THE GOLFSCOUT BLOG

I'm a huge fan of the No Laying Up (NLU) podcast and crew. Been listening for years. They’ve come a long way and have a huge following now, which includes many of the PGA Tour pros they discuss on their weekly shows. The gang watches every PGA Tour event religiously and provides a unique, fresh angle on the game of golf from a hardcore fan perspective. And they’re wildly entertaining while doing it. In a discussion of what makes NLU tick, co-founder D.J. Piehowski explained their ethos well: “We have a tendency to take serious things very unseriously, and take unserious things very, very, very seriously.”

That being said, if you’re a new listener to one of their podcasts or viewer to their YouTube channel, some of the NLU inside jokes, jargon, and references can be confusing. Co-founder Neil Schuster referred to their "layers on layers on layers" of inside jokes on a recent podcast discussing the NLU behind-the-scenes media operation. Even as a long-time listener, some of this stuff has nuance and may not be obvious at first. So I put this guide together to help make the podcast a tiny bit more accessible to folks, especially for the worldwide audience that may not be familiar with all our US cultural references. I'm positive there's a ton I forgot, so let me know what to add.

No Laying Up co-founders

• Chris Solomon, aka Soly - (Twitter). There is no formal CEO of No Laying Up, but Soly is host of the main podcast and basically the leader of the crew. Handles most of the serious interviews and runs the main NLU Twitter account. A scratch golfer, best player of the bunch. Former tax/audit manager at KPMG. Lived in Amsterdam for three years starting in 2014. Left KPMG to work full-time at No Laying Up in summer 2017.
• Todd Schuster, aka Tron Carter/TC - (Twitter). Tron is a nickname from the classic Chappelle Show Law & Order skit. High-end travel enthusiast and big fan of United Airlines. Has hospitality background, formerly working for Mariott and the Ritz-Carlton. Lives in Jacksonville Beach, FL. Fan of the European Ryder Cup team. Older brother of Neil Schuster.
• Neil Schuster, aka Icarito/Merch Czar - (Twitter). Neil is a former account sales rep at Google and now runs No Laying Up's merchandise operations. A creative wordsmith that crafts the majority of the inside jokes and offbeat references used in the show. Frankly this entire glossary might not be needed if Neil wasn't a part of the gang. Scroll down the glossary to see an explanation of the Icarito nickname. Younger brother of Todd Schuster (Tron Carter).
• Phil Landes, aka Big Randy - (Twitter). Randy is 6'8" and lives in Colorado. Participates in the highly entertaining Strapped series, where he and Neil spend three days at a golf destination and must play three rounds of golf on a maximum travel budget of $500. Big fan of women's golf and leads many of those podcast episodes.
• D.J. Piehowski, aka DJPie/The Narc - (Twitter). Production guru who runs the AV operations and did the majority of filming and editing of the show for years. Used to work for the PGA Tour, where he was Director of Content for SkratchTV. The Narc nickname was earned during the Strapped series for keeping Neil & Randy honest on the $500 budget limit.

The unofficial No Laying Up glossary

• AimPoint - A proprietary technique for reading greens created by Mark Sweeney and used by many tour pros. While it seems to work well, it takes a frustratingly long time to execute before each and every putt a golfer makes, and often slows things to a crawl.
• Already pulled over, can't pull over any farther - A line from the classic opening scene in the 2001 movie Super Troopers.
• Bad santa ball - A Neil-ism for a ball trying to come down the chimney onto the green. The reference is to the 2003 movie Bad Santa, where Billy Bob Thornton's Santa character gets into all sorts of trouble. Neil mentioned it in Tourist Sauce Scandinavia, and his brother Tron referenced it during the 2023 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town, when Jordan Spieth and Matt Fitzpatrick had an electric three hole playoff.
• BDE’s - acronym for Big Dick Events. Important, high profile golf tournaments like majors and designated/elevated events.
• Be the right club today! - Famous line from Hal Sutton on the final hole of the 2000 Players Championship, when he held off world #1 Tiger Woods to win his second Players trophy.
• Beluga - Nickname for Neil Schuster, usually when discussing gambling.
