To many fans this year the Open Championship was an anti-climactic disappointment. Such a shame, the collective consensus griped, that marquee names the likes of Rory Mcilroy, Jon Rahm, and Jason Day were left to fight it out for second place. Not even runner up to the caliber of a Scottie Scheffler or Brooks Koepka you might ask?

Nope, it was the diminutive left-handed journeyman Brian Harman (gasp) who claimed the coveted Claret Jug. On moving day Saturday, Harman grabbed the lead with both hands and didn’t look back. His 6-shot victory in the pouring rain on Sunday never really looked to be in doubt, much to the chagrin of almost every fan, European and American, as well as the media.

Why is it that Harman’s win was met with barely an acknowledgment, dismissed even, by the fans and media? I thought sports fans the world over, especially Americans, love an underdog. I know I do. Think Sylvester Stallone in Rocky or the awkward Triple Crown winner Seabiscuit. We can’t resist the David vs. Goliath narrative.

Maybe golf is a little different. We like our champions to look impressive, talk impressive, and walk impressive. Harman is none of these things. He is an underdog by his very nature. He’s a soft-spoken, back country Georgian who is listed at 5’7’’ 150 lbs. Being 5’7’’ on a good day myself and having stood next to Harman, I can tell you they are being generous.

By all accounts, Harman has had a great career. He has 3 career PGA Tour wins (including the Open) and has consistently held a ranking inside the top 50 for well over a decade. Despite his success, he is not a household name week in and week out. This is largely owed to the superb depth of talent globally in golf right now. Every player looks taller than 6’0’’ and can drive the ball a country mile. Golf betting is a nightmare. Each week, there are 15 players that are young and athletic and can win, who are proven major champions. Harman is quite literally overlooked and overshadowed by this new era of golfer.

You could almost feel the golf media pulling for their favorite it player of the moment leading up to the Open. Golden boy Ricky Fowler’s resurgence at the US Open at LA Country Club kicked things off. The golf world was ecstatic when he shook off his disappointment by ending his five-year winless drought with a victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic the very next week. Rory McIlroy’s win at the Scottish Open the week before the Open Championship whipped the media and fans into a frenzy. Brooks Koepka always draws attention and Jon Rahm, the 2023 Masters Champ, made his presence felt.

Instead, it was little Brian Harman they were all chasing. His 14 waggles per shot seemed to add to the fan’s vitriol as if he was taunting them. How could this tiny bow hunting hick be winning the Open Championship?! Golf’s most prestigious and storied tournament. But give the man his due. He led the field in fairways hit and missed one putt inside 10 feet all week. That’s an old school recipe for success.

When asked by a reporter if he thought he was considered underrated, Harman replied “I don’t care.” All Harman cared about, he responded, was losing himself in his work on his golf game. Good on him. He needed to draw on every ounce of skill and experience to handle the crushing pressure of sleeping on the 54 hole lead and ignoring “unrepeatable’ comments by the Liverpool fans throughout this rounds. All while fending off some of the best players in the world in terrible weather conditions on Sunday. That’s a true Georgia under “bull” dog for you. To echo the Open leaderboard, well played Brian, see you at Royal Troon.

You’ve got to love this on-going feud between Brooks Koepka and Bryson Dechambeau. Golf needs some attitude. What makes a compelling feud? Style, or I should say, a contrast in style. Between Koepka and Dechambeau it is difficult to find a starker contrast.

First you have Koepka: He is super cool and speaks his mind.  He walks slowly but plays faster than most newly married men teeing off at 6:30 AM at their local muni.

Then there is Dechambeau. He is a nerd, the mad scientist who practically needs lab goggles and a Bunsen burner to calculate his shot. Yes, Dechambeau used a compass to practice reading greens and yes, he spritzed range balls to simulate morning dew.

Both are great players who do not apologize for who they are. The real question is, who do you give the edge to in this feud? I will attempt to break it down.

The feud publicly kicked off back in 2019 when Koepka shared his opinion to the media on the problem of slow play on the PGA tour, which is a real problem. Koepka referenced Dechambeau, specifically, for taking one minute and 20 seconds to hit each of his shots. Baffled by how someone can take that long to play their shot, he said what everyone was thinking but did not have the balls to say.

