“Balls in the Air with Charlie Rymer” Podcast Episode 22 with the World Am’s Scott Tomasello

The world’s largest amateur golf tournament is set to kick off Monday here in Myrtle Beach. Charlie sat down with our second recurring guest, World Am Tournament Director Scott Tomasello, to discuss everything the 3,510 participants can expect next week!

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Charlie Rymer (00:12):

Hi and welcome into the Charlie Rymer Balls in the Air Podcast. And I’m going to tell you what folks, it is happening here in Myrtle Beach. We got folks on golf courses. If you’re going to come to Myrtle beach and play golf, you better get after it and book your trip soon because tee times are filling up. It’s great to see folks getting out and playing a lot of golf, especially here in Myrtle Beach.

Charlie Rymer (00:35):

And this is always a special time of year because coming up, starting on Monday, August the 30th, that is the first round of the Play Golf Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship. And this year is going to be a really special event. Last year, as everyone knows, we were in the throes of the pandemic. We decided to go ahead and play the event. We didn’t have the 19th hole, the world’s largest 19th hole every night. This year, the event is back. The entries are off the charts and it’s going to be a more normal looking World Am, especially with that 19th hole.

Charlie Rymer (01:15):

To get everybody fired up about it, I’m thrilled to be joined by my buddy Scott Tomasello, who is the tournament director for Myrtle Beach Golf Tourism Solutions. He’s also tournament director for the World Am and all the other great events that are conducted through Myrtle Beach Golf Tourism Solutions. Scott, welcome to the show again. Appreciate you coming on. I know you’ve got to be fired up in particular by the number of folks that we’ve got headed this way about to tee it up in the World Am.

Scott Tomasello (01:44):

Yeah. First and foremost, thanks for having me. We are very excited for this year. Last year was a bit of a bummer when it comes to not having a 19th hole, but we are back, more ready than ever, and I think the number of players that are reinvigorated are giving me the enthusiasm to make sure we put on a good show and we’re ready to do that.

Charlie Rymer (02:03):

Well last year, during the throes of the pandemic, at that point it was just, nobody really knew what was going on with the pandemic. We wanted to have golfers here and you guys did an amazing job, by doing some things, to make sure we keep everybody safe and the 19th hole, it was a virtual 19th hole. I was thrilled to get out to a lot of the golf courses and interview a lot of the golfers. And we would do a video every night. Tell me about some of the things this year. Are we going back to the full blown world’s largest 19th hole at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center?

Scott Tomasello (02:39):

Yeah. Yes we are. And it sounds a little daunting when you think about 5,000 people being in one place, but it really isn’t at the end of the day because of some of the changes that we’ve made. The convention center is 120,000 square foot building, so a lot of space to roam, a lot of things to do, with the most notable thing that we’ve expanded on this year is utilizing the outdoor space at the convention. Normally that’s not something we’ve done in the past, but we’ve forced ourselves to reevaluate how we do some things, so this year, the outdoor courtyard, another few thousand square feet to take advantage of beer wagon, food truck, live music, dancing games. So I think there’ll be a lot of people outdoors this year just to be as safe as possible, but with food and drink and all that stuff, we’ve utilized the functional space inside as well to make sure that everybody’s safe as well.

Charlie Rymer (03:24):

And certainly folks, if they so choose, can wear a mask, but are masks required inside?

Scott Tomasello (03:29):

Certainly, masks not required, but they are recommended when you’re not eating or drinking. So just be courteous to others, that’s the motto that we’re going with this year. We aren’t going to get political with it, but we do want to show respect for others. So, that kind of stoplight symbol, Hey, if you got the red sign on, maybe step back and if you’re green, hey, shake hands, have fun, have a good time.

Charlie Rymer (03:52):

Yeah, absolutely. Those of us that have been vaccinated, I think can probably enjoy it a little bit more and the folks that have chosen not to be vaccinated, there’ll be some options for them to be outside and certainly mask and that sort of thing as well.

Charlie Rymer (04:06):

Tell me a little bit about our headliner this year, somebody who’s pretty good at giving golf lessons.

Scott Tomasello (04:12):

I’ve heard he used to teach somebody. And I think you’re buddies with him probably. I mean, who aren’t you friends with, though, at the end of the day?

Charlie Rymer (04:19):

I’m friends with you and Hank Haney. And we’re glad that Hank is-

Scott Tomasello (04:23):

That’s the name, Hank Haney. That’s him.

