Opinion & Analysis

Hole 2: Gene says “Let’s go see Ben”

Published

9 years ago

Jun 24, 2015

After my train wreck with Mr. Hogan in locker room at Shady Oaks, I knew I had better get some coaching before I was near him again. A few days after the debacle, I gathered myself enough to tell Gene in detail how I had introduced myself to him. Gene sat and listened to my story. I was embarrassed, but also knew if there was anyone that could coach me up it was Gene.

When I finished telling him what happened, I saw Gene roll his eyes and cover his face with an expression that wordlessly said, “Tom you are our new department dumb a**.” After he was sure his lesson was fully absorbed, Gene could not help but to chuckle as he fully savored his new boss’ colossal failure with the man. I was hoping Gene would offer me up a scrap of comfort and tell me things would get better, but on that day he gave me nothing but grief.

A few weeks later, Gene shared with me his cunning plan.

[quote_box_center]“So here is what we are going to do,” Gene told me. “The next time I go see Ben, I will take you with me.”[/quote_box_center]

Gene is the only man I’ve known who could actually call Mr. Hogan “Ben” without it sounding fake. I’ve heard others try to use only his first name, but something about it just sours the ears. I promise that if you were ever around Mr. Hogan for real, you would understand what I mean with that “Mr.” thing. Even now when I hear someone call him “Ben” without “Hogan” within range of my gun blast-damaged and 70’s rock music-depleted hearing, you might as well say “Ben bla, bla, bla.” I’m not going to hear anything you say.

Back to Gene’s cunning plan. One spring morning, months after the Shady Oaks experience, I was working in my drab, windowless Pafford Street office. Gene stuck his head halfway way through the door. His throat was scarred by smoker’s cancer, and when he spoke it was with the roughest pitched voice on the planet. He blew a “Phisssssh” at me to get my attention, a mouth sound only he could do. It sounded like something between a leaking tire and a full mouth spit.

[quote_box_center]“Let’s go see Ben, but keep your mouth shut while we are in there,” Gene said. [/quote_box_center]

Gene was holding a prototype wedge that Mr. Hogan would take later in the day to Shady Oaks. I was nervous as I followed behind Gene as he walked to the West End offices of the factory, marching past Mr. Hogan’s guard dogs, Pat and Sharon. They were very sweet office administrators, but they could and would become armor-plated pit bulls if you had no business in that part of the building. They eyed me as if to say, “Who are you,” and Gene told them we were were going in to see “Ben.” Did he say we? It was impossible for me at that moment to get my head around the fact I was actually walking into Mr. Hogan’s office.

I heard that he always wore a tie. Yep, there it is, I thought. It was the first time I had seen his Windsor knot in person. I knew his business dress code was enforced on all managers, and we were expected to always wear slacks, a button-up shirt and a tie at the office. I and many of the younger golf geeks wanted our threads to say “golf,” but Hogan insisted on business attire. “Dinosaur,” I thought at the time.

As we walked in, I noticed that he had a map of West Texas oil fields on his desk and he was peering over a huge black magnifying glass. I later learned he had interests in a number of Texas oil wells. Gene greeted Mr. Hogan, but within a microsecond he was firing his intense blue eyes toward me. I’m sure he remembered my stupid ambush at Shady Oaks. There were no words from him though.

Gene went around the edge of his desk with the prototype wedge and into Mr. Hogan’s personal space. That was a space I would never enter lightly again. I stayed two steps behind and in front of the huge desk. Hogan looked at me again. “Why are you here?” was what I inferred from his stare. I was thinking, “How does he do that?” He just changed all the air in the room. My arms just fell limp at my side and digestion ceased (except that I felt like I was crapping bricks).

Mr. Hogan stayed in his seat as Gene showed him the shafted wedge. Hogan then reached out, grabbed it and put it on the floor next to his chair. He golf gripped it and held it out and down to approximate the playing lie angle and club position. Over the next several years I would see him take his first look at every prototype golf club this way. If it was the first time he had seen a specific prototype, he would consider at length the bounce and juncture. I heard him once say the juncture, which is the transition area from the flat face of the club to the cylinder of the hosel, was the hardest part of a club to get right.

“Building a club is like building a house,” Mr. Hogan said on one of my trips into his office. “Get the foundation (the sole of the club) right first, and then the rest of the house can be right.”

