PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Neal Shipley has some new swag for his first PGA TOUR start as a “Full Swing” star.

Shipley will use a ball marker stamped “Body by Waffle House” as he competes at this week’s Valspar Championship on a sponsor exemption. It’s a reference to a scene in the first episode of Netflix’s “Full Swing” Season 3, where Shipley showed off the rental house he shared with Ohio State teammates last year and revealed humorous descriptors he had acquired during his time as a Buckeye, including “first team all-fridge” and “body by Waffle House.”

Shipley received ample feedback from family and friends upon the “Full Swing” season launch – including from a friend in Columbus, Ohio, who makes custom ball markers. Shipley’s octagon-shaped ball marker shares reminders of the Waffle House logo, with black lettering covering a yellowish-gold base. The catchphrase has roots at The Dogwood Invitational, an Atlanta-area amateur event, where Shipley stayed in host housing and enjoyed some Waffle House cuisine.

Shipley, chasing a PGA TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour this season, is a burgeoning star – a mix of style and substance who earned low amateur honors at last year’s Masters and U.S. Open before turning professional. The new ball marker is the latest example of his willingness to color outside golf’s traditional lines.

“I have to give props to my host from the Dogwood Invitational,” Shipley said Tuesday at the Valspar. “I think I went to Waffle House once or twice and Dogwood's down in Atlanta, there's a Waffle House on every street corner there. And he was just, we were just making jokes and he said, 'You need to get a T-shirt, Body by Waffle House.' And I've gotten to use that, I stole that line a couple times now. But no, that was all-time by him.”

Shipley is a Waffle House aficionado, but he noted Tuesday that his order has changed in recent months after shifting from amateur to professional golf. A younger Shipley had no trouble feasting at one of America’s favorite 24-hour dining establishments; his previous order would include an All-Star Special with hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, sausage and white toast (he used the toast, eggs and sausage to make a mini sandwich) – and a chocolate chip waffle.

Now? It’s just a two-egg breakfast, as fitness has moved to the forefront of Shipley’s mind as a touring pro.

“Since ‘Full Swing’ and filming it at Augusta, I have since gotten a nutritionist and we've cut out a lot of things in our diet,” Shipley said Tuesday. “But the OG order was always an All-Star Special with a chocolate chip waffle. Waffle House is … a pretty popular spot out here. … I went to Waffle House maybe two or three mornings in Kentucky (at the ISCO Championship), and every morning I saw Zac Blair and his family out there. His little boys are so chaotic. But it's kind of a popular little spot out here. I think it's underrated.

“I probably would just go with the two-egg special now. Can't really do the waffle. I don't really do a lot of gluten anymore. Which is unfortunate because the waffle is probably the best part of it.”

Less than a year into his pro career, Shipley has learned plenty.

Shipley, 24, earned conditional Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2025 after accruing enough non-member FedExCup points to have finished inside the top 200 on the final 2024 FedExCup Fall standings. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native, who played three seasons collegiately at James Madison and two at Ohio State before turning pro, made six cuts in eight TOUR starts as a pro in 2024, highlighted by a T6 at the ISCO. He fell short of earning a TOUR card via the top 125 in non-member FedExCup points, but he did enough to earn the conditional Korn Ferry Tour status offered by finishing inside the top 200 – which became even more crucial as he failed to advance from Second Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry in early December. That gave him enough status to tee it up in the Korn Ferry Tour season’s first four events before the reshuffle, but with uncertain Korn Ferry Tour playing opportunities from then on. (He’s also fully exempt on the 2025 PGA TOUR Americas after notching three top-10s in five starts last summer to finish No. 20 on the season-long Fortinet Cup.)

With two top-15 finishes in six starts across the Korn Ferry Tour’s early-season international swing, Shipley is in good shape to play the circuit all year, as he chases a PGA TOUR card via the season-long standings. The 26-event Korn Ferry Tour campaign will culminate at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship by United Leasing & Finance in October, after which the top 20 players will receive 2026 PGA TOUR membership.

After back-to-back missed cuts to start the year, Shipley made the cut at The Panama Championship last month, en route to a T9 finish. He knew immediately what that made cut meant to his season’s fortunes – and his eyes lit up Tuesday when discussing it.

“I feel just kind of feel stress-free now, I can just go out and play golf,” Shipley said Tuesday. “But I could tell you, if I had to go to Bogota (for the fourth event) without making a cut before the first reshuffle, that would have been … that's a really nervous tournament, because if you don't play well then I'm back on PGA TOUR Americas for a year.”

Shipley handled his business and knows he has a Korn Ferry Tour schedule waiting for him, regardless of what happens at the Valspar. So he can free-wheel this week at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, chasing contention with that newly minted ball marker by his side.