Fairway Rollin' - Fixing the FedEx Cup and the Revitalization of East Lake (Ep. 48)

Episode Date: September 19, 2017

The Ringer's Joe House and Geoff Shackelford discuss the lack of interest in the FedEx Cup chase (02:45) and ways to improve the playoff (08:45). Then, they dive into the history of East Lake Golf Club (20:00) and go through some of their favorite odds for the event (27:00). Finally, they wrap up the show with "What We Don't Want to Talk About" (32:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, everybody, the Shackhouse is back, and Calloway's Epic Driver is not only the number one selling driver in the U.S., but it will be the number one driver in play at the President's Cup, a testament to the jailbreak technology that has propelled it to the top. Mark Leashman will be leading the international squad with his great big bertha epic driver 9-degree featuring the Fuji Speedershaft. So if you're still not playing an epic driver, bring your game to a local retailer and test them out head to head. And visit Callowaygolf.com for more details on how. I pick delivers more ball speed, including for Mark Leishman. Podcast pals, this episode of Check House is also brought to you by Proper Cloth, the leader in men's custom shirts at ProperCloth.com.

Ordering custom shirts has never been easier. Create your custom shirt size by answering 10 easy questions. Shirts start from 80 bucks and are delivered in just two weeks. For premium quality and perfect fitting shirts, visit propercloth.com and use gift code shackhouse to get $20 off your first custom shirt today. Now, my friends, let's get to the Shackhouse part of the Ringer Podcast Network. Hey, house greetings. We got a fun one today. We're going to talk playoffs. We're going to talk, we're going to talk East Lake and the Tour Championship.

And then we're going to talk about things we really don't want to talk about. So how are you doing? I'm doing well, Shaq. You know, I hate it when we have these breaks. But, you know, there was a break in the schedule. And we've had a hard time mustering our, I'll call it our, let me think of the polite way to pull it, put it. You know, the golf Viagra to get excited about these playoffs. I mean, I don't, you know.

Well, we also, just a few people know from social media, we took off. Last week, we were going to do a show. But we just felt like out of respect to everything that was going on in Texas and Florida and all the people. We have so many friends in the golf world there that it just seemed a little bit silly to be talking about a bunch of 20-year-olds playing at an exclusive country club and a team match play event while people are dealing with much, much more difficult matters. So that's our excuse for being away last week. And I think we did the right thing because, man, what a tough situation. So, but we have, so you're saying you don't have playoff fever house. Well, I kind of caught it over the weekend.

One of the things that I have really admired about this year's playoffs, we are getting great performances from the very best players. And I really love that the OWGR, the official world golf rankings, match up perfectly one through five with the one through five standard. of the FedEx Cup in terms of the five guys. The standings aren't exactly aligned, but the top five players in the world happen to be the top five guys of the FedEx Cup.

Yeah, Matsuyama's kind of the only one that really hasn't done what you think he'd do based on the season. But I think I've been trying to go back, and I can't recall the playoffs this series since they've started this, at least, where it's really aligned exactly the way you'd want it, where you have all the top players basically contending almost each week in the playoff events. And then you get a guy like Mark Leishman, who is a great player, but let's be honest,

he's not quite in that upper top five, six tier. And furthermore, he is somebody who, by getting into the equation here, this will be life-changing for him if he wins this. Not the $10 million isn't nice for Thomas or Spieth or Dustin John. and a few others, but really for Mark, what he's gone through, his family's gone through his wife, and just kind of where his career's at, this would be an unbelievable breakthrough for him. And that to me is what makes the playoffs potentially interesting if the format were better when you get somebody in the equation where it really is potentially life-changing.

So we've had... But the format sucks. Well, we have had some winners in the past where, you know, it really became the crowning achievement. Yeah, yes. It was like changing for a couple I could think of. It became more insufferable. But Bill Haas did not. Right.

He's still a prince. Yeah. No, Billy Horschel, Bill Haas, Brandt Snedeker. The crowning achievement of all those guys' careers, I would say, is the winning of the FedEx Cup, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the problem, of course, is we're seeing, once again, two things. the reason the commissioner wants to move the schedule day and before Labor Day. Here we have these.

So let's think about it. We've had Stenson won the Wyndham going into the playoffs and then create a little interest by sitting out a week and now he's toast. But Dustin beats Jordan Speeith in an epic at the Northern Trust. Justin Thomas was great at TPC Boston and that course looked great as always. And then, of course, Leashman at Conway Farms, which it turned out Glen Oaks and Conway Farm really, farms both really popped on TV and were good venues and there was a lot going on again. I mean, we knew Conway has done this before, but it just looked really. The superintendent has just done a beautiful job there.

It was dry and cool looking. So we've had this dream setup of big name winners and then we have somebody move into this who is a budding star and Leashman. And yet it's falling flat. I mean, how do you compete with these first few weeks of college football? When you watch these games, you have no chance. You just have no chance. That's right.

