This year, there had been some debate prior to the playoffs as to who was the Player of the Year. Was it Scottie? Did Wyndham Clark deserve the award with his season? Perhaps Rory or Cam Young?

Scottie put all the talk to rest on Sunday afternoon at East Lake coming from behind to earn a three-stroke victory over Viktor Hovland. If, as expected, Scottie is named the Player of the Year, it will mark the fifth consecutive Player of the Year award (2022-2026) for Scheffler which would match Tiger Woods five consecutive Player of the Year awards (1999-2003).

Which leads to another question. Is Scottie better than Tiger?

From age 28-30, a three-year stretch, here are their records:

Tiger - 61 worldwide starts, 18 wins, 4 majors, 0 Players, 3.04 SG

Scottie - 62 worldwide starts, 18 wins, 3 majors, 1 Players, 3.16 SG

Pretty even in every category and very impressive. One could argue Scottie’s record is a little better given he’s competing against deeper fields than Tiger faced. But Tiger carried a charisma, swagger and a physical presence Scheffler doesn’t possess.

What is interesting is both are intimidating. Tiger for the reasons I mentioned above and because he could literally stare down the best players in the world making them crumble. Tiger also possessed an uncanny ability to pull off the miraculous in the heat of battle which brought massive roars from the gallery. More intimidation.

Scottie just keeps coming. A birdie here. A birdie there. Another birdie. Suddenly, he has passed you on the leaderboard, and you know you have to start making birdies to have a chance because Scottie is going to make a few more birdies. Other golfers more often than not wilt under the weight of the steady increase of pressure Scheffler applies. Think Chinese Water Torture golf style. Drip, drip, drip.

It would have been fun watching them compete against each other during this three-year stretch.

Which one would blink first?

In my opinion, Scottie. Tiger would come out on top. He simply could will himself to a victory in the biggest tournaments. The guy won a US Open on a broken leg. That’s just crazy. Scottie would get his fair share, but Tiger would still rule.

Can Scottie surpass Tiger?

He’s got a way to go. If he can stay healthy, there’s a very good chance he can get close. If he gets close, being an uber competitor like he is, he will have a chance. The opportunity only presents itself because Tiger didn’t stay healthy. If Scheffler wins Player of the Year in ‘27, he’ll set a new record with six consecutive Player of the Year awards which Tiger never did. In the meantime, let the comparisons continue. Only time will tell if Scottie can match or better Tiger.

Speed training continues, although I am resigned at this point in the year to work on maintaining my speed. With swing and technique changes, my speed hasn’t increased which proves to me I need to get stronger. My engine isn’t big enough. I’ll focus on getting much stronger in the off season while working on maintaining my current strength and speed.

On a positive note, the swing changes I have worked on to gain speed have reaped positive results in terms of my ball striking and scoring. I’m more consistent over the last two months than I have been in the last two years. It’s a good tradeoff for the time being because I am still bound and determined to get to 110 mph clubhead speed.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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Today’s modern equipment is not only more advanced in terms of materials from days gone by, but technology such as Trackman enables players, coaches and manufacturers to measure accurately desirable spin rates to enhance distance and minimize offline shots. Golfers now possess equipment, technology and knowledge which not only allows for greater clubhead speed, ball speed and distance, but it demands those things.

Unless a complete rollback on distance happens, which I don’t believe will happen, distance will remain front and center as critical to being able to score well.

But that is a different topic.

Because I am working on getting my own speeds higher, I want to provide some general information for you to try if you are looking for more distance which requires more speed.

You need to be strong enough to handle more speed. This doesn’t mean you need to be built like Bryson or Koepka or Kyle Berkshire (image below).

But you do need to have sufficient strength to handle more speed. Get your upper body and legs a little stronger, and your speed will likely increase if you are trying to swing faster.

Bigger turn. The bigger the turn, the more potential for speed. Look at the longest drivers in the world like Kyle Berkshire. Not only are they built like NFL linebackers, but they have massive turns in the backswing.

High hands or longer hand path. High hands create a longer hand path. You can also create a longer hand path by flattening the backswing. It depends on the golfer as to which one is more beneficial. Most professional long drive competitors have high hands. But there are examples of players with flatter swings who hit the ball a long way such as Rory McIlroy. Experiment with high hands or a flatter swing plane to see which is more beneficial for you to produce more speed.

Get athletic. The golf swing is an athletic movement. It is very similar to a throwing motion. The body moves in the same sequence. When done correctly, speed is produced. Sometimes swing thoughts, concepts, techniques, etc. get in the way of just being athletic with the golf swing. Spend some time in practice just being athletic.

Practice with max intent and speed. You cannot get faster if you don’t practice swinging faster. When doing this, the goal is not to make great contact with the ball or worry about where the ball is going. The goal is to swing as fast as possible every single time. Even if swings are not as fast as previous swings, intent matters and needs to remain high. For this to be effective, you need to have a a device which can measure speed. I recommend the PRGR. Inexpensive and effective, the PRGR gives you good speed feedback.

Give these a try. Every golfer has 5 mph ready to claim. At a minimum, that 5 mph equals 10 yds. Who couldn’t stand to gain 10 yds?

As for me, still stuck at 106 mph max driver speed. I did manage to hit it four times this past week with the driver. I’m still working on getting stronger although I have not been lifting real heavy. I’ll save the heavy lifting schedule for the winter months.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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The US Amateur remains a coveted title for the top amateurs in the world. They arrive trying to claim the title alongside players like Bobby Jones, Francis Oiumet, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. More recent winners include Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick and Viktor Hovland.

There are many other past champions who went on to stellar careers in professional golf.

This year my favorite major championship course I have had the privilege of playing, Merion Golf Club, hosted the US Amateur. The course challenges every aspect of a golfer’s game. The opening tee shot is as intimidating as any in golf with the clubhouse running alongside the first tee. Every hole challenges the golfer but does so fairly. The famed wicker baskets on top of pins instead of the traditional flag creates a unique and wonderful look, but they offer no help in determining any wind which may be blowing. Finally, the walk up the 18th fairway past the plaque which signifies the spot where Ben Hogan struck his 1-iron to force a playoff and eventually win the1950 US Open. The moment is immortalized in the iconic photo taken by Hy Peskin seen below.

As with many championship venues, Merion is steeped with golf history. To win a USGA event at Merion places you in a very special group of golfers.

This year’s US Amateur did not disappoint, and Merion once again proved its worth as a major championship venue. The concern about Merion in today’s modern age of golf is the same as many classic, older championship venues. Being short by today’s standards the East Course at Merion measures 6,946 yards. Critics insist Merion cannot withstand the length of the young golfers of today.

But it has every time the USGA has returned either for a US Amateur or US Open.

One of the big reasons it holds up despite its shorter length (it has been lengthened in recent years) is the design. Strategic bunkering, doglegs, a creek and an old quarry all are used to force players to play to specific areas. Hitting less than driver on some holes remains a requirement more than an option.

It is also a par 70 with only two par 5’s. Many critics forget with two fewer par 5’s this intrinsically reduces the overall yardage of the course by at least 200 yards. In other words, despite being less than 7,000 yards in length Merion falls in line with longer golf courses because of having two fewer par 5’s.

The par 3’s at Merion pose a large problem for golfers. From the tips, three of them measure 250, 231 and 241 yards respectively. For the record, I am not a fan of having so many long par 3’s. The fourth par 3 is the complete opposite of its counterparts being a short 128-yard par 3. Despite its short length, disaster lurks due to the small, undulating green, deep front bunker and stream which meanders down the right side of the hole. While the stream does not normally come into play, golfers getting greedy to a right pin position have been known to find the water.

