No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 143: Shinnecock Hills with Brendan Porath, Kevin Van Valkenburg, and D.J. Piehowski

Episode Date: May 24, 2018

We got a chance to participate in the U.S. Open media day at Shinnecock Hills, and we sat down to talk about the experience playing the historic track. We talk about the changes made since... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 143: Shinnecock Hills with Brendan Porath, Kevin Van Valkenburg, and D.J. Piehowski appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you.

We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you.

We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you.

We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. We have a lot of questions for you. Battle the most! Joining from SB Nation welcome back great to be here. Thanks for having me Kevin van Volkberg from ESPN We are not crowded around my cell phone for the first time ever for a in-person podcast. Hello. Welcome Glad to be here DJ pie of course wave very familiar to the pun always pleasure always pleasure All right first time playing Chinatown for all four of us. We'll go around the horn here Brendan I want your initial reactions to the golf course It was fantastic beautiful the greens were not running like they will for sure. In three weeks here, they were slow, which is understandable. It's May 21st up in the North, you know, New York, Northeast. But it's in beautiful shape. It's, you know,

they've got it lush and ready to go. And it was harder than I anticipated for a person of my handicap I'm not a good player. What did you handicap? I said 18 today. Okay. I mean, I don't play very much anymore And it was harder than I expected I lost some balls in the fast you drives that I thought weren't bad You know like I anticipate for these balls if I'm spraying it, but I thought i was like drawing balls off the lines they told me and then i lost ball uh... it was hard man i mean that there's remember fescue gate at uh... air in hills last year uh... maybe maybe we have fescue gate too i don't know i don't know uh... three weeks and then maybe that's what we do with the

us open we like to make you know the mountains out of mull hills there do you think your driving performance should be used as the baseline for how to set up the golf course? Would that be fair to say? No. I don't think Mike Davis has left yet. If you want to catch him, you can give him the full deep room.

I'm gonna have to go catch him. You know, this 18 handicap chop. Mike, just watch me hit a couple balls here. I don't love you what you think. I hit it farther than Corey Paye with it. Mike, weird. No, I just say, like from a handicap, like from the lower handicap standpoint, it was harder than I expected. Beautiful course, incredibly scenic. They're obviously setting up all the infrastructure and

got that going on, but you just felt like you were walking on historic ground and it was cool. KBB. I do love the fact that the last few US U courses even including Chambers that there's like a point where you can stand at the top of it and see like Almost the whole course you can see how kind of how vast it is. That was really cool to stand today It's the oldest clubhouse in America. They made a big sort of production of that and one of the original five golf courses that sort of set the standard for the game. And yeah, I guess my sort of biggest takeaway is Tiger can't win here.

So you can't drive it. Based on your playing the course, you can't. You can't hit it east-west. You can't go the side of the fairway and not be punished. And I don't think that would, to me, would have probably eliminated Phil too. I don't know how, I'd love to go back and watch how he competed in 2004 here, because I hit some balls

that I thought were going to be OK. And it isn't just the Fescue you get into spots where it's really terrible like there's like like this little holes in the rough out there and so every lie that you have it's like sitting down where the ball is like half into the dirt and you can't control it all where it's how it's gonna come out like even if you hammer it and so that was my biggest takeaway was you gotta be in the fairway and you got to take advantage of that when you are because you're going to get punished hard.

It's demonstrably wider as everyone's saying that it was 04 and 95. But I don't know that I would say it was wide compared to like as a high-handy caper compared to some of the plate pinears too, a plate, a ribriara, a plate. Like I don't know, I just felt more comfortable on those courses and I haven't played a ton of great courses, but I don't know that it's super wide. There's a couple holes out there that felt wide, right?

When you get up in the fairway and you're like, wow, okay, there's a ton of space up here, but there are several holes out there where I'm looking at that and clenching the club a bit tighter, like all right, you better find the fairway here and this does not feel like a wide fairway It's probably wider than it looks, but I mean man, if you know that's averaging what 42 yards wide and I think in 2004 at average 26 yards wide I don't know how you play this golf course from 26 yards wide

Yeah, I agree. I think what was cool I think what was what did they say for the members the core cruncher restoration brought it out to like 61 yards or something like that. So what was cool today was to be able to, if anybody comes to the tournament to be able to see kind of the dark purple lines basically in the Fescue where you can see where the fairway used to be with that restoration and kind of where they stretched it out to a couple of my balls I think would have been in the fairway. I think core and cruncher preferred a couple of my balls to be in the fairway, but that's neither here nor there.

DJ Lion. Yeah, exactly right. The DJ pilot. The DJ pilot. I was. Well, so we're at least speaking of the angles. I mean, I think that what was cool about it was, I think they did a great job kind of hitting the happy medium with,

you know, the holes where the angles seemed to be really evident. Like, I think it was like number eight. I want to say the short part four where it was just megawide. I mean, that was a hole where, okay, like the angle is gonna, is going to definitely be in play off the tee and, you know, where the pin is.

Totally changes things. But then you had something like number three. Number three, the long one. On the property line, right next to the national there, which was pretty cool in itself. That's cool. But that one, it's a pretty dead straight hole. The green was big, but it didn't seem like you could kind

of tuck it and kind of create a ton of crazy angles there. And on a hole like that, the fairway was pretty narrow. And it was just all right. Go out there and hit two good shots. So I think, I mean, I'm really, really pumped to see what happens with it because I think they did a really good job striking that balance. And I think the other thing that was interesting and Brennan, you mentioned at the beginning was, you know, with how wet it is. And again, like this, not a slight in the least, I mean, it's, it's made.