On that day, however, he didn’t say much. I was a new person in his office, and his eyes bounced from me to the wedge, and then to Gene and me again. I winced each time he looked my way. After a few cycles of Mr. Hogan’s eyes, I was relieved that he started to ignore me and I became invisible again. Only then did normal lower-track digestion kick back in and I started to breathe.

All the time we were in there, Gene was telling Mr. Hogan with his raspy voice what had been welded, brazed and done back in the model shop to the wedge per Mr. Hogan’s directives. The boys had fixed it and Gene told him why it was now perfect, just like he ordered. Mr. Hogan nodded his head at Gene. “OK” he said. With that, Mr. Hogan leaned the wedge against the side wall of his desk and picked up his magnifying glass again.

We had been in his office a total of two minutes, maybe.

Without a word, Gene looked at me and rolled his index finger in a circle to tell me to turn around and leave. We were done, and were long past Mr. Hogan’s office door before anything was said.

“Is that the way it goes with him,” I asked. “Yes,” Gene said. “Never go see him or approach him without doing your work first. He does not like fools or loafers. Have a purpose, be brief, be all business and be prepared.”

That morning was the second time I was in the same air and room with Mr. Hogan. It was intense, but some better than my first crash-and-burn encounter at Shady Oaks. Gene showed me how it should and could be done. I would (with my mouth shut) go again and watch Gene and Mr. Hogan conduct that ritual a couple of times each month. Sometimes there was a bit more talk, but not much. There were different prototypes and music, but the same dance. It was priceless to observe. Slowly, Gene kept putting me out there with Mr. Hogan. And slowly, Mr. Hogan would tolerate me a bit more each time.

It would, however, be a full year before I would utter a single word in the presence of Mr. Ben Hogan.

Your Reaction?

LIKE158
LEGIT10
WOW9
LOL5
IDHT3
FLOP1
OB2
SHANK36

Related Topics:

Up Next

A chat with musician and golfer Javier Colon from The Voice

Don't Miss

The benefits of public and private golf

Tom Stites

Tom Stites has spent more than 30 years working in the golf industry. In that time, he has been awarded more than 200 golf-related patents, and has designed and engineered more than 300 golf products that have been sold worldwide. As part of his job, he had the opportunity to work with hundreds of touring professionals and developed clubs that have been used to win all four of golf's major championships (several times), as well as 200+ PGA Tour events. Stites got his golf industry start at the Ben Hogan Company in 1986, where Ben Hogan and his personal master club builder Gene Sheeley trained the young engineer in club design. Tom went on to start his own golf club equipment engineering company in 1993 in Fort Worth, Texas, which he sold to Nike Inc. in 2000. The facility grew and became known as "The Oven," and Stites led the design and engineering teams there for 12 years as the Director of Product Development. Stites, 59, is a proud veteran of the United States Air Force. He is now semi-retired, but continues his work as an innovation, business, engineering and design consultant. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Ben Hogan Foundation, a 501C foundation that works to preserve the legacy and memory of the late, great Ben Hogan.

24 Comments

Nolanski

Jul 8, 2015 at 4:15 pm

I love Hogan stories. I dont know why some people get offended by his sternness. It was a different generation that had to fight for everything. They didnt have the safety nets my generation(born 1984) has. It was sink or swim everyday back then.

Reply Report comment
Hogan Fan

Jul 1, 2015 at 10:23 pm

please read Tim Scott’s novel Ben Hogan The Myths Everyone Know and The Man No One Knew….it will change your negative perception of one of the greatest icons in American history

Reply Report comment
cody

Jun 25, 2015 at 1:16 pm

You know, i used to be in love with this guy. that was until I started to read about what a total jerk he was. Typical napoleon small man syndrome. All the Mr Hogan BS is starting to wear on me as well. The dude is the paul bunyan of golf. !40 mph swing speed. could tell if a club was an once to heavy, could a hit a wedge onto a tea plate from 160, and that was with traditional lofts. blah blah blah. i am kinda done with it all.

Reply Report comment
Daniel

Jun 25, 2015 at 10:50 am

My hope is that after some time getting to know Mr. Hogan and him getting to know you Mr Stites, that the relationship warmed up. I can’t see how you would continue to hold a man in such high esteem after being continually treated this way. I look forward to seeing all the articles to see if Mr Hogan eventually became a more friendly figure.

