Jane Geddes - Part 4 (Life After Golf)

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to go.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

So we're in 2003. You've just hung it up. You say you haven't, you you you really didn't look back, but uh what was the first thing you kind of went off and did?

Jane Geddes 0:23

So leading up to leading up to my retirement, I had I when I when I left school the first time at Florida State and to term pro, I had not graduated. So I always had that in the back of my head, something I wanted to do. And so at that point in about 2001-ish, 2002, you were able to take classes online then, which was like a new concept, right? So I started, I went, um, I was in the Florida, you know, university system, and I lived in Tampa. I live in Tampa, and uh the University of South Florida is here. So I had started kind of figuring out how am I going to take some classes through the University of Florida to kind of catch up to where I need to be. Very long story short, um I I ended, I that kind of put me on the trajectory to just want to finish up my degree. Um, so once I retired, I that's what I did. I was very focused on going back to school full-time at USF, and that's what I did. I went, I went straight into going to going to school, like full-time with all the students at the University of South Florida. Um, finished up my degree in 2003-ish, and then um decided that I wanted to go to law school. Again, something that I just had had in my head since I was young. It was just something, you know, on my list. And um so so that was that was sort of the next that was the next thing that I was going to attack.

Mike Gonzalez 1:54

So uh a degree in criminology and then a law degree. Did you have something in mind that you wanted to do with those credentials? Or that's just something you wanted to do? You must have loved school.

Jane Geddes 2:07

Uh yeah, right. I actually liked school. I didn't like it the first time around. I liked it a lot better the second time around. But you know, once I really didn't know what I wanted to do, I really did not. I thought that I wanted to use what I had and my knowledge in something in sports, right? And so right at the end of my law school career, um about right before I was gonna graduate, I got a phone call from the new commissioner, Carolyn Bivens. I did not know Carolyn, I was not connected to the tour at all. Um, really. I had kind of just uh, you know, was not paying very close attention. So I get this phone call out of the blue, um, and she wanted to talk to me. She wanted to know what I was planning on doing after law school. She was looking at building out her team at the LPGA, and somebody had told her about me and said that I should she should talk to me and see what I'm gonna do. And so, you know, we had a conversation and she said, Why don't you do this? Why don't you come over and intern for us, you know, what you know, in between your schedule and see how that works. So I said, That's great. I would love to. So I interned in the legal department at the LPGA. Um, and then about two-thirds of the way through that time was gonna be like a couple months worth, she came to me and um invited me to stay, but was going to create a position for me, um, not in the legal department, but as um basically overseeing everything to do with the players, including competition, uh player development, every basically everything to do with the players. So I was gonna be that player, you know, player services person, whatever. So I said, that's great. That's everything I know about. That's that's awesome. So um so I took that job, and that's that's really how my sort of, you know, my now LPGA or professional golf corporate life started in that with Carolyn.

Mike Gonzalez 4:01

Right. Yeah. Uh I had a chance to work for Mike Juan at some point as well.

Jane Geddes 4:05

I was there when he got hired and worked very closely with Mike. I was a part of his executive team there. Um, again, doing the same in the same capacity. The cool thing about my job then, though, was that Mike, Mike was really busy building the tour at that point, you know, really putting it back together, building it out, trying to figure out everything. And so he asked me and um to sort of represent the tour outside the LPGA on a variety of boards, which was really cool. Um, so I was involved in golf 2020 and and uh golf in the Olympics, um, you know, drug testing in golf. You know, I was on all of those teams um representing the LPGA. So it was an amazing, I had such an amazing experience being able to apply a lot of what I knew, but then learning so much about the industry and about golf and so many different things by Mike giving all the me those those great opportunities. So it was really it was um and I was a part of his executive team, so I was also a part of everything that was happening as far as the growth of the tour.

