Or some such thing... I've got some open browser tabs and you're no doubt bored silly by the football by now.
Pebble In Full - As you've no doubt discerned, Pebble Beach is that consensus top ten golf course that I refuse to worship. It's in large part pure petulance, but also a recognition that it really ought to be so much better, given the quality of the real estate.
In a similar vein, I always say that the Torrey Pines property is a ten, but the golf course is a five. Pebble, admittedly is more a 7.5-8, but that still leaves us wanting more.
Interestingly, the folks at Pebble did something that I really should hate, but it ends up making my case. If they returned the golf course to this look, as Chandler Egan and company had it for the iconic 1929 U.S. Amateur, they could charge anything they wanted for it:
As Geoff explains, this is a photo he published in his Golden Age of Golf Design, which they colorized:
If you return it to that look, I promise to withhold any future snark...
That Was A Quick Decade - The aughts kind of flew by, which is probably for the better. But, of course, everyone feels compelled to sum the decade up. Care for a sampling menu?
Young Turk Alex Myers at least has a fun slant on it:
The top 30 PGA Tour events of the past decade in 10 words or less
What do you remember from 2010?
Greenbrier Classic: Boom baby! Stuart Appleby shoots Sunday 59. Tough break, Jeff Overton.
St. Jude Classic: Robert Garrigus collapses. Lee Westwood wins. Swamp ass. (Not pictured. You're welcome.)Shell Houston Open: Anthony Kim’s last win. Miss you, AK. (Pictured. You're welcome.)
AK and Boom Baby in the same year? How quickly we forget...
Alas, this is a highly selective history. For instance, CTRL:F- Allenby yields zero results.
There's actually a Tour Confidential panel, and they continue to live in their Tiger-centric bubble:
1. Much has happened in golf in the past decade, but we might have witnessed a strong contender for greatest moment of the 2010s last April at Augusta National. What say you, was Tiger’s Masters triumph the game’s best moment of the past decade?
Michael Bamberger: Well, it was the best big moment, but a note about it: he built to it. Honda and Tampa. Carnoustie, Bellerieve. East Lake. Tiger’s golf is about the work and the steps.
Josh Sens: No doubt it had the widest reverberations. I can think of some seriously heart-tugging moments (Amy Bockerstette’s par with Gary Woodland in Phoenix); and some nearly as electric ones (that Reed/Rory singles match in the Ryder Cup put the crowd in a frenzy, as did Tiger’s win at East Lake). But Tiger at Augusta was the one moment that had my friends who don’t play golf eager to talk about golf. A reminder of Tiger’s unique reach.
Sean Zak: It was definitely the biggest moment. I’d pick it apart, though, and call Woods’ walk with Charlie to the scoring area the best moment. All the chills.
Alan Shipnuck: Phil winning the Masters for a cancer-stricken Amy in 2010. Rory bouncing back to win the Open at Congo just months after his self-immolation in Amen Corner. Spieth’s epic bogey and then back-nine charge at Birkdale. Shane Lowry being carried home by the singing of the Irish island. These were all indelible moments but Tiger’s win, and the outpouring of emotion surrounding it, is on an entirely different level.
Dylan Dethier: It would be really hard to find another time that a golf event transcended the sport in a similar fashion, like, ever. I wasn’t alive for Jack’s Masters win in ‘86, though that might have had a similar vibe. Tiger Woods is among the biggest athletes of all time; the crowning moment of his comeback was the sports story of the year and definitely the golf story of the decade, by far.
The list is kind of short, no? Rory at Congressional leaves me a bit cold, given how soft the course was... I do agree with Alan that Phil's 2010 Masters was really emotional, and we all, of course, just hate Dylan for his contribution.
Alex Myers takes a second bite of the apple, ranking the top ten majors of the decade. His top pick is the obvious, but this seems quite mad for the silver:
2. 2014 PGA ChampionshipIn terms of pure final-round entertainment, this was No. 1 with four big names (RoryMcIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Rickie Fowler) battling down the stretch at Valhalla. It’s also the only major of the decade in which four golfers wound up playing together (sort of) on the final hole when the final group was allowed to hit into the penultimate pairing (Phil wasn’t too pleased about that!) to avoid a Monday finish. McIlroy, whose back-nine rally after blowing his 54-hole lead on the front was fueled by an eagle on the 10th hole, nearly found the water with his tee shot on No. 18. Minutes later, he tapped in for par in near darkness to win by one and claim a fourth major at 25. Wild times! But aren't they always at Valhalla?
