Speaker 1: It's the son of Which podcast. I'm your host, Claude
Speaker 1: Harmon a little two week break from the pod, but
Speaker 1: back refreshed. I was trying to think about what to
Speaker 1: talk about this week, and we just had the Olympics.
Speaker 1: There is a lot to talk about in the game
Speaker 1: of golf right now. There's a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1: I hear constantly about how bad professional golf is and
Speaker 1: how bad the game of golf is. But I was
Speaker 1: thinking about this on the flight home, and is the
Speaker 1: game of golf in a bad place right now? And
Speaker 1: the reason I bring that up is from a performance standpoint,
Speaker 1: which is the world that I live in. I live
Speaker 1: in professional golf. I'm lucky enough to work with players
Speaker 1: that play professionally and the only thing that matters is performance.
Speaker 1: And so I got to thinking about with all the
Speaker 1: crazy stuff that's been going on with the PGA Tour
Speaker 1: and live which I think everybody's tired of hearing about,
Speaker 1: I think from a performance standpoint and from a actual
Speaker 1: what's happening on the golf course, I think the game
Speaker 1: is in a really good place. I think we are
Speaker 1: seeing some amazing golf by some amazing players. I think
Speaker 1: we're seeing new players and stars come into the game
Speaker 1: that maybe we didn't know about three years ago before
Speaker 1: all the craziness started. But I just don't think the
Speaker 1: game from a performance standpoint is in a bad place.
Speaker 1: And it's just my opinion, and I'm gonna try and
Speaker 1: make give some examples as to why I think that.
Speaker 1: So live happened in the summer of twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: when everything kind of got crazy. That year, Scotty Scheffler
Speaker 1: won the Masters, Justin Thomas won the PGA. Then live happened.
Speaker 1: First live event was in London. The following week was
Speaker 1: the US Open. Since that, okay, since live happened, I'm
Speaker 1: going to give you the main winners. Matt Patrick twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two US Open champion, Cam Smith the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two Open champion at St. Andrews with an unbelievable Sunday
Speaker 1: duel with Rory McElroy. Looked like Rory was gonna win.
Speaker 1: Looked like Rory was finally gonna get another major. Cam
Speaker 1: played unbelievable on Sunday, some great golf, great up and down,
Speaker 1: down the stretch wins. We go to twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: John Ram beats Brooks Kepka the Masters, Brooks Kepka wins
Speaker 1: the PGA at o'kill. Great down the stretch duel got
Speaker 1: Michael Block, great story. Victor Hovlin was in the mix.
Speaker 1: US Open, Wyndam Clark Los Angeles, Ricky Fowler in the mix,
Speaker 1: Roy McElroy again in the mix. Wyndam Clark hit some
Speaker 1: just some great shots down the stretch, made some great
Speaker 1: pars down the stretch. Harmon the Open champion was Rainy.
Speaker 1: Was a gutty, gritty performance. And then this year Scottie Scheffler,
Speaker 1: now a two time Masters champion, Sanders Chaffle great duel
Speaker 1: on Sunday, Bryson in the mix, hit that great eight
Speaker 1: ron at seventeen. Xander wins his first major. Then I
Speaker 1: think one of the best majors I've I've seen. Bryson
Speaker 1: Deshamba two time Major champion, now two time US Open
Speaker 1: champion Pinehurst beats Rory McElroy down the stretch again. Rory
Speaker 1: trying to get another major, doesn't get it done. And
Speaker 1: then now a two time major winners, Xaner Schoffle wins
Speaker 1: the Open at Troon. Tons of drama on Sunday. So
Speaker 1: from a major standpoint, everybody that keeps saying how bad
Speaker 1: professional golf is and how bad the game is. The
Speaker 1: majors have been unbelievable, the winners have been unbelievable. The
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two FedEx Cup winner Roy mc last year
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three FedEx Cup winner Victor Hovlin, household names
Speaker 1: global superstars, Ryder Cup heroes. So this kind of talk
Speaker 1: about how bad professional golf is and the shit show,
Speaker 1: maybe from an organization standpoint and maybe from a governing
Speaker 1: body standpoint, and can we figure out the live PGA
Speaker 1: tour drama? I don't know. I mean you had business
Speaker 1: people like Jimmy Dunn and guys like Seth Wall at
Speaker 1: the PGA or kind of captains of industry. They tried
Speaker 1: to throw their hat into the ring. Figure this out.
