You might not be aware of this, but golf has returned. It’s back. They’re back on the tee! Everyone is excited!
With the return has come a commercial that has befuddled me more than any ad I can remember. This isn’t a “standing in the hall of fame” type of situation where the ad gets played so much you want to donate your ears to science; this is a golf commercial that challenges the intelligence of the golf community. It challenges the simplicity of a man standing on a hill trying to go for a par-5 in two. It challenges basic eyesight.
It’s a simple ad, really. Dustin Johnson, one of the most famous golfers on the planet, holing out a hybrid on what appears to be a tough green to hit. If I told you that was the ad and you’d never seen it, that would be enough. But it’s the commentary that goes along with the action that is so offensive to golf fans that it has forced me to spend time in my life breaking it down (and time in yours reading this).
So, the commentary. Here is the word-for-word voiceover by someone not named Dustin Johnson (maybe Sam Elliott??):
“Some see a beautiful golf course with an incredible view. Dustin Johnson sees an aggressive pin … a two-club headwind … and a branch that blocks his line to the green … Dustin delivers because he sees things differently … so do we … RBC … a global financial institution with over 150 years of insight and expertise.”
So there is the copy, now to breakdown the issues FJM-style, here we go.
“Some see a beautiful golf course with an incredible view. Dustin Johnson sees an aggressive pin … a two-club headwind …”
The idea that any golfer would ever say “man, look at that aggressive pin” is insulting to us balata fans. Golfers might say “that’s a tucked pin” or a “brutal hole location,” but what’s an aggressive pin? The aggression in the game lies with the shot. That was an aggressive shot. But it isn’t with the pin. The pin isn’t aggressive, which is defined as “ready or likely to attack or confront.” Now, in 2020 I guess I can’t say that a flagstick wouldn’t take on animate characteristics considering all we’ve seen this year, but I’m going to assume for my point that the flag is going to remain insentient and sit in the hole just like it was put there.
We move on …
The commercial begins with the above shot of a golf course, the one us regular folk would think is beautiful. But not Dustin. Dustin sees that aggressive pin, even though the only green we can really see is the one that looks a mile or two away in the distance. I’ve circled the green below.
There is the green. I’ve looked at this image for far too long trying to figure out another possible green that he would be playing to, and I’m not seeing it.
Since we are looking at this shot, why don’t we introduce our golfer/actor into the fold. Dustin joins us in this next shot, looking somewhat in the direction of the circled green.
If we were splitting hairs, you could argue that Dustin is looking well right of the green in question, but this is most likely some green screen work so no reason to hate on the simple issues with this commercial when much larger problems start to present themselves (just wait for the branch).
The next shot you can see is one where the golf course is presented much like a yardage book. You see lines and wind direction and whatever the hell those half-circles are around his feet, and you see that the animation is pointing us to the green in question that looks Happy Gilmore-y far away.
Now to the green. This is our first shot of the green and the tough approach shot (shoutout animated birds … always a nice touch).
The hole looks slightly different than the shot we’ve seen previously, but it’s fairly close. The bunker is to the left like above, the green looks much smaller in this shot than the one that Dustin is checking out and the trees behind seem adjusted, but considering this is all happening in about 4 seconds, we can give a pass to this.
My biggest issue, initially, with the commercial was this idea of a branch in the way up by the green. Dustin is in the fairway, hitting downhill to a green with a hybrid. What branch would be in play? Is there a tree planted in the middle of the fairway? One directly off the green to the right?
The branch appears to be short and right of the green, but I see nothing that resembles a tree in the previous shot. Maybe “branch” is just a metaphor for problem. Maybe RBC and DJ dove deeper into the idea of trouble and presented the branch as a universal issue for Dustin. A metaphor for one of the greats in the game. Could the branch be a bunker? A valet driver, the 5th green at Oakmont, Brooks Koepka? Maybe “branch” is everything Dustin battles as a professional golfer. Is it possible we haven’t asked DJ about this branch before? I’m intrigued but I’ll digress.
This is where the commercial falls apart. This is the ball approaching the green. It’s supposed to be the same green that we saw earlier. It is most definitely not the same green! It isn’t even close! The green here has a bunker to the right and trees directly behind the green and a totally different green complex and no bunker left and I could continue but I think you get the idea here. THIS GREEN IS MY OWN PERSONAL BRANCH!
Look at the original green again and then look at the approach. It’s hilariously inaccurate. It’s almost like someone made a 30 second commercial and didn’t think an idiot would spend four days breaking it down. LITTLE DID YOU KNOW, GRAPHICS FELLA!
Now to the Dustin reaction at the end. He holes the shot for what I can only guess is an albatross/double-eagle. Considering how far it looks like he is and the fact that he’s hitting a hybrid, it has to be for a two on a par-5. The Double Eagle Club, which considers itself the source on double-eagle stats, says the odds of making one is 6 million to 1. Since we are talking of Dustin Johnson, we can cut those odds well down to, why don’t we say, a million to 1. You think that ball goes in and Dustin gives us this reaction?!
Actually, that’s probably accurate. I take back my stance here. Dustin probably would look longingly into the abyss after his ball disappeared with the same reaction a lot of us have when this commercial comes on.
My request to RBC, because I love Canada and I do enjoy Dustin; hire me next time you want to make a golf commercial. I am cheap and willing to look at the final product and change some of the golf vernacular and at least make sure the golf hole remains the same throughout the ad. I am even pretty good at half-circle drawings, so I could do all that stuff around Dustin’s feet.
Faxon — one of the calmest and most consistent humans you’ll ever meet — was beside himself. Bryson DeChambeau, not even a year into his professional career, was standing in front of one of the best putters to ever pick up a flat stick and explaining to him how putting works.
Can you imagine the audacity that requires? Explaining putting to BRAD FAXON! It would be like explaining the guitar to Eric Clapton, or the saxophone to John Coltrane.
The entire room had the exact same reaction I did. “Is this guy fucking serious?”
It was December of 2016, the conclusion of a whirlwind 18 months of golf that saw DeChambeau win the NCAA individual title and add his name on the Havemayer Trophy as the latest phenom to snag that elusive U.S. Amateur victory. Only Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Ryan Moore had previously pulled off the NCAA-U.S. Am double-dip in the same season. Then, to back it up, Bryson had contended for 35 holes at the Masters with a small “a” next to his name until a triple-bogey on his final hole on Friday plummeted him down the leaderboard. His credentials were impeccable. He’d already established himself as the best amateur we’d seen in a decade. But Faxon’s reaction — and everyone else listening to a kid talk to one of the best to ever perfect this part of golf’s craft — was rightfully justified.
Who on earth did this kid think he was?
DeChambeau had arrived at Tiburon putting side-saddle. He insisted when joining my podcast, The Clubhouse with Shane Bacon, that the correct term was “face on,” not side-saddle. No matter what term he used, the fact that he was doing so in a tournament while paired with Lexi Thompson in the final day of a silly season event, was the talk of the tournament. Despite the fact that they were well out of contention.
I can still remember Faxon’s face as DeChambeau walked out of the room. A man with eight PGA Tour wins, a man considered a virtuoso at his craft, was speechless. Even if everything went well for DeChambeau, I thought, he’d be fortunate to have the kind of career Faxon had. The sheer brazenness of this whole encounter reminded of one of my favorite golf quotes, uttered decades ago by Craig Stadler after he’d listened to a fresh professional golfer bragging about his amateur accolades.
“You see the guy next to you? And the guy next to him?” Stadler said. “Every one of them, All-Americans. There’s an NCAA Champion, a U.S. Amateur champion, a British Open champion — hell, some of these caddies were All-Americans. So just so you know, nobody here gives a damn if you’re an All-American, or if you even went to college at all. All anybody here wants to know … can you play stick?”
Four years later, we’ve learned something; not only can Bryson play stick, but he does it his own way, and he isn’t a single iota afraid of what people mutter about his approach as they stand around him.
DeChambeau’s been nicknamed The Mad Scientist, but even that suggests that his approach might be “mad.” It isn’t. His approach, unique as it is, works. And it’s working at a clip that we aren’t used to seeing in the modern game.
