Geoff Shackelford on Brooks, Rory, and the New Schedule

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Fried Egg Podcast. Today's episode is powered by Tdomortrade. Every stroke counts on the scorecard and every penny counts in the market. That's why tdomor Trade is committed to straightforward pricing with no surprises, so you're free to swing with confidence. Visit tdomairtrade dot com slash Fried Egg member SIPC.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: We are back with a new episode today.

00:00:26
Speaker 1: I am joined by Jeff Shackleford, a Golf Week Golf Channel personality, also confined his writing on his website, Jeffshackleford dot com. Jeff and I hadn't talked in a while, so I figured it'd be good to catch up on the Rory Brooks Player of the Year drama debate and as well as last year and what we will be now year two of the new schedule, and then all the kind of news with the players talking about technology and pace of play. So we touch on that, and you know, the discussion went a while, So we're gonna split this one into two parts, So here's part one. Part two will be up in a day or two. Enjoy, and without further ado, here is Jeff Shackelford. I miss a green.

00:01:17
Speaker 2: For example, I'm already upset. When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. And when I find my ball in.

00:01:23
Speaker 3: A fried egg Frida egg, the dreaded Frida egg, Frida egg egg Frida egg bride egg lie, I'm about ready to run.

00:01:30
Speaker 2: Off with the hump.

00:01:55
Speaker 1: I've thoroughly enjoyed my two week two week break from tour from the tour, But isn't it odd that the two week break is like in the height of golf season for the entire country.

00:02:08
Speaker 3: Well, it's odd because and hello, Andy, it's nice to be back, by the way, it is odd, thank you. It is odd because we were used to the old schedule, which was January to ish, you know, October November, and some people really enjoyed Philly season, some didn't. But we had a natural calendar year schedule, and now we don't. So it stands out as as kind of silly, and I think that's why. And then the lack of time between the last event and the new one, and then you also have to there's an element of how much promotion there is of that tour championship and the season ending, and we're bringing it together here with the playoffs and the end and then we start all over again. So it's a combination of and they're all kind of funny and annoying and and and that not to me particularly shrewd uh in terms of of capturing the larger sporting public interest.

00:03:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, wouldn't.

00:03:14
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't I think about it.

00:03:16
Speaker 1: The big complaint there's no off season seems to be from anybody that works in the in the space, whether they're a player, a caddy, a media member like us and or a anybody associated with it. So why not just take the two weeks we've just had, throw them into November and give us two months off.

00:03:38
Speaker 3: That's the old schedule, and it it just all comes down, as you know, to TV and money and and a dream that that that ending when they did, they'd get the big, big numbers and they'd have a pre NFL playoffs. So it's really just all about that and avoiding football. And it's not based on common sense. It's based on kind of a dream economic model. The problem is that as you see the way the sports landscape is shifting, it's not it's not you know, I've seen huge shifts, but they're just little things like they're really small things. Like the Florida game, they decided to move up a week in the college football season, which was the weekend of the Tour Championship. Well it got monster ratings, So you know what that's going to mean that not football weekend will now be the start of college football. They're espnel had a couple more games, and so all of a sudden, we golf tried to move around that, and you know, it didn't work. And and and if they ever if they got ABC as part of their next contract, well ABC book that day with the Little League World Series, which has become this really popular event. And so it's a it's a it's a the golf is always trying to work around these other things and not just being comfortab ball and its skin and accepting what its audience is. And it's it's it's the audience gets bigger at certain times a year and certain times it doesn't. But it's not happy with the great loyal audience that it has and the passionate fan that it has and the rich fan that it has. It's always wanting more. It wants to be younger, and wants to be cooler. It wants to be seen by this many people at that time of year, you just can't do it. So I think it's really a fascinating time, especially with the ability to still consider how we kind of ebb and flow and how the whole season goes with the next television contract and then the effects that that has on the other tours and other tournaments. And I don't think it's going to be revisited, but I wish it was.

00:05:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, they get that new contract that are negotiating two years early. It's kind of crazy. Not a ton of press about it. I imagine they're probably yeah, probably, I mean the big money, the money bet would be on on the on the endemics, you know, retaining it the CBS, NBC Golf channel.