Speaker 1: They're out of golf now professional golf. You've got billionaires
Speaker 1: like Stevie Cohen and Arthur Blank who are involved in
Speaker 1: golf now professional golf. So you've got I think one
Speaker 1: of the cool stories this year has been Matthew Levaughan.
Speaker 1: I mean, Matthew had a chance to win deep deep
Speaker 1: into the US Open. He played on the DP World.
Speaker 1: The DP World now kind of has that partnership with
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour, so ten of their top players get
Speaker 1: immediate cards on the PGA Tour. He wins on one
Speaker 1: of the iconic golf courses on the PGA Tour, Tory Pines.
Speaker 1: It's French first year on the PGA Tour, has a
Speaker 1: legit chance to win a major. Who's leading a major
Speaker 1: in the US Open. I think that's a great story.
Speaker 1: So I think it's easy to look at all of
Speaker 1: the negatives right now, and I think that's what I
Speaker 1: see a lot of people focusing on. Focus on all
Speaker 1: the negatives, all the reasons why professional golf is struggling.
Speaker 1: But I just look at the golf that's being played
Speaker 1: on the golf course and I think it's pretty damn good.
Speaker 1: I look at the winners from last year. I think
Speaker 1: we had some great stories last year. Chris Kirk coming
Speaker 1: back and winning again and then wins again this year
Speaker 1: at the Tournament of Champions, Lucas Glover winning two tournaments late,
Speaker 1: Sahit Sigala getting his first win, Tom Kim getting wins Camilla,
Speaker 1: Vijaygis getting a win, Ludwig Oberg he was playing college
Speaker 1: golf last year. Now the guy's top five in the world.
Speaker 1: He's a superstar. I mean, he's a stud and I
Speaker 1: just look at the performance of these players. I think
Speaker 1: the game right now, in my opinion, I mean it's
Speaker 1: just my opinion. I could be wrong. I think the
Speaker 1: game is in a pretty good place from a performance standpoint,
Speaker 1: from the golf that is being played on the golf course.
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at the Olympics that just happened.
Speaker 1: We didn't even have Olympics ten fifteen years ago. Now
Speaker 1: we have the Olympics. Scotti Scheffler wins the gold. Bertie's
Speaker 1: four out of his last five shoots sixty two on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Tommy Fleetwood a fan favorite, somebody that everybody is waiting
Speaker 1: to have a major breakthrough. Everybody loves Tommy Fleetwood. He's
Speaker 1: a writer, Cup hero for the Euros, a superstar in Europe,
Speaker 1: he's a star in the US. Adeki Matsiyama, you can't
Speaker 1: get a bigger global star. I mean he's a legend,
Speaker 1: a Master's champion, He's a hero in Japan. So those
Speaker 1: are the three people on the podium. John Rahm had
Speaker 1: a big lead down the stretch, couldn't get it done again.
Speaker 1: Is the game in a bad place. Is the quality
Speaker 1: of golf that is being played on all the tours.
Speaker 1: And I'm not even talking about what's going on on
Speaker 1: Live where John Rahm just won, Wako Neeman is having
Speaker 1: an amazing year, Sergia Garcia won again, Brooks and DJ
Speaker 1: have won on Live again. Whether you like it, whether
Speaker 1: you don't, I'm just looking at the performance of the players.
Speaker 1: I think we have loads of young talent. Akseh Batia.
Speaker 1: I mean the kid no fear already a winner on tour.
Speaker 1: Nick Dunlop this year as an amateur plays the MX
Speaker 1: wins it. He's already won again. The kid's twenty years old.
Speaker 1: Davis Thompson turned pro in twenty twenty one, went to
Speaker 1: the University of Georgia, already winning on tour. So youth
Speaker 1: coming through, kids directly out of college, no real experience,
Speaker 1: not veterans. They're winning golf tournaments on liv Andy Ogletree,
Speaker 1: usam Champ, you know, struggled around the world, went to
Speaker 1: the International Series, won that. He's playing great golf. I
Speaker 1: think one of the best stories of the year. Bob McIntyre.
