The Golf Reset: Why Your Failed Fitness Routine Doesn’t Define You We’re three weeks into the new year, and I’d bet my handicap that some of you are already negotiating with yourselves about that gym membership. The Waste Management Phoenix Open just wrapped up, the Super Bowl happened, and somewhere between the nachos and the Coronas, that January fitness commitment got a little fuzzy around the edges. Here’s what I want you to know: that’s not failure. That’s just golf. Yes, golf. See, we don’t throw our clubs in the dumpster after a bad round. We don’t quit the game…

The Long Putt That Isn’t: Master Chipping with a Simpler Mindset If I had a dollar for every golfer who told me, “I just can’t chip,” I could probably fund a new clubhouse. After 15 years of teaching, I can tell you with confidence: chipping struggles aren’t about talent. They’re about understanding one simple truth that changes everything. Here it is: stop thinking of chipping as a “mini-swing.” That mental shift alone will improve your short game faster than any technical fix. Reframe Your Thinking When you stand over a chip shot, your brain is likely conjuring images of a…

Justin Thomas’s Return to the Florida Swing: A Cautious Optimism for One of Tour’s Most Talented Competitors I’ve been covering professional golf for 35 years now, and I’ve learned that comeback stories in this sport rarely follow a neat narrative. There are setbacks, false starts, and moments when a player’s body simply won’t cooperate with their competitive spirit. So when Justin Thomas announced Tuesday that he’s been cleared for all golf activity following a November microdiscectomy, my first instinct wasn’t unbridled enthusiasm. My first instinct was measured optimism—the kind you earn after watching Tom Lehman battle back injuries during his…

Why Wedge Fitting Isn’t Mysterious—It’s Just Overlooked Most golfers treat wedge selection like it’s a afterthought. They grab whatever lofts their iron set recommends, maybe throw in a 60-degree because everyone else has one, and call it a day. Meanwhile, they’ll spend three hours at a launch monitor dialing in their 3-wood. That backwards approach costs strokes—a lot of them. I’ve fitted hundreds of golfers with wedges over the years, and here’s what the data consistently shows: wedge performance is *more* sensitive to individual delivery characteristics than any other club in the bag. We’re talking about shots from 20 to…

Pebble Beach 2026: A Signature Event That Actually Feels Significant I’ve been covering professional golf for 35 years, and I can tell you with confidence that not every “Signature Event” actually feels like one. But this week at Pebble Beach? This one matters. Look, I get it. The PGA Tour created these elevated events with bigger purses and FedEx Cup points to compete with LIV, to keep the best players engaged, to create appointment television. In theory, it sounds great. In practice, sometimes you get a field that looks impressive on paper but plays like a made-for-TV exhibition. That’s not…

Elvis Has Left the Building—And He’s Headed to Augusta I’ve covered 35 years of professional golf, walked 15 Masters with Tom Lehman’s bag on my shoulder, and I’ve seen plenty of overnight sensations flame out faster than a Sunday afternoon thunderstorm at Torrey Pines. So when I read about 23-year-old Elvis Smylie’s stunning LIV Golf debut victory in Saudi Arabia, my first instinct wasn’t to crown him the next Tiger Woods. My second instinct, though? That’s where things get interesting. What strikes me about Smylie’s trajectory isn’t just the $6.8 million payday—though that’s certainly life-changing for any young player grinding…

The Rivalry That Reminds Us Why Golf Matters: Lessons from McIlroy and Reed There’s something deeply human about a good rivalry. Not the manufactured kind you see in social media beef or celebrity feuds, but the genuine, complicated kind where two fiercely competitive people have shared history—wins and losses, respect and resentment, handshakes and, well, thrown tees. I’ve been covering golf long enough to know that the McIlroy-Reed saga isn’t really about golf. Sure, on the surface it’s about Race to Dubai points and Masters victories and who can play better under pressure. But beneath that, it’s about two men…

Understanding Course Design: How Knowing Your Architect’s Mind Improves Your Game You know what I’ve noticed after 15 years of teaching golf? The golfers who improve fastest aren’t always the ones with the most natural swing. They’re the ones who understand the course itself. They read the architect’s intentions the way a chess player reads their opponent’s strategy. And here’s the thing—you don’t need to be a course designer to benefit from this knowledge. Understanding how your course was built, and why, fundamentally changes how you approach every shot. Think about it: every fairway width, every bunker placement, every green…

Charlie Woods Chooses His Own Path: What FSU’s Commitment Says About Golf’s Next Generation I’ve been covering professional golf for 35 years now, and I’ve learned that the most interesting stories rarely happen on the back nine of a major championship. Sometimes they happen on Instagram, when a 16-year-old decides to chart his own course—literally and figuratively. When Charlie Woods announced his verbal commitment to Florida State University this week with the simple post, “Excited to announce my commitment to play golf at Florida State University – go Noles!” he made a choice that, on the surface, seems like a…

Doha Golf Club: A Desert Oasis That’s Grown Into Its Own There’s something humbling about revisiting a golf course after two decades. The landscape shifts. The turf matures. Your own perspective changes. When Pádraig Harrington returned to Doha Golf Club for the Qatar Masters—a milestone marking his 500th DP World Tour start—he was essentially meeting an old acquaintance who’d aged gracefully. And his observations offer a masterclass in how courses evolve, and why that matters. Doha Golf Club sits on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital, a verdant punctuation mark against the harsh desert that surrounds it. The course occupies roughly…