Brittle winter. Yeah, yeah, Brittle winter and it's made and we have three weeks and they're going to, you know, let everything get nice and large before they chop it down. But I think, you know, the firmer and faster the fairways get, obviously, the more narrow it gets to. So getting some balls bouncing out there in the fairway and kind of having balls bouncing to the fescue is a lot different than. I watched my guy a couple of shitty swine. I thought I was like just crushing the ball. Right. I think it makes sense.

I mean, they're letting it grow and be healthy. And then they're going to soup the hell out, soup it up. It's super cool to play the course three weeks before the US open, but it will play absolutely nothing like the one we just saw. So it was great to walk the walk and to see the shape of the holes and whatnot. But the experience is going walk the walk and to see the shape of the holes and whatnot, but the experience is going to come from trying to get for these guys get close to those

pins when it's firm, when it's tight lies around the green. And what they've implemented since 2004 is they've expanded the greens and the areas around the greens are much more short grass than they are rough. And you could see a ton of that out there. I mean, you could see, like, Andy, you know, Andy, if you're listening, you're, you would love to see the way that they've like tapered some of the edges and made them green where you know, it was clearly used to be either long rough or or fringe or, you know, just kind of nothing space. The way that you could see some of the rolled edges and stuff and the way balls are going to bounce,

you know, balls that aren't struck in the exact right spot are going to just get ejected, you know, if it plays as firm as they're hoping it will. So, it was really cool and I think the other thing that was really cool was that we caught it in some wind, which is, you know, that's such a huge thing and it's so obvious to say and it sounds stupid to say out loud but another big focus to the restoration I think was like a massive tree removal and just having you know all those trees gone it just opens it up so much more for wind and that kind of stuff so I'm pumped I hope they get a dry windy carnage type of week because that's my favorite to watch. That's Mike Davis' potential Friday listener because he dropped both with, oh yeah, exactly.

He also dropped, he said a lot of people are upset about, you know, they're talking about, they're upset about the narrowing which might have been a sub-tweet of Andy as well. You may have been reading. You may have been reading. You may have been reading. You may have been reading. You may have been reading.

You may have been reading. You may have been reading. You may have been reading. You may have been reading. You may have been reading. You may have been reading articles about how it's been narrowing and people will be focused on that. Actually, the green sizes. No one will talk about that. No one will talk about that. The green sizes are way back. He's in septic. One other thing I'd say is cool, because you get out here in this kind of farmland out, is I thought there was especially the holes around the clubhouse.

The insulation is awesome. Oh my gosh. The elevation change is like 9, 10, 10, but 9, go on the, it just felt 9, 10, like around the clubhouse where you're kind of going, that was really cool. Just felt like you were not in kind of like this

rural beach land, farmland area. And this one, yeah, I don't know, I don't know, is advocate for actually like, you know, getting in your car and parking and going to tournaments, but if you're in the area, I mean, it's, it's pretty cool to see this. I hope it shows up on TV, the slopes on 9 and 10, especially like you said. 10 is kind of an awkward T-shot.

At least that's a lot. Once you get over that hill, it is a huge dip down the fairway. And if, but if you drive it that far, you're shooting up straight up to like a tabletop green that I imagine when it's firm, you can't even come close to holding. So guys are gonna have to decide do I try to drive down to the bottom and have a flip wedge up to this tabletop or do I sit back on the top of the hill have 170 190 in try to hit a mid to long iron into that green it's gonna be confesting. Do you think when it's firm and fast the guys will be able to play irons like driving irons off some of the lot of these teams. It seemed to me like if you're in some of the narrow ones where you think if you're going to get 30 yards of roll that an iron would be a great plan, not for like amps like us, but you know guys you can hit it. I say that, but I mean I played it as far back as they'd let us today and I wanted nothing to do

with where those US Open T boxes were on some of those holes. I mean, we walked back to, we catch the prevailing win today. We did have the prevailing win. So the 16th hole, the par five, what kind of like southeast. Yes, Southwest win. Southwest. We walked from the back T, the red T, which is the back that they had set up today to the US Open T and it took us a minute and 15 seconds to walk directly back.

I mean, I would have played it from back there, but I don't think I could reach the fairway. It was into the wind, honestly. I mean, some of these teas are insane. And I mean, I know when it plays fast and firm that it's gonna play a lot shorter from back there, but man, I mean, it's just kind of silly. I mean, I don't want to do the whole distance debate here, but there's parts where there's T-boxes set opposite

of other T-boxes, so that holes now criss-cross, which is just kind of ridiculous, and just seeing how far they've stretched to the edge of the property to put some T's is kind of like, what are we doing here? But it's necessary, and I think going back to discussing what they've done with the fairways,

I think if it was like the true 61 yard wide and whatever it was, it'd be too easy for these guys. I know that there's angles that come into play with wider fairways, but I think if it was like the true 61 yard wide and whatever it was, it'd be too easy for these guys. I know that there's angles that come into play with wider fairways, but I think if it was wider than it was, I think that would be, I think I'd be too easy. As much as I enjoyed Aaron Hills, but. It is the great shame of Aaron Hills

that the wind didn't blow. Yes, so we didn't get a real test in that sense. Like yeah, we had a great champion and great leaderboard and stuff, but it would have been fun to see if that would have been different. At the same time as a par 72, and so at par 72 pro tournaments, scores are always going to be low.

I mean, almost everyone I can think of in history, scores are low. But Pebble Beach goes down to a par 71 for the US Open, so it's relation to par scores always lower than it is during the Pebble Beach program, and obviously the setup is different. But I mean, this is gonna be a par 70. So it's gonna be, I mean, probably pretty similar scores overall to Aaron Hills, just the relation to par is different. And I know it's, this is 400 yards shorter, but I don't know. Par's a relevant man.