Mike Gonzalez 5:17

So you mentioned your involvement in uh in getting the uh uh golf back at the Olympics in Argentina. Uh we remember talking to Peter Dawson, the role he played in that. We talked to Podrick Harrington, the role he played in that, uh Amy, and the role she played in that with the golf course. Yes. Uh so a lot of different connections, Michelle. We was on the presentation uh piece of that, I think.

unknown 5:41

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 5:41

Who was? Michelle Wee, I think, was was part of the group presenting. I thought I remembered her name.

Jane Geddes 5:47

Um she might have been from a player's perspective. So it how it how it kind of happened is it was me, Peter Dawson, Ty, um, and then the head of the uh the um PGA, um the European PGA then. And we were all sort of uh Ken Schafield?

Mike Gonzalez 6:05

Was he was Ken? No, it wasn't Ken.

Jane Geddes 6:07

God, I can't think of who it is. Holy moly. Um, but we were a very small group that literally just sort of uh it went from okay, we want to put golf in the Olympics in this you know very small kind of group, and um and then expanded, obviously, and had to pick the location and had to, you know, pick the place where the golf course was, and then had to figure out who was going to design the golf course and interview those people. And um so it was it was um uh uh unbelievable. I mean, we spent time over at you know in you know at the Olympic headquarters and me, it was it was amazing. Like I can't there were so many amazing moments from all of that time, and I was, you know, and I was that I was a part of representing the LPJ, so it was pretty thrilling, honestly. I look at golf now in the Olympics when it's going, and I feel it makes me feel so proud, you know, because knowing, you know, talking about everything, you know, where the teams were gonna be, what was the format gonna be, who was gonna play, how many players, you know, there were all of it. So it's it's it's cool.

Mike Gonzalez 7:05

You know, on that, if you could make one change now today in terms of how they're running golf in the Olympics, whether it's team composition, the type of competition, whatever it is, what what might you change to make it even better?

Jane Geddes 7:19

I'll tell you what I would change because I argued for it as it was going on. So I thought that it should be played the same week. I didn't think that the men should play and the women should play. And I argued to this with Ty until I was absolutely blue in the face. And I was so mad at Ty because I felt like he knew better. And if he was standing right here, I'd continue to argue it. But I said, Ty, we need to have the men and the women playing at the same time, and they need, and we'll just play different tees. Just like we did at the mixed team, right? Men play back here, women play here, we go. Yeah, and he said, Jane, that'll be, I mean, won't it be weird for the women if they have to like if the men are back here? And I was like, no, no, and you know it won't be. But he had there was so I didn't know, I don't, I still don't know, but there was some push for it being two weeks, and I don't know why, but I stood on that forever. I I never got the answer that I that I wanted on that, you know, and I I just I and so I still think that, and especially back then, where it would have it would have so um given women this opportunity that would have you know was so unique and so different to be able to be paired with the men and get that, you know, get that bolstering, right? And back then, which is really ironic, most everything that we talked about, who was gonna play, how many players, all this, all everything revolved around tiger playing. Everything. Everything we did, we had to go back to okay, tiger, tiger, and he ended up not playing. And so it's so ironic, right? Like to think about that, like how much time we spent on that. And they were, you know, the US the the not the the the the the Olympic, you know, people in you know Luzon were so obsessed, the IOC was so obsessed with having Tiger in it, you know. So we had that was always our it was so ironic that it just never happened. So interesting.

Bruce Devlin 9:29

Jane, your position you did influence people though, with with your uh idea of having the men and women play together because about four years ago the Australian Open Championship decided to have the men and the women play together. And I just noticed a little bit a while ago where they've decided now they're gonna go back to different weeks, which is a but I did I remember seeing that, Bruce, and I remember thinking, there you go.

Jane Geddes 9:59

It's possible, right? Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 10:03

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 10:03

So Jane, as I as I look at your career, I try to think of an analogy. And and so, you know, we've all most of us probably got cars now where you've got that feature where you can if you s if you if you kind of stay between the lines, it's quiet, and then if you move a little left or a little right, you know, like the steering wheel buzz. And so at some point you turned that feature off on your car, huh?

