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163. Professional Golfer & BYU Standout Keanu Akina
76 Plays27 days ago
In this week’s Especially for Athletes podcast, professional golfer and former BYU standout Keanu Akina shares what it really means to “Win the Hour”—and why smart work beats just working harder. From grinding alone across Europe to learning how sleep, nutrition, and balance actually fuel performance, Keanu opens up about the unseen challenges of chasing a dream at the highest level. He also shares powerful insights on resilience, letting go of mistakes, and discovering your true purpose beyond your sport. If you’ve ever felt pressure to do more, struggled to bounce back, or wondered how to balance ambition with sustainability, this episode will challenge how you think about growth and success.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Smart work > more work
Winning the hour isn’t just grinding longer—it’s doing the right things at the right time, even if that means resting, eating, or recovering.
You can’t outwork poor balance
Keanu learned the hard way that skipping meals, sleep, and strength training led to injury and burnout—taking care of your body is part of the work.
Let it go and play the next shot
Whether in golf or life, you can’t change the last mistake. Growth comes from focusing forward, not replaying what already happened.
Resilience is built in the hard moments
From lonely travel in Europe to tough tournament rounds, resilience comes from choosing to keep going—even when it’s uncomfortable or uncertain.
Your purpose is bigger than your sport
Golf isn’t who Keanu is—it’s a platform. True fulfillment comes from using your talents to bless others and bring good into the world.
You are where you are—now move forward
Like golf, life doesn’t offer many mulligans. Accept your current position and focus on the next right step.
CHAPTERS/TIMESTAMPS:
- 0:16 – Introduction & Keanu Akina’s Background
- 1:56 – Life After BYU: Marriage & Turning Pro
- 4:31 – Playing Professional Golf Around the World (Europe Experience)
- 6:46 – The Loneliness of Individual Sports
- 8:46 – Team Sports vs Individual Mindset (Basketball vs Golf)
- 11:46 – Win the Hour: Managing Time & Energy as a Pro
- 13:36 – “Smart Work” vs Just Grinding More
- 14:46 – Injuries, Nutrition & Learning to Take Care of Your Body
- 16:16 – Balance as a Performance Advantage (Sleep, Recovery, Health)
- 17:16 – Letting Go of Mistakes (Play the Next Shot)
- 19:16 – Mental Game: Proactive vs Reactive Thinking
- 22:16 – Learning from Past Comebacks Without Adding Pressure
- 23:31 – Golf & Life Parallel: Play Where You Lie
- 27:31 – Resilience in Golf & Life
- 30:16 – Marriage, Growth & Becoming Less Selfish
- 33:16 – Faith, Mission Experience & Finding Purpose
- 46:16 – Your Sport Is Not Your Identity (The Sportlight Principle)
- 49:46 – Rapid Fire Questions (Fun Segment)
- 1:00:16 – Final Thoughts & Closing Message
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Credits: Hosted by Dustin Smith & Shad Martin
Produced by Shad Martin and IMAGINATE STUDIO
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Especially for Athletes podcast, where we explore essential principles that empower athletes to learn life's most valuable lessons through sports.
00:00:15
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Especially for Athletes podcast.
Introducing Keanu Aquino
00:00:19
Speaker
I'm Dustin Smith here with Shad Martin, as usual, and our guest today. We're we're delighted to have Keanu Aquino on as our guest. Keanu is a professional golfer.
00:00:31
Speaker
Recently graduated from BYU. He grew up in Hawaii, spent a little bit of time out in Utah in high school, but most of his life growing up out in Hawaii and is trying to make it right now in professional golf. Keanu, thanks for joining us.
00:00:47
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for having me. Glad to be here. i've but I've known Keanu now for, I don't know, maybe two, three years. Keanu, I can't remember. You were, a i think, a junior or senior when we first started doing some some work with the BYU golf team, with especially for athletes. And I came out and spoke to the golf team a couple of times while you were there. and And you came and played in our fundraiser golf event down at Black Desert Resort in in St. George. And that's when I Really got a chance to know you and had you over the house a couple of times. yeah
00:01:22
Speaker
And he just, I mean, anybody who's, if if you're a fan of golf or if you're just a fan of good dudes in the world, Keanu is as good as they come. He's just a an excellent, excellent young man, an unbelievable golfer and somebody that I know myself and many others are really pulling for to see a breakthrough in
Life Updates Post-BYU
00:01:41
Speaker
golf. So Keanu kind of fill us in on, on you finished up at BYU, had a great career there.
00:01:47
Speaker
Kind of fill us in on how your life's been since I know you had, Something happened to you that's more important than golf about a year ago, just over a year ago. Fill us in on your life since BYU.
00:01:58
Speaker
Well, appreciate you saying all that, Dustin. Yeah, so finished at 2024, turned pro that summer. And yeah,
00:02:11
Speaker
yeah since then, the the big thing that you're talking about that happened was last year. i got married in February. So me and my wife, Abigail, live here in Orem. She's still going to BYU. She'll be done next year.
00:02:25
Speaker
to She's going to school full time and she teaches Danish at BYU. I'm glad you said that, Keanu, because I didn't tell you what that big thing was. If you had come back and said, the big thing you were talking about was I had, I went eagle, eagle, birdie on the back line. Dude, you set me up.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah, you you got a correct. Good job. It was your wedding. yeah And but you you said she's teaching Danish, but tell us a little bit about why that, why she's teaching Danish, because she's got ah an interesting background herself.
00:02:55
Speaker
Yeah, so she's from Denmark, born and raised in Denmark. And her and all of her siblings have come to Utah to go to school so far. One of her sisters is still serving a mission in Italy.
00:03:08
Speaker
But we're neighbors with um her oldest sister. We share duplex. So it's really nice when I travel, they can hang out. And um her sister's husband was in the military in the um and a National Guard. So ah he he was deployed last year and he still works a lot. So it's really nice one when we're traveling, we can kind of take care take care of each other that way.
