PGA TOUR Players about to face a Reckoning

This week, the PGA TOUR will announce which players are eligible for its new equity program. This announcement could be followed by a wave of defections to LIV Golf.

Sean Zak of Golf.com does a great job of explaining the ins and outs of the equity program here. In short, the TOUR, with the help of investors Strategic Sports Group (SSG), will award varying amounts of equity to 193 members. Top players will receive more than lower-ranked ones, which could create jealousy among some players. However, unlike a one-time bonus, the value of this equity increases or decreases with the PGA TOUR's growth. This incentivizes players to promote the TOUR's success – essentially, they're being asked to invest in its future.

What’s different here, of course, is that this is an equity program and not just a one-time bonus. The value of the equity shares will increase — or decrease — based on the longevity and growth of the PGA TOUR. Players receiving a share are now incentivized to promote growth in the TOUR. Put another way, players are being asked to put their money where their collective mouths have been.

While the exact distribution for top players like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Scottie Scheffler remains unknown, as do the allocations for lesser-known players and "legacy members" like Jack Nicklaus, one thing is clear: the TOUR's future now partially rests with its members, a move loyalists have long advocated for.

Unfortunately we have all learned exactly how personal financial growth has taken precedence for the majority of pro golfers. It has not seemed that the majority of players have cared for anything more than “spending more time with family” and “doing what’s right for their future.” Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that on paper. Why else does anyone in the world seek employment?

That’s what makes this shift toward “an invested common goal” so precarious. Aside from a handful of the most outspoken, do we actually know if players give a damn about the longevity and growth of the PGA TOUR? Is it possible to want that while simultaneously showing outward distrust in TOUR leadership? Simply put, yes. It is possible for two things to be true, as has become a favorite response on Golf Twitter.

What we are all about to see is not just what players’ loyalty is worth to the PGA TOUR, but what that loyalty is worth to the players themselves. This has always been a two-way street in terms of what both sides need to feel satiated. Any players who receive their notice from Commissioner Jay Monahan and choose to defect to LIV will make their true intentions crystal clear. The opposite is also true for those in the middle of the pack who choose to remain on the PGAT roster.

Players are being handed the keys to the castle, so to speak. We will all be watching to see what happens next.

Hard Copy: How Breaking News has been Broken in the Content Farming Era

Earlier this week rumors swirled on social media that Rory McIlroy was finalizing a deal to join LIV Golf for an astronomical $850 million. The notion was both outlandish and counterintuitive to everything McIlroy has said up to this point, making the claim bizarrely captivating. It also exemplified a growing problem in sports writing and spreading misinformation.

The original publication — a financial “paper”, of all things — is a website littered with clickable ads and popups that generate revenue for the website based on article engagement and impressions. There’s little doubt that this specific article was a huge money-maker, too. The article has been shared thousands of times by various accounts on X and beyond, eventually prompting McIlroy himself to publicly comment on the baseless claims presented within.

We’ve seen this song and dance before. The “journalists” who authored the article at least had the decency to include the following passage, which tells you all you need to know about the truth behind their claims:

It has not been possible to verify the claims. Spokespeople for the Northern Irish player and LIV Golf did not respond to requests for comment.

This feels like the new standard operating procedure for a growing number of publications. Make a baseless claim when the iron is still hot (the day after the Masters, for example), toss in a “could not be reached for comment” disclaimer somewhere in the middle of the content and share, share share. But to which I can certainly attest, clicking “post” on an article only gets you so far. You also need a little help on social media.

Enter the Content Farmers.

Simply put, “content farmers” are social media accounts that scour the internet looking for stories that can be sensationalized with a clickbait headline and post them on their own timelines. Note that these accounts don’t write the articles themselves (that would be too much work), nor do they make it a habit of doing any actual reporting. Their goal is to amass a following as large as possible by using this practice over, and over, and over again.

The most notable accounts in the Golf Twitter realm include @FlushingItGolf, @NUCLRGOLF, and about a dozen more of their ilk. These two verified X accounts have over 200,000 combined followers, posting dozens of times a day to their audience. NUCLRGOLF even offers a subscription option for a small fee. There is little doubt these accounts are profitable in their own right thanks to X’s revenue share program.

I know what you’re thinking: this is just sour grapes from another website founder who has a fraction of the following of those aforementioned accounts. You’d be correct. Allow me to explain.

Golf Unfiltered has been around for well over a decade. We’ve tried to do as much as we can with the resources available to us and the tools used most at any point along that timeline. Golf Twitter wasn’t always a thing, nor was Squarespace, podcasting platforms or revenue share programs. We've dabbled in clickbait headlines ourselves, but never for more than an article or two. But above all else, we’ve done our best to bring thoroughly researched reporting (to the best of our ability) and in-depth opinions on golf’s current state.

We are not special in that regard, nor are we alone. Much more successful outlets like No Laying Up, The Fried Egg, The Golfers Journal, Lying Four and many others are not as much competitors as inspiration. Their collective work paved the way for countless other upstart media outlets, showing that passionate golf fans can come together and create something others might enjoy.

Content farming accounts are not the same thing.

Those accounts are the worst side of golf media. They are profiting off the hard work of others if not outright circumventing the need to do the same on their own. They shout into the ether, waiting to see what catches the eye of less-informed casual scrollers who never read past a headline before sharing the latest nugget. Sometimes, as was the case with Rory McIlroy, it catches enough steam to prompt public action, validating their efforts.

Online publications are really damn hard to manage. As my colleagues at GU will tell you, I make the same “joke” every year that this year will be the last for GU. It’s frustrating, expensive, and a lot of hard work. Most things that are worth it can say the same.

If you’ve made it this far into this article, thank you. If you’ve ever clicked on a single piece of content we’ve produced, thank you. If you’ve ever responded to a tweet or post on our platforms — even to tell us how wrong or dumb we are — thank you.

What happened this week with Rory and LIV was not about us or any of the other outstanding outlets mentioned above. It was about you and the level of disrespect thrown your way by content farming accounts. They don’t care about educating or enhancing your enjoyment of the game we all love. They just want your engagement and dollars. You are their marks.

If you’re comfortable with that fact, more power to you. I can’t stop you from following and engaging with those accounts. All I ask is to show support to the outlets who care less about your wallets and more about our shared experience in this game.

The Sign

How An Episode of Bluey Put Twenty Five Years of Attending The Masters Into Perspective For Me

It took less than five minutes for Jim Nantz to sign off from Augusta before my four-year-old son asked if we could finally watch the newest episode of Bluey. For the last two weeks, he has seen advertisements for this new episode all over the Disney Channel and has been counting down the days to April 14th. I told him that April 14th was also Masters Sunday so we would be watching a lot of golf, but once it was over we could watch Bluey together.

He complied with that bribe and happily watched along with us - groaning when Morikawa dunked one in the water on 11, laughing when Åberg got his snack knocked out of his hand high-fiving a patron, and cheering when Scottie’s final putt dropped on 18. He enjoyed treats from our Taste of The Masters box and when they showed the main scoreboard, he excitedly said, “Hey that’s where we went!” - recalling our time there just a week earlier for the Drive, Chip, and Putt tournament.

But by the time the jacket was around Scottie’s shoulders, he was reminding me of our bargain and I was changing the channel. If you’ve never seen an episode of Bluey, let me just tell you that this show is advertised as a children’s television show but it is 100% made for the parents. I have cried watching more than one episode. This new release was a special 28-minute -long episode, which is four-times longer than their normal episode length. So I already knew it was likely going to pull at the heart-strings a little.

Full spoilers ahead (if you care about spoilers of a kids TV show…) but in this episode, the Heeler family has put their beloved home up for sale because the dad, Bandit, got a job in another city. The family is hosting a wedding for one of the other recurring characters as a sort-of last hoorah at their home before the sale and the big-move. The oldest child, Bluey, is not happy about moving and is letting everyone know about it - including her teacher and friends at school. This is when the teacher, Calypso, decides to read a story that she thinks might help.

 Calypso: Once there was a farmer who owned a beautiful horse, but one day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “That's such bad luck,” they said. “We'll see,” replied the farmer. The very next morning, his horse came back and it brought three wild horses with it. “Wow,” said the neighbors, “that's such good luck." “We'll see,” replied the farmer. The next day his son tried riding one of the wild horses, but it threw him off and he hurt his leg. The neighbors said, “That's bad luck." “We'll see,” replied the farmer. The next day, soldiers came to the village and made all the young men join the army. But they didn't take the farmer's son because his leg was hurt. "That's such good luck,” said the neighbors. "'We'll see,' said the farmer.
Bluey: Is that a happy ending or a sad ending?

Calypso: It's both.

Bluey: I don't understand.

Calypso: Come here.

Bluey scoots closer. Calypso puts her hand on Bluey's shoulder.

Calypso: Everything will work out the way it's supposed to, Bluey.

The rest of the episode you see parallels of this parable play out in Bluey’s own adventure, with moments of both good and bad luck intertwined throughout the day. They find a coin on the ground, they use the coin in a viewfinder at a lookout, the coin gets stuck, another couple finds the coin later, etc. etc. There’s even a double-meaning with the title of the episode, “The Sign”, referencing both the For Sale sign in front of the home and a metaphorical sign that the family was looking for to tell them they needed to stay. The metaphorical sign in the episode came in the form of a butterfly. 

Like I said, sometimes it’s hard to believe that this is a children’s television show. But my son watched intently for 28 minutes waiting to find out if the Heeler family would end up losing their beloved family home. It was the only thing that mattered to him at that moment.

---

This year, I attended my 25th Masters Tournament. 26th if you count the year I went in-utero when my mom walked the grounds pregnant with me. 1997 was my first Masters and the only two I’ve missed since were during COVID. I saw all five of Tiger’s wins with my grandfather.

"That's such good luck,” said the neighbors. "'We'll see,' said the farmer.

My grandfather passed away unexpectedly in August of 2019, four months after going with me to see Tiger win his latest green jacket. It was also ten days before my son was born. The day of the funeral, we checked the mail at his house and there was a letter in the mailbox from Augusta National Golf Club. It was an invitation to apply for the Legacy Program which allowed him to extend his series badges to one of his biological children. The invitation was dated the day of his death. 

"That's such bad luck,” said the neighbors. "'We'll see,' said the farmer.