Think for a second about what we’ve seen from Bryson since that moment in 2016 when he was paired with Jordan Spieth at Augusta National, hoping to break golf as Bobby Jones 2.0. He had a bag of irons all the same length. We know now it works. We’ve seen a putter that looks like it’s got more technology than the 2022 Tesla. Works. We’ve watched a skinny kid with respectable power (45th on the PGA Tour in driving distance in 2017) transform his entire body, now looking like a bouncer who quit drinking, knowing the jokes and memes would come as he continued to grow horizontally, teasing the world with social videos of 400-yard drives, none of us realizing this was the new reality.
That’s, of course, worked. The whole time we were laughing, he was tinkering. And it just keeps working.
If this week is any indication, DeChambeau might be tiptoeing into the Mark McGwire territory, a controversial colossus who surges in popularity simply because of his power. McGwire — and a half dozen ballplayers turned bodybuilders like him — broke baseball in the late ‘90s with their ability to transform the game from the fundamentals (singles! hit and run! sacrifice fly!) to raw, unapproachable power. The Cardinals sold-out games not because they were winning (they weren’t), but because they had a guy on their roster that could hit any pitch as far as anyone could see, on a regular basis. It was a spectacle.
Bryson is doing the same thing. (And at the risk of being naïve, unlike McGwire, I believe he’s doing it without pumping an entire pharmacy into his body.)
Look at this tweet. Just look at that damn thing! Because of the character count restriction, it had to stop at 344 yards. If it continued you’d see drive after drive in the 305-330 range, and more often than not, those drives were ending up in the fairway (the first three rounds in Detroit, Bryson was hitting 64 percent of his fairways before a looser Sunday that saw the 26-year-old in the short stuff just six of 14 times).
And while we marvel at the distance — and we should because it was a singular focus of this guy to get bigger, get stronger, and hit the ball a kilometer — it’s probably just as important to see something else that Bryson broke this week, from my pal Justin Ray at the 15th Club.
It isn’t just the driving. He’s hitting it a mile, sure, but he’s making everything and doing it with that wild-looking putter. It’s the first time since the beginning of ShotLink that a tournament winner has led the field in both strokes gained off the tee and strokes gained putting. Suddenly the fat grip on his putter and the crazy lines on his golf ball look more innovative that weird. Somehow he hasn’t lost his touch despite all those pounds he’s packed on.
This isn’t how golf is supposed to be approached. How many times, growing up, did you hear someone tell you that it’s just about fairways and greens? I lived for years hitting 2-iron off tees because I was so determined to find fairways, knowing — in theory — I would have an easier shot to the green.
Bryson doesn’t really care about what history has to say about what he’s doing. If you’ve been anywhere near a cell phone this week you’ve seen what DeChambeau said before the Rocket Mortgage even started, apologizing to Donald Ross for what he planned to do to the late designer’s golf course.
“I think there’s a lot of bunkers that are around like 290 (yards), so hopefully I’ll be able to clear those and take those out of play. So, sorry, Mr. Ross, but, you know, it is what it is.”
And with that final line, I think I finally started to get Bryson. He’s flawed, but he’s entirely his own man. It is what it is, and the apologies, from now on especially, will be minimal.
There will be complications that accompany his certainty of self. We’ve seen it already in his approach to a lot of different people inside and outside of the ropes. This is a guy that berates a cameraperson on Saturday for simply doing their job. Do you know how many times Tiger Woods has had a camera on him when he’s nanoseconds away from a complete and total meltdown? That’s part of the game, kid, and complaining that the attention of an event is on you sure isn’t it. If you start doing that, you’re going to quickly become more of a villain than you want to be.
But what that whole 2016 experience has taught me over the years about DeChambeau is, he believes all the ridiculousness that comes out of his mouth. He believes in spritzing his golf ball on a range. He believes that bringing a planter box out to the practice green is the perfect putting tool. He believes, while sitting in front of Faxon and others that spent decades grinding on a game that never seems to care how much time you put into it, his approach to putting is the way.
It’s working. It’s all working. Who knows how long it’ll last and what’s next for him? I suspect he will continue to say stuff that will make many of us roll our eyes, but what we have to understand and accept at this point about DeChambeau is this: He isn’t rolling his eyes. He’s all-in. The Bryson Golf Experience is working because Bryson is the only one that has to truly buy-in.
It might be time to stop laughing at some of his quirks and start emulating them instead.
The par-3 10th is the start of a back-nine at Pacific Dunes that showcases four par-3s, three par-5s and plays to a par of 35.
(July 7, 2020: This post has been updated to include information on the fifth 18-hole course on Bandon property, the Sheep Ranch, with details and information that will help in planning a trip with a new course to play!)
Bandon Dunes is the perfect golf destination. It’s perfect for everything it has, everything it offers and even some of the stuff it decided to leave on the cutting room floor. It’s been a place that has weaved in and out of my life for years, dating back to my first visit as part of a media trip years ago. Since landing in North Bend back in April of 2012, I’ve been observing and noting things that make an experience at Bandon Dunes the best and things that maybe you should avoid when trekking to the west coast of Oregon. So here we go, my extensive Bandon Dunes guide. Enjoy!
The Boring Stuff: Transportation
In my opinion, there are two options to getting to Bandon Dunes that doesn’t involve a private airplane; flying to Eugene or taking the knuckleball flight directly to North Bend. I’ve done both a number of times and frankly, I prefer the flight to Eugene.
The pros of the North Bend option are simple and obvious; when you land, you’re 40 minutes from the Bandon Dunes gate. You get your bags, your clubs and boom, you’re off. The cons can be delays with a small aircraft and small airport. High winds can be an issue at certain times of the year and if the flight can’t go, you’re basically stuck in a very small airport hoping you eventually get to your connection.
The Eugene option is my preferred way because I feel I can rely on it. The drive to Bandon Dunes from the airport is somewhere in the 2.5-hour range, but it’s one of the most scenic drives you’ll ever take and with a direct option into Eugene, ends up being about the same time as connecting in San Francisco or Portland for your North Bend prop.
If you need transportation to/from any of the airports, I suggest using Aviation Transportation. The drivers are friendly and understanding, the drinks are included in the price and it’s roomy enough for however many guests you are bringing with you to Bandon.
Now to the Golf
The first thing I’ll say seems simple enough, but I hear from a lot of people on social media something different so I wanted to get this point out first; play all the golf courses. I don’t care how you do it or how many holes you have to play in a day, but going to Bandon Dunes and skipping a golf course is like going to a five-star restaurant and only have apps and ‘zerts (shoutout Tom Haverford). You better have the main course or you’re wasting time and money.
The best rotations for golf courses should go like this; morning rounds on Old Macdonald and Pacific Dunes, afternoon rounds on Bandon Trails and Bandon Dunes. With Sheep Ranch, I am urging people to play Sheep as their first course of the trip or their last. The reason being, I think it’s the most picturesque course on property and will either smack you in the face when you first arrive (make sure that iPhone is charged up because you’ll be snapping photos all morning long as you take on the newest of the C/C masterpieces) or will leave you checking dates for a Bandon return as you depart the property.
Sheep Ranch is much like Old Mac in terms of when best to play; the earlier the better. The winds tend to pick up in the afternoon so it’s best to play the windier of the courses (Old Mac & Sheep) and the tougher of the courses (Pacific) when winds are down. Personally, I like to do Old Mac/Trails the first day and then Pac/Bandon the next. I think Sheep is a good course to couple with one of the tougher of the courses because Sheep is the easiest course on property (that is, if the winds aren’t howling 30-40 MPH), so it’s nice to get in a good score before taking on Pacific of Trails.
(An important Sheep Ranch note; it’s the longest of the shuttle rides because it’s the furthest from the lodge and centralized activity so plan for that, but just know, there is a Sheep Ranch driving range (it’s LOVELY) just to the north of the first tee. If you want to get out there early and grab a breakfast sandwich and/or a coffee, just know you can warm up for the round right there, which is a huge bonus.)
One of the things I find frustrating is when people downplay the fun of Old Macdonald and the absolute perfection of Bandon Trails. If there is any negativity from golfers that visit Bandon, it’s usually about those two golf courses, which is shortsighted and flat out wrong. Old Mac is a perfect links golf courses in the United States, forcing players of all skill levels to hit different shots and take on unique challenges. It has some of the most fun holes on the property (the green on No. 5 is WILD) and being in that central area (holes 3-16) makes you feel like you’re out in a park with a bunch of your pals.
