No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 1035: Tiering PGA Tour Courses + John Deere Recap

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

Soly and TC break down Brian Campbell’s playoff win and the rest of the action from the John Deere before we have some fun and rank PGA Tour courses via our personal custom tiers (29:00). We close the pod with some assorted news and notes and a quick interview with last week’s winner in Detroit, Aldrich Potgieter (1:58:00), to talk swing speed, his recent technique tweaks, and winning his first tour event at the tender age of 20 years old. Join us in our support of the Evans Scholars Foundation: ⁠⁠⁠https://nolayingup.com/esf⁠⁠⁠ Support our sponsors: Titleist Rhoback The Stack Oars and Alps If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Nest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠nolayingup.com/join⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Newsletter here: https://newsletter.nolayingup.com/ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Podcast channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@NoLayingUpPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. That's better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different? Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the no laying a podcast. Solly here joined by my guy, Mr. TC. Hello, TC. How was the holiday weekend?

It was awesome, Solly. I got the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Fourth of July combos. It's pretty unbeatable. Man, I can't wait till my kids are old enough that I could say that. Let me, it was beatable. Let me tell you, it was a very, very, very beatable long weekend here.

I'm gonna give you a little run of show for how we're gonna do things tonight. We're gonna recap the John Deere Classic here up first. Then we're gonna do a little special segment. TC and I have come up with eight tiers of golf courses on the PGA Tour, each having our own set of criteria, and we're going to slot almost every course on tour into those tiers. Full disclosure, we've recorded most of this week's pod ahead of the holiday.

Again, thank God we did because it was a weekend for your boy. But after that, we talk a little bit about some courses we like to see host events on the PGA tour, some news and notes, including new purse distribution for the playoffs, open qualifying, a banger of an article from Adam Schupack on the equity being handed out to some of the legends or not being handed out to some of the legends of the game of golf live 2026 schedule. Finally, on the end, we spend a little bit of time with Aldridge Potgeeter and you can catch that interview at the very end. Around the world in golf, Brian Campbell wins for the second time this season.

Get him on the team. John Deere, you beat me to it. Dan Brown wins the BMW and Jeremy Lottie, whoa, blew the field away at the KPMG Women's Irish Open. But we got to start with, you've heard us talk about Tidalist new T-Series irons on tour, like that T100, T150, and T250 combo that Aldrich Potgieter switched to right before winning the Rocket Classic last week. We talked a little bit about with him about that at the very end of this episode. We both just got fit ourselves, excited to put the new models in play. We can't spill the beans yet on all the technology

and new features, more on that soon, but I can tell you right now, starting this Thursday, July 10th, you can go ahead and get fit for the new T-Series irons. Yourself getting fit is wildly, wildly, wildly important. TC, what were your big takeaways from your fitting? Yeah, Solly, I'm of evolving my set a little bit. I've got two fifties in the four through seven iron. I had two hundreds prior in the, in the four and five iron six

and seven are going to two fifties. And then I've got one fifties in the eight and nine iron, and then I'm gonna stick with the 44 degree Vokey for my pitching wedge. So I'm stoked. My apex was a lot higher, especially in those mid irons with the 250s. Yeah, I was kind of stunned with just, I kept blaming myself for some of the mishits I was having. And then our fitter Jason was just like, no, no, let's solve for this problem.

Like we can solve for this problem. That is part of fitting. And I ended up in a combo set. I was in a combo set originally. I was in T one fifties in this past set, but now I am, I got the T two 54 iron and the utility iron in the bag. Uh, and it gets launching straight up to the moon. It's fricking awesome. And then I'm T one fifties down the rest five through pitching wedge. Uh, and again, we got fit two years ago, but things changed. Bodies change. Like it's, it's good to stay healthy and keep getting fit.

Playing a setup that's built for you will make a massive difference. You can head to tidalist.com, schedule a fitting near you and stay tuned to Tidal Social Channels for more information on new T-Series irons coming very soon. Sali, I think the, like I'm stoked about these because the interoperability between the whole set is crazy. Were you in the 100s at all?

No. So you were 150s all the way down to the wedges and then correct. Yeah. Yeah. I like that boring. Again, that's the question to answer part. I like that little boring flight, you know, lower flight on the irons, but they got me got me all set.

Want to go shout out to our friends at Roeback as well. They got our favorite polos, hoodies, shorts, pants, you name it. I live in these workout shirts in the summer, especially the long sleeve one. It's very cool even to wear and it beats the sun. You want to beat, you know, you don't need to get the forearms out in the sun.

They make so many great materials. I got some of their shorts on. I wear them every single day. Listen, July 4th has passed, but the USA collection is there as well. They got great red, white and blue designs. My, uh, I had some rockin this weekend. My father-in-law got him some row back stuff. He, he was rocking it as well. Delta Looper shorts, perfect for the golf course. They're back in stock. Uh, they're great for on and off the course. So

head to bro back.com, get code NLU. We'll get you 20% off your first order through the end of this week. That's R H O B A C K.com 20% off Polo shorts and more with code NLU will get you 20% off your first order through the end of this week. That's R-H-O-B-A-C-K dot com 20% off Polo shorts and more with code NLU. TC the John Deere. Did it slap? Did the John Deere slap this year? It depends on what we're kind of slapping we're talking about. No, it didn't slap. I watched, I actually watched a lot of it Thursday, Friday, kind of tuned out when I saw cam champ and a couple of other BSIs on the, uh, up on the board on Saturday.

But you got to be stoked. The, the anti BSI guy gets his second PGA tour, way to the season. Yeah. I think that's, I mean, there's nowhere else to go but that. Right. I think that the, like Brian Campbell, I don't think he has a top 30 this year besides his two wins. I can look that up. That would be, I don't think he has a top 30 this year besides his two wins. I can look that up.

That would not surprise me. And I don't think he's in the British Open, even like despite two wins. This win doesn't get him in? I don't think they do. I was just reading PJTour.com. They were saying it's unclear whether he's gonna get into the British Open.

That is wild. And technically he won a national open. You would think a national open would get you into the open championship. You have it correct. His best finish, uh, so after his win in Mexico, he went T 48 cut, cut, cut T 32, T 32. That's at the masters and the RBC heritage. Then missed the cut of Byron Nelson T 34 at truest T 55, the PGA cut at the Schwab withdrew at the U at the Memorial and then got cut at the U S open and then turns around

and wins his tournament TC. I got a stat for you. He was second to worst in strokes gained off the T. So like not only is he hit it nowhere, he had 162 ball speed on that. And if in the playoff hit 163 on the 18th hole in regulation, but he finished, I mean, of course he stacked it up. He was eighth in approach, 11th around the green,

sixth and putty, but lost almost four shots to the field in driving on the PGA Tour in the year of our Lord 2025 and won another golf tournament. I'm in awe of this dude, man. Like this is such a freaking epic story. He, he just knows how to win, right? It's, uh, I would imagine your, what your, your, your fancy data golf, uh, you know, pre predicted wins is probably completely broken after Brian Campbell. That's not how probability works, TC. You know it's not.

Doesn't mean it's just because a low probability event happens doesn't mean that it's impossible or doesn't mean the model's broken. It just means there's a lot of golf. Don't get me going on all this. You're winding me up. You're gaslighting me. I'm not here for that tonight. We're going to celebrate Mr. Campbell. Or do you, I mean, we could take it this other

route. The U S rider cup captain has said winning changes, you know, changes things when it comes down to captain's picks. How does Keegan put himself on the team ahead of a guy that won twice now after saying that? I think you put them both on the team. I think you put Novak on the team and you put Brian. I think he had already solidified his spot. You got to start looking at Kevin Roy, David Lipsky, things of that nature as well. No, I mean, it's crazy. Like Brian Campbell, it's his second win of the year and he's barely cracking the top 30 in the FedEx Cup. He's moved up to 28th with this win.

I'll tell you the other crazy thing. Nick Dunlap was the only guy to finish worse anything. Nick Dunlap was the only guy to finish worse than Brian Campbell in strokes gained off the tee and he finished T11. So I was going to say he had a freaking epic week. He, uh, he was first in putting, uh, this might've been a putting contest a little bit this week, but, uh, yeah, there's, there's, uh, the guys that have won multiple times on the PJ tour this season, Rory McElroy, Sebstraka, Ben Griffin, Scotty Scheffler and now Brian Campbell. I'll say Brian Campbell, his statistical, you know, Pentagon thing that they do like to model it out looks a little bit different from those other names that you mentioned.

It really does. Uh, it was, it was, he lost a one in a playoff against Emiliano Grillo. Uh, Campbell had just stepped right up, hit it right down the middle of the fairway. Grillo hit it into the right rough. Um, what I was, well, I was chasing three kids around. Did somebody say a Marshall picked up his ball in the playoff?

Was that right? I didn't see that. Um, I don't know. I was watching on my phone, the playoff, I kind of ejected after, I don't know. It could have been an interesting Sunday and it just didn't, didn't really go that direction. I just saw Grillo fail to like even chip onto the green. And then he kind of air mailed it from the rough. You could tell as soon as he hit it, he knew he caught the flyer that he was hoping he wasn't going to catch. And the, the, the short game is not what M has been known for over the years. Missed it shorter than an easy to put win for Campbell. But yeah, it was, I mean, it was the classic PGA tour summer event. Like eight guys had a shot to win there on the back nine. There were some divots in play. Like I think, uh, I think Grillo got unlucky with a divot at one point.

You know, listen, I say some things later in this episode about TPC Deer Run that I may regret at this point now after watching this event the last four days. A rainy, a wet, like balls backing up, John, TPC Deer Run is not the most fun. Yeah, we do talk a little about, we like this golf course. It was not in its best. There's a ton of variety of like, even just the dudes that, you know, maybe that's just the putting contest kind of showing it's you've got, you know, you got young

dudes, you got short dudes, you got old dudes, you got, yeah, you got Matt Kuchar, you got, I mean, Max Holm played well. You got Nick Dunlap. Gordon Sarge made the cut. Rico Ho, he's a bomber. He played well. Jackson Koyvan, amateur made the cut. Like it's always an interesting combination of players. Ricky Fowler played well.

Patrick Fishburne, he's about as a bomb and gouge as it gets on tour. He played well, but there's not a lot of separation, right? You've got 25 guys within five shots of the lead there. And it's, you know, it's just, there's some good holes, but, um, yeah, didn't, didn't, didn't play its best this week. Yeah. I mean, it rained pretty darn hard there on the front nine on this Sunday. Max had such a great start, bogey birdies two, three and four, uh, hit an absolute seed, uh, into the third. I'm sorry. He birdied, um,

I did very two, three and four, but gave it back with bogeys on five and nine to shoot just one under on the front, but hit an awesome shot into three after the two put birdie, uh, on the second hole. Looked like it might be his day that got him to 17 under. He ended up finishing two shots out of the playoff, had a good look from nine feet on the 17th hole, had a good look from eight feet nine inches on the 18th hole to miss both of those. I had my under 68 and a half. I just needed one of those two putts to fall. I got roasted by the online community yet again for another missed pick. But what are we taking away from this week for Max? We know we're looking

for signs. He moves up to 98th in the FedEx Cup. Listen, again, that's not what we're looking for from our guy, but inside the top 100, heading in the right direction, absolutely shipping it off the tee in the mid 180s, quite easily out there at 145 in on the 18th hole, which used to be a long par four. Are we taking, I know it's TPC De deer run, not the strongest field. What are we taking away from this? It doesn't look all that comfortable or like it looks like he's working hard. It's kind of laborious, but like it seems like he's making progress and which I love to see. So, uh, I can, you know, curious to see how he sets up his schedule So, I can, you know, curious to see how he sets up his schedule here the remainder of the year, as well, just, you know, is he gonna go play Wyndham, you know, kind of events like that, right? He's got to, right? So kind of just play, play your way out of the funk, right? And hope,

hope you play well, instead of just beating your head against the wall, kind of. So, but yeah, I think I don't know,, the place that I go here is I think Michael Thorbjornsson got to be kicking himself. That's the one that shot 63 today. Final round. He was, he was one of the favorites coming in. He played really well here last year. 70-65, 73-63 and just, just didn't, didn't get off the bus on Saturday. So finished five shots back. And again, if that's a 68 on, on Saturday, he's in a playoff. Um, you know, who knows if he goes out and shoots 63 today, but, but yeah, just one of those things, I think like, I don't know, Davis Thompson as well, like he was kind of right there. Um, kind of petered

out a little bit, you know, early this round, But like he was, he was kind of right in the mix. He shot 63 on, on Friday and he was getting a lot of the, a lot of the air time on Friday. And this is kind of one of those tournaments where it's like, man, you got to put four rounds in the mid sixties together to really get it done. Otherwise you can't have an off day. Yeah, you just, you can't, it you can. It's gonna go very quickly. I mean, this is the best result of the year for Max. His best finish prior was T12 at the Masters of all places. I mean, yeah, and he had a top, a T30 at the truest, but otherwise his best finish

since then was T51 at Memorial. So seen some flashes, seeing a couple of good rounds here and there, but this was his best four day effort. And it, he's going to, you know, couple of regrets, the tee shot driving into the rough on 15 ended up leading to a bogey and driving into the rough on 17, um, made it so he couldn't go for the green on the, on the par five and two, and he still missed the two short putts coming in. Like it was right there for him still. I'm sure he's probably pretty frustrated today, but that's about as, uh,

we've not seen a maintained ball striking for four days and to, to come in and be sixth and driving 15th and approach the short game, let them down a little bit, uh, this week, but as we've mentioned in the past, that could mean you're leaving yourself in bad spots. It could be a little bit, uh, you know, misleading. That's not always going to tell a great story. That's small of a sample, but to be that hitting the ball that good, again, I don't know what a reasonable expectation is

through the rest of this year for him, but that's a solid ass sign. I get it really is. It's different than if he just had a really good putting week and it didn't look sustainable. That was like the best I've seen him hit the ball. The irons were really accurate. When he really needed them down the stretch,

that iron he hit into 16 was really, really, really good. Iron in the 18 was good after an excellent tee shot. So I don't know, man. I'm of course drinking the Max Kool-Aid, but that was really encouraging to see. Tough Sunday, but I don't know. That was, that was, that's very nice to see. I'm optimistic.