In March of 2020, we were still heavily grieving the loss of my grandfather. The thought of The Masters without him made all of us sick to our stomach. To us, there was no Masters without my grandfather. As we all know, Augusta National made a historic decision, due to COVID, to postpone the tournament to November and have no patrons in attendance. The Masters wasn’t the only golf tournament that had to move their original schedule due to COVID. The Ryder Cup was pushed back to September of 2021; due to COVID regulations the on-site attendance would be limited. At the start of the tournament Samantha Marks posted a tweet asking if anyone would want to start a Ryder Cup group chat for those of us watching from home with FOMO. This group chat is where I met Adam and how I came to join the Golf Unfiltered team.

"That's such good luck,” said the neighbors. "'We'll see,' said the farmer.

In 2022 we were lucky enough to go again for a practice round, but it was the first time our family would walk through those gates without my grandfather. Eerily ironic that it was the same year Tiger had to miss because of his terrible accident a few months before. We were lucky enough to win the lottery for the Drive, Chip, and Putt in 2023 and were able to take my son for the first time. This past year, both my mother and my mother-in-law won the lottery for the Drive, Chip, and Putt. So for the first time we were able to take the entire family through the gates on the same day - my son with all of his grandparents.

Everything will work out the way it's supposed to, Bluey.

There were moments of both good and bad luck running throughout the tournament all weekend. A weather delay on Thursday morning meant the first groups wouldn’t tee off until around 10 a.m. But when the rain stopped, they played golf until almost 8 o’clock at night giving those Thursday patrons an extended day in Augusta. Similarly, the patrons with Friday tickets got to see Tiger play 18+ holes of golf. It was the windiest conditions the tournament has had in years, but it was also some of the most interesting golf we’d had a chance to see in a major in a while. Even the timing of Meredith Scheffler’s pregnancy - while not ideal that she had to miss the tournament, Scottie was able to share another victory with his family and make it back home before the birth of his first child. 

Augusta National Golf Club tends to just create these memorable moments, some more magical than others. While we were waiting in line for the gates to open on Wednesday morning, the two guys next to us started asking us for tips on the best way to walk and see the course. The older couple on the other side of us heard and joined in the conversation, asking for the best times to visit the Pro Shop or for good places to sit and rest. Immediately the young guy noticed the logo on the older man’s shirt, “I work at that golf course!” he said enthusiastically. The older man was shocked, “We live there, that’s our summer house!”

Sitting at breakfast that same morning and a couple walks up and asks if they can share a table with us. They mention that it’s their first time at The Masters. The husband said he’s been listening to podcasts to figure out the best way to do and see the course. The wife sees all of the pins that my husband likes to wear on his hat and comments that it must not be our first time. When I said that my first tournament was in 1997, the husband sat up and said, “Wait, are you Nikki Dunagan?” They listened to Will Bardwell’s podcast, The Lying Four, on the drive down. In the episode I shared our family’s story & talked about Johnathan’s pins - and they remembered.

Later that day, we sat in the grandstands on the tee box of 16 to watch some of the groups skip it across the water before heading over to the Par Three tournament. The last group we were waiting for was a trio of Sam Burns, Tom Kim, and Scottie Scheffler. We watched as they hit their tee shot - all three aiming for the Sunday pin location - and then began to cheer along with the rest of the crowd for them to “Skip it!” They happily obliged and took their turns entertaining the patrons trying to skip the ball across the water, carefully avoiding the turtles sunbathing on the edge of the pond. They made their way toward the green and we stood to leave, just as a butterfly landed on the sleeve of my dress. I stood motionless. The butterfly didn’t move. It continued to sit there on my shoulder for 60 seconds. When my husband tried to slowly get the camera to capture the moment, it flew away. Even the security guard standing behind us laughed and made a comment about how the butterfly must’ve liked the flowers on my dress. “It was your grandpa coming to say hi,” my husband said.

In the episode of Bluey, the butterfly is the sign the mom follows to show her the way. For me, maybe the butterfly was a sign from my grandpa. Maybe it was his way of saying goodbye, since it showed up on the 16th hole which is famously covered by Verne Lundquist who The Masters said goodbye to this year. Or maybe it was a sign of who would win the tournament later that week, since Scottie was the player we were watching there when it happened. 

I think no matter how you look at it, it just shows that Augusta is creating magic around every corner. Good luck, bad luck, Masters magic, golf ghosts - however you want to describe it, there’s something that happens when you walk these grounds that can’t be explained. You feel it in the little moments - hearing the crunch of the oil slick as you trek across a crosswalk, when the morning sun starts peeking through the loblolly pines. And you feel it in the big moments - hearing a roar coming from an unknown destination behind you, seeing your kid get a high five from one of the players.

I would give anything to be able to experience The Masters with both my grandfather and my son. He would’ve loved seeing him dance up and down the hill in front of the scoreboard during the Drive, Chip, and Putt. He would’ve cracked up at him only knowing Fred Couples as “Boom Boom” and no other name. But my son is getting to make new memories in Augusta, ones with his grandparents. And as much nostalgia I have for those Masters tournaments in the past, at least I get a front row seat in a green-folding chair for the ones to come with the next generation.

Bluey: Is that a happy ending or a sad ending?

Calypso: It's both.

Why I will (probably) never go to The Masters

I’m not sure I will ever go to The Masters.

Don’t worry: this isn’t going to be some sanctimonious article about Augusta National’s history of exclusion or anything in that realm. I am sure I would enjoy being on property, pushing my way through the merchandise tent before gushing tearfully at the sight of Golden Bell.

That’s partially why I don’t know if I could handle it. I’ve hyped up the possibility of going too much in my mind and I’m terrified I’ll find something I don’t like about the experience.

I know that sounds weird. I hope all of you rolled your eyes reading that sentence above. But I know myself better than anyone else, and I am conditioned to find something negative about pretty much everything. It’s a curse I’ve honed ever since childhood, which is another story for another day. But it’s true, and sometimes it makes me miserable.

One week a year I try my hardest to find enjoyment in the professional game, reserved to this week in April where the course on TV looks more like a heavenly playground instead of a golf course. The players look different; their eyes seem wider, putting strokes more shakey, and bogies more excruciating. When a camera pans to a player’s face standing on any tee box, it’s as if the viewer can imagine the emotions swirling in that player’s brain as they consider what’s next. That golfer is experiencing something all golfers wish they could, including me, and I’m engulfed by the mystery of their emotions while somehow knowing exactly how it must feel.

Last year I wrote about how I rediscovered my love of The Masters, partially due to my friend and colleague Nikki Dunagan’s stories and admiration of a tournament that is quite literally a part of her life. Her excellent Memoirs from Magnolia Lane miniseries continues to impress while reigniting the intrigue of a tournament through the eyes of former patrons. Everyone loves this tournament so damn much and it never gets old or stale.

You won’t understand this: but those feelings are exactly why I might never go.

I literally have the opportunity to attend every Masters Wednesday if I choose to do so as a member of the Golf Writer’s Association of America (assuming I can secure a first-come-first-serve ticket) since the GWAA’s dinner is held the same day each year. That’s how deep my irrationality has burrowed into my mind. I think I might actually be terrified to book the flight, hotel, and rental car. Does the old adage “never meet your heroes” apply to an entire piece of property?

If I’m being completely honest, I think I’m most terrified about how I would react once I step on property. I know I will cry. I know I will need to be alone because that’s how I prefer to be most days while wanting nothing more than to be with someone. Only those closest to me understand that I am incapable of managing my emotions on most days, let alone on a day where I’ll be at the place I’ve only seen in my dreams. Yes, that is corny as hell to admit; but it’s also true.

I turn 42 this year. Some of you reading that will suggest that’s still young, and you are right. Others might think the opposite. I think about how much my life has changed over the years and — depending on the day — I jostle back and forth between how I feel about the age. Every day I struggle with some odd level of cherophobia that has programmed me to say “No” to most things that will likely be enjoyable. I don’t want the hassle, even when the payoff would be more than worthwhile.

If none of this makes any sense to you, consider yourself lucky. If you can relate to what I’m trying to express, I’m sorry. Because I know exactly how you feel.

In reality, there’s a very strong probability of me attending The Masters one day. I’ll likely only tell a few people, hope that my wife is with me, and I’ll just have to see what happens in my brain. I might write about it. I might not. It’s going to be something kept private not because I won’t want to share my happiness with others, but rather I’ll be terrified if I do. It doesn’t come natural to me.

Regardless, I’m going to enjoy this week the best I can and hope for a fun tournament. I’ll play the course in my mind, just as I do every year, imagining where I would want my golf ball to land on every green to catch a slope or leave an uphill putt. We’ll all eagerly await that second shot on No. 2, the swirling wind on 12, the pine straw on 13, the slope on 16, and the sand saves on 18. There will be roars, amplified by a soundbar emitting from my TV, just like every year.

And maybe that’s enough.

Why The Drive, Chip, and Putt Is More Than Valuable…It’s Priceless

A 1997 Masters badge - a token from Tiger Woods’ first of five green jackets and the first of fifteen major victories - is listed on ebay for $15,000. 

An unopened and original copy of Taylor Swift’s debut album - the first of 10 original studio albums and four re-recorded studio albums - is listed for $240. It even has the original price sticker on it showing the owner first purchased it for $13.99 in 2006.

The reason these items are so pricey and highly sought after by collectors, is because they commemorate a time before these all-time greats…were the greats. These items mark the beginning of their journey, a time that long-time fans like to point back to and say “I remember them when…”

With The Masters tournament being set against the same backdrop year-after-year, the tournament has a very timeless feel to it. It makes it easy to compare every shot to that of another year on the same hole. Walking the grounds or sitting in the grandstands you hear a lot of different versions of, “I remember when…”

“I remember when Adam Scott made that hole-in-one on 16!”
“16? I remember when Tiger had that putt fall there in 2005.”
“I remember when Tiger made that eagle on 15 in 2018!”
“Oh, 15? Remember when Sergio hit that OCTUPLE bogey?”

Sergio Garcia sets record with octuple-bogey 13 on Augusta National's 15th hole.

While there’s always conversation comparing magical moments from hole-to-hole, it seemed that this year there was also a lot of conversation surrounding certain competitors and remembering where they started.

“Bailey Shoemaker? I remember watching her in the Drive, Chip, and Putt in 2018!”
“Gianna Clemente? She competed in the Drive, Chip, and Putt in 2017!”