The par-5 9th at Bandon Trails is framed beautifully and leaves you wanting to take it on again.
Now, if you meet someone that hates on Bandon Trails, walk away, delete that person from your phone and vow to never speak to him/her again. Trails, in my opinion, is the best 18 holes on the property. It’s as peaceful a golf experience as you will find in this country, and that stretch of holes from Nos. 9-13 is as serene a walk as I’ve ever experienced in all my years playing this goofy game. When I think of my favorite holes at the resort, I gravitate towards Trails more than I realize (I really do think the par-5 9th is the hole I’d pick if I was given one last hole to play on this Earth).
The most fun experience at Bandon Dunes? Well, that is probably fairly universal in terms of opinion. That’s Bandon Preserve, the flawless par-3 course designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw that puts every other par-3 course in the world to shame. I can honestly say this about the Preserve; I’ve never played a round out there that I would consider anything but a 10 out of 10. Get a margarita at the little halfway house, carry your bag, bring a Bluetooth speaker and remember, the only rule at the Preserve is everyone has to hit putter off the tee of the final hole, the 13th. I’ve seen near aces with putters off the tee, have made a birdie myself by doing so (“nice two-putt!”) and it’s always entertaining to watch everyone give it a good smack and watch it roll down the runway to the green.
My advice for your Preserve round; either day in or morning out. If that doesn’t work with your schedule, make a Preserve/Trails day your easy day during the middle of the trip. You can sleep in a little, go a little harder the night before and be all set at Preserve to play a round, have a late lunch right there at Bandon Trails and then go out on Trails in the afternoon.
Food, You Ask?
One of the best things about Bandon Dunes, something Mike Keiser made a bullet point when bringing this dream to life, is how understated everything is around the golf.
The rooms are exactly as they should be, no fluff or excess needed. The beds are comfortable and the showers do their jobs and you’ll spend less time in your rooms at Bandon than any other place you visit. It’s for cleaning up and sleeping and that’s it.
But, how about the food? Is it understated like the rooms? Absolutely not. The food at Bandon is GREAT.
You’ll hear plenty of people tell you to get the Grandma’s Meatloaf at McKee’s Pub and I don’t disagree, but telling people what to order and eat seems like a wasted practice since all of that is what the person likes and what the person feels.
This is the advice I’ll give about food; just have a plan. Bandon Dunes is great because you get to turn your adult brain off for a few days. You never have to worry about driving anywhere or making phone calls. You are almost in a golfing daze for a few days, walking from pro shop to pro shop, first tee to first tee knowing that everything of importance to your day is already set. Your caddie is there and the times are secured and as long as you have golf balls in the bag and a couple of tees in your pocket, you are good to go (how much are things set for the golfer? The first tee shacks even have waterproof scorecards called Drycards that were invented by a Bandon Dunes caddie named Todd Petrey).
But for food, I urge you to have a plan. It can be a loose plan, but a plan nonetheless. Make dinner reservations before you get there for each night so you don’t have to stress about where you’re eating when you get there. Sprinkle in a dinner at The Pacific Grill and Trails End (at Pacific Dunes and Bandon Trails clubhouses, respectively). You’ll want to spend most of your time at McKee’s which is what my friends and I do, but the menus elsewhere are so different it’s worth venturing out.
I won’t sit here and give you ordering advice except for this; get the grilled cheese for lunch one day at Pacific Dunes. And get a side of spicy ranch dressing. The spicy ranch is so good there I’m convinced if Bandon bottled it and sold it in grocery stores they would diversify their ever-growing business four-fold.
With Bandon Dunes getting busier and busier by the year, the restaurants can be packed by 7 PM, so having those reservations, especially for a big group, is massively helpful. If you’re the alpha golf group guy (the one in charge), make the calls and get the reservations set, that way you’ll never have to stress again.
Bandon Preserve is a magical, stress-free experience at a magical, stress-free resort.
The Other Stuff
I get asked about dates a lot. When is the best time to go to Bandon? The easy and obvious answer is anytime in the summer, but I’ve been in September, October, and November and had great days and mediocre weather days each time. If you avoid peak season at Bandon, you’ll find a better rate and a little fewer people, so it’s really what you’re looking for. A friend of mine that works at Bandon and has lived there for a number of years points people to mid-late April as a great time to go. Says the prices are still down and the conditions are usually fantastic.
To take a caddie or not to take a caddie, that is the golf trip question. I’ll answer it easily here; take one. Each round. If you can afford it, take a damn caddie. It makes the Bandon Dunes experience a LOT better, plus, you’re playing 36 holes a lot so not having to worry about the bag makes those walks a lot better.
When you play Old Mac, take a minute or two and check out the halfway house after the seventh green. It’s one of the best halfway houses on the planet, so much so that on sunny days when the course isn’t packed, I’ve sat on one of those benches with a buddy and had a couple of beers and just let a group or two go ahead of me.
You’ll hear people mention the Labyrinth (my good pal Mitch Laurance walks you through it right here). It’s worth 45 minutes of your time to go check it out, especially as the sun is setting. Follow the signs, enjoy your time in the woods and if you get lost, just flag down the nearest Bandon shuttle (three buddies and I may have run into this issue a few years ago).
There is no real reason to leave the property once you get there, but if you must, a couple of places to go; Tony’s Crab Shack is the best place to grab a bite in the city of Bandon, but it’s only open for lunch (10:30 AM – 6 PM). Across the street from Tony’s is the Arcade (known locally as the caddie bar), which is open until 2 AM and has pool tables, darts, and some great shirts/sweatshirts to toss in with all the stuff you buy from the resort. Foley’s is the Irish Pub and a great place to grab dinner and watch a game.
Last thing … I recorded a podcast with my good buddy and the lead college football analyst for Fox Sports, Joel Klatt (also a silly good golfer) about our latest trip to Bandon Dunes. We answered a ton of questions, gave tips and must-dos when planning and arriving at one of my favorite places in the world. You can listen to that full episode right here if you’re an Apple Podcasts person (Spotify link here).
My own submission to the cause; a bogey-birdie-birdie-double-birdie-bogey-PAR (!)-birdie-eagle front nine at Dobson Ranch from a few years back.
For years, I’ve loved nothing more in golf than a beautiful, colorful psycho scorecard. When I was doing my Clubhouse Newsletter, I had a section for “Psycho Scorecard of the Week,” and people on social media started to send them in on a daily basis when the PGA Tour kicked off.
The one issue? I’m not sure everyone totally understands what I mean when I say psycho scorecard. I get a lot of “submissions” of ‘cards that are wild, sure, but not psycho. So I figured why not spend a few minutes typing up a helpful guide to what is psycho and what is not.
The first rule of a psycho scorecard; it can’t be just a really good round. I’ve had plenty of 65s or 68s sent my way with guys making a whole bunch of birdies and a double-bogey and firing a solid tournament round. That’s just golf. If you’re going low and have a bad hole, that isn’t psycho it’s typical.
I’ll give you Will Zalatoris from this week’s Korn Ferry event as an example:
That’s … just great golf. An ace, an eagle, six birdies, one bad hole, and a bogey. Nothing psycho about it.
On the other side of things, it can’t be just a really bad round. I’ve seen plenty of scorecards posted on Twitter that ended in something like 78 but had an albatross and a birdie circled. That’s just a bad round with a couple of amazing swings.
The best way to explain a psycho scorecard is to find someone that shot even-par with few pars on the ‘card.
I’ll introduce Seth Reeves here to help.
That, friends, is perfect. Simply perfect. Five birdies, three bogeys, two doubles, A FREAKIN’ HOLE-IN-ONE, and in with a 72. Just beautiful.
Here is a couple more:
The top ‘card, from Brandon Harkins, isn’t my favorite psycho scorecard because the round got away from him (5-over is right on the psycho ‘card cusp) but considering he made just four pars and tacked on five birdies at least has it in the running.
Vogel, on the other hand, was right around par with a stretch of four birdies in a row, five in six holes, a double-bogey smashed in the middle of it after a wild start to his day.
And considering everyone loves the Masters, I’ll leave you with Russell Henley’s second round back in 2018.