• Ben Carson hands - When a golfer has nice touch around the greens, the guys have joked that he or she has Ben Carson hands. Ben Carson was a pediatric neurosurgeon and later politician who ran for president in 2016. In 1990 he wrote an autobiography called Gifted Hands, where among other things he described performing extremely complicated surgeries using his gifted hands, while relying on God’s guidance. The book was made into a movie in 2009.
• Big Golfer - Nickname for Bryson DeChambeau, who gained 50 lbs in 2020 with an extreme workout and nutrition regimen, and bulked up to 240 pounds at one point.
• Big Pantone / Tannibal / Tanimal - Nicknames for Adam Scott, who loves to wear tan, beige, taupe, and cream color outfits, and might go completely insane with a burgundy or navy on occasion. Oh, and Pantone specifically refers to a professional color palette matching system. Additionally, DJ Pie once purposely wore a tannibal outfit to get in Soly's head during a match.
• Biker gang - When Neil's group is playing slow on a course, he starts to feel anxious about the group behind him getting frustrated and getting aggressive, like a biker gang might. He's mentioned this a few times now, including Strapped New Mexico and during a post-tournament recap for the 2023 RBC Heritage.
• Block Party - In the 2023 season, the gang is pulling really hard for sentimental favorites Rory & Spieth to win tournaments, particularly a major. Neil deadpanned about a running a block party to celebrate Rory winning the week's tournament, and the bit (plus associated puns) gained steam around the Masters. Some tweets by DJ Pie and Soly.
• Blow out the O-ring - DJ Pie says this somewhat frequently on the podcast and in videos. The origin of the phrase is from the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, where a failed O-ring seal in the rocket booster caused the fatal explosion.
• Bonesaw Invitational - Nickname for various golf tournaments in Saudi Arabia.
• Boutros Boutros Tringale - Nickname for tour player Cameron Tringale, whose last name rhymes with the name of former Secretary-General of the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
• Brooks Koepka 5-iron - During the 2023 Masters, Koepka and his caddie were shown on camera seemingly telling his playing partner's caddie that he hit a five iron on his previous shot. Providing this sort of advice is against the rules of golf according to rule 10-2a. The Masters decided not to penalize him, which turned into a controversial and polarizing decision.
• Buoy - Nickname for the unsinkable Jon Rahm.
• Butcher - Nickname for Jon Rahm, who some say looks like their local butcher. Plus, when my son was young, he loved the show WordGirl, and he does bear a slight resemblance to the butcher from that show.
• C-Suite - In the Strapped series, which involves frugal travel and discount golf, Neil & Randy often joke about how Soly & TC are living it up in the C-Suite, playing private courses and flying first class. For example, this discussion during Tourist Sauce in California and some words from DJ Pie in the Carolinas. The C-Suite refers to the top executive positions of a company, like CEO, CFO, COO, etc -- bigwigs. Which reminds me, early on in my career, I was a software engineer and wasn't familiar with a lot of business jargon. In a meeting, my director kept talking about "sea level executives." "We need to reach out to customer sea level execs," etc etc. I asked him what that meant, and he said, "you know, like CEOs, CMOs, COOs, these are the people that run companies." Ooooohh C-LEVEL... Riiiight, that makes way more sense. Exhibit #1092831 of me being an idiot.
• Cameron Young from the mean streets of NYC - During the 2022 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews, a reporter asked Young "Can you talk a little bit about maybe an improbable journey from the streets of New York somewhere to the links of St. Andrews? It doesn't happen every day." Young is from Scarborough, NY, a suburb of NYC. But he went to school at Fordham in the Bronx, inside New York City limits. He dismissed the notion promptly, answering "I think streets of New York is probably a stretch. Fordham Prep is on Fordham University campus. It's beautiful."
• Cameron Young MLB sponsorship - Young wears a Major League Baseball logo patch, which is a somewhat unusual player sponsorship. Growing up, Young played golf at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, where MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was also a member. Over dinner, Manfred asked Young if he'd be up for a sponsorship arrangement, and thus it started. Here's a full writeup on the origin story of the MLB patch.
• Chloroform ball - A smothered hook, as coined by Neil. In movies, you smother someone's face with chloroform to knock them out. DJ mentioned it too.
