Talking Golf with the Golf Guy: Recent Episodes
Talking Golf with the Golf Guy
Webster’s Dictionary defines a coronation as the crowning of a monarch or sovereign, often accompanied by the accession and investiture of a head of state, which formally bestows honors and rankings on a person as the culmination of an effort or endeavor. On Sunday night, July 2, 2025, as daylight faded in the rustic village…
The daydream and secret fantasy of every recreational golfer and wannabe golf professional, plying their sport across the back lots and dirt tracks of forgotten munis scattered throughout this country, is to sink the winning putt on the final hole to win the United States Open Golf Championship—the crown jewel of the sports hierarchy, and…
Rory McIlroy made history on April 13, 2025, by winning the 89th Masters Golf Tournament, achieving a career Grand Slam—a rare feat shared by few golf legends. His victory highlights not only his talent and dedication but also the emotional complexities of the sport. McIlroy becomes the first European to complete the Grand Slam, marking a significant milestone in golf history.
Golf’s governing bodies did the sport of Golf a considerable favor by re-positioning the annual PGA Championship to a more welcoming setting in May, following the Masters, and shifting the dates of the tournament away from the hostile heat, unbearable mugginess, and unpredictable showers of August summers. This new sequence of Major Golf Tournaments compressed…
The 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 saw Bryson DeChambeau’s triumph, paralleling the genius of course designer Donald Ross. With perfect weather and a captivating final round, DeChambeau embraced a newfound affection from fans. His victory secured his place among golf’s elite, winning his second major and $4.3 million over Rory McIlroy.
The 106th PGA Championship at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, was marred by various dramatic events, including the arrest of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, tragic incidents, and the decline of Tiger Woods. Zander Schauffele emerged victorious with a record score, overshadowing the tournament's controversies and professional golf's ongoing struggles.
Amidst professional golf's struggles with controversy and declining interest, the 88th Master's Golf Tournament at Augusta reflects the sport's state. Scottie Scheffler's win, his second Masters, confirms his top position in the game. Golf faces unaddressed issues as Tiger Woods' era ends, leaving Scheffler dominating with continued successes against the toughest fields.
“Horses for Courses” is a term used in golf vernacular and refers to a pocket-size selection of PGA Tour Professionals winning on golf courses that suit their games, styles, and strengths. Jack Nicklaus prevailed at the Augusta National Golf Club and won the Masters six times; Tiger Woods flourished at Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, and…
Horses for Courses is a term that is often used in golf vernacular and refers to a pocket-size selection of PGA Tour Professionals winning on golf courses that suit their games, styles, and strengths. Jack Nicklaus prevailed at the Augusta National Golf Club and won the Masters six times; Tiger Woods flourished at Torrey Pines,…
The United States Open Golf Championship returned to Southern California and the Los Angeles Country after a seventy-five-year hiatus to robust criticism from players and fans alike. Small galleries, lack of grandstands, forced carries, blind tee shots, and severely sloped fairways that ran off into gnarly fescue-protected island greens and rough marred the USGA’s return…
With 2023 PGA Champion Brooks Koepka Pain is the scourge and complaint for many athletes, primarily when the suffering exists in the knees, feet, and joints that restrict their movements and range of motion. Injuries compounded and more problematic for Professional Golfers who must forcefully swing a golf club and walk when they ply their…
Legend has it that the late Seve Ballesteros, whose 66th birthday would have been this past Sunday, could get it up and down from the parking lot to save par 2023 Masters Champion, Jon Rahm, channeling his best Seve impersonation, did just that not once but twice on a rain-delayed, soggy Augusta National’s final day…
Is Tiger Woods the Greatest Golfer of all Time? That’s again the question as Tiger Woods returns to competition on the PGA Tour at this week’s Genesis Open contested at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. Tiger has not participated in a regular PGA Tour tournament since 2020. It’s also his first official…
