Golf isn't in a bad place

game of golf in a bad place right now? And the reason I bring that up is from a performance standpoint, which is the world that I live in. I live in professional golf. I'm lucky enough to work with players that play professionally and the only thing that matters is performance.

And so I got to thinking about with all the crazy stuff that's been going on with the PGA Tour and live which I think everybody's tired of hearing about, I think from a performance standpoint and from a actual what's happening on the golf course, I think the game is in a really good place. I think we are seeing some amazing golf by some amazing players. I think we're seeing new players and stars come into the game that maybe we didn't know about three years ago before

all the craziness started. But I just don't think the game from a performance standpoint is in a bad place. And it's just my opinion, and I'm gonna try and make give some examples as to why I think that. So live happened in the summer of twenty twenty two when everything kind of got crazy. That year, Scotty Scheffler won the Masters, Justin Thomas won the PGA. Then live happened. First live event was in London. The following week was the US Open. Since that, okay, since live happened, I'm

going to give you the main winners. Matt Patrick twenty twenty two US Open champion, Cam Smith the twenty twenty two Open champion at St. Andrews with an unbelievable Sunday duel with Rory McElroy. Looked like Rory was gonna win. Looked like Rory was finally gonna get another major. Cam played unbelievable on Sunday, some great golf, great up and down, down the stretch wins. We go to twenty twenty three, John Ram beats Brooks Kepka the Masters, Brooks Kepka wins

the PGA at o'kill. Great down the stretch duel got Michael Block, great story. Victor Hovlin was in the mix. US Open, Wyndam Clark Los Angeles, Ricky Fowler in the mix, Roy McElroy again in the mix. Wyndam Clark hit some just some great shots down the stretch, made some great pars down the stretch. Harmon the Open champion was Rainy.

Was a gutty, gritty performance. And then this year Scottie Scheffler, now a two time Masters champion, Sanders Chaffle great duel on Sunday, Bryson in the mix, hit that great eight ron at seventeen. Xander wins his first major. Then I think one of the best majors I've I've seen. Bryson Deshamba two time Major champion, now two time US Open champion Pinehurst beats Rory McElroy down the stretch again. Rory

trying to get another major, doesn't get it done. And then now a two time major winners, Xaner Schoffle wins the Open at Troon. Tons of drama on Sunday. So from a major standpoint, everybody that keeps saying how bad professional golf is and how bad the game is. The majors have been unbelievable, the winners have been unbelievable. The twenty twenty two FedEx Cup winner Roy mc last year twenty twenty three FedEx Cup winner Victor Hovlin, household names

global superstars, Ryder Cup heroes. So this kind of talk about how bad professional golf is and the shit show, maybe from an organization standpoint and maybe from a governing body standpoint, and can we figure out the live PGA tour drama? I don't know. I mean you had business people like Jimmy Dunn and guys like Seth Wall at the PGA or kind of captains of industry. They tried to throw their hat into the ring. Figure this out.

They're out of golf now professional golf. You've got billionaires like Stevie Cohen and Arthur Blank who are involved in golf now professional golf. So you've got I think one of the cool stories this year has been Matthew Levaughan. I mean, Matthew had a chance to win deep deep into the US Open. He played on the DP World. The DP World now kind of has that partnership with the PGA Tour, so ten of their top players get

immediate cards on the PGA Tour. He wins on one of the iconic golf courses on the PGA Tour, Tory Pines. It's French first year on the PGA Tour, has a legit chance to win a major. Who's leading a major in the US Open. I think that's a great story. So I think it's easy to look at all of the negatives right now, and I think that's what I see a lot of people focusing on. Focus on all the negatives, all the reasons why professional golf is struggling.

