Opinion & Analysis

Golf Channel’s Matt Ginella, living the dream

Published

9 years ago

Jan 16, 2015

Matt Ginella hears that he has the greatest job in the world on a daily basis. And each and every time he hears it, the Golf Channel travel guru and Morning Drive regular wholeheartedly agrees.

In 2013, after stints with Golf Digest and Golf World, Ginella jumped at the opportunity to join the Golf Channel and make a long sought after transition from print to broadcast. In his career, Ginella has covered in excess of 30 major championships and every Ryder Cup for nearly 20 years. A road warrior in every sense, he has traveled to seemingly every corner of the golf globe in search of the best courses, resorts, buddy trip hot spots and hidden gems.

Ginella with Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw at Top of Rock, swapping stories.

And even though he admits it can be tiring at times – being stuck in the middle seat on long flights and occasionally running out of underwear – Ginella’s passion for golf shines through each time he films a new segment. As he says, “I have never ‘worked’ a day in my life.”

Enjoy my Q&A with Matt Ginella.

JL: Talk about the transition you’ve made to Golf Channel and the changes in your life over the past couple years.

MG: Although I was aware I would be making significant changes in my life, nothing could’ve prepared me for the sudden extraction from the Northeast. Specifically, New York City and Brooklyn, where I lived for 19 years. To remove myself from my circle of friends, a career in print and all of the stimulations, opportunity and culture of the greatest city in the world, was overwhelming. And at times, daunting. In addition, getting settled in a new city, learning a new medium, working for a new company, and to cultivate a new social circle, posed a wide variety of personal and professional challenges. All that being said, now two years into this, I would do it all over again. It was a massive opportunity, at the right time in my life, and a dream I have been chasing since high school. A career in broadcast journalism. And when people say – to my face or through various forms of social media – that I have the greatest job in the world, I can do nothing but agree, and assure them, I do not take it for granted. I have never “worked” a day in my life. And the streak continues.

JL: For just about any golf enthusiast, it seems as though you have the best job in the world hands down. Talk about the reality – the good, bad and ugly.

MG: Only because you ask, because it’s certainly nothing I would ever volunteer, but travel, as we all know, is NOT easy. That’s really the gist of the “bad” and the “ugly.” And although I have status on four major airlines and do get the occasional upgrade, I find myself middle-seat coach on occasion. Last year, in a six-month stretch, I was home for two weekends. There was a lot of laundry on the road (occasionally buying emergency underwear), and more than once, I came back to my apartment, only to unpack, pack, and then go back to the airport that day to catch another plane.

Ginella playing the No. 9 at Turnberry.

All that being said, I wouldn’t change a thing. And not for nothing, but it helps to be without a family of my own. I get to see and play the greatest golf courses in the world. Stay at the elite resorts. Meet and speak to interesting people who are passionate about where they live, stay and play. And at the Golf Channel, much like at Golf Digest, I get to work with a group of people who are also equally passionate about the game I love. Golf, for me, is not necessarily my religion, but it is a big part of my spirituality. That’s a lot of “good.”

JL: Talk about your experiences with Arnold Palmer.

MG: I’ve been fortunate enough to have had a lot of experiences with The King. And make no mistake about it, Arnold Palmer is The King. When I was seven and my dad took me to an event in Napa, Palmer was my first memorable autograph. I love the fact that he signs autographs for an hour every day. I’ve only seen him be gracious, engaging, charming and giving. He has been, and continues to be, an invaluable ambassador to golf. All of it. There were good ones before him, but none will be bigger. And even to those who say Tiger Woods, we never have Woods without Palmer and the table he set for all who follow. So you can imagine what it feels like to work at a network he started, in a studio named for him, and to have him occasionally walk on set and stop by the show. After one of his most recent visits, I couldn’t help but take a group shot to which he agreed, and as he was taking his spot amongst the cast, he said: “What do they call this, a self?”

JL: OK, you’ve got a $100 left in your pocket and time to get in one round anywhere in the world. Where are you plunking down your money?

MG: If I were still a resident of New York, I would play Bethpage Black. Even on the weekends, it’s $75. Which gives me $25 for the 19^th hole. Ever since the U.S. Open in 2002, Black has become the face of a municipal course being good enough – great enough – to host and challenge the best players in the world. And the people who play Black are real golfers, working real jobs, and appreciate all the course has to offer not just them, but the community. And it’s by far the best public option anywhere near the greatest city in the world, and it holds its own against the other iconic private golf courses within 100 square miles.

JL: With all the travel you do, things are bound to go awry sometimes. Share a couple of “travel gone bad” stories with us.

MG: I’ve mentioned middle seats, which is the worst. Why have middle seats? Can’t there only be aisle and window seats? And I’ve had more than my share of delays, cancellations, staying at airport hotels, been rerouted to nearby cities, and I’ve had lost luggage. I’ve only lost one set of clubs. Gone, but not forgotten, I still think I might get a call one day.

Ginella playing Bandon Dunes with some buddies.