Yeah, I agree. I think it's, you know, it's a buying sign, right? For sure. So you got your Jupiter links hat on. Is there any, any off season moves so far for them? No, I mean, it's Max got me really excited for, for the season coming up. And I don't know. You know, kind of obviously the number one overall draft pick and who knows Jackson Coyvan. He comes up as an amateur in this event finishes T11. This was not a planned transition by the way.

Second in putting, you know, an amateur out here playing on the PJ tour and third off the tee come out here with a, you know, listen, it's a mule event, but I'm always curious to see some of these guys when they get up there, how their game, the individual components of their game, how it stacks up to the rest of the field. And to come out and do those two things. And I mean, his iron play was a wreck. And

the approach numbers were better. He has like a decent week with the irons. He might win this week. And so I'm the you have my curiosity, Jackson. Now you have my attention. I'm not ready to put them on the team just yet, but one more good start. And I think we got to talk about it, TC. Okay. You know, he beat Clanton, who I think is what?

One of my top players, not to have won a major. You and DJ said he was one of the top 10 players on planet earth that has not won a major. Yeah, you know, big, big group at minus three, Takumi Kenya, David Ford, Sammy of all Maki, a couple others that, that missed the cut. But, um, why did, why did pot getter WD just to, just to get over to Scotland? I don't think I saw a reason where, where was he on the board? Uh, when he shot 67, 66, and then he shot 76 on Saturday. Got it. I mean, it could have been, that could that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.

I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.

I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.

I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that of toast, man. I'm just going to go ahead and get over to Scotland. It's hard to get to. And the Scottish courses should should suit him quite, quite nicely. Renaissance. Any other, I'm trying to think of any other things to call out. Gordon Sargent made the cut. I think that's notable and just that he's been struggling like crazy with his game

here over the last six, eight, 12 months. And he's doing it without like he potted well, he's doing it without playing well off the tee, he was 57th off the tee. So iron's weren't good, chipping wasn't good. But you know, he hit 31 fairways this week, which I think was way up over what he did in Detroit with the first event of the mule drive, the, uh, the Midwest mule drive that we've got going on here. How did he make the cut? Out of 64 guys, he was 57th off the T 58 that approached 62nd, uh, around the greens. But that's sad. I mean, he played pretty poorly on Saturday.

Saturday you go backwards. If you look at stats through two days, that might tell a different story, but yeah. It's a weird, weird. Oh no, he shot, he shot 67 on Friday, almost last to the field and driving. That's, it might just be an improper test. Well, it's definitely that, but am I impressed with that or am I concerned with that? I think I'm concerned with that.

Yeah. Yeah. It's I don't know. I don't know what to think. It is a bit of an unserious golf tournament, if we're being totally honest. It's a nice Midwest event. It's a lower tier event, but it's just like trying to decipher, filter through the numbers on this, and it doesn't really make much of a sense. Um, but create some decent drama down the stretch. Uh,

David Lipski had a really good chance of getting that playoff. He was tied for the lead, getting to the 18th hole and hit a really tough hook, uh, on 18. Had a great look, a par putt that he definitely thought he made. I thought he made that hit the lip. Uh, and unfortunately he finished a shot out of the playoff shooting 68, 68. He moves up to one 15th in the FedEx Cup. That's the thing you got guys just starting to jockey now like Carson Young's up 20 spots

to 132. Lucas Glover is kind of having a better year than I thought. He's up to 23rd. Your guy Jacob Bridgman of four spots, 33rd to 29th inch and closer to that rider. I'm going for Keegan's spot. Kucher, Kurt Kitayama. He's had a quiet one. He was T5 as well. So, Austin Eckroote as well finished T11. He moves up to 93rd. Since we're going to at that a hundred watches. Just it gets a little, it's a little different man.

That 100 versus 125 and it's definitely a SZN to start looking at that. Yeah. On the flipping over the Euro tour. I will say Eckro though, pretty, pretty safe for the most. Cause he's got, he's been stacking wins. Stacked two wins the last couple of years, right? That should, I think you're exactly right.

And you can go to their PGA tour page and see buy-in. Like Chris Ventura play well. For 2027 he's exempt, yes. Okay. And Max is exempt through 2028 for anybody curious. Which I didn't really, I guess I feel like I've realized this like three different times that multiple wins, like it keeps extending your extension. I did. I was, I was,

you can start stacking discounts. You cannot do it in our shop, but at the PGA tour, you can absolutely stack, whatever codes. The other guy that's got to feel a little bit like you let it get away is Doug Gim, you know, native, native of Illinois shot 62 first round. Tough, tough Saturday, 74. So, and I know Saturday they went off early, they played threesomes, all that, but he, he needs a couple good finishes to get inside that, that top 100.

I'm just going to say it because it's worth acknowledging and it's true. Going back to like early May, Ricky Fowler playing some decent golf. Not gonna get sucked into the Ryder Cup thing. We're not doing that again. We've moved on from that, but he was T15 at truest, T16 at the Schwab, T7 at Memorial on a sponsor's exemption, T18 this week. I mean, that's four top 20s in his last seven starts

for Rick. It's good golf. It's he pooped in the potty. Good golf. It is expected from him at this point, but it's a, it's about, he had a really tough 2024 really good player. So, um, really, really tough last year. Yeah. Uh, Kevin Roy was getting a little snippy on, on X, the, the everything app with, with, with our guy, Joseph Lamonia about, uh,

did you see this? The rake thing. The rules official let him rake if it was in front of or behind his ball. And I guess it wasn't in the line of, the line of the swing or whatever, but I don't know why you would want to rake it. If it wasn't, Joseph was questioning it.

Kevin snapped back and said, hey, this was farther away and there was no controversy whatsoever. So it was just an interesting back and forth. Yeah, I feel like we end up so often in these rules issues that are like, all right, so we've got a rules official involved and rules officials said he could do it. Yet. We just don't trust the tour.

I know. I know the issue. But then like also, or I was, I was too. I got a drop at the US Open. The commentators were also confused as to why he was being allowed to do this. So, yeah. I mean, I totally agree. If it wasn't in his way, why would he care about raking it? But yeah, he did get chippy. I can easily clear this up for you, buddy,

and save your fingers from typing away so much. First off, I called a rules official over TV made the footprint look much closer than it actually was. Since the footprint was not in my way Playing the next shot we were able to rake it now if the footprint was in the way therefore We would not been able to rake it But like why why do you like why do you even think to break the footprint? It's not in your way. I Don't know just aesthetically. It's a tough thing to be reminded of. I don't know

Probably not that big anyway, but it's not a big deal. It's not a big deal. It's the John, your classic. And that's what we're talking about here. All that done. Let's move over. Dan Brown, we need to put him on the team yet for, for winning them that DP world tour. You worried about that at all? No, I think we're good.

I think we're, he, you know, he's, he's just getting ready for Dan Brown season. He played well last year. This, this middle of the summer, right? It's very, very true. That's worth a, so with Borne Alam. I'm not sure. He's just getting ready for Dan Brown season. He played well last year, this middle of the summer, right? It's very, very true. That's worth pointing out.

We've got Uncle Yost playing well. He was a few back. You had Christopher Ritan from Norway. We may have to get him on the team. He keeps playing quite nicely. Listen, we're so early in this thing. We have so many different options, Sali. We're not showing our cards.

You guys are in dire, dire straights right now. Interesting. You're willing to put Keegan on the team over in the US side, but you're, hey, we're still waiting. We're waiting to get this figured out. That's interesting. Puj played well. Puj, he's got this mustache going.

He looks more and more like a young Corey Pavan, Corey Pavan uh, as mentioned, Lottie Wode won the KPMG women's Irish open by six shots. Lottie still an amateur, uh, for the record, one over Madeline Sagstrom. Uh, there were three players within 10 shots of her at a Carson house over there. It was wildly, wildly impressive from a lot of course, the Augusta national women's amateur champion

from a year ago. She's not even here yet, right? And she's already dominating. It's crazy. Coming. Yeah, no, I think the course that the DP World Tour was playing in Munich, very funny. Looked, it was in, that was a,

there was a guy putting with a backwards hat on at one point. Marcel, I flipped it on him. Marcel Siebe was just putting, he had his hat on, he was just wearing it backwards. He wasn't just his hat on. He was just wearing it backwards. He wasn't just putting with it. He was just wearing his hat backwards and it was not raining like I was just. Yeah, I didn't know that was allowed, you know, on the D.P. World Tour, but apparently it is just vibing their faces off over there.

Yeah. No, otherwise, I think. Yeah, I was like I was impressed with with Lottie's win, especially she. There were some other good players on that leaderboard as well. There was some depth playing over on the ladies European tour, continuing to monitor the ladies European tour, the Alexandra Armas, the commissioner left and there's rumors of, you know, the Saudis getting involved on that side of things. What else? I'm clearing out the notebook here.

involved on that side of things. Coming. What else? I'm clearing out the notebook here. Our friend of the program, Will Grimmer shot 66, 66, 66 at Firestone to win the Ohio Open. I wanted to shout him out. And then I saw Zach Johnson wearing a skull cap under his hat this week and just made me wonder what's going on there. Monitoring the situation. week and just made me wonder what's going on there.

I don't know if it's aeration, uh, you know, aeration or, you know, kind of, uh, maybe some seeding going on there. Those things you put on your garden to make sure weeds don't pop up when you're trying to grow. My, you know, might be, might be flying over to Istanbul soon. I don't know. We'll see. So, uh, that, that could be, that, that, that could be the first stop on the way to stop is always Northern Ireland. Right.

That's exactly right. All right. Well, let's get to the main event. I got to tell you though, TC, I, I, I've been heavily influenced by one DJ pie house key. Uh, he's been telling me about stack wedges for quite some time. And I was like, yeah, sure. Whatever. It's probably whatever made a little real about it. I'm like, gosh, I want to go try that.

And I have stacked wedge three times in the past week. Go to the stack system.com slash NLU code. No laying up for all of the great benefits of the stack system. You've heard me talk about the speed stuff. You heard me talk about the putting, but I had not tried the wedges until now. Do you see, you can literally in the course of doing one of these sessions, feel yourself improve during it of like, you got to hit a 51 yard shot and your first one, like your first one versus your fourth, it feels completely different. Like when do you ever go to the range and like try to set out to

hit the same distance multiple times, like to have the measurement spit right back at you, give you a point system. Have you mix up the court you only get to hit four shots in a row the same distance so it mixes it up a little bit to make sure you're not just pounding away hitting the same shots. And it tells you what your biases are like I'm struggling on the 40 yard shots right now but like 80 yards I'm real good right now and it's awesome. I'm back up on my speed stuff. We're getting there

touch 171 ball speed this week and I needed a little something else. Had a stressful day yesterday, went in the backyard and got a stack wedge system in before I went to bed. It was awesome. It was great. It's a fantastic system. So stacksystem.com slash nlucodenowlengup. It is a great tool to get you better at golf. It's not just speed. They got a great putting system. Neil is getting steep on the putting stuff. Now I'm joining Deidre on the wedge stuff. You can play games, you can do competitions against people as well. So-

I feel like being able to gamify practice. That's what I need. Yeah. So again, staxsystem.com slash NOU, code no laying up, you will not regret it. All right, TC, the main event. We talk about golf courses a lot on this podcast. We critique a lot of golf lot on this podcast. We critique

a lot of golf courses on this podcast. We get a lot of comments. You guys just hate every golf course that exists out there. I wanted to put this to the test. We've talked about doing this for quite some time of maybe we make an entire, we rank every course on the PGA Tour, which is hard to do. You know, do we give every course on the PGA Tour a pass fail grade? Not that fun to do. So with a hat tip to Joseph Lamania from the Fry Dag, he does a lot of these tier related posts, you know, comes up with his own categories for a bunch of stuff. If you're watching this on the video version, we're flashing up an image of it.

I know that he has done this, but DCI went out of my way. I have not read the contents of this post. Maybe I did when he posted it, but I did not wanna anchor myself in any way to what he had come up with, including we are gonna come up, we each had to come up with our own tiers. We have not seen each other's tiers.

And the only limitation we have is you have eight categories that you have to put all of the courses on the PGA tour into a couple things to get out in front of. I did not include the Canadian open as that is an event that moves around a lot. I don't know if that was coming. Did not include the new a Isco site, which is Hurstport country club. I don't believe we've seen that one yet.

If we have, I did not watch Tahoe Mountain Club for Barracuda, I believe is also new. I could be wrong there, but honestly I didn't know what to do with that one. It sounds like they may need a title sponsor to even continue. And then we're not doing the fall series as well. No fall series and no BMW championship,

which is also an event that moves around. So I'm gonna toss it to you to go first. But first, I want you to give me what your eight years of PGA tour courses are. All right. I did. This is very much. Kind of all encompassing. It's like, is this a good pro golf course? Because there's certain pro golf courses

that aren't courses that necessarily I would want to play. But I looked at it through that lens. I looked at it through, is it interesting on TV? Is it a good spectator course? All that stuff. Like basically does all this stuff add up to an interesting PGA tour event, you know, year after year or consistently?