Reply Report comment
Slimeone

Jun 25, 2015 at 7:38 am

Sounds like Mr Hogan would have been ripe for a good bit of trolling! Unfortunately it hadn’t been invented yet!

Reply Report comment
Barry Switzer

Jun 24, 2015 at 11:19 pm

Ben. And I’m not affraid to say BEN was just a man.! The competitions and courses back than were beyond easy. Heck, many of us on here could’ve beat BEN. I respect his accomplishments, but his era was full of hack golf pro’s. He had it too easy and would be a wash up in today’s tour

Reply Report comment
- Me Nunya
  
  Jun 25, 2015 at 12:50 pm
  
  Oh, you….
  
  Reply Report comment
- Gary
  
  Jun 26, 2015 at 2:47 am
  
  You, my friend, have no clue what so ever. Have you ever even seen pictures of Oakmont, Riviera Country Club, Congressional. I doubt that you could break a leg there under tournament conditions, let alone PAR. And for you to think you could even measure up to Ben Hogan with a golf club, I would like to see you hit 6 balls in a row on the same trajectory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
  Reply Report comment
Bob

Jun 24, 2015 at 10:43 pm

What a ridiculous work environment and overwrought reverence. No wonder they went bust.

Reply Report comment
MichaelColo

Jun 24, 2015 at 7:15 pm

I think what allot of the posters may be missing is Mr. Hogan was protecting what he had built. It was the Ben Hogan Golf company and it was his name on each and every club that went out the door. Mr. Hogan came from humble beginnings and what he had, he had “dug out of the dirt”. He held his employees to a high standard in an effort to produce golf clubs of the highest quality, golf equipment symbolic with his name and the reputation he had built. Everything I have read and heard was Mr. Hogan’s employees loved him.

Reply Report comment
- Christosterone
  
  Jun 24, 2015 at 10:13 pm
  
  Byron Nelson and Lee Trevino came from equally, if not more hardscrabble beginnings.
  Yet neither of them treated SO many with profound disdain and an air of hubris laden dismissal.
  This is the hallmark of a narcissist….many greats posses this quality but as Byron Nelson proved in his lifelong dismantling of Mr Hogan on the course at every level, it was not a prerequisite to succeed.
  I do not allow someone’s childhood hardships to excuse boorish behaviors as an adult. It is indicative of a personality flaw at worst, bad self control at best…
  -Christosterone
  
  Reply Report comment
  - May be typos
    
    Jun 25, 2015 at 1:00 pm
    
    Lee was only nice when the cameras were on him.
    
    Reply Report comment
    - Christosterone
      
      Jun 26, 2015 at 10:02 am
      
      As a lifelong Texan I have had the pleasure of meeting Lee…he was and has always been an absolute joy.
      Heck, we even chatted at baggage claim in Palm Springs a few years back.
      I asked him mostly about his charge at the 72 open which IMHO is the greatest display of Links golf ever…take a look at the link below…lee was a god on the links and I promise you was and is nice in person.
      http://youtu.be/urdUwammrEM
      His membership at Royal Oaks through the 80s furthers this as my wife’s family was a member and my father in law had dozens of interactions with Lee. All extremely positive,
      
      Reply Report comment
    - Christosterone
      
      Jun 26, 2015 at 10:18 am
      
      Possibly the coolest story in 60s golf lore…
      http://youtu.be/9sojAI7s160
      
      Reply Report comment
    - SBoss
      
      Jun 26, 2015 at 9:47 pm
      
      I knew the clubhouse guys at an annual tour event and they told me that Lee Trevino was the biggest fraud on the tour. He was completely rude and dismissive of anyone that he deemed “below” him….
      He complained CONSTANTLY about anything that he came across in the clubhouse area. They despised Trevino.
      When I see how animated and “fun” he is when the cameras are on him? I know the truth. BTW, Jack Nicklaus wasn’t as bad as Lee Trevino but he wasn’t the best either.
      Arnold Palmer? Now that’s a guy who treated people fabulously and he treated everyone the same. He’s the genuine article…and then some.
      