My first trip to Bandon Dunes was going to be 2003, meeting up with a few best friends to play the first two courses at the resort. We were backing up from the gate when the Northeast was hit with a rolling brownout. And although I never made it to Bandon that year, I’ve made up for it ever since.

JL: What do you like the most about your job?

MG: The travel. Regardless of how hard it is, the airplane and the ability to fly around the world is still the greatest gift of modern inventions (with the Internet coming in at a close second).

Ginella and some of his buddies at at Macrihanish Dunes.

To be seeing the world on the company dime is the ultimate history lesson, exposure to cultures, connection to family and friends anyone could hope for. And again, it helps that I don’t have a family of my own.

JL: There has been chatter about India as an upcoming hotbed for golf as the country’s interest in the game grows. Have you been or do you have any plans to check out the golf scene there?

MG: I haven’t been. I’ve probably heard some of the same things you have heard. And I hope to get there soon, but I also hope to get to China, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Dominican Republic and now Cuba.

JL: Who is filling out your dream foursome and where are you playing?

MG: I have a lot of dream foursomes. They are made up of a few combinations of friends and family. And another one of the benefits of what I do is that I get to fulfill those dreams on a regular basis. In some cases, more than once a year. Which is amazing. But if it were a dream foursome of fantasy proportions, I would want to be the fourth in a group of Hogan, Nicklaus and Woods, all in their prime. If, for no other reason, to get the answer to the burning question: Who IS the greatest of all time? And by the way, as the fourth, I would pick up on every tee. I wouldn’t want to muck up the moment with my mediocrity. And I think Nicklaus wins. He is The Ultimate Champion, never chasing anyone but himself. And yes, 18 majors is amazing, but there’s no greater stat in golf than 37 top-two finishes in majors.

JL: Can’t let you get away without a golf travel question. Give us a couple great buddy golf getaway spots in the U.S. during the winter.

MG: I keep saying this, but the world of golf in America is a buyer’s market. And will continue to be for the foreseeable future. From San Diego, Austin, Arizona, Texas and various spots in Florida, there are plenty of winter getaways that I recommend. Add Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Mexico to the list. Right now, Streamsong is getting a lot of the winter travel buzz. And deservedly so. They continue to work through a few growing pains, price points, packages that make sense and the point in which they add courses to their portfolio, but from what I’m told, it will be soon. And one thing is for sure, Streamsong is good and will only continue to get better.

No. 16 at Cabot Cliffs, which opens in July.

If you’re on a tighter budget, then try World Woods, which is north of Tampa, Barton Creek in Austin, Talking Stick in Scottsdale (add We-Ko-Pa to the itinerary), and the southern portion of the RTJ Trail. If you have an unlimited budget and don’t care about shooting 10 shots more than your average score, then you’ll love what Trump has done to Doral. Gil Hanse and partner Jim Wagner have redone the Blue, Gold and Red courses. And that puts you in Miami, which is always a good time.

JL: Thanks Matt.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans betting preview

Published

2 days ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.

TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.

Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.

However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.

Past Winners at TPC Louisiana

2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)

2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks

Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)

Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.

This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.

McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.

Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)

Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.

Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.

Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)

Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.

NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 LIV Adelaide betting preview: Cam Smith ready for big week down under

Published

2 days ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

After having four of the top twelve players on the leaderboard at The Masters, LIV Golf is set for their fifth event of the season: LIV Adelaide.

For both LIV fans and golf fans in Australia, LIV Adelaide is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With 35,000 people expected to attend each day of the tournament, the Grange Golf Club will be crawling with fans who are passionate about the sport of golf. The 12th hole, better known as “the watering hole”, is sure to have the rowdiest of the fans cheering after a long day of drinking some Leishman Lager.

The Grange Golf Club is a par-72 that measures 6,946 yards. The course features minimal resistance, as golfers went extremely low last season. In 2023, Talor Gooch shot consecutive rounds of 62 on Thursday and Friday, giving himself a gigantic cushion heading into championship Sunday. Things got tight for a while, but in the end, the Oklahoma State product was able to hold off The Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri for a three-shot victory.

The Four Aces won the team competition with the Range Goats finishing second.

*All Images Courtesy of LIV Golf*

Past Winners at LIV Adelaide

2023: Talor Gooch (-19)

Stat Leaders Through LIV Miami

Green in Regulation

Richard Bland
Jon Rahm
Paul Casey

Fairways Hit

Abraham Ancer
Graeme McDowell
Henrik Stenson

Driving Distance

Bryson DeChambeau
Joaquin Niemann
Dean Burmester

Putting

Cameron Smith
Louis Oosthuizen
Matt Jones

2024 LIV Adelaide Picks

Cameron Smith +1400 (DraftKings)

When I pulled up the odds for LIV Adelaide, I was more than a little surprised to see multiple golfers listed ahead of Cameron Smith on the betting board. A few starts ago, Cam finished runner-up at LIV Hong Kong, which is a golf course that absolutely suits his eye. Augusta National in another course that Smith could roll out of bed and finish in the top-ten at, and he did so two weeks ago at The Masters, finishing T6.