00:06:12
Speaker 2: Have you heard anything about it now?

00:06:15
Speaker 3: Very little as to how that will all play. There were there, There has been very little coverage, mostly because we really don't have sports media writers anymore. Sports Business journal is really all that's left. And so they had two very fascinating articles. If you and I blogged about them, uh, and I couldn't you know, copy and paste the whole stories because people pay a lot of money and and uh for Sportsmansdali and I didn't want to be rude, but I did seize on some of the highlights and there was a lot between the lines to read in those stories. But yeah, the gist is it's coming up. The pitches are probably beginning very soon from the various networks, and the articles felt like it was sort of one last attempt by the tour to remind everybody, hey, we're out here, we've got some great product to have you televise, and don't forget about us, and so they said a lot. I was kind of shocked, and there were some interesting revelations in there, and then there was a follow up article that was odd in that it was as if somebody had said, you know, you really didn't play up how much you appreciate your current partners. So there were some very strong comments about Golf Channel and NBC, which I was very pleased as a contributor to the Golf Channel and as somebody who knows how it goes on the inside there, with how hard the people there work to tell the stories of the players, how hard they worked to tell the tournament story each week. Whether you like their style or not, you and I probably would love to see them do more Golf course coverage. But all in all, they do a hell of a job doing a lot of tournaments, and so it was nice to see a little more appreciation in that follow up article. I don't know, I don't know who made a call, but it was nice to see that they appreciated. And then you know something that's really simple and you can't quantify, but the golf channel is on at every golf course you go to. It's on in most bars. You know a yard house or a big restaurant, you know where it is, you know where to find it. Thursday and Friday, you know where to find the golf And again, I'm a homer. I really love working for them and I value that part of things. And I don't know if that will be valued or not by the tour. We'll see.

00:08:40
Speaker 1: It's interesting that last comment about like you knowing where it is a perfect example, like whenever the USGA has their coverage on FS one, Oh, I don't still can't bite it. Yeah, I don't know what channel I liked. It's not a channel I frequent very often.

00:08:57
Speaker 2: So it's just hard.

00:08:58
Speaker 3: True TV ncaa tournament, I mean, what are we in three years? Year three now? And like you go, Oh, no, UCLA is the true TV game. Now, I got to figure out where that is. Oh no, it's not. It's it's annoying. And and that's part of the thing that always fascinates me about the streaming conversation is have you been to a bar or a restaurant yet where people go to watch games where they're streaming. They're not. They still rely on on satellite and cable. And because it works, it's easy. They they you know, certain restaurants are more organized than others, and they know where to find things or a bartender, notical schedule. And and I don't see that changing. I don't see I don't see a lot of these things getting you know, a Roku box. And and I mean they might, you know, if the NFL goes to some Amazon games and then golf gets some Amazon and you know, maybe they have a good, easy, dedicated you know, they're great at that. Maybe they create a great dedicated a channel and and we're often running, but it's still hard to visualize that happening. And golf is a sport that, you know, like baseball, it's sort of a you just it's just a different kind of experience. You just don't sit down to watch it unless it's the last nine holes or something. It's just on in the background, and that's fine, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. But they they definitely harbor a fantasy of paying people paying to stream it more, and I'm I'm just not sure how much people want to do that, especially a subscription fatigue kicks in.

00:10:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, So what when you look back at like, looking back, do you do you think that the new schedule, new setup was a success.

00:10:55
Speaker 3: Uh? No, Uh, it was a success for the majors. I thought the major season was amazing, and part of it, obviously was a great group of golf courses. So whether you care about architecture or not, everybody knows that great venues just makes a year better. And even the fan that's that's pretty casual just recognizes there's a you know, it's just like the difference between a World Series at at Fenway and regular fields versus one at you know, the monstrosity in Tampa Baseball. Yeah, I mean, baseball has very few bad stadiums now at this point, but it's still there is an atmospheric thing there and we had a great year that way. But I just think that and I wrote this for Golf Week. We kind of a year in review of the Majors, which I need to get them to put online because you'll enjoy some of the par five numbers I dug out.

