June 14, 2020 • 29 mins
On episode sixteen of the Shack Show, Geoff Shackelford instantly reacts and shares his takeaways, both positive and negative, from the PGA TOUR's return at Colonial Country Club
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Shack Show is a production of I Heart Radio.
The PGA Tour is back, The Return to Golf is
in the books at Colonial Daniel Burger is your winner
on today's Shack Show. I'm just gonna ask you to
zero in on a little something to ponder from the week,
and then send you off to a few other sources
to read about details of the tournament, and then also
(00:21):
have a little chat with Tim Pratica, the editor, producer,
and guiding light of The Shack Show. All right, so
there's so much to think about from this first tour
(00:43):
event in the COVID nineteen era, and I will send
you to my website. I did a winners and losers column.
I will also probably do a roundup of some of
the things that are written from on site from the
few writers who were allowed there, although they really didn't
get any access to any players, so I don't know
what they'll be able to share with us, but there
were some very good writers there and I look forward
to kind of pouring through that. But right now, just
(01:05):
kind of right off the back of the tournament, the
the really top line story for those of us who
love the sport and want to see how this all
played out is the component of television, and I thought
all things considered, CBS did a phenomenal job, knowing that
(01:25):
they were restricted on so many uh in so many
ways or limited by the same old ways that we
know from the past, just way too many commercial obligations
and promos, and I mean that list of things that
lands Bear must have in the truck to to to
get in and out of a telecast have got to
be brutal. Saturday's telecast, I thought the commercial load was
(01:49):
was shockingly light, And of course now I know why
Sunday was brutal. Brutal. It's just just really hard to
watch at a certain point, especially when you had a
golf tournament with so many people in contention. You need
you need somebody to be able to kind of set
up what we're looking at here, who's in the best
position in this this horse race when it and and
(02:11):
it is a horse race like that instead of two
people and we just they just didn't have time the
ability to do that. They're not all there together, the
CBS team, and it really was difficult if you were
a new fan coming into golf to watch this, to
kind of grasp what we were seeing there with all
these top players suddenly disappearing, and who really had the
best shot, and who was doing what to get in
(02:32):
the clubhouse. It just it just wasn't there. And and
really I do blame the number of interruptions. Is is
kind of interrupting that flow. Um. So that said, I
would say that technically, other than I guess part of
the country got a lot of standard definition golf on Saturday,
CBS did beautifully. Just hats off to the crew and
(02:53):
the people on site. It looked really really hot and
that is just a a and then you throw o
and all the things they have to do for safety, brutal,
brutal task. They did a really nice job. The announcers
spread on in two locations, Jim Nanson fort Worth and
Nick Faldo, Frank Nabelow and Ian Baker Finch in Orlando
(03:16):
in the on the Morning Drive set, all things considered,
did pretty well. And uh, you know, you were missing
some of those things that you get from an announcer
sitting on a hole all day. And that's that was
probably the one thing that stood out to me that
with so many putts missed and so many weird little
moments of of shock, whole lipouts and different things. It was.
(03:39):
It was just peculiar not having that usual knowledge that
the announcers sitting there all day and say, hey, this
pen on seventeen. You've got to watch the three footers here,
because I think if somebody was sitting there all day,
they would have been able to say that. It became apparent.
Of course after many misses um other positives, and again
I have all the winners and losers on my website.
Jeff Shakle for dot Com. I thought the live drone
(04:01):
on Saturday was really interesting and it just showed again
how that drone getting down at a certain height but
not too high, not too low, trailing up behind the
leaders um was really interesting. It was just it just
gave you a sense of place, a little bit of
the scale, the vibe, which of course there wasn't much
vibe because there were no people, but it was just different.
(04:23):
It was nice. A couple of times went to the
drone put up the leaderboard. Really didn't get to enjoy
that bird's eye view, which was a shame. Sunday, I
think the wind really limited the drone crew and so
the shots weren't quite as compelling. There was some weird
little shot they kept doing on eighteen in lieu of
the uh the shot they traditionally have there with the
clubhouse in the lake, and it was just it was
(04:43):
a little too far back and we saw a way
more card path than we did um uh green and setting.
But whatever. It was very windy and it's very hard
to operate a drone in the wind, So they have
my sympathy. As for other elements of nitpicking, well, obviously,
I don't think I need to tell you that the
commercial load was awful, and um, the eye on the
(05:07):
course component we were warned about was sort of code
for be ready for lots of interruptions. Uh. CBS also
had a confession cam as it was branded and and
and I hope it never sees a light of dig
And it was truly one more thing that just took
us away from from an interesting golf tournament. I don't
(05:27):
need to know Keegan Bradley how happy he is to
be back, or the Jim Furicks working on some things
in his game to get better. That that that really
just did absolutely nothing. It just it kind of gave
this hostage video element to the proceedings that just just
did not advance the storytelling of what was a very
compelling golf tournament. Obviously one less compelling without the energy
(05:51):
of of roars and some of the dynamics you get
with the player making a putt or a player hearing
a a roar and wondering what that was. Um, so
that that component they can toss and Uh. But overall,
the thing that I wanted to point out and ask
you to think about if you're not on social media
and you're not seeing what's going on, but the conversation
(06:12):
about players wearing microphones is continuing, and in our world
right now, it is a supremely first world matter. Uh.
That probably seems laughable to somebody watching golf. People bigger
about this from the inside, but but it's an important topic.
For this reason, players are resistant to it, and unfortunately
(06:33):
I don't see the reasoning being quite what you would hope.
I saw Willie Wilcox mentioned on Twitter corn Ferry Tour
player he refused because he felt like the equipment was
just too goofy and clunky and awkward, and he was
worried about poor language being picked up. I would totally
get it if those were the main reasons that players
(06:55):
were concerned about wearing a microphone unfortunately, and I'm going
to talk about this a little bit with Minnesota Tim.
