Chasing the Dream: For the first time in over two years, Mark has a place to call home. He sets out in his RV to the first mini-tour event on his schedule.

TRANSCRIPTS

-We first met Mark Burk a few months ago, homeless, lost, focus...

-We first met Mark Burk a few months ago, homeless, lost, focused on his past instead of his future. -I'm gonna get out of these tubes and get back to golf. Try to fight my way back to playing. -And then Mark decided to rewrite his story. The one-time professional golfer decided to follow a dream: to play no the Champions Tour. Chapter 1 was getting off the streets. He first found respite in a shelter, then a temporary home. Chapter 2 was rediscovering who he truly was, with the help of a therapist, Dr. Sophie. -Now you have a chance to build yourself, to become some-- -From the ground up. -From inside out. -Next came the game itself, and a trip to Monterrey for the first stage of the Champions Tour Q-School. There, the dream took a detour, as Mark had to withdraw with a hernia injury. -Maybe they'll operate. If they operate, I guess we need a hospital. -Let's go to the hospital then. -Recently back in Palm Springs, he began giving golf lessons, and with help from a friend. -I wanna see you, you know, make it. -The homeless golfer bought a home for the road. It's been an interesting ride. Now it's time for the next chapter to begin. It's time for Mark Burk to chase his dream. -I've had it all, and lost it all. I'm a fighter, and I'm a survivor. My name is Mark Burk and this is my story. -It's been a long road for Mark Burk as he's worked his way out of homelessness and back into golf. Now he's setting his sights on a new goal and Dr. Sophie wants to meet with him one last time before he sets out on this journey. -Through my friends Derek and Larry and Rich, I've seen Dr. Sophie and I believe he's helped me, you know, get through some issues. -I decided today to come to Mark's place of comfort. I wanted to be with him in his own environment. I wanted to see what it was like for him, I wanted to see if he really was as good as he told me he was. I wanted to see if he was able to really connect with me better here. -I'm looking forward to play with him today, you know, get on a different type of a playing field where we can maybe get even closer and understand one another, I think that would be great. -I also wanted to show him that I needed stuff from him which was some guidance and some tips and whatever so that he understood that life is about giving and taking. -Are you sad about where your life is at? An adult male who's homeless? We gotta get an answer because there's a reason. I mean, how did Mark get here? -Yo. -Dr. Sophie, I'm glad you made it. You know, I've never been psychoanalyzed on a golf course unless I've done it myself which can happen. I think that's probably how this should happen, you know? Maybe 9 holes, 2 hours with your therapist on a golf course. -You've been okay? -Yeah, I'm doing all right. I wanna-- I'm gonna be playing some tournaments now. I'm gonna go to Arizona and play, hopefully. -Mark told me he has an RV, that he's gonna chase this Tour with and I'm not sure he has all the tools he needs to sustain himself, just to even eat everyday much less bathe and show up and maybe even do good and win. As we go through today, I wanna talk about what are you gonna do with yourself? How do you sustain yourself? This golf club can't be the only way. There has to be other aspects to you. You know, Mark comes to us from living in these pipes. -I'm gonna get breakfast. Can I get breakfast? I assume you might still have my clubs. Let's do it! -Though he says it was awful, I know there's a place deep down inside him that he feels it was a place of emotional and physical safety as well as a place where he could find from the world and the pressures of really having to grow up and own his life. There has to be other aspects to you, you know, were they there in the first place? Were they developed-- -Yeah-- -or not developed. We have to talk about how the development, because you need something to fall back on. -I'll give you some pointers if you need them. If you beat me, you're fired. Hang on. G-man, unbelievable. Follow orders very well. -Do you follow orders very well? 'Cause you gonna get-- -We shouldn't go there right now, I mean, we got 9 holes. -I know, but I need-- -This is my house, doctor, my house-- -I made a house call. Whoa! -Okay, try it again. -Very nice. How do you feel after you hit a ball like that? -It's exciting. It's a great feeling. I mean, people get crazy with it, right? They're like yeah-- -Yeah-- -right? -But do you feel good? -Yeah, I feel real good. Ask me how I feel when I hit it bad. -How do you feel when you hit it? -Ooh. It's like depression. Come on! God [unk]. -You can't live and die after every shot. -Just stuck it in the ground. Stuck [unk] all the players that I know that, you know, take the game seriously takes an hour or 2, sometimes 3 hours to come off a bad round. -Yeah, I understand that. How you deal with that is you dilute your life. You gotta have a broader life. You have to have stuff to fall back on. -I feel bad because, you know, you know, Derek-- -Yeah-- -who caddied for me, doesn't get any better. He's a wonderful guy but I said listen, let me take this journey