When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Player moves and Zach gets the Ryder Cup nod lead off this edition.
Plus, distance talk, the fairway landing area on Augusta National's 11th, Oakland Hills update, women's major notes, Rory's Masters approach and Reads. Never have I been more thrilled to deliver some old school notes and observations.
As always, Thursdays are guaranteed free for all Quad subscribers and looky-loos.
In conversation with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Patrick Cantlay became the rare under-30 golfer to have given the topic of distance its impact on courses any thought.
But he did better than that. Golfweek’s Adam Schupak reported on the comments and transcribed.
“That’s the hardest part of it. The knee-jerk reaction is don’t do anything. They may mess up the implementation, so it won’t be worth it,” he said.
“Theoretically, the golf ball needs to go shorter,” he continued, “Every golf course I go to has different tee boxes farther back than even 4-5 years ago when I visited the golf course. It’s getting to the point where the tee boxes are already to the perimeter of the property, so much so that Augusta National has been buying up all the adjacent pieces of property so they can put more tee boxes and change the holes.
“That’s not sustainable. Not only that if pace of play is one of your biggest concerns, how many golf course do I go to on Tour where the tees are 100 yards back? They can’t keep going in this direction.
Cantlay added: “The technology isn’t only better but young guys are trying to hit it farther and farther because the stats say the farther I hit it, the better I’ll play. Something has to give.
“I think the biggest shame is that I can’t go to Cypress Point and play the course the way the designer designed the golf course to be played. The biggest problem for me is when we lose the architectural integrity of the golf course. We’re to the point where that’s where we are. Something has to give.”
The full conversation:
Have you showered yet? If not, wait until after you’ve read this post.
Over at The Quadrilateral I summed up and dissected the lack of deep hidden meaning in Greg Norman’s pre-PIFSIPSIA presser to announce another $100 million for the Asian Tour’s new series of international events. Which, as first reported by Alistair Tait here and Ewan Murray here, is a bold foray outside of the Asian Tour’s normal confines. You can read more details on the series that might act as a feeder tour for the Saudi Golf League or even as placeholder events converted into stops should the superstar league go forward.
In The Telegraph, James Corrigan reported exclusively on the lavish offer of $20-30 million for Ian Poulter to commit and, in all likelihood, kiss a future Ryder Cup captaincy goodbye. Ironic since his Ferrari collection is worth about that much and built off of his Ryder Cup play.
Trying to gauge where all of this stands, Murray posted this analysis at The Guardian and wondered if using the Ryder Cup as leverage could backfire.
Should, for argument’s sake, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood be tempted by this promised land then their future involvement in the Ryder Cup either as captains or players becomes almost impossible to square. The debate in this case would be a furious one; is it fair for players to effectively turn their backs on an event that has done so much for their profile, or would administrators on either side of the Atlantic be wrong to ostracise them? Even in the short-term, if Europe cannot or will not appoint Stenson as the captain for 2023 in Rome because of Saudi links then their Ryder Cup environment is undermined. And that, whatever the rights and wrongs, is a key issue.
No experience necessary for what will be the 10th anniversary of this tradition unlike any other.
Nationwide qualifying starts May 1 with more than 350 local events capped off by the regionals and finals the Sunday prior to the Masters.
Search venues by zip code here.
The impressive list of regional hosts:
Saturday, September 10 | Scioto Country Club (One of four courses to host the U.S. Open (1926), Ryder Cup (1931), PGA Championship (1950) and U.S. Amateur Championship (1968). Also hosted two U.S. Senior Opens (1986, 2016)
Saturday, September 17 | TPC Boston (Host of The Northern Trust PGA Tour playoff event in 2020)
Sunday, September 18| Castle Pines Golf Club (Host of The International on the PGA Tour for 21 years)
Sunday, September 18 | Oak Hill Country Club (Site of six USGA championships, including three U.S. Opens; and host of three PGA Championships, the 1995 Ryder Cup and two KitchenAid Senior PGA Championships. Oak Hill will also host the 2023 PGA Championship)
Sunday, September 25 | Pebble Beach Golf Links (Site of 13 USGA championships, including six U.S. Opens, and the future site of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open and 2027 U.S. Open; and host of the 1977 PGA Championship)
Sunday, September 25 | Desert Mountain (Site of the 2015 and 2016 Senior PGA’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup)
Saturday, October 1 | Medinah Country Club (Site of four USGA championships, including three U.S. Opens; and host of two PGA Championships and the 2012 Ryder Cup)
Sunday, October 2 | Champions Golf Club (Site of five USGA championships including the 1969 U.S. Open; and host of the 1967 Ryder Cup)
Sunday, October 2 | The Bear’s Club (Founded Dec, 31, 1999 by Jack and Barbara Nicklaus)
DATE TBA | Quail Hollow Club (Site of the 2017 PGA Championship and the host of the 2025 PGA Championship)
Check out Matt Vincenzi’s item at GolfWRX looking at the difference between the LPGA’s best and male amateurs playing from the same Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions tees. In particular, he notes the play of winner Derek Lowe and very good (+2.8) golfer Mardy Fish.