What worries me is that players are fearful that their
important state secrets would be heard on national TV about
how they play the game and what makes them different,
and their team members are telling them that this is
(07:16):
this is important stuff. And I know this just from
being in tournaments and listening to players and asking players,
you know, what was your thinking on that? Well, yeah,
it's just something between me and my team. Um. And
that is really frightening and bad news for golf that
if the view of what they do is so important
and so secretive that we as fans can't hear it
(07:40):
because it could compromise the competition in their minds or
their their ability to separate themselves. That's a disaster. Um.
That sends a bad attitude out to people that these
guys think they're in a club and it's we're just
so lucky to even be able to get to see
them wave to us on the first t and hit
a T shot. Uh. That attitude will rubbed people the
(08:00):
wrong way. The sports fan is used to now hearing
more things, whether it's live or whether it's the production
team going back and say, hey, five minutes ago, here
was a conversation that Colin Marcaba had with his caddie
check this out, which is certainly something that could be done.
The players just have to understand they're not that interesting.
(08:22):
Their conversations are not that interesting. But for us at home,
as Thursday's round showed with Ricky Fowler, the things we
picked up we're just different and they were interesting enough,
and they were and then some of them required a
little announcer explanation and it just gave the broadcast something different.
(08:43):
That's all we want is it's just to feel like
we're there a little bit more. And that's what happened
with the match. We felt like we were there, and
when Ricky Fowler was playing, you just kind of felt
like you were there for the ride and uh inside
the round with him in the ropes and I love that,
and it just it just changes your experience as a viewer,
(09:05):
and golf really needs to change that viewer experience. And
so watch this here in the coming weeks. Jim Nance
kinda through the guys under the bus a little bit.
Adam Hadwin has kind of come forward and said no,
I've volunteered twelve days ago. Anyway, you're gonna hear Adam
Hadwin with a mike. He's a great talker this week
at Hilton Head. But it's more than that they're gonna
(09:27):
they need to have microphones and cups like Fox does
or on the bag so we can hear these conversations.
But more importantly, the players have got to understand that
this attitude of privilege, of entitlement to their secret important
discussions well absolutely scare people off. And this is a
(09:47):
chance right now for golf to bring in new fans,
to show people that the ins and outs of the
game are really fascinating when we're just allowed to sit
back and and hear it and and and have the
announcers analyze it. So I hope all the hundreds of
PGA torqu players who listen to the show take those
(10:09):
words to heart, or maybe the ones that the commissioner
tries to put forward and explain to them why if
they would like to be paid, they need to consider
these things. Let's take a quick breakcre on the Shack Show,
and then I'm going to talk a little bit more
about colonial and then Charles Schwab challenge with The Shack
Show producer Temper Rodin. All Right, my head is spinning
(10:46):
from this bizarre first week of golf in this bizarre time.
And so Minnesota Tim, who produces this show and is
the host of the Minnesota Tim podcasts and makes me
sound good and takes out all my lips Mack and
editing the show, is a golf fan. So Tim, help
me here. What what do we need to zero in
on from today? Because there's so much that went on
(11:08):
and the Charles Schwab challenge. Yeah, Jeff, So there were
some obvious things and some not so obvious things that
need to be focused in on. So one of the
obvious things is that there were no fans there, and
without there being fans, it really seemed like at some
points during the broadcast we were able to hear conversations
(11:32):
between players and caddies, and even players that weren't miked up,
we were able to hear conversations between players and caddies.
And sometimes you can hear that on a regular basis
as well. Um, but it seemed like we were able
to get more of that this week. Wanted to get
your thoughts on that. I actually wanted more I'm I'm
(11:53):
greedy though, because I want to hear what's going on
out there, and I actually expected to hear a little
more picked up by the mix than we we did.
But I mean, the best was when Ricky was playing
Ricky Fowler wearing a mic, and you got to hear
a lot of the interaction in the group or whatever
it was, when he didn't know where his ball ended up,
(12:13):
if it went out of bounds, all that stuff, and
he was trying to get direction. So yeah, it was better.
But uh and and understandably CBS did not have the
full uh effort like Fox does at the US Open,
or even CBS on a normal week or NBC, you
know has a great sound guy and does UH work
there that is often underappreciated. So I understand they had
(12:38):
fewer microphones. You know, I didn't see many by greens. Frankly,
I don't know, did you. So they they they did well,
but it showed you that without fans, Yes, if the
microphones are well placed, we'll pick up more. The problem, Tim,
you know what the problem is. You've seen it on Twitter.
I'm just now having to deal with the Adam had
when Marching and Chowder society. These guys think they're conversations
(13:00):
out there. Are are are akin to the Joint chiefs
of Staff having a meeting, you know, in the bunker
of the White House during a war. I mean, it's
golf guys. You know, yes, I know, you don't want
to have us pick up of a little swearing. I
get that. Nothing that they are saying is that interesting
or that privileged. I'm sorry, they need to get over this.
(13:24):
It's ridiculous. It's not it's they're not being this way
because they're really worried about the F bombs. I would
get it if they were saying it was about the equipment,
because the equipment is kind of clunky. And I totally
get that as a golfer who wants to have a
cable running up your back and and and a thing
on your belt that. But they're not saying that. They're
(13:46):
they're acting like it's there. They want to keep their
their insights secret. Every other league. You you literally could
listen in on what's going on during the sport now
and in NASCAR, and and it's just anyway we could
go on, and it's so bizarre to me. They have
to get over this. Well, it makes you. It makes
(14:07):
you wonder, Um, did did you hear the mic pick
up the first shot on Thursday of brooks Kepka and
drawn rom after he chipped it in. Sure? Yeah, that
was and Jim nance handled it beautifully. It was It
was not the way they wanted to kick off things,
and it might have made them a little more sensitive
going forward. Yeah. Yeah, So another one of the big
(14:30):
things that I noticed this week, coming from an average
golf fan like myself, Um, it seemed like there were
a lot There was a lot of choking going on.