Charlie Rymer (04:24):

I’m glad that Hank is coming into town and he’s actually going to be a guest on this podcast. I’m going to be a guest on his podcast and we’ll have him up in the area that’s a little more intimate. Folks can gather around, and I’m sure I’ll be spending a little bit of time with Hank, getting his thoughts on what’s going on in the world of golf. And he has no problem sharing his thoughts on what’s going on in the world of golf.

Scott Tomasello (04:49):

Yeah, and we’re excited to have him. He’s been here before, so he knows the drill, but one of the new aspects of our 19th hole this year will be a VIP section for those that wanted an upgraded experience, so Hank will be doing a quick meet and greet with some of those folks, just as a thank you for their participation aside from having some banter talk with you at the 19th hole.

Charlie Rymer (05:10):

If you haven’t already signed up for the VIP section, is it too late?

Scott Tomasello (05:13):

It is too late. We have sold it out, which is great. We’re looking forward to hosting those people, but never too late for start thinking about next year.

Charlie Rymer (05:21):

Yeah. The best way to sign up for the World Am is?

Scott Tomasello (05:25):

Myrtlebeachworldamateur.com. You can check out everything from the entry fee to the VIP, to the golf courses that we’re playing, more information can be found there.

Charlie Rymer (05:34):

Yeah. And I’m sure pretty quickly after this year’s World Am, check with that site because you don’t want to miss out. And it’s always been fun with me over the years, I think maybe the last 15 years or so, I’ve been very fortunate to be the unofficial/official host of the World Am. And what’s really cool is seeing a lot of the folks that come year after year after year, and then they also will, “Hey, we snagged a couple more buddies.” And bringing them as well. We’ve actually got folks, I think maybe the list is down to seven or eight now, that have been to every single World Am.

Scott Tomasello (06:11):

Yeah. I think it’s seven players who have been to every single World Am and they come from all over the country. It’s not just locals who happen to be here so it’s easy for them. No, these are guys that are devoted, loyal and have been here through thick and thin, so we’re very appreciative of those folks. But there’s thousands of stories like that out there. We get players who come by themselves initially, and then after year four, they’ve got a group of 20.

Scott Tomasello (06:36):

We love hearing stories like that. I mean, you’re going to make 12 new friends in your week of golf. So that is, it’s very easy because golf is kind of the universal language. I mean, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, everybody knows golf. That’s what you’re here for, right?

Charlie Rymer (06:51):

Absolutely. Most years we have folks from every state, including Alaska and sometimes even Alabama.

Scott Tomasello (06:58):

And we do have all 50 states this year, again, which is great. We’ve got Alaska, Hawaii, the the folks that come in a little less droves than usual, but our biggest actually… we have three new divisions this year. We offer now a 60 plus gross division. We offer a women’s gross division now as well. And we split up the women into age brackets to make it a little bit more equitable from the player standpoint. But the fastest growing division is actually the just for fun division, which is exactly what it sounds.

Charlie Rymer (07:29):

That’s the division I want to play in if I ever play.

Scott Tomasello (07:31):

Yeah. I mean, it suits a lot of different types of people. You could be someone who doesn’t care to keep score, maybe a beginner to golf, maybe someone who’s coming down with a spouse that wants to play specifically with that person. So in a sense, it’s just kind of getting you four rounds of golf with whomever you want to play with in a non-competitive atmosphere. And that one, that division in its fourth year is already at 150 players, which we’re really excited about the potential for that.

Charlie Rymer (07:55):

Yeah, absolutely. And I’m hearing about that for the first time. I’m a big fan of it, because I run into a lot of folks that are serious golfers and you ask them what their handicap is and I’m like a 4.79 index. They got it rounded up to the thousandth and I think that’s wonderful. And they like to compete against their buddies. They love tournaments. They want to be in the gross division. And that’s wonderful.

Charlie Rymer (08:20):

And then you’ve got the folks with a little bit higher handicap. They want to compete, but they’re serious competitors at their level and their age, but there’s a lot of folks in golf that like to get out on the golf course and just play and tell stories and maybe have a beverage. And I’m sort of thinking about me when I say all of that. In fact, I think if you look at the percentage of golfers that have a handicap, it’s a little bit smaller than you might think.

Scott Tomasello (08:44):

It’s way less than I think most people would think. And I think with the new invigoration in golf, people that are new to the game, I think that’s why we’re seeing more people in the just for fun division, is because… Well, for me, for instance, I would like the division because I’m a little quick with my rake on the gimmes, so there are people probably not like that. So for the people that are just taking up the game, it’s a non-intimidating way to get involved and make new friends [crosstalk 00:09:10].

