Fore Play - Adam Scott, and Golf Ball Chatter

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Adam Scott joins the show (42:45). The 2013 Masters champion discusses his earth tone wardrobe, this year’s upcoming Masters champions dinner, surfing with the world’s best, and a gutsy read on a putt to win the Masters. Before Adam, Riggs and Dan debate the USGA and R&A’s proposal to roll back the golf ball.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/foreplaypod

Hey, 4Play listeners, you can find us every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Oh, Rick! What's up, my brother? I've got a buddy who struggles with that shot. A lot. His name's Frankie Burrilli. So the guys actually gave him a nickname of Butterknives because he always knives to the cross the green.

Brok 100. Now you've got to break 90. You appreciate what you guys do for golf. It's been really cool. Thank you. You're making it cool. we appreciate it. I was like, hey, Phil,

you only fucking $29.99. And he grabs 100. He's like, yeah, I won 90,000 of these yesterday. He goes, take 100 and go, fuck yourself. What? What are you guys fishing? It's ain't a hobby. Four players are at Barcelona Sports.

Brought to you by our very good friends at Chevrolet. Go check out a Chevy right now. They are our title sponsor for the entire year. So we love Chevy, the bow tie, the whole deal, EVs for everyone everywhere. Adam Scott's on this show. He's never been on the show. We spent four hours.

hours yeah uh Tuesday I guess it is about four hours with him we played a scramble match for most of it and then we got 45 minutes of the podcast with myself Trent Frankie and Adam Scott for the show he was excellent we went through all kinds of good stuff including master's stories what is he expecting at this year's master's dinner uh champions dinner the Scotty chef or menu was just released and me and dan can go through that so stick around for Adam Scott obviously that is kind of the highlight of this show So spring merch, so we're wearing a little bit of it right now. Great line. Our merchandise team works incredibly hard.

We got all kinds of polos and hoodies and accessories. We got a women's line and men's line, all kinds of good stuff. So store dot martial sports.com. Go check out the spring line, flowers, themes. It's about to be nice all over the country, so get pumped up for that. April's the best month of the year. It's not even close to my opinion. You've got the Masters tournament.

You got all of good weather to look forward to for like the next six months. It's flowers start to blossom all over the place. You got the Masters tournament. You got the conclusion of March Madness. And then even when Masters ends up finishes up, you've got, like I said, months of fantastic weather to look forward to. So I love April. You want to be ready.

Golf season. We just had the time switch. We don't do it in Arizona. So I'm three hours behind now, which is an absolute dagger right now. But that is tough. That's why it's just a grind. But the rest, I'm exhausted right now. I couldn't get names right.

I was using weird words when I spoke with Kirk earlier. I literally went to bed. It's, I think, 6 a.m. Eastern time. So it was a little bit of a grind. But we're here. We're ready to talk some golf. We got a lot to get to because of the proposed rule changes from the USGA and the RNA.

Dan, you posted a great video about it that's got people talking. I'm sort of been torn on the whole issue personally. And I've been really working for the last 24 hours to kind of educate myself so that I can try to find truly where I fall on the entire situation without being biased in any way. There's a lot of information and data and history to consider. But the USGA and the RNA have proposed essentially to dial back, roll back the golf ball is the best way to say it. It would start in 2026 if it gets approved, accepted, however the hell you want to describe it. And it would basically roll back the golf ball. It sounds like the driving distances 20, 25-ish yards.

But Dan, you did a good, a great sort of synopsis and breakdown of the whole situation. pretty big news coming from these governing bodies. Really big news. They've been kind of tiptoeing toward this for a while. I think the timing of the announcement is kind of rich, given everything else that's going on in the professional game right now. It's just another, like, huge thing that's going to basically split people down the middle, except for it doesn't really feel like it's down the middle.

