Fairway Rollin' - Ep. 14: British Open Recap

Episode Date: July 18, 2016

Geoff Shackelford and Joe House break down Henrik Stenson's win over Phil Mickelson at “The Open,” Billy Horschel’s backward cap, and Trump phoning Shackelford directly! Plus, Ru Macdonald comes on to discuss Scottish golf tourism. http://scottishgolfpodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Friends, Shackhouse is brought to you by the Callaway XR-16 driver where forgiveness meets fast. The XR-16 driver was used by Henrik Stenson. You know that name. He won the Open Championship yesterday in staggering fashion this weekend with a performance of a lifetime. Phil Mickelson, another name you heard all weekend long was using a sub-zero version of it as well. Be sure to go check out an XR-16 driver at your local demo day. My friends, I also want to tell you about athletes collective. You've heard Jeff Schofer and I talk lovingly about the fine menswear

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40% cheaper than the big brands by going to Athletescollective.com. Go to Athletescollective.com and enter the promo code house, that's H-O-U-S-E, and receive 15% off your first order. All orders include free shipping and returns to the U.S. or Canada 100% satisfaction guaranteed. That comes with the Joe House and Jeff Shackleford seal and stamp of approval. Today on Shackhouse, an open championship for the ages, is Henrik Stenson, Phil Mickelson contested a duel that even Jack Nicholas says was the best he's ever seen.

Plus, Rue MacDonald, who will talk Scottish golf travel with us. But first, from Scotland, House, I greet you from Beautiful Glasgow. How are you doing? It's your last day in Scotland. It's got to be a sad day, right, Jeff? It is a sad day. In fact, it's very, very sad house. But I will say I am looking forward to being reunited with the sun.

Mexican food. Yes. And something for breakfast other than scrambled eggs, beans, and tomato. But other than that, it's been a wonderful trip here, as always. It's such a beautiful place. Great people. They love the game of golf. You never have to be ashamed to love golf here.

And then, oh yeah, by the way, we just had one of the greatest majors of all time, I think. I'm not sure. I mean, it's early in the week, house. But I feel like this is one we're going to have to kind of sit on and ponder. but what those two guys just did at Royal Trune was just really, really special. Yeah, I feel like if Jack has already weighed in, Jack Nicholas has already weighed in, and his view is that yesterday's competition between the two players because it was just a two-man competition surpassed what he and Tom Watson did in 77,

then that's good enough for me. I'm pretty sure the 18 major winner can have the final say on that matter. Yeah, how about that? He just took to Twitter and threw that out there. He said, what was his line? He said, oh, mentioning Turnberry in 1977, I thought we played great and had a wonderful match. On that day, Tom got me 65, 66. Our final round was really good, but theirs was even better. What a great match today. I don't know why he's calling it a match, but whatever Jack says, he's allowed to say. Because that's accurate. It was a match yesterday, and what they had gone was a match also. Don't you think? Yeah, although Phil really downplayed that on Saturday, and even after going through all that, he still kind of downplayed it. Not to be rude to Henrik. It's just that I think he gets so locked into a mindset that it's stroke play and that there were a few holes out there where anything could go wrong. And so he just didn't want to play against the person he was playing against.

He'd wanted to play against the golf course, which is very hard to do when it's just the two of you. So either way. I don't begrudge him his point of view that's necessary for his proper mindset and preparation in the way that he wants to tackle it. But for all of us consuming the thing, it was just match play. And the moment that Henrik rolled in, that unbelievable 60-footer, 70-footer, I don't know what the actual yardage was. from on 15. I, you know, put it in the book. That's it.

The match is over. Yeah, but then 16, I was behind the green and, you know, it was just, you couldn't believe when that went in. And then Phil had a really hard putt there. So he did a nice job just to two putt. The pin was on a really weird little spot. I doubt you could see it on TV. But, you know, 16, then he made it interesting, hitting it over,

Henrik did, over in the left rough. and I got to see the lie, and it was not horrible, but it was one where it needed a little bit of care, and he hit a great shot. And then, but Phil's put on 16 House for Eagle, it just went bumpety bump at the start. And then, again, like the putt for 63 that he had earlier in the week, it was just astounding that that putt did not go in. I mean, Bones didn't fall over this time, but he did. you know, pretty much show and let everybody know that that was just an absolutely painful miss.

And Phil muttered a bunch of stuff walking over to hand the putter to him. And, I mean, if that had gone in, I mean, the match was, the duel was just incredible, but that took it, that would have taken it to even another level. So, but. Yeah, because the, the pressure on Henrik to match with that very, it looked very scary, downhiller. It was. You know, that, that, the, the, does he have the same competent stroke?

Does he have the same ability to take a couple deep breaths? And, you know, he made it look very easy. It was very, I don't want to use the word nonchalant, but it was, there was nothing extraordinary about his approach to that, that little knee knocker there. But boy, oh boy, if Phil's could have just, you know, tippled in, toppled in, that would have been something else. I want to interrupt before we keep going, because you really had one hell of a Forrest Gump tournament this week, Jeff Shackleford. We have documented photographic evidence of you behind Phil on 18 on Thursday at his record tying opener.

We have you documented photographic evidence of you with a shirtless Henrik Stenson yesterday. as he's approaching the T-Box on 17, and we are on the cusp. The Republican National Convention has just commenced, you tell me not less than a half hour before we get on to this podcast, that you've been getting direct communication from the presumptive nominee,

Donald himself, in relation to your thoughts on Turnberry. Let's hear a little bit about your week, my friend. Yeah, that was a surreal phone call. Well, we'll do the Donald first. So I was, Phil shoots his 63. And I got to see the end of it, as you mentioned. I was walking the last, I don't know, six, seven holes there, six holes. And he hit that kind of questionable T shot.

And so I went up the left side and got to stand behind it. And then the putt was just incredible. And the moment was incredible. And Phil's reaction to be so down about it was incredible because you understood, I mean, most golfers would say, why would somebody shoot 63 and be so depressed or somber? And that's because Phil knows history. Phil knows that he had it. He finally was the person.