      Reply Report comment
      - Christosterone
        
        Jun 28, 2015 at 10:04 am
        
        I can only speak to my experiences and Lee was a consummate gentleman in our interactions.
        This is not second hand, it is how he treated me…
        As for my father in laws interactions, I trust those more than anything.
        But I concede that I am not a friend of Trevinos so do not truly know his heart…all I know is how he treated me and how he treated people when televised…which seemed absolutely congenial…
        But my point remains that with Hogan there seems to be zero stories of positive interactions with him…
        Heck, if I was Nicklaus I would’ve punched him after what he said about Jacks cherry hills final round and his “stupidity”….yet Mr. Hogan gets a pass…
        
        Reply Report comment
Kevin

Jun 24, 2015 at 6:58 pm

Not sure if we are supposed to like Ben Hogan after reading these articles or if we are supposed to come to realize he was kind of a grump with a huge stick up his bum.

Reply Report comment
Double Mocha Man

Jun 24, 2015 at 6:13 pm

An aside: I was once involved in a Kohler/urinal encounter that breaks your Dad’s men’s room advice. But the other gentleman, at the Eaglemont Golf Course, dressed in blue suit and red tie made the first move. He was there after giving a speech to the local Chamber of Commerce. He was running for the office of Governor of Washington state. We exchanged pleasantries and I wished him luck in the upcoming election. Then, as planned, I voted for the other guy.

Reply Report comment
Double Mocha Man

Jun 24, 2015 at 6:05 pm

Tom, I love a good story. Well-written. Keep ’em coming.

Reply Report comment
talljohn777

Jun 24, 2015 at 4:47 pm

When you are at the top it takes very little effort to be kind and magnanimous and it costs nothing.

Reply Report comment
Seth

Jun 24, 2015 at 4:35 pm

Mr. Hogan… Deserves respect for his accomplishments and dedication the the game but your article is just sad dude. He wasn’t God. He was just a man. Have respect, learn from him, appreciate his legacy. I’m sure he was more uncomfortable with you around because of how you put him on a pedestal for worship.

Reply Report comment
Christosterone

Jun 24, 2015 at 3:42 pm

Tom,
First off, great articles.
I am not a fan of Ben Hogan, the man…but want to be!!!
My main issue with him is his almost sociopathic behavior towards fellow pros he deemed to be “below” him…Arnold Palmer, Johnny Miller, and Lee Trevino to name a few…
It was not necessary to be so rude to be great.
As I recall, one of the kindest men in the history of golf routinely curb stomped Ben Hogan until his 60s….Byron Nelson….
Please continue to write these as I love them and hope to slowly change my disdain for Mr. Hogan though it’s not looking good so far 🙂

Reply Report comment
May be typos

Jun 24, 2015 at 1:48 pm

Thanks to these articles I have found someone I like less than moe…I imagine hitler was a more approachable person

Reply Report comment
Sprcoop

Jun 24, 2015 at 1:04 pm

Holy sphincter cramp Batman! That sounds like a lot of fun. Not!

Reply Report comment

Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Wells Fargo Championship betting preview: Tommy Fleetwood ready to finally land maiden PGA Tour title

Published

10 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

The PGA Tour season ramps back up this week for another “signature event,” as golf fans look forward to the year’s second major championship next week.

After two weaker-field events in the Zurich Classic and the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, most of the best players in the world will head to historic Quail Hollow for one of the best non-major tournaments of the year.

Last season, Wyndham Clark won the event by four shots.

Quail Hollow is a par-71 measuring 7,521 yards that features Bermudagrass greens. The tree-lined, parkland style course can play quite difficult and features one of the most difficult three-hole stretches in golf known as “The Green Mile,” which makes up holes 16-18: two mammoth par 4s and a 221-yard par 3. All three holes have an average score over par, and water is in play in each of the last five holes on the course.

The field is excellent this week with 68 golfers teeing it up without a cut. All of the golfers who’ve qualified are set to tee it up, with the exception of Scottie Scheffler, who is expecting the birth of his first child.

Past Winners at Quail Hollow

2023: Wyndham Clark (-19)
2022: Max Homa (-8)
2021: Rory McIlroy (-10)
2019: Max Homa (-15)
2018: Jason Day (-12)
2017: Justin Thomas (-8) (PGA Championship)
2016: James Hahn (-9)
2015: Rory McIlroy (-21)

Key Stats For Quail Hollow

Strokes Gained: Approach

Strokes gained: Approach will be extremely important this week as second shots at Quail Hollow can be very difficult.