00:03:36
Speaker
Yeah, she's Danish. And I'm actually Danish too. My my mom's maiden name was Lartsen, which is really Danish. And so I try to tell her that, hey, I'm i'm Danish too, and she's not buying it.
00:03:49
Speaker
Yeah, you're not buying that either. Yeah. That's like 100. My daughter's married a kid from Hawaii and I was born in Hawaii. So I always try to start out everything with us Hawaiians. You know, we just do things a little different. But he's not buying it either, Keanu. He's not buying it. I'm Hawaiian.
00:04:12
Speaker
Well, Keanu, once you got married and started your pro golf career about the same time, and and how's that been going so far? I know it's tough, but give us an update on you said you, but before we hopped on here, you'd you hadd mentioned something just in passing that you'd played in, it seven countries you said you'd been traveling and played in your your first year or so of pro golf?
Challenges in Early Professional Golf Career
00:04:33
Speaker
Yeah, so my very first year turning pro, um I didn't get any status. I did Q school for corn fairy and PGA and I made it to second stage.
00:04:47
Speaker
And then I also did cu school for the DP world tour in Europe. And would same thing. I made it to second stage, but didn't get any status. Then the next summer. So summer last summer,
00:05:01
Speaker
um I got offered to take some sponsor invites to go play on the hotel planner tour in Europe, which is the feeder tour for the DP world. And so I was able to go do that.
00:05:14
Speaker
They gave me seven starts. So I played, um, Austria, Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands.
00:05:28
Speaker
And as it was a great experience, um, it was honestly really tough. Cause like you said, ah newly married and had to be gone for, for so many weeks in a row was really tough.
00:05:40
Speaker
And just being, this is, this is something not a lot of people, ah guess, talk about or know about in the pro golf world, but traveling alone is really, really tough.
00:05:51
Speaker
Um, just like mentally, sometimes physically, cause it's, it's just a lonely, it's a lonely road and going over there to Europe, it's so far. And,
00:06:03
Speaker
I mean, I was somewhat comfortable because I'd lived there for two years. And so I kind of know how things ah operate over there. But just being by myself was pretty tough. I didn't have any friends over there really. um But it was good experience. And kind of was, I'd say, the...
00:06:25
Speaker
the make break point for me where I was out there and I was like, man, is this, is this really what I want to do Like, is this worth it to me to be putting all this time and all this, this effort and this, this struggle to, to play golf. And had to really think about it and dig deep and obviously I'm still playing. So came out of it thinking that, yeah, this is, this is what I want to continue to do. And
00:06:57
Speaker
something that I believe i I can do and something that I believe will help me with my life's goal, which is to bring as much good to the world and to to God's children as I can.
00:07:16
Speaker
And so that's why i'm I'm sticking with it. And yeah, I'm still trying to fight for a spot on on one of these tours, but that's kind of where I'm at right now.
00:07:27
Speaker
i got I got a question for you and then I'll i'll hand hand it over to Shad for a couple of questions. But Kiana, you said something there that you talked about the loneliness and it got me wondering because you also were a very good high school a basketball player. You have a brother who played collegiately. you have six brothers and sisters, right? There's seven in your family.
00:07:46
Speaker
and um So you come from a big family. So you're used to, you know, being around a bunch of, you know, your family, obviously having a a lot of people in the home and then you played a team sport and we're very, very good at that.
00:07:59
Speaker
And then, but in this golf world, there is a lot of kind of by yourself. I mean, when you're out there playing, I know in the collegiate, you may yeah know, you have your coach, you may have people following you and things, but maybe your caddy, but for the most part, it's a, it's kind of a you against the course game. It's, it's you against you. You're, you're playing your game against the course that everybody's playing, which is different than basketball where you got four other guys on your team on the court and people who can, yeah you know, you can constantly be talking with and celebrating with and traveling with and in the locker room with and everything. So, you know, how was that adjustment? Um,
00:08:35
Speaker
And, you know, is to talk a little bit more about the difference, and the the mindset being part of a team and a team sport like ah like basketball versus golf, where most of it is just you against the course. Yeah, it's it's definitely different.
00:08:53
Speaker
I make fun of my dad a lot because he tries to make them out to be more similar than I think they are. Because in his mind, it's like, dude, it's just golf is simple. Just hit it, hit it straight down the fairway.
00:09:05
Speaker
you don't need to look for your ball. Just hit it on the fair, hit it down the fairway, hit it on the green. It's a simple game. But in basketball, there's a lot going on. It's it's really fast paced and you have a lot of moving parts.
00:09:18
Speaker
But on a basketball team, you have a role, probably same with any other team sport. Like you have, you play different positions. So in high school, I was, I was a shooter.
00:09:29
Speaker
So that was kind of my job was to just shoot. There's a point guard who takes care of the ball handling, setting up the plays. You have your big man. In golf, there's no positions. You got to do everything. You got to be able to drive the ball. You got to be able to hit the approach. you got to be able to putt and chip.
00:09:46
Speaker
So it's different that way. But it was kind of an easy adjustment, I think, going into college because even though it's an individual sport, a lot of times we would play together.
00:10:02
Speaker
and so playing with your teammates, i don't know if most guys feel this way, but I felt like when we were playing together, we could kind of build off of each other. So if I'm playing with Carson or Zach and one of them makes a birdie, I feel like that kind of gets my, you know, mojo going as well. Like, Hey, but he's just made a birdie. I'm, you know, I need to make one too. Let's get going. And we're high fiving and talking to each other and stuff.
00:10:30
Speaker
So that was nice. And it was a lot of fun. um And yeah, like you said, it's pretty easy in college because the coaches take care of everything. They make all the travel plans. They're driving us around. They're feeding us.
00:10:49
Speaker
But as soon as you turn pro, everything is is up to you. You have to do all the bookings and you have to be the one to manage your time. And so like one of the biggest things I learned um playing on the European tour last year was how to manage my time.