Jane Geddes 10:29

I did, I did. I um so I was cruising along at the LPJ and um got a phone call one day from so well, let me go back a little bit. I'm at the LPJ working for Mike. Mike and I are very close, and um at the time I was I was nudging Mike that I wanted to do something a little bit more. I was in the player mode. I was uh it was an interesting role that I had with the players because I had gone from being a player, I come on the other side and almost like battling. I felt like I was battling with players constantly. You know, the the tours have a very unique situation where the the you know the majority vote and of the board and everything are players. So it's the players' tour, right? So whatever changes we made, anything we had to do, it was always going through the players. And the players, God love them. I was one and I was a vocal one who sort of know what corporate world is like, but not really. They're golfers, they're great golfers, right? Yeah, right. So I was, I was, I felt very much stuck in the middle on a lot of instances. So I was pushing Mike. We were trying to expand internationally. I was pushing him a little bit to create a different role for me and stuff. I wasn't I wasn't unhappy. I was just wanting to make a shift in what I was doing. So at that same time, I got a phone call from a recruiter, um, an executive recruiter that wanted to talk to me about this position at this company. And she felt like it was very similar to what I was doing, and blah, blah, blah. And she, and I, you know, she tells me the company and she says, the company is WWE. And I said, WWE, like the wrestling WWE, and she says, yes. And I so I started laughing, just like you do burst. I started laughing, and she said, Stay with me, stay with me for a minute, let me explain. So she takes me through this whole thing, and they end up, it ends up that they are looking for someone. They had in their so amazingly enough, if you look at WWE and you look at professional golf, it's a traveling show. Okay, so they're golfers that go and and passionately pursue their career traveling around the world, and then there are wrestlers, these athletes that passionately pursue their career traveling around the world, and and forget about what it looks like on the outside. The fact is, is internally it's pretty much exactly the same. So when I learned that and visited there, it was about a three-month process of of interviews and going there and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Um, they had never had a person in the position that they hired me for who wasn't an old wrestler. So the wrestlers had generally coming out of, you know, they came out of the thing, they they headed what they call talent relations, which was the talent or the wrestlers. So it's really the wrestler relations, right? So uh so they interview me, I come in, and I am now, they hire me, and I, you know, I took a huge risk of I leave my giant comfort zone working for someone that I really like, and you know, and um, and something that I just know, and it's like just you know, my my role at the time at the LBJ, it was just plug and play, right? To go to a place where I literally the first day there had to, I Googled a thing off of Wikipedia of wrestling terms, and I printed it out and I put it like on my because I would go to a meeting and it was it would be like somebody going into a golf meeting, right? And and not having any par birdie driving range, and pick all the words, right? No idea. I had no idea. So I had to like learn a new language, I had to learn a new culture, I had to learn a new sport, I had to learn all these things. Um so it was it was a huge risk, but looking back, I would have done it again because it just it it it it was so empowering to go out of my comfort zone and to succeed and to feel like wow, I I did that. And I and I I you know they hired me uh to turn around this entire department. So I turned around this entire department of you know, 25 people that were working for me, um, and applied a lot of things that I I had learned at the at the LPGA and a lot of things that I were doing, you know, from drug testing to you know professional development to all kinds of things that you know that I implemented at WWE and that go on now there. And so it was an amazing experience. I I was there only about five years or so. It was the the only thing was it was 24-7 because it was you know, it was I traveled, I had to go to every show. So I was at, you know, I was taking, you know, they had corporate jet and we would take the jet with Vince McMahon. I worked, my office was right next to Vince's. I worked right with Vince all the time, you know, and I was in the family basically because I was overseeing their biggest asset. So um, so it but it was 24-7. It was a lot of work. I was on all the time. You know, I'd get calls at two o'clock in the morning, try, you know, wrestlers are traveling and they mix their flight and they're not gonna get to the next place. And it was a lot. It was a lot. So I said, all right, I'm good. I'm good. I'm gonna I'm gonna move on and I'm gonna um I'm gonna take a break and then move on to see if I can get back into golf.

Mike Gonzalez 16:01

So to be clear for our listeners, professional wrestling, it is real, isn't it?