Girls, 12-13 division second-place finisher Bailey Shoemaker poses with Masters champion Bubba Watson during the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club. Chris Trotman/Chris Trotman/Augusta National

The Drive, Chip, and Putt competition is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. One of the competitors in that inaugural competition was Ashkay Bhatia, who competed in the boys 12-13 age division. Fast forward ten years later and now Ashkay Bhatia holds a PGA Tour card and is (at the time of writing this) fighting to hold the lead at the Valero Texas Open. If he manages to keep the lead and win the tournament, he would become the first former Drive, Chip, and Putt national finalist to qualify for The Masters Tournament. 

However, he wouldn’t be the first former Drive, Chip, and Putt finalist to compete at Augusta National. In fact, this year alone there were nine former Drive, Chip, and Putt national finalists in the field for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Boys 12-13 competitor Ashkay Bhatia putts in the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday April 6, 2014. Sam Greenwood/Sam Greenwood/Augusta National

I’ve talked at length about my family’s history with Augusta. (In fact, I forced Adam to let me create an entire mini-series so I could keep talking about it. The third season drops tomorrow, by the way…) Majority of the memories that I have revolve around those magical shots that made the greats…the greats. Last year we continued our family’s tradition and brought my son through the gates of Augusta National Golf Club for the first time. But we didn’t bring my son to watch the pros, we were there for the Drive, Chip, and Putt.

We are going again this year and will be watching for names like Hudson Knapp, the 10-11 year old boys returning competitor from our neck of the woods. Or Kipp Madison, the 12-13 year old boys competitor from just outside of Augusta who watched his brother in the competition last year. We could be seeing any of this year’s national finalists competing again in Augusta, whether for the Women’s Amateur or for a Green Jacket. My son will get to have “I remember when…” moments for the greats of his generation, before they become…the greats!

When we get home from the competition this year, we will safely tuck away our Drive, Chip, and Putt badges with our Masters badges from years past. eBay might have these memories listed for $15,000, but I’d say they’re priceless.

Does Anthony Kim Have Haters?

In 2022, I stood on the practice green of TPC Avenel watching the world’s top pros dial in their putting stroke as they prepared for the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship. As I gazed up at the lamp posts that surrounded the green I saw a picture of 2008 past champion, Anthony Kim.

At the time, it had been ten years since I (or anyone for that matter) had seen AK play a professional tournament. As a golf fan, I felt robbed of seeing a rising star compete in his prime. This sentiment was shared by many in the golf world. Kim’s talent and personality put him on a bullet train toward superstardom, but his sudden departure from the game prevented the world from seeing AK achieving that fame. It also left most of us saying, “what if.”

When he stepped away, Kim had won three times (before his 25th birthday) and was a key member of the 2008 Ryder Cup. Add in his style, his swagger, and his game and you have a recipe for an intriguing and popular superstar. Unfortunately, injuries took that away. And with his reported insurance policy, it seemed likely we would never see AK compete again. 

Fast forward to 2023. With a new tour on the scene, rumors began about a possible return. Could LIV Golf and its seemingly limitless amounts of cash coax Kim out of retirement? 

In February 2024 we got our answer. This weekend in Saudia Arabia, Anthony Kim will be back. It’s a move that has excited the golfing world, but it is not without mystery. In time, we will hopefully learn the answers to specific questions. What has AK been up to for 12 years? How are his injuries? How is his golf game? 

We will get an answer to the last question this weekend. 

The general consensus about AK’s return seems to be positive. Kim seems excited to be back playing competitive golf and will likely boost the number of eyeballs on the LIV tour. 

To announce his return, Kim posted a video to his social media accounts that included clips of him on the range and with his family. But the interesting part of his video is the ending. A black screen with the text “hello haters, I’m back.”

This part of the video led many to ask the question, does Anthony Kim have haters???

Anthony Kim just posted this to his Instagram. (ig: anthonykimofficial)

“Hi haters. I’m back.” pic.twitter.com/M308uVvgSX

— LIV Golf Updates (@LIVGolfUpdates) February 28, 2024

In his absence from professional golf, the legend of AK grew. What could have been if he hadn’t had career-threatening injuries? As is often the case, we glorified AK’s accomplishments and began to extrapolate his career in a way that took on an almost legendary status. Surely he would have major championship trophies at home and could have been the face of the PGA Tour. At least that’s how we remember the past 12 years. 

I think you’d be hard-pressed to find “haters” of Kim. We really just wanted him back because of all the what-ifs. The haters comment led me to ask the simple question, “Are you an AK hater?”

Are you an AK hater?

— Trevor Reaske (@TrevorReaske) February 28, 2024

With hundreds of votes so far, the results speak for themselves. The answer is no. The consensus among golf fans seems to be clear: Anthony Kim doesn’t have many haters.

However, it does appear there is one strong caveat: I loved AK before, but now I’m not sure. His move to LIV has put many people in a tough spot. Am I excited a promising American star is back? Yes. Am I happy he’s doing it with LIV? Not really. 

Obviously, LIV is controversial for a variety of reasons and Kim returning to golf on this tour seems to cut PGA Tour stans deep. In many minds, Kim had the potential to be the face of the PGA Tour, especially in a time devoid of popular, marketable stars. Sure, Rory McIlroy, Ricky Fowler, Scottie Scheffler, etc. have fans, but they don’t have the flair and personality that Anthony Kim has. For many, it’s going to be tough to see AK teeing it up in exhibition matches for LIV.

I, for one, will try to tune in. The story of Anthony Kim’s return is a blend of hope, speculation, and the undeniable allure of what-if, even if it is with LIV Golf. If I can figure out how to watch, I’ll be watching AK with cautious optimism and haven’t been this excited since a comeback since Tiger Woods at Riviera. 

Okay, that was earlier this month, but that’s the kind of impact Anthony Kim can have on the golf world. At 38 years old, we can still have several years of AK playing world-class golf. Sure we may have been deprived of a prime Anthony Kim, but there’s no reason to think he can’t play at a high level. Hopefully, we will get some clarity on the state of his game this weekend and can start to put to bed some of those what-ifs. 

Anthony Kim is a sideshow in this circus of atrocities

When Anthony Kim hits his first tee shot after a nearly 12-year hiatus from professional golf, much of the fanbase who have been clamoring for his return won’t see it.

LIV Golf Jeddah — the site of this week’s 54-hole shotgun start and stage for AK’s return — will air on television around 3am ET for the United States. This was by design, of course, as LIV Golf cares not about the opinion of American golf fans. They’ve instead strategically chosen to hold Kim as a bargaining chip of sorts, hoping the temptation of watching his return is enough for stateside LIV fans to adjust their alarm clocks. It’s brilliant. It’s obscene. It’s all part of a larger plan.

Amid the thousands of social media posts commenting about Anthony Kim’s physical appearance — which is notably different from the last time we saw him publicly — something else happened in a neighboring sport that got much less attention. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) finalized a deal with the ATP Tour in men’s professional tennis to become a major sponsor for the next five years. It’s the Saudi-backed fund’s largest financial investment in pro sports to date, slipping by right under our noses.

It’s difficult for American golf fans to not view everything through a US-centric lens that artificially heightens our own self-importance, suggesting that our viewers are the most valuable and therefore should be a priority to satisfy. Questions arose as to why Anthony Kim would return in Jeddah as opposed to a LIV event in the States. The fact the most mysterious character in men’s pro golf in over a decade is making his return in the Kingdom’s back yard tells you everything you need to know about the strategy behind this move.

Nothing that LIV Golf has done is by mistake. They know American golf fans want to see Kim, and they also know our fanbase is the most divided in terms of support for the tour. The signing of Kim is less about giving the fans what they want and more about purchasing something before we can.

If it sounds like I’m dehumanizing AK… you would be correct. That’s the entire point of what LIV Golf is doing. They don’t want men’s professional golf in the United States. They want the whole damn sport. Kim is but a pawn in this game, amplified by the hilariously over-the-top social media teaser trailers and dramatic commentary around his return to the sport.

There’s little doubt this message has spread to the rest of LIV’s roster, too. Look no further than Talor Gooch’s recent commentary around the Masters and Rory McIlroy potentially winning the grand slam at a “weaker” event. This may be the farthest reach I’ll make in this piece, but are we really surprised Gooch’s interview gained steam after McIlroy won The Match the previous night? It’s all part of the plan.

LIV Golf has doubled-down on their insinuation that they are somehow being mistreated by everyone else in the golf world, so now they’re taking their proverbial ball and going home. This is exactly what they want us to believe, and Anthony Kim’s debut in Jeddah is nothing more than a haphazard power play.

To his credit, Kim appears to be excited to get back on the course among names he admitted he doesn’t know. Maybe it’s all an act. If so, he’s doing a great job at it.

Now 38, he is far-removed from the energetic 20-something with no career ceiling and tons of potential and fandom. Those same fans now have a chance for closure on one of the more captivating careers in the sport, even if the player himself had closure years ago. Kim is the ultimate social media influencer without even realizing it, which is fitting for a Tour with viewership numbers best reserved for YouTube.

I think that’s the biggest question in my mind around the rationale behind Kim’s signing: did he really need to do this?

Aside from the obvious financial benefit to LIV, does Kim have any idea about the shitstorm he’s about to experience? He hasn’t experienced the unforgiving nature of Golf Twitter, let alone being a major player in golf’s civil war. Media ridicule has always been a thing, but it has snowballed into a circus of mayhem unlike anything he saw while galavanting around with an American flag at the Ryder Cup.

There’s little doubt LIV Golf has considered all of this. They just don’t care for the reasons you and I might.

My Sit Down with Matt Doyle, Head of Golf at Tesoro Club, Home of the Cognizant Classic Monday Qualifier

The newly renovated Tesoro Club in Port St Lucie, Florida.

Editors Note: Robert Garrigus (Medalist), Chris Crawford, Jeff Overton, and Michael Gligic advanced from the Monday Qualifier at Tesoro Club on Monday, February 26.

Tesoro Club, located in Port St Lucie Florida re-opened last year after undergoing an extensive 18-month renovation to restore and refurbish its Palmer Course. Since then it has hosted the Cognizant (formerly Honda) Classic Monday Qualifier twice, both in 2023 and 2024. 

