As Seen on ESPN: “The Charlie Rymer Golf Show” Season 2, Episode 10 with Brian Baumgartner from “The Office”

Speaker 1 (00:03):

The Charlie Rymer Golf Show, starring Charlie Rymer. Hey okay, let’s pick up the tempo.

Charlie Rymer (00:12):

Charlie Rymer here, and welcome to my new show where we do things my way. As a former golf pro and media personality, I know golf but this isn’t going to be your grandfather’s golf show. I’m bringing you conversations with celebs and golf greats, getting off the course and out on the water, and even getting into some good eats. This is The Charlie Rymer Golf Show. Keep it in the fairway, folks.

(00:42):

Today, I’m right on the North Carolina, South Carolina border at Glen Dornoch Waterway Links. My guest, well you know him from the hit show, The Office is Kevin. He’s Brian Baumgartner, I’m Charlie Rymer and this is Riding With Rymer. Brian Baumgartner get in my cart, let’s get out on this golf course.

Brian Baumgartner (01:10):

What’s up, let’s go.

Charlie Rymer (01:11):

It is good to see you.

Brian Baumgartner (01:13):

It’s great to see you. Let’s do this.

Charlie Rymer (01:16):

For the record, I’m going to whip you today out here, just so you know.

Brian Baumgartner (01:19):

Never. No chance.

Charlie Rymer (01:20):

So I read on Wikipedia.

Brian Baumgartner (01:23):

Oh yeah. Believe everything you read there.

Charlie Rymer (01:25):

Well, I’ve got this one thing. It says nothing about your golf game except for one sentence, you are an accomplished golfer. And I’m like, “What the hell is that?” I mean, did you win the British Open and not tell anybody about it?

Brian Baumgartner (01:36):

I did not win the British Open.

Charlie Rymer (01:38):

What does that mean, you’re an accomplished golfer.

Brian Baumgartner (01:40):

I don’t know. I didn’t write it. Little known secret, I didn’t write my own Wikipedia page.

Charlie Rymer (01:45):

Oh, yeah. Well, I did.

Brian Baumgartner (01:45):

Did you write yours?

Charlie Rymer (01:48):

Yeah. It says I’m a sexy beast. I wrote every bit of that.

Brian Baumgartner (01:50):

Here’s the thing about my game. What I say is, if you play once or twice a week, I’m going to get you pretty good.

Charlie Rymer (01:56):

Wow.

Brian Baumgartner (01:56):

I’m going to get you pretty good. But unfortunately, most of these celebrity things, I’m playing with these retired athletes who play 36 holes a day.

Charlie Rymer (02:03):

They don’t have anything else to do.

Brian Baumgartner (02:04):

They have nothing else to do except get good.

Charlie Rymer (02:07):

So what’s your best finish in one of the celebrity events?

Brian Baumgartner (02:10):

Derek Jeter Celebrity Invitational at Shadow Creek in Vegas.

Charlie Rymer (02:14):

Yeah.

Brian Baumgartner (02:14):

I won.

Charlie Rymer (02:16):

Are you going to add like a trophy room to the house?

Brian Baumgartner (02:18):

I think that’s what accomplished golfer means. I think that’s-

Charlie Rymer (02:21):

I knew I’d get to that eventually.

Brian Baumgartner (02:22):

Yeah, that’s what that means.

Charlie Rymer (02:25):

All right. So this is a 16 hole here at Glen Dornoch, about 260 through the fairway.

Brian Baumgartner (02:30):

Okay.

Charlie Rymer (02:30):

So driver may be way too much for you. I mean, you want to go back and get your 5 iron or something?

Brian Baumgartner (02:35):

No, I think I’ll just draw it around. Just like a 280, 290 draw. I can do, well if I hit that, then I’m good. Right?

Charlie Rymer (02:41):

Yeah. 280, 290 draw would be perfect.

Brian Baumgartner (02:43):

But this bush is in my way.

Charlie Rymer (02:45):

Yeah.

Brian Baumgartner (02:45):

That’s part of the problem.

