Teeing Off with Trump: Bryson DeChambeau Spills on Golfing with POTUS | KMP Ep.40

18:20So taking it from my standpoint of, you know, yes, you're going to get a lot of a lot of a lot of crap for sure. But understanding that, hey, look, we're rising above this and this is about helping kids out.

18:32Katie Miller:We briefly touched on the fact that all golf courses seem to have the same menu. It's like a sugary, sugary lemonade, the cheeseburger. Yeah, carbs and sugar. Yeah. Is that something that you're passionate about fixing is creating more healthy choices in these clubhouses? Yes. So that is a passion we have on the on our CPG side. So there's numerous verticals we have in our business, and one of them is... For the kids at home, CPG. Yeah, consumer product goods, yeah. So we've got an opportunity to deliver healthier snacks for kids that are coming here in the next year or so. We're building that out right now, and it's going to take a little bit of time, but we've got healthier options for individuals here soon.

19:07Katie Miller:So what would the fitness test look like, in your opinion? So the fitness test is going to comprise of three different tests. Well, technically four, if you want to say that. But it's going to be push-ups, sit-ups, and the shuttle run or the mile run, depending on your situation. There will be different rewards for different tiers based on your success. And then also the most improved in the class. So what's the winner get? The winner gets a few different things. We're finalizing a few of the prizes, but one of them is definitely a certificate, signature by the president and myself. So we go from a Bentley to just a certificate?

19:43Katie Miller:Seems a little disproportionate. Giving a Bentley to, you know, 100 million Americans would be kind of tough. I don't think we'd be able to afford that. The president's got a lot of other things to worry about than that. But we want to give kids an opportunity to become healthier, and this is a way to incentivize that a bit. What do you think youth sports are missing right now in terms of giving kids? Well, you know, it's funny. There is quite a bit of funding in the private segment of it. But I think continuing to expand into different sports, whether it be, you know, I grew up playing volleyball, so I played a lot of volleyball, continuing volleyball.

20:21Katie Miller:Did you ever get shit for being a man playing volleyball? No, it was actually a very well-respected sport in California. Really? They loved it in the sense of volleyball. Beach volleyball or indoor volleyball? Indoor volleyball. Indoor. Funny enough, right? I played volleyball when I was a senior in high school, so I was a middle hitter. I could jump up back in the day. I would make fun of you, but you're like a professional golfer. No, you can make fun of me. No, no, no, no. You can make fun of me. It's fine. I played volleyball. It's fine. I jumped up and hit a ball down. But I had some hops, okay?

20:47I had some hops, you know? Look, I'd say from my perspective, just expanding the sports is really important. As much as we can get, you know, a golf club into a kid's hand or a hockey stick into a kid's hand, you know, or a tennis racket, right, or a basketball. giving kids those opportunities to understand and feel what sports is is something I'm passionate about because out we're all indoors now we're on computer screens almost 40 hours a week pretty much probably more than that you know I would say a lot more than that and it's frustrating because I grew up just outside hitting a golf ball right and the reason why it's frustrating is because you can create so much and you connect with humans and yet you can connect online it's different though right it creates a different sort of social dynamic and and I think it's important that we have that human connection like we're talking right here.

21:33We don't want to lose that and just be on a TV screen all day long.

21:36Katie Miller:What's your thought on GLP-1s? Oh, I can't use them. Would you use them? I would if I could, but you can't. For me, like all that stuff is regulated quite heavily. And so, you know, whether it's peptides or GLP-1s, I think it's great, but naturally doing things is usually a little bit more better for the long term. What's your, is this really happening moment as it relates to being in the White House, seeing President Trump, being on the White House Sports Council that you didn't expect or you're like, huh, a lot different than what I thought it was going to be? That's a great question.

22:19Honestly, how nice everybody is. That's a surprising thing for me. I thought it was going to be a lot more difficult and not normal. How do I say it? I just expected more pushback in a lot of areas. It's really nice. It's open. They care a lot about everybody. They want the best for everybody, and they want to give people the best opportunities to succeed over here. And that's what I've been surprised by the most. Seeing the White House, seeing the lawn in the front yard, the little golf green out there. I was out there chipping last year. You know, they've got a garden. They make their own honey.

22:57Just those little details really have shined through for me and make me really appreciate, really appreciate not only the White House and whatnot, but what we do for the country. It's pretty wild how much goes into it.