Henrik I don't remember. It was a cluster-eff finish, in which all parties beclowned themselves. But Alex seems to be the only person besides your humble blogger that remembers how close Rory came to blowing it in his rush to finish.
Also, anyone notice that this was Rory's last major? Oh yeah, I seem to recall Brooks pointing it out....
But really, the 2010 Masters (Amy), the Henrik-Phil duel at Troon and Phil at Muirfield I would have higher. Heck, I'd have Adam Scott's and Sergio v. Justin higher than this one. Upon further review, throw in Jordan at Birkdale as well, if Alex wants a crazy final round.
Back to our TC gang, for a rather more interesting question:
2. What is the most significant way in which the game has changed/evolved over the last 10 years, either at the pro level or for recreational players?
Bamberger: On Tour, driving accuracy is close to meaningless. But the biggest change I fear is the attitude about the rules, at least at times, in places. Over the course of the decade the attitude seems to be shifting to catch-me-if-you-can. That’s troubling. On a more positive note, more golfers have more appreciation for simpler golf, less everything. Less is more. It really is.
Sens: At the pro level: distance. It has altered everything. Not just the way the best players play, but also the courses and setups that are viable for competitions. To Michael’s point about simpler golf — it’s had a great, corrective influence on course design, not just at the blowout resorts but at the smaller, local level. The fact that a muni here in Oakland, Calif., (Corica Park) was redone in the manner of an Aussie sandbelt course says a lot about this shift.
Those are interesting answers I think. It's ironic, but the distance explosion overlaps with a trend towards minimalism in course design. I don't think golf at the elite level ever overlapped much with the recreational game, but I think the recent past has seen that divergence accelerate.
Zak: Feels crazy to say this but we started the decade without female members at Augusta National. We ended it with women amateurs balling out on the legendary course, streamed live on TV. Women members are now allowed at Muirfield, too. Tadd Fujikawa felt comfortable enough to tell us all about his personal story. Relatively speaking, these were tiny news stories, but they weigh a ton.
A few women that played ANGC as guests are now members... I don't object, but how does that affect the rest of us?
Dethier: On Tour, I’d say the tech has made the biggest difference. Everything from increased ShotLink and Strokes Gained data to Trackman to 3D imaging and all manner of biomechanical analysis has made players (in general) better and smarter. For the recreational golfer the biggest differences lie in the golf courses; there has been a constriction since the pre-recession boom, though there’s a silver lining that newer properties are better conceived.
Shipnuck: I like all of the above answers. I would add that there seems to be a more widespread appreciation for the game among those who play it. Water and land is becoming more scarce, we’re all overwhelmed by our phones, life moves faster, we’re all busier — being on the golf course with friends is the perfect antidote. The movement to loosen up and just have fun on the course is spreading and that’s a great evolution from the stuffiness of yore.
I like Alan's answer, but left unsaid is the seeming lack of confidence in the timeless appeal of our game to golf's governing bodies. For centuries folks have gravitated to golf, but the millennials won't unless we dumb down the language?
I also think Mike is on to something, though I'm unclear as to its magnitude. This latest generation clearly has an issue with the protecting the field obligation, though I'm unclear if it goes deeper than that. I don't think we need to over-interpret Patrick Reed, he's got that long resume of being a jerk.
3. While we already got a taste of the 2019-20 season with the fall events, the Sentry Tournament of Champions kicks off the new calendar-year season this week in Hawaii. Which player — could be a youngster or a surprising resurgent veteran — do you foresee making waves in 2020?
Bamberger: Jordan Spieth. Xander. Cantlay. Patrick Reed, one way or the other.
It's really endearing how all-in on Jordan Mike remains.... I just can't share his confidence.
Sens: I wouldn’t have said this even right after the Masters, but following the show he put on this fall, Tiger.
Zak: Matthew Wolff is the easy and obvious answer. Excited to watch him play the majors (and contend).
Shipnuck: Hard to believe Viktor Hovland hasn’t won yet. That is going to change. Soon.
He's been out there an hour-and-a-half, and Alan thinks he should have won already. That's a vo=te of confidence, for sure, but life must be awfully frustrating for him.
Dethier: I’m fascinated by the future of Matt Wallace.
