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Billy Payne is stepping down as chairman of Augusta National

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Billy Payne is stepping down as chairman of Augusta National Golf Club.

William Porter Payne will officially hand the reigns of ANGC and the Masters Tournament over to Fred Ridley on October 16. Ridley, a former U.S. Amateur champion and USGA president, currently chairs the competition committee.

The Masters Twitter account (!) announced the news:


“The privilege I experienced serving as chairman of Augusta National and the Masters was far greater than I could have ever imagined,” Payne said in a release. “Just as nothing can prepare you for the unique responsibilities and important decisions that come with this position, it is equally impossible to anticipate the many joys and, most importantly, the wonderful friendships that are the ultimate reward of service.”

“This honor, however, is too great for one person to claim as their own for too long a period of time. I retire knowing it is simply the right thing to do – and at the right moment – to open the door and invite someone new to be called upon to lead, bring forth new ideas and craft a new vision that will honor our Founders and serve the game of golf for many years to come.”

“I am now proud to call upon my good friend Fred Ridley to lead Augusta National and the Masters to a future that I am confident will hold new promise, while always being faithful to the principles of Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. Fred will be an excellent chairman who will serve with my complete and enthusiastic support.”

Payne, who turns 70 on October 13, has been the chair of Augusta National for the past 11 years and has overseen the Masters transition into the Web 2.0 world.

The former head of the Atlanta Olympic Games, Payne joined Augusta National in 1997. He was appointed chairman in 2006.

His effort to admit women as members to the venerable club, which culminated in the 2012 admission of Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore, will be remembered along side his other efforts to move Augusta forward. An example of the latter: Bringing the Drive, Chip and Putt finals to Augusta National, starting in 2014.

Payne has suffered from back issues and had a significant surgery in 2016. An anonymous source told USA Today that health issues aren’t the motivating factor in the chairman stepping down, but rather he feels it’s time to move on.

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GolfWRX Editor-in-Chief

11 Comments

11 Comments

  1. Robert E Lee

    Aug 27, 2017 at 3:48 pm

    Trump should buy it and put all our statues there

  2. Woody

    Aug 25, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    He caved to the left and let women in..I’m sure the club will move further left and become unwatchable..too bad

  3. BigBoy

    Aug 24, 2017 at 6:12 pm

    Long live the Freemasons.

  4. Anders

    Aug 24, 2017 at 4:27 am

    I guess that’s what happens when you let a drone fly over and film the course in a state of repair on your watch.

    • C

      Aug 24, 2017 at 7:43 am

      That video was from two years ago, and most people know the course is not is playable shape all year round.

  5. Bert

    Aug 23, 2017 at 8:12 pm

    Great example to follow, man of integrity and leadership qualities that many wish they could obtain. Sad to see him step down, but as he said, others should have the chance to step forward and assume leadership roles.

  6. Rich Douglas

    Aug 23, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    Payne was an innovator who also helped open up the club to women.

    But we’re talking about a millionaire’s club based on exclusion, so who should really care?

  7. cgasucks

    Aug 23, 2017 at 4:18 pm

    Why is this even news? Augusta Chairmen come and go all the time….

  8. larrybud

    Aug 23, 2017 at 2:42 pm

    “Jim, I believe he is leaving now”.

    Wow, can’t believe it’s been 11 years already since Hootie’s great introductions!

  9. MAGA

    Aug 23, 2017 at 1:59 pm

    Condolleezzaaaaa

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Equipment

Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.

This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.

Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.

The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.

Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.

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Equipment

Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.

Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.

Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.

According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.

He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.

Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

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Equipment

Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

So, with a couple of weeks off following his latest start at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Thomas sought to re-address his driver setup with the remote help of Titleist Tour fitting expert J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. About two weeks ago, Thomas and Van Wezenbeeck reviewed his recent driver stats, and discussed via phone call some possible driver and shaft combinations for him to try.

After receiving Van Wezenbeeck’s personalized shipment of product options while at home, Thomas found significant performance improvements with Titleist’s TSR2 head, equipped with Thomas’ familiar Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft.

Compared to Thomas’ longtime TSR3 model, the TSR2 has a larger footprint and offers slightly higher spin and launch characteristics.

According to Van Wezenbeeck, Thomas has picked up about 2-3 mph of ball speed, to go along with 1.5 degrees higher launch and more predictable mishits.

“I’d say I’d been driving it fine, not driving it great, so I just wanted to, honestly, just test or try some stuff,” Thomas said on Tuesday in an interview with GolfWRX.com at Quail Hollow Club. “I had used that style of head a couple years ago (Thomas used a TSi2 driver around 2021); I know it’s supposed to have a little more spin. Obviously, yeah, I’d love to hit it further, but if I can get a little more spin and have my mishits be a little more consistent, I felt like obviously that’d be better for my driving…

“This (TSR2) has been great. I’ve really, really driven it well the week I’ve used it. Just hitting it more solid, I don’t know if it’s the look of it or what it is, but just a little bit more consistent with the spin numbers. Less knuckle-ball curves. It has been fast. Maybe just a little faster than what I was using. Maybe it could be something with the bigger head, maybe mentally it looks more forgiving.”

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

 

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