“Balls in the Air with Charlie Rymer” Podcast Episode 35 with Ray Romano

Fresh off his appearance in the Season 2 premiere of “The Charlie Rymer Golf Show” on ESPN2, “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Ray Romano is in the podcast seat with “The Big Timer” for an in-depth discussion about the actor’s career, and his golf game!

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Transcript:

Charlie (00:09):

Hi, and welcome in to the Charlie Rymer Golf Show. As promised, we’ve got a super special guest this week. Somebody that everybody loves, Ray Romano. And Ray, really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to join us here on the show. We’re based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the golf capital of the world. I know you haven’t been here yet. We’re going to get you here sometime, but appreciate you being on the show.

Ray (00:34):

Thank you. Thank you. It’s good to be here. How come you’re looking that way? I don’t get it. You’re looking…

Charlie (00:39):

Ray, I look where they tell me to look. That’s the only thing that I know how to do. So apparently I take direction better than you do.

Ray (00:47):

Well, you’re looking sideways. I’m looking straight. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll go with it. I’ll go with it.

Charlie (00:52):

Where do you want me to look? You want me to look this way, Ray?

Ray (00:56):

I got your profile now. That’s your profile [inaudible 00:00:59].

Charlie (00:59):

Oh, you’re saying I don’t have a good profile. So you and I are getting off to a bad…

Ray (01:03):

You’ve got a fine profile, it’s just a little unusual for an interview, but okay.

Charlie (01:09):

Okay. I will look the way you’re most comfortable. But looking at your bio, it’d take me 30 minutes to go through your bio, comedian, Emmy award winning actor. When I get to the part that’s my favorite, no-one has ever played a woolly mammoth better than you. Your character Manny in the whole Ice Age series of films. You were born to play a woolly mammoth, and I watch it over and over. I love it. So I know you get compliments all the time, but that’s my big compliment for you.

Ray (01:42):

I’m going to take that as a big compliment. I mean, we did five of them. We did five Ice Age movies, and now there’s another thing on TV now. I don’t know if you’ve seen the commercials, there’s another thing on Disney or something, but it’s not us. They’re using all voice soundalikes for this, I think it’s a TV series or something, with the wooly… With me, with Manny.

Charlie (02:08):

I’ve heard of stunt doubles. I’ve never heard of a voice double. So you have a voice double.

Ray (02:12):

Yeah. They’re doing a voice. You got to shop around to get a voice as stupid sounding as mine, but they found one. They found one.

Charlie (02:23):

I think you’ve done pretty well with your voice. Okay. So we’ve got the whole bio thing out of the way. Now we can get to the really important part of this interview. How’s your golf game?

Ray (02:37):

Well, like anything, I guess, even with pros, it’s when you ask that question, how it is. And if you asked me four months ago, I would’ve said… And I know Tom Farrell, your producer knows this, because I sent him a text. My lifelong goal was to break, 80 and I broke 80 for the first time in my life.

Charlie (03:00):

Congratulations. That’s awesome.

Ray (03:02):

Thank you. In my life, first time ever. And if anybody knows me, I play by the rules. I’m very anal. I’m very OCD. So if I broke 80, I broke 80. And I finally did it four months ago. Now, I’m having a hard time breaking 95 now. It just went. It just went on me like it always does. Let me ask you, being a pro, or an ex-pro. I know your versions are different, but when you lose it, when it just goes away, what do you do? How do you start? Do you start from ground zero? Because literally, I’m standing over the ball and I’m like, “I don’t know how to take this club back right now.”

Charlie (03:53):

What I did was get a job as a golf announcer. That’s what I did. It was pretty easy for me to figure out that it was time to get into something else, because my bank account was getting close to zero, and I’d missed 20-something straight cuts. And I’m going to tell you what, this game, when you got a wife and two babies at home, and you’re not making any money, it is not fun at all.

Ray (04:18):

No, I get it. I get it. But what about the times where you just knew, okay, I got to regroup, I got to figure out how to get this back?