And with a format that it's just not a playoff. Well, I'd still accept the present effort in terms of culling the fields. You know, the guys aren't playing or something on the line. Like, you know, Sergio took 20 minutes yesterday on 18 because he thought that he needed to make par. And that was, you know, a trip down the rabbit hole, the drops and the explanation. By the way, this is always a rant, you know, talking to a 14 handicapped. I'll be gosh darn the next time I hit it in an effing creek and get a drop to reposition the effing ball. Like any of the guys that I would play with would accommodate a drop.

Now, I mean, the grandstand and all, come on. What a goodness gracious. Those dudes played by different rule, Shaq. Yeah, that was intense. It was an intense manipulation. I'm okay with it because of what's at stake, but, you know, the 50 bucks that I might lose and my NASS all hurts my wallet too. It would have been a lot more fun if we could have heard the conversation when Pat Perez

came up from the fairway, who's one of the fastest players known to man. And he's talking to Phil about, you know, can you imagine the language in that conversation about what was going on there? That would have been nice. And Phil was, you could tell Phil was kind of, he was trying not to really. just lose it because, of course, you can't stand Sergio to begin with. And then to get that whole 20-minute

ordeal was pretty comical. But, so House, let me throw out a scenario at you. Okay, so let's say this is a nice setup. Like you said, we're going into Eastlake, cool little list of people who can win, stars with one or two guys

in there who this could be with a crazy week, a life-changing week. Just what you want. But, so now we're just going to play four days of stroke play and then Steve Sands is going to keep us updated on what the algorithms are saying

about the FedEx Cup chase. Now, the last seven years, the winner of the Tour Championship has won the FedEx Cup. So the tour has been able to kind of smugly say, hey, it's working. But I know, and we all know, behind the scenes,

they're trying to make it better. They know that FedEx is paying a lot of money and it's just not must see TV in a world where people are getting really demanding. So here's my, I have two scenarios. You could tell me if you like both, neither. Just hear me out. So we play the Tour Championship Thursday through Sunday.

After Friday, there's a cut based strictly on the FedEx Cup points, which is a little cutthroat. Might not go over well, but that means somebody's got. got to play really well to survive to still have a chance to win. So those stupid updates we get on Thursday when a guy makes a putt and we see where he's moved in the FedEx Cup and everybody laughs because it's completely meaningless information on a Thursday or Friday becomes meaningful on those first two rounds. And then you cut again after Saturday and you get it down to, you know, eight players or 10 players for Sunday in a shootout.

But you stick to it's a golf tournament. and then also a FedEx Cup on the line. I think it's tricky. I'll let you comment on that one first because I can just tell you're spellbound. Well, I wanted to let you finish. I was taking it in. I'm doing the math in my head.

I do like the idea of, you know, the genuine pressure of the first two rounds and the cut being based on guys' performance right there, you know, in that Thursday, Friday setting. and then there's a cut based on whether folks have jumped guys in front of them. Yeah, I think it's all on FedEx Cup points. So there could be an unfair scenario where somebody is in sixth place in the Tour Championship and they get bumped because they came into the thing 30th on the points list.

And they basically had to be leading through three rounds to make it to Sunday. The problem with this, which is why I'll give you scenario number two, is it really is rude to. Coca-Cola, who's the sponsor of the Tour Championship, I think it would be really fascinating because it would make each round so meaningful, and there'd be so much discussion watching this sort of Survivor Reality Show concept, where some people might even get eliminated where it seems unfair under the normal type of tournament golf where somebody's playing well, but they get taken out of it because coming into the event,

they just didn't build up the points. The second scenario is you play a normal tour championship Wednesday through Saturday, and at the end of that, then you look at the points and you cut it to six players and who have a one-day shootout. Maybe it's 30. I've always proposed 36 holes. I thought it'd be kind of cool to have cut it to six or eight players and play a morning 18 and then lop off, you know, two more. and then have an afternoon where it's eight or six left playing straight up stroke play for the FedEx Cup. Stroke play.

Throw out, all the points for the last day. Got it. No more algorithms. Just plague off and $10 million. It's pretty good. I like this shootout concept. You touched on something earlier about innovating for the purpose of the television aspect of this, because let's remember the whole point of this is to create an entertaining vehicle to wrap up the tour season that makes it, you know, attractive for television.

And we are, everybody's cognizant of how flaccid the moment feels right now because of all the competing sports interests. I mean, we're two weeks away from the baseball playoffs. College football's in full tilt. I mean, did you watch that USC Texas game? Oh, my gosh. Unbelievable. And then I'm sure nobody saw it on the East Coast because it was so awful. The UCLA Texas A&M game.

