FORE! How is your golf game coming?

[BLiP]

I intially thought he would shoot a mortal 74 today, he will have to shoot even for the rest of the round to get that. I still think he can.

Block was an amazing story at the PGA and he seems like a good guy. But its not surprising that he couldn't keep that performance going. He's played in 25 career PGA events and has only made the cut 5 times. Far better than any of us, but the added pressure and attention has to make it even harder. Hope to see him do well, but its unrealistic to think that he'll come out of nowhere and be in contention with the tour pros each week.

 

[Philpug]

Block was an amazing story at the PGA and he seems like a good guy. But its not surprising that he couldn't keep that performance going. He's played in 25 career PGA events and has only made the cut 5 times. Far better than any of us, but the added pressure and attention has to make it even harder. Hope to see him do well, but its unrealistic to think that he'll come out of nowhere and be in contention with the tour pros each week.

So true and that is nothing against him or his game, any one of us would kill for his game. I am not saying last week was his best 4 rounds ever (he has shot a 59 on his home course) but in a MAJOR, they were 99% and when your best is still 10 shots out it again shows how good these tour pros are.

I still come back to two Tiger points, first, in 2000 when he was at the top of his game, there was a bigger gap between him and number 2 in the world than between 2 and 100 and the other which is more amusing, the "Big 3" of Atlanta Braves pitching, Glaven, Smotlz and Maddox, all scratch golfers played best ball against Tiger and still lost. Every player on tour owes a percentage of their income to Tiger for the money he brought to the tour.

 

[Jim Kenney]

I watched the first episode of Netflix Full Swing last night. Pretty good, focused on Spieth and Justin T. It showed them doing weight training, after a practice session at the range, after a competitive 18! That's an example the Woods effect. The whole pro golf world had to raise their game to try to compete with the standards he set.

I might be wrong, but I doubt Arnie and Jack N ever did weight training, at least in their prime? I think Gary Player was known for a lot of calisthenics and emphasizing fitness, he was a bit ahead of his time in that regard.

 

[Philpug]

I watched the first episode of Netflix Full Swing last night. Pretty good, focused on Spieth and Justin T. It showed them doing weight training, after a practice session at the range, after a competitive 18! That's an example the Woods effect. The whole pro golf world had to raise their game to try to compete with the standards he set.

I might be wrong, but I doubt Arnie and Jack N ever did weight training, at least in their prime? I think Gary Player was known for a lot of calisthenics and emphasizing fitness, he was a bit ahead of his time in that regard.

Most of the players in Arnie and Jacks time sold shoes, insurance or cars in the off season. Now, there is no off season. The money that is to be made is staggering when top 20 finishes award you in the hundreds of thousands.

 

[PisteOff]

Most of the players in Arnie and Jacks time sold shoes, insurance or cars in the off season. Now, there is no off season. The money that is to be made is staggering when top 20 finishes award you in the hundreds of thousands.

I don’t know about staggering when other sports have entry level contracts starting around 800K and all your travel expenses are paid, plus performance bonuses etc. NHL is at the low level of professional team sports contracts and a regular NHL pro who has paid his dues will make 3M a year with all expenses paid. A golfer pays his own travel expenses, pays his caddie, etc. You have to make the cut to be in the money. Golfers rely a lot on sponsors to make it not only worthwhile, but profitable. You won’t get a “profitable” sponsorship deal without winning. Professional golf is a TOUGH racket.

 

[scott43]

Yeah I'm not sure people get pro golf. If you're top 100 great. The rest are grinding.. I love going but... Every day? Day after day?? Even when you're sucking it and really just want to dig a ditch??

 

[Jwrags]

Yeah I'm not sure people get pro golf. If you're top 100 great. The rest are grinding.. I love going but... Every day? Day after day?? Even when you're sucking it and really just want to dig a ditch??

I am sure people feel the same about being an engineer or surgeon or parent or…

 

[dbostedo]

I am sure people feel the same about being an engineer

Sure. I'm an engineer and feel like that sometimes.

The difference is, when I want to unwind I go play golf. When the pro golfer wants to unwind, I doubt they go and engineer.

 

[Jwrags]

Sure. I'm an engineer and feel like that sometimes.

The difference is, when I want to unwind I go play golf. When the pro golfer wants to unwind, I doubt they go and engineer.

They go and build/engineer with Lego

 

[Tricia]

I watched the first episode of Netflix Full Swing last night. Pretty good, focused on Spieth and Justin T. It showed them doing weight training, after a practice session at the range, after a competitive 18! That's an example the Woods effect. The whole pro golf world had to raise their game to try to compete with the standards he set.

I might be wrong, but I doubt Arnie and Jack N ever did weight training, at least in their prime? I think Gary Player was known for a lot of calisthenics and emphasizing fitness, he was a bit ahead of his time in that regard.