00:11:50
Speaker 1: But the long part four numbers.

00:11:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, the long par four numbers, Oh my lord, only one not to go down a rattle. Only one par five averaged with a five, started with a five and it was pebble and it was barely barely over Now in past the US Opens, it's been like five to two and five three because the greens goofy. But anyway, but no, back to the question. The season I don't think was successful for the tour and that I think the playoffs were better. But if you go and look at the strength of field of the events around the Majors, they took a hit. The Canadian was the only one that did better, and that was really because again they were in Hamilton, better golf course, players love it. And that was in the slot before the US Open, and that was one where a lot of people went, oh, what a perfect place for me to play, and then go to the US Open style golf otherwise, you know, the FedEx Cup event after the open. You just go through all these a deer. I mean, the deer had barely more points for the winner than the web dot Com event, excuse me, the corn Ferry event that week. So I feel like the West Coast was strong, Florida was really strong, and then that whole series of events really the rest of the year. There are a lot of questions whether they made their tour stronger or weaker long term, and the player comments are kind of validating that. Justin Rose and McElroy and Jack Nicholas sees it as a somebody who's operating a tournament.

00:13:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, comments were you know, his obviously had some bias, but you know, I think that's something that well.

00:13:41
Speaker 3: He noted that, he noted that, and he endorsed this, so he's you know, he endorsed the schedule, and now he's seeing he's seeing flaws, he's seeing he's seeing issues. So good for him for for saying it.

00:13:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's like a perfect example of an event like now it's it's kind of smashed in there where you've got it's it's got major championships essentially two weeks apart on either side, and then you're just it just makes it very difficult because if somebody wants to play the week before a major, which a lot of guys like to play the week before a major, you're you're stuck having to pick, you know, like what, am I gonna play three weeks in a row? Or am I, you know, am I gonna play the Travelers after the US Open. So it's just a really you know, tricky situation. And then with all I'm just I'm not a big fan with the the You've got the invitationals, and then you've got the wgc's, you've got that elevated events, and then you've got the majors, and you got the players whatever you want to call it. But you've got like every and that's I think the thing that's gonna kill the other events the most is that they they aren't part of this crew versus you know, it used to be there were some stops that were must stops because all the good players played in them. It was just a natural thing. Rather than like, you know, these this tournament. We're putting a label on this tournament that this tournament is more important, and that's not really fair to the other events.

00:15:16
Speaker 3: And when you do if you just took away those WGCs in that conversation you just had. It fixes everything, It fixes every problem. It strengthens the non the non majors, and those those events you're talking about, the Memorials, the the the LA Opens and the what the Hondas no open anymore, the Genesis Invitational, which is don't get me going, don't get me going.

00:15:49
Speaker 2: The women women only have the l A Open now.

00:15:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, how about that? And they own the name now too, which is really brilliant of them. And so if you take those events away, suddenly all it just clicks and they're just they're killers. They're absolute killers. The match play is just it's a great event. It's just at the wrong time, and it's it's it's I mean, of all the WBCs, that's the one I would I would fight to save because it's match play and and you've just got to have a match play event. But the Mexico City things just a kind of it's just a pain in the butt in the middle of West coast of Florida. And you got the thing in China, and then the FedEx one was just it was just dreadful this year, and it'll it's just it's not a good product, and so all these things then undermine these events that built the tour too. So that's why I was still thrilled they got a great sponsor for the Desert event. Because there's an event that was vital to building the tours. It should be a no brainer that guys love to start their year and if they don't make it to Hawaii, they go down the desert and play beautiful rye grass courses and shoot twenty under and and and have a nice relaxed start to the year and flying some their game and have great practice facilities, and you know, like, then there's an event that was you didn't know if it was going to survive, and well, why is it? It's there's you know that part of it. Yeah, it's just a wealth of opportunities. But the WGCs are killers because the players are expected to turn up and they do because they get easy World ranking points and they getting out after what forty forty grand minimum the play and there's no cut and they and then then you get the no cut. They have no they have no buzz, you know, they're just that lack of cut is just a killer. It just takes a certain edge away.

00:17:43
Speaker 1: What there's forty five events in a tour season, right, right, So forty five events, and you've got between the players, the majors, the WGCs, and the elevated event you've got you've got thirteen thirteen spots that are you know, just locks. And in most high profile players will play eighteen to twenty events.

00:18:06
Speaker 3: A year, right, Yeah, Brooks was twenty one and Rory was nineteen. PGA Tour. I only know that because I just looked looked it up for a column. I believe me, I do not know that information normally.

00:18:18
Speaker 1: So you're in this situation where then you know, there's what, there's thirty three events and the high profile players are only going to play you know, seven of them, six of them, five of them. Yep.

00:18:33
Speaker 2: It's you know, it just puts it.

00:18:35
Speaker 1: It puts those events in a in a a tough position, and they ask for a ton of money to sponsor those events.

00:18:40
Speaker 3: Right they do. Yeah, and tenant all these things. We're probably going to go down this rat hole anyway. I think for me what you said of what you want to discuss, but is this these are all mistakes the tennis made. Tennis went to a power game, It went to a just a just a too many events spread out all over the world, and then they just killed some really nice events, including a nice event here in la as it was, which used to be a great pre US Open run up events and things like that. They did all the same things that golf is now doing, and it's it's amazing to watch.

00:19:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's all.

00:19:24
Speaker 1: I found this study and I had the economist on this Ian film or who do the study on the racket, and it's it's really interesting because as we've seen power become more and more dominant with the you know who finishes in the top thirty of the fed X Cup, you're starting to see like the downward curve the tennis went on when the when the composite racket came out, because it's you know, it's going to be this game of youth and the and the.

00:19:50
Speaker 2: Question is like.

00:19:52
Speaker 1: Something I think about a lot, is are we going to see guys that have careers like Phil Michelson or VJs in this in this era.

00:20:04
Speaker 3: It's a it's a really complicated question. Young guy Brendan Klint kind of tackled it in a one piece on the Athletic and it was very good, but I also read it and went, wow, you know, because it's something I've been thinking about, and you have that there's so many dimensions to it, obviously, just and and and some people just say, oh, no, golfers are they love They love the life to travel. Look at the guys who play a Champions Tour and they don't know any other way kind of thing. And they always want to play no matter how much money they have. But the money is different now. And then the retirement program is different once you make you one hundred and fifty cuts. And it's just hard to imagine guys having long careers because of the money alone for me, And then when you look at the schedule and and and the length of the year and there there's got to be a point where they burn out, uh sooner when you when they look at their bank account and see what they have, it's like, well, well, what do I need that for? But I think the other element is uh, And this is one I just started kind of exploring asking people, and I think Brooks Koepka has really brought this to the to the forefront. How many guys really enjoy playing golf? How many is Zach Blair is the only guy who comes and see the other golf courses when he's in town. You know, just I had a guy make a comment it was really funny. The highlight of the Scottish Open week was Saint Justin Thomas and Ricky Faller over playing North Barrick and some of the clips from that. Partly that was a shot at the person not really finding the Scottish Open venue to be very lenkxy, but it was also like, Wow, wasn't it nice to see players just showing that they actually just love the game and isn't that fun? And I really wonder I had this conversation with George Gankas. I started like when the game gets those certain point where where there's no risk reward and a part five and the challenge is kind of just some of the things that gave us that gave people thrills not that long ago, you know, reaching a par five and two whatever? It is, Uh, the way the game is played now?

00:22:20
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it?

00:22:20
Speaker 3: Do these guys? Is it that much fun for them?

00:22:23
Speaker 1: I mean?

00:22:23
Speaker 3: Are there are many courses that really ask the questions that are that are really fun and cool to solve by a good player, and and that make their head spin, and there really aren't because it's so hard to design for that, and so I wonder if the longevity element will also be impacted just by the lack of of of the fun element.

00:22:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, because you could tell there's so few moments like Brandon Stone a few years ago when he played with the Hickory on an old course after after he shot that what was it, Carnoustie, he shot uh sixty seven opening sixty seven or something.

00:23:07
Speaker 3: Well, he won the Scottish and then yes, he it was at Carnoustie, and yeah, he took the Hickorys down to Saint Andrews in the evening. Yeah.

00:23:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like that was like a rare moment where like somebody, you're like, God, this guy truly loves golf, but that they're so far between that even you you're starting to hear players say like I don't like like Bryson said, I don't like golf.

00:23:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a job.

00:23:31
Speaker 3: It's a science, it's something to it's something to crack, but it's it's a job. And that's fine.

00:23:38
Speaker 1: You know that.

00:23:38
Speaker 3: There always been some guys like that, but I would say the overwhelming number have always It's always been something they got into because they loved it and they loved trying to get better at it. And I just don't know how that will impact I don't know how you quantify it either, I don't know how you study it or ask it or I mean, I know how you can repair it. But whether anybody won't cares or recognizes it as an issue is another another question.

00:24:07
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, brandles on on that side now.

00:24:10
Speaker 3: So well, you know he wrote in twenty twelve man, and he's been very consistent since then that you know, he's believed in bifurcation.

00:24:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, the.

00:24:22
Speaker 1: We'll have to have a vine to talk about it.

00:24:25
Speaker 3: But oh I can't. I cannot wait to have a conversation with him about this because he really is great to talk to. He's such a bright, interesting guy and he and he he now he works hard at it. He really puts the thought it. I just don't know why where this is, what that that that that that period was where he blanked out. I don't I don't know, And you know what, I'm not even gonna ask. I'm just happy that he's on he's on the team again. He's he's back, and he's making the case and and we need all the help we can get.

00:24:59
Speaker 1: So that The other thing I think working against the short careers is that the game has turned into a game of speed, right, And we see it with the NFL like NFL speed and power right right, and the short careers because.

00:25:20
Speaker 3: Always that's another element in this discussion.

00:25:22
Speaker 1: And you're the the youth are going to be the fastest, so.

00:25:28
Speaker 3: Right, and then when you start to lose speed, do you lose interest? Do you lose Yeah?

00:25:33
Speaker 1: And it's it's hard to improve, you know, weak skills and golf. So you know, if you go from being a top like a top five driver of the golf ball three years ago would be like in strokes game, those stats are like a top forty driver now it's wild.

00:25:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know. And even then when when just a few years ago the value of some combination of accuracy and instance was already depleted.

00:26:03
Speaker 2: So it's just.

00:26:05
Speaker 3: Depleted.

00:26:06
Speaker 2: So the question is are we going to have a tour?

00:26:08
Speaker 3: Numbers backed it up?

00:26:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know, it's just a it's that's the thing that we're gonna have is this like you know, so that's just going to continue to so is the tour. It can't be the tour's businesses very it's very much aligned with long careers.

00:26:30
Speaker 3: I would think, right, yeah, I mean I think we love It's not the most thrilling sport in the world to watch except at select times. It's not action packed except at select times. But but again, the joys of watching each sport are a little bit different, and golfs are are getting to know some people and watching them progress through their career. It's the courses. It's a lot of different, little little debates, some very minor kind of controversies compared to maybe other things. So yeah, A big part of that, though, is that that we love people who we love to watch people who like I mean, Arnold Palmer is beloved because he didn't give up trying to get better until the day he died. He just he was hooked. Hogan never gave up trying to get better or think about ways to get better. Jack Nicholas might have downplayed that, but that's exactly what made him great. And Tiger Wood same thing. I mean, look at him now. He has no need to play, but he is going to at times just he's going to get the buggy. I don't know if he's going to have it all the time where he just he's going to want to be great and we love that. We love to watch. Yeah, we love Aicholson. He's like hanging around and he's going to keep hanging around and keep trying to search and find it. And whether you like them not as as people, you love him as athletes and sportsmen because that they're in that that quest and they have that passion and uh. And then it's the one sport that everybody kind of plays, so there's a connection there as well. And you're right, I mean brooks keft. It clearly does not attract people in part because you kind of know, well, he doesn't really play golf. When he goes home, he talks in this sort of monotone. He's like Pete sampersonally a lot smarter, probably even though he's wonderfully opinionated. He's seventy under par in the last eleven majors. He's just doing something right now that's just historically amazing. He's dominating when it's really hard to dominate in majors. He can play any golf course and it's like, but people aren't really that warm to him because of some of these factors.