23:11Katie Miller:So everyone has a funny President Trump story? Everyone's got one. What's yours? Oh, man, there's quite a few. he gives me a lot of crap about pickles actually do you like pickles I don't there was one time where I was like I was having lunch with him and and I told them no pickles please and then they brought the pickles like I said no pickles and he's like that's why you're a major champion because you get so mad there's the intensity and you know I got pretty intense like I said no pickles like no you know and I got pretty aggressive over pickles and so he's like you're the guy that doesn't like pickles.

23:52You hate pickles. And so he gives me the pickle story all the time whenever I'm around him. So it's quite fun.

24:00Katie Miller:How do you implement physics in your personal life outside of golf? I apply to business. So anything I know I'm able to, around physics, I'm able to talk and have discourse with my engineers and CAD engineers that are helping develop the golf clubs. That's mainly how I use physics. I would say on like a 30 ,000 foot view, it's helped me go through a process a lot easier. So whenever I'm in difficult moments, I go back to the scientific method and try to say, okay, what's the control? And then what are the variables? How do I get more of the variables under control? How do you recruit your engineers?

24:37Recruit my engineers. A lot of it's from the CEO I hired and he does it. I don't focus on that. I delegate now. Before it was more of looking online, looking at Gemini, seeing who is in the area.

24:49Katie Miller:So you're a big Gemini user? Very big. Why? I'm not only a partner, but I think Gemini is a great system to use. There's a lot of great systems out there, a lot of great LLMs, but I've gone into the rabbit holes with Gemini and there's a lot of potential that has yet to be squeezed out and they're close to. It's really fascinating which LLM, I ask this frequently now of people, which LLM people use and why they've chosen to use it, given that there's benefits and drawbacks to each different one. I'm just scared. The only thing I'm scared of is not like the Terminator stuff. I think that's actually going to be taken care of, in my opinion.

25:24Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't, but I don't think it will.

25:26Katie Miller:It's not like iRobot? No, I don't think it's going to be that way. I really don't. I think there's going to be a lot of guardrails in place for that. But what I think is really scary is Hive Mind. Everybody thinking the same way. Everybody going to the LLMs. not having creative, individual, unique human thought. I'm really concerned about that. That's what I think. Have you read the culture books by Banks? No, I haven't. Not yet. You really like them. Yeah. Okay. Again, I'm a 30 ,000-foot theoretical guy. I read a lot of stuff online and then hear what people are saying, but then also do a bit of research using Gemini.

26:04Funny enough for HiveMind, that's exactly what it is. But that's the thing. As I've been using this, it's let me understand, wow, this could get scary quickly if we're all thinking the same way and all doing the same thing. So that's the one thing I would hope doesn't get lost in the sauce is everybody just having a hive mind.

26:24Katie Miller:What does a normal day look like for you? Every day is different. Every day is unique. Every day is something crazy happens. I don't know why. The past couple of months, every day is something. What's the wildest thing that's happened in the last couple of months? Can't tell you that. It's no fun. It's no fun. The wildest thing, I would say there was a stars aligning moment with some acreage that we're looking at buying to help build and design a golf course in a place that I care deeply about. So I can't unveil that yet, but we're close. What's the craziest moment when someone's recognized you and you kind of either freak out or you're like, whoa, what is this?

27:03A lot of the times it's when people from behind will just yell my name and run up to me from my back. I'm like, whoa.

27:11Katie Miller:Do you forget people are supposed to know who I am? That's right. All the time. I mean, I'm a kid from Clovis, California and was not a part of anybody famous and didn't have very much money growing up. We were fine, but didn't have much money. and coming from those roots, more of an agricultural basis and a small little suburban town, I never thought I would get this far. I never thought that I'd... And again, I didn't play golf to become famous. I played golf because I loved it, right? And as time has gone on, all these opportunities have opened up, and I'm an opportunist. Whenever there's an opportunity, I like to go after it.

27:49And so there's a lot of times where, in public, I just hear my name and I'm like, oh. And I love it. I think it's great. It's fantastic. I show a lot of respect and appreciation. But it can be jarring sometimes when you're eating dinner and then all of a sudden somebody randomly yells your name across the room and you're like, oh, I'm just trying to eat dinner.

28:11Katie Miller:That's okay. It comes with a job and that's the territory you walk into. What's the worst thing you've spent money on? My house. Not a question. I mean, it's the best thing ever. Because it costs way too much. It's just been a bit of a nightmare. I would say other than that. Did you build it? I didn't personally build it. No, I didn't think you were out there with like a hammer and like laying the stone. I did, though, excavate the old house. I did go into the excavator and then pull it down, part of it down. That was fun. Anyone who builds says this exact thing that their house is a money pit.