Fortunately for Dylan I'm too lazy to Google it, but I'm pretty confident that Matt Wallace's name and any form of the word "fascinating: have never been used in the same sentence.
4. What’s most likely to happen in 2020: Brooks Koepka wins another major, Tiger Woods wins major No.16 or Jordan Spieth snaps his 0-for-55 slump (and counting) and wins at least one PGA Tour event?
Bamberger: Absolutely Spieth, on math alone. So many more chances.
OK, but just because of that math.
Sens: Can’t argue with Michael’s math, but I’m going to place a longer-shot wager on Tiger.
Zak: Spieth is going to get it done again. He’ll have one of those Spieth Weeks where he can’t miss and ends up making 300 feet of putts and wins by three.
Shipnuck: I’m all in on Brooks. He’s going to win the Masters, because Brooks.
Dethier: Yeah, Spieth has a better chance in 20-ish tries than Tiger or Brooks do in four. What’s interesting is that a couple of months ago, you’d have said Brooks was more likely to win a 2020 major than Tiger — in a landslide. At the moment it feels like more of a toss-up, although I guess that’s me discounting Koepka again, which has never worked well for us.
Guess what, Brooks is still far more likely to snag one than Tiger. Anyone remember Saturday at the Prez Cup? He's still got to get awfully lucky on weather and draws... Harding in May? The British Isles pretty much any time?
Now the boys go into hype mode:
5. Adam Scott was among the pros who declined to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, and he recently said he’s not so sure about 2020 in Tokyo, either. “I’m just going to take my time and see,” Scott said. “I’ve made it clear it’s not my priority, but I wouldn’t rule it out.” Rory McIlroy was among the high-profile pros who also bowed out of the 2016 Games, but he’s seemed to change course about 2020. Do you think more pros will be receptive to the 2020 Games than what we saw in 2016, and should they feel obligated to play?
Bamberger: No one should feel obligated to play, but Tiger’s intense desire to do so will spread far and wide, I suspect.
Sens: Obligated? No. But there will definitely be more interest. Not just because 2016 was a success but also because there won’t be the same fear-mongering that there was around the Games in Rio. Zika. Crime. Unfamiliarity about Brazil in general — those were unfortunate factors that kept a lot of players away.
Zak: I think the smarter bunch of pros view the groupthink from 2016 as a mistake. The top Americans all seem interested, and the fancy prize of a gold medal is just so rare that it’s worth playing for regardless of the jam-packed schedule.
Shipnuck: Memo to Adam Scott: go away. We don’t want you or need you. I’m so sick of the top players’ B.S. around the Games. Their selfish fear-mongering in 2016 was a monumental embarrassment for golf. They’ll sell their souls and fly around the world for a meaningless tournament in Saudi Arabia but are too cool to be a part of the most venerated and widely watched athletic competition on the planet? Every golfer in Rio had an incredible experience. Japan will build on that. If any players don’t want to be a part of it they simply need to shut their mouths and step aside — plenty of others will treasure the experience.
Dethier: Tough to top Shippy here; I’ll just add that nearly every athlete on the planet dreams of playing in the Olympic Games. The idea that golfers wouldn’t care about the Olympics is just illogical; it’s weird and ultimately won’t last.
Errrr Alan, have you considered seeing someone about that anger?
Venerated? I'm sorry Alan, but Olympic golf is a bad joke. There are barely thirty world -class golfers there, and they can't be bothered coming up with a format that might interest. Go into huckster mode to your heart's content, but it's not a serious golfing event, so why should Adam take it seriously?
And the IOC? A tad corrupt for my tastes... When one lies down with dogs....
So, a kidney stone of a decade? How about 2019 itself?
Brian Wacker sums up the biggest controversies of 2019, and the length of the list is itself troubling. So, whatcha got, Brian?
Slow play: If you remember the painstaking length of time it took J.B. Holmes to play his final round at Riviera (5½ hours!) more than his actual win at the Genesis Open, youwouldn’t be alone. It was yet another instance of slow play becoming a public lament for fans—and even fellow players. Holmes’ pedestrian ways resurfaced during the final round of the Open Championship, his playing partner (and outspoken slow-play critic) Brooks Koepka unable to (completely) hide his disgust. But Holmes’ methodical ways were overshadowed when video of Bryson DeChambeau’s dawdling at the Northern Trust went viral. Koepka once more went public with him anger about the issue, calling out DeChambeau by name, a rarity amongst the brotherhood. Both the PGA Tour and European Tour have plans to address the issue in 2020, but will it be enough for slow pokes to truly pick up the pace?
