Flag Hunters Golf Podcast
Hello and welcome to Flaghunters ! It is a privilege to bring to you this powerful insight into playing better Golf. In all my years of being in the game of Golf from competing at a high amateur level, to caddying, teaching, and being a overall Golf geek, I have an insatiable, curiosity driven desire to get down to the bottom of what it takes to truly get better playing the game of Golf that we all unconditionally love. This has been one of the greatest journeys of my life and I am deeply grateful for all that Golf has given me. Thank you for joining me in this incredible journey. This is my ever evolving love letter to Golf. Jesse Perryman P.S. Please Rate, Review and Subscribe !
Flag Hunters Golf Podcast
Rising Star in Golf: Antonia Malate on Collegiate Success, Innovative Training, and Her Journey to the LPGA Tour
Hello, this is Jesse Perriman from the Flagler's Golf Podcast, welcoming you to a very special conversation that I had with one of our local here on the Monterey Peninsula in California, united States, one of our local young phenoms, up and coming golfer. Her name is Antonia Malate. Antonia, as I said, is from Monterey, antonia Malate, antonia, as I said, is from Monterey and she is a current player on the Epson Tour, which is the AAA of women's golf, of the LPGA, and I got to tell you folks, she is an up and coming star in my opinion. So a quick background on Antonia she's from here. She went to Robert Louis Stevenson and got a full scholarship to San Jose State and San Jose State women's golf has been in the top ten in several consecutive years in Division I women's golf and a few times they've been two in the nation next to Stanford and Stanford's bunch of world beaters up there. So San Jose State does hold their own and Antonia has and was a big part of that. So in this conversation we talk about her journey, her upbringing, playing golf in high school, playing golf at a collegiate level, at a high division one college golf level, turning pro, and what her process is to learn, to grow, to ascend and to get her body right, to get her mind right, to get her golf swing right and to get her game right, to prepare herself to go out on the road for the rest of the year. So as of this recording, it's February of 2025.
Speaker 1:She is prepping to get on the road for a full schedule on the Upson Tour in hopes of getting her full LPGA Tour card at the end of the year and I think that she is definitely capable of. For you golf swing fanatics out there, she's got she's a mini Nick Price and she hits the ball very, very hard and she rotates nicely and uses the ground and gravity appropriately. For for us older guys, it's it's a real good swing model to look at and I've said it before on here and I'm going to say it again and certainly Antonia is a great resource to look at because they're swinging it basically at the same speed as we are and it's more palpable for us to say, okay, they do this, they do it well, and what can we learn from that? Because the guys on the PGA Tour and on the Live Tour, they're outliers, they're the 1% of the 1% and it's a real good model for us to look at, and Antonia exemplifies all of these things in spades. So enjoy this conversation. I sure did. I expect a lot of great things coming from her and her career and the best of luck to her, and we are certainly going to have her on again.
Speaker 1:So cheers everyone. Have a great week and don't forget to rate, review and subscribe. I always forget to say that, but here I am remembering. So cheers everyone. Hello and welcome to another edition of the Flag Hunters Golf Podcast. We got a special one today, folks. We have a young lady who is from my hometown, or our hometown. She also went to the same university I did and played a lot better golf than I did, but her name is Antonia Malate and she is on the Epson, the brand new Epson tour. Right, yeah, yeah, antonia, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we played golf a few times, and and I mean especially the people that listen that are members of the advanced ball striking community I'll throw a couple little short videos of Antonia's golf swing, because it's pretty, it's pretty sick, it's good. I call her the slop. The slop master slots it and use the ground and uses all of the good forces of nature for uh to her, to her benefit. So, antonia, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I'm excited. I mean, I just want to talk a little bit about myself and you know, you know, help others to get better at golf, just like I'm trying to do myself.
Speaker 1:So we're all in this thing together. So you grew up here, you're a girl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm a Monterey girl, Went to Stevenson for high school and then obviously went to San Jose State, played college golf there for five years and you know I play it up out at Pasadena all the time and you know all around Monterey area and grew up here and love all the courses around here. I'm glad that I got to grow up here, especially because the golf here is amazing.
Speaker 1:So yeah, we're both blessed with that. It's pretty insane when you've got Pebble and Spy and and the preserve, you're out of the preserve a lot. You're a member at Pasadena, just like within. You know 20, 30. Well, the Preserve's a little bit far, but all the Pebble courses are within 15 minutes of us.
Speaker 2:We are blessed, I know definitely. I mean, I even had Spyglass as my home course in high school, so got to play there every day, which was nice so, and then played out at MPCC under a junior membership when I was in high school, there too, so, yeah, very, very blessed.