28:41It is, unfortunately. I knew it going into it, but I didn't know how much it would be, and that's okay. I would say the, oh, let me think.

28:54Building an equipment golf company is really expensive. It's not as cheap as you think. That's been quite fun to look at those bills. Look, you just don't realize how expensive things are sometimes when you're passionate about something. You're passionate and you realize, oh, there's a reason why a lot of people don't do this.

29:14Katie Miller:What's your go-to snack during a tournament? Go-to snack. it's got to be a beef stick for sure a beef stick yeah a beef stick protein okay okay what kind of beef stick do you want the do you want the the sugar answer no i mean beef sticks fine i just right now i think they're nauseating but that's absolutely fine that's your answer honey packets oh those are really good those are good okay those are really good now there we go we have an agreement we have an agreement is it hard to date when you're like I would say famous or this public what's yeah it's near impossible for sure but just too many things going on it's it's do girls slide into your dms and you're like responding or you just don't even go that route yeah there are times I'm in a different situation now so okay fine but I'm not gonna ask further than totally fine but it's it's great and you know time time is uh as I'm 32 it's time I want a family here soon so but even with friends I would say male friends is it hard to know when someone's genuine like actually wants to hang out with you versus oh yeah my trust gets crossed quite a bit for sure but I've got good people I also have good people around me that I've had for a long time do you make people sign NDAs um no I don't I don't really do that unless they're working personally for me um that's only the only time when that happens you kind of have to you kind of got to protect yourself just like you know the folks that are right so what's the go-to date night spot then what's the what's the what's the move like what's the what's the move what type of move what move are you talking about okay great so let's continue um so when you're like man i'm going to take her out and impress her what's the move um carbone's a nice one okay um new york or miami no dallas there's one in dallas okay dallas and And then most likely go to Old Town Grapevine because I live in Grapevine, Texas.

31:13It's a really cool, really cool, quaint place that I love. And it's actually the Christmas capital of Texas, surprisingly. So I love seeing the lights at Christmas time. That's quite a bit of fun.

31:26Katie Miller:How did you end up in Texas if you're from California? SMU. So I went to school at SMU on a full ride. And you liked Dallas so much you stayed? Yeah. I knew a bunch of people and I felt comfortable. It was easy travel internationally. and then to the West Coast and East Coast. So I said, you know what? It feels comfortable. I'm good. Okay. The famous game of would you rather. Got to pick one. Got to love these. This is great. Would you rather win the Masters but only eat vegetables at the Champions Dinner forever or get the opportunity to play golf on the moon but never win a green jacket? Well, there's a lot of caveats there, so hold up.

32:05Katie Miller:Would you rather win the Masters but only eat vegetables? Is historical.

32:12Wow, that's a great question.

32:14Katie Miller:Do you believe they actually played golf on the moon? Oh, I don't hear we conspiracy theory. I don't know. Look, Elon says we've definitely gone there. So I tend to go that route because he's the man that knows quite a bit about all that. Artemis just went around the moon. So I do believe if we spent a lot of our resources like they say we did, I think we did. I don't think the footage is real, but I think we did go to the moon. I don't know about the footage. It's quite wild. But I'll tell you that, let's just look. The Masters is something I've always grown up wanting to do. Going to the moon has been a recent content idea, although I've always wanted to go to space as a kid.

33:01So you're really throwing me for a curveball, but I'd have to say the Masters because it's something that I've dreamed of for a long time.

33:07Katie Miller:It's a good question whether you go like traditional media route or the influencer route is kind of what this question is to you. I'm in that weird space right now. I don't know what to do either content creation or professional golf. I don't know what to do right now. Which one's more lucrative?

33:22They're about the same. If you're up at that level in content creation, they are very, very similar.

33:28Katie Miller:Would you rather play in front of zero fans like during the COVID era or be mic'd up with millions listening to every thought? Oh, you don't want to know my thoughts. How about that? Let's stay away from my brain, all right? It's something the public does not need to know. They definitely need to put me in a psychiatric hospital for sure. Bring mental asylums back. Yeah. Would you rather let a fan be your caddy during a major or let AI decide your club selection before every shot?

34:03Man, I don't think we're there with AI yet. I think you'd be a random fan. I could talk to him and kind of rationalize with him certain things. With AI, it's like, no, this is what you're kind of going to do.

34:12Katie Miller:But who was like a female fan who knew Jack nothing? I was going to say Jack shit, but like nothing. Yeah, who knew nothing. I might go AI then. I don't know. I'm not sure. It's a good question. You're putting some good questions out there. Would you rather play a full round wearing a tuxedo that's three sizes too small or wearing ski goggles that are always fogged up?