Which could include like, you know, does that include crowd environment, turnout and things like that? And it's tough to separate that out. So you'll see that in some of my tiers as well of, you know, and just like time of year that they play it too. Like that's, I know that's not the course's fault, but also, hey, like it was, you know, that's part of the's fault, but also, hey, like it was, you know, that's part

of the thing with like Trinity forest back in the day with the Byron Nelson, like, you know, playing that in, in May down in Dallas, like that's just not going to work. Right. So without further ado, I've got best in class. I've got above average and interesting on TV. I've got above average. I don't really love it. Not that interesting on TV, I've got above average. I don't really love it. Not that

interesting on TV, but good pro golf venue. I've got above average, but doesn't translate it at all to TV. Got adequate, but potential exists. Adequate, but maxed out slash would be better with a rollback. Below average, again, relatively speaking, you know, or just kind of bad, relatively speaking. And then I've got 10 layers of dog shit before we reach this last category. I know one course that's gonna be in that one. I'm gonna have you go through your courses first,

but I'm gonna give you my eight tiers I came up with as well, which I don't love. I really wanted nine and I made the rule for eight because there's one course that I don't know what exactly to do with it. It doesn't really fit any of my categories but my top category is legitimately great venues that just kind of full stop this these are these are great. Next up is Hall of Very Good. You know instead of Hall of Famers you know there's a lot of baseball players out there he's a Hall of Famer no he made the Hall of Fame. He made the Hall of Fame. He did.

Uh, you know, players that have been maybe Brian Giles. How about that? 51 Ward. Well, I don't know how other people know that, but Hall of very good player, but not a Hall of Famer. Like, you know, there's a whole separate class of, of Hall of very good third tier is big name, not bad, but boring. There's a, there's a kind of a lot of courses that fell into that one. Fourth tier is good for what it is.

Uh, five could be good with rollback. Six, not bad, but still not quote it. Uh, seven is quite forgettable and eight is blow it up, which I like your definition of 10 layers of dog shit a lot better, but, uh, those are, those are my eight tiers. I'm, I'm, I'm very fascinated to see how you're doing. Forgettable and eight is blow it up, which I like your definition of 10 layers of dog shit a lot better, but those are, those are my eight tiers. I'm, I'm, I'm very fascinated to see how yours break out. So take this however, which way, which order you want to go it.

Well, I think it's also important to realize that I think some of these middle tiers aren't necessarily like one's not necessarily better than the other. They're almost like. Stack next to one another, different, different categories there. So we'll start with best in class. I've got TPC, Sawgrass, Riviera, and Harbor Town. I think all three of those defend like they don't necessarily favor a certain kind of player. They're all pretty agnostic, which I really value in a golf course of, you know, hey, anybody in the field, regardless of whether you're

a bomber or a good potter or whatever, like there's, there's certain things that, you know, are kind of overweighted in the modern game. And I think the best golf courses, uh, sift through that a little bit better than the other ones and make it so that, you know, Hey, there's, it's not, it's not vastly weighted to a bomber versus someone who's predicated more on accuracy. So, What's interesting there too is those are three very different golf courses, right? And I think, again, we're viewing this through the lens of PGA Tour events.

PBC Sawgrass, especially in Riviera, are very, very, very different styles. Why do both of those, you gave the kind of distance agnostic reason there, but describe like what makes Riviera great and what makes TPC Sawgrass great then we'll get to Harper Town. I think with Riviera, I mean, even for me too, like there's just certain stuff on like, I like the trees.

I like the variety. I like the first hole, the mowing lines are disgraced right now, but like first hole in the 18th are disgraced right now, but first hole in the 18th, there's a sense of place. It's iconic. You can't fake your way around there. There's the barancas, there's short grass.

The kukui is a little bit of a variable on that front. But yeah, I don't know. There's a sense of history with it. I think Sawgrass is a great spectator venue. You get it's set up for excitement down the stretch. I think that's something underrated. Harbertown is another Pete Dye, like two of the three of these are Pete Dye golf courses, right?

And Harbertown is, I don't know, I think it's a more compact piece of land as well. Like I think I appreciate that about golf courses too, of when you can go to a tournament or even watching on, on TV. And there is, it's on a, like they've maximized that piece of land versus just, you know, having 500 acres, sprawling acres. And you know, the seventh hole is three miles from the third hole kind of stuff. It's got character too. You know, that's, that's just kind of something that just kind of, you can't really fake or you can't

do manmade in the lab. You know, some, some like of some modern golf courses that I really like, we really tend to like, end up feeling a bit characterless. I'm not like maybe picking on Frisco a little bit and its current form of, look, is it striking to watch on television and do you have a great sense of place there? No, not yet, it's brand new. It's something that you gotta earn over many, many years. But I think that's kind of part of the equation here as well.

Yeah, I think, does it have energy on site, right? Like I like watching, I think it does it have energy on site? Right? Like I like watching in, I think it's probably, you know, two of these three are televised by CBS, but like, you know, I think there's really good fan atmosphere on site. And I think that that goes into character that goes into how big of a site is it? Is it easy to walk and, and watch? So to, to buy CBS and NBC's good one. Like the TBC song at the players. That's their, their biggest effort. Yeah. So, yeah, so that's my, that's my top tier. I thought, you know, a couple

of these other ones, you know, above average and interesting on TV. I think those had certain elements that could have gotten them into the top tier, but they've got other elements that kind of don't exist either. So, uh, without further ado on those, Muirfield village, Kapalua, Hubble beach, TPC Scottsdale, and an upset in his brook. I love watching this. Muirfield village, I think just very, I don't know, just a really good golf course. And, and I think there's some's a few bad holes in there and not the easiest of walks, but again, pretty agnostic on, you know, it's a second shot

golf course. So wide variety of guys can win that it's difficult, but there's still a lot of birdies out there. It's just, it's, it's exciting golf. Kapaluwa, you know, above average, certainly interesting on TV. One of the best tournaments to watch on TV, especially if they get some wind and stuff. But, you know, missing that factor of like, it's on a compact piece of land. And there's vibes and stuff. Well, yeah, now you're not looking for a golf course

to practice the same template on repeat week after week is one thing, but two, how, if I'm listening to this, a lot of people don't like birdie fests. We tend to say we don't like birdie fests of some kind. How did that factor into any of your equation of putting any of this together? Because Capilou is a birdie fest, but it gets a great grade from you. I have a feeling I understand why, but just for the listener's sake. Yeah, it's all predicated upon the how, right? It's par 73, the the balls on the ground.

It's not just. Bomb and gouge. It's, you know, it's probably the widest golf course in the PGA tour, but guys, you know, guys got to play creatively and you can play creatively to get the ball in the hole and, um, it's not stock shots on repeat. Yeah. And lag putting is important and you're landing the ball short of a green or, you know, it's, it's just interesting golf, right? And it's,

it's a total change up where like, I don't think it would work if we had 15 Kapaluas on tour, right? Right. Like that would get one note as well, but it's a, it's a nice change of pace to what we get, you know, week in week out. So Mark Rolfin probably plays a factor in that him talking about the Kona wins and the trade wins. That stuff like the whole vibe. It's in the winter too. Like, yeah, it's, it has a great place on the, on the calendar. Yeah. Pebble beach, you know, Pebble beach, Pebble beach. It's, it's,

you know, probably under realized for what it is, but you know, interesting golf and, and again, hits in the winter. It's, uh, the winter. It's a great one to watch these days. Now I think they've done a much better job of showing the golf. And yeah, but you know, I think like best in class could be a lot better. You know, so I'm gonna, I'm not gonna throw it up into that top tier yet. And then TPC Scottsdale is, you know, I think for a TPC course, I think it's interesting. I've got a TPC course pretty much in every single one of these categories.

So, they kind of run the gamut. Yeah. Yeah. Not a uniform thing of all TPCs are great or all TPCs stink, which I think we can, it becomes kind of a joke. And anytime somebody's taking it super deep, you call it, you throw TPC in front of the, uh, in front of the course.

But there are some great examples of TPC golf courses. I think that like, that would be a really interesting pile would be like a deep dive on, on the TPC networks of just, you know, because I think there are a lot of these were purpose built to host PGA tour events and they're not able to. They're built at the wrong time, right before the distance boom, a lot of these TPCs. Oh, and their residential plays and all of that too. So yeah, I think, you know, they're kind of not fit for purpose on that front. But yeah, Scottsdale, I think is everything you want out of a

big time, you know, tournament venue. It's got the logistics, it's got the, it's got the energy. It's, you know, maybe too much energy at times. It's got the, the architecture, like I think the, you know, the ball, like there's, there's contours on the greens. It's kind of, you know, we call them ball splitters. It's kind of a, it splits, you know, bisects the green or it splits, you know, a good shot from a great shot or a good shot from a bad shot. So yeah, and just a great, you know, great finishing cadence. And then I like, I love Innis Brooke. I think Innis Brooke is like one of, if not the most underrated golf course on tour. It's not in the best shape. I think they kind of paper over that with some, you know, overseeding and such.

But yeah, I think it's, I don't know, it's a wild piece of land that you wouldn't think exists in Florida. The par fives are interesting. The par threes are interesting. It's got a good cadence to it. Again, you got to be a pretty good, it's not just a bomb and gouge fest. You got to be a good iron player out there. And, you know, it defends part pretty well too. I think it's, you know, relatively speaking for the, for the distance. So yeah, so those are kind of above average and interesting on TV. That is like very, very good tournament golf courses, in my opinion. Next up above average, I don't really love it, but it's a very good pro golf venue. That's Bay Hill. That's Quail Hollow. That's TPC San Antonio. I think Bay Hill, it's not my kind of golf. It's not all that pleasing to the eye on TV,

but I like the way that they've firmed it up over the last few years. It plays, that feels like an elevated event. It feels like a signature event. It feels like you're testing, you're stress testing the best players in the world. Kind of for the, you know, I know Riviera is before that, but really for the first time, I'm like, all right, we are playing Florida golf today. This is the, the Florida swing. And, you know, you're going to have to, you're going to have to drive it well. You're going to have to hit the shit out of your irons. You're going to have to putt. I think- It's like the Florida US Open.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And there's a little bit of a mental examination to it as well. I think Quail Hollow, you know, we've talked about that ad nauseam, very good pro golf venue, right? Like it's, you know, it's pleasant to watch on TV. Is it the most interesting thing? No, but it's, you know, it's kind of built to be pro golf venue for better or worse. There's some exciting stuff down the stretch, but is it, is it the kind of exciting that, that I really value? Not really, but it's, you know, it's still exciting. It's given us good tournaments. I'm always in great shape and yeah. Big points docked for just being a Bombers, like just being a bit one note.

That's why it's not in the top category. Trending farther in that direction is not great. And then TPC San Antonio is one that similar to Frisco a little bit of like, I don't really like, it's not really pleasant to watch on TV or like just to, I don't know, the colors aren't great. It's just kind of gray and brown. All the Texas events kind of follow that same kind of theme.

Yeah. But like, I don't know, there's something about it that it's a Greg Norman design. It's really tough. The wind typically blows a little bit. It's typically pretty firm. Part threes are tough. There's a lot of places to get in trouble out there. There's some big numbers on the card. And I think there's a lot of variance. I like variance. And we've had, again, just pretty agnostic. There's a wide variety of winners out there and gotta be a shop maker out there. So yeah, the above average doesn't translate to TV. I'm going to put Colonial on this Charles Schwab challenge. I think it's improved with the Gil Hans renovation, but I still think, and this probably could have gone in the adequate, but maxed out would be better with rollback as well.

But I think it kind of rises above that because I think if they would have put Bermuda in, it would be even more difficult and you know, more of an iron players test. On a greens or sand. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think the Ben greens kind of, you know, wash things out a little bit. But you know, it's just one of those places. It's got history. It's got character. You know, it's played Memorial Day weekend, which is, you know, not the best, probably not the best like, like this one in the fall. which is, you know, not the best, probably not the best. Like, like this one in the fall.

I mean, a lot of these in the fall would be awesome. You know, a bunch of hardwoods out there, they'll be changing colors and stuff. But yeah, Colonial is, you know, it's good. And like, if there's a good leaderboard, it's great on TV. If there's not a good leaderboard, it's just kind of like another PGA tour event. And it's very flat. It just doesn't, you know, it's not a good leaderboard, it's just kind of like another PGA tour event. Um, and it's very flat. It just doesn't, you know, it's not going to pop up TV TPC deer run. It's another one that I think this is like a really good.

Having been out there a few years ago, I just, I liked the golf course. I think there's more there than meets the eye. There's good short par fours. Uh, it's a nice piece of land. They keep it really lush, but it's right there by the river. Shout out to Zach Johnson. And yeah, I don't know. It's kind of above average TPC course for me.

Again, I think it's pretty agnostic on like wide variety of players have won there. It's a good springboard for young players. So yeah, that's a good one. TPC River Highlands. I tend to like, this is where Joseph LaVonia, we've been backing forth on this. I really like this golf course. I think, again, this one could probably fall in the adequate, but maxed out would be better with a rollback. But I think there's elements of it that I really, and we saw it, you know, unfortunately play

out a few weeks ago with Fleetwood and Keegan. It's got a good cadence to it. You got to hit the golf shots. It's not just a birdie fest. You got to go earn the birdies. If you get a little bit of wind out there, definitely. I think the 18th hole has definitely been completely neutralized by technology. 16 is not a great par three, but I think it's at least interesting. But I think like 15 could be all world. Like it could be a lot better course, but I think it's just got some, it's got great crowds. Like the locals just support the hell out of that tournament. And I don't know, I look forward to this one on the calendar every year.