The way this is breaking down the reaction to this, at least from what I've seen anecdotally, and a few polls is that the kind of old school traditionalists have been calling for this for a really long time. They don't like seeing courses become obsolete, places like Cypress Point, places like national golf links. These golf courses that were designed at 65, 6,600 yards that can no longer test the best players in the world.

Which for the record, those courses, it's not like they were hosting U.S. opens at those courses. They don't want them. That's what I'm saying. That's not, you can kind of tell where I'm starting to go on this whole thing. But that part, I was thinking about that all morning, a lot of like, okay, which courses do I,

have I heard these incredible tales about these icons of the game in the 20s and 30s, the 1920s and 30s winning majors on these courses and hitting these shots that they just aren't able to go back to now. And that's not that didn't exist. Yeah, it's not it's not really a thing. Cypress Point does not want to host the 18T Pebble Beach Pro Am. I don't think that's a secret. But yeah, so that crowd is, that's a victory for them, right? Like they've been calling for this for a long time. Chevrolet is a trusted company. company that has been innovating for the last 100 years. You see Chevrolet, you see the bow tie, you know what you're going to get.

It's an American beautiful company. And I just, I see them and the hair on the back of my neck just stands up. That's a Chevrolet rolling right by me. Yeah, I see people driving around in Chevroes and I think to myself, that person made a good decision. They made a great decision. And you can make a great decision by getting a Chevy EV. These new electric vehicles are for everyone, everywhere. They're available for all Americans.

And that is what Chevrolet is committed to. There's a growing network of public charging stations right now in this country, and you're never going to not have one. I think that used to be a downside to get an EV. Right. People are like, Oh, what happens if I get caught on a long drive? That's not happening anymore.

No, there's going to be within the next decade or so, probably even less. There's going to be charging stations all over the place. There's over 1900 certified Chevy EV dealerships right now in this beautiful country. and Chevy has convenient ways for you to research and shop these EVs online. So make sure you check out from Bolt to Blazer. We saw the Silverado in person. It was an unbelievable electric vehicle.

Make sure you check out these Chevroletes, this new line of EVs. Chevrolet, EVs for everyone everywhere. I think the reaction from players and from most fans that I've seen is just like, no, this is a solution. I think Justin Thomas said a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist. and I understand the guy saying, oh, these guys don't hit long irons into greens. You know, sports change, man.

You know, everything changes and everything evolves. And do I understand why it would be, you know, might be advantageous to take away 20 yards from the top players in the world? Sure, but it has a lot of repercussions. You know, these, the manufacturers are going to have to develop new balls. Pros are probably going to have to change equipment to match those balls. um, bifurcation is something that golf has never done before having a different set of rules for the pros than the joes.

It just, it, it just seemed like the people who are calling for this was such a small portion of, of the golf audience that feels like they know what's best and that they know what's good for the future. And it, and it is kind of a fascinating, uh, dynamic here between the, the sort of cognoscenti or the orthodox, you know, these, these suits and these people who, who talk about, like you said, the old days of shot shaping. And then you've got 85% of the population. That's like, screw this.

We're moving forward. Golf's in a great place. Why do we need to do this? So my view on this has changed a lot since I moved to Barstool, honestly, and kind of got out of that echo chamber of, oh, you know, the shot values are different. So I, yeah, I feel a lot differently than I did about a year ago. I, like I kind of set off the top. You know, I'm, I find myself in a position where I very much am able to empathize

with both sort of standard sides of the argument. And the crux of the issue, you know, seems to be that not that long ago, when the ball, the golf ball in particular, but also the other equipment, the drivers, all the equipment, the golf ball and the golf game used to require significantly more artistry, if you will. It required to a degree, and Tiger talks about this a lot. What it required was because the ball spun a lot more, didn't fly in the air as far, that in order to play very difficult golf courses well, you had to learn with a significantly larger amount of skill, of finesse, of artistry, air quotes, if you will, how to shape shots, how to flight shots. And the way,

and the golf ball has evolved over the last 20 years. And again, something Tiger talks about a lot, is that they've really optimized it to fly far with less spin and to come off the face at a higher trajectory so that that golf ball will stay in the air with less spin. It barrels through that air, and it goes farther. And so if you are playing a 450-yard par four, as a professional golfer versus us, right?