• Daniel Berger water ball - During the 2022 Players Championship, Berger was involved in a rules controversy concerning his shot into the water hazard on the 16th hole. Playing partners Joel Dahmen and Viktor Hovland disagreed with Berger's drop placement, and the whole thing was caught on camera.
• Data lake - According to Google, a data lake is "a centralized repository designed to store and process large amounts of structured and unstructured data." Back in March 2021, the PGA Tour announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services. They claimed "AWS will help the TOUR store real-time and historic content that will give fans and media access to content dating back to the 1928 Los Angeles Open. This “data lake” will contain video, audio and images that AWS technology will tag for easy cataloging. This will help the TOUR and its content partners search, review, annotate and package new content and give them instant access to key moments in the TOUR’s history." Unfortunately, in 2023, the tour's website is still frustrating as ever to use.
• Dick Rider / D-Rider - After the LIV tour launched, No Laying Up's support for the PGA Tour was challenged by LIV fans (and/or bots) who couldn't understand why there were any problems with a tour backed by an autocratic government. These people accused NLU of "dick riding" for the PGA Tour.
• Dude Perfect Tour / The Dudes - The European PGA Tour is currently branded as the DP World Tour. DP World, the company that sponsors the tour, is a logistics company based in Dubai. DP also happens to be an acronym for Dude Perfect, a wildly popular sports-centric YouTube channel aimed at children.
• Durden ball - A Neil reference to hit the ball as hard as you can. In the 1999 movie Fight Club, Tyler Durden says "I want you to hit me as hard as you can." Here's an example from Strapped New Mexico, and one from Tourist Sauce Oregon.
• Expect anything different?! - The iconic call from NBC golf broadcaster Dan Hicks during 2008's US Open at Torrey Pines, when Tiger sunk a 12-foot putt for birdie on the last hole to tie Rocco Mediate, thereby forcing a playoff matchup the next day.
• F-15 ball - Neil's nickname for his low pull cut shot. Here's a reference from Oregon Tourist Sauce, episode 2.
• Flooding the zone - Not really an inside joke, but they do say this frequently. Flooding the zone is the process of spamming information and misinformation to overwhelm your opponent. Popularized by Steve Bannon in 2018, when he was quoted as saying “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”
• Focused on legacy, not leverage - A quote from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan during a press conference in February 2022, where he addressed the threat of the LIV golf tour. It's a direct reference to what Phil Mickelson said to Alan Shipnuck about the PGA Tour: "As nice a guy as [PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan] comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right."
• Ghengis Khan (Mongolian reversal) - Neil's mentioned this in match play situations. A Mongolian reversal is when a person or team comes from behind on a hole to surprisingly win it. For example, a person in the group with an awful tee shot ends up winning the hole, when everyone else was in the fairway. Genghis Khan was the father of the Mongol Empire.
• Gold man / Gold boy - In the 2022 broadcast of the Players Championship, NBC and the Golf Channel debuted an animated version of the golden golfer trophy given to the winner of the event. Juxtaposed to the normally stodgy production, it was a rather bizarre element of the broadcast and took on a life of its own in social media.
• Green, yellow, red light concept for slow tour players - Soly's idea to manage slow players on tour by grouping them together during tournaments. The faster players get to play first, then average speed players, then slow players at the back of the tee sheet. Patrick Cantlay's slow play at the 2023 RBC Heritage was a major topic both for NLU and mainstream golf outlets, and Soly discussed the concept during the wrap up show.
• Grow the game - An trite phrase used by many. However, once LIV golfers started claiming "growing the game" as a main talking point for joining the Saudi tour, the phrase was subject to additional ridicule. The opposite sentiment of this is "shrink the game," which mocks the original phrase, and is gaining steam. For example, Randy's range finder cover in Tourist Sauce Scandinavia.
• Grupo TC - TC is Tron Carter, a member of NLU. During the WGC Mexico Championship, the broadcast had bizarre ads from the tournament sponsor, Grupo Salinas, like this one promoting them as an "agent of positive social change." Grupo Salinas is a huge conglomerate, but of course that didn't stop them from being widely mocked. No Laying Up is sponsored by DraftKings and has a gambling segment for each tournament, where the crew publishes their tournament wagers and weekly results. 2022 showcased Tron's impressive golf wagering skills and he made a killing. As a result, he adopted the Grupo TC moniker in tweets like this one. Also mixes in references to TC Vision Fund, shared prosperity, and inclusive business model.