Charlie Rymer (02:46):

That’s part of the challenge. All right, let’s see it.

Brian Baumgartner (02:50):

All right.

Charlie Rymer (02:51):

You look nice and loose.

Brian Baumgartner (02:53):

I’m always loose Charlie.

Charlie Rymer (02:55):

Do these cameras make you nervous?

Brian Baumgartner (02:57):

The cameras do not make me nervous.

Charlie Rymer (02:58):

Oh, I was just checking, because I’m pretty scared.

Brian Baumgartner (03:00):

But I want you to stand right there in my eye line.

Charlie Rymer (03:02):

Okay. I’m here. Right here.

Brian Baumgartner (03:07):

Gosh, that’ll play.

Charlie Rymer (03:08):

That’s really impress right there.

Brian Baumgartner (03:11):

Gosh, that’ll play. That’ll play right there.

Charlie Rymer (03:12):

You are an accomplished golfer. I can’t tee it up. I mean, I’m feeling really nervous about this.

Brian Baumgartner (03:26):

Are you?

Charlie Rymer (03:27):

Yeah.

Brian Baumgartner (03:28):

Something tells me you’re not. Thank you for making me feel good. Thank you for making me feel good.

Charlie Rymer (03:35):

That was right down the middle.

Brian Baumgartner (03:36):

Thanks. Right down the middle.

Charlie Rymer (03:38):

You got, you got me. So Brian, that was an amazing drive you did. Oh look, mine just came right in. I out drove you, you see that? 165 yards, what club is that for you?

Brian Baumgartner (03:49):

Well I think it’s 7 today.

Charlie Rymer (03:51):

Right, so you don’t want to go left?

Brian Baumgartner (03:54):

I don’t want to go left. It looks like I don’t want to go right, actually.

Charlie Rymer (03:57):

No, no. That’s very deceptive. You can actually play out of that swamp on the right.

Brian Baumgartner (04:00):

You can?

Charlie Rymer (04:01):

[inaudible 00:04:01] is dead.

Brian Baumgartner (04:04):

Oh brother, here we go. No problem.

Charlie Rymer (04:11):

Well, that will be perfect.

Brian Baumgartner (04:12):

That’s perfect.

Charlie Rymer (04:13):

You know what an alligator is, right?

Brian Baumgartner (04:18):

I didn’t go left. That’s a good shot.

Charlie Rymer (04:23):

Be right, baby. I’ll take that one.

Brian Baumgartner (04:25):

Yeah, that was a good shot.

Charlie Rymer (04:26):

I’m glad you got a chance to see that one.

Brian Baumgartner (04:28):

That was a good shot.

Charlie Rymer (04:29):

You might want to take some notes on that.

Brian Baumgartner (04:30):

I will after I get this from the alligator. I don’t think I’m going to be all right. Oh my gosh.

Charlie Rymer (04:52):

Oh there it is. I told you it’d be fine.

Brian Baumgartner (04:55):

How did I get right here on the narrowest patch of land?

Charlie Rymer (05:00):

I think you got this shot.

Brian Baumgartner (05:02):

This is. Oh, it’s right there. Oh, no problem.

Charlie Rymer (05:06):

I don’t know that you can stand right here. I don’t want to lose you.

Brian Baumgartner (05:09):

You don’t think I can? I can stand there.

Charlie Rymer (05:11):

Okay, let’s try it. It seems like maybe this is where a stunt double ought to be. Be careful that gravel’s loose. Yeah, you got to bump it down the path.

Brian Baumgartner (05:26):

Oh Gosh. That was going to be so good.

Charlie Rymer (05:31):

I’m okay.

Brian Baumgartner (05:33):

Oh, you all right?

Charlie Rymer (05:33):

I’m okay, yeah. All right, let’s go. That’s not bad.

Brian Baumgartner (05:44):

Is that what we call the Texas wedge?

Charlie Rymer (05:46):

Yes, sir.

Brian Baumgartner (05:47):

That’s pretty well done. This right here is what breaks hearts.

