Fairway Rollin' - Backlash for Spieth, Rory's Caddy, and Fixing Olympic Golf (Ep. 44)

Episode Date: August 1, 2017

The Ringer's Joe House and Geoff Shackelford discuss the continued debate over Jordan Spieth's memorable shot at the Open Championship (02:30), the controversy at the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship (09:00), Rory McIlroy firing his caddy (23:15), and their favorites for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational (30:15). They wrap up by pitching a few ideas on how to improve Olympic golf (34:30). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, Shackhouse friends. Let's get things started with a word from our good friends at Callaway Golf, the makers of the number one fairway woods in golf. And we've got Woods to give away. You know, the latest red hot fairway wood from Calloway is a supercharged version of a name you might be familiar with if you've been playing the game for a little while. The new Steelhead XR, Faraway Wood continues the steelhead tradition with a re-contoured Hawkeye Soul, an explosive face cup technology. Steelhead XR is longer and more versatile than ever. and available now. So get out and hit some steelhead XRs at your nearest golf shop today. It's the number one fairway wood in golf, and it is the gift of a few fine prognosticators of the Open Championship, right house? Outstanding performance by four Shaq House listeners. We're going to name names. We had a little contest, Shaq.

We asked for the cut line and how many players were going to make the cut. We had four winners that we are very pleased to give a lot. away the steelhead XR Fairway Wood. You guys are getting three woods. Congratulations to Mike Santangelo, Brandon Holliday, Dan Nemeroff, and Anup and a call. Anup, we need your email, my brother, so we can connect with you and get you your beautiful steelhead XR Fairway Wood. But I, my own self, Shaq, do not yet have this club. I'm ordering an extra one for myself. Oh, did you tell Harry there were five winners instead of four? Is that what you bold?

How dare you? Let's get into the Shuckhouse. On the Ringer podcast network. Hi, greetings from Los Angeles, home of the 2028 Olympic golf, maybe, if there is golf still, then. And U. Darvish, too, is now going to be making his home in Los Angeles. How are you doing today? I'm fine except for the U. Darvish news, and I refuse to talk baseball. This is a golf podcast, Jack.

I'm a little salty right now. I want my team's pitching staff to get a little bit better. But in any event, welcome back to the United States of America. You were abroad for what felt like a month. It was it only, how long was it? Two weeks? Just a little over two weeks. Yeah, it was a good time, a lot of fun.

Nice to be reacquainted with vegetables that are green and a few other food items that I sorely missed. You brought back a cold. I did. I did, which was charming. thanks to all the fine folks coughing in the airplane. That was lovely. But it was, you know, it's fun. House is to go over there and enjoy all that.

And then to have it be one of those, it's clearly one of those special opens because, you know, people are still talking about it. They still want to talk about Speed. They want to talk about Matt Coutcher, which I think is great because he played so beautifully. And then they want to talk about the Career Grand Slam, which I love.

I think it's a fascinating. accomplishment, but I'm amazed how many people who are just casual golf fans are intrigued by it. I guess it's probably in part because we've always been intrigued by it in tennis as well, that it speaks to somebody who could play on all different services. And I think that's really cool for golf now. We have actually two players, both young, who have a great chance to accomplish it. Well, all credit to our brother, Jordan Spieth, because we talked about this in advance of, in the run-up to the British Open, which of the young cats out there are going to seize the bull by the horns? Are we going to have another brand new winner or one of these young guys that have already put a major on their resume going to get out there and double down a little bit?

And Jordan, you know, not just the wire-to-wire win, but obviously the dramatic back nine. Serve notice that there is a guy who belongs on the historical leaderboard. We're talking names like Nicholas and Tiger Woods. And he's still, you know, young cat. I mean, the buzz is going to continue, Shaq. And, you know, we observed in our wrap-up show that there seemed to be a lot of Sunday action. during the Open Championship broadcast. The Twitter was hot.

The other social media was hot with Open Championship, and it was borne out by the ratings, I understand. Yeah, yeah, this is really an amazing thing that happened with the final numbers for NBC's Open Championship coverage to have actually beaten the U.S. Open. It's the first time since the numbers have been kept by Nielsen that that's happened. It's obviously, it speaks a little bit to,

Speets drawing power, I think. It speaks a little to maybe Aaron Hills not having had quite the cachet that other U.S. Open venues have. I don't know if that's the case, but that's just my instinct. Although, as we talked about on a previous show, the course came off really well because of the way Fox made it look. In fact, maybe even better than it came off to the people in person. But either way, it's interesting. A lot of people house have pushed back at me, knowing that I was kind of critical of the USGA's Fox deal that, well, of course, because people are at home in the morning watching TV. And instead of in the middle of the day, well, you know, the U.S. Open's traditionally been on in the late afternoon for a long, long time. And it's never was even something that anybody could fathom that it would never, that it would be the fourth of the majors in terms of ratings.