Jane Geddes 16:07

Okay. Here's what's real. All right, here's what's real. If you climb up on that rope, right, and you jump into the ring and you land on your back, that's real. Because it hurts. It hurts. Yeah, it's choreographed, and they are the most the um it's it's an art. It it takes people, so we we created an entire while I was there, we created a huge performance center in Orlando that is a big giant training facility, giant, giant six rings, giant gym, and uh learn, you know, a production area and everything to learn the craft. I mean, people that came in that thought that they could, you know, be on TV in about five minutes, we had to spend about you know two years at this facility working full-time to be able to even transition into what you see on TV right now. And so much of it is if you know, is learning how not to hurt somebody, right? How do you and I make this look so real that and and we trust each other, we we trust each other so much that we're not gonna hurt each other, but we come off looking like we just absolutely killed each other. It's an art and it's it's fascinating what I learned and what I was able to, you know, and you behind the scenes and and all of it. It's it's fascinating. Um, and and the people that are in those in those jobs and and do the work have to be so dedicated and are so passionate about what they do. And they're actors. I mean they're actors. They're stunt, they're stunt people, they're actors, and they're athletes at the same time. They're those kind of three, you know, the three pieces of it. So it's very interesting. Very, very interesting.

Mike Gonzalez 17:50

You know, how do you deliver a blow that that you make it convince people it landed? How do you receive a blow and convince people it landed?

Jane Geddes 17:58

All of it.

Mike Gonzalez 17:58

How do you how do you land? How do you roll? How do you all this stuff? You got it. Like you say, it it's not overnight, is it?

Jane Geddes 18:05

No, no, it is it is and it's fascinating to watch how they're trained and from they have it down to like literally a science of you know, how you how do you land? How do you land on the mat so that you tuck your neck? You you're not seeing it on TV, but they're all because they're all doing it perfectly and jumping up and everything. But I'm telling you, the first time they land and they hit their head, and you know, it's like it because that mat is it's not padded around the outside of the ring is a little bit padded, but that ring is not padded, and so when they're landing, it's not nothing. So anyway, so that's what's not real. That's what I always say to people.

Mike Gonzalez 18:40

So I I I remember on Friday nights, my grandpa Leonard would watch live wrestling televised from the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. Wrestling at the chase.

Jane Geddes 18:53

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 18:54

And he was absolutely convinced it was real.

Jane Geddes 18:57

It was real, right? Do you know that back in the day, before they pulled, they they before they what they called pull back the curtain, right? Back in the day, so that they there would be a show, it still is like this. There's a show, and then all the wrestlers get in cars and they drive to the next spot and they try to schedule it, so it's you know, maybe maximum a three-hour drive or something, right? But the show ends at 11 o'clock, and these guys are, you know, they're driving or whatever, all week they're doing this. So it used to be that the guys that were the villains or the good guys, right? There's the heels and the and the other guy. So they couldn't even ride together in the same car. They couldn't be seen together. They could not, and if they were, they got in so much trouble because they had to keep up this whole facade like throughout their whole life. Now it's, you know, they walk out of the arena and it's it's done. The the curtain has been pulled back. But back then it was serious, it was really serious.

Mike Gonzalez 19:54

Yeah, so Dick the Bruiser never rode with cowboy Bob Ellison.

Jane Geddes 19:57

Right, there you go.

Mike Gonzalez 19:59

It sounds a little bit like roller derby, right? Where you had the villains and the and the It was.

Jane Geddes 20:04

It was all they're all the good guys and the bad guys and the whole thing.

Mike Gonzalez 20:07

So yeah, yeah. Fascinating stuff. So so did you what sort of involvement did you have with the the divas show that my wife used to watch religiously?