• Gutenberg match - A golf match where the participants can call an unlimited number of presses. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1439 in Mainz, Germany. Couple of examples from Tourist Sauce Carolinas.
• Habeas corpus - Sometimes in the podcast the boys mention Habeas corpus, or suspension of Habeas corpus. In United States law (and many other countries), Habeas is a writ or concept that states a person cannot be imprisoned indefinitely without a court deciding the legality of detainment. When Habeas is suspended, it means the typical legal process is deferred, and the usual rules no longer apply. In the podcast, suspending Habeas corpus means they're gonna freestyle and not go through the usual agenda for the show.
• Hamsterdam - In HBO's The Wire, Hamsterdam was a confined, sectioned-off area of Baltimore where dealers were allowed to sell drugs without fear of arrest. Similarly in the podcast, Hamsterdam is a partitioned, isolated segment of the show where they discuss all their takes on the tournament broadcast. Because they consume so much golf, they have a lot to say on the matter, and they decided it would overwhelm the podcast if it wasn't its own segment.
• Hogecoin - A nickname for PGA Tour player Tom Hoge, with a reference to satirical cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
• Howevah! - How ESPN sports pundit Stephen A. Smith says the word however.
• Humidity and ball flight - NLU member Soly (Chris Solomon) says that based on studies he's seen, golf balls fly farther when conditions are humid. He gets some hazing for this as not everyone in his crew, or the pros he plays with, agrees (or cares). Here's a discussion on it from when they played with Justin Thomas & Jordan Spieth at Kapalua. DJ Pie also got in on it.
• I have a good feeling about this - During the 1999 Ryder Cup, the US team was down 10-6 to the European squad going into the final day of matches at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. On Saturday evening, American team captain Ben Crenshaw finished his press conference by saying “I'm a big believer in fate. I have a good feeling about this, that's all I'm gonna tell you.” The US team went on to win 14½ to 13½.
• Icarito - NLU member Neil described Icarito as a golf-specific version of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun. Lots of examples can be found by searching Twitter for the #icarito hashtag. Then it transformed into a nickname for Neil himself. Here's a brief reference to it in a Strapped episode, and a deeper exploration later in the show.
• If it hits the hill, it hits the hill - Soly played in a US Open qualifier in 2021 where he found himself behind a giant mound. Soly and caddie Neil discussed the shot for a while, with Neil uttering the phrase in question. Of course, Soly's shot hit the hill. Here's the entire saga. It has since become a reference that is used on occasion.
• J Lindeberg - A Swedish clothing company that sponsors several players on both the PGA and LPGA tours, most notably Viktor Hovland (as of March 2023). They are known for their highly polarizing funky outfits. Viktor knows they're weird and mentioned it during the 2023 PGA Championship.
• JJ Respawn - Nickname for tour player JJ Spaun.
• Jon Rahm Grand Slam - After Rahm's dominance in early 2023 play with 3 wins and 4 top-10s, Soly deadpanned that he'd for sure win the grand slam this year (all 4 majors) and continues to facetiously make the claim.
• Keisha - The name Neil gave his putter, an Odyssey Stroke Lab design.
• Ken Bone - Ken Bone was an undecided voter featured in a 2016 town hall presidential debate. His chill vibes and amazing name granted him 15 minutes of fame. A Ken Bone reference means someone can't make up their mind on a topic.
• Killhouse - No Laying Up refers to their headquarters/podcasting studio in Jacksonville Beach, Florida as the Killhouse. In ESPN's 2016 profile of Tiger Woods, he mentioned his obsession with military training, paying homage to his father who was a veteran. The Killhouse is a training ground for Navy SEALs, where Tiger participated in high-stress combat training and simulation with an assault rifle. Here's the first NLU podcast recorded in the Killhouse.
• Known unknowns - In 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld used interesting phrasing to explain limitations in intelligence gathering and analysis, and it took on a life of its own. He stated "There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know."
• Lars - Reference to Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, when he called a guitar part "stock." Neil mentioned this in the Strapped series, and then Randy started saying it. If Neil's hitting a "Lars 8" that means it's a stock 8-iron shot.