Now, the PGA could be a, it could be a Monday finish. It could be a weird leaderboard and get a worse rating. but there's not much going on in August, and the PGA has done very well the last few years, and so it's likely that the U.S. Open will end up being the least watched of the four majors, which does not really shed very good light either on some of the former U.S.GA executives who said that the U.S. Open under Fox would get bigger ratings than the Masters. That would have been Glenn Nager, the former president. it. So anyhow, but I just think it's more importantly for the immediate state of things. It's

exciting that Spieth draws in a few more eyeballs, I think. I don't think. I mean, when you were out playing some golf last week, did you kind of pick up some people buzzing a little bit about the event and the way it came off? Absolutely. I mean, folks love a great story. And, you know, it would have been a good enough story just the wire-to-wire win by Speed. And, you know, the moment that we're at in the golf season, because last year was such a weird schedule with the intervention of the Olympics and where the PGA fell on the schedule, we're now returned back to sort of what feels like a more traditional kind of golf schedule. But we're still, you know, the Open Championship just finished and we're less than 10 days out now

from the PGA, which is cool because it means that we're going to be having this story about Speeth and, you know, we would have been talking about Rory even if he didn't make news for yet another very curious decision just today, I think it was. Yeah. But like, you know, the Rory Spieth and Quail Hollow and, you know, who has the belt right now discussion and what Speedth is capable of achieving in terms of the career grand slam right on right in front of us, something that we would be talking about anyway over the next 10 days. So the folks that I was with last week, the golfers that I was with, loved Speeth's performance,

loved the drama of it all. Everybody felt, you know, nobody felt bad for Cochre, but everybody respected the hell out of Cocher's performance. and the way he finished and the classy way that all of his post-tournament comments have come out and his reaction to it. And his honoring his commitment to the Canadian Open, you know, everybody respects the hell out of that too. So it's just a very cool moment right now. Yeah, it's one of those bizarre situations where Matt Coutcher might best be remembered not for winning a players or a memorial and a bronze medal in the first Olympic golf in a hundred some four years but for a second place in the open it's one of those weird things i think that'll be the case just because it seems like it's going to be an open that

resonates for a long time now the one thing that i've still gotten a lot of pushback even though we addressed it quite a bit the rules of golf are are creating news and making news in ways that i think really do not reflect necessarily well on the game and and a lot of people were really taken aback by the way Speeth used the rules. And so I actually did a blog post as a follow-up on the amount of time he took and then just also defending. I think the first thing people forget is he took a penalty stroke and then he used the rules to his advantage.

However, in House, I know you were out and I know that you devoured the U.S. Junior Girls and you just haven't caught up to watching it yet on the list of... I watched this. I know what you're talking about. talking about. I watched Miss Moon and Ms. Sheppard. You didn't watch it live. You saw the video on live. I did not watch it live. I'd be worried if you were recording the U.S. Junior Girls. I'm glad Fox is televising it, but it was not high on the list of things to be watching. I don't think over the weekend for a lot of sports fans. But so we have this just kind of this general sense that players are struggling with the rules in different ways. Either they're taking advantage of them in ways that make us uncomfortable. or they're not really understanding them very well. And it's fascinating to me as a longtime sort of viewer of the rules controversies and connoisseur of them, that so much of the immediate reaction is hostility towards the rules. So in Speed's case, there were people who weren't happy with the way he took advantage of the unplayable lie,

and they then projected that on the RNA and the USGA, either for not marking them out of bounds, or for whatever. So then we fast forward to this U.S. Junior Girl situation, which was the semi-final match. And young lady, Elizabeth Moon, had a short putt. It took a vicious break. And if she makes it, she wins the match. And she misses it.

And she, before her opponent can, I mean, her opponent did turn and walk towards the next screen just briefly. But she was already raking the ball back. and it was, you know, loss of hole. She did put out. She didn't, it wasn't conceded. And it's a very simple thing. And House, people just lit into her opponent, Erica Shepard, who went on to win the

US Junior Girls, for multiple, apparently violations of some sort of code of contact and conduct that I'm not aware of. And her caddy for pointing out that the putt wasn't conceded, it was just a fascinating thing to watch how people, even here we have a 17-year-old girl thrown into a ridiculous situation. It's not her fault that her opponent was just mindlessly raking the ball back to try the put again. And yet she got slaughtered on Twitter. It was terrible. I'm glad that I missed all of that.