But I just look at the golf that's being played on the golf course and I think it's pretty damn good. I look at the winners from last year. I think we had some great stories last year. Chris Kirk coming back and winning again and then wins again this year at the Tournament of Champions, Lucas Glover winning two tournaments late, Sahit Sigala getting his first win, Tom Kim getting wins Camilla, Vijaygis getting a win, Ludwig Oberg he was playing college

golf last year. Now the guy's top five in the world. He's a superstar. I mean, he's a stud and I just look at the performance of these players. I think the game right now, in my opinion, I mean it's just my opinion. I could be wrong. I think the game is in a pretty good place from a performance standpoint, from the golf that is being played on the golf course. I mean, you look at the Olympics that just happened. We didn't even have Olympics ten fifteen years ago. Now

we have the Olympics. Scotti Scheffler wins the gold. Bertie's four out of his last five shoots sixty two on Sunday. Tommy Fleetwood a fan favorite, somebody that everybody is waiting to have a major breakthrough. Everybody loves Tommy Fleetwood. He's a writer, Cup hero for the Euros, a superstar in Europe, he's a star in the US. Adeki Matsiyama, you can't get a bigger global star. I mean he's a legend, a Master's champion, He's a hero in Japan. So those

are the three people on the podium. John Rahm had a big lead down the stretch, couldn't get it done again. Is the game in a bad place. Is the quality of golf that is being played on all the tours. And I'm not even talking about what's going on on Live where John Rahm just won, Wako Neeman is having an amazing year, Sergia Garcia won again, Brooks and DJ have won on Live again. Whether you like it, whether you don't, I'm just looking at the performance of the players.

I think we have loads of young talent. Akseh Batia. I mean the kid no fear already a winner on tour. Nick Dunlop this year as an amateur plays the MX wins it. He's already won again. The kid's twenty years old. Davis Thompson turned pro in twenty twenty one, went to the University of Georgia, already winning on tour. So youth coming through, kids directly out of college, no real experience,

not veterans. They're winning golf tournaments on liv Andy Ogletree, usam Champ, you know, struggled around the world, went to the International Series, won that. He's playing great golf. I think one of the best stories of the year. Bob McIntyre. He wins the RBC Canadian Open again. Another duel with Rory McElroy. Rory's trying to win again. Bobby Mack gets it done and then goes and wins the Scottish Open

in Scotland obviously, but he's from Scotland. Winning not only the National Open of Canada, but winning the Scottish Open. For someone from Scotland, that is that is the dream. It's what everybody wants. And I look at the winners this year. I mean, Wyndham Clark's won again. He's a major champion, he DECKI played some amazing golf. The run that Scotti Scheffler's been on, the things that he is doing right now are they are special? They are I

think generational in what he is doing a major. I mean, I'm gonna be shocked if he doesn't win the FedEx Cup. He seems to have a chance to win every single week. Billy Horsewall won again. Billy was in a slump, figured it out, got his mojo back. Roy McElroy won this

year Wells Fargo golf course that he loves. I just I think it's too easy right now with all of the turmoil between what is going on with the PGA Tour and live how the PGA Tour is handling the situation, how lives handling this situation, how the governing bodies are handling live coming into the professional golf world, the world ranking. It's easy to just say, yeah, it's all negative, it's

a shit show, like Rory says. But the quality of golf that I'm watching, the colity of golf that I'm watching over the last three years on Live, the quality of golf that I'm watching on the PGA Tour, the quality of golf that I'm watching on DP World, the quality of golf on the Asian Tour, the quality of golf on the Ladies Tour, the golf that Nellie Court is playing, The performance of these golfers and the performance of these athletes, to me has just been amazing. And

I have really enjoyed watching professional golf. There is a narrative right now that people aren't enjoying it, that they don't like watching it. I'm watching it from a performance standpoint. I'm watching it because I'm lucky enough to be a part of the performance element of professional golf. I work with players that play professionally, have done for the last twenty years, and when I look at the golf that's being played over the last three years since Live Okay

came in and disrupted professional golf. Yeah they did. They came in and disrupted it, and everyone's trying to figure out what to do now. But when I look at the quality of golf that is being played, When I look at the quality of shots that are being played on all of the tours all over the world, wherever you are watching golf, wherever you are choosing to watch golf, you can choose to watch golf wherever you want to watch it. I'm a fan. I'm a fan of the

stars we have in the game today. I'm a fan of the players that are winning these golf tournaments. I'm a fan of the drama that we have in professional golf right now on the golf course. Not the golf course bullshit. I'm a fan of what these players are doing under the gun. I haven't seen a run like this from Scotti Scheffler in a very, very very long time. The Tiger Heyday, the kind of Ernie El's heyday, the VJ.

