19th Hole
Padraig Harrington has extremely bold prediction for the future of golf following ball rollback
While speaking with Golf Digest, Padraig Harrington gave his thoughts on some of the issues going on in today’s game.
In regard to the golf ball rollback, the three-time major champion said “the ball is just going too far”.
“The one thing about the rollback is it’s distinctly different—the attitude in the United States than the attitude, certainly in Ireland and the rest of Europe. You guys hate the USGA. We actually love the R&A. Golf isn’t an exclusive game in Europe. Some golf courses, we have the whole gambit. The majority of golf courses in Ireland are just regular member’s golfer courses. Yes, you need to be rich to play golf — rich in time. The people who play golf in Ireland are people who have time. Taxi drivers, policemen, anybody on shift work, and obviously people who are wealthy enough that they can make some spare time, but everybody plays in Ireland. And we all know a golf course that we grew up on that has had to change its golf holes, move part of the course, actually move the whole golf course at times because the ball is just going too far.”
Harrington also said a 5% rollback was “soft” and we may need to dial it back even further in the future.
“And it’s not 98 percent of golfers. It’s the one percent of amateurs, the young adults that we want to play the game, they can hit it. And when they miss, they miss big. It goes off the golf course, it pitches in the middle of other fairways. It’s dangerous. They can’t get insurance, they have to change the holes. So, I know there is a bit of pain involved for the majority, but it’s for the greater good of the game. And to be honest, five percent was soft. Ten percent would have been a fair hit, but five percent is really drawing a line in the sand. It’s just saying, in five year’s time, we’ll have eaten that five percent up anyway. It’s a line in the sand that says if it starts creeping again, we’re going to roll it back again.”
Perhaps most interestingly, the Irishman made a bold prediction at the end of the interview about what the rollback may mean for the women’s game.
“You know what the biggest change is going to be? “I’m going to say it here — it’s going to be the ladies game. They hit too many fairways now, so there is a huge advantage going forward for somebody who comes out there with 175-mph ball speed. There is going to be a lady coming out with 175 ball speed who can be a real competitor, and guess what? She’s going to be able to play with the men and compete.”
I asked @padraig_h for his ‘quick’ rollback take. He then spoke for 7 consecutive minutes without coming up for air.
I promise it’s worth your time, especially if you stick around for the very end when he makes an incredibly bold prediction for the future of golf pic.twitter.com/czH17T6i85
— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) December 14, 2023
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19th Hole
Butch Harmon reveals what he worked on with Rory McIlroy during visit earlier this year
While speaking on the “Son of a Butch” Podcast, legendary swing coach Butch Harmon revealed what he worked on with Rory McIlroy when the four-time major champion went to visit him after the Players Championship this season.
Butch Harmon on what he worked on with Rory:
“The work I did with him wasn’t a tremendous amount of changing what he did, it was his attitude and the way he played certain shots. From 150 yards and in he made a full swing like he was hitting a driver and I wanted him to make…
— Matt Vincenzi (@MattVincenziPGA) May 15, 2024
“The work I did with him wasn’t a tremendous amount of changing what he did, it was his attitude and the way he played certain shots. From 150 yards and in he made a full swing like he was hitting a driver and I wanted him to make more 3 quarter swings and chop the follow through off a little. He’s a very high ball hitter, but with short irons high balls aren’t good, it’s hard to control, we wanted to bring the ball flight down.”
The work certainly seemed to help McIlroy, as he went on to win the Zurich Classic alongside Shane Lowry and the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in back-to-back starts.
Rory will now tee it up at Valhalla for the PGA Championship, which is the site of his most recent major victory in 2014.
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19th Hole
Brandel Chamblee says this technological development was key to Phil Mickelson winning major championships
While speaking with GolfWRX, Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee shared that he believes the solid core golf ball helped Phil Mickelson win major championships.
“One of the consequences of the solid core golf ball coming around was it put the straightest of hitters in the rough.
“Phil started winning majors in 2004, I don’t think that’s any coincidence. I think he started winning majors after the solid core golf ball came along and put everybody in the rough.
“And so [Phil] is like ‘I got you in the rough, I’m going to kick your a**. This is my game. I’ve been in the rough my whole career. I can go over trees, through trees, around trees.’
“Because he’s got that amazing creativity and Phil is an underrated iron player, phenomenal iron player. Great, great great out of the trouble. If you put the top-40 players on a list and ranked them in terms of accuracy, he would be 40th.
“So, I think that was one of the consequences of the solid core golf balls was it allowed Phil to win major championships.”
Mickelson went on to win the Masters in 2004 as well as five additional majors from 2004-2021 including three total Masters, two PGA Championships, and an Open Championship.
Check out the full interview with Chamblee below:
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19th Hole
Former Augusta National employee pleads guilty to transporting stolen Masters memorabilia; Arnold Palmer’s green jacket among stolen items
The document was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Since then, more details have emerged about the case.
According to Darren Rovell of Cllct, one of the items that was stolen was Arnold Palmer’s green jacket.
The Chicago Tribune also reported that Globensky was able to steal the merchandise due to his role as a former warehouse coordinator at Augusta National who oversaw the Masters merchandise that was sold.
Rovell states that “A source with intimate knowledge of the case said an Augusta National member, who knew the jacket was missing, contacted a well-known collector who had gained a reputation for tracking down rare items. The member’s goal was to return the jacket to Augusta under the guise of purchasing it in a private sale.”
The plan worked, and the man agreed to sell the jacket for an agreed upon price of $3.6 million. After the sale was complete, the FBI swarmed the house of the thief.
Cllct also reported that Globensky pled guilty in a federal court in Chicago on Wednesday and now faces up to 10 years in prison.
The Chicago Tribune adds that Globensky’s plea deal includes an agreement to provide the government a cashier’s check for $1.5 million in the next few days.
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