Welcome back to another Episode of Better Than I Found It! Today we welcome former Oklahoma St. All-American and long time PGA Tour Player, Willie Wood. Willie is one of the five members of the 2025 induction class for the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame, along with our very own Coach McGraw, Oklahoma club pro legend "Duffy" Martin, four-time PGA tour winner Andrew Magee, and 1962 US Amateur Champion LaBron Harris Jr. This episode focuses on Willie alone, particularly on his complete dominance on the American junior golf tour. As Mike Holder once said, Willie Wood was the Tiger Woods before Tiger Woods was Tiger Woods. In this episode we talk about his entire career, from his junior career to playing the Masters with Arnold Palmer. Willie is truly a great guy, and I hope you enjoy listening to this episode. Thank you for joining the podcast Willie!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Today on Better Than I Found It, we welcome the head coach of both the men's and women's golf team at Dallas Baptist University, Kenny Trapp. Coach Trapp's record at DBU, especially in the last 10 years, is nothing short of remarkable as the coach has won three national championships and produced over 40 All-Americans. His women's team just pulled off their 93rd team title under his leadership, a D2 national record. Now in his 21st year at DBU, his women's team is ranked 2nd in the country while his men's team is ranked 25th. An amazing person and coach, I hope you enjoy the listen as much as I did. Thank you for joining the podcast Kenny!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Today we welcome longtime head coach of the Florida State Seminoles, Trey Jones, to Better Than I Found It. In 23 years at FSU, Jones has lead the program to heights never before reached. He has led the program to four top-five finishes at the NCAA Championship, including the 2024 NCAA Runner-Up. He has coached a total of 14 All-Americans including Brooks Koepka , Daniel Berger, and the most recent Ben Hogan Award winner, Luke Clanton. As great of a coach he is, he's a better person, and I hope you can see that shine through in the interview today. Enjoy the listen.
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It. After the first few tournaments of the year, Coach McGraw uses the break in the schedule to recap how the season is going before diving into the thesis of this episode: Gratitude. Drawing inspiration from both his storied career and his autobiography,likewise named Better Than I Found It, Coach McGraw demonstrates the effectiveness and importance of maintaining gratitude in one’s life. From showing gratitude to Mike Holder, the man that both originally hired Coach McGraw in 1997 and let him go from Oklahoma State in 2013, to the gratitude that current PGA and Korn Ferry tour players Cooper Dossey, Ricky Fowler, and Johnny Keefer have shown for their collegiate careers and experiences, Coach McGraw encourages the listener to be grateful for the gifts and support they have been given in life. The episode can be best surmised with a quote by Daniel Makepeace: “you only get so many times to put the uniform on; don’t ever take it for granted.” I hope you enjoy the listen.
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It, where today we welcome Eddie Brescher, the head coach of the University of Southern Miss, to the podcast. Having just started his eighth year at Southern Miss, Eddie's team is off to a hot start winning two of their first three events. His strong communication skills and enthusiasm for his work, two features that have helped him immensely in his career, are evident in this interview. Eddie has a great approach to coaching, and it's no surprise he's seeing the success he is right now. I hope you enjoy the listen. Thank you for joining the podcast Eddie!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Today on Better Than I Found It we welcome former Sam Houston golfer Bret Gray. A multi-sport athlete growing up, Bret was undersized and under-recruited before going to play for Brandt Kieschnick at Sam Houston State. He turned into a highly competitive player at Sam Houston State, winning 3 tournaments and leading the Bearkats to a conference championship his senior year. Bret stopped by Waco for this interview on his way to the Korn Ferry tour school. I hope you enjoy the listen. Thank you for joining to podcast Bret!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It!As the Bears prepare for the 19th annual (notwithstanding the Covid year) Fighting Illini Invitational, Coach McGraw decides to share some of the history behind Olympia Fields Country Club, the home course of the Fighting Illini. Since being opened in 1923, Olympia Fields has hosted the Western Open five times, the BMW Open, the US Open twice, the PGA championship twice, a US Amateur Championship, a US Senior Open, and an LPGA Championship. The tournament itself is known as meeting ground of future professionals; as 71 tournament players have gone on to hold a tour card and eight of those have collected 18 major wins. I hope you enjoy listening to some of the rich history of this challenging course.