It is, to me, the worst aspect of Twitter. It's not news that Twitter can suck and most of the time does suck. I found that the entirety of that fake controversy, because it wasn't controversial at all, the young lady made a mental lapse, broke the rules, and lost the match as a result. It's a mistake that she won't repeat. It is a fundamental match play, you know, element that the putt has to be conceded. And she just had a momentary lapse. That's fine. It happens. We can all move on. There's nothing controversial about it. it. Her opponent wasn't given the opportunity to concede the putt. She didn't yell immediately after Ms. Moon missed the putt. Ms. Shepherd didn't immediately, you know, as the ball was still rolling by the hole, yell out that's good, you know? So I don't think she should be, there's no proper

criticism whatsoever, especially 17-year-old girls. So I don't want to talk about that any further, to be honest with you. No, no, no. It's just, it's more that we, we have this. We're just going to keep having these situations, and I think that's a key thing, that there is a hostility right now towards the rules, and when they are cruel, like they were in this case, people get mad. But then when there's a situation like Charlie Hoffman, where he took advantage of the rules, or Jordan Speeth even, taking advantage of the rules, there's also a hostile reaction towards them. And I think it's just something that the sport, I'm not sure what the answer is and how you deal with it, because these things then, as you know, get picked up by other sports programming,

and they have fun with it. Look at these goofballs and golf obsessing about this. You know, a girl didn't put out a three-incher, and therefore she lost. Isn't that terrible? So it's just going to be an ongoing problem. Well, that's not – this particular thing is unavoidable to me. Right. It's a rule of golf. It's a rule of match play. It's not a secret that that's the concession works a certain way. And, you know, I don't think that there's anything about the way that the governing bodies approach match play or that the kids that play in match play approach it that would change that outcome. The young lady, Ms. Moon, made him, had a mental lapse. That's all. She knew the rule and she violated it. And that's it. Well, I'm just saying, just watch.

Now, you don't want to go, do you want to go down the rat hole of the Charlie Hoffman using the bunker liner thing or not? I thought the broadcast, and this is kind of a larger thing, I thought the broadcast of the Canadian Open was exceptional in one particular way. The audio quality of the players on the golf course during the round was exceptional. It was outstanding. and as a result, I now have all the way up at the top of my list, Kevin Chappell is my dude. Like, we might have to get Kevin Chappell on this podcast because I love that dude, not only for the commentary, the running commentary on the Hoffman thing, but also his commentary during the whiff that he committed. Yeah. You know, during play, you know, when he was attempting a highly difficult, big degree of difficulty punch out.

And he missed the ball all together and he called it on himself. I just thought all of that was fascinating. And I also very much liked hearing the players with their caddies talking through strategy and how they have things sort of categorized in the books that they're, you know, the. The yardage book, yeah. Yeah, the yardage book. Of course, we have the green reading books as well now, too. This is why I hesitated before I misspoke.

But in any event, the Hoffman thing is ludicrous. That is one of those deals to quote Mike Tyson. I guess I said ludicrous. That's one of those deals where those of us who play the game, you know, for enjoyment, for competition, for amongst ourselves, we never would fathom in a million years approaching the game the way that Charlie did and even raising the question. Well, now, let me defend him a little bit because when I watched it live, I went, oh, you got to be kidding me. But then I went back, replayed it, and CBS, Peter Costas misrepresented what he was requesting. And I, you know, my guess is Peter had somebody talking in his ear and couldn't hear the audio that you were raving about. But Charlie initially didn't, so he had a buried lie in a bunker.

And he went to take his stance and he couldn't really dig in because they put these new concrete liners under the bunkers to prevent contamination. and to help keep sand in the face. They have a few different uses. I don't care for them for a number of reasons, but they're very popular, and they just redid their bunkers. So Charlie could not dig in, and so it was his caddy, because he initially said, you know, I don't get relief from this. And it was caddy who asked for the official to come out,

and obviously Charlie made the formal request. And Kevin Chappell was watching this whole thing. and the official really didn't want to give him relief. And it was just a bizarre scene. Gary Young, the official was kind of resisting, but then he eventually, you know, he had to cave because he went to go put in a tea, and it was showing that this concrete stuff was exposed,

and Charlie couldn't take a stance, and so he got his drop. And then Kevin, I, you know, sarcastically, but I think a little bit, I think there was a little passive aggressiveness in there in pointing out the ridiculousness of the drop, and kind of joking about it. But it was one where then they're all laughing about it,

and you could just feel other players or caddies or other golfers, like you said, everyday golfers going, wait a second. I would never get that. That's a joke. I would never get relief from. My buddies would never say, oh, yeah, the Billy Bunker lining prevented you from digging in in your stance, and therefore, yeah, you get relief.