Total SG: Approach Over Past 24 Rounds

Akshay Bhatia (+1.16)
Tom Hoge (+1.12)
Corey Conners (+1.01)
Shane Lowry (+0.93)
Austin Eckroat (+0.82)

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee

Quail Hollow is a long course on which it is important to play from the fairway. Both distance and accuracy are important, as shorter tee shots will result in approach shots from 200 or more yards. With most of the holes heavily tree lined, errant drives will create some real trouble for the players.

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee Past 24 Rounds:

Ludvig Aberg (+0.73)
Rory McIlroy (+0.69)
Xander Schauffele (+0.62)
Viktor Hovland (+0.58)
Chris Kirk (+0.52)

Proximity: 175-200

The 175-200 range is key at Quail Hollow. Players who can hit their long irons well will rise to the top of the leaderboard.

Proximity: 175-200+ over past 24 rounds:

Cameron Young (28’2″)
Akshay Bhatia (29’6″)
Ludvig Aberg (+30’6″)
Sam Burns (+30’6″)
Collin Morikawa (+30’9″)

SG: Total on Tom Fazio Designs

Players who thrive on Tom Fazio designs get a bump for me at Quail Hollow this week.

SG: Total on Tom Fazio Designs over past 36 rounds:

Patrick Cantlay (+2.10)
Rory McIlroy (+1.95)
Tommy Fleetwood (+1.68)
Austin Eckroat (+1.60)
Will Zalatoris (+1.57)

Strokes Gained: Putting (Bermudagrass)

Strokes Gained: Putting has historically graded out as the most important statistic at Quail Hollow. While it isn’t always predictable, I do want to have it in the model to bump up golfers who prefer to putt on Bermudagrass.

Strokes Gained: Putting (Bermudagrass) Over Past 24 Rounds:

Taylor Moore (+0.82)
Nick Dunlap (+.76)
Wyndham Clark (+.69)
Emiliano Grillo (+.64)
Cam Davis (+.61)

Course History

This stat will incorporate players that have played well in the past at Quail Hollow.

Course History over past 36 rounds (per round):

Rory McIlroy (+2.50)
Justin Thomas (+1.96)
Jason Day (+1.92)
Rickie Fowler (+1.83)
Viktor Hovland (+1.78)

Wells Fargo Championship Model Rankings

Below, I’ve compiled overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed — SG: Approach (27%), SG: Off the Tee (23%), SG: Total on Fazio designs (12%), Proximity: 175-200 (12%), SG: Putting Bermuda grass (12%), and Course History (14%).

Wyndham Clark
Rory McIlroy
Xander Schauffele
Shane Lowry
Hideki Matsuyama
Viktor Hovland
Cameron Young
Austin Eckroat
Byeong Hun An
Justin Thomas

2024 Wells Fargo Championship Picks

Tommy Fleetwood +2500 (DraftKings)

I know many out there have Tommy fatigue when it comes to betting, which is completely understandable given his lack of ability to win on the PGA Tour thus far in his career. However, history has shown us that players with Fleetwood’s talent eventually break though, and I believe for Tommy, it’s just a matter of time.

Fleetwood has been excellent on Tom Fazio designs. Over his past 36 rounds, he ranks 3rd in the field in Strokes Gained: Total on Fazio tracks. He’s also been incredibly reliable off the tee this season. He’s gained strokes in the category in eight of his past nine starts, including at The Masters, the PLAYERS and the three “signature events” of the season. Tommy is a golfer built for tougher courses and can grind it out in difficult conditions.

Last year, Fleetwood was the first-round leader at this event, firing a Thursday 65. He finished the event in a tie for 5th place.

For those worried about Fleetwood’s disappointing start his last time out at Harbour Town, he’s bounced back nicely after plenty of poor outings this season. His T7 at the Valero Texas Open was after a MC and T35 in his prior two starts and his win at the Dubai Invitational came after a T47 at the Sentry.

I expect Tommy to bounce back this week and contend at Quail Hollow.

Justin Thomas +3000 (DraftKings)

It’s been a rough couple of years for Justin Thomas, but I don’t believe things are quite as bad as they seem for JT. He got caught in the bad side of the draw at Augusta for last month’s Masters and has gained strokes on approach in seven of his nine starts in 2024.

Thomas may have found something in his most recent start at the RBC Heritage. He finished T5 at a course that he isn’t the best fit for on paper. He also finally got the putter working and ranked 15th in Strokes Gained: Putting for the week.