I know, man. I've been preaching that for a long time, but people still so many people. No wonder par, because it's totally irrelevant. It's already constant. It's already constant, man. People get so upset at low scores at the US Open. And even talking with some, I know we talked to Curtis Strange a couple of months ago on

the podcast and you're just like, I'm old school man, I like it tough, I like it narrow and I like the scores high. It's just kind of the way people view the US Open. That's kind of what, like Davis like so bad they wanted to just like you say he was really doing the whole woke thing for like all the talking points with Anglos. We want to bring these crossbunkers into play. We wanted to play like how Flynn intended original shot values. Charles Blair McDonald. You guys may know him as CB McDonald. That's the little drop in there. He was doing the whole thing,

but he couldn't quite bring it. So it's like, but, and then he went back to this, like this contrivance that they're now calling the ultimate test, which they said about 35 times. Today in the press conference. The ultimate test. It's not the toughest testing golf. It's now the ultimate test.

And so like he kind of came back to that. And one of his big things was the ultimate test requires accuracy off the tee, which he was getting into the narrowing. He really wanted to get, he's almost there, but he's like, then he had to come back to, well, the ultimate test requires accuracy that you need to take a bigger part of that off the tee.

You made a good point today, DJ, talking about, obviously we talk about wide fairways with what not, but there's a difference between how that relates to the four of us playing the golf course and professionals actually playing the golf. Yeah, right, exactly. I think it's easy to think like, you know, oh Phil, he's a what a wild driver of the golf.

Oh my god, well yeah, he's still it's a pretty goddamn good. Yeah, yeah. So it's, yeah, it's all relative. But let me see. Everything else and go off. 41 yard wide fairways for pro's is wide. It's pretty wide.

It's pretty wide. And like there should be a challenge off the tee for these guys. I think and it doesn't, of course, like this is not maybe his penal is say the old course is if you're playing from the wrong fairway on the old course, you're on short grass, but there's certain things you just can't even get anywhere remotely close to. It doesn't play to that level. It was hard to tell where those, maybe I just don't have the imagination, but it was hard to tell where those pins were today without playing super spicy conditions.

I know they're out there, and there were a couple shots that we had, what were we? The left of the par five, was it number five? Yes. Number five, I mean, if you're the left of the, the part five, was it number five? Yes. Number five, I mean, if you're long left of there, you have this, which I was, you have this shot that is just like impossible. Impossible. But today, I mean, and I'm not a good wedge player by any stretch, but you know, today, Sol and I are both, you know, hit shots that go up and they basically check off a downslope, you know, and they check right by the hole.

And it's like, ah, yeah, I don't think that's gonna be possible. So for those listening, it may be like, all right, well, why do we care what your conditions were when you played today? If it rains a lot, because we have a microphone, yeah. So you would listen to the difference, aren't you? If it rains between now and the open, yes, open,

yeah, I don't know what they're gonna do. Because I mean, is great as well prepared as they are. Are underneath here, they're good drive. No, and that's what I think that there is a chance if it, two things, if the wind doesn't blow, and if it rains between now and then if it rains during the tournament, we could see some really low scores I think out here.

I think this place is mega-gettable. They said Bryson was out here a couple weeks ago, played US Open Teas and Poras has got really excited. And it was not windy and he went around pretty easily in 66. So those numbers are out there if the conditions don't really firm up. So I don't know what the forecast is like.

The question is, Solid Shot 78, is that the number to beat? It might be. Leader in the clue about this. Most one early, just kind of see what happened. But I was amazed at if you are driving it well here. And again, super easy to get up and down from around the reins and poundputs at the whole and have them stop there. How easy was to make par? But if you missed the fairway, I think I doubled every hole that I was in the queue.

Yeah, no, exactly. I mean, it happens so quickly out here. And it was cool and it will be really cool to watch. So quickly out here and it was cool and it will be really cool to watch You know, I was the same way when I missed the fairway. I mean, I just I was dead. I had no Recovery shop these guys will you know, it's like I think KVV I think you said it earlier that it's it's really inconsistent Which weirdly I kind of like I mean, it's it's like a hazard. I mean, it's yeah You know, it's meant to be unpredictable You're not supposed to get a good life you You hit it in there, sometimes you do,

sometimes you don't, and it's like quite literally the rub of the green. It just depends, depends what happens. I think that's so cool to watch. I think that's really cool to see who handles those breaks well and who gets pissy and upset and lets it affect them. And I don't know.

That's what I like about the USO, but it's just watching guys like on the edge of breaking down. I think that's the best. It's a bit like pine hers when we played their last summer where if you hit it in the sandy area, like you can be in a clump of the long grass and be totally dead. Like you are wedging back out into the fairway.

But for the most part, you can play recovery shots from that. This is way more penal. This is like, maybe you'll get a good lie. I got one really good line in the festcute today and could eat like a full seven iron that went its full distance. Every other time I was in there was I should have taken a more lofted club than I did, but that's this is totally different kind of angle at no there's going to be a premium on finding the fairway out here. So this past week saw a big win for yet another

Callaway staffer that was Aaron Wise at the AT&T Byron Nelson. He hit 90% of his fairways in greens for the week. I know they're big fairways in greens, but that's still pretty impressive. I think one of those was even a PGA tour record or something within the last couple of decades. I don't know, I didn't research that. He used his rogue driver and Chromesoft X-ball.