And it's the second time now, Brandon Gray, did it at the Wentworth event in May. Actually, there was a third instance, and I'm drawing to blank on who it was. So this is the new thing. You know, we got bunker liners, and we don't like our lie. We get relief kind of thing. And I don't want to pick on Charlie because Charlie went into that, making very clear initially. He wasn't even thinking that.

And, you know, and then when he realized, oh, wait, maybe I'm going to get some relief here. I'm going to make my case. So whatever, I don't blame him for that. Yeah, and I'll say this. I like Charlie Hoffman. I root for Charlie Hoffman. I enjoy watching him play golf. I thought his Thursday round of the Masters

was perhaps the best round of golf this entire 2017 golf season. It was an incredible round. Yep. And it was pretty apparent that he did not approach that lie with the idea at the outset, that he was going to run in there charging hard at relief. It's just that takeaway that these guys play a game with which I am unfamiliar, and I'm talking about the way that they apply the rules. And that's the danger.

That's the danger that if you reach this point where golf has always had a relatability aspect that we love as viewers because they are sort of playing the same game. When we start wondering, are they really just playing a different game and different rules, well, then why not have different rules for equipment too? And then there becomes this divide that the people in golf have always resisted. And it's already kind of there. So I think that's the overall point, is that, There is a potential danger in that losing that relatability.

I think it's lost. Yeah. Anyway, well, hey, on that happy note, before we continue, let's take a break. I hope you were playing some Chrome softs last week. You know it. The ball to change the ball, Jeff Shackleford. It's long. It's incredibly soft.

It's unbelievably easy to control. For me, it was unbelievably easy to lose over in the UK. Oh, no. There's some nice truvists all over the native. roughs of Turnbury and Prestwick. But, hey, I'm just spreading the gospel of the Chromesoft and the Truvist by losing the balls in the rough. Not the ball's fault.

That was the person hitting them. So, hey, but we know that the Chromesoft is why golfers everywhere are changing to it and seeing their games reach new heights, or at least saving a few bucks and playing a premier ball in golf. It's the incredible performance. It's the dual soft-fast core. Which I know carried you to that 41 on the front nine. And it's made Calloway the fastest growing golf ball brand since 2013.

So get out and try ChromeSoft if you haven't. And of course, as you know, I always recommend the Truviz because it's such a cool ball. It's that soccer ball looking pattern that makes the ball look bigger than it really is. Anyway, I love the Truviz too. I will tell you, Shaq, I, my own self was playing with Chrome Softs with the logo of the College of the Holy Cross. my alma mater. One of the nice things about the Chrome soft is the ability to drop whatever logo you want on it. And that logo, I'm telling you, it warmed my heart as I was smacking around out there,

four over, five over, six over at Friar's Head. Yeah, Daddy, getting the job done. It was Friars Head. Yeah, we're getting to the tough place. Well, look, let's also take a quick second to say hello to our good pals at Sea Geek. Everybody knows that buying tickets to sports and concerts can be complicated and confusing. But there is a better, simpler way to buy, and that is with Seat Geek. It is the smartest and easiest way to get tickets to live events.

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Best of all, Shaq House listeners get a $20 rebate off their first Seatgeek purchase. To get your $20 rebate on tickets, download the Seatgeek app, go to the Settings tab, and click add a promo code. And enter promo code, House. That is H-O-USC. Seekek will send you $20 after you've made your first ticket purchase. Download the Seek app and enter promo code house, H-O-U-S-C. Today, make Seekek your go-to ticket source for all things, PGAGolf and beyond. Did you have a caddy at Pryor Set or did you carry?

Oh, yeah, no, no, we had a caddy. We walked with a caddy, yeah. Did you keep your caddy the whole round or did you fire a mid-round? No, I asked. The young man, we had, we had Danny. Danny was outstanding. Oh, daddy. And so we kept him the whole round.

A caddy named Danny. That's really. Pretty good. Pretty good. That's smart. That's smart of him. Well, I just ask, because you don't seem like the firing type. And neither did Rory McElroy until he can.