Merion lends itself perfectly to the US Amateur format. Players start out playing stroke play. The top 64 after 2 rounds of stroke play move onto match play until a winner is determined in the 36-hole final. The mix of long and short holes along with the strategy required to play the variety of holes keeps long hitters and precision players alike ample opportunities to showcase their strengths while challenging possible weaknesses in their games.

This year’s champion, Jack Whaley, certainly showcased amazing golf. After falling 2 down after 18 holes, Whaley settled in despite the rain to go on and win 4 & 3 over Jay Leng, Jr.

Once again, Merion proved to be one of the great tests of golf in the world. Despite concerns over being outdated, it proved great design can stand the test of time with the modern game. I am certainly looking forward to the 2030 US Open when it returns to Merion.

Training this week I managed to hit 106 mph with the driver again, but a slight back strain caused me to back off training at the end of the week. I only managed two training sessions this week with one full weight training session completed. I will also be doing some training designed to break through mental barriers. This will be in conjunction with ramping up weight training. As an aside, my back is fine. Just some tightness which refused to loosen up for two days. After some good stretching and a little rest, the back feels good and loose today.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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This year marked the 15th year I have hosted the golf trip. It started out with 4 of us at Rocky Gap in Maryland. Grew to 8 golfers the second year. In year three I moved the trip to Toftrees and have continued returning there every year since.

The group has grown steadily over the years. I fully expect to his 50 golfers next year.

This year marked something different. A little over half the group comes from New Jersey and is led by my cousin. The Jersey guys decided to spend three days at Toftrees. It worked out perfectly.

If you live in the mid-Atlantic region and have never played Toftrees, you are missing out. The Ed Ault course winds through trees on the front nine while the back 9 is more open traversing through the residential neighborhood of Toftrees. What’s great about the back 9, although it moves through a residential area, none of the housing is on top of the golf course. All of it sits well back from the course. Much of it is even behind stands of trees making it almost unnoticeable from the course.

The course is always in terrific condition, and this year was no exception. Everything was pristine. My guys even commented on the condition of the bunkers and how great the sand was to play from.

Sunday brought rain most of the day. Some of the golfers never ventured out to play. Some of my guys did. I played 9-holes at 2:30 as the rain finally stopped. The course was wet but playable.

The staff always goes above and beyond to make our trip special and enjoyable. Again, this year was no exception and may have even exceeded expectations. One of my veteran 4-somes played 9-holes in the steady rain in the morning. They only come for Sunday and Monday, and their room wasn’t ready to check into when they finished 9-holes. They were soaking wet. They grabbed some clothes and got changed in the locker room. One of the housekeepers saw them with their wet clothes. She offered to dry their clothes for them and asked what rooms they would be staying in. After heading back out to finish their round later in the afternoon, they returned to their rooms to find their clothes dried and neatly folded on their beds. What great service!

Aside from the rain on Sunday, the trip went well. My group had a great time.

I do want to mention one other thing about Toftrees. I haven’t found a better value for a golf package anywhere. There are some with similar pricing, but the course falls well short of the quality of Toftrees. I highly recommend their golf package. You cannot beat the value.

As far as my quest for 110 mph clubhead speed. I needed to do a little soul searching. I have been convinced a mental block was holding me back with my actual driver speed. I still believe it is partially the cause. However, after some important self-reflection, I decided to see if there might be something else contributing to the roadblock.

Physical limitations hinder speed. Mobility and strength play major parts in generating speed. I decided to put myself through some testing for both.

My mobility could be better, but it is well above average for someone looking to gain 110 mph. Where I found I was lacking was strength and power. My engine needs to be bigger. Think in terms of a car. Fast cars have bigger engines. Fast swings require the same. Mine is not big enough.

Moving forward, the plan is to keep speed training, maintain or improve mobility and increase strength and power. In short, keep swinging fast, keep doing mobility exercises and lift heavier to get stronger.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now go golf!

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LIV, led originally by Greg Norman and backed by the Saudi PIF fund, lured some of the best players to the fledgling tour with massive contracts and promises of lucrative team sponsorship deals. Other players who jumped on board for a good payday were recognized players but generally viewed as past their prime.

For a while, it looked like the new tour would be a serious problem for the premier tour, The PGA Tour. So much so, the PGA Tour created no-cut, limited field Signature events, increased purses and an investment group.

But, despite some social media warriors espousing the greatness of LIV, the new tour had serious problems which eventually led to its demise.

The team sponsorship deals never materialized. No lucrative TV deal was ever created. While events appeared to draw large galleries, it was difficult to tell if the galleries were truly large or just gathered near 18 where the party atmosphere ruled. Long story short, LIV was losing large amounts of money with no indication of reversing the losses.

They managed to get a deal with the Asian Tour to provide a place for some of their players to play extra events and serve as a feeder tour to replace players on LIV.

Then, Norman was let go. Brooks Koepka left and returned to the PGA Tour. Within a few months, PIF announced they were pulling their funding of the tour. Suddenly, LIV was on life support looking for funding to move forward.

Recently, LIV took what may be its death blow. The PGA Tour announced it had signed a deal with the DP World Tour and the Asian Tour. This ended the LIV/Asian Tour alliance no longer offering another tour for LIV players to play tournament golf.

Suddenly, LIV was all alone with no tour sponsor money, no feeder tour and star players paying fines to the other major tours in order to play those tours.

The best story LIV gave us was the return of Anthony Kim. The once budding superstar who vanished from professional golf returned healthy and sober. Kim even won in Adelaide earlier this year. A remarkable comeback I hope continues.

But if everyone was being honest, LIV was destined to fail. The concept was too aggressive, over promised and under produced. Too many of the big-name players were well past their prime and were irrelevant. Pushing the team concept without having any connection between a regional fanbase and players was doomed to failure.

The new leadership of LIV insists they will finish the season and return for 2027. Interestingly, there are reports there are no grandstands, hospitality suites on the 18th hole, concert stages, signage or player walking bridges at The Cardinal at Saint John’s Resort in Michigan, the site of the LIV Golf Tour Championship at the end of August. Buildouts for professional golf tournaments generally take several months. This would indicate the tournament will not be held.

So, how much of what LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neill says regarding this season and next is true? I’d like to give him the benefit of doubt, but it’s difficult to do so. My gut tells me LIV will be over before the end of their season.

Training continues on. More small increases in speed with some protocols, but my max driver speed remained stagnant again. 106 mph remains my max speed with driver. In order to examine if there may be something technical holding me back aside from a mental block, I recorded several swings and saw something interesting. A set-up change is coming which I believe is going to unleash some speed.

But you will have to wait an extra week to find out if the set-up change yields positive results. I will be away on my annual buddies golf trip this week, so there will be no newsletter next week.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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The Open Championship has always been my second favorite major following The Masters. It’s the oldest golf championship in the world usually contested on the greatest links courses in the world. Brown fairways, slower greens, gorse, wind (sometimes). It’s a different game than we are used to seeing.

Here are some observations from this week’s Open Championship.

The wind did not blow. There was some wind but not the kind of wind The Open has been known for. But the wind at Royal Birkdale tends to be more of a crosswind. Anyone who plays golf knows crosswinds present huge challenges. The crosswinds did provide some difficulty for the players.

Bunched leaderboard. For all four days, the tournament was there for anyone to win. Going into Sunday’s final round, there were ten players with a legitimate shot at winning the tournament.

