INSIDER Q&A
W
orldwide Golf Shops has
produced more than 300
podcasts featuring top tour
professionals and legends of the game,
industry leaders and experts in equip-
ment, and notable athletes and celebri-
ties who love golf.
The warm, friendly and inviting
voice that opens the show and provides
the compelling guest interviews be-
longs to Florida native Tom Brassell, the
62-year-old podcast host and a World-
wide Golf Shops consultant. Brassell
has had a long history with Edwin
Watts Golf, one of the retail brands
owned by Worldwide Golf Shops, and
was also recently inducted into the All
Sports Association Hall of Fame.
We spoke to Brassell about the pod-
casts, how he became involved, and
what it's like to interview some of the
greats in the game:
uuu
How did you get started in the
golf industry? When I was 14 years
old, I started playing seriously at our
local municipal course, Fort Walton
Beach Golf Club. Our PGA professional
was a man by the name of Edwin Watts.
After I finished playing golf in college, I
returned to northwest Florida, and
while jobs weren't plentiful here in
1980, Edwin was building his business
and expanding around the Southeast
and offered me the chance to go to
work for him. I politely declined. I
know, a dumb decision on my part. A
career in sales and sales management
took me all around the country, but I
moved back to Fort Walton Beach in
1992. Twelve years later, my dream
came true as I finally went to work for
Edwin Watts Golf in 2004 in sales, pur-
chasing and internet. I am the radio
play-by-play announcer for one of the
high schools here, so taking over as
host of the Golfbetter Podcast (now In-
sider Podcast) was a great fit and op-
portunity for me.
uuu
How did you become involved in
the podcasts and how many have
you produced over the years? In
2009, I took over as host on episode
#37. We just recently finished episode
#308. Eleven years and almost 300
episodes.
uuu
What do you enjoy most about
producing the podcasts? What's not
to enjoy? I get to stay close to the game,
review new equipment each year with
some of the greatest designers and
product engineers in the world, and in-
terview legends in the game.
SHOP
TALK
Tom Brassell HIGHLIGHTS
EQUIPMENT AND THE GAME'S
GREATS AS HOST OF WORLDWIDE
GOLF SHOPS' INSIDER PODCASTS
"Someone got the idea to reach out to Jack Nicklaus, to see if
he'd be interested in talking about his Masters memories. When
he agreed, it broke the ice and from that point it was game on."
<<< TOM BRASSELL, Worldwide Golf Shops Podcast Host
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