Golf Ball Rollback is Coming Soon

A proposed golf ball rollback for all golfers is on the horizon, and it’s not likely to make the masses very happy.

According to Bob Harig of SI.com, golf’s governing bodies — the USGA and R&A — are on the cusp of implementing what equates to a reduced-distance golf ball that might affect all players, both professional and recreational.

Martin Slumbers — the chief executive of the R&A — told Golf Digest in a recent interview that he expects a final decision on the matter “soon,” potentially ending speculation on the magnitude and scope of a golf ball technology change. The originally proposed Model Local Rule that would have essentially bifurcated the game between professional and recreational golfers was met with much hostility by the likes of the PGA of America, PGA TOUR, and legions of golfers across the globe.

However, according to Slumbers, any change might need to be one that affects everyone as opposed to creating a world where bifurcation is a fact of life.

(Of note, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have expressed support for the MLR, much to the chagrin of their golf ball equipment sponsors.)

As someone who has long believed that rolling back the golf ball for elite players and not the rest of us could be a good compromise, I’m not sure that a “one-size-fits-all” approach is the answer here. There’s no way that recreational golfers will take this change lying down, nor should they. Distance is not a problem with the Average Joe or Jane and therefore should be left untouched and unaltered.

The irony here, of course, is that recreational golfers will not notice if their golf balls suddenly start flying shorter distances. The once-a-week golfer is unlikely to have their overall experience diminished should a reduced-flight golf ball be introduced to the market, nor will there be any way to enforce its use among amateurs. Of course, any change in golf ball technology will be rolled out with as little advertising as possible.

Professional golfers — whether you believe it is a problem or not — are hitting the ball farther than ever before. There are many reasons for that including an increased premium on fitness, shortly mown fairways, explosive driver heads and aerodynamically optimized golf balls. It would be foolish to only focus on one variable of this equation and not the others, however I suppose you have to start somewhere.

The golf distance debate’s premise rests solely on the assertion that golf courses are becoming obsolete, including the ones that neither you nor I will ever have the luxury of playing. Municipal golf courses across the globe have stood the tests of time in terms of the game’s technological progression. Amateur golfers still struggle to break 100, and the world still turns.

Adjusting the game for every player doesn’t seem like the best path forward here, especially with signs of golf’s Covid Boom dwindling. The delicate balance of protecting the integrity of the game for future generations while muffling the progress from this generation is not to be taken lightly.

Rory Resigning From the Policy Board Tells You All You Need To Know About His Current Relationship with the Tour

There hasn’t been a bigger poster child for the Tour since LIV came on to the scene than Rory Mcllroy. Whether intentional or not, Rory put the Tour on his back for nearly 2 years, even going so far as to answer questions when his own commissioner wouldn’t. 

So, I’m sure it came as a shock to many, if not all, when earlier this week he announced his resignation from the Tour’s Policy Board. While it may have seemed to have come completely out of left field, that announcement tells you all you need to know about Rory’s current relationship with Jay Monahan and the Tour as a whole. 

Yes, Rory is in the process of launching a new golf league. Yes, Rory has a family at home that he wants to spend more time with. But Rory has also been laid out to dry more than once over these last two years, and I’m guessing that had something to do with it too. 

Now, on the heels of the Tour formalizing their deal with the Saudis, a group that Rory very publicly turned down in the early days of LIV, Rory has thrown his hands up and called it quits…and who can really blame him? 

Your feelings about the current state of the men’s game aside, at its core, the Tour is getting into bed with the same entity that they pleaded with their membership not to get involved with. 

Do as I say and not as I do. 

Frankly, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of the Tour’s most loyal follow Rory out the proverbial door. Jay has lost the room and doesn’t seem to be getting it back, at least not anytime soon. 

Even in his memo to his players announcing that they will have equity in the new, for-profit, arm of the Tour, he referenced questions he addressed to someone in his office and not him directly. The guy can’t get out of his own way. 

Rory decided that his time wasn’t worth it anymore and could be better spent focusing on other things, and that tells you all you need to know about his current relationship with the Tour.

LIV or Not: Professional Golf Is at a Point of Inflection

You’d forgive casual golf fans – the type of fans that tune in for the Majors – for not really having a grasp of what is going on in golf’s upper echelons at the moment. Back in June, it was widely reported that the PGA Tour had agreed to a merger with LIV Golf, the latter being the rebel breakaway tour backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). 

Yet, talk of a merger was – and still is – somewhat premature. A better term for what transpired in June would be a “truce”. Various lawsuits, including antitrust cases, were dropped in June, and while there was some agreement of a future where PIF would invest in the PGA and LIV would come into the fold under a newly named PGA World Enterprises, many of the details had not been ironed out. And, as it transpires, there are some logistical sticking points.

Merger may be scrapped 

As of early November, there are reports that the merger may be scrapped. There is also talk of rival bids coming in to take control, including one from the Fenway Sports Group, the investment firm behind the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC. Whether that materializes or not is something of a moot point; golf feels like it’s at the point where it will soon change forever. 

As for the fans, you get the sense that they simply do not want the boat rocked too much. Yes, there were always things we could suggest to improve golf’s ‘system’, and it wasn’t as if the PGA was universally beloved before LIV came to ruffle its feathers, but there is often this erroneous assumption from sports money men that fans are always wanting shiny new toys when in reality they want to conserve the traditions and rituals of the sports they love. 

Of course, we are in a sense of limbo at the moment. There is the much-publicized question of which LIV players will make it to the Majors in 2024. Right now, the likes of Cameron Smith and Brooks Kopeka are among the favorites with golf betting sites to win the Masters, US Open, PGA, and the Open, and they will find their way back as former winners and high-place finishers in previous Majors, but those without enough ranking points will find stubbornness from Augusta National et al., which looks like refusing exemptions. 

LIV players set to miss out 

For some fans, the temptation will be to say it serves the rebels right. Yet, there will also be something lost if a Major takes place without hosting the players who would have been there on merit. Still, we will have to see how the merger deal – and any fallout – goes through to see what will happen next year.

Nonetheless, it does feel like golf will be transformed, whether the fans like it or not, regardless of whether the merger goes through or not. There is a relentless wish to tinker at the top of the sports pyramid. It is not related to golf alone. See, for instance, extra games and international series in the NFL or the constant pressure of creating a European Super League in soccer, as well as a biennial FIFA World Cup. In soccer, in particular, these ideas have seen pushback from fans, but they are still being mooted in the halls of power despite their unpopularity with core fans. Why? Money.

And that’s the rub. LIV has been a catalyst for changes to golf, not the root cause. If Saudi PIF was to end its interest in the sport tomorrow, the changes would still come. When it comes to money, the genie is now well and truly out of the bottle. The sport was already awash with cash, but there is now a compulsion to make more by flogging the brand of golf. Perhaps it will makes things better for fans and players, but there is always the chance they are trying to fix something that was never broken in the first place. 

Jim Furyk Looking to Make a Splash with his First Course Design

Like many Tour pros that have come before him, Jim Furyk has entered the golf course design game. His first-ever, signature course is being designed in Port St Lucie, Florida at the brand-new Glynlea Country Club at Wilder.

On October 25, myself and a few other select members of the golf media sat down with Jim at the groundbreaking ceremony to talk to him about how he got involved with the project and what he envisions for his first signature golf course, among other topics.

Q: First off, how did the project get started?

Furyk: Ed Burr (President and CEO of GreenPointe Developers), developers of the land and MG Orender (President of Hampton Golf), friend of the PGA of America. Both friends of mine from Jacksonville. I’ve known these 2 gentleman for a long time. And so this project came to fruition for me a few years back, probably 3 or 4 years ago when MG mentioned to me that they may be developing some land down here and maybe one of the communities would have a golf course involved and he was gauging my interest in being considered for the designer job and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while and he knew I was interested and trying to get into that business being later in my career. So I drove down and talked to Ed’s son Austin who runs the Southeast areas for Greenpoint.

Got down here and we got out in his truck and ran out in the dirt and mud and crawled through trees and king of looked at what we had. And so it’s been a couple years in the making drawing some pictures at home with my architect and then they hired David Johnson as well. So it’s been a good team effort.

Q: How has your designer’s eye developed over the years?

Furyk: I can remember being in high school and maybe not paying attention to my teacher as much as I should have and drawing golf holes on my notebook. I was real fortunate, in my opinion, with growing up in the northeast part of the country. I grew up in the Philadelphia area and my dad was a club pro, sold golf equipment. He took me to play some very nice courses. The best course in our hometown in Lancaster, PA was Lancaster Country Club. It’s an old William Flynn design. The ladies have the U.S. Open there next year in 2024.

So I started really enjoying that as a younger player and then fortunately I was able to travel the world and play some amazing courses, whether that was the British Open or heading to Australia or wherever it may be. And so, you know the joke is as a Tour pro you tend to criticize designs your whole career and then they turn over the keys to you and then you kind of chuckle and say now everyone gets to criticize me.

It’s a flat piece of land out there. We’ve got some natural areas and so Mike and I went about designing the course and laying it out on paper. You’ll have a lot of holes against your natural areas, so protected areas on one side.

Q: Do you lean towards more of a classic golden age kind of philosophy?

Furyk: I’ll say yes, but you know what I don’t think you’re ever going to meet an architect that says no to that question. I think Pete Dye was a genius and really good at what he did, but he considered himself golden age but he seems very modern, right? So I think everyone probably considers themselves golden age because you’re drawing from all those experiences and all those wonderful courses that were built in the 1800s, early 1900s and you’re drawing from that. 