Jane Geddes 20:16

So when you work at WWE, all bets are off. You are always um, there's no such thing as saying no. Let's just start there. So when they say to you, you there's a show and you are gonna go do this. I mean, they wouldn't put me in a ring and to get hit, but if they wanted me one time to walk down a ramp because they needed something, you had to do that. I don't care who you were working there, right? So E comes to us and says they want to do this show with the with the with the women. And we say, Great, great idea. We have a really great group of women. And at that, you know, at that point, I'm overseeing all of them. And they say to me, You are gonna be their boss on TV and you're gonna be kind of the mean boss. I was like, excuse me? Like on TV? Yeah. Yeah, you're just gonna do your thing, but you know, there'll be a little story behind a lot of it, and you'll just figure it out along the way. No lie. So we go to our biggest thing in the biggest event of the year, which is WrestleMania, which is like the Super Bowl. That's the first time that the cameras are there. I am so busy with doing my real job, and then all of a sudden there's cameras, and I've got to be mic'd, and it's I'm you know, I'm gonna know if I'm on or I'm supposed to be am I on or am I off or am I on? And then I was just like, just do your thing, doesn't even matter. Like that's the end of it, right? So it was very interesting. And then people started recognizing me around in the world as hey, you're you're Jane Getty, you're the one on Total Divas. I was like, Oh my gosh, I went from being the golfer to now now I'm the one people recognize on Total Divas.

Mike Gonzalez 21:53

So you go from the Australian masters work on the street.

Jane Geddes 21:58

Yes, yes, I'm gonna have to go.

Mike Gonzalez 22:00

Back and watch the show. I remember the twins who were both in relationships with other wrestlers, right?

Jane Geddes 22:05

Yes. Yep. John Cena and yes. Yes.

Mike Gonzalez 22:09

And then the guy with the beard.

Jane Geddes 22:10

Yes.

Mike Gonzalez 22:12

And then you had that flaming redhead on the show.

Jane Geddes 22:15

Yeah. So I'll tell you a story about the redhead. Eva Marie. We we actually we found um we found her and hired her through a search in LA that myself and my boss were part of. We had like a, you know, brought all these girls in and they did all these things. And we chose which girls that we thought would, you know, work. And so we hired her. Um she was super athletic. Um, she was like a college soccer player, super athletic girl, very fit. She was a fitness person, great girl, super nice. I loved her. And so as they wanted her to, they thought she had the look, she'd like camera loved her, she really had the look that they thought that she was going to be a pretty big star. They didn't let her train long enough, though. They brought her in too quick into the whole scene, and that's ended up being her demise. She wasn't really ready as far as technically to be, but they wanted to bring her in the storyline, so they put her into the Total D list. So, as the first part of the storyline, she is going to come and do her first match at WrestleMania, and she's at home, and I'm calling her, telling her, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I have a con they tell they say something, they want her hair to be red. So she we do this thing where they're filming her in LA, they're filming me on my phone talking to her, as they do in these shows, and I'm saying to her, um, you're you need to get here, something, something, something. And she says, Okay, but I'm dyeing my hair red. And I was like, you cannot dye your hair. So they tell me, don't allow her to dye her hair. You know, make the story that you're not allowing her. So I go through this whole iteration, right? No, Eva, you know, you can't. And now I'm locked now. I'm acting, right? I'm on the stupid show. So, you know, saying, No, you cannot, do not. Vince is gonna be so mad. You can't, you you're risking your career, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. She shows up, she gets there, and she looks fantastic. And if, you know, then it's like, oh, she walks in the door and I'm I see her, you know, and then she gets there, and I, you know, see her walking through. I'm like, oh my God, you look great. Let's go see Vince. And then he loves it, and you know, it's the story. And she she's the redhead the rest of the time, right?

Mike Gonzalez 24:30

So yeah, yeah.

Jane Geddes 24:31

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 24:32

So tell us about uh when you switch that uh that uh feature back onto your car and uh kind of back into your golf lane.

