THE STARTER SHACK
Professional golfers have been going deep in the last 11 years. And now we have caddies, mini-tour players, and 13 year-olds making a mockery of this game that usually makes a mockery of us. Let's be honest it still does for 99.9% of us.
🎯 The OG Mr. 59
🧐 Bryson's caddie wins golf tournament
🍺 DeChambeau slimmed down
⛳️ Don't do this when buying a golf course...also, don't buy a golf course
PGA TOUR
Is 56 The New 59?
We remember when breaking 50 over 9 holes was a reason to get sugar drunk on root beer in the parking lot at 4pm on a Tuesday.
Now we have 13 year-olds breaking 60 over 18 holes.
Al Geiberger shot a 59 in 1977 at the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic. At the time this was an unbelievable feat that would never be touched again.
Side note: we'd love to see someone, anyone, shoot a 59 with TopFlite and Spaulding irons. Anyone! (see W(was)ITB for this burst of excitement)
Chip "I'm gonna layup on 13 at Augusta National" Beck finally tied the feat 14 years later at the Las Vegas Invitational. 7 years later David Duval did the same at the 1999 Bob Hope Classic.
Then all of a sudden 59's are raining men! Or men are raining 59's.
Since 2010, 8 players have shot 59:
- Paul Goydos — 2010 John Deere Classic
- Stuart Appleby — 2010 The Greenbrier Classic
- Jim Furyk — 2013 BMW Championship
- Justin Thomas — 2017 Sony Open in Hawaii
- Adam Hadwin — 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge
- Brandt Snedeker — 2018 Wyndham Championship
- Kevin Chappell — 2020 A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier
- Scottie Scheffler — 2020 THE NORTHERN TRUST
And somewhere in the fray of all those 59's Jim Furyk bested his best with a 58 at the 2016 Travelers Championship.
Then we had Jhared (with an H) from our July 31st newsletter shoot a ridiculous 57. Yes, it was on a shorter course not up to PGA Tour standards, but it was a 57!
So the question is, with so many 59's and one 58 in the last decade...when do we start seeing the odd 57 or 56 on tour? Does it happen?
GIMME
- Golfing in the dark is a real thing: Unfortunately, golfing in the dark is what our game feels like even when the sun is shining down mid-day. But if you go out to the desert of California’s Coachella Valley you can experience golf at night. T-shirts, flip-flops, beer...sounds like our bachelor party we can't remember.
- PGA Tour and European Tour sitting in a tree: the new 2021-2022 tour schedule is out and it's...not bad. Two WGC Championships have been axed, there are only three playoff events, and the PGA Tour and European Tour are entwined in a "strategic alliance". We tried a strategic alliance once during men's night and it did not end well for anyone.
- Can you afford a golf course?: if you can someone at Golf.com has been nice enough to put together a Do's and Don'ts list. Do have enough common sense not to buy a golf course. Don't buy a golf course. That was a pretty straightforward list.
- Too hot to handle: with the heat index reaching 111° during the women's opening round of the Olympics it got to be a little too much of Lexi Thompson's caddie. It was later discovered the Russians are responsible for global warming and have been banned from the Olympics until 2022.
- DeChambeau Memorial: Bryson had a small gather at the memorial for the 10lbs he lost because of testing positive for covid. He added that he doesn't regret not getting vaccinated as he believes he's healthy (except for the covid), will continue to be healthy (except for the covid), and will work on his health (recovering from covid).
- In other DeChambeau news: while Bryson missed the Olympics and is a specimen of health (recovering from covid), his former caddie—Tim Tucker—won a golf tournament.
- Best Utility Iron: do you use a utility iron? If so, check this list to see if you totally screwed up that purchase. Here is "The Most Wanted" Utility irons for 2021 by MyGolfSpy.
PIC OF THE DAY
"Mr. 59"
With all these 57's and 58's floating around, let's not forget the OG Al Geiberger and his 59—the first in PGA Tour history. With that gorgeous ragamuffin haircut how could he have not shot 59 that day. He was probably issued a two stroke penalty for that white belt.
WITB
The next time you say your clubs suck and just don't work...Al Geiberger shot a g@d damned 59 with TopFlite AND Spaulding irons! If they don't issue a National Holiday for this American gem then we quit.
Driver: Spalding Al Geiberger model
Fairway Wood: TopFlite 4-wood
Irons: TopFlite Legacy 2- and 3-irons, Spalding Al Geiberger 4- through 9- irons
Wedges: Wilson sand wedge, a TopFlite wedge and a Con-Sole wedge.
Putter: Ping Pal putter
INSIDE THE ROPES
This young pro just learned that not all tap-ins are created equal. We hope this kid goes on to great things and won't always be remembered for this gut-wrenching—yet very familiar—short tap-in miss. The look on his face is the same face we have when the cart girl says they're out of beer. Soul crushing confusion.
GOLF GEAR
Cigar Glass: we've always considered cigars and scotch as golf gear. They're in our golf bag so they must be.
Now you can rest your cigar "in" your scotch glass while you regale everyone with the match winning 3 30 footer on the last hole. Note: do not rest the cigar and drink the scotch at the same time.
*not a sponsored post
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