The two-time PGA champion captured the first of his two major championships at Quail Hollow back in 2017, and some good vibes from the course may be enough to get JT out of his slump.

Thomas hasn’t won an event in just about two years. However, I still believe that will change soon as he’s been one of the most prolific winners throughout his PGA Tour career. Since 2015, he has 15 PGA Tour wins.

Course history is pretty sticky at Quail Hollow, with players who like the course playing well there on a regular basis. In addition to JT’s PGA Championship win in 2017, he went 4-1 at the 2022 Presidents Cup and finished T14 at the event last year despite being in poor form. Thomas can return as one of the top players on the PGA Tour with a win at a “signature event” this week.

Cameron Young +3500 (DraftKings)

For many golf bettors, it’s been frustrating backing Cam Young this season. His talent is undeniable, and one of the best and most consistent performers on the PGA Tour. He just hasn’t broken through with a victory yet. Quail Hollow has been a great place for elite players to get their first victory. Rory McIlroy, Anthony Kim, Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark all notched their first PGA Tour win at Quail.

Throughout Cam Young’s career, he has thrived at tougher courses with strong fields. This season, he finished T16 at Riviera and T9 at Augusta National, demonstrating his preference of a tough test. His ability to hit the ball long and straight off the tee make him an ideal fit for Quail Hollow, despite playing pretty poorly his first time out in 2023 (T59). Young should be comfortable playing in the region as he played his college golf at Wake Forest, which is about an hour’s drive from Quail Hollow.

The 26-year-old has played well at Tom Fazio designs in the past and ranks 8th in the field in Strokes Gained: Total on those courses in his last 36 rounds. Perhaps most importantly, this season, Young is the best player on the PGA Tour in terms of proximity from 175-200 in the fairway, which is where a plurality and many crucial shots will come from this week.

Young is an elite talent and Quail Hollow has been kind to players of his ilk who’ve yet to win on Tour.

Byeong Hun An +5000 (FanDuel)

Byeong Hun An missed some opportunities last weekend at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. He finished T4 and played some outstanding golf, but a couple of missed short putts prevented him from getting to the winning score of -23. Despite not getting the win, it’s hard to view An’s performance as anything other than an overwhelming success. It was An’s fourth top-ten finish of the season.

Last week, An gained 6.5 strokes ball striking, which was 7th in the field. He also ranked 12th for Strokes Gained: Approach and 13th for Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. The South Korean has been hitting the ball so well from tee to green all season long and he now heads to a golf course that should reward his precision.

An’s driver and long irons are absolute weapons. At Quail Hollow, players will see plenty of approach shots from the 175-200 range as well as some from 200+. In his past 24 rounds, Ben ranks 3rd in the field in proximity from 175-200 and 12th in proximity from 200+. Playing in an event that will not end up being a “birdie” fest should help An, who can separate from the field with his strong tee to green play. The putter may not always cooperate but getting to -15 is much easier than getting to -23 for elite ball strikers who tend to struggle on the greens.

Winning a “signature event” feels like a tall task for An this week with so many elite players in the field. However, he’s finished T16 at the Genesis Invitational, T16 at The Masters and T8 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The 32-year-old’s game has improved drastically this season and I believe he’s ready to get the biggest win of his career.

Your Reaction?

LIKE4
LEGIT1
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT0
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK0

19th Hole

Vincenzi’s LIV Golf Singapore betting preview: Course specialist ready to thrive once again

Published

7 days ago

Apr 30, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

After another strong showing in Australia, LIV Golf will head to Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore looking to build off of what was undoubtedly their best event to date.

Sentosa Golf Club sits on the southern tip of Singapore and is one of the most beautiful courses in the world. The course is more than just incredible scenically; it was also rated 55th in Golf Digest’s top-100 courses in 2022-2023 and has been consistently regarded as one of the best courses in Asia. Prior to being part of the LIV rotation, the course hosted the Singapore Open every year since 2005.

Sentosa Golf Club is a par 71 measuring 7,406 yards. The course will require precise ball striking and some length off the tee. It’s possible to go low due to the pristine conditions, but there are also plenty of hazards and difficult spots on the course that can bring double bogey into play in a hurry. The Bermudagrass greens are perfectly manicured, and the course has spent millions on the sub-air system to keep the greens rolling fast. I spoke to Asian Tour player, Travis Smyth, who described the greens as “the best [he’s] ever played.”