I mean, I see Texas. There have just been some epic games already. I've been staying up late and watching because it's so effing good. But, you know, so there's no really no competing. We're on a golf card podcast trying our very best to talk about. And, you know, these the results have been super compelling. Like, I loved the fact that I caught Ricky yesterday. hitting driver off the deck on 18. I watched that live. It got me very excited. I had,

you know, there was a, there was a movement in my pants for sure. Yeah, we don't need those details. I'm just saying he hammered it. It was beautiful. I loved it. It was exciting. But like over the course of the day, I, you know what I really cared about was was my fantasy football team. That was my B care. And my A care was the bets that I had out there, my football bets. So, Anything format-wise, the real challenge is the schedule. That's the thing that's going to cure all this. Having professional golf season wrap up on Labor Day weekend is the only way for any of this to make any sense. And, you know, they have some momentum building through August because that's the perfect time to, you know, you're not competing with all of these other venues.

And you recognize that folks will be at the beach and summer plans and all the rest of it. but you're not competing. It's just golf on Saturday and Sunday. There's a rhythm to it. It fits perfectly with people's lives at that moment. And that's the right angle. So any of the stuff tweaking format-wise, the schedule is the key. Well, watch this week with that in mind,

especially Thursday, Friday, Saturday thinking about the possibility of cuts or a Saturday wrap-up to one event and then a Sunday shootout. I think it's something worth thinking about. They'll probably have a great finish and everybody will go, Oh, see, it works just fine. Last year was a great finish. I mean, roaring back. Yeah, no, it was.

Rory, roaring back and jumping over Ryan Moore and DJ falling apart. I mean, it was DJ's $10 million. He could taste it Saturday night when he went to bed. That's right. No, and that's a beautiful thing in this. And we want to talk about that in East Lake a little bit. But before we do that, let's take a quick break, if you don't mind, and talk about, of course, what else, but our,

great friends and the great reviews in the Calloway community on the new Steelhead XR Fairway Woods. Of course, they have the recontored Hawkeye Soul and the Face Cup technology and, of course, the fine folks on the community are raving about these new woods. Let's see. I don't know who said this house. So I'm just going off of what I've seen on the community. At a dress, the club inspires confidence. Okay, that works.

This thing is bomb diggity off the tea. Do you use that bomb diggity? It easily outlay some of my previous drivers. Nice, nice endorsement. Bomb diggity? That might be the kind of thing I would say, but I prefer not to admit it. No, that's good. And guess what?

Did you know Mark Leishman has been using a 21 degree? 21 degree. That's a lot of loft. Steelhead X R. Fairway Wood with the Fuji Speeder 9.2x Chef. So, hey, if you don't believe us, you can read all about Steelhead XR Fairway Woods and the reviews on the CallowateGolf.com slash community. and then get out to your local fitter to try one yourself, Callaway, the number one,

fairway wood and golf. I have two things before we depart this topic. So Leishman plays a six wood. What is that? I would call that a five wood, 21. I mean, okay, okay. Yeah, a proper five wood. I mean, I think of a four wood as 19 degrees.

It's kind of a weak five wood, is it? Right, right. Yeah, it's somewhere between a four and a five. It's a four and a half. Let's give him that. What yard is that for him? What's that yard it? Oh, geez.

these days, I mean, that's probably and he's a pretty powerful guy. That's probably a 240, 235 club, 240, 45 somewhere there. He prefers that to his three iron is essentially what we're saying. I would guess so. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's okay.

I'll have to get back on the Shackhouse to ask him. When he wins the FedEx Cup, we'll, and he's the most amazing player in the history of the President's Cup, we'll ask him. Well, and then I'll hopefully be able to compare my experience with the Steelhead XR Fairway that I happen to have in my,

my bag right as we speak, Shaq. Oh, nice. I had to dial up a new Fairway Wood because I was lucky enough to play, oh, I'm not going to name. I'm not going to name Drop Court. I played a great public course, a spectacular, probably the best well-known public course in the state of New York. Where? And I got to play the black version of it. Right.

And I shipped my clubs and my three wood came home in two pieces. Oh, no. So I had to get a new three-wood. But it was fine. I wanted to try the Steelhead XR Fairway Wood. And I took my little boy out to the range last week, and I smashed it. And I have to tell you, it has a natural fade for me that I can't hit that by left to my own designs. I feel like it was all the clubs.

It was divine inspiration from the golf club. And did you take the black apex irons to the Bethpage black? As a matter of fact, I did. Okay, good. Fortunately, they all came home in one piece. And was that, well, we don't want to name it. Was that a golf shipping company or was that just normal shipping? It was the fault of the shipper.

Well, right, but I mean, not the golf specific shipping entity. So I'm not casting any dispersions. Well, we know what people do. I had something recently stolen in luggage on a trip. So, yeah, it's a joy. So, you know, we see how the things get thrown. You can't blame the shipping company. Anyway, no, I do.