That psycho scorecard deserves a little green jacket to drape over it to stay warm and happy. Even-par. Magnificant.
Most golf trips happen in the summer. It’s when groups of guys take over the Bunker Bars of the world in hopes of some good scores, some cold drinks, and that unreal golf experience. When I started writing about golf, buddies trips weren’t nearly talked about as much as they are now. Bandon Dunes had just two golf courses. Streamsong was, in my twisted imagination, a swamp riddled with massive alligators hoping that those large mechanical things taking over their land won’t disrupt an afternoon sunbathing. And all the other places we love to visit (Sand Valley, Cabot Links and on and on) were either ideas in a twisted brain or land that people passed by every so often and mentioned to whoever was within earshot, “that’s the spot for our dream home one day.”
Now, the golf trip is an essential part of the social media golf experience. If you go on a trip and don’t post 35 stories a day about it, did you even go on a trip at all? Planning golf trips has become as much fun as actually going on the trip itself.
What courses do we HAVE to play? Are there any hidden gems in the area? How many times did Donald Ross visit this region?!?
We spend cold months and hot summers getting ready for that moment when we can wheel our golf clubs up to an airline agent and drop them off, knowing the next time we see them (God and airline willing!) they’ll be on the first tee of a place we’ve been thinking about for hours on end at a lonely desk in an even lonelier building.
For the third straight year, a group of us packed up cars and headed a couple of hours south of Phoenix to a resort called Tubac, a 27-hole facility famous for being a backdrop to a lot of the memorable moments in “Tin Cup,” a movie that if you haven’t seen I don’t know why the hell you’re reading this piece about golf. We go either the first or second week of January, abnormal for any sort of trip (“you can’t get those vacation days back!”) but actually ideal for a little break following the stress of the holidays.
This crew is, safe to say, a golfer lite group. Sure, we have some scratch golfers in the 14-16 man lineup, but the handicaps are so all over the place that we tend to adjust numbers as the week rolls on. A +1 handicap will be in a foursome with someone in the 25-30 handicap range each and every round and that is what this trip was built on. It’s part of the appeal. It’s part of the beauty. It’s part of Tubac.
Why this trip remains one of my favorite weeks of the year is because it’s a golf trip, sure, but it never feels like one. I say that because I’m one of those in a position in my life where golf trips tend to mean work. Because golf is such an integral part of my existence, going anywhere for golf can, at times, feel slightly like a job. I feel obligated to be on my phone posting about the golf course or the resort. I know that whatever is happening probably should be documented, and that is something that happens to each one of us when we go anywhere these days. We are expected to share what’s happening in our lives on our respected channels.
Posting about trips or vacations isn’t boasting … sure, some people out there enjoy the idea of showing off where they’ve been or where they’ve played … but I believe it’s more the culture of where we’re at. You showcase your life, step by step, shot by shot, hole by hole. The problem with this is that by doing this, you are forgetting what exactly is happening around you.
Some of my favorite rounds of my life have ended in exactly zero pictures being taken. The rounds that you play and simply forget that you even brought your phone with you. It’s in the bag and you dig around for it after the 18th hole and check some texts and realize that this round won’t be documented by Instagram but by your memories and memories alone.
For the third straight year, I told myself as my pal Rusty and I jumped in the car and turned the Kia due-south on I-10 that I should spend more time filming and photographing this trip and for the third straight year I came home with about five pictures from the three days. That’s a win in my book. The less I can be on my phone, the better time I probably had.
So outside of being in the moment, what makes this trip, to a place so many people don’t know about, perfect? It’s because the perfect golf trip is perfect for the people going.
One bourbon-heavy evening last weekend, a couple of the guys started to bring up a few of the resorts I mentioned above.
“Could this group go somewhere else?!,” one of the guys presented. “We should do that!”
Now I love the golf-heavy resort more than just about anyone, but I’m not sure it is the fit for this crowd. We have twice-a-year golfers who go on the trip for the people not the pars. Everyone is hoping to play well and win, but the hang is the key and that’s what the Tubac resort is perfect for. They welcome us with open arms, they get excited to see our faces and the rules are minimal if not nonexistent. Just don’t break anything (we’ve broken stuff), disrupt other people enjoying themselves (I’d say we’ve ENHANCED those experiences but maybe others would argue against my take) and have fun. That’s it.
The key to all of this? The key to any golf trip with friends? It’s to do it at a place that makes sense for YOU and YOUR group. That’s what we have in southern Arizona in early January and that is why this trip will continue for years and years to come. It’s golf, it’s a good hang, it’s simple and peaceful and serene and absolutely utopian for our crew.
For us, it’s Tubac. For you, it’s another place. We all have one and we all can’t wait to return.
Of all the questions I get on social media, the one I answer the most is that of Arizona golf. Bachelor parties, buddies trips out west and Waste Management escapades all tend to focus their time in the Grand Canyon State on playing the courses you’re supposed to play, but what exactly are those courses? Here is a helpful guide to get you going (and I want to point out, no course paid or committed free golf for including them here … it’s just all my opinion on the courses in my area).
We-Ko-Pa Saguaro – Long before the boom of designer knowledge took hold of golf, the Saguaro course at We-Ko-Pa was one of the true gems of desert golf (This is where I’ll admit that Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw were the masterminds behind the design, which makes sense when you look at their global resume).
I think of all the courses to play in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, this is my number one MUST PLAY. It’s beautiful, it isn’t clustered with homes lining each fairway and it’s fairly playable for a desert course because the course has combed the rocks and desert 5-8 yards off each fairway to make it easier to find golf balls.
Quintero – Easily the best views of any desert course that I’ve played (especially the public ones) with the wildest downhill par-3s that you’ll play in the state. It’s the course I’ll take people to go play if they’ve never seen a desert-style golf course before because I feel this is the one that makes the biggest impact.
Two fair warnings; the golf course is not easy. It’s a tough track that demands tee shots find the fairway, so make sure to bring a good amount of golf balls in the bag and prepare to play some sort of lazy lateral for balls that find the cacti.
Second, it’s a bit of a hike from a Scottsdale hotel, so if you want to do Quintero, just prepare for a 30-40 minute drive each way (it being in the middle of nowhere is part of why it’s so beautiful, IMO. Nothing to take away from the views!).
Whirlwind (both courses) – Just two solid, “you get what you pay for” type of desert golf courses a little south of town. Both are great (I’m not sure one would rank higher than the other if you polled 30 golfers), both are fun, both aren’t overly demanding and there is a casino within five minutes of the last putt dropping. Tough to beat that lineup!
Quintero’s par-3s are demanding and stunning, like the downhill par-3 9th here.
Southern Dunes – Another gem that isn’t exactly right down the street from the Old Town W, Southern Dunes was a course that opened as a private club (originally named Royal Dunes) and has transitioned over the last decade+ into a fabulous 18-hole championship golf course that has qualifiers, big collegiate events, and even Q-School from time to time.
If you decide to hit up Southern Dunes, stop at the Firehouse Subs down in Maricopa after for a quick bite (father-in-law plug here!).
Camelback Ambiente – The bonus about getting a round in at Camelback; Ambiente is one of the most unique “desert” golf courses in the valley. It isn’t desert-lined, it’s more a wind-swept “wait, am I in Wisconsin?” look, yet still giving you views and demanding holes that’ll test every part of your game. I don’t knock the other course on property, Padre (I actually think it’s a perfect spot for high-handicappers just trying to have a good time), but Ambiente is where it’s at here.
The added bonus? It might be the most conveniently located course in the Valley, sitting five minutes or so from Old Town Scottsdale, a quick Uber ride if you’re hoping to have a few cocktails.
Papago – I will say this about Papago; when you combine the design, the location, the price and the new clubhouse it might just be the best experience/value in all of Phoenix. I absolutely love playing Papago because it’s challenging for the low-handicapper (you have to move the ball off the tee a lot) and is playable for the high-handicapper (you aren’t going to lose more than a couple of golf balls at Papago even if you’re spraying it all over the property).
Mountain Shadows (Par-3 Course) – I always give this course out to people that are asking about a trip because it is the perfect spot to play 18 holes after a flight or 18 holes before a flight when departing. It’s a gem of a design set just north of Camelback Mountain and is a quick two hours or so to get around considering it’s all par-3s.