When I talk about golf course design everyone always points out that I go to the bunkers first. To me that is the bones and structure of every golf hole. And I don’t really look at bunkers as a penalty. I look at them as framing the whole thing, framing the targets. As an architect and the architects in my mind are trying to tell me where to hit it by the bunker placement. How does it set up angles into the green? I might not always know how far they’re trying to get me to hit it until I look at my yardage book or I’ve played the hole but I’ll look out there and go “ok they want me to hit it at that bunker.” They’re telling me I need to go here and that’s going to set up an angle.

Q: Having a blank slate like this as opposed to maybe walking onto a piece of property that has all kinds of different features, does that give you more freedom?

Furyk: It’s a blank canvas like you said so it does give you a lot more freedom but you also have to create some land movement. You have to create some interest and some beauty. The shaper really comes in handy there because you can draw it, you can imagine it, but you have to actually be able to move dirt and make it look natural, that’s the key. 

It’s a flat piece of land and a lot of the trees that were on the property were stuff that you’re not going to really use in the middle of a golf course so a lot of it was cleared. We’re using the perimeter for a buffer and then we’ve got some water features obviously and we’ve got drainage and we used a lot of the dirt from the ponds that were dug and we had some pretty good soil. 

So it’s a blank slate but really I think they key is trying to make it be natural, to look and flow here in Southeast Florida. I’m not trying to build a golf course that looks like the middle of North Carolina in Port St Lucie. So trying to make it flow.

Q: You’re working within the framework of a developer here. So how much freedom is there within that or are the developers kind of calling the shots?

Furyk: I give Greenpoint a lot of credit. I still hear it every day in meetings. Every time I’m down here and I’m in a meeting I’ve heard the golf course comes first. We need X, Y, and Z, ok the golf course comes first. So I think they gave us a really good avenue. Here’s your track of land, design us a golf course. We’re going to see how we can fit a neighborhood into that. So yea, I think we’ve got a really good opportunity to build a layout here that we wanted and then work with the community to make sure that we can fit the homes in properly. 

Q: You mentioned as Tour Pros you guys tend to criticize golf courses. So with that in mind now that the keys have been handed over to you are their things you’re already thinking about like ok well I absolutely hate this about golf courses and I absolutely love this?

Furyk: When you’re building a golf course like this what are we creating? Who am I designing the golf course for? What are you thinking? And so there’s going to be families, there’s going to be kids, but we see a community that probably is going to be a lot of 55 and up as well. So my mind goes to we have to design a playable course. We’re not going to have a lot of forced carries. I need to make it interesting. I need to make it so that if your bringing out your kids or bringing out a strong golfer they need to have a good time but also be challenged. But also, how do I get my beginning golfers around? How do I get my weaker golfers or higher handicappers or someone that’s you know maybe 80 years old that doesn’t hit it as far as they used to, how do I get them around the golf course? And so trying to make sure that forced carries aren’t there, creating a lot of areas around the greens. We’ll have some chipping areas, some short grass areas, areas that blend from green to tee nicely. But also all those golfers can put a putter on it, they can put a wedge on it, they can put a 7 iron on it, they can put a hybrid on it. It’s kind of an equalizer in the game that you can get folks around the golf course. Now, could there be a back-left pin on a short hole over a bunker? Absolutely, but there’s always going to be a place to hit it over there on the right. If you look at the strategy of the golf hole, you can still hit it over here, 2 putt, and make par. So trying to get them around is really key. 

Our tips are going to be a little over 6700 yards, that’s the goal. They don’t need to be any longer. My buddies that I play with are 40-60 years old, our club the tips are 7200 and then we go to 6700 and all of them play from 6700 and that’s still too much for a lot of them. 

Q: Tour players who become architects tend to design golf courses that fit their game. Is that something you’ve thought about or do you just say whatever fits the land?

Furyk: I think whatever fits the land. My biggest fear is probably that folks will see that it was designed by a Tour pr and they immediately think it’s too hard. And there’s a couple of Tour pros that design courses and they’re brutally hard. That’s what they’re known for. So my goal is I want folks to think fun when they think about my golf courses. I want them to have a good time. I want them to get around. And again, challenge the stronger player but make sure that your weaker player has a chance to have a good time and play the golf course and enjoy it. 

At the end of the day, as much golf as I’ve played in pro-ams and as many shots as I’ve seen over the last 20 years I do understand the challenges and I understand the basic misses that most amateurs have. I really want a community that when we're done and all these houses are sold and this is an active club they’re proud to bring their friends to the golf course. 

Q: Was golf course design always something that you saw yourself getting into one day?

Furyk: I dabbled some in my early to mid-30s. Had a course that we were about to break ground on in ‘08-’09, you can imagine what happened there. And then saw a lot of my friends through my early 40s who were in the business struggling for work. But now that you see golf kind of flourishing again, it’s really a good time in my career. I’m playing the Champions Tour, I’ve got 2 kids in college, my wife and I are empty nesters, we run a Champions Tour event in Jacksonville, but at the end of the day I’ve got a lot of time now to do the work and I enjoy doing it.

And it takes time. If you’re going to do it right you have to be down here a lot and it takes a bunch of time. Being here on site often, and this construction hits me perfect, November-February we hardly play on the Champions Tour so, you know, Mike can give me a call and say you need to look at something and I just get in the car and I’m here in 3 hours. 

I’m thankful for Greenpoint and Hampton for giving me the opportunity to kind of get my foot in the door and it’s actually opened a couple more avenues for me and we’re bidding on some other projects and have some good leads right now. So it’s been a lot of fun and something I’m looking to grow with.

Vince India and Jake Saiano are Collateral Damage for the PGA Tour

The ugly truth about the PGA Tour’s partnership with online sportsbooks is that they already knew their players would break the rules before signing the deal. Any notion to the contrary would be an insult to their intelligence, which is saying a lot for the Tour.

When news broke that pro golfers Vince India and Jake Staiano — two players on the Korn Ferry Tour — were suspended from competition for betting on golf matches, none of us were surprised. Not because of the players themselves, mind you; but rather knowing it was just a matter of time before someone got caught.

It also doesn’t matter that the two players weren’t placing bets on their own performance, instead choosing to place wagers on events in which they were not participating. The PGA Tour’s assertion that the “integrity of the game” must be protected — while noble in theory — simply did not apply in either instance for India or Staiano.

They were simply fans, just like you and me, betting on a sport they enjoyed watching. But alas, that also doesn’t matter.

We can all guess how the rest of this situation will unfold. Vince India has already posted an apology on his social media while Staiano shared his side of the story on Ryan French’s Any Given Monday podcast. This has become standard operating procedure in the world of social media and professional athletes making mistakes: post an apology, maybe appear on a podcast or TV show, and the news cycle will move on.

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour (and any other major sporting league that partners with an online sportsbook) will go about business unscathed. The sponsorship checks will clear, Tour athletes will appear in commercials and ads for the sportsbooks, and millions of gamblers will place bets every minute of the day.

Make no mistake: the players in this case are collateral damage that the Tour has already accounted for during their decision-making process. Just as we have seen in other professional sport leagues, athletes have a tendency to remind us of how human they actually are. None of us are immune to temptation no matter what front we put up to onlookers.

India and Staiano are not without blame, either. There is a vast list of other sports that either player could have placed a bet on and instead they chose to knowingly break a rule by betting on their sport. In the grand scheme of things, the PGA Tour’s Integrity Program isn’t all that difficult to uphold and abide by. Simply put: they screwed up and now have to face the consequences.

Still, there’s something to be said about mild entrapment here. What exactly did the Tour expect to happen after partnering with the likes of DraftKings, FanDuel and other sportsbooks? We live in the age of having mini casinos in our pockets at all times, making it easier than ever to participate in a vice (state legalities notwithstanding). As I mentioned on Dan Hauser’s Victory Over Vices podcast this week, this is as if the PGA Tour was sponsored by hot stoves but forbids players from touching their stoves.

“Do as I say, not as I do” seems to be the lay of the land when it comes to the PGA Tour’s kingdom. Players run the risk of portraying behavior unbecoming of a professional where the severity of punishment may or may not fit the crime. We are in a reality where players accused of domestic violence serve suspensions shorter than those who place bets on exhibition matches. It’s as nonsensical and sad as it can be, yet we are forced to accept it as truth.

Furthermore, there is no chance the Tour will put safeguards in place to prevent its players from participating in an activity that is not federally illegal. How could they? The mere insinuation of such action is almost as crazy as assuming players won’t find a way to gamble anyway. People are gonna people.

During the most tumultuous time in the PGA Tour’s history, the crossroads to determine its future position on business and righting perceived wrongs is already in the rearview mirror. Jay Monahan’s Tour has chosen his path, and it is paved in fool’s gold built with profit boosts and bonus bets. His players are not being asked to walk with him, but rather pushed to the adjacent ditch as we all move forward to an unknown future.

A Reckoning has Arrived for LIV Golf

LIV Golf has a very important decision to make regarding its future: do they alter their format enough to meet the requirements of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), or do they fold entirely?

When news broke that the OWGR once again denied LIV Golf world ranking points for their tournaments, the golf world responded with a mix of surprise and eye rolls. This minor detail was undoubtedly a major selling point to PGA TOUR defectors who wanted an easier path to qualifying for Majors on top of massive paydays from LIV. In the end, however, it was the Majors that voted to prevent those players from achieving that goal.

According to UK reporter Jamie Weir, the OWGR governing board — comprised of representatives from every corner of men’s professional golf — whittled itself down to only a handful of deciding votes on the matter. That means only representatives from Augusta National, the PGA of America, the R&A, and the USGA actually voted on whether LIV Golf would be awarded world ranking points. The foursome decided that LIV Golf’s tournament format (among other factors) did not meet the criteria to earn points, and that was that.