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome back to Better Than I Found It! Today, Coach McGrawperuses his storied career and dives into his book (the original Better Than I Found It) to discuss qualifying: the process by which the players for new tournaments are selected. A sentiment reiterated to Coach McGraw by several hall of fame coaches, qualifying is “your job to get the best five players on the van, regardless of how you go about that”. From caddying for a teammate, to only getting one ball to play, to reducing bogeys by a stroke if you birdie the next hole, Coach McGraw has used dozens of strategies to pick players for upcomingtournaments. With the addition of Coach Ryan Murphy to the team, new and interesting qualifying strategies have been added to the Bears’ playbook, with more to come. I hope you enjoy the listen!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome back to Better Than I Found It! Today Jay Goble, the head coach for the Baylor Women's Golf Team, joins Coach McGraw as they are in Michigan for the 4th Annual Folds of Honor Tournament. As Coach Goble explains, the Tournament was originally put on by Colonel Dan Rooney, a fighter pilot and PGA professional, as a charity tournament to raise money for veterans to go to college. Baylor alone has had over 200 veterans attend the university through the Folds of Honor Scholarship. Coach Goble further talks about the increased parity in collegiate golf on both the men's and women's side, the upcoming Bear Brawl Tournament at Ridgewood Country Club, the challenges of foreign players moving and living in the United States, and the upcoming ladies' golf season. Coach Goble is a staple of college golf, and I hope you enjoy listening to what he has to say. Thank you for joining the podcast Jay!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome Back to Another Episode of Better than I Found It! Today’s episode is a little bit shorter and sweeter as we gointo detail in both the recruiting of players and fundraising for new facilities. These topics are fresh on the mind of Coach McGraw and the rest of the Baylor staff as they sent the Summer recruiting and renovating the Billy, our stateof the art practice facility, Coach McGraw dives into his stories from the past to show the importance of both recruiting hardworking players and building great facilities. He also goes over the evolution of recruiting with the transfer portal, NIL deals, and changes in recruiting rules forcing him and others toadapt over time. With the Bears currently in a rebuilding cycle, there is no more important time to have good recruiting and facilities. I hope you enjoy the listen as much as I did. Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Joining us today on Better Than I Found It is current points leader on the Korn Ferry Tour and former Baylor All-American, Johnny Keefer. Johnny made his return to Waco the last few nights to speak with our Baylor team before the start of the upcoming season. 14 months after finishing his senior year at the NCAA national championship, where he finished 25th to secure the lost spot to join the PGA Tour University, Johnny has found extreme success on the Tour, earning his place in both the US Open and the PGA Championship. Johnny talks about his playing mentality (including his hatred of losing), his professional career, and the development of his game to become a more complete player. I hope you get as much from Johnny as the players and I did this weekend. Thank you for joining the podcast Johnny!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Hope springs eternal this week on Better Than I Found It, as Coach McGraw discusses the challenges that players and coaches face as the new season begins. From the lifelong friendships that new players make to the challenges of beginning a new adventure, Coach McGraw shares stories from his experiences with players both former and current. As the Bears prepare to start their new season, Coach McGraw details the upcoming schedule. I hope you enjoy this episode!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It! A little different of an episode, today's guests are former Oklahoma State players of Coach McGraw: Michael Miller and Mark Johnson. Although they would not end up playing much professional golf and no longer compete today, they are prime examples of the reason coaches coach. They are good men who lives good lives. Furthermore, they are evidence of how the relationship between a coach and a player does not end upon graduation, as they enriched the life of Coach McGraw both during and after their playing career. I hope you get as much out of this as Coach McGraw and I did. Thank you for joining the podcast Mark and Michael!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Joining us today on Better Than I Found It is recently hired head coach for the Duke Blue Devils, Bob Heintz. Bob's first career was as a successful PGA tour player. He played in over 200 Korn Ferry events before he played for 6 years at the PGA level, and finally joined the ranks of college coaches in 2013. His first stop was at Penn, where he led the Quakers to a 2015 Ivy League Championship. He moved to Duke as an assistant coach in 2017, and became the head coach of the Devils on June 26th of this year. He has a unique perspective on the game of golf, having experience as a collegiate, Korn Ferry, and PGA player as well as a former assistant and current head coach. I hope you gain as much from this interview as I did. Thank you for joining the podcast Bob!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It, where our guest today is South Carolina Men's Golf Coach, Rob Bradley. Rob began coaching after an All-American career at North Carolina and a seven-year career on the Korn Ferry Tour. Although two years older than Tiger Woods, Rob describes the times he matched up against him both on the junior and collegiate level. As successful as his playing career was, his coaching career has been perhaps even more successful. He recently completed his first year at South Carolina after an 11 year stint at Purdue, where he brought the program to new heights. I hope you enjoy listening to what he has to say. Thank you so much for joining the podcast Rob!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It. Our guests today are former Oklahoma City University golfers Daniel Mitchell and Matthew Rison. This will be a different type of episode, as Daniel, Matthew, and Coach McGraw will be paying respects their to Scott Kedy, a Oklahoma City University legend and teammate of Daniel and Matthew, who sadly passed away on July 1st, 2025. All three attended Scott's funeral last week, and have decided to spend this episode sharing stories of their friend and teammate. Scott was a popular and talented member of the team, a devoted husband and father, and a good man. I hope you enjoy this episode. Thank you to Daniel and Matthew for joining the podcast and sharing their memories with Scott.
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
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Welcome back to Better Than I Found It, where today Ryan Donovan, head coach for SDSU men's golf, joins the podcast. Coach Donovan has led the program for 22 years and seen his team win seven Mountain West Conference titles. Perhaps most impressive, Ryan has recently seen his former players win three majors over the last two years, as Xander Schauffele won both the PGA Championship and Open Championship in 2024 and JJ Spaun won the most recent US Open just a few weeks ago. The coaches talk about all that and more this episode. I hope you enjoy. Thank you for joining the podcast Ryan!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Today on Better Than I Found It we welcome newly hired Tulsa's Men's Golf Coach, Brandon Wilkins. Having spent five seasons as the associate coach at SMU, Coach Wilkins has the unique responsibility of building a program from scratch as Tulsa brings back Men's Golf after a nine year hiatus. He and Coach McGraw talk about the road ahead, from fundraising to building a roster. Both coaches concur that Tulsa bringing back Men's Golf is great for the sport. I hope you enjoy the listen. Thank you for joining the podcast Brandon!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome back to another episode Better Than I Found It, where today we welcome Maddie Luitwieler-Caruana, the assistant coach for the Baylor Women’s Golf Team. Maddie came to Baylor from the University of Texas, who she both played and coached for under Ryan Murphy, our current men’s assistant coach. Coach Luitwieler-Caruana and Coach McGraw also share the connection of having lived in Edmond, Oklahoma, as she went to the same high school that McGraw coached for. Maddie brings a galvanizing energy to the women’s golf team, and is one of the great up-and-comers in college golf. I hope you enjoy the listen. Thank you for joining the podcast Maddie!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Welcome back to Better Than I Found It! Today, former Georgia Tech golfer Chris Petefish joins us. Chris and Coach McGraw talk about everything about his career at Georgia Tech, from being recruited by hall of fame coach Bruce Heppler to his ACC championship matches. They also go into his transition to his pro career, as he has been on the Korn Ferry tour for the last few years. A self-admitted "strokes-gained nerd", they talk about the analytical side of golf and how young players and coaches can use data to drive their scores down. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode. Thanks for joining the podcast Chris!
Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast
Associated social media accounts:
Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw
Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf
Produced and Edited by Will Greene
Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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