Speaker 1:Monterey Peninsula Country Club, but I still think it's the best 36 hole facility in the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1:It's pretty darn good, my goodness. So let's, let's get into it. Antonia, what, what, how did you? How did you get started playing, like what attracted you to the game?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my parents actually played before I was born, playing in Hawaii when they used to live there, and I think the main thing that they did for me when I was younger was put me in the first tee programs like Youth on course, playing in all the little local junior tournaments around the area, and that really got me started into golf. I mean, just being around other kids who are also trying to chase the same dream that I was at the time really helped me and motivated me to do what I do now.
Speaker 1:Sure Now and that and through that experience with the first tee and youth on course, you obviously got better and were able to play at Stevenson.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know. For those who don't know, robert Louis Stevenson is a college preparatory. High school campus in Pebble Beach actually borders the 18th hole at Spy and Spyglass, which doesn't suck and has always been known to have an excellent, excellent golf program. Yeah, always. Robert Louis Stevenson is always competitive in Northern California. I mean, I don't know how many CIF titles that you all have won, but even when I was in high school, stevenson was really really good at both sides. So you got in there and you obviously got better. What was your high school golf experience like?
Speaker 2:I mean it was great. I got to play, you know, spyglass, all the courses around the area. I mean just improving every day, especially in high school, it's a grind. I mean I'm balancing school, I'm trying to figure it all out, trying to figure out if I'm going to play in college. I was also playing basketball at the same time. So I was balancing all of that and balancing academics as well. But I mean I played junior tournaments as well as during high school golf. So I was kind of, you know, going to tournaments while I was playing, playing in little matches at school, and I mean my experience was great. I mean I wasn't the best golfer. I mean I was a really good golfer but I wasn't the best that I wanted to be. So you know, just took it day by day and eventually accepted a scholarship to play in college and that's where, really, where I got, really got good in college.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, talk about your experience at San Jose State. I mean pretty, pretty damn good history when you think about all of the, the women before you, my goodness, I mean to be around them too, which is amazing.
Speaker 1:I mean you know people. It's it's one of those schools that, unless you're in golf, you don't really know, but people who are somewhat familiar with golf. I mean just think about the alumni that we had. I mean starting with Julie, and Julie Inkster and Patty Hearst and Tracy Hanson and the, the Makapani sisters I mean you can go on and on and on that. All of these girls went off, and not only were they successful on the LPGA Tour, you know legends, major winners, multiple tournament winners, just crazy, crazy lineage.
Speaker 2:I know it's insane and I mean I guess I would say San Jose State's kind of underrated too. I mean not a lot of people say, oh, like San Jose State, they're good at golf. I mean we were third in the nation at one point on Wells on the team. So yeah, a lot of people kind of hear us come in where they're like, oh, san Jose State, we really know who you guys are now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and that's pretty good considering you know you got big bad Stanford, just you know, 40 minutes up the road.
Speaker 2:Exactly. We were always going back and forth with them for sure, so it was always fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so so how was that experience playing collegiate golf? So what was that experience like for you, balancing school and being on the road, because people who don't know if you're playing collegiate golf, you're on the road a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it is a grind. I mean I I learned it the hard way my first couple of years. I really had to find a way to hone in and just really focus on, you know, what was important and being away from home was a big part of it as well. And you know, I I got a lot better just being out at the facility grinding every day, seeing my other teammates and, you know, even the men's players out at the facility and we're all kind of pushing each other to be better every day, and that was a big part of it. And competing with some of the best players in the world, I mean that just that makes it that much better. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who, who were some of the gals that you, that you played against, who might be well known like, who was?
Speaker 2:out there. Yeah, I mean rose, yeah you were with rose. Yeah, you can yeah, we played together um amari avery as well. She's um playing on epson with me now and we played together a lot. I mean, there's a lot of girls out there that are either on tour with me or on the LPGA now, so yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you got to. You got to play in the in the women's Augusta women's.
Speaker 2:Yes, so that was really smoke. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:What was that like?
Speaker 2:I mean I breathtaking, it was just. You can't even put it to words. It's the most beautiful course in the world. I would say like super green I mean hilly, as everyone says and the greens are just super pure. I mean it's just before the masters, so the course is in really good shape and the whole week, I mean they treat us really well. I mean we're all there, we all got invited from being a top player in the world, so just that whole experience was amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was just such a stroke of genius what Augusta did for women's golf just globally. I mean, what an honor that must have been when you got the invitation. When you got the invitation to your first one, what were your feelings?
Speaker 2:I mean I was, I was in shock because I knew I was really on the cusp line my first year getting into the tournament. I mean, when I got the email like beforehand it said like oh, you're getting a package from Augusta, and I was like, oh my gosh, could that be it? And I mean I was stoked, my family was really excited and I was. I was really really happy.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that golf course did was. Did it intimidate you at first? Were you a little bit yeah.
