Golf Improvement and Podcast Creation with Chuck Formica

Ready to improve your golf game and explore the world of podcasting? We're thrilled to have Chuck Formica join us in this episode as we discuss the journey of creating a golf-focused podcast. Chuck, a new resident of The Villages, shares his passion for the sport and the exciting components that he may cover, from physical and mental aspects to technical skills. We also chat about the incredible support we've received from our listeners through the Open Forum in the Villages website.

Put on your golfing shoes and grab your putter as we dive into the art of putting and the variety of putters I've personally used throughout the years. Chuck and I discuss the importance of finding a technique that works for you and how the Odyssey putter became my go-to. Plus, we talk about the diverse range of guests Chuck may interview to provide valuable insights for anyone looking to make informed decisions about their golf game. Don't miss this engaging conversation packed with golf tips and podcasting insights!

Transcript

Emily: 0:12

This is season number four. It marks several significant improvements and changes. First is the podcast title clarification. We are now remaming the podcast Open Forum in the villages, florida to make clear that this is a regional show. The show is not sponsored by the villages. It is a dramatic increase in the use of AI for the show. These include transcripts of each show. Please understand that there will be errors inserted by the AI that may not be caught before the transcript is published. However, this is a dramatic step forward. We will now include chapter markers for each show. The show's title will be one of the five titles generated by the AI. The show description will be AI generated. In fact, the show's announcers are now all AI voices, including me. Hope you enjoy.

Zoey: 0:58

Welcome to the Open Forum in the villages, florida podcast. In this show we are going to talk to leaders in the community, leaders of clubs and interesting folks who live here in the villages to give perspectives of what is happening here in the villages. We hope to add a new episode most Fridays at 9 am. We have converted all of our shows to Buzzsprout. Of course, you can still listen to Apple Podcast, amazon Music and about 20 other podcast platforms. Your favorite podcast player will still work. We are now a listener-supported podcast. You can become a supporter for only $3 or you can choose to pay more per month. Go to openforminthevillagescom and click on support in the black box. There will be a shout out for supporters in episodes. This is a shout out to supporters. Tweet Coleman, dan Capellan, ed Williams, alvin Stenzel and major supporter Dr Craig Curtis at K2 in the villages. We will be hearing more from Dr Curtis with short Alzheimer's tips each week.

Mike Roth: 1:50

This is Mike Roth with Chuck Formica. Thanks for joining me today, Chuck.

Chuck Formica: 1:54

Hi, mike, pleasure to be here.

Mike Roth: 1:56

You are a relatively new villager.

Chuck Formica: 1:58

Yes, about a year and a half now.

Mike Roth: 1:59

Okay, and where did you come from before moving to the villages?

Chuck Formica: 2:02

Connecticut. We were here for about seven years. every year Knew we wanted to be here, but when the time was right we made the move.

Mike Roth: 2:09

Okay, so you were the proverbial snowbird.

Chuck Formica: 2:12

Yes, that's exactly not here for very long while we're here.

Mike Roth: 2:15

Okay, so what part of the villages do?

Chuck Formica: 2:18

you live in In between the sixes, so we refer to that between 466 and 466A.

Mike Roth: 2:24

Oh, okay.

Chuck Formica: 2:25

So the village is Sabal Chase.

Mike Roth: 2:27

Good, that's a good village, i think. Once upon a time my improv club last year did a show for the Sabal Chase club. Same lady that runs that club runs the Texas club. So she liked it so much she gave us a job at the Texas club. So I understand. What about Chuck? you took my three week podcasting 101 course and now you're thinking of starting a podcast. Tell us about the subject of your podcast.

Chuck Formica: 2:50

So the challenge I'm having is picking a subject that I'm passionate about and I think others would be interested enough about to actually have me follow through with it on a consistent basis and have them be wanting to listen to it on a consistent basis. There's a few subjects, but the one that comes to mind is definitely the game of golf.

Mike Roth: 3:10

Well, there are just a few people in the villages that play golf, and you must be one of them.

Chuck Formica: 3:14

I do and my body will let me.

