Midweek Musings

We're still milking the Pebble thing, but might just be able to begin the delicate process of moving on...

The Winner - Stephen Hennessy has compiled fifteen things we should know about Mr. Woodland, including this on his least favorite club in the bag (at least until last week):

12. And Woodland's transformation on the greens might be most impressive. 

At Pebble Beach, Woodland gained 8.3 strokes/putting on the field en route to his

victory. To put that in context, his rank in strokes gained/putting in previous seasons:

2018: 114th. 2017: 172nd. 2016: 128th. 2015: 85th. 2014: 129th. 2013: 85th. 2012: 185th. 2011: T-128. 

Woodland credits his work with putting guru Phil Kenyon, who Woodland started working with last July, for taking the tension out of his pre-putting routine.

But is it a transformation, or merely the statistical blip of a small sample size?  The Tour's website has Woodland in 120th place in SG: Putting, mostly consistent with those shown above.  I'll courageously predict that time will tell....

He's got Amy and the lost baby, which I assume you to be aware of....  If you think he pounds it now, apparently he was really long back in the day:

1. Woodland is one of the longest drivers in golf—and he used to be even longer. 

The 35-year-old is 11th on tour in driving distance this season, averaging 309 yards, and he's 11th in clubhead speed at 122.13 mph. And that's him swinging at “about 70 percent,” he told us in 2011. Woodland decided to dial back his tee shots back in 2011 with a controlled fade. “I used to look at a 335-yard carry and know that I could do it if I jumped on it. Now if it's a 315-yard carry, I really have to jump on it. It's been an adjustment,” he told Golf Digest.

He does seem well-liked by his peers, and has always seemed a bit of a throwback, in the best sense of that word.  He was always an underachiever, obviously held back by his putter and short game. 

I am not now nor have I ever been a gearhead, but Golf Digest's Mike Stachura tells us that these guys play a different game than mere mortals:

But where Woodland really separates himself from you and me are his equipment specs. In short, he swings sticks from the country-strong Paul Bunyan collection. 

His Wilson Staff blades are all muscle and very little back. And in a rarity when it comes to tour players trying out new irons, they were the first set that Wilson sent him late last year. Making them extra extraordinary are the KBS C-Taper shafts at an X flex that weigh 130 grams. That’s about 25 percent heavier than the iron shafts you’re probably playing.

25 percent seems low....

It’s in the woods where Woodland gets particularly lumberjack-like. His Ping G410 Plus driver is a 9-degree head that actually measures out at 7 degrees. Only Bubba Watson on

Ping’s staff plays with less loft. Woodland’s driver shaft is an Accra RPG 472 with the company’s M5 rating, which equates to extra-stiff, and it weighs 76 grams, again probably 25 percent or more heavier than your driver shaft. But that’s not enough for Woodland. The shaft is “tipped” approximately two inches, which makes it play at a stiffness like a triple-X shaft. 

Woodland was fit for the Accra shaft almost three years ago at the RBC Canadian Open, and he’s used the same specs through multiple heads ever since. According to Accra’s Gawain Robertson, on the range Woodland “hits it farther probably than anyone in the world,” but in a tournament he wants to play a controlled fade. Like most pros, he hates the hook, so by choosing to play a fade, Woodland’s also bringing more spin into the equation. So he is doing everything equipment-wise to drop that spin. Hence the stoutness of the stiffness of the shaft on his driver and the extra-low loft. 

“I think we started out at about an inch and a quarter tipping and he eventually ended up settling in at about two inches,” Robertson said. “That’s pretty amazing for that shaft, which already is pretty tip stiff.”

Yeah, they're not like us....

Staying at Golf Digest, I couldn't pick Brittany Romano out of a police lineup, but this header is quite the howler:

Gary Woodland's U.S. Open-winning gear: The champ's patriotic looks at Pebble Beach were a win in more ways than one

Huh?  Did I miss them changing the flag to Salmon, White & Blue?

Seriously, take a look at his outfits:

I'll stipulate to the one on the far left, buy all-black is now patriotic?

I cringed when I saw him arrive in that salmon pullover, which reminds more of Graeme McDowell in 2010 than anything else....  remember?

OK, perhaps a shade or two darker than the Ulsterman's shirt, but still....

Design History - The design history of Pebble Beach is convoluted, though it features walk-on performances from many greats of the Golden Age.  Amazingly, the original routing was the work of two amateurs...in every sense of the word:

Pebble Beach Golf Links was incredibly designed by two amateur golfers – for free. 

Jack Neville and Douglas Grant became two of the most accomplished amateur golfers in California history – Neville won a record five California Amateurs (including two at

Pebble Beach), while Grant won once and is the only player to ever earn medalist honors three straight years. 

Neville and Grant designed Pebble Beach for free to retain their amateur status, and their labor of love stands the test of time. 