Davis Love III, who competed in a Singapore Open in 2019, also gushed over the condition of the golf course.

“I love the greens. They are fabulous,” the 21-time PGA Tour winner said.

Love III also spoke about other aspects of the golf course.

“The greens are great; the fairways are perfect. It is a wonderful course, and it’s tricky off the tee.”

“It’s a long golf course, and you get some long iron shots. It takes somebody hitting it great to hit every green even though they are big.”

As Love III said, the course can be difficult off the tee due to the length of the course and the trouble looming around every corner. It will take a terrific ball striking week to win at Sentosa Golf Club.

In his pre-tournament press conference last season, Phil Mickelson echoed many of the same sentiments.

“To play Sentosa effectively, you’re going to have a lot of shots from 160 to 210, a lot of full 6-, 7-, 8-iron shots, and you need to hit those really well and you need to drive the ball well.”

Golfers who excel from tee to green and can dial in their longer irons will have a massive advantage this week.

Stat Leaders at LIV Golf Adelaide:

Fairways Hit

1.) Louis Oosthuizen

2.) Anirban Lahiri

3.) Jon Rahm

4.) Brendan Steele

5.) Cameron Tringale

Greens in Regulation

1.) Brooks Koepka

2.) Brendan Steele

3.) Dean Burmester

4.) Cameron Tringale

5.) Anirban Lahiri

Birdies Made

1.) Brendan Steele

2.) Dean Burmester

3.) Thomas Pieters

4.) Patrick Reed

5.) Carlos Ortiz

LIV Golf Individual Standings:

1.) Joaquin Niemann

2.) Jon Rahm

3.) Dean Burmester

4.) Louis Oosthuizen

5.) Abraham Ancer

LIV Golf Team Standings:

1.) Crushers

2.) Legion XIII

3.) Torque

4.) Stinger GC

5.) Ripper GC

LIV Golf Singapore Picks

Sergio Garcia +3000 (DraftKings)

Sergio Garcia is no stranger to Sentosa Golf Club. The Spaniard won the Singapore Open in 2018 by five strokes and lost in a playoff at LIV Singapore last year to scorching hot Talor Gooch. Looking at the course setup, it’s no surprise that a player like Sergio has played incredible golf here. He’s long off the tee and is one of the better long iron players in the world when he’s in form. Garcia is also statistically a much better putter on Bermudagrass than he is on other putting surfaces. He’s putt extremely well on Sentosa’s incredibly pure green complexes.

This season, Garcia has two runner-up finishes, both of them being playoff losses. Both El Camaleon and Doral are courses he’s had success at in his career. The Spaniard is a player who plays well at his tracks, and Sentosa is one of them. I believe Sergio will get himself in the mix this week. Hopefully the third time is a charm in Singapore.

Paul Casey +3300 (FanDuel)

Paul Casey is in the midst of one of his best seasons in the five years or so. The results recently have been up and down, but he’s shown that when he’s on a golf course that suits his game, he’s amongst the contenders.

This season, Casey has finishes of T5 (LIV Las Vegas), T2 (LIV Hong Kong), and a 6th at the Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour. At his best, the Englishman is one of the best long iron players in the world, which makes him a strong fit for Sentosa. Despite being in poor form last season, he was able to fire a Sunday 63, which shows he can low here at the course.

It’s been three years since Casey has won a tournament (Omega Dubai Desert Classic in 2021), but he’s been one of the top players on LIV this season and I think he can get it done at some point this season.

Mito Pereira +5000 (Bet365)

Since Mito Pereira’s unfortunate demise at the 2022 PGA Championship, he’s been extremely inconsistent. However, over the past few months, the Chilean has played well on the International Series as well as his most recent LIV start. Mito finished 8th at LIV Adelaide, which was his best LIV finish this season.

Last year, Pereira finished 5th at LIV Singapore, shooting fantastic rounds of 67-66-66. It makes sense why Mito would like Sentosa, as preeminent ball strikers tend to rise to the challenge of the golf course. He’s a great long iron player who is long and straight off the tee.

Mito has some experience playing in Asia and is one of the most talented players on LIV who’s yet to get in the winner’s circle. I have questions about whether or not he can come through once in contention, but if he gets there, I’m happy to roll the dice.