For the 2024 edition I was invited out to watch some of the Monday Q and chat with Tesoro Club’s Head Golf Pro Matthew Doyle. We talked about the recent renovations, what it’s been like hosting a PGA Tour Monday Qualifier, and what the future looks like both for the golf club and the community as a whole. 

Dan: You guys recently underwent a remodel.

Matthew: We started restoring the course at the end of 2020 when the new owners bought the property. We put together a cultural plan to restore the Palmer Course. In the first year we started with the greens, drainage, and bunker repair and bringing everything up to speed. Then this past summer we really focused on the fairways and created the best playing conditions that we could with our fairways and greens.

Dan: Are you still tinkering with the course or is it done?

Matthew: It’s a constant thing.

Dan: Ok, so what’s next?

Matthew: Next summer we will be addressing the rough and some more drainage in the bunkers where we’ve seen areas that we can improve. We are always trying to improve the facility and it will all be done during the summer time.

Dan: So today you have some of the top golfers in the world who are not already qualified for the Cognizant Classic but the other 364 days a year it’s a member’s community golf course. What’s been some of the feedback from the day-to-day members?

Matthew: The fabulous playing conditions, number one. Really though, the natural beauty of the course and the property really shines through every day. It’s not your typical Florida course. The first time I went around the golf course there were 9 spots where I stood and was like “Woah this is really cool.” 

Dan: You often see these communities where a golf course was basically shoved into the housing development but that’s not the case here. Driving in it was about 2 miles from the entrance to the clubhouse and there are golf holes everywhere. Everything is very spread out. What has that allowed you all to do not just with the remodel but also with providing an experience for the members that’s different?

Matthew: It’s very difficult to hit a house playing at Tesoro Club. I would say it’s more difficult than any golf community in South Florida. It was laid out so you have your house and in your backyard, you have a body of water or a preserve that is probably 40-50 yards wide, and then on the other side of that is the golf hole. So the golf is in your backyard but not in your cup of coffee when you’re reading the paper. Not only is that attractive for the homebuyer but also the golfer because you get up on the hole and you see the hole and the houses are so far out you don’t get that fear of “Am I going to hit someone’s house?” So it’s really nice for both parties.

The scene from the Cognizant Monday qualifier at Tesoro Club.

Dan: What has been your favorite part of this renovation project?

Matthew: Working for the owners. They’re great guys. Also restoring the property to how it was intended to be for the homeowners, especially the ones that have been here from the beginning. To see their faces as we’ve brought back the property and improved many of the areas, to see their appreciation is my favorite thing.

Dan: This is year 2 now of hosting the Cognizant/Honda Monday Qualifier. What’s the biggest difference from last year to this year in terms of the course itself?

Matthew: The greens are rolling about 2ft faster this year. Last year we overseeded the greens and this year we did not because we had the whole summer and really had a strong cultural practice that restored our Bermuda grass and the grass is just tiger and faster on the greens so they are seeing a lot more speed on the greens. 

Dan: Typically this qualifier has been held in Palm Beach County. This is year 2 of you all having it. For both you and the area, what does it mean to you to host this event?

Matthew: It’s a great badge of honor. I’m hearing it from the pros when they come in and they’re telling me how much they love the facility and how great the conditions are and it just lets everyone know that Tesoro Club is back. We are hosting this tournament not once but twice. So it not only says that we are back but that we are back on a world-class level. 

Dan: A lot of attention is given to the Jupiter area but there is some great golf to be played up here if you drive 20 minutes north.

Matthew: Yeah not only is the Palmer course a great golf course but our Watson course might be even better once that is restored. It’s a fantastic layout and when we restore that golf course you are going to have two of the best layouts in the area right here inside the gates at Tesoro which is going to elevate this property to a whole new level and that’s something that I really can’t wait to do because for those that have been here from the beginning, the Watson course was the most popular of the courses. 

Dan: With the transition golf has gone through these past few years post-COVID, have you seen a transition with your membership getting younger?

Matthew: Yeah, we are starting to see more families come in. We’re still growing but this community has so many amenities. There are 907 homesites and there are a little over 200 homes built. So this community is going to continue to evolve and if I were a family I’d love living in here. To be able to send my kids to school and then they can come home and play tennis or pickleball or swim at the pool or go play golf. 

Sun Day Red doesn’t have to be Air Jordan

The launch of Tiger Woods’s new Sun Day Red apparel line was the worst kept secret in golf as of late, and public response to the first images of the brand was even more predictable. Early indications suggest that people aren’t crazy about the leaping skeleton tiger logo nor the odd three-word brand name. Even fewer appear to be in love with the apparel styles unveiled last night during an invite-only event, which included appearances by Tiger, TaylorMade CEO Dave Abeles, and Erin Andrews as emcee.

All of it seemed weird, but people are still going to buy the hell out of the brand. Because this is what golf sickos do when it comes to Tiger Woods.

While Sun Day Red apparel will remain a separate brand entity from TaylorMade and available in May, the influence of the golf brand’s marketing is evident. TaylorMade is terrible at choosing names for their products (Rocketballz, anyone?) and Tiger Woods is even worse. Are we really this surprised that a man who has shown a history of absurd fashion sense in his career would approve of these designs?

Poking fun of Tiger’s fashion is easy, of course, and not at all the point. Personal branding is no small feat and must be incredibly stressful and difficult for a public persona the likes of Tiger Woods. That’s why people pay millions of dollars to professionals to get it right. When everyone is expecting Air Jordan and you roll out TJ Maxx, however, you’re going to get some odd looks.

None of this means I won’t buy a few pieces for myself.

Look: golf fans are idiots. The entirety of the sports is predicated on disposable income and luxury. While pricing details of Sun Day Red have yet to be disclosed, you can anticipate this stuff won’t be cheap. The hoodies are cashmere for crying out loud.

SDR is going to be found in pro shops of every private country club and high-end public course. You’ll find the annoying Skeletor Tiger logo on middle-aged golfers who want to fit in or be cool. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Who are we to judge others for how they choose to spend their money for recreation?

My only hope is that Team SDR doesn’t price out the majority of golfers who truly look up to Tiger as a role model. His is a brand and image that transcends multiple socio-economic levels who live in areas with varying degrees of accessibility to golf. SDR will include non-golf apparel and footwear as well, which will likely broaden the entry point for many fans who don’t want to pay $100+ for a golf polo or quarter-zip.

During the LA launch party, TaylorMade CEO Dave Abeles suggested that SDR is a brand that will endure for decades. I’m not so sure about that. Tiger’s brand already has accessibility barriers working against it, unless they are extremely smart about pricing and marketing… two things at which TaylorMade is extraordinarily successful. As much as I like to ridicule that brand for goofy names, they sure know how to get people to buy products.

For the sake of comparison, Michael Jordan’s “Air Jordan” brand appeals to the masses while focusing on a demographic with extreme accessibility to the sport of basketball. All you need is a ball and a playground with a hoop. The sport itself has its own sub-culture that can also be intense and non-welcoming to some, yet able to be enjoyed by anyone. Golf argues it can be the same yet struggles with proving that to us.

It’ll be interesting to show how Sun Day Red will be accepted by fans following its rollout this spring. The styles will evolve and perhaps the logo will be altered. Tiger and his team have a real opportunity to become larger than his golf persona if they play this right, which should include a focus away from golf altogether.

The Waste Management Phoenix Open needs an Intervention

Everything golf fans saw from the Waste Management Phoenix Open (WMPO) this week on social media, TV or otherwise is all the evidence you need that the tournament has gotten away from organizers. It’s time for a change.

Nick Taylor winning in a playoff over Charley Hoffman is the afterthought to a tournament that will instead be remembered for a heightened level of debauchery that bordered on chaos. This year’s tournament included a Saturday when, for the first time in the tournament’s history, entry gates were closed to fans and alcohol sales were stopped and ultimately canceled for the day. Reports from volunteers at the event suggest upwards of half a million fans stormed onto TPC Scottsdale at one point, prompting the fire marshal and state police to order closures.

Severe weather that opened the week caused delays throughout the tournament, resulting in a Saturday where the fans with tickets to Round 2 were allowed to remain on property for Round 3, contributing to the overcrowding. A tournament already widely known for its extreme party atmosphere — particularly the “stadium” surrounding the 16th green — quickly degraded into a scene that included a woman falling from a top level of the grandstands and suffering “non-life threatening injuries,” drunken fans fighting in the middle of pedestrian walkways, mud slides down rain-soaked hills (both intentional and not), and nasty interactions with PGA TOUR players just trying to do their jobs.

Before anyone accuses me of being a kill joy or old codger, allow me to admit that I have attended the WMPO once in the past for the exact reason hundreds of thousands do: to experience the party at the 16th.

My visit to the 2019 tournament was memorable and I’m happy we did it, understanding that the scene then was a little different than what we saw this week. I’m not sure if pre-pandemic times were calmer or more mild in comparison, but I’m also not sure it’s much of a stretch to insinuate that everyone has lost their damn minds since 2020. Nowadays it seems that any public event is at risk of tomfoolery at best and devastation at worst. In the case of professional golf, it feels like the proverbial line that separates fans from golfers has been blurred to the point of invisibility.

It’s true that this week normally coincides with Super Bowl week every year, including last year’s madness of both sporting events taking place in the same city. This year’s version — which included the Super Bowl being played in nearby Las Vegas along with competing tour LIV Golf’s event — still managed to be worse in every way possible. I’ve had multiple Arizonians who attended the 2023 and 2024 WMPO tell me as much.

The PGA TOUR and the Thunderbirds — the organization that runs the golf tournament — have an important decision to make: do they want to protect the longevity of this tournament in order to protect a sponsor and fans, or do they lean further in to this mania as to remain the “hottest ticket in town” to remain competitive against LIV?

Truthfully, there is no choice to make here. You have to do what’s right to protect the galleries and players, regardless of what it means to the legions of college-aged drunks who come to the tournament. The PGA TOUR is bleeding sponsors as of late and it’s only going to get worse as the association’s sponsor fees have increased significantly. Waste Management doesn’t need a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah on its hands sullying its corporate image.

Yes, I realize I’m worried about the corporate image of a garbage company.

Solving this issue doesn’t feel like it should be all that difficult. One step the TOUR can take is to issue drink tickets to somewhat limit alcohol sales. We all know this is merely a band-aid approach, however it’s a start. The WMPO’s party legacy has long been established and will remain for as long as a tournament is held. Another step would be an overhaul of entry points into the tournament as to eliminate chances of ticketless fans just showing up, as was the case on Saturday.