Hey, House, by the way, one other thing, you know, the playoffs are coming up. Now, Dodger playoff tickets go on sale tomorrow, and you've been very kind not to rub in the situation of late with my team, maybe because we took two out of three. But, you know, I think I'm going to be thinking about Seatkeek for some playoff tickets. Well, that is a wonderful setup, Shaq. Buying tickets to sports and concerts can be complicated and confusing, but there is a better, simpler way to buy,

and that is with Seatgeek. Seatkeek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to live, events with their seamless mobile experience you can buy and sell tickets in just two tabs. Seekek helps you find the best seats at the best price is fully guaranteed. Seekek saves you time and money by searching multiple ticket sites to compare prices and find amazing deals and to get the most bang for your buck, the Seekieke grades every ticket based on value to help you immediately identify the best seats that fit your budget. It doesn't end with sports.

Plenty of concert, comedy, and theater tickets available too. I'm going to have to use the C geek. Dave Chappelle is coming here to Washington, D.C., and doing 10 shows, Shaq, 10 shows. I'm getting on the C.E. He can buying some tickets to at least one or two or five of those because, you know, Chappelle, that's a return home. He's a D.C. native son.

He gave a shout out to D.C. public schools last night on the Emmy Awards. I was on there today looking at Tom Petty. He's at the Hollywood Bowl this week. See, there we go. And the beautiful thing. Best of all, our listener, Shaq, get a $20 rebate off of their very first. seek geek purchase so if you haven't signed up yet now is the time to do it to get that twenty-dollar rebate twenty-free bucks download the seek geek app go to the settings tab and click

add a promo code and enter promo code h-o-us-e seek geek will send you twenty dollars after you've made your first ticket purchase download the ckeek app and enter promo code house today make seekeek your go-to ticket source for all things pGA and beyond And speaking of Beyond, so Eastlake, the Tour Championship brought to you by Coca-Cola, arrives, house, I can feel the excitement. But you know what? I've never been a huge East Lake fan until last year when they reversed the nines, and it finally clicked.

You know, it showed what architecture can do when everything is kind of in the right order. And for whatever reason, it just never really clicked with that grade. The 17th all was a great par four, and it still is, the eighth hole, but the 18th is a part three and just the finish, it just, there was something about it. And now with that fun, reachable part five, I thought, and it helped that it was just an incredible little duel last year, as you outlined before. So what's the history there? Didn't the course used to play that way? I believe so. Yeah, it's had a lot of things done to it. You know, it was the home of the Atlanta Athletic Club. It opened in 1908. It was a Tom Bendellow course,

but then it didn't last long and Donald Ross revamped it. And then, you know, Bobby Jones grew up playing golf there. And that was kind of the big thing. And he shot 80 when he was 11 and he hung out there. And that was his place. And of course, he kind of moved on with Augusta as his focus later in life. But it's hosted a Ryder Cup. And then, of course, it kind of fell in disrepair.

and only 25 members were sort of left who were the holdouts who didn't want to move to a different site. And they kind of hung on to it and the neighborhood deteriorated. And then they had the big revival thanks to Tom Cousins, who had the vision. And they started this great foundation that helped kind of build things around the neighborhood. Reese Jones redid it. You know, it's not enough Donald Ross from my taste. What does that mean? I'm interjecting and asking because.

It means bland bunkering. It means just, you know, as we've seen with all these restorations, you see architects recapturing the cool wing hole locations or just some of the nuances and subtleties of the Ross Greens, which were amazing. And Reese just tends to not do that as much. And so it just is a little bit on the soulless side for a place to me that probably is a beautiful property. for golf. It's just perfect. It's just what you write amount of up and down and movement,

and it's really beautiful in that sense. And so that's why I've always just kind of not gotten as excited. And then for whatever reason, the back nine, the old back nine, the way it kind of went up and down the hill, there was something, the ebb and flow of it, it just didn't excite. And a lot of people wanted the nine's reversed for years. I know they've played them in that other reverse scenario before,

but I don't know for sure if that, That was the original. But anyway, it ended up being one of those great little moves because it just seemed it refreshed a place, too, in a lot of different ways. So it was a great for this last year. And I'm anticipating, I think it should be a good one again. I actually was mean to look at the weather before we started this fine discussion because it can be a little bit tricky down there.

I wanted to chime in. I've been lucky enough to play Eastlake probably six times. Oh, you have? Oh. Yeah. I'm telling you about this nice property and you fight it a bunch. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Well, no, I wanted to let you sort of, you know, get set the stage for it so that I can compare it. Because look, I am three things. I'm a novice. When it comes to golf architecture, I have, you know, one one hundredth of the understanding and facility with that that you possess. I am a hack as a 14 handicap.

app. And, you know, I understand and appreciate the differences of historical architects and, you know, can sort of get the idea of why a Seth Rainer course compared to a CB McDonald course compared to a Donald Ross course, like what those different flavors kind of deliver. But I will say my own experience with it. I find a lot of what I've come to understand about the Donald Ross experience to be present at Eastlake. And I've been lucky enough. I've played the orchards up in Western Massachusetts, which is absolutely spectacular.