Golf Channel’s Tom Abbott pointed out that the amateurs and LPGA pro’s played under the same circumstances: “They played in the same groups, from the same tees, in the same conditions. The celebs had the advantage of playing a stableford format, which is slightly more freeing than straight stroke play, but as far as head-to-head tournament play goes, this was a pretty good comparison.”
Much to the dismay of the “A” player in the local men’s league, the professionals unsurprisingly came out on top. While the tournament’s champion, Danielle Kang, shot four consecutive rounds in the 60s, the amateurs in the event combined for a grand total of zero.
Additionally, former Red Sox pitcher and 0.2 handicap Derek Lowe, posted rounds of 76-72-75-72, the best of any celeb. It was an impressive performance from Lowe and resulted in a final score of +7, which was still 23 shots worse than Kang.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a player drop a big, whiny and strange rant about golf architecture. In this case it’s Kyle Phillips Yas Links in Abu Dhabi, home of the Abu Dhabi Championship won by Thomas Pieters.
But it was defending champion Tyrrell Hatton who unraveled after making nine to end Saturday’s third round. The Guardian’s Ewan Murray delivered a few account. From his story:
“It must be one of the worst par fives that I’ve ever seen in my life and, over the last two days, I’ve clearly played it about as well as it was designed,” said Hatton, who took seven there on Friday.
The problem seems to be the lack of reachable and a centerline bunker splitting a huge landing area, with the left round shortening the route to the hole.
Pressed on what precisely is wrong with the 18th, Hatton was not of a mind to back down. “What’s wrong with it? Where do you start?” he asked. “It shouldn’t have a bunker in the middle of the fairway and it shouldn’t be over 600 yards from a forward tee. If you hit a good drive as a pro you should have at least a chance to go for the green in two, otherwise the hole becomes a par three [after the first two shots] and that’s if you play it well. Hardly anyone will get there in two today.”
I’d say it’s showing that players rarely face a three-shot par-5 or a centerline bunker.
*Hatton kept at it after Sunday’s final round, reports The Guardian’s Murray. A return in 2023 seems unlikely.
Hatton doubled down on fierce criticism of the 18th hole here from Saturday, when he took nine at the par five. Asked what he thought when walking onto the same tee on day four, the defending champion replied: “That I would love for a bomb to drop on it and blow it up to oblivion to be honest. It’s just such a terrible finishing hole.
“And the fact that they moved the tee back today is ridiculous. I hit a really good tee shot and still had 290 yards to the front [of the green]. I could pick driver up again and still not get there. It would be a much better finishing hole if you’re actually rewarded for hitting the fairway which, as it stands, you’re not.”
There was more. Hatton won this event at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, meaning his desire for it to return there is perhaps logical. “Also, this place for spectators is just awful,” Hatton added. “Seeing where the rope lines are and where spectators have to walk, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear a lot of people have hurt their ankles and all sorts this week.
The Desert Sun’s Shad Powers files a look at James Hart du Preez, a 26-year-old South African making his PGA Tour debut at the American Express. Du Preez is 6-foot9, 260 pounds and led the Sunshine Tour last year in driving distance. His average? 373.1 yards.
His combination of clubhead speed and raw power — his fastest clubhead speed is 144 miles per hour and his fastest ball speed is 212 miles per hour — has become the stuff of legend. His exploits are popular on YouTube as videos of him hitting tee shots have hundreds of thousands of views.
But he doesn’t like to be pigeon-holed as just a long-drive specialist.
“When people see me, obviously they don’t see 6-9 golfers come around very often so the first thing they gravitate towards is the long-hitting,” du Preez said. “But funny enough putting is the best part of my game and has been since I was a little kid. I didn’t grow until late in my life until about 16 or 17 so before then I never hit the ball far so I had to learn how to score chipping and putting.”
Check out the column as it’s a fun read, but I’d be remiss in not copying these “stock yardages” of du Preez:
Driver: 345
3-wood: 305
3-iron: 275
4-iron: 253
5-iron: 240
6-iron: 227
7-iron: 206
8-iron: 190
9-iron: 180
Full wedge: 160
50-degree wedge: 145
54-degree wedge: 127
58-degree wedge: 105
Southern Hills after a recent storm (Southern Hills)
Busier than most news and notes edition of The Quad, so much so I had to cut some non-golf reads from the end. But you’ll survive because there is plenty to read about it, including upgrades to the U.S. Women's Open going noticed by a variety of parties, including some on the PGA Tour wanting an upgrade. Plus, Ryder Cup captaincy news, the Latin America Am returns, Keita Nakajima, Rory, CBS plans more tech improvements and lots of other major stuff.