Is it controversial if we all feel the same way about it?
But in terms of favorite moments of the year, JB Holmes' disintegration when paired with Koepka at Portrush ranks highly.
This one is self-inflicted:
John Daly and a cart: Nothing quite says major championship like John Daly cruisingaround in a cart during the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, a smoke in one hand and a Diet Coke in the cupholder. The PGA of America approved Daly’s use for the cart, citing ADA laws. It was an image that didn’t fly with the R&A, which denied Daly the use of a cart for the Open Championship at Royal Portrush (different country, different laws), so he withdrew from the event.
The real question is why is he even in the field? I'm so old that I remember when the PGA of America used to brag about the strength of the field at their signature event. But I can see where it's better to clog the field up with fat old guys like Daly, Rick Beem and Shaun Micheel...
And, of course:
Patrick Reed vs. the sand: A year after embroiling himself in a Ryder Cup controversy, Reed was at it again, this time at the Hero World Challenge. During the third round, TV cameras showed Reed twice knocking away sand from behind his ball while taking a couple of practice swings in a waste bunker. Reed was penalized two strokes for improving the line of his stroke, but claimed he had no ill-intent and that the cameras caught him at a bad angle. This only fostered more negative chatter toward him. The controversy followed Reed the next week to the Presidents Cup in Australia, where the home team’s fans were relentless with their insults. Reed’s caddie, Kessler Karain, eventually got into an altercation with a fan, resulting in the looper being removed from the bag for Sunday’s singles matches—and providing one last controversy in a year littered with them.
Pretty much Patrick against the rest of us...
Last Rounds - Golfweek comes up with a seemingly interesting premise, asking PGA Tour pros where they'd play that hypothetical last round. The flaw in the plan is that they're tour pros, not the most imaginative group. Think I'm being unduly harsh?
Luke List, Augusta National
Adam Long, Augusta NationalAdam Scott, Augusta National
“I won my major there, after all, so, so many good memories.”Rickie Fowler, Augusta National“I’d want the greens firm and fast so you could play the course the way it was designed.”
Emiliano Grillo, Augusta National
“Have you ever been there? Enough said.”
Morgan Hoffmann, Augusta National
Abraham Ancer, Augusta National
Scott Brown, Augusta National
Harris English, Augusta National
I think I'm sensing a trend...
This guy at least shows some imagination:
Bo Van Pelt, Pebble Beach and Augusta National
“Front nine at Pebble Beach, back nine at Augusta. National. How good would that?”
Lots of love for Pebble and Cypress, though this guy will never make it as a course rater:
Bryson DeChambeau, Cypress Point
“It’s my favorite course in the world. It’s on the most beautiful setting and was designed brilliantly with match play in mind where it starts fairly easily and gets more and more demanding. A lot of people think No. 18 is a bad golf hole. I happen to think it is one of the best because you have to hit two perfect shots to get to the green.”
That's profoundly silly, as Cypress Point is very much as good as he says. However, it's despite the first and 18th holes being weak. Those of us that love seaside golf accommodate to this fact, as it's so often necessary to traverse the less interesting land to get to the good stuff. But let's maintain some standards, shall we?
Who knew Ryder Cup captains were just like the rest of us:
Jim Furyk, Pine Valley“I’ve never been so I might as well play a course I’ve always wanted to play. I hear it’s No. 1.”
Steve Stricker, Pine Valley“Pine Valley because I’ve heard so many good things about it and I’ve never been there.”
Well, should you need a fourth... I wouldn't need much more than an hour's notice.
Predictions Are Hard - Especially, it so happens, about the future. Nevertheless, Dan Rappaport takes a shot at predicting 2020 story lines. This one is quite curious:
Phil Mickelson
On June 16, Phil Mickelson turns 50, a significant birthday in the golf world. Lefty becomes eligible to play the PGA Tour Champions just two days before the tournamenthe wants to win most, the U.S. Open, begins at the place where he was closest to winning it: Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. He’s already older than history’s oldest major winner, and Father Time seemed to make some inroads against Mickelson last year, as he dropped out of the top 50 in the World Ranking for the first time in 26 years.
Still, we can’t put anything past Mickelson, who might be hitting the ball farther than he ever has, and 2020 feels like a bit of a crossroads. There’s the potential he’ll continue to slide down the rankings and transition to a more-limited tournament schedule, or he’ll rediscover some lost accuracy and deliver another late-career flourish. One thing to keep in mind: Lefty will be eligible for the U.S. Senior Open, which will be held at Newport Country Club the week after Winged Foot. How cruelly poetic would it be for Mickelson to win the Senior Open in his first try after an elusive three-decade quest for the U.S. Open?
Lost accuracy? I must of been away that weekend...
It's easy to forget that he's won in each of the last two seasons, but I don't think even he has his hopes up for Winged Foot.
I predict this will be quickly buried:
Distance Insights Project Report
Sixteen months ago, the USGA and R&A launched the Distance Insights Project, a study to determine the effects of distance on golf writ large. The distance debate, primarily at the professional level, has been going on for years, with critics suggesting several factors, including modern equipment, are rendering classic courses obsolete for high-level tournament play and blurring the lines between truly elite ball-strikers and bombers who wouldn’t be as dominant in other eras. The most common suggestion has been a bifurcation of the rules: one set for the pros, one set for the Joes, with a rollback of the ball among the ideas floated. Officials at the USGA and R&A have gone quiet on where they might stand on the issue, having sent mixed signals in the past and wanting the work of the report to finish without bias. The PGA Tour would have to be on board with any change as well, with it being unlikely they’d be interested in any significant alternatives. (Interestingly, PGA Tour driving distances were down 2.2 yards in the 2018-’19 season.)
No matter its findings, the opening statement of the report, which is expected to be released on Feb. 4, will mark a turning point in the debate. Distance could be deemed a serious problem with an aggressive course of action suggested. Or, more likely, the report will acknowledge increasing distances but prescribe less radical solutions than equipment-based fixes. Put simply: this document could turn the game on its head or be a whole lot of nothing. Smart money is more on the latter, for better or worse.
I think Dan just called me smart. Or called my money smart...
American Ryder Cup chances
Somewhat lost amid the Presidents Cup drama-vortex is the fact that an extremely strong (on paper) U.S. team nearly lost to a hodgepodge International side that had only two players in the top 20 and an average World Ranking outside the top 50.
The sample size is still too small for a scientist’s liking, but it’s not so small that we can’t say recent U.S. national team performances have fallen short of the sum of their parts. The Americans have lost seven of the past nine Ryder Cups, and 2018’s shellacking at Le Golf National still feels fresh. The U.S. will surely field another loaded team at Whistling Straits, which will be set up to the Americans liking—something approaching 8,000 yards, soft, minimal rough and fast greens. If the Americans can’t win back the cup in September, well … it may be Task Force time again.
Oh, I assume they can still win a home game.... right? Of course, we'll have all sorts of fun watching Patrick Reed's name in the qualification race... There's a zero percent chance of his receiving a captain's pick, though admittedly I might have said that previously.
For Mike Bamberger:
Jordan Spieth’s strokes gained/tee-to-green
As far as Jordan Spieth’s slump goes, you’ve read enough in the way of narratives. We’llfocus on one statistic: strokes gained/tee to green, which measures how a player compares to his peers on every shot that isn’t a putt. Here are Spieth’s rankings in that category for the first six years of his career, starting back in 2013: seventh, 38th, fourth, 25th, second, 23rd.
In 2018-’19, with a -.403 strokes gained/tee to green, Spieth plummeted to 157th. That’s why he struggled so much this summer despite finishing second in strokes gained/putting. Spieth’s swing has been off for more than two years now, and despite his repeated assertions that a fix is right around the corner, the signs of a turnaround have been few and fleeting. Spieth’s putter drew all the headlines, but as he was winning three majors and 11 PGA Tour titles before age 24, it was thanks to being one of world’s very best iron players. He will need to vastly improve his ball-striking from last season if he’s to return to the world elite. And if he doesn’t, you have to wonder whether a more radical change within the Spieth camp might be in the offing.
Yeah, I find myself a skeptic on Jordan, though the game is more fun with Jordan and his mouth in the mix. But what clinic does one seek out to treat Luke Donald Disease?
Kids, I've no idea when I'll blog next. I head back to Utah on Wednesday and Kapalua kicks off on Thursday, so I'll check in at some point.
A happy and healthy New Year to all of my readers, and thanks for spending time with these silly musings.
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