Mindset Over Scoreboard: What Rory McIlroy’s Masters Win Teaches Mortgage Leaders – 4/14/2025 Weekly Mortgage Update segment

Mindset Over Scoreboard: What Rory McIlroy’s Masters Win Teaches Mortgage Leaders – 4/14/2025 Weekly Mortgage Update segment

[David] Let’s get over. Very good. Mr. Kittle any words from TMC what you’re hearing going on? any updates for far as the production side? What are you hearing out there as you talk and with your members?

[Kittle] No. Everybody came back from the conference you attended and they’re fairly happy with where production is. They always want more. But you still have the m and a going on that we talk about all the time. And I do wanna pivot a little bit before you get to Alan and take up Alice’s topic today and what a great Oh, that’s right. She, oh great win for Rory McElroy. Yesterday at the Masters. What a tournament going back and forth, right? It is almost like the market going up and down, right?

[Alice] It was.

[Kittle] That was down one, back up two win by three tied, and then he wins in the playoffs. So it’s like crazy.

[David] Yeah.  That was such a good one. That was one of those ones where you, we’ll go back and watch and then it’s the interview. What’s going on in the head of someone, which comes back to what I was start opening up with was what is someone’s mindset when you look at Rory and how his mindset, he did not quit.

[Kittle] He didn’t quit and he could have two or three times. He could have quit on Saturday. He could have quit all through that tournament. They all, and Justin Rose could have quit as well. Yeah. Oh yeah. It was great. It would be way down. He had a hell of a back nine to come even. Yeah.

[Alice] He did. And then Allen brought up some great points and you did too about Okay. Maybe Rory doesn’t have the greatest history. He has some things in his past that he was a little not well liked by some people for certain things as a young kid, but I wasn’t gonna hold that. I don’t know him personally, obviously, but it was just so fun to watch the back and forth and then of course at that point Justin Rose winning would’ve been fun too. Either one of them was a fun playoff and excitement.

[Kittle] Yeah. I don’t know it either, but I’ve witnessed him twice, as I told you all in text earlier when he won here in Louisville at the PGA in 2014 and again, this past year at Valhalla  he’s not Arnold Palmer or Phil Mickelson esque in engaging with the public and some of the kids that are around. Every once in a while he’ll do it and but that’s been one of the rubs on him for a long time. He’s hard to get Ed and that’s just the way he is.

[Allen] Yeah. Yeah. I will tell you I, I agree with David ’cause I’ve had some personal experiences living at the players club here and and all the years I’ve been going but I will say, take the person out of it. Golf is not easy and to play that many days and to play that many weeks, and the pressure of Rory winning another major, and just day after day and the crowd, I would’ve hit so many people at my ball if I had to line up and tee off the way they do. So at the end of the day, I respect the fact that he won. I respect what his mind had to be through for all those days. All those golfers. And the fact like at the end of the tie, when you saw him break that tie, that feeling, that emotion. He deserves that for sure. A hundred percent and golf is just, it’s not easy.

[David] No, it is. And it’s so much I come back to you originators, managers, executives that are managing originators use that as such a powerful object lesson of how to have the right mindset. Never quit. Winston Churchill, great stuff. Thank you guys.

[Alice] Was it not, watch the scoreboard. What did I hear that was part of this through, so maybe there’s an analogy there with loan officers.

[David] I think it’s don’t look at interest rates. It’s look what interest rates. If interest rates become your scoreboard you think you’re you, I, you’re done. Finished.

[Kittle] That’s a great analogy and metaphor, Alice. I like that. Yeah.

[David] Yeah. Good job Alice.


David G. Kittle, CMB – Co Founder and CEO, The Mortgage Collaborative

David G. Kittle, CMB is a highly respected leader in the mortgage industry, with over 45 years of experience. He is the Co-Founder and Chairman of The Mortgage Collaborative (TMC), a mortgage lending cooperative providing members with access to resources and tools to improve their business operations. Kittle began his mortgage banking career with American Fletcher Mortgage Company as a top-producing loan officer in 1978 moving to the management side in 1986 with Southmark Mortgage. He opened Associates Mortgage Group, the first of his three lending companies in 1994.
Kittle served as MORPAC Chairman for MBA, from 2004-2006. He is past President of both the Louisville and Kentucky Mortgage Bankers Associations, as well as leading the industry through its most tumultuous period as Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Washington DC in 2009. Kittle has testified before congress 14 times. Kittle has been a driving force behind the growth and success of TMC, working to bring together mortgage lenders from across the country to share best practices and collaborate on key industry issues. Kittle has also been a vocal advocate for innovation and technology adoption in the mortgage industry, urging lenders to embrace new tools and strategies to improve their operations and better serve their customers. Kittle is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences, sharing his expertise on a variety of topics related to mortgage lending. He resides in Louisville, Kentucky, he has four children and two grandchildren.