We talked to someone who works in the golf world about this precise thing. He reiterated what Phil said earlier.

They train and workout like crazy to stay fit enough to play. It's rare you see someone at the top of their game on the PGA working odd jobs in the off season because they're training.

As a side note: Arnold Palmer's canned drink came up in a trivia conversation recently so we looked it up.
It makes $200 million in annual revenue.

 

[PisteOff]

Golf in a nutshell…….

 

[Tricia]

Golf in a nutshell…….

Well... shit!


I just got done reading this article on Golf with Block.
What a nice and gracious guy.

After missing the cut at Colonial, Michael Block bids the PGA Tour farewell — for now

After posting rounds of 81-74, Michael Block will miss the weekend at Colonial. But he won't be away from the PGA Tour for long.

golf.com

 

[Philpug]

Golf in a nutshell…….

Yup, good shots end up bad and bad shots can end up good. It is a fickle game that is dead set on humbling you just when you think you have it down. NEVER disrespect the golf gods.

 

[S.H.]

I don’t know about staggering when other sports have entry level contracts starting around 800K and all your travel expenses are paid, plus performance bonuses etc. NHL is at the low level of professional team sports contracts and a regular NHL pro who has paid his dues will make 3M a year with all expenses paid. A golfer pays his own travel expenses, pays his caddie, etc. You have to make the cut to be in the money. Golfers rely a lot on sponsors to make it not only worthwhile, but profitable. You won’t get a “profitable” sponsorship deal without winning. Professional golf is a TOUGH racket.

just going to point out that the median NFL player salary is $860K. NFL is probably the worst deal in big4 US professional team sports, since contracts aren't guaranteed, careers are very short, and ... concussions.

in 2019, the NHL median salary was $2.85M. I'd assume it's gone up slightly since then (but not much with the flat cap).

Overall point I agree - golf is tough if you're outside the top ~150 in the world for men, top ~80 or so for women.

 

[PisteOff]

just going to point out that the median NFL player salary is $860K. NFL is probably the worst deal in big4 US professional team sports, since contracts aren't guaranteed, careers are very short, and ... concussions.

in 2019, the NHL median salary was $2.85M. I'd assume it's gone up slightly since then (but not much with the flat cap).

Overall point I agree - golf is tough if you're outside the top ~150 in the world for men, top ~80 or so for women.

I’m not up on NFL contracts short of the big ones that make news. I made an assumption based on the huge money contracts I have seen that their median had to be greater than the NHL. Thanks for pointing that out.

There’s a lot more AAV disparity in the other leagues. I know the largest NHL contract is 12.5 AAV. Just doing some research I found that the NFL’s largest comes in at 52M AAV and 54M for the NBA with like 10 guys making over 40 and 30 guys making over 30M. It’s 43.4 in the MLB. In Tiger’s whole career he made 120M (on the golf course). Tiger is 28M ahead of Phil at 2nd* (PGA Tour winnings not counting LIV contract) and Tiger is 50M ahead of Furyk in 3rd. There’s only 10 players in PGA Tour history to make the 50M club including the three already mentioned. That’s over a 20-30 yr. career. The NFL, NBA, and MLB are inking contracts in the 200-400M range for 4-8 year durations. It’s wild. It’s no wonder guys went to LIV’s contract plus model. The positive outcome of LIV has been the increase in PGA Tour prize money. Other than that I’m personally not a fan of how the Tour has been handling the whole LIV scenario. I’m glad that the Masters, PGA of America, and the USGA have taken the stands they have made regarding their tournaments. They didn’t cave to the pressure.

 

[dbostedo]

I made an assumption based on the huge money contracts I have seen that their median had to be greater than the NHL.

There are probably just as many large contracts in the NFL as in the NHL - more perhaps - but the roster is so much bigger and populated mostly with league minimum players, that the median drops way down. 53-man rosters have that effect, compared to the much smaller rosters in other sports.

For instance, looking at the PIttsburgh Steelers roster (https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/cap/)... there are 25 players with a cap value of more than $2M for this season, a few in the 10's of millions. But there are also 36 players under $1M.

So bringing this back around to golf, and most other sports, there's an exponential curve to salaries, and those in the top few percent get a large share of all the money.

 

[Bad Bob]

It appears that PGA players make more than FIS ski racers.

 

[S.H.]

It appears that PGA players make more than FIS ski racers.

well, most FIS ski racers are kids.

but even on world cup, prize money is pretty minimal. Hard to make a living unless you're in the top 20 or so in each discipline. Even then, those people are largely relying on sponsors, not prize money.

of course, professional golf has a much larger audience than skiing.

 

[PisteOff]

It appears that PGA players make more than FIS ski racers.

I didn’t want to even go down that road….crossed my mind…….

 

[Plai]

I'm finding myself wanting to be a "thrower" instead of a "puller".
My swing doesn't seem to work whenever I try to really coil/stretch my core.