He was going to break this barrier to shoot 62 in a major that 27 other people had shot 63. And so I'm sitting there and I'm writing for Golf Digest this. And the phone goes off and it says unknown number. and I just said, well, I thought of one person it might be that is a friend of Phil's calling to take credit for something, and I went, well, I don't want to deal with that. I just said unknown. And so I keep banging out my text, and then I look, and there's a long message, and I hit, I go, all fine, let's see who it is, and I hit play. And it was, it was Mr. Trump, we'll call him, since he is the nominee now. I think the Donald would be disrespectful since it's going to be one of two people. And yeah, he saw some tweets about Turnberry, and he wanted to talk a little Turnberry. Yeah, so we'll let you go ahead and delve into that a bit more when we're in the speed round,

because I know you want to give some thoughts on Turnberry. You got to do the pitch and putt there, and I think you got to play a full 18 there last week, right? I did. Almost. We got a little wet at the end, but we had a great time. Yeah, it's sensational. So we'll talk about that. But let's get back to Stenson, because that moment, forget.

Yep, me, it was just surreal. So he makes the birdie on 16. And I want to get to this thought of the zone here in a moment. But he makes a put, everybody, the whole entourage, marches up to the 17th T, and Henrik looks very locked in and just so calm. And Phil, too. They both were just so calm under the circumstances. and it was just a surreal scene already because the grandstand's house had been empty all week.

And so now we actually have a beautiful weather day. The grandstands are full. It looks fake. It looks like a painting when you're on 16 and you see these layered grandstands completely filled. And people clapping almost like a recording. Just a beautiful, beautiful scene. So he marches up to the 17th tee, and I'm standing next to Mark Canizaro, the New York Post, right by the scoreboard. And, you know, that way we can't block it.

any people and yeah we're like 30 yards away and literally the moment he's on the tea he just turns around and he starts walking at us and i thought oh he must have to go to the bathroom it's kind of a weird time but whatever and um and then he just literally keeps walking right at mark and i and then he starts taking off his golf shirt and then he you know he shows a little bit of his stomach and he still keeps walking at us and he goes shield me and and he's just looking right at us and we kind of laugh and i don't even know what to say and And then he just goes right behind us. And there's a day glow, a clad policeman.

And he gets behind him. And we, of course, said, sure, we'll shield you. And we'll act like nothing's unusual here. There's only millions of people watching and you're disrobing in front of them. And he goes, I'm a little hot today. And he said it in that just the way he delivers the dry lines. Like it was a reference to the golf. It was a reference to the temperature.

But I found it surreal house. I don't know what television showed, but that here was somebody who was so locked in. And then he just had this moment on the tee where I'm in the middle of a, I'm throwing a perfect game and I've decided to take off my undershirt. And golfers are usually very superstitious. I don't, I guess Henrik isn't. I thought he was. And then he went about and then he stuck at about seven feet. And the crowd gave kind of a weird reaction.

He, and it may have been his fault because he was, and this is where I want to get to the zone conversation with you. He was so locked in that he started to. at the end of the round, he would just hit these shots, he'd see that it was on the flight, and he knew he'd hit it so perfect, and he just went and put the club in the bag, and that was it.

And I think it threw the crowd off, but he was just, he was in another place. He did not give on TV. On television, any, yeah, any kind of facial expression, and I know that that's part of what we've all come to expect with him. He's very stoic in expression,

And when he gets those glasses going and you don't really see his eyes at all, you know, it feels like he's a little robotic out there just, you know, mowing down birdies. That wasn't the case yesterday for whatever reason. I didn't feel like he was a robot. And the curious thing about this in the zone observation you're making, it was absolutely the case. It is true. So was Phil. Yeah, he was. You know, that's why yesterday was so incredible.

both guys where you don't know whether or not they're feeding off of one another or if they're just each in such a great space themselves. I mean, Phil on one. I had a conversation overnight Saturday into Sunday with somebody wondering if Phil could hang in there through all four rounds or whether, you know, 46 years old across the pond. All that kind of stuff would catch up to him a little bit, like physically. And I said, well, let's watch his swing on the first two holes and see what he does. and on number one, you know, off the tee perfectly, you know, placed for a small wedge in, and he sticks it. And it's like, well, I like the way Phil's looking right here. And Henrik had a small wobble.

Yeah. But as the day went on, both of them were taking driver or three wood in places where, you know, there's a little trepidation. 10, 11, 12, you start getting nervous. Please don't pound one of these off, you know, into, you. into the high shrubbery or over the railroad tracks. And they were right down the middle each and every time. It was just an incredible display, right? Yeah, because Phil's tendency has been to go a little bit wayward,

and then Hendrick's tendency has been to just putt horribly. And so, yeah, when they got to 10 and 11, and those holes are so scary, the 11th is literally an island fairway surrounded by Gorse, and the slightest miss hit, and you are toast. And so they just went right through those. Me, Henrik's D-shot on 11 went a little off of where he had wanted to put it, but just it showed just barely.

And so you just kept waiting for that moment when one of the two would kind of give in, and then it looked like Phil on 12 might, and then he made another miraculous par two days in a row on that hole. And it was just, both of them, their rhythm was so good. and it was cold early in the round. It was really, really cold. And then it warmed up as a day when. And that was always sort of what I worried about with Phil,

was just knowing that he's got some arthritis issues if that cold would bother him. And it didn't at all. He just looked great. He's so happy here. He so loves Lynx golf. And the people love him. They love him even more today, believe it or not.

I mean, that's all they almost talked about him as much as the people I ran into. but he is just so at ease here and with lynx golf and henrik too and it's so funny though house i watched them last saturday at the scottish they played together and they were like different people a week ago henrik's putting was just awful at castles stewart phil's speed was awful and we talked about that on the show and it worried me and betting about him but then when i saw phil on monday and the practice around how loose and happy he was after that great Sunday, I just felt better. But to think that those two were where they were a week before,

and then at that point playing some of the greatest golf that anybody has ever seen in a major just tells you what a nutty, nutty game it is. Yeah, I was thrilled by the entire tournament, two guys going back and forth, and neither one lost ground by way of, bad play. It was the superior play of the other that ended up carrying the day. And I absolutely loved, you know, it's the reason that sports, you know, is such a premium rights package these days. Why networks are all willing to pay such exorbitant prices for sports, it's because you can't anticipate, you can't forecast when a great competition is going to break out between two competitors and you're going to see

something that you haven't seen before. And we had four days of the possibility of seeing something we hadn't seen before. Scotland was totally up to the task. They gave us three and a half seasons. The way it's supposed to, it's supposed to be cold. We got cold, we got warm, we got wind, we got rain. The only thing that was missing was snow.