Thirty times, the oldest major Golf Championship has been contested on the wind-swept and venerated links of the Old Course at Saint Andrews, the Scottish ancestral home of Golf and an exalted shrine to the foibles and peculiarities of Golfers through the world. The Open Championship returned to Scotland this year to celebrate the 150th…
Undoubtedly, the game and sport of Golf is an import from the British Islands. Conceived, developed, and propagated on the wind-swept Linksland of the Scottish coast, it slowly migrated to the eastern seaboard of the American mainland, where it indifferently spread amongst the blossoming and burgeoning middle class created by the industrial revolution of the…
In my fifty-plus years as a PGA Professional, whether as a Player, Administrator, Journalist, Broadcaster, or Blogger, I’ve played in, administered, and covered hundred’s Golf Tournaments globally. I’ve journeyed to and visited most of the famous and celebrated Golf cities, states, and countries worldwide. Including the 2022 PGA Championship contested this past week at the…
The History of Golf in Utah-In the Beginning, the Birth of Golf The practice of hitting, swatting, or slapping an object with a stick is as old as recorded history. Bored from tending their herds of sheep and goats, shepherd boys of nomadic Arab tribes would knock pebbles from tree to bush to pass the…
The beauty, grandeur, magnificence, and brilliance of the Master’s Golf Tournament, contested the first full week of April each year in Augusta, Georgia, has become a rite of passage for adoring sports fans worldwide. This annual celebration of spring which heralds the beginning of the golf season worldwide offers up a juxtaposition of the visionary,…
Before there were the great contemporary champions like Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, or even Bobby Jones, There was Young Tommy Morris. Arguably the greatest Professional Golfer of his era, Young Tommy was flamboyant, colorful, flashy, a born showman, and unbeatable as a professional. He won four Open Championships in a row by the…
Introduction The History of Golf in Utah mirrors that of the Nation in general with two essential and noteworthy caveats. The duality of the sport and bifurcation of rules. And why are Golf Courses built and for whom? The dichotomy of the question is, do we participate in Golf for recreation or competition? Golf, as…
A volatile and hyper-competitive Spaniard in the mode of Seve Ballesteros, Jose Marie Olazabal, and Sergio Garcia, coming off a heartbreaking forced withdrawal because of COVID-19 Symptoms, after leading by six shots in the Memorial Tournament, Jon Rahm, embracing newfound humility, perseverance, patience, and a new son, wins the 121st United States Open Championship in…
Phil Mickelson has been making sports history his entire life, ever since he burst on the scene as an amateur golfer while attending Arizona State University, winning three NCAA individual championships, three Haskins awards as the outstanding collegiate golfer, while also leading the Sun Devils to the NCAA team title in 1990. He won 16…
Bill Roland was a young man in Akron, Ohio, following his golfing hero, Tony Lema on the back nine of the 1966 PGA Championship at Firestone County Club, when a chance encounter with the golfing legend led to a lifelong fascination of the Major Championship winner and budding superstar, resulting in Roland’s researching and publishing…
There are some who derisively, and maybe with just a touch of covetousness, sometimes proclaim, “If you can play, then you play. If you can’t, then you teach.” A simplistic statement that often does no justice to the individual in question. Great teachers and administrators often possess extraordinary skills that are unique to the lessons…
No one in the history of the Los Angles-Southern California Radio Market has announced more sporting events than award-winning broadcast journalist, Ted Sobel. If you have tuned in to the radio, listened to any studio updates, or followed any of the sporting contests in Southern California, you have heard Ted’s concise, succinct, and crisp delivery…
The winners of the Annual Golf Writers Association of America writing contest are littered with many of the great names in sports journalism. Jenkins, Kindred, Sirak, Achenbach, Callahan, Diaz, Kessler, Reilly, Rosaforte, Boswell, Tayor, are some of the masters of composition whose monikers grace the walls in the pantheon of outstanding golf literature. But none…
The Shivas Irons Society is an international organization based in Southern California that promulgates the message and teachings contained in Michael Murphy’s seminal masterpiece, “Golf In The Kingdom,” first published in 1972.” The semi-autobiographic novella is a magical retelling of the novelist’s interactions with an aging Scottish Golf Professional, Teacher, Seer, and Philosopher, Shivas Irons,…