• Lifts and separates - Not entirely sure on the specific backstory here. But instead of a golfer just separating from the pack, they'll throw in lift & separate, which is of course the primary function of a bra. An example from TC.
• Lingering vs loitering - A game Neil likes to play to separate the contenders from the pretenders in a tour event. Lingering means a player's not a threat to do damage or make noise in the tournament. Loitering on the other hand means the player's definitely a threat to make a move towards the top.
• Lost contain - In the NFL, losing contain is when the defense can't keep the offense contained, or controlled around the pocket or line of scrimmage. Once a defense loses contain, the offense has openings to make bigger plays. I have no idea why the phrase is "losing contain" rather than losing containment, which would be grammatically correct. In any case, the NLU boys apply that phrase to a variety of topics.
• Mangy dog / Feral dog - Nickname for Cam Smith, who's legendary mullet and stache have persisted for years now.
• McRib / The Rib - NLU's nickname for Rory McIlroy. Back in 2017, Rory suffered a rib injury that caused him to miss a large portion of the golf season. It was discussed ad nauseam in the media and led to the NLU just calling him the Rib. And of course, the name McIlroy begets McRib.
• Mega bonus - In the Strapped series, Neil & Big Randy travel and play 3 rounds of golf over 3 days, but have to stay under a $500 budget. If either of them breaks par, they are granted an extra $500 of spending money, called the mega bonus. They've never achieved the bonus. First announced in 2018.
• Mental miss - Randy's psychological technique on short putts. When you hear about visualization, most people imagine themselves successfully executing the shot they're about to hit. Randy does the opposite, due to his self-acknowledged yips. He conceptualizes missing the putt and simulates the anguish of failure. Apparently it frees him up to putt unencumbered by the stress of the situation, since he's already envisioned the worst that can happen.
• Merch czar - Nickname for Neil, who's in charge of the store and NLU gear.
• Money round - In the Strapped series, Neil & Big Randy play 3 rounds of golf. The 2nd round is the money round, where they have a chance to both win and lose money based on how they play that day. Collectively they need to reach a score threshold to break even, based on a modified Stableford scoring format. For every point they score above or below the target, they either gain or lose $2.
• Monitoring the situation - In NLU's Trap Draw podcast, hosts TC & Big Randy opine on various topics and news of the day. Much of it is sent in by loyal podcast listeners. After each article is discussed, they say they're "monitoring the situation." TC sometimes shares what he's "monitoring" on Twitter.
• Much darker than our cameras make it look - If you've ever watched a televised golf tournament that runs into the evening, you've heard a broadcaster utter this phrase about how their cameras work wonders in low-light situations. It's an ongoing gag for NLU, both in video and on social. Max Homa got in on the fun in Tourst Sauce California. It was warranted when the boys played in Norway at midnight. And plenty of examples to be found on Twitter.
• Mules / Donkeys / Ponies - In early March 2023, the PGA Tour announced changes to the 2024 schedule which included seven "designated tournaments" with limited fields of 80 golfers and no-cut. This is a change from the current format with full fields. Long-time Tour player Ryan Armour was upset about the move since it curtails some playing opportunities for lower-ranked Tour members like himself. In an interview with Golf Digest, he said "they want those [lower ranked] players to be mules for you at all the pro-ams, all the charity visits, all the hospital visits and sponsor events. And we're good enough to do that, but we're not good enough to play in designated events like we did this year?"
• Narc - In the Strapped series, Neil & Big Randy travel and play golf over 3 days, but have to stay under a $500 budget. DJ Piehowski films it and also keeps the fellas honest with the spending money, earning him the Narc nickname. And if maybe English isn't your first language, narc is slang for narcotics police officer.
• Nest - The Nest is NLU's premium membership subscription, providing access to things like members-only content, Pro Shop discounts, etc.
• Omar Uresti - Golf's most controversial "club pro" is Omar Uresti, who was a PGA Tour player for 11 seasons and earned nearly $4 million on tour. TC criticizes him any chance he gets. Uresti's won the PGA of America’s PGA Professional Championship twice in recent years, which is a tournament for club pros, guys who teach golf for a living and also are usually expected to help out with a fair amount of other duties on the golf course they work at. Winning the PGA Professional Championship (or finishing in the top 20) automatically qualifies Uresti to play in that year's PGA Championship, a major he never was able to qualify for while playing on tour. Uresti is not a teaching professional in the traditional sense, and has been criticized for even entering the club pro tournament. He technically qualified to play due to his status on Tour for many years. Golf Digest has a good explainer on all the nuances of the situation. Luckily, the loophole Omar used was closed in 2021.