And I think- Well, it's a testament to the TPC stuff. That's like the amphitheater, like surroundings around the greens, create an environment that does transfer to television. Like it, it feels like a bigger event. If you feel the crowd involvement in it and it that's a win for the golf course, right? Like it, uh, that's a design element of some of these golf courses is to create these hills and stuff for people to get plenty of views on and bring the energy.

Which the craziest part about that is like, this wasn't even built as a TPC. And then they've, you know, granted they've, they've, they've added some of those elements down the stretch, but, but yeah, it was just built as kind of a, you know, just a regular New England golf course. And it's since been, been kind of brought up to spec on that. So my last one in this category is Memorial Park in Houston. I think this is a very good golf course and it's just not like, again, it's Texas, it's pretty flat, it's just not translating to TV, but I think guys have to hit interesting golf shots and make some decisions at

this one. And I haven't loved the setup of it. I don't think this is one that I wish they didn't overseed it. This just played on some. I think the overseeding thing is like it's going against kind of how the architecture was intended and the ball on the ground and all of that. I know they're trying to make it so that guys can get ready for Augusta and all of that stuff, but I just think that's neutering the advantage that guys born in the Southeast or guys that are good on Bermuda really have. It reduces a lot of variables really. When that event was in the fall, I think it's 13 that short par four was the hell is so interesting to watch with just figuring out how you're going to

play bump shots and whatnot around that green. And it just, it does feel a lot more one note. Now that just tons of green grass everywhere. Next up, I've got adequate, but potential exists. I've got Tori on here. That's the lead one. I just think, you know, just like, patting the ball, you know, you know, Next up, I've got adequate but potential exists. I've got Tory on here. That's the lead one. I just think, you know, just like Pebble, you could probably make an argument that it's

best in class. I don't think it is in its current state. And I think Tory could be, you know, above average and interesting on TV, but I'm just left too often like wanting more out of Tory of like, man, this whole could be, I can't unsee the works or I can't unsee how much better it could be and how much more exciting the questions being asked could be. So.

That's the thing is like, it's a public municipal golf course. It's kind of caught in between both of those identities because I think the setup, the thick rough thing is not great for either television or public golf play. You're almost getting the worst of both worlds, I think, out of it. But it is not tailor-made to be a professional golf course. Well, I think the most frustrating part about that dichotomy is they spent like, I don't

know, 20 to $30 million with Reese Jones back in the, you know, early 2000s to make it a pro golf test. And they just spent the money on the wrong stuff or with the wrong guy, you know? And that's what's, that's what's kind of most frustrating there. Um, I put PGA national on here. I think similar to some of those, like it doesn't, it's not my kind of golf course, but I think you need stuff like that

to challenge the best players in the world. I think the direction that they've gone in over the last couple of years, I'm kind of setting that aside a little bit here of like to make the golf course easier and overseated and all of that, like that stinks. And that's the whole point of that place is to challenge, challenge the hell out of these guys again, Florida golf, right? Um, but you know,

I think potential exists if they, if they bring it back to its roots a little bit there. Um, I put Detroit on here. I'm not willing to like, I could probably put it in the adequate maxed out, better with rollback kind of thing. I think that one was really showing its, you know, kind of showing its age or showing, you know, just needed to be dusted off, which is what they're doing. Right. I think, uh, is it Tyler Ray's coming in there?

I also just don't need the ball to go that far. Like it's just the ball's going farther every year. It's it's showing its age is not the golf course's fault. And that's the part that's super frustrating. But even like some of the grass was, you know, just a little bit, it's just showing some wear and tear, kind of like how Colonial was prior to, you know, but I think, I don't know,

I think there are interesting holes out there. I would love to see them do like a composite between the two, the other course out there is really interesting. The South course, yeah. Yeah. But you know, like I put that one in there, potential exists and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt because I know they're, they're about to redo that

place. I put Renaissance on here over in Scotland. I think that's, I think it's gotten better over the last few years and I think it's, it'll continue to get better. They're fully committed to that venue, uh, with its proximity to Edinburgh and just, you know, all the, all the sponsors and everything and staying on site. So I think, um, I think the par threes need to, they need to get a lot better

and just more interesting there. But overall, like it's, you know, it's an interesting, like it's, it's got a good setting on TV. I like watching the tournament, but man, it could be, it could be great. Right. Yeah. It's hard that that's the Scottish venue. We see it, you know what I mean? It just doesn't represent Scottish. Well, that's, and I think that's kind of like, Hey, like, all right. If you guys want to have an event there every year, then like, give us one that, that, that bumps around the British Isles a little bit more. So, uh, last one, Pete Dye Stadium out at, uh, PGA West. I think this was built to be, you know, the hardest of the hard. And it's just a matter of, you

know, Hey, this, this like the stuff, the challenged guys way back when it's just out of scale now, but I still think it's a really cool golf course and I enjoy watching it down the stretch. It's just getting dinged major points for like being a sleepy ass event in January. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, and it's overseated and it's, yeah, it's just kind of just not the greatest spectacle.

So adequate, but maxed out would be better with rollback. I put Wailai. I always enjoy watching this one. It's, you know, it gets a bump for being in Hawaii and interesting. I think there's just, you know, some of the shop making has kind of been diluted a little bit just with, you know, the ball not spinning. I put Punta Cana. I think Punta Cana is probably a best in class like resort. Course, I think it's better than some of the other ones. They have opposite field events or fall series events.

Like if I would put, I would put black desert in like the above average. Totally love it. But cool like pro golf venue, you know, like we're not doing the fall series, but I think that's, that's where it's like, those are the two that I don't know. Prince of Ghana. I look forward to watching that one. I think it's pretty agnostic. I think it's a good one. I think it's a good one. I think It's a cool like pro golf venue. You know, like we're not doing the fall series, but I think that's,

that's where it's like, those are the two that, I don't know, Prince Akana. I look forward to watching that one. I think it's pretty agnostic for, for who wins that one as well. It's conditions on that one too. I got the credit to the actual golf course. And then I put the Dunes club at Myrtle too. I just think like that's a good golf course and it's just, you know, it's probably not relevant as much these days just with rollback. It's not a great event or anything, but I don't know. I think that's just a decent golf course. Below average,

relatively speaking, or just bad. I put TPC Louisiana, which, you know, this is a Pete Dye course. I don't know how much Pete Dye actually did. Seemed like this one was more his associates. There's some interesting holes for sure, but it's just, I just think it's pretty tough to build interesting golf on that land in Louisiana. I mean, you've you think you've played it before, but I think we did, but I can't remember. Like in 2011, we went to WVU LSU game. We played somewhere we can't every time it comes on TV, my dad and I are like, did we play? I think we did. No, I don't think we did. Which yeah, that kind of tells the story. I think you guys which category by that's going to go into Grand Reserve,

which is the one down in Puerto Rico. They've, they've, they've bumped this one around a little bit, but it seems like just one of those, you know, just not a lot going on, you've, they've bumped this one around a little bit, but it seems like just one of those, you know, just not a lot going on, you know, near the water, but not on the water kind of thing. TBC twin cities that place stinks like straight up. Like it's, it's just bad. It's just not a, it doesn't reward the right stuff. It got above a category that I thought that one was going to go into. Yeah. I mean, it probably could have gone in below his category. Vidhansava Yarta. I threw this one here as well. It's just not it. And then I've got Eastlake as well.

I don't care what they do with it. I don't care. It just doesn't come through on TV. It is... I just don't like the golf course. And I think it's, it's getting knocked. Like, is it that bad of a golf course? No, but it's getting knocked because like we, they have what they want to be the Superbowl out there every year.

And it'd be like having the Superbowl at MetLife Stadium every year. Just like, it's just, it's just bland and- Wrong time of year. Yeah, it's just not a good canvas for golf, in my opinion. just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just,

it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just bad. It's, it's just, it's horrible. I can't wait to see what Lanny does to the place. Talk to people who belong there who were like, actually like we've looked at this and the golf course would play much more dramatically and much more interesting if you routed it the opposite direction, the exact same corridors and you just played the golf course backwards and the, and certain greens

are where, you know, teas are and all of that. And I'm like, and I've looked at it and I'm like, you are exactly right. Like the shot value would be so much better. Do it Lanny. Come on. I doubt that's part of the scope of the, of the redo, but if they made it reversible, that would, that's probably going to get it out of this bottom category, I think. So, but I mean, solid, Sol, I think my biggest takeaway has been like, there's a lot of really good golf courses on the PGA Tour. And I think we shit on it a lot. And I think some of it is we get desensitized to certain places because we see them every year.

I think some of it's a lack of variety or going to the wrong places at the wrong time. But I think if we had just a few more tournaments that moved around, more we would appreciate, like, I don't think we would be left wanting or left, you know, kind of grass is greener on the other side of the fence as much with the existing courses. Like we would look forward to the existing courses if there was a little bit more variety and a few more BMW championships that bumped around. Like that's always a spot on the calendar. Same thing with Truist this year with Philly Cricket.

Like I look forward to the majors and to the BMW championship because we get variety. And there's part of it, yeah, I'm torn on that because part of what makes some of these venues rise up a little bit is the history and the knowledge of knowing what's coming and what happens if you go right on 16 and what happens if you go left on 17 on certain courses. I'm with you in that I like the variety of like a Philly

cricket. And I think like we've had to part of the the, you know, covering golf as long as we have now at this point is almost as getting over the fact that like you can go down the list of the top 100 golf courses in the U S and you know, 80 to 90% of them get thrown out immediately because of technology and you're all I've accepted that now, right? I've moved on from like what makes a great golf course might be different than what makes for a good pro venue. And where we were maybe harder eight, 10 years ago on the PGA tour for venue selection, I think it makes, you know, they've done a better job with venue selection, I

think over the last decade or so. And I guess my understanding of why they choose the venues within the scope of what they have to choose, I feel like it's overall pretty good slate. And when it's a not so great golf course, it's like an almost purposeful dip in the calendar, right? You can't be all bangers all the time. And there's only a couple that are really misplaced of just like, Tori is always like a, feel like it should be a free mo spot in the calendar. And it's just a golf course that comes up short,

but that's kind of rare when you really do go week by week. And yeah, I've got more positive categories than I do than I do negative on the PGA. Yeah. I think the other thing is just logistics as well. Like, man, you just gotta have a lot of space for stuff. And yeah, like we're talking about a pretty small sample size, but at the end of the day, like,

it kind of goes back to, hey, well, how do we have a big TPC network? And why aren't there more great TPC courses around the country? Like, you know, and I think, I mean, shit, you look at it with Canada, even of like, there's, there's like a handful of courses in the entire country of Canada. They can host a PGA 12. Yeah, it's crazy. All right.

I'm going to get to mine. This is going to be a little easier because we have a lot, a lot, a lot of similarities and how we do it again. My tiers are a little different than yours. They're legitimately great venues. There's Hall of Very Good, Big Name, Not Bad, but Boring, Good for What It Is, Could Be Good with Rollback, Not Bad, but Still not quote it quite forgettable and blow it up. So my legitimately great venues, I went a little, uh, tighter than you did.

I have Riviera and TPC Sawgrass as my legitimately great venues. Riviera is best in class. It is number one. It is a great golf course to play. It is all of those elements. You have the same time challenges, pro golfers in an expert level way. Firm greens almost, it speaks to almost everything there. It allows them to have short rough, which I think makes for way more

interesting golf shots. Yet guys are not able to generate enough spin when they're playing out of the rough into those firm greens. I think the worst places you can end up. Why I think we see so much thick rough on the PGA Tour is because they struggle to get the greens as firm. As they are in a location like Riviera. So I think thick rough makes for more boring golf, but I think it makes sense on a lot of golf courses as a way of protecting somewhat of a shot value of the shots off the tee.

Whereas Riviera is kind of like hit it wherever you want. You're going to get a little minimal punishment for it. Like your shot from the fairway is going to be hard and your shot from the rough is going to be harder. Like that's just the whole element of it. It's not, you know, it's not the overseated shit where they grow it up. Right. Four inches. And like that, that's not going to punish these guys. It's the, it's the iffiness of a lie and sitting down with the Bermuda. And I'm not going to do the whole debating, chasing angles thing, but there are certain holes where like you hit it on a bad line

in the wrong angle off the tee, you're going to pay a price. Think about that third hole. If you play too far right there, you're toast. Like you cannot hold that green, even with lob wedges to some of these holes. And that's best in class for me. Like that's what I'm looking for. Really hard to replicate.

It does not get replicated throughout the rest of the calendar. Sometimes conditions get dialed up really great for a particular course one year or another, but like Riviera is the one that consistently does all of that. TPC Sawgrass I think is like the best of the worst of pro golf,

of like massive amounts of overseed, green, green, green, green, green, green mud balls, just from manmade. Just from the necessity of having to dump millions of gallons of water on the place to get the overseed to take. And they're struggling with the course condition, man. I was out there a couple days ago

and the course is closed right now because they've just, you know, the, when they getting rid of that overseat into the Bermuda season, like the golf course is not recovering very well. And it's really struggling to say, but like they invest everything they have into making that the tournament golf course for the PGA tour. And it is a double black diamond. It is hilariously hard in certain spots, moguls. I think the moguls in the rough really define it. It creates some interesting shots out of the rough when you have to deal with the severe sloping

and the contouring and even the contouring on the short grass I think is really, really good. It's got good variety, got places where you can chase, places where you're just holding on for dear life. It's hard in a lot of the right ways and it's a complete test of golf. Could be better. I think it's only gonna get better.

Like I think like Davis law, like he's doing work right now on, I think the second hole, he's adding more slope to the left side of that fairway. And I think just adding more slope back into the greens, I think as well is gonna make it even more punishing and proper. Yeah, so that's my top two. My hall of very good. These are golf courses. I enjoy watching.