The issues seen this week in Scottsdale are not unsalvageable, but they are also completely preventable. Here’s hoping the TOUR and Thunderbirds do what’s right to protect one of the best sporting events of the year, even if it means preaching a little more moderation among its supporters.

Learned Helplessness and Covering Men’s Pro Golf

A funny thing happened over the weekend in the world of men’s professional golf and Mother Nature was the catalyst.

The PGA TOUR’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was shortened to 54 holes after a severe weather system moved through the Monterey Peninsula, thus crowning Wyndham Clark the champion after Sunday’s final round was canceled. This meant that many golf fans chose to watch LIV Golf’s 2024 debut at Mayakoba in Mexico, where Joaquin Niemann defeated Sergio Garcia in a playoff.

For many fans, this may have been the first time they’ve ever watched a LIV Golf event. The controversial tour enters its third season with the support of more television coverage in more markets, coupled with the addition of Jon Rahm’s “Legion 13” team into the mix. Those of us who are chronically online and pay much too close attention to this sort of thing also noticed how Golf Twitter shifted its snark and attention to watching LIV. It was as amusing to notice as it was disappointing, especially since many of the individual accounts from Golf Media’s most popular commentators were suddenly… objectively watching the tournament?

Before I go on, allow me this preface. It is not lost on me that many of these media types are paid to comment on all things pro golf. It’s their job in every sense of the word, and LIV Golf appears to be alive, well and thriving. Therefore, it is no surprise that these media personalities must now comment on a segment of pro golf that they were openly ridiculing mere months prior.

But this doesn’t mean I have to like it.

When LIV burst onto the scene, it was in the midst of the most confusing and anxiety-inducing period of a generation. The pandemic was roaring, social upheaval was brewing, and at least here in the US, political divisiveness had never been worse. Fans of golf required a distraction, and it created ample opportunity for a disruptor like LIV to emerge. At a time when every aspect of life’s status quo was being questioned, LIV offered the proverbial “Why not us?” to golf’s fandom.

What followed was an onslaught of debate among golf’s media, including most of us taking holier than thou stances against the upstart league. Most of us hated that LIV’s funding came from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) due to the kingdom’s abhorrent civil rights record. Others hated that the PGA TOUR was no longer the only show in town; a sports league that we grew up watching and idolizing. And, yes, golf media also grew fearful of what might happen to the golf tour they were paid to cover for their careers.

It felt like the only thing to do was to protect one’s self interests, and that included going on social media and criticsizing LIV Golf into oblivion. Or at least try to. Obviously, this didn’t work.

Here is where I’m going to lose some of you reading this.

On its surface, LIV Golf has remained unchanged. The addition of a few names — and continued rumors of other names yet to be revealed — doesn’t change anything about the tour’s origins, financial backers, or ulterior motives. They’ve just persevered and hung around longer than we expected, despite multiple attempts to dissolve their legitimacy and legality. LIV Golf knew this would happen if they just survived. They were right.

The result: we are now seeing dozens of media outlets and their employees turning an about-face on their coverage of LIV.

To be fair: we’ve not reached the point where ESPN, CBS, or any of the major independent outlets are inviting LIV players into TV studios or onto podcasts. But if this weekend’s social media commentary is any indication, it’ll happen soon enough.

Where did all of the energy go? Was the outrage that many expressed in the wake of LIV’s debut all for show? Fake outrage is nothing new among journalists, but this feels like a rapid 180 among some outlets and their journalists. Did everyone hop on a conference call and suddenly decide, “Welp, we still need to get paid to cover golf, so we better change our tune?” Of course this happened, at least in the proverbial sense.

A few days ago I noticed this gem from our friend Will Bardwell, which pretty much sums everything up nicely.

The key to sportswashing is that, if you stick with it long enough, people quit caring that it’s sportswashing.

— Will Bardwell (@willbardwell) January 31, 2024

This was the plan from LIV all along. They knew that golf media would simply stop caring as much at some point. Truthfully, I probably knew this, too. It’s a hard thing to admit, and it’s a tale as old as time.

Let’s make something abundantly clear: LIV Golf is an opportunistic organization that serves a dual purpose. For their players, it’s an “escape” from the constrictive nature of the PGA TOUR to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. For Saudi Arabia, it’s one-hundred-percent, without a doubt sportswashing. Both things can be true at the same time, and they are not pretending like it’s anything different. In fact, LIV brass straight up told us so.

To my media colleagues — both independent and otherwise — you have a choice here. You can continue to take your stand against something you truly do not believe in from a moral perspective. That doesn’t have to change, and any employer that asks you to do otherwise is not worth your time. Yes, this is a very easy thing for me to say, and I am well aware of the complexities of staying employed and toeing the company line.

You have another choice: just come clean. We all criticized players jumping to LIV and their ridiculous rationalizations for doing so when we all knew they were just doing it for the money. You have the chance to stand up, say something to the tune of, “I have to cover this league now, so you are going to see me start doing that as objectively as I can” and then move on. We will understand.

But to simply shift your perspective overnight comes off as disingenuous at best and hypocritical at worst. We all do things in our day jobs that we don’t like to do because our bosses ask us to, so why not just call it out and clear the air? I may be naive in this, but taking a moment to offer anything to your readers in this regard could go a long way.

Speaking only for myself and not my teammates at GU: I cannot support LIV, I will not support LIV, and people will disagree with me about that. And that’s OK.

All I ask is that you make your stance known publicly and then continue to do the best job you can to cover the game while staying true to yourself.

Fan benefit of the new PGA TOUR investment deal unlikely

The PGA TOUR’s new investment deal with the Strategic Sport Group (SSG) has been announced to the tune of $3 billion with an overall valuation of the men’s pro golf tour over $12 billion. Uniformly heralded by the Tour’s Player Advisory Board as a positive move for the “game,” additional focus is being placed on how this will benefit fans in the process.

Don’t believe it.

As we’ve covered multiple times by now on this topic, the world of men’s pro golf has become saturated with greed and astronomical dollar amounts that nobody reading this will ever see in their checking accounts. The same can be said, of course, for fans of any professional sport. Fans are spectators to the action taking place on the field of play and the contract negotiations occurring in board rooms. It’s all fun to talk about over a beer at your favorite sports bar as we sit back and offer armchair analysis on why the signing of one player makes sense (or doesn’t) over another.

We revel in these types of debates. It’s the reason why fantasy sports are as popular as they are. Fans think we can do a better job as general manager of a fictitious sports team or roster than those actually doing it for a living. The money we threw around with abandon as kids playing Monopoly has transitioned into funny money we use to “sign” players in digital fantasy teams. None of it is real, none of it pays our bills, and it’s all used as an escape from everyday worries or stresses.

When we see news of Jon Rahm earning upwards of $500 million to join the rival LIV Golf tour, or the SSG investing $3 billion into the PGA TOUR, or the top 200-ish players receiving a piece of a $900 million pie, none of it can possibly register in the minds of the common fan. These are just numbers to us. They are details of a fairy tale written with greed and read with intrigue. Yet many of the golfers whom we embrace are trying to sell something to us that also doesn’t exist.

For example, when Max Homa offered his take on the PGA TOUR/SSG agreement, I was curious as to how fans would benefit from it. His response was thoughtful and made a lot of sense, but after further reflection still seemed like a polished talking point one might hear about the latest fantasy book in an ongoing series.

I know everyone is sick of hearing about how much more money golfers are getting. My optimism lies in the main point of this which is we now have very savvy and experienced stakeholders who have a lot of incentive to improve the product creatively and make it better for the fans

— max homa (@Maxhoma) January 31, 2024

Because this investment group isn’t just donating money. They want to make money. So they need people to watch golf to make money. So they’d better do a damn good job to make this more watchable and entertaining for the fans https://t.co/SP7AyftnKd

— max homa (@Maxhoma) January 31, 2024

On its surface, the point Max raises is entirely correct. The difference between what the SSG has agreed to and what the Public Investment Fund (PIF) continues to spend on player acquisitions is stark. As Max points out, the former is literally investing in a league with the expectation of a massive return while the latter is… kind of just giving money away.

Sure, you could argue that LIV Golf needs to make a return on their acquisitions, but let’s be serious. Their viewership numbers aren’t anywhere close to being what they need to be in order for sponsors to pay attention. Off-course press and stories aren’t helping their public image by any stretch. A highly divisive social climate also contributes to the outlook of a fanbase that, let’s face it, falls into a certain extreme category.

The PGA TOUR still has to keep up with LIV, however, and this recent agreement is entirely to the benefit of the players. Fans haven’t been asking for any of this. Fans aren’t the ones complaining about the perceived hardships of PGA TOUR life. We just want a telecast that doesn’t litter us with commercials during a tournament’s critical moments. We want ticket prices that aren’t drastically increasing one year over the next. We don’t want to pay $20 for a beer if we’re fortunate enough to attend an event.

I’m not sure how any of those factors improve as a result of this investment. If anything, I’d expect all of those variables to increase significantly.

Any argument that the on-course product will also improve as a direct result of this investment is also unfounded. Love them or hate them, many of the game’s biggest names — Rahm, Koepka, DeChambeau, Mickelson, Johnson, Reed, etc. — are no longer on the PGA TOUR and won’t be at the events included in the final TOUR valuation number of $12 billion. In some ways the product has become less valuable in the eyes of a fan, yet this investment is supposed to also benefit us?

This goes without saying, but it’s OK if the PGA TOUR wants to protect its best interests as a business in the midst of a nasty battle with a competitor. To assert that any of this is being done for the betterment of golf fandom is absurd at best and downright insulting at worst.

Golf and MS: An Update on my Favorite Playing Partner

Ten years ago I wrote a brief post about my wife, Kristen, and her ongoing battle against Multiple Sclerosis (MS). She was initially diagnosed in 2013 when she experienced symptoms related to partial loss of eyesight and fatigue. Since that time her eyesight has returned, however she has lost some function in her left leg which makes walking a bit difficult at times. It also makes our chances of playing golf together that much sweeter and important.