alone. -Just wanna tell you something, you're so much better than these guys. -Shut up. I told you I'm always right out here no matter what. -But you don't have any faith though. -Shut up. -He writes on a pin sheet that he needs to be on his own, nothing personal, and that's fine. I mean, maybe this is what Mark needs in his life, to grow up a little bit, be on his own. He's gonna be flipping around, turning around, looking and there's nobody there. -It wasn't because I just wanna be alone, it's just that I get distracted and if somebody does something corky, it stays with me-- -Yeah-- -I'm sensitive to that. -Well, you have your game stuff that you gotta do but do you do that in your regular life? -What's that? -Isolate yourself? That's why I think those pipes were good-- you liked them. -I might go back to them-- I will get-- get a TV in there and some drapes. -Uh uh. -No, I'm just kidding. All right-- -You've gotta grow up. -hit this shot. Beautiful. -Thank you. -This one's the open hand. Good shot. -Thank you. I wanna keep talking about what you're gonna do with yourself. -I have plans. You know, I'm not looking to change occupations and do something that's not in my heart, you know, so I can-- I can make a living teaching golf and in a short time maybe even play but that's what his concern is. Oh. Let's talk about how you feel right now. Really. -How do I feel right now? -Yeah, like let's talk about how you feel, like-- 'cause I mean-- -Honestly? -I wanna know, yeah, you kind of-- -I'm glad you know that I have needs and I'm not good at something and-- -Wanna be a man, let me get physical, like there's a little-- you're not happy? -No. -You're all right with it all? -Yeah. -Okay. -But why do you think that is? Because I think about the other things in my life. -Like right then? -Yeah. -Like your dog. -Like my dog, my family, the things that make me happy. -Wow. -My whole life doesn't depend on this and so that's what I wanna show you. Your life can't depend on this. You're not listening to what I'm telling you. -I'm listening-- -No, you're in denial. -Let me enjoy my shot, it's still in the air, Christ sakes. -You think there's gonna be some rescue. You gotta do it. -It took 53 years to get this [unk] up. -The bottom line is money management, integrity of yourself, and build a life. Do you have any interest in doing that? Especially after you've been through this journey. -I mean, I don't-- I don't see it like that. I'm looking for a job. -Oh, my goodness. What do you do? -I play golf. You have an application I might be able to fill out? -Actually, we don't. Right now, we don't have a job available. -I'm sorry, we're not hiring at the moment. Would you like to leave your name and number? -Yeah. -So, look, this Q-School, what's it gonna cost-- -Have to do this. -I guess $3000. -I don't mind kicking in some money to help you out, certainly if the talent-- -There's gonna be a payback, right? -Spend it wisely. -I actually don't wanna burden any of my friends. I wanna just-- like that type of pressure and I'm not, you know, I'm controlling like that and I don't wanna be controlled like that either. I'll be all right. -I don't want you to be comfortable in that situation. -I'm not-- -And submersing himself into-- -I'm not-- -court cases is one thing-- -If you're gonna be going to Q-School, dude, you can't-- -Well, no, I'm not gonna be working that now. I got lawyers. -I mean, can you like block that thing-- -Yeah-- -for 2 months-- -Oh, yeah-- -or however long it is? -Yeah. -In general, as I spent the day with him driving around, no matter what it is, if it requires Mark's ownership, it's oftentimes watered down, diluted, minimized. He's really got to begin to see that if he doesn't own things and he doesn't understand the outcome is directly related to him and the basic thing to do is just be real with yourself and stop living in a fantasy instead of his reality. -Everybody's got their own trip, you know, the older you get, the more baggage you have and the more issues you have. -Hopefully, dealing with him and building my own relationship with him, doctor-patient, he'll understand that a relationship is a two-way street and you don't always give or get, it's just an existence where it's a mutuality so I think he's starting to see that but, right now, he still uses his friends basically for ways to get ahead and sustain himself. I mean, what's the-- what's the best case scenario that can happen? -I do well in the tournament and I can pick up a lot of money for me. -And then what? What do you with it? You bank it? Do you buy something? Do you buy a car? Do you buy-- What do you do? -Socks. -Socks. -I'll buy socks. You got socks on today. -As I question him and I probe and I provoke him, I definitely know I'm getting to the heart of the matter because I'll get a joke back or I'll get some sarcastic remark or I'll even get a lesson for free, and I have to kick calling him full circle to that because I'm not gonna let him escape. -Well, you know, I think joking is-- for me, it sure beats a lot of seriousness. -I mean, I think the thing that I've learned about you the most is that you learn and remember concrete things, black and white, boom, boom, boom. You have to have it in front of you. If he doesn't have it written down, he's gonna make it up based on what he