Just didn't feel right to put on the same level tier as the, as the players championship. And, and of course Riviera, but hall of very good. I love CBC Scottsdale. I think it's a great mix. It's got some thick rough, but it also has a ton of sandy areas that make for really interesting. It's like as close to Pinehurst too, as you get on the PGA tour, honestly, I've like, dude, you could get totally boned in the bush over there. You don't wanna be over there,

but you could hit great recovery shots. You could get lucky over there. There's a mystery of what's gonna happen when you do go into those spots. And I just think of Scotty carving wedges and stuff around trees out of that sandy area. And the green think of Scotty carving wedges and stuff around trees out of that sandy area. And the green contouring is also best in class. You mentioned they got really cool slopes that eat into green surfaces and create really interesting runoff

areas to your point too on the tiers and the ball splitters. Like it encourages aggressive golf because the safe shot towards the middle of the green isn't going to be on that sometimes isn't gonna be on the same tier and it's not like a formula it's hard to play a formulaic way around those golf courses and sets up really well for great tournament golf and one of the best finishing stretches that you see 15 16 17 18s kind of math but that 15 through 17 stretch is just freaking awesome I love that golf tournament. Muirfield Village One of the worst finishes actually of any of it, but some of the best balance of like,

dude, really hard, some thick rough, but they got wide enough fairways out there that if you're in the thick rough, you probably deserve it really except for like 18, which I think is a silly hole, but great settings, great stadium viewing tradition, all the stuff like it's's a hall of, a hall of very good. Um, solid. I think, I think one of the things that kind of gets me a little bit of like, man, the stuff that I like, does it yield great golf tournaments or pro golf tournaments is you look at TPC sawgrass,

you look at Scottsdale, and then you look at Mu your field village, you get some really random winners. Like, like sometimes it's, it's clearly identifying the tiger woods or the Scotty Scheffler or whoever. But then sometimes you get the one where it's like the Bart Bryant. Oh, of course. David Lindmerth. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, yeah. There are some very random results for that one, but it's, yeah, it's kind's like, and like same thing at Sawgrass, right? It's, it's, it's kind of, you know, sometimes, Hey, you, you kind of roll the balls out. It was Oakmont, right? It's like you roll the balls out on a really, really proper balanced venue and you're going to get some unexpected results, but I like that.

Yeah. Personally, it's earned. It's not like it's random, fluky luck where everybody gets put in a blender and it's not rewarding good shots. So I got Harbor town in Hall of very good. random, flukey luck where everybody gets put in a blender and it's not rewarding good shots. So I got Harbor Town in Hall of Very Good. It doesn't quite, I respect your ability to put that into your top tier. It just is down one notch for me. I love the way, what I think is his biggest quality for testing tour pros is the lack of round shapes to the greens. Like the greens all have cut-ins of non-green space. I don't know how to describe it, or in a different way,

greens have little jutting out in different spots, create really interesting pin positions and really demanding shots for these guys. Even with wedges, which you're gonna, no matter what the length of your golf course is these days, guys are gonna tend to have wedges into it, it seems like. Doing it in that way versus just bigger traditional greens makes for a really interesting challenge to watch on television.

So, I think, yeah, like I think of the stretch like 13, 14, 15 at Harbor Town is like, all right, you've got this crazy tongue, you know, two tongues in the front of the green almost looks like a Rolling Stone album cover where you gotta, you know, you can take the, you can take it on or you can play to the safe spot. And then you got a two pot. You've got 14s that par three. It's like the most terrifying shot I've ever seen. And if you want to bail out left, cool. Like you're still going to have trouble making par from there. And like, if they really get the greens firing, like you could put it in the water over there

to chip in the water. That is shot value for any confusion as to what the term means it's that right there. Hit the shot or you're making bogey from the left side. Yeah. And then, and, and then, you know, 15 is like, cool. You got to hit a really good drive up the right side to get an angle into, you know, hit a, hit a fairway wood into that green. It's like a 580 yard par five and you know, back left.

And then if you, you know, if you blow it long, you're going to struggle to get up and down for birdie and you're in, and it's just like, there's, you can push off the risk, but at some point you're going to have to take it on. like, there's, you can push off the risk, but at some point you're gonna have to take it on. And I think that that's my biggest problem with a place like Craig Ranch is like, it's just, just send it up there and then you can figure it out. There's no risk.

100%. And I also have the plantation course at Kapalua listed in this one, getting birdie fast, but you gotta earn it. Awesome, just non-stock shots, ball on the ground, all the things we talked about already, but it, it's just fun to see variety for these guys to have to play a different style of golf, even if the bogeys are hard to come by.

I like watching this golf course every year. So next year, big name, not bad, but boring. I've got one, two, three, four, five, six courses on this list. One I honestly didn't know, I'll start at, now I'll build up to that. I didn't know what to do with the last one on this list. I don't love its place here and I'll accept any critiques there.

But number one, Quail Hollow. It's not a bad golf course. It's not great. It's got a big name. Maybe the name outsizes what I think of the golf course and watching it not great. It's got a big name. Maybe the name out sizes what I think of the golf course and watching it. I do think it's a bit boring. It's not a bad course by any means. Again, don't misconstrue it, but just goes that goes to the top of the list here. Torrey falls right behind it. I think this is a kind review of Torrey. Honestly, I think it is

vastly underutilized. If I could have made more categories, it might have fitted into a different one, but obviously got the big name. And when I say big name, I think it's just going to carry a lot of weight with more casual golf fans. And that's like, that has a, I don't mean that in a derogatory way. I mean that as a, it makes fucking sense for the tour to go to a place that people are going to recognize and, and like, like watching on TV and not think about some of the things that we might think about or talk about. It doesn't rule. I don't, when I'm walking around a lot of these tournaments, I don't hear a lot of the same critiques that we come up with, uh, for places like that. So I, I think it makes sense, uh, in, in a, in a broad perspective, even if some things that more avid golf fans may not like about it.

So that's all you know. What bumped Tori up in my ranking as well was having the North course. Yeah. The North course is cool. Yeah. You know, I didn't think about that. But East Lake, I got this higher up than you do. I do think the renovation elevated things.

I do think it's still a bit boring, but it's got the big name and I don't think it's bad. I don't think it's bad and worthy of being overly demoted here, but I think it fits into this category. And I'm also going Bay Hill here. Again, I think people associated with Arnold Palmer and think it's great. It's most definitely not great.

And it might be bad. This might be a compliment to it, but it does. It is interesting to watch these guys go through that psychological exam. It is I, I, I hate the path to getting there, but it's a fun Sunday and it's like a good mystery of what's going to happen in that tournament. Just not, I just can't watch it on a Thursday. It's, it's, it's a legitimately bad layout. Anyways, I got Pebble in this category that it honestly might not be fair to

have Bay Hill and pebble in the same tier, but especially it's where it fits on the calendar to in the softness of the golf course that we always get and the tough weather, um, that's usually not fun. Condities that we, you know, enjoy watching. It just ends up, it can end up a bit boring. that we enjoy watching. It can end up a bit boring. And again, it's a massive name. Gonna go to the top of the list for a lot of people, but it's just not quite for me. It's definitely not a bad golf course. It's got some flaws. Could be much

better if they're expanding the greens out to some areas of... They've done some of that. They've done that on eight, they've done that on 10. They're chipping away at it, but it I think as well, like, you know, they, they don't do a great job of showcasing six, seven, eight, like where it falls in the broadcast window. I think the, on the time of year standpoint too, it just, even though it's been think the, on the time of year standpoint too, it just, even when the U.S. opens there, like I didn't think it was a very interesting U.S. open last time they had it there, which is kind of,

that kind of knocked it, knocked it down in my rankings as well. Yeah. I mean, it could fit in, the could be good with rollback, But I think that's a separate question. It's still good. I think it's still good. And then lastly, again, I hate this here. PGA National.

I don't even know if it's a big name. It's not bad, but a bit boring, I think, is just kind of where I would say this makes sense as a PGA tour venue, not my favorite one to watch. And I think when I say big name, I think it had a reputation at one point of being a, you know, kind of a Bay Hill-ish like challenge. And it's kind of lost a little bit of that,

but I wouldn't say it's bad. It's got some fun finishing holes. It's, you know, those par threes on the back nine, you're like, I can't wait to see what this person does with this. So it's got that again, not, not of course, I'm dying to tune into on a Thursday. But that's a fat category. Good for what it is, is I got colonial in this one, I think is again, a good golf course, I don't think it's going to blow you away. It is a shorter golf course. It's a classic golf course. We've gotten intimately familiar with it through our relationship with Schwab over the years. Attended it, got to talk with some of the members.

I guess my context on that is just like, it's the longest standing PGA Tour venue. It's been there since the 70s. It almost went away. And it, you know, what it means to the members and like what, I don't know. It's good for what it means to the members and like what, um, I don't know. It's good for what it is. Again, I, if it's not your favorite course to watch and where it falls in the

calendar, not great. It doesn't look great on TV. I, I agree with all of that, but I think it has a worthy spot on the PGA tour calendar. Yeah. I think that's like the slightly above average, but doesn't necessarily translate. Yep. TV, right? Yep. I got TPC River Highlands next on this one. Not my favorite on there, but like again, a shorter couple of shorter golf courses on this list of like,

it's kind of close to the bottom edge for me of signature event venues, but I still enjoy watching it. I enjoy a spot on the calendar where you get a shorter golf course, where you get some water. And I love the environment there. I think it is very good for what it is. It is meant to host that event at that time of year. Front nine is kind of meh, but it's set up for an exciting back nine, and you almost always get an exciting back nine.

So, and I got Amos Brook. Again, not a top level golf course, but it's good for what it is. That's a good one to flip on and watch. I'll be just a comparative sake around the same time here. Like TPC San Antonio, I don't think is good for what it is. And I think in this book is, I think it's, you know, it's obviously after the players, it's a little bit of a come down, but if you're, if you're ready to watch some golf, that creates

some interesting golf. It's a good golf tournament. Yeah. Yep. Again, I don't think it's deserving of getting elevated to a signature event level or a bigger spot on the calendar, but for what it is, I think that's a good golf course. I mean, it's all, I don't even think they're capable of that because they can't, you know, the catering and the food, which is, you know, they don't have the organic, you know, line caught salmon and all of that stuff. Could be good with rollback Detroit golf club.

I just don't think we can give it a fair to, I mean, it's obviously a good golf course, Donald Ross golf course, but like Donnie Donnie boy just gets obliterated by these guys, no matter how much you've linked it in and, and, you know, kind of PJ toward it up, uh, it's just bombers to light and just doesn't, doesn't fit. Could be good with a different golf ball, but it's not good in its current iteration. Wiley, you can't quite over power it the same way you can Detroit Golf Club,

but just golf at this scale doesn't make sense for that golf course. And it's just almost hard to give it a pass or fail grade. It just kind of blown the venue by. Deer Run, I feel the same way. I think that's a fun golf course to your point. Some of the challenge would come in with, you know, not being able to hit the ball quite as far. You can say that for a lot of these golf courses as well, but, um,

this could almost go into good for what it is because I think it is a, it is a traditionally mule event. Uh, but it is a birdie fest, but for whatever reason over the years, again, I've been to this one before and watched it. And I, I just, I, I enjoy this, this golf tournament. That's, uh, we're recording this year on Thursday. I'm looking forward to watching it this week, but then I got Memorial park, just men wooly blowing it all over the planet and winning this year just knocked it down a huge notch in my belt. My rankings this year.

It slapped. It might not slap. It doesn't slap with the, with the, uh, with the overseat and just does not, uh, just a boss BSI. It's could almost be a BSI invitational category aside from why lie really in that. But yeah, uh, just two courses in this sixth year, not bad. It's hard to say it's bad, but it's just not it. Like that's not what I'm looking for. I got Pete Dye Stadium course there.

It's hard to say it's a bad course, but I'm good. I don't get excited for that one. Tried to, I tried to shoehorn a piece of shit plug and putting contest category here, but that would have put me at nine and that would have been the only course in that one. Of course, that's John Rom's famous quote about the golf course. Uh, and, but yeah, that's, that's going there for me. And I got Renaissance there. I don't, I get so excited to go to Scotland

and it just feels like an interpretation or an imposter of a Scottish golf course. And it's not, it's not it. It's just not it. It's hard to say definitively that it's a bad golf course. I don't think it is, but it's not what I'm looking for. Uh, I have a Scottish golf experience. Quite forgettable is the seventh category. And some of these are true. Like, dude, I honestly don't know. Like I got the Dune's. Yeah, just quite forgettable. Dune's club, dude, I honestly don't know. Like I got the Dunes. I'm just seeing you off. It's yeah, just quite forgettable.

Dunes club opposite field event. I don't know if I could pick out any holes, which I think, uh, might be more of a me problem. I got Puntakana in here as well. I know you had that one up higher. I didn't disagree with you, but, uh, it just, the actual, that finishing stretch I can remember, but the most of the rest of it is quite forgettable, but it's opposite field.

And I don't watch a ton of that one. As you know, of course, that's going to be in this list TPC, Louisiana. If I don't remember if I played it or not, this definitely goes into the quite forgettable category. Just not a lot of unique features that really shine through on TV there. And I got TPC San Antonio here as well. You like that one a little bit more than I do.

I think, uh, I think the Texas factor drives that one. Yeah. I don't even bit more than I do. I think the Texas factor drives that one down. I don't even know if I like it. I respect it though. I don't not respect it. It's just quite forgettable. It's just quite forgettable. Not my favorite setting and just one that I'm quite good with. And I got Grand Reserve, the Puerto Rico course. I can't picture a single hole right now. Again, the opposite field events are just naturally going to fall into this quite forgettable category, but final one blow it up like truly bad, which look only three courses on this list, I think was a bit of a surprise to me.