Jane Geddes 24:40

So I left, I left WWE and I took a break, and then um I just you know, it's like I said earlier, uh, golf is it it's it it feels plug and play for me, right? I've I've had so many amazing experiences in the game. And so I then thought, you know, let me get back. Let me let me get back to what I know. Um, and I um I was hired as executive director of the International Association of Golf Administrators, which are all the state golf association, the heads of all the state golf associations come together in a in a group to sort of um, you know, to work together, work with the USGA on things. And so I was sort of the liaison for that, which was interesting for me because it brought me to the amateur side of the game, which I had never been on. And that to me was really uh it was cool because I'm in the game, but now I'm having to learn on another side of it, which was really interesting. It was really um fun for me because I got to learn as I was kind of you know implementing what I knew, but then I was also learning along the way. So I stayed in that for a while, and then um the opportunity with um uh the EWJ, the Executive Women's Golf Association, came up. Uh the CEO of that company was stepping down and they were looking for somebody. So again, I'm on the amateur side. I I took that position, and one of the reasons I took it was right at that time, I had lunch with Mike Juan. We, you know, we remained close and I was going through Orlando and we caught up for lunch. I told him I was looking at this position, kind of told him what I was doing. And we spent like two hours at lunch figuring out how to bring the Executive Women's Golf Association in-house at the LPJ, so to have an amateur arm of the LPJ, which is now the LPJ amateurs. So Mike and I schemed on this whole thing. Um, I took the position at EWGA, proceeded to work with their board in bringing that group to the LPJ, which ended up being a successful merger of organizations. It just made sense all the way around. Um, so brought that group in-house and um and then ran the EW, I was then I was just running the LPG amateurs out of Daytona Beach. Um and um Mike called me into his office one day and said, Hey, I have I have a favor to ask. Um He said that the Legends Tour, which was the women's basically the women's champion tour that had sat on the outside of the LPGA, um, always wanting to come in. It always made sense to be able to come in and come in-house as well. Um, he said, I want you to do me a favor. Nobody was really running that, it was being run by a board. He said, Will you do me a favor? I'm gonna pay you to go run that tour with the intention of bringing it in-house as well. I said, All right, that great with me. I'll I'll do that for you. Absolutely. We'll just do the same thing. Started running that tour. COVID hit, so we nothing. It just kind of went away, sort of, pretty much. There was nothing that we could do for you know a year and a half or so. And then Mike Wan left the LPJ. So that whole our whole plan. And then Molly came in and Molly had too much to worry about, you know. Um, Marlon Marcus had too much to worry about as far as you know getting her feet wet and getting doing what she needed to do with the tour. Um, so then at you know, at that point, the board ended up taking it back for me and and running it as the you know the LPJ Legends. I got, I was able to, while I was there, to get the at least the LPJ name attached to it. In in a sense, they kind of allowed them to take, you know, to take the name, and now it's the legends of the LPJ, but still not in-house, unfortunately, at the LPJ. So that and then that was that. And then I I said, okay, I'm you know, I'm I'm good for a little bit of career. So we'll see. We'll see what's next.

Mike Gonzalez 28:46

I'm gonna really retire now, huh?

Jane Geddes 28:48

Yeah, sort of. I mean, you know, I've got 15-year-old twins, so I I have to be careful on retiring right now. I have to get them through college and everything. So uh yeah, so we'll see what I do next.

Mike Gonzalez 28:59

So the Legends Tour, will that come into the into the ladies' tour at some point, you think?

Jane Geddes 29:04

I hope so. It's the right thing to do. Um but it but it's not dissimilar to the champions tour at the PGA, you know. I mean, it the champions tour is for the most part subsidized by the PGA tour. And yeah, but the PGA tour can afford that, and and it it makes sense, right? The LPJ is not necessarily in that position or hasn't, wasn't, wasn't, and I don't know that they are right now yet again. Um, but there's certainly there's something there. Like, and what you know, our goal was to bring it in and make it more like an alumni association. And how can how can all of us help the LPJ? You know, all the Amy Alcons of the world, the Patty Sheehan, Zabeth, Meg Mall, and listen listen to this list, right? This is like an amazing group of Hall of Famers and whatnot. Like, how can we help and what can we do? And and that was really where Mike and I were going. We wanted we wanted it to be an arm that not only you know put together some events for the players, but also how can these players like really how what can they do? What what can they do for the sponsors? What can they do for the tour that makes sense, you know? So we had you know we had a pretty decent plan together, but anyway, you know, sometimes stuff happens that you you don't have any control over.