Singh back in the day, Superstar heyday, Ratief. I just from a performance standpoint, from a professional golfer standpoint, and what the professional golfers are doing on the biggest stages all over the world, in the majors, in big tournaments. I like it. I like what I'm saying. I like the drama. I like the shots that guys are pulling off. I think an unbelievable story is Xander Schoffle. I mean, Xander's everybody's favorite on tour, right. Everybody loves Sander. He's

a great guy. He and his caddy, Austin, they're they're great people. His dad's one of my His dad is a is a character and a half. He's fun to talk to. I was watching the Open Championship and he had a mix of Yeah, Justin Rose had a chance to win a major at his age, Billy Horshall had a chance to win a major. You had a couple of players that weren't household names, right, that weren't on anyone's radar, that had legit chances deep into that tournament.

Shane Lowry made a massive run at the Open Championship this year. He's a fan favorite. The Matthew Jordan and Daniel Brown stories, I think we're really good. Russell Henley played amazing golf. It just it's too easy to just say golf is in a bad place. Maybe from an organizational standpoint, golf is in a bad place. If that's your take, and that's your opinion, and that's the narrative that you want to push. I see a lot of

people in the media continuing to push that. But I am lucky enough to be around the best players in the world on a regular basis. And the golf that I see in person and the golf that I see when I watch golf on television is I think fascinating. I think engaging. I think the quality of shots under pressure that players are hitting. Xanderschofley shoot sixty five on Sunday and was even through the first four or five holes, and then you could see the confidence from winning his

first major championship at Valhalla. He said he felt calm on the back nine. I'm a fan of that. I'm a fan of watching that. I'm a fan of watching Justin Rose in the middle of the seventeenth fairway at the Open Championship at Troon roast driver off the deck and try and give himself a chance to make an eagle on sixteen and try and have a chance to win the tournament, have a chance to win another major, He's got one at his age. I think the golf

that he played sixty nine, sixty eight, seventy three. But Justin Rose went out on Sunday at the Open Championship and shot sixty seven. Where's the problem with that? From a golf standpoint, From a tournament golf standpoint, where why is that bad? Look at the leaderboard at the Masters, Scotty Scheffler first, Ludwig Oberg second, Tommy Fleetwood, Max Homer, Colin Morikawa tied third, cam Smith, Bryson d. Chambeau tied for sixth, Sanderschoffle tied for eight, will zlatorres, Tyrrell Hatton,

Cameron Young. That's the top ten. Where is the bad golf? Where is golf in a bad place where you have those guys in the top ten in a major championship. Scotti Schefler shooting sixty eight on Sunday, Ludville Goebert sixty nine on Sunday, Tommy Fleetwood sixty nine on Sunday. I think the game for me isn't in as bad a place as everyone's saying it is. The performance of the players.

The PGA Championship this year Xanderschoffle Sunday sixty five, Bryson sixty four, Victor Hovlin sixty six, Thomas Dietree sixty six. My point behind all of this is if you're just looking at the tours and this constant battle between Live and the PGA Tour, and the constant battle and the media between Live the people that are on the Live side in the media, and then the PGA Tour people

in the media, it's just constant doom and gloom. But I over the last three years since Live came in and changed professional golf, and I don't know if they changed it for good worse. I know they're playing for more money on the PGA Tour. I know there's signature events. I know we've got indoor golf now the TGL. Does that happen without Live coming into professional golf? I don't know.

PG Tour. You now players are coming directly off college golf and getting access and getting opportunities to play on the PGA Tour. Does that happen with LIV? I don't know. That's something that everybody's been saying that needed to happen for the last fifteen years, and I think it's a huge, huge, positive. But I just think right now, there are a lot of positives in professional golf that might be controversial. You might not agree, you might disagree, you might vehemently disagree.