Charlie Rymer (09:10):

It’s more of the social aspect of golf.

Scott Tomasello (09:13):

Exactly.

Charlie Rymer (09:14):

Because when you look at golf, and when I first got in broadcasting I had to figure that out, I always thought everybody was like a serious golfer because my whole life is I always count the score, always turn it in. High school and junior golf I used to win trophies in college, and later on, it was money, but there’s just so many other places you can plug in and golf. I mean, I run into folks that that may or may not have been really good players at one point in their life, and they volunteer as rules officials. And that’s great. That’s where they can plug in and they can go get the training they need.

Charlie Rymer (09:44):

I run into folks more and more now that are helping our vets enjoy golf a little bit more. That’s great. And then all the social things that go with golf and I mean, there’s just so many places to plug in and I love the fact that we’re offering that now in the World Am.

Scott Tomasello (10:01):

I think you hit the nail on the head. I think the inclusivity factor is a problem in golf. And I think that’s what we’re trying to accomplish by saying, here’s a good way for you to get involved. And we don’t care who you are, where you’re from, just grab a club.

Charlie Rymer (10:14):

Get after it. Love that. And then everybody can enjoy the 19th hole, whether you’re a serious golfer or not.

Charlie Rymer (10:19):

And I want to ask you a little bit about the 19th hole for folks that have never been here in Myrtle Beach. It’s probably about the only place you could play an event like this because we’re almost 4,000 golfers. We utilize most years around 50 ish golf courses give or take, and everybody goes out and plays a golf course. And then at night in the center of Myrtle Beach, in terms of north, south, is the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, and we convert that into the world’s largest 19th hole. So geographically, it works great. You got to have a number of golf courses that are drivable in a day. And in terms of getting to that 19th hole, the things that people can expect, I mean, obviously there’s food and drink, but there’s also a lot of vendors. There’s a lot of interesting product there. How many vendors do you have outside that are coming in this year?

Scott Tomasello (11:08):

Sure. There’s 63 vendors this year. We’ve got some of our best partners involved in that. PGA Tour Superstore is a great partner of ours. Saintnine golf balls, best golf balls on the market. They’re [crosstalk 00:11:18] partners.

Charlie Rymer (11:18):

Amen, brother.

Scott Tomasello (11:20):

Sweet rolls, Grips. We’ve got a lot of good vendors, I think, that sell products that some you might never have heard of, and some that are staples in the golf business. We like seeing people just peruse the aisles and buy some of those products because most of the golfers here are here to take their game seriously, and these products will take people there.

Charlie Rymer (11:41):

Yeah. It’s almost folks have always heard over the years, annual PGA merchandise show in Orlando, I’m a PGA member. So over the years, I’ve gone there a lot. When I was at Golf Channel I would cover it. Where, I hate to say is mini about the World Am, because everything is big, but with 63 vendors, that’s a lot of vendors, PGA Merchandise Show is into the thousands of vendors, but it has that same sort of feel when you go through there. So if you’ve never been to the PGA Merchandise Show, you want to know what that feels like, you peruse our vendors at the 19th hole, world’s largest 19th hole at the World Am, you’ll get that sort of feel. And there’s all kinds of stuff there that you could get interested in. I’m always, at my age, Scott, I’ve played golf the last four days in a row. My back’s killing me and there’s always somebody there with some sort of cream or salve or something to stick you with and I’m always looking at that sort of stuff.

Scott Tomasello (12:32):

I think that one’s called Swing Lube.

Charlie Rymer (12:33):

Yeah, yeah. Swing Lube. Yeah. They’ve got some of that, too, internal and external. Tell me about the logistics of taking on an event like this. It takes a lot of staff, obviously a lot of planning. You make it look super easy every year. But just tell me about maybe the number of staff that are used. Let’s dig into that a little bit.

Scott Tomasello (12:55):

That’s one of my favorite things to talk about. Our staff is just brilliant, I mean, from marketing to our operations team. It is mostly a full-time team of four, for the most part, which most people don’t realize. They think it’s 20, 30 people, but it’s a pretty tight knit squad here. But the best part about it, I think, is the scheduling factor. With 56 golf courses, which is what we’re utilizing this year, it takes a lot to figure out where each set of four courses should go.