And after the round, he credited his rogue driver for Chrome Soft Ex-Ball and after the round he credited his Rogue Driver for giving him an advantage over the field with the soft conditions in the final round to get another win for Geo Break technology, the graphene infused Chrome Soft Ex-Golf Ball with an Odyssey putter. For the full What's in the bag info for ANWY's check out CallawayGolf.com from Callaway Golfs new number one driver. And also Callaway just posted a podcast with Mr. Wise after his victory. So for now, let's get back to our podcast about Shinnecock Hills.

Can we talk about 2004 a little bit? Let's do it. So, you know, everybody remembers 2004 for one thing, basically, you know, number seven, kind of get baked out and bringing the hoses out. You know, Brendan, I mean, I don't want to put you on the spot, but you kind of had a pretty good take on this earlier. It was, I mean, Davis tried to, like, head it off before, like, the Q&A. He's like, all right, I know you're here.

You guys are going to start talking about 2004. Now, when they talked about it, it was, like, I don't know, someone now talking about some sort of taboo social issue in the 50s or 60s. Like, I don't know. Like, probably a previous administration. No one here can be a cow to cow for those. Yeah, exactly.

You gotta remember, man, this is nearly 2000. I mean, I'll try to make it more, I don't know, palatable for this. It's like, you know, like smoking on an airplane. Like, oh, it's just like how things were back then. And like, you gotta remember this at a different time. Yeah, it's like somebody on an airplane. Oh, just like how things were back then. And like, you got to remember this at a different time. Yeah, it was like somebody talking about some social issue from the 50s.

That's just kind of how it was. And he said it was not only a bogey. He said it was probably a double bogey by us. And with using equitable score, which is good. So I'm like, oh, that's a good job. Hey, any cat joke, I'm like, I'm scared for that. Yeah, he was, I think he was, but it was still good deliver. He was like, I'm in a big, I'm in a big, I'm in a big. Yeah, he was. But it was still a deliverer. He was. I mean, I'm like, damn.

I mean, yeah, that was going to ask, do you guys trust the USGA and its current state in the way they set up golf courses? Totally. I think so. I think they've got incredibly unlucky on a lot of things. You know, like the Dustin thing, and I mean, I'm sure there are other examples.

But I think they've got, like that, you know, is unlock kind of, bad luck kind of brought on by yourself. But, you know, I think they've gotten unlucky. I think Chambers was, honestly, I think Chambers, I still think Chambers was really cool. And I kind of wish they would go back there. I do too. I love Chambers, but I loved it.

Oh, I thought it was. I thought it was awesome. Yeah, the problem was the greens, and which, you know, again, that's their own fault, I guess. But I don't know. I think I thought Aaron Hills was awesome in its own right too. I mean, I thought that was a cool, they're trying to do the right thing in a lot of ways where they're trying to get away from, it seems like, they're trying to get away from the augustification

of tree lines, tight, over-watered places. And I think they've just, like we said with Aaron Hills, they got shit weather that just didn't make the course play. The way it did. Are we in the nest? I think we're in the nest. Aaron Hills was a success. Yeah, they love the conditions dictate the scoring.

And the way the current technology is how far these guys hit it and how well they can spin the ball and how they can do all these things, it is gonna be, I'd so much rather than air on the side of scores being, it may be it being quote unquote too easy. Also, it wasn't too easy for Rory, DJ, John Rom, you know, J.A. They were letting us as players in the world just to cut.

They just had too many par-fives really. That's what it came down to. I mean, in relation to scoring, again, to me, that doesn't really mean anything, but for so many people, it did. But the open championships, scores are low all the time and nobody cares because they let the conditions dictate the scoring.

If the win blew at Aaron Hills, winning score might have been eight under. So, at the 16, it means nothing to me. I think- No one complained about Phil and Stenson setting It's gonna be the open scoring record. Correct. And yet people complained about Aaron Hills all the time.

What? Not your grandfather's US open. So I think this is what he said. He goes, one of the questions I know we're gonna get is, so I'm just gonna hit it straight on, would be what happened in that final round 04. So he just did it in the preamble. goes this quote was it was a different time. It was different people It was just like I mean it wasn't all different people

Just like our writers talking on the range like we still don't know whose decision it was not water that green I thought it was just funny. I mean he was there were totally cool I think like and also Jeff Hall kind of really owned the DJ thing. I think you asked him about DJs. He's like, you know, what actually happened on the green was not that bad compared to our management of it. Like, he really is like our management of that issue. He basically said, I asked him,

what have you learned from the DJs? And if that happened again, how would you handle it differently? And he basically said, you know, when that happened, like, we were like scattered to the wind all throughout the course, the people were gonna make the decision. And so it took us like an hour to get everyone together and be like, all right,

yes, he should be penalized for this and we're gonna make a decision. And meanwhile, he had to play on. So now, like if that happened, they would basically make the decision rules wise. Like while the player was walking off that green, it also the rules are different now to where if a guy steps up to a putt and rolls backwards, he's just

allowed to place it. Did you notice he snuck in like, you know, if a player moves the ball, he did toss the ball move. He told it. I still want to argue that one. That's the last shirt on that one. So after seeing the golf course, any style of player you guys think may play well at here. First of all, always the disclaimer.

We don't know. We have no idea. We have no idea. But do you see anything you said, Katie, that you mentioned Tigers not going to win out here? Yeah. Anyone that you see in particular that you think might succeed? I don't know.