Uh, we know the first one, Craig ranch, take it away. Not that's not a real golf course. So get it out of here. Yeah. Twin cities, TPC. I'm surprised you didn't have it that far farther down than you did. Cause that's just absolutely not it. You know, it's probably somewhere between the bad and 10 layers of shit before we reached the last category, but I was limited by, I know, I know, I know.

And I put Vedanta Vihar to in there. Like there's just no redeeming quality of that. I get to resort course and there's just no, I don't know if you need to blow it up. That might be harsh, but blow up that tournament. Because to go, never forget what they took from us, which was Chipotlepec with the Mexican, you know, the WGC. And now that's our Mexican event that we get here for the Mexico Open, which isn't a national open. Is that right? Uh, it goes back and forth. Okay. So, uh, that's it. That's my, that's my tears. Uh,

I feel surprisingly good about it. And now I'm excited cause I'm going to go and click and finally look at Joseph's a list here as we do this. So he's got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, six, seven, eight venues as well. That's why, that's why I came up with the eight categories, eight tiers, uh, elite venue. So he's including Augusta here, which we did not include majors on this list. I think he go without saying that, um, that, uh, that would be an elite venue.

He has his two elite venues are Augusta and TPC Sawgrass. Next is excellent and underrated. He has, uh, that would be an elite venue. He has his two elite venues are Augusta and TPC sawgrass. Next is excellent and underrated. He has, uh, your field village, the Memorial tournament next up very strong, but overrated Riviera. Okay. It doesn't like the Cucu. Yeah. Okay.

That's that's fair. He loves Pete die. Joseph's a bit, I've talked to him a lot about it and he makes great points. I think, by the way, I love Joseph. He's like, I think he's one of the smarter people in golf. And he's a truly independent thinker. Yes. I really respect. Yeah.

A solid pro golf test. He has a Kapalua. He has that Houston there. Sorry, he's got logos. I'm looking at Houston, Texas's, sorry, he's got logos I'm looking at. Houston, Texas Children's Hospital, Waste Management TPC, Sawgrass, or TPC Scottsdale, Valero, TPC San Antonio, and Harbor Town for solid pro golf test.

Okay. Victims of modern technology are Pebble Beach, Windom, did I forget to have Windom on the list? Yeah, we did. I'm sorry. I totally forgot. I must have. I totally spaced on putting that in there.

What tier you put all said field on. I would probably put said field in the adequate, but maxed out or the. I have a soft spot for said field, but also it can turn into like a piece of shit. Putting contest as well. Yeah. But they've grown that Bermuda rough up. I think adequate, but, but potential exists. Yeah. For me. I put that good for what it is. I think that's a solid, solid little golf course. So that's my bad. I'm I'm I whiffed on that one. And then he has why lie in there and also colonial. That's his victims of modern technology.

Just bunkers, grass, some trees, a $50 million purse, and a 20% decline in TV viewership is another category. He has Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, Quail Hollow, the FedEx St. Jude. I forget Southwind as well. Yeah, we did. Oh my gosh. I must have. I think Southwind is, is, you know, it would almost be its own category or maybe it's like above average, but doesn't translate to TV. Cause I think

the small greens and I think it's actually a pretty interesting golf course, but it's also like not pleasant to watch. It's in a fucking office park. Yeah. It's, it's, you know, guys are sweating through their their garments. The crowds are pretty subdued because it is so hot. I'll be very curious to see what this one kind of the future looks like here now that that Mr. Fred Smith has, has, has passed or IP. Apologize. I must have just totally stopped making the list

when I got got the TPC Twin Cities. So I missed Sedgfield and Southwind. Apologies for that. I put that as good for what it is as well, I think would probably be it for me. And he also has Eastlake in that category. Shouldn't have a tournament here is the next category. We have Renaissance, we have TPC Deer Run, we have River Highlands, we have Innisfrook, we have Detroit Golf Club, we have

Pete Dye Stadium, and we have PGA National for the Cognizant Classic. Okay. Interesting. It's a little harsh on some of them, I'd say. I don't know if I would agree. Innisfrook shouldn't have a tournament. Innisbrook and the River Highlands. Yeah. I could see where you're coming from on John Deere, just because it does become such a birdie fest on that. I don't necessarily agree, but I can see where you're coming from there.

Renaissance, I respect that opinion. Detroit, I can see why with some of the technology regions we discussed as well. Stadium course and PGA national. I can agree with that. Shouldn't have final category, shouldn't have a golf course here. They have Craig Ranch. We have, all right, he's got my final three for blow it up.

We have the same as that one. Craig Ranch, TPC Twin Cities and Vedanta, whatever the Mexico. Vallarta. You also throw a little challenge out there for five golf courses that should host PGA tour events or five courses you'd like to see host PGA tour events. Didn't really put a lot of restrictions around this one. Did you give it the, did you put it, did you put it through the filter of the, uh, of the, all right, we're not doing the band and thing.

We're not, we're not, we're not doing the band and thing. We're not doing something that's unrealistic. Yeah, I think within reason, like, hey, could you host a match play thing here with a smaller field and limited spectators? Yeah, but like we're not doing band in or sand hills or Cabot. Like that's not happening. Like grow up Peter Pan.

So what are yours? I am gonna surprise you with the first one. And I want to circle back on this because we talked about this golf course of Hey, in a different light, this venue might make sense. Good stadium seating, rabid fan base that wanted to come out. I think Valhalla could totally host a PGA Tour event. Yeah. I don't think it's a great golf course, but I think it's a bad major championship venue. But I think it's hosting a Solheim Cup.

I think that could be great for that. But I think it would get a passing grade for an area of the country and a venue that would make sense. A lot of birdies, you know, not a ton of shot value out there, but like, I think it can host a PGA tour of it. So, okay. Just putting that out there. Scioto Country Club. I think it is probably on the edge of being long enough. But it's hard. It's a hard golf course played a couple years

ago. It's just like got my ass beat. I think you play a pre or post Andrew Green, pre reno. So if there's ever a year Muirfield Village needed a total redo that they couldn't get it ready in time if they just took a gap year. Well, no, they can't do that now because Jack hates Cioto now because they ripped out all his changes. Very much so. That's unlikely.

Maybe after Mr. Nichols is no longer with us, but I would like to see a tour event there. Based on your review, Medina number three, I think that was a joke like to see a tour event there based on your review, uh, Medina number three. I think that was a joke of a PGA tour event when that was in the playoffs a couple of years ago. And I think that it sounds like it would be a much more interesting golf course to watch there. Is Inverness long enough? It's borderline.

I think it's long enough to host. They could do like the Philly cricket thing with it. Yeah. I think, um, I think the biggest issue there is just, you know, it's in west side of Toledo and it's just not a great area and all of that. But, you know, uh, in corporate support and all of that, but you can easily take a, you know, take a BMW or something there. Yeah. And then the last one again, never been there, but just feels like we should see this golf course more at Chambers Bay.

If they can host a US Open there, they can put a PGA Tour event in the Pacific Northwest. And that's a golf course that I think we, I mean, we saw with US Women's Am last, two years ago was it? Saki Baba won there. Like it's, no matter who's playing that event, playing that golf course,

it's an interesting golf course to watch. And I think that would be a really fun PGA Tour event. Agree. That was the first one on my list. It's not a great spectator venue, or at least I don't think they did the right stuff to make it a great spectator venue for US Open there. I think moving forward,

there's some things that they can do in some of those interior holes that would make it better. But you get up on that kind of high, like it's kind of teared down and it's the rare course where the farther you get from the water, the better the views are and like the more spectacular it is, which I think is a really cool thing. But yeah, it's not great for spectators

up on that side of the course, but that would be a no-brainer. I put George Wright municipal on here of, I don't think right now it couldn't, but this is something that I know that there's a restoration renovation plan floating around out there that I know they've looked at the feasibility of doing this kind of building a new clubhouse and lengthening the golf course. Like they've certainly got the land to do it. It could be a spectacular, like basically everything that you wanted TPC Boston to be, but in Boston and in a, you know, it'd be tough ingress egress

with a golf tournament, but you could easily have a limited person field there. I think the park at West Palm. Interesting. I think guys would tear it up, but I think you could have either a match play thing or just a, you know, a limited field event there. Um, I think they can make that place spicy and, you know, firm it up, make it wildly fast, put pins in outrageous spots. Uh, I put Castle. It's just like, man, I'd love to see or Cabot Highlands, I guess, at this point, I would love to see, you know, they're building more, more infrastructure, more lodging. Inverness is growing. You know, there's just, there's a lot more going on up there than there was back in the 2010s when they had it up there last.

the 2010s when they had it up there last. They had the Scottish up in there before, it was a PGA Tour co-sanction event, yes. Yeah, and that's one where, I just wish there was something on the schedule that moved around Ireland and the British Isles of, hey, can we have a tournament somewhere interesting down in the Heathlands or up in Northwest England, or go to Ireland, or go to Northern Scotland, or Royal Aberdeen, or something like that,

that's given us a little bit more taste of... It's almost like a Rolex series event or a signature event that kind of moves around, and then you've got the Scottish open the week before the open championship. So, and then I, you know what I thought about Pasa Tiempo for like a match play thing. I don't think that's going to work. I put your Poltopec back on here. Just like, I think that there's, I think that there's something to be said for, we get it a little bit with Harbor town of like a place that has a bunch of trees and it feels like a meat, kind of like an overgrown mutie and we're going to slow the greens down a little bit. The bunkers aren't going to look like you see week to week. Bad lies are a thing and we're at, I love golf tournaments at altitude, but when you place restrictions on the shots that the guys can play and they have to start

getting creative or like they're, you know, I think that like introducing variables like that and a lack of spin on a really funky, outdated golf course is like going so far to that side of the spectrum. Yes. Fun sometimes. But I didn't watch the live event, but from the highlights I saw, like it had been redone and it doesn't look the same scruffiness. Like it's kind of that was the weird middle. Yeah, it's that weird middle of like, I don't know if this is really working for me anymore. Yeah. Yeah. So there were, you know, there are a few other ones and,

and, you know, even there's some stuff that like, I would love to see, like, I didn't include anything down in Australia or anything up in Canada or anything like that. I think that's probably a separate conversation. Like in Canterbury or stuff like Cleveland area or up in the Northeast. But it's like, all right, there's a reason why we don't have PGA tour events in some of these spots too. So well, gosh, talking about a lot of golf courses, Maybe you want to get out and play a lot more golf.

Uh, the sun is out here. It's been hot here, but not, not too hot. Went out and practiced a little bit. Uh, yesterday, uh, out in the range did a little bit of workout stuff out there. And first thing I did when I got there, you know what I did TC? I lathered up the man needs sun. I needed to get out of the house. I needed to go do something.

I lathered up. The man needs sun. I needed to get out of the house. I needed to go do something. This is your formal invitation to spend less time this summer behind your screens, more time outside with friends in the sun. It's good for your physical and mental health. I feel so much better having done this.

It's been way too much time inside. It makes us happier. If it's on a golf course, you're probably likely to make yourself twice as happy. So at Oars and Alps, they make sunscreen for men more specifically, you can count on hardworking formulas that are good for your skin. None of that tropical scent stuff, you're not going to smell like a pina colada. It's lightweight, non-greasy, non-sticky, doesn't give you that white cast

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So. It's what I trust for my dome. Yeah. It takes a lot. You wouldn't trust anything with that dome because that thing is. I got a lot of real estate up there and the stick is awesome.

Well, it takes two seconds. That's the whole thing. I hate rubbing after you know, do this, put it in your hands, rub it all in, no, nice spray is what we need. So, all right, let's get to some news and notes here TC. There is a, purse distribution has been announced for the new FedEx Cup.

This is a tweet we had from David Rumsey that broke down the new FedEx Cup bonus payments. I don't know if we need to go through it in great detail, but basically at the end of the regular season, the winner is going to get $10 million. Second place gets four, third 1.2. So is this in place of the Comcast Business Tour top 10 or in addition to that? To be honest, I'm not sure. And I don't know if this is in place of the BMW Championship purse or if this,

because it's like different mile markers, basically, or different checkpoints that you hit. And it seems like they're just making, they're front loading the FedEx cup, like the lump FedEx cup bonus into like three different checkpoints now. Yeah. Right.

Cause they've obviously gotten away from the starting strokes and kind of the handing out of, several years prior, they've gotten rid of the two tournaments going on at once basically at the tour championship BMW, that first place prize is now $5 million. Second prize is 3.5, third, 2.6, fourth, 1.8. Cause I think there, if there's one thing. So that is the purse for the BMW.

Correct. That is the payout structure for that, which I also don't know what this means for the St. Jude FedEx St. Jude for the purse for that one as well. That's not included at least in this tweet from David. So basically the idea here is, all right, since we're not just giving away all the money at the end of the tour championship because that made it easier for guys to skip prior events in the playoffs, trying to spread it out through the playoffs. But now the I, I, and now the first prize for the tour championship is 10 million, second prize, 5 million. That's just straight up like no strokes. Uh,

then you get over a million dollars for finishing as low as eighth. You get 1.07 million for finishing an eighth, but I, it's, it's, it's tough, man. Cause I think the one massive takeaway we've had from last several years is like money getting paid out does not make people tune in or make people care about these tournaments. And this feels like the worst of all worlds to me, dude. I, I did not hate starting strokes nearly as much as most people did, uh, because

it was just a simplified version of like blending the regular season with the final tournament that it makes the most exciting final tournament. No. Is it what I think is the best iteration of this tournament of this championship. Absolutely not, of course. But it just seemed like we're in a transition year that's going to be incredibly forgettable. And I it's always not worth spending that much time on because I know this is it's going to be changed before next year, and hopefully completely reimagined.