thinks and feels at that moment which, by the way, will be different in the next moment. -See, I'm not that good at schedules. -That's why you're doing this. -You wanna try? -No. This is your life. What are you hoping will happen in there? -Well, I hope to play well in one or two of these tournaments. -Yeah. -Earn the money. -Okay, so you're getting money, it's not a chance to go somewhere else from there. -No, no, it's-- -So it's done there. -Yeah, there are probably $100,000 purses, maybe more. -So then you come back and then what? -I'm not-- I'll start teaching. Wanna give a couple lessons, you know, that's the direction I wanna go in. Excellent. You find that all right? Tone the energy down a little. Wow. We're gonna have to work on your grip. There you go. -Thank you, for everything. -Thank you very much. -We'll be in touch. -Now, is your head where it needs to be to play good? -I think so. You know, as long as my, you know, I don't have any, you know, body pains which I do. -So are you ready to handle whatever the outcome is here, whether you win or no win money and then come home? -Yeah. -Okay, but during this time, why can't we look at getting a surgery? -Oh, I forgot about that. I've gotta get a surgery. -My analysis of Mark's findings are that he suffers from an indirect hernia as well as a direct hernia, both of which after examining Mark need to be fixed in the near future. -Are you frightened to move ahead? Are you frightened to go forward? -No. No, I'm looking forward to it. -You have to have a balance of your dreaming and your reality. -Right. -Because sometimes you dream more than you're in reality, so can we like leave it at that where you're gonna really stay planted in reality? -Yeah. Gotcha. -Yeah? Thanks. -Thank you. -Okay. -You did good today. -You did, too. -All right. -I will check in with him, I will do my best to make sure he's safe and he's okay, and that he makes the connections that he needs to sustain himself and keep on growing. -I'm gonna take what the doctor suggested to me and I'm gonna, you know, start working on organizing myself and writing things down. You know, I'm on the right track. I'm determined to play professional golf and make money at it, so right now everything's, you know, full steam ahead. -I'm very concerned about Mark. I know that he's gonna slip. I know that he's gonna fall. I'm just hoping that we've done enough for him to be able to have the motivation and the drive to wanna get up and start walking again. -Happiness, it was once said, is not about having what you want, it's about wanting what you have. For Mark, having a 23-foot home on wheels is the equivalent of heaven on earth. -You know, now that I have an RV, I'm gonna try to chase Champions Tour. My good friend Rich Green was gonna come down and help me map out what the best, you know, game plan will be, so I can keep the cost down. Hey, Richie. -Burkie. -It was just a few months ago that Rich motivated me, go to golf alley, work off my debt. I just can't thank him enough. -Stay strong. -Yeah. -Stay strong. Listen, keep your passion, your golf, keep your golf, that's what you wanna do. All right. -Thank you. Love you. -There's the RV, huh? -Beautiful. -If it wasn't Rich to motivate me, I might not have come off the streets and done that. -Harvey Brown, look at Harvey. -Well, he was kind enough to donate part of the money that I paid for this thing. -I'm really confident that, you know, Mark, if you put the kind of energy I saw in that round with Bruner into your pursuit of these-- -Right-- -these not so lofty dreams, I mean, they're-- they're obtainable. You can compete at that level so it's just the next stage, you know? You can do it, man. You can do it. -This is perfect. -Let me show you the backyard here. -Back in the day, Mark used to spend a lot of money on equipment. He even had a studio in his garage. How long did you take to build that platform? -Oh, not very long with John. -Basically, now that he's homeless, he realizes that he doesn't have that opportunity and that money can't buy you, you know, a golf game. This is great. -Before I got evicted out of my home, I had a pretty good life. Now, that's not important to me. What's important is the game of golf. -I tell you what, that's-- that's further than you think. -Playing the game and winning is pretty much all I wanna do. -I looked online and I saw that the Champions Tour pre Q to qualify starts at the Aliante, it's over in Florida then the following week is at-- is the Ace. -Chasing the Champions Tour is a job that just happens to be golf and very few people make it but if you do make it, it's a good life and that's what I'm gonna try to do. -I got a map, you know, we can take a look at-- take a look at and see, you know, how you gonna get down there. -Now that I have an RV, I'm gonna try to map out tournaments and chase the Champions Tour. -All right. -Here's a map of the old US of A. Near West Palm, I believe that's where the Aliante. -Right in here. -Yeah. -Man, you're going all the way across country. -If I play well, I think I'll-- I'll be able to qualify and maybe I can make some money. Take the 10. -Yeah. -If you're driving it, right? -Yeah, so here's-- here's the 10, through Texas, you're gonna pass through San Antonio it looks like and now you're in Louisiana and you go down