It's an easy thing to say, like I think, Jordan's beef could be, but. How you took mine? Oh. Well, it did seem to me like approach shots, you know, that little wide fairways here, as long as you could kind of be in the fairway most of the time, you're going to be able to sort of hit it to certain spots. And he's really that's what he does better than almost anyone,

which is like proximity to the whole from how many yards. And so he's going to run in a number of those punts and I think there will be enough of it didn't seem to me like it was that hard to get up and down from certain areas and I think he does that well enough to where I think it didn't I don't know I thought he would contend at Oakmont and he completely was you know run out of there so he was he was better at air and hills he kind of got in. He didn't really get a contention, but he played pretty well. We can't have to make the cut. So I think I agree with you.

I mean, he's not surprising. I think I pick him to win every tournament. So safe as pick. But he, I don't know. I mean, it felt entirely like a just, I mean, it's a thinking golf course out there for sure I mean that's it is the ultimate you know you can't win it on Thursday But you can lose it type of place you know and I could see guys going crazy sideways if they're not driving it well Or whatever and spieth just always seems to drive it well enough. I was kind of blown like sorry I think I've remarked to you when we were at the players I I was blown away on like how far speed hits it still.

Every time I walk it far, I mean it's like. I hope he never tries to hit it far. I don't think he ever will. I don't think he doesn't seem to care about it. He's comfortable with that. Like that's because that's how so many guys get screwed up is trying to buy. I need a little more distance.

They just mess everything up. I think the putting is obviously been suspect for a speed, but I think I have nothing to back this up, but just kind of Gut is you know the US open the greens are always so spicy and Difficult that it kind of almost neutralizes you know like nobody really puts well That was my reason for taking DJ in 16. I said exactly no one's gonna really put the oakmo greens that great I'm just gonna take guys taking the best out the best player. Yeah, some level, you know. If you're thinking it hot too,

like Gus is a good example of like, he's not put it well all year, but for 14 holes, he could put it better than anybody in the world. Yeah, exactly. And all of a sudden the momentum is just like, you know, that putty rolled in on 16, we were standing off at a gust of the share.

Like, he just knew that was going in. He was like, oh, he had to put that three feet outside the hole and he was just, yep. he still says he didn't even put the well that day he's like my ball striking was like that money and he said I could have rolled in like several more 10 footers in shot whatever 59 left a few out there yeah I don't know I mean that's the thing about this us opens is like if it's like, crispy and run and hot, like, see somebody like, rom, like, leaving his ball short

and a roll mag and a blocker. And it's like, gone. Bubba, that kind of stuff. That's my favorite temperament to win in open. Like a US Open. I don't know. I mean, I love like the roses and Ricky. Like, it's just, that's easier to say.

And it's beef obviously. It felt very Ricky. Yeah. I could see that too. Let's go to noted prognosticator DJ Pie here for who cannot win the US Open at least. Great question. Thank you so much for asking. You crushed this one at the master's.

I crushed this one. I said everybody pick one player who will not win the Masters and I pick Patrick Green. I think so. I gotta check the tape. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Don't start with me. Let me think about it I'll answer I'll get back on the horse, but give me a second. I don't I've not been in

Curric Yeah, I'm gonna pick a guy Which I appreciate what you pick and fill you got to pick a guy who could win yeah yeah it's not impressive if you're like yeah I don't think like the section of quality is revealed I don't think he's going to win yeah I pick rum I don't think rom can turn what would be a 74 into a 72 yeah you know on a day when everyone there's carnage everywhere I think he'll just go completely ballistic and I mean literally I walked with him in air and hills and I watched him in succession throw a wedge Punch a sign throw a rake and then throw his ball like into the abyss

He's passionate Spaniard. Oh, I love I mean The craziest thing about my John Ron criticism is that John Ron's personality is closely aligned to mine So perhaps I'm able to identify the flaws better than most. But yeah, well, maybe if you were to listen tuned into the recent No-Lang Up podcast with John Rom, he discussed that specific incident at Memorial and then leading the air in Hill.

Now he's learned from that. Yeah, this was a different time. Yeah. It's a different time. This is different people. He did, when I asked about it, after I was like, hey, look, I don't want to criticize you because I'm kind of like this as well, but what, you know, how do you do it?

And I was like, I'm like a cookbottle. I just shake up. I need to explode, and then I'm better. You know, so. I'm just, I obviously can't see this. Gave me just shook a Coke bottle up and lost his headset. Mike, in the process of doing that. I gotta say, we did a vlog in this podcast.

We did a vlog in Noling a Plus to get the video. Yes, we couldn't process it doing that. I gotta say, we did a lot of these podcasts. You have to log in, and know like a plus to get the video. Yes, it's on our Patreon page. You did a Rory? What do we do? I was just, what I was gonna say. I don't care if he wins. I hope he wins, which is why I'm picking him to not win. Because, but I didn't get a lot of Rory vibes out there today.

Speed through, I'm sticking with my JT pick from the before the season. To win or not to win. To win. And, what do you think's gonna not win? I don't care about who he is. sticking with my JT pick from before the season to win Okay, and so everybody else but JT I'll say tiger. I don't know if that counts as a pick But I think it's not a coincidence that all of tigers best finishes this year are in the state of Florida on flat golf courses And this is like an undulated in the state of Florida on flat golf courses. And this is like an undulated, I don't wanna say nightmare for him,

but this is like quail hollow. This is like memorial. This is a tough walk, a lot of different slopes, a lot of different factors, and aren't just like stock golf shots that he's played pretty well. And this is more of a speed kind of course, where balls can be below your feet,

above your feet and different parts of the fairway, and whatnot that he plays really well. So I mean, I know this is obvious for anybody who's played here over the last 130 years, but I mean, this is like when people talk about land movement and scale and stuff in a golf course, I mean, this is like a video game. I mean, this is like designed, this land was like designed to be a golf course. Yeah. And that's what It's so good.

