Golf Channel’s Damon Hack Joins Charlie Rymer at Willbrook for “The Charlie Rymer Golf Show”

Charlie Rymer:

Today in Myrtle Beach, I’m hanging out with one of the nicest guys I know, Damon Hack. I love him and you’re going to love him too. I’m Charlie Rymer and this is Ridin’ With Rymer.

What do you say, D Hack?

Damon Hack:

Made it, brother.

Charlie Rymer:

Give me a hug, buddy. Let me see these clubs.

Damon Hack:

Myrtle Beach, baby. I made it.

Charlie Rymer:

Oh, man.

Damon Hack:

Thank you, pal.

Charlie Rymer:

I got a treat for you today.

Damon Hack:

Do you?

Charlie Rymer:

We’re at Willbrook Plantation.

Damon Hack:

Okay.

Charlie Rymer:

Hop on in.

Damon Hack:

Okay.

Charlie Rymer:

You’re going to love it.

Woo. That’s what I’m talking about right there. That’s a bunker shot.

Damon Hack:

Woo, baby.

Charlie Rymer:

All right, Damon. You grew up in LA.

Damon Hack:

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer:

You didn’t play golf when you were a kid. Basketball was your thing, right?

Damon Hack:

Basketball was my sport. If golf was on TV, we’d turn it off. we turn

Charlie Rymer:

Turn it off.

Damon Hack:

Can you believe that?

Charlie Rymer:

That’s really funny.

Damon Hack:

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer:

And you went to UCLA, you got an undergrad degree from UCLA.

Damon Hack:

I hit the books. I was like, you know what, I’m not going to be an athlete. I’m going to focus on getting into sports journalism. I wanted to be around sports one way or another. I love sports. So after I graduated, I decided to go to graduate school because UC Berkeley has a great Journalism program. So I got a master’s in Journalism.

Charlie Rymer:

Yeah.

Damon Hack:

And big time where I was on my way.

Charlie Rymer:

And from there, I know you wrote for the New York Times.

Damon Hack:

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer:

How long at New York Times?

Damon Hack:

I was there for five years, but before the Times, I paid my dues. I was a summer intern at the Fresno Bee-

Charlie Rymer:

Fresno Bee.

Damon Hack:

… in Fresno, California. It’s hot. Hot in Fresno.

Charlie Rymer:

Oh, man. Yeah.

Damon Hack:

Oh my gosh. I was a Sacramento Bee intern as well. And then I got the break of a lifetime because all the sports writers had covered the 49ers and were tired of it. And here I was, this young kid just out of grad school, I was like, “I want to do it. I want to do it.” They gave me a tryout during training camp to cover six weeks of football to see if I could do it. They gave me the beat after six weeks. So I had three years of covering the San Francisco 49ers. Here I am in my young twenties and it was an incredible experience. Then I got offered a job to cover the Knicks for Newsday. Long Island paper.

Charlie Rymer:

Yep.

Damon Hack:

That’s why I moved from California. I’m a California kid and I moved across the country two years covering the Knicks and a little bit of PGA TOUR. And then I got hired by the Times to cover the NFL for five years.

Charlie Rymer:

And then it was on to SI.

Damon Hack:

On Sports Illustrated.

Charlie Rymer:

It’s hard to get this out of you, but how many cover stories did you write for SI?

Damon Hack:

I don’t know. It was-

Charlie Rymer:

It was a lot.

Damon Hack:

It was a lot. It was a lot. I had Adrian Peterson, running back was a cover story I did. I did. The Giants-Patriots second Super Bowl. It was the cover story. I did the Steelers-Cardinals Super Bowl, Santonio Holmes. I did Tiger Woods’ cover story when he came back from injury.

Charlie Rymer:

Let me ask you this. You’re walking on the street in New York City.

Damon Hack:

Yes.

Charlie Rymer:

You go by a newsstand. There’s an SI. What does it feel like knowing that you wrote the copy for that story?

Damon Hack:

Probably it feels like hitting a well-struck four iron for you. I mean, you just feel it in your soul.

Charlie Rymer:

All right, Damon, let’s check out this par three.

Damon Hack:

Okay.

Charlie Rymer:

Wait. I want you to notice there’s two bunkers over there on the left.

Damon Hack:

I’m not looking at the bunkers, Charlie, I’m looking at the green.

Charlie Rymer:

You can think all you want but this going in the bunkers.

Damon Hack:

All right. Snap.

Charlie Rymer:

Where’d it go? Damon, where’d it go?

Damon Hack:

A bunker.

Charlie Rymer:

I can’t believe you hit that ball in a bunker.

Damon Hack:

Of course. Of course, I did.

Charlie Rymer:

You’ve done a lot of interviews in your life.

Damon Hack:

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer:

The most riveting interview that you’ve done, who is that?

Damon Hack:

I’d probably have to say Michael Jordan. I looked him dead in the eyes, and his eyes were as intense as I’ve ever seen. It was like they were backlit, there were flames coming out of his eyes. And I’m serious. There are certain athletes who have that intensity. You said Nicklaus has kind of a similar look.

Charlie Rymer:

Nicklaus, Mr. Palmer.

Damon Hack:

Right?

Charlie Rymer:

Yeah. He’s got an amazing presence. Loves this game.

Damon Hack:

He sure does, man. Who doesn’t love this game? Yeah, everybody. Steph Curry, Darius Rucker. You got accomplished people outside of their own endeavor. Tony Rommel. All they want to do is play golf.

Charlie Rymer:

Yeah. Talking about things you love. You got a beautiful wife. Y’all have triplet boys.

Damon Hack:

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer:

I couldn’t imagine. I’ve got two boys who are 20 months apart. Having triplets all the same age at the same time.

Damon Hack:

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer:

How do you guys manage all of that?

Damon Hack:

Well, just like you, my wife is a superhero and we run a tight ship. It’s the army in our house. Otherwise, it’d be chaos. We play golf together. You want to talk about fun? We take two carts. So it’s me, my wife, and the three boys. We’ve got two carts out there and we’re just having an absolute blast. I want to freeze this age because it’s just so fun. It’s precious, precious times.

Charlie Rymer:

All right, Damon, let’s get up here to 18 green and finish out this great day of golf.

Damon Hack:

Let’s do it. Sounds like a plan.

Charlie Rymer:

All right.

Damon Hack:

Oh.

Charlie Rymer:

Just that close. Good putt, man.

Damon Hack:

Good game, my man.

Charlie Rymer:

Hey buddy, always great spending time with you.

Damon Hack:

Thank you, my friend.

Charlie Rymer:

Folks, any day on the golf course with Damon Hack is a great day. Damon, appreciate you coming out and Ridin’ With Rhymer.

Damon Hack:

I’d ride with Rymer anytime.

Charlie Rymer:

You always got a spot with me, buddy.

Damon Hack:

Thanks, pal.

Charlie Rymer:

Buddy, I got to tell you, that was a lot of fun.

Damon Hack:

That was fun. How about putting?

Charlie Rymer:

One of these days, Damon.

Damon Hack:

I know, right? One of these days.

Charlie Rymer:

They’re all going in.

Damon Hack:

I’m going to shock the world.

Charlie Rymer:

I hope I’m there when they do go in.

Damon Hack:

Oh, you know it, brother.