62 became the number of the week. Three of them, to be exact. Lucas Herbert, Sam Burns and Ryan Fox. Despite these low, record tying scores, no one ran away and hid from the field.

Bryson DeChambeau penalty. I’ve watched from every available angle what transpired on Friday with Bryson. It’s a tough call. Without standing there and actually seeing where his ball rested, I have to defer to the rules officials. From what I saw, I believe they got it right. It doesn’t matter whether it was intentional or not, it certainly appears he stomped down grass pretty close to where his ball sat. As a player, he should have made sure he was well away from the ball as he tried to get his line.

Rory McIlroy vs. Bryson DeChambeau. Rory clearly does not like Bryson. Since the US Open at Pinehurst, this has become a rivalry of sorts. Unfortunately, with Bryson on LIV, we don’t get to many opportunities for the rivalry to become great drama. Even this week, it only surfaced because Rory answered a question regarding the ruling against Bryson.

Ryan Fox is a delight. The burly golfer from New Zealand presents himself as a true gentleman of the game. He also proves there is no one way to swing a golf club. His homemade swing is truly unique and proves my point from last week that impact is the most important part of the golf swing. Especially, since he ended up winning.

This Open Championship possessed a little of everything. Controversy, packed leaderboard, low scores, high scores. Eventually, an everyman ended up winning. A man who owns his own unique swing. A man deserving of being called “Champion Golfer of the Year.”

I returned to speed training this week after some time off. I thought my speed may have dropped off a bit, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it had not dropped off at all. In fact, I set new record speeds with some all three speed sticks on different protocols. I am still, however, finding it difficult to let the speed go on the golf course. I find I am still steering the club a lot when I am trying to let one fly. All I can do is keep working to break through the barrier.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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I was still in college and decided to try to find a part-time job at a local golf course. My thinking was I needed some spending money, and I could play some free golf. My first call was to the local country club. The pro explained he didn’t have any openings, but I should call the local resort and speak to the pro there.

I did and was informed he had an assistant professional position open if I was interested. I decided to interview for the job and accepted the position. Little did I know the journey I was about to embark on.

My very first day, I needed to be at the course by 5:30 am to help get carts and bags ready for the morning. When we started bringing carts up, we needed flashlights to make our way on the cart path which wound through trees up to the pro shop.

Not long after we started, the sun started rising.

As I turned the corner on the path behind the 9th green, I stopped the cart.

The colors of the sky took my breath away. Morning fog hovered a few feet over the lake on the 9th. The dead trees stood like sentinels out in the water welcoming the start of a new day. I cannot remember a more perfect image in my life.

I knew right then and there I was exactly where I was meant to be. I had never been happier or more at peace in my life before that moment.

That first professional job didn’t pay well. I worked insanely long hours. But it never felt like work. It felt like just hanging out at the golf course with other golfers sharing a mutual love of the game.

I still love sunrises at golf courses. It is a time of tranquility for me as the promise of a new day begins. But I don’t experience the moment much anymore. While I often see sunrises walking my dogs with my wife at 5:30 in the morning, I rarely get to see them at a golf course,

Every year for the past ten years, I have run a guys golf trip back to the course where I experienced that sunrise. Last year, I woke up early on the second day of the trip and wandered down to the 9th green as the sun started to rise. I sat there and enjoyed the moment reliving the memories of that very first morning as a golf pro all those years ago. I felt like I was home.

As I sat there, I started thinking about all the places and people and memories golf presented throughout my life. From my Dad introducing me to the game to competing on mini tours to celebrities I got to meet and hang out with. I can’t imagine a better life.

Speed training started up again this week. I managed to get two sessions in with my speed sitting exactly where it was prior to vacation. This week, I will be ramping back up and pushing myself pretty hard to try to get a jump up in speed. I have some changes I want to make. I’ll report back next week.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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Now, I’ll apologize for the lateness of this newsletter again. I had planned on having it out at my normal Monday morning at 8:30, but, as fate would have it, massive storms rolled through my community and knocked out our power. Power eventually returned last night (Monday night), and I am now able to send out this week’s newsletter.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

The Internet is full of golf instructional videos explaining to golfers what needs to be done to strike the golf ball well. Shallow the club. Don’t whip the club inside. Recenter. Shift towards the target. Don’t early extend. Hold the angle. Rotate.

There are thousands and thousands of videos covering the various aspects of the golf swing each espousing the importance of whatever part of the swing is being explained.

Understandably, golfers become confused on what they should be working on. Often times, golfers misdiagnose their swing flaws producing disastrous results.

It’s not that the information available online is bad. It isn’t. There are a lot of videos available from some of the top golf coaches in the world. They know the swing. They know how to teach it.

The problem is golfers see one of these swing videos and decide it is the magic cure for their swing. Whatever is being taught is the single most important part of the swing. The golfer starts to believe this is the most important part of the swing.

But is it? If it isn’t, what part is?

Is it the backswing? The transition? Shallowing the club? Weight shift? Follow through? Balance? Sequencing? Hand path? Hip turn? Shoulder turn? Grip? Alignment? Swing path? Posture?

No wonder golfers struggle.

For instance, some might say takeaway and backswing. While important, neither is the most important. If they were, how did these players win major championships?

Jim Furyk, Raymond Floyd and John Daly are all major champions, yet they all have very different takeaways and backswings.

So, what is the one most important part of the golf swing?

It is the only part that matters. The only part which determines whether or not a good swing relative to the golfer occurred.

Impact.

Only impact truly matters.

The takeaway can help make impact occur more easily as can weight shift and turn and balance and…whatever else you want to insert here.

All those things are important, but the ball and the clubface could care less what your swing looks like or feels like. If the clubface is square and strikes the ball solidly, then a good shot is guaranteed to result. How the clubface got there doesn’t matter, just that it did.

Master impact and a lot of the other parts of the swing will fall into place.

Above are 5 examples of great players at impact. None of their swings look alike yet they all arrive and look similar at impact. All have won major championships and are considered great ball strikers. In order, Lee Trevino, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Adam Scott.

If you truly want to improve your golf swing, work on impact. Focus on making ball first contact with a square clubface. Your brain will take care of self-organizing much of the rest of the swing.

No training from last week as I was on vacation. I hit a max of 106 mph club head speed with the driver while hitting a golf ball the week before. I am getting back into my training this week after the week off.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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All four Majors are different. Of the four, the US Open has traditionally been the hardest set up. Fast and firm greens, deep and thick rough, narrow and firm fairways. These are the hallmarks of a US Open.

This week, however, was a little different.

Shinnecock is widely considered the best US test of major championship golf. Sitting on an open piece of land with perfect sand-based soil, William Flynn built his masterpiece. Prior US Opens in the modern era held at Shinnecock produced champions who endured the conditions. Retief Goosen finished -4 in 2004 to win by two shots is the lowest winning score at Shinnecock.

During those US Opens, there were moments where the course verged on being unplayable. The wind combined with the normal US Open set up created brutal scoring conditions.

This year the Chief Championships Officer of the USGA, John Bodenhamer, changed things up a bit. He looked at past US Open set ups at Shinnecock and made three bold decisions.

First, he decided he wanted the fairways at the width William Flynn designed them. Bodenhamer understood the wind, an always present factor, played a massive role in Flynn’s brilliant design. The routing of holes creates a lot of cross wind tee shots. Players need to decide whether to play their normal shot shape off the tee or play the opposite. Flynn wanted to provide golfers with width off the tee to allow for the coastal winds. Flynn’s concept intended for the holes at Shinnecock to get progressively more difficult the closer the ball got to the green. In other words, he wanted the tee shot, while very challenging, to be the easiest shot on the hole.