That's fine. But I'm around professional golf, and I'm around professional golfers all the time, and when I go to the majors now, I see unbelievable golf being played when I am on Live. Whether you agree with the format, whether you agree with all of it, that's on you, right that's that's that's your choice, whether you want to choose the tour or not choose the tour. But the golf and the shots that I see week in and week out on Live are unbelievable. There's drama, there's great shots,

there's hitting the right shot at the right time. There's players with leads, you know, not being able to get it to the house. Same thing that we see DP World, same thing that we see on the PGA Tour. And when I watch the PGA Tour, see just some really really good golf being played by some really good players. I think Rory McElroy continues to be an amazing story. The golf that he plays and has played over the last three years, how can you not be a of that? How can you not be a fan of the things

that Roy McElroy does on the golf course. How can you not be a fan of the things that John Rahm and Brooks and Bryce and Xanders and Cam Smith and Matt Fitzpatrick and Brian Harmon. How can you not be a fan of the quality of golf that they are playing to win these major championships. And then I think there have been some great, great stories, some comeback stories.

Kimillavt jagis winning again on the PGA Tour. As I said earlier, Chris kirk Now winning twice in the last couple of years with the struggles that he had off the golf course. And I just think the youth movement. We have a lot of young, good stars playing good golf. Cam Davis won it Rocket this year. You watch that golf swing and watch the shots that he hits. That guy's a stud man. I mean, that guy is a legit stuff. Davis Riley, the performance he put in at

Colonial this year to win. Guy was playing golf college golf at University of Alabama. He's winning on tour now. I just I like it. I like the mix. I like the quality of players that are playing, I like the shots that they're hitting, and I liked the performance, and hopefully we as people that love golf and love

watching golf, and obviously as people that love watching professional golf. Yeah, okay, maybe the product, which I never heard anyone talk about three years ago, I never heard anyone talk about the product. Maybe you could argue that the product's diminished. It's easier to win on the PGA Tour now that some of the big stars went to live. I don't care about

any of that. About watching the best players in the world execute on the golf course, hit the right shot at the right time, get on a run, Bertie the last three coming in win their first tournament win is amateurs. I'm a fan. I'm a fan of professional golf today. That might be a hot take, that might be a controversial take, that might be a take that a lot

of people listening don't like. But the golf that I'm lucky enough to watch up close, I'm still watching unbelievable golfers, regardless of where they play, hit unbelievable shots under pressure to win tournaments when it matters, And yeah, maybe they're not names that you knew, and maybe they're not superstars and you don't like that, maybe you're someone that is using the we need to get the best players in the world together all the time. That really didn't happen

that often. It happens at the majors. There have been big tournaments in the US at the beginning of the year, early in the season for the last twenty years, and some of the best players on the PGA Tour have been China, the Middle East getting paid, getting paid because they won majors, getting paid to go play. And that's

been going on for twenty years. I was going on hell of a long time before Live showed up, and some of the biggest stars on the PGA Tour have gone all over the world and got an appearance money to play, which I believe and in one hundred percent in favor of I've said that before. If you win a major championship, one of the perks is there are going to be places around the world that have tournaments that want to pay you millions of dollars to come play.

Every great player in the world, whether they're playing that is a major champion. All the major champions that have gone to Live have all done that. All the major champions that didn't go to live that stayed on the PGA Tour, they've all done that too, So that is not news. There have been players getting paid to play golf all over the world. But I like what I'm

seeing in professional golf right now. When I walk up and down the driving range at a major, at a tournament, regardless of where it is, I like the golf swings I'm seeing. I think I think live coming into professional golf. We're talking about television now. I think the work that Bryson is doing in social media. I think the fact that the PGA Tour is looking at influencers now and

influencers in golf, I think that's all positive. I think some of the technology that's available, the sports box stuff that you're seeing on the PGA Tour now, the launch monitor technology that you're seeing, you know, live in the broadcast. We saw that during COVID they started using Whoop. We saw whoop data. We're doing live in round interviews with players. None of that stuff, ladies and gentlemen, happened before live. None of it. All of this has been everybody trying

to pivot and trying to figure out. So yeah, maybe from a tour standpoint, the tours are divided the organizers, the USGA, the PGA of America, the RNA, the Masters. I think they're still trying to figure this out. But what is happening at all of their tournaments, What is happening at on the PGA Tour, What is happening on DP world, what is happening on live? What is happening