J.P. Fitzgerald. Apparently, according to Andrew, both of Reuters broke the story, which is interesting in itself. Andrew's not, he's moved to an editorial. job. He used to be the Reuters golf guy, and he broke this story this morning, and Rory's camp has not denied it. He will not speak until Wednesday this week at the Firestone, the WGC Bridgestone. And I got to tell you, House, it's just another bizarre move on his part. I just, it's like the guy just can't get out of his own way. I just can't believe it. Here he has his fourth place finish at the open after a horrible start. He credits his

caddy with giving him a little slap and a little... Kicking the rear? Yeah. Going, hey, you're Rory McElroy here. What are you doing, jerking around? Playing like this. It got him going. And he, you know, that takes, that's not, over nine years, you know, it's not easy for a

catty to do that. And that's what happens when you have a nine-year relationship like they have. And you have the trust. And a lot of people have been dying for him to be fired forever. Why? Oh, they think he's responsible for bad yardages or he's not, he doesn't keep Rory in line. And I get all that. You know, maybe Rory needs Steve Williams to drill sergeant.

But on the other hand, maybe he doesn't respond to somebody like that. You know, people have wondered the same about Dustin Johnson. Should he have somebody other than his brother who's tougher and this and more efficient? Well, that could backfire too. You know, so much about canning. It's such a fascinating art. You know, there's nothing like it. pro sports. It's, you have to be, you have to know when to speak up. I mean, look at, look at Michael

Greller and Speeth, what they've developed and how Greller, we find out these little pep talks he's giving them about, you know, look, you belong with Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps, your buddies and Cabo on the, on the same mantle. Like, wow, that's, uh, that takes some, some balls to give a speech like that. But that's what you get when you build up a long-term partnership. And so here he is. Okay, so let's say, fine. It wasn't working in Rory's mind. How do you do it at this point in the year? You've got two big tournaments left on the tour in terms of the WGC and the PGA championship. I mean, really important in terms of wanting to win majors. And then you have the playoffs, which are nice, and the race to Dubai, and all nice and money and all that. But why not wait until the end of the year? I just don't get it. It's just bizarre. It's just bizarre.

Yeah, well, we've been asking that question all season long with Rory. What are you doing and why this peculiar timing? We asked it in connection with what felt like a return to the course, a hair too early. You know, maybe he wasn't all the way healed from his rib injury, and we know that that was the case because he had to take off some more weeks. We were very, very puzzled by the announcement of a change in equipment after the Masters, or coincident with the Masters. And now this, and the thing that is concerning is this is a dude still in his 20s who's using up the entirety of a golf season and four opportunities at, you know, burnishing his, exactly.

What should be his physical and psychological mental peak. And it's going to end up as a wasted year potentially unless he goes out and burns down Quail Hollow, in which case we'll be saying, whoa, there is, there is Rory. Maybe you will. Maybe that's what's going to happen. It's a great place for him. And I meant to mention that. And we can get into this next week too when we preview the PGA, but it's obviously a great place for him. I think it's the worst, I think the PGA is going to be the hardest one for Speed to pick up as the final leg of the Grand Slam. I don't think it's super hard. But to me, it's the least, usually the least interesting course and the most, and the most and the least interesting setup in terms of firmness and strategy.

It's for somebody like Speed who feeds off of that. But it's a sensational place for Rory, who tends to like to try to overpower a course and tends to like softer golf courses. So, yeah, you're right. He may just, he may prove us wrong. But, you know, when you look at where we are and look at in the women's game where Lydia Coe is now, after same thing. catty firing club switch uh teacher switch and and suddenly she goes into the women's british

and uh you know she's missing cuts it's it's a it's a cruel game you have to be careful how you handle these things i feel like we've beaten rory to death this season and i i was you know very bullish on his prospects uh after the thursday um 32 that he threw up there yeah that, you know, and then he came out and had an outstanding performance on Friday so, so impressive that I allocated a little capital to him Friday evening on a bet to win. And he wasn't able to maintain. He didn't take advantage of Saturday the way a bunch of other guys did. But still, fourth place after what he opened with Thursday, you know, gives you a pretty good feeling for the possibility of him rounding. into form, but another very weird intervening thing that seems like it might have an impact,

but on the other hand, who knows? Maybe it'll be a jumpstart. Well, we'll see. I'm hearing rumblings that he's going to go to a possible buddy as a caddy. One of his lads, we'll see if that's who he ends up with. It would kind of fit his MO. I don't know if that's really going to do the job. but we'll see.

I'm going to repeat. I want him to play well. I want him at the peak of his powers. I just, well, I do, too, and I don't understand this inconsistent career management kind of thing. But, you know, I also think this is what happens when you kind of turn your management in-house that you don't have somebody who sits there and goes, no, wait a second now. Is this the best idea, really, that you could come up with blaming the caddy mid-season?

But, yeah, anyway. Do you want to just quickly hit on the, uh, the bridgestone this week, you know, it's not one of my favorite tournaments of the year. I love that it's, you know, the field. We have two consecutive weeks of outstanding fields. Yeah. And I do like the parallels between this golf course and what folks are imagining. Yes.