New Orleans. You could have yourself a little-- little prio. -Uh huh. -Hopefully, this is a stepping stone for him to be able to get his life back together and his game, even if he doesn't make Q-School. You figure out how you're gonna pay for this trip? -Well, I got-- I've saved some money, you know, from teaching. -Uh huh. You don't have any hotel expenses, this is great-- -No, just gas. Gonna figure out how much it's gonna cost and then you can park it. I can probably-- I can find spaces as long as I move it. -Uh huh. -You can park on the street then just move it. -He's used to having people give him things in his life and that, you know, things have changed and this is not the case anymore. He's actually gotta work and dig it out of the dirt. -All right. Do you mind if I keep this-- -Yeah, take it. It's yours, man. -All right. -All right-- -Thanks for checking, huh? -It's gonna be a hell of a dream. I wanted to come on by and just see-- see that-- -See the golf academy? -Yeah, the academy, the Mark Burk Academy and it's well. -I'm gonna travel this journey and all I can do is try 100%. I need to be around that whole atmosphere one more time with a better mindset and see what happens. -And fourth on the tee from Palm Springs, California, Mark Burk. -Some people call it a pipe dream, but it's my pipe dream. -After 2 years alone fighting a legal battle against his ex-girlfriend, Mark is finally accepting some expert help. -I'm meeting Carol that works over at Angela Friedrich's office to file and serve Attorney Richard Haughton. -Hey. Hi, Mark. How are you? -Hey, Carol. I'm good. I'm glad you made it. -What are you doing? -Well, we gotta-- we gotta file this. This is kind of the final frontier of what my quest was to exonerate myself but this right here will be the one, I call it the one motion that I think will change that. I'm gonna file this document here so just file this at the window and I appreciate that again, you know. If there's any questions-- -Okay, so you want me to go ahead and file this-- -Just go ahead and file that. -And then, you'll make arrangements to have it served? Okay. -Right, right. -All right. -All right? -Okay, Mark. -Thank you, Carol-- -Okay, nice seeing you-- -bye-- -bye-- -Okay, have a good day. -You, too. -I feel confident that, you know, my name has been cleared as far as I'm concerned. Gonna put that behind me and try to pursue what I came out here to do which is to play professional golf. There's one last thing I have to do before I hit the highway, to drop off that sculpture that John and I worked on at the mission. -Here. Stick that in there-- -Go the other way. -like a puzzle. -The tubes. What John and I put together is like a symbol for homelessness and a symbol for the tubes. If it wasn't for the mission, I could possibly be in the tubes right now. Matt? -Mark. -What's up, buddy? -What's up, brother? How are you? -Working for a change, huh. -Yeah. They got me working. -I can't wait to show Matt what I've done. -I've got a surprise for you. -All right. Surprise-- -I brought something for-- Yeah, something that's. Oh, surprise. Over the years, the mission has given to me and the least I can do is give back and it makes me feel that I can give something back to Matt and all the fellows over there. -Wow. Look at that. -Set it on the ground. This is-- several of the tubes, my sculptures-- -Wow, this thing is beautiful. -Yeah. -I think it looks great. -Huh? -Thank you. -What do you think, Chris? -I think it's awesome. Love it. -You made this? -Yeah. Definitely leave an impression for me but I hope it will leave impression for others, and even the young people that are in there that there's hope that they can get out of there, that's what I've done. -So what's going on now? Where are you going? -Well, I'm gonna take off and hit the road. I'll probably go to Florida, drive to Florida. First part of the Tour then they come back to Los Angeles or California. -100% on your dream and I wish you all the best. -Yeah. -This is amazing and, you know, when you see John, tell him thank you so much. The mission says thank you so much and-- -Not only does it really come from the mission, it comes from every single person in it and are in our hearts. -You stick with this group, they'll keep you safe. -We have so far. -Yeah, right? All right, guys, huh. -Thank you so much, brother. Be careful. Look forward-- -Best of luck in your future endeavors. -Best of luck. I'm proud of where you're going, where you've been and where you're going to. -You know, it just shows my appreciation for what they've done and I can't really wait to hit the highway. -I'll keep in touch. -All right, we'll see you. -All right, buddy. Bye-bye. -Oh, right. -You know, when I drive by, I see in fast time everything that happened. If I took anything, one thing away from it, it would be determination and that's the only thing that will get you out of there and get you out of homelessness is determination. -What's up? -How you doing? -What's up, my man? -Whatever you're doing, keep it up. -There you go. Nobody's ever done this. -[unk] -Amen. -Amen. -Hello! -Cheers. -Cheers. -This show has been dedicated to the millions of homeless Americans who struggle everyday to get off the streets, and fulfill their pipe dreams.

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