This meant the fairways were unusually wide for a US Open. This year average width was 48 yards. For contrast, the average width of the fairways was 26.5 yards in 2004 and 41 yards wide in 2018.

Second, Bodenhamer announced the greens would get syringed on Thursday and Friday. Syringing a green involves giving a quick spray of water to the greens in the afternoon. This provides a cooling effect to the blades of grass allowing them to stay healthy. Saturday and Sunday, no syringing to allow for the greens to dry out and firm up over the weekend. This reduces the risk of “losing” the course.

Third, keep the greens at 10.5 speed. This is also to keep the greens playable as they firm up and dry out over the weekend. This speed is more what many golfers experience in their daily play. The original goal was to play the greens from 11 to 11.5, however, due to wind forecasts of 15-25 mph with gusts blowing 30-50 mph concern grew over golf balls blowing off the greens.

All three of these decisions turned out to be correct. The course played as intended. It challenged the field in a proper Major championship set up. All skills were required. Bomb and gouge offered no advantage.

Congratulations to Wyndham Clark on winning a second US Open.

Training is ongoing. No new speed increase to report with the driver. I will continue to hit max effort drivers in order to break through to faster speeds.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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I loved every moment of it.

Until I didn’t.

The chase for unattainable perfection, for the chance to play for a living as a touring professional took its toll. Golf stopped being fun. Even what should have been fun, casual rounds with friends, became a need to play up to self-imposed standards.

I hate to admit it, but I threw clubs, slammed clubs into the ground and even broke a few clubs.

I realized I needed to walk away, at least from competitive golf, for a while.

I needed perspective.

Perspective is a word we use in my house all the time. When something in life becomes difficult, we remind ourselves there are people in the world who are going through something much worse. It changes our outlook, our perspective. The right perspective changes everything.

Over time, I started seeing and feeling the joy of the game again. The beauty of the course. The challenge of the shot. The camaraderie with friends and other golfers. I started understanding how thankful and grateful I should be every time I set foot on the course.

I mean what I write at the end of every newsletter. I want all of you to be grateful and thankful when you play this amazing game. It’s okay to get frustrated. It’s okay to get upset with a poor shot or a poor hole or holes. But it’s not okay to get so upset as to slam clubs, throw clubs or break clubs. It’s a game, not life and death.

In the spirit of being grateful and thankful, I want to list some things I am grateful and thankful for when I play golf.

1) The sound of a ball hitting the bottom of the cup for a birdie. Like the smell of napalm in the morning smells like victory, the sound of a golf ball hitting the bottom of the cup for birdie is the sound of victory.

2) First tee time in the morning. It’s the start of a new day. The sun is low on the horizon creating an amazing color array. The dew is glistening on the grass. The course is ready for a new day. It is one of the two most serene times on the golf course.

3) A perfectly struck iron. I have played golf for 53 years. I have spent countless hours trying to achieve an unattainable perfection. I know instantly whether an iron is struck well or poorly. We all do. But a perfectly struck iron, the one where you barely feel the contact between club and golf ball, the one where the golf balls flies majestically through the air landing on the green, is the most satisfying feeling in golf because it is rare for most golfers to produce with consistency. When it happens, enjoy the moment.

Think about the things which bring you joy with this game. Focus on those. They bring gratefulness and thankfulness. And remember, golf is not life. It is a game, albeit a hard game. But it is just a game. The hardest moments in golf do not compare with the hardest moments in life.

On to training. Good sessions this week with SuperSpeed. My top speed with the driver with max effort swing this week topped out at 106 mph. However, I hit 114 mph, 108 mph and 102 mph with the green, blue and red SuperSpeed clubs respectively. The hurdle for me is to overcome the mental roadblock of letting the driver swing go.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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In our area, several long-standing courses have closed in recent years for the property to be developed into other purposes such as housing. The properties became too valuable to continue to operate as golf courses.

While playing yesterday, it got me to thinking of different golf courses I have played over the years which no longer exist. One in particular came to the forefront.

The Dunes Golf Club opened in Brooksville, FL1988. Arthur Hills designed a magnificent course on a rare piece of Florida property. While Florida golf courses rely on sand and water to create challenges on relatively flat land, The Dunes offered dramatic elevation changes and sand dunes not unlike the world’s #1 ranked golf course, Pine Valley.

The course sat just north of Weeki Wachee and Spring Hill, FL. The area at the time felt remote despite being close to established communities. Nothing but sand and pine trees for miles.

Hills was the perfect architect for the property. His design philosophy centered around using the natural topography and moving as little dirt as possible. The Dunes property required few changes to the land itself. If there was ever a piece of land suited for a golf course, the property for The Dunes was it.

But it wasn’t entirely natural. Thanks to the US military.

The Brooksville Turret Gunnery Range opened in 1943 comprised of 10,200 acres to train aerial gunners during WWII. Part of those 10,200 acres comprised the land used for The Dunes. Specifically, the golf course sat on land where bombs landed creating craters.

What Arthur Hills saw were craters which suited bunkering for green complexes. The layout of holes seemed to already be there when Hills walked the property. His finished product did not disappoint.

The course measured 7139 yards from the back tees with a course rating of 74 and a slope rating of 132. An expansive driving range with minimalist club house, the golf course served as the focus of the facility.

The course struggled from the outset. Originally, the owners planned on building housing, but rumors of a proposed nuclear or toxic waste facility being built nearby quashed financing for those plans in the early days of the course.

Locals had other courses nearby which were not as difficult. Although only ten to fifteen minutes away from local communities, locals chose the other local courses. Even when the owners reduced rates well below those of their competitors, the locals pretty much stayed away from The Dunes.

“It’s too difficult,” or “it’s too far,” were oft used excuses to not play The Dunes.

Which made no sense. You could arrive with a foursome and no tee time on a Saturday morning. Within a half hour of arriving, your group would be teeing off. And all for the whopping cost of $15 per person with cart. Other local courses ranged $30-$45 with cart on the weekends. You could play in under 4 hours at The Dunes on a Saturday while the other courses typically had 5 hour weekend rounds.

Due to financial struggles and storm damage, the course closed in 2013. Satellite imagery still shows the parking lot and abandoned clubhouse. The driving range is still visible as are the outlines of several of the holes. It is truly a shame the course never was embraced by the local community.

Training continues as I completed three full speed sessions this week. My speed stayed constant. I love the new SuperSpeed clubs. The new aerodynamic head creates more of a swishing sound which gives additional feedback in terms of speed. The oversized, softer grips promote grip strength which is an essential part of speed. The new shafts generate a pronounced feeling of the club setting and lag creation. They are a massive improvement over the original clubs which were really good tools for speed training.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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Not only was it not recording higher swing speeds, I tested it against one of my clients different radar devices. He is in his mid-70’s and has recently reached 90 mph clubhead speed. My PRGR consistently showed speeds 2-3 mph slower for him.

It was time to get a new PRGR.

First off, the PRGR is a great little device for under $300. It has been tested against the tour level devices like Trackman and is very comparable with its speed measurements. It also measures distance (carry and total), ball speed and smash factor. That’s a lot of information and generally enough for the average golfer.

Aside from being an effective measuring device, it can also easily be carried in your bag as it fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. Simply take it out of your bag, turn it on, place it approximately 3-feet behind the ball and swing. It’s that easy to use.

I also upgraded my SuperSpeed training clubs to their new improved clubs. The new clubs still feature the Green, Blue and Red clubs featuring different weights, but they have changed some of the design of the clubs to enhance speed training.

As you can see from the photo above, the new clubs feature a more aerodynamic tip rather than the old cylindrical weight. The weights are also adjustable allowing for different skill levels and ages. The shaft design creates more feel for the loading of the shaft in the downswing. The grips are thicker and softer promoting grip strength which has been proven to enhance the ability to swing fast.

Both of these arrived this week and have been put into use.

First, the new PRGR worked perfectly allowing me to get back up and running with speed measurements. This is crucial to speed training. With each swing I can see my speed. This gives feedback which can then be correlated to feel. For instance, if I swing at 100 mph on my first swing, I know how that felt. I then tell myself I want to swing at 102 mph. I adjust my effort level. More often than not, I will swing at least as fast as the first swing. When I do swing faster, it gives the positive feedback needed to train the brain.

If you are speed training, get something which measures speed. It is vitally important. The PRGR is a great and inexpensive device at under $300.

Second, the new SuperSpeed clubs are fantastic. The thicker grips definitely require increased grip strength. On my very first swing, I felt the shaft load as intended with the new design as I transitioned into the downswing. Finally, the new aerodynamic weight on the end of the club definitely enhanced the feeling of limited resistance swinging through impact into the follow through.

The original SuperSpeed clubs were great. The new ones are a definite improvement.

I got two sessions in with the new training clubs and PRGR before I played a round.

Top speed - 114 mph with the Green club. This is a new record. The Green club is the lightest and is a little lighter than a standard driver. The Blue club (driver weight) topped out at 107 mph. I was very pleased with this as Blue hit 107 mph one time prior but has been sitting at 106 mph. The Red club (heavy club) topped out at 102 mph. Another new record. I had been unable to top 100 mph with this club.

This week I am excited to see how the training goes on my quest to 110 mph.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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Perhaps the biggest personality of them all, and one of my all-time favorites, was Lee Trevino. His larger-than-life persona led to the nicknames, “The Merry Mex,” and “Super Mex.”

Lee Buck Trevino didn’t come from the country club class like so many of his contemporaries. Instead, he was the guy carrying the bag at the Dallas Athletic Club and shining shoes.

Trevino was born December 1, 1939 in Garland, Texas. His mother, Juanita Trevino, and grandfather, Joe Trevino, raised him as his father, Joseph Trevino, left when he was still a small child. Because the family was poor, Lee occasionally attended school when he didn’t need to work to help support the family. At age 5, for instance, he started working in the nearby cotton fields.

At some point, his grandfather Joe brought home some old clubs and balls giving them to Lee. Lee started sneaking into nearby country clubs to practice. Eventually, he landed a job as a caddie at Dallas Athletic Club.

At age 14, young Lee quit school to caddie full time and shine shoes at the club making $30 per week. After work, he would go practice on the three short holes located behind the caddie shack. It is speculated he hit in the neighborhood of 300 balls a night after work.

Behind the shack on those holes is where Trevino developed his unique swing. The ground contained very little grass from which to hit shots. Combined with the notorious Texas winds, this helped develop the low fade Trevino was famous for in his heyday.

At the age of 17, Trevino walked away from his caddie work and enlisted in the Marine Corp. He served as a machine gunner over the next four years before his discharge as a corporal. In his off time, he continued playing golf, often with officers. He also successfully competed in military tournaments in Asia.

After his stint in the Marine Corp, he took a job as a golf professional in El Paso, TX. To make extra money, he started gambling in high stakes golf matches. He qualified for the 1966 US Open to make his inaugural appearance in a major at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Trevino made the cut finishing T-54.

The following year, Trevino again qualified for the US Open at Baltusrol in New Jersey, and he his journey to stardom began.

Trevino opened with a 2-over par 72 and sat 5 shots behind the first round leader, Marty Fleckman. He followed up with an even par 70 in the second round to remain 5 shots off the pace set by Arnold Palmer. A third round 71 left him T-9th.

In the final round, Jack Nicklaus took the title with a final round 65 to finish at -5. Trevino closed with a final round 70 to finish solo 5th. He pocketed $6,000 for his finish.

“I was fixin’ to go home because I won $6,000. I was the richest SOB in the world. I didn’t have a dime, didn’t have a quarter. I was making 50 bucks a week working.”

But Trevino didn’t go home.

What he didn’t know was by finishing 5th in the US Open, he earned a spot in the field for the PGA Tour stop the following week in Cleveland. When he arrived at the Pro-Am, kids had cardboard boxes and signs saying, “Go get ‘em Super Mex.”

Trevino missed the cut in Cleveland but entered the qualifier for the next tour stop. After shooting 78, Trevino was in the parking lot loading up his car when he was informed he had qualified for the tournament.

Trevino went on to play 13 more tournaments that season without missing a cut, winning $33,000 and finishing 47th on the money list. He was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year and earned his PGA Tour card for the 1968 season.

And 1968 solidified Trevino’s rise to super stardom.

Trevino arrived at the 1968 US Open at Oak Hill in Rochester, NY and won. But he didn’t just win. He made his presence known in two different ways.

First, he shot rounds of 69-68-69-69 to become the first player in history to shoot four rounds under 70 in a US Open.

Second, he beat Jack Nicklaus, the runner-up, by four shots.

Super Mex had arrived, and he wasn’t going anywhere.

For his career, Trevino won six majors (‘68 and ‘71 US Open, ‘71 and ‘72 Open Championship, ‘74 and ‘84 PGA Championship), 29 wins on the PGA Tour and 92 total professional wins. In 1981, Trevino became a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

While his talent and great play made him a star, it was his infectious personality and humor which elevated him to super star. Trevino always seems to be talking, always moving, always telling jokes and entertaining. But there is also a genuine thankfulness for the life golf provided him. He exudes pure joy when he plays and speaks about golf. Nobody in professional golf ever seemed to have more fun playing golf than Lee Trevino.

The moment which I believe best exemplifies Trevino’s infectious personality occurred on the first tee of an 18-hole playoff for the ‘71 US Open. Trevino reached into his bag and discovered a rubber snake which had been used in a photo shoot for the tournament. Jack Nicklaus, sitting on a stool prior to the pair heading out for the playoff, asked Trevino to toss him the snake. Trevino playfully tossed it causing a woman to shriek. Nicklaus sat there laughing. It was a great, lighthearted moment in the pressure cooker of a major championship playoff. Trevino went to defeat Nicklaus and capture his second US Open title.

Trevino, now 86 years old, still entertains. There are countless videos of him hitting balls on the range and giving swing tips and telling stories. He still cracks jokes and exudes the same energy and joy for golf as he did 60 years ago. Lee Trevino is an American Treasure.

My new radar device arrived on Friday, and due to rain and the holiday, I have not used it yet. I’m anxious to see where my speed actually lives right now. I can say, I’m hitting the ball as long as ever.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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Between 2016 and 2017, golf course architect Gil Hanse worked a restoration of the course to honor the original Donald Ross design.

Sort of.

Using Ross’ original design and aerial photographs taken following the completion of the course construction, Hanse saw something shocking. While the layout of holes and the green complexes were the same, the bunkering was not.

Ross used normal sized bunkers in his designs which were in his design for Aronimink.

However, the aerial photos showed smaller, clustered bunkers.

No other Donald Ross course has bunkering like Aronimink.

Why the difference?

Ross designed the course but left the actual construction to J.B McGovern. McGovern took the larger bunkers and broke them into smaller clusters as you can see above. This took the total number of bunkers from under 80 to over 200.

Hanse worked to restore the bunkering to what was constructed and restore he green complexes to their original designs. He also removed trees which either grew or were planted over the years to match the originally constructed course.

The result?

For me, the golf course looks amazing. Hanse performed some masterful work here and did what the club contracted him to do. The course very close to the original construction. Better still, the course held up against the best players in the world.

Despites this, several of the top players, not surprisingly, complained about the redesign. Rory and Xander, specifically, complained about the removal of trees taking away strategy and shot shaping. Rory, in particular, complained this made the course a bomb and gouge course. Trees offered a level of defense for the course, in both their opinions.

My answer is simple. They’re not wrong. Trees can offer a level of defense forcing longer players to play a hole as designed. They can also force players to shape shots in order to go around or over them.

But Hanse was hired by the club to restore the course back to its original iteration which is what he did. Ross’ original design did not have tree lined fairways. It was open. Hanse honored the design with tree removal.

Based on the tournament, I say the original overall design held its own against the modern player.

On to the tournament.

Wow. What a spectacular PGA Championship.

The PGA Championship often finds itself as considered the least of the four majors. Some consider it a US Open light with slightly softer conditions, less rough and manageable green conditions than a US Open.

This year, while not overly deep, the rough was thick and pretty lush creating difficulty for missed. The green complexes, the epitome of Ross designs, served to greatly challenge and consternate the best players in the world. The mix of long and short holes created for good scoring opportunities. The colder, windy weather in the first two rounds caused problems for the field. I’ll add this was aided by the lack of trees. The overall setup by the PGA of America was really good and allowed all players in the field to be competitive. While some were concerned the bombers would tear the course apart, the big hitters never separated themselves from the rest of the field.

Some of the players complained the setup was poor as evidenced by the bunched field. I’ll argue the opposite. The bunched field showed no one style of play was favored. No one style of play had a big advantage. Good shots were rewarded. Poor shots penalized the player by making par a challenge. Birdies were available, but bogeys lurked. Par remained a premium. It’s all anyone can ask for a major championship setup.

Congratulations, Aaron Rai. You played an unbelievable final nine. While other players struggled down the stretch, you went out and took the championship with a stunning 4 under par 31 over the final nine holes and 6 under par over his final 10 holes. He is proof hard work, perseverance and being a nice guy pays off.

For training, my new radar device is on its way. New speed measurements coming soon. Weight training stayed at the same level this week with no increases. My main focus currently is on speed. Once I have my new radar device, I can give a full update.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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It will be 29 years in November since she succumbed to brain cancer at the age of 54. There’s a lot I could write about her in general, but I’ll keep it to golf.

Both my parents played collegiate sports at the small college they attended. My Mom was a swimmer. She even earned a shot to compete at the Olympic trials. When I was growing up, she played a lot of tennis. She loved all sports whether it involved going to games or watching on TV.

But golf only entered the picture after I began playing. As my interest and love for the game grew, her interest and love for the game followed suit. Tennis fell away, and golf replaced it.

In looking back, part of her love for the game stemmed from it becoming a regular family event. Mom, Dad, my brother and me heading to the course for a family round of golf became a weekly tradition. She even convinced my Dad to start spending Christmas each year in Myrtle Beach.

When it came time for me to go to the club to practice or play, Mom always took me and returned to pick me up. While my Dad could get agitated with me with golf, Mom always leant a sympathetic ear and offered calm advice.

I remember her driving me to local tournaments in the summer. Like other parents, she walked along with my group watching me play. One particular tournament, I was playing one of the worst rounds I had ever played. Nothing was going right. After I missed a short putt on the 9th green for par, I grabbed my bag and started walking to the car.

Calmly, she looked at me and asked, “Where are you going?”

“I want to go home,” I answered. “This is embarrassing.”

“We’re not going home until you finish the round.” There was no anger in her voice. Just a statement. She just looked at me. No emotion on her face. No anger or frustration. No sadness or worry. Just a firm look to let me know I was going to finish the round.

Which I did.

I’d like to say the round got better. It did not. I was angry she was making me embarrass myself with the way I was playing. I wanted to be anywhere but on the course to finish the round.

And as I played the back nine, she never said a word. Just followed along.

When I holed my final putt on the 18th green, I shook my playing partners hands and stomped off to the car. Mom followed still not saying anything. I put my clubs in the trunk and got in the car. It was halfway home before she spoke.

“Do you know why I made you keep playing?”

I just sat there staring angrily through the windshield.

She explained I needed to finish what I started. Quitting in the middle of a round just because things aren’t going well is always a bad decision. It leads to giving up in other areas of life when things get difficult. She explained quitting is easy. Fighting through tough things is hard, but it always makes you a better person. Going through hard things teaches you toughness and resiliency. It teaches you lessons you can never learn if you quit and give up.

It took a while before I understood what she told me that day.

Years later I witnessed her live out her words. At 52 years of age, she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. The doctor explained she had six months to a year left to live.

She resolved herself to fight as long as she could. She endured several surgeries, radiation and an experimental treatment program. She survived long enough to experience and enjoy my wedding.

Through it all she remained strong and courageous. Fighting through the toughest moments as long as she could. She taught me a lot of things. But the greatest lesson she taught me was to keep going even when I wanted to quit.

As for training, I can’t give you an update on speed yet. I’m still waiting for my new device to become available. My current device sometimes picks up my speed and sometimes registers a very low number or no number at all. One of my clients brought in his device which consistently measured his speed 2 mph faster than my device. It is clearly not functioning properly.

Strength training continues on though my schedule has forced me to work out on different days and times. I prefer having set days and times, and I will again soon.

Right now, I’m keeping my weights the same and not trying to increase how much I am lifting. Once my schedule becomes more regular, I will start increasing weight in my training sessions.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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His blonde hair. The purposeful stride. Confidence emanated from him like heat from the sun. He was everything a superstar in sports was supposed to look and act like. And no golfer since Arnold Palmer seemed to capture the hearts and minds of golf fans.

His swing was powerful and rhythmic. It showcased graceful athleticism with a swashbuckling style. He possessed the thing stars always need to have as part of their DNA, the “It” factor. Whatever “it” is, Greg Norman had it.

Norman turned professional in 1975 and started competing on the Australian PGA Tour in 1976 and earned a victory that same year. He joined the European Tour the following year and won his first European Tour event in his rookie season. He won several more times over the next few years.

In 1981, he made his Masters debut and finished 4th just three shots behind winner Tom Watson. The following season, Norman led the European Tour money list which prompted him to make the jump to the PGA Tour in 1983.

Norman won his first PGA Tour event, the Kemper Open, prior to arriving at Winged Foot for the US Open.

The 1984 US Open served notice Greg Norman was someone to contend with. The budding superstar slowly climbed the leaderboard and found himself three shots behind Fuzzy Zoeller as they started the final nine. But Norman pulled even with Zoeller by the time he reached the 72nd hole. Norman’s approach shot sailed into the grandstand. Norman’s pitch shot ended up 45-feet from the hole. When the putt found the bottom of the cup for par, Zoeller famously started waving a white towel to indicate he surrendered thinking Norman just made birdie to take the lead. However, Zoeller parred the hole himself and forced a Monday 18-hole playoff.