I played Donald Ross in central Pennsylvania, in Bedminster, Pennsylvania. That's a super cool old course that was forgotten and then restored at a not Bedminster, Bedford Springs. Bedford Springs. Oh, I've heard good things about that. It's really super cool and only like 70 miles from D.C. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been urged on multiple occasions to go see that as just a super cool,

little known Donald Ross, Bedford Falls. Yeah, so F seeing it, let's go play it together. But in any event, so I've had a little bit of experience with some Ross. And I think that Eastlake delivers more than what might appear on television. The bunkers especially are, to my way of thinking, it's really dramatic how far below the green you find yourself many, many, many times in the bunkering at East Lake. Now, I don't, and I feel like that's kind of a Ross attribute. And the same thing is true of the greens. It feels like the greens are bigger than other Donald Ross courses that I've played.

But they all sit kind of elevated. So you have to have the ability to fly something in that's going to get that has a little check on it. So you can keep the ball on the green because if you don't have that skill, you know, the ball rolls off. And I'm 50-50 whether I'm able to keep it on there at my 14 level. But so I think the idea of reversing for the purpose, for the reasons you identified are quite brilliant. And especially what you described just now about going down the hill and back up the hill. That really makes sense on a front nine. It does not make as much sense on a back nine.

And finishing the whole golf course off at what is now the 18 with the risk-reward of, you know, carrying some water and there's some danger off to the right side also that doesn't make it an obvious birdie is quite brilliant. So I appreciate you setting the stage and letting me talk a little bit about my school time. Yeah, no, I'm glad you've gotten down there. It's a great place. So, you know, with that said, I don't think we're going to be able to offer any great wisdom on the field, given that. that it's, we know who's playing well. I guess the one, I guess Jason Day is kind of an interesting story in the way he's sort of had a resurgence, but it seems to me it's really about

Speeth, Thomas, and maybe DJ. Yeah, and I was hard pressed. I have the odds up. I wanted to, you know, get some action in on this just because it's the last event of the season and, you know, I've got to have the action. But the prices are terrible. Yeah. Speed is, you know, under 5 to 1. DJ is just a little lower, 7 to 1.

Ricky's 8 to 1. Day would have been the guy that I would have put a little coin on, but he's in here at 10 to 1. I'm not touching him at 10 to 1. You know, it only starts getting interesting to me down here at Kepka and Hedecki and Leishman. All those guys are 18 to 1. Yeah, I mean, I know Leishman won last week, and it's tough to come back and win again, but my gosh, is he putting on an exhibition on the greens at the moment,

and plus hitting the ball great. I don't know. He's riding that butter. Hideke has let me down the last several weeks. I'm in a fantasy thing, and I keep playing him as a contrarian, you know, as a top contrarian thing, because everybody's running with DJ and Spieth and Thomas, and I'm trying to slide in some Hedecki contrarian in there,

He just keeps letting me down. So I'm not going to touch him. Well, we won't hold it against him. I kind of like Kepka at 18 to 1, I have to tell you. I feel like he's quietly under the radar. I don't have in front of me how he's played at East Lake before, you know, what his results look like. But at 18 to 1, I'm going to do a little research.

Let me put it that way in Kepka. Yeah, well, he's had a nice year. But yeah, I can pull that up for you right now because I am kind of intrigued by Brooks Kepka. Well, if you pull up Kepka, look at Justin. Justin Rose also because obviously he found something. He was lost going into the PGA championship and he has found something. Oh, I think there's going to be fire in the belly for Brooks House.

He didn't make it to the Tour Championship last year. How about that? Has he ever played East Lake? Oh, I'm sure. Yes, he has. He played the Tour Championship in 2015. He finished T-18, open with a 68. So there you go.

Okay. Oh, I kind of like it. There's something there to work with. It's not, it's not, you know, it's not overwhelming. And how about the speed's record there? Justin Rose at 12 to 1. Kind of hold my nose. That's this a picking for form thing.

What's Justin Rose? Well, he's running well. And by the way, has a chance, a decent chance to win the FedEx Cup if he wins this week. I mean, a really good chance, which is kind of incredible when you think about it. He hasn't actually won a golf tournament this year. It's entirely. We forget that after the Masters. And I don't, again, I don't mind that.

This is the system. And playoffs are weird. And I think that's where people get too hung up sometimes and discussing the whole thing is that it needs to be there. And we know this as baseball fans. There's this discussion too with the wild card teams having such success that people are bothered that the season long success. Success is not properly rewarded. But it just happens that way sometimes. And I think that in the interest of entertainment, it's much more fun to have some shock winners and some surprises and dark horses.

And again, people who, because they're playing for money. And unfortunately, in the world we're in, not unfortunately for Jordan Speeth as agent or his accountant, but for the rest of us, we know that $10 million is now not going to change his life. But when it can change Mark Leishman's life, it's kind of cool to watch that. Yeah, no, I agree. Anything else you want to cover about the Tour Championship? No, I mean, we'll do some research. We can give out a pick or two. I'm going to, somebody sent me a prop.

