Spieth Spins Magical Web at Valspar

In 2013, Patrick Reed made an unlikely charge at the Wyndham Championship to reach a playoff with that year’s wunderkind, Jordan Spieth. Reed then bested Spieth in extra holes. It took 18 months, but Spieth returned the favor at the 2015 Valspar Championship. True, Reed did ram home a 31-foot par putt on the final hole to set the mark at 10-under par, but Spieth worked some magic of his own over the closing stretch.

Despite missing the final three greens in regulation, the barely-legal Spieth (he’s 21) showed off a magical short game from bunkers, hillsides and distant spots on greens. Disappointed, too, was Sean O’Hair, himself a one-time next big thing. O’Hair fought his way into the playoff but, like Reed, fell victim to Spieth’s hard-breaking, 30-foot birdie on the third extra hole.

Death of golf writer James Finegan

Photo from the Golf Association of Philadelphia (http://gapgolf.org/)

There is no replacing the great manner of combining opinion, fact and whimsy when it comes to relating a distant place to those who might never know it. Jim Finegan did those things in his writings on golf courses of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales.

What’s more, golf writing wasn’t even his principal occupation. A quiet tribute to him on the Golf Club Atlas discussion board serves as a modest eulogy for those who did not know him. Blasted Heaths, Emerald Fairways and Courses Great and Small across the British isles are better-known and better-respected for the work of Jim Finegan.

Daly on Drug Testing

John Daly vented on the current PGA Tour drug testing system. The PGA Tour essentially said “No need” in 2006, reversed course in 2008, but now has to get in line with the Olympics before 2016. Daly, no stranger to chocolate gravy and diet coke, says that everyone on tour knows when they will be randomly tested and that this amounts to special treatment for the top golfers.

Related: Click here for our full story

If Big John is correct in his assertion that the schedule is known in some capacity, golfers are not likely to get nabbed. A quick scan of a detection period list through urine sample shows that most “stuff” is out of the system in less than 72 holes.

Unfortunately for Big John and others who want improved drug testing, it probably won’t happen, unless the PGA Tour invests in scissors. While not as recognized as the urine sample, hair follicles preserve traces of banned substances for up to 90 days and have been recognized in lower courts in the U.S. and also in the United Kingdom.

Lesson learned? Go easy on the Toepedo (also a banned substance.)

The Squeeze Is Coming

The last golf movie that had anyone talking was… Happy Gilmore or Tin Cup in 1996? Seven Days In Utopia in 2011? Who’s Your Caddy or Fairway To Heaven in 2007?

Golf movies usually lack a decent plot line that isn’t sickly-sweet, or top-shelf actors. Or actors who can golf. The Squeeze was directed by Terry Jastrow and attempts to remedy these past missteps. It stars a number of known names and faces, like Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald), to name one. And … the actors can swing their clubs! I’ve seen the preview disc and I’m not telling, but is The Squeeze the great golf movie we’ve needed? You’ll find out in April.

The G30 Driver’s Got Turbulators, Got Turbulators

Before you watch the video that explains why Turbulators are on the crown of the Ping G30 driver matter, let me bust out reasons why I love this masterpiece:

1. Rapper Names: R-Rabbit and Q-Tip. No explanation possible nor necessary. They just is.
2. Make It Rain: The final scene, with Bit and Tip making it rain (even if it’s golf tees and not Benjamins.)
3. Slow-Motion Baby Powder Puff: You’ll see it soon enough. I can’t describe it without thinking of Napoleon Dynamite’s Uncle Rico.
4. Bling: In a salute to every rapper with a massive collar, but especially the tick-tock hanging from Flavor Flav’s neck, we give you the G30 chain.
5. Movement: Double points here. Bit and Tip move around their limited, low-budget space with astonishing ease. The bearded Q-Tip (I’m assuming he’s the big guy) moves with grace unexpected from a big, bushy man. On Fleek.

Related: Click here to read our review of the G30 driver, and here to read our review of the lower-spinning G30 LS Tec driver. 

Missed the Cut

Gators and Crocs on Golf Courses

Not talking the kind of gator you drive, nor the crocs you unabashedly wear on your feet. Not talking Leatherhead from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, nor Tick-Tock from Peter Pan, or even Chub’s friend in the after-life.

This here gator is one gigundous reptile and he’s traipsing all over Myakka Pines golf club, between Sarasota and Fort Myers on Florida’s west coast. If it’s an early April Fool’s joke, it’s REALLY early, but we can’t help wondering…how tasty might Charley Hoffman be to a reptile?

Click here for the full story

What does that cloud look like to you?

A mini-sensation was caused this week by video of Bubba Watson (you’ve heard of him) and Tucker Moore (you’ve heard of his father, Ryan Moore).

Someone feels that the side-by-side clip shows a comparison of the two lefties. This is what shows up on a slow news day, folks. Both lefties, both hit the ball, both follow through. That’s where the similarity end. However, for some, if it looks like a duck and swings like a duck…