Out of Quail Hollow. I have two guys that I like this week. I'm obviously riding Kevin Chappell because what he just did, not just, I love where his head is at. That's really as much as anything. It's kind of silly to say it, and I understand. No, no. I haven't sat down and dug into the deep analytics to see how he's performed over the years in this event.

I just love where he's at, and I'm rooting for him now. This is the thing. I want a guy that I can root for. Oh, he's a great guy, too. Yeah, exactly. And his odds are very appealing. They're all the way down here, 60 to 1. I mean, that's worth a taste, don't you think?

Just a little taste. Yeah, the way he's playing, certainly, yeah. Yeah, and the other guy that I like that I think is finally sort of trending into a zone where I'm willing to think about allocating a touch of capital is John Rom. I like John Rom. I like John Rom in a ballpark like this. I think Bubba has shown us, and I saw Bubba at 70 to 1, Bubba's still not quite showing the four-round consistency that makes me want to go ahead and invest in him. But I like John Rom as Bubba Light or young Bubba or whatever you want to call him. Maybe Rom wouldn't like me likening him to Bubba at all.

No, he wouldn't. Well, Bubba does have two masters, so we won't be too harsh. But at 22 to one in this ballpark, I like what Ron brings to the table in terms of, you know, you can get out of trouble a little bit at this place with strength and, you know, the fire that he's bringing to the table. That's my other guy. Yeah, well, Dustin Johnson's going to win, so it doesn't really matter. He's back. He's starting to find a game. No argument out of me, brother.

He's back to trending, and this is his time of year. Warm weather hits at about 400 yards. But, you know, it's a good field. It's an interesting field. I don't know if people really ever understand the makeup of this WGC. And just to be clear, I don't like WGCs because they're small fields, and small fields end up traditionally giving, they can give you one-sided tournament. And, but it's a strong field.

You have Ryder Cup and President's Cup teams and you have players from the Japan golf tour, Australasian, South African, Asian, Asian tour. You know, you get a few different players from around the world in this one. And then 50 of the top 50. So it's, that's certainly promising. And then, as you said, it gives us a great little preview of what to expect at, at Coil Hollow. Picks, just Dustin.

That's it. That's it. That's all I got. Dustin and Kevin, those were my two, and you took one of them. And I'm probably going to stick with those two pretty hard going into the PGA unless they get hurt this week. I think that's just going to be a great place for both of them. And Kevin really is due, I think, to break through in a major. He's had some moments, and he's just really, really talented, and he's smart and takes a lot of information in. he's one of those kinds of players and takes good care of himself. He can keep up with the young guys, that whole thing.

Of course, he is a young guy, which is absurd. UCLA Bruin, and so anyhow, and I would love to someday we'll get to hear what his real thoughts were on that Charlie Hoffman drop, but he was, maybe they were just what they were, that he was laughing at it and they're friends. But he pretty facetiously pointed out that that was quite the great break. House, all right. So I have some thrilling breaking news. Actually, it's really not resonating that strongly with anybody in Los Angeles. But we're going to have the 2028 Olympic Games. And it's a long way off. So we're not going to really focus on that. But I am curious, as a sports fan, the IOC in kind of trying to reinvent the games in certain ways to appeal to the kids, has introduced three. three-on-three basketball and a few other what they see as younger, cooler, hipper, faster, shorter, whatever versions of some other sports. Meanwhile, of course, we are waiting anxiously for golf's format reinvention for 2020, 2024 now, and maybe if golf is still in the games in 2028, what they will present. And I don't have high hopes.

I am not getting encouraging signs that they are. What? Yeah, and so I'm kind of making some notes. I'm going to write a piece about it. But I'd love to hear your thought on the three-on-three basketball as it relates to the Olympics basketball, and if you think golf should possibly offer something like that to the IOC, or should it kind of hold its ground and go with 60 players?

and stroke play and yeah. Right. Yeah. So of course, I'll start with golf and I'll start by chiding the powers that be. Hello, the point of the Olympics is eyes on the TV screen. Like, I don't know what principles you think you are advancing. This is a made-for-television event and it celebrates competition among nations. So what about this crazy idea?

golf governing bodies? How about coming up with a format that allows the players to compete as teams for their gosh darn countries the way that most of the rest of the Olympics is competed? I mean, is it really that complicated, Mr. Schaufflerford? Golf doesn't have any team events that anybody cares about, you know, that bring out any passion or any enthusiasm. I know. We don't have that.

