FrogginBullfish

Not a par, but a most unconventional bogey. Several years ago now but remember it clear as day... 185 yard uphill par 3. Fatted my 3 iron about 30 yards short of the green but in-line with the pin. Overcook the pitch but it's dead on-line with the pin. Ball lands in the hole, does a little lap and exits 90° to the left and ends up on the fringe about 25-30ft away. Left the pin in and putted from the fringe. Putt was tracking perfectly until it hit the pin dead-centre and bounced backward, finishing 6 inches or so from the hole. Tapped in for bogey and laughed my way to the next tee about how ridiculous that hole was...

I don't think you can go wrong with either spot really. Personally I'd lean towards TXG because of Ian Fraser but he also helped launch Modern Golf in the first place before starting his own shop with TXG.

Some pretty harsh words from a Golf Saudi ambassador for LIV:

I certainly feel like it's a hostile takeover attempt from LIV. As many in the professional golfing world have said throughout this whole ordeal, GN has had a 30-year vendetta against the PGA Tour that he finally found funding for. None of his actions throughout while poaching talent from the PGA Tour has been amicable and there's never been an attempt from him or LIV to actually work with the PGA Tour. I continue to have no interest in LIV, mainly because of this hostility in how LIV has come in and disrupted professional golf. Honestly, my interest in professional golf as a whole has suffered since this LIV situation came to fruition. Just makes me sad to see how fractured professional golf has become. I have my own feelings on the source of the funding of LIV which I've already mentioned in a past post in this thread so I won't rehash it, but lately I've been thinking this whole LIV situation may have played much better with the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and whatever other tours, if they came in and were like we want to team up to put on a global series of big money team golf exhibitions instead of how they've gone about it. Ultimately, people can criticize Monahan until the cows come home saying he reacted too harshly but he reacted to a threat that was hellbent on destroying the establishment that is his duty to protect. Another thing that I've really not enjoyed since the announcements of the new changes to how the PGA Tour will operate is all of the thinkpieces of how "Phil was right" and deserves to be "forgiven" for all he did. There is so much more to things than just being right. How you go about it also matters quite a lot. The ends don't always justify the means.

Hard agree. As fitting a champion as there could be this season. And as mentioned, certainly no ill will towards anyone else, especially Scottie.

Getting a bit annoyed with all of the complaints about the playoffs. Don't get me wrong, I don't much like the staggered starting scores for the Tour Championship but it is a simpler solution to the original format. That being said, these guys complaining that the points in the playoffs are too weighted so that all a guy has to do is get hot in the playoffs to win the FedEx Cup rather than having season long excellence are fundamentally misunderstanding the point of playoffs, imo. It's also hilarious when they compare the staggered starting scores to the NFL saying the top ranked team wouldn't get spotted two TDs or whatever at the start of the Super Bowl. Sure, that never happens but guess what does? The top team in each conference in the regular season get a bye week but if they lose at all during the playoffs, they don't win the Super Bowl. The reward for season long excellence is playing in the playoffs. The best of the best should receive some kind of reward for sure come playoff time, be it a bye or something else, but to say the FedEx Cup playoffs are flawed cause a guy could win every regular season tournament and not win the FedEx Cup cause someone got hot in the playoffs is silly. The Patriots lost a Super Bowl while 18-0 to a team that was 10-6 in the regular season. That's how playoffs work. I do think there's a better solution to combat things however. Maybe a three tournament playoff where say the top 16 in regular season standings get automatic byes into the second tournament but there's no points come the playoffs. If you finish in the top whatever of the field you make it to the next tournament. Winner takes all. I think that would be a true playoffs format personally. Also, maybe to combat someone attempting to make the playoffs by just playing every week, maybe take an average point value of a player's top 15 or 20 (with some allowances for injury or whatever) events played to reward the players who were the most consistent throughout the regular season. This could all be moot anyway depending on what Tiger and Rory's plan is for the future of the PGA Tour but I just find some of the complaints silly. The reward for season long excellence is making the playoffs plus winning any potential season long awards, and all the cash earnings that come with doing well on the Tour. /End rant

There's really no need to bring someone's alcohol issues into this. Even if some of the LIV defectors supported Horschel through it, that doesn't mean he has to support them now. Especially when some of them are effectively suing him and every other player on the PGA Tour. Not exactly comparable situations and certainly not something that was necessary to bring up...

I've bought quite a few PXG clubs in the past couple months and then this sale happens. Just my luck lol. I did use the sale to finish off the long game part of my new bag by picking up two GEN4 hybrids though. Should be here by Wednesday.

One thing I don't really understand about the LIV defectors is the complaints that the grind of the PGA Tour season is too much but they're freely joining a league where they'll need to travel all over the globe 14+ times a year with Norman's plan being to turn LIV into golf's version of Formula 1 with 20+ events all over the globe. If 15+ events is already too much just around the USA, what are they going to do if they're traveling all over the world 20 times a year. It's not like they'll have the freedom of picking when they'll play if they're one of the big draws on the LIV tour. Also doesn't leave much time for spending all that extra time with their families like they're saying their moves are for either. Formula 1 drivers and teams have been complaining for years about the increase in number of events and travel all over the globe as it's really difficult on the teams spending so much time away from their families and the grind of so much travel. All that talk of independent contractors becomes even more BS when you hear about Norman's plan to have teams run by sponsors at the highest bidder. So the players have no choice in who sponsors their team or themselves. Norman's going to turn them into the world's most expensive showponies. And the worst part is that these guys are buying his garbage. Regardless of their feelings on the way the PGA Tour is run, they had so much more freedom and independence in selecting their schedules on the PGA Tour than they will ever have with LIV. Graeme McDowell already had to skip his own home Open because it conflicted with the LIV event. Yeah some of them had commitments they needed to make with their sponsors to play certain events but at least they got to choose their sponsors. It's just such a shame, imo, how much Greg Norman has brainwashed these guys into believing this is somehow a better option for them. And obviously their agents are going for it because why wouldn't they when they'll make so much more in commission off those huge LIV contracts. Doesn't have anything to do with what's best for the players in the long run. Just what's best for them in the short term. I honestly feel like this is the beginning of the end of my interest in professional golf and it really just makes me sad.