Charlie Rymer (05:51):

You mind if I give you a tip on this one? I mean-

Brian Baumgartner (05:53):

Sure.

Charlie Rymer (05:54):

I’ll give you a serious tip.

Brian Baumgartner (05:55):

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer (05:56):

You guys put on Bent grass and Poa Annua out there.

Brian Baumgartner (05:59):

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer (05:59):

This is Bermuda grass. And if y’all could come in and shoot this. This side of the cup is worn out.

Brian Baumgartner (06:05):

Yes.

Charlie Rymer (06:06):

We have grain here and grain always grows towards the setting sun. The grain is going that way. And that’s one of the ways that you can see what the grain is actually doing. Not only is your putt downhill, but it’s down grain. It’s going to break a little bit less and it’s going to be a little bit faster. And that’s a number one clue for seeing which way the grain’s going. Good try. I didn’t say it was straight, I said it was straighter. Honey, you trying to blame me?

Brian Baumgartner (06:35):

I’m all for it. This one’s dead end, right?

Charlie Rymer (06:36):

Oh yeah. Now see, mine is into the grain on this side, so it’s going to be a little slower. And you’ll watch it, it might bounce a little bit and it’ll break a little bit more because it’s into the grain. So really slow and a little more break.

Brian Baumgartner (06:52):

Well done.

Charlie Rymer (06:53):

If you look for that dead cup edge, that’ll really help you figure out.

Brian Baumgartner (06:57):

I like that.

Charlie Rymer (06:58):

Grain.

Brian Baumgartner (06:58):

All right.

Charlie Rymer (06:59):

The success that you’ve had playing Kevin in The Office and playing it so incredibly well, where for so many fans, you’re not Brian Baumgartner, you’re Kevin. And I know there’s been obviously great advantages from that. It’s got to have been a lot of fun, it’s got to have had to been financially rewarding. But at the same time, you played that character so well. Typecasting, trying to get outside of being Kevin has to be something that’s been a big challenge for you. Has it?

Brian Baumgartner (07:28):

Yeah, I spent a few years intentionally trying to distance myself and was like, ‘Okay, that’s chapter one. Let’s find chapter two’. And I turned down a lot of things that I felt like was too similar and tried to take on projects that were totally different. And then this crazy thing happened. The show became bigger than it was when we were NBC’s number one show. It just exploded again through on Netflix and streaming and Comedy Central and TBS. It was just everywhere. And then we started to release the numbers of streaming and when we started to feel it, and I was like, ‘Well, I can try to avoid this all I want, but it’s not going away’. What I feel so fortunate about is I was on a big show, but I’m also tremendously proud of it.

Charlie Rymer (08:19):

Yeah.

Brian Baumgartner (08:19):

I’m fan of it.

Charlie Rymer (08:21):

Yeah.

Brian Baumgartner (08:21):

I don’t typically go and watch myself. The office we watched every week when it was on, I felt so invested in all of the people and the stories we were telling. And to be a part of something that I actually feel like is high quality, I’m proud of that and makes it really easy to embrace that.

Charlie Rymer (08:41):

So the episode with the chili.

Brian Baumgartner (08:42):

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer (08:43):

That’s grown now to where there’s a chili cookbook, there’s a Chili cook off. What I remember that episode is you dropping the big pot and they probably still hadn’t got that cleaned up, but talk to me about that a little bit because that’s going to impact me at some point.

Brian Baumgartner (08:59):

I never, ever imagined that this would be what it is today. All right. I either got to embrace it or I got to fight it. And there was no fight in it. Funniest story that ever happened to me, I was staying in a hotel and having dinner and I’d just finished eating and kind of pushed away. And the bartender comes over and he sits down food in front of me and I said, “I just finished”. And he kind of leans down, and “that’s from the girl at the end of the bar”. And I looked down and it’s a bowl of chili. I was like, “okay”.