As for the others, this isn’t a knock on golf courses that didn’t make the list. I always enjoy a round at Troon North and think the Boulders is lovely, it’s just that if I was coming to Scottsdale, this would be the list I’d pick off of to play. If you ever have any questions on more advanced stuff than just this, e-mail me at shane@shanebacongolf.com and I’ll respond as quick as I can!
Just over a week ago, I trekked to Hawaii for the first time in my life to check out one of the nicest resorts in the world, a golf course that is showcased yearly on the PGA Tour Champions and enjoy one or two very cold and very satisfying Kona Longboards.
The trip was unreal. Five days at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai with a couple of rounds of golf, plenty of pool time and sunsets daily that make you realize why so many mainlanders (see how I’ve already adopted the island vernacular?!) end up spending a portion of their winters in Kona.
The golf course itself, a Jack Nicklaus design, was exactly what you’d want from a resort golf course. Views, great conditions and very friendly fairways. I got a chance to knock out 18 holes with the head pro at Hualalai, Jake Belveal, I rode around for 18 holes with my lovely wife who took a lot of the pictures shared here, and even dabbled across the street at Nanea, a private club that gives you even better perspective at just how great the Four Seasons resort is framed against the Pacific Ocean.
I wanted to share a few pictures from the days around the golf course just to highlight a place I’d highly recommend.
We are now a couple of days removed from a fairly stressful final round at Augusta National. There were moments of greatness, moments of heartache and a man standing alone at the end that never bucked his head when some of the best in the world were trying to chase him down. With all that went down those four days (And five if you count the early week fireworks at the Par-3 Contest) I figured a mailbag was a must. As always, any questions you have in the future can be fired over to my on Twitter at @shanebacon. Here we go!
Now that he’s got a major in the bag, does Patrick Reed actually become a top 5 player in the world for good?
Bacon: I wanted to revisit the line that Patrick Reed uttered that started this whole top-five conversation from 2014. After winning the WGC-Cadillac Championship that year by a shot over Bubba Watson and Jamie Donaldson, his third PGA Tour win in seven months, Reed laid it all out there with this quote.
“I’ve worked so hard, I’ve won a lot in my junior career, did great things in (my) amateur career, was 6-0 in match play in NCAAs, won NCAAs two years in a row, got third individually one year, and now I have three wins out here on the PGA Tour.
“I just don’t see a lot of guys that have done that, besides Tiger Woods, of course, and, you know, the other legends of the game. It’s just one of those things, I believe in myself and – especially with how hard I’ve worked – I’m one of the top five players in the world.
“To come out in a field like this and to hold on wire to wire like that, I feel like I’ve proven myself.”
Reed’s confidence was fairly warranted at the time. He took down Jordan Spieth in a playoff to win his first PGA Tour event, shot 28-under over four days at the birdie-heavy Humana Challenge to win his second and then became the youngest player ever to win a World Golf Championships event when he raised the trophy at Doral.
And it also blew up across social media. People love a confident player, but for whatever reason, we don’t want them to be cocky. You can walk around with the stride of Dustin Johnson or the bounce of Rory McIlroy, the sideways stare of Tiger that Paul Azinger always talks about and the nickname that pros gave Phil Mickelson back in the day, but the moment you say it publicly that you believe in yourself it’s ludicrous.
Reed now has six PGA Tour wins at the age of 27 including this Masters. He has figured out something with his swing this year that has made him more of a threat at all types of golf courses, using that whirly bird move to move the ball left to right. I actually talked to Reed about some swing changes he was trying to make two Decembers ago at the Shark Shootout and even then he talked to me about moving away from the smother-hook that was a staple of his. He knew then that he needed to figure out a way to get the ball in play when the hole curves right. This year he’s figured that out, and he used it to perfection at Augusta National.
Do I think Patrick Reed could become a top-five player in the world? Absolutely. He’s 11th in the world now after that win and the confidence that Reed carried around before winning a major championship is only going to grow after staring down all those big names on Sunday at Augusta National.
I think the thing we are all forgetting about Reed here is that as different as he may seem as a professional and a person, the guy believes in himself as much as anyone on the PGA Tour. He isn’t that long off the tee, isn’t that great of an iron player and isn’t exactly the best putter, but if you ask him if he’s great at each of those categories he would tell you emphatically, “hell yes I am, why are you even asking?” We keep wondering about Reed and we’re missing the biggest point on this young man; the only person that’s opinion matters about Patrick Reed is Patrick Reed’s, and Reed believes he’s one of the best in the world. And you know what? He might not be that far off.
If Spieth had finished the comeback on Sunday, would you consider it to be the best in Masters history? Better than Jack in ’86 or Gary Player in ’78?
Bacon: Not only would it have been the greatest comeback in the history of the Masters, it would have gone down as the second best Masters Sunday in history, following only 1986.
He was nine shots back. Nine! And in between Spieth and Reed were names like McIlroy, Fowler, Rahm, Stenson, Fleetwood, Leishman and Bubba Watson. Spieth didn’t have a realistic shot at coming back in this Masters with those heavy-hitters ahead of him and he said such on Saturday.
There is a reason that a lot of big comeback victories don’t occur in final rounds of major championships. You have to fire a crazy low round at the exact perfect time and you have to get some help. Spieth did that, up until a bad tee shot at the 18th. He did everything he could to give himself a shot. Sure, people are going to point to misses at the 7th and 13th, but think about how many guys on Sunday failed to birdie 13 or failed to make a four on 15. These holes aren’t exactly No. 1 at Riviera. Spieth hit golf shots and made huge putts all afternoon long and if he hadn’t hit that branch on 18 and somehow gave himself a birdie look for 62, it would have been the most anticipated moment in my life as a golf fan. If it had gone, I’m not sure there would ever be a louder roar at the Masters. It’s a bummer we didn’t get that chance to view it, but what Spieth did was one of those moments that remind us that only Jordan Spieth of this current generation of great golfers can find the mental calmness amongst the craziness of a final round at a major championship to hit perfect shots and perfect putts with perfect reads and perfect speed to potentially give himself a shot at victory.
I mentioned this on Twitter, but look back at what Spieth has done and remember, he’s 24-years-old when thinking about this;
He holed a bunker shot at the John Deere Classic for a third straight 65 to get himself in a playoff that he eventually won at the age of 19, the first teenager to win on the PGA Tour since 1931.
He got up and down from the ball washer on the 72nd hole to land in a playoff with Sean O’Hair and Reed at the Valspar, eventually making a 30-footer to win.
Birdie at 16, monster three-wood at the 18th at Chambers Bay to set up a closing birdie that snagged his second-straight major championship in 2015.
With not a lot to play for at St. Andrews except for his third straight major and a realistic shot at the Grand Slam in 2015, Spieth made a monster birdie putt from some 40-feet at the 16th to tie the lead and give himself a shot.
Six birdies on the back nine at Colonial to win the Dean & Deluca including a chip-in that even surprised him, much like that putt on 16 this past Sunday at Augusta.
That bunker shot in the playoff last year at the Travelers.
“Go get that!” and all that came with it as he stormed back to win the Open Championship last year, his third major title.
The kid is just a different breed. He really is, and I think his 64 on Sunday was the most impressive round of his career.
How different would the Masters of played out if Rory makes eagle on 2?
Bacon: You know, a lot of people are pointing to that eagle miss at the second as the moment that derailed Rory’s round, but to me it was the bogey at the fifth. If you remember, he bounced back from that sloppy bogey on the third (when Reed got a little lucky when that putt that was racing past the hole caught the edge and dropped for the birdie to get the two shots lost over the first two holes to Rory back) with an absolute dart at the extremely difficult par-3 4th. There had only been seven birdies at the fourth all day long and Rory calmly knocked that one in for another shift of momentum, only to chop it around on five, eventually missing an eight-footer for par.
To me, that was the big moment where he looked internally and thought, “what the heck am I even doing today?” He had so many chances in that early portion of the round to get it back to all square with Reed and he squandered opportunity after opportunity, but after that bogey at No. 5 he never seemed like the same guy (he made just one birdie the rest of the day and it was a two-putt at the 13th).
Does Rory’s two-over-par 74 on Sunday at #TheMasters influence your long-term view of his career trajectory and ability to close (in majors specifically)?