So the place was up to it. The crowds were up to it. I saw very good reviews of the live outdoor facility that they set up for patrons to come in and enjoy and stay on the grounds through the tournament. What was the reaction to that facility? Oh, it's a great vibe. Yeah, I did a little piece for our website at Golf Digest and then also for Golf Channel. And it's just, it's what you'd hope for at the open. It's dignified, but it's more relaxed and it's, they don't quite take themselves as seriously. You know, you have corporate sponsors around,

they have their tents and some are better than others. HSBC has all this great interactive stuff. You can hit the drive on the road hole. And you've got all these great food options. There's a falconer who will share his birds with you, but he's also there to kind of keep the gulls away. I mean, just kind of an oddball thing like that. The merchandise is a little sterile.

They need to work on that. But it took a setback this year. It had very little stuff that said Truon and some branding person got a hold of it. But the overall vibe that kind of sets is just wonderful, and they're the best fans. And the only thing that was a little strange was the first few days you probably noticed when Phil had his 63 putt. For some reason, the people stayed down by the Spectator Village, and then they gravitated, interestingly, towards the far end of the course where the postage stamp is,

and really where the most dramatic holes are to watch. And so there were a lot of people up around the clubhouse holes. and if people wonder why it was so empty when Phil was putting, that was kind of why. For whatever reason, I think it was a little trickier to get up there. But the atmosphere at the open house is really special. Again, it's serious, it's dignified, but it's also relaxed, and the people, and there are also just so many kids that come to the open. It's free for under a certain age, and that just adds another element of kind of joy to the whole thing.

and it's uh trun's not the most beautiful venue but it's obviously uh i don't know how it came off on television but it obviously is just a great test of golf and uh and it was set up beautifully and in good enough shape to kind of let these two put on a performance that uh that it's just for the ages so speaking of the one for the ages you um had had reached out to me a little earlier saying where do I think the second place finish for Phil kind of falls? Is it his most devastating? Before I give you my point of view on that, what's your take? Yeah, my view is that it is the most devastating one,

which is kind of, I know, an odd take, but here's why. I look at the ones where he made a mistake, like at Wingfoot or Marion, that as he sits back and thinks about his 11th, second place finishes in his unbelievable career, which I think is also, by the way, we're discussing this downer part of Phil's career, but like Arnold Palmer, who had 10 second place finishes and majors and Jack Nichols at 19, in an odd way, these runner-ups and these heartbreakers and these amazing performances and then doing it in an old age actually solidifies their places as legends in the game. I mean, because he's there so many times and does it in such a

in the way only Phil can do it. But I feel like for him, seeing how he reacted to this and how he was so dejected and so heartbroken, really, because he has been putting so much into his game. He's been working like crazy. It's been three years since he won. He did everything right. He shoots 62 and a half, essentially. He shoots 65 the last round with no bogeys. He plays just an amazing tournament. If he was the only player there, he wins by 11, and that is the largest winning margin since 1870.

He wins 141 of 145 open championships with that score. I mean, you just can go on and on. And so I think that in a weird way, that is really almost more painful that you did every single thing, right? And you still didn't win. What do you think? Stretch? Yeah, on the brink of history in so many different ways with so many different angles,

so he would have been the oldest open winner, is that right? Since old Tom Morris. Right, right. For me, I... In a galaxy far, far away. I don't think anything could ever surpass Wingfoot in terms of a devastating... second place. That was a doozy.

Because this instance was one where he played his very, very, very best, and it just happened to not be good enough here at Trune. Wingfoot was a meltdown of catastrophic, unprecedented, never-to-be-repeated proportions, largely because of the mental failures. And, you know, I don't. think he was he's leading the the u.s. open and makes two unbelievable mental errors um that to me is the thing that i think would would uh have to be gnawing at him for for a lifetime um and it seems like he's he's confessed as much um as he's sort of put that in context and in his rearview mirror

over the years um but wingfoot for me remains um the the the the one that uh has got to be the toughest one to, you know, process in a lifetime. Well, let me, here, let me throw another reason at you why I think this one hurts. He doesn't really care about playing for regular tour titles anymore. He's all about the history. That's why the 63 lip out was so painful because he's such a lover of history, especially when he gets to the open, and he's thinking about that. He knows he doesn't have many opportunities left.

the golf gods who he now believes in after that put, tend to be very harsh on people as they get into the late 40s. Now, he could be an exception, which he also knows because he's got such great flexibility and his health seems to be so good and he knows how to pace himself. And he has paced himself very well a lot better than several other players. So I think when you add in the sort of extra pressure he feels because of his sense of history and his sense of, I don't want to say desperation, but his desire to take advantage of these last few key years, that that's what makes it so painful for him that he did every single thing right.

His swing changes are working. And then I guess the only thing that doesn't make it more devastating is that he really likes him. Rick. Other than when Henrik plays very slow, I think Phil absolutely loves playing with him. So that is, I want to talk about one other thing. Yeah, it was pretty apparent from their interaction, really starting on Saturday when they played together all day Saturday. And, you know, in all of the interviews, the two of them did, they talked about, you know, very generously how much they like each other. And I wonder how much of that played into Henrik's ability to get himself into the flow, into the moment, in a groove and into the zone, as we say. In the same way that we observed with Danny Willett, the comfort that he had playing with Lee Westwood at the Masters, in a way, Henrik had the benefit of playing with such a comfortable competitor that that was not part of the, you know, sort of mental,

let's say booyabays, right? The big soup that's in his head as he's trying to pick out, you know, ingredients and just pull together the best possible performance. He didn't have to worry about the guy that was standing across from him in terms of any intimidation factor or unfamiliarity or anything like that. The mental bouleabase. That is one. That is a keeper.