Speaker 1: He wins the RBC Canadian Open again. Another duel with
Speaker 1: Rory McElroy. Rory's trying to win again. Bobby Mack gets
Speaker 1: it done and then goes and wins the Scottish Open
Speaker 1: in Scotland obviously, but he's from Scotland. Winning not only
Speaker 1: the National Open of Canada, but winning the Scottish Open.
Speaker 1: For someone from Scotland, that is that is the dream.
Speaker 1: It's what everybody wants. And I look at the winners
Speaker 1: this year. I mean, Wyndham Clark's won again. He's a
Speaker 1: major champion, he DECKI played some amazing golf. The run
Speaker 1: that Scotti Scheffler's been on, the things that he is
Speaker 1: doing right now are they are special? They are I
Speaker 1: think generational in what he is doing a major. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be shocked if he doesn't win the FedEx Cup.
Speaker 1: He seems to have a chance to win every single week.
Speaker 1: Billy Horsewall won again. Billy was in a slump, figured
Speaker 1: it out, got his mojo back. Roy McElroy won this
Speaker 1: year Wells Fargo golf course that he loves. I just
Speaker 1: I think it's too easy right now with all of
Speaker 1: the turmoil between what is going on with the PGA
Speaker 1: Tour and live how the PGA Tour is handling the situation,
Speaker 1: how lives handling this situation, how the governing bodies are
Speaker 1: handling live coming into the professional golf world, the world ranking.
Speaker 1: It's easy to just say, yeah, it's all negative, it's
Speaker 1: a shit show, like Rory says. But the quality of
Speaker 1: golf that I'm watching, the colity of golf that I'm
Speaker 1: watching over the last three years on Live, the quality
Speaker 1: of golf that I'm watching on the PGA Tour, the
Speaker 1: quality of golf that I'm watching on DP World, the
Speaker 1: quality of golf on the Asian Tour, the quality of
Speaker 1: golf on the Ladies Tour, the golf that Nellie Court
Speaker 1: is playing, The performance of these golfers and the performance
Speaker 1: of these athletes, to me has just been amazing. And
Speaker 1: I have really enjoyed watching professional golf. There is a
Speaker 1: narrative right now that people aren't enjoying it, that they
Speaker 1: don't like watching it. I'm watching it from a performance standpoint.
Speaker 1: I'm watching it because I'm lucky enough to be a
Speaker 1: part of the performance element of professional golf. I work
Speaker 1: with players that play professionally, have done for the last
Speaker 1: twenty years, and when I look at the golf that's
Speaker 1: being played over the last three years since Live Okay
Speaker 1: came in and disrupted professional golf. Yeah they did. They
Speaker 1: came in and disrupted it, and everyone's trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what to do now. But when I look at
Speaker 1: the quality of golf that is being played, When I
Speaker 1: look at the quality of shots that are being played
Speaker 1: on all of the tours all over the world, wherever
Speaker 1: you are watching golf, wherever you are choosing to watch golf,
Speaker 1: you can choose to watch golf wherever you want to
Speaker 1: watch it. I'm a fan. I'm a fan of the
Speaker 1: stars we have in the game today. I'm a fan
Speaker 1: of the players that are winning these golf tournaments. I'm
Speaker 1: a fan of the drama that we have in professional
Speaker 1: golf right now on the golf course. Not the golf
Speaker 1: course bullshit. I'm a fan of what these players are
Speaker 1: doing under the gun. I haven't seen a run like
Speaker 1: this from Scotti Scheffler in a very, very very long time.
Speaker 1: The Tiger Heyday, the kind of Ernie El's heyday, the VJ.
Speaker 1: Singh back in the day, Superstar heyday, Ratief. I just
Speaker 1: from a performance standpoint, from a professional golfer standpoint, and
Speaker 1: what the professional golfers are doing on the biggest stages
Speaker 1: all over the world, in the majors, in big tournaments.
Speaker 1: I like it. I like what I'm saying. I like
Speaker 1: the drama. I like the shots that guys are pulling off.