Exactly. I love it when Shaq does his sarcasm thing. Right. We don't have anything like a team event where people get super fired up and it's a highlight on the effing golf calendar. Look, I'm not cursing Shaq, but come on. Come on, guys. And obviously, I love the three-on-three competition. It's exactly appropriate for the Olympics.

And I have been super into, I don't know if you've been watching any of the big three, the three-on-three competition that is, you know, this league that's been devised, you know, Ice Cube is kind of the champion of it. He doesn't get credit for the entirety of it. But it's a wonderful TV event. And all these name players, all these ex-NBAers playing in it, quite brilliant, very shrewd. I've been enjoying it the hell out of it. And the format permits all kinds of interesting innovation in terms of, you know, the big three has a couple of spots for, four-point shots. Like, who knows how they're going to play it in the Olympics? But that's

the point. And that was fascinating. They introduced the three-on-three in the Olympics without really many details. And the golf people's point has always been, oh, the IOC wants, they want to know all the details. They want to have examples of how this championship is played, you know, talking about different formats, let's say, or, you know, let's say a team event. And then here goes the IOC, just rolling out this stuff without really easy. even working out the details because they know that they need to do some of these things and people are intrigued by them. And they have plenty of examples like a beach volleyball and other sports to point to that have turned out to be fantastic Olympic sports. You know what the real

problem house is besides the team thing? Tell me. Tell me. The ultimate place for golf in the Olympics really is the long drive. I mean, it accomplishes all the things that the Olympics are about. And those are the real athletes. And by the way, I think Long Drive in the Olympics would be an absolute, it would be a huge hit. I really do believe that. The problem is the people who are charged with all this really don't represent the golfers of the Long Drive world. They represent the golfers of the Pro Tours. And as far as the IOC knows, that's who they want to have there.

And I get that. but I think that that long drive would be a sensational Olympic sport and that they have no thirst for trying to introduce that and by the way house there was long drive in the Olympic Games way back when there was a that was part of the part of the collection of events so they actually had sort of a semi-skills challenge that's super cool I had no idea that you were going to suggest that we always to exchange notes in advance of these shows you just caught me a little bit flat-footed and mildly speechless, I absolutely adore that idea. But I would like it both a team competition, you know, over the over a course as well as

long drive. I think golf can accommodate both. And I think, you know, the singular skill set of the long drive, you know, is obviously akin to, you know, singular skills, especially parallel. Yeah. Yes, yes. Or in the winter Olympics with, you know, you know, some of those. those skating events or, you know, the ski events, you know, the long jump, right?

The thing that would be really cool in the long drive is you would set it up in a place that has an interesting look to it. You know, the landing area would not just be some field. You do it in a place that's really cool. So we'll see. But I'm going to work on my, my concept is nine whole matches, two-man teams, two women teams, playing for their countries, playing match play. And you know. I think I've told you many times, and I've written about it many times, the one difference would be they would play the ball down. They would not be able to put the ball in their pocket. They would be able to market, clean it, put it back down, and then that would bring back the stymie.

And you'd have sort of curling meets golf, and then the golf people would all say, well, that's ridiculous. And I would have to then remind them that Bobby Jones thought the stymie was going away was one of the worst things that ever happened in the game. and then I win because I yielded, I wheeled out Bobby Jones, and you just can't go wrong when you wheeled out, Bobby Jones. I love it. Get that column out there. Last thing that I wanted to kick around with you. Yeah, this is the start of a conversation.

Well, yes, because House of Carbs, I'm greatly enjoying the show. Thank you. We've had many people want to know when we're going to sort of bridge food and golf. And you and I have discussed many times how fascinating it is that there are all these great chefs who love golf. And yet golf has had a really bizarre relationship with food. And I'll tell you what, I'm picking up a lot now, House. And if I were better organized, I'd be keeping a list.

But I've had more and more people tell me recently that, in fact, a friend I went to school with just the other day said he just joined Brentwood Country Club. Because they have a pizza oven, they have all this cool food stuff they're doing. because his kids love it, his wife loves it. And golf is starting to realize the importance of good food at a golf course and having unique items and different things. So I think it would be fun over some shows here to find out people's wishes and desires to hear from some of these chefs,

to hear about great drinks or great food items at courses and start highlighting this because I believe I don't need to tell you how important it is that golf get on board here because the next generation really appreciates their food. Yours and my generation appreciates good food. And I think it's one of those things that you always hear people point to about how golf is stale. They go, oh, you go there and they got, you know, it takes 20 minutes to order and the foods, you know, they put a ton of mayonnaise on the sandwich and it's like eating in 1960. So I threw out a number of different things. You can take that anywhere you want. But I think we have an obligation now to have a little synergy between

the pods and start talking some food. Yeah, Shaq, so first of all, let's just make it plain to the people. Everybody, listeners out there, let me tell you right now. We are absolutely going to be mashing up the Sheckhouse with the house of carbs. And Shaq, there's probably no better place to get started with that than New York City, where you and I, I think if the stars align, we are going to be together in one of the world's all-time great eating places, is one of the very best places to eat on planet Earth for the President's Cup. I think our schedules are going to permit us to be together. And we might even have an opportunity to talk to some of the famous and not so famous chefs up there that love the game of golf.