Speaker 2:My first year, I mean it was, it was tough to play it. I mean I made it, I made the cut, so I made it to the final round. So only the final round is at Augusta, so you get to practice around no matter what. But I mean my first year, I mean I had to kind of really figure out how to play the course, and I mean it's a lot tougher than it looks, I would say. And my second year, going back, I mean the pressure of all the fans and going back and seeing the course again, I was a lot more confident. So I think it definitely takes practice to play out there for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, it's one of those places that you really got to. It takes some knowing you know, even though we all grew up watching it on TV, once you're there it's a completely different ball game. It's. It's really hard to put it into words. You know the TV doesn't do it any justice. Plus it's. It's might be the most hilly, might might be the hilliest golf course I've ever walked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, yeah, there's so much undulation on the greens too and like, yeah, it is pretty hilly. I would say I mean I had a caddy, which was nice, so I was just like walking the course. But yeah it is, it is pretty hilly once you're out there.
Speaker 1:What was your favorite hole at Augusta?
Speaker 2:15, even though I didn't play that hole as well as I wanted to. That one is like a really cool tee shot. And then the second shot like it's a risk reward for sure, and I definitely took the risk last year or two years ago when I played but I mean, it's such a pretty hole, I mean it's, it's a good, it's a good hole, it's a good par five. I would say yeah, what about you?
Speaker 1:My, my well, I think it might be. My favorite hole in golf is 13.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah yeah, I think that the 13th at Augusta encapsulates everything that is good and worthy about golf. I mean, if you hit a good tee shot, you're rewarded. You know you get rewarded for good shots, which I like. I have a little bit of a problem with golf courses. You get good shots and you get, you know, f I'm not, I'm not a big fan of that. Yeah, augusta rewards good shots If you know where, where to put the ball, and that takes, that takes a little knowing that, that you know, I, I, I gotta think for women's golf, if, if that's for for amateur golf, that has got to be a massive, massive motivational piece.
Speaker 2:Like man, I want to get there yeah, definitely not too many people get there yeah, I mean, even so, like it was only the tournament only started like a couple years before I had played my first one, so I mean it was only the tournament only started like a couple of years before I had played my first one. So I mean it was so cool. Even the first time they had it out there it was like a big big deal. Everyone was like, yeah, shame. So yeah it's good for women's sports and women's golf and in particular 100 percent.
Speaker 1:Could not, could not agree more.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's, let's, let's get into you. So you graduated from school pretty successful amateur career, uh, and and you are now a professional exactly on the eps. So the I'm not too familiar with the with women's professional golf in in relation to the mini tours, so it it's the Epsilon tour, correct.
Speaker 2:The Epson tour. Yeah, so it's like the equivalent of the corn fairy. It's the developmental tour for the LPGA.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, and it's sponsored by the LPGA.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's. It's connected. So when we play qualifying or anything, it's all like LPGA Epson tour qualifying, so yeah.
Speaker 1:That's cool. So when, when, when is your first event this year?
Speaker 2:so I leave the first the last week of february, so we go to florida for the first three events okay yeah yeah, and you are. You're getting ready to roll how exciting, yeah is this your first full year or second full year? Second full year. I started at the beginning of season last year as well.
Speaker 1:And how'd that go, your rookie season out there?
Speaker 2:It went well. I mean I had a few pretty good finishes. I mean, obviously it's playing the courses for the very first time, definitely different grasses. We played Bermuda most of the season and obviously, being from Monterey, it's not Bermuda.
Speaker 2:So, just being adjusted to the different grasses and, you know, just being able to adjust overall it's. It's definitely takes time to adjust and kind of get settled where you are and I mean traveling on your own. It's just it takes experience and it takes time to kind of figure it all out. But now that I did it one year, I think I'm ready for this next year to, yeah, where to where to fly into, just all the logistics of it all is all part of it, so yeah, yeah, for for people who don't know professional golf, there's a lot more layers to it than just the glamour that people see on tv.
Speaker 1:I mean it is all that at administrative stuff, I mean from down to doing your laundry right, I mean you gotta just you gotta live too and you're on the road and you're working technically exactly, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:So how many in a row will you do? Do you have a? Do you have like, okay, I'll do four or many in a row, will you do? Do you have a? Do you have like, okay, I'll do four or five in a row and then take a week off? You know what? What's that like? To find the balance of pursuing what you're pursuing and getting rest in there and making sure that your body's healthy, your mind's healthy. All of that, Because this is a lot.