If we had show titles for this show, I think that would have to be the show title house. To your point, though, yes, here's the other thing I wanted to point out before we get to our interview with Ruth McDonald to talk Scottish golf and before we get to the speed round, which will cover some more about the Open Championship. Henrik was playing, I won't say fast at the open, but he was playing at a very nice, normal pace. And so to your point about the comfort level, you know, he played with Phil up at Castle Stewart, and then he clearly had found something that was on a level that was just like few golfers have ever found. on the final day, or really over four days, but especially on the final day of a major.

And House, he was just playing at a very nice clip. I usually don't enjoy watching him play because he's so slow. And he had Oakmont, and he was battling a little injury, and he was battling the course, and I think his putting was bothering him, and he was really, really grinding. And he played with Phil there, by the way, as well. and so I think that was just so telling yesterday and I know TV kind of masks that although TV showed those guys so much. So it was, I think you kind of detected that he was just at a level of comfort there. And players, for whatever reason, house, they like to downplay the importance of a good pairing, but it's nonsense.

It absolutely makes all the difference in the world. Yeah, well, speaking of a good pairing, you were there for two weeks and Scotland, you got wonderful golf, wonderful distilleries, and you got a chance to sit down and talk with a native, Rue McDonald. Let's get you to that interview. Okay, yeah, before we do that, house, I just want to say this so people know why we're talking to Rue, if that's all right. He's co-host of the Scottish Golf podcast with a guy named Grayland Lumis. They're Millennials House. We're bringing millennials into the show here. They're kind of quasi-disruptors because, you know, the travel.

The travel industry here is really big on tour operators. And these two young guys are trying to say, hey, use the internet, use knowledge, maybe use a tour operator for your first trip or you have a huge group. But they're trying to allow people to educate themselves in a fun way and have a great trip of a lifetime to the home of golf. And so that's why I want to have him on the show because this is such a special place to me. and I know you want to come here and have a great trip, and so I figured it was a great chance to kind of introduce you to Rue through a little 10-minute chat. So here's the chat I had with Rue.

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These beauties combine the classic white hot insert feel, beloved by tour players, with an insert feature that provides a better role. Check these and other putters out, y'all, at odysseygolf.com. OdysseyGolf, the number one putter in golf. Let me also tell you about one of our sponsors, Ring. There's a home burglary every 13 seconds. Most happen in broad daylight with a potential burglar ringing your doorbell to make sure you're away before they break in. Ring video doorbell has been proven to stop burglaries before they happen by allowing you to see and speak to anyone approaching your door using your smartphone. Now, Ring is using their advanced motion detection technology.

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It's the lowest price anywhere. Go to ring.com backslash Shackhouse right now. Join the hundreds of thousands who protect their home with Ring. Ring.com backslash Shackhouse for $50 off friends at That's ring.com backslash shackhouse. I'm here with Rue MacDonald. He's the host of the Scottish Golf Travel Podcast. Roo, we are talking to a lot of listeners in the United States

who probably are interested in golf in Scotland, but they kind of don't know where to start, and they probably don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money. And you have been doing great work on that front in trying to help people plan a trip. So what is the state of planning a trip to golf in Scotland? Scotland and what is your recipe for a successful trip? Well, first off, Jeff, I'm a huge fan of Shaq House.

So it's a pleasure to be here and great to have you in Scotland. Somebody who really appreciates the game here and has applied it in many much of your work. So to be fair, the planning of a golf trip is daunting. I'm not daft to appreciate that. And tour operators do a great job for those first-time trips. but myself and my colleague Grayland Loomis on our podcast really talk to those who've maybe been to Scotland

a couple of times and feel they know where they're going and they want to find some other golf courses, the second tier hidden gem courses and I think we offer something there that is authentic and hopefully useful and hopefully

piques people's interest in discovering some of those courses and experiences. So many people obviously want to check off the name golf courses, and we have been trying to convince them otherwise. What would be, I guess, the best way to kind of pare it down is, say, somebody got over that need to want to check off the famous places, what regions would we be kind of talking about for people to sort of maybe set up in one area and then just branch out to courses?

Give us an idea of what those key regions are. Well, Scotland, first of all, I think you come to Scotland to play the Lynx golf product. Right. Don't make the mistake of playing Glen Eagles as wonderful as the hotel is and the golf course. You can play a Glen Eagles course anywhere in the world. In Scotland, we've got Lynx, and Lynx is what you come and play for. So, if we've got about five regions in Scotland, I'd recommend the Highlands where we are, Castle Stewart, Royal Dornock, Nairn, the other trophy courses. Right.

Then you come further south in the northeast region where I'm from, and Crudenbebe being my home course, one of the courses in the region. Royal Aberdeen and Trump International, if that's your cup of tea. And then further south in the third region, St. Andrews, which inevitably everybody flocks to. Very busy. You won't hear many Scottish voices, perhaps. It's rampant of the Americans. You've got Carnustine, Kings Barnes in there.

Creole, of course. And then the fourth region being East Lodian, I think that's your favourite region in Scotland. North Berwick, I think we both appreciate that golf course and one of the ultimate golf experiences, in my opinion, marry that with Muirfield. You've got Gullen, hosted the 2015 Scottish Open. So that's your fourth region.

And the fifth region is where the Open Championship will head next week. The West Coast. The West Coast. Preswick, home of the first 10 Open Championships, Turbury, down there, Western Gales. And then if you really were getting adventurous, you could add on Macrohamish, which is just one of the unique golf experiences,

a really spiritual golf experience. So there's a lot of golf, but what people tend to do is make the big mistake of trying to do it all or try to do too much. So what we advocate is try to pick two of those regions, you know, the ones that are probably close logistically. Right. And spend more time golfing, less time driving.