00:29:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's because he doesn't and I mean like and.

00:29:10
Speaker 3: Then, by the way, some of these factors aren't his fault. It's just, you know, it's just kind of what it is. It's just the way the game is right now.

00:29:17
Speaker 1: And Rory kind of strikes me as a guy too that I don't know how long Rory will play well.

00:29:23
Speaker 3: He famously said if you see me out here after forty and I can't remember the exact quote, but the suggestion was, either you know, somebody stole money from me or I made a mistake, and then he had to walk that back. But yeah, no, he's he'd rather, you can tell he'd already probably rather sit by the pool and read a book. He's got like a pile of books. He goes go with him everywhere now and now, by the way, we have this conversation, that's it. He's becoming more humble, more curious, and more down to earth the more money he makes and the more he hits At three forty and I just wrote this in this little column for god Off Week. He's he's unusual, obviously, but you know why he's that way because he has a sense of history from from reading and taking more things in and now his focus is on on kind of leaving a legacy and having a career that he's proud of and and getting better. He's not about the money, that's the funny part. So that's why he continues to be so lovable and fascinating the people, and and why everybody roots form and and probably why the players voted him Player of the Year. Perfect Perfect, Well, I knew that was what that was.

00:30:41
Speaker 1: As Uh, how ridiculous is it?

00:30:46
Speaker 3: Oh, I don't think it's it's kind of ridiculous, but it's not. I mean it's not like he had a he had a great year. So in points wise, he was within six points I think on the PGA of America's thing. But yeah, it's ridiculous when you break down the majors that Brooks was thirty six hunder par in the majors. Ry didn't make the cut in all four majors, so Brooks only beat him by twenty one and the three they played together.

00:31:14
Speaker 2: I mean, Ry, what thing?

00:31:16
Speaker 1: Rory really wasn't relevant in any majors?

00:31:19
Speaker 3: No, No, he wasn't. Now, I mean the US Open, you kind of felt like maybe he's gonna and it just didn't quite fire.

00:31:26
Speaker 2: The PGA.

00:31:27
Speaker 1: The PGA opened with a you know, mid or high seventies and just shot three good rounds at back door top ten. You know, that's like the thing to me is I mean, imagine imagine the NBA voting an MVP and the guy well playing just doing nothing against the leading MVP candidate in the biggest games.

00:31:51
Speaker 2: You know when they played. Had to happen a little bit.

00:31:54
Speaker 3: In baseball, I mean, there are guys Mike Tradvell win the MVP this year and Kristin Yelich my or might not now they got hurt, but you know in his team's I'm not going to make the playoffs now probably, so it happens. But yeah, to your point, when you have a head to head comparison like we have in this and you use them, I don't. I mean, it's it's it's being kind to use the majors as a tiebreaker. That should be the first point. But but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say, Okay, they had similar years in a lot of ways, so we'll go on the majors as the tiebreaker. And it's not even close.

00:32:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's it's crazy, and I think it's obviously a big win for Strokes gained the statistic the statistical side of examining this stuff.

00:32:41
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, I can't yeah, I yeah, I guess I don't know.

00:32:45
Speaker 2: I so any way I can put it, you know anyway?

00:32:50
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean, like the other kind of crazy thing is counting the Tour championship, like people being like, oh, that's when he beat thirty guys.

00:33:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, yeah, actually twenty.

00:33:02
Speaker 2: Nine nine Yeah, good point.

00:33:05
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, No, it's a limited field and several people clearly had checked out by Friday afternoon, and we're or just once they were out of it, they were they were just finishing the season. And yeah, I mean the column I row for golf, we kind of seized on on whatever. It's a debate. It's it's a fun little controversy, but it is a little embarrassing in that the players have voted the same player as Player of the Year as the PGA of America's points system for eight twenty seven straight years, or twenty six straight years. This year would have been twenty seven. I've better alert my editor. I think I said twenty seven. Anyway, Uh so that streak just ended and we have no transparency. We don't know how many players voted. We don't know how many agents voted for their player. I mean, yeah, we'll never know that number, obviously. But every other league that doesn't m v P, it's the number is known. It's a it's a transparent system.