00:11:08
Speaker
And it was like, you know, you you go to the course, you warm up for an hour, hour and a half, whatever, and you play. And then after you're done,
00:11:20
Speaker
your' you're there and you're with all these guys that have been on the tour for a while or they have their cards. And and so you're trying to push yourself and earn your spot and you feel like, Hey, I need to put in some extra work here. Like I'm going to stay on the range and hit balls or I'm going to work on my putting.
00:11:38
Speaker
And I was doing that and I, I learned like, okay, if if I, if I finished my round,
00:11:46
Speaker
five or six and I stay for two hours. Now it's seven, eight o'clock. I still got to go get dinner and then I got to go to sleep and wake up early the next day. Like it just, it's not, it's not managing your time properly. So sometimes you just gotta, to you gotta know like when you need to take the time to do the other things that aren't false, like taking care of your body and taking care of your, your health and eating dinner and going to bed.
00:12:11
Speaker
So yeah, I learned, I learned a lot last year about the whole professional schedule and and what it really looks like on a day-to-day play on a tour.
00:12:28
Speaker
That's a super interesting part of when the hour isn't it Dustin? Yeah. Maybe we haven't delved into a lot because we always talk about if you want to get better at something it's just more time, more effort, more everything. But if you don't maintain that balance to eat right, to take care of your body,
00:12:44
Speaker
We had Daniel Summerhays on, and you'll remember, Dustin, he talked about how the superpower that most professional athletes are realizing it gives them a superpower is sleep, right? And taking the time to get those eight to 10 hours of sleep and that that's shown to be one of the greatest performance enhancing habits that there is. And so, so it,
00:13:06
Speaker
If I heard you right, Keanu at BYU, they helped you with that. I mean, it was you practice here, you come here, I'm sure you put in some extra time, but they had a schedule that was set for you.
00:13:17
Speaker
And now you're doing it on your own. What have you learned? It's you've tried to balance that, putting in the extra time and doing that, but also taking the time you need to sleep, to eat right, to let your body heal and rest and be strong for the next day.
00:13:30
Speaker
Are there some lessons you've learned from that? that time in Europe that you could share with, with our listeners? Yeah, for sure. I think Dennis Summerhays is a great example of, of balance.
00:13:42
Speaker
That dude has, it it seems to me like he does everything in his life, right? Like when he was at school, he was a 4.0 student, um obviously amazing golfer, played on the tour for a long time.
00:13:54
Speaker
Great family man, just a great, a great man. And it's, it feels like he does everything right. But yeah, so he's a, he's a great example taking care of your body because But the injuries he's had, I think if he wasn't spending the time working out and prepping his body before every time he practices and plays, he wouldn't you wouldn't be able to play anymore and have the long career that he's had. But yeah, last year in Europe, I was struggling with some issues in my back.
00:14:21
Speaker
And ah the the European Tour was very good um with their trainers that they had. They had... you know, like physio guys that were on site every day. They had gyms pretty much at every tournament and they were giving us a meal a day as well. So that was really nice. But I was talking to one of the physio guys because I just, my my my back, like it just kept getting worse kind of.
00:14:48
Speaker
and One of the days, it my rib came out so bad that I could like barely breathe. And I was in the middle a round and they came out and adjusted me. It didn't really take away the problem. And one of the guys was was telling me like, hey, are you eating? Are you working out?
00:15:07
Speaker
And I was like, well, not really. like i just I play so much golf and then when I'm done playing, I want to practice. I don't i i haven't really been working out. And he's like, dude, you've got to work out. And he's like, how much do you weigh? And I was like, well,
00:15:20
Speaker
Right now I'm like, I'm 160. And he's like, bro, you're 5'11", 6'0". Like you need, you need to be at 175, 180. one seventy five one eighty And I was like, well, yeah, I was, but you know, I, I've lost 15 pounds over the summer just traveling and playing so much and he's like yeah you've got to dude this is what being a professional is you've got to take care of these things you've got to eat you've got to get your calories in because now your body is 15 pounds lighter trying to do the same work that you were doing when you were 15 pounds heavier it's not going to work it's going to break down so yeah that was that was huge for me it it was kind of like really eye-opening like I got to
00:16:04
Speaker
It seems like you guys said, you want to grind and you want to put in the time, sometimes but doesn't look the way you think it does. Like sometimes just eating food is is what you need to do for the day.
00:16:21
Speaker
Yeah. You got to do the work, but it's got to be smart work, right? It's it's a it's it's that old phrase, working smarter and instead of harder sometimes. And that's when we say win the hour, you know, we probably need to explain that that that, you know, that yes, that means doing something productive, but it's doing the right thing at the right time productively, you know, and sometimes that right thing is, know, maybe rest, you know, or, or just getting your brain right. Um, eating in your case, I can tell you that when you're 15 pounds more than you want to be Keanu, like I am, that you, the, the same issues that you're dealing with have the same effect on the other end. Your, your, uh, your back starts feeling it when you're, uh, and you're trying to lose 10 or so like I am, but it's, uh, take care of that back, Keanu, that's especially in the golf world, but in, in,
00:17:11
Speaker
life in general, a bad back can be, be rough. I want to talk to you a little bit more about something you said when we were talking about time and, and, uh, in team sport versus golf. So one of the things that I've always been, I don't know, not fascinated by, but very interested in is, is it a coach myself? You know, I've coached a lot of football over the years and in football,
00:17:34
Speaker
yeah ah You know, you call a play and soon as that play ends, the clock starts and you have 40 seconds to get your next play in. And so you don't have a whole lot of time to think about the last play.
00:17:47
Speaker
You got to move on. And, you know, we're as a coach, I'm always telling the the the quarterback and the players and myself and other coaches that, you We got to play the next play. It's one play in clear. we We don't have time to, to rehash what just happened. We'll, we'll deal with it later, but we got to move on to the next play and, and worrying about what just happened is only going to make what's coming up, uh, you know, unproductive. So next play, um,
00:18:14
Speaker
In golf, but that's easy in football or basketball because the next play happens so fast that you you legitimately, you have a clock in both of those sports that's telling you you have to play the next play. Literally, you're going to get a you know, there's going to be a whistle blown and a consequence for not playing the next play in 24 seconds, let's say, or whatever the shot clock is and in in basketball.