• Opus Dei - Opus Dei is an institution of the Catholic Church with members seeking to bring themselves closer to Christ. In Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, one of the main characters is an Opus Dei monk who practices self-flagellation with whips and other instruments. Opus Dei members claim this is a wild mischaracterization of their sect; however, the massive popularity of Brown's 2003 book (and subsequent movie) coupled with the shocking depiction of self-harm acts forever branded Opus Dei with this notion. In the NLU context, it refers to people especially critical of themselves or abilities on the golf course.
• Panther Mike - Panther Mike is a friend of the NLU boys originally from Minnesota. He was an assistant pro at Sea Island, Georgia for a few years. Real name is Michael J. Foley. He played golf at the University of Northern Iowa, who's team name is the Panthers. Hence, Panther Mike. Here's his twitter account. Lefty golfer. They interviewed him on the Trap Draw podcast in 2020. He gets a shout out in the ending credits of a huge number of NLU videos.
• Patrick Cantlay DeWalt sponsorship - On February 20, 2023, Cantlay announced a partnership with power tool company DeWalt. Considering that he already had a sponsorship deal with high-and-mighty investment bank Goldman Sachs, Cantlay doesn't seem like a home improvement, DIY-project kinda guy. Looking forward to the construction puns.
• PGA Tour payroll - The NLU crew is understandably frustrated about how the LIV tour has fractured professional golf. Phil Mickelson's wild mischaracterizations and delusions about how the PGA Tour operates was a major discussion topic on the podcast for months. NLU's main Twitter account, which is run by Soly, tried to set the record straight about some of the accusations against the Tour. In doing so, it was perceived that he was defending the Tour, and there were Twitter comments that Soly & crew were on the PGA Tour payroll. As a result, they've leaned into the bit, joking about their paychecks arriving late, etc.
• Pod bump - Players that come on the podcast often play really well in subsequent tournaments. Examples: Leona Maguire in early 2022 and Max Homa winning the Farmers Insurance several days after appearing on the podcast.
• Poosh / Pooshdaddy - Pooshdaddy is the stage name for Iration lead singer Micah Pueschel. Poosh became a friend of the pod after meeting the NLU crew at the LPGA Kia Classic Pro Am in 2018. Later that year, he met up with the fellas at the Old Course in Scotland. Additionally, in 2019, the boys played a Tourist Sauce round at Poosh's home course, Sandpiper GC, in Santa Barbara. Poosh's Twitter and Instagram accounts.
• Pro - Nickname for Max Homa. Sometimes referred to as The Pro 2.0, 3.0, etc. I don't remember the origin story of this one TBH.
• Pro Traj Holdings - Parent company that owns No Laying Up.
• Refuge - The Refuge is NLU's thriving message board. It's free to sign up and use. However, non-Nest members don't get to post as often and have certain restrictions. The name stems from a spa Soly and DJ Pie visited in the California Tourist Sauce trip named Refuge in Carmel.
• Scripting - Outfits that tour players wear during tournaments are planned well in advance of the event. Apparel sponsors collaborate with their players to coordinate a cohesive look. This is called the script for the week. Often the scripting is promoted ahead of the event by the apparel brands. Examples of Masters scripting in 2022 and 2023.
• SHAFUA - Neil's acronym for soft hands and a fuck you attitude. An example from California Tourist Sauce at Pacific Grove. Another from Wild World of Golf, and one more from TC at LACC.
• Sicko - Someone totally obsessed with playing and following the sport of golf.
• Sister Jean - TC sometimes references Sister Jean, which means someone is getting a lot of TV coverage. Sister Jean is a chaplain for the Loyola University (Chicago) Ramblers men's basketball team. She first gained fame during the 2018 NCAA basketball tournament, where the Ramblers went on an improbable run of upsets and made it to the Final Four. The 98-year-old Jean was a fixture in the broadcasts.