The course you play today is remarkably similar to the course they envisioned. A design tenant Neville strongly believed was to test the best golfers by giving them long irons into small greens. Many of the most iconic holes at Pebble Beach – Nos. 8, 9, 10 and 17 – now demand this. 

Neville and Grant also had a little help from some friends. Here’s a look at some of golf’s biggest titans who chipped in to make Pebble Beach the all-time course that it is today:

Click through for the Good Doctor's appearance and imprint on the course, as well as William Herbert Fowler, best known as the creator of Walton Heath.

But it's the work of this guy in preparation for that 1929 U.S. Amateur that captivates architectural geeks, though this summary doesn't quite capture its importance:

H. Chandler Egan

A stalwart golfer who won the 1904 and 1905 U.S. Amateur, as well as the silver medal in the Olympics, Henry Chandler Egan worked with MacKenzie and Robert Hunter to

prepare the course ahead of the 1929 U.S. Amateur. (Egan ended up reaching the semifinals in 1929.) Egan and Hunter – a partner of MacKenzie for several courses in California – reshaped every green, installed massive dunes-like bunkers and made lasting changes to a handful of holes, such as: 

• Moving the 1st tee to create today’s dogleg version
• Lengthening two par 5s: Nos. 2 and 14
• Pushing the 9th green against the cliffs where the previous 10th tee resided, and moved the 10th tee inland
• Extending the 16th hole 100 yards by moving the green behind a grove of trees

In that vein, below is a video Shack did last week for Golf Channel, in which he analyzes the prospects for an Eganesque restoration of the golf course, which he unfortunately makes clear can never happen:

And that highlights the downside of taking the Open to public-access venues...  A private club could undertake such a project, but it can and will never happen at a high-end resort such as Pebble.

Lastly on this subject, Shack posts at his blog on how the newly-rebuilt 17th green allowed the signature shot of Woodland's win:

You may have heard…Chandler Egan and friends remodeled Pebble Beach for the 1929 U.S. Amateur into the Pebble Beach we’ve come to know. Over time, many features have been lost to the point of dysfunction in U.S. Open conditions. The boiling point was 

reached in the 2010 U.S. Open when the 17th green could not be held. As we detailed in the above link, a remodeled 17th hole was an opportunity to see if Pebble Beach would play better in the 2019 edition. 

I’d say it did.

Since that U.S. Open, the green was expanded and the bunker faces reduced. The neck of the “hourglass” green created by Egan had been reduced to a sliver, the green unpinnable anywhere near the surrounds. The square footage restoration estimate was over 1000 square feet and while the green was still not as large as the original, the remodel made the 17th was made functional again.

But more important than the reclamation of architectural roots or reminding us of this wonderfully bizarre vision by Egan, the expansion gave Gary Woodland the opportunity to hit a shot for the ages, requiring him to clip the ball and land in a very small area and join Pebble Beach’s other 17th hole classic moments by Nicklaus and Watson.

The shot reminds how important golf course design is to giving us golf-watching thrills, and the vitality of caring for architectural gems.

OK, but it was pretty damn exciting watching all those guys play short into the bunker in 2010 because the green wouldn't hold a shot form that distance.  Good times....

I Saw It On TV -  The irony, she burns...  But great minds clearly think alike:

Why Fox Sports has become the best TV broadcast in golf

In its five years as the USGA rights-holder, Fox has added something new every year, which, for a sport whose visuals seem to never change, is refreshing and important. One year it was the mic’d up holes, even shadows on the greens to display slopes. Some of it sticks from year to year, some of it doesn’t, but Fox is trying new things and adding new context. 

This year the novelty was epic, highlighted by delicious drone shots along the coast. Blimp shots are great and were more relevant this week than most, but the drones that floated up over Carmel Bay, gliding along with the players, providing the perfect scale of the property — those were new and beautiful. A good broadcast shows viewers everything they must see to better understand a course, but also makes them a bit jealous of everyone there on the grounds. 

Joe Buck, as the lead broadcaster, is not enough for some people, and that’s a shame. He isn’t Jim Nantz, nor will he ever even try to be Johnny Miller. But just because he calls your Dallas Cowboys game on Sundays in the fall doesn’t mean he isn’t great at calling out birdies at Pebble in the summer. Buck brings something to the golf world it doesn’t have — a figurehead willing to have a little fun on the telecast. He is not hushed and corporate and catering to sponsorships. When the USGA put Dustin Johnson through the mental wringer at Oakmont in 2016, Buck called it like it was: confusing as hell!

I think the issue is that Joe Buck is too much, rather than not enough...  And I can't help but notice the category error in the comparison to Johnny....  Guys, the comparables are Nantz and  Dan Hicks, Miller and Nick Faldo have entirely different roles.

