Ramifications Galore From Spieth's Plan To Remain Titleist-Loyal

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There were some intriguing remarks by Jordan Spieth to CNBC's Jessica Golden about his plans to remain loyal to his Titleist sticks. Three primary reasons: one, he's not helping his negotiating position going into a contract renewal. Two, he's exhibiting unusual loyalty and foresight compared to many of his peers who made costly switches And three, he doesn't sound like someone laying groundwork for Under Armour to join the golf equipment industry.

From the story:

When Nike announced it's getting out of the golf equipment business, Spieth said that caught many people off guard. "That was a bit of a shock when that came down," he said. However, Spieth said his PGA tour colleagues sponsored by Nike, most notably, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, enjoy the flexibility of playing with what they want. Spieth says they frequently talk shop to each other about the different equipment brands and clubs.

Despite that, Spieth has no plans to give up playing with his Titleist clubs. "I have played Titleist my whole life, so I just trust it," he said. Acushnet, which owns Titleist, had an IPO this month. Spieth said he didn't get any stock with the offering but he imagines he'll be a shareholder at some point.

"In golf trusting what you are wearing and playing with is first and foremost so you don't have to worry about anything but your game."

When Golf Pros Push Back: Steven Bowditch Edition

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Sean Zak at Golf.com backed up his case that Steven Bowditch made an extraordinarily large amount of money (Nearly $500k) given some historically poor play on the PGA Tour.

Nothing about the item was personal, but given the sensitive nature of pro golfers, who are coddled by the tour to believe they are doing the Lord's work, Zak received social slaps from giants in the game who apparently hold tour cards, notes Michael Shamburger at The Big Lead.

Steve Wheatcroft, Andres Gonzales, Colt Knost and Hudson Swafford all expressed their dismay, while an all-out blackout threat came from Graham DeLaet, who, while suffering through the yips this summer, blew off all writers at the Rio Games.

And I can tell you, none of us have been the same since.

Anyway, maybe Zak should have moved the dollar amount and easy-WGC money up higher in his item to not bury the lede exposing Tim Finchem's grand vision for rewarding something worse than mediocrity. Zak, because he's a nice fellow, actually portrayed it as good news in trying to find some silver lining in Bowditch's season:

Bowditch was 3.209 strokes worse than the field average in the 55 rounds he recorded last year. Robert Allenby finished 184th in strokes gained, albeit in 14 fewer rounds, but lost just 1.95 strokes per round. So the second-worst golfer, strokes gained-wise, was still a stroke better per round than Bowditch was. Just one player in the ShotLink era (David Gossett in ’04—sorry, David!) finished a season with a worse average. Those 3.209 strokes lost per round looks like this.

Alas, there was some good news among all the gloominess. Bowditch still managed to earn $458,891 last season, good for 158th on the money list -- a far cry from his 185th-best form.

Bowditch’s Tour wins in 2014 and '15 earned him spots in the no-cut WGCs that ensure a paycheck. Those three starts alone helped him rake in a cumulative $158,500, slightly more than 34% of his season earnings.

Bowditch took to Twitter to push back:


DeLaet's threat mentions something about a sit down, something (A) players rarely do anyway (B) no one but maybe some Canadian press, are dying to do with DeLaet:

 

Golf Pros Who Read Files: Padraig Harrington Credits Book (Really!) After Portugal Masters Win

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Shockingly there is a golf pro willing to confess his love (and good use) of the written word.

Even better than the idea a future Hall of Famer is searching so hard, is that Padraig Harrington credited the mental performance book after winning the European Tour's Portugal Masters on Sunday.

From Brian Keogh's account of the tournament:

What pleased him most about his win was his mental attitude and he credited coach Dave Alred with the turnaround having read his book, The Pressure Principle: Handle Stress, Harness Energy, and Perform When It Counts, earlier in the week.

"I feel really good," Harrington said. "I was very relaxed all week. I was in a nice place mentally.