At Augusta, he gained strokes on the field on approach, off the tee (slightly), and of course, around the green and putting. Smith able to get in the mix at a major championship despite coming into the week feeling under the weather tells me that his game is once again rounding into form.

The Grange Golf Club is another course that undoubtedly suits the Australian. Smith is obviously incredibly comfortable playing in front of the Aussie faithful and has won three Australian PGA Championship’s. The course is very short and will allow Smith to play conservative off the tee, mitigating his most glaring weakness. With birdies available all over the golf course, there’s a chance the event turns into a putting contest, and there’s no one on the planet I’d rather have in one of those than Cam Smith.

Louis Oosthuizen +2200 (DraftKings)

Louis Oosthuizen has simply been one of the best players on LIV in the 2024 seas0n. The South African has finished in the top-10 on the LIV leaderboard in three of his five starts, with his best coming in Jeddah, where he finished T2. Perhaps more impressively, Oosthuizen finished T7 at LIV Miami, which took place at Doral’s “Blue Monster”, an absolutely massive golf course. Given that Louis is on the shorter side in terms of distance off the tee, his ability to play well in Miami shows how dialed he is with the irons this season.

In addition to the LIV finishes, Oosthuizen won back-to-back starts on the DP World Tour in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritus Open. He also finished runner-up at the end of February in the International Series Oman. The 41-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of 2024, regardless of tour.

For the season, Louis ranks 4th on LIV in birdies made, T9 in fairways hit and first in putting. He ranks 32nd in driving distance, but that won’t be an issue at this short course. Last season, he finished T11 at the event, but was in decent position going into the final round but fell back after shooting 70 while the rest of the field went low. This season, Oosthuizen comes into the event in peak form, and the course should be a perfect fit for his smooth swing and hot putter this week.

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Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: What really makes a wedge work? Part 1

Published

7 days ago

Apr 18, 2024

Terry Koehler

Of all the clubs in our bags, wedges are almost always the simplest in construction and, therefore, the easiest to analyze what might make one work differently from another if you know what to look for.

Wedges are a lot less mysterious than drivers, of course, as the major brands are working with a lot of “pixie dust” inside these modern marvels. That’s carrying over more to irons now, with so many new models featuring internal multi-material technologies, and almost all of them having a “badge” or insert in the back to allow more complex graphics while hiding the actual distribution of mass.

But when it comes to wedges, most on the market today are still single pieces of molded steel, either cast or forged into that shape. So, if you look closely at where the mass is distributed, it’s pretty clear how that wedge is going to perform.

To start, because of their wider soles, the majority of the mass of almost any wedge is along the bottom third of the clubhead. So, the best wedge shots are always those hit between the 2nd and 5th grooves so that more mass is directly behind that impact. Elite tour professionals practice incessantly to learn to do that consistently, wearing out a spot about the size of a penny right there. If impact moves higher than that, the face is dramatically thinner, so smash factor is compromised significantly, which reduces the overall distance the ball will fly.

Every one of us, tour players included, knows that maddening shot that we feel a bit high on the face and it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s not your fault.

If your wedges show a wear pattern the size of a silver dollar, and centered above the 3rd or 4th groove, you are not getting anywhere near the same performance from shot to shot. Robot testing proves impact even two to three grooves higher in the face can cause distance loss of up to 35 to 55 feet with modern ‘tour design’ wedges.

In addition, as impact moves above the center of mass, the golf club principle of gear effect causes the ball to fly higher with less spin. Think of modern drivers for a minute. The “holy grail” of driving is high launch and low spin, and the driver engineers are pulling out all stops to get the mass as low in the clubhead as possible to optimize this combination.

Where is all the mass in your wedges? Low. So, disregarding the higher lofts, wedges “want” to launch the ball high with low spin – exactly the opposite of what good wedge play requires penetrating ball flight with high spin.

While almost all major brand wedges have begun putting a tiny bit more thickness in the top portion of the clubhead, conventional and modern ‘tour design’ wedges perform pretty much like they always have. Elite players learn to hit those crisp, spinny penetrating wedge shots by spending lots of practice time learning to consistently make contact low in the face.

So, what about grooves and face texture?

Grooves on any club can only do so much, and no one has any material advantage here. The USGA tightly defines what we manufacturers can do with grooves and face texture, and modern manufacturing techniques allow all of us to push those limits ever closer. And we all do. End of story.

Then there’s the topic of bounce and grinds, the most complex and confusing part of the wedge formula. Many top brands offer a complex array of sole configurations, all of them admittedly specialized to a particular kind of lie or turf conditions, and/or a particular divot pattern.

But if you don’t play the same turf all the time, and make the same size divot on every swing, how would you ever figure this out?

The only way is to take any wedge you are considering and play it a few rounds, hitting all the shots you face and observing the results. There’s simply no other way.

So, hopefully this will inspire a lively conversation in our comments section, and I’ll chime in to answer any questions you might have.

And next week, I’ll dive into the rest of the wedge formula. Yes, shafts, grips and specifications are essential, too.

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