What’s mind-boggling to me is that LIV Golf’s top brass knew this was going to happen all along. The OWGR qualifying criteria is easily found and abundantly clear, yet a mixture of pride and stubbornness from LIV clouded their judgement as they finalized their shotgun start, 54-hole tournament formats. None of this should have been a surprise.

In fact, any player who jumped ship to LIV Golf joined in this sort of groupthink that equates to not believing the rules apply to them. Perhaps it was also a promise from LIV recruiters that there was “no way” things wouldn’t work out. Oops.

What this decision has effectively done for LIV is spell out exactly how far down the road a finish line rests. Unless something massive changes in the atmosphere of men’s professional golf, competing in the Majors remains the ultimate goal for any player on any pro tour. While a handful of LIV Golf players are still riding an exempt wave for tournaments like the Masters and the Opens, time is running out for them.

For those players, the world ranking dam has been breached and there is nothing in place to stop the trickle.

None of this is good for fans of the game, let alone the players themselves. Can you imagine the likes of Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau or Brooks Koepka never playing in a Major again? The notion is ridiculous to entertain, yet the likelihood of occurring is increasing at an incredible rate.

Where LIV goes from here is yet to be seen, but there’s little doubt they have a few more tricks up their sleeve. There will likely be another appeal to the OWGR or at the very least a negotiation, which will require LIV to make significant changes to their format in order to comply with the OWGR criteria. Of course, that assumes that LIV is prepared to play along, which is something they’ve yet to show any interest in doing.

2023 Ryder Cup Day 3: A Delayed Inevitability

The 2023 Ryder Cup has been won by Team Europe following three days of top-tier play in stark contrast to that of their American opponents.

Team USA did have an opportunity late Sunday afternoon as the 12 singles matches slowly shifted in the favor of the underdogs. Momentum is everything in team golf matches, and things got interesting when Scottie Scheffler halved his match with Jon Rahm in the day’s opening pairing. However, this would be short-lived as the 10.5 - 5.5 European lead to begin Sunday proved to be insurmountable.

The final tally of 16.5 - 11.5 in favor of Europe really didn’t feel even that close when you consider the three days in total. Captain Luke Donald’s squad was superb from top to bottom, with the possible exception of rookie Nicolai Hojgaard, who would finish his debut with only a half-point to his record. Names like Rahm, Hovland, Fitzpatrick, Fleetwood and of course McIlroy proved to be leaders throughout the event, securing important wins day after day.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Ryder Cup without some off-course drama.

Reports of a rift in the American locker room due to Patrick Cantlay’s alleged complaints about “not being paid" to play in the Ryder Cup would ultimately be denied by the golfer, but the social media damage had been done. By the time the fans in Rome opened their Twitter accounts, mocking chants and hatless gestures toward Cantlay became a bigger deal than it should have been. Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, getting involved was just weird, spiraling into a confrontation with McIlroy that spilled into the parking lot Saturday night.

Reports then surfaced that LaCava and McIlroy met early Sunday to “patch things up,” which Rory would later deny ever happened when asked following his singles match victory. Truly, this was an all-time low for poor reporting by the larger media outlets on site.

All of that nonsense is an afterthought, of course, as the clearly better European team continued the streak of victories on home soil. Post-round interviews unfolded as you would suspect, with both team captains praising the other out of a necessary display of sportsmanship. Players will be over-served, press conferences will get messy, and notable sound bytes will be converted into memes.

And to think: we get to do all of this again in two years in New York City.

2023 Ryder Cup Day 2: Is This Thing Over Yet?

Following a historically bad opening day at the 2023 Ryder Cup by way of not winning a single match outright, Team USA showed signs of a heartbeat on Saturday.

The European squad maintained a healthy lead over their opponents at the completion of play, leaving only a handful of points required to win the Ryder Cup once again. Captain Luke Donald’s Euro squad earned three more points during Saturday morning foursomes while Zach Johnson’s US Team finally secured a full point. Max Homa, who has been the best American player thus far by a wide margin, and partner Brian Harman defeated the duo of Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka 4&2.

Saturday’s afternoon four-ball rounds were the least lopsided of this year’s matches as the Americans managed two outright wins to show some life in what feels like an inevitable loss overall.

In typical Ryder Cup fashion, media outlets spent most of Friday evening and Saturday generating rumors of team discontent on the American side. Reports of a mysterious illness circulating among the locker room were sparked by Zach Johnson’s press conference, which included about as vague a description of whatever “it” was as you’ll ever hear. We then saw a hat-less Patrick Cantlay on the course, coupled with reports that it was some sort of silent protest for not getting paid to play in an exhibition match.

That’s right: Patrick Cantlay, who was once caught on a hot mic suggesting PGA TOUR players were “pampered fucks,” apparently wants to be paid to play in the Ryder Cup. That’s where we are right now.

We now head into Sunday’s single matches where the European squad is very likely to come out victorious once again on home soil. The American squad staging a historic comeback is possible, but about as likely as… well, a player being paid to play in the Ryder Cup.

Afterwards, we will see the traditional team press conferences where — should Team USA lose — questions about Cantlay, Zach Johnson’s coaching decisions, and mysterious illnesses will be asked and left unanswered. Sounds bytes and memes will abound, once again highlighting how truly unremarkable this haphazard team of golfers is.

The only saving grace is that Week 4 of the NFL season will compete with the conclusion of these matches, providing American fans an alternative to what will otherwise be a forgettable experience.

2023 Ryder Cup Day 1: Europe Slaps US Team in the Mouth

It’s hard to think of a less inspiring start for the US Team at the 2023 Ryder Cup because they’ve never performed this poorly on Day 1 before.

Zach Johnson’s team didn’t win a single match the entire day, settling instead for three halved-points in the afternoon fourballs following an abysmal sweep by Team Europe in the morning foursomes. The result was a Team Europe 6.5-point tally over the lackluster 1.5 points managed by the US.

This isn’t to say that Team US didn’t have flashes of progress throughout the day. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth appeared to maintain a spark in the afternoon after each sitting in the morning wave. Brooks Koepka, the only LIV Golf player for either team, was also reserved for the later session and looked admirable at times.

But that’s where the positives end. No other US players appeared to be alive, let alone competent in their pursuit to defend the Ryder Cup from Whistling Straits.

Conversely, Team Europe looked more like a defending champion almost across the roster. Jon Rham, undoubtedly Europe’s best player (with apologies to Rory McIlroy), channeled Spanish legends of Ryder Cup past to secure 1.5 points in his matches. McIlroy, paired with the incredibly red-hot Matt Fitzpatrick in the afternoon session, didn’t really have to do much en route to accounting for 2 points.

Viktor Hovland was a shining star throughout the day, continuing his blistering assault on any golf course over the last two months. Following an unquestionable bludgeoning of the US Team’s Max Homa and Brian Harman in the morning (alongside partner Ludvig Aberg), Hovland sank what might be the most consequential putt to halve his team’s match against JT and Spieth in the afternoon (much to the delight of partner Tyrell Hatton).

Let’s not mince words here, folks: there was nothing encouraging about the United States team on Day 1 of these matches. They appeared as a team of rookies, lost amid the shadows only a city like Rome could cast on the wide-eyed tourists. Team Europe was everything that their opponents hoped to be on this first day, building a lead that could, conceivably, win back the Cup by the end of Day 2 on Saturday.

Of course, that scenario is highly unlikely. There’s little doubt that the egos and talents of Team USA will bear down and provide a stronger performance tomorrow. But it is the players and players alone who will make that decision to improve, as Captain Zach Johnson is now in a place where he can only sit back and observe.

if Team Europe meant to make an early statement on “home soil” in their quest to regain the Ryder Cup, they did so 100 times over. The only question is whether they’ve spent all of their excitement prematurely, or if the dominance we witnessed today was merely an appetizer.

Sportswashing confirmed on LIV Golf, but does anyone care?

Diffusing a situation or a narrative can come in many forms. Sometimes the best path forward is to simply call things as they are and remove all doubt. “Saying the quiet part out loud” is risky, but often times the backlash from doing so is more tame than the intrigue and rumors that would otherwise swirl.

Then there’s what Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the crown price of Saudi Arabia, did this week.

As LIV Golf makes its return to the “Chicago” area — despite being 50 miles away from Chicago proper — the Tour’s leadership is calling it like it is.

MBS, a main figurehead in the creation of LIV Golf, admitted in an interview this week that sportswashing is precisely what his regime’s interest in sports is based upon.

"If sportswashing [is] going to increase my GDP [gross domestic product] by way of 1%, then I will continue doing sportwashing," he said, according to Foxnews.com. "I don't care."

The crown prince’s admittance and use of the term sportswashing — a practice used to improve one’s reputation tarnished by wrongdoing — is in some ways a relief. Ever since LIV Golf burst onto the scene two years ago journalists and golf fans alike have been whispering the term around the proverbial water cooler. Indeed, everyone knew what an underlying goal of LIV was and some chose to ignore while others vehemently opposed its creation.

But now there can be no question as to the purpose of LIV from the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) perspective. All doubt has been removed and we are all faced with a simple choice:

Do we care or not?

Let’s put everything out on the table here. If we are honest with ourselves, fandom around LIV Golf falls into a few categories. While golf as a sport is traditionally conservative, there are pockets of liberalism and progressiveness alive and well. Amid a time where United States society has (arguably) never been more divisive, LIV Golf has captured the attention of far-right golf fans. This has a lot to do with Donald Trump’s involvement in the upstart golf league from the perspective of hosting multiple events at his golf courses.

Trust me: I know I’ve lost some readers of this article already because of the preceding paragraph. For those who are still here, let’s continue.