Okay. And you mentioned a lot of private clubs in that list of courses. How does it work here with most of the private clubs in terms of people wanting to get on? Because the average American thinks of a private club and they think, well, that's got gates and it's closed off and they don't want me anywhere near it. But over here, clubs are more welcoming of guest play. Yeah, I don't think you'll see many world properties and gates here. No. Every course bar, maybe half a dozen, are completely public. This one, Castle Stewart, is only visitor play. We have no membership. Right. So people really have to change their mindset in understanding the likes of Crudon Bay, North Berwick, Royal Dornick. The visitor play, you guys listening, are actually subsidizing the membership. So they're very open to visitor play.

There may be some occasions where you play in restricted tea times. but generally in the rule of thumb even their open rotor courses Turnbury, Trune and the yearfield on designated days of the week they're all open to the public you don't have to know somebody in high places you're pretty much

treated like a member and so you go to their websites and write letters to the secretary is that generally how it works now or do they have email forms to make it easier? Yeah well Scotland's eventually cut up on I guess the online

booking system so even your field you just go on the website and you book usually have to be pretty organized six to twelve months ahead but for the lesser known golf courses you could literally walk up and play like you did this week you played some great golf yeah and you just basically decided that day you woke up and thought I fancy a game here yeah yeah and there were a couple where I just was going to walk the course just to see it and they were horrified that I wasn't playing because they were happy to help me tee off and at a very reasonable price

And I think that was eye-opening even for me. I just kind of assume these famous places I've heard of are going to want you to be planning in advance and booking in advance. Right. And just want to turn this round on you then. What was some of your highlights of this week, our takeaways for you about Scottish golf and some of your favorite tracks out there? Well, I think this region here, the Highlands,

has now moved for me on par with the East Lothian-San. Andrews in terms of being a place you would want to come and have a rewarding experience and play world-class courses and play a variety of courses and maybe there might even be I'm tempted to say well East Lothian has some pretty great variety but here you have I mean every lynx is so different the experience is so different and then you throw in the scenery which is like being in parts of Ireland up here in the highlands it's so beautiful you have distilleries there are other things to do This is really the area, too, where a couple can come. It doesn't have to be a guy's buddy trip,

but this could actually be a place where couples can come. You can do some hiking. The food is incredible. Now, you don't know, we could still talk, debate. Breakfast could be varied a little bit more. But eateries are amazing. And so I feel like this is seeing places like Brora and then just off the beaten track places,

I just think are so, you know, it's like the craze we have in the United States right now with, you know, craft breweries and artisanal food and people not wanting to go to chain restaurants, you know, and then golfers come here who embrace that in the United States, and they want to go to the, you know, the big brand name places. And they're fearful of those craft golf courses. And I think what's exciting about the Internet is it allows them to, and things like your podcast, things like the Scottish Open this week. It allows them to see that there are other places

besides the Open Championship rhodocourses and that you'll have a great time going to play those places. And you'll be treated well. Everybody's so friendly. You want to go out and play in the late night, an emergency nine, you know, they're not uptight about it. They're happy to have you there at their course. Yeah. And to continue your food analogy,

the thought of coming to play open rotor course after open rotor course is pretty much like going to the same restaurant for six nights in a row. Yeah. You're coming to Scotland to experience one-off experiences. There's so many of them. Right. You're not playing the same golf courses.

And these second-tier courses, if you hear to marry them with some of the more established names, half and half, what a trip you could have. But the real mistake people make is they want to get that one picture, and they want to post it on Instagram and Facebook or whatever. And it's like the big game hunters in safaris, you know. Yeah. You need to get over that.

They're not the memories that you're going to have when you're 10, 15 years down the line. No, no. So if people want to kind of start probing around the internet and learning more, they can find you at Scottishgolftravel.com? Nope. Scottishgolfpodcast.com. That's right. And Jeff has made his Snapchat debut this week.

I'm also on Snapchat. So you can find me on Snapchat at Scottish Golf, Instagram, Scottish Golf Podcast. Twitter, Rue MacDonald, and Scott Golf Podcast. So right across the internet. And that was a nice plug there. Absolutely. That's what we wanted. And the podcasts are great because they're evergreen. They'll hold up well. I listened to a couple of them driving on the trip here and really enjoyed going before I went to certain courses, listening, for instance, to Lauren Rubinstein talking about Dornick where he wrote a book and lived for a summer. So it's wonderful that you have those and people can download and listen to those while they're driving to kind of get.

prepared for a course or a region. And you've covered everything from trying to get a tea time in St. Andrews, which is a little confusing, to talking to authors. And then just everyday golf nuts who you've heard about who've had a great trip. And so they're very helpful in that regard. Yeah, and like you and House do, I'm fortunate to have a very entertaining and knowledgeable co-host, Grailin Luma, who actually studied in San Andreas four years as an American. And sort of has that angle of things, a different golf and culture perhaps. Me and him just go back and forth

on a couple of things, and we're lucky in Scotland that news seems to kind of take over and there's lots to talk about whether that be your field or Turnbury or this week at Scottish Open. Yeah, I'm not that interesting, but together we get something together

and hopefully help hundreds of golf travellers come to Scotland. You do a great job, you host the show, you keep it moving, and it's just what people who are trying to plan a trip and what can be very overwhelming and stressful. But ultimately, I think, rewarding when you do your own planning. And again, as you say, nothing against the tour operators.

But with the Internet now, with flights to more places that are easier to get to, like where we're speaking from in Inverness, it's just, and then, of course, Brexit and the little hit that the pound has taken. I mean, I've just been, usually when I come over here and I buy things, I just, it's just painful. You bought me dinner last night. It's just the different thing. is just incredible already.

It's wonderful. So we thank you for everything you do, and we will list where we can find, people can find all of your information and start doing their own investigating for a possible trip. Great. Well, I appreciate being on, Jeff. And I'm really thrilled that you've managed to discover

your own golf courses again on this trip, and we'll see you this time next year. All right, thank you, Roo. We thank Rue MacDonald again for joining us. His website is Scottishgolfravel.com, and of course I'll have a bunch of cool links in the show notes. on my site, jeffshacklefer.com,

so you can learn more about Rue. House, did you know that inefficiency is usually thought to be a negative, but not when you are elevating your craft to an art. Avion tequila voted the world's best tasting tequila is surely one of the most inefficient tequila as you can find. Now, what does that mean? Well, of course, you know Avion from Entourage. That's probably the thing that made Turtle really rich,

but of course we know Turtle had nothing to do with Avion. Here's the real story behind the brand. Avion was created by celebrities or billionaires. Nope. Wrong again. It's a collaboration between a tequila-loving entrepreneur and a family who for generations have been growing agave in their small town, Jesus Maria, and the highlands of Halisco.