00:18:37
Speaker
But in golf, um you sometimes have several minutes where you have to wait before you you know, you make your next player or hit your next shot. And I remember asking Danny Summerhays about this exact question or this exact topic.
00:18:53
Speaker
What do you do to train your mind to move on from a bad shot that you just hit and get your mind right again to make the next shot be a good one? Because that to me in golf is one of the hardest things to do is to accept that I just missed a shot that I mean, I should make 99 out of a hundred times.
00:19:14
Speaker
but I didn't. And now the, but you don't, it you know, it doesn't stop. You got to go right back and do another one here. This is going to get out of control quickly. So how do you train your brain to manage that? That's, that's a great question. Um, I'm still working on that and it's frustrating because it's something that I feel like I should have mastered by now.
00:19:33
Speaker
Um, but pretty much like say I have a bad shot or a bad hole. I'll just tell myself like, Hey, that's okay. Just play the next one.
00:19:44
Speaker
And I remember i was playing in Hawaii a few years ago um and the pre-qualifier for the Sony Open Monday. And i was i knew I was a little bit behind. I think I was like even par. And I i knew it was going to be like 200 to get in. And i had about four holes left. I was on a par five.
00:20:09
Speaker
And I hooked my tee shot into the water. And I'm walking up there and my uncle was watching me. He came out because he lived nearby. and he He came up to me and he was like, he was like, hey, Anuboy, forget about it. Let it go.
00:20:27
Speaker
Just play. And that sometimes I still like try to hear his voice in my head when when I have something like that happen. and And that day was like, yeah, I just, it's simple. Like you can't,
00:20:43
Speaker
you hit the shot, you make the play, you can't change it It's done. So just do the next one. And that day I was able to, I was able to save par on that hole and make a couple birdies coming in. And I ended up qualifying that day. And I, like I said, it's frustrating for me because I've had many experiences like, like that.
00:21:02
Speaker
My entire process of getting onto the team BYU was full of stuff like that. Like my, the well first day of tryouts, I made an eight on my first hole and, and was able to come back from that and, and win the tryout.
00:21:22
Speaker
So it's, it's a constant battle you have to have in your mind of, of letting things go and focusing on what you can control. Uh, I worked with,
00:21:38
Speaker
Dr. Craig Manning, and he talks about being proactive versus reactive. And I think that's why Kihei is playing so well right now because he's doing such a good job with his mental game of having his expectations and and being able to let go of what he can't control and just do the one shot at a time, do your process one thing at a time.
00:22:03
Speaker
Yeah. and And for listeners, Kihei Akina is Keanu's brother who was the number one ranked high school golfer in the country. um Also a guy that we do some things with with, especially for athletes, but is a freshman right now BYU. But Keanu, does it help you when you said that, that you know what your what your uncle told you and that experience at BYU?
00:22:30
Speaker
Does having um had the experience of of recovering from a bad shot and still pulling off, like you said, saving par and and finishing with a couple birdies or starting with an eight and then still winning, has has having done that previously helped you when you make a mistake now and to be able to say to yourself, hey, i've I've recovered from worse than this, I'm good? Yeah, but I do think you need to be careful with the expectation like okay yeah I've got out of situations like this before so i can still make par here like I don't think that's the right way to think about it because you're you're still putting that pressure on yourself but just being able to let it go and say okay I've i've come back from worse before i can let this go and just and just hit the next one and just see what happens and just do do the best that I can with what I have and not try to to force anything but
00:23:25
Speaker
Yeah, let go of the negative and continue the positive. Yeah. You know, Shad, I'm curious your thoughts on this. I've i' have oftentimes thought life runs sort of parallel to around a golf in that You know, sometimes you just have crappy lies, right? You're you're in the weeds or you're you're in the water and you have to take a penalty stroke. you have to You're suffering for a decision you made. You know, that would be the penalty stroke. Or, you know, you're in the trees and and, you know, sometimes in golf, the best shot is to hit one backwards or to hit one laterally. It's just to get back in the fairway.
00:24:02
Speaker
Right. and And I oftentimes think that in my own life, like, look, man, you just need to get back in the fairway right now because you're you're hacking it over here in the weeds and you just need to get back on the level, get yourself kind of figured out and then you can start progressing. But you know, you you need to just get back in the fairway. And I think there's some parallels to life that, ah you know, with golf, that the next day might be our best day. You know, the next hour might be the best hour of our life.
Golf and Life: Parallels and Lessons
00:24:31
Speaker
Same thing in golf. The next shot might go in, right? You never know. So, um but sometimes we need to just, take our medicine and, and, uh, okay, move on. And, you know, the next hole is going to be awesome. And maybe, uh, you know, one shot at a time, but Chad, you do a lot with, uh, you know, mentoring adults and, and, you know, I know high school kids around the state, um, you know, maybe, maybe build off of that a little bit.
00:24:59
Speaker
What are your thoughts on that? I think the beauty of golf is you are where you are. you You play where you lie, you know, and, and, uh, life like real golf, not like the kind of golf that I do where an eight on the first hole is very natural. It's very normal. you kept it on it men Great job. Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:20
Speaker
Uh, but you know, we don't get a lot of mulligans in life. If that makes sense. You, You are where you are and you can spend a lot of time, no matter what, you can spend a lot of time thinking about what you could have done different so that you aren't where you are right now in your life.
00:25:42
Speaker
But who cares? Like you are where you are. There is a certain beauty to saying, here's where I lie. Like, that's my goal. But right now I'm right here.
00:25:54
Speaker
And so what do I need to do to get from where I am to where I want to be? And that's where I see the greatest parallel in life. You know, it's Easter season and I'm thinking a lot about that, you know, and even even Jesus Christ taught.
00:26:10
Speaker
Some come to the field to labor early and then some come at noon and then some come in the afternoon and some come right before. Right. And I think the beauty of that teaching of the Savior is he was saying, I don't care how many shots it takes for you to get to the hole.