00:34:11
Speaker 1: I mean, every other league has transparent a lot of things that golf doesn't.

00:34:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and the latest.

00:34:18
Speaker 1: The latest things the driver testing.

00:34:22
Speaker 3: Right, which is the whole point of driver testing would be to be a deterrent. And you can't be a deterrent if nobody knows who who gets caught cheating. And uh so when they have a failed driver, no one will know it.

00:34:38
Speaker 1: To me that it's a step at least in somewhat in the right direction. But it's it's just so disappointing.

00:34:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it's good in that it will it will definitely make everybody a little bit more careful. And and these companies that think it's cute to take a driver right up to the edge and then and then have it go over in a test or after some wear and tear, well, clearly after what happened with Shoplan Callaway at the Open, they did not enjoy that. I'm sure. And what's funny, not funny, but ironic about that is that there's one company that's generally been more sensitive to not being seen as violating the rules. It's Callaway because of their past, and Chip Brewer knows that that that did not serve the company well when they took on the USGA and and so their beef this time obviously was they just didn't feel like the testing was right. Xander was whining because he felt shamed, even though he didn't quite get the joke. Guys were joking with him more and he read the whole situation wrong, but that's his problem. So yeah, I guess it will probably because I think there's definitely some hot drivers, definitely some companies totally pushing him to the edge or way over the edge, and there are all sorts of stories about that. I don't think Galloway was one of them. That's the irony, the whole thing. H So this will definitely, yeah, especially when you read that bogus behavior down.

00:36:10
Speaker 1: When you read through the tea leaves of like the year before when Rory's got tested and he was talking about how he felt like one company in particular, everybody can figure out what driver rory uses got singled out, you know, and uh that's the interesting thing about it.

00:36:28
Speaker 3: Well, they had reason to single amount. I mean, there were some I think there were some attempts to test that weren't very successful. The truck magically was was light on things to test. Whatever it was, there were a lot of there were way too many rumblings that that about about them, that that that kind of prompted some of the speculations. So this will this will allow everybody to be uh uh, well, I don't know if it'll allow that. It will it will make them a little more vigilant, but again, somebody cheats, we won't know.

00:37:06
Speaker 1: So I got a I get a juicy little tidbit of information from the range this week at the Greenbrier about the testing. So you know how they have the color coded, you know, green, you're good to go, everything's conforming. Yellow, you're in the you're in the the buffer zone, and then uh, red, you're unconforming. So here's a here's a conversation between a rep and a player from uh a trusted source here. So they take your driver, so the rep says, so they take your driver to test it and it'll come back either yellow or red. The player responds, what about green? The rep says, if it comes back green, we'll give you a new head anyway.

00:37:51
Speaker 3: Wow, huh so interesting.

00:37:56
Speaker 1: Just knowingly giving people, you know, like the the whole tolerance zone to me is the big problem.

00:38:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it is a problem. It's weird, it's confusing, it's weird, and then it just leaves everybody susceptible to something like that happened to Xander, who was a victim of probably hitting the ball too consistently well on the club pase. Yeah, then again, I don't have a whole lot of sympathy that he didn't have a matching backup ready to go. I don't know, it's a little weird to me. I thought most players travel with at least a backup driver and putter. But maybe maybe maybe the kids today are different.

00:38:40
Speaker 2: Is it too much to ask that? Uh? You know.

00:38:44
Speaker 1: So, the way I understand how this process goes is that, you know, they test every driver after it's manufactured. They toss him, you know, they they test them, and they take all the hot ones and they throw them into the tour truck, like all the ones that test highest.

00:39:00
Speaker 2: I want to be.

00:39:00
Speaker 1: Pretty easy to just say we're just going to give you know, we're gonna make it two thirty eight the the CT and get and say it's either conforming or not for the PGA tour, Like that's the one place that you know, like there's enough money there and enough resources that we could just say, hey, it's two thirty eight or not.

00:39:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, that would be logical.

00:39:23
Speaker 2: Yes, it's just dry.

00:39:26
Speaker 3: Apparently, apparently common sense is not an option in this discussion