Charlie (04:29):

Well, I would, I would, I’ll give you the greatest golf tip that I ever heard. And the thing about it is, when it goes really bad, it’s tension is what’s getting you. And this is a simple golf tip. So when you go to the golf bag and you pull the club, as you’re walking over to hit the shot, you hold the club by the grip, and you just waggle, and you try to make the head of the club feel as heavy as you can. And when you do that, all the tension goes out of your hands, your arms, it goes through your whole body. And then by the time you get ready to hit, you’re back into swinging the club, rather than hitting the ball. And that’s something like, if you’re working on Hank Haney on the range, and you’re trying to break it down and build it up and make it better, that’s not a great tip. But when you’re playing in front of network TV cameras at Pebble Beach and you lock up, you got to have something that’ll loosen up. And that’s just a simple thing to do in a big moment.

Ray (05:35):

No, I know. That’s worked for me on occasion is just, take all the tension out. Just feel no tension in your arms. Yeah.

Charlie (05:44):

Yeah, because tension is your enemy. But let me ask you, back to breaking 80 for the first time. I have said hello to you, I can’t say that we’ve had much beyond a long conversation. I feel like I know you from all your work. But you had to have called a lot of people that first time you broke 80. Who were the first couple of people that you called that day you broke 80?

Ray (06:06):

Well, it was definitely Hank Haney, because when I did his show, our goal was to break… That was the theme of it, it was to break 80, and we never got there. And I told Hank, “I can’t fake it. I can’t fake it for the cameras. If we break 80, we break 80, but I can’t live with myself if we do a fake break 80.” And I don’t know if he liked that too much. But every time I had a putt for 79, or I was approaching a green and I needed to par it for 79… I’ve had about probably eight putts for 79 in my career, and I missed them all. But every time I would text Hank, a hole before, I would be, “I’m on 18. If I get a bogey, I’d break…” And he would constantly tell me, “This is what you should not be doing. You should be…” And he said, he uses me when he speaks, when he gives talks, he uses that as an example of what not to do.

Charlie (07:15):

You got to be a horrible student. [inaudible 00:07:18]

Ray (07:18):

Yeah. I’m a good student, but I’m also neurotic and crazy, and I’m a numbers guy and I’m OCD. So I always know, but when I broke 80, I needed to go birdie par to do it on the last two holes. And I got lucky. I knocked one in from the bunker. It was crazy. So I called him. I made a video. By the way, I was by myself. I was playing by myself, so I had no-one to film the putt. So what I did was, I filmed the ball, and I filmed how far it was from the hole, and it was a 25 footer. And I just said, “This is what I have to break 80, again, for the first time ever.” And then I put the phone away, I made the putt, and then I filmed myself. I go, “Let me show you where the ball is,” and I went, and it was in the hole, and I started screaming.

(08:14):

But I told all my buddies, all my golf buddies. I told my wife, and my wife said “That’s nice. When you come home, there’s a dead mouse in the garage.” So she didn’t care. It meant nothing to my wife.

Charlie (08:30):

What golf course was that where you [inaudible 00:08:33] 79?

Ray (08:32):

Lakeside.

Charlie (08:32):

Lakeside. In L.A.

Ray (08:34):

Lakeside in L.A. Yeah. That’s my home course. And it’s tiny little greens. Have you been on it? Have you been on Lakeside?

Charlie (08:43):

I haven’t. They don’t let people like me play nice places like Lakeside. They got standards and rules.

Ray (08:48):

They’ll let you, you just got to change the shirt. If you change the shirt, you’ll get on.

Charlie (08:54):

Let me tell you, when you wear a shirt this size, you don’t get to choose what you want. You get what they got.

Ray (08:59):

Yes, exactly.

Charlie (09:00):

That’s how I ended up with this shirt.

Ray (09:02):

I know. I was worried about the dress code, but then when I saw you in that, I said, “I’m okay.”

Charlie (09:08):

You’re definitely, definitely. Okay. What is your favorite golf course? That you’ve ever played, anywhere in the world. You always learn a lot about somebody when you get the answer to that question.

