know Matt Fitzpatrick is doing it on purpose, so I, I also look at guys like that. I think that, you know, Obama has been playing good and has had some tough Sundays and that's not going to last forever.
00;11;53;21 - 00;12;17;20
Mark Wiebe
You can't keep that guy away. So I also look for him to be content I think somebody like that. But sure. Rory, Bryson DeChambeau would be the greatest story ever to win that. After coming close last year and almost ruining Rory's party. I'd love to see Bryson win, because I, I think he's he's a he's so fun to watch, play golf.
00;12;17;22 - 00;12;40;09
Mark Wiebe
And I'm so not like him. I'm I'm not a scientist and I don't figure stuff out. I go 100% with my gut and my heart. I think he does that too. But he also has this approach to where he can figure stuff out on paper and then put it in his mind and then go do it. And I just think that would be fun to see that.
00;12;40;11 - 00;12;43;06
Mark Wiebe
But also Jon Rahm can hit the ball and he can hook here.
00;12;43;12 - 00;12;45;03
Tom Green
So he's one to look for.
00;12;45;03 - 00;13;04;05
Mark Wiebe
Guys. Now you need to hook it about 4 or 5 times around off tees. Not met not much more than that. 4 or 5. But yeah I think the longer higher ball hitter probably once again, but more so this year has the advantage.
00;13;04;08 - 00;13;29;05
Tom Green
So it's funny you talk about Matt Fitzpatrick and Scottie Scheffler feet and you talk about you know feel. And I've had the pleasure. You and I have played 100 rounds together. And whenever you teach and I know you're doing some teaching now down in Scottsdale, but whenever you teach you've never taught a swing. You've always taught that person swing and tried to coach them into being the best golfer.
00;13;29;05 - 00;13;46;27
Tom Green
They can be. And, it is that still taught or is it still is that because I think people used to like to try to fit you into a box when they were teaching you something about golf? Yeah. You were you were much more interested in the, in the student than getting them to be perfect.
00;13;46;29 - 00;14;09;18
Mark Wiebe
Yes, I, I'm still that way probably more so, I'm out here living in a really nice place, but it's an adult community, so there's a lot of geezers hanging around, and, and, you know, when you get older, your flexibility changes. You have bad shoulders or ankles or knees or backs or hips. Of course. Or new.
00;14;09;18 - 00;14;10;07
Tom Green
Ones.
00;14;10;10 - 00;14;43;24
Mark Wiebe
Yeah. Or new hips trying to figure it out. So you're dealing with a different, what you can and can't do physically. So how could I teach somebody that's 60 years old or so with a new hip how to swing like Scottie Scheffler? I mean, it's not, not to mention, I grew up in a time of Miller Barbers and Jack Nicklaus and Hubert Greens and Raymond Floyd's and Nancy Lopez's and oh my God, all of these people have different back swings.
00;14;43;24 - 00;15;12;19
Mark Wiebe
They're coming into the ball. They're they're pretty similar. But the wind ups, I realized at a young age that it didn't matter how you wound up or how you coiled, as long as you did. And Jim Furyk is one of the best current, examples of he didn't do anything that anyone would ever teach. No chance. But when you look at the stats, compare he and Tiger to each other.
00;15;12;22 - 00;15;40;09
Mark Wiebe
Jim Furyk better and fairways hit better, and greens hit better and putting better in trouble shots. He won all those categories. Yet Tiger was number one in the world. So sometimes there's just an intangible you can't touch. But I do like, watching guys swing, that are a little bit unorthodox to our eye, but yet they're pretty good.
00;15;40;16 - 00;15;44;16
Mark Wiebe
So yeah, those are kind of far and few between anymore.
00;15;44;18 - 00;16;03;06
Tom Green
To talk about growing up, because I, you mentioned Miller Barber, and you've always told me a nice story about him when you were a young boy on the range. And I, I love it because part of your part of the story about Miller Barber hitting balls is that there is a caddy out there shagging, because it's not like there are a million free balls everywhere.
00;16;03;06 - 00;16;04;16
Tom Green
This is a different era.
00;16;04;18 - 00;16;28;28
Mark Wiebe
Yeah. That was that was so awesome. I can't tell you. That was at Lacoste for the Tournament of Champions. And I was with 2 or 3 other kids. We were Oh my gosh, maybe 13, 14, 15 somewhere in there. We're not old enough to drive. And I remember what we were kneeling down watching Miller Barber hit these shots out towards his caddy.
00;16;29;00 - 00;16;47;21
Mark Wiebe
And in those days, the caddy would either have a a baseball glove or a towel and they would try to catch the ball on a one bounce. And right, you know, if you're got a if you're out there by your shag bag, there's other caddies that are out there by their shag bags that their players are hitting to.
00;16;47;23 - 00;17;14;15
Mark Wiebe
And sometimes you'll see a caddy running, you know, way over if his player had pulled a five iron or something and he's running 20 yards to go get the ball while not getting hit from the other players, right. And that running into the other caddies. So a lot of stuff was going on and we watched Miller. Barber and his caddy had a towel in his hand and Miller's hitting five irons, and he's hitting them right at his caddy.
00;17;14;15 - 00;17;36;11
Mark Wiebe
And we're right down the line watching him and his caddy sometimes didn't even move. It just bounced in front of him and he grabbed it, cleaned it off with the towel, dropped it in the shag bag. And I'm going, well, surely he's going to hit one off line, which he did. Caddy moved about a yard, took like one step and grabbed it.
00;17;36;11 - 00;18;04;14
Mark Wiebe
So we watched this for, I don't know, 15 minutes or something like that. And we're just amazed that this guy with this flying right elbow that got away from him and lifted up and all this stuff that we're we're trying to not do, we're watching this guy hit it. Unbelievable. And when he was moving on from that club, he turned around to us and held his club up kind of like this.
00;18;04;17 - 00;18;32;02
Mark Wiebe
So the head of his club was here, and there was this little tiny grass stain on the middle of his club. And the remember, these these irons are small. They're not. We have now, these are tiny little irons. And on that tiny little iron was a tiny little grass stain. That was. Miller hit 15 minutes worth of five irons that his caddy hardly had to move to retrieve, and he turned around and held it up to us.
00;18;32;02 - 00;18;42;29
Mark Wiebe
And you got to know Miller. But he went full flow. And because he had this kind of a high pitched laugh, and I think he even he was impressed by his grass. Stan.
00;18;43;01 - 00;18;45;02
Tom Green
I'm having a day. I'm having a day.
00;18;45;02 - 00;19;16;04
Mark Wiebe
The greatest part of that Miller's not with us anymore, but one of the greatest parts of that story is Miller became a member down at whisper Rock, and we had become friends, too, just by golf associations. And I told Miller that story. I got to share that story with Miller. Of course, I did embellish a little bit about I was so young, Miller, because I wanted to make him, for whatever reason, feel like an old geezer.
00;19;16;07 - 00;19;41;26
Mark Wiebe
And I said, can you believe I did that when I was just a kid? And, you know, here I am, older. Miller was on the range hitting shots, and I said, I'll never forget that. No way that I think he would ever remember that. Nor was I implying that. I just wanted to let him know. Watching him was part of my golf bringing up experience, and that's one of my fondest stories.
00;19;41;26 - 00;19;54;13
Mark Wiebe
So when people say, what's the best you've ever seen? Anyone hit it, it's Miller Barber on the right. What cost? When I was a kid, hitting balls to his caddy and the shag bag.
00;19;54;15 - 00;20;18;07
Tom Green
You became a great young player. You ended up playing at San Jose State. You turn pro, you have to travel the world. You chase a tour card, and, you know, every time you elevate, especially in golf, you know, it gets exponentially harder. The people you play against are better and better, and the challenge becomes deeper. So when you turned pro, it took you a couple years.
00;20;18;07 - 00;20;32;02
Tom Green
But when you got that first win, it had to be an incredibly validating thing that that made, you know, that I can win on the PGA tour, which means I'm as good as anybody in the world.
00;20;32;04 - 00;20;36;13
Mark Wiebe
Yeah, I did. I didn't go that far as to think in the world, but.
00;20;36;17 - 00;20;37;14
Tom Green
Right.
00;20;37;16 - 00;21;02;02
Mark Wiebe
It was something to win because, without I guess it just came naturally. At that time, I didn't think about winning. I never thought about winning. I just thought I was playing good. I by the way, I had missed five straight cuts before Anheuser-Busch. That's all I kept telling my brand new wife. We got married in December of 84, and this was 85.
00;21;02;04 - 00;21;23;11
Mark Wiebe
I kept telling her, I'm really playing good. And she's going, yeah, well, we're not making any money. So five cuts in a row. I don't know what I missed them by if it was close or not. I'm sure it was close. But I'm also thinking this is hard. This is really hard. But, that six tournament that I played in a row, I won.
00;21;23;14 - 00;21;44;28
Mark Wiebe
So I had some great, I felt like I was good, I will tell you. The second win that I had the following year was probably more of, to me, meant more in a way that that was letting everyone know. Yeah, the first one wasn't a fluke.
00;21;45;00 - 00;21;45;18
Tom Green
Wasn't a one.
00;21;45;18 - 00;22;04;18
Mark Wiebe
Off. Yeah. And I because there were a lot of guys that won one tournament, went away. Sure. And you know, I think they thought, well, all I want to do is win, and then they won and then they didn't have any other goals. And, I never wanted to be the best in the world, but I wanted to see what I could do if I was playing the best I could play.
00;22;04;21 - 00;22;28;16
Mark Wiebe
I wanted to see what I could do. So I think that the validating part was probably the second win. Of course, the first win is unbelievable. I mean, you'll never forget it. I became friends with Orian. Burkhart was the tournament director. And and never missed that tournament, obviously again. And it was where Curtis Strange, coincidentally, was his hometown in Williamsburg there.
00;22;28;16 - 00;22;37;19
Mark Wiebe
And, yeah, that was his golf course. So we all felt like we had to beat Curtis that week to win because by the way, to us opens in a row and all that stuff.
00;22;37;19 - 00;22;38;15
Tom Green
Yeah, he was pretty good.
00;22;38;19 - 00;22;42;02
Mark Wiebe
He's pretty good. Heard of him. So yeah.
00;22;42;04 - 00;23;08;08
Tom Green
So I always think of your, your pro career, as before you get to the Champions Tour as as an interesting ride because it's hard to climb you climb you when you live at a level for a while on the tour and then those years between 40 and 50 years old for a lot of golfers get really difficult.
00;23;08;08 - 00;23;29;22
Tom Green
That's that's a hard ride. Your body, your family, everything is in, you know, is changing and younger guys are coming along. And that had to be probably more difficult than climbing. Was that ride waiting to turn 50 and get to go play with some guys you know your age again.
00;23;29;25 - 00;24;00;15
Mark Wiebe
Yeah, it was a again, a brand new experience. I had never done that before either. I, I know that when Kathy and I started having kids, my, my whole thing changed around here. Or as no longer did I want to play 34 weeks a year. I knew when I was home and saw what went on, how she handled this machine of kids and soccer and basketball and school and studies and yada yada.
00;24;00;17 - 00;24;26;24
Mark Wiebe
I that was really a hard time because I, I didn't I wasn't going to play as much and I had to do stuff, you know, in, in, I tried to cut it down to 24 or 25 tournaments and maybe a little abruptly, because it was an eye opener right there. And I transition, I got to do this now in a more condensed time period.
00;24;26;26 - 00;24;49;12
Mark Wiebe
And I remember that going to the Champions Tour or getting ready for the Champions Tour, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know the criteria. I didn't know if I'd be in or out. I figured, you know, I won a couple times on tour. Surely I must be exempt to play. And I found out that, no, I was not, exempt to play.
00;24;49;15 - 00;25;18;20
Mark Wiebe
I got an exemption into that first tournament as a as a senior on the Champions Tour. So, it's the criteria is tough because there's less players and it's more of a, exhibition. I, I was feeling going into competitions there, but we're not putting on a performance because I'm watching Lee Trevino and and all the guys that are great at performing fuzzy, of course.
00;25;18;23 - 00;25;39;10
Tom Green
And also all the guys you played with and knew well from 30 years ago, these were guys you develop friendships with. You get you get to reconnect with them. So I mean, it was a completely different environment. And, you mentioned getting into that first tournament. You went out and won. I mean, you you stepped in and won your first event.
00;25;39;12 - 00;25;54;24
Mark Wiebe
Yeah. And, you know, I'm thank God I did because I didn't know when I was going to get another exemption or how many you could get, or if I, I just didn't know how the machine work. The tour. When you made the tour, you knew if you got in, if you made tour school, you're in the top 25.
00;25;54;24 - 00;26;20;21
Mark Wiebe
You were going to play. You weren't sure when. Right? And I just thought by playing the tour and giving them 20 years of my life, that surely I'll be on the Champions Tour when I'm 50. And again, it was this kind of a happenstance of coincidences and getting an exemption at the right time. And one thing I knew for sure when I did play my first, senior event, I was going to be the youngest guy.
00;26;20;24 - 00;26;43;26
Mark Wiebe
So everyone else was older, but I was. I had such a gas. And you and I have talked about it, but when I went to the range again and I saw Curtis Strange and Bruce Lynskey and Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoller, Raymond played some, I just saw these swings that have. They were like in a time capsule.
00;26;43;26 - 00;27;04;28
Mark Wiebe
They still swung the same way. They hadn't changed their swing to try to swing like Adam Scott or somebody that's you watch and you just, It's just wish I could do that. Yeah. You just. So it was so neat. And I would purposely go over and hit balls next to these guys because I hadn't seen them. Yeah.
00;27;04;29 - 00;27;20;28
Mark Wiebe
And I was going to I was going to take some shit from them for sure. For being there. Yeah. I mean, fuzzy I think called me rookie for every year I was on the tour. And then of course, my first year on the Champions Tour, he said, hey, rookie. And I went, oh my God, there we go again.
00;27;21;00 - 00;27;24;15
Mark Wiebe
So hey, over your time, all that time was great.
00;27;24;17 - 00;27;54;15
Tom Green
Over your right shoulder is the the Claret Jug that you won in 2013. Yep. Right there the senior British Open at Birkdale. So and that's what I think about because he had he had a marvelous career, on the tour and on the Champions Tour. That's got to be the one though. That's got to be the fact that you had a highlight win in 2013 after all these years of playing golf, to hit what I would consider your pinnacle win that late, that's super cool.
00;27;54;17 - 00;28;14;13
Mark Wiebe
Well, that's the coolest thing I've done. And it just again, who knows when you're out there, it's when you, when you play in the majors of the like the British senior British or senior US open. These are full field events. They're not just the little club that plays on the Champions Tour or the.
00;28;14;15 - 00;28;14;27
Tom Green
Little.
00;28;15;02 - 00;28;45;24
Mark Wiebe
Group that plays on the, the senior tour in the UK. This was this is like a big event and, that that whole story of that, I just actually was a guest speaker the other day at our Men's Golf Association, and we, we talked they wanted me to tell some stories. And that was one of them, you know, my my plane was canceled going over, so I got in a day late.
00;28;45;24 - 00;29;22;12
Mark Wiebe
So instead of getting there Monday, I got there Tuesday. And you got to get acclimated to the time and everything else. So I was out there because of my late arrival, to Birkdale. I was out there on Wednesday afternoon, smashing it around late on Wednesday, and I'm playing Thursday, and I don't like doing that on Wednesday. Late afternoon, and I was, I was pulling it into the scrub oak and the rubbish, as they call it, over there and, trying to figure out a game plan for what I had.
00;29;22;12 - 00;30;05;00
Mark Wiebe
And I'm a little disheveled, being there late. And then I played some super golf, just. I guess it was my time. But, you know, beating Bernie in a a playoff was a big coup because nobody beat Bernhard Langer ever. If he was in the hunt, he always found a way. Except this particular time. So there's a lot of things that, that, that are surround that senior British Open that are crazy, that I think back on and I just think, oh my God, you know, part of the story I told was two of my really dear friends, David Frost and Bernhard Langer, were playing in the last group together.
00;30;05;02 - 00;30;26;04
Mark Wiebe
I was playing with Sandy Lyle and the second to last group. The thing was, the two slowest players on our on the tour are Bernie and Frosty. And so I already knew, you know what? They're going to get timed and they're going to get timed early because they're both slow.
00;30;26;06 - 00;30;31;07
Tom Green
And if you're in the last group, you're just they see they a whole and a half oh yeah ahead of them. And well.
00;30;31;15 - 00;30;55;01
Mark Wiebe
We were walking up the fifth fairway and I looked over. They were just leaving the third tee. This is on Sunday. And there was officials watching them and I went, perfect. This is going exactly like I thought it would go. So now they're going to be hounded by the officials all day. And now they're out of their rhythm.
00;30;55;01 - 00;31;17;28
Mark Wiebe
They're going to be they're not comfortable playing quicker at either one of them. Not comfortable. They they don't hit until they are absolutely ready. And sometimes you need to be ready before you're ready. You got to go. If you're if you're falling behind anyway, you know, stuff like that happens. So a lot of things happen to, to get a win that I never knew.
00;31;18;00 - 00;31;45;23
Mark Wiebe
All these things happen, but sure enough, that was one of my, one of the things that I saw that was part of my game plan on Sunday. Go out and shoot a number. We're going to finish early. I'm playing with Sandy. He's a major winner. Yeah. Awesome guy. Just couldn't wait to see it take place. And I remember walking and looking over, you know, across a couple burns to the, to that to the leader group.
00;31;45;23 - 00;32;00;17
Mark Wiebe
And I went, oh my God, they're only on. They're just leaving the third tee, and we're in the middle of the fifth fairway and they're in trouble. So just another little, small little. Oh, really? Typekit, I want.
00;32;00;17 - 00;32;20;16
Tom Green
To I want to ask you about some other stuff real quick, but there's a couple of notes I want to make sure I get in here. You were able to make 500 starts on the PGA tour, and I remember you were proud when you got to to roll that odometer over to 500. You made in and around $10 million playing on the two tours.
00;32;20;19 - 00;32;39;22
Tom Green
You know, it's just is a spectacular career. Was there anything you left on the table? Was there a regret, a missed opportunity, a missed, you know, a shot at tournaments, something that that is maybe your least favorite or most regrettable piece of this great career?
00;32;39;24 - 00;32;54;26
Mark Wiebe
Well, thank you for one thing. Yeah, there's always stuff in there. I mean, I, I think about the tournament that when you look at it for me, that the Vijay Singh his on that 11th hole which was our.
00;32;54;28 - 00;32;55;29
Tom Green
The third playoff hole.
00;32;55;29 - 00;33;16;10
Mark Wiebe
Third playoff hole. Yeah. And he hit his iron shot and and I started walking the green and I'm going oh he pulled it. It's left. And he's got no shot from over there. And then when I saw it later on the telecast because you couldn't see it from where we were, I saw that it bounced off the heavy rough and kind of got momentum going to the right, which it was, left it out.
00;33;16;11 - 00;33;34;23
Mark Wiebe
Still don't know how that happened. I think about, you know, a fortunate kick for Vijay. Unfortunate for me. Yeah. Or at that time for us, probably, probably going through, I lost the, the one up in Bethesda, Maryland. I can't.
00;33;34;27 - 00;33;35;16
Tom Green
Remember.
00;33;35;21 - 00;34;01;05
Mark Wiebe
The Kemper. I, I played really good that week. I had started, new allergy shots, and I was, I was in the early for, early stages of getting injections every week, and it made me very jittery. And I three putted, the last two holes. Yeah. The last hole was nerves because I knew I had missed some because I was jittery.
00;34;01;07 - 00;34;23;26
Mark Wiebe
My thoughts were, why did I start those damn shots this week? Because or whenever I start them, because they were affecting me, not just on the golf course, but around doing. Yeah, household duties around here. And that's probably one of my biggest regrets. Faldo was playing in front of us. I was watching every shot he hit, and I was better.
00;34;23;26 - 00;34;45;12
Mark Wiebe
I was better than everyone that week, and I knew it, and I, I just didn't. I didn't close the deal on it, and, I, I don't know if that's a regret. As much as I wish, I don't I wish I had it to do over again because it was really fun to see what I had. I had some shots that I didn't know I could hit one.
00;34;45;12 - 00;35;04;19
Tom Green
Yeah, you would have won and you would have won. I mean, just you, you know, a couple of two putts, you win. But yeah. So jittery. I want to ask you about this or or discuss this with you. You and I met purely by accident and it led to the most nervous I had ever been holding a golf club.
00;35;04;22 - 00;35;29;29
Tom Green
So I got a late call from our old friend, the late, great Mike Nolan, and he said, hey, they they need a player at the Jerry Ford Invitational. This is 1988 and I was out in Long Island visiting family. And I said, I'll come back, I'll play for sure. I was coming back anyway. So I come in and they pair me, with Mark Webb and Dinah Shore.
00;35;30;01 - 00;35;42;25
Tom Green
I mean, just an American legend. And then, we played with a couple other guys, Mike stubble and Jack at. But I show up on the first tee. I am a young golfer. You can see even in the picture. I'm a young person.
00;35;42;27 - 00;35;47;14
Mark Wiebe
Yeah. We were well, we were really young, but.
00;35;47;17 - 00;36;07;02
Tom Green
So I get up to the first tee and there are a couple hundred people around because President Ford and Jack Nicklaus are in the group ahead of us. So there are a lot of people around not used to that. Mike Nolan gives me the business hard on the introduction, that he's doing on the first tee. I'm playing with a PGA tour pro who I don't know yet.
00;36;07;03 - 00;36;26;25
Tom Green
This is when we first met and about 40 yards ahead of us, standing not too far away from dead center is Dinah Shore up on the ladies tee. And I'm thinking, do not hit Dinah Shore. Try to get the ball in the air. And I could just I could barely feel the club in my hands. And, you know, I don't even.
00;36;26;29 - 00;36;44;01
Tom Green
I remember I hit it, I didn't hit Dinah Shore. That's all I remember. Yeah, shot. But Mark, it started. What's been a great friendship between you and I? And I just love the fate or the chance or the happenstance that put us together. And playing with her. She was magnificent. Lovely lady.
00;36;44;03 - 00;37;04;19
Mark Wiebe
Yeah. She, Unbelievable. I, I mean, I was in awe of playing with Dinah Shore. I was in a plane with this news guy, too, but I just couldn't believe I got to play at Dinah Shore. I just couldn't believe it, because she had at that time in my life, I had watched The Dinah Shore Hour or whatever show she had.
00;37;04;19 - 00;37;05;11
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;37;05;14 - 00;37;08;19
Mark Wiebe
She could sing and dance and act and.
00;37;08;22 - 00;37;27;06
Tom Green
Be beautiful, lovely, charming. Us friendly, nice to be around. She was great and we won that. We won the tournament. Are we tied for first in the tournament? It was. It was so much fun. And I always tell people, that if you won, if you lived in Florida, Texas, like all the other golfers, we'd have been friends for a year or so.
00;37;27;06 - 00;37;47;14
Tom Green
And then, you know, we would have, you know, faded out or whatever. But you lived in Colorado. You, you and Kathy. And at that point, I think just Taylor, your oldest daughter. Oh, so we got to play a lot of golf because you lived in Colorado. And so we became fast friends. And your family? My family, we've known each other since.
00;37;47;16 - 00;37;55;07
Mark Wiebe
Wow. That's a long time. But that's. I'm trying to think of how old my oldest daughter is. She's 39.
00;37;55;10 - 00;37;59;03
Tom Green
Well, now, that's your profession right now you're a professional grandfather. Yeah.
00;37;59;06 - 00;38;04;12
Mark Wiebe
Yeah, the pay isn't that good. No, but it's it's a good job I like.
00;38;04;12 - 00;38;06;20
Tom Green
But do you have how many grandkids now?
00;38;06;25 - 00;38;33;01
Mark Wiebe
We have eight. Eight grandkids. It's like my our kids, Kathy and my kids huddled up and said, okay, you guys ready to start having babies? Because here we go. Because the oldest is seven and a half and the youngest is now five months old. Yeah. So there's eight packed into a nice little condensed. So it's it's been unbelievable.
00;38;33;01 - 00;38;57;00
Mark Wiebe
You know, people said being a grandparents great. It's way better than great. It's way better than great. It's, you know, you kind of look back and you see yourself as a younger person because there's kids around which you're not. Like I said, we live out here in geyser ville. So, you don't see a lot of young kids except on the holidays, but it's awesome.
00;38;57;08 - 00;38;59;16
Mark Wiebe
I'm it's I'm having a blast.
00;38;59;19 - 00;39;20;10
Tom Green
All right, before we go, I have I have a hard golf question for you. The equipment today and the idea now that they're finally trying to to manage the balls and the clubs that have turned the game into, you know, a very different game. Not better, not worse, just a completely different game than it used to be.
00;39;20;13 - 00;39;31;02
Tom Green
What do you see happening here? Because I don't think people like telling me I can't hit it as far or whatever, but are they going to be able to and should they be able to legislate these things?
00;39;31;05 - 00;39;57;24
Mark Wiebe
Well, you would think somewhere we could do that. It's, it's a it's the finest of lines. I think when you have technology growing, leaps and bounds by the minute, by the way, it's hard to put a harness on that and keep it, you know, back a little bit. But we're just we're we're golfers turned into when you and I talk about it.
00;39;57;24 - 00;40;25;01
Mark Wiebe
For instance, when I see an an artist like a Lee Trevino or, Hubert Green or, Miller Barber, Johnny Miller, these guys, Lanny Watkins, they, they could hit shots that no one else could hit. They were talented. And tell it to me at that time was doing what you wanted with this ball. If I wanted it high, you learned how to hit it high.
00;40;25;03 - 00;40;47;21
Mark Wiebe
If I needed to to curve around a quarter, I could curve it around the corner. Those were the guys that I always thought were talent. But talent now is turned into length. So if you see someone, I even hear it in the, from the gallery. If you see someone bam a drive, they'll go, God, he's so talented.
00;40;47;25 - 00;41;06;03
Mark Wiebe
And I'm like, so that's talent. I thought talent was making your ball whistle and sing a little bit, not just smoking it, you know, over all the trees, but kind of. That's where talent is now. I did hear one of my best things I've heard so far, and I can't remember think it. I don't know who it was.
00;41;06;06 - 00;41;29;05
Mark Wiebe
They said, look at all you got to do is bring the driver back to its original size. Oh, that. It used to be. You can leave it at metal, but there's so big now. It's like in tennis. The prince rackets became big because there you couldn't miss it, you know. And now we have kind of the prince racket of drivers.
00;41;29;05 - 00;41;55;02
Mark Wiebe
They're big and huge and sweet spots are covered. The whole face. You don't have to hit it in the middle. But I think that that's the best idea I've heard so far. I'm not sure I like the making the ball go shorter because I, from what I'm hearing on all the guys that have been doing that, some people it doesn't affect at all, and some people it does affect some people it affects very little.
00;41;55;09 - 00;42;15;28
Mark Wiebe
And then there's some that are really affected by it. So I think if you if I did, at least, venture in down that lane of what would happen if we made our driver had smaller, would it, would it change the game would. If you hit it on the toe, would it hook again? And if you hit on the heel, would it slice again and go weak.
00;42;15;28 - 00;42;36;08
Mark Wiebe
Right. Because that's what we played with. Yeah. All right. But I'm not I'm not sure I don't I still I miss watching guys that what I consider talent that artistic work do stuff with their ball and they map out a course that they're going to. This is what I'm going to do here. I'm going to attack number three.
00;42;36;08 - 00;42;52;00
Mark Wiebe
It's reachable. I'm going to lay up on number six because there's trouble lurking closer. You get whatever that is. It seems like everybody now just takes driver off, swings really hard, bombs it, and then that's where we are.
00;42;52;03 - 00;43;15;06
Tom Green
Yeah. All right. Now we got to get it. One golf tip I always remember, whenever people play with you, they always say, you know, tell me the secret. What's the secret? What do you guys do differently? Is your equipment different? Is your. You know, what's the secret? And I remember you telling me the real secret is middle of the ball, middle of the face is probably the best place to be.
00;43;15;09 - 00;43;28;07
Tom Green
But because you were always so good, you know, nimble around the greens and on the greens, what would you tell a generic tip to our viewers, listeners today about how to be a little bit better, trying to get it in the hole?
00;43;28;10 - 00;43;33;27
Mark Wiebe
Well, my because I'm kind of a smart ask. My first answer is head down, left arm straight.
00;43;33;29 - 00;43;35;18
Tom Green
Yeah.
00;43;35;20 - 00;43;59;05
Mark Wiebe
You, you and I always work. We've said that to each other. Yeah, for as long as I've known you. I think you still pull that out. Remember? Head down, left arm straight. Good. You know, I, I would my my biggest tip would be, you know, find your own, your swing, whatever that is, and try to do it every time.
00;43;59;08 - 00;44;25;09
Mark Wiebe
It's one thing about being redundant that I actually could help you if you learn how to swing your way, how your body moves, and whatever produces that middle of the ball with the middle of the clubface, even if it looks like a miller barber or, or a Jim Furyk or a flying right elbow with Jack Nicklaus, or standing way open and hitting push fades like Lee Trevino.
00;44;25;11 - 00;44;52;18
Mark Wiebe
If you find something you can do and you can do it every time, that will bring enjoyment into the game. Because if somebody says, hey, look like you came over the top, and because I heard that my whole life and I would always say, really, where's your ball? Where's my ball? Because I came over the top means it should be left, but mine's down the middle because I had a little over the top pull fade and they're over the top goes way left.
00;44;52;18 - 00;44;55;10
Tom Green
So if you hit a cut player cut.
00;44;55;12 - 00;45;20;00
Mark Wiebe
Yeah. And you know, if you're if you're hitting it to the right, aim further left. You know, I mean I like to keep it about as simple as I can get. And I, I'm a big advocate on whatever. However your body moves is how you should move. If your body moves a certain way, then why would you try to make it do something else?
00;45;20;00 - 00;45;22;01
Mark Wiebe
Because it's not going to remember tomorrow.
00;45;22;03 - 00;45;23;13
Tom Green
You do you.
00;45;23;15 - 00;45;27;02
Mark Wiebe
Yeah. You do you do you you do you. Yes.
00;45;27;05 - 00;45;43;00
Tom Green
Mark. It's it's always great to talk to you. I'm glad we had a chance to to share one of our conversations. We've had the many over the years, but to share it with some other people and hopefully get ready for, for what's always a great week with the Masters, bringing us back into springtime.
00;45;43;03 - 00;45;52;24
Mark Wiebe
Yeah, I'm I'm stoked to watch it once again this year. It's incredible. Like you said, unlike any other.
00;45;52;27 - 00;45;58;28
Tom Green
I going to talk to Nance to see if he'll help. Try that one. Mark, it's great to see it. Thanks again for your time.
00;45;59;05 - 00;46;03;27
Mark Wiebe
Thanks, granny. Always good to see you, buddy.
00;46;03;29 - 00;46;26;15
Tom Green
Obviously, Mark and I have been good friends for a very long time. I was thrilled to see him go into the, Colorado Golf Hall of Fame again. Two PGA tour victories, five more on the Champions Tour, including that senior British Open, a marvelous career. But for me, my memories will always surround the chances to, caddie play golf with and enjoy, Mark and his family.
00;46;26;15 - 00;46;37;15
Tom Green
Wonderful people. And it was great to get him to visit with us today on the other Tom green show. That's going to wrap it up for this week, though. Hopefully we'll see you right back here again next week.