Make no mistake: LIV Golf and those behind the tour very much have politics in mind. This is also true for most global sports to some degree; it’s unavoidable. Sports and politics are a marriage that is alive and well with no signs of separating any time soon. Where there are millions of dollars and fans to be found, governments and political interests are not far behind.

The bigger question that has always engrossed Saudi Arabia’s interest in global sports is one of morality. The kingdom’s human rights record is well documented, and it isn’t pretty (to say the least). Just last month reports of Saudi Arabian citizens being detained (or worse) for comments made on Twitter/X once again exemplified the reach of MBS and his leaders.

The question of whether or not sports fans should care about any of this is complicated. There is no doubt Saudi Arabia will continue to infiltrate global sports more than it already has, especially in the United States. It is not outlandish to suspect the NFL, NBA, or the MLB has fielded a phone call or two from the PIF in recent years.

In fact, every walk of life is funded if not influenced to some degree by money invested by the PIF. As many social media keyboard warriors love to point out, this includes the cars we drive, products we buy, and what we choose for entertainment. This is the world in which we live, like it or not.

To take the stance of avoiding anything that receives funding from the PIF is a fool’s errand, no matter one’s take on morality or politics. But this is where the illusion of choice flourishes, especially in the context of choosing to support an organization like LIV Golf of the PGA TOUR. Choosing to support or ignore isn’t as simple as a binary option like hot or cold.

As is the case with most things in life: it’s complicated. Removing all doubt of the intent behind LIV Golf complicated things further, leaving golf fans in a precarious position if not downright confused by it all.

MBS knew this, because what are we actually going to do about it?

'Elite Global Golf Tour' on the Horizon?

The world of men’s professional golf is about to change permanently, and it’s time for all of us to suck it up and accept it.

News of a framework agreement among the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has brought more questions than answers to fans of men’s pro golf. However, things are slowly becoming more clear (sort of) as time passes and details are hashed out.

Late yesterday, Matt Hughes of The Daily Mail — which, let’s be honest, is still a tabloid — offered readers an interesting rumor that an ‘Elite Global Golf Tour’ could be in development, featuring golfers from the PGAT, DP World Tour and LIV Golf. While the three tours will continue to operate independently, players will be invited to participate in an exclusive 18-event series based on world ranking points. Each event could offer prize purses north of $30M, making them the highest possible paydays for the world’s best. A timeline of 2025 has been projected.

Before I go any further, let me stress that I absolutely hate all of this. I’ve hated the fractured state of men’s pro golf since before LIV and this is just adding fuel to that fire. But I digress, because it doesn’t matter.

Additional details around this elite tour are spotty, but it appears players of a certain ability will have the option to float among the three “lesser” tours independently. This would mean the days of seeing DJ, Bryson, Phil, Jordan, Rahm, and Morikawa compete against each other are returning. You know, if you missed seeing that.

It also means that men’s pro golf will remain segmented to a degree. This is not unlike other major team sports, which pro golf so desperately wants to become for some ungodly reason. LIV Golf’s team element is as polarizing as it is intriguing, if nothing else for the sloppy shoehorned nature of forcing the concept down our throats.

Nobody is asking for pro golf teams. But that’s never stopped rich men before.

This is how professional golf is changing whether we like it or not. The dam has been broken and the floodwaters are here, offering opportunity to a business that experienced a rebirth during a pandemic that coincided with an abatement of Tiger Fever. The stars of today are mere variants of Woods’s initial shock to golf’s ecosystem, dividing fans hungry for the ‘next big thing.’

Perhaps this is needed after all. Maybe an elite golf tour will further emphasize the bifurcated nature of golf that has already existed but many ignored. Golfers across the globe will no longer be made to believe that theirs is the same game as those whom they emulate, but rather two entirely different flavors of the same dish.

During a time when so much attention is paid to having the freedom to choose in other elements of life, golf has suddenly become a beacon of pro-choice in terms of fandom. Far be it from me to ridicule an obviously progressive stance that men’s professional golf has embraced, albeit with a short period of kicking and screaming at the onset.

As fans of the game — whatever that game might become — we are also faced with a choice. We can choose to embrace change and allow it to unfold before us just like we always did. We can also choose to actively resist and/or ignore, instead opting a more passive interest in a professional sport that sometimes serves as a nap-inducing catalyst on a Sunday afternoon.

Personally, the latter seems more enticing to me, but not because I hold some holier-than-thou, “I liked this band before they sold out” mentality about men’s pro golf.

I’m just exhausted with all of it.

Scenes from the 2023 BMW Championship

The 2023 BMW Championship marked the first men’s pro golf tournament I’ve attended in years. Held at the North Course on Olympia Fields Country Club in Illinois as the second round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, fifty of the game’s best were once again in my home state.

With special contributor (and fellow Chicagoland native) Kris McEwen in tow, we spent much of the second round galavanting around the grounds capturing moments from a day that would see Max Homa break the course record with an astounding 62. Additionally, I also wanted to gauge the atmosphere of the event hosted by an organization wrapped up in change and intrigue.

In the spirit of full transparency, Kris and I attended the event on a PGA TOUR media credential, which allowed us access to the media center along with the ability to snap a few photos. Aside from the championship’s volunteer staff not knowing where said media center was located (a story for another time entirely), any opportunity to cover TOUR events in this capacity is exciting and relatively seamless.

The impressive grandstand behind the 17th tee at the 2023 BMW Championship.

Briefly: the media center is exactly what you’d expect. Rows of tables arranged in a lecture-style format with TV screens showing live action and a scoreboard at the head of the room. Journalists type away at their laptops preparing the framework of articles to be published after the round. In this case, a second doorway lead to a makeshift cafeteria where breakfast, lunch and refreshments was provided to media. This is a great opportunity to bump into veteran broadcasters and press or to simply take a break from the summer sun.

The atmosphere at any professional tournament is a mixture of excitement, awe, and spectacular confusion among the gallery. It’s evident who has been on a golf course and who has not, and even then dozens of attendees are huddled around billboards with course maps that are only moderately helpful. For a brief moment we are all strangers in a strange land, so the driving range and practice green are a good initial attraction.

The weather was absolutely perfect — sunny, not too hot or breezy, and enough cloud cover to provide short breaks from sunburns. Since only the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup race were competing, crowds were a bit sparse on a Friday afternoon. This allowed fans who had taken the day off from their jobs ample access to their favorite golfers on a course that offers superb vantage points to view the action. As Kris pointed out to me while we found a location surrounded by tee shot landing areas, older golf courses with close green-to-tee-box proximity offer the best theater.

Having the opportunity to view the best players on the planet eat up a historical golf course should never be taken lightly. There were moments throughout our afternoon when I had to remind myself that experiences like this were once the most important thing to me as a sports fan. Not sitting behind a keyboard, ridiculing every little thing about a sport and its cast; but rather breathing the same air and walking the same grounds as Max, Rory, Rickie, Jon, Scottie and more.

Scottie Scheffler escapes a greenside bunker while Jon Rahm watches. (Photo: K. McEwen)

A moment that sticks out for me came from Rory McIlroy as we watched him play the par-4 11th hole. At under 400 yards, it presents a shorter challenge for tour pros, especially those with the firepower of Rory, who easily carried the left fairway bunkers off the tee. His approach from the left first cut landed softly in the middle of the green and caught a slope that guided his ball to within 10 feet to the delight of the fans.

Rory McIlroy surveys his surroundings at the par-4 11th hole at Olympia Fields CC.

Moments later as he waited for playing partner Lucas Glover to putt, Rory stood off to the side, leaned on his putter and observed the crowd. We’ll of course never know exactly what he was thinking in that moment, but Rory appeared to simply be taking in his surroundings as opposed to the eventual task at hand. For a man who has all but carried the PGA TOUR on his shoulders during the organization’s most tumultuous time in its history, it appeared to be a moment of mindfulness and calm.

There were plenty of smaller moments like this that we observed from almost every player. Such is the joy of going to a TOUR event and seeing it live. Whether it is Max Homa brushing off a fly from his hat, Rickie Fowler setting down his water bottle before a shot, or Rory scanning the gallery, it’s a humanizing moment devoid of headlines or “hot takes.” Instead, it’s an opportunity to just be there and to remember why you wanted to be there in the first place.

Members of the gallery at the 2023 BMW Championship watch Jordan Spieth. (Photo: K. McEwen)

I don’t know what I expected to happen instead, if I’m honest. Sometimes it’s easy to get wrapped up in the drama of LIV Golf, organizational upheaval, press conference sound bytes and more. Was there a small part of me that wondered if the equivalent of small “water cooler” whispers would be heard throughout the gallery about the latest rumors and drama? Perhaps.

But none of that happened. The gallery was respectful (for the most part), kids still jostled for position against the ropes to see their favorite players, and conversations were overheard about which college a player was from, what the latest betting odds were, or the location of the nearest concession stand. In a way, attending the action that mattered was a pleasant reprieve from the noise surrounding it every other day.

Gambling, Sex, and Drugs: Unbecoming Behavior on The PGA Tour?

Extracurricular activities by PGA TOUR golfers and executives have once again entered the spotlight in recent weeks, some more overtly than others. As with all professional sports, the lives of those in power — either on the field of play or in board rooms and executive offices — are lightning rods for public attention and intrigue. Tales of extramarital affairs, scandal, gambling and worse are perhaps only trumped by the seemingly mild penalties that are enforced (if at all).

On the PGA TOUR, the textbook public example of such behavior includes the exploits of its biggest star nearly 15 years ago. News of Tiger Woods and his behavior off the course shook not only the world of golf and sports but pop culture as a whole. It’s a story that we all know well enough by now that it becomes almost an afterthought, reduced to a blemish on a reputation as opposed to a catalyst for widespread change.