Ray (09:22):

Well, it’s pretty cliche and boring, but I do have my top two… I mean, you can find them on any list. It’s Pebble and Augusta. I got to play Augusta. I got to play five times at Augusta. When my TV show was on the air on CBS, CBS would get a foursome on the Monday after the Masters. It was press day, so the president then of CBS, was Les Moonves, and he would take whoever he had to take, he took a couple of corporate guys, but I was the star of one of his shows, so he took me and Kevin James for five years in a row. And then when the show went off the air, the funny thing is, about ten years later, I was in Georgia, and I had a day free, and I go, “Let me see if I can get off at Augusta.” And I called everybody I know. I called Les Moonves. I called Jim Nance. I called Phil Mickelson. I called everybody. Nobody could get me off at Augusta again.

Charlie (10:31):

Yeah. That’s a pretty tough ticket, to get a round of golf at Augusta. The thing that’s interesting to me is, whether you’re talking to players who are playing in the tournament, corporate titans, or maybe you’re the members or guest of the members, highly successful folks from all fields, politicians, someone like you with the success that you’ve had, you still have to feel it in the pit of your stomach when you stand on the first tee at Augusta National, I would assume. What is that feeling like to you there?

Ray (11:06):

At Augusta, yeah. At Augusta, the five years that I played, my goal was… It’s the Monday after, so my goal was, I know I’m a 14 handicap, whatever I am, it’s ridiculous, but I’m going to play the same tees and the same pins that the guys played the day before, just to see my number. And my goal was to break 100. I said, “I just want to break 100 from the same exact spot that they played yesterday.” And I never did. I got 102. But again, I played by the rules. So it’s nerve-wracking in that sense. There’s not a crowd there. It’s just us. The crowd comes at Pebble, when I play AT&T. And is that nerve-wracking on the first tee? Yes. Is it unbearable nerves? Not really, because they know we’re amateurs. They’ve seen every amateur. They’ve seen that we stink. They’ve seen every bad shot. They’re really not expecting much.

(12:14):

So the reason for nerves is, I want to make the cut. People don’t realize the amateurs, especially the celebrities, it’s fun for us, we interact with the crowd and we try to make people laugh [inaudible 00:12:32] whatever, but inside we’re grinding, because making the cut is a highlight of our golf life, to make the cut and play on Sunday. So I am [inaudible 00:12:44] nervous, and I’ve made the cut. I’ve played 21 years there, I’ve made the cut. It took me 11 years to make the first cut. I’ve made it three times in total.

Charlie (12:54):

Well, Pebble Beach obviously is a special place. And looking at the TV ratings every year, that Saturday at Pebble Beach, where traditionally celebrities have been featured, and you’ve been a big part of that group of celebrities that were featured at Pebble Beach on Saturday, there’s been some wonderful moments throughout history. The iconic moment of… Two or three that I remember. You on a beach, playing the shot, up the hill. As I recall, you were playing up to 10 green, and it’s like the whole world stopped and was fascinated by that moment. What do you remember about that day?

Ray (13:32):

Oh, I remember everything. That was year one. That was my first year. So I’ve had my TV show for three seasons maybe, and a dream comes true. I get an invite to Pebble. And on that hole, I know exactly what you’re talking about, my pro was a guy named Eric Booker. Do you know Eric Booker?

Charlie (13:56):

I do.

Ray (13:57):

Okay. He was my pro that year. This is my first year there. And I grew up watching Pebble Beach, so I’m just amazed at everything, and in awe. And the ball goes on the beach. And usually you’re in your pocket. All right, I’m done. But my pro was even saying, “Go down and play it. You can play it. It’ll be good TV.” So I went down, and… Good TV. I think that’s what they said to the… Remember in Wide World of Sports, that skier that used to come down and wipe out? That’s what it felt like. What happened was, I remember the water came up, so me and my caddy had to run out of the way of the water, and then we went back, and then a dog came and took the ball and put it about 10 feet somewhere else. I finally did get it up on the top.

(14:49):

But the other thing I remember is, when I got back home, there was an article in a Sports Illustrated that did not take kindly to me, because if… You don’t know this, because you don’t know what year it was, but it was the year that Tiger Woods was going for eight victories in a row, or seven. He was challenging the record by Hogan, I think. And I happened to be in the group in front of Tiger Woods. And this article, this writer, took exception to me thinking I was holding him up on every shot, and blah, blah, blah. Which I [inaudible 00:15:34] believe me, I was in my pocket more than I finished the hole.

