There are some stories that just resonate, that tap into something deeper than the game itself. And as Lifestyle Editor for The Daily Duffer, I’m always on the lookout for those moments that show us how golf intertwines with the larger fabric of life. This week, as the golf world descends on Pebble Beach for the AT&T Pro-Am, I found myself captivated by a tale that beautifully illustrates this connection: the unexpected intersection of golf and the Grateful Dead. Now, I know what some of you might be thinking. Grateful Dead? On a golf course? Isn’t golf all about manicured…

Building a Body That Swings: Why Your Offseason Matters More Than You Think I have a confession: the best golf instruction I ever give doesn’t happen on the range. It happens in a conversation about what golfers do between rounds. Over my 15 years teaching, I’ve noticed something that separates golfers who plateau from those who keep improving. It’s not talent. It’s not even practice volume. It’s consistency—the kind that compounds over months and years. The golfers who see real progress are the ones who understand that golf is a whole-body endeavor, and that February matters just as much as…

Theegala’s Chipping Philosophy Could Be the Antidote to Golf’s Distance Arms Race Last week at TPC Scottsdale, something refreshing happened in a PGA Tour press room. A 15-year-old reporter asked Sahith Theegala a simple question about how junior golfers should develop their games, and the answer cut through all the noise we’ve been hearing about launch monitors, TrackMan data, and the relentless pursuit of longer drives. In my 35 years covering this game—including a stint caddying for Tom Lehman back when we actually thought about trajectory and course management—I’ve watched the sport chase numerous trends. But this distance obsession feels…

The Fitting Paralysis Problem—And Why 2026 Is Actually Your Year to Pull the Trigger There’s a moment that happens in almost every fitting I conduct—that split second when a golfer realizes they have genuinely good options. Not marginal differences. Not “well, this one is slightly better.” I’m talking about real, viable alternatives that could all legitimately stay in the bag without performance suffering. It used to be rare. Ten years ago, you’d find your driver, and you’d own it for three years because the gap between the best option and the second-best was actually significant. Today? After fitting hundreds of…

James Nicholas’ Bogota Win Reveals an Uncomfortable Truth About Professional Golf Economics I’ve been covering professional golf for 35 years, and I’ve watched this sport transform in ways that would make my younger self’s head spin. Prize money has exploded. Technology has revolutionized the game. But what James Nicholas just did in Bogota—and more importantly, what he revealed about the economics of that victory—tells us something crucial about where professional golf really stands in 2026. On the surface, Nicholas’ first Korn Ferry Tour win at the Astara Golf Championship is exactly the feel-good story we need. A Yale-educated American grinding…

Pebble Beach Tests Character Over Distance: Why This Week Separates The Pretenders From The Real Deals I’ve walked Pebble Beach in February more times than I care to count—and I say that as a compliment. After 35 years covering this tour, I can tell you that no course on the PGA schedule does a better job of exposing exactly who a player really is on any given week. Pebble doesn’t lie. It whispers the truth in a way that sprawling desert courses never can. The betting analysts are onto something important this week, and it’s worth unpacking beyond the surface-level…

There’s something refreshing about watching a 15-year-old ask better questions than most of us ever will. At last week’s WM Phoenix Open, Maverick Midthun—a high school freshman representing “Today’s Junior Golfer,” an Arizona non-profit supporting lower-income junior players—stood in the media center alongside veteran reporters and asked Sahith Theegala a question that cut right to the heart of what’s wrong with modern golf culture. His question was simple: What advice would you give a junior golfer aspiring to play the PGA Tour? Theegala’s answer should be required reading for every golfer, amateur or professional, who’s ever felt the pressure to…

Two Drills That Will Transform Your Ball-Striking Under Pressure When Chris Gotterup closed out the 2026 WM Phoenix Open with a strong final round, he wasn’t relying on luck or raw power alone. Instead, he credited something far more reliable: consistency and control. And here’s what struck me about his post-round comments—he understood something that separates good golfers from great ones. Power without control is a gamble you’ll lose more often than you’ll win. In my fifteen years of teaching, I’ve watched this pattern repeat countless times. A student comes to me frustrated because they hit the ball far but…

The Gym Is Now Golf’s Off-Season Essential—And Tour Players Already Know It After 35 years covering professional golf, I’ve watched the sport evolve in ways that would’ve seemed impossible in the ’80s and ’90s. But here’s what strikes me most about the current landscape: the conversation around physical conditioning has fundamentally shifted. It’s no longer optional. It’s foundational. The article making rounds this week—a deep dive into one golfer’s pursuit of swing speed through structured strength training—might seem like a niche fitness story. But it’s actually a window into how seriously the modern game takes athleticism. And frankly, it’s about…

The PING Principle: Why Engineering Beats Craftsmanship (And Why It Still Matters Today) I’ve tested hundreds of golf clubs across launch monitors, fit thousands of golfers into equipment, and spent countless hours chasing marginal gains in ball speed and dispersion. After all that data collection, I can tell you with certainty: PING’s approach to club design—rooted in physics rather than tradition—changed everything. And we’re still living in that world today. The MyGolfSpy piece on PING’s history nails something crucial that gets lost in modern equipment marketing: Karsten Solheim wasn’t trying to make clubs that looked cool or felt premium. He…