Bacon: It doesn’t for me. If you listened to my Sunday recap Clubhouse podcast with David Feherty, he speaks of Rory being one of the streakiest great players in golf. I absolutely agree with that. To me, Rory is what he is, a freak of nature who occasionally has everything clicking and runs over the rest of the field like Tiger in the early 2000s. The problem is, when things aren’t clicking he isn’t winning. Some greats were able to win without their absolute best stuff and that just isn’t Rory McIlroy.
So my takeaway from that round and that Sunday for Rory is that if he wants to be considered one of the greatest to ever play the game, he is going to have to figure out a way to contend and win without his A+ game. That is when he could sneak into that 8-10 major category. As of now he will win a major every 3-4 years when the course is soft and he’s got the swing grooving and the stroke smooth.
There is another level to Rory McIlroy, which is scary, it’s just up to him to see if he can find it, and I think it is as much between the ears as it is on the driving range.
Bacon: I have been on record for a few years now saying I think this is the generation of one-time major winners. Looking back over the last few years, here are guys with one major on their resume; Webb Simpson, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Jason Dufner, Jason Day, Danny Willett, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Jimmy Walker, Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and now Patrick Reed.
The laziest thing we as golf analysts do is chalk up a loss in a major to a guy, “definitely winning one of these at some point.” We said it for years about Sergio Garcia, who finally got it done at the age of 37. We said it of Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf and Ernie Els and Greg Norman at Augusta National. “They will definitely win one eventually.” They didn’t.
So just look at that crop of guys I listed; You’d probably get great odds in Vegas against Simpson, Dufner, Willett, and Walker ever winning another major. Adam Scott is 37 and seems like his best golf is behind him. Rose turns 38 this summer. Stenson is 42. So of that list, how many more majors are won? Dustin probably gets at least one more. Thomas looks like a guy that will win 2-4 majors over his career. Jason Day seems talented enough to win more majors, but who really knows with him.
My point here is that it’s easy to look at someone like Rickie Fowler and say, “he will definitely win more majors than Reed,” forgetting the biggest factor in all of this; Reed already has a major under his belt. The last few years should show just how difficult it is to win major championships, and to say that Fowler is going to win two is, to me, a bit of an exaggeration if you simply look at that list.
Of guys under the age of 33 on the PGA Tour, there are exactly two names with multiple majors; Rory McIlroy (who hasn’t won one since 2014) and Jordan Spieth. That’s it. Of guys under the age of 39 on the PGA Tour, there are exactly three guys with multiple majors, tossing in Martin Kaymer’s PGA and U.S. Open trophies. That’s it! Three guys under 39!
So I think we love the idea of multiple majors. We look at these talented players and assume they’ll do it. But the talent pool in professional golf grows by the second, and every year that passes means four more guys that have turned professional with a real shot at finding themselves in contention with the 29-year-old guy who has been doing it for nearly a decade.
So, my answer? Reed. I’ll take the guy with the one major already. It’s the smart play here, even if I think Rickie Fowler is going to win at least a major in his career. He looks like he as all the tools to do so, but he’s now 0-for-33 in his career.
Now, ahem, let me get into sports analyst contradictory mode … *swigs a Red Bull, tightens tie* … THAT BEING SAID …
Do you feel better about Rickie’s chances at a major after this performance?
Bacon: I never bucked on Rickie’s abilities. I know he only has four PGA Tour victories. I know he’s been labeled Best Player Without a Major since Dustin’s win at Oakmont. I know that people tend to, for whatever reason, point to his exposure and endorsements at somehow his fault and pros do anonymous surveys and say he’s the most overrated player on the PGA Tour. I get all that, but come on, Rickie Fowler is a major threat at basically every venue.
How can you watch Fowler play that back nine on Sunday and think he’s scared of the moment? He birdied six of his final 11 holes at the Masters! If Reed’s putt on 17 doesn’t smash into the flagstick I am probably spending the first half of this mailbag talking about a playoff. That’s just how these things work.
Sometimes you are gifted majors and sometimes you have to go win them. I’ve been around enough old pros that grumble about certain players that always seemed to be in the right place at the right time when another player collapses and wonder why the hell they never got that lucky.
Golf isn’t quite like poker, but there is a level of luck involved. How many times does that shot Angel Cabrera hit in the 2009 Masters playoff smack into a tree and pop back out in the fairway? What if Rose’s ball had rattled around in the trees right of 18 and somehow got a lucky kick back in the fairway? Would Sergio be thinking, “Not again” in terms of falling on the wrong side of golf luck?
Reed got a couple of really great breaks on the second nine on Sunday, with his ball staying up on 13 and the flag getting in the way at 17 and those both hurt Rickie’s chances of winning despite his best efforts. We’ve seen it happen dozens of times in majors. One guy gets a break and the other guy doesn’t and that guy is standing wondering when the trophy ceremony is going to wrap while the other player is hoisting the trophy and giving a speech.
Fowler might not have proved everything to his critics on Sunday, but I bet he proved a lot to himself with that closing stretch of golf.
one of the best parts about going to Augusta was the no cell phone policy. really felt relaxing out there, and that everyone was focused on golf. see that changing any time soon?
Bacon: I’m not sure there is a more universally approved of rule in sports than Augusta making fans give up their phones. Every single person that gets to the Masters that doesn’t know about this has 30 minutes of “HOW AM I GOING TO LIVE?!” anxiety only to realize it’s one of the best parts of the tournament.
You can just kinda walk around … look at the azaleas … see the hidden undulations on the golf course, sip on a craft brew, decide what order of sandwiches you’re going to eat, feel the wind on your face, change that sandwich order you already planned out, actually talk to the people you’re with without being worried your buddy is checking on Sandra MiniTourHopeful’s latest Instagram picture.
It’s actually scary how relaxing and freeing it is. With all the camera issues at PGA Tour events, I would love to say this is something that would work, but we all know it wouldn’t. Augusta National is such a special place that 99.6 percent of people that walk through the gate want to get lost in the experience. They want to see where Bubba hit that shot at 10 and what Amen Corner looks like and what pimento cheese actually tastes like and how many things they can buy before their credit card gets denied. The Masters might be the only place this cell phone policy actually would work, even if I love the idea of giving it a shot at some other events.
You get to switch the result of any one major playoff in history. What do you pick?
Bacon: Well, I must say, there isn’t an easier answer to a great question than this, so I’m going to expand on your question a little.
The answer is, of course, Tom Watson at Turnberry. I’ve always felt bad for Stewart Cink because this is always going to be the answer to this question and Cink just took advantage of a great opportunity that was given to him.
But looking back over the other majors, here are the ones I would flip:
Masters: 2009. Kenny Perry deserved that green jacket, and even more after how Cabrera advanced to the second hole of the playoff with that kick off the tree after missing his tee shot wide right that I mentioned earlier in the mailbag. Perry played such beautiful golf that week and let everyone back in the tournament when he bogeyed 17 and 18.
Honorable mention: Louis over Bubba in ’12 (Bubba still would have a green jacket and Louis would join that elite club of Augusta-St. Andrews major winners).
U.S. Open: 1947. Sam Snead deserves that Grand Slam, and the U.S. Open was the one he never could conquer, but really, it’s the way it ended that rubs me the wrong way. If you don’t know the story, check out the Dick McGeorge gamer, but I’ll give the cliffs notes; Snead had a short par putt on the final hole to go another 18 holes against Lew Worsham. With both players facing similar putts around three feet away, Worsham called in a rules official to pull out a damn tape measure to see who was away. Snead got pissed off, missed his putt and Worsham knocked his in for the win. That is one brutal way for that to go down.
Honorable mention: Mediate over Tiger in ’08 (dude battled his tail off) and Montgomerie over Els in ’94 (Monty should have at least one major considering his longevity on Tour, and like Bubba above, Ernie went on to win another U.S. Open).
Open: ’09.
Honorable mention: Sergio over Harrington in ’07. THAT WAS SERGIO’S CLARET JUG, DAMMIT! WHY ARE YOU RAKING THE BUNKER AND DELAYING HIS VICTORY, RANDOM GUY?! (Plus, Padraig won again the next year.)