Speaker 1: I think an unbelievable story is Xander Schoffle. I mean,
Speaker 1: Xander's everybody's favorite on tour, right. Everybody loves Sander. He's
Speaker 1: a great guy. He and his caddy, Austin, they're they're
Speaker 1: great people. His dad's one of my His dad is
Speaker 1: a is a character and a half. He's fun to
Speaker 1: talk to. I was watching the Open Championship and he
Speaker 1: had a mix of Yeah, Justin Rose had a chance
Speaker 1: to win a major at his age, Billy Horshall had
Speaker 1: a chance to win a major. You had a couple
Speaker 1: of players that weren't household names, right, that weren't on
Speaker 1: anyone's radar, that had legit chances deep into that tournament.
Speaker 1: Shane Lowry made a massive run at the Open Championship
Speaker 1: this year. He's a fan favorite. The Matthew Jordan and
Speaker 1: Daniel Brown stories, I think we're really good. Russell Henley
Speaker 1: played amazing golf. It just it's too easy to just
Speaker 1: say golf is in a bad place. Maybe from an
Speaker 1: organizational standpoint, golf is in a bad place. If that's
Speaker 1: your take, and that's your opinion, and that's the narrative
Speaker 1: that you want to push. I see a lot of
Speaker 1: people in the media continuing to push that. But I
Speaker 1: am lucky enough to be around the best players in
Speaker 1: the world on a regular basis. And the golf that
Speaker 1: I see in person and the golf that I see
Speaker 1: when I watch golf on television is I think fascinating.
Speaker 1: I think engaging. I think the quality of shots under
Speaker 1: pressure that players are hitting. Xanderschofley shoot sixty five on
Speaker 1: Sunday and was even through the first four or five holes,
Speaker 1: and then you could see the confidence from winning his
Speaker 1: first major championship at Valhalla. He said he felt calm
Speaker 1: on the back nine. I'm a fan of that. I'm
Speaker 1: a fan of watching that. I'm a fan of watching
Speaker 1: Justin Rose in the middle of the seventeenth fairway at
Speaker 1: the Open Championship at Troon roast driver off the deck
Speaker 1: and try and give himself a chance to make an
Speaker 1: eagle on sixteen and try and have a chance to
Speaker 1: win the tournament, have a chance to win another major,
Speaker 1: He's got one at his age. I think the golf
Speaker 1: that he played sixty nine, sixty eight, seventy three. But
Speaker 1: Justin Rose went out on Sunday at the Open Championship
Speaker 1: and shot sixty seven. Where's the problem with that? From
Speaker 1: a golf standpoint, From a tournament golf standpoint, where why
Speaker 1: is that bad? Look at the leaderboard at the Masters,
Speaker 1: Scotty Scheffler first, Ludwig Oberg second, Tommy Fleetwood, Max Homer,
Speaker 1: Colin Morikawa tied third, cam Smith, Bryson d. Chambeau tied
Speaker 1: for sixth, Sanderschoffle tied for eight, will zlatorres, Tyrrell Hatton,
Speaker 1: Cameron Young. That's the top ten. Where is the bad golf?
Speaker 1: Where is golf in a bad place where you have
Speaker 1: those guys in the top ten in a major championship.
Speaker 1: Scotti Schefler shooting sixty eight on Sunday, Ludville Goebert sixty
Speaker 1: nine on Sunday, Tommy Fleetwood sixty nine on Sunday. I
Speaker 1: think the game for me isn't in as bad a
Speaker 1: place as everyone's saying it is. The performance of the players.
Speaker 1: The PGA Championship this year Xanderschoffle Sunday sixty five, Bryson
Speaker 1: sixty four, Victor Hovlin sixty six, Thomas Dietree sixty six.
Speaker 1: My point behind all of this is if you're just
Speaker 1: looking at the tours and this constant battle between Live
Speaker 1: and the PGA Tour, and the constant battle and the
Speaker 1: media between Live the people that are on the Live
Speaker 1: side in the media, and then the PGA Tour people
Speaker 1: in the media, it's just constant doom and gloom. But
Speaker 1: I over the last three years since Live came in
Speaker 1: and changed professional golf, and I don't know if they
Speaker 1: changed it for good worse. I know they're playing for
Speaker 1: more money on the PGA Tour. I know there's signature events.
Speaker 1: I know we've got indoor golf now the TGL. Does
Speaker 1: that happen without Live coming into professional golf? I don't know.
