Without Rough, Liberty National Shines

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I would never advocate that the world of golf take any lessons from a $250 million+ golf course that looks like something out of a really bad cheesy 80s video game, but since Liberty National produced a super leaderboard for the 2013 Barclays it would be unwise to pass on yet another opportunity to point out how much better the game is without contrived, harvested, man-made rough.

John Hawkins on many topics in this week's Hawk's Nest, also addressed Liberty National's "overhauled" reputation which, in his "18 years covering the PGA Tour full-time, no course has overhauled its reputation as quickly and dramatically as Liberty National did last week."

Fifteen holes were altered in some form. Many of the putting surfaces were expanded and recontoured, which is a nice way of saying they dug up the elephants, but the problem in ’09 had more to do with all the humps in the original Tom Kite/Bob Cupp design.

Phil Mickelson has perfected the art of signing autographs, delivering the money quote and talking to drooling fans, all at the same time. “Imagine Augusta National with 24-yard-wide fairways and [heavy] rough,” he assessed. “The setup was fine once they turned the rough into a first cut. That brought out the strength of the golf course, which was the greens. You could play shots into them.”

Punter's Note: Players Changing Coaches At Any Time

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With the (questionable) efforts to make golf a year-round cash grab at the expense of the seasonal ebb-and-flow other sports enjoy, Tim Rosaforte spotlights another bizarre twist that has arrived with calendar-year golf: players changing coaches at any given time.

He cites the Westwood-to-Foley move, the not so surprising Watney-to-Anderson move (nice going Butch!) and the very surprising Donald-to-Cook move.

"Used to say: 'We'll really focus on this in November,' " Foley said Sunday morning. "You can't do that anymore."

Players are looking for the type of impact Matt Kuchar gained from going to Chris O'Connell in 2006 for the one-plane swing, or in the case of Gary Woodland, some short-game counsel from the coach of the game's best short-game player. By going to Pat Goss on a cold rainy day in Chicago the week of this year's Masters, Woodland started learning the fundamentals of bunker play that paid off with a win at the Reno-Tahoe Open and a T-2 in the Barclays.

"It wasn't a rewrite," Goss said. "It was like writing it for the first time. When he came to me, his short game was terrible."

Goss has coached Donald since his freshman year at Northwestern and will continue to help him with his short game. What has changed is that Donald no longer uses Goss as his swing coach -- a switch Goss saw coming. He sensed that Luke had lost faith "when he started trying other things on his own in another direction."

Horton Smith's Green Jacket Up For Bid

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Dave Kindred with the backstory on first Masters winner Horton Smith's green jacket--given to him retroactively by the club in 1949--going up for bid.

The auction is handled by who else, but Green Jacket Auctions.

"Of the so-called 'Original 10' jackets," Carey said, "all were accounted for except Smith's. We had kind of given up ever finding it."

Carey's company three years ago sold Doug Ford's 1957 green jacket for $62,967. Heritage Auctions two years ago sold a green jacket that may or may not have been worn by Bobby Jones for $310,700.

Lackovic, 76, a mortgage dealer in suburban Atlanta, and his brother, Tom, kept the Horton Smith jacket after the death of their mother, whose second husband had been Renshaw Smith, Horton's brother and also a professional golfer. On Horton Smith's death in 1963, the jacket passed to Renshaw, who died in 1971. For the 42 years since, the jacket has been in the Lackovic brothers' closets.

"We knew it was part of golf history," Michael Lackovic said. "But we never made a big deal out of it."

State Of The Game Podcast 24: Catching Up

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No guest this week but plenty to talk about with Rod Morri and Mike Clayton, including The Open, the PGA, the prospects for distance regulation after the USGA TV deal, great golfers getting younger every year and, well, anything else but the FedExCup.

You can always subscribe here on iTunes or listen below:

2013 Barclays Final Round Open Comment Thread

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The points ramifications are too breathtaking for me to even type, so we'll just see how this FedExCup excitement plays out at the Barclays. Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland lead, meaning they'll be vying for the most air time with Tiger and the Statue of Liberty.

If you've got a provider other than Time Warner, your telecast times are:

Golf Channel 12-1:30 ET

CBS: 2-6 PM ET

Golf Channel replay 9:30 PM ET