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Morning 9: Spieth latest non-fan of drop rule | Scott skipping WGCs?

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5 years ago

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By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])

January 10, 2019

Good Thursday morning, golf fans.
1. Further incredulity toward the drop rule
You have to feel for the USGA. They thought there were doing a good thing with the knee-height drop — speeding up play, making the process easier — but it’s starting to look like another helping of out-of-touch silliness.
  • Yesterday, it was Jordan Spieth (echoing Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau) sounding off on the new rule.
  • Golf Digest’s Joel Beall…”One that I don’t really understand necessarily is the drop,” Spieth said on Wednesday. “”You drop it knee height, but like, what’s the advantage of dropping it shoulder height? It’s actually probably a disadvantage, so why can’t you still do that? You should be able to drop it from shoulder to knee height in my opinion. It doesn’t do any good and honestly it’s like, a frustrating asterisk that I have to re-pick it up and re-drop from your knee.”
  • “According to the USGA, this alteration was made to increase the chance of a ball staying within the relief area.”
  • “Requiring the player to drop a ball (as opposed to placing it) retains a desired randomness about where the ball ends up,” reads the explainer in the Rules of Golf. “The player has no guarantee that the ball will come to rest on a desired spot or in a good lie. This is especially the case when a ball is dropped in more difficult conditions such as thick rough or longer grass.”
2. An interesting move
Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard…”At 38-years-old Adam Scott is at the point in his career that he’s comfortable making tough choices.”
  • “His focus now is winning majors and qualifying for this year’s International Presidents Cup team, as evidenced by the fact that this week’s Sony Open is his first start since the WGC-HSBC Champions in October.”
  • “It turns out that might be the last World Golf Championship the Australian plays this season….With players forced to make tough decisions this season because of a new condensed schedule on the PGA Tour, Scott conceded on Wednesday he took the path of least resistance when it came to his schedule.”
  • “I just kind of took the simple approach and thought I’ll just play the ones I like and that make sense to play out of the way,” he said. “Any inconvenience, whether it’s a big tournament or not, but at the moment I have not scheduled a World Golf Championship because they don’t fall in the right weeks for me.”
3. “A powerful message”
Golf Channel’s Randall Mell…”Aon is adding to the momentum LPGA commissioner Mike Whan is starting to build in his quest to narrow the gender pay gap that so severely separates women from men in sport.”
  • “Aon is promoting inclusion while investing in what Whan hopes will become a movement in the game.”
  • “The company could have instituted its new season-long risk-reward competition for the PGA Tour alone, could have established the $1 million winner’s prize for men only. The men, after all, sell more tickets, draw more TV viewers and get more media coverage.”
  • “Aon stepped up, though, and offered the exact same deal for LPGA pros….”It’s just a powerful message,” Whan told GolfChannel.com. “We’re starting to see a series of pillar moments, where we are starting to create the kind of equality you see happening every day within companies that are sponsors.”
  • “Aon’s Risk Reward Challenge comes on the heels of CME Group’s announcement it will offer a $1.5 million first-place check to the winner of its LPGA event next year, a payout greater than the winner’s check in 33 of the PGA Tour’s 47 events. It comes with the LPGA’s sanctioning of the Vic Open next month, a co-sanctioned European Tour event that will offer equal prize money to men and women playing the same venue at the same time.”
4. FYI: Xander didn’t top that shot
If you were watching Sunday’s final-round coverage of the Tournament of Champions, you saw a curious, seemingly topped drive from Xander Schauffele.
  • X says he didn’t top it though. Here’s his explanation, per Digest’s Mike Johnson.
  • “OK, have to ask about that squirrely tee shot on Sunday on the 13th hole. Is that something that you just laugh off or is it more like, “Whoa? Where did that come from?”
  • “You know, I read a few things about how I topped that shot and I didn’t. That shot I hit was a bumped driver. You can tell from my swing speed that I was hitting it about 40 percent. I had been doing it all week, I just hadn’t been on TV when doing it and I knew I was going to take some crap about the ball speed because I just kind of chipped it out there. It’s a shot I hit when it’s super windy. I didn’t have a 3-iron in the bag so it was either a 4-iron or a 5-wood and I didn’t want to hit a 3- or 5-wood up in the wind and the 4-iron wouldn’t get out there far enough, so I decided to try and chip my driver. On No. 4 at Kapalua I was hitting the same shot and driving it low and watching it run. It’s a new addition to my arsenal.”
5. The story of the “W”
Great stuff from PGATour.com’s Helen Ross on the now-iconic “W” palm trees at this week’s tournament venue, spearheaded by Waialea member Ethan Abbott.
  • “A little more than a decade ago, Abbott began lobbying to alter the landscape. Club manager Allan Lum was on board. So was course superintendent Dave Nakama.”
  • “So Abbott made a video that included scenes from the iconic movie – particularly the spot where the money was unearthed – and made presentations to the club’s greens committee, the executive committee and the board of directors.”
  • “Quite a few people were supportive, but there were some, especially the old-timers, who felt this is not appropriate for their golf course,” Abbott recalled. “Now 99.9 percent of them have come around and said what a great, great thing it is and how much they enjoy it.
  • “But there are one or two, they’ll still kind of look sideways at me, but that’s the way it goes.”
  • As it turned out, the entire project only cost about $3,500 – and the money came from a gift already earmarked for a project on the course. And with several hundred coconut trees lining the fairways at Waialae, no one had to look far to find four that could be added to the ‘W’ project.
6. Monday qualifying…with a triple bogey
Crazy stuff from Jared Sawada in his bid to Monday qualify for the Sony, writes Golf Digest’s Christopher Powers.
  • “Through 16 holes the 27-year-old was eight under, with a field-leading nine birdies and just one bogey. As long as disaster didn’t strike, he would easily get another crack at the Sony Open.”
  • “Unfortunately for Sawada, disaster did strike, as he made a triple-bogey seven at the par-4 17th hole, dropping him to five under on the day. Another bogey would have ended his chances, but he salvaged par at the 18th hole to get in the clubhouse at five under, one off the lead of Talor Gooch and Brent Grant. Sawada’s 67 wound up being good enough for a 3-for-2 playoff with Andy Pope, a Web.com Tour veteran who has made just five career starts on the PGA Tour, and Corey Conners, who just finished his rookie season on tour. Conners notably took the lead into the final round at the Valspar Championship, but carded a final-round 77 to finish in a tie for 16th.”
  • “Conners and Sawada earned the final two spots, meaning Sawada pulled off an incredibly rare feat in still qualifying with a triple bogey. According to @acaseofthegolf1, a Twitter account dedicated to following Monday qualifiers throughout the PGA Tour season, no one has done what Sawada did in the last four years:”
7. AP Experience!
At Bay Hill this year…
  • Golf Channel Report…”Tournament organizers announced Wednesday that an interactive exhibit known as the Arnold Palmer Experience will be on display all week long when the PGA Tour heads to Bay Hill from March 4-10. The domed, 360-degree theater, built adjacent to the 10th hole, will be free for all fans to visit and will share highlights from the life and career of Palmer, who won seven majors and passed away in 2016 at age 87.”
  • “The exhibit will also include areas where fans can compare their swing side-by-side with Palmer’s iconic move as well as a chance to test their shot-making on some of the toughest holes of Palmer’s course design career.”
  • “After the tournament concludes, plans are in place to leave the theater open to Bay Hill guests for several weeks before traveling to Palmer’s birthplace of Latrobe, Pa., in advance of what would have been his 90th birthday in September.”
8. Suitors for Golf Digest?
…in which the mainstay publication is playing the part of the Bachelor.
  • Geoff Shackelford writes…”In an item unusually light on details by Keith Kelly standards and feeling more like a reminder to interested suitors that Golf Digest is still for sale, the New York Post media writer says new PGA Tour International TV distributor Discovery is interested.
  • The billionaire Newhouse family has a minority stake in publicly traded Discovery, but the family connection is not necessarily giving the programmer any advantage. It will come down to price and Discovery’s long-term strategy on golf.”
  • “Discovery actually has some live-streaming golf in Europe connected to the PGA tour but does not have any golfing channels in the US and currently has no print within its empire.”
9. A little golf history you may not have known…
Courtesy of Forward Golf Grips (@forwardgolf) on Twitter.
Always thought GW was a 2-iron guy….
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2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Travis