Disappointed Rory couldn't pull it off. I've always liked Rory, but this year more than ever, he's really shot up in my books.

Pulling for Rory big time. He's come so close so many times the last few years in the majors and I think him capturing another major would be the best way for this major season to end.

Bryson's just lost his Bridgestone partnership as a result of defecting to LIV...

I'm sorry but this is a completely pointless hypothetical question to ask.

For me, I associate a shotgun start is more with a company golf tournament than a professional event. Has nothing to do with bashing LIV just to bash LIV. It's just not what I want to see from a professional golf tournament week in and week out. I'd get it if they needed to get the field through as quick as possible to avoid delays for inclement weather but apart from that, it's not what I want to see in professional golf. Even then I'd rather see threesomes, or even foursomes, on split tees than a shotgun start. Further to that though, the main reason it works right now for LIV is that their fields are small enough for it to work. Fields on the PGA Tour are often close to 3 times the size of a LIV field, if not more, so even playing foursomes on a shotgun start wouldn't fully solve the inherent unfairness of the draw as far as playing conditions can go. That's just part of the deal of playing professional golf.

It's whataboutism. Would it be different if Tiger left? Probably quite a bit. But he turned down high 9 figures and has always been someone who's cared more about the traditions in golf. Easy to say when you're a billionaire already but Tiger hasn't left and didn't help to orchestrate the rival tour. And he's not left so far nor indicated any interest in leaving so it's not really a topic worth discussing unless he does. But if people want to play whataboutism about Tiger, Phil actively tried to harm the PGA Tour by working with a rival tour. That plays a bit different to anyone simply leaving the tour. You can go back and say Jack and Arnie did the same to create the PGA Tour in the first place and sure there's merit to that argument on the most surface of levels. But Phil did this for such purely selfish reasons disguised as being something that would be better for everyone else. Him and Greg have personal vendettas against the PGA Tour, and that's ultimately fine, as I'm sure to some degree their issues have merit, but doing something like that at any other corporation without prior approval would be an instant dismissal. Ultimately it's not changed much of the average fan's perception of Phil, but it's done so for a lot of people in here for a variety of reasons already discussed and not worth rehashing but I think a lot of the people who have lost respect for Phil would have lost less if he just up and left instead of as others have said trying to have his cake and eat it too. Personally, I've never been much of a Phil fan but I respect his legacy in this game from a player's perspective. That being said, he shouldn't be above anyone else just because he's received lifetime membership. Just my 2 cents. Otherwise I am very much exhausted on this whole LIV topic and haven't interacted with it much in a while as a result.

I do wonder if Copse will need to be reprofiled to slow the cars down moving forward after back to back years with drivers ending up in hospital for observation after high speed crashes there

I will add, and this is something these books touch on, the key to scoring better is to avoid mistakes. It's not all about making more birdies. Playing away from trouble, not taking on the hero shot in recovery situations, etc, these are the incremental gains you can make quite easily to lower your scores. Don't compound mistakes. Take your medicine and move on. Another thing to consider doing if you aren't already is tracking your shots using something like arccos, shotscope, or something of the sorts. Doing this, especially if the system provides strokes gained data, will allow you to see where you're losing strokes on the course and what you need to work on. Lastly, expectation management is a huge thing. I think most golfers expect too much of themselves. I know I struggle with this. I barely get to play or even practice but I still fight with the expectation to play around bogey golf even though I haven't done that in many years. All of this is touched on in these books but figured I'd add some of the key points.

Jon Sherman - The Four Foundations of Golf Mark Broadie - Every Shot Counts Raymond Floyd - The Elements of Scoring I'm currently reading Jon Sherman's book, have read Broadie's and own Floyd's (just haven't read it yet but it's been recommended by Scott Fawcett of DECADE).

Interesting comments from Fred Couples saying he doesn't think he'll ever talk to Phil again after Phil's defection to LIV...

I'm fairly certain LIV was going to toss obscene amounts of money at as many players as they could regardless of how any of the established tours responded. Obscene starting salaries was the big selling point of LIV in the first place. It wasn't a response from LIV to the PGA Tour suspending defectors or even a response to the PGA Tour saying it would. It was the plan all along.

Is it in casual play or competitive play? It is a bit of a stretch on ready golf but if it's a casual game, I don't personally have an issue with it. Could be both a rules violation and a breach of etiquette in a competitive setting.

Jon Sherman of Practical Golf has released a new book...

I'm also one who has a strong dislike of offset and big bulky irons. It's why I went with the 0311T irons of the PXG range. I'd rather play a hybrid than a bulky offsetted longer iron, which is why I only went to a 5 iron with my new bag. Obviously you won't be going with PXG, but lots of great players club options out there and any decent fitter will be able to get you into a set that meets your eye. Will be interesting to see what you end up with.

Some more info on Fitzy's work with The Stack... https://www.golfdigest.com/story/matt-fitzpatrick-us-open-the-stack-system-speed-training-aid

Statement from Nick Faldo about his future as an analyst... https://twitter.com/NickFaldo006/status/1539175567416868865?t=De5KT1V0ktqom9NbWN-ZSw&s=19