You can see all of The Quad’s recent posts here on the new homepage, read about the newsletter here, or subscribe for free here.
Three shots. 3 yard dispersion. @montgomeriefdn #ADGolfChamps | #RolexSeries | #HSBCGolf pic.twitter.com/7iS1HMBMVI
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 18, 2022
“And it has gotten worse since then,” he continued. “Not worse. Although that’s me saying that it has. Now they’re hitting wedges. I see them all on the range. There’s 131 of them this week—because I’m 132nd—and they all seem to play the same game and in the same way. There is a one-dimensional quality to it that was never the case back in my day. I know I sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but golf never used to be one-dimensional. It’s not the same now. It’s all about brute force.”
Indeed, like so many of his generation, Monty bemoans the relative lack of nuance and subtlety present in modern-day tour golf. He yearns to see players “holding up” mid-irons against left-to-right breezes, displaying the artistry that has been lost amidst so much science.
“I don’t think ‘peak Monty’ would do as well on this tour as he did when he played here full-time,” he said. “I would have to find a way to add more distance, just to compete. Nick Faldo would be the same. And so would Luke Donald, even more so. Luke holed everything for 18 months and got to World No. 1, which is hugely commendable. But how he did it was never going to be a sustainable formula. Not now anyway. Luke couldn’t survive now. And neither would I. I’d have to adapt. I’d have to become one of those guys on the range hitting the ball the same way as everyone else.”
A bizarre California assembly bill that briefly appeared and never went away apparently needs to public input immediately.
If you’re a Californian, the SCGA makes it quite easy to write to your state assembly member in advance of a January 12th hearing. Here is the synopsis from the SCGA and where you can easily contact your representatives:
AB 672 (Public Golf Endangerment Act) would require California’s Department of Housing & Community Development “to administer a program to provide incentives in the form of grants to local agencies that enter into a development agreement to convert a golf course owned by the local agency into housing and publicly accessible open space; space used as a golf course shall not be considered open space." That’s 22% of the state’s golf stock that hosts upwards of 45% of the state’s golf play and roughly 90% of the game’s growth and diversity programs. It singles golf and only golf out for dismemberment; no other park, open space or land preservation use is similarly jeopardized, guaranteeing that golf and only golf will be sacrificed up for redevelopment. Your opinion is the one that counts most with the legislators who will determine whether golf will be sacrificed up or treated the same as every other park and recreation activity in California. Let them know what you think; act today!
Here is the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance’s take:
A radical anti-golf attack in the guise of an “affordable housing” bill, California Assembly Bill 672, will be considered in January 2022 by two committees of the State Assembly – the Housing & Community Development and Local Government committees. The proposed law would appropriate $50 Million from the State General Fund as a bounty to entice cities to replace existing municipal golf courses in “densely populated areas” with high-density “affordable housing” developments. This appears intended as just the first step towards dismemberment of the State’s great network of municipal golf courses.
AB 672 has gone from bad to worse and is now docketed for hearing on 1/12/22. Details below. It is extremely important to contact your CA state assembly members asking them to oppose this bill now. You can easily do so here: https://t.co/qCAASGQzGm #Oppose672 https://t.co/mcq1STLIpd pic.twitter.com/TGdYr16bb2
— Michael Lee (@kansascitymikey) January 5, 2022
Gary Williams discusses the past, present, and future of the game with 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus as his 82nd birthday nears.
As most know, Nicklaus has been on top of this topic for around fifty years and some of his comments in the podcast suggest he’s exasperated at the state of affair, especially with the upcoming 20th anniversary of the “joint statement of principles” on distance. He also discusses the water issue and the disparity now between the professional and amateur thanks to equipment best suited for high swing speeds.
Nicklaus tells Williams the USGA said they were going to get the issue addressed two years ago, then COVID paused the process and again more recently, “nothing happened.” He concluded, “I don’t really know what they’re doing” and ultimately asked, “How long is going to take them to 'research’ the issue?”
We do know the current comment period ends this May, with a likely hint of some plans to do something. So in that sense there is some optimism a stand will be taken, though far too late.
The distance talk starts around the 15:00 mark:
Three players this week posted the most strokes under par in a 72-hole PGA TOUR event (since 1950):
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) January 10, 2022
Cameron Smith (-34)
Jon Rahm (-33)
Matt Jones (-32)
The previous record was 31-under by Ernie Els en route to winning the 2003 Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Even though the course was lengthened not long ago and it’s the first event of the calendar year, a pretty significant was broken at Kapalua. But three players. In one week. After 19 years.
Just filing it for the next time we have to hear how scoring isn’t changed so don’t you dare take away my right to buy a longer, straighter $600 driver made of carbonwood!
The final round highlights of Cameron Smith’s impressive 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions victory where the 28-year-old earned his fourth Tour win in 157 starts and moves to 10th in the world.
Wonder why Tiger was outdriving JT at the PNC 🤔
— Eric Patterson (@EPatGolf) January 4, 2022
A good source from TMade told me players are seeing 2-4mph ball speed gains, which is as much as 8 yards in added distance. Rory, DJ, Wolff 🚀 https://t.co/DSq3BnMhfG
As we inch closer to a decision based on the Distance Insights Study, just about any decision will lead to from Carlsbad even as they stare at record profits, give little back to the charitable side of the game and account for maybe 10% over the overall golf “business”.
So with that inevitable sobbing to come, perhaps as soon as May, the January 4th launches by Taylormade and Callaway—with their partners at the independent media operations hoping they’ll buy ads—will be good to file away for safe keeping.
Traditionally when any form of rulemaking is discussed to keep certain skills and courses relevant, the manufacturers claim they’ve maxed out the technology. When they want your $600, the technology is breakthrough, stealth, AI infused and almost guaranteed to add distance and lower spin.
The various golf publications peddled it all as usual. There was this from a Taylormade engineer to keep in mind as they phase out Titanium for the next great innovation, speaking to Golf Digest’s Mike Stachura.
THE DEEP DIVE: The titanium face driver, the golf industry’s staple since the mid-1990s, has run its course. So says TaylorMade’s team of engineers who in fits and starts over the past 20 years have been pursuing something they say is not merely entirely different from titanium, but of course, fundamentally better. As Tomo Bystedt, TaylorMade’s senior director of product creation, puts it, referencing the famous “S Curve” for innovation, “We knew the S curve for Ti was ending and the S Curve for carbon-composite faces was beginning.”
Kind of like the bubble shaft! Until it wasn’t.
Look, these are good people who have to come up with something to differentiate their product. But the numbers also do not lie: the engineers are very good at what they do and know how to arm today’s elites with equipment they hit longer by just going on a launch monitor and testing.
So this spring when their bosses, only thinking of shareholder value, claim distance has peaked and how there’s nothing to see here, just remember January 4th’s claims and supporting coverage.
Even Tiger chimed in as part of launch day:
I played the new Stealth Carbonwood Driver this past December. Thank you to @TaylorMadeGolf for getting it to me so quickly. Truly an amazing product. #StealthDriver pic.twitter.com/6SfeHLstWk
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) January 4, 2022
And Callaway has introduced a new Chrome Soft that you guessed it, goes longer even though the ball has hit its limit whenever the USGA and R&A are thought to be changing any equipment rules.
From Andrew Tursky at Golf.com, after explaining how Callaway studied its off-core Chrome Softs to make sure that doesn’t happen again. But there was this regarding the new Chrome Soft X:
So, Callaway listened. Without changing the spin profile at all, Callaway was able to increase driver ball speed by 0.7 mph due to the new core in the 2022 version.
And regarding the new and improved Chrome Soft X LS:
According to Callaway, the new Chrome Soft X LS increases driver speed by 0.8 mph, reduces driver spin by 130 rpm, and reduces iron spin by 120 rpm compared to the previous version.
It’s a short list of people who have both designed courses and suggested it’s ok to ask courses to adjust to modern distances. Golf architects Rees Jones, Tom Fazio and Steve Smyers have all been ok with that notion, but I never expected Tom Watson to join that list. Especially since just three years ago he was saying the ball goes too far.
From his Q&A with Golfweek’s Adam Schupak:
When I designed golf courses, I first started at 250 was my turning point. Then it became 267. Now it’s like 280 is the turning point, back tees on championship golf courses.
Again, golf courses I think have to adjust to the distance that guys hit it. I would think the wrong thing to do would be to make the golf ball go shorter. If they did, they ought to make it go shorter for everyone, you, me, Aunt Alice, everybody.
GW: You’re not a bifurcation guy?
TW: No.
Bad news Tom, we have two rules in place this week that spell b-i-f-u-r-c-a-t-i-o-n.
There was also this:
GW: Did you like the changes to the Rules of Golf?
TW: Yeah, very much. Yeah. Spike mark was the best one.
GW: How do you think your pal (former USGA President) Sandy Tatum would have thought of the changes?
TW: He would have thought it would be sensible.
For giggles I cracked open Mr. Tatum’s A Love Affair With The Game to double check that this is the same Sandy Tatum I’m pretty sure was a big “play it as it lies” guy.
Yep, same Sandy!
He called Winter Rules a pervasive intrusion on the “True Spirit” of the game and called the PGA Tour playing preferred lies “the most heinous departure from the true spirit of the playing of the game.”
Not feeling like he’d be a pro spike mark tapping guy in a game with few spikes and better conditioning than ever before.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