Kristen has recently begun a new medication regimen that boasts impressive statistics and improves her long-term prognosis significantly. Treatment for MS — a neurological condition where the body’s immune system literally attacks itself, causing plaque and lesions to form on the brain and spinal cord — has dramatically improved over the last decade. While there remains no cure for the disease, we are encouraged by the effectiveness of new drugs and treatments to limit relapses (if not preventing them entirely). Still, it’s difficult to not think about the likleihood of what might happen in the future, and how close the “future” might be to today.

Any time that my wife and I spend on a golf course together is special, and not just because of her affliction. Most of our rounds are in the context of a golf outing scramble or quick nine holes on the weekend. Golf is one of the only sports she and I can enjoy as a couple thanks to the ever-evolving adaptive golf industry. While she only requires the use of a golf cart at the moment, it’s encouraging to know that advancements in adaptive golf technology continue on the upward trend for millions of golfers worldwide.

It’s also encouraging to hear news and read articles about golfers with MS who have recently returned to the game or even picked it up for the first time. While we are fortunate in that Kristen’s form of MS is mild-to-moderate in comparison to thousands of other patients who battle the disease, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit there is a constant “hum” of anxiety around what tomorrow might bring. Stories about people finding new ways to enjoy not just golf but everyday activities are on the rise thanks to incredibly smart doctors and scientists and the brave clinical trial patients who trust them.

As I walked the floor of the 2024 PGA Show last week in Orlando I silently kept an eye out for new adaptive golf products hitting the market. While golf carts continue to be a showcase on the Show floor, others like remote controlled “push carts” and other wheeled contraptions cause your imagination to wonder how accessible these might be to regular golfers who might need them.

Some brands, like TRUE Linkswear, already keep adaptive golfers in mind with their business-as-usual mission and vision. Lightweight, form-fitting, supporting footwear is a product any golfer will appreciate; however it’s brands like TRUE — whose leaders also have family experience battling MS — that keep the conversation going on the importance of keeping all golfer types and abilities in mind with every new product release.

These encouraging signs of treatment advancements coupled with industry innovations and a true embracement of “growing the game” are silver linings for anyone who struggles with a chronic condition that limits their participation in golf. The easy thing to do in situations like what my wife endures is to shut down, stop doing things you enjoy, become depressed and wait for the next challenge to strike. But that’s never been her nature.

A former multi-sport collegiate athlete, Kristen seems to revel in the challenge. She’ll admit to you her stubbornness when it comes to overcoming adversity, engrained in her over many years and via multiple coaches. She excelled in whatever athletic endeavor she tried and can still move the golf ball pretty damn well for someone who plays less than five rounds a year. Kristen routinely breaks 100 on a full round of golf and has a nasty habit of dropping a birdie on me when I least expect it. It’s the greatest of annoyances, and one that I love to experience as often as possible.

From a Big Picture perspective, golf is a minuscule part of what Kristen and I would like to experience together in the future. She thinks I’m nuts for caring as much as I do about stupid things like pro golf, new equipment and a budding interest in course architecture. She’s right, of course. This game is ridiculously absurd and takes up too much of my brain power.

But from a smaller viewpoint, golf remains a chance for us to connect and compete against one another. I can see the enjoyment and fire in her eyes when she sinks a long putt or blasts a drive down the middle. She is truly extraordinary in her resolve and overcoming what she views as an obstacle. There’s nothing more incredible than seeing someone at their best, and she is at hers when she competes.

Now if I can only convince her to stop with the gloating.

Golf’s Roller Coaster Ride: Challenges, Changes, and the Pursuit of Fun

Hey, I’m new here. I’m Trevor, nice to meet you. I’m not self-absorbed enough to think you have seen some of my stuff before, but maybe you have! If so, that’s awesome, and if not, welcome to my first post here at Golf Unfiltered. As you will see by the following, I don’t take things too seriously. This game, which has given so much to so many, is just that…a game. Let’s have some fun with it. 

I thought I’d kick things off by taking a look at the current state of golf. I apologize in advance if this is an oversimplistic point of view, but I want everyone to look at the bright side of things. Yes, there are many issues with the current state of the game, but positives can be found if you really look. Sure, some of the things happening right now are not great and there are certainly many negatives. But walk with me a little as we try and find the silver lining of things. 

One issue that comes up repeatedly is the current state of the Official World Golf Rankings. Yeesh, things are a mess right now and, at times, contentious when it comes to the OWGR. The biggest problem I see is that players who have joined the LIV Tour no longer receive world-ranking points. This causes an issue for many players who have not qualified for golf’s major championships. There are also concerns about how these points are awarded and people will debate how these calculations are made. For the record, the Hero World Challenge probably shouldn’t be handing out ranking points. 

But here we are. Complicated formulas, shunned players, and some tournaments awarding dubious ranking points. Like I said earlier, there’s a chance it’s not all bad. Maybe, just maybe, we will see some changes. Sparked mainly by the LIV problem, could we see some serious changes to the OWGR? It would seem we are heading to an overhaul. We could see a complete re-do of the current system. Can we make it simpler? More fair? Find a way to coexist with LIV? Maybe! Time will tell.

Speaking of LIV, what do we do here? If you are like me, a PGA Tour mark, you inherently oppose the very idea of LIV. Shorter tournaments, team golf, guaranteed paydays, NO CUTS? Back in my day, you had to earn your living on the PGA Tour. 

Excuse me while I shake my fist at a cloud.

Anyway, the biggest issue with LIV in 2024 is that they are plucking many of the Tour’s best and most popular players. It is tough to see the PGA Tour lose players like Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, and Jon Rham. For a lot of these guys, they are upfront: they went for the money. Others went for the idea that they could play less golf. Some will even tell you it’s because you can wear shorts. Whatever the reason, losing top-tier players AND weekly grinders undoubtedly hurts the depth of fields on the PGA Tour. 

We have seen the Tour respond by adding more prize money and event distinctions as a result of the limitless supply of cash that LIV has. Aside from that, there seems to be a deal to merge the two tours. Unfortunately, this still hasn’t left the theory stage. A deal was supposed to be done by the end of 2023, but as you may realize, it’s not 2023 anymore. 

The game appears to be heading in a very cloudy direction but can we find some sunshine? Maybe the PGA Tour had become stagnant? They hadn’t made many meaningful changes in recent years, but LIV has forced their hand. And maybe, ultimately, a merger would be good for the game. It would certainly help to see a lot of the LIV guys back on our TV every weekend. 

Wherever we end up with all of this, it’s clear the LIV isn't going away. These two tours will need to coexist for the time being. From a PGA Tour perspective, they will have to take a deep look at how they do things and hopefully, they improve for the better. We can only hope.

Speaking of improving for the better, the governing bodies in the game of golf have decided to roll back the golf ball. My initial thought here is that I want all the distance I can get. But on second thought, and after listening to people who understand this better than I do, it’s not going to be that bad. If you are an amateur of decent golfing ability, the impact on your game will be minimal. 

As I keep saying, let’s have some freaking fun. Instead of getting caught up in the sudden need to hit a seven iron instead of an eight, I urge you to remember that no one cares what club you are hitting and you shouldn’t either. The game is fun. Spending time with friends is fun. Gambling is fun. Hell, even just being outside for a few hours can be fun. Enjoy the game!

While we are on the topic of enjoying the game, I would never be in the position I am in without enjoying golf. I don’t know that I would even be interested in golf if wasn’t for Tiger Woods. He is the reason I picked up a club in the first place. He is the reason many people picked up a club. As people say, he is the needle. He still is. But there is noticeable wear on those tires.

Over the past several years, injuries have kicked off Tiger’s swan song from professional golf. Rather than retiring and putting us all out of our misery with a quick death blow, the last few years have been a slow bleed of a will he or won’t he scenario. Will he come back? Will he shut it down? Will he win again? Will he walk normally again? Round and round we go on the roller coaster.

Sure he will play a few times a year, but the years of Tiger being the main draw for the PGA Tour are coming to an end. We have been saying for FIFTEEN years now, “what will we do without Tiger” and still don’t have a good answer. He remains one of the most popular athletes of all time. The Tour will lose him for good at some point, but there hasn’t been a player that can transcend golf come along since his mid-nineties debut. There probably never will be another. So what does the Tour do? How does it attract young fans? How does it get people to tune in weekly? That all remains to be seen, but it’s not all bad!

Even with the emergence of LIV, we still get treated to great golf every week. There are so many good young players that will be a fixture for years to come. Social media has introduced many to the game in a variety of ways. Maybe with Tiger fading away, golf courses and equipment manufacturers will be forced to confront the idea that profit is not the most important thing. Making golf accessible and affordable will be key in the years to come. Without a superstar like Tiger Woods, I’m willing to bet that we see some changes that make the game more available to more players. 

Again, I said from the very beginning that this is probably an oversimplified look at the problems in golf today. There are nuances and subtleties to every one of these issues. And there are certainly many more issues we could delve into. But my point remains the same: enjoy the game. Remember why you fell in love with golf in the first place. Remember that this is just a game. Remember that the biggest goal in your golfing life should be to have fun. Try and find the positive in everything you do. 

Okay, you probably want to punch me for being so glass-half-full. I will just say, I am looking forward to contributing here at Golf Unfiltered. Throw me a follow on Twitter or Instagram. You haven’t lived until we watch a golf tournament together. So many bad jokes and terrible takes, I am sure we will all have some fun. 

The Flavors of Golf on Full Display

The calendar says we’re still in the first week of 2024 and if the last few days are any indication of what to expect, we’re in for a wild ride covering a sport that is in search of a new image.

Golf — the game itself — hasn’t been immune to change, either. News of a golf ball rollback and other rule changes shook the sport in late 2023, only to be upstaged (depending on your fandom) by news of Jon Rahm switching tours to join LIV Golf shortly after. Divisiveness reigned supreme throughout the sport, each side looking for “mini wins” for their biases and arguments at every opportunity. “Exhausting” may have been the word most used to describe golf since 2021.

What has 2024 offered to golf fans thus far? Welp…

Rory McIlroy appeared on a soccer podcast — aptly named Stick to Football — and offered new, softer thoughts on LIV Golf, how the PGA TOUR has “survived” over the years, and even his original judgement of players switching tours. Those of us who actually took the time to listen to the interview understand that Rory offered objective, in-depth reasoning on his evolved thought process around the current state of men’s pro golf. For the social media bros who only went off a headline — like Greg Norman — you would have thought Rory made a tearful proclamation of wrongdoing and misjudgment. Others went as far as to suggest a “complete U-turn” by McIlroy, which is lazy at best and misleading at worst.