It's hard to not to say. The shots are so dramatic. But at the same time, it's like a beautiful walk. You never like tired. We were talking about it on the way up. It's just so cool. Like, national golf links looks like. That's the other thing.

I mean, it's fun to play that course. And this is like, this would be a test. Yeah, exactly. I would love to see like what the people out here on the island feel like. If you're mega rich and you're like, you can join any of them. Did you join the one that fits your personality?

Yeah. I wish I would have played with some of my guys and have a great time. And I'm gonna see if I can join LU or. No, I've got something to prove. No, I want to go out there and grind. No for six footers. Exactly.

I could go ahead and have this. Overhead pulled up on my screen of all of the holes at Shinakok and you can see the ones at National Next Door, the vast difference, like in the width of the fairways and the ease of the appearance of these holes as a parent just from an overhead view. But that is a cool thing that I mean, I'm, you know, fairly novice when it comes to, you know, kind of the mega blue blood type of clubs and I mean I totally didn't realize coming up here just how jam-packed this whole area is with with all these places I mean it's like I knew they're all kind of out among I don't know somewhere but just being able to stand up at the clubhouse they're like oh yeah that's so obviously

that's Chinnacock and then there's National and there's Subonic and then Southampton's behind us like holy shit like this is insane really is. You have to go line, we were standing up on the clubhouse so you can see the windmill. I was like, what's up with that mini golf over there? Like somebody walked by and like, give you that side eye.

Like, oh, it's like, yeah, what's that windmill? I got mini golf course over there. Yeah, I was screwed up to sightline. I was just discussing. We talked about the road that goes through the course. I mean, it's easier than I thought. I hit a bull. Right as cars are peeling around the corners.

I thought it was like my mess out of the deck. Way less in play than it actually is. It is like a actual main road with cars just whizzing by. They should just let that road stay open during the end. I would like to see that. That would be anklening it up. If it doesn't firm up, they should let that road stay open. Yeah, yeah.

Tuck a hole in the sheet. Tuck a hole in the road. Yeah, right over the road that's a whole new shit. That's a whole new dude. Yeah, right over the road. 11-13T is the car. There's a car that's don't even like, the lit. No. Like how many times a year most cars get blasted with T-Shirt? Our caddy said there's a local legend that someone

hit it through to open window. It's a car bottle and time. Which I said, you know, your club has been around for like 130 years, like everything probably is good. But whether that's true or not, I don't know. Somebody came down with a pretty convertible down as we as I was about to hit that it's a little psyched out I could actually I could actually enter this. Well, there's some cool stuff Just stick or two are you know I'm a big infrastructure guy and that is biggest tron and raining up up there

There's some cool I don't know if cool is the right word I guess but there's some interesting Infrastructure stuff just around this place. But be it like the club trying to, you know, I think, trying to buy that road basically and reroute it, I think, like, that's a whole thing. You've got like the Shinnecock nation kind of bucking its head, the Native American tribe, trying to,

what can you tell us about land disputes? Yeah, I'm way unqualified to discuss this. There's a New York Times story that just came out about how the relationship is freeing. I would point people to, but apparently I saw that they used to make like 100K each time the US Open was here by just renting out their land to, you know, parking and corporate tents and stuff. Apparently that's going away. They're not even interested in doing that anymore. to parking and corporate tents and stuff. Apparently that's going away.

They're not even interested in doing that anymore. Yeah, more to come. It could be some interesting stuff, tournament week, we'll see. Yeah, I saw several articles about how the Srinakaaginator Americans are at odds with the USDA. The relationship is kind of gone on the ice. There's some interesting stuff. It's all behind the paywall. Yeah, there's some interesting stuff on the,

you got to pay for journalism. There's some interesting stuff just, I mean, as simple as like the wiki page about like how the land was initially obtained. And there's some, yeah, there was some sketchy, you know, signing of a thousand year lease that I think maybe some people slipped in. There's a whole thing about forging some signatures.

It's very interesting. I would encourage you guys to dive in and educate yourselves as I will do the same. I mean, we were talking about joking about earlier, but I feel a little bit uncomfortable like buying, you know, a US Open Swag with the Native American sort of, I mean, I can't imagine there's a single Native American member,

Adchenekaka, maybe that made about told the wrong. David, just, yeah, just, just like, yeah. They use the word content, like they've been talking, like they're all happy millennials. A lot of content talk, that's what we should get to in a minute. It sounds like some kind of cool stuff. And his preamble, like his pre-opening remarks he's like and i would encourage you all you know this is good content the eighteen ninety six a second u.s. open there was an african american player and a native american player

and uh... they've had women from the beginning he's like basically telling us you need to write this story about you know hey shenny cox you know been woke since nineteen and yet here we are, incepted again. Yeah, we're just... We're spreading his gospel. We're regurgitating all the talking words.

The whole women's club thing was kind of cool. Yeah, that is rare, for sure, that, you know, they have been, you know, inclusive since the beginning. It's kind of cool. And the whole history of the club too with like, I think, Rainer McDonald originally, I guess what they had... They told it on the... Well, what they had originally redone was kind of like to plow under the

what was a lady's course that everybody really loved but apparently they had built like a nine-hole ladies course as well to offset the whatever look it up it's awesome yeah it's a good yeah I don't know I'm talking about it you know you can get it's not for everybody but it's a good, I don't know, I'm talking about it. No, no, no, it's not for everybody. But it's interesting, I think. Some of the things that they talked about in the press or today was the guy that was in charge of content, essentially, it was got up and pointed out

all the things that Fox is going to be doing with the telecast. And I've been nothing short. I've not been short on my praise of A, their improvements since 2015. People still really hate Joe Buck, which I don't get. I don't get Joe Buck. We're going to get to that. You hate Joe Buck?