If we go out there, we're still pretty similar. We're going to get to all this, where it's like if we hit a drive, that's a really solid 270, 280 yard drive or something. We've still got 170, 180 yards in, which for me is like a six iron or something. If I hit an okay drive,

I hit it out there, 250 maybe. I've still got 200 yards into this difficult par four. I'm probably in the rough. Now, I'm trying to hack some four iron up there. It's a very difficult hole. for a normal golfer to make a pretty easy four. If you take now the way the game is gone for the top professionals who can fly it 320, 325, 330, they get out that driver, they hit it pretty straight,

even if it goes in the left rough, the right rough, even if there's a little bit of tree trouble they have to navigate or if they find a fairway bunker up there, they're only 120, 130 yards out. They've got a gap wedge in their hands, and they can fly that fucking thing onto the green. The only possible defense is if those greens are firm as hell, which the courses, the superintendents, don't have much control over because golf courses are outdoor. It's an outdoor sport and you are just subject to whatever happens with Mother Nature. We saw that last week at the players' championship where they've got subair system.

They've got all the control you could possibly have over that golf course to keep it firm and fast, which is the only real defense against these top pros who can now launch it high, fly it high, land it soft and stop it wherever they want. It rained on Friday night. The course went from playing spicy, fiery, whatever cliche word you want to use, to even with their subair, even all that, on Saturday it was the lowest scoring round

in the history of the players championship, just because it got wet overnight. And so the one thing that would allow those that run the events to sort of control score and control difficulty, they really don't have any control over because if it gets soft, when the game has changed the way that it has changed, there's no fucking defense if the guys can just hit it out there hit a wedge onto the green stop it at any moment that they want and that rattles people because back in the day and here's a great example of like in 1986 when jack nicholas won the masters and he hit that shot right at the flagstick on 16 and he took his head and didn't even watch it because he knew and his son said be right he said it is he had a fucking five ironed in in 1986 same tea same pin that back left with a knob on the right

Tiger Woods and pretty much everybody else in 2019 when he won hit an eight iron and so that clearly is over whatever that is 40 years of difference 43 year difference that is a massive difference hitting a fucking five iron versus an eight iron I I implore anybody out there listening to go to the driver range hit 15 eight irons and hit 15 five irons and the difference will be laughable how obviously much harder it is to hit a five iron than eight iron if you extrapolate that out a core a core of a across every hole that everybody plays on all of the game. It clearly has dramatically changed the game. Now, having said that, I'm so what? Hardly. Right, right. I'm, I'm learning and I read a lot through Brandel Schaembley's tweet thing, which I'm going to go through.

I'm going to kind of read that it's really affecting very few holes on very few golf courses. And even if it were affecting all of the holes on all of the golf courses, that these guys play. It's an incredibly small size of players, and it is still in line with the evolutions that the game has been making since the 19 teens. There are quotes from the greats of that time talking about how distance is becoming an issue in fucking 1920. They're talking about it. Here we are 100 years later, and guess what? If those that could just hit the ball farther and straighter have an advantage, then they're better at the thing that we're doing.

That's an incredible skill. And it's not like you see the guy that just hits the farthest wins every single week. In fact, that's just not the case. And it's, you know, we went through the whole thing with Bryson. Yes, he was able to get a U.S. Open. He won at Wingfoot. It was great. He had a good run.

He won some big events. He won at Bay Hill. He was trying to drive the green on whatever that is, the half moon hole, like the fifth hole or whatever it was. He drove the green in the first hole at the Ryder Cup of people went crazy. that was fucking awesome. But it wasn't like he was just automatically winning every single event because it hit it farther. It wasn't like he went from not being able to compete at tournaments or majors to winning the U.S. Open. He was already really fucking good.