Would you take this prop of a player whose name does not begin with Jay will win the tournament? And this guy was suggesting, would you bet it at even odds? I feel like, I wouldn't either. Not even, exactly. I need a little, I need something to get a little. something for the effort. Yeah, exactly. We need a taste to make it with our while.

I mean, it's a great, it's a fun prop bet. I love the creativity on the, on the Jay angle with, you would be both, but I mean, you know, there's too many Js out there. Can't have John Rom going out and winning and then costing me my hard-earned capital. Yeah, and Justin Rose and Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth all playing great. You know, those are your four top contenders. So, yeah, but still, come on. A little something, a little fun.

Pretty good, but give a little something for the effort. That's exactly right. All right, cool. What are we not talking about? What are we not? Well, you have a whole bunch of things. We're not talking about, Shaq. Developments over the last couple of weeks in a wonderful world of golf.

I'm happy. I'm going to tell you first one thing that I'm not interested in talking about whatsoever. And I'm sorry, you know, I'll apologize in advance. I'm just not interested at all in the Evian debacle and how it went from, you know, 702 holes to 54 holes. I'm shocked. Well, I don't even think that it was really that big a deal. The weather sucked and they made a call and the women played the event at 54 holes. Yeah, no, and we don't need to talk about how Mike Juan made this force this into a major.

And we don't need to talk about that they take six hours to play this course. And we definitely don't need to talk about how everybody's told them the weather's terrible this time of year. And they move the tournament this time of year because the sponsor wanted it. and we definitely don't need to talk about how they shorten it to 54 because they really like their Sunday ceremony where the parachutist comes in with the winner's nationality flag wrapped around their, their, his torso as he parachutes in. I don't mind all that innovation. That's not innovation.

This is, they made it a major and then they act like a regular tournament, which they're entitled to do. But you can't be asking to, and actually, they, I don't. want to talk about it, but they insisted on being a major if they wanted to continue to see the Avion money go to the LPJ tour players. So they got what they wanted. And I can't recall a scenario where a sponsor is taken kind of such a hit for, and their intentions were mostly good, but they forced something. And that's it. That's right. Everybody knows. Everybody can smell it when they're trying too hard. And that's what has fallen.

And the blood's in the water and now everybody's feasting. Plus, when it sits that rainy and the play is that slow people feast. But we don't want to cover that. We don't want to talk about. What are we not talking about? I don't want to talk about the Walker Cup because, again, people were going through the hurricane. And we just had an unbelievable time out here. And it would be wrong to rub it in and tell people what an amazing week it was.

And it was kind of everything we dreamed of. But it would be wrong to go into that. I do have one thing to say. Okay. The winner of the Walker Cup was Los Angeles Country Club. Oh. It was absolutely spectacular on television. I couldn't get enough of it.

I was, I'm sorry for saying this because I admire the competition. I wish they could find out a way to put it on the sporting calendar at a moment when it could be much more relevant because it is interesting. Still some amateurs, you know, out there playing and they're competing on a people. beautiful venue, but I could care less about the actual competition. I just thought the golf course was so cool. And especially, which hole was it? It was a 15 where they played it from 78 yards. Yep. That was, yeah, that was on Saturday afternoon. They set it up at 78 yards. It's the coolest thing ever. That's so badass. I love it. That's exactly the kind of, you know, outside of the box thinking that is appropriate and especially well suited to an event like that.

But the event, you know, it just has like got swallowed up. And I'm not even talking about people's proper focus on, you know, the big challenges at the storms posed. It just is a terrible time on the calendar to try and get that, get any eyes or interest in it. Yeah, when they play at Seminole in four years, it will be in May. Much better. Yeah, that's a Florida weather thing. But, yeah, they need to rethink the schedule. Unfortunately, a lot of these things are geared around kind of an old school, USGA.

mindset of the golf season, and it's a very East Coast-driven mentality. And so you've got to get the Walker Cup done by then. And it's – and now, maybe I'm wrong. But I feel like just this window in September for all this stuff with golf is so brutal for the reasons we discuss. You're not wrong. I feel like, once everybody gets over, the – I mean, these initial college games are so good. and they realize that their NFL team's going to be mediocre again, that there is an opportunity in October and November to kind of get some eyeballs.

But this time is just impossible. I don't like it. I don't like it. I think it this year because you're competing against the baseball playoffs starting in earnest and you're competing against basketball is about to get going. Hockey, for God's sakes, is probably already started as far as I know. I can't keep up with when the hockey season starts anymore. Yeah, well, let's not get carried away now. Anyway, so and here's the deal is the Walker Cup.

is now getting primetime Fox television coverage from Fox's lead television crew. So it has the capacity to be a really watchable, interesting event. We just have to figure out when to put it on the sports calendar so that we can get some eyes on the thing. Yeah. Well, I don't want to rub it in, but it was everything we hoped for. And I'm not done watching the telecast, but it was pretty sweet seeing. those aerial shots and it's just a it's a very special place and the club did a beautiful job with it all and the USDA did a magnificent job with the setup and uh and the and the maintenance

guys are are just unbelievable what that i've never seen fairways like that in my life uh for competition but but we don't want to talk about that um and you know i don't know do we even want to really talk about pxg suing everybody known to man and and being disruptors and do we want to do that bob parsons and pxg suing are we even in the last How to? Will we get in trouble? I don't see how we could get in trouble. I just don't understand the point. Like, you're already super effing expensive and super inaccessible to most folks.