Dechambeau was unsurprisingly irked by Koepka’s comments. He escalated the issue by pointing out how Koepka should be a man and say it to his face. Be that as it may, Koepka was not wrong in his assessment of Dechambeau’s glacial pace of play.

The pace of play comment kicked off the feud, which has since descended into a more petty and comical bickering between the two players.

Dechambeau took a jab at Koepka’s’ cover photo on a recent Body issue of ESPN Magazine. The awkward photo showed Koepka swinging a golf club fully nude and sporting a bit of a belly. Dechambeau commented that he had better abs than Koepka. Koepka responded by posting a photo of his four major championship trophies and the caption: “I’m just two short of a six pack.” You have to hand it to Koepka, that was beautifully played.  

There was the ant hill episode at the St. Jude Invitational where a heated Dechambeau objected to taking a drop near a fire ant hill. The next day, Koepka hit his ball in the same area and audibly complained (in jest) about a single ant near his ball. The hilarious trolling of Dechambeau racked up more points in the feud game.

Then you had the 6’1” 240 lb Dechambeau inexplicably stating that Koepka would “kick his ass” if they ever had a fight. Koepka replied, “You’ve got that right.” Again, Koepka controls the psychological battle.

So, by this point, Koepka is firmly in command of the feud. He’s landing the most punches and has the results on the course to back it up.

By 2020, after the tour returned from the Covid lockdown, things start to change. Dechambeau reinvented his physique. He gained more weight and more distance and won the 2020 US Open along with a host of other tournaments. You can sense that Dechambeau’s transformation is starting to worry Koepka ever so slightly. He has an entirely different animal to contend with now.

During a post round interview at the PGA Championship this year, Koepka lost his train of thought as you can see Dechambeau walking directly behind him and in full view of the camera. Koepka made a big show of rolling his eyes and muttered something about, “I can’t take hearing this bullshit…”

It is unclear what caused Koepka to get upset, but it appears to be the mere presence of Dechambeau. Major points to Dechambeau if he did it on purpose.

That week, Koepka pulled a Lebron James and pouted after his second-place finish to Phil Mickelson and seemed to blame the loss on his injured knee. The only thing that rivaled Koepka’s play that week was his whining.

To sum up, I’m going to give the edge to Koepka. Mainly because Dechambeau’s nerdiness is his undoing and he falls for Koepka’s trolling a bit too easily. Although Dechambeau is clawing back in impressive fashion.

Koepka’s chill persona appears forced and disingenuous at times, and in fact he has a whiny trait that has been exposed since facing difficulties on and off the course. Dechambeau will continue to nerd out but so will his winning, and I respect his indifference to his haters. Long live the Dechambeau Koepka feud!

There are rare moments in sports history when looking back years later you remember exactly where you were and who you were with as the event took place. Phil Mickelson’s win at the 2021 PGA Championship at the age of 50 is one of those moments.

They just don’t make champions like Phil Mickelson anymore. He is the ultimate fan favorite. The charisma, always smiling, giving a thumbs up to everyone. The fluid, unmechanical, classic swing. The inner turmoil. The superhuman shot making ability mixed with a susceptibility bordering on inevitability to choke away a lead. He is human. He has giant calves. He had manboobs. he would graciously talk at length to the media after a missed cut. He is not a robot. But then, when you least expected it, Phil would charge into the lead and not let go. He would win. Always with a smile on his face. This is what happened on Sunday and it was magical.

The description above is actually about Phil Mickelson at one point in 2005. Not so much on Sunday at Kiawah Island in 2021.

No, Something about this Phil seemed different. Looking out from behind his sunglasses, it was hard to discern his emotions that he normally wears on his sleeve for all to see. Phil was always the perpetual underdog. The everyman, but also a kind of fragile golfing Mozart, playing in the shadow of the ruthless Tiger Woods. The Phil of old would find himself in the lead of a major and hit a wild drive into someone’s backyard on cue. He’d drop a shot, follow it up on the next hole with a perfectly struck iron shot and a tap in birdie. You’d be on the edge of your seat as he climbed back into contention only to miss a 4 footer for par and fade out of the lead. It was infuriating. It was like watching a good buddy play. Phil usually let you down. But sometimes, in spectacular fashion, he didn’t.