Avion is made by real people with true passion for their craft. They pride themselves on the art of creating beautifully inefficient tequila. Avion neat or on the rocks. It makes a delicious top shelf margarita too. And trust me, I haven't seen any of it here in Scotland and I can't wait to be reunited with a El Cholo Margarita featuring Avion. Probably the Silver House, I think is where I'm leaning. Share Avion with those that appreciate what they eat and drink and I promise it will become theirs in your favorite ultra-premium tequila. Please drink Avion responsibly. And the speed round today is brought to you by Calloway Golf, makers of the ChromeSoft golf ball.

Callaway staffer Phil Mickelson used the ChromeSoft to turn in a second place finish at Trune this week in a battle for the ages with Henrik Stenson. ChromeSoft brings fast ball speed and incredibly soft feel to characteristics that did not go hand in hand until Calloway developed ChromeSoft's new dual core technology. Let's use that ChromeSoft Speedhouse and get through this speed round. How did the NBC coverage look? That's my first question. So the coverage looked great and sounded great.

I mean, big, big kudos to NBC for delivering NBC and the Golf Channel. The one thing that I absolutely loved more than anything else was it was on. It was on forever. It came on in the middle of the night and stayed on until the middle of the day. And I could come in and out because, you know, I wasn't able on Thursday and Friday and even the first portion of Saturday to put my life on hold the way I I like to for a major championship and sit down and watch it kind of linearly as it was happening. So I loved the just the sheer volume of hours that NBC and the Golf Channel threw at it.

The other thing, there's so many heavy hitters in the broadcast. We had Mike Tariko on last week, and he talked about his enthusiasm for this. It came through. He did an unbelievable job. It was seamless, I felt, in terms of the presentation. that he made, along with his new colleagues at NBC, he and Dan Hicks did a really beautiful job of setting stuff up. Farity out on the course was great. Johnny Miller was up to his cantankerous usual.

You know, the Rory McElroy comment set Twitter of fire. It was perfect Miller. It was, you know, peak Miller is the way I would put it. So how did he, he just kind of did the usually picked on Rory for going to the gym too much? Somebody asked him, you know, what do you think about the state of Rory's game and where he is? And Johnny went right into that gym criticism that, you know, guys too focused on their physical fitness. And they made a point. I mean, Rory was in a pretty form-fitting outfit on Sunday.

And they really captured Rory, you know, pecks bulging to go along with the commentary from Johnny. And then Twitter went nuts. The one thing, and it's a big criticism, the difference in terms of the visual of how Fox presented the U.S. Open and your ability to see through the combination of ProTracer and the side-by-side ball tracking graphic that they devised and utilized with the Open, not having that at Trune was a real impediment to enjoying the broadcast as fully as. as it could have been enjoyed. The problem with a course like, well, the problem with really every open championship is that their courses, because it's on a ROTA, we don't know the courses.

The U.S. consuming, viewing public, don't know the courses the way that we know the U.S. classics. And so you need a roadmap. You need a guide to get around. And, you know, they had visuals of the holes, but in real time when you're watching the players play the holes, you need the pro tracer and the side by side that Fox came up with that went along with it would have been so helpful, would have really taken the broadcast to another level.

And that's the big criticism that I have about the coverage. How about you? You didn't get to see any of it, but what did you hear? No, no, we got to see it, and we could hear it, but it was kind of hard. We have little monitors at our workstations, and you don't want to turn it up too loud. So we have it on the big screen on the right. They put Sky on the left, NBC on the right, and, you know, they kind of share some world feed stuff, and then they share some ProTracer stuff, and

then they also do their own things, and Sky was kept doing instruction, which I'm sure some of our UK listeners are probably just thrilled about that, like at the worst possible times, you know, leaders on the course, and they're going to Butch and Claude Hardin on the, Harmon on the driving range, which was weird. But so they had some issues, as I understand it, because this was kind of a short notice first year for both of them. They were both not supposed to start until next year, but then they negotiated their ways out, the BBC and ESPN early. And there were a few times house where they actually did do the technology you're talking about. Sky did it more than NBC. But it was explained to me there were some kind of logistical things they didn't anticipate,

and so they plan to have that a lot more next year. But you're absolutely right. When you see that split screen with a golfer and then you see the golf hole, especially one like on a lynx golf course. It's just so key because, you know, an inland course with trees, you can kind of get a sense of what the person's done. But on a lynx, you've got to have that. And so I think if you, I've posted a couple of reviews, that was definitely the consensus of other people. So you were not alone in that, that department. So it's something they're going to work on. I would say an excellent maiden voyage. And, you know, they set the bar property. high and next year they add the technology

and I think it'll be you know, could be a pretty incredible broadcast. The thing I like more than anything, I don't mean to repeat myself. I don't know why other tournaments don't do this. It's basically like put it on from the moment the first golfers are off and have it on all the way through and that's what

the combination of NBC plus the golf channel was able to pull off. There was no shortage of coverage. Yeah, it was pretty surreal to arrive at the press center. Say goodnight to people in America. on email or text or something, and then, you know, finish lunch at the open and get a message from somebody you'd spoken to before they went to bed.

There were some long, long days there that they have. And for those TV people to be on that many hours, I mean, we're just writers sitting in a press tent and then popping out to watch some golf and eat some free food, those people, the hours they put in, and in the weather they did it in, and to do it as well as they do, I just don't think they ever get enough credit for how difficult that job is, especially the Open Championship. BSPN, those people used to see them at the end of the day. They just looked absolutely shot, but it's so great they do it because it's such a special event. For sure.