So what you do is go sue a company that's mass producing clubs that I guess are arguably similar enough. Sure. You think that something you're trying to, that's worth protecting. But what you're really doing is creating and, interest and a fervor that otherwise would not exist. It's absolutely, it's like, how did this dude make any dollars at all? What is he? Who is he? West Parsons claim to think. Go Daddy. Go Daddy. Well, that makes all the sense of the world. Of course. I know it's bizarre. And especially because it seems to me as somebody just kind of watching them from not too far away, but they're doing exactly what

he'd hoped. A lot of their players have not done very well with the equipment on the tours since switching to them. But in spite of that, they're doing what they wanted to do, which was sell clubs to very wealthy people. And then they've now just, they just are, golf people are not, not fans of people who sue. But really, House, the apex of this story came when he, not when he sued Taylor Made, because the patent stuff goes on all the time. The apex of this story is the suing of the retailers and going after these golf retailers who are not doing magnificently at the moment. It's been a rough few years. Things are starting to kind of level out for Dix and Roger Duns of the world.

And then he comes along and is suing them for merely selling the club. Well, I hope that the retailers make uddles of money on those tailor-made clubs as a result of all. this. I hope they sell, you know, quadruple the number that they would have sold otherwise, because people think that they're getting the knockoff version of the PXG, the exorbitantly priced PXs. So is that the apex of this story for you, House? I know what you're trying to do with the apex here. I mean, I enjoy it. Of course that's the apex. Well, we're not, he's a disruptor. And you know what? We shouldn't have talked about it because Parsons is a disruptor and we're just giving him the attention that a disruptor wants. And I don't want to sue him.

of this discussion. I don't think we said anything that's a lawsuit. No, no, no, no. No, he's a wonderful American capitalist. All right. Good. Do we even want to talk about Rory at this point? Well, it's interesting that I think we need to talk about them for 35 seconds so you can start the clock now.

Okay. I'll try and keep my observation that, no, don't start the clock until I'm ready. I'm done with the setup. But, you know, he's on a podcast with our. friends from No Laying Up, and I haven't had a chance to listen to all of it. Two parts. Two parts I saw. I just saw that on Twitter. Yeah, I listened to a little bit of the first part. And, you know, part of the challenge with Rory is he is extremely self-aware. He is very thoughtful. He's very genuine. He's an authentic guy. But I have such a problem with the decision-making. I just feel like he's getting

bad advice, you know, too much. And the reason that I'm frustrated is, is because of the talent. We've been talking about him all season long, and I just hate the idea that we're losing seasons when he's in his 20s, when he should be out kicking ass and taking names at the majors and really putting himself in that rarefied air where we want to talk about him in comparison to the all-time greats.

He has the talent to be up there, and it feels like he frittered away this season through the combination of not getting 100% right on the injury. you'll hear on the podcast with the no laying up guys that he re-injured himself during the season with the same injury that occurred, you know, when he was in South Africa, it happened to him again. And I think, you know, the only takeaway you can reach is that he didn't rest enough. And he had the intervening event of his wedding in there, which is just curious timing. God bless. Go get married, my brother. I love it. You know, you found the love of your life.

But what a weird time on the calendar. You know, when you're, when the golf, season is. Yeah. Like, why have like a thing that's a major life achievement, a major life event fall right in the middle of your kind of professional moment. You know, you know what your season is. So I'm just frustrated because of

the compromise to you know, the great you know, achievement that I want out of him. That's all. I love the dude. I love Rory. This is, this is all frustration because I love him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, we want him to be great. But I don't want to talk about it because that's really not the problem. The

problem is he can't put and he is not going to the gym to get stronger to protect his rib is not going to help his putting. And that's why I don't want to talk about it. Oh, and this, by the way, then he blamed somebody else for making him play the playoffs, but he didn't say who. I'm assuming it's Nike or Taylorman. Oh, I will say one thing. You mentioned he's getting bad advice. I think the problem is actually he doesn't really get advice. He has his own, his agent works for him, and it's his operation. Okay. Well, whatever the decision...

Independent agency that's either one person or a group of people looking out for him. Whatever the decision-making matrix is, it's failing him. He's being let down. I would agree. It's not, this isn't a situation

where I want what I want. It's not like Kevin Duran. I'm mad at Kevin Duran because he left OKC and went to the Warriors. Yeah. I'm mad at Rory, not because I think that, you know, I want him to, you know, be successful the way I want him to be successful. I want him to effing compete. I want him to show up at the majors with a chance to win every effing major, not missing cuts and having to, you know, take time off because of, you know, a fluke injury that he hasn't rested properly. Now, I know you don't want to talk about

this because we know he's not going to play in Washington, D.C. next year, because there's not going to be an event in D.C. next year because we learned today that the congressional has been given its unconditional release from hosting the non-sponsored event. So I know you don't want to talk about that because that's a bummer. Well, I don't think congressional is that upset about it, to be honest with you. No, I think they want to pursue majors, but they're not having much luck on that front either. So they're actually, well, yeah, I shouldn't say that. I shouldn't say that.