The following day, Zoeller won the playoff easily defeating Norman. On the 18th hole as Zoeller strode up the fairway to the green, Norman hung back and waved his own white towel in surrender. It was a moment which cemented his ascension to golf stardom with the fans.

It seemed to portend Norman would go on to win many majors. Instead, it provided a glimpse into Norman’s future failures on golf’s biggest stages.

Norman won 88 times worldwide during his playing career. He won the PGA Tour money title and Vardon Trophy 3 times, the Byron Nelson award 5 times and was elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001. He has gone on to become a notable businessman as CEO of the Greg Norman company which encompasses course design, apparel, interior design, wine production and private equity.

Despite all that success, success in majors eluded him often in heartbreaking fashion.

Seven times he finished 2nd in majors.

After losing the ‘84 US Open in an 18-hole playoff, Norman went on to lead all four majors after three rounds in 1986. He finished 2nd in the ‘86 Masters when he failed to get up and down for par on the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Jack Nicklaus. He finished T-12 in the US Open after shooting 75 in the final round. He won the Open Championship by five shots. At the PGA Championship, he led by four shots with 9-holes to play but faltered over the final holes and was tied with Bob Tway on the 72nd hole. Tway improbably holed out from a greenside bunker for birdie. Norman missed his 25-foot birdie attempt from the fringe before missing the ensuing par putt to finish 2nd.

Then, in ‘87 Masters, Larry Mize holed an impossible pitch shot on the 11th hole which was the 2nd playoff hole to beat Norman.

Norman won The Open again in 1993 which would be his final major championship.

Paul Azinger beat Norman later that year in a playoff to capture the PGA Championship. This gave Norman a share of an unwanted record. He joined Craig Wood as the only other player to lose all four majors in a playoff as Norman finished third in an aggregate playoff in the 1989 Open Championship. He again finished second at the US Open in ‘95 finishing two-shots behind winner Corey Pavin.

Perhaps his best opportunity to claim a Green Jacket came in 1996. Norman amassed a six-shot lead through three rounds. It felt inevitable.

Not only did Norman not win that year, but it is also the greatest collapse in Masters history. Nick Faldo, who sat in second place six-shots behind Norman to start the fourth round, held a two-stroke lead after 12 holes. Norman eventually finished five shots behind Faldo after shooting a final round 78.

Norman possessed the game to be one of the greatest golfers ever, but he struggled to close the deal in majors often times playing poorly in the final round when he held the lead.

As much as his collapses damaged his legacy, his attempt to start a World Golf Tour in 1994 cemented it. Norman believed in expanding golf globally. He himself played and won all over the world. He felt the PGA Tour had done very little to grow the game internationally.

Norman proposed a tour with eight limited field tournaments generally held against PGA Tour events featuring the top ranked players in the world. Rupert Murdoch agreed to back the tour with Fox Sports broadcasting all the events. Famously, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus quashed the efforts at a players meeting. Norman felt some players betrayed him, and when the PGA Tour announced the new World Golf Championships in 1997, Norman was caught off guard.

This created a permanent rift between Norman and the PGA Tour. It became a personal vendetta. When the Saudi’s and PIF entered the picture, Norman jumped at the opportunity to create his vision of a World Golf Tour and LIV Golf was born. And it created the chance to damage or destroy the PGA Tour.

As he had done previously, Norman solicited players privately to join the upstart league. This time he came armed with massive, guaranteed money, the kind of money which is life changing. Players like Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka, to name a few, jumped at the money. LIV Golf had unlimited cash and the stars to draw interest.

Norman became the villain to many golf fans. Others hailed him as an innovator. I saw an angry, vindictive man bent on destroying the PGA Tour. He became the ultimate golf villain.

When his contract with LIV expired in 2025, he was not renewed as CEO.

Greg Norman looked to be the king of the golf world when he arrived on the PGA Tour. Fans adored him. His game was aggressive. His talent rivaled the greatest players to have played the game. But his failures in majors kept him from those lofty heights. Norman remade his image through his business ventures only to destroy the image, perhaps permanently, when he served as CEO for LIV Golf. For me, he has become golf’s greatest villain.

I spent more time playing this week than training. Again, time was limited, but I needed to get on the course to see if any speed was transferring into my play. Swinging speed training clubs and hitting max effort drivers are very different mentally than hitting shots on the golf course. I was not looking to see if my max effort swings could be reproduced on the course. I wanted to see if my regular on course speed had improved.

Good news. It was faster. My cruising driver speed reached 105 mph with a ball speed of 154 mph. I averaged 270 yds. off the tee. This is right on track. With continued speed and strength training, 110mph cruising speed is well within reach before I turn 61 in September.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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Can it survive once the Saudi funding ends at the end of the season? Will players bail or stay? If it survives, exactly how will it look moving forward? What happens to players if the tour folds? What pathways to various tours will be available to them?

All these will need to be answered over the course of the remaining 2026 season for LIV Golf. Most of you know, I am not a fan of the upstart tour for a variety of reasons. Some of my reasons admittedly might be similar to an old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. I don’t like the music blasting and party atmosphere. I’m not a fan of the team concept. The course setups are not difficult which lends to lower scoring. I despise no cut tournaments with limited fields (I’m looking at you, too, PGA Tour with your bevy of limited field, no cut Signature events).

But I don’t want to get into all of that again.

I do think some good has been created by LIV.

I know, I know. Shocking coming from me.

For instance, the Adelaide tournament brought some of the best players in the world to Australia, and Australians responded with huge turnouts. Australia develops some of the biggest golf talent in the world. They deserve a tournament with the best players in the world.

Aside from Australia, LIV travelsto other countries where the top golfers in the world rarely venture to play. Sure, there is the DP World Tour which holds events in some of the same countries, but the best players in the world rarely if ever are in the field.

LIV provided Anthony Kim an opportunity at a comeback. AK took full advantage and actually won an LIV tournament this year. I can’t say the PGA Tour would have afforded him the same opportunity. Anthony Kim’s comeback has been one of the best golf stories over the last few years.

From where I sit, though, the damage done outweighs the good.

I could spend some time discussing all the good with the bad, and I will probably do that at some point in the future. But it doesn’t answer the question posed at the top of the page?

Will LIV survive?

My simple answer is yes. I believe at least for a while it will survive.

But it is more complicated than a simple yes.

LIV will likely play in 2027. I can’t see it completely shutting down at the moment. Losing PIF money is bad. With the open wallet of the Saudi’s closed, serious financial changes have to be made. No one will rush in with comparable financial resources. No real television contract, massive losses over the first few years and some of the top players already departed make it hard to see a major sponsor stepping in to fill the void left by PIF. I do believe sponsors will be available to them to help financially keep the tour afloat, but no one will be throwing around the same amount of cash as the Saudi’s.

There are player contracts to consider. No one really knows how the contracts are structured or how long the contracts extend. Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed left LIV this year with many speculating they were no longer under contract. What players are still under contract for 2027 is not officially known. I suspect some contracts will be up at the end of 2026 which will lead to more defections. Time will tell how contracts are structured moving forward, and which players will remain.

On to the team format.

One team rebranded at the onset of the season. The Iron Heads became Korean Golf Club. This made complete sense. For the team concept to gain traction, the teams need fan bases. As a world golf tour, I have always believed the best way to create fan bases would be to create nation, region or major city-based teams. This was a smart decision to get the Korean golf market invested in a team.

Then something completely weird happened.