(15:39):

So it was a little bit of a blow to see all this criticism from this guy in Sports Illustrated. So much so that Sports Illustrated let me write a rebuttal. In the following issue, I wrote a rebuttal about… Because he was [inaudible 00:15:57] six and a half hour rounds, and he was kind of throwing me under the bus for the six and a half hour rounds. And I was telling him, it’s played on three courses. I know I’m slow, but I can’t cause six and a half hour rounds on all three courses at the same time.

Charlie (16:13):

Well, I certainly hope that criticism didn’t take away from your experience.

Ray (16:17):

No, no, no.

Charlie (16:18):

Because I remember a lot more about that year watching you hit that shot, than anything Tiger did that weekend. [inaudible 00:16:25]

Ray (16:24):

Well, he won. By the way, he came back and won. That was the year they finished on a Monday because it rained out the Saturday. He came back and won it.

Charlie (16:36):

Yeah. I think my week ended a little bit earlier than that week. I believe I was playing that year, and I can sort of narrow down my weeks to the few cuts that I did make on the PGA tour. But Pebble is definitely a special spot, there’s no doubt about that. Who is a golfer that you admire the most from the way they play the game, and have you had a chance to play with that golfer?

Ray (17:03):

Well, I mean Tiger, of course. I actually got to play with Tiger a week later, because I was performing at a charity on the Wednesday before the tournament that was after Pebble was down at Torrey Pines, I think. So they asked me to perform for the show on Wednesday night, and they offered me to play in the Wednesday round with Tiger. So I got to play with him.

Charlie (17:34):

Did you play fast?

Ray (17:36):

I played [inaudible 00:17:37] yes. It was the Wednesday round, so I just wanted to stay out of his way. But the cool thing is, when I go to Pebble… Some guys, they have a relationship with a pro, and they get the same pro every year. Bill Murray gets the same pro, and a lot of guys do that. And in the beginning, they would just give me pretty much guys that weren’t on the money list. Guys trying to… That nobody heard of. And it became kind of a tradition for me to just… Every year, I want to get a new guy, because I get to meet a new pro. I get to strike up a friendship with this new pro. And you never know who you’re going to get. One year I had Graeme McDowell, and this was before anybody knew who he was.

(18:29):

And I remember… My best friend caddies for me, my best friend in New York, who I grew up with. So this is a lifelong dream for both of us. So I fly him in, he caddies for me, and every year we were… Are we going to make the cut? And every year, we would be anxious to see who the pro was. They give them to us on Tuesday night. And we were saying, “Man, let’s just hope it’s a pro we know, it’s somebody who’s got game.”

(18:57):

And I remember when I found out, I told my buddy, I go, “All right, I don’t want to tell you that we don’t know who he is.” It was Graeme McDowell, and nobody knew. I go, “But in his profile, when they list his weight, it’s in stones. They gave it to me in stones.” But he was the greatest. He was the greatest. And we missed by one… We tied for the cut and we lost on a cardoff that year. But that’s the cool thing, is I get to meet a new guy. So that was 20 years in a row, I had 20 new pros, and this year was the first year that I got a repeat. Again, random. I let them give me who they want, and it was Sung Kang. Do you know Sung Kang?

Charlie (19:37):

Heck of a player.

Ray (19:38):

Yes. And he was such a great guy, such a… I was struggling so hard this year. This is why I’m telling you my game has gone. And I know those guys are trying to make the cut, that’s their livelihood. He never stopped trying to help me find my swing, on every hole. [inaudible 00:19:59] Do this, do this, try this. And I made the cut. Of the three times I made the cut, Sung Kang was one of them. And it was about five years, six years ago. And we made the cut mostly because, on the second day, he had a putt for 59 at Monterey Park. So I got to witness that. He missed it. He shot 60 at Monterey.

Charlie (20:25):

Is that the best round of golf you ever got a chance to see anybody shoot?

