After 35 years on the professional golf beat, I’ve learned that the most revealing moments in our sport often come not from what happens on the course, but from what gets debated in the clubhouse. Rory McIlroy’s recent comments about The Players Championship and the major championship hierarchy fall squarely into that category—and they’ve got me thinking about the state of professional golf in ways that go far deeper than simple tournament classification. The Identity Crisis Nobody Wants to Admit Here’s what strikes me about this debate: we’re having it at all. In my years covering the tour—and I spent…

The Florida Effect: Why Chris Gotterup’s Offseason Move Could Signal a Larger PGA Tour Shift In my 35 years covering professional golf, I’ve learned that the most important shots aren’t always played on Sunday afternoon. Sometimes they’re played in November, when a player makes a quiet decision about where to spend the offseason. That’s exactly what Chris Gotterup did, and it might be one of the most underrated moves I’ve seen a young tour player make in the past decade. Here’s what jumps out at me about Gotterup’s 2026 campaign: Two wins in his first three starts. A meteoric rise…

Here’s something I’ve realized after years of covering golf: we’re obsessed with finding the one perfect way to do everything. The one swing method. The one fitness routine. The one diet that’ll transform our game. The one style that screams “I belong here.” But what if the real lifestyle lesson golf has to teach us is the exact opposite? I recently sat down with a swing coach who challenged the entire “my way or the highway” mentality that dominates golf instruction. And honestly, his philosophy about pivot mechanics ended up being less about golf technique and more about something we…

Build a Pre-Shot Routine You Can Trust When Everything’s on the Line Last week at Q-School, A.J. Ewart shot four consecutive rounds in the 60s to earn his PGA TOUR card. At 26, with everything on the line, he could have started experimenting with new swing thoughts or trying hero shots he’d never practiced. Instead, he did something far more powerful: he trusted his process. In my 15 years of teaching, I’ve watched golfers at every level make the same mistake when pressure arrives. They abandon what got them there. Their hands get shaky, their breathing quickens, and suddenly they’re…

The Real Cost of the Spotlight: What Paige Spiranac’s Candor Reveals About Modern Golf In 35 years covering professional golf, I’ve watched the sport transform from a gentleman’s game played by relative unknowns into a global media phenomenon. I’ve seen players become brands, rounds become content, and privacy become a luxury item. So when Paige Spiranac opens up about struggling with anxiety tied directly to her online presence, it’s worth paying attention—not as tabloid fodder, but as a window into something most of us in golf media have been quietly noticing for years. Spiranac’s recent candid Q&A with her Instagram…

Srixon ZXiR HL Irons: When Sacrificing Distance Actually Makes You a Better Scorer I’ll be honest – when I first saw the spec sheet for the Srixon ZXiR HL irons, my skepticism meter twitched. A super game improvement iron that deliberately trades distance for launch and spin? In an equipment category obsessed with ball speed and carry yardage? That’s not just swimming against the current; it’s diving to the bottom of the pool. But after putting these clubs on my launch monitor and through their paces at the range, I get it. And more importantly, the data backs it up.…

The Equipment-Free Agent Revolution: How Prize Money is Reshaping Professional Golf I’ve been covering professional golf for thirty-five years now, and I’ve watched the financial landscape of this sport transform more dramatically in the last five years than in the previous three decades combined. Back when I was caddying for Tom Lehman in the ’90s, we all knew the real money wasn’t on the course—it was in the endorsement deals. A player’s Nike contract or their relationship with a club manufacturer often dwarfed their tournament winnings by a factor of five or ten. That calculus is fundamentally shifting, and what’s…

Pebble Beach Demands More Than Distance—and That Changes Everything I’ve walked Pebble Beach enough times to know its secrets, and I can tell you this much: it’s a course that doesn’t care how far you hit it off the tee. What matters is what you do when you get there. That’s not a poetic observation—it’s the actual difference between a player who contends this week and one who leaves wondering what went wrong. Pamela Maldonado’s betting analysis for this event nails something I’ve been saying for years, and frankly, it’s refreshing to see a data-driven analyst understand what so many…

The Art of Letting Go: What Rory McIlroy’s Missing 7-Iron Teaches Us About Success There’s a moment in every golfer’s life when you realize that holding on too tightly to your greatest achievement can actually hold you back. For Rory McIlroy, that moment came on a Monday after the 2025 Masters, when he discovered his championship-winning 7-iron was missing from his bag. But here’s the thing—it wasn’t lost. It was deliberately kept at Augusta National, a tradition honoring historic victories. And when McIlroy learned what happened, his response wasn’t frustration or regret. It was acceptance, perspective, and a clear-eyed focus…

Turn Data Into Lower Scores: How Launch Monitors Transform Your Practice Sessions One of the biggest mistakes I see golfers make isn’t in their swing itself—it’s in how they practice. They spend hours at the range hitting balls without any real feedback about what’s actually happening. They feel good about a shot, assume it was solid, and move on. But here’s the truth: your perception of a good swing and your actual performance data are often worlds apart. That’s where modern launch monitors change everything. I’ve worked with students ranging from tour professionals to weekend golfers, and the ones who…