Hey, Jeff, you sent me a note. Apparently you're rethinking your wagering strategy. Yeah, that didn't go well, House. Now, I'm anxious to hear how you did with your picks, what you want. ended up settling on. But yeah, I'm not happy with my work last week. Obviously, Phil, what a one. I would have had a little something that would have covered my wages here. We, as a group of writers are very bitter right now about the betting opportunities here, all of the places. So you go there and you're trying to give the money. They don't print anything out anymore. The prop bets,

The prop bets come up in the morning, like when we're already at the course, you know, they're opening and there are no prop bets. And you're asking them for a number on somebody. So I asked about the Jim Herman number, who I'd mentioned on last week's show, couldn't find it. I got annoyed. Then the closing time was coming. And, of course, you know, a couple of my colleagues did get him after I opened my big mouth

at 1,000 to 1, and they were rooting for him. But one of our listeners mentioned having Jim, who ended up having a bad final round, at 33 to 1 to score a top 20 finish. And I'm feeling like that's kind of going to be the way I go next year when I come here. The top 20s are just much more fun with those long shots. And I wouldn't have had Andrew Johnston, but I'm sure somebody probably looked at the way he played. I don't know.

The each-way bet on those top sevens was really tough. And obviously... Yeah, top sevens is impossible. So you want me to talk a little bit about? Yeah, so give me some good news, please. So look, I think there were two big takeaways that we have to remember for next year. And here they are. You have to go heavy with experienced guys.

You were all over this in the pod last week by, you know, putting your thumb on guys like Jim Herman. You like to fill. You express an appreciation for them. If you look at that, the top 10 there, they're all seasoned guys. and most of them are, or at least half. I don't have the leaderboard open in front of me, 35 years old or older. And we now have two consecutive winners of the Open Championship,

40-year-old guys, more than any other tournament, that age and seasoning tends to be a real advantage because of all of the variables that come into play with the Open Championship, the weather being the biggest, you know, contender, in terms of variables. That's the thing that throws everybody off and, you know, where guys fall and the draw and all that kind of thing.

You made these observations about Jim Herman last week and his comfort and his love for Scotland and his comfort of playing in a whole lot of different kinds of conditions. So that's one thing for sure that goes into next year's wagering strategy. The other thing is make sure, and you also made this observation, look at that Scottish Open field. Pick some guys that are trending, properly off that list, right? Yep. Top four. J.B. Holmes, Steve Stricker. By the way,

they deserve a nice shout-out, don't they, for making the last-minute decision to get over there, play the Scottish, and look how they were rewarded. Third and fourth place. Look how they were rewarded. Pretty cool. Pretty neat to see. Especially, you know, American pros get a bad rap sometimes, and obviously Stricker's a type of guy who isn't anti-Scottish or anything. But J.B., you know, he's a Kentucky guy. You don't expect anything like any great passion. He had a horrible start to the trip and and lost his luggage and all the whole thing. And what a great, great thing to see those two go play the Scottish and then have a great open

championship. Yeah, and two major championship inside top five for J.B. This year. Pretty good season, J.B. It's definitely somebody to keep an eye on a Baltish Roll. Not exactly going on a limb there, I know. Oh, yeah. So, right, we're going to, we have next week's show. It's a It would be a preview of Bautrasol, which is... We're already going from major to major. What do you call it? Boutrethro? Baltrissrol? That's a castle over here in Scotland House.

It's Baltisrol. Come on. Baltesrol. What did I say? You said Baltesol. Yeah, yeah. I didn't want to get any tweet heckling on that. Let's just call it the joint in New Jersey. We're going to New Jersey. Okay.

Anyway, you know me when it comes to the wagering. I don't like to brag. Oh, wait a minute. Yes, I do. Three for three, Jeff Shackleford. I have given out winners on this podcast and on the Twitter each of the three majors that have been played thus far. Danny Willett was a Wednesday morning recommendation to all of the Shackhouse consumers from the Callaway Golf Twitter handle at Callaway Golf. I threw that one out for everybody.

Dustin Johnson got a lot of love. in my selections, my wagering recommendations, my allocation of capital, just before Oakmont, again, a Wednesday morning recommendation, and lo and behold, if you go onto my Twitter feed and look at

my choice for winners, I have a half-unit recommendation on none other than Henrik Stenson. 30 to 1 on Wednesday you could have had in that, and if you had done that, you'd be a big, fat winner. You know, who's not

big fat winner is me. Oh no! Notwithstanding the fact that I gave out that winner, I, my own self, managed to not play the bet. I have this whole thing sitting in front of me right now. In fact, I was exchanging notes with our mutual

pal, Chris Salman, of no laying up Sunday morning. And he's like, who do you root in for? What do you think? And I said, well, I have a little taste on Henrik, so, you know, slight leaning that way, but I love I love Phil, obviously, and beef is always in my corner. I'm always looking for beef. And then I went to my sheet to look and see exactly what odds I had on Henrik,

and he was not on my sheet, Jeff Shackleford. So heartbreak for me, hopefully the folks that consume the Shack House and enjoy the Shack House did, as I said, not as I did, and got winners. I ended up a little ahead on the whole day because I had a nice chunk on under 274 and a half. That came through flying colors. And my biggest win of the week was a seven-way make-the-cut parlay. They paid out at a little under three-to-one. Oh, no, no, a little more than three-to-one. I had my guys, what was that seven-way parlay?

I know everybody's just dying to hear that seven-way make-the-cut parlay that hit. It was Jason Day, Rory, Adam Scott, Sergio, DJ, Frankie Molinari, who was in the mix for a little while. I had Frankie Malinari in there for a top 20 bit also, and Gary Woodland, who came through right at the end for me. Those seven guys made the cut, and I got a little better than three to one on that one. Very nice. Well done.

But I can't believe you didn't take Henrik. The Shackhouse guest. We've been getting mentions that we've took them. I recommended him. I pushed it out to the consuming public. Wow. Oh, well. I just blew the bet.