in the majors? For all the arguments that have been going on about how bad things are, the performance from all of the players playing professional golf on the golf course inside the ropes on Sundays, I love it. I love what I'm seeing, I love what I'm watching, and I'm a fan. So I just think it's too easy

to just beat up on professional golf right now. And I've never had people that are outside of golf, that are non golfers that I meet, that I'm friends with, that aren't you know, massive golfers that don't play golf, that don't follow the PGA Tour. I've never talked about the professional game more in the last three years to

non golfers than I have. And is that bad? I think that's a positive I think the fact that even if it looks like what Rory said a shit show, I think the fact that people are talking about it. I think the fact that people are talking about it on Sports Center, Steven A. Smith, on podcasts, the fact that people are talking about golf and they're trying to figure it out. I think everybody in the game is trying to figure it out. I think the players are

trying to figure it out. I think the organizers at the PGA Tour, TP World Tour and IT Live or trying to figure it out. I think all the governing bodies are trying to figure it out. And it's difficult times right now. But when I watch golf and watch golf on TV and watch it in person, I like what I'm seeing and I am a fan of what is happening on the golf course in twenty twenty four with these great golfers and these great athletes on all these tours. I like what I'm seeing and I will

continue to watch. I'm not watching less, I'm watching more because I want to see what's happening. I want to see what these great players are doing and open your eyes find the new stars. There are new stars on all the different tours, they're breaking through, they're winning tournaments. We've got veterans that are household names, that are superstars, past superstars that are coming back and winning golf tournaments. I think that's good and I think professional golf is

in a good place from a performance standpoint. And the last thing I will say is, everybody, professional golf is not golf. It's just the professional part of golf. Golf is what we as golfers play in practice every day, not what happens on the PGA Tour. It's not what happens on live. It's what happens at your club. It's what happens in your club championship. It's what happens in

your monthly medal. It's what happens in your competition. If you're a junior golfer, whatever level of golf you're playing, that's what golf is. It's you on a driving range hitting golf balls. It's you on being the last person on a driving range as the sun's going down, hitting golf. It's golf is being out on the golf course with your brother, your mother, your father, your best friends, on a golf trip in an amazing location, checking off golf

courses on your bucket list. That's golf. Professional golf is something completely different. But professional golf is not the game of golf. The game of golf is what all of us love, what all of us are obsessed with, what all of us love, the challenge of trying to master that is what golf is. And golf, in my opinion, will always be in a great place because there are people that care about golf. They love golf. It's part of their life, it means something to them, it's part

of their DNA. They identify themselves as golfers. They dress up like professional golfers and go to professional golf tournaments, which still fascinates me that people get dressed up, But that's what golf is. That's how much it means to people. They want to dress like their heroes. And I think

golf is in a good place. I give golf lessons when I'm not on tour all the time and watching people figure something out, hit a draw for the first time, break eighty for the first time, break ninety for the first time, break one hundred, win their first junior golf tournament. Golf isn't in a bad place. Golf will always be in a good place because the people that love the game care about the game. The professional side of it, that's something else. But unless you're a professional golfer, that's

not your world. That's not the world you live in. You live in the world of go into the driving range, go into your home course, going to a golf tournament that you've wanted to go to for the going to waste management for the first time, going to your first major, playing a golf course that you've never played before. That's golf. And I think professional golf right now, from a performance standpoint,

isn't a great place. I love what I'm saying. The organizational side of it, that's for other people to figure out. It's not that's not my job to figure that out. My job is to help players get better at all levels. And I still see joy in For as bad as golf is supposed to be right now, I still see joy and watching somebody in a golf lesson take a divot for the first time with seven iron and hit a high draw And I love that. I love that

part of the game. I still see people every year go to Augusta National that have never been there before and walk onto that area by the scoreboard and see Augusta and see the golf course for the first time, and just it's like they've seen fire for the first time. I think the game for as bad as everyone says it is, I don't think it's that bad. Son of a Butcher comes to you most every Wednesday. Rate Review,

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