Speaker 2:I know it is. Yeah, it's like a 2021 event season, so they do a pretty good job with splitting it up and making it the max of tournaments in a row five. So generally I played pretty much the whole season. I just missed one event last year because I had graduation, but other than that, I played the whole season. I just missed one event last year because I had graduation, so, but other than that I played the full season and they usually have like a week or two off in between, which really helps to kind of like give you some time from being on the road, cause I mean, you're in a suitcase for four or five weeks and hotel different hotel to different Airbnb and you know it's, it's a grind. But yeah, I generally will say I won't play more than five in a row. A lot of the girls agree I mean more than five. Sometimes you're like okay, towards the end of that stretch you're like okay, this is too much.
Speaker 1:Fried Gosh, darn fried, five, let's. Let's break that down real quick. People understand five in a row, so 72, all events, right um, we play.
Speaker 2:We play only 30, uh, three days so okay, so 54. So it's 36 with a cut yes okay, our bigger events are four rounds, but we only do three of those a year usually um, yeah, five.
Speaker 1:So how many practice rounds for, like just say, for a 54 hole event? How many practice rounds will you play? Two, one, yeah two.
Speaker 2:Usually I will go 18, nine and nine. I would say, or or nine, nine, nine, maybe just like play the other nine that I didn't um like as much or didn't get as much of insight on.
Speaker 1:Sure, yeah. So that's, let's say, you make the cut. So that's one, two, three, that's four five rounds and then you times that, times five, that's 25 rounds of golf. That's not even including hitting balls, tripping, putting, yeah Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:And then, on top of that, let's throw in the physical aspect of it. So I see both of them pretty regularly. Um, I work with both of them and they work with each other kind of, and so they know like we're on the same page and you know, it's all like performance training, so it's like it's great on the road. Especially. It's like mobility, you know, like agility, explosiveness, exactly what you need in golf. And they worked really hard with me to kind of help me get in the on the direction that I need to get and what, what exactly I need for a golfer specifically. And, yeah, they've been helping me a lot. So what is this? Yeah, what?
Speaker 1:what's that? You know? I mean you got to think about. That's a lot of golf. That's a lot of wear and tear on your body, it's a lot of wear and tear on your spine. So you absolutely need to have this practice.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What's that do for you mentally?
Speaker 2:As far as my training yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you feel like it gives you a little bit of an edge working hard out there. Yeah, yeah, you feel like it, it, uh, it gives you a little bit of an edge working hard out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, I mean a lot of the training that I do. Are you talking about, like, as far as my body, like just being able to move around, or Well, all of it really.
Speaker 1:I mean as far as your body, um, I mean my goodness, I can't imagine, because you're playing. You're playing in hot weather too. I mean my goodness.
Speaker 2:I can't imagine, because you're playing. You're playing in hot weather too. Yeah, yeah, pretty much the whole season, it's hot.
Speaker 1:Hot Is it? A lot of humid? Humidity too.
Speaker 2:A lot of humidity, a lot of dry. It's a little bit of both, I would say, but we're in the.
Speaker 2:Midwest for a while. So, yeah, it's, it gets pretty hot over there. Yeah, no, no, training definitely helps. No, no, training definitely helps. I mean the um, I would say the it translate. It translates a lot. I mean being able to be in the gym for an hour or two, just um, working on that explosiveness, working on you know, the mobility of it all, and then translating that to the golf course. It's all like the same. You're using your, you're using the ground when you're hitting the golf balls. I mean I'm and just being able to be on the golf course for 18 holes and not get tired, it's all it all translates.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say yeah, yeah, especially. I mean it's asking a lot of yourself coming down the stretch in the last day we'll say in the last day of a tournament. You're in contention and you're playing pretty well and it's hot, it's humid, and I mean all of that training just comes into play for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and just being able to be mentally there. And you know like sometimes training can be tough as well. So it's like, okay, I'm going to be mentally in here and hear this hour that I'm in training, but also, like the last hour playing on the course, it's all. It's all relative.
Speaker 1:So sure, yeah, sure. Do you ever draw upon that when you're playing tournament golf, if you ever feel yourself getting tired or anything, do you ever? You ever draw upon that, like, hey, I work out for a reason, or any internal resources that you might draw upon out for a reason, or any of those internal resources that you might drop on.