Ray (20:28):

Oh, my God. Yeah, I mean, I was there. I was there for it. He was just sinking every… The funny thing was, it was all putts. It wasn’t like he was sticking it to two feet on every hole. He was just dropping every single putt. He was making bombs. And the other thing that was weird was, I got… I’m a 13 handicap, whatever. So during that tournament, I get about 16 strokes. So I got a stroke on every hole except two. And I try to contribute as much as I can. I had probably seven pars for net birdies, none of them we needed, because he birded every one of those holes.

Charlie (21:11):

Well, you got a great memory from that day, no doubt about it. Wow. Watching somebody shoot 60, a lot of fun. Ray…

Ray (21:19):

Can I ask you a question? What was your best finish on the tour?

Charlie (21:23):

I finished a shot out of the playoff, around about 1995, at the Shell Houston Open. Payne Stewart beat Scott Hoch in a playoff, and I finished third place all by myself. I don’t remember exactly how much money I won, but it was really close to $97,112, and about 60 of it went to American Express.

Ray (21:50):

Yeah. Oh really?

Charlie (21:52):

Yeah. In fact, my wife came running out of the gallery and leapt into my arms, and that’s the only time that’s ever happened on a PGA Tour for a solo third place.

Ray (22:03):

For a third place finish. Yeah.

Charlie (22:04):

Somehow or another, she knew that was the career highlight, and sadly, she was correct.

Ray (22:11):

And what about right now, if you went out and played, what would you shoot right now?

Charlie (22:20):

If I played up… I’m 54, so when I turned 50, I tried to play PGA Tour Champions for a little bit, and I was just arrogant enough to think that, working over 20 years in TV, I could practice for a year, lose some weight, and go out and compete. It didn’t really work that way.

Ray (22:37):

Really?

Charlie (22:38):

I had about five exemptions, and I ended up giving my last one back. I’m the only person to ever give an exemption back on PGA Tour Champions. But it was a great experience to go out there and play, but those guys are so good out there, and while I was working for 20 years, they’re playing every day. So the level of play is out there. But I was scared to death, because I was with Golf Channel at the time and they had cameras everywhere, and I actually birdied my first two holes, they took it live on Golf Channel, and later I heard it in the newsroom there. Everybody’s like, “Yeah, Charlie’s two under through two.” Yeah, I was two under through two, and I finished last.

Ray (23:16):

Oh no, really? Wow.

Charlie (23:17):

I did. But anyway, it was really a lot of fun. I gave it a shot, but I knew real quick that it wasn’t for me. But if you and I went out and played, I’d shoot a real comfortable 75, maybe 72 if I make a couple putts.

Ray (23:31):

Well, you got to give me 15 strokes then.

Charlie (23:35):

All right. I’m happy to do that, but that gets me to what I want finish up with. In season five of Everybody Loves Raymond, there was a bit on one of your shows, y’all were going to come to vacation in Myrtle Beach. Do you remember that show? You never made it down here, but that was the bit in the show.

Ray (23:54):

And what ended up happening in the show?

Charlie (23:58):

You and Patricia gave each other really nice presents, and you never actually made it to Myrtle Beach. So I know you haven’t been here in person, you didn’t make it here in the show. I’m happy to give you 15 shots, but you got to come here, and we’ll set up the game and play.

Ray (24:16):

Well, we will. I think my wife has a friend… Anna, doesn’t your friend live in Myrtle Beach? Linda, right? My wife has been down there, and she’s never picked up a golf club in her life, but I know that that’s one of the Meccas of golf, so I do want to get down there.

Charlie (24:35):

Come on. We’ll be happy to roll out the red carpet for you. We’ve got more than 80 golf courses and 70 miles, so [inaudible 00:24:43].

Ray (24:44):

I’m in at a wedding in Charleston, so let’s see if I can squeeze a day out of there. Maybe it’ll happen.

Charlie (24:49):

Well, come on up. We’d love to have you here in Myrtle Beach, the golf capital of the world. Ray, appreciate you taking your time to be with us here today on the Charlie Rymer Golf Show. Thank you so much.

Ray (24:59):

I appreciate it. Thanks for having me, man. Fix it in editing.