Andy Ogletree +15000 (DraftKings)

Andy Ogletree is a player I expected to have a strong 2024 but struggled early in his first full season on LIV. After failing to crack the top-25 in any LIV event this year, the former U.S. Amateur champion finally figured things out, finished in a tie for 3rd at LIV Adelaide.

Ogletree should be incredible comfortable playing in Singapore. He won the International Series Qatar last year and finished T3 at the International Series Singapore. The 26-year-old was arguably the best player on the Asian Tour in 2023 and has been fantastic in the continent over the past 18 months.

If Ogletree has indeed found form, he looks to be an amazing value at triple-digit odds.

Your Reaction?

LIKE3
LEGIT3
WOW1
LOL2
IDHT0
FLOP2
OB0
SHANK0

Opinion & Analysis

Ryan: Lessons from the worst golf instructor in America

Published

7 days ago

Apr 30, 2024

Brendan Ryan

In Tampa, there is a golf course that boasts carts that do not work, a water range, and a group of players none of which have any chance to break 80. The course is overseen by a staff of crusty men who have succeeded at nothing in life but ending up at the worst-run course in America. However, this place is no failure. With several other local courses going out of business — and boasting outstanding greens — the place is booked full.

While I came for the great greens, I stayed to watch our resident instructor; a poor-tempered, method teacher who caters to the hopeless. At first, it was simply hilarious. However, after months of listening and watching, something clicked. I realized I had a front-row seat to the worst golf instructor in America.

Here are some of my key takeaways.

Method Teacher

It is widely accepted that there are three types of golf instructors: system teachers, non-system teachers, and method teachers. Method teachers prescribe the same antidote for each student based on a preamble which teachers can learn in a couple day certification.

Method teaching allows anyone to be certified. This process caters to the lowest caliber instructor, creating the illusion of competency. This empowers these underqualified instructors with the moniker of “certified” to prey on the innocent and uninformed.

The Cult of Stack and Jilt

The Stack and Tilt website proudly boasts, “A golfer swings his hands inward in the backswing as opposed to straight back to 1) create power, similar to a field goal kicker moving his leg in an arc and 2) to promote a swing that is in-to-out, which produces a draw (and eliminates a slice).”

Now, let me tell you something, there is this law of the universe which says “energy can either be created or destroyed,” so either these guys are defying physics or they have no idea what they are taking about. Further, the idea that the first move of the backswing determines impact is conjecture with a splash of utter fantasy.

These are the pontifications of a method — a set of prescriptions applied to everyone with the hope of some success through the placebo effect. It is one thing for a naive student to believe, for a golf instructor to drink and then dispel this Kool-Aid is malpractice.

Fooled by Randomness

In flipping a coin, or even a March Madness bet, there is a 50-50 chance of success. In golf, especially for new players, results are asymmetric. Simply put: Anything can happen. The problem is that when bad instructors work with high handicappers, each and every shot gets its own diagnosis and prescription. Soon the student is overwhelmed.

Now here’s the sinister thing: The overwhelming information is by design. In this case, the coach is not trying to make you better, they are trying to make you reliant on them for information. A quasi Stockholm syndrome of codependency.

Practice

One of the most important scientists of the 20th century was Ivan Pavlov. As you might recall, he found that animals, including humans, could be conditioned into biological responses. In golf, the idea of practice has made millions of hackers salivate that they are one lesson or practice session from “the secret.”

Sunk Cost

The idea for the worst golf instructor is to create control and dependency so that clients ignore the sunk cost of not getting better. Instead, they are held hostage by the idea that they are one lesson or tip away from unlocking their potential.

Cliches

Cliches have the effect of terminating thoughts. However, they are the weapon of choice for this instructor. Add some hyperbole and students actually get no information. As a result, these players couldn’t play golf. When they did, they had no real scheme. With no idea what they are doing, they would descend into a spiral of no idea what to do, bad results, lower confidence, and running back to the lesson tee from more cliches.

The fact is that poor instruction is about conditioning players to become reliant members of your cult. To take away autonomy. To use practice as a form of control. To sell more golf lessons not by making people better but through the guise that without the teacher, the student can never reach their full potential. All under the umbrella of being “certified” (in a 2-day course!) and a melee of cliches.

This of course is not just happening at my muni but is a systemic problem around the country and around the world, the consequences of which are giving people a great reason to stop playing golf. But hey, at least it’s selling a lot of golf balls…

Your Reaction?