Mike Roth: 3:17

Yes, i have the same issues. I have a set of golf clubs in the garage that I haven't used in three years and I'm feeling a lot better, but I haven't come to the point where I'm going to sell the golf clubs yet. So you wanted to start a podcast on golf. What? golf is a big area. What are you going to talk about in your podcast?

Chuck Formica: 3:38

I'm going through the decision process now for what I want the podcast to look like and then deciding whether I'm going to do it or not. I'm an old process guy, project management guy and the result of that is that I get a little too analytical. So the parts of golf is really going to be open-ended. I want to be able to touch on physical, mental and the technical aspects of the game. But I want my information that's shared to be not Chuck Formica information but information from other people, primarily because there's a lot of people who know a lot more than I do and my whole focus is on sharing information, helping others make informed decisions.

Chuck Formica: 4:26

So, I'm looking to go through an interview type process for most of the podcasts, that's good.

Mike Roth: 4:32

My favorite golf course here is Saratoga, because they have two sets of holes on each green and one is much bigger than the other and it counts the same, so I like that a lot. It was also near a driving range and a practice range. Have you thought of any specific topics that you're going to cover in your podcast about golf?

Chuck Formica: 4:52

My hope is that I will have people that I interview that range from beginners, decent amateurs, top shelf amateurs and professionals. I've got a bit of a network out there that I can pull from. So the topics I think are going to be different based on who I'm speaking with. Sure, primarily around those three parts of the game the mental, physical and then the technical. The training that I've been through so far will help me with some of that technical, but I don't want to leave the impression that I'm a instructor or a golf professional because I'm not Good Just interviewing people who know a little bit more about golf and want to share their ideas with others in the villages.

Mike Roth: 5:34

I think that's a great idea for a podcast. Probably only about 50,000 people here in the villages would want to know about that. If I was looking for guests on the show, I'd hang out at one of the driving ranges and talk to the people who were hitting the ball real well.

Chuck Formica: 5:51

It's interesting when I'm playing with people, i try very hard not to give any pointers until the round is over, and only if they want them. One of the things that I always tell people is there's two places that you don't take recommendations from people. One is on a driving range when they've been hitting the balls same as you, next to you, And the other is on a course when you've just finished a round with them. If you're looking for some coaching, find a PGA professional and take a lesson. Yeah.

Mike Roth: 6:21

I took about four grand worth of lessons a few years ago And that moved me from horrible to mediocre. I'm glad I didn't go any further with the lessons. I think I was learning more being out there on the courses hitting the ball that I was getting from the instructor. What kind of a format have you thought about for your podcast on golf?

Chuck Formica: 6:43

Primarily interviews, considering doing some other things like book reviews, training aid reviews, things that primarily amateurs are potentially using or want to use, want to gain information from. I've got a garage full of training aids and more than one bookshelf full of golf books.

Mike Roth: 7:06

I bet there have been more than a few books on golf written over the years.

Chuck Formica: 7:10

My process with the books is a three-read process. The first time through and highlight what I think are more important items through the course of the chapters. Second time through, i go through and look only at the highlights. Then I write down in a bullet format what are the truly key things for each chapter. I'm going to write those down on the first page of the chapter. Then, when I'm done, i go through each first page and I take the highlights from those and I write those at the very beginning of the book.

Chuck Formica: 7:41

I try to use books as reference material, as opposed to read it once and give it away or put it on a shelf. It helps me later on when I go back to the book a year or five years later and I can see what I thought at the time was important enough to make that list. If I read a book second time, cover to cover and it's been more than a year it's almost guaranteed I'm going to find new things and different things that are important within the book, because I've evolved so my perspective is different.

Mike Roth: 8:10

Right, i'm just saying you got to keep your eye on the ball. You've heard that one. so that's my lead into my joke for Evan. What did the left eye say to the right eye? Between us, something smells.

Chuck Formica: 8:21

There you go, evan.

Mike Roth: 8:23

Bad jokes. That's par for the course, since we're in a golf show. Have you run the idea of a golf show beyond yourself and maybe your significant other?