For most casual golf fans, this was an introduction to a phrase that remains as vague now as it did then: “conduct unbecoming a professional.”

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At a high level and under the PGA Tour’s rules, “the commissioner has the authority to discipline players for ‘conduct unbecoming a professional’ with what is defined as a major penalty (i.e., a fine in excess of $20,000, suspension from tournament play for more than three tournaments and/or permanent disbarment from play in PGA Tour events).” It’s a phrase that can most recently be found in the early days of the LIV Golf vs the PGAT saga. TOUR commissioner Jay Monahan relied upon the phrase as grounds to enforce suspensions on players who defected to the rival, Saudia Arabia-funded LIV.

(Also of note: in 2015 the TOUR prohibited its players from accepting sponsorships from daily fantasy sports brands on grounds of such action being unbecoming a professional. The TOUR would eventually reach a partnership agreement with DraftKings in 2019, just four years later.)

To say that the enforcement of any disciplinary action against its players by the TOUR is kept quiet would be an understatement. Such was the peculiar case of Dustin Johnson’s “voluntary” absence from competition in 2014 following reports of a suspension allegedly due to cocaine, which the TOUR denied. A stark contrast to other major sports, the TOUR’s approach to such matters has always been hush-hush.

Fast-forward to last week when the FirePit Collective published an excerpt of power-gambler Billy Walters’s upcoming book, in which the author details his friendship with Phil Mickelson, complete with accusations that Mickelson attempted to gamble on the 2012 Ryder Cup despite being a participant. Mickelson has since denied this claim in a tweet while all but admitting to Walters’s other claims of the golfer’s exuberant wagering habits.

I never bet on the Ryder Cup. While it is well known that I always enjoy a friendly wager on the course,  I would never undermine the integrity of the game.

I have also been very open about my gambling addiction.  I have previously conveyed my remorse, took responsibility, have…

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 10, 2023

Whether or not Mickelson’s behavior would also meet the TOUR’s definition of “unbecoming behavior” is a moot point, of course, as his loyalties are squarely positioned with LIV Golf that — for now — operates under an entirely different rule book.

The examples of Woods, Mickelson, Johnson and others are glaringly obvious and amplified by their stardom and accomplishments, easily recognizable by die-hard and casual golf fans alike. However, could there be a much larger, more secretive, less public example of bad behavior unfolding in plain sight?

The sudden resignation of PGA TOUR executive Andy Pazder last week might have only been noticed by golf media and Golf Twitter obsessives. A 30+ year executive at the TOUR, Pazder most recently served as the chief tournaments and competition officer. The abrupt nature of Pazder’s resignation caused a flurry among golf media, igniting suspicions as to his reasoning. Could it be due to the ongoing PGAT/LIV golf drama? Or was there something less public?

Enter MaryAnn O’Neill.

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If her name isn’t immediately recognizable, here’s a refresher. O’Neill is the founder and managing partner of Icon Sports Partners and former girlfriend of pro golfer Tom Pernice, Jr. In July 2022, Sports Illustrated published two articles detailing the fallout of their relationship that included instances of domestic violence suffered by O’Neill, followed by glaring inaction by the PGA TOUR in terms of disciplinary action against Pernice. As referenced in the SI.com reporting, O’Neill provided disturbing text messages and recordings to substantiate her claims.

Days after Pazder’s resignation became public, O’Neill tweeted out an interesting comment from her account.

Who are you @AndyPazder to scold me for using #metoo @PGATOUR execs when it was well warranted?Meanwhile you just resigned due to a workplace affair with a subordinate while you are married. #Hypocrisy https://t.co/3R6bCLxNAY

— MaryAnn Reilly O (@LifeofReillyO) August 11, 2023

(Note: It has since been reported on Golf.com that Pazder’s resignation was not voluntary but rather “expedited” due to behavior the “Tour deemed was inappropriate conduct that violated company policy.”)

Initially O’Neill’s tweet went unnoticed by the majority. In due time, however, it caught the attention of numerous accounts (including ours). At the time of this writing it has amassed nearly 70,000 views.

Admittedly, I was curious. So I connected with O’Neill.

While the details of our conversation were off the record, she did grant me permission to disclose that we spoke for about 45 minutes. O’Neill covered a wide range of topics that, if I’m being honest, left me with more questions than answers.

Another look through her Twitter timeline yielded a post she authored on a whistleblower website that covered a great deal of information about her experiences as a “WAG” (wives and girlfriends) on the PGA TOUR. It’s eye-opening, both in its detail and content matter, and provides intimate details of the violence and abuse O’Neill suffered at the hands of Pernice during their relationship. I highly encourage you to read it.

What’s most disturbing about the timeline and experiences that O’Neill went through is the fact that despite all of it, Pernice remained active on the PGA TOUR. He had been allowed to compete for a long stretch despite O’Neill’s outreach to tour executives for help. Her post also discloses the glaring absence of a domestic violence policy on the TOUR, which SI.com’s reporting corroborates.

As O’Neill points out in her post, the TOUR instead falls back on an all-too-familiar phrase:

The PGA Tour is one of the few professional sports organizations that does not have a clear policy for addressing domestic violence. The NFL, for instance, has a two-strike policy by which athletes are expelled from the league for at least one year after two allegations of domestic violence or abuse. In contrast, the Tour merely scolds players under a blanket term of “conduct unbecoming of a professional,” and this extremely vague guideline is unevenly enforced.

While cases like O’Neill’s are still pending, it is a stark reminder of the horrors that can exist even at the highest echelons of professional sports. We don’t have to look further than recent headlines from the NFL, NBA, or MLB for additional examples of executives completely mishandling reports of abuse — if not ignoring them entirely.

Amid a time of monumental change and paradigm shift, men’s professional golf has much more to address than playoff points, rival tours or sponsorships. It is unclear what the future shape of the PGA TOUR will look like in two, five, or ten years, but it’s evident that much has been left unchecked among its stars and executives in certain circumstances. Sadly, the same can be said for not only any major sport organization, but also most large corporations in America.

With great change comes great opportunity, and even greater questions as to the ability of an organization’s leaders to drive the change to fruition and in the best interest of all.

After all: anything less would be unbecoming.

An Interview with Seth Waugh and Gil Hanse

The UNDERRATED Golf Tour, founded by Steph Curry, kicked off its 2nd season June25-27 at The Park in West Palm Beach, FL. I was invited to attend a panel discussion at the host hotel for the event and was able to sit down with two people who played big roles in the UNDERRATED Tour coming to South Florida: Seth Waugh, CEO of the PGA of America, and Gil Hanse, renowned golf course architect and designer.

Gary Williams leads a panel discussion featuring Seth Waugh, CEO of PGA of America, and golf course architect Gil Hanse.

Dan: “So first off, how did you get involved with the UNDERRATED Tour? Tell me a little bit about your partnership and how it all came about.”

Seth: “Golf is a small place as you know. So I’ve known Gary (Williams) for a long time, I’ve known Steph (Curry) through various things, and Will (Lowry) does a lot of stuff with us. So I knew the players and I had followed UNDERRATED a little bit last year and understood what they were trying to do. And they called me and said ‘Hey, you know, can we take a look at Frisco (Texas)?’ and I said ‘Well, you can take a look at Frisco but you really want to take a look at The Park because I think it’s going to speak to everything you’re doing.’ And so they all came down and fell in love with it.

And, you know, we couldn’t have invented a better first event for us. It speaks to everything we’re trying to accomplish, which is changing lives through the game and making the game look a whole lot more like the rest of the world. So it’s kind of a perfect marriage.”

Dan: “A lot of people when they think of golf or when they talk about golf it’s centered around the pro game and what they see on TV, but with UNDERRATED, the emphasis is on the junior kids and the kid coming up in the game.”

Seth: “In the men’s game, we have two of the five waterfront properties in the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup and then obviously on the women’s side we have the KPMG which was played last week. So during certain weeks, we are in the epicenter of that part of the game. But what we do 24/7 is we have over 20,000 people out there trying to grow the game, basically teachers. And so for us, it’s all about growing the game. And even with the PGA Championship, it’s about telling our story. It’s about Michael Block and all the things that these folks do on the frontline of the game every day. Everyone else kind of has their swimming lane but we kind of have the whole pool.”

Dan: “You mentioned growing the game and over these last couple of years especially, ‘grow the game’ has become kind of a buzzword in the golf world. For you personally and for the PGA of America as a whole, what does growing the game of golf mean to you?”

Seth: “Well, it means an absolute growth. But it also means growing in a very different way. It isn’t about making golf look like how it has always looked. It’s about being invitational to all not just welcoming to all and figuring out how to be intentional about that. I think we have taken some baby steps in that regard over the years and taken advantage of the momentum in the game and the momentum in society to make much bigger leaps than have been made in 50 years.”

Dan: “You touched on it a little during the panel discussion about how golf can look different to different people. Obviously, Top Golf and Drive Shack are huge right now. Do you guys see those entities as assets to the game or do you see it as something keeping people away from playing on actual golf courses?”

Seth: “I think golf is a lot like food. Certain days you may want to put on a coat and tie and have a French meal and other times you want to wear shorts and flip-flops and have a burger. And so there’s places where the traditional game exists and that’s great and then there are places where there’s music on the range. Also, I think we have historically defined golf as 18 holes and I don’t think that’s correct. If you and I played horse tomorrow then we played basketball. So the fact that there are so many different ways to consume golf is fantastic.

When I first started Top Golf was viewed as kind of the enemy but I don’t think it’s the enemy, I think they are actually a partner. In the beginning, they had around 40 locations and no PGA Professionals and I went to the founder and said look people come once for the experience and they don’t really come back. What if they got better at it, do you think they would come back? So now they have over 60 locations and every one of them has PGA Professionals and they’ve seen their conversion rate from Top Golf to green grass go from less than 1% to now around 15%.”