Speaker 2:I mean just like I guess a little bit of that, but also I guess I would say I use a little bit of a trigger. So, depending on the week, if, if one trigger worked for me, like, say, I'm getting ahead of myself and like saying, oh, I don't want to do this, I don't want to be here, like maybe my trigger is like it could be anything. I mean your trigger can be like singing a song. It could literally be like okay, like let's think about something else, like something random. I mean for me it helps me to. My trigger to come back to is singing a song in my head and just not really like worrying about what's going to happen or the putt that I have coming up. I mean a lot of it is mental and you know you got to be able to putt that I have coming up. I mean a lot of it is mental and you know you got to be able to find something that works for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, you know there's, there's a, you know it's, it's. It's easier to say well, you know the secret to golf is being in the present moment, which I think it is, but how do you get there?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, how do you get to a space where you're playing competitively? And you're in the moment and you're still. You still want to be that dog, you still want to make birdies, you still want to hit the ball Well, you still want to win, you still want to do everything well and stay in the moment and accept whatever happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So at a professional level, how do you do that? I mean, I guess, I guess you never really master it, you just continue to work on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I, I would say what works for me is like every week after an event I write down all these things. I write down how I was on course, like what I did well, like course management, wise, mentally, like did I have a good trigger that week or did that trigger not really work for me as well when I tried to get too ahead of myself or not really stay in the moment, like you're saying, or you know, just emotionally, physically, like all of those things. I write, write it all down and each day I have like different, different things that work for me or different things that didn't work for me, and I kind of, you know, every day it's different. It's not always going to be the same. I mean my notes that I read in my yardage book aren't always going to be the same every week, every tournament. I mean I might have a different swing thought or a different trigger that worked for me that week.
Speaker 2:But I mean, yeah, as you said, it's, it's a work in progress. You just got to keep going with it and keep going and keep chopping wood, keep carrying water. You know, right, right, I read that book recently and that's. I mean it's all about just finding ways to, like you know, keep going with the process. Keep going, and you know it's. There's not a right or wrong way to do it. I mean you just have to figure out what works, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was talking to somebody the other day about that and everybody does have a different process how they can stay in the moment.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I guess that, just listening to you, that if you do things that are going to really stack the deck in your favor a good, a good fitness regimen you know you're taking care of yourself physically. You obviously have a good golf coach, which we'll get to a good mental practice, a good. Are you meditator? Do you meditate? What do you do Psychologically?
Speaker 2:I have a gratitude journal that I write in, so that helps me. But I also just read. I read a lot of mental books, listen to you know mental podcasts about you know process and routine and whatnot, so that's kind of what helps me. I mean, I'm always, you know, trying to learn new things and see what works for me, so yeah, yeah, absolutely, I think, having an open mind.
Speaker 1:You have an open mind, antonio, that's great, you know. And and a good, a good mind of discernment too, so you're able to work through things and figure out what, what works for you and what doesn't. Yeah, so let's, let's get to your, your, I mean, goodness gracious. By the time I release this, I'm going to put out some videos of Antonia's golf swing. Antonia is one of my favorite golf swings and those who have been longtime listeners of the pod know that I've got I've kind of have my, my favorites. And, antonia, you've got one of them, my sister. So you were off, you were taught. You were taught by Pat Parrish, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I was younger. Yes, I see Justin Lee. Now he's at Black Hawk Country Club in Danville and I've been seeing him since earlier years in college and ever since then I've just gotten better and figured out how to use the ground. I mean a lot of his training is, or a lot of his swing ideas are, from the ground up, you know, and just being able to use the ground to your advantage. So, yeah, I mean I've gotten better in my swing, gone more consistent and found ways to get to where I am now just through learning from him. So yeah, yeah, and I'm going to am now just through learning from him.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, and, and I'm going to, I'm just going to share this. I'm going to get a lot of grief for this, but what the heck? Because if anybody listens, that plays with either you or I, or plays with us both. So, and how tall are you, antonia?
Speaker 2:Five four.
Speaker 1:Yeah, five, four. And it's not a surprise if she K-marts me by about 20 yards, by the way, and I'm still getting it. I mean I'm 50, I'll be 55 in april, but I'm 54 now. I still can hit it. You know, I'll still get it out there. 280 if I hit it.
Speaker 2:Good you hit. It.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean well, yeah, a couple times you've kind of snuck it past me. Good, so, um, and the reason why I say this is because you generate a lot of power for your size. You're definitely one of the longer hitters out there, so do you attribute a lot of that to, uh, your work in the gym and and your work with justin as well?
Speaker 2:yeah, both, I mean they're, they, they're both go hand in hand. I would say like I go to the gym and I actually train barefoot in both of my gyms with both of my trainers, so it's like using the ground a lot and, you know, actually not using shoes to like help you, support you. It's like you got to really use the ground and both my trainers know like I'm trying to kind of gain power through my golf swing, gain speed over the past few years and, um, I mean both of them, like using my two trainers and then also my coach. I mean working on power and just finding ways to generate power using the ground.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, and it sounds. It sounds very efficient too yeah because you swing within yourself, you mean you're not, you're not really thrashing at it. You know, you're, you're, you're taking a nice controlled, measured swing, which is important. You know a lot of people don't well, I mean people that listen to the podcast do understand the ground. So when you train barefoot, does that give you more sense of the ground? Does it give you more stability? Are you forced to like, say, for example, if you're doing explosive movements? Are you forced?
