WSJ On The Year Of The Golf (Equipment) Free Agency

This is a nice big picture consideration by Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal following up on post-Nike trend of players playing mixed bags either by force due to the Swoosh's equipment business demise, or going that route as club companies devote more resources to stars. (Thanks reader John). 

My ShackHouse colleague Joe House has noted on the show how the first three major winners this year are playing a mixture of clubs in looking for a wagering angle headed here to Bellerive, something Costa looks into and considers whether it's a trend. With purses rising and checks from companies flatlining or shrinking, the answer appears to be yes.

The math has also changed. Purse money continues to hit record highs each year, extending a boom that dates to the debut of Tiger Woods and survived his absence in recent years. At the same time, the market for equipment deals has cooled.

Agents and officials from the manufacturers say that a handful of star players—think Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson —still earn several million dollars annually on such deals. But the offers for most other players have dropped substantially. A midlevel Tour player who made $500,000 a decade ago might make $250,000 now.

Players In Shorts Not Growing The Game Or The Prestige Of Golf's Fourth Major

Many wonder if the PGA Championship is moving ahead of the U.S. Open in the prestige department. 

I'm pretty sure this look--extending to coaches, agents and other team moochers--brands a special member-guest casualness and classlessness that no move to May or Frisco can shake. But if we really want to grow the game,  I say let the boys wear what they put on their best dinner attire these days: gym shirts and shorts, and definitely hats on backwards! 

👀found some fans of the "shorts allowed on practice days" rule.

A post shared by PGA Championship (@pgachampionship) on Aug 7, 2018 at 3:16pm PDT

Firestone Once Again Feels The Impact Of Medicine Ball Work In Staggering (Statistical) Fashion

The golf at Firestone is not everyone's cup of tea but when you put wedge approaches into the 2018 PGA Tour player's hand all day, Robert Trent Jones' design becomes less compelling. However in his defense, as you'll note in today's top website quote from Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear found the course dull even when hitting woods and long irons into the greens.

Either way, the driving distances at the final WGC Bridgestone were even more staggering than the normally huge numbers posted there annually. Driven solely by incorporation of medicine balls that have built super-cores like the game has never seen before these tall...well some of them...strapping...some of them...super jocks hit the ball unthinkable distances at the 2018 WGC Bridgestone, averaging 318.3 yards off the tee as a field. 

Momentary pause to let that sink in.

Try designing interesting golf holes for 318 yard averages on less than 250 acres. 

At the final Bridgestone, Brooks Koepka and his guns averaged 341.3 on the two driving holes, and tied with Rory McIlroy to lead the field with a 328.9 yard average on ALL drives.  Branden Grace was 20th in distance, averaging 326.9. Here is the list of the measuring hole leaders:

Justin Thomas used his power to great advantage and should be celebrated for his effort. With a 329.3 distance average on the measuring holes, he carved up Firestone when he had wedge into the greens. From the good folks at ShotLink:

On a course once considered boring by Jack Nicklaus because it was all woods and long iron approaches, Thomas had 32 approach shots insider 150 yards and only 13 outside 200. 

Where does this leave us on the season?

There has been a spike in distance seen all year and that's relevant if you take the USGA and R&A at their word that action would be necessary with any significant increase, regardless of the reason. 

The 2018 PGA Tour driving distance average after Firestone is 295.8 yards. If the boys will just do a little more gym work over the final weeks, we can get a four-yard increase over 2016-17's 292.5. 

The distance average was 291.3 after the same tournament last year so I like our chances!  (The tour average was 288.7 through the 2016 WGC Bridgestone.)

Five players in 2017 averaged over 310 yards off the tee, that number is at 15 this year. 

In 2018, 67 players are averaging over 300 yards off the tee, versus 38 last year.

Of course, the PGA Tour took the position that none of this was significant last year. Will they do so again in 2018?

Bloomberg: How America Uses Its Land

If you dig infographics, this Bloomberg spread provides a detailed look at how Americans use land for profit and pastimes.

The work by Dave Merrill and Lauren Leatherby is, if nothing else, a good one to file away next time someone laments the amount of acreage golf consumes.

Stracka: Putting Stats Haven't Changed So Why Curtail Use Of Books?

Kind of like the folks who say the ball isn't going longer and advertise a new longer flying golf ball, Jim Stracka is treading that fine line in saying a product his Strackaline sells hasn't made a dent in putting stats, yet can't understand why the USGA and R&A want to curtail green reading book usage. 

From Brentley Romine's Golfweek story:

“Putting stats haven’t changed in 25 years,” Stracka told Golfweek via phone on Tuesday. “PGA Tour pros are still making about 50 percent of their putts from inside of 8 feet. … There is no exactness in putting.”

Which begs the question: if they haven't impacted putting numbers, then what is being sold other than a tool that slows down play, appears to cut down on the importance of local knowledge and experience, while enriching a few?