Speaker 1: PG Tour. You now players are coming directly off college
Speaker 1: golf and getting access and getting opportunities to play on
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour. Does that happen with LIV? I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's something that everybody's been saying that needed to happen
Speaker 1: for the last fifteen years, and I think it's a huge, huge, positive.
Speaker 1: But I just think right now, there are a lot
Speaker 1: of positives in professional golf that might be controversial. You
Speaker 1: might not agree, you might disagree, you might vehemently disagree.
Speaker 1: That's fine. But I'm around professional golf, and I'm around
Speaker 1: professional golfers all the time, and when I go to
Speaker 1: the majors now, I see unbelievable golf being played when
Speaker 1: I am on Live. Whether you agree with the format,
Speaker 1: whether you agree with all of it, that's on you,
Speaker 1: right that's that's that's your choice, whether you want to
Speaker 1: choose the tour or not choose the tour. But the
Speaker 1: golf and the shots that I see week in and
Speaker 1: week out on Live are unbelievable. There's drama, there's great shots,
Speaker 1: there's hitting the right shot at the right time. There's
Speaker 1: players with leads, you know, not being able to get
Speaker 1: it to the house. Same thing that we see DP World,
Speaker 1: same thing that we see on the PGA Tour. And
Speaker 1: when I watch the PGA Tour, see just some really
Speaker 1: really good golf being played by some really good players.
Speaker 1: I think Rory McElroy continues to be an amazing story.
Speaker 1: The golf that he plays and has played over the
Speaker 1: last three years, how can you not be a of that?
Speaker 1: How can you not be a fan of the things
Speaker 1: that Roy McElroy does on the golf course. How can
Speaker 1: you not be a fan of the things that John
Speaker 1: Rahm and Brooks and Bryce and Xanders and Cam Smith
Speaker 1: and Matt Fitzpatrick and Brian Harmon. How can you not
Speaker 1: be a fan of the quality of golf that they
Speaker 1: are playing to win these major championships. And then I
Speaker 1: think there have been some great, great stories, some comeback stories.
Speaker 1: Kimillavt jagis winning again on the PGA Tour. As I
Speaker 1: said earlier, Chris kirk Now winning twice in the last
Speaker 1: couple of years with the struggles that he had off
Speaker 1: the golf course. And I just think the youth movement.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of young, good stars playing good golf.
Speaker 1: Cam Davis won it Rocket this year. You watch that
Speaker 1: golf swing and watch the shots that he hits. That
Speaker 1: guy's a stud man. I mean, that guy is a
Speaker 1: legit stuff. Davis Riley, the performance he put in at
Speaker 1: Colonial this year to win. Guy was playing golf college
Speaker 1: golf at University of Alabama. He's winning on tour now.
Speaker 1: I just I like it. I like the mix. I
Speaker 1: like the quality of players that are playing, I like
Speaker 1: the shots that they're hitting, and I liked the performance,
Speaker 1: and hopefully we as people that love golf and love
Speaker 1: watching golf, and obviously as people that love watching professional golf. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: maybe the product, which I never heard anyone talk about
Speaker 1: three years ago, I never heard anyone talk about the product.
Speaker 1: Maybe you could argue that the product's diminished. It's easier
Speaker 1: to win on the PGA Tour now that some of
Speaker 1: the big stars went to live. I don't care about
Speaker 1: any of that. About watching the best players in the
Speaker 1: world execute on the golf course, hit the right shot
Speaker 1: at the right time, get on a run, Bertie the
Speaker 1: last three coming in win their first tournament win is amateurs.
Speaker 1: I'm a fan. I'm a fan of professional golf today.
Speaker 1: That might be a hot take, that might be a
Speaker 1: controversial take, that might be a take that a lot
Speaker 1: of people listening don't like. But the golf that I'm
Speaker 1: lucky enough to watch up close, I'm still watching unbelievable golfers,
Speaker 1: regardless of where they play, hit unbelievable shots under pressure
Speaker 1: to win tournaments when it matters, And yeah, maybe they're
Speaker 1: not names that you knew, and maybe they're not superstars
Speaker 1: and you don't like that, maybe you're someone that is
Speaker 1: using the we need to get the best players in
Speaker 1: the world together all the time. That really didn't happen
Speaker 1: that often. It happens at the majors. There have been
Speaker 1: big tournaments in the US at the beginning of the year,
Speaker 1: early in the season for the last twenty years, and
Speaker 1: some of the best players on the PGA Tour have
Speaker 1: been China, the Middle East getting paid, getting paid because
Speaker 1: they won majors, getting paid to go play. And that's
Speaker 1: been going on for twenty years. I was going on
Speaker 1: hell of a long time before Live showed up, and
Speaker 1: some of the biggest stars on the PGA Tour have
Speaker 1: gone all over the world and got an appearance money
Speaker 1: to play, which I believe and in one hundred percent
Speaker 1: in favor of I've said that before. If you win
Speaker 1: a major championship, one of the perks is there are
Speaker 1: going to be places around the world that have tournaments
Speaker 1: that want to pay you millions of dollars to come play.