Chuck Formica: 8:33

Haven't run it by anyone because I haven't made a decision that I want to do it yet. On top of being kind of an analytical guy, i was also a mentor for an organization called Score, helping people get up and running or improving expanding businesses. I have a tendency to put everything in a business plan format and I'm collecting data right now.

Mike Roth: 8:56

I always recommend to people you got to get started someplace or you never will. And sometimes people get started real slow, real simple, and realize the project is much bigger than they wanted You've got to start. Other times people get very successful from a small start, but you got to start someplace. If you don't start you won't get any place. But from my perspective there is no golf podcast here in the villages. A B golf is widely played all over America and all over the world. So your marketplace for the podcast isn't only the villages, it's the whole world maybe, except Antarctica and maybe Latland those places. These are not many golf courses, but if you take that broad perspective I think there's a market for it. Today's tip for avoiding Alzheimer's from Dr Craig Curtis. Dr Curtis, can you tell our listeners just one thing they can do to improve their brain health?

Dr Craig Curtis: 9:50

That's a great question. I think that if there was one tip I could give people to improve their brain health, it would be switching their diet and trying to follow more of a Mediterranean type diet.

Mike Roth: 10:03

And what's in a Mediterranean diet that people need to add to their?

Dr Craig Curtis: 10:08

American diet. It's tough to hear, but a Mediterranean diet has low amounts of red meat and butter and sweets, carbohydrates, sugars and high amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables, leafy greens, legumes, fish, white meat such as chicken and moderate amounts of exercise. Thanks a lot, dr Curtis, you're welcome.

Mike Roth: 10:30

Yeah. I don't think I answered that very well, mike, we can do a take two on that. See, that's the beauty of this. This is take. You want to be talking about that angle to the microphone You were over here, which is at the edge of the pickup zone. It's not picking up anything back here. Dr Curtis, can you give our patients a tip on keeping their brain healthy?

Dr Craig Curtis: 10:54

Absolutely My favorite tip is involves a change in eating patterns, but it's not a drastic change. It's simply increasing the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, other white meats and lowering the amounts of red meat, sweets and sugars and also carbohydrates. It's essentially following a Mediterranean type diet plan.

Warren: 11:19

With over 20 years of experience studying brain health, dr Curtis's goal is to educate the village's community on how to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more, visit his website, craigcurtismdcom, or call 352-500-5252 to attend a free seminar. By the way, what is your favorite?

Mike Roth: 11:37

golf ball Sounds like you've read hundreds.

Chuck Formica: 11:40

I have read a bunch. I would probably say the most impactful for me was Dave Pell's Short Game Bible. I'm not a long ball hitter. Needed to improve my scores figured out I'm not going to do it from a tee box. So I focused on the short game and took about eight strokes off my handicap within, i would say, four months.

Mike Roth: 12:03

You mean the game of golf from 40 yards away from the pin. Was it closer?

Chuck Formica: 12:08

I call this short game actually 125 in, but most in the business consider it 100 yards in or 80 yards in. I only consider it 125 because one of my short clubs is my 125 club And I can take a short game, swing with that and reach the green. So my perspective is 125 and then I play my long game to take advantage of my strengths, which are short game and putting is. I wouldn't say it's a strength, but it's not a hindrance either.

Mike Roth: 12:42

So how many years have you played golf? Over 40. How many putters do you own? I own Big smile from Chuck.

Chuck Formica: 12:49

I own three putters. The first one I bought in a United Way fundraiser from a coworker who wanted $5 for it and it was top of the line putter. I refused He wouldn't take more than 10. And I use that club for 30 years or more. The second club I got is the one that I actually use now And that one I like it a lot. It has helped me in my putting. The third one I own because a friend of mine who moved here to the villages wanted to golf with me for a long time And when we moved here we were looking forward to getting together and going out And before we had an opportunity to do that he passed away. So I keep that one in the trunk of my car So I look at it every time I pull my clubs out.

Mike Roth: 13:38

OK, so the one that you use every day in golf is what brand? Odyssey Odyssey, and why is that best for you?

Chuck Formica: 13:47

So it's balanced the way that I like The put stroke that I use is a shoulder turn or swing.