The first time I saw Phil’s name pop up on the leaderboard this week at Kiawah, I remember thinking back to the days when I knew he would be there on Sunday, always making things interesting. I looked on half hopeful half amused until I saw Brooks Koepka, the modern day Tiger impersonator just below him on the leaderboard. My heart sank a little bit. He’s too old now, I thought, he can’t withstand that kind of intimidation and pressure anymore. How wrong I was.

On this Sunday, Phil Mickelson seemed like the villain. He was in shape and had a laser like stare. He seemed like the guy to beat and you got the sense that he wasn’t going to give it away. That someone else was going to have to chase him down. Somehow, his 50 year old nerves stayed together with the help of his caddie, brother Tim. Clinging to a 2 shot lead going to the 72nd hole, I had visions of a humiliating Jean Van De Velde type collapse. Hiding behind my hands, like I was watching the Shining, Phil crushed a towering fade followed by a club twirl for the ages. Holy shit, Phil is going to do this. Sure enough, he did.

Without getting too philosophical on you (see what I did there?) this win by Phil stands for more than just sports. This win is an inspiration for anyone ready to accept their lot in life, or where society says you should be and what you should be doing at a certain age. 50 years old. You are not supposed to win a major at 50 years old. There is an entire professional golf tour designed specifically for men at 50 years or older for this very reason. It’s just what you do when you are an aging star of the PGA tour.

To be fair, Phil is not the average PGA tour professional. Talent and genetics aside, this win for Phil was about belief. Something we can all do. Belief in himself when all around him disbelieved. The hardest thing to do. Forget hitting 350 yard bombs. Staying resolute in his own belief and conviction is the most impressive part of this victory for Phil. Age is just a number on the screen. If you watched Phil close out this victory on Sunday and didn’t feel inspired than I question your enthusiasm for golf, life even. On that note, I’m off to the range.

One of the most overlooked yet important factors in playing confident golf is having a good grip on the club. Golf is hard enough as it is. The last thing you need to be worrying about is whether your physical golf grip is causing your hand to slip, feel uncomfortable or, in any way giving you self doubt about your swing.

For as long as I can remember, my hands have poured sweat while playing golf in the oppressive Northeast summer heat and humidity. With my Footjoy cabretta leather golf glove soaked completely through, it wasn’t uncommon that my grip would slip mid swing. A less than ideal shot would ensue and I would be left scratching my head about ways to solve my sweaty hands, grip slippage issue. I’ve tried everything you can think of: rotating 3 or 4 gloves throughout the round or using a rain glove. I’ve even tried excessive sweating deodorant and baseball chalk. Nothing worked as effectively as I would have liked and only served to make me feel like a head case.

This summer, I believe I finally found the cure I have been searching for practically my entire golfing life. Winn’s Dri Tac grip. I’ve always been a Golf Pride guy. Their rugged cord grips were all I ever knew and every touring pro seemed to use them. It never occurred to me that my salvation might lie within a new grip itself, rather than the perfect glove I had been seeking like an elusive unicorn.

When you take your grip on the Dri Tac, the first thing you’ll notice is the tackiness of the grip – go figure. It is akin to the feel of a new tennis over grip. It is spongy and gives you a feeling like your hands are almost stuck to the club. I love this. But I wasn’t sold until I tested it out in the summer heat. On my first go around, I didn’t change my glove once, even though it was soaked through. My grip stayed in place and may have even gotten tackier as the round went on. I was astounded.

These grips are here to stay and I would even go so far as to say that they have saved me an average of 2 or 3 shots a round. From the reviews I’ve read, the one knock on the Dri Tac is that they lack durability. This is believable, as the texture of the grip is soft and not as rugged as other grips on the market. If this is the case, however, I will gladly pay the $100 to replace my grips twice during the year if it means maintaining that amazing feel and stability. The confidence I have now to know that my grip will almost never slip is priceless. 5 stars.