Dan: “Going back to Michael Block for a second, what did his story and that week mean for you all as an organization for him to be featured in the way that he was?”

Seth: “I mean we couldn’t have invented it. That’s the beauty of sports, right? They’re better than movies. The fact that he played as well as he did, the fact that he was as good with an earbud in as he was, the fact that he made the hole-in-one on Sunday with Rory was crazy. And so so I don’t know that we could have ever intended a better advertisement for what our guys do every day, which has been to be on the front line of the game. I think it was perfect timing too in the sense that we’ve spent the last 2 years talking about money. LIV is just code for money. And finally we’re talking about the joy of the game and why you play it.

There was one cool moment in particular that I’ll tell you about. So on 14, he hit it really close and the place is going crazy. I’m on the 15th hole and he hits a really good shot into the green and Justin (Rose) hit a mediocre shot and he starts walking toward the green and Justin does the thing where he pauses and pretends to go into his bag to get something to give Michael his walk up the 15th hole to get his applause without getting in the way. And it was just such a classy move by Justin that nobody even really noticed.”

Dan: “After these last 2 years and after everything we have all gone through with the game of golf, where do you see the state of the game at the moment, both on the men’s and women’s side and also just kind of the game of golf as a whole?”

Seth: “I think the game in every form has never been in better shape. We are seeing some of the highest levels of participation ever at every level. Avid golfers are playing more, juniors are playing more, first-timers are playing more, so day-to-day golf has never been better. I also think it’s true on the professional side. There’s a reason there’s disruption because it’s hot and cool and that’s when people try and disrupt things. So on the men’s side, we will get through this and I don’t know how it will play out. I don’t think it’s going to look exactly like what came out two weeks ago but we will figure it out in some form.

With the women’s game, it definitely felt like a major at Baltustrol. You had two 20-year-olds duking it out down the stretch and one of whom made a putt on 18 to win it which is great theatre yet again. What I’d also say about the women’s game is we just resigned KPMG for another 5 years. Our purse which was $3 million when I started is now $10 million. And so while the ratings still may not be off the charts they are getting better as well. Also what we are seeing on the sponsorship side of things is it used to be our sponsors would kind of do KPMG a favor to us as part of a package. Now though, they are insisting on KPMG or they don’t want to do the package.

I think we should be incredibly bullish on the game and the ways the game is growing is so encouraging for the future. It’s the opposite of baseball. While baseball is aging out we are getting younger and that’s a miracle.”

Dan: “How did you get involved with The Park project and with UNDERRATED Golf?”

Gil: “So once Seth got involved he recruited Dirk Ziff to look at the property and help with financing and brainstorming. Dirk told Seth ‘Well if you can get Gil then I’d be in.’ And so I’ve been good friends with Seth for a long time and if Seth asks you say yes and if with Seth it’s easy to say yes because whatever he is asking about is generally pretty good. So I came down and we went out to the property and walked around and I had a really good feeling about it. There were a lot of similarities to Australian sand belt golf and the course over the 4-5 years that it was closed had evolved into this beautiful landscape. So I had already been hooked in by Seth but once we got out there and actually saw it all it was easy.”

Dan: “So beyond just being the designer of The Park, what made you decide to get more involved with the UNDERRATED Tour as a whole?”

Gil: “Honestly it was just serendipity. I was here for the board meeting which we had planned to have alongside the event and I knew about the event overall but I didn’t fully understand the ramifications of it and the positive nature of it. And so I got in a little early today and just started watching the kids and I talked to Gary Williams about what was going on and I was hooked again.

It’s always fun to watch good players play our courses because you learn something and you see how they tackle it or what their thought process is. So that was really interesting.”

Dan: “When you design a course like The Park of a public course as opposed to a private, country club course or a course that is going to be set up for pros and host Tour events, do you design the courses differently based on the type of golfer that may be playing it?”

Gil: “Jim Wagner, my partner, and I believe that we don’t want to create different courses just because they are public. I think what we have hit on is an understanding that the best golf course, the level of precision required to play them is low. But then the level of precision required to score is high. So if we can provide that on a public golf course or a private course, that’s the base from which we are working from. Now, would we maybe tone down the number of bunkers on a public course? Maybe, but we would replace it with something else like a mound or something that’s a little more playable.”

Dan: “So I asked Seth where he saw the state of the game from his side of things. From the design side of things, where do you see the game right now and where do you see it going?”

Gil: “Like Seth, I’m incredibly bullish on the game because I love it so much. From a design standpoint, COVID wasn’t good for much of anything but was good for golf. And we are seeing a new boom in golf construction. I thought that real estate golf was dead and buried and never coming back but we’ve had people approach us about real estate development courses, so even that’s coming back. So I think the development cycle is positive. The most positive thing is that I think a lot of people thought that COVID is going to bring people to the game and then they would leave but they aren’t leaving.

And as Seth mentioned too, I think we are in a 2nd golden age of golf architecture because the projects now are focused on just golf, playability, interest, character with strategy and angles. It’s not predicated on where’s the cart path going to go, where’s the house going to go, oh you can’t walk this course because you have to cross through a neighborhood to get to the next set of holes. It’s about creating golf in its purest form.”

A Sit Down with UNDERRATED Golf Tour Golfer Lucky Cruz

(Editors note: Lucky shot rounds of 72 and 75 to finish T15 in the boy's division in the opening event of the UNDERRATED Golf Tour season at The Park in West Palm Beach, FL)

The UNDERRATED Golf Tour, founded by Steph Curry, kicked off its 2nd season June 25-27 at The Park in West Palm Beach, FL. I was invited to attend a panel discussion at the host hotel for the event and sit down with one of the golfers competing, 15-year-old Lucky Cruz of Magnolia, Texas.

Dan: “Ok, so you just gave me the lay of the land here at the hotel. Tell me a little bit about the tour and your experience with it so far. Is this your first year playing?”

Lucky: “This is my 2nd year playing. They had their first year last year and this tour is amazing. This tour is about equity, access, and opportunity. It’s about experiencing what Tour professionals experience with a more fun vibe to it. I live in Texas and the competition in Texas is incredible but some of the tournaments are a little too uptight sometimes. With the UNDERRATED Tour, I feel like it’s more friendly while maintaining that competitive edge. We are all rooting for each other out here but still competing.

Dan: “With this being the 1st tournament of the season, what’s the vibe been like so far? You all pretty much have this whole hotel almost rented out. You have the Players Lounge upstairs, a full dinner spread, what’s that all been like?”

Lucky: “I feel very welcomed and comfortable here. Like I said, with some of these other tournaments it’s very nerve-wracking and when you first arrive you get those nerves as well but once you see the hotel is being paid for, they bought out the course for us, we have the players lounge and food and drinks, it makes you feel very comfortable.”

Dan: “You had a chance to check out The Park yesterday during your practice round. It recently opened back up after a complete makeover. What were your initial thoughts on the course as a whole?”

Lucky: “Oh it’s incredible. They finished it in April and it is just pristine. I’m so glad they decided to have the tournament here because I’ve played in Florida a lot and this is like a Bermuda type of course. The greens are amazing the fairways are nice and it’s very wide open. I’m not used to that playing in Texas everything is very tight and narrow there.

Dan: “So back to you and your story, you’re 15, how long have you been playing golf?”

Lucky: “I’ve been playing for 10 years.”

Dan: “And how did you get into golf?”

Lucky: “My dad bought me the Tiger Woods 2K13 video game on the Xbox 360. They have the little camera on top and I would copy the swing. My dad bought me like a Charlie Brown plastic set of clubs and I would swing into the controller.”

Dan: “How old were you when you went out and played on an actual golf course?”

Lucky: “About 3 months after I got that game my dad took me out onto the course because he started to notice my interest. He played golf as well and at first, he took me out just to practice and then he got me into some tournaments. I think I played a full 18 holes for the first time at the age of 8.”

Dan: “At what point did you go from golf just being something fun to something you realized you were not only good at but could compete at a high level doing?”

Lucky: “That’s a good question. My dad said I started to take it seriously at age 12 but personally once I found out about golf I wanted to be great at it immediately.”

Dan: “How far do you see golf taking you? Do you see yourself trying to turn pro one day?”

Lucky: “I’ve committed to the University of Houston and ultimately yes, I want to play on Tour that is one of my main goals. 

Dan: “So you are playing on the UNDERRATED Tour, but there are only 6 events for the season so how do you stay sharp not only between events but the remainder of the year?”

Lucky: “It’s funny you mentioned that. So we bought a couple of acres where we live in Magnolia, Texas and there’s a little gate, and behind the gate used to be a car shop. So we emptied out that car shop area and put a training facility in there. So I have a hitting bay, some weights, and everything I need so when it’s raining or in the winter when it gets cold I can go in there and train. I train in there maybe 4 days a week.”

Dan: “Obviously you mentioned you are a Tiger fan but who is your favorite out on Tour currently?”

Lucky: “Rory. I’ve always been a big fan of his too mostly because I love his swing.”

Dan: “Dream foursome? You and any 3 other guys.”

Lucky: “Ben Hogan, Tiger, and Rory.”

Dan: “You get invited to play in a PGA Tour Pro-Am, other than Rory who would you pick to play with if you had your choice of anyone on the tee sheet?”

Lucky: “Scottie Scheffler.”

Dan: “Why?”

Lucky: “Because of the Texas connection also just a very good and humble guy. He’s also been blessed to hit the center of the ball every single time. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know how he does it with that footwork so I just kind of want to witness it and get some tips from him. That would be cool.”

Is Now the Time for the PGA Tour to Unionize?