Mike Gonzalez 30:11

So yeah. So you think you're gonna jump back into the fray at some point, or you just kind of taking it.

Jane Geddes 30:16

We'll see. I mean, I'm always looking, you know, I'm always keeping my eyes open for things and I'm I'm picky now, and I don't, you know, I'm you know, you never know what's gonna come along. Um I I don't, you know, I'm a I'm very much what I found out is I'm very much sort of a um I'm more of an operations person. I'm more of a person that's um I I loved what I did at the LPJ and what I did at WWE. I was I was the person that was, you know, kind of making things right and and putting things together and and and putting pieces together. And you know, I have I've had the roles of CEO and executive director, and that was fine. Um, it wasn't my favorite position necessarily. Um, I liked more being in the background, which is really interesting. I didn't know that that I would really like that when I started all of a sudden got out of golf and went on the corporate side, but I learned that about myself and you know, so now I know. And now I know when I look for things if that would really fit into what I feel like I'm good at.

Mike Gonzalez 31:09

Yeah. So other than the twins, uh, what's occupying your time these days? And are you playing much golf?

Jane Geddes 31:15

Um, I do. I I my my son plays. I'm also the high school uh coach of my at my kids' school. So I coach the girls and the boys team, which is fun. I didn't think I was gonna like it as much as I do, but I love it. It's so fun to be around the kids and and help them in any way that I can. Um and I'm a realtor. So I, you know, that's what I that's really what I do right now, so which is fine.

Mike Gonzalez 31:37

Well, good. Well, before we we sort of start winding down here, I I just want to take our listeners back to this this stretch that uh that uh Jane had talked about uh in her career where she kept her journal to make sure she remembered uh how she did all this. Uh starting at at Beaconsfield. No, so yeah, yeah. Sorry, starting at Beaconsfield at the DeMaurier in 1985. You lose in a playoff to who? Pat Bradley. And then listen to these winners' names of the next majors coming up. Pat Bradley, Pat Bradley, Jane Geddes, Pat Bradley, Betsy King, Jane Geddes.

Jane Geddes 32:22

Yeah. I know it was amazing. It was an amazing stretch. It it really, I mean, honestly, and and you you talk about my journal, and I still I don't know that I can answer some of my questions that I asked myself in that journal, you know, and why and how. And um, I just feel very fortunate that I experienced what I experienced, right? And I was able to capitalize on it multiple times, you know, and I rode the wave, you know, I it's all the cliches, right? I was in a zone and I rode the wave and I, but I did it. I did, I did it. And um, and it was an amazing, it just an amazing time. And I feel like it's funny could because when I talk to people about jobs and this and that, right? I always say to people, here's why I'm telling you why I don't feel like I need to lead that organization, or I don't, I don't need a big win. I because I say, you know, I've already, I've already had my wins, and I've already won the US Open and I've already won my majors, and I don't know that I could do anything right now that would surpass that. I I really don't. And so I just feel like I've had all these amazing moments in my career, and I'm I'm good, I'm I'm happy, I'm satisfied. Um I don't feel the need anymore for that. At this point, I just want to give back. I just want to do something that I feel like I could put all of my experiences together and help with.

Bruce Devlin 33:50

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 33:50

Yep. So well, that's great. Uh in wrapping up your story, we're gonna do what we've done with 103 other guests. Bruce and I kind of settled early on on three final questions that we like to ask our guests. So it's always interesting to compare the responses across everybody. And I always uh give the the honor on the T to the elder statesman of the old man.

Bruce Devlin 34:18

Yeah, Bruce gets the first. So my first question, Jane, is when you first went out on the tour, if you knew then what you know now, what would you have done differently?