00:26:29
Speaker
I just want, I want you here. Like, this is where I want you to, to end up. And I think there's a ah certain beauty, like in golf, to just letting the past, whatever ended, whatever landed you where you are right now in life.
00:26:47
Speaker
Stop thinking about that. Start thinking about where you want to get. Sometimes it's some tough decisions, Dustin. Like you said, you have to chop your way out of ah a group of trees and keep it low and go backwards to the fairway.
00:27:01
Speaker
But ultimately, I want to get there as soon as I can and and as few shots as I can. And I am where I am. I just think there's a certain beauty to just let everything melt away. Who gives it?
00:27:14
Speaker
who gives a crap about what anyone thinks, like I am where I am. How do I get where I want to get and make the decisions to help you get there. And I think it's the same in life and for golf. So I love that comparison, Dustin.
00:27:31
Speaker
That's awesome. you've you've learned a lot about, as Chad was saying that, i I thought about the phrase that's over his left shoulder right now of of being resilient, um which is one of the principles of our of our program, one of the chapters in our book and something that we really feel like touches on everything we do and especially for athletes is that, you know, that idea of, or that that principle of what it means to be resilient. In golf, there's,
00:28:01
Speaker
all sorts of opportunities to be resilient. We've talked about about some of them now. Talk to us a little bit about, ah which you already did, but talk to us little bit about when you're when you finish up a tournament, you you take a couple of days, I assume, to recover and and kind of you know get your brain you know back, but then you're back at it again.
00:28:21
Speaker
And what parts of your life have you really had to dig deep and and and practice that principle of ah being resilient? you have any stories where you, you know, where you you said you earlier, or you talked about one where you had to ask yourself, is this something i really want to do, right? Is it really worth it? that's That was an example there where you had to, that was an example of resiliency. But how does resiliency factor into to golf? Into golf or into just life?
00:28:50
Speaker
ah Both. Yeah. Touch on both. Yeah. What have you learned about it from golf and how have you applied that maybe into life as well? Has that helped you be more resilient in life because of the resiliency necessary to be a ah golfer? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I, I think on this one, I'd like to hear from you guys about what you think, because yeah, in golf, you're never going to have a perfect round and it's all about mitigating your mistakes and and playing to the highest percentages and and stuff like that.
00:29:22
Speaker
But like personally, being newly married and and having my wife with me, it's it's humbling because now I have someone else who everything I i do and say has a part in that and it affects her in one way and that or another.
00:29:51
Speaker
And so something that I've had to learn this year is just how to be a better husband and a better person. So like just, just never giving up and trying to become better and in everything that I do and and say, and trying to serve more and be less selfish.
00:30:17
Speaker
So maybe like what you guys have more experience than me on on that. Like, what would you guys say is, i don't know, the key to being resilient in life with your relationships and in your families?
00:30:33
Speaker
Yeah. Chad, why don't you start? Well, first of all, I think the fact that you're humble enough to ask that question is a great start because one of the things is I've raised children, especially, and with my wife.
00:30:47
Speaker
Like you said, golf, you're never going to shoot a perfect round. You know, you have to you have to just do your best and then adjust.
00:30:57
Speaker
I have found that the people with the most successful marriages and families are people that are willing to apologize to one another. seek forgiveness from one another. You're not going to shoot a perfect shot, you know, every day as a husband, you're not going to be a perfect husband.
00:31:15
Speaker
Every now and then it takes asking someone, um, you know, that, uh, just asking your wife, how am I doing?
00:31:29
Speaker
Uh, is, you know, tell me what I could do better. Um, there's times where, you know, I need to apologize for that, especially with kids, Keanu.
00:31:41
Speaker
I've found that one of the greatest parenting skills in the world is apologizing to your children when you know you've been a jerk of a dad. Just saying, hey, I didn't handle that well. I'm sorry. I know you're trying. this is my first time being a dad.
00:31:56
Speaker
um I haven't got it perfected yet. There's something in sports and in life about being humble enough to seek advice.
00:32:07
Speaker
and humble enough to ask for forgiveness and apologize that will help you get where you want to get if that's your heart, if that's what you really want to do. And the fact that you're asking that question tells me that's your heart.
00:32:19
Speaker
So just stay that way. And always assume that you can learn and grow. and I think it's the same thing with golf. If you were golfing with someone that you looked up to a lot,
00:32:31
Speaker
You would take time to ask them some questions and, hey, what do you do with this? What do you do with that? Tell me about your nutrition on the pro tour. Tell me about lifting on the pro tour, right? When you're with someone that you admire as a husband and father, take time to do the same thing with them and listen and apply and apologize when you don't live up to that because you're not going to perfectly. Those are the things that I think. I'm i'm not a perfect husband, and I've been working on it for 25 years.
00:33:01
Speaker
Um, but those things have helped me not make catastrophic mistakes. That's good. What would you say, Dustin? Chad, I think that's great. Keanu, I think that like Chad said that, you know, you're, you're way more, uh, you're mature beyond your years. The fact that you're like Chad said, even interested in,
00:33:21
Speaker
asking that question of us, but um as you know, being our guest, I, you know, one thing that I've learned with resiliency is I've, I just learned to come to accept that sometimes bad just happens. And so instead of expecting that,
00:33:35
Speaker
every day is going to be perfect. I've, you know, take for example, golf. I had this just not long ago I was playing and I'd missed a couple of fairly easy putts that disappointed because I was in good shape and missed some putts I felt like I should have made.