(09:30):

All right. I have to give you that one. I walked over and said, “Okay, well done. No one’s ever done that before”. But yeah, Chili Cookbook coming out here. I mean, September 13th, 177 recipes. I searched far and wide, and here we’re in Myrtle Beach, the World Championship Chili cook off is here. And I’m so excited I did.

Charlie Rymer (09:54):

And I can’t wait because they’ve asked me to be one of the judges.

Brian Baumgartner (09:57):

I know we’re going to judge together.

Charlie Rymer (09:58):

Oh, I can’t. And I listen, I’m a Chili connoisseur.

Brian Baumgartner (10:02):

Okay.

Charlie Rymer (10:02):

I make it. I eat it. I love it. I mean, I’m so excited about being a world Chili cook off judge. So Brian, how you going to tackle this beast? 18 here, Glen Dornoch.

Brian Baumgartner (10:15):

What am I looking at? It looks like both ways. That seems like a far one, right?

Charlie Rymer (10:22):

Yeah. Let me do some explaining.

Brian Baumgartner (10:23):

Okay.

Charlie Rymer (10:24):

Okay. So the building, you see is a clubhouse, the green is to the left. It’s a double green with number nine. There’s fairway over this direction. It’s a 200 and something yard carry. Or you can hit a fairway metal over here, the right side.

Brian Baumgartner (10:40):

Okay.

Charlie Rymer (10:40):

You don’t strike me as a laying up type.

Brian Baumgartner (10:44):

No, not really. No.

Charlie Rymer (10:45):

Let’s go for it. You want to go for it?

Brian Baumgartner (10:46):

Okay. On the left?

Charlie Rymer (10:47):

Yeah, on the left.

Brian Baumgartner (10:48):

We’re going toward that flag that I kind of see?

Charlie Rymer (10:50):

Right at the clubhouse. The window in the clubhouse.

Brian Baumgartner (10:52):

Oh boy.

Charlie Rymer (10:52):

Before you tee it up, I’m going to show you a little something that’ll help.

Brian Baumgartner (10:55):

Okay.

Charlie Rymer (10:56):

Grab that tee marker over there.

Brian Baumgartner (10:57):

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer (10:58):

All right. Come on with me. Set it right there. Now then just with that little tip, we picked up like 20 yards. Hey, don’t you feel better about getting over that now?

Brian Baumgartner (11:14):

I do feel a little bit better.

Charlie Rymer (11:15):

That window in the clubhouse.

Brian Baumgartner (11:17):

Window in the clubhouse.

Charlie Rymer (11:17):

Yeah. That’s it.

Brian Baumgartner (11:19):

You don’t have to try to kill it, right?

Charlie Rymer (11:21):

Well, yeah, but that’s no fun. Swing hard at it. I mean, get after it. Come on, let’s see it. Big ball it. Big ball it. Let’s go. Boom. Look at that big baller. It might have made it. Did it make it? Did you see it bounce?

Brian Baumgartner (11:34):

It felt like it should have made it.

Charlie Rymer (11:40):

All right. That’s as good as I can get. See that window in the clubhouse?

Brian Baumgartner (11:42):

Oh my goodness.

Charlie Rymer (11:45):

Yes. I saw it bounce. Woo hoo.

Brian Baumgartner (11:47):

I saw it bounce.

Charlie Rymer (11:48):

Get some of that, ladies and gentlemen. All right, Brian. It all comes down to this final fight on 18. And here’s the deal.

Brian Baumgartner (11:56):

What are my odds? Okay, go ahead.

Charlie Rymer (11:57):

We’re not going to do odds. You got to wager.

Brian Baumgartner (11:58):

Okay.

Charlie Rymer (11:59):

So here’s the deal. You miss this, you buy me lunch. You make it, you buy me lunch.

Brian Baumgartner (12:03):

Doesn’t sound like a good deal at all.

Charlie Rymer (12:06):

Let me get my shadow out of your way.

Brian Baumgartner (12:08):

Yeah. Can you please?

Charlie Rymer (12:08):

Yeah. Because I wasn’t planning on skipping lunch.