I honestly feel like they went for like the worst possible, uh, like it feels more convoluted than ever. Well, worst iterations. So they felt justified to blow it up completely. You know what I mean? And just start from scratch and do a completely different way of assigning a championship on the PGA tour. The, uh, it's interesting.

Like, yeah, you brought up the thing about the bed X St. Jude, like guys are, I think, Rory and these guys are probably still going to skip that. The payout structure for the end of the regular season, you know, it's up top, it matches the tour championship 10 million, 10 million. Then it's, you know, it goes 10 million, 4 million, 1.2, 1 million, 800,000. Whereas tour championship is 10, 5, 3.7, 3.2, 2.75. So it's much more weighted throughout, you know, like, uh, kind of balanced on the tour championship versus end of the regular season is extremely top heavy. But yeah, that's a great question of like, does that supersede the Comcast business top 10?

Also who cares? Like it just, it's all, it's all stuff that fans don't really care about. I know the players do of course, but just seems like something could also like, I don't know. One of the, one of the interesting things about the tour championship was going to be it's like the 25th place dude ends up making $25 million and like, you know, kind of wally pipping Scotty or something like that. Like, hey, I'm going to just slide in and get this right here versus, you know, versus chair. One first or 30th going into these, like you can make so much money. Now it seems like they've kind of legislated some of the, some of the

underdog stuff out of it, you know? Yeah. So anyways, uh, open qualifying was this past week. Um, there's some cool story, uh, a one cool story in particular that came out of it. Richard Teeter, I hope I'm pronouncing it right. Became the first player from Estonia to qualify for the open championship, hold a wedge from 80 yards in a four for two playoff after he doubled the 18th hole in regulation. Uh, the golf week article I read, uh, said Estonia has seven golf courses.

Uh, and he's the, obviously the first ever to play, uh, from, uh, Estonia. That's a country I never made it to when I lived over in Europe. And I really wanted to that Latvia and Lithuania, um, were three that I always wanted to get to. I never made it to when I lived over in Europe and I really wanted to. That Latvia and Lithuania were three that I always wanted to get to. I never made it to any of them. That's one of many cool stories to come out of Open Championship Qualifying. Another cool story. Lee Westwood won his qualifier at Dunn-Donald. Lucas Herbert won at West Lanks.

I would probably put more stock in the West Lanks one just because that's a proper golf course versus Dunn-Donald kind of being the fake fake American links. But you know, live guys playing well, Dean Bermester won at Royal Sync ports. David Pooj shot 6478 there to shit the bed, not qualify. And Justin Walters won at Burnham and Barrow. Good. Very, very good final qualifying sites on the whole. And then I saw next year, they were going to do a last chance qualifier. It'll be introduced 2026 of Birkdale, 12 players for the last spot.

They will play it at Birkdale, which is interesting. That's how they're going to qualify. Or like how to how are they going to choose those 12 players? But is this like a YouTuber? Is it going to be like a version of the creator classics? The biggest to play at the Open Championship? I bet some of the old boys are not happy about about the R&A, you know, pandering. Speaking of old boys, T.C., Adam Schupack

had a banger of an article. Adam Schupack, not Alan. All right, Colin, Adam Schupack, a banger of an article. Adam Schupack, not Alan. All right, Colin, Adam Schupack. A banger of an article for golf week. It was a deep dive into, so if you're getting caught up on this, kind of, we haven't talked about this in a long time, and it almost kind of seems like it's gone

to the back burner, but with the SSG investment into the PGA tour, there's now an equity program within the PGA Tour. And there's three categories of equity that have been doled out. The top, the major, major, major majority of it has gone to the top, I believe 36 players on the PGA Tour level. I don't know the exact number of players, but it's a massive amount of money. Obviously, Ty are getting a huge amount. Rory getting a huge amount. The goal of this being to be a huge retention tool for keeping players on the

PGA Tour, no more defections to live. Mass amount of equity. Yes. Not money or like money, but a value dollar value of equity given to that. So get players invested in and want to grow the shares of equity and kind of be invested in the entire product as a whole. Next tier is kind of basically for the rest of the PGA Tour players out there, it's a

much smaller amount and more spread out evenly and all kinds of complications of how you can earn equity into the future through solid play and points and all these things. But the final category is this past legends category, which is 36 of the top or past players that have helped form the PGA Tour were going to be given equity and reward for their help, you know, helping make the tour what it is today. they're helping make the tour of what it is today. And this article has a bunch of great quotes from some guys that are not happy with the fact that they did not make that top 36. Two of those names are Nick Faldo and Tony Jacqueline.

And Faldo had, during an interview with Golf Week, it was rereading one of his texts that he had sent to Jay Monahan. He said, asking about this equity thing, I assume I am on the list that he'd written to Jay Monahan. And when he, again, from the article, when he didn't hear back, Faldo left Monahan to voicemails. Someone in the commissioner's office called on his behalf and promised Faldo they'd schedule

a call with the commission. That never happened. Finally, at least a month later, he received a letter from Monahan with the TORS lawyer copied and Faldo said, I was disappointed that Jay couldn't man up and call me personally. The letter basically said, I haven't played enough and won enough. I guess we were in the wrong era. And then Faldo also said, well, hang on a minute. I was world number one for a couple of years.

I was PGA player of the year in 1990. I was kind of one of the big guys in the late 1980s, early 1990s. I'd like to think my contributions to the tour were significant enough. Plus I did 18 years of TV and I don't think I ever said a bad word about the tour. And I supported Jay through Liv.

If the tour thinks I brought no value, there's not a lot I could do, simple as that. Yeah, I mean, I don't know for maybe for the first time ever I see where it found us coming from. He won the heritage, he won the row one year and then he won the Nissan open which was you know, now LA Genesis so on the you know, I also think he got paid handsomely to be a rather poor analyst for CBS for a really long time. And that feels like kind of a reward for his on course performance.

It also, how did he think being positive about the tour and never saying a bad word about Jay was a good thing? I mean, I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. reward for his on course performance. It also, how did he think being positive about the tour and never saying a bad word about Jay would equate to getting equity from the tour and like, what is a formulaic distribution of the money, right? It is, it's kind of secretive.

And this article does a great job too, of diving into what basically Padraig Harrington cracked the code of what the point system would be. A player's win counts the same as a major championship win. If you play a bunch of years on tour and you get a certain amount of wins are worth the amount of points and blah, blah, blah. They're not picking their favorites and distributing money to them. It's only $75 million worth of equity distributed amongst these 36 past legends. But again, it goes into great detail.

Tony Jacqueline added, anybody that knows about business knows that the first five years or so were the most vital. They were the best years of my life in terms of my play. And to think I was flying the flag for the PGA tour before the guys who made these decisions were even born. I feel let down. It's deflating just to talk about it. I sit here watching the world go by and it's almost like they consider you a waste of time. I get the sentiment here, but it's also this thing that came about that was never promised to you at any point of

your career or life or post career life. This is a reflection of the current state of affairs of what the game is at. You played for a nonprofit organization and part time these guys were not like the most important thing is like, you know, you played for like the rival tour. Yeah. Like you play for the European tour and I don't know. There's there's other there's guys like. There's there's guys like a Mac Couture, who's won a bunch on the PGA tour, how much is he getting later?

Or, you know, who he's not necessarily part of the future, but, you know, he's kind of in that weird middle ground and it's like, all right, like if we want to back it up on, you know, you won majors. Cool. Like what's a guy like Steve Flesh or, uh, you know, Jim Herman getting those guys have won multiple times, PGA tour, but also didn't really, you're being well compensated with your, with your PGA tour pension as well. I think savvy would have been a really interesting one. Like what happens to guys that for this, you have to be alive.

So your trust or your players quotes on this and he's not getting any payments until he's 91 and the second payment would be when he's 98. I don't even know if that payment is the right term. I don't know if it's a dividend or what it is, but it just goes to, I mean, I understand what the tour is doing with this equity thing. It was always going to be super messy. And like, as soon as people find out that there's, you know, there's a free crack giveaway going on. And I mean, again, the article is great because it details like John Cook made the list and he was stunned that he made the list that he's believed to be the 36th guy on the list, but he had enough

career points in this thing to earn the, earn the payout. But I highly encourage, we can link it in the show notes as well, but go in and read this and, and just seeing exactly what a hornet's nest this whole thing is of people assuming they would be on the past champions list and not getting anything is. It's also cook also won 11 times. Yeah. And props to shoe pack continues to just churn out like good scoops and like very, very like wide variety of stuff with.

I don't know if it's forgotten about the equity thing until that article popped up, but yeah, it's an excellent read. The live 2026 schedule is out, TC. I can go through it rather quickly if you'd like. They start in Riyadh in February and they go back to back with Riyadh and then Adelaide the first two weekends of February.

They go to Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa three consecutive weeks in March then a week off and then the Masters. They come to North America for Mexico City the week after the Masters. Then they go to their first American event DC in Virginia May 8th through 10th which rolls right into the PGA championship. A week off after that, then South Korea, straight to Spain immediately after that. Week off and then US Open. Then New Orleans as a new event in late June, the week after the US Open.

And then they are off for a couple weeks before the Open championship, straight to the UK event. And then in August, they go Chicago, Indianapolis, Michigan, with a week off between Chicago and Indianapolis that takes us through August 30. And through the end of the year, what's your what's your reaction to the 2026 schedule? I was told that Dallas was a massive, massive success. They're not going back to Dallas. It seems no Nashville, no Miami. Late

June in New Orleans, you know, that's fascinating. Some of the lead-ins, some of the majors will be interesting. Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, three straight weeks and then a week off. I was before the math. That just doesn't seem like the best way to prepare for the masters. Tc. I'm sorry. I just does not seem like it. Yeah. And then I think they're bouncing, you know, they're doing the Korea thing again. I don't think there's any Japan this year. You know, it's not to say that they, they couldn't add more stuff.

I give O'Neill credit for getting it out early. It seems like they, they're kind of ahead of the game. I think he's, I listened to some of the Rick Shields podcasts that he did. Rick's obviously a complete Muppet, but I think O'Neill just seems like more of an adult than, than- Real quick on that. This is, this is credit to Josh Carpenter from Sports Business Journal. I don't believe this is an official release from Live Golf, but is per his sources. Sorry, I should have mentioned that upfront, but it, a live source also told Josh that it's not 100% finalized, but was told by source it's likely the final product.

Yeah. Well, you know, we'll see what happens. I'm waiting for them to go head to head with the PGA tour one week in the same market. You know what we're pulling up to New Orleans in late April as well. We're going to do, you know, we We're pulling up to New Orleans in late April as well. We're gonna do, you know, we're gonna play it at, I'll be fascinated to see where they play it there. You'll see if they play it like a city park kind of thing or something like that. But like, you know, maybe, hey,

if you're as fast as going on in town, we're gonna do our own team thing. We're gonna do it closer to the city and come hang out, come see us. You know? Yeah. The rating, I mean, again, it's kind of pointless to go down the ratings rabbit hole again, but rocket mortgage got, excuse the rocket got 2.79 million, I believe something along those lines. And the final round of the live event on FS2 was like 79,000 people watched it. And we're just, we're going to keep doing it, man.

We're going to keep doing it. 2026, here we come. Still nothing in South America. They've got your Poltopec back or Mexico City back, but still nothing there. And it seems like they've just kind of punted on the Western half of the United States as well. Yeah. the Western half of the United States as well.

Yeah. So, um, other mentions here, Miles Russell has committed to Florida state university, top junior player in the country, local Jack's kid here as well. It was pretty close to us TC, but Atlantic beach. Yeah. Yeah. And then you and I, we got, we went out and played a little golf

last week. We've told you guys about the new, the renovation at Oak Marsh, the Omni course up there and old Pete Dye golf course that Bo Welling has recently redone. We'll have some little bit of social snackable content coming out from this one as well. But do you see your reaction?

A little Amelia Island, about 45, 50 minutes from Jacksonville, where we live. Yeah, we took the ferry up. You'd never been on the ferry. Never done that. Just delightful. Bo the show welling man just did everything that I think we were hoping he would do to that place. It's an old peat dye. Like you said, it's a great piece of land. It's got some inland holes, a lot of marsh frontage with great views out to the Intracoastal. You've got a lot of great mid-length par-fours, but it was just overgrown and a lot of the greens had shrunk and kind of gotten raised up over the years just due to sand popping

out. And it's like the perfect resort course. And it just took out bunker, like there's only one. And, and, uh, it's just took out bunker. Like there's only one bunker on most, most greens, but there's a bunch of thoughtful slopes and short grass runoff areas and kind of, it's the kind of thing where like made it, made it harder for low handicappers and an easier for high handicappers is that kind of your a hundred percent full disclosure. we are sponsored by Omni,

so if this sounds like an ad for it, it's not, this is not a paid ad for it, just also full disclosure, but it was a golf, I played the golf course three or four years ago in a little one-day tournament, and I strongly disliked it. It was just, it just needed touched up. And it's unique how they've done it in that,

I don't know if it's wider. Like I don't know if the court like the corridors are wider if they took out trees like it still has the character of this like, it's in the name oak marsh of these massive old oaks that is just loss coming down. Yeah, it finds the setting of Amelia Island and it but the same time that they went with a uniform cut of grass from sandy edge to sandy edge. It's all fairway that it looks a little narrow sometimes from the tee, but the holes are shorter. It's 6,400 yards from the tips. And you are asked to like, Hey, yeah, okay. Hit a four iron off this tee. Like you don't have to hit driver, but you get up in the fairways too. And it's like, this is wider than my eyes were letting me see from the T they use the space really well, really cool contouring and tearing in the greens

and edges to the greens as well. Some very cool pins that we played and simplified it yet made it. It's super fun to play for a low handicapper and somewhere I would want to play with a high handicapper. I hate the courses that become mindless for the top players and become impossible for the lower players. And this is when that starts to move closer together, you're in for a fun day and it's a vacation golf course and it's not going to beat you up and it's going to engage you. I would go up there. We should, we were saying

we should go up once a quarter and just, just play up there and make a day out of it. Cause maybe want a vacation up there as well. It was a delight. So congrats to everyone up there. That's a job well done. I think the part, you know, if you're in the sandy area, you can hit the hero shot to get out and you punch it through some of the trees. I think, Sally, it feels like the corridors

are maybe a little bit wider cause they've limbed up some of the trees closer to the T's. There was stuff that was just like, you felt like it was encroaching upon you. But also the corridors are narrow, but it makes use of the entire corridor, if that makes sense. 100%.