Speaker 1: Every great player in the world, whether they're playing that
Speaker 1: is a major champion. All the major champions that have
Speaker 1: gone to Live have all done that. All the major
Speaker 1: champions that didn't go to live that stayed on the
Speaker 1: PGA Tour, they've all done that too, So that is
Speaker 1: not news. There have been players getting paid to play
Speaker 1: golf all over the world. But I like what I'm
Speaker 1: seeing in professional golf right now. When I walk up
Speaker 1: and down the driving range at a major, at a tournament,
Speaker 1: regardless of where it is, I like the golf swings
Speaker 1: I'm seeing. I think I think live coming into professional golf.
Speaker 1: We're talking about television now. I think the work that
Speaker 1: Bryson is doing in social media. I think the fact
Speaker 1: that the PGA Tour is looking at influencers now and
Speaker 1: influencers in golf, I think that's all positive. I think
Speaker 1: some of the technology that's available, the sports box stuff
Speaker 1: that you're seeing on the PGA Tour now, the launch
Speaker 1: monitor technology that you're seeing, you know, live in the broadcast.
Speaker 1: We saw that during COVID they started using Whoop. We
Speaker 1: saw whoop data. We're doing live in round interviews with players.
Speaker 1: None of that stuff, ladies and gentlemen, happened before live.
Speaker 1: None of it. All of this has been everybody trying
Speaker 1: to pivot and trying to figure out. So yeah, maybe
Speaker 1: from a tour standpoint, the tours are divided the organizers,
Speaker 1: the USGA, the PGA of America, the RNA, the Masters.
Speaker 1: I think they're still trying to figure this out. But
Speaker 1: what is happening at all of their tournaments, What is
Speaker 1: happening at on the PGA Tour, What is happening on
Speaker 1: DP world, what is happening on live? What is happening
Speaker 1: in the majors? For all the arguments that have been
Speaker 1: going on about how bad things are, the performance from
Speaker 1: all of the players playing professional golf on the golf
Speaker 1: course inside the ropes on Sundays, I love it. I
Speaker 1: love what I'm seeing, I love what I'm watching, and
Speaker 1: I'm a fan. So I just think it's too easy
Speaker 1: to just beat up on professional golf right now. And
Speaker 1: I've never had people that are outside of golf, that
Speaker 1: are non golfers that I meet, that I'm friends with,
Speaker 1: that aren't you know, massive golfers that don't play golf,
Speaker 1: that don't follow the PGA Tour. I've never talked about
Speaker 1: the professional game more in the last three years to
Speaker 1: non golfers than I have. And is that bad? I
Speaker 1: think that's a positive I think the fact that even
Speaker 1: if it looks like what Rory said a shit show,
Speaker 1: I think the fact that people are talking about it.
Speaker 1: I think the fact that people are talking about it
Speaker 1: on Sports Center, Steven A. Smith, on podcasts, the fact
Speaker 1: that people are talking about golf and they're trying to
Speaker 1: figure it out. I think everybody in the game is
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. I think the players are
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. I think the organizers at
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour, TP World Tour and IT Live or
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. I think all the governing
Speaker 1: bodies are trying to figure it out. And it's difficult
Speaker 1: times right now. But when I watch golf and watch
Speaker 1: golf on TV and watch it in person, I like
Speaker 1: what I'm seeing and I am a fan of what
Speaker 1: is happening on the golf course in twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: with these great golfers and these great athletes on all
Speaker 1: these tours. I like what I'm seeing and I will
Speaker 1: continue to watch. I'm not watching less, I'm watching more
Speaker 1: because I want to see what's happening. I want to
Speaker 1: see what these great players are doing and open your
Speaker 1: eyes find the new stars. There are new stars on
Speaker 1: all the different tours, they're breaking through, they're winning tournaments.