You can listen to the episode below:

Simultaneously, a blogger was on a personal quest to make a hole-in-one on a golf simulator that resulted in a marathon livestream session culminating in 2,627 shots over 37+ hours. We’ve seen this type of content before, but this one captured the attention of far more people than I would have ever imagined, including the likes of PGA TOUR players, professional athletes from other sports, and mainstream public figures. Since I have the mind of an old codger for such things, I poo-pooed the stunt while being equally amazed at how many people embraced it.

The dichotomy of these two examples is obvious since one has nothing to do with the other, aside from the fact that golf is at their foundation. But we’re golf fans on the internet and we’ve perfected the ability to find relationships where they don’t exist, our social media character limits our only barrier. The content must be produced! Give people what they want!

Are other sports having these types of conversations, too? Are baseball fans debating the legitimacy of home runs being hit on simulators, or the launch conditions of metal bats in college versus pine in the majors? Was professional basketball more competitive before the advent of the three-point shot?

This is where, I believe, golf’s ridiculousness reigns supreme. I mean that as a compliment.

Where else can we debate the merits of content like what we saw this week, aside from other hot-button topics like religion or politics? It feels like we all want to debate something collectively and need an outlet that appears safe on the surface, is completely unique to every individual who partakes, and has been around for over a century. The sheer volume of different golf flavors has never been more apparent than right now.

In a few weeks I’ll be returning to the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando to meet with brands and partners of GU and learn about even more flavors of this game. As with previous visits to the Show, there will be an underlying buzz of topics to serve as ice breakers to conversations with industry-minded colleagues we see once a year. However this year already feels different because the game itself feels different. These are not topics we’ve discussed in the past on such a grand scale and with the backdrop of “how are we gonna sell this stuff to golfers?”

Perhaps that’s the point. What worked for us yesterday won’t tomorrow. Golf has remained stagnant to some degree over the years in terms of what is offered to the casual player. Yes, the COVID boom introduced more players to this great game than ever before, but it feels like a healthy dose of disruption has blown in with them. We now think of more names and topics when we hear the word “golf,” which feels like a move in the right direction if we care about sustainability. Tiger could only get us so far, just as Jack and Arnold before him.

Amid the flurry of LIV, golf balls, simulators, artificial intelligence and crowded tee-sheets, the biggest shift in golf will be its very definition. Hogan’s famous quote regarding golf’s biggest battlefield may no longer be between our ears, but rather devoid of any boundaries, let alone within the confines of 18 holes.

When You Think Tiger Woods, I Hope You Think Of Me

It was the summer of 2006. I walked out of the DMV proudly waving my new driver’s license - the golden ticket to freedom for every newly turned sixteen-year-old. A few days later my parents finally handed over the keys and let me set out on my own. I tuned the radio to Kicks 101.5 and started my first solo drive. As I cruised down familiar back roads, sounds from the newly released Taylor Swift song filled my car.

“When you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think my favorite song….” 

Taylor Swift’s debut single “Tim McGraw” was released on June 16th, 2006. That exact same day, Tiger Woods missed the cut in a major for the first time since he turned pro in 1996. He played in 37 consecutive majors, making it to the weekend in every single one, until this one. Fans, fellow players, and even Tiger (eventually) contributed most of his poor performance at this tournament due to the passing of his father, Earl, only a month prior.

Earl Woods introduced his son to the game of golf. Every Tiger Woods fanatic has seen the video of two-year-old Tiger from “The Mike Douglas Show” or the clip from the 1997 Masters where Tiger buries his face in his dad’s shoulder and cries tears of joy after winning his first green jacket. When Tiger played golf, he thought of Earl. When Tiger watched golf, he thought of Earl. 

In a press conference heading into that 2006 US Open, Tiger was asked about playing again so soon after losing his dad. And while he admitted it was difficult, he also shared that getting back out there brought back some great memories. “To remember and think back on all the lessons, life lessons Dad taught me through the game of golf. All these things come rushing back to you.”

Those lessons definitely rushed back - after that missed cut at the US Open, he went on to win six consecutive PGA Tour-sanctioned events: The British Open (in Liverpool), Buick Open, PGA Championship, Bridgestone Invitational, Deutsche Bank Championship and the American Express Championship. Note: there are TWO majors in that list!

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Listeners of our podcast know that I’m a big Taylor Swift fan. On the recently released Taylor’s Version of Red, one of the new vault songs is titled “I Hope You Think About Me” that was even a trending Tik Tok sound for a while. It reminded me of her debut song, “Tim McGraw” and the last line of the chorus that says, “When you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think of me…”

When Tiger thinks of certain courses, he thinks of his dad and the lessons he taught him or the memories they share. When I think of Tiger Woods, I think of my grandpa and how he brought me to my first tournament where I got to see Tiger win. When my son thinks of Tiger Woods, I hope he thinks of me and how I make sure he still gets to see Tiger play whenever he’s in a tournament.

And when you, Dear Reader, think of Taylor Swift….I hope you think of me too. :) 

The Year that Was in the World of Pro Golf

With Christmas now in our rearview mirror, and the New Year right in front of us, the time has come to both take a look back at the year that was and look forward to what’s in store in 2024.

2023 was quite the year for me personally and professionally. While I could sit here and thank you all for watching, listening to, and reading us here at Golf Unfiltered this year, that’s just not my style. 

Instead, I thought I would take a look at some of the stories and events that had the biggest impact on me in golf in 2023, as well as look ahead to what 2024 may bring.

2023 Recap

There’s a Great Big World Outside Men’s Professional Golf

Working with GU this past year, I was able to do a lot of really cool things that reminded me that men’s professional golf is such a small and, in reality, insignificant part of the greater golf landscape when you really think about it. The true lifeblood of the game is all of us who may never step foot “inside the ropes” in our lives. 

You may remember that I had the opportunity to check out Steph Curry’s UNDERRATED Golf Tour at their season-opening event in South Florida in June. Getting to talk to those involved, from the kids playing in the event to those putting on the event reminded me why we are all golf sickos in the first place: because we love to play the game of golf. These kids would spend the day on the golf course trying to beat each other and then would spend the evening at the hotel having dinner together, playing video games, and just hanging out and being kids. It was golf in its purest form.

I also had the chance to talk to designer Gil Hanse and PGA of America head Seth Waugh. During that 30 mins or so that I talked with them we talked about a wide range of topics, and yet, very little of that time was spent talking about the PGA Tour (it was on the heels of the Michael Block experience at the PGA Championship so of course Seth and I talked a little about that. More on Block later.) We spent the majority of the time talking about how people like us go out and enjoy the game every day whether it’s going to the driving range, playing a full round of golf, or even the continued success of places such as TopGolf and Drive Shack.

It was an amazing experience and helped me reinvigorate my love of the game.

The #BlockParty

This wouldn’t be a “year in review” of sorts without bringing up Michael Block and the #BlockParty. We all know my opinions on the man in terms of what happened after the PGA Championship, but, being this is an end-of-the-year wrap-up of sorts I did want to take a moment to remind myself and everyone else just how cool the #BlockParty was in the moment.

As fans of golf I feel like, when it comes to the majors at least, we are constantly looking for that real-life “Tin Cup” moment. The random everyday Joe golfer who shows up on the biggest stage and under the brightest lights and hangs around with the big boys.

Well, for 4 days we found that in Michael Block…or at least so we thought. Before we found out that Blockie was more Omar Uresti than the guy folding shirts at your local course’s pro shop (not that there is anything wrong with either of those), we all got to follow along as the guy who was the closest thing we had seen to an “everyman” not just competed with the big boys of men’s professional golf but held his own, at times even dominating. After all, who could forget his walk-and-talk with SVP during the first two rounds or his hole-in-one in front of Rory on Sunday?

While the #BlockParty has mostly come to an end, for those 4 days in May it was truly electric.

The Divide With the PGA Tour Grows

I could spend this entire recap just talking about all the ways the Tour screwed things up in 2023, but that’s not what I mean here. For all the fighting with LIV and the infighting within its own ranks, the one thing the PGA Tour managed to accomplish this year is widening the divide between the men’s professional game and the fans. You know, the ones that actually pay for the Tour to remain profitable as a “non-for-profit” organization.

While Jay Monahan may have been trying to keep the entity that is the Tour strong and the fans from jumping ship, every single move he made in 2023 seemed to do the exact opposite.

While there is no indication - at least from TV ratings numbers - that his faithful fanbase has jumped to LIV, there is also little indication that they are sticking with the Tour either, instead choosing neither in this battle for men’s professional golf supremacy, and, frankly, I can’t say I blame any of them.

We are all golf sickos here at GU and I have never been less interested to watch PGA Tour events than I was in 2023 and trust me, it had nothing to do with the guys that were playing on LIV. All the fighting and bickering over money, OWGR points, “elevated events,” and “strategic partnerships” widened the divide between the men’s professional game and the average fan to a point where I’m not sure there will be an opportunity to shrink it, at least not with Monahan in charge. He may have lost the room when it comes to his own players but, he also lost the room when it comes to those that he needs the most…the fans.

TGL Was Coming…Until It Wasn’t

One good thing that seemingly came from all this fighting for dollars was the creation of a new, laid-back golf league called the TGL. Started by Rory and Tiger it was going to pit Tour pros against each other in a state-of-the-art simulator golf setting. The concept seemed fun and, since it was going to take place during the week, wasn’t going to interfere with Tour schedules. Add in the fact that it was going to be televised on ESPN and it looked like we were going to get the closest thing to what it would be like to see these guys play golf with their buddies that we could.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other ideas.

A freak storm down here in November led to strong winds and power outages. Unfortunately, it also led to damage to the building that was going to be housing the TGL and its events and, with just under 2 months before the launch date, the damage was bad enough that the league had to be pushed back a year to 2025. 

What I’m Looking Forward To in 2024

Tiger’s Back?!

Like we usually do this time of year, we got a glimpse of Tiger Woods at the Hero World Challenge and the Father-Son. Unlike in past years though, what we saw was a Tiger that appears to be ready to get back at it on the PGA Tour on a regular basis…or at least a regular basis for him in his current state.