00:33:50
Speaker
And then I, I had a couple where I got, I made some crazy shots and, and pulled a couple of crazy shots off and walking off the green. I, uh, I told the guy that I was golfing with it, you know, the golf gods taketh and the golf gods, uh, giveth, you know, it's, they, I, I, I know I'm going to make some shots sometimes that I have no business making, and I'm going get a break where it hits off a tree and pops back into play. And oftentimes we forget about those, you know, we act like that should have happened when truth is it probably shouldn't happened. We got a break. We don't remember those. We only remember the ones that
00:34:26
Speaker
you know, we miss and then say, well, that's not fair. And I got hosed and life's not fair. I think it's the same thing in life that sometimes we have really good things happen to us that, you know, we, we gotta, we gotta remember that, man, God sometimes gives us some, just some layups and we take advantage of it and life's great, but there's going to be some times when we don't. And I've just come to accept that sometimes sucky is going to happen. and And my job isn't to,
00:34:54
Speaker
to ah complain and moan and groan and say, that's not fair, but just understand that that's life and and part of what we signed up for. And in those moments, it's all right. I got to,
00:35:06
Speaker
hold my sleeves up and get a little bit dirty here for a second and get myself out of there. But there's going to come other times in my life where everything's going pretty smoothly. And, and, you know, I need to remember that, okay, the the bad thing's probably coming at some point because it's been pretty easy here for a bit, which is good because you only grow in those hard times and looking at those hard times as an opportunity to get better. Like I'm sure in golf, Keanu, when you have that tough shot, you have to bend around a tree or you have a hard up and down that you got to get you, you know, you can pull it off and it's kind of fun to, to say, okay, let's, let's put all that practice into work here. Here's my chance to, I can make this shot. Everybody watch this, right? I got this.
00:35:47
Speaker
Um, And so we don't want it to always be easy. i I don't think we grow if it's always easy. And so maybe looking at those harder times is, okay, here's a chance for me to show how tough I really am.
00:35:59
Speaker
i always say when I talk about resiliency, Chad's heard this a million times, but We don't know if we're resilient. We may think we're resilient. We may talk about and in our head say, man, I'm a resilient person. But the thing about resiliency is you don't know if you're resilient until you have to practice resiliency. you know And so you don't know. um And then you get a chance to show that maybe we're not as resilient as we think and we got to work on it. But when we have those opportunities and we show that we're are resilient, I think it's not bad to say, you know what?
00:36:33
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a pretty resilient person. I got this and and i and I can do it next time. But accept that sometimes the tough times are going to happen, but believe in yourself that you can get through it and that there's light on the other end. And just like in you know in golf, I think it's the same in life. We have bad years and then the next year could be great. So just one step at a time, one day at a time. We call that win the hour. It's just one hour at a time. Giannu, I have a question for you. i I was doing a little study about you and learned a little bit about your family.
00:37:05
Speaker
So you have a bunch of your grandpa played basketball at BYU Hawaii. Your dad did. yeah have uncles that have played ah basketball and and track and field.
00:37:20
Speaker
ah You and your brother. So Dustin already talked about your your younger brother. um that's currently playing golf at BYU, but you have a sister, Ani,
00:37:31
Speaker
that played rugby at Harvard. I'm just curious, tell me about your parents. like They seem to to help you all. You seem to be great academically and and at sports.
00:37:44
Speaker
I would love to hear about your mom and dad a little bit, how they foster that environment to help you guys thrive like that. Yeah, I think... Just ah ever since I was a little kid and then with the rest of my siblings, they've always pushed us to do the best at whatever we were doing. Especially in school, we always were expected to have good grades and and to work hard and to do do the work first before we can play. So like, for example, my sister, you mentioned that played rugby at Harvard.
00:38:19
Speaker
We're a basketball family. pretty much like my grandpa and my dad both played at BYU Hawaii and we all pretty much played basketball growing up. My sister in high school said, dad, I don't want to play basketball anymore.
00:38:32
Speaker
And he said, okay, well you better figure out something to do because you're going to do something. And so she decided to play rugby and she, she was somehow able to get really good at it. And just a couple of years, she worked really hard and ended up playing at Harvard. And so Yeah, I think my my parents, something they did and still do really well is they were willing to make sacrifices so that we could have opportunities to do things that we wanted to do and pursue the things that we wanted to pursue.
00:39:06
Speaker
so I'm really grateful to them for that and for teaching us how to work hard and and how to be resilient. That's really cool, Dustin, that it's like it seems they didn't care what you did.
00:39:19
Speaker
but they cared a lot about how you did what you did. Yeah. Yeah. and That's cool. And that you did something that you were busy. You weren't just full of idle, you know, time, nothing to do. And cause that's obviously when we find ourselves, um, probably in trouble. So they wanted you to stay busy and and not just doing busy work, but like you said, doing the work. And like we say, do the work. Like if, if whatever it is you're doing, try to be your best at it, you know? And, and obviously,
00:39:48
Speaker
The best for your your you and your brother and your sister is pretty dang good. it's it's ah To play at Harvard means you had to be not just a good rugby player, but a heck of smart as well.
00:39:59
Speaker
And obviously, Keanu, you and your brother and golfing and the rest of your family. Talk to us real quick, Keanu, about living two years in Europe when you graduated high school.
00:40:12
Speaker
Not a lot of Hawaiian kids end up in Czechoslovakia for two years after graduation. You may be the first.
Missionary Work and Life Purpose
00:40:20
Speaker
um And, you know, what's that? what What kind of lessons do you think you learned that's helped you and in golf and helped you in life from yeah serving and and being a missionary for two years in a foreign country?
00:40:35
Speaker
Right after high school. It was it was the greatest experience that I could have had at the time. And I wouldn't i wouldn't have spent my time in any other way. it was It was the best. And yeah, i think I think I probably was the only Hawaiian there, maybe ever, lived there. So it it was pretty unique.
00:40:56
Speaker
I thought i was for sure going to Japan because in Hawaii, anyone who takes Japanese in high school pretty much gets called to Japan. So I thought that's where I was going. The Lord had ah had a different place for me to go. And I'm i'm really grateful because I still love ah still love those two countries. And I still try really hard to keep up with my my language skills and keeping those contacts that I made over there. Because like I said, that that time is really precious to me because
00:41:28
Speaker
um when you're a missionary, your purpose is so clear. It's to invite others to come unto Christ and and to help them to do so. And there's there's nothing better. when When you wake up every day and you know exactly what your purpose is and you know that your purpose is the best thing in this whole world, then it it it just makes you happy. Even when you're having the worst day ever and nobody wants to talk to you and nobody wants to hear from you,
00:41:57
Speaker
you can still be happy at the end of the day. So yeah, like I said, the mission for me was the best life experience. And I'm really grateful that I got to go.