Scott Tomasello (13:24):

So similar to NFL scheduling, everybody wants to get an equal strength of schedule and you can relate all of these things back to golf courses. They don’t want to have to travel to the west coast every single time, so what we do here is to try to give you four sets of golf courses that are equal in terms of driving each day, as well as the quality of the golf course as a whole. And also, here’s the wrinkle, is to try to make sure that you haven’t played that at a World Am in the past. All of those factors make it the most difficult puzzle you’ve ever heard of.

Charlie Rymer (13:55):

Yeah, that’s tough. Especially you’ve got people played it 20, 30 years.

Scott Tomasello (13:58):

Exactly. At some point, it gets to the point where you don’t take that into consideration. We try to go back at least two years of your personal record of when you’ve played in the event. Try getting four sets of golf courses, 35 times over to meet all of those criteria. It becomes quite daunting. We’ve got a pretty good system that makes it work out that way. I think if you’ve played for instance, three years in the event, you should get 12 courses. And most of the time we’re able to meet that, occasionally a 10 or 11, but with a repeat. But that’s because somebody might be getting way better than their handicap for the past couple of years. We didn’t realize they were getting so good, so fast.

Scott Tomasello (14:36):

With that many golf courses, it is easy to move it up quite a bit. But our goal here as an organization is not necessarily to… The competition for us is secondary, us as an organization. We just want you to experience Myrtle Beach and all we have to offer. I don’t really care where you stay, what hotel, what golf courses you play, we just want you to touch them all as best you can.

Charlie Rymer (14:55):

Yeah. Have a great time. The other thing that we ask for is if you’re of the school of thought that you’re going to doctor your handicap or try to pull some funny business, that’s not for this event, that’s not what it’s about. And I know Scott’s got some interesting stories over the years. We’ll save that for another show. But if you’re fudging, we’re going to figure it out. And that’s the kind of golfer you are, you need to find some place else to go compete because it’s not going to happen here.

Scott Tomasello (15:25):

And that’s not something we care to divulge a ton about, but I think the showcasing that we do do stuff like that, we do have to take the preventative measures to make sure that the other 99% feel satisfied with the equitability of the competition. At the end of the day, it will happen. There are people out there that will do certain things, but most of the time it’s never malicious or anything like that. It’s just the fact that some people get really good at a certain point in the week. It might sound cruel and unusual, but at the end of the day, I think it’s what’s best for the event. Making sure that we take those measures, shows that we care and shows that it’s not just your club championship where everybody’s shooting 58s.

Charlie Rymer (16:06):

Yeah. Right. In terms of the event, we want it to be fun and fair for everybody. That is probably not the most fun part of your job, but you got to do that to make sure it is fun and fair for everybody. So, tell me a little bit about the… Excuse me, folks. Tell me a little bit about the format, four rounds and then there’s a shootout. This year, the shootout is at Barefoot. Just tell me how everything works in the flight, just sort of the 30,000 foot view.

Scott Tomasello (16:38):

There’s 71 flights this year that have been assigned. Everybody’s in a division based on their age, gender and handicap. So for instance, you could be in a flight for 60 to 69 year old men with a handicap range of 11 to 11.8. It’s that close of a handicap range. So if you’re fortunate enough to win your flight in the net division of all those 70 flights, I guess it’s kind of like the world’s largest cut also.

Charlie Rymer (17:04):

Yeah. Hey, let’s don’t be bringing up cuts. I know more about missing cuts than most folks do.

Scott Tomasello (17:09):

So after 72 holes of net competition, we will reduce the field from 3,500 players down to the 70 flight winners, so that cut goes down to almost nil. But after the 72 holes, you have the one day 18 hole playoff of those 70 flight winners. And out of that 70 players, you will have your world champion.

Charlie Rymer (17:31):

And talk to me a little bit about the prizes, the flight prizes, and then world champ. I mean, I’ve talked to quite a few of the world champions. I’ve never asked them what their prize is. I mean, I’m assuming the prize will be, “Yeah, I’m a world champion.” I don’t think we’d really need anything else.

Scott Tomasello (17:47):

It kind of is. You know, with the rules of golf and amateur golf, we’d love to give out as much prizes as we can. The first place flight prize, we give out $600 gift cards to every flight winner, and then we pay out the top five as well. And that’s thanks to our partners at the PGA Tour Superstore. They’re our official gift card sponsor. And I think this is one of the old trophies, actually, right behind us of what the actual winner gets. It’s a piece of hardware, bragging rights, obviously, forever, really. But at the end of the day the USGA has restrictions on what we can give out.