34:35Katie Miller:This is so mean. They're horrible options because you can't hit it far in a suit or a tuxedo that's three sizes too small. I'd go with the goggles. I'd just start to close my eyes and feel where the ball is, for sure. Would you rather play a Ryder Cup with President Trump as captain or hit a hole-in-one on the National Mall on the 4th of July? Both. Can I do both, please? I'm sure we can make the 4th of July happen. The 4th of July would be wild. If I made it on the 4th of July, that would go 100. That would go insane. Absolutely insane. What's a conspiracy theory that you believe in? I do think that there are interdimensional beings out there for sure.

35:17I do believe in UAPs. Have they ever visited? UAPs, UFOs. I think they're more than just aliens from another world. Maybe aliens from another world, but I think there's more. There's a lot more to that story.

35:31Katie Miller:What's your most irrational golf superstition?

35:36I usually write my score in every nine holes. It's a really weird, it's not really a superstition, but it's just kind of a system. Usually superstitions are just systems and rhythms, things that make you comfortable. But for me, you know, I don't write my scores down. If I'm playing well, I don't write my scores down because it kind of makes me feel like, okay, it's going to end. if I'm playing bad or make a bogey or double on a hole, I'll write it down. Just be like, okay, we're done. It's kind of like a rhythm and like a mental reset. So I'm not really that superstitious, but it's more like a rhythm.

36:08I guess I'm superstitious on that. I guess I don't know.

36:11Katie Miller:There's so many golf celebrities to look up to over the years. Who's the one you look up to the most? You know, it's funny. Great players, you know. Great players, but Bill Murray is always somebody that's caught my attention. You know, Carl Spackler and Caddyshack growing up watching that. And then Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler. Those are a few of them. And I got to play with Adam Sandler and do a break 50 with him. I was thinking more of like Gary Palmer, Tiger Woods, Phil Nicholson. Oh, he's a celebrity, though. He's a celebrity. Well, I mean, I would classify all three of those in that bucket as well.

36:41Katie Miller:But I guess you know them personally, so you're not going to qualify. But I'm a celebrity, so it's fine. It's true. Pass. But here's the deal. I would love to play. I would have loved to have played with Arnold Palmer, for sure. That would have been amazing. My favorite, if I had to pick a foursome, right? It would be Tiger, Mo Norman, Arnold Palmer, and myself. So when you go to meet these people whom you looked up to from when you were little, what's that experience like? Are you like, these people are just as great as I thought they were? Is it weird to be playing with some people at the same time?

37:17Yeah.

37:17Katie Miller:What's that experience like, especially given that golf has such a longevity for their players? Yeah, first it was really weird meeting a lot of the stars I looked up to for a long time and then competing against them and beating them. It was like, well, I'm supposed to beat them? Wait, what? I thought they were always supposed to beat me. It's a weird juxtaposition. Who's the most unimpressive celebrity you've ever met? Wow, you're going to throw me under the carpet here pretty quickly. I can't say the name. Come on. No, I mean, I would get in trouble for sure. So back to Adam Sandler. Are you going to recreate Happy Gilmore anytime soon?

37:51Oh, my gosh. I was a part of Happy Gilmore, too, so I was lucky to be a part. I can't believe I was a part of that. That's a pinch-me moment. That was definitely a pinch-me moment. I should have said that earlier. And then I'd say recreating Happy Gilmore. I don't know. It'd be sick if he caddied for me in the Par 3 contest next year to Augusta. That'd be pretty cool. Having Happy on the bag would be funny.

38:15Katie Miller:What's more nerve-wracking, standing over a six-foot putt to win or teeing it up with the President of the United States? Teeing up with the president of the United States for the first time is probably more nerve-wracking. As time has gone on, the six-footers become a lot harder to win. Do you think it's intimidating having that much secret service and the drones overhead? It's not. It is not comfortable. I will tell you that. The first few times you play, you're really on watch. And then as time goes on, they know who you are and you get more comfortable and it's fine. They become human beings.

38:45But at first, it feels like iRobot a little bit.

38:50Katie Miller:You're like, there's so many people. Like, what's going on? Is this okay? Is this not okay? Where do I go? You're asking them a lot of questions, and they're looking at you like this. I'm like, okay. I'm walking, okay. So you mentioned how you're just like a kid from a small town in California. Yep. What was it like the first time you did like a sponsorship commercial or an ad where there's a lot of people taking photos of you where you're like, this is so uncomfortable? Yeah. Yeah, it was a Bridgestone shoot. When I got sponsored by Bridgestone, I went out to Atlanta. This was before the Masters.