00:42:09
Speaker
Yeah. That's awesome, Keanu. And what you said there at the end, I think is the key and everything maybe that we talk about. And that is your purpose, you know, that... I think that's the key to life is finding our purpose and realizing that you have one, that everybody has
Purpose Beyond Sports Achievements
00:42:25
Speaker
a purpose. And and we're we're kind of trying to figure out, maybe figure that out a little bit from time to time. But I'll tell you that, you know the purpose I don't think is as simple as hitting a golf ball. The purpose of your life isn't to be really good at golf. The purpose is, or whatever the sport might be to whoever's listening, it's what does hitting a golf ball really good allow you to then
00:42:48
Speaker
do. And, and we would call that the sport light that you're hitting a golf ball really well is why we have you on this podcast right now and put you in in opportunities to, to give and share insights and experiences and things with other people that may be hitting a golf ball. If you hadn't hit a golf ball well, you wouldn't have had the opportunity to do. And I think that's that We talk about it all the time that not making your sport, your identity, it it's not who you are, that it's not, it's just something that you do and it gives you a platform to then, you know, use hopefully in a positive way or, or unfortunately for some in a negative way. But, um, if God gave you the ability to, to do something like golf or basketball or football or run fast or whatever that is, that that's a gift that, you know, in the bigger picture,
00:43:37
Speaker
might be looked at as, okay, I've been given this, now I have to give back. And how do I use this to, as you said earlier, when you said you, your ultimate goal is to make people happy and to bring goodness to the world and things. And if you can do that through hitting a golf ball, awesome, right? That's, that's, God's obviously given you that gift and,
00:43:58
Speaker
And we think you're doing that Keanu we wouldn't have, wouldn't have had you on this podcast if we thought it was simply because you were a good golfer. We think there's more depth to you and, and more inside of you than just, you know, driving and chipping and putting, which by the way, I've seen him hit a golf ball shot and the dude absolutely just murders the ball off the tee, like just kills it.
00:44:20
Speaker
It's so fun to watch what I think I'm doing when I swing in my head, I look like Keanu. And then every once in a while I'll see a video of myself. And I'll say that looks nothing like Keanu. That looks like an old man who's had two back surgeries. That's exactly what that looks like. Not Keanu.
00:44:36
Speaker
And what's funny, Dustin, is I watch you swing and that's how I look in my swing. So this is like this is like the three tiers of golf on the screen right now.
00:44:48
Speaker
Yeah. Well, Keanu, let's have some fun with you, man. We want to fire some. Chad and I are just going to kind of fire some different questions at you. And most, I don't think any of these, you know, are coming. So we're going to, some are going to be fun. Some might take you a second to.
00:45:04
Speaker
to think about, but they're going to be short, quick questions and short, quick answers. And, uh, we've got a little bit information on you from some research we've done that we're going to throw some things at you. probably didn't see coming and, but we're going to have a little fun. I'll let Chad start it off and we'll do this for a minute or two and then we'll, we'll be done.
00:45:22
Speaker
You scored 34 points against LaMelo Ball and Chino Hills 2016. How did that feel? and was Papa Ball there to witness you dominate his son that way? Felt really good in the second half.
00:45:38
Speaker
Rough first half, but it was really fun in the second half. And yeah, LaVar was there. and I could hear him. that That's awesome. that's Every time you see him play, you got to be like, hey, man, why can't these guys score 34 on him? I did, right? You got it. You always will have that up on him.
00:45:58
Speaker
that That's pretty dang cool. How many hole-in-ones have you hit, Keanu? Two. i just I just had one last week. Where? What course? At Terralago North, number seven. In a tournament? Yeah.
00:46:13
Speaker
Oh, it was unfortunately, it was in the practice round. Ah, no. If you do it in the practice round, you're for sure not going to do it in the tournament. Yeah. But it was only my second one.
00:46:25
Speaker
Huh. That surprises me with as much as you've played. I bet you've had several Eagles, though, right? Yeah. Yeah, you've probably Eagles every round. Any double Eagles? Nope. Any double Eagles, Keanu?
00:46:38
Speaker
na yeah I know where you're going with that one, Dustin. No, i'm and like I'm not even going to bring it up. I'm not even going to want I don't want to hurt Keanu's feelings. I'm not even going to say it. Hey, if you have one, let's grip you. it's have to You have two of them?
00:46:56
Speaker
Yeah, two two double eagles. Shad saw one of them. Where? but No hole-in-ones, Keanu. No hole-in-ones. Double eagle is better. Where where did you do that? I did one up in ah Bear Lake at a course up there and I did the other one in Spanish Fork that Shad saw. That was, ah ah both have been several years ago, but yeah, number two at the time at Spanish Fork, Spanish Oaks Golf Course, and then number nine up at Bear Lake Resort.
00:47:27
Speaker
That was with my son, so that was fun. He was only about nine uh nine years old my brother and my son so it was fun to have it with him and he freaked out and tackled me on the on the fairways that was pretty fun with my boy i got a good picture with him and then having shad for the other one was was pretty cool too but i'm almost positive the one with shad at spanish oaks that i double bogeyed the next hole so i gave him i gave all the strokes back don't worry that's what i really do yeah all right shad go ahead okay uh
00:47:58
Speaker
Two questions, but kind of the same question. Favorite course to golf in Utah and favorite course you've ever golfed anywhere? Favorite course in Utah is Glen Wild.
00:48:10
Speaker
But my favorite public course to play is probably Gladstan. That's down by Dustin. Um... Favorite course I've ever played? Probably, it's it's pretty close between Spyglass and Pebble Beach. I'd give Spyglass a slight edge. That's what most people say when i when I've heard that question and or asked people that. and they They typically say that say the same thing. that's I've never played it.