So that's one place where there's going to be some mashing up. But your overall observation about courses, you know, sort of raising their food game and the profile of food kind of elevated. and distinguishing facilities is definitely out there. It's happening. We're getting that feedback. I, my own self, took a picture. And I didn't post it on the social media. I was saving it for the right moment.

I had this salad last week. Now, I'm prepared to take the criticism for the salad. But let me tell you, this is a little method to my madness shack. I had a salad before my round out at Friar's Head because I like to keep it light when I'm on my feet out there. I'm not walking around with a great big. Bacon, cheeseburger, that's for after the round. Pre-round salad, fresh, seasonal vegetables with, listen to this, a seafood burger on top.

It was a wonderful combination. What happened to light? Wait, wait, wait, wait. No, well, listen. It was a, it was a wonderful combination of shellfish. There was some shrimp, some scallop, and there was one other element to it, perhaps some crab, very lightly bound together and very gently fried, Shaq, on top of these wonderful seasonal vegetables, very

light and kept me right on my feet precisely in the frame of mind and frame of belly for an opening 941, Jeff Shackleford. So that's how we do it. Did you start drinking? Of course. Of course I did. That's what went wrong. Okay. Well, I wouldn't expect anything less

from a Ken Bax operation to have great food. But what should we be asking people for, how? We'd be asking their most unique golf course drink. Should we go with food item? Oh, we have to have, we need the drinks. But Shaq, look, this is, we, on House of Carves, we call this belly sourcing. And we can have belly sourcing, not belly putter sourcing, but belly sourcing for the Shaq House. And we'll, let's just have, you know, I'm on, I'm on at the, look, I'm telling you last week, a good friend of mine sent me pictures of, he said,

Look at this. And it's, of course, it's an effing hamburger inside a bun. And I said, you son of a gun, are you out at Olympic right now? And he said, yes, I am. I said, you, SOB. But right, of course. I mean, this is the thing. So if there is a food item that is notorious to your joint, send it along. We could talk about it right here on the shack house. Yeah, maybe we'll keep a running list on the Calloway community and start. Because, yeah, I mean, I can only hear about the, the bill burger there at Olympic is a bill burger right i'm drawing a blank yes it is it's a bill you're right i mean it is it is the perfect food item the way it's designed the way it's executed the way it tastes the way you get the smell when you're out there on the golf course from the grill i mean everything about it is the it's the standard bearer but there need to be more of those at golf courses uh public private it's just yeah they do and there are more places that have their own garden now so you get you get the fresh stuff um and

And it's exciting, but I'm anxious to hear with some of these chefs who love golf think when they go to these places about the food. They have to just cringe sometimes when a place has, you know, access to 200 acres and they have, you know, an agronomy staff. And they could have their own, grow their own stuff. They must just roll their eyes at how bad some of the food can be sometimes. But I think it's exciting. And the other thing that's interesting, too, to me, House, is it would be great to see golf kind of move in the direction of the way restaurants have moved, which is, I mean, I think you, right now, in terms of whatever city you're in terms of service, food, the execution, it's astounding how good restaurants are in this, at least in the United States. And I found, and then Scotland, too, recently, some just great places. And compared to where they used to be in terms of service, quality. freshness and and it's one of those things that the dining experience is a lot like the golf experience and you know there's just so many I think they're they're they have a lot of parallels

the the architecture the the way things play and and and and uh ab and flow and and how it's presented and all that uh is fascinating and there's similar art forms in a way the the presentation of a of a meal at a restaurant and the presentation of a golf course and uh so anyhow But yeah, so let's, people, please, send us some stuff to chew on. What a perfect way to end it, Shaq. All right. Let's close it with some exciting news from the world of Odyssey Golf. Odyssey, the number one putter in golf by far and continues to dominate with the most worldwide putter wins of any putter brand this year.

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Explore the O-Works-Red, the O-Works black, at odysseygolf.com. Odyssey, the number one putter in golf. Red putter white belt. That's how we do it. On the Shack House. On the Ringer podcast network.