We’re back this week on Chasin’ Birdies with a guest who knows a thing or two about perseverance and adversity. Mitch Harris joins us to catch up on life and tell his story. The former Navy Lieutenant was the first to be drafted in the MLB since 1921. The story of how they handled this is an interesting one.

We open up and talk about the significant value taking preworkout has on your GI system. After this light talk, we turn the tables to getting into Mitch’s story. He attended the Naval Academy and wasn’t necessarily recruited to play baseball. After landing on the team, his future was about to unfold.

We get into the ins and outs of attending the Naval Academy and what life was like. The episode turns into his story of being drafted and eventually landing on the mound as a relief pitcher. Along the way, Mitch realizes that success doesn’t have to just be a ‘me’ thing. With this philosophy in tow, he’s become a sought after speaker and wrote a book called My Private War - Relentlessly Chasing a Dream. After his career wrapped up, he has used his experiences to help people gain perspective on situations.

We turn the episode over to some golf talk and finish with our standard Tap-In segment. Tune in to this warm hearted episode and hear from a person many look up to.

Key Links:

1. Visit redvanly.com for great golf apparel now repped by Chasin’ Birdies.
2. Stay tuned for more info on winning custom headcovers from WinstonCollection.com
3. Our Tap-in segment is sponsored by Bettinardi Golf
4. Partners with Nemacolin Resort.

-----

Follow Chasin’ Birdies on Instagram @chasin_birdies.

Chasin’ Birdies is hosted by Ryan Bashour and Jonathan Pepe. Produced by Simpler Media.

We’re back this week on Chasin’ Birdies, and to open the new year up, it’s just us giving banter. We open up the episode and get into some winter golf talk. We look ahead to some new things that are rolling out in 2026 for the golf world—clubs, grips, balls... all the essentials.

We get into some hot topics in golf right now surrounding the LIV and PGA Tour. What’s next for the potential demise of LIV golf, or is LIV on a trajectory that none of us realize? No matter what happens, this golf season that’s upon us is about to get interesting.

We turn over the talk to sports talk surrounding the National Championship Game as well as the NFL playoffs. Fun banter, good laughs, and us getting back in the saddle. Stay tuned for future drops with awesome guests and great stories to share.

Tune in, share, listen, and we are ready for 2026 on Chasin’ Birdies.

Key Links:

1. Visit redvanly.com for great golf apparel now repped by Chasin’ Birdies.
2. Stay tuned for more info on winning custom headcovers from WinstonCollection.com
3. Our Tap-in segment is sponsored by Bettinardi Golf
4. Partners with Nemacolin Resort.

-----

Follow Chasin’ Birdies on Instagram @chasin_birdies.

Chasin’ Birdies is hosted by Ryan Bashour and Jonathan Pepe. Produced by Simpler Media.

We’re fortunate this week to have a friend of the pod carve out some of his time and jump on the mics. Taylor Kinney is here on Chasin’ Birdies. This one has us excited purely because we always love the opportunity to hang with TK, whether on or off the golf course. We open up the episode with our standard ten-minute banter before we get into the interview.

The interview opens up with us talking about the early days and TK attending WVU in Morgantown, WV. We get into his travels and how he went from living in Hawaii to landing modeling/acting gigs. After some more life talk, we discuss how he came to be ‘that’ guy on Chicago Fire. Spoiler alert - a fire in Chicago near the set had everyone scrambling, thinking the cast were actual firefighters. The story is told from TK’s perspective. We get into a lot of questions surrounding filming and how the show operates behind the scenes.

After more bantering, we turn the talk over to golf. We get into his early days of golf and how the game clawed its way back into his life not too long ago. We discuss traveling to play golf and how, without golf, we’d have never connected. The point being - we’re golf addicts. If you’re a golf addict, you can relate. We finally turn the episode over to our tap-in segment, where TK is asked questions that demand his quick response…although some answers aren’t quick. Tune in, share, and hear from an overall great guy hangin’ with us two for a good hour or so.

Key Links:

• Visit redvanly.com for great golf apparel now repped by Chasin’ Birdies.
• Stay tuned for more info on winning custom headcovers from WinstonCollection.com
• Our Tap-in segment is sponsored by Bettinardi Golf
• Partners with Nemacolin Resort.

-----

Follow Chasin’ Birdies on Instagram @chasin_birdies.

Chasin’ Birdies is hosted by Ryan Bashour and Jonathan Pepe. Produced by Simpler Media.