Chuck Formica: 13:58

So if we think about a screen door on a house opening, it opens from a central point, from a hinge, yes, and it creates an arc, as opposed to rocking the shoulders, is more of a pendulum movement, or it's straight, and for me, simplifying allows less opportunity for error. So I move to that stroke, the pendulum stroke, with this putter, and it just so happens And I size myself for it. It ended up being a very short putter compared to standard length. I'm not a tall guy to start with How tall are you?

Chuck Formica: 14:35

5'6", 5'6" But it allows me to have my eyes over the ball, to not be in such a strong hitchhin a hip hinge that I have pain in my back. So I've had a spinal fusion And I have challenges with my back. So this allows me to get into that position, but not for a long period of time, and I have a set up routine prior to every shot, regardless of where on the course it is. And that putter fits me, is a simplistic stroke for me, and I average two putts, a whole and half for many years.

Mike Roth: 15:12

Much better than I do. I'll tell you what I do. I imagine a letter T, ok And I put the long part of the T in line with exactly where I want the ball to go, and I'm on the short part of the T And then I align myself to a 90 degree angle And I take a shot that's going to be straight on to move that ball down the long leg of the letter T. Is that a good way to hit a putt?

Chuck Formica: 15:37

Any way that works for you is a good way. The idea of a single way working for everyone is really not conducive to learning the game or playing the game well. We all have our differences. There is no one way to hit a golf ball, regardless of where you are on the course, so if it works for you, great. It sounds to me like it might help you visualize that tee.

Mike Roth: 16:05

It visualizes the tee and visualizes where I want the pole to go, and sometimes it actually follows the mark. Sometimes they hit it too hard, sometimes they hit it too soft, but it usually leaves me with a second putt, which isn't too bad.

Chuck Formica: 16:19

One of the things that I learned around putting, relatively early on, first and last thought for a putt speed same thought. You use the thought of what speed you want to hit the ball to identify how you want the ball to enter the hole, and then the last thought you want is speed, because if you've gone through your setup, you've already picked your target, which almost never is the hole. You understand what speed you want to hit it. Take one or two real short practice strokes and just focus on speed. You've done the other work, you don't have to think about it.

Mike Roth: 16:54

So in starting your podcast, what approach are you using?

Chuck Formica: 17:00

The informed decision idea has been a big part of my career and my life, so that's really what I want to do is I want to look at how can I provide information from as many valuable resources to as many people as possible, and the result of that is it will be what it'll be. So the approach really is get good resources to come onto the part podcast and to share, hopefully have an audience that thinks it's interesting enough and that audience grows over time.

Mike Roth: 17:33

And the audience as well.

Chuck Formica: 17:35

And at that point don't screw it up.

Mike Roth: 17:37

That's right, get started. Have you thought about what length podcast would be?

Chuck Formica: 17:41

Only because of myself. when I listened to a podcast, At the 30 minute mark I start to lose my interest. So I'm looking at between 20 and 33, 35 minutes total time.

Mike Roth: 17:54

Yeah, i like to keep these podcasts down to a maximum of 30 minutes because the attention span of Americans has gotten shorter and shorter and shorter And if you listen to all of my shows, you'll discover some of them down at 15 minutes. When I first started listening to podcasts, i was listening to equipment reviews for audio and high definition TV when that was starting up, i guess in the late 90s Not the early 90s, early 90s, maybe even before And I would listen to podcasts when I was on machines at the gym. And so 15 minutes, that was it. If the podcast was longer than 15 minutes, many times I never got back to listen to the second half, but I did learn a lot. Okay, equipment reviews are a good thing because you can interest equipment manufacturers on loaning some of their newest stuff newest toys boys like to play with toys to give an evaluation to, and I think that's a natural. Have you given any thought to what your podcast start date would be?

Chuck Formica: 18:53

I haven't picked the date. That's part of the process the information collecting and filtering decision making. I do wanna make a decision by the end of July. One of the things that I believe in is when I've got a decision to make, think about it, preferably write it down, read it just before I go to bed And my subconscious seems to work on it while I'm asleep And it's an easier process for me. I've got a vacation coming up. I plan on sitting on a beach and going through my notes and letting it sink in. By the end of July I'll have a decision whether I'm gonna go forward or not.