It seemed like they were it seemed like putts throughout
the week and not just on Sunday, Thursday, Friday and
Saturday as well. We're less short. A lot of people
were missing short puts. Jordan's beak four putted, and I
(14:50):
mean he does that all the time anyway. But Zander,
more Kawa, Bryce and d Shambau. I mean, those are
just a few of the guys that I wrote down
that we're missing short puts and we're just awful around
the greens. I have a few thoughts on that one.
They clearly softened the course. From what we had heard
it was playing like the week before to get the
(15:12):
field around, and I noted this in my winners and
Losers column, so they it was. It was a little
over watered um, but it made sense to get the
field around and ended up great. They let the place
up and then they took it up a little notch
on the weekend. And we've seen that great players, as
great as they are, they still don't love big upgrades
(15:34):
and green speed mid tournament. It looked at me like
they picked up just enough pace combined with whole locations
where you know, generally the tour staff doesn't like to
see a ball snap near the hole when they place
a cup, and I did see a lot of that.
I was surprised. Um, so they used some pretty tough
whole locations at times, sneaky tough that might have looked
(15:56):
simple to us on TV. And you saw that ball
get up to the whole and kind of men justin
Rose on eighteen, that pot just took a dive in
front of the cup that would have gotten him to fifteen,
and he handled it beautifully. I couldn't believe how jovial
he was in his post round interview, but obviously it
was a great week for him. Kind of probably with
(16:17):
low expectations, Speith was a peery yip job, peer up.
I mean you saw the forward press he's he was
back to the not that nice simple put the putter down,
lock in the forward press and boom boom. It was.
It was not a good look. He looked uncomfortable on
that one. I mean, we all have been there. I'm laughing,
but um so yeah. But but overall, but to your
(16:38):
point the choke job, I have a theory. I think
the world rankings have gotten a little out of hand
in the way people expect that if you're the world
number one, you're gonna perform every day like the world
number one, and they don't mean a thing when you
get on the golf course. Now, what is startling is
here's a great golf course that has always produced uh
quality winners and a leaderboard that was amazing with multiple
(17:02):
elite players and other than really Justin Rose from the
super elite. They had a horrible day. They were they
were awful. Um Justin Thomas was just okay. It was
just his lull round of the week, I guess. But uh,
it was kind of startling that you you saw the
(17:22):
conditions get ratcheted up a little quicker greens, a little drier,
a little more wind. And that's usually the recipe where
the journeyman, the solid tour player kind of gets left
behind in the elite guys take over, and that didn't
happen today. I went the other direction. So that was
(17:43):
totally bizarre. And I have no other theory other than
we probably over inflate the importance of the world ranking
and expect ridiculous things just because somebody's in the top
ten in the world. Okay, all right, well I will
let you buy that theory. Are you working with you?
It's not ten ranking theory? No, Well, it's just over
it's just over inflated. It's not like tennis, where you're
(18:06):
the number one player in the world and you you
generally play like it every day. Golf is just different.
But I don't think that's a reason for guys missing
putts and struggle. No, no, no, no, no putting. Yeah,
I agree, it was. It was. It was alarming, and
at times, for sure, the greens definitely had a little
bouncing this. We had some good worm cam shots. I mean,
Morika was put in the playoff. He just the minute
(18:27):
it was off the face you could see he just
pushed it a touch. I thought, yeah, I mean that
Mark Immelman set it up, said it's just inside, just
a little less center, and the menut he hit it you,
Oh no new Uh So I don't know about Chaflets
putt on on the same hall, but that cup definitely
gave him trouble. I wonder, Jeff, if the short putts,
(18:50):
all of these short puts these players are missing, is
a product of these PGA tour players not practicing them
while they're on their home course for three months. They
just pick up and go on to the next hole. Well,
it was impressive how good the golf was the first
few days, because we kind of gleaned from a lot
of interviews and social media that that a lot of
players put the clubs away and the rust was not apparent.
(19:14):
And I think that was the most impressive thing about
really the first the first three days really, And so
you may have a point. It may have just been
the simple, simple element of rust finally reared its head
when things just went up a notch and those players
who were shut it down for a while didn't really
quite have everything going. And the two guys who were
(19:36):
playing great before the break ended up in the playoff,
so maybe we shouldn't have been surprised. And uh, and
by the way, I'm so happy for Daniel Berger. Anybody
who has a risk injury, I've had it. It's the
worst injury in golf. And then to be playing the
way he was before the break and have this this
shutdown and then to come and do what he did,
(19:57):
and then he and and he showed some emotion after,
which was wonderful because the thing missing with fans was
kind of some of the emotion of players. Mean, Xander
looked like he wanted to break every club in his
bag on eighteen, which is great. That made you go, okay, yeah,
this this tournament mattered because he looked he didn't do
anything rude, he just he just looked like he was
(20:19):
about to erupt as a volcano. He didn't look happy.
And it was quite a wacky performance there down the
stretch in so many ways. But uh, and then Burger
just that was nice to see some tears and choked
up and what it meant for him to come back
and after sort of being forgotten. Yeah, I got one
more point for you, Jeff on my end, So our
(20:40):
big discussion between you and me and you and the
rest of the golf world. Is the golf ball going
too far? That's your big bit, that's your big I
thought we were gonna have a short chat here on
Sunday night, and you can make it quick. We can
get quick. So Colonial Country Club. It's not an overly
long golf course, but a lot of dog ladies. Here
we go with the scores. Paraways aren't wide. You gotta
(21:02):
take irons off the tea. Bryson d Jambou average yards
off the tee, Daniel Burger average three and six, Burger one,
Shamba did not do not shorten the golf ball. Oh dear, Yeah,
that's that's a tough take. We're gonna have to work
on this behind the scenes where nobody should have to
(21:25):
listen to me. Uh okay, let's let's just think about
it this way. If we took ten percent off the
ball and allowed them to hit drivers on more holes,
guess what, bryceon d Shambo because of what he's doing,
would still be the longest player in the field, and
Daniel Burger probably would have still won the tournament or
been right there. You know. It was just such a crapshoot.
(21:47):
Who knows, But Uh, you have to understand the point
of that of wanting to take to chip off something
is to make colonial more, uh, play more like it
wasn't ended to play to see a few more drivers
during the round, a few more mid irons into greens.
It's not to take away something that Bryson has earned
(22:10):
or or Daniel Berger has earned. And it's it's too
just bring some elements back in the sport that are
allowing us to go back to these historic places. I mean,
how cool is it that we get to go to
this place where Hogan won five times. It's just not
so cool when we go back there and they just
(22:31):
play some bizarro game that that by the way, it's
it's just not that interesting, and especially when TBS is
showing it because you never see any T shots. I don't,
not never, not never, but they did. They showed very
few T shots of Bryson and it is compelling right
now when he hits a driver. Um, I don't I
(22:52):
don't disagree, but the number doesn't really mean anything. What's
interesting to me is that what you just pointed out
that one player, one one player with his strategy contended
but it didn't quite pay off. It doesn't mean it's
a wrong strategy, but I think over the course of
the year it's the right one. The numbers said bomb
bomb it down there and and gouge a wedge out,
(23:14):
and that's up for the governing bodies to decide if
that's good golf, if that's really what we want, and
if that's healthy. And I'm, as you know, don't believe
that's the case. M didn't didn't convince you there, huh? Tim? Okay, Well,
I'd like to say, you know, cut you off or
say something, but you're the editing maestro of this show,
(23:36):
so you'll be able to decide how you want to
handle that. You can probably chop out a few of
my comments and make me. Look, hey, Jeff, will you
say one more comment and say, Tim, I agree with you,
and then I'll just delete everything. You just yeah, you
can just use that any time. Yeah. Well, I appreciate
the chat. I appreciate you bringing that point up, but
and I mostly appreciate that we had some interesting fodder.
(23:59):
But I'm just curious, quickly, as a as a as
a sports fan, you're just a big sports fan. What
do you think I mean? Is this gonna work? Are
we gonna is this I mean, golf I believe will work,
but is this is this doable? Well we just saw yeah,
I definitely believe so. But the one thing that's going
(24:20):
to be interesting, Jeff, is I don't know if this.
I don't think this is an f I do not
think this is a n if I, but rather a
when we've seen it on the corn Ferry two already
four players tested positive for COVID nineteen. When will the
PGA Tour player test positive for COVID nineteen? And yeah, yeah,
(24:44):
how do they handle it? That's the question. And that
was a big number from the corn Ferry tour. And
I heard one player did not test positive but was
asked to stay home because he had come in close
contact with some people. Um, so that was that was
eye opening. And that's the question. By the way, not
(25:05):
just media and officials, but players have been asking, well,
what what what happens? What's the number that shuts things down?
And they're obviously there's I don't know what the answer
is to that question either. So I think the tour
is probably wisely just not said, because what do you say?
I think you have to take it one week at
a time. I thought they did a horrible job in
(25:28):
terms of the people who could easily have been making
an effort to show and I noted this in my
Winners and Losers, Uh an effort with some masks and
especially indoors and the scoring area. Wow, come on, guys,
were you know indoors? Let's really let's try to make
an effort here. This is kind of embarrassing, especially when
(25:48):
it's on national TV and there's millions of people watching,
and that that could backfire on them. That that's especially
when you flip over to NASCAR and they are just
going gangbusters, above and beyond crazy with their precautions and efforts.
So I would imagine Jay Monahan will be sending out
another text message to everybody that they already sent a
(26:10):
few this week trying to remind them. But I don't
know what the number is. I don't know what the
issue is there. I mean, the beauty of for golf
is that, uh, once they get to the golf course,
it's it's very safe. It's the getting there and and
the interacting in in indoor areas. And they're so called
bubble hotels, all four of them that really don't make
(26:34):
much sense to me. And I feel like they need
to tighten that up, and I hope that that looseness
of the bubble doesn't backfire. I really do. And I
think the other looming question though to this week, you know,
just watching kind of where things are going with tennis
and what the players are saying, that tennis has a
much less American centric elite group of players tim but
(26:59):
golf US have a lot of players in Europe who
either aren't eager to come here right now or it's
just not doable. And the question for the major championships
in the fall is or late summer, can we can
we really contest our championship properly if players from around
(27:20):
the world either don't want to come here because they
feel unsafe or because they just simply can't because it
asked too much of them to come here. And that's
kind of what tennis is starting to sense with with
fleshing meadows in the US Open, and that that's a
I think that's a subtle, kind of quieter question to watch,
(27:40):
even more than just what happens at a tour event,
because I think the chances of US even knowing of
a positive test or something are are slim y yeah,
well we still got a hundred grand on the Masters
being played in October. I think that was a dollar
and it's in November, so get your dates right, Well
what it's in the fall? Yeah, yeah, it's a dollar
(28:02):
and uh and that and I think that's an interesting
element too that I was pondering today. If the Masters
can't have full crowds and they can't have the full field,
I I don't I just don't see them being comfortable
having it. So but that's a ways off. Well, we'll
deal with that. But they're very protective of how their
(28:22):
tournament looks and is played and and feeling like they
presented it a certain way more than ever. You know,
I think they made some mistakes and they know it.
And the Hoodie Johnson era and and and the and
the two chairman sense are so sensitive to making sure
they protect what the Masters was built into. So that's
(28:45):
something to keep in mind as well, I think. But hey,
thanks for the chat, Tim, It was it was it
was an interesting It was certainly an interesting exercise. And
UH for more, check out my website. I've got some
winners and losers I talked to UH to you about
a few of them here at the beginning of the podcast.
(29:06):
Uh So, I hope everybody enjoyed what was the return
to golf and it will certainly spar a lot of
interesting discussion in the coming days. And now a word
from our sponsors. The Shack Show is a production of
(29:32):
My Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. Hey, until next time,
that's this coming week at hilton Head Island. We'll see
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The Shack Show.
The Shack Show is a production of I Heart Radio.
The PGA Tour is back, The Return to Golf is
in the books at Colonial Daniel Burger is your winner
on today's Shack Show. I'm just gonna ask you to
zero in on a little something to ponder from the week,
and then send you off to a few other sources
to read about details of the tournament, and then also
(00:21):
have a little chat with Tim Pratica, the editor, producer,
and guiding light of The Shack Show. All right, so
there's so much to think about from this first tour
(00:43):
event in the COVID nineteen era, and I will send
you to my website. I did a winners and losers column.
I will also probably do a roundup of some of
the things that are written from on site from the
few writers who were allowed there, although they really didn't
get any access to any players, so I don't know
what they'll be able to share with us, but there
were some very good writers there and I look forward
to kind of pouring through that. But right now, just
(01:05):
kind of right off the back of the tournament, the
the really top line story for those of us who
love the sport and want to see how this all
played out is the component of television, and I thought
all things considered, CBS did a phenomenal job, knowing that
(01:25):
they were restricted on so many uh in so many
ways or limited by the same old ways that we
know from the past, just way too many commercial obligations
and promos, and I mean that list of things that
lands Bear must have in the truck to to to
get in and out of a telecast have got to
be brutal. Saturday's telecast, I thought the commercial load was
(01:49):
was shockingly light, And of course now I know why
Sunday was brutal. Brutal. It's just just really hard to
watch at a certain point, especially when you had a
golf tournament with so many people in contention. You need
you need somebody to be able to kind of set
up what we're looking at here, who's in the best
position in this this horse race when it and and
(02:11):
it is a horse race like that instead of two
people and we just they just didn't have time the
ability to do that. They're not all there together, the
CBS team, and it really was difficult if you were
a new fan coming into golf to watch this, to
kind of grasp what we were seeing there with all
these top players suddenly disappearing, and who really had the
best shot, and who was doing what to get in
(02:32):
the clubhouse. It just it just wasn't there. And and
really I do blame the number of interruptions. Is is
kind of interrupting that flow. Um. So that said, I
would say that technically, other than I guess part of
the country got a lot of standard definition golf on Saturday,
CBS did beautifully. Just hats off to the crew and
(02:53):
the people on site. It looked really really hot and
that is just a a and then you throw o
and all the things they have to do for safety, brutal,
brutal task. They did a really nice job. The announcers
spread on in two locations, Jim Nanson fort Worth and
Nick Faldo, Frank Nabelow and Ian Baker Finch in Orlando
(03:16):
in the on the Morning Drive set, all things considered,
did pretty well. And uh, you know, you were missing
some of those things that you get from an announcer
sitting on a hole all day. And that's that was
probably the one thing that stood out to me that
with so many putts missed and so many weird little
moments of of shock, whole lipouts and different things. It was.
(03:39):
It was just peculiar not having that usual knowledge that
the announcers sitting there all day and say, hey, this
pen on seventeen. You've got to watch the three footers here,
because I think if somebody was sitting there all day,
they would have been able to say that. It became apparent.
Of course after many misses um other positives, and again
I have all the winners and losers on my website.
Jeff Shakle for dot Com. I thought the live drone
(04:01):
on Saturday was really interesting and it just showed again
how that drone getting down at a certain height but
not too high, not too low, trailing up behind the
leaders um was really interesting. It was just it just
gave you a sense of place, a little bit of
the scale, the vibe, which of course there wasn't much
vibe because there were no people, but it was just different.
(04:23):
It was nice. A couple of times went to the
drone put up the leaderboard. Really didn't get to enjoy
that bird's eye view, which was a shame. Sunday, I
think the wind really limited the drone crew and so
the shots weren't quite as compelling. There was some weird
little shot they kept doing on eighteen in lieu of
the uh the shot they traditionally have there with the
clubhouse in the lake, and it was just it was
(04:43):
a little too far back and we saw a way
more card path than we did um uh green and setting.
But whatever. It was very windy and it's very hard
to operate a drone in the wind, So they have
my sympathy. As for other elements of nitpicking, well, obviously,
I don't think I need to tell you that the
commercial load was awful, and um, the eye on the
(05:07):
course component we were warned about was sort of code
for be ready for lots of interruptions. Uh. CBS also
had a confession cam as it was branded and and
and I hope it never sees a light of dig
And it was truly one more thing that just took
us away from from an interesting golf tournament. I don't
(05:27):
need to know Keegan Bradley how happy he is to
be back, or the Jim Furicks working on some things
in his game to get better. That that that really
just did absolutely nothing. It just it kind of gave
this hostage video element to the proceedings that just just
did not advance the storytelling of what was a very
compelling golf tournament. Obviously one less compelling without the energy
(05:51):
of of roars and some of the dynamics you get
with the player making a putt or a player hearing
a a roar and wondering what that was. Um, so
that that component they can toss and Uh. But overall,
the thing that I wanted to point out and ask
you to think about if you're not on social media
and you're not seeing what's going on, but the conversation
(06:12):
about players wearing microphones is continuing, and in our world
right now, it is a supremely first world matter. Uh.
That probably seems laughable to somebody watching golf. People bigger
about this from the inside, but but it's an important topic.
For this reason, players are resistant to it, and unfortunately
(06:33):
I don't see the reasoning being quite what you would hope.
I saw Willie Wilcox mentioned on Twitter corn Ferry Tour
player he refused because he felt like the equipment was
just too goofy and clunky and awkward, and he was
worried about poor language being picked up. I would totally
get it if those were the main reasons that players
(06:55):
were concerned about wearing a microphone unfortunately, and I'm going
to talk about this a little bit with Minnesota Tim.
What worries me is that players are fearful that their
important state secrets would be heard on national TV about
how they play the game and what makes them different,
and their team members are telling them that this is
(07:16):
this is important stuff. And I know this just from
being in tournaments and listening to players and asking players,
you know, what was your thinking on that? Well, yeah,
it's just something between me and my team. Um. And
that is really frightening and bad news for golf that
if the view of what they do is so important
and so secretive that we as fans can't hear it
(07:40):
because it could compromise the competition in their minds or
their their ability to separate themselves. That's a disaster. Um.
That sends a bad attitude out to people that these
guys think they're in a club and it's we're just
so lucky to even be able to get to see
them wave to us on the first t and hit
a T shot. Uh. That attitude will rubbed people the
(08:00):
wrong way. The sports fan is used to now hearing
more things, whether it's live or whether it's the production
team going back and say, hey, five minutes ago, here
was a conversation that Colin Marcaba had with his caddie
check this out, which is certainly something that could be done.
The players just have to understand they're not that interesting.
(08:22):
Their conversations are not that interesting. But for us at home,
as Thursday's round showed with Ricky Fowler, the things we
picked up we're just different and they were interesting enough,
and they were and then some of them required a
little announcer explanation and it just gave the broadcast something different.
(08:43):
That's all we want is it's just to feel like
we're there a little bit more. And that's what happened
with the match. We felt like we were there, and
when Ricky Fowler was playing, you just kind of felt
like you were there for the ride and uh inside
the round with him in the ropes and I love that,
and it just it just changes your experience as a viewer,
(09:05):
and golf really needs to change that viewer experience. And
so watch this here in the coming weeks. Jim Nance
kinda through the guys under the bus a little bit.
Adam Hadwin has kind of come forward and said no,
I've volunteered twelve days ago. Anyway, you're gonna hear Adam
Hadwin with a mike. He's a great talker this week
at Hilton Head. But it's more than that they're gonna
(09:27):
they need to have microphones and cups like Fox does
or on the bag so we can hear these conversations.
But more importantly, the players have got to understand that
this attitude of privilege, of entitlement to their secret important
discussions well absolutely scare people off. And this is a
(09:47):
chance right now for golf to bring in new fans,
to show people that the ins and outs of the
game are really fascinating when we're just allowed to sit
back and and hear it and and and have the
announcers analyze it. So I hope all the hundreds of
PGA torqu players who listen to the show take those
(10:09):
words to heart, or maybe the ones that the commissioner
tries to put forward and explain to them why if
they would like to be paid, they need to consider
these things. Let's take a quick breakcre on the Shack Show,
and then I'm going to talk a little bit more
about colonial and then Charles Schwab challenge with The Shack
Show producer Temper Rodin. All Right, my head is spinning
(10:46):
from this bizarre first week of golf in this bizarre time.
And so Minnesota Tim, who produces this show and is
the host of the Minnesota Tim podcasts and makes me
sound good and takes out all my lips Mack and
editing the show, is a golf fan. So Tim, help
me here. What what do we need to zero in
on from today? Because there's so much that went on
(11:08):
and the Charles Schwab challenge. Yeah, Jeff, So there were
some obvious things and some not so obvious things that
need to be focused in on. So one of the
obvious things is that there were no fans there, and
without there being fans, it really seemed like at some
points during the broadcast we were able to hear conversations
(11:32):
between players and caddies, and even players that weren't miked up,
we were able to hear conversations between players and caddies.
And sometimes you can hear that on a regular basis
as well. Um, but it seemed like we were able
to get more of that this week. Wanted to get
your thoughts on that. I actually wanted more I'm I'm
(11:53):
greedy though, because I want to hear what's going on
out there, and I actually expected to hear a little
more picked up by the mix than we we did.
But I mean, the best was when Ricky was playing
Ricky Fowler wearing a mic, and you got to hear
a lot of the interaction in the group or whatever
it was, when he didn't know where his ball ended up,
(12:13):
if it went out of bounds, all that stuff, and
he was trying to get direction. So yeah, it was better.
But uh and and understandably CBS did not have the
full uh effort like Fox does at the US Open,
or even CBS on a normal week or NBC, you
know has a great sound guy and does UH work
there that is often underappreciated. So I understand they had
(12:38):
fewer microphones. You know, I didn't see many by greens. Frankly,
I don't know, did you. So they they they did well,
but it showed you that without fans, Yes, if the
microphones are well placed, we'll pick up more. The problem, Tim,
you know what the problem is. You've seen it on Twitter.
I'm just now having to deal with the Adam had
when Marching and Chowder society. These guys think they're conversations
(13:00):
out there. Are are are akin to the Joint chiefs
of Staff having a meeting, you know, in the bunker
of the White House during a war. I mean, it's
golf guys. You know, yes, I know, you don't want
to have us pick up of a little swearing. I
get that. Nothing that they are saying is that interesting
or that privileged. I'm sorry, they need to get over this.
(13:24):
It's ridiculous. It's not it's they're not being this way
because they're really worried about the F bombs. I would
get it if they were saying it was about the equipment,
because the equipment is kind of clunky. And I totally
get that as a golfer who wants to have a
cable running up your back and and and a thing
on your belt that. But they're not saying that. They're
(13:46):
they're acting like it's there. They want to keep their
their insights secret. Every other league. You you literally could
listen in on what's going on during the sport now
and in NASCAR, and and it's just anyway we could
go on, and it's so bizarre to me. They have
to get over this. Well, it makes you. It makes
(14:07):
you wonder, Um, did did you hear the mic pick
up the first shot on Thursday of brooks Kepka and
drawn rom after he chipped it in. Sure? Yeah, that
was and Jim nance handled it beautifully. It was It
was not the way they wanted to kick off things,
and it might have made them a little more sensitive
going forward. Yeah. Yeah, So another one of the big
(14:30):
things that I noticed this week, coming from an average
golf fan like myself, Um, it seemed like there were
a lot There was a lot of choking going on.
It seemed like they were it seemed like putts throughout
the week and not just on Sunday, Thursday, Friday and
Saturday as well. We're less short. A lot of people
were missing short puts. Jordan's beak four putted, and I
(14:50):
mean he does that all the time anyway. But Zander,
more Kawa, Bryce and d Shambau. I mean, those are
just a few of the guys that I wrote down
that we're missing short puts and we're just awful around
the greens. I have a few thoughts on that one.
They clearly softened the course. From what we had heard
it was playing like the week before to get the
(15:12):
field around, and I noted this in my winners and
Losers column, so they it was. It was a little
over watered um, but it made sense to get the
field around and ended up great. They let the place
up and then they took it up a little notch
on the weekend. And we've seen that great players, as
great as they are, they still don't love big upgrades
(15:34):
and green speed mid tournament. It looked at me like
they picked up just enough pace combined with whole locations
where you know, generally the tour staff doesn't like to
see a ball snap near the hole when they place
a cup, and I did see a lot of that.
I was surprised. Um, so they used some pretty tough
whole locations at times, sneaky tough that might have looked
(15:56):
simple to us on TV. And you saw that ball
get up to the whole and kind of men justin
Rose on eighteen, that pot just took a dive in
front of the cup that would have gotten him to fifteen,
and he handled it beautifully. I couldn't believe how jovial
he was in his post round interview, but obviously it
was a great week for him. Kind of probably with
(16:17):
low expectations, Speith was a peery yip job, peer up.
I mean you saw the forward press he's he was
back to the not that nice simple put the putter down,
lock in the forward press and boom boom. It was.
It was not a good look. He looked uncomfortable on
that one. I mean, we all have been there. I'm laughing,
but um so yeah. But but overall, but to your
(16:38):
point the choke job, I have a theory. I think
the world rankings have gotten a little out of hand
in the way people expect that if you're the world
number one, you're gonna perform every day like the world
number one, and they don't mean a thing when you
get on the golf course. Now, what is startling is
here's a great golf course that has always produced uh
quality winners and a leaderboard that was amazing with multiple
(17:02):
elite players and other than really Justin Rose from the
super elite. They had a horrible day. They were they
were awful. Um Justin Thomas was just okay. It was
just his lull round of the week, I guess. But uh,
it was kind of startling that you you saw the
(17:22):
conditions get ratcheted up a little quicker greens, a little drier,
a little more wind. And that's usually the recipe where
the journeyman, the solid tour player kind of gets left
behind in the elite guys take over, and that didn't
happen today. I went the other direction. So that was
(17:43):
totally bizarre. And I have no other theory other than
we probably over inflate the importance of the world ranking
and expect ridiculous things just because somebody's in the top
ten in the world. Okay, all right, well I will
let you buy that theory. Are you working with you?
It's not ten ranking theory? No, Well, it's just over
it's just over inflated. It's not like tennis, where you're
(18:06):
the number one player in the world and you you
generally play like it every day. Golf is just different.
But I don't think that's a reason for guys missing
putts and struggle. No, no, no, no, no putting. Yeah,
I agree, it was. It was. It was alarming, and
at times, for sure, the greens definitely had a little
bouncing this. We had some good worm cam shots. I mean,
Morika was put in the playoff. He just the minute
(18:27):
it was off the face you could see he just
pushed it a touch. I thought, yeah, I mean that
Mark Immelman set it up, said it's just inside, just
a little less center, and the menut he hit it you,
Oh no new Uh So I don't know about Chaflets
putt on on the same hall, but that cup definitely
gave him trouble. I wonder, Jeff, if the short putts,
(18:50):
all of these short puts these players are missing, is
a product of these PGA tour players not practicing them
while they're on their home course for three months. They
just pick up and go on to the next hole. Well,
it was impressive how good the golf was the first
few days, because we kind of gleaned from a lot
of interviews and social media that that a lot of
players put the clubs away and the rust was not apparent.
(19:14):
And I think that was the most impressive thing about
really the first the first three days really, And so
you may have a point. It may have just been
the simple, simple element of rust finally reared its head
when things just went up a notch and those players
who were shut it down for a while didn't really
quite have everything going. And the two guys who were
(19:36):
playing great before the break ended up in the playoff,
so maybe we shouldn't have been surprised. And uh, and
by the way, I'm so happy for Daniel Berger. Anybody
who has a risk injury, I've had it. It's the
worst injury in golf. And then to be playing the
way he was before the break and have this this
shutdown and then to come and do what he did,
(19:57):
and then he and and he showed some emotion after,
which was wonderful because the thing missing with fans was
kind of some of the emotion of players. Mean, Xander
looked like he wanted to break every club in his
bag on eighteen, which is great. That made you go, okay, yeah,
this this tournament mattered because he looked he didn't do
anything rude, he just he just looked like he was
(20:19):
about to erupt as a volcano. He didn't look happy.
And it was quite a wacky performance there down the
stretch in so many ways. But uh, and then Burger
just that was nice to see some tears and choked
up and what it meant for him to come back
and after sort of being forgotten. Yeah, I got one
more point for you, Jeff on my end, So our
(20:40):
big discussion between you and me and you and the
rest of the golf world. Is the golf ball going
too far? That's your big bit, that's your big I
thought we were gonna have a short chat here on
Sunday night, and you can make it quick. We can
get quick. So Colonial Country Club. It's not an overly
long golf course, but a lot of dog ladies. Here
we go with the scores. Paraways aren't wide. You gotta
(21:02):
take irons off the tea. Bryson d Jambou average yards
off the tee, Daniel Burger average three and six, Burger one,
Shamba did not do not shorten the golf ball. Oh dear, Yeah,
that's that's a tough take. We're gonna have to work
on this behind the scenes where nobody should have to
(21:25):
listen to me. Uh okay, let's let's just think about
it this way. If we took ten percent off the
ball and allowed them to hit drivers on more holes,
guess what, bryceon d Shambo because of what he's doing,
would still be the longest player in the field, and
Daniel Burger probably would have still won the tournament or
been right there. You know. It was just such a crapshoot.
(21:47):
Who knows, But Uh, you have to understand the point
of that of wanting to take to chip off something
is to make colonial more, uh, play more like it
wasn't ended to play to see a few more drivers
during the round, a few more mid irons into greens.
It's not to take away something that Bryson has earned
(22:10):
or or Daniel Berger has earned. And it's it's too
just bring some elements back in the sport that are
allowing us to go back to these historic places. I mean,
how cool is it that we get to go to
this place where Hogan won five times. It's just not
so cool when we go back there and they just
(22:31):
play some bizarro game that that by the way, it's
it's just not that interesting, and especially when TBS is
showing it because you never see any T shots. I don't,
not never, not never, but they did. They showed very
few T shots of Bryson and it is compelling right
now when he hits a driver. Um, I don't I
(22:52):
don't disagree, but the number doesn't really mean anything. What's
interesting to me is that what you just pointed out
that one player, one one player with his strategy contended
but it didn't quite pay off. It doesn't mean it's
a wrong strategy, but I think over the course of
the year it's the right one. The numbers said bomb
bomb it down there and and gouge a wedge out,
(23:14):
and that's up for the governing bodies to decide if
that's good golf, if that's really what we want, and
if that's healthy. And I'm, as you know, don't believe
that's the case. M didn't didn't convince you there, huh? Tim? Okay, Well,
I'd like to say, you know, cut you off or
say something, but you're the editing maestro of this show,
(23:36):
so you'll be able to decide how you want to
handle that. You can probably chop out a few of
my comments and make me. Look, hey, Jeff, will you
say one more comment and say, Tim, I agree with you,
and then I'll just delete everything. You just yeah, you
can just use that any time. Yeah. Well, I appreciate
the chat. I appreciate you bringing that point up, but
and I mostly appreciate that we had some interesting fodder.
(23:59):
But I'm just curious, quickly, as a as a as
a sports fan, you're just a big sports fan. What
do you think I mean? Is this gonna work? Are
we gonna is this I mean, golf I believe will work,
but is this is this doable? Well we just saw yeah,
I definitely believe so. But the one thing that's going
(24:20):
to be interesting, Jeff, is I don't know if this.
I don't think this is an f I do not
think this is a n if I, but rather a
when we've seen it on the corn Ferry two already
four players tested positive for COVID nineteen. When will the
PGA Tour player test positive for COVID nineteen? And yeah, yeah,
(24:44):
how do they handle it? That's the question. And that
was a big number from the corn Ferry tour. And
I heard one player did not test positive but was
asked to stay home because he had come in close
contact with some people. Um, so that was that was
eye opening. And that's the question. By the way, not
(25:05):
just media and officials, but players have been asking, well,
what what what happens? What's the number that shuts things down?
And they're obviously there's I don't know what the answer
is to that question either. So I think the tour
is probably wisely just not said, because what do you say?
I think you have to take it one week at
a time. I thought they did a horrible job in
(25:28):
terms of the people who could easily have been making
an effort to show and I noted this in my
Winners and Losers, Uh an effort with some masks and
especially indoors and the scoring area. Wow, come on, guys,
were you know indoors? Let's really let's try to make
an effort here. This is kind of embarrassing, especially when
(25:48):
it's on national TV and there's millions of people watching,
and that that could backfire on them. That that's especially
when you flip over to NASCAR and they are just
going gangbusters, above and beyond crazy with their precautions and efforts.
So I would imagine Jay Monahan will be sending out
another text message to everybody that they already sent a
(26:10):
few this week trying to remind them. But I don't
know what the number is. I don't know what the
issue is there. I mean, the beauty of for golf
is that, uh, once they get to the golf course,
it's it's very safe. It's the getting there and and
the interacting in in indoor areas. And they're so called
bubble hotels, all four of them that really don't make
(26:34):
much sense to me. And I feel like they need
to tighten that up, and I hope that that looseness
of the bubble doesn't backfire. I really do. And I
think the other looming question though to this week, you know,
just watching kind of where things are going with tennis
and what the players are saying, that tennis has a
much less American centric elite group of players tim but
(26:59):
golf US have a lot of players in Europe who
either aren't eager to come here right now or it's
just not doable. And the question for the major championships
in the fall is or late summer, can we can
we really contest our championship properly if players from around
(27:20):
the world either don't want to come here because they
feel unsafe or because they just simply can't because it
asked too much of them to come here. And that's
kind of what tennis is starting to sense with with
fleshing meadows in the US Open, and that that's a
I think that's a subtle, kind of quieter question to watch,
(27:40):
even more than just what happens at a tour event,
because I think the chances of US even knowing of
a positive test or something are are slim y yeah,
well we still got a hundred grand on the Masters
being played in October. I think that was a dollar
and it's in November, so get your dates right, Well
what it's in the fall? Yeah, yeah, it's a dollar
(28:02):
and uh and that and I think that's an interesting
element too that I was pondering today. If the Masters
can't have full crowds and they can't have the full field,
I I don't I just don't see them being comfortable
having it. So but that's a ways off. Well, we'll
deal with that. But they're very protective of how their
(28:22):
tournament looks and is played and and feeling like they
presented it a certain way more than ever. You know,
I think they made some mistakes and they know it.
And the Hoodie Johnson era and and and the and
the two chairman sense are so sensitive to making sure
they protect what the Masters was built into. So that's
(28:45):
something to keep in mind as well, I think. But hey,
thanks for the chat, Tim, It was it was it
was an interesting It was certainly an interesting exercise. And
UH for more, check out my website. I've got some
winners and losers I talked to UH to you about
a few of them here at the beginning of the podcast.
(29:06):
Uh So, I hope everybody enjoyed what was the return
to golf and it will certainly spar a lot of
interesting discussion in the coming days. And now a word
from our sponsors. The Shack Show is a production of
(29:32):
My Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. Hey, until next time,
that's this coming week at hilton Head Island. We'll see
what happens. Be safe and thank you for listening to
The Shack Show.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!