• Slime Cup - A children's show on the Nickelodeon channel that pits professional golfers against other athletes and celebrities in wild challenges.
• So nervous you can't spit - A strange phrase Paul Azinger's mentioned on golf broadcasts a few times, mocked by the NLU crew and others. Zinger actually tweeted this back in 2011 too. Solid reference to this from Neil regarding Brooks Koepka's inability to close out the 2023 Masters.
• Soly's competitive nerves - Soly has opened up about the anxiety and strain he feels while playing competitive golf, and I give him a tremendous amount of credit and respect for doing so. Lots of people experience nerves on the golf course, but not a lot are comfortable discussing it. Someone like Soly occupies an particular niche in the golf universe; he doesn't play to earn money for a living, but he does play a lot of golf in videotaped, competitive situations where he cares deeply about the outcome, and clearly this can be stressful. Talking about it is extremely relatable to a lot of us. Soly opined on the matter while discussing his 2022 US Open qualifying attempt and at the 2021 Gasparilla Invitational. And even miniature golf gets the juices flowing.
• Soly's shanks - For someone so talented at golf, Soly unfortunately shanks the ball a healthy amount. He's a plus handicapper with a gorgeous golf swing. Happens to the best of us I guess. Golf is a humbling game. He and the crew have joked about it on the podcast over the years. Here's some examples from Carolinas - True Blue, Carolinas - Pinehurst No. 2, Carolinas - Pinehurst No. 3, and Oregon - Old Macdonald.
• St. Rappeo - During the Louisiana Strapped series, they played golf with a gentleman named Ben, who made custom ball markers by manually stamping letters onto metal. The one he made for Neil was a little funky, and Neil literally thought it said ST RAPPEO instead of STRAPPED. Here's a heartfelt thought from Randy on the patron saint of cheap golf.
• Strapped boys - Any "strapped boys" mention refers to Neil Schuster and Big Randy, the two protagonists on the wildly entertaining Strapped travel video series. The show highlights Neil & Randy flying to a golf destination and playing 3 rounds of golf over 3 days. The catch is that they must stay under a $500 budget throughout the entire trip. The strapped boys are contrasted against the "C-Suite" which refers to Soly & Tron Carter, the supposed corporate overlords who fund the trip, only fly 1st class, and play at America's most exclusive country clubs. The juxtaposition plays out really well in the series when the two camps communicate with one another. Sanctions have been imposed by the C-Suite on the strapped boys in the past for running afoul of the fiscal rules in place. The strapped boys moniker subsequently bled out into No Laying Up's other main video series, Tourist Sauce. Here's some examples of that.
• Stephen Ames beatdown by Tiger Woods - Tiger gave Stephen Ames a beating for the ages in the 2006 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Before the tournament, Ames was asked about playing Tiger in the first round of the event, and said “anything can happen, especially where he’s hitting the ball.” Cue the Jordan I-took-that-personally meme. Tiger destroyed him on the front 9 with birdies on the first 6 holes, winning every hole for 9-up lead at the turn, finally closing him out on the 10th. Sometimes you'll just see the post-round handshake photo on golf Twitter referencing the match. NLU cites the match on occasion, including this gem from Soly at Pinehurst when he attempted to give an Ames. And later in Michigan, he was on the receiving end of an Ames attempt.
• TC Chen - Any mention of TC Chen is almost certainly a reference to a double hit. Chen was playing sensational golf in the 1985 US Open at Oakland Hills, where he set the course record with a 65 and had the first double eagle in US Open history. In the final round, Chen attempted to hit a chip shot from the rough on the 5th hole, but hit the ball twice by accident and ended up scoring a quadruple bogey 8. He finished the tournament in 2nd place by a stroke to winner Andy North. Tron had a TC Chen situation at Ojai Valley in 2019.
• TIO - An acronym for Temporary Immovable Obstruction. In tournament golf, objects like the grandstands, tents, and TV towers exist at the course only during the tournament, and therefore are deemed temporary. Golfers that hit or land in these objects are not penalized and are granted relief, even if the shots that caused it were godawful. It's frustrating because there should be consequences for hitting terrible shots in tournament golf. Case in point: Jon Rahm hit his ball way off line into some strange storage area at Riviera, and with TIO was allowed to get a free drop in the rough with a line to the green, even though it looked like he was OB.