Brian Baumgartner (12:11):

Gosh. I really want this to go.

Charlie Rymer (12:18):

Nice try. Good putt.

Brian Baumgartner (12:20):

Dang.

Charlie Rymer (12:20):

Lunch is on you. Appreciate you coming down to Myrtle Beach and seeing me.

Brian Baumgartner (12:24):

Oh, thank you so much. I had a great, great time.

Charlie Rymer (12:26):

It’s a real pleasure and you really are an accomplished golfer.

Brian Baumgartner (12:29):

Well, thank you.

Charlie Rymer (12:49):

Nothing beats golf in Myrtle Beach. I’m showing off and playing some of our best courses all while giving you some advice for your game. This is Charlie’s Golf Tips.

(13:02):

Now then back in the day, and I’m talking old Tom Morris and some of the greatest golf courses in the world, weren’t any fancy driving ranges that go through your hour and a half pre-round warmup routine. The deal is this. That first hole is actually a pretty easy hole, great way to warm up and get ready for your round. And that’s certainly the case at number one at Caledonia, avoid the bunkers to the left. Make sure you don’t blow away, right? There’s out of bounds over there. If you hit a good tee-ball, you’re going to have a wedge into a pretty straightforward green. It’s a really nice way to ease into your round.

(13:36):

When you visit Caledonia. Keep this in mind. There’s not a practice tee here, no place to warm up. And they share that with a lot of the great golf courses in the world. When you go to Scotland and Ireland, a lot of times there’s no place to warm up. If you do want to warm up, sister course True Blue is just a couple minutes from here right across the road. Get here a little early and warm up there. But if you’re like me and you’re running late, you hop up on the first tee, you haven’t had a chance to hit some balls, I got a tip for you. Grab your 6 and 7 iron, hold them together, make about 10 long, smooth, slow swings. That’ll get you nice and stretched out and ready to go. And make sure you use a driver. Folks they got rocket scientists that build these things, there’s all kinds of technology in there. It’s the biggest hitting surface, it’s the easiest club to hit. Now then this is not a long hole. I just want to get it and play. I’m not thinking distance here, I’m thinking center contact.

(14:34):

Just cruise it on down there. Something like that, got me a nice little easy wedge in from there. The par-5 10th at Caledonia, it’s a three shooter for most golfers on the planet, myself included. The key is to avoid the bunker up the left hand side of this fairway and pay attention to your layup shot because you want to go a little farther left than you might think. Now this green, it is super skinny, so it’s really important to give yourself a nice little flip wedge opportunity from the middle of this fairway. And if you can pull off that great little wedge, it’s a really wonderful Birdie opportunity. I got a great wedge tip for you. When you have a front hole location, that’s when you want to hit a lob wedge, a lob off, hit it hard. You want to stop quickly to stay near that front hole location. This is my lob wedge, no good. I’m going with my pitching wedge. What I’m going to do is try and land this ball in the middle of the green, take it in low and let it release to that back hole location. Only adjustment I’m going to make is maybe put it a little bit farther back in my stance than I normally would. 70 yard shot, on a flight, maybe 60 yards. Let it land in the middle of the green. Oh. Had that one dancing around the hole right there.

(15:58):

When you stand on the 11th for the first time at Caledonia. If you’re a big fan of golf in particular, if you’re a big fan of the Masters, it almost feels like a Déjà vu, especially if you’ve had the opportunity to play Augusta National because this hole feels a lot like number 12 at Augusta National. One of the best par 3’s in the world. Sure the water’s on the left instead of the right. And the angle works from right to left instead of left to right. But you better be careful if the wind is swirling. Here’s the best way to tackle this beautiful 11th here at Caledonia. This 11th hole is one of the prettiest par 3’s in all of Myrtle Beach. And I do see a little bit of the 12th at Augusta here. It sort of takes your breath away the first time you see the hole.