U.S. Open V. The Open: Green Speeds Make The Difference

After playing his first Open, Luke List is wishing the USGA mimic the R&A in setup philosophy, reports Tony Jimenez for Reuters.

A similar refrain was repeated many times by players, observers and fans who enjoyed the tough-but-fair and noticeably faster golf, though as I note in this assessment of Carnoustie for Golfweek, the issue is layered but also incredibly simple: green speeds made the difference between complimenting Carnoustie's architecture, and ruining it.

Pace of play was noticeably better and as a "product," The Open proved infinitely more pleasurable to watching without having to spend so much time watching players grind over short putts for four days.

While professional golfers are praising the R&A coming off the U.S. Open setup issues, there were more than a handful of silly hole locations saved only by green speeds in the high 9s when leaders reached them.  Had the USGA slowed greens at Shinnecock down to the high 9's, there would have been softer and bumpier conditions that today's spoiled-by-bent-grass players would loathe. But on a seaside links with a blend of poa, fescue and bent, with a links mindset, the players are more accepting of a bumpiness.

And really, the ball goes too far.

On another day we can continue to lament how much course setup manipulation must take place to mask regulatory mistakes and debate how vital it is for golf to slow greens down.

In the meantime, I'd prefer to celebrate a magnificent week at Carnoustie made special by Mother Nature baking out an outstanding course. As I note in the Golfweek piece, Carnoustie has had a troubled relationship with the rota at times, but brilliant maintenance management by Craig Boath's team, mostly great work by the R&A and a hot, dry summer allowed the links to remind people of its great strategic character.

Rickie On How Slow Greens Reward Better Putting

Picking up where he left off here at Gullane, Rickie Fowler opened with a 64 in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open. 

In my item for Golfweek, take note of his comments on how slower greens actually bring out more putting skill. 

Good bulletin board stuff for courses chasing Stimpmeter speeds thinking they are making their course a better test of skill!

State Of The Game 79: Ramifications Of The 2018 U.S. Open, Other Stuff Too

Rod Morri, Mike Clayton and yours truly reconvened to consider the residual issues from this year's U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills as well as a little backstopping talk, some Ryder Cup and more on the late Peter Thomson.

As always, check your preferred podcast subscription outlet or the iTunes store.

295's Within Reach! Huge Spike In Driving Distance Enters The Monster-Drive Season

As we head into the warm weather months and silly-long drives, the 2018 spike has a chance to spill well over the 295-yard driving distance average mark on the PGA Tour. 

Of course, this is noteworthy since the governing bodies said way back in the early years of the George W. Bush administration that they were drawing the line and have maintained little has changed. And while we know that the addition of extra fiber in diets, more widespread implementation of mindfulness and of course, drinking cold brew coffee, have driven this year's spike, the Statement of Principles said the reasoning would not matter in a decision to take action.

PGA Tour driving distance average through the Travelers:

2018: 294.7

2017: 289.3

2016: 288.2

2015: 288.1

2014: 287.8

2013: 286.4

2012 287.1

2011: 288.0

Rory McIlroy On Playing Golf For Fun

This has little to do with the U.S. Open, or maybe it will, but of late there has been a sense some of today's best players rarely get to play their sport for fun. Or seem to have fun.

From his 2018 U.S. Open press conference:

Q. Rory, most professionals don't like to play fun golf. You talk to them, they don't know anything about Friar's Head or National or any place else.

Can you talk about your what impetus is, meaning how do you approach a fun golf round versus a professional round? And the fun golf you played this week, does that put you in a different mindset for this week?

RORY McILROY: It does. Alex, I would say for maybe five or six years, I never played fun golf. It was all to do with getting ready to play tournaments, and this is -- you know, I didn't understand people that went out and played a lot.

But basically, it's been since my dad became a member at Seminole, and I was able to go over and play a lot of golf with him, that I really started to enjoy fun golf again and playing these different courses.

And it's a real treat to be able to show up at any golf course in the country or the world and get out and play it and have a bit of fun.

And I think it does put you in a different frame of mind. You're relaxed out there, and maybe that sort of bleeds into your mindset whenever you're here in a big championship. It's no different. I think that's the thing. If I've got a shot that I need to execute under pressure here this week, it's no different than playing that shot when I'm out there playing with my dad or my buddies or whatever it is.

So obviously, there is a separation of the two, but the more you can get into that mindset of being relaxed and enjoying it, the better you're going to play.

Time Is Of The Essence: Shot Clock Masters Preview And Primer

The European Tour's Austrian Open is the "shot clock Masters" and it could not come at a better time for golf, as players bog down for reasons both legit (backups due to reachable par-5s) and not so legit (they take forever and don't play ready golf). 

Here are the five things you must know about this event according to the European Tour.