Speaker 2:to use your core more because you're not relying on your shoes, Right? I mean, yeah, a lot of it is core bottom of your feet, like the strength of the bottom of your foot you know, like calves, Like a lot of it is like a lot of the strength comes from being barefoot and like a lot of people are not stable when they're not wearing shoes.
Speaker 2:So that's why my trainers are like, ok, let's train barefoot shoes. So that's why my trainers are like, okay, let's train barefoot. You know, a lot of the explosiveness is going to come from, you know, being able to use just your feet and not wearing shoes. So I think, um, yeah, stability, using your core and all of these things are what you need in golf as well.
Speaker 1:Like you, need to be able.
Speaker 2:you need to be able to hold your finish, you need to be able to use your core on your backswing. So, yeah, I mean that's why my trainers are like the best, I would say, because they are doing things that a lot of trainers aren't. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that's an interesting concept, antonia. You know, like a lot of the long drivers, they train in the barefoot shoes, like they use zero and things like that. You know for that, for that very phenomenon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:So I think that's, I think that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's something that we can take away from. We could really, you know, just have an open mind and think you know, I got a buddy of mine who will play golf in the desert. He's a member at a golf club in the desert in paul springs and he'll go out and he'll play barefoot. Yeah, he's been doing it for a long time, yeah, yeah, it makes me feel the ground better. It makes me more I have to focus on my stability.
Speaker 1:I can't yeah and uh, as you and anybody who knows that that that has pretty good action. You've got to be stable.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Otherwise it's just it's game over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, You'll notice, like if you're training barefoot versus wearing shoes, you're, you're, you're going to be kind of wobbling a little bit because it's like it's not the same You're, I mean everyone's used to wearing shoes and I mean, even if you play golf barefoot, I think it's a the same You're, I mean everyone's used to wearing shoes and um, I mean, even if you play golf barefoot, I think it's a little bit weird and you're like, not as stable as you would be wearing shoes too. So, yeah, I mean it's a cool concept that um is kind of starting to become more and more popular and people are starting to figure it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I have a pair of zero shoes, the barefoot shoes. Yeah, I really like them, I use them. I've actually played golf in them. I wish, I wish there was more golf shoes. I wish there was golf shoes that were like that, that actually had spikes on, or even small, you know, just for the stability part, yeah, the traction part. But so so what when you're? When you're obviously you're getting ready for the year, you're preparing yourself for the season, what is a day in the life of Antonia Malate look like as a young professional golfer? I mean, are you at the gym every day? I know that you're practicing, you're playing. What does it look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I usually train three days a week with my trainers. But other than that, like if I do things on my own, I obviously do those on the other days. But as far as like golfing, I would usually start out the day with like a two to three hour practice, either playing 18 or nine holes. After that and if, depending on if I have training or not that day, but usually like a two to three hour practice session, and a lot of the things that I practice on are based on stats and the things that I've, you know, found that are outliers in my statistics that maybe could be putting or could be like this, certain yardage, you know, and every day I try to focus on in on those certain things and once I do that and feel like I accomplished the day, then that's when I end my practice. So it's one more, one more and one more rep, always every day. But you know that's what, that's how you get better, I guess.
Speaker 1:So yeah, absolutely. And then you beat up on guys like me in our, in our money games here locally. It's pretty cool. We got a, we got a, we got cool. We got a couple of really good games and Tony is in them and we're usually handing her money at the end of the day. That's okay unless we're on the same team. But I think it's really important to have some good coaches, a good process, I mean just even, uh, people in your circle to bounce ideas off yeah, I mean because golf, by its very nature, is a really, really lonely game yeah
Speaker 1:my goodness. I mean when you're out there competing, playing in a tournament and you're somewhere else in the country and it it's just you yourself and Antonia. Yeah, that's it. So here I got two questions. The second question we talked about prior to hitting the record button, but the first question is this so if you find yourself in the middle of a round and you're struggling, just the game's not there, yeah, do you have something that you can go to as a source of comfort or something that can snap you out of potentially going down negative rabbit holes that we all go down on the golf course? Do you have something that can kind of keep you going?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, as we talked about before, I guess I would say two things. I mean just having that go to shot. So if it's either like the T at low driver and just like finding my go to shot on the off the tee if that's what I've been struggling on or knock down shot in the fairway, I tend to usually take more club and knock it down if I'm, you know, not hitting as well, and you know I mean a lot of it is, you know, finding that go to shot, which is my first thing I would say. And then my second thing we talked about before was the trigger. I mean the biggest thing is, you know, snapping out of it will and keep your you know your mind is going to keep going on thoughts and whatnot, but if you have that good trigger that really helps you to like snap out of it, that's what's really going to help you on the course, especially me. I mean that's what helped me when I had won my event a month ago.
Speaker 2:I won in Arizona and my coach and I talked to, talked over text before my last round and I was like you know, how am I going to do this? Like how am I going to get this done Because it's it's hard to win, even if it's just a little mini tour event. I mean it's hard to win because you're mentally you're like you're going to maybe be all over the place, because you're in that position of two strokes ahead, going into the last day. And how are you going to stay ahead? So he kind of said to me you know like, find that trigger, find what works for you and don't let your mind get in other places. So I think those two things are what, what helps me and what is going to continue to help me throughout this season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so well said, antonia. I mean I think that that's, you know, for amateur golfers, I mean even good, really good amateur players, you're still. You know, we are human, so we are going to be subjugated to our thoughts, and when we're on the golf course I think we're all a little bit batty. Sometimes we can go go pretty cray cray, at least our thoughts can. Sometimes we can go go pretty cray cray, at least our thoughts can.
Speaker 1:You know the what ifs. You know, and I mean those it's like by the very nature of the game. The game is telling you if, if you, if your mind is quiet enough and you agree to disagree. But the game is is teaching you more about yourself than you know. Maybe even going into a therapist's office, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I mean you know it's like how do you get over these thoughts? How do you get past these thoughts? How do you, if you know the monkey mind and Zen in Eastern tradition, you know it's like the monkey mind. The mind is always racing. It's like how do you get it to calm down? I mean that's like the million dollar question. You have triggers to snap you back into the present moment. You know that's that's kind of the million dollar question. I wish I had the definitive answer to it, but it seems to me you know, talking to other people, that the greatest players of our game, they may not have the best golf swings or even be the best putters, the best ball strikers, but what they are really good at is eliminating distractions inside of their mind or dealing with them. Tiger, I mean, I love the story about Tiger. Tiger gave himself a 10-foot circle.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Did you hear this story?
Speaker 2:I think so yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, like he could do anything that he wants to do within the 10-foot circle as soon as he's out of the 10-foot circle from his previous shot, shot's over.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Done, the energy of it, everything and uh one. One of the problems and even with good amateur golfers is they still carry the same energy say, you hit a bad shot previously, you're pissed off about that. You lose sight of the opportunity of getting the ball up and down yeah you know, I mean, that's why you got wedges.
Speaker 1:yeah, you know, part of the reason is why you got wedges, so you can get the ball up and down. Right, it's like to look at, look at it as a challenge, and I've always been impressed with your game, antonio, from that regard, because if you hit a poor shot or a shot not up to your standard, you doesn't, it doesn't really seem to affect you. You just like, okay, it happened, it happened, it happens, let's go get it in the hall, let's go get it up and down.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, it's. I mean, yeah, you can't focus on the, you can't focus on the future and you can't focus on the past, so you just have to be where you are and that's I mean, that's what's really helped me. And I think, even as I'm saying this, it's like I'm talking to different people, like I'm talking to my coach about stuff and I'm talking to my trainers and they're all helping me mentally. It's not like I'm figuring all this stuff out on my own. It's you know you're, you're finding, you're learning things through other people and you know like what, like my coach said that day before, like that helped me. You know, it's not like I'm just like, okay, I'm going to figure out how to find a trigger by myself. You know it's like talking through it with other people really helps, and you know your circle of people that help you, your team, so yeah, Yep, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You know, ask, ask and you probably you ask a lot of questions too. I mean, you're, you're, you're, you're inquisitive by nature, you're curious, which is great. Yeah, you know, I mean, that's that's, that's a great way to get better, asking good questions and and bouncing ideas off people yeah, you know, that's huge. I don't, I don't, I don't know if we were meant to figure it all out alone, right, I don't know about that. And then here, here, here's the, here's the million, the real million dollar question which you and I have talked about, Um, but I've gotten it a lot, and that is getting. I don't know. I'm going to say it this way how do you get your body used to your nervous system used to being under par? You know, it's like I'll start. I have a comfort zone Once I get to four under par, like if I'm at four under par I'm pretty okay. Anything beyond that, I start thinking about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I start getting in my head and then usually I'll do something to manifest not coming in a little bit more under par like I really want to. I mean, I'd love to shoot 10 under. You never have. It's like, how do you, how do you get used to being under par and then continuing to hit the gas button when you're, when you're getting under par, just just like more you know? I mean, is it staying in the moment? I mean, where does it click in your opinion?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's hard. I mean everyone's probably thinking like, oh, I'm 400, and now what do I do? And you get stuck. But I mean I think what you said. I mean it's it's hard to say, oh yeah, just be in the moment. But it really is about just you know, shot by shot, like you're, you're right here over the seven iron, 170 yards, like you can't really think, okay, what's that? Where is it going to go? You got to just hit the shot. I mean a lot of it is you know, you got to just hit the shot.