No, I don't get that. We're going to get to that in future episodes here. But the graphic usage and all of the ways that they've integrated things, I think it's just one, it frustrates me with the way graphics and everything works with regular PGA tour events on any network and to see kind of Fox's integration and seeing how proud regular PGA tour events and on any network and to see kind of Fox's integration and seeing how proud the USGA is with the top tracer and the

flight scope which is you know what the golden t camera angle is that they've kind of debuted I think in 2016 and flight track flight track flight scope I think is what Bryson's in deep that's right that's right and then they. And then they have a new putting technology this year that shows kind of a cone which I'm in on. I love it. Oh God, I was like the fidelity green line golf channel that you're in on that. Oh, I thought that was as good as it gets.

They used it for like some Euro Tour of Acts. Yeah, I was awesome. Yeah. So yeah, I think it's probably the best wall to wall coverage that you get for a golf event of the year. I agree. I get like, and I think there's a the best wall-to-wall coverage that you get for a golf event of the year. I agree. I get like, and I think there's a lot of reasons for that. I mean, I think it's easy for not easy, but I mean, it's It's convenient. I guess that, you know, Fox only has to really really really blow out, you know, one Mega major championship. I mean, they do the women's and they do the, you know, the USM and they do all those

But obviously they're not quite on the same level, but, you know, it's easier for them to be thinking all year about doing, you know, the features like you'll see during the telecast and doing, you know, the brownie points type segments and doing like all these different things that they can build in that are kind of ancillary to, okay, now let's go to 16 to watch a live golf shot, kind of stuff. So, but yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's gonna be great. 12 holes with, with flight track, six, the other six holes with regular top tracer. And then the other cool thing is that like the top tracer on the handheld cameras, which is a big deal.

I mean, I think that's, I think that's, you out of the very way. And although I think only have it kind of on like the lockdown stationary cameras, so just having the camera ops run around with those things, which shout out to those guys, it just makes their job. I'm a harder person. I'm gonna try to have it inspired CBS

to step up and scale a little bit more. They don't have any time. We don't have time for that on this episode. That reminds me of another thing. Smallest detail, they also put the graphic of where the pin is. They put a little arrow to where the pin is and the yardage right there on the screen. So when you have the top tracer with the arrows to where it actually needs to go and the yardage, I think that is the complete package as far as what you can provide the viewer for.

Just being out here and seeing, I don't want to be the person that says it, but you should see in person the role of the fairways. It's not going to translate to TV and the elevation changes, but I think nobody does a better job of helping illustrate that part than the Brownie Point segments. I can promise you they're going to be out there rolling beach balls down some of these fairways. I hope so. Yeah, I really hope so. Just to show you, to bring you know, how these guys go from these super huge far back T-boxes to getting the ball in the hole, there's so much more that goes into it than shows up on the television.

I think that's the stuff that, I don't know, I mean, maybe I'm being a little too ashtaggier the game, but like, that's the stuff that makes you understand golf, I feel like, you know, and it's like, it's just, there's no context when you strip it down to, okay, here's a swing, and then now, let's for some reason show the ball in the air

against the back-up of the sky, which doesn't teach us anything. And then they'll show it landing, and we have no idea how far it is. I think 20 years from now that we're gonna look at the balls in the air, like where the camera's falling. The ball like we used to look at the terrible masters. You gotta remember, this is a different time.

It's different people. It will fall in the air. You just follow the ball in the air got a little little 360. I mean a little Yeah, the 360 the 360 content. I don't really need my reality augmented Yeah, I don't care about the The Allocation Luried I don't care about the iPhone. I think I think if I may do we have a second

of the iPhone. I think, if I may, do we have a second? The VR stuff in golf makes absolutely no sense. I could take a lot of it. If football, I think it's phenomenal. I can't wait to, I wanna feel like I'm the quarterback and I wanna look in a bunch of different directions and see a bunch of people chasing after me. Golf, like there's fucking one thing to see.

That's it, like that's all I wanna see is one thing. Like, I draft off the take. Oh, yeah, let me, let me, let me come down and serve it up. I'm ready. I'll tap you in. But you, it's, like, I don't get why you would want to look anywhere except for the got the one person who's hitting one ball in front of me at one time. Like, I just, I don't get it. Which is already hard enough to do. Which is already with the cameras that are focused on that, as opposed to the blurry stuff that's, I couldn't be more out on that.

Are you ready for this? Literally no one who is watching this VR bullshit is like, I love this, like I want more of this. This is some, like, junior executive being like, oh god, I can need to justify whatever money that I've not ever six failures I'm making so I'm gonna convince these old people who have nothing to like no understanding what we're doing here that VR is the future and so we're gonna throw a bunch of this crap out and the people who like make the decisions are like all right great you're you're young and you're

woken we're we're deciding you're we're paying you to fix this and to connect with the youngs and it's just complete nonsense. I don't get like I think it's companies like these big golf companies that kind of keep these like VR tech companies in business basically with like, hey man I know this technology is a good like 12 years off but I met this dude at this dinner party the other day, that I think's gonna float us for like six years. It's just get us through, you know, what we need to do to actually make the,

how do we get on this? It's another VR thing. If I, I'm gonna hedge my take a little bit because if it does become like a big thing and it becomes something that everybody's super into, like I get the thought process of, you know, going and get in front of it. Yeah, and getting out in front of it and getting used to using it, like I do the thought process of, you know, going, and getting out in front of it, and getting used to using it.