Considering current events in men’s professional golf, including a massive drop in trust with PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan, now may be the time for the tour’s players to unionize.

This is far from the first time this idea has been floated over the years. Efforts to unionize include those by Mark Brooks, a 7-time winner on the PGA TOUR including the 1996 PGA Championship, who served as treasurer on the now-defunct Tour Players Association in the 1990s. That group broached the possibility of tour players collectively bargaining to protect their earning potential, however those efforts went largely unanswered.

In the years that followed, seemingly any situation that arose to the detriment of tour players was met by the question of unionization. For example, when Vijay Singh was locked in his 2013 legal battle pertaining to his use of a banned substance (remember that whole deer spray ordeal?), murmurs of how players lack protection once again circulated.

An earlier example in 2009 saw Doug Barron getting suspended by the TOUR for using testosterone and beta blockers, two banned substances per TOUR anti-doping policy. Both substances were prescribed to Barron by his doctors, who had little to no defense in the matter due to a gaping hole in player protection.

Enter LIV Golf and all the madness that has ensued over the last two years.

If we’ve learned anything recently, it’s that PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan does not have the best interests of his players in mind at all times. We’ve also been reminded multiple times that the PGA TOUR as an entity serves as judge, jury, and sometimes financial executioner for its players. This has been especially true once a viable competing TOUR suddenly appeared.

As Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard reported in the days following the announced “framework partnership” among the TOUR, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund, players are once again contemplating the benefits of forming a union. This is especially true for players who opted for loyalty to the PGA TOUR, turning down hundreds of millions of dollars just to see their leader, Monahan, pull the financial rug out from under them months later.

The benefits of a players union would be abundant. Financially, players could reach a collective bargaining agreement with the PGA TOUR to set such things as “league minimum” player salaries and other protections. This would mirror the model enjoyed by the NBA, NFL, NHL, and Major League Baseball players for decades. Legally, a union would also offer additional protections to players who may run into conflicts with the Tour’s many policies, including those related to banned substances.

Above all else, the formation of a players’ union could finally clarify the blurriness around how much oversight the Tour should have over its players.

As Ron Sirak pointed out on this topic back in 2008, while professional golfers are often referred to as “independent contractors,” it would seem this is more of a technicality and not an accurate representation of the PGA TOUR’s relationship with its athletes:

“One of the most misleading things in sports is the notion that PGA Tour players are independent contractors,” Sirak told ESPN. While it is true the players do not work for teams, the fact is they work for the PGA Tour. Now technically, the PGA Tour is the players, but that is not the way it actually works. Perhaps part of the problem is that the players do not pay enough attention to what is going on concerning issues that directly effect them. But if they were unionized, they would have a greater sense of obligation to those issue.

Let me ask you this: If the players are independent contractors, how come there is a minimum number of tournaments they have to play each year? If they are independent, how come they have to get tour permission to play in conflicting events? If they are independent, how come they have to pay a rights fee to the tour when they appear on TV in a non-tour event? And if they are independent, how come they had to agree not to sue the tour over the final results of a failed drug test? Seems to me these are all issues on which a union could get the players a better deal than they have now.”

The concept of “independent contractors” has gone through changes itself in recent years. As Forbes described in a 2022 piece on the idea of a PGA TOUR players’ union, “the Biden Administration rescinded rules issued by the Trump Administration to make it easier for someone to work as an independent contractor. In fact, one of the current rules used to discern an employee versus an independent contractor states that independent contractors must be allowed to seek out other business opportunities.”

Having a union to protect the best interests of players might allow for those business opportunities (and financial gains) to occur more frequently and with minimal interference from the PGA TOUR. While hindsight is 20/20, it may have also prevented what just occurred to PGA TOUR loyalists earlier this month.

The Ponte Vedra Screwjob

On November 9, 1997, a 15-year-old me couldn’t be happier.

I had somehow saved enough money from my caddie loops to purchase the WWF Survivor Series pay-per-view that featured my favorite wrestler, Bret Hart, facing off against my least favorite, Shawn Michaels, in the Main Event in Hart’s home country of Canada. The WWF Championship was on the line, the buildup had been intense, and I would finally get to see if Hart truly was the “best there ever is, the best there ever was, and the best there ever will be.”

If you’re a current (or recovering) pro wrestling fan like myself, you may recognize that date. That’s because that day would forever be remembered as the day WWF commissioner Vince McMahon prematurely called the match in Michaels’s favor.

The Heartbreak Kid — as Michaels was known in the ring — had just placed Hart in his own version of the “Sharpshooter;” Hart’s finishing move. What seemed like milliseconds after, McMahon came racing down to the ring from backstage, demanding the bell to signify the end of the match be rung, thus awarding the WWF Championship to Michaels and stripping it from Hart.

At the time my adolescent brain couldn’t comprehend what was happening on my TV screen. On one hand, it all appeared to be part of some predetermined storyline (an “angle” in pro wrestling lingo) and everyone was just playing a part in an elaborate play. But when Bret Hart, clearly angry, spit in McMahon’s face live on PPV, I knew that something else was going on.

That night, infamously coined the Montreal Screwjob, was my introduction into the world of “sports business,” where decisions are made to protect assets, save face, and expedite large-scale mergers. You see, in the months and years following that event, we would learn that Hart had been in negotiations to leave the WWF to join the rival WCW wrestling promotion, and McMahon was determined to not allow Hart to do so while wearing his championship belt.

While pro wrestling is 98% scripted and everyone accepts it, what happened that night was completely unpredicted yet precisely planned and horribly executed. It also changed the way I viewed a piece of entertainment I once enjoyed, replacing it with a stark reminder that in the end, money and “good business” rules all. It left me feeling betrayed in some way, perhaps even heartbroken.

On Tuesday, June 6, 2023 — some 26 years later — when a surprise announcement of the PGA TOUR, DP WORLD TOUR, and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) partnership hit the news stream, that feeling returned.

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Mainstream sports might not have predetermined outcomes that everyone accepts yet still manages to enjoy, but they are first and foremost a business. This is true in every sense of that term, including the financial responsibilities, stakeholder demands, and even boardroom drama that might as well be a pro wrestling storyline.

The world of professional golf is no different. The game’s most talented athletes are put on display every week for us to enjoy, and for the longest time the PGA TOUR was the only show in town for men’s pro golf. The emergence of LIV Golf provided competition in this space, despite all the hemming and hawing that golf media types (including myself) would make throughout the year that followed.

Everything came to a head last Tuesday, of course, when this surprise “merger that’s not really a merger” was announced, ending all litigation between the PGA TOUR and LIV Golf. It was one of those messages that everyone who heard it knew this was a massive “cover your ass” moment for the two entities. Truthfully, my initial reaction was an understanding that they didn’t want to sue one another, because, you know… lawsuits are bad. The public was going to eventually learn about some shady stuff (most likely) about both organizations, so they put an end to it.

As the news continued to sink in, an overwhelming feeling of disappointment also crept in. Admittedly, I had securely positioned myself in the Team PGA Tour camp, choosing to remain loyal in my fandom to the organization that I grew up watching, emulating, purchasing merchandise/tickets from, and later reporting on. I was bought-in, baby, and while that perhaps made me the least objective golf writer on earth, I was willing to die on that hill.

Then PGA TOUR commissioner Jay Monahan decided to show his true colors and take a big ol’ bulldozer to that hill.

Make no mistake: I firmly understand that none of this is about me or you. Clearly this also isn’t about the dozens of PGA TOUR players who showed loyalty to Monahan and turned down LIV Golf contracts (and a shit-ton of cash). This also isn’t about legacy, either.

It’s all about money. It always was, and it probably always will be.

This is not so much a realization as it is a stark reminder that no matter what we fans choose to think or feel, there’s always someone pulling the strings. Jay Monahan and Jimmy Dunne — the PGA TOUR board member/Seminole GC president/unapologetic blow-hard — are the biggest hypocrites in the history of professional golf, and there’s absolutely nothing fans can do about that. What’s even worse is that they admit it, too.

While Monahan’s decision to completely flip his position and accept Saudi money months after begging his players to not do the same is abhorrent, Dunne’s role as the reported catalyst to the whole deal is beyond abysmal. This man — who was featured in a Sports Illustrated profile lamenting the loss of multiple colleagues in 9/11 and would later ban LIV players from participating in Seminole’s prestigious Pro/Member — proactively engaged with individuals to whom dotted lines can be drawn as sources of funding for that tragedy.

Yesterday, Dunne would add a layer of pathetic icing on this shit cake by asserting if he discovers anyone involved in this new golf venture having ties to 9/11, he “would kill them” himself.

What in the world are we even doing right now?

The events that have transpired over the last week have worsened public opinion about men’s professional golf like never before. The have stripped any semblance of enjoyment from hardcore fans at a minimum, and frankly, it’s never been less fun covering the game than right now. Men’s professional golf is a complete joke at every level, and might remain that way for many months.

Just because the volume of clickbait-worthy #content is abundant, this should not overshadow how unbelievably disappointing the path to today has been.

Thankfully, there is a world outside of men’s professional golf that offers all of us hope in something more enjoyable than this debacle. The game itself remains unchanged and untarnished, despite multiple efforts for pro golf’s talking heads that any of this nonsense is for “the betterment of the game.” Golf as you and I know it remains the municipal course, driving range, par-3 track or local chip-and-putt we can visit at any point.

Sometimes knowing how the proverbial sausage is made can be interesting. However, in cases like what we’ve all experienced in men’s pro golf, embracing blissful ignorance might be the better option.

Rose Zhang is Beyond Ready

The “next big thing” in professional golf is breakout amateur and collegiate phenom Rose Zhang, who makes her debut today on the LPGA TOUR. Boasting an incredible playing resume to date, Zhang brings a mountain of hype with her to the professional ranks along with questions on whether her success will continue.