Which is important in Florida golf, because there's houses on both sides of a lot of golf holes in this state. And it just, there's spots where like, hey, if you want to give this a go and try to drive the green here, or really push one up on your second shot on a par five, you can do that. There's a spot that makes sense to bail out into.

It's not just like a one or a zero. There's there's, you know, Hey, you can get it up there and bail a little bit left like on that 10 or 11, but, but also like you've got to, you know, you still got to hit the shot and there's plenty of water, but it's, man, it never felt like you were hitting that two iron stinger, but you're having to think, all right, I might hit the two iron or I might hit the four iron here. Or like, I think you're looking like there's an advantageous side of the hole to be on, on pretty much every hole as well. Part 3s are great. Yeah, I was really, really, really impressed. So yeah, shout out to Bo Welling

and everybody up there. Yeah, very fun, very fun little day trip up there. So all right, TC, that's going to do it for us for today. We are caught up earlier this week with Aldrich Potgeeter, who just obviously won the Rocket Classic. And as I'm saying this, maybe he won the John De earlier this week with Aldrich Potgeeter, who just obviously won the Rocket Classic. And as I'm saying this, maybe he won the John Deere this week as well, who could say? But a little 15 minute hit with Aldrich. We're going to send you out with that one. Thanks everyone for tuning in and we'll see you back here next week.

Crack on. All right. I'm going to regret this. I know the answer, but just level setting for the audience here. What year were you born? 2004. answer, but just level setting for the audience here. What year were you born? 2004. That is the year I graduated high school. Uh, and I believe,

I believe that is the first person born 2004 or later that has been on this podcast. But all right, going into the Schwab cut, cut, cut, cut T 47 cut, cut, cut T six. What changed between that seventh miss cut in that stretch to T-6 and win? What changed? Yeah, I think the first thing that happened, I had a friend that came out to me to Fort Worth. So it was nice to have a friend of mine from Australia who plays golf on the Australian tour, Adam Brady. So he was out there with me the whole week staying at the Airbnb. So it was nice to kind of have a friend out there and kind of see what the tour

life is like. And it was nice to share that with him. And the Saturday before that event, we met JP, my coach, Justin Paz. We met somewhere in the middle of Georgia. He was I think he was off the US Open I think or something like that. No it was the PGA or something. It was a big event and we met in the middle of Georgia kind of a golf club to kind of have a lesson. We didn't even have great golf balls but I just needed to see him and we've been trying to work on some things but we couldn't see kind of, we couldn't read each other so I was talking to him about some stuff and he didn't like it but he was thinking maybe I was doing something else

so finally that lesson we kind of saw eye to eye kind of what we wanted to do and the vision we had of what I need to be doing with my swing and yeah went out that week had a little more control with the irons and the golf ball but yeah played pretty solid shot two under two, two under, one under, two under. I was waiting for that six under to come. It just didn't, but yeah, I was happy with the result and the momentum. They went home for four weeks and came back

and yeah, walked away with the trophy. So that was pretty cool. For the swing nerds out there, what were you working on? If you had to say, hey, here's my tendency, here's what I do to work on it. I'm curious kind of what you, uh, what you would see as the through line there. Yeah. I get the club a little inside on my takeaway and then the club gets a little

cross on top of the line. Um, so we've trying to work and getting that club more in line with my hands and more straight on top. And that's going to give the club a bit more of a balance point where I can kind of feel it a little bit more instead of just hitting the ball. And then we did a club fitting just before I left the States. So I flew to England to go see the guys in the UK. So I've been working with them for a long time. So it was nice to see those guys again.

And we did a whole rebag. So new clubs, different grind wedges, new grooves on the irons, so new golf balls, so everything. So last week was the first week with all of that in. So it was pretty cool. Man, this was, people are gonna think this was put together by Titleist.

It was not. We are a title sponsored shop as well. But that was that was completely unplanned. But I had heard about Woburn. Is that where you where you did that? Yeah, I had heard about that kind of happening. But so this was this was your second playoff of the year, kind of being in those playoff situations. I mean, you've won the you won the the British Amateur Championship

at the age of 17. You've been in massive pressure spots before. Is that the most pressure you felt going back to Mexico or this championship? And I'm curious if it felt any different being in a playoff for the second time, if you learned anything kind of playing shot? I was just always so curious. How do you prepare for something like that that you can't ever possibly simulate in practice? And if there was any difference between the two playoffs?

Yeah, I think Mexico is a little different. I like the course. that you can't ever possibly simulate in practice. And if there was any difference between the two playoffs. Yeah, I think Mexico was a little different. I liked the course. I was playing a really good golf. My putting was unbelievable. I had to save so many parts and a lot of those parts dropped. So that kind of kept momentum there. But yeah, I was playing with the lead basically from the start.

So it was quite different where last week I had a really good round and then struggled second round and lost the lead and then had a really good round on day three again. So I put myself, it's kind of like when I when I get the opportunity to chase someone or chase someone at the front I can really get the job done I think that's kind of what we learned. So that day three you played difficult it was a whole different golf course with the wind direction so shoot that seven under was nice in those conditions as well. So and then going to the final round you can't really prepare for it it's kind of you just kind of have to handle it in the situation so a lot of cameras on you a lot of people

cheering you on so it's it's difficult and that start of the round was difficult. Like I said having the lead trying to protect it you kind of feel like you have to. So once I lost the lead after five or six holes it was kind of that mode change where we can okay we can chase again and made two back-to-back birdies went something on the other nine didn't make a bogey so it was a lot better after I can chase again. Yeah. Is there any, I mean, considering your age,

you're 20 years old, the other two guys in the playoff with you were 30 and 40, I believe. Is there anything you balance or kind of fight when you're out there under the gun in competition like that of feeling whether or not you obviously belong, you shot the title lowest 72 hole score of the tournament. Obviously you belong there and you've been in those pressure situations,

but this is all happening very fast for you. And a lot of these, do you ever fight any of those emotions of like looking up and like, man, my name is at the top of a PGA Tour leaderboard right now. Am I supposed to be here right now? Is there ever any of that going on in your head? I think it's more a little bit afterwards or before you're teaming off.

Once you're in the round, you're kind of concentrating so hard and you're trying to get the job done. You're not really thinking about that stuff. You're just kind of looking at the lead where I'm like, oh, I'm one or two shots back. I need to go. I need to get deep and kind of get a few birdies on the scorecard. So in the playoff, kind of things happen a little different, a little slower. You have to switch to different holes. You don't really know what's going on too much.

And I mean, literally every hole someone had a chance to make a birdie. And when Chris missed the first putt, I was like, okay, that's good for us. We can have another chance. And then he three-putted the second hole. So it was kind of like, okay, now he's out. There's a little less pressure because there's only two guys now and I've been playing with Max the whole day. So it was kind of felt like, okay, it was just going to be another round with him. It was pretty quiet during the round. We were both pretty concentrated trying to get the job done.

So and then it went out to five holes. So but it was nice to kind of hit some good iron shots and have two or three good looks, um, to win a tournament. So, uh, when I felt that momentum on that par five, when I had that Eagle putt, I thought I made it. And, um, I felt the momentum switch a little bit where I was a little bit more pumped up. It said par five, you hit like eight iron into it. And you don't have, you don't have many par fives that you play, but so

much comes with a win you get into the masters And you don't have, you don't have many part fires that you play, but so much comes with a win. You get into the masters, you get to your exemption, you get a check with a couple of commas in it. What's the, what's the biggest, the biggest gift of a win? What's the, the, the prize of all of that, that you're most excited about now that you're a PGA tour winner. Yeah, I think it's stress.

There's a lot more, less stress now. I think you keep the card for two years you're getting into the Masters I I wanted to play that tournament so bad this year and it was it was so tough that That I wasn't in so after the win on Mexico. I was so sad that okay. I gave that opportunity up I'm not gonna play the Masters again, so so it's nice. There's a lot of good fruit that come out with this win, so We're just gonna take it all in but yeah, definitely keeping a card for two years. Going to have to stress about that. And hopefully being in for all the elevated events next year. That's, that's a big win.

So you, you are routinely in the one nineties ball speed. We see it. I mean, you're just touching one 94, one 95, what looks like relatively with ease. Have you, has that always been a natural thing for you, the speed that you have, or is that something that you've particularly trained and prepared yourself for, and is there more in the tank there as well? Yeah, I think growing up, I played a lot of different sports.

I played a lot of rugby, I did wrestling, so there was a lot of force that I had to put into stuff when I was a young kid, and did a lot of training when I was really young to be good at all those sports. It was nice to build that from a young age and I haven't done anything really in the last three, four years of being as a pro and playing on a high amateur level because we're playing every week so it's really hard to fit all of that in if you're on the road especially I'm not at my house, we're traveling, staying in Airbnbs or hotels. So it is quite different the last couple of years to what the amateur career was like

when I was actually living in my own house, sleeping on my bed. So it did look a little different. But yeah, the driver, we made a switch as well. That was two or three tournaments ago, made the driver shorter and put the GT2 head instead of the three. So that gave me a bit more consistency, a bit more spin. So I am spinning it a little bit more, but it's keeping the ball in the air and it's actually making me hit it more straighter.

So I felt like if I hit the ball a little bit more all over the club base and I get that knuckle, you want to have a left or right miss. Now it's kind of this, okay, I can hit that spinny fade and it's going to be more in the middle of their way. It's amazing what fitting can do even for some, like for, you know, especially up at your, at your level where the, the, you know, minute differences can make that much of a difference. I just had one and they put me in a completely different shaft and I also

switched from the GT three to the GT two, uh, because of how the ball was how the ball was exiting the club. And I feel like a diva for switching, but they're like, no, you don't. The top pros in the world are switching as frequently as they are than the rest of us should be as well. But now that you're fully exempt, does it change anything about how you are approaching things? Are you able to think a little bit more long-term in terms of areas you want to improve or things you want to potentially work on? Is that something that's going to come after this season, if at all? I'm just curious if,

it just happened a couple of days ago here, but if you've put any thought to any of that. Yeah, I think schedule change is a big thing that we're looking at right now. I'm not in for the open yet. I think I'm first alternate. So definitely going to head up that way soon to sit out that week and be at the open. Hopefully get in. Maybe someone pulls out, please.

That'll be appreciated. But yeah, it's after that week. We got a couple of weeks before the playoffs. So looking at the game, definitely short game can definitely still improve. I think there's a lot of games that can still be made from that. I think I'm not gonna have to rely so much on the short game now that I'm hitting mines a lot better. If I can still control the ball flight, control the irons and the wedges, it should make my life a little bit more easy.

And I definitely saw that last week. I don't have to rely so much on short game. And it's been a big change this year because obviously the grass type is a lot different to what it is in South Africa. So rough out here, it's long, it's thick. So hitting those short-sighted rough shots, it's a lot different. So kind of have to learn to control that as well and work with coaches to get that dialed. You figured out the easiest way to improve your short game.

Hit more greens. That's the easiest way to do it. Curious. I mean, again, you've played golf at a high level for quite some time, but coming out and playing more frequently, specifically on the PGA tour, is there anything you've seen out there from guys you've played with or just in general of a way that they go about things that you've taken specific notice of, of saying, Oh, I didn't realize these guys, you know,

spin it this much or putt this well from this range or ball. Anything you've said like, Ooh, that's a little different than, than what I think I had previously seen and I need to improve specifically in that area. I think the biggest thing that I've seen with Americans playing golf, um, they all got such amazing hands and short game where if we look at Australian and South African golf is everyone hits it very well off the tee. Iron play is really good but when they get under pressure and the short game stuff and putting drops off a little bit

like some guys that I play every week I'm like this guy how's he on the PGA Tour? I'm thinking of this friend and this friend who's in Australia they should be out here maybe instead of this guy but when he when's missing the greens, he's hitting all over the place. He's making up and down. So there's definitely a lot of players who have really strong points in their game where other parts not so much, but it's just the way they play golf. So a lot of guys are different. So it was nice to see that.

The pitch you had from long right, long right of left, I guess, of 15 in the playoff, that looked like some nice hands. Tough bounce you got on that one, but you made the putt anyways. But that looked like some soft hands that you've been talking about. Yeah, it was, I was pleased with that shot. It helped me a little bit. I was on the upslope, so that kind of helped me to get the ball in the air, landing soft. But I knew when I got the bounce, it wasn't that big of a deal because it was a straight off your butt.

So I was, I was okay with that bounce. Cool. Well, congratulations on the win. Uh, look forward to watching you, uh, here this coming week at the John Deere, this pot, this episode's coming out on, on Sunday. So who knows? Maybe you'll have been back to back by then, but, uh, best of luck this week. Appreciate you spend some time with us. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Thank you very much.