Oh, dear. I just blew it. Well, we'll make sure not to tell him if we get him on the show again, which we certainly hope to do. And hopefully when you're available and we can have some fun with him. Because he is as serious and calm and cool as he looked this year, he is absolutely a delight and really a fun guy. So now, two other things, House, we've got to do quickly. I did not get too into the Billy Horschel backwards hat

controversy on Twitter, but a few listeners asked us to discuss this important issue. But apparently people were appalled by this. Now, it was just pouring rain. It was just miserable. So he had to do the hat backwards because he didn't want the dripping while he's standing over the ball.

I thought that was pretty simple, right? But apparently not. Yeah, this is silly golf indignation. By the way, Jim Furrick won at Eastlake. On the 18th green, he's standing there and making a put with his hat on backwards. He won the FedEx Championship. Calm down, Twitterati.

Just take it down a notch. Yeah, yeah. But it does make you worry about the game a little bit when that's that sort of cited as something that is a sign of the apocalypse or the sign of disrespect to the links of the royal trune or something like that. Yeah. It's absurd. Oh, well. Last thing, House.

Turnbury. I was there today. We promise we talk about it. Donald Trump is going to be a very prominent figure in the news this week at the Republican National Convention. The resort was purchased by him in 2014. And as you probably know, he has completely renovated it with consultation from the RNA and Martin Ebert. And now I wrote a piece for Golf World today about how they have to get this thing back in the rota because it is so beautiful. But I have to have to get this thing back in the rota. Because it is so beautiful. but I have to say put all the politics aside however you feel about the man or his walls or all the things he wants to do he has done a magnificent job with Turnberry his family his son Eric was a big part of it Martin Ebert the architect

did a magnificent job got to play it and a lot of rain but it is truly one of those I don't like to as you know I don't like to advocate you probably heard that in the conversation with Rue, the 225-pound green fee places. But this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime golf experiences. So I just wanted to mention that.

That said, I kind of got reunited with Prestwick on the trip, which is the home of the first open, which is the complete opposite of Turnbury in every way. You know, kind of an informal club, a formal but an informal club that is one of the most important places in the history of the sport. It's about 60, I don't even know, a 64. yards. It's very short. I got to play there in the rain as well with Jaime Diaz and a late evening nine, or late evening round that was just sensational. And a far cry from Turnberry, they're not

too far apart, but boy, are they the opposite ends of the spectrum. But they're both great golf experiences and I highly recommend both. But I do, as you know, tend to push the lesser knowns and the better values because there's just so many, so many of them. It's just incredible here. I know, but look, I can't let you go without talking a little bit about what was on those voicemails. I mean, we can't talk, you can't just say I got a voicemail from Donald Trump and not share a little bit of the substance of it. Well, I could say it was personal, I guess, I suppose.

Or I could just, let's see, I could just start playing it. Just in case you don't believe me. It's Donald Trump, and I just wanted to thank you. I believe you. Comments on Turnberry. I really appreciate it. Hopefully, having a good time over there. It looks like a good tournament.

but I just wanted to call you thank you about Turnberry. So on, yeah. See, there you go. That was all. There's nothing nefarious. There's no promises of money for a good review. Just, you know, he saw the tweets. He was scrolling his feed and saw that I put a few things out there.

And I did hear, though, from his rep, Larry Glick, great guy who kind of represents him and all of his golf stuff, that he just likes to talk about the golf when he has some downtime. And House, you know, it's one of those things to, I got spent time with the architect today, Martin Ebert, and he started discussing the holes. We were kind of geeks and going through the holes. And every hole, Mr. Trump, had extensive commentary on where he wanted things and why he didn't like some of Martin's ideas.

And some of them Martin employed. Some of them he fought him on. And so the thing that I realized in that is that, you know, this is, and probably people don't realize this, he loves the kind of visionary element of a golf course and the design and the views. And he could care less about the greens, which is interesting. A lot of people tend to worry about green complexes. He's more about the experience where the teas go, yardages, things like that. So it's just funny to kind of knowing I've gone through it with some projects that he does the same. thing with his architects and they and he and he's also ultimately the reason he's leaving a message like

that and he's curious is he he kind of wants to know how it played you know you talk about it you have meetings you have plans but when it's all over you just kind of want to know did it work did it did it function and i kind of think like any golfer he's got that that curiosity well look all all i can say jeff god bless america america yes well on that fine fine note i don't think we We can top that. We have a fun show plan to preview the PGA Championship. We have a special guest coming on. We don't want to announce it just yet.

I want to make sure that that person is available, but I think it's going to be a really, really fun chat. House, thanks for all the great stuff on Twitter and insights on the open. Hope you enjoyed the coverage from here. It was a little tricky at times with our RNA Media Hotel Internet situation. But it was a great two weeks. And just to be here and to be part of, to see this moment of history, it was really, really special. And so, yeah, well, you're part of the history now.

There's pictures of you on 18 with Phil, pictures of you with Henrik with his shirt off. You're part of the history. So congratulations. Yeah, I shielded Henrik from people seeing him shirtless. That's my moment in history. But anyhow, thanks for the great chat. And we'll talk to you all next. week and don't forget to check out the ringer.com for great content and of course all have show

notes on jeff shackleford.com and of course house from dc can be found at house from dc on twitter that shack house we'll talk to you next week check house the team calloway collection is a limited run of meticulously curated calloway and odyssey branded items that you can only find on calloway golf dot com new items are available in the 2016 team calloway collect including the Odyssey Works Silver Swirl tie. Oh, House, it's a doozy. If you know any Odyssey fanboys,

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That's promo code House in your shopping cart to get 20% off. Offer expires on July 31st. That's CallawayGolf.com. Team Calloway Collection. And Shackhouse was also brought to you today by Avion, which wasn't created by celebrities or billionaires or turtle. It's a collaboration between the tequila-loving entrepreneur and a family who for generations have been growing agave in their small town of Jesus Maria and the highlands of Halisco. Thanks again to Avion for sponsor. sponsoring today's show. It's made by real people with a true passion for their craft.

They pride themselves on creating beautifully inefficient tequila. So sip on Avion, neat or on the rocks. It makes a delicious top shelf margarita to share it with those who appreciate what they eat and drink. I promise it will become theirs and your favorite ultra-premium tequila. I can't wait to have one back in the good old US of A. Please drink Avion responsibly.