Speaker 1: We've got veterans that are household names, that are superstars,
Speaker 1: past superstars that are coming back and winning golf tournaments.
Speaker 1: I think that's good and I think professional golf is
Speaker 1: in a good place from a performance standpoint. And the
Speaker 1: last thing I will say is, everybody, professional golf is
Speaker 1: not golf. It's just the professional part of golf. Golf
Speaker 1: is what we as golfers play in practice every day,
Speaker 1: not what happens on the PGA Tour. It's not what
Speaker 1: happens on live. It's what happens at your club. It's
Speaker 1: what happens in your club championship. It's what happens in
Speaker 1: your monthly medal. It's what happens in your competition. If
Speaker 1: you're a junior golfer, whatever level of golf you're playing,
Speaker 1: that's what golf is. It's you on a driving range
Speaker 1: hitting golf balls. It's you on being the last person
Speaker 1: on a driving range as the sun's going down, hitting golf.
Speaker 1: It's golf is being out on the golf course with
Speaker 1: your brother, your mother, your father, your best friends, on
Speaker 1: a golf trip in an amazing location, checking off golf
Speaker 1: courses on your bucket list. That's golf. Professional golf is
Speaker 1: something completely different. But professional golf is not the game
Speaker 1: of golf. The game of golf is what all of
Speaker 1: us love, what all of us are obsessed with, what
Speaker 1: all of us love, the challenge of trying to master
Speaker 1: that is what golf is. And golf, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: will always be in a great place because there are
Speaker 1: people that care about golf. They love golf. It's part
Speaker 1: of their life, it means something to them, it's part
Speaker 1: of their DNA. They identify themselves as golfers. They dress
Speaker 1: up like professional golfers and go to professional golf tournaments,
Speaker 1: which still fascinates me that people get dressed up, But
Speaker 1: that's what golf is. That's how much it means to people.
Speaker 1: They want to dress like their heroes. And I think
Speaker 1: golf is in a good place. I give golf lessons
Speaker 1: when I'm not on tour all the time and watching
Speaker 1: people figure something out, hit a draw for the first time,
Speaker 1: break eighty for the first time, break ninety for the
Speaker 1: first time, break one hundred, win their first junior golf tournament.
Speaker 1: Golf isn't in a bad place. Golf will always be
Speaker 1: in a good place because the people that love the
Speaker 1: game care about the game. The professional side of it,
Speaker 1: that's something else. But unless you're a professional golfer, that's
Speaker 1: not your world. That's not the world you live in.
Speaker 1: You live in the world of go into the driving range,
Speaker 1: go into your home course, going to a golf tournament
Speaker 1: that you've wanted to go to for the going to
Speaker 1: waste management for the first time, going to your first major,
Speaker 1: playing a golf course that you've never played before. That's golf.
Speaker 1: And I think professional golf right now, from a performance standpoint,
Speaker 1: isn't a great place. I love what I'm saying. The
Speaker 1: organizational side of it, that's for other people to figure out.
Speaker 1: It's not that's not my job to figure that out.
Speaker 1: My job is to help players get better at all levels.
Speaker 1: And I still see joy in For as bad as
Speaker 1: golf is supposed to be right now, I still see
Speaker 1: joy and watching somebody in a golf lesson take a
Speaker 1: divot for the first time with seven iron and hit
Speaker 1: a high draw And I love that. I love that
Speaker 1: part of the game. I still see people every year
Speaker 1: go to Augusta National that have never been there before
Speaker 1: and walk onto that area by the scoreboard and see
Speaker 1: Augusta and see the golf course for the first time,
Speaker 1: and just it's like they've seen fire for the first time.
Speaker 1: I think the game for as bad as everyone says
Speaker 1: it is, I don't think it's that bad. Son of
Speaker 1: a Butcher comes to you most every Wednesday. Rate Review,
Speaker 1: subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We will be back
Speaker 1: next week, looking forward to a guest we've had on before,
Speaker 1: one of the best instructors on the planet. You're gonna
Speaker 1: like it. We will see you next week.