And so he, of course he won a U.S. Open. Yeah, that distance thing probably helped him, especially that week. Everyone was missing fairways. Everyone was hitting 30, 40 percent of fairways. His went farther. He was able to get it on the gree. But his up and down, his putting, his ability to run. run it up at Wingfoot, which we talked about was a huge factor.

You had to have a lot of skills other than just hitting farther than everybody. So what I've come around on, and I'm learning, again, through a lot of what you just said and what Brandl just said of the systemic issues that would come from doing this would be pretty significant, pretty devastating. And the cost of it all would most likely fall on the consumer, which is everybody listening here because like you mentioned earlier and like Brandl's been harping on, if they decide to use a different golf, golf ball. The equipment companies aren't going to be like, well, Taylor made, for example, not going to be like, well, here's the stealth two that we designed to do this and we're just going to stick with the stealth too. Fuck, no, they're going to go back in hardcore to research and development. They're going to have Rory and Scotty and Colin and Fleetwood and all these guys come to them and say, hey, now that we got this new ball, I'm actually learning the characteristics of the ball.

Yeah, maybe it flies 20 yards less far, but it actually favors a little bit more of a draw, are a little bit more RPM's on this spin rate. So we need to get a driver that now is more confi-you know, that's how they're going to play that game. Taylor-made's going to have to invest millions and millions and millions into creating those clubs to conform, not just for the you and me of the weekend, but to conform to Roar. And then they can't turn around and sell those to market.

They can't even sell those to market. They had to pay millions to optimize the performance for the top players in the game so that they still play Taylor-Made so that when somebody's holding up, you know, that trophy or wearing the greener. green jacket that they've got Taylor made across their forehead. So they got to do that. They're a company. They're a business. So they're not just going to spend millions and millions and millions and not look for a way to increase revenue. How do you increase revenue? If that's not going to market and all that, well, they're just going to have to drive up prices. That's

going to make everything more expensive for you and me and everyone out there listening and trying to buy it all because guys think that like Cyprus points a little bit too easy for guys that are hitting it, you know, as far as they are. Or maybe there's a few. holes that they're going to have to move the T's back, which they have. They've done that. We're going to probably see in a couple weeks at Augusta, the 13th, and they're going to unveil how the 13th hole is now, however many yards longer. Of course, they're going to have to do that.

But like you said, games fucking changed. The NFL is dramatically, dramatically different now than it was in the 70s or the 80s. It's infinitely bigger. It's done phenomenal things for the game of football. On a business scale, we talked about how it fucking dominates the world series. now the World Series. That's the schedule games around Sunday and Monday night football because football is so big. So the NFL is dominated in that sense. No one's saying that just because you're bigger, you get more eyeballs that that's definitely the best way to go for the game all time.

But I really do think when you add it all up, ever since COVID, millions of more people are playing golf. They're more into it. They're buying more merchandise. They're attending events. The ratings for the players championship were very high, very solid. The game now is in a, is in a place and it's a very unique, very unique game in that if you're a fan of golf, you play golf. If you're a fan of football or basketball, you don't necessarily go play football on the weekends. You play golf on the weekends if you're a golf fan. And I'll tell you this, it's not like the drivers that they're making or the equipment that they're making or the ball that we're using as good as it is.

I'm not going out to these golf courses and being like, well, I'm just hitting it too far. This place is too fucking easy. Boy, oh boy, I wish I had a four iron instead of this fucking nine iron. nobody's doing that. And so it does become a very interesting issue where is it just the people that think they know what's best for everyone doing it for themselves so that they feel like they did the right thing? Or is it truly something that is the onus should be on folks in power that we trust that

even if we don't think it's something that's broken or necessary, that they see it better than we do, and that this move, even if it's unpopular to certain people, even if the equipment companies are pissed off about it, even if Justin Thomas goes out and says it's really bad, is it something that they're going to turn out that history says they were right about?