"I've been reading Dave Alred's The Pressure Principle and it gave me a few pointers that maybe I'd been missing out on and I stuck to those all week. It was a big plus for me.

"I just realised how poor my own language is about myself and my game. So I was very focused on my self-talk this week and what I was saying to myself and very focused on my posture walking around on the golf course and it was a tremendous help."

"Ultimate gesture players can make is living like Arnie"

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The timing is bold but the topic has been on the minds of many who follow pro golf: too many of today's lavishly paid stars act in sharp contrast to Arnold Palmer in character, actions and passion for the game.

Ryan Lavner at GolfChannel.com says the passing of Mr. Palmer puts the onus "on the players to decide for themselves how to honor his legacy."

That’s why these days, weeks and months ahead are an important period of reflection for the current pros.

There is an ever-widening divide between fans and the stars of our game, the mega-millionaires who are safe in their cocoon, protected by managers and publicists and image specialists. The money has never been greater – Rory McIlroy deposited $11.44 million Sunday; Palmer made $1.86 million in his career – and the lifestyles never more different. Each year, it seems, they only drift further away, the connection becoming more tenuous.

And so, moving forward, will our stars use their fame, their fortune and their status to shield themselves from the public, from the fans that enriched their fabulous lives? Or will they stay grounded and humble and relatable – will they stay connected – the way Palmer did?

The Olympic Zika virus fiasco this summer opened the door to this discussion and while the debate is not something that should overshadow the remembrances of The King, but throwing the point out seems fair as we hear from the players over the next few days about how they view Palmer's legacy and their places in the game.

Bryson's Irons Redux: "It’s a potential paradigm shift for golf equipment."

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Mike Stachura reminds us at GolfDigest.com that attention spans are short, because it wasn't that long ago golfers were witnessing Bryson DeChambeau's success wondering if same-length iron sets were around the corner.

With DeChambeau's Web.com Tour playoff win and signs that Cobra Puma Golf has a prototype that looks promising for a market debut in the "now-increasingly-imminent future," he writes:

But DeChambeau’s almost religious prophet approach to his iron-length concept is more than some quirky personal trait or party trick. It’s a potential paradigm shift for golf equipment. Is DeChambeau's win like Billy Burke’s win with steel shafts in the 1931 U.S. Open, or Jim Simons victory at the Bing Crosby Pro-Am at Pebble Beach in 1982, the first televised win for a metal wood? DeChambeau, not surprisingly, thinks it has that potential.

“I think you will see a change take place among junior golfers over this next year. I know it’s not just better for me but for all kinds of players,” he said. “I think this was an important day. Maybe we look back and say this is the day the game changed.”

Video: Tom Watson & Caddie Struggle Over A Simple Yardage

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I heard about it on social media and mercifully some brave soul posted it on YouTube. Undoubtedly the USGA will try to take it down, but I've been assured by all who know caddie Neil Oxman, his job and longtime friendship with Tom Watson is more than safe.

ProGolfWeekly.com sets up the situation from Scioto last week where Watson finished T54.

Here's the full clip on YouTube:

Long Driver Sadlowski Retiring To...Play Pro Golf

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As much as I'd love to mention how the World Long Drive athletes and their form of higher, faster, stronger would fit in these Olympic Games in Rio, because it's a conversation to be tabled for another day.

However, Canada's Jamie Sadlowski is taking an unconventional path to pro golf: transitioning from elite (2-time) World Long Drive champion to Web.com Tour school. A.J. Voepel explains:

Sadlowski began competing in long drive events when he was 14 (he hit it 370 in his first qualifier). But there’s no questioning his overall game: he’s 3-for-4 in cuts made on the Web.com Tour, (the latest coming earlier this year and in 2015), and is also 1-for-2 in cuts made on the Mackenzie Tour- PGA TOUR Canada (his latest in 2013).

He explained on last night's Callaway Live: