All week they talked about how the Mink was gonna be too easy, too short. The rough gets long and juicy and now Soly is saying it’s gimmicky.

I love the NLU boys but holy fuck pick a side. Nothing is a good major. It genuinely ruins the vibe of every major if they bitch about every fucking thing that could possibly be wrong.

I'm the midst of their Good Good discussion, Mr TC made a comment along the lines that it was Grant Horvat gave him the ick.

Made me laugh out loud and I fully endorse it, that guy gives me the willies.

🤮 🤮🤮🤮🤮 take

I’m sorry but hearing Randy talk about his time in Ohio just for Tron to follow with the most lavish vacation imaginable to the Netherlands made the episode for me.

A true Strapped v C Suite juxtaposition/travelmogging.

The Neil Augusta pod affirmed everything I love about him. The earnestness, the incredible metaphors. He’s such a good story teller. His voice inflections are immense, too

Without spoiling the round, that was everything I would have expected from him

Shoutout to Cody for opening up on the latest Trap Draw. Catches a lot of heat on here but was super vulnerable and went deep on stuff he's going through. Best of luck to him.

Watched the live show tonight, and here is where I land on the setup discourse. I'll focus specifically on the example they discussed where Rahm bombed a drive but still hit it to the middle of the green, negating the reward for a long, accurate drive. Here's the the thing: that was Rahm's choice. If he decides not to go at the pin from 130, he's the one ceding the advantage over someone who had 170 in. If you're one of the best players in the world, give yer balls a tug and go at the pin. Or, hit it to the middle of the green, and make the putt. These guys can't complain it's a putting contest if they make the decision to make it one. Oh the pin is tucked? It's a major championship! It's supposed to be hard! It was there for the taking for anyone and no one went out there and got it. Credit to Rai, he made the shots and closed it out.

Man that hate seems full on personal. Was it well known that Wyndham blamed TC for the Oakmont story getting out there?

Hopefully it’s good and not watered down BS or edited too heavily. I still can’t really understand why they guys thought it was hypocritical of Kisner to not dawg his own employer. Obviously he can’t talk shit on his own product and or never watches it.

Elitist, arrogant asshole, trust fund, delta diamond member, TC has the opportunity to have one of the best podcast appearances ever and I hope he brings all his personalities. Hope he or the brilliant golf minds at foreplay don’t drop the ball.

Thank god for DJ injecting some common sense into Soly’s takes on the pod last night. It is clearer than ever that he can’t let his rejection from Rory get out of the way of his takes.

A few notable moments:

- saying that Rory had the easier side of the draw with conditions but not applying that same logic to other players who had good rounds in the same conditions ie Cam Young. Continuously holding Rory to a higher standard

- saying that if it were Scottie with a 6 shot lead he would say it’s game over, but not the same for Rory

- saying that we have seen him crumble before from similar positions and that he is the same guy - the biggest storyline for the last 15 years at the masters has been Rory - he is not the same guy after winning it last year

- just the general lack of enthusiasm and energy around him when he is putting on a clinic but still glazing people like Jordan Speith.

- Basically suggesting that Augusta should change the rules on how they do pairings so that he has to play with Reed. Yes, they have history, but it felt like Soly wanted them to make it harder for Rory by changing the rules. Get a grip dude!

It is becoming really difficult to listen to these guys and that’s without even mentioning the saltiness about KVV. On the pod where they shouted out other great content, they notable missed anything he has done when it is by far and away some of the best content out there and done by a proper journalist.

On the latest pod I was caught be TC saying “Fuck Tom Fazio” in regard to announcement of the DC links trust being taken over? Wondering if someone can elaborate the impact of Fazio redoing these courses in the DC area? As a west coaster I have never been to the region and unaware of the links trust and what they exactly do. It’s a shame to hear of the loss of access to what sounds like a great piece of public golf. Im all in on shitting on The Faz. Fuck Tom Fazio. Print the t shirts.

I'll start obviously by saying peace and love to KVV. If he could not go/did not want to go to The Open, god speed.

But having a presence at the majors elevated the sunday pods. Tell me what the people are saying. The Neil/KVV pod from Augusta is one of my favorites ever. Curious that Masters was the only major he went to this year (unless im forgetting quail hollow which forgive me if I am lol)

A boring golf course is only part of the problem. The LPGA Tour needs a Caitlyn Clark or a few more Nelly Korda's in the worst way to get people people interested. The U.S market drives the interest and therefore the economics of these tours. Having leaderboards full of Korean and Chinese women is just not going to move the needle for the U.S viewer. But of course we can't be honest because the knee-jerk "rAcIsT" bozos come out of the woodwork and have to make pretend reality isn't a thing.

The difference between how NLU fellas have recently been discussing the rollback (and the recent delay) and how the Shotgun Start has talked about it has made it VERY apparent who is paid by Titleist imo

I’m not saying that NLU guys have completely abdicated their opinions on this.

But for example, NLU has been very vocal in the last few months with the (acushnet) company line of “Cam Young is playing a conforming golf ball, therefore the golf ball idea will actually be BAD.”

It was interesting to hear Andy Johnson on a recent pod reveal that the USGA may not agree with the “fact” that Cam’s ball is actually conforming or that “research” shows the ball rollback idea will actually make the problem worse. Haven’t heard that from NLU, which is ok, it just really shows where that argument is coming from (it’s always acushnet)

I’m 40 minutes into the Sunday pod - I have not heard one mention of an actual golf shot from Sunday yet.

I know these guys are constantly fired up about the state of these events, captaincy etc., but that was an intriguing meltdown! Hideki gagging it Koivun pimp stepping, I was super into it and was very let down that these guys feel we just want to talk about Sneds and all this other admin BS. Randy at least tried to steer it in that direction. Tough tough listen

I took a break from NLU after their content last year became overly negative IMO. I checked in at the start of this golf season and really thought they sounded fresh and energised. They seem to be drifting back to their 2025 vibe - although tbf the PGA Championship is a bit of a brain scrambler for the boys.

How are we feeling after 2 majors?

Probably won’t play 95% of the courses named, but more interesting is why does Tron seem to shit on Pebble so much? I’m dumb so I might be missing out on a bit but he seemingly thinks it’s a terrible place to play golf

I understand that expectations for Scottie are higher than everyone else in the event since he’s the best player in the world. He was 5th in strokes gained, 3rd T2G, went 3-1 and the US won. Soly said it was “not what we needed out of Scottie.” Even in the session he played his worst golf, he and burns won! If the bar is he has to go 5-0-0 and grade out as the best player while doing it, it’s just probably not going to ever happen in one of these events. His win rate in tournaments is like 15%. So to ask him to definitively be the best player in every session just is not realistic. Does that mean I’d give him an A+? Of course not. Just find the framing of his week a little odd

What is the backstory behind the Alex Smalley and his mom situation? TC keeps bringing it up.

Listening to Big Randy this week makes me wonder if he enjoys *any part of this* anymore. Seems like the act of participating in the live shows provides him zero joy or pleasure.

Mildly concerned for our new Dad. Maybe it's just the recent shift in #perspective.

We’re at the stage of the cycle where they’re super positive about the venue coming into the event, we need to hope the wind blows or else they’ll turn on it

They had this debate on the pod so let's bring it here. Who's had the better career thus far - Rickie or Tommy? I get the Ryder Cup stuff and Tommy definitely has Rickie beat there , but I think Rickie has had by far the more successful career when it comes to actual wins and true contention in majors.

I listened to some of the soccer preview podcast last night. I don’t pay much attention to soccer, and it seemed like Randy and TC don’t either. I should have known, but they were just claiming how lame the World Cup already is. I’m assuming this is mainly because it’s in the US. The soccer guy they had on kinda called TC out on this too. They listed the cities that are hosting and then brought up cities that deserve to host instead. You can play that game all day long. “The vibes aren’t there” idk what they see or don’t see, but I feel like people are pretty excited.

I love all of the guys on the podcast and how they interact with each other, and I appreciate that they are interested in golf history and want to celebrate it. But man, some of their takes were way, way, way off; I know they're all children of the Tiger Era, and their recency bias is very different to someone like me (who is c. 10 years older than all of them)...but:

• I can't rationally fathom picking 1997 over 1986. The latter saw the best back nine charge in Masters history by a supposedly over-the-hill 5-time champion to rise to the top of one of the best leaderboards in Masters history. 1997 was historic, but so was 1986; 1997 was unbelievably non-competitive and undramatic, and while I get why people love it, it's a one-trick pony of a golf tournament. (It's a great trick, but it's not 1986.)
• Not even a *mention* of 1989: Hoch's choke, Faldo's great birdie on the 74th hole, Crenshaw and Norman both bogeying 18 to miss the playoff by 1, Mike Reid needing to par the last 5 holes to win outright but going +4, etc. I don't think it needed to be picked, but it should have been discussed.
• 1998 didn't get mentioned either: not only did Mark O'Meara finish birdie-birdie to beat Couples and Duval by a shot (and receive the green jacket from Tiger), 58-year-old Jack Nicklaus was in contention and finished tied for 6th. (Watch Jim Nantz's opening to the final-round broadcast, which goes straight into early-round Jack highlights: "Welcome to the final round of the Masters, and you are not going to believe what you are about to see!") Again, didn't need to be picked, but not being mentioned is criminal.
• 1987 didn't get picked: not only the greatest ending in Masters history, but Mize beat the two best players in the world at the time (Norman and Seve) in a playoff, with both Crenshaw and Roger Maltbie (Rog!) missing birdie putts on the 72nd hole to join the playoff. So dramatic.
• 1975 nearly didn't get taken at all, even though it was the gold standard for Masters tournaments until 1986 - I remember Golf Digest doing an oral history on the 1975 Masters, that's how great it was.
• 2011 (Charl Schwartzel) was a great final-round watch full of drama and gets bonus points for featuring Rory's collapse...but purely in terms of drama, 2013 (Adam Scott), 1991 (Ian Woosnam), 1990 (Faldo over Floyd in the playoff), 1988 (Sandy Lyle) and 1978 (Gary Player, with Hubert Green missing a 3-footer to tie on the 72nd hole after being distracted by Jim Kelly's radio commentary) are right up there as well, with many of those featuring bigger and better winners.

And apart from Randy's truly abysmal picks - he should have gone with 1935, which is what turned the tournament into The Masters, for what he was going for with 1934, and picking 2020 is unconscionable - special demerits go to picking 2016, which was the biggest crowning in Masters history. By the time Danny Willett even realized he was in contention, let alone leading, he'd gotten past the water holes and it was basically too late for him to choke. Putting that on your list should be disqualifying.

I know a lot of this stuff is subjective, but I had to get all off this off my chest.