Mike Roth: 19:26

Do you have a list of prospective guests yet?

Chuck Formica: 19:29

I do. I haven't contacted those people, but it's a lengthy list. It's a lengthy list.

Mike Roth: 19:34

Lengthy means More than 80 people. More than 80 people. Wow, you're gonna have a lot of and you're gonna release one new episode a week.

Chuck Formica: 19:41

That's my target. It is one 30 minute episode a week.

Mike Roth: 19:44

Right, so to get started, you really wanna do four. And then, when you have four in the can since scarf, generally speaking, is in a time sensitive kind of a podcast then I gotta change the size of the ball. for instance, you can record four to six weeks in advance, and then you have four weeks to get the next episode ready to go, which is always a handy thing if you're taking a vacation.

Mike Roth: 20:06

The reason we're recording this today is because I'm taking a vacation at the end of June. I'm gonna be going for two and a half or three weeks, but I've got six episodes in the can that are scheduled to be released and people can listen to them. They won't know I'm going except if they listen to this show. Chuck, have you thought about how you're going to record the podcast? Are you gonna set up a room in your home?

Chuck Formica: 20:27

I have done a little bit of research on sound editing materials. Not sure what direction I'm gonna go with that, nor am I sure I'm going to do it in my home. A lot of the people that I have targeted are from around the US, so I'm thinking that I may end up going to Zoom route. I don't plan on traveling around the US to do the interview.

Mike Roth: 20:50

Okay, Zoom route would work for some people and many people around the country have invested in better quality microphones for their Zoom calls so the people they're having the Zoom call with in their business can hear them better. So that works a lot better than it did 10 or 15 years ago. I strongly suggest in a podcast almost never, never let anyone use a cell phone. Okay, because they're not pinned down to one place, they can walk around.

Mike Roth: 21:18

I did a podcast once in my prior series called Cincinnati Business Talk, with a fellow who got concentrated on getting business with the government. He lived in Annapolis and he was a real good friend and he said, yeah, i'll be on the podcast, but I want to do it from here. I'm not coming to Cincinnati, he said. I said, okay, do it on the landline. He said, sure, so the day the podcast comes up and he calls in, he says I'm on a cell phone and it sounded every bit that way And then he would fade in and fade out and just so. He was the last guy that I did on a cell phone. I know cell phones are better today and they have this high definition audio on cell phones and some cell phones have actually pretty good microphones, but not everyone has that cell phone. So, in trying to wrap this up, chuck, why don't you tell our listeners how they can get a whole review to talk about golf?

Chuck Formica: 22:07

Sure, so this is my cell phone 860-614-2734. And a quick text. if you just want to leave a comment, is great. I would be interested in your feedback. Do you think this is a good idea or not, and what you would like to see covered in a podcast?

Mike Roth: 22:26

Podcast on golf.

Chuck Formica: 22:27

On golf My target market is not necessarily the villages, It's golf in general. But I live here in the villages and I plan on staying here. That's good. That's good.

Mike Roth: 22:38

That's a surprising demographic. It was originally designed for the villagers' own And today, i would say, 60% or more of the listens happen in an area within 50 miles of the villages, but that leaves 40% that happens in far-flung places like Alaska, california, canada, europe and even a few in India, china. I haven't been able to figure those out, but it's been fun. Chuck, anything else you want to say before we go?

Chuck Formica: 23:06

I look forward to the feedback. Help me gather that information so I can make my decision, and thank you, mike, for the opportunity to be here.

Mike Roth: 23:12

Good, give the listeners a cell phone number to text to 860-614-2734.

Chuck Formica: 23:21

Thanks for being with us, Chuck.

Zoey: 23:22

Remember our next episode will be released next Friday at 9 am. Should you want to become a major supporter of the show or have questions, please contact us at mikeatrothvoicecom. If you know someone who should be on the show, contact us at mikeatrothvoicecom. We thank everyone for listening to the show. The content of the show is copyrighted by Rothvoice 2023. All rights reserved.