Barring any unforeseen setbacks or injuries, it would appear that Tiger is going to try and play in at least 1 Tour event (including majors) a month this upcoming season. That means we could see Tiger as many as 8-10 times this year!

The PGA Show

GU will be well-represented at the 2024 PGA Merchandise Show, with yours truly being there. While I have had the opportunity to attend the show in the past for other outlets, this will be my first time there with GU.

Much like my time covering the UNDERRATED Tour, going to the PGA Show will be another nice reminder of just how much the game of golf is thriving beyond the men’s professional game. 

Bringing More Non PGA Tour Stories To Life

Beyond just the PGA Show, the thing I think I am most looking forward to in 2024 is continuing to bring more stories to you all that aren’t PGA Tour or men’s professional golf related. Whether it’s the UNDERRATED Tour or Jim Furyk designing his first golf course, it’s important, at times, to remember that there is this great big world out there when it comes to golf beyond just the men’s game.

Overall I’m looking forward to what 2024 has in store and I hope you all enjoy coming along for the ride with not just me, but all of us at GU.

(Featured image by Kris McEwen.)

The Absurdity of Men's Professional Golf

While this week was milder in comparison to the drama from the previous week, men’s professional golf remains in a state of chaos. Jon Rahm’s defection to LIV Golf was but another turning point in the future of the PGA TOUR and reignited the frustrations of whiny pro golfers everywhere.

When news broke that a cadre of PGA TOUR players (deemed the “mules” by golf media) sent a memo via legal representation to the PGA TOUR Policy Board, the jokes almost wrote themselves. The list of players included the likes of James Hahn, Grayson Murray, Lanto Griffin, and other barely recognizable names who you may have heard of only because of their propensity to complain. These players demanded more transparency in any ongoing negotiations by the TOUR with the Public Investment Fund (PIF), to which they felt entitled due to their membership status.

As much as I laugh at those names, they aren’t wrong.

These past fews months have felt like we all snuck into a corporation and managed to eavesdrop on water cooler conversations among dissatisfied employees. What we heard at TOUR player press conferences suddenly conflicted with decisions by that player later on, as was the case with Rahm. Clearly a star in every sense of the word, Rahm was made to look like a disgruntled staffer who accepted a job offer from a competitor just to “stick it to the man.” His pledges of fealty to Jay Monahan’s PGA TOUR up and vanished.

It’s difficult to not sit back and wonder who these players truly are despite the words they say. Is anything real anymore? Can anyone be believed?

The money involved in this whirlwind of activity is perhaps the most absurd. Amounts rumored to be in the high hundreds of millions of dollars are thrown around with ease, forcing fans of the sport to try and wrap our minds around their meaning. “If someone offered you $500 million to leave your job…” suddenly became a frequent talking point by supporters of LIV, knowing full well that none of us will ever be faced with that decision. These numbers are make-believe, figments of imagination and exaggeration regular folks toss around to make a point.

This is also true for the imaginary world in which Rahm now finds himself. Only in fiction could a world exist where his “star power” is worth anywhere close to the rumored $300-$600 million he’s to receive for joining LIV. Rahm is not this transcendent sports icon recognizable to the world. He knows this to be true, of course, which may have made LIV’s offer even more enticing. He took the money and ran before anyone else would catch on to the charade.

Perhaps the only aspect of men’s pro golf that is more absurd than the rest is our reaction to this mess. We have all naturally taken an “us versus them” stance on any new piece of information, whether it be players joining LIV, players demanding more transparency, or who is rumored to be running either TOUR. We all feel more knowledgable than the next person, ready to debate and poke holes in the opinions of others. To be a fan of pro golf right now is to agree to choosing sides and defending your choice no matter the cost.

I have not been shy to express my biases to any of this news, but what does it matter? It’s clear that these players have fans as an afterthought, making choices only for themselves and their families. This has always been the case and fans are just now catching on. This presents another layer of absurdity in that we should have realized this long ago.

One Fan's Perspective on this Week in Golf

I’m not really sure how we got here.

This has been one of the wildest weeks in golf that I can remember, and it has everything to do with the sheer number of golfers affected. News of Jon Rahm, inarguably one of the best golfers on the planet by any measure, signing with LIV Golf was only overshadowed by the golf ball rollback announcement from the game’s governing bodies. While the latter directly affects but one player, the former impacts every golfer. It’s as dramatic a combination of news golf fans have ever seen in seven days.

Change, of course, has not been reserved to only men’s professional golf. It could be argued that 2019 marked the beginning of massive change in every walk of life for reasons completely unrelated to golf. In the years that followed you’ve seen change everywhere you look, including your neighborhood, social media feeds, news broadcasts, family conversations and even in your workplace. Questions previously reserved for water-cooler conversations are now amplified for all to hear, accuracy and legitimacy be damned.

Everyone suddenly had an audience, most of whom were also locked indoors staring at their screens arguing with one another.

During the pandemic everything was up for debate. Questions about every walk of life abounded. What the hell else did we have to do, besides stir up controversy by closely examining mundane aspects of life we previously took for granted? “You know what… why do we do things this way?”

Golf was no different, both professionally and at the recreational level. While conversations about the PGA TOUR’s business dealings and inquiries about how far the golf ball was flying have been around for years, the “cool thing to do” became finally voicing those concerns on a grand scale.

Or, maybe we just had time to finally think about it.

Suddenly, or at least more loudly, we started hearing about unhappy PGA TOUR players. Then we started hearing more. And more. And more. The only show in town was now being questioned by the game’s elites, leaving fans to wonder: what the hell is going on with that joint?

And here we are.

There is nothing wrong with Jon Rahm signing with LIV Golf. He plays golf for a living — despite his insistence he “doesn’t golf for money” — and it’s entirely his right to make as much money as possible. If the argument stops there, we should all agree.

The golf ball, especially at the pro level, is flying farther on average than ever before. Technology has improved, personal fitness has improved, and many courses have been lengthened to account for this change. If we stop the argument there, we should all agree on those facts.

We all know that life doesn’t operate in a vacuum, either.

As such, everything else that creeps in to either conversation leads to my frustration with golf at this moment. Consider the perspective of Rahm. He chose to remain loyal to the PGAT in 2022, literally brushing off LIV talks as rumor, citing legacy and format as reasons for his “pledged fealty.” Then Jay Monahan has a secret meeting, tells no players, enters into a perceived framework agreement to accept money from the same source he told other players to decline, and slaps the likes of Rahm right in the mouth.

Simultaneously, golf’s governing bodies are rolling back a portion of Rahm’s skillset (he is one of the best drivers of the ball in the game), potentially impacting his livelihood. If you’re him, who just saw your Tour’s leadership betray you financially, and are now being told the tools you use to make a living are also changing… well, I can’t fault him.

While the equipment change will still impact players no matter where they play golf, this is all about issues compounding one another. Followers of the game, myself included, are driven to debate in an attempt to make sense of it all. Such is the new routine.

I’ve not been shy to share my opinions on all of the above in the past. It probably aligns with some of yours while conflicting with others. Regardless, we can all agree that this much change at one time leads to an impression of chaos and disorganization. It doesn’t feel like a natural progression that would have happened anyway, but rather drinking from a firehose due to some arbitrary deadline nobody understands.

How we got to this place in the game isn’t as important as where we will end up. I am hopeful the dust will settle and the game will self-correct, offering the mountain of new golfers a reprieve from blustery debate lead by those of us unable to see past our own noses.

Don't get mad at the USGA for the golf ball rollback

An announcement about the upcoming golf ball rollback is expected this week and per our interview with Mike Stachura of Golf Digest it’s reach will be universal across all golfers. Public response has been as severe as it was predictable with amateurs and professionals jumping into the fray, directing anger at the USGA and R&A for a perceived overreaction to a problem that might not exist.

This vitriol is misguided, however, as golf’s governing bodies aren’t the interested parties serving as catalysts to a universal rollback. It’s the golf ball manufacturers and a segment of elite professionals raising a stink about any talk of bifurcation that lead to a one-size-fits-all decision.

It’s incredible that people need to be reminded of this, but the main responsibility of the USGA and R&A is to protect the future of the game. Say what you will about questionable rules changes, putter bans and wedge groove alternations, but golf’s governing bodies are tasked with balancing dozens of variables and interest groups while somehow protecting golf’s longevity.

It is an indisputable fact that golf ball distances have been increasing annually since 1980. The numbers don’t lie, and while the rate of increase has slowed since the early 2010’s, professional golfer data clearly shows an upward trend with no ceiling.

Whether you believe this increase presents a problem or not continues to be a dividing argument among golfers. Regardless, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to suggest if left unchecked, distances will eventually render many courses obsolete. It might not be in the next 10 years, but at some point something has to give. Golf’s governing bodies want to act on something now to prevent a bigger problem later.

Bifurcation was that potential solution. The governing bodies even heard public commentary on the idea (and others), allowing anyone in the golf industry to offer their opinion on the proposal. The response was as swift as it was unsurprising: golf ball manufacturers and professionals hated the idea of bifurcating the game.

The rationale behind their disagreement remains unclear. On the manufacturers’ side, a game with two sets of rules clearly impacts a brand’s bottom line and causes headaches for marketing departments. How do you sell two different types of the same golf ball? Never mind that these brands employ some of the brightest scientists and engineers in sports, capable of designing little round spheres with aerodynamic capabilities inspired by rocket launches. Introduce a little marketing dilemma and POOF, all of that intelligence goes away in a flash.

Give me a break.

Response from some professional golfers has been even more questionable. While the likes of Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington have offered sensical arguments for the rollback proposal, others like Keegan Bradley and MacKenzie Hughes likely view this as more of a threat. They are not alone in that opinion, mind you, as many other pros have lamented on what a rollback might mean for their own bottom line (in a matter of speaking).

It was this combination of manufacturer and golf pro anxiety that pressured the USGA and R&A to amend their bifurcation proposal. As a result, the governing bodies decided to just roll back the ball for everyone, allowing the proposal’s biggest dissenters to figure out what it means to them.

In turn, all golfers are now faced with a future reality where their golf balls will be different from what they play today. If that phrase reads as being painfully obvious… it should. Any assertion that amateur players who play once a week (or less) will suddenly have their enjoyment of the game ripped away is nonsense. At worst, “common person” golfers will experience a marginal decrease in distances coupled with a marginal boost in accuracy due to reduced flight balls.