PGA Championship: 2000. Bob May over Tiger. Maybe I just feel that certain people played well enough to win majors, but I still don’t know how the heck Tiger’s ball bounced BACKWARDS on the 18th hole in regulation. Plus, May hit a putt for birdie on the 72nd hole that befuddled every person that has ever struck a putt on that green, breaking the wrong way to go in. I really thought Tiger was going to miss that one to get into the playoff. This was back when I didn’t realize Tiger was a martian put on this planet to crush the hearts of 30-something journeymen trying to beat the most intimidating figure in golf history. Silly me.
Honorable mention: Not really another I’d change, not even Tom Watson at Oakmont in ’78. He had his chances to win that bad boy with a five-shot lead heading into Sunday, even if it cost him his Grand Slam.
(Updated: January 28, 2020 with just a few additions)
While most of the country has been shoveling snow and scraping windshields for the last month, Arizona has been dealing with one of the warmest winters in its history. Did you know it’s supposed to be in the 80s this entire week in Scottsdale? That means one thing and one thing only; 2018 will be the most attended Waste Management Phoenix Open in the history of the event, with some expecting to see upwards of 800,000 people through the gates this week at TPC Scottsdale (last year saw 655,434 people come out, with a record 204,906 stumble around on Saturday for the third round).
It’s the greatest show on grass for a reason, and with the course in great shape and the field full of one-named guys (Jordan, Justin, Phil, Hideki, Rickie), you must be prepared if you want to enjoy the week. Here are my tips for a great week on and off the course.
How do I get into the 16th?
With just over 3,000 general admission seats, landing a spot on the 16th without a fancy ticket can be tough, so the key is to go and go early. The lines start to swell around 10 AM, so if you want to land a spot there you better be ready to hustle and you best not snooze that alarm.
Make heading to the 16th your first goal of the day and if you want drinks, buy them quickly before heading up. If you get a seat, snuggle up and enjoy because it’ll be a while before golfers come through (Even those that tee off on the 10th), but getting a seat is the priority. If you wait until lunchtime, you’ll see lines to get in around the 2-3 hour mark. No thank you.
If not the 16th, where?
If you’re lucky enough to land a ticket to the Cove on the 17th, protect it like you would a winning Powerball ticket because that’ll be the best spot of the week in my opinion. Amazing views not just of the course but of Pinnacle Peak and the McDowell Mountains with one of the most exciting par-4s on the PGA Tour right in front of you, this new addition to the penultimate hole is going to be a great one.
If you’re general admission, get out of the craziness and head to a couple of the more remote areas at the Waste Management.
The Ridge is located just west of the par-3 12th, on one of those famous TPC hills that were actually flattened over the summer so this area could expand and accommodate more fans. Margaritas, tacos, cold beers … it’s a perfect spot to watch a few golf holes and won’t feel as busy as anything over by the 16th and they doubled the square footage of this area in 2020 to give general admission customers a better spot to view a lot of golf shots and enjoy a very relaxed atmosphere perfect for a group of buddies, golf-obsessed fans and families.
A new spot this year that I’m excited about is the Craft Beer Haus on the 7th, an added spot by the Thunderbirds to promote fans getting away from the congested area and enjoying the entire golf course. The 5th is one of the best par-4s on the course, and then you can circle around to watch Nos. 6 and 7 while enjoying a nice beer without having to elbow other people for a spot in the concession line. I’d post up here if I was out to enjoy the day.
What’s around TPC Scottsdale if we want to head out but grab a drink close by?
Within walking distance of TPC Scottsdale is O.H.S.O. Distillery, a great place to have a local Arizona beer and a snack (burgers are A+). Basically next door is a Four Peaks Grill, which promotes the Four Peaks beers including Kilt Lifter (the most popular) and the Sunbru (a good one after a long day in the sun).
Kierland Commons is a short Uber drive from the course and has plenty happening including a lot of food and drink options so if you need to get away from it all but don’t want to spend $50 on a Lyft, that’s the way to go.
If you want to get a little divey, play some pool and catch some of the golf on the television, head to Shea and Scottsdale and look for a place called Ernie’s, a favorite of the locals in that area and a place you won’t feel will be packed with people rocking Waste Management badges.
What about Old Town?
Old Town is, of course, the most popular bar area in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area. Everyone asks about this place because it is where they’ve been told to go, with dozens of bars all trying to one-up each other with more TVs, louder music and for this week, longer lines. I’m a little aged out of Old Town at this point, but the Bevvy is a great spot in the Circle of Hangover Doom that is an area just east of the W Hotel where a ton of bars sit next to each other (the Bevvy has OTB, which is basically why we like it).
The nice thing about these bars is if you start the day here, plenty of them are offering a shuttle service to and from the Waste Management, so it’ll save you the $25-30 that an Uber/Lyft would cost.
Cold Beer and Cheeseburgers in Old Town is the best place to watch sports and grab a burger (trust me on this – the Peanut Butter/Jelly/Bacon Burger is out of this world, even if it doesn’t sound like it).
DJ’s, Old Town Tavern and the Montauk are a couple of the chill bars in the area if you aren’t looking for music to reverberate off the inners of your soul, so give those a look if you’re a little older and just want a cocktail and a chat with your buddies.
If you have one meal to knock out in Old Town, go to The Mission. It’s some of the best Mexican food in the entire city, with knock-your-socks-off margaritas and a vibe that fits the mood of the week. A simple and healthy option if you’re in a hurry and just want to grab something is Chop Shop, with smoothies and juices and all that to cure whatever you’re dealing with after a long night a the Bird’s Nest.
What about golf?
If I had one round to play in Scottsdale it would be at We Ko Pa’s Saguaro course, one of the most fun and fair desert experiences in all of Arizona. Whirlwind is a bit of a drive but both courses are always in mint condition, especially after hosting final stage of Web.com Q-School late last year. Quintero is a hike but the views are worth it. Southern Dunes is the other way but it’s a fantastic 18 holes. I never pass up a round at Troon North Pinnacle or Camelback Ambiente, and don’t sleep on Mountain Shadows, a par-3 course that will test your short game like no other course in Phoenix (if you shoot your handicap here, everyone in your group should be buying you a round). Papago is the municipal course in the center of town you see when you’re flying in, and it’s one of the most underrated golf courses in the entire state if you ask me. One piece of advice if playing Papago; if you want to play the tips, that’s fine, but play the par-3s one tee up, as three of the four par-3s lasers in the 220-260 yard range.
Anything else?
There is a Topgolf in Scottsdale that’ll be a hot spot as it has the last few years. Lines will be long but if you’ve never been, the Scottsdale Topgolf is one of their signature spots and gives a very cool view of the Talking Stick resort that lights up at night and brings up hazy memories of your last Vegas trip.
Have fun, see as much golf as you can and soak in the sun. I truly believe that the finishing stretch at TPC Scottsdale is up there as the most fun all year on the PGA Tour, and the tournament always seems to bring the goods. Cheer for the good shots, do what you want for a bad one and lather in sunscreen if you’ve been bundled up inside the last four months.
This week marks the start of the real 2018 PGA Tour (you know, the one with full fields and cuts and guys grinding over five-footers to keep cards and all that) which means it is the start of my yearly mailbags which I’ll pump out once a month, usually when things are heating up. If you ever have a question, just hit me with it on Twitter at @shanebacon or email it in at shane@shanebacongolf.com. With Dustin Johnson’s insane start (and drives) and so many things to look forward to this season, lets get this thing a-goin’!
“Who are your picks for each major? Players on the rise in 2018? Who’s going to win the Sony Open?” Brad S, via email
Well, why not start this thing off with a heavy-hitter question! I hate picking major championships this early in the season because an injury (hello Dustin at the Masters last year!) or just a horrible season in general (Rory last year as well) means things change throughout and a lot of the times you can look like a dolt with your picks.
THAT BEING SAID, I’ll go with these:
Jordan Spieth at the Masters. In my opinion Spieth ranks 11th all-time in players that understand Augusta National and this year will be just his fifth start at the Masters (the 10 in front of him, in case you were interested; Jack, Tiger, Arnie, Player, Phil, Faldo Snead, Demaret, Crenshaw and Couples). Last year was his ugliest start there and he finished T-11 (not bad!), plus if you’re going to go with someone at these majors, why not pick the most obvious face, especially since the Masters is the one constant we have in the major rotation each year. I’ve said for a while I think Spieth ends his career with 4-5 green jackets, and I would be surprised if he wasn’t in contention down the stretch again this year.