Like I do get that. I just don't think it's ever gonna get there with golf, or not in this way. It's not done well right now. Yeah, that's the point. Let's focus on all the other things that are not right. Yeah, I don't know why that fired me up so much. I apologize for derailing the conversation,

but another good thing, I think it's cool to are doing. Well Fox just has good talent, I think. I'm beginning. I've got though, I think it's cool to do it. Well Fox just has good talent, I think. I think I'm beginning. Oh, Shane Bacon is going to be, yeah. Azinger is obviously just all the second boost, man. He's leading the second. And then he crushed it on your Azinger. What's your second build?

What's your second build? Bacon is obviously a friend of the program, a friend of ours, and it's really cool how they're going to do two boosts. And they got Curtis, who looks like come in, breathing some fire, spicy, curmudgeon. Yeah, they'll like come in, breathe in some fire, spicy curmudgeon. Yeah, they're just, they're original spicy, they're good mix of people, you know.

Gill Hans has involved, like, Gill Hans is an awesome team. Think about how much you got, you kind of made fun of Fox the first year around. Made fun of, we roasted them. Right, and it was bad. And to their credit, they listened to it. They were like, they responded and were like,

how can we make this better? Yeah, and it's still not perfect. I still contend that in that first year even even in that first year You could see like okay, this was bad, but like you're like it's gonna get there But if you can see you fall asleep in the booth, you know, yeah, and yeah, he got Trainroll and buy here Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Train rolling by here. Yeah, a lot of runs. I'm overruns. But no, it's not a perfect broadcast. They make probably more mistakes during the day than anyone does. But that's a terrible thing to me. Yeah. I'm cool with that, with the willingness to go outside the box with so much stuff that

they do and the focus on live golf shots. And I don't, it's a major. I'm not going to sit there and count the live golf shots, but it's noticeably different. They need a good one and kind of deserve a good one. Yeah, I don't it's a major I'm not going to sit there and count the live golf shots but it's noticeably different. They they also did one and kind of deserve a good one. Yeah, I don't know that last year was like the most riveting son. I feel like they're old. They kind of got all these. Thanks to the US chambers was great but they weren't.

They didn't know what they're doing yet really well. Like you know it was great tournament but Fox was just getting its feet wet. Maybe it was what was wild. Maybe it was faked for ratings. That's it. Does anybody have that take? I love this take. I can see that.

Good experience. Maybe they're crisis actors. I would watch a replay of the last, the back nine of chambers. Oh, yeah. Brandon Gras, or Louis says in child 29, like he finished one shot of the playoff, andbers. Oh yeah. Bring it, or Louie says, you should like 29, like you finish that one shot of the playoff and no one even noticed.

And bring it grace hit a train. And it was like eight under, three matter off. 15 I think. I was with him. Like that much that day. I was there with speed. I was standing like green side when speed made that put on 16 and like turn to the sound, the future sound

and just scream. That was awesome. That was sick. And then he made double the next up. Very just screamed. That was awesome. That was sick. And then he made double the next up. Very forgotten again. That's why we need to rewatch it. People forget.

People forget. It would just be good to see them get a good, like a really good, good, good, good board. I mean, I think this is like, all things seem to be set up. I mean, I think a lot of it is, and it's crazy that it's like this, but I think a lot of it just kind of comes down to weather.

I think like, of course, plays the way that they want it to. I think it's just going to be spectacular. There's a reason why they keep coming back to certain golf courses. Yeah. And like they're, they're two anchors are going to be Ockmont and this one. And I think it's, I don't know, I think we're going to get a good tournament. We're going to see how the conditions play out. They obviously wanted to be firm.

I mean, we'll be 60 years old and Ockmont, Pebble and Chinatockel still be in rotation. I hope so. Yeah. Those are the three, I think that T-boxes are going to be on. I mean, we'll be 60 years old and Oakmont Pebble and Chinatacoque will still be in rotation. I hope so. Those are the three I think that T-Box is going to be on South Hampton, and it'll be in VR. They got some, I think they're also, they're ready to bring the crowd out and get them all looped up. They got the beer garden. They got like these trains and buses just braiding them out from that. Last thing I want to give a quick shout out to them on is they're doing a little more US Open sectional coverage which is one of my, it's like one of my favorite days. I don't know.

Maybe that's like the most inside of Inside Baseball I know but they're doing the like a little Facebook live show. It's on the live. All day. That's cool. I'm in on that. It's actually called Tuesday. I think that's like the yeah, yeah, he said

This is tigers last zero exemption. That's right. I mean he's rapidly working his way in time 60 in the world though if so let's say Tiger stays where he is How many exemptions should Tiger get for you so it's a good question all know I've already got five or six, but it was over like a last one he played, he was like 60 years old. Jack got like, I want to say seven. So you give him one at Pebble, obviously. Absolutely.

And then we go to Wingfoot. All right, he's got no history. Wingfoot kick him out of there. Grind that 36, you know, walk through. Phil, she didn't exempt from it. We'll see it. We'll see a Columbus. Tiger.

All right, on that note, let's wrap it there, gentlemen. Thank you for joining at the end of a long day. Let's go sample what Long Island bars have in store for us. I've never been here. Let's go find out. Cheers. Thanks for having us. We're at the right club. it a try club. Be the right club today.

Yeah! That's better than most. How about it? That is better than most. Better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different. I'm gonna go to the next one.

I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one.

I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one. I'm gonna go to the next one.