Speaker 2:I mean a lot of it is, you know, being present. A lot of it is process. A lot of it is starting from your the routine, like just going back to your routine. And then I mean whatever happens happens, you know, like it's not, like you really control what happens in the future. So I think just staying to the process, staying to your routine, um, I mean not getting ahead of yourself. Even when you're standing over a seven foot birdie putt, it's like, okay, read the putt and you know if it rolls and over and like you want it to, you can't really control what happens. So I mean a lot of it is just process, routine, and I mean that just takes reps and takes years and years of practice. Not everyone's going to be able to perfect that, but you know, I mean even I will say that I can. I get ahead of myself sometimes, and that's when you always have to just fall back to something and make sure to stay at each shot, shot by shot. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what a great answer. Shot by shot, yeah, yeah, what a great answer. It's so simple too. I mean, yeah, I mean, I think, just the very nature of us humans especially us in the United States, that didn't necessarily grow up with the mantra of staying in the present moment, of taking things as they are and accepting whatever happens and being okay with whatever happens.
Speaker 1:Yeah, are and accepting whatever happens and being okay with whatever happens, yeah, and that's kind of a at least in my own journey in this game that's been a real struggle for me is to be okay with whatever happens, because I mean, my goodness, it's the only sport where the ball's just sitting there, you know, we're not reacting to anything. We're not reacting to a pitcher or a baseball or a soccer ball or a tennis ball. You know we're the ones who are doing all the initiating.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I mean, my goodness, this game will test us from, you know, from head to toe. Yeah, definitely yeah, and you just try to have all the everything that you can do to just have it in your favor, and even then it's not a guarantee.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just accepting that, you know.
Speaker 2:But we keep going with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we just keep going.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you just keep going. You just, you never know what's going to happen. Yeah, yeah, you keep going. So when is your first event this year?
Speaker 2:I think it's the 28th, to be exact, so it's the Friday, the Friday of February, the last day of February, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you're out there now. Will you stay primarily out there, or will you come back and forth a little bit back home to California?
Speaker 2:So I'll it's just a three week stretch in Florida. Then I come back and then I have like a month break and then I play in Morongo, so SoCal, and then we go to like Arizona, vegas, so we stay on the West coast a little bit and then and then we go out to the Midwest. So then it's then we go out swinging and then I just stay out there for a while and then either come back for a week or two, if we do have a week off but mainly just stay out there during the stretches, because it's like Monday you start practicing and then Friday the tournament starts. So it's pretty much like you stay out there Sunday, the tournament ends and then you go back and start practicing again on Monday. So yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So does the top 10 on that tour get an automatic entry into the LPGA tour?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there's 15 cards at stake and then I think the last five are the conditional ones, but top 35 is automatically to stage final stage of qualifying. So there's two kind of goals. Goals there, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's a good opportunity. Yeah, yeah I afford you a good opportunity. How do you get on? Do you have to try to qualify for the Epson tour?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we, you, you go to qual, uh, qualifying, every year for Epson LPGA, so it's one whole qualifying, whereas, like Korn Ferry is like its own qualifying. So, um, yeah, in August it's stage one. So a couple of years ago I had done stage one qualifying and then made it to second stage. So that got me Epson status and I finished pretty well. So I got to start from the beginning of season last year, which really really helps because you know you got to, you got to start off the season well to get your rank up. So, yeah, yeah, you have to qualify for the Epson.
Speaker 1:What a great opportunity, Antonia.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:What a fantastic opportunity I got to tell you folks. This girl can play. She's got it in spades. She drives it well. She strikes her irons beautifully. Her putting stroke is to die for. Her short game is insane. Her hands around the greens are just just really, really, really, really high IQ hands. She's a phenomenal wedge player. She's got it all. So you know, we'll in closing and she's a she's a friend of mine and we're we're brother and sister from from Monterey here and also from San Jose state, and we're going to continue to to watch you and support you and cheer you on and monitor you, antonia, and and we look for really great things from you coming down the pike.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:We're going to do it again. Yes, we're going to do it again. Well, antonia, thank you for coming on. Really appreciate it and the open discussion Awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, anytime. I mean, we'll play again soon so.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah.