I'm not sure I have enough time to get up a proper post, but we'll give it the old college try. Tomorrow is a travel day, so you'll likely have to live without your next fix of random musings until Monday.
His Shot - Go Daddy Founder and boutique golf club manufacturer sits with Guy Yocum for an interesting My Shot interview. Here's the nut 'graph on PXG:
WHEN MY ENGINEERS asked what I wanted our clubs to look like, I began with "sexy." Sexy is subjective, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I wanted the clubs to beckon to you when you looked at them. I wanted you to fall in love. I wanted the irons to look like a blade but be a little oversized with a sweet spot the size of Texas. I wanted them to go higher and farther without goosing the lofts. They sighed. "Is that all? This might take awhile." After many false starts, they nailed it.
That's what we need more of in golf, wifebeaters with tatoos....
Lots of good stuff on Scottsdale national as well, and I'll be discussing this golf betting game with the lads when I get home:
WE PLAY A GAME CALLED SWEAT. It's the perfect golf gambling game. It's played one on one or can be played two against two. Here's how it works: Each hole is worth one point. In our case the point is worth $100, but it can be any amount. At any time during the play of a hole, a side can offer to double the bet. If the other side declines, they lose the hole and the point total. But here's the kicker: If an opponent accepts the double, they also receive half a stroke. The half-stroke changes everything. If we're playing a par 3 and I'm on the green, 40 feet from the hole, and you're plugged in the bunker, I'll double you and give you half a stroke. But if, somehow, you hit the sand shot two feet from the hole, and I hit my first putt five feet past the hole, you might want to double me back, which also cancels the half-stroke. So now we're playing for four points—$400—you putting from two feet and me putting from five feet, the half-strokes back to dead even. Other conditions of Sweat: A birdie instantly doubles the bet, an eagle quads it and a hole-in-one pays 10 times. Another rule: If you're up by five points or more, you can't decline the double. Whatever your basic DNA is as a competitor, Sweat will expose it.
Well, I learned Mrs. Murphy from David Owen, so why not give this a go....and also there was this bit which seems quite true:
COMMITTEES MAKE THE BEST DECISIONS when three people are on the committee and two are out of town. At golf clubs or in business, that's the rule. Committees rarely take risks. People thinking in groups can't think eclectically. One clear vision beats a diluted vision, every time.
It's a quick read, so give it a go... My only anecdotal evidence about PXG is that a friend of Kunta Kent's has the irons and doesn't love them. It seems they'll be up on E-bay soon, unless of course he figures them out.
More PC Nonsense - I understand that folks are a tad miffed at Donald Trump (and your humble blogger is no fan himself), and that there's a great need to show one's moral superiority. "Virtue Signalling" is the term of art these days.... But, does everything have to be made political these days?
Apparently, that would be a yes:
The Barry University golf teams can no longer practice at Trump National Doral or any golf course owned by the Republican presidential candidate.
That decision comes after the university’s president, Sister Linda Bevilacqua, along with the school’s executive committee of the administration, determined that Trump’s campaign rhetoric conflicted with the university’s mission statement. As a result, Barry, an NCAA Division II school in Miami Shores, Fla., has ended all relations with businesses and organizations in which Trump holds a senior leadership position, according to Campus Reform.
The men’s golf team had been allowed to practice about four times a year, free of charge, at Trump’s course in nearby Doral, site of the PGA Tour’s annual WGC-Cadillac Championship.
Yes, we can't expose the delicate snowflakes to differences of opinion, or is the scare that people will realize that Trump can be, you know, generous.
An Acquired Taste - Mike Bamberger scores some time with the elusive Steiny, known to the ink-stained wretches as Dr. No because....well, you can fill in the rest.
Hmmm. Can you be in Steinberg's position and not use leverage? He'll wage war when he feels Woods has been wronged, as long as he knows the cards are in his favor. Witness his threat of litigation against Brandel Chamblee— really, his successful effort to control the reach of the freewheeling Golf Channel analyst—after Chamblee (in a GOLF.com column) accused Woods of being "a little cavalier with the rules" on three occasions in 2013.
If you're Phil Knight or Michael Jordan or Fred Couples, if you're one of the few people in the world who can actually improve Woods's life, Steinberg can be charming, accessible and pliable. But it's a short list, and to others in golf he can be almost comically aloof. As a sports agent, Steinberg came of age in the era of the Packaged Celebrity Athlete and concluded, I believe, that reporters working the golf beat are pests at best.
OK, that last bit is personally hurtful, but I'll try to suck it up...
I long ago learned not to blame professionals for acting in a manner desired by their clients, as is obviously the case with Tiger. That acknowledged, I can't help but believe that if Tiger had managed to engage more with those outside his bunker that he might not have tired, as Alan Shipnuck theorized, of being Tiger Woods.
But I'll differ with Bams on the threats of litigation against Brandel, which to me only made Tiger seem incredibly thin-skinned. And to assert that it constrained Brandel and/or Golf Channel seems dubious, as it's really not much of a threat....just ask John Daly how his suit worked out.
Quick Hits -
Wouldn't this be Booing?
Watching Him Chip Gave Me The Yips - Tiger: Watching Masters Would 'Drive Me Nuts'
SB2K16, The Sequel - Perhaps you enjoyed Rickie and Jordan's Excellent Adventure more than I, but there's a chance the the sequel will prove far better than the original. First, Gary Player came up with the classic photo:
And Jack added this:
Now that will be good fun, and far more interesting...
Memory Lane - This is fun from a far more innocent era:
Doesn't that swing look free and easy, though granted it's a wedge.... Notably a Vokey wedge, but do give a look just for the shot with a left-handed club.
A Star is Born - The name Cameron Hurdus should be kept in mind, as he's just won his third Lido Prize for the design of a golf hole, in this case a Par-5 (H/T Maggot):
The prize is named for the legendary Macdonald gem from the South shore of Long Island lost forever during the depression. It's a subject I'd like to write about more in the future, though there's not much left in terms of photos or details.
Hurdus is a great story as he's on the maintenance staff of a golf club, but has been doing this for years. Even Sir Nick comes off well....
The hole itself looks like an interesting double-dogleg, with no shortage of pin locations on the green.
Did He Check for a Pulse? - Justin Rose Calls U.S. Ryder Cup Team 'A Sleeping Giant'
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