Smash GC, headed by Talor Gooch, recently rebranded as Oklahoma Golf Club. Oklahoma has a great golf tradition, but I can’t see how this improves the development of a fanbase for the team. No offense to Oklahoma, but this just doesn’t move the needle at all. For a world tour to allow a team to rebrand this way only makes any kind of sense is if the tour was afraid of losing Gooch.

Finally, it all come down to the players. Who stays? Who goes? Having already lost top players Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed has hurt the tour. To attract financial backers, they are going to have to keep the top players they still have. Will aging stars like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson attract sponsors? How about Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith? Are young, talented players like Tom McKibbin, David Puig and Jose Ballester strong enough for someone to kick in big money? We are going to find out.

Will LIV be around in 2027? I believe it will be, but it will be interesting to see exactly how it will be structured moving forward. Some tough decisions will need to be made since PIF is no longer providing unlimited financial resources. Only time will tell.

This past week got extremely busy with both training clients and lessons. Even so, I was able to get in a weight training session in the gym. I managed to bench 145 lbs. which brings me within 5 lbs. of my goal. My second weight session took place at home due to not being able to get to the gym. This required some modification for my training, but I still accomplished a great session.

I did get speed sessions accomplished, but my PRGR seemed to not want to pick up my speed. Not sure why. I am looking at either buying a new one or a new competitor for the PRGR. Either way, it’s difficult to train for speed when there isn’t immediate feedback. I highly recommend getting a device to measure speed to enhance your training.

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As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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So, when Rose took the lead heading to the final 9-holes Sunday, he became a huge crowd favorite.

Sadly, he quickly fell out of the lead with bogeys at 11 and 12 and eventually finished t-3rd.

This leaves Rose with just one major championship in his career, the 2013 US Open.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about The Masters and a little about its history. One of the pivotal golfers in the early years of The Masters caught my attention, Craig Wood.

Craig Wood finished 2nd in the first two Masters tournaments and was well-known during his prime in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

If you’re not familiar with Craig Wood, it’s not surprising. He never garnered the attention of other famous players whom he competed against such as Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan.

In comparison, his career looks pretty similar to Justin Rose.

Rose currently has 27 career wins. wood finished with 28 career wins.

Following his 2nd place finishes in the first two Masters tournaments, Wood eventually captured a Masters victory in 1941 when he won by three shots over Byron Nelson. He would also capture the US Open that year winning by three shots over Denny Shute.

Wood was definitely the best player to have never won a major prior to his wins in 1941. He finished runner-up in six major championships. Even more heartbreaking, Wood lost four of those in playoffs.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking of all occurred at the 1939 US Open. Wood birdied the final hole to force a playoff with Byron Nelson. Nelson won the playoff, but Wood earned an ignominious record. He became the first golfer to lose all four majors in a playoff. Only one other player in the history of golf has accomplished this unwanted accomplishment. Greg Norman.

Not the kind of record a professional golfer would like to own.

Wood was born in 1901 in Lake Placid, NY and turned professional in 1920. His career encompassed 20 wins on the PGA Tour, 2 majors and 28 professional wins overall. He played on 3 Ryder Cup teams (1931, 1933 and 1935). Because detailed records of the matches are not available, his overall record is unavailable. It is known he went 1-2 in singles matches. In 2008, Wood received the ultimate accolade. He was elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

While his name does not carry the cache of Sarazen, Nelson, Hogan or Snead, Craig Wood was considered one of the finest golfers of his era. At age 39, he solidified his place in golf history with major wins at The Masters and US Open following prior heartbreak. He serves as one of the great, forgotten golf champions.

I managed to hit 154 mph ball speed with driver with a smash factor of 1.43. This indicates clubhead speed of 108+ mph. This is a 2 mph increase with driver while hitting a golf ball max effort. Next stop…110 mph.

Stay tuned!

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As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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My all-time favorite Masters was Nicklaus in ‘86. Forty years ago, an aging Golden Bear shot 30 on the final 9-holes to claim his 6th and final Green Jacket. The picture below hangs in my office. This iconic photo shows the birdie putt on 17 which put Nicklaus in the lead.

But it’s not just the compelling nature of the tournament, especially the final 9 on Sunday. There is so much more.

No cell phones are allowed on the property. This prevents unwanted distractions for the players. But it does something else which is equally important. It forces the patrons to be present. Unlike other tournaments, fans are actually viewing shots with their eyes and not through a phone camera being held up to capture the shot. It is so refreshing to see the faces in the galleries without a cell phone blocking their faces. You can see their reactions to the shots being witnessed, and it adds so much to the television experience.

Patrons yelling comments after a shot are removed from the property. You don’t hear patrons yelling, “Mashed potatoes!” or any other commonly heard belted out phrase at other tournaments. These have become overdone with time. I find the no tolerance policy for this at The Masters refreshing. I know, I know. I’m the old man yelling at people to get off my lawn.

Food prices are ridiculously inexpensive for a major sporting event. I won’t go into a list of food and associated pricing, but you don’t need to take out a loan just to grab a sandwich and a beer. The merchandise tent is a different story.

The Masters app is amazing. It provides amazing content from history to live broadcasting of the range, featured groups, Amen Corner, etc. If you haven’t downloaded it, you are missing out. Do yourself a favor and download it now.

On to this year’s Masters.

Wow.

After Friday’s round, it looked like Rory was running away from the field. He sat at -12 and six shots clear of 2nd place. But, if you were paying attention, Rory really wasn’t striking the ball very well. He got away with several poor shots in the first two rounds.

The third round became somewhat interesting when Scottie Scheffler came out firing finishing with a 65 to sit at -7. Others started little moves up the leaderboard.

And Rory came out scuffling.

The shots he got away with in the first two rounds suddenly were costing him. Other players started creeping up the leaderboard. Suddenly, Cam Young stormed up the leaderboard and finished with a 65 of his own. At day’s end, he and Rory were tied. Eight players were within five shots of the lead, including past Masters champions Scheffler and Patrick Reed.

The stage was set for an amazing Sunday at Augusta.

It did not disappoint.

At one point, these players held the lead: McIlroy, Rose, Young and Burns.

Burns faded quickly after tying the lead after a birdie at one.

McIlroy fell several shots behind after six.

Rose surged to a 2-shot lead after birdies at 7,8 and 9 but quickly made bogeys at 11 and 12. He never recovered.

Russell Henley surged up the leaderboard to get to -10 but couldn’t get closer.

Terrell Hatton finished at -10 well before other contenders.

McIlroy battled back after a double at 4 and a bogey at 6. Birdies at 7 and 8 got him right back into the mix. With birdies at 12 and 13, Rory retook the lead.

Scheffler hovered near the lead most of the day before birdies at 15 and 16 got him within 2-shots of McIlroy. His birdie at 17 rolled over the edge. When his approach to 18 came up short of the green, the tournament was McIlroy’s to win.

A great up and down at 16 was followed by a simple up and down at 17. A poor tee shot on 18 made things interesting briefly, but McIlroy only needed to make bogey for the victory which he was able to accomplish.

By winning back-to-back Masters, McIlroy joined an elite group: Jack Nicklaus (‘65-’66), Nick Faldo (‘89-’90) and Tiger Woods (‘01-’02).

As usual with The Masters, things stayed interesting right to the end. Can’t wait for next year. Now on to the PGA Championship at Aronimink next month.

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Training was difficult again this week as my schedule changed quite a bit. Time will become a factor moving forward. I do need to adjust my scheduled training days. Speed training will likely be Mon-Wed-Fri/Sat with weight training Tues-Thursday/Sun.

Swing speed has remained constant. The current plateau indicates an increase is about to happen.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!

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