00:48:38
Speaker
Someday, huh? Someday we'll play out there. Yeah, we'll go play it. yeah ah know what ah Do you have a specific round you remember playing in just crazy, crazy weather?
00:48:50
Speaker
And describe what it was like in that. if If so, what that was like. I'm sure you've played in some wild conditions. Yeah. Played in snow a few times in college. There was one in Reno where were where it was it was snowing and we were like clearing the green so that we could putt.
00:49:06
Speaker
wow mill Miller got a good video of that one. There was one in Arizona, same thing, where it snowed. And I think warming up that day, we were warming up at like, had to be 5.30, 6 in the morning, hitting on the range.
00:49:23
Speaker
It was pitch black. And I don't think I've ever been more cold in my life. In Arizona, huh? Was it up in like Flagstaff or something? Or where were you? No, it was in Tucson. Really? In snow?
00:49:35
Speaker
Yeah. Wow. In January, so... Oh, and then like couple years ago at the Monday for the Sony, it was, it rained so hard that right as soon as we finished 18, they called it and they had everyone come in. That was kind of, that one was kind of more fun though.
00:49:54
Speaker
I was playing Carson Mundell that day. that was fun. Yeah. what's What's harder to play in wind or, or, uh, snow? Or rain. If you don't have the gear for the snow, definitely the snow. But once we got at BYU, we got the electric hand warmers, and i I figured out how to do my layers the way that I like it. It's it's definitely way more doable now.
00:50:16
Speaker
um But when if you're playing in wind, you just need you just need a lot of wind reps. Yeah. Yeah. I think I could putt better in snow, actually, and I would clear the green, but I would only clear just a short little path from my ball. Yeah. Make a runway right to the hole. Bumper. Bumpers. yeah Like bumpers. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. yeah That's awesome. Okay. so you at your best, your dad at his best, or your grandpa at his best? Who wins in one-on-one basketball?
00:50:51
Speaker
Holy smokes. Oh, man. i hate I hate to say it but I think my dad would probably win. him See, this is what I dream of, Keanu. Like if heaven, if in heaven, we all have like our perfected bodies, we can answer these questions.
00:51:09
Speaker
Right. And so I could be like, dustin let's play one-on-one pre-back surgery. Right. And let's, uh, my knee works, your back works. Let's see who was that I could, I could be entertained for eternity. Just matching people up. LeBron, Jordan. All right. Let's settle this question anyway. So.
00:51:29
Speaker
That's the only reason I'm trying to be any any kind of a good person in life is for the hope that I can someday have that answer, Shad. I want to be able to see what it's like to not be hurting anymore.
00:51:43
Speaker
Keanu, have you ever thrown a golf club in anger? Have I ever thrown a golf club? Yeah, I have. How many times do you think? let's got ah Over, under, five times, more or less? Over five.
00:51:58
Speaker
What about 10? Probably under 10. Okay, though. Furthest do you've ever thrown a golf ball. Did you just give one a huck one time that was just like, man, I wish I could hit my driver that far? like Did you let one just go?
00:52:14
Speaker
no i've I've never hucked it. The times that I've done it, it's been like kind of just like a little flick. there's There's one time i threw it I threw a wedge pretty far, but it was just because i was I was just throwing it to the cart.
00:52:31
Speaker
Yeah. It wasn't a bad one. Yeah. I played with a guy once and he threw a club and then we couldn't find it. He lost his club. Yeah. I'm good. I remember Justin Sua on our podcast saying one time he went out when he was with the Tampa Bay Rays. He was the mental performance coach there. And he was golfing with a baseball player and a professional golfer. And Justin and the baseball player kept throwing his club and swearing to the professional golfer, looked at him and said, dude, you're not good enough at golf to be mad at yourself.
00:53:07
Speaker
that you're this bad at it. Like just stop. You're not good. Stop. That's where I am. I've never really thrown a club because I'm not good enough to deserve the right to be frustrated at myself. So, yeah, man, it sure, it sure brings out a side of you sometimes though, that I'm not a club thrower. I have jammed it in the ground a couple of times, but there's been some things I've thought in my head that If they had come out of my mouth, I would be in big trouble when I got home by my wife.
00:53:39
Speaker
Golf go will do that to you, man. Right? Keanu, does your wife golf? No. I've taken her a few times. We've played like some part three courses.
00:53:50
Speaker
So i got ah I got a question for you that you would want more time to think about this, but and you'll probably regret your your answer after once you've had time to think about it, but...
00:54:02
Speaker
If you could have your perfect foursome, so three people playing with you on the earth today, so there's no going back in time, who would you play with? Steph Curry, Tiger. and i'm I'm trying to think of someone that I haven't played with before that I would add to that.
00:54:20
Speaker
Chad. Chad. Just kidding. ah you you'd, uh, that's a fun one to think about who, who you would, uh, Steph Curry. I think that would be a fun one.
00:54:34
Speaker
Yeah. yeah He's a good golfer. Yeah. Yeah. He's a really good golfer. He's a, he could probably, if he really, really got serious at it, he, he, I mean, he's good. Yeah. He can play.
00:54:47
Speaker
Well, Chad, do you have any more for Keanu or should we wrap it up? No, jess I would just say wrapping up for me, Gianno, you can tell you're good to the core, man. And we hope that you just blow up golf-wise because you're the kind of person, the exact kind of person,
00:55:06
Speaker
that that we we hope has great success because of your desires to use that success to help and to lift other people instead of just attract attention and resources to yourself and your own family.
Podcast Conclusion
00:55:18
Speaker
So I just i just hope you blow up like crazy and and have all the success in the world because you want to have success for the right reasons. That's what I would close with, Dustin, on my end.
00:55:31
Speaker
i I put my stamp on that one 100%, man. I know you're a great young man. Keep it up. We're pulling for you. Everybody, thanks for joining us today. Keep your eyes up and do the work.
00:55:44
Speaker
Thank you for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast. To learn more about Especially for Athletes organization, get a copy of our book, The Sportlight, or to bring our program to your team, school, business, or organization, visit us at especiallyforathletes.org.