They might have a, they're one of many courses. Well, not, excuse me, they're one of about five courses that can host a Rider Cup. So they might have a shot of that. That would be something. The Ryder Cup in the nation's capital, in the capital of the United States of America? You think that could be a good idea and a fun thing? It would be nice if that, of course, had a few more risk-reward holes, but we won't. I don't want to talk about that.

That's you. Look, I think there's plenty of risk and reward. All I know is every time I go in the effing rough there, I have to chop out with a 50-degree. Yeah, and that's my bad game. Exactly the kind of risk-reward golf that's not interesting to mass play as. I don't want to talk about it again, but the Walker Cup didn't have that kind of rough. and I think we saw that there's more to match play than watching people hack out of rough.

That golf course was awesome. What's the last thing? Oh, do we want to open up the can of worms on this integrity thing? What do you not want to talk about? Let's save it. Let's save it. Okay.

Well, I think we need to hear the commissioner speak about this. Just so people know, the tour announced they've hired an integrity consultant that's going to help them on some gambling-related issues with educating players and stuff. I think we'll learn more tomorrow from the commissioner on that at his East Lake Press Conference. So we'll talk about that down the road because it does.

There's a lot of interesting stuff in this press release, I think. But yeah, obviously it catches my attention. So let's not talk about it. Let's literally not talk about it today. We have a Shaq House next week, Shaq. I do want to say, what's clear is I don't believe this is based on a concern that players are doing something shady. I believe this is being done because the commissioner wants to make golf more gambling friendly. And so he's laying the foundation to make sure that there's no question about integrity.

Well, we've already had the commissioner on the shack house. And I warned him that I was going to give him a firm handshaking a pat on the back. Now I'm going to kiss him on the mouth. I mean, if we're really talking about making golf more gambling friendly, we'll see. That's just my suspicion. All right. Is there anything else we don't want to talk about?

No, I think we've done it. Well, then on that note house, you know, Odyssey is the number one putter in golf and continues to nominate on the tour with the most worldwide. wins at 56 now, thanks to Mark Leashman, using the Odyssey versus number one W black putter. I didn't know he had the, that's right, it is a black. I don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, uh, hey, they've got the Oworks Red, which house were redoing the Calloway test center down there. And I went in the, uh, the putting lab. I had it to myself for a few minutes. And I was just kind of playing around. And the, uh, I got to say the reds, I'm not a fan of red as a color. Reminds me a little too much of your baseball team. And the reds, the reds are good.

The red color is, it looks really good in person. Anyway, they've been designed with extensive feedback from tour pros. And they, of course, offer innovative new head shapes and this great finish. Of course, coupled with the revolutionary top spin generating micro hinge insert that would help certain players that I can think of make more putts who once used them. And the Horrocks Red and O-Works black are in stores now. So get out there and check out at your great golf retailer who needs your support right now as they're being sued. Well, I want to take a quick note.

Shout out to the winners of our PGA championship. I think the contests, I think the putters made their way. One guy had the great good fortune, and he tweeted out. Somehow he left me off of his tweet, so I'm not going to name names, but, you know, I had something to do with getting that effing contest off the ground. Yeah, that was nice. We got a couple of great putters into the hands of the people. Yeah.

Chad got a shout out, but not. Maybe Chad put a nice little handwritten note in there. I don't know. But anyway, glad he got it. That was cool that he tweeted. Yeah, we're going to have some more to give out, you know, next season or so along with some other incredible shack house gear. But I want to talk about our other good friends at Proper Cloth. This episode of Shack House pals brought to you by Proper Cloth, the leader in men's custom shirts. at Propercloth.com ordering custom shirts has never been easier. Create your custom shirt size by answering 10 easy questions. The shirts start from 80 bucks and are delivered in just two weeks for premium quality and perfect fitting shirts, my friends.

Visit Propercloth.com and use gift code, Checkhouse, to get $20 off your first custom shirt today. That's propercloth.com gift code. Shack House. All right, ass. Well, on that fine note,

that was a brilliant read there. We will, we will sign off from here and enjoy the Tour Championship. Maybe we'll have some zany finish and then we'll step into the President's Cup. Yeah, I'm looking forward to.

We're going to have some nice wagers. There's already some good props out there for the President's Cup. Oh, so that'll be a nice. We'll have a lot of good angles, some selections for the good folks out there. We need everybody to come back

a week from now and check us out on Dushakas brought to you by your friends at the Ringer Podcast Network.