It's amusing the extent to which they've made good on their commitments, but it's all much ado about nothing, given how few events they cover.

Jack Unplugged - Jack was my Golf God as a youngster, and he's a great ambassador for our game.  

But he let loose a couple of howlers this week, so shall we familiarize him with the interior of the woodshed?  I thought you'd see it my way...

First, he falls into that ancient trap as regards sports:

When we look back on Gary Woodland’s victory in the U.S. Open years from now,

everyone will remember his pitch shot on the 17th at Pebble Beach. 

With Brooks Koepka chasing him down the stretch, Woodland’s tee shot on 17 ended up 90 feet from the hole on the hourglass green. But he pulled out his wedge and nearly holed his chip off the fringe. Woodland saved par and held on to his two-shot lead. 

Jack Nicklaus tweeted that the pitch “took a lot of guts. Promise you I would not have had that much guts. I might have putted it & played for 4.”

I'm guessing that it was more about the nature of Jack's short game, but I also cringe anytime someone speaks of athletes having courage or guts...  Yanno, firemen rushing into the WTC carrying 50 lbs. of gear takes courage.  This is a guy doing his job well, under serious pressure for sure.

But this one has me hoping it's not so:

Nicklaus: Sebonack Will Get A U.S. Open Someday

I seriously doubt it, though Mike Davis goes out of his way not to laugh at the suggestion:

Davis, interviewed at this year’s Open here, said, “It’s one of many courses that has offered an invitation to host it. When it gets to that, there’s actually a team — I’m not necessarily engaged in that any more — but I daresay that there are probably 25-plus

courses that have interest. The team does an analysis of every single course. I think it’s fair to say of every one of those that I’ve seen, is there a possibility? Absolutely.

Courses that submit an invitation normally don’t do so if there’s just no chance,” referring to Sebonack and its founder/owner, Davis added, “They hosted a great Women’s Open for us, they have a great person, Mike Pascucci, who is in charge of it. It sits out there among royalty with Shinnecock and National.”

Pascucci forced Jack and Doak to work together, and it was quite the awkward process.  The two principals were quite frustrated with each other, an inevitable result given the wide disparity in design philosophies....  

My favorite story derives from them staying next door at The National during this process, during which Jack apparently asked Tom to explain the appeal of C.B. Macdonald's iconic design.  Jack is from Venus, Tom from Mars...... To me, though I've only played it once, the course reflects this unresolved design conflict, with the greens especially off-putting.

Things We Like - I did like Henrik's reaction to hitting a fan with his ball:

After the round, Stenson said the fan was taking selfies of himself lying on the ground

when Stenson approached and seemed to be in good spirits. So Stenson joined in on the fun.

“I walk up to him. I said, ‘I’m sorry.’ What else can you say?” Stenson said after finishing the third round 1-under 70. “And he says, ‘Can you do me one favor? Can I take a picture with you?’ So next thing I’m down on the ground as well, taking a picture, a selfie, laying down with him and his girlfriend.” 

Stenson said he was unsure of the fan’s condition or if he had a concussion, but he asked for the fan’s contact information to check up on him later.

Nice.  Henrik is actually quite the amusing fellow, despite the dour game face.

And Those We Don't - Former lovebirds Jordan Spieth and Michael Greller seem to have reached their sell-by date, and this might be the only reason to watch the Travelers this weekend.  No doubt you heard, but here's the gist of it:

It was Spieth’s outburst, however, that got the most round one attention and suggests the benefits of team membership aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Spieth, understandably

fuming after his 4-iron lay-up at the 8th ran through the fairway into the water, was heard barking out, “Two perfect shots, Michael. You got me in the water on one and over the green on the other.”

“We were talking about potentially one less [club on the third shot], and I said, ‘But isn’t it playing about 60 with a fade?’ And then he said yes,” Spieth said. “So we both agreed on that. It was clearly a 4-iron off the tee. At the same time, when you hit a couple of shots exactly where you want to, and the first one is in the water and the next one is dead over the green, I’m going to be frustrated that as a team we didn’t figure out how to make sure that didn’t happen.”

Props to Geoff for that great graphic.  Like Geoff, I've mostly been put off by the ubiquitous "We" that's become so common in golf parlance.  To me it's of a kind with the instinctive tamping down of spike marks after the missed putt.... 

Golf is the most individual of sports, and it's all on the player.   Unless Michael gave you a bad number, Jordan, it's all on you, and I don't think you're actually helping yourself in refusing delivery of the blame.  Plus, calling him out on national television just isn't a great look....

Now, about that rake?

Want more that we could live without?  Shack has exciting news about our hero Phil:

Phil Transitions To The Bathroom Humor Phase Of His Social Media Career

 Funny, his career seems to be on a similar arc....

Gonna call it quites here, and keep a few things teed up for tomorrow.  See you then?