A buddy of mine sent me a screen shot of Dustin Johnson’s scorecard on Friday of the Northern Trust Open. 11 under through 11 holes. I immediately turned the TV on to see a small graphic on the bottom right hand of the screen displaying #59 watch. At that pace, he was going to shoot in the mid 50s, let alone a 59. But then I thought about how nervous DJ would be as neared the 18th hole, and the possibility of going that low became a reality. DJ might tell you a different story, and I can’t read minds, but I would bet money he felt some nerves.

To those that don’t know much about golf, shooting a 59 can be equated to pitching a perfect game or a no hitter in baseball. It happens maybe once or twice a season and is a highly coveted and respected achievement.

It is human nature to get nervous when you are trying to accomplish something of significance that you have never done before. For Dustin Johnson, that was shooting a sub 60 score in a tour event. While has won 22 PGA tour events, including 1 major, he clearly got tight on the final stretch on Friday. At the time of being 11 under, DJ was 5 clear of the field for the tournament, so he was firmly in command in first place (and theoretically shouldn’t have been nervous about anything). And yet, the prospect of shooting a sub 60 round led him to close with 8 straight pars to finish with a “disappointing” 60. I found it interesting that none of the announcers made any mention of his potential nervousness. It was as if a player like DJ, who projects an aura of cool at all times, should have no problem cruising to a 59 on a ho hum Friday at a ho hum week on the PGA Tour. Laying up on his 2nd shot on the par 5 18th hole from 215 yards should have been one indication that he wasn’t feeling confident.

Nevertheless, DJ followed up that 60 with a 63 on Sunday to shoot 30 under for the tournament, one stroke shy of the PGA tour record over 4 rounds, and winning by a landslide 11 shots.

I look back on the times when I had a chance to break 100,90,80,70 for the first time. Every single time, without fail, when I had a real chance to break through one of those plateaus, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. And while I’ve never even come close to shooting a 59, DJ fundamentally felt the same nervousness that I did coming down the stretch on Friday. There’s no doubt DJ is an athletic freak, and I was certainly pulling for him, but I take comfort in the fact that the pros are still human (barely).

There is a new normal in professional sports, and that is empty stadiums, octagons, and in the PGA Tour’s case – golf courses. Seemingly gone are the days of mangled fans screaming Mashed Potatoes! Or Get in the Hole! Off of a drive on a par 5.

You would think that with the absence of fans, competitors would be free of distractions and the added pressure of having thousands of people scrutinizing their every move. Allowing them to reach their untapped potential. Not so fast.

My opinion is that this fan free PGA reality helps certain players and hurts others. The players that are the most negatively affected are the top players in the world who have an established fan base. I’m talking about the Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Rory Mcilroy, Phil Mickelson. The superstars. These guys rely on the roars from the gallery after a birdie putt and an adoring gallery offering words of encouragement following a disappointing bogey.

It is the under the radar guy, like Collin Morikawa or Daniel Berger who thrives under the current environment. Guys like him are fresh out of college, full of talent, and accustomed to playing golf with no one watching! As the pressure builds, they don’t have to face the mass of fans cheering them on or heckling them. It is a completely different environment that has to throw off some of the top players who have been around for a while.

Imagine Augusta National on Sunday at the Masters without fans. Unimaginable. Picture this scenario: 5 guys tied for the lead on the back nine on Sunday. Rory hits a 20 foot eagle putt on 15 to take the lead. Not a sound can be heard besides the fake bird sounds piped into the broadcast by CBS. No thanks.

The fact of the matter is everyone needs to get used to the new situation. A lack of fans is a pretty weak excuse for poor play, but no one can deny that it is having an impact on the tour. Let’s hope it’s short lived and we can get back to hearing drunken baba booey’s in the middle of Tiger’s backswing.

Golf is very much a game of feel. Feel with your hands, shoulders, legs, hips. The whole body is involved. So is the mind, maybe even more so. When I say the mind is involved, I mean how your mind feels. I know from experience if I am in an irritated, anxious, low mood I will probably not post a very good score. What I have started to learn, however, is that in order to improve as a golfer, you need to get used to playing regardless of your mind frame. Don’t bail on your round if you are hung over, or upset about the girl that never texted you back. Maybe you slept horribly the night before. Doesn’t matter, get out there and get used to playing (and scoring) when you don’t feel good. This builds mental toughness. The days when you feel great and refreshed will be an absolute breeze and you will fire lower scores than usual. It’s important for me to know that I can play a round of golf at 6:15 am when its 90 degrees and I’m hungover, upset about something etc..And I can still scrape around a 76. These are the building blocks for mental toughness and playing with your C game and putting up a respectable showing.

Well, I stand corrected. Last week I offered my two cents on the hype surrounding Bryson Dechambeau’s game. In a nutshell, I explained that a “scientific” golf swing doesn’t automatically yield great results on the golf course, and in Dechambeau’s case, W’s. What did he do the following week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic? That’s right he, stormed to a commanding victory with one giant drive off the tee after another. What really got my attention, however, is Dechambeaus’ competitiveness. The guy HATES to hit a bad shot at any time, and really believes in himself and his methods. I predict more than a few majors out of him before his career for sure – really going out on a limb with that prediction I know.

In a similar vein to Dechambeau, Phil Mickelson has raised some eyebrows with his increased length off the tee. Phil’s self described “bombs” are even more amazing considering the fact that he celebrated is 50th birthday last month. No one can deny the fact that Mickelson is as close to a golfing genius as there gets, and he is literally a living legend out on tour still playing with the young bucks – and contending (often). “Phil the Thrill” is well known for his daring, no laying up style on the course, and he often lives or dies by the driver. He has lost many a major championship on Sunday by hitting a drive off the reservation at a critical moment.

And now, hitting 50, Phil seems to be preoccupied with hitting the long ball and really focusing on his distance. There’s no doubt that with that distance comes longevity on the PGA tour. Don’t even ask him about his plans for the Champions Tour. My concern is that as Phil gets even older, he will put the fundamentals of what makes him so great, his short game, on the back burner. It will be easy for him to take that aspect of his game for granted. And as he gets older it will become even more critical for his short game to be at it’s sharpest. If he keeps up this fixation with distance, I foresee some great rounds but I also see him pushing a little too hard and hitting those wayward drives again. Particularly under pressure. If I were him I would spend extra time on that short game again.

There is no one-size-fits-all formula to being good at golf. You certainly need to have a technically sound golf swing to reach a low single digit or scratch handicap. That much is hard to argue. However, the intangibles such as your mentality and mindset on the golf course, is what separates the good from the great golfers.

If you’ve been following the PGA tour lately, there has been a lot of talk and commotion about the makeover of Bryson Dechambeau. People and the golf media were stunned when he emerged from the initial Coronavirus lockdown with 30 extra pounds and about 50 extra yards off the tee. With his unique golf swing, amazing power, and scientific approach to the game, he makes a fascinating case study on the “golf swing”. Now, despite the excessive coverage and hype around Dechambeau’s swing, he has yet to win a golf tournament this year. He has been knocking on the door, to be sure, but it remains to be seen if he will ultimately win this year.

The point I’m getting at is that a good golf swing doesn’t automatically translate into success on the course. You need to have a positive, grind it out at all costs mindset. You know the feeling when you have bogeyed three straight holes and you just can’t stop the bleeding. Golfers with a sound mental game know how to make changes on the fly and continue to believe that they will hit a good shot or have a good hole eventually. The attitude you want to cultivate goes something like this: I know how to play this game. I may have had a bad stretch of holes but the next shot will be good, this is where I get it back on track – i’m due for a birdie. The key is to never stop believing that you will hit your next shot well, even if you have been hitting it poorly all day. Good golfers always believe even when they don’t have their A game.

On a recent golf trip of a lifetime to St. Andrews I was reminded that golf is more than just a game. It is a way of life in some parts of the world. There is no better example than St. Andrews. The seven courses that make up St. Andrews are almost intertwined with the medieval city itself.  The Old Course is the most famous of the seven, but the other six tracks are all superb in there own right. 

If you are are going to make a trip to St. Andrews I highly recommend staying in town and playing the immediate St. Andrews courses. There are some other well known courses in the surrounding area such as Carnoustie and Kingsbarnes, each requiring a good hours drive each way from the town of St. Andrews. But the seven courses at St. Andrews all border each other (with the exception of the Castle course) and are easily accessible from the town. Not only that, they are all fun to play and being able to finish your round and have a pint in hand within 10 minutes is hard to beat.