(16:43):

Now let’s keep it really simple. This green is pretty deep from back to front. I’m about 160 to the middle of the green. But what I do when I play this hole is I divide that big green into two smaller greens, front and back. I’m about 160 to the middle, I never want to hit it 160, I either want to hit it 150 which is an 8 iron, or 170 which is a 7 iron. Just keep it as simple as possible, ignore the flagstick and put it in the middle of whichever green the flagstick is that day. I think that’ll work. We’ll be right back. Stick around for more of the Charlie Rymer Golf Show.

(17:39):

When you stand up on the tee box at 13 at Caledonia, it feels a little claustrophobic. It feels like you’re being squeezed and that’s absolutely the case because you’re definitely playing through a shoot. But you also get the feeling that if I put my ball in the proper position off the tee, I’m going to be rewarded with something. And boy are you. Look at the view as you turn this corner. This green is raised up. It’s in an island of sand, beautiful pond behind. It’s a good Birdie opportunity, but you have to have great discipline off the tee to put the ball in proper position. As you can see, the 13th hole looks a lot different here on the tee box than it does from up above. And the tendency is the first time you play this hole is to feel like I got to hit over to the left, I got to cut the corner. Don’t do that my friends. If you do that, you’re going to end up in some deep and dark trees. You got to play the ball out to the right. That’s going to give you a much better angle for your second shot. Now what I’m going to do is I’m going to find a tree trunk through the fairway. That’s the right center of the fairway. Focus on that, laser-like focus.

(18:49):

It’s just a five wood. Ima cruise this down there, about 225. And that’ll give me a perfect angle for my second shot. 14 at Caledonia is an example of low country golf at its fine. As you stand on this tee, you see the beautiful pond to the left, field with alligators. You look to the right and you see a majestic live oaks filled with fox squirrels, believe me folks, you’d rather deal with fox squirrels than alligators. But when your focus comes back to the hole, you got to hit enough club off the tee to get around the corner so you have a clear look at this magnificent green. Very deep from front to back, framed beautifully by the flower bed behind. You just can’t ask for anything better in a golf hole than 14 here at Caledonia, but you better pay attention to that tee ball.

(19:39):

So the 14th hole, one of my favorites in all of Myrtle Beach. It’s not a long hole. The key is eliminating the left hand side of this fairway, which happens to be this beautiful pond. Now how am I going to make this ball submit to my will? I’m going to hit what’s called a squeeze cut. I’m going to tee it down a little bit lower, not really change anything because it feels like I’m just sort of wiping across the ball to the left. Let’s see what we get. If I do it right, it’ll launch a little low. It’ll start towards the water and it’ll curve back towards the middle of the fairway. Something like that.

(20:17):

Okay folks, we are ready for the big finish and 18 at Caledonia does not disappoint. It’s all about position off the tee. You got to challenge the water on the right with that teeball. The closer you get to that water, the shorter your second shot is and you want a short second shot in. Because this green is really wide, but it has very little depth to it. You want to be coming in there with as little club as possible. The other thing is really challenging about this hole, that porch right behind the green because all your buddies are going to be up there heckling you if you shank one off into the water. It really is one of the best settings in all of golf. I enjoy it every time I see it, and I know you will too.

(20:57):

Here at 18, I’ve got one of the longest putts you’ll ever face. This is easily 120 or 130 feet and it’s got a lot of break in it. A long, big break in putts. People tend to make one mistake. Instead of looking at their intended line, they look at the hole or the flagstick. If you do that, you’re going to miss low every time. I’ve got a few balls out to the left that are marking my attended line, if I focus on the path of this putt, the high point of the putt, that gives me my best chance to cruise that in there and get it within six, eight feet of the cup, which would be really good from here. So let’s see what we get. I’ll take that one.

(21:48):

That’s about it for this episode, time for another sunset on Waccamaw River. Give every opportunity that comes your way, maximum effort. Just like hitting a tee shot in golf, it might not always end up where you want, but eventually you’ll get it in the hole. And if you hit it far enough offline, you might actually make some new friends who are playing another hole. Hope you’ve enjoyed the Charlie Rymer Golf Show. Keep it in the fairway folks, unless you want to make some new friends.