Essentially you need to know this: 50 seconds to hit a shot, 40 if you are the second or third in a group to play. You have two timeouts to call in case you need extra time.  Otherwise, penalty strokes will be flying.

MorningRead.com's Adam Schupak talked to Keith Pelley about the origin of this idea and to some players who are for the Slow Play Masters, and some against it.

So, Pelley canvassed his players with a simple two-question survey. First question: Do you think slow play is a problem on the European Tour?

"If you answered ‘no,’ the survey was over," Pelley said. "But if you answered ‘yes,’ you got one more question."

Do you want the European Tour to act seriously on curbing this challenge?

Within two days, 70 percent of the membership had responded in favor of taking action.

"We need to try and modernize our game," Pelley said. "The millennials have an attention span of 12 seconds. The Gen Z have an attention span of eight seconds. We're living in a society that is completely different, and I think every game and every sport and every business is looking to modernize themselves, and if you don't, then you run the risk of falling behind."

Matt Adams and I discussed on this week's Alternate Shot:

Slow Play Stat Reminder: So Much Time Waiting And Walking, So Little Time Hitting Shots

Rex Hoggard takes the much-talked about Patrick Cantlay display from the 2018 Memorial for a state-of-slow-play piece.

As painful as Cantlay's 13 looks at the green appeared to be, it's still a fraction of the time spent walking to back tees and waiting for all of the par-5 greens to clear. Hmmm...what do those things have in common? 

Even the Tour’s own statistics prove this point. The circuit average for a player to hit a shot is 38 seconds, although that number varies for specific shots (42 seconds to hit a tee shot, 32 seconds for a putt). Based on that information and on Sunday’s scoring average at the Memorial (71.2), the total amount of time in which a player is actually executing shots during a round is about 45 minutes.

Not April Fool's: R&A Keen To Make Golf More Inclusionary For Women

We'll give R&A Chief Martin Slumbers benefit of the doubt even as it's tempting to dig up four million links to stories about the Royal and Ancient Golf Club's steadfast refusal to let a woman enter their clubhouse, as recently as a couple of years ago.

But...Slumbers was not part of that world and he's too focused on golf's future to allow past blunders torpedo his desire to welcome more women to golf.

Alistair Tait praises Slumbers and explains the new R&A Charter:

“strengthen the focus on gender balance and provide a united position for the golf industry; commit national federations and organizations to support measures targeted at increasing participation of women girls and families in golf; call on signatories to take positive action to support the recruitment, retention and progression of women working at all levels of the sport; set individual targets for national federations for participation and membership and annual reporting of progress; and develop an inclusive environment for women and girls within golf.”

You can read the full charter story here.

Tait's commentary:

The Englishman is to be commended for this initiative. British golf authorities have previously either done too little to encourage women to take up the game, or have merely paid lip service to the issue. It’s a sad indictment of the game that we still have clubs with no female members, or even junior members.

It’s hard to imagine how many women and girls have been turned off the game because of the chauvinistic attitudes embedded in golf’s status quo.

Through Colonial: PGA Tour's Driving Distance Average At 294.8 And Where That Number Ranks Historically

We all can see where players are hitting the ball and why--bicep curls!--so it's always fun to see where today's linebackers rank with the engineers of the past. If nothing else, the stunning increase this year theoretically means the governing bodies will have to act based on past commitments.  Theoretically.

Note the PGA Tour driving distance average through the Colonial this year versus past years if you are looking for perspective on the influence of pilates, core work and lean protein diets.

Year       Tour Average At Colonial Time

2018       294.8

2017       289.2

2016       288.1

2008      283.2

1998       269.0

So we're up five yards from where we were last year at this time, a year the USGA and R&A said showed the first spike in some time. Maybe all of the mowers on the PGA Tour have been sharpened? Lowered? Infused with special oils to make the ball run more?

Oh, and traditionally the average goes up as the weather gets warmer. 

Bomb And Gouge Is Back And Stats Support The Tactic

Thanks to reader JB for the Brian Costa's WSJ look at our old pal Bomb and Gouge, the method of attacking a golf course with all power, accuracy be damned. 

Talk of playing golf that way had subsided in recent years after the craze began a decade ago, but as we've seen in subtle ways and in blatant ones, the practice is validated by stats. 

“It’s still easier to hit from the fairway than it is to hit out of the rough,” said Tony Finau, who is driving the ball 317 yards while hitting just 52% of fairways. “But I would rather hit a pitching wedge out of the rough than a 6-iron from the fairway.”

Mark Broadie, a Columbia University business professor who pioneered modern statistical analysis in golf, said it’s not as if today’s bombers are wild. More power simply makes misses look bigger, he said, and his analysis has proven the added yardage to be more valuable than the accuracy lost. “Players are intuitively optimizing their score by making good tradeoffs there,” Broadie said.

Intuitively optimizing!

Or, just overpowering courses thanks to their improved diets and astute use of medicine balls.