Greetings!
This is coming a day later than normal because I spent all of Tuesday at Wild Spring Dunes in east Texas. More to come there (you can see some photos and videos right here), but for now I’ll say it was my favorite golf experience of the year. WSD is brought to you by the Dream Golf folks, who also did this place called Bandon as well as Sand Valley.
This is the Texas edition, and it’s going to absolutely crush. Cannot believe it’s driving distance from Dallas (not to mention Austin, Houston, OKC, Tulsa and New Orleans). I couldn’t get enough. You can check it out right here.
Name drops today: Patrick Mahomes, Tom Kim, Smylie Kaufman, Derek Thompson, Bryson DeChambeau, Tiger Woods.
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by OGIO, which, yes, you could technically use to tote around your Christmas tree, as outlined by Jason below.
More traditionally, though, their world class Renegade golf travel bag has been used to carry around, you know, golf clubs.
I didn’t need it on Tuesday for my Bandon-but-in-Texas-and-driving-distance-from-Dallas trip, but if I did, I’ve been using the Alpha Mid travel cover, which rocks.
However, I cannot wait to get my hands on this heavier duty Renegade version for 2026.
OK, now onto the news.
1. How many strange nontraditional lies can one grand slam champion find in a year?
First, he hit two golf balls with one swing at Portrush. Now? A banana peel touching his TaylorMade at the Australian Open?
Here’s the video.
Golf? Normal. Any other sport? Let’s just say there would be a congressional hearing if Patrick Mahomes was impeded by a banana peel at Arrowhead this season.
2. I got tagged into this one several times. A caterpillar trying to crawl out of a ball print and escape what would have been the ride of his life.
Too bad Tom Kim wasn’t involved because it probably would have had time to transform into a butterfly and more easily eject.
3. I saw someone tag me with the phrase “VNS” which I did not understand at first. After thinking about it, though, it made me laugh. Might be an IYKYK situation.
VNS = Very normal sport.
This quote from Tiger at the Hero on Scottie juiced me up.
I truly love watching him hit irons, the shaped shots that he hits, the trajectory, the window changes that he has, the distance control, the miss in the proper spot, the proper spin in certain pin locations. These are all subtle things that mean a lot over the course of 72 holes. That to me is impressive.
Tiger Woods on Scottie Scheffler
Tiger is like the PGA Tour traveling dad in that he’s restrained with his praise, but when he goes down that path, you know he truly means it and it can be transformative to the individual who is on the receiving end.
Can you imagine the greatest striker of all time gushing about your window changes and shot shapes?
Also, this chart is preposterous. It’s the top 150 players in the world (per Data Golf) right now and their aggregate SG on approach shots over the last three years. That is, who has gained the most shots on approach shots on all the other players in the world.
Hovland, Morikawa and Xander are three of the best iron players on the planet. They have gained 250, 257 and 266 strokes on approach respectively.
Scottie is at 441.
Speaking of Scottie stats!
Scottie just hit the 150-event mark for his career. Here are total strokes gained through first 150 PGA Tour + major championship events for the biggest names in golf.
This is as much a post about Rahm as it is Scottie. Might be as much a post about Bryson as it is Scottie. Two quick thoughts.
1. Rahm is that guy. I’m buying all the stock anyone will sell me, even without receiving a single word of communication from Phil Mickelson.
Have the last two years been a relative lull? Yes. Is there precedent that he is historically great? Also yes.
In a recent Fried Egg podcast, Andy threw Rahm out as the guy who could challenge Scottie and Rory at the top of the golf world in 2026. Fully subscribed to that take and also the guy I would bet on.
2. I’ve said it before, I will say it again. Bryson deserves so much credit for getting in the lab and improving a game that was already top 10 in the world. However, I did not expect him to be this far behind guys like JT and Xander. Even if you look at only major championships, his numbers lag big time.
Here are first 25 major championship SG numbers (Scottie just played his 25th major this year).
Scottie: 266
Brooks: 227
Spieth: 216
Everyone else on this list: Between 160-200
Bryson: 84
The Big Fella is hurt by his Open Championship performance (dismal), but overall he just does not have the same traj or aggregate record as most of the rest of his contemporaries. Incredibly, though, he does have two U.S. Opens.
• This piece by Brentley Romine (with associated graph) on how golf should try and emulate tennis is interesting from a scarcity standpoint.
However, it does not satisfy the “simplicity” pillar Brian Rolapp talked about at the end of last season. I follow tennis casually, and I could not have less of an understanding about how the non-slams work or who is eligible for various events.
Still, I think I do like the idea of having several levels of tournament points.
• This on Rory’s desire to win at big boy venues throughout the rest of his career is very good. The only things that matter now for him in terms of legacy.
Most Ryder Cup points ever (trails Sergio by 7.0)
More majors (trails Phil by 1, Palmer and Snead by 2, Watson by 3)
Winning at specific venues. Off the top of my head …
Open: Old Course (by far the most important), Muirfield, Portrush
U.S. Open: Shinnecock, Oakmont, Pebble or Pinehurst
PGA: Olympic
PGA Tour: Riviera
Even winning two or three of those would be historically significant.
• I recently listened to this podcast entitled Everything is Television where Derek Thompson was interviewed by Ben Smith and Max Tani and discussed how everything gravitates toward, basically, a short form video format.
I’m not totally sure I agree, but the thought exercise (and its various implications) is pretty fascinating. Biggest takeaways ...
1. This quote from Thompson: "The ultimate product of a book is not a book. The ultimate product of a book is the conversation about the book."
Fascinating!
2. Also this quote from Thompson: "When everything turns into television, every form of communication starts to adopt television’s values: immediacy, emotion, spectacle, brevity. When everything is urgent, nothing is truly important."
I think we all feel this on the internet every day. The question it creates for me on a daily basis: How do you go about creating content that is quieter, less chaotic and meaningful for your people?
• This was the best of the roughly 1.3 billion golf jokes about this botched Giants kick.
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