• Tom Emanski - Neil references Emanski pretty frequently, and it's always in the context of something happening two or three times in a row -- back-to-back(-to-back). Emanksi was an AAU coach that created a series of baseball training videos. Anyone that watched ESPN in the 1990s is familiar with the commercials promoting them. The ubiquitous ads touted training techniques that produced "back-to-back-to-back AAU national championship teams." Baseball star Fred McGriff appeared in the ads too, and Neil sometimes mentions him, or his nickname Crime Dog.
  Update: An incredible Emanski tribute video was just released by the gang! The Strapped Spring Training trailer is a triumphant remake of the original ad. Unreal.
• Trackman golfer - Trackman is a launch monitor device used to analyze the flight of a ball after it leaves the club. Golf pros and tour players use this $20,000+ gadget (and others like it) to improve their swing mechanics. Launch monitors have been around since the early 2000s, but on-the-record backlash against them started around 2013, when Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee claimed they were ruining golf. In short, calling someone a Trackman golfer is not a compliment. It means the golfer has a pretty swing, but lacks grit, creativity, confidence, and/or passion.
• Trap Draw - The Trap Draw is a No Laying Up podcast that prioritizes non-golf topics. It debuted in July 2016. Typically hosted by TC & Randy, they cover sports, travel, food, news, shows, basically anything they feel like talking about in their weekly "chop sessions." In January 2023, a new format debuted called "The Booth" where Neil & Cody McBride interview each other on various issues. The opening music is Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy's classic Standing Ovation from 2005.
• United Airlines - NLU member Tron Carter (real name Todd Schuster) has a deep allegiance to United Airlines, but aside from holding status on the airline, I don't remember why. Maybe someone can fill me in on this. His LinkedIn page doesn't reference ever working there. While we're on the topic of Tron Carter, that name itself is from the legendary Chappelle show Law & Order skit. FIF!
• @UseGolfFACTS / Lady J - Lady J is the nickname given to Patrick Reed's wife Justine Reed (Karain). Obviously Patrick Reed's had quite a few controversies throughout his colorful career. Since 2019, a twitter account called @UseGolfFACTS has gone to bat for Patrick, supporting him throughout every misstep and controversy and stirring up some new ones too. While no one's ever confirmed it, the general consensus formed that Justine ran the account. But on April 17, 2023, a new twist occurred, when Tron tweeted a photo of Patrick at @UseGolfFACTS, talking about poor seats at an Australian football match. @UseGolfFACTS replied with a separate photo taken from the game, clearly someone who was sitting with them. TC then tweeted out this gem.
• Vince Carter - Sometimes they mention Vince Carter, or just Vince, or even Carter. It means whatever tournament or event they are talking about might as well be over. That's a reference to the iconic "it's over" gif from the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk contest, which Vince dominated.
• You don't understand how contracts work - Whenever the guys discuss golf broadcasts, inevitably there's frustration with how the sport is disseminated on TV. It's rare these days that a full day of golf coverage is shown on one channel, especially the tournaments broadcast by NBC. To follow the action, a viewer typically has to watch some combination of the Golf Channel, NBC, the Peacock streaming app, and ESPN+ premium. It's annoying and puts golf at a major disadvantage compared to most other sports, let alone other entertainment options entirely. When voicing these frustrations, NLU sometimes gets pushback on social media from folks clapping back that "you don't understand how TV contracts work," citing how complicated and impregnable the media landscape is.
• Young Hitters - In March 2019, NLU announced they were sponsoring several players on the Web.com tour (now the Korn Ferry Tour). Then in 2021, they announced that they were sponsoring the LPGA's Madelene Sagstrom. They joke about it on the course sometimes, like when former Young Hitter Justin Hueber missed this putt at Tobacco Road.
• You're going to be a father - Payne Stewart beat Phil Mickelson in the 1999 US Open at Pinehurst No. 2. After sinking the winning putt, the jubilant Stewart went over to Phil, held Phil's face in his hands, and said "The important thing is that you're going to be a father!" It's an iconic golf moment, and the NLU boys reference it on occasion in the Tourist Sauce series. Examples from Carolinas and California. And TC used it at LACC with Soly expecting his first child.