Scott Tomasello (18:19):

What we actually give out, what we like to do is to give away prizes randomly. It is competition, but you don’t want to walk… We want to give as many people a prize as you can. So in years past we’ve given away golf cars, real cars, grand prize trips. It’s about $25,000 worth of prizes every year, just given out willy nilly. I know one year at 19th hole you were just giving out $100 bills.

Charlie Rymer (18:40):

Yeah. I didn’t give them all out.

Scott Tomasello (18:45):

It’s all in good fun. I think this year, we’re actually also giving away rangefinders to a group of 50 people who just will be randomly selected. It kind of gives you a little light at the end of the tunnel, if maybe you’re sitting towards the bottom of your flight, you maybe wait for your name to be drawn.

Charlie Rymer (19:03):

So let’s say we’ve got some folks, you could probably even tell me pretty close to the number that are coming next week and it’s their first World Am, any sort of inside tips for them?

Scott Tomasello (19:17):

My tips personally would be to not take yourself so seriously. I know a lot of people will come in and play practice rounds and this and that. And sometimes I think ignorance is bliss. So, to maybe see a golf course for the first time, maybe you don’t know where the water is, but you also don’t have any mental blocks of what you’ve done in the past. For me, that would be big. First tee jitters are normal, so maybe crack a beer on that first hole and-

Charlie Rymer (19:41):

Keep it going.

Scott Tomasello (19:42):

enjoy yourself. Nobody… I think the motto is, you can’t win on the first day, but you certainly can lose it on the first day. I think that’s important to keep in mind. I’ve never been able to actually play in this, unfortunately. I wish I could. So I can’t give great advice. I think you might be the better person for that wisdom.

Charlie Rymer (20:01):

Oh, I would just make sure that when you get here, depending on where you’re staying, make sure you got a pretty accurate idea of how long it takes to get to where you’re playing golf. We don’t want anybody missing their tee times. Sometimes if you’re staying a little bit north and you’ve got a golf course a little bit south, that drive can add up a little bit, so just make sure you get to your golf course with plenty of time, because the people that play the worst golf, Scott, and I’ve seen it, they’re running through the parking lot to get to the first tee because they didn’t do a little bit of homework to figure out how long it takes to get to the golf course. So just make sure you get yourself there on time and you can sort of ease your way into around rather than being stressed out thinking the last 10 minutes your getting to the golf course, you’re not going to get there on time.

Scott Tomasello (20:46):

Definitely. And, like I said, the making the friends part on the first tee, I think that will help, too. Be opening and welcome to other people. When you make friends and you’re having fun with who you’re playing with, these will be strangers that you’re playing with, but if you’re not having fun with them… I think having it, that’ll help loosen people up a little bit and the game will come following it.

Charlie Rymer (21:05):

Yeah. And then make sure you get to the 19th hole, world’s largest 19th hole, every night. We’ve got great activities scheduled every night. I’ll be there every night. Hank Haney is going to be there a couple of nights, as we mentioned earlier. Is Chantel McCabe coming as well?

Scott Tomasello (21:19):

Chantel will be there Monday night interviewing the people there on the hall floor. A fun thing that we do now, which gives you that PGA tour feel with Chantel and yourself, is we have a press area. So if you finish in the top of your flight, head on over to the press area and get an interview like a real tour player. It’s a lot of fun. People like to indulge over there and tell stories about, I think one guy was bragging about a nine he made on a par three last year. I don’t know if that was bragging worthy.

Charlie Rymer (21:47):

I’d rather hear about that than a birdie.

Scott Tomasello (21:49):

Probably so, probably so.

Charlie Rymer (21:51):

Well, cool. Well, Scott Tomasello, he’s the tournament director for the Playgolfmyrtlebeach.com World Amateur Handicap Championship, as well as the tournament director for Myrtle Beach Golf Tourism Solutions, a huge event. He runs it every year, nearly 4,000 golfers, does a wonderful job. Appreciate you joining us, and we’re very much looking forward to getting the World Am started on Monday, August the 30th. I’ll be there. Hopefully a lot of the folks watching and listening will be there.

Charlie Rymer (22:20):

We appreciate you being with us here on the Charlie Rymer Balls in the Air Podcast. Make sure you like us wherever you get your podcasts. And we’ll be right with you, back right with you next week. Appreciate it folks. Thank you.