39:28We were shooting everything because I knew I was turning professional right after. Vividly just thinking to myself, I'm getting makeup on. I'm getting told what to do, where to go, where to be. There's a schedule. Like, is this what professional golf is? I just want to go hit a golf ball. So let me go practice.

39:45Katie Miller:What's the worst thing you promoted? Oh my gosh. I don't think there's a worse thing that I've promoted, but there's certainly been situations where it's been very difficult to work with the sponsor. And obviously they think the same of me because they're like, why can't he just do this? We're paying him all this money and everything. So there are definitely times where sponsorships didn't line up.

40:08There are times when we do a small little deal and these companies ask a lot more because they They want more of my time, which is totally fine. It's just, you know, I'm very much by the books of like, okay, this is the contract. And I try to give as much as I can, but I'm not going to throw anybody under the bus.

40:22Katie Miller:You briefly mentioned wanting kids. I'd be remiss if, because we're a female podcast, we didn't quickly talk about how many kids you wanted. A bunch. I'd love to have a bunch of kids, four, for sure. Do you believe that a man's place is like out at work and the woman's place is in the home? or what's your core set of beliefs on how a family should work these days or do you think it's dependent upon the partners? Look, I think it's situationally dependent, right? Financially, if the male can't support the full family, there are times that you're going to have to make difficult decisions where the woman's going to have to go out there.

40:56But traditionally, I would love to see women being as, I would say, engaged and opportunistic as possible. If they want to go work, if they want to go build their own business, go do it. I would also say if you're having family, make sure to prioritize and make sure that you've got the opportunity for yourself to take care of your kids and do the right thing for your kids, as well as the man should do the exact same thing. Man needs to have time with the family. Not just working 55, 60 hours a week and overworking himself to death and not having time for his family. So it's really a dynamic that's fluid and I think changes over time depending on your financials.

41:37But I do think, and there are times like where the woman, if the woman wants to go out and work and the man's back and taking care of the kids, it can happen too. And so it's really dependent on what works. But for the most part, I think it's around stability. The most important thing is stability.

41:52Katie Miller:As you may know, there's a giant decline in the birth rate worldwide, right? There's a fertility crisis across the world. There's many different reasons that people cite why. Why do you think that is?

42:05I think a little bit more knowledge around divorce rate, too. I think it scares a lot of people. I know it scared me for the longest time. That's why I'm 32 and no kids, right? Where I've got some friends that were 23 having kids. And so I can only take it from my personal experience. I'm not going to put it on the world, but I think for me it was more of scared of getting divorced. I want to find the right person, the right partner. And with so many options out there. It wasn't like in old times where you didn't have communication in the outside world. Let's say if you're in a small town, those are your options in your small town.

42:40The amount of people that you have is the amount of people you get to choose from. And so I think the decisions were a lot easier back then, whereas now we're on Instagram, we're on TikTok. We're on these places and you see these girls, you see these people, you can talk to them, you can message them. And I think that's ultimately where we just have these options. and people get confused on what they want, what they want to have. And so I think it's a part of technology, the accessibility, and then also your, I guess, trauma around getting divorced and losing a lot of your wealth and whatnot. I think those factors are a really big play, in my opinion, and why there's a declining birth rate.

43:19Katie Miller:So at the end of every podcast, we normally ask everybody what three people they'd want to have dinner with who are dead or alive. But we're gonna change it up and say if you could play a round of golf for three people dead or alive Who's in your group and where are you playing? So it would be Cypress Point. This is the golf course. It's my favorite place in the world Very lucky to have played there before. Where is it? Monterey, California. Okay. It is My favorite place in the world. It's next to Pebble Beach. Why is it your favorite course? Well, it's Dr. Alistair McKenzie design. He's my favorite designer the way he designs it to be more of a naturalistic landscape, a lot of deception.

43:56He puts a lot of deception in there and makes you feel like you need to hit it to a certain place when you don't. It's very tricky. It's the physics in you. Yeah, it's the engineering, physics, and a lot of the strategy behind it. He's very much a strategist. And then I'd say the people that I'd love to play with the most, Bobby Jones would be an incredible person. I would love to have played with him to get his mind on things. Byron Nelson. would have been amazing. Ben Hogan. And then myself. That would have been fun.

44:27Katie Miller:Nice foursome. Okay. Thank you for doing this. Thank you, Katie. Really appreciate the time. Thank you so much for watching this episode of the Katie Miller Podcast. Don't forget to join us every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. Eastern, everywhere you get a podcast. See you next week.