The State of Professional Golf

The 2024 golf season is over and the new PGA season is in its infancy.  Players are competing to earn their tour card and enter the promised land of competitive golf.  It’s interesting and actually sad that there have been no developments in the ongoing supposed merger of the PGA Tour and LIV.  If you have watched the two products you can understand that the formats are completely different.  I have a hard time understanding what LIV golf is about especially with the music blaring in the background.

Professional golf is at a critical juncture.as the tour adapts and changes certain events to compete and retain its talent on the PGA Tour.  There is little information  forthcoming from the leadership of the PGA Tour as to how to preserve the essential elements of the game and yet provide an exciting product.  In my view, the birdie fests that dominate the tour reduce the game to a putting contest.  Courses continue to lengthen and now must measure at least 7,500 yards, which still offers little challenge to the professionals who are driving the ball at least 300 yards.  The talent drain has had little effect on the popularity of the PGA Tour as the tour has restocked its own talent base from the collegiate ranks.  The biggest loss for the tour is the absence of Bryson DeChambeau and Brookes Koepka as they have performed extremely well in the major championships.  LIV will continue to try and lure the PGA for its tour  players such as  Victor Hovland and Xander Schauffle.  LIV’s talent base is eroding so they have to continue to poach PGA Tour players with the almighty dolllar.  LIV has a significant impact on the competitiveness of the player with its team formats, no cuts and guaranteed money.  Jon Rahm might bristle at this comment but he was the best player on the PGA Tour and you could never count him out of a tournament.  His performance in the 2024 major events was anything but competitive.  He can sleep well at night with millions of dollars under his pillow but his reputation as the best golfer on the planet is a distant metaphor in the rear view mirror.    No one knows how Rahm is really doing and his reputation as a leading player in the world is tarnished as his performance at LIV is unknown and not generally followed by the professional golf fan.

I believe golf is at a critical juncture.  The favorable effects for the game of golf that were resurrected by the pandemic are now beginning to wear off.  The professional golf fan is looking for a positive resolution of the PGA/LIV schism so something special needs to happen.  The world of amateur golf is flourishing with a plethora of talent all across the nation as the best players in the world enroll in US universities to take advantage of the facilities and contacts to progress into the world of professional golf.  I look forward to the day where amateur collegiate golf can be televised–These KIDS ARE GOOD!

My Favorite Golf Course

As I travel and play golf all over of the world, there is one question that comes to me from every player I tee it up with.  What’s your favorite golf course?  That is a very difficult question based on all the places I have played.  I usually hem and haw with the answer until recently I made a firm decision.  North Berwick is my favorite golf course, which is  located in North Berwick, Scotland.  North Berwick is about 50 miles from Edinburgh.  There will be a lot of material on North Berwick in my upcoming book, PARdon Me, so I summarize my answer by stating that North Berwick presents a wonderful set of holes as a links land golf course with significant challenges throughout.  However, North Berwick has everything for the player and the weather adds to the variables on this golf course.  I don’t like to have to grind on a difficult golf course such as Spyglass or Pine Valley, which are great courses but you have to bring your A game to survive on those venues.  While I can’t play North Berwick very often, I can get my link lands rush from the wonderful Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula Golf Club.

JT Poston

Finally, congratulations to JT Poston on his victory at the Shriner’s Children’s Open for his 3rd PGA Tour victory.  JT led the field consistently through the tournament but faced some stiff competition from Michael Kim and Doug Ghim and others down the stretch.  Poston made the putts when he had to and refused to relinquish the lead.  JT was impressive as Ghim, Kim and a host of others tried to run him down but Poston persevered  with a putter stroke that did not fail him this week.  It was his third PGA Tour victory.