Jane Geddes 34:44

That's a hard one, Chris, because the practical side of me says I would have worked more on my short game, I would have you know maybe practiced harder, I would have um those kind of things, right? That that's like the that's like the answer that I should give. But the reality of it is is I just did me. And you know, I think everyone can look back in their life and say, I I can do could have done these things better, but I did what I wanted, I did what I thought was right then, and I also just winged it. And, you know, I traveled when a lot of people didn't travel and went to Japan for multiple months after the season. You know, I went over and played in the British Open and won it when people might not do that. I I, you know, I I did so many amazing things that maybe if I if I didn't spend that time doing that and I would have gone home and worked on my short game and my putting and everything, I might have won more tournaments, you know. So it's so it's like uh it's like I'm confused, you know. I I I'm confused on that. What the right thing to do. But when I look back, I honestly don't think that I I had an amazing career. Like amazing, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 36:09

We'll take that. Yeah, you know, I thought maybe you would have said I would have hit every birdie putt 10 inches further.

Jane Geddes 36:15

That too.

Mike Gonzalez 36:17

That too. All right, so we're gonna give you one career mulligan. One shot to hit again, where would it be?

Jane Geddes 36:44

It was a drive. Um and it was a it was the tournament, and I remember Judy Rankin was commentating funny. You just mentioned something at Judy because she when I watched it back, her reaction to my shot was like, ah, I believe I was leading, I was standing on the 18th T and it was in Hawaii. And um I had a habit every now and then of coming over the top. I hit a fade, but you know, when I double-crossed myself, I double-crossed myself. And um I believe it was a par five, and I was trying to, I was trying to go for it. I was trying to cut a corner off the T to be able to get there. And I double crossed myself and hit it out of bounds. And that problem, that that drive, I remember, I remember it taking off and thinking, Oh no. Like I knew, right? It was like that moment takes off. That one's not cutting by any stretch of the imagination. So, and I remember Judy's reaction was like, oh no, oh no, like, oh god, like she was she was saying exactly what I was feeling, you know. So, you know, and they showed me teeing off. I'm on TV, there it is, you know. All she's got to do is hit it down the fairway, get a chance to get there in two, and boink, OB. All right, go to the next person, she's out.

Bruce Devlin 38:06

So yeah. All right, I have a lot of information. You ready for the last one?

Jane Geddes 38:11

Ready.

Bruce Devlin 38:12

It's an easy one. How would you like to be remembered?

Jane Geddes 38:17

Um I'd like to be remembered as a great player, but also someone that pushed themselves, and I'm very proud of my career after I played. So I'm I I think I'm, you know, I think I'm really unique. I don't know there's anybody like me on the tour that really went through this different crazy path of all the things that I did. So I I'd like to be remembered for that that sort of sequence of events in my life, you know, from being a uh a player that won majors and was uh a true competitor to someone that kind of stepped on the other side and was successful on the other side as well.

Bruce Devlin 38:59

Can I tell you?

Jane Geddes 39:01

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 39:02

It's been a pleasure to listen to your life story, Jane Geddes. And uh thank you.

Jane Geddes 39:08

You're very sweet.

Bruce Devlin 39:09

It's it's been fun. Uh thanks. Hope everything continues the way it's been for you. It's been a wonderful career.

Jane Geddes 39:17

Thanks, guys. Thanks, guys. So good seeing you again, Bruce, too. It's been way too long, but I appreciate it. And thank you, Mike.

Mike Gonzalez 39:24

You can't imagine how much fun Bruce and I have been having these last three or four years doing these stories with all your greats. I mean, the men at starters, and then we've kind of caught up and and got about an equal number of women now, and and you you know all those ladies that we've talked to. It's just been a real pleasure, and we're glad that uh uh you were able to uh add your story to all the other golf grades.

Jane Geddes 39:45

Yeah. Thank you for thank you. This is so great that you're doing this, I have to say, like, and and you know, being able to kind of put it in an archive and everything. I think it's really awesome and so unique. And thank you so much for having me. I was I'm thrilled to be a part of it, Julie.

Mike Gonzalez 40:01

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 40:25

It went smack down the fairway. It's just like just smack. You're okay. Went straight down the middle.