We may have questions and high anticipation. She’s already proven she can rise to the occasion.

Zhang’s amateur career is already legendary. She became the world’s No. 1-ranked amateur in September 2020 — some 33 months ago — and never fell out of that spot. She became the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, 2021 U.S. Junior Girls’ champion, 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion, 12 wins in 22 starts at Stanford. and is the first woman in NCAA history to win individual Div. I national championships in consecutive seasons.

She is now represented by golf super-agent Mark Steinberg of Excel Sports, the very same who represents names like Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, and Tiger Woods. Her sponsorship list is equally as impressive, boasting brands like Callaway Golf, TopGolf, adidas, Delta, and others. While these facts are more superficial in nature (and a necessity at the pro level), they exemplify and validate the potential of golf’s newest superstar.

While Zhang’s on-course play will undoubtedly have its ups and downs, so too will public reaction and the ever-present societal judgement of observers.

We have a tendency to build stars up just to tear them down. Such is the time in which we live. Our’s is a society that looks for flaws any chance we get, if nothing else to appease the “Well Actually” social media crowd. At some point in our collective fandom, pointing out inconsistencies or failures has become more important than simply admiring what is unfolding before us.

Zhang presents another opportunity for us to celebrate greatness at its very beginning. Far too often are professional athletes labeled “the GOAT” in recent years as fans and media alike want to be “the first to say it.” But in Zhang’s case, and this is a rarity, she actually has a resume and momentum to allow us to tiptoe into those waters.

But we shouldn’t. Not yet. It would be unfair to Zhang. It would be unfair for anyone.

There is still much to be proven at the pro level for golf’s next Big Thing, even when all signs point to Rose Zhang being able to do just that. There is no doubt she is beyond ready for the challenge and the spotlight.

The best thing for all of us is to meet her halfway and provide her the space to wow us all. If we can do that, there’s little doubt that this will be a hell of a ride.

What Michael Block is Not

Michael Block is a very good golfer. After all, you have to be an excellent golfer to not just qualify for the PGA Championship but finish the week in a tie for 15th. What Michael Block isn’t though, is a PGA Tour Pro. 

He showed as much on Thursday when he shot an 81 in the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge, and you know what? That’s ok. 

PGA Tour Pros don’t go on the interview circuit after finishing 15th in a major (hell Brooks didn’t even do any interviews after WINNING the PGA, instead opting to spend his days after winning the Wanamaker at Panthers and Heat playoff games). They also don’t tend to go on podcasts and tell everyone that if they could just hit as far as Rory does off the tee that they would be the best player in the world. 

Now, in his defense, Michael Block never claimed to be a Tour pro. He stole the hearts of the golf world last week and reaped the benefits of it over the next few days, something we all would have done. But it’s also worth noting that Michael Block also isn’t just some guy folding shirts in a pro shop. 

For what it’s worth, Block has played in over 25 PGA Tour events since 2013. He even played in 2 Tour events THIS YEAR prior to the PGA Championship (The American Express and the Farmers Insurance Open where he missed the cut in both). He has played in at least one event of the California swing every year since 2013 and during the 2014-2015 season, he teed it up a total of 6 times including made cuts at the Sanderson and the Barbasol Championship. 

He’s way more Omar Uresti than the guy at the counter ringing you up for your greens fee and a Diet Coke. 

Michael Block also reminded us (if we even needed reminding) the difference between even a really good golfer and a golfer who can play on the Tour week in and week out. The grind of playing on the Tour week in and week out may be one of the hardest things to do in all of sport. It’s one thing to have your A-game for 4 days, especially at an event where if you can just manage to grind your way to Even Par for 4 days you are in good shape. It’s another thing when you have to be on that same level every day for weeks or even months at a time while also knowing that Even Par most weeks won’t even be good enough to make the cut, let alone be in contention come the weekend.

Short of shooting a round in the low 60s or even the upper 50s on Friday (something that he actually said in his post-round interview on Thursday was something he wouldn’t be shocked if he did), Michael Block will be returning to his California club on Friday evening.

For the most part, he will go back to being a successful Club Pro whose rate for lessons surely has gone up after these last two weeks. We may still see him here and there (he has accepted a sponsor's invite to play in the RBC Canadian Open and he has already qualified for next year’s PGA), but, the news cycle will move on, just like it does for everyone else. 

In a few weeks, Michael Block will be a memory. A reminder of how he made us feel for a few days in the middle of May. He will always have his hole-in-one on 15 and the memories that come along with that. He will always have the love and admiration of his friends, family, and fellow members of his club. What he won’t have, is a PGA Tour card.

And you know what? That’s ok.

Lesser Known Facts About a PGA Club Pro

As the 2023 PGA Championship continues this weekend, let’s take some time to reflect on one of the most under-appreciated professions in all of golf: the PGA Club Pro.

Yesterday, Michael Block — a PGA Professional out of Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, California — captured the hearts of many as he fought back to make the cut at this year’s second major championship. In fact, Block is very much in the mix entering the third round only a handful of shots back. He did not hide his emotions when asked by reporters what this meant to him, nor did he forget to honor the “29,000” other PGA club professionals whom he is representing.

Block acknowledged that he knew he would never be a PGA TOUR pro, but that this week has allowed him to achieve one “last little goal” for his career. After Sunday, Block will go back to work at his home course and continue performing all the duties that’s required of the club pro profession.

While I personally am not a PGA Club Pro, I did have the privilege of working at a club for a decade growing up. During that time I observed multiple club professionals and their day-to-day duties, many of which I assisted with throughout my tenure.

This article will detail some of the lesser known skills and tasks that is expected of a club pro, especially those who work at smaller, local courses like Block (and thousands of others).

As the conversation about fair wages for PGA club professionals picks up steam — and deservedly so — keep in mind that while golf may seem like a dream job for many, it’s still a job that features hundreds of thankless hours and menial tasks of which you might not be aware.

Membership Swing Coach

Perhaps the most obvious job requirement for a PGA club pro is their golf lesson schedule. Depending on the size of the course or club, a PGA pro’s summer is likely filled with lesson appointments for their membership (and sometimes members’ families).

Golf lessons can make up a considerable percentage of a pro’s salary, especially with added gratuity for a session. But these lessons aren’t always reserved for the practice tee. Club pros are often bombarded with questions from members and guests alike, all of whom hoping for a comped impromptu swing tip. The club pro has a choice to make in these instances: ask the member to schedule a lesson, or “let this one slide” out of good customer service.

Often times a club pro will leave hundreds of dollars on the table they would have otherwise made via a scheduled golf lesson.

Club Event Coordinator

Almost every club professional will be tasked with coordinating and hosting numerous membership or course events throughout the year. Whether it’s men’s league, twilight golf, an opening day corporate scramble or the annual Club Championship, you are almost guaranteed to see your local pro running around like crazy.

There’s a joke around club pro circles about having the Best Calligraphy Skills, stemming from the handwriting you see on event leaderboard posters displayed during an outing. There’s a very good chance your club pro wrote out those posters by hand, and possibly more than once if a misspelling was made or black marker runs out.

Club pros — and hopefully their assistant pros, if they’re lucky — must also coordinate event payouts, corporate sponsor fees, and literally everything else that’s required to make an event run smoothly. All of this is done in the hope that a member or two will toss a few extra bucks their way, which is never guaranteed.

The Manager-Mentor

Golf courses are a wonderful place for young kids to earn their first jobs. The PGA club pro must serve as the head honcho in these cases, handling payroll, onboarding, and every other managerial duty you’d expect.

However, the club pro is also dealing with teenagers as employees… along with all the challenges that come along with it.

As a former teen who worked at a club, my head pro was not only the guy who signed my paychecks. He was a mentor in many ways, teaching me about customer service, the importance of showing up to work on time, taking pride in a job well done, and (when necessary) reprimanding me for unprofessional behavior.

I still remember long stretches when our club pro remained at work well into the evening catching up on paperwork, balancing budgets, placing orders to keep the pro shop stocked, and a million other administrative tasks that could not be delegated.

Maintaining a Strong Golf Game

Not only does your local PGA club pro have to worry about every single business aspect of the course. They also have to keep their golf game sharp, at least in the eyes of members.

You’d be surprised at how much stress this causes for club pros, especially when the pro hasn’t had the chance to hit a golf ball in weeks let along play an entire round. Members or guests routinely extend golf invites to the pro, and every one of them expect that pro to blow their minds with stellar play. They’re professionals after all, right?!

I have been told by more than one club pro how embarrassing it can be to accept a foursome invite and not break 80. In these circumstances the pro takes on a ton of risk: if you don’t play well, who is going to book a lesson with you?

Staying in Good Graces

While this is especially true at private golf clubs, the PGA club pro must do everything in their power to not only appease the membership, but also the Board of Directors.

Often times this Board is comprised of members, which compounds the stress for the club pro. Give a bad lesson to a Board member? That’ll come up at contract renewal season. Mess up a custom club order for a member’s guest? The club pro better expect a nasty phone call. And so on. And so on.

Many promising club pro careers have been cut short due to bad blood or misunderstandings with the Board. While every profession in life includes answering to a supervisor, it’s never fun to constantly appeal to an entire membership every single day.

These examples only scratch the surface of what a PGA club professional experiences throughout their career, and we haven’t even mentioned their family or social life. While the layperson will look at a club pro and think, “Gosh, they get to play golf all day,” rest assured that couldn’t be further from the truth.

As you watch the remainder of this year’s PGA Championship, take a moment to reach out to your local club pro and offer your appreciation for all they do. Sometimes kind words can go a long way, even in a professional like golf.