    Jan 11, 2019 at 12:33 pm

    The rule should be changed to state that a player must drop no lower than knee height. If a player wants to drop from middle thigh, belt height, belly, chest, whatever, let them do so. They say these rules are to “speed up the game” but how does it speed up the game when you need a guy out there making 100% sure it’s knee height and making you re-drop it if it isn’t?!

    Reply Report comment

  2. 15th Club

    Jan 10, 2019 at 3:11 pm

    So I read the quotes from Jordan Spieth, and it is a stretch to suggest that he has any serious complaint with the new drop rule. Spieth had one concern/suggestion, which was to allow a drop from anywhere between knee and shoulder height.

    Well, uh, okay. But since we are talking about Tour professionals who are seeking every imaginable advantage under the Rules, they will all drop from the lowest legal height. Who would drop it from higher than required?

    Indeed, I saw some hilariously hysterical quotes from Tour players who thought that shorter players would have an advantage in dropping, over taller players with longer legs. I am not making this up. Sometimes I think that there are people whose first reaction to anything the USGA does is to criticize first and ask questions later.

    The only sensible statement I have heard in the entire controversy came from the USGA, justifying the drop-rule change. They want to continue the randomness of a “drop,” but they want to decrease the occurrence of dropped balls from a height where they bounce into an area requiring a re-drop. That is a simple, sensible explanation. I have yet to hear a simple, sensible complaint about the new rule.

    Reply Report comment

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Equipment

Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

Published

7 hours ago

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May 10, 2024

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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 timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

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Equipment

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

Published

1 day ago

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May 9, 2024

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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

Published

2 days ago

on

May 8, 2024

By

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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