Rickie Fowler at Shinnecock. The course demands you drive the ball in the fairway, especially after the USGA went in and tighten those fairways a bit to avoid what Brooks Koepka was able to do to Erin Hills in benign conditions, and I think this course and this player match up perfectly. Fowler is due to give up the title of BPTNWAM, and I think this is the week it happens.
Will Sergio Garcia finally claim his Claret Jug at the place he came so close 10 years ago?
Sergio Garcia at Carnoustie. I just need this to happen. Sergio needs it to happen. The guy that took forever to rake the bunker on the 18th back in ’07 needs this to happen. I can’t live in a golf world where Garcia never wins a Claret Jug, considering he has 10 top-10s at the Open since ’01 and six top-6 finishes at this championship since ’05. Bring on the wind, allow Garcia to sting that new driver all day around this golf course and hopefully we see him finish off what he wasn’t able to a decade ago on this incredible track.
Jon Rahm at the PGA. The toughest major to predict is the PGA, especially when it’s played on a course most of these top stars have never really seen. The last PGA Tour event played at Bellerive was the ’08 BMW Championship and you have to check out the top-10 that week because it’ll remind you of what the PGA Tour used to look like post Tiger dominance and before the wave of young guys.
1.) Camilo Villegas
2.) Dudley Hart
T-3.) Jim Furyk
T-3.) Anthony Kim (!)
T-5.) Stephen Ames
T-5.) K.J. Choi
T-5.) D.J. Trahan
T-8.) Tim Clark
T-8.) Hunter Mahan (!!)
T-10.) Aaron Baddeley
T-10.) Freddie Jacobson
T-10.) Steve Stricker
So yeah, you try to figure out who the heck is going to play well at Bellerive. That’s such a random mix of bombers/pitchers/putters/whatevers that it makes it almost impossible to predict the ’18 PGA, but I’ll go Rahm because why the hell not.
How disappointed in DJ are you for leaving his drive short for double eagle this past weekend?
If I’m trying to impress you, I’m taking you to Cafe Poca Cosa but if I’m just trying to go somewhere to get some killer mexican food and a Tecate I’m taking you to Lerua’s.
As for Tucson golf (who knew we’d get multiple Tucson questions!), Vistoso is always my go-to (definitely was in college), Sewailo is a lot of fun and considering I just spent last weekend down there, make the drive to Tubac if you can and play where a lot of “Tin Cup” was filmed. A fun 27-hole facility that is totally worth your time.
If a golfer walked out of the locker room at Augusta wearing an untucked Hawaiian shirt on Thursday at the Masters, how many steps would they take before being tackled and/or tased?
It is worth pointing out that Phil Mickelson once wore this (sansabelt?!) outfit at the Masters …
… and Nick Faldo was awarded the green jacket with THIS sweater on.
That being said, the Rickie look (which worked in Hawaii, mind you) wouldn’t even make it past the scripting email before someone at ANGC sent a “yeah … that isn’t going to work” note to his team.
Tiger or Phil: who next will win a golf tournament?
Everyone loves tossing around the stat that Tiger is the last of those two to win on the PGA Tour (Tiger won the ’13 Bridgestone in August, with Phil’s last victory coming two weeks prior at the Open Championship). But since the start of the 2014 season, Tiger has a total of one top-10 on the PGA Tour while Phil has 16 including five second place finishes. So the cute answer is Tiger, sure, but the real answer is Mickelson. I believe Phil wins this season. If I was going to predict a win I’d take him at Pebble Beach, but I think it definitely happens before we get to Augusta National. His record at Torrey/Riviera/Waste Management/Pebble/Houston is just too good to go another year through that stretch without sneaking out a victory.
Which out of Matsuyama, Fowler, And Rahm are most likely to never win a major?
I will happily take D.) none of the above and run with it, thank you very much. You’re talking about the third, fifth and seventh ranked golfers in the world here that are young and talented! I would be shocked (SHOCKED!) if all three didn’t have a major by the start of the 2020 season and yes, that means all three win one in the next eight majors. Fowler has seven top-fives in majors, Hideki has five top-sevens in the last three seasons in the majors and have you watched Jon Rahm golf his ball? That dude is a major threat at any golf course. So my answer is D and yours should be as well and I’m docking you four Twitter points for even suggesting that one is majorless if they go even five more years of healthy golf, Ben!
“The use of push-carts on Tour … is that something we will ever see? If I was a pro (Certainly not) it would seem fitting to give my caddie a break with the use of a push cart.” Kyle S., via email
I’m told that it is actually against both PGA Tour and LPGA Tour rules to allow a caddie to use a push-cart (you can’t even use one during the final stage of Q-School), so that idea is out and even if there wasn’t a rule, I would be surprised to see caddies using anything to aid in the process of looping. Caddies are a prideful bunch that know they have a tough, tough job. I’ve been on the bag for a couple of LPGA friends of mine in four day events and I was toast by the end of it. It’s exhausting, sure, but it’s also a mental grind to be out there for five hours making sure everything is perfect for your player, with yardages, club selection, raking work, green reading, stepping off hole locations for the next day, and so much more (all of that is if conditions are perfect, btw). I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it; caddies might be the most under-appreciate job in all of sports, not by the players, but by the people around the sport that don’t totally understand just how important it is to have a great caddie and how serious they take their jobs.
Also, my first event ever caddying for a friend of mine, I added a number once instead of subtracting it (luckily I caught it as she was getting set to hit the shot and had to change her from a 4-iron to an 8-eight iron … yikes) and I pulled her putter out as she was getting set to chip a relatively easy pitch shot from just short of the green, only to have her tell me after she hit it, “what, you didn’t think I was going to hole it?” as she stared at the putter in my hand. From then on I always watch the caddies when players are chipping to see if they already have putter in hand or if they are waiting to see where it ends up, giving the player an even bigger boost of confidence before hitting the shot.
What is the most under the radar spot for buddies trips?
Well I am glad you posed this question, Michael, because i just got back from a buddies trip on Sunday and it was one of those under the radar type of spots that turned out perfectly.
Me and nine of my buddies were looking to hit up somewhere in early January and after debating Florida, Oregon and some other spots, we decided why the hell not just stay in Arizona and do it a little closer to home.
We ended up going down to Tubac as I mentioned above, a 27-hole facility with cool cabanas and great food and an incredibly relaxed atmosphere. It was perfect and it got me thinking of just what you’re asking.
Tubac, in the Green Valley region south of Tucson, is a peaceful 27 hole facility that players of all handicaps can enjoy.
So for under the radar, my first advice is simply this; find a spot close to home. If you don’t have to board a flight, even better. I feel like a lot of Americans (myself included) are always looking to get out of where we are when we have so much stuff in our backyards (you can’t believe how many Arizona natives I know that have still never been to the Grand Canyon).
We did Tubac because it was 2.5 hour drive from Phoenix and the simplicity of it helps out on costs and I feel people can commit to these types of trips a little easier.
As for places for a trip, we all know the classic spots at this point; Bandon, Cabot, Streamsong, Pinehurst, and Monterey. Places like Wisconsin and Minnesota are starting to become getaways, but one of the most impressed I’ve ever been with a spot that I knew little about was Prairie Club in Valentine, Nebraska. The question was under the radar, not easy to get to, so that’s why this makes the list because it is about a four hour drive from the Denver airport or from Omaha. But the rooms are elegant and the beds are some of the most comfortable I’ve ever stayed in, the golf courses are great (carts are a bonus), and the H-O-R-S-E course they have, a little par-3 where you basically pick the next green to play to, is a lot of fun for a big or small group of golfers (it’s a “grab three clubs, one ball and a bag of beer” type of par-3).
What would be the knock of a place like that? Well, you won’t be leaving the resort for any nightlife, that’s for sure. It’s as remote as places come, so dinner and drinks will be on property each night, but if you want golf and good company, a good hang and a different place, that’s a place I’d suggest.
The 12th tee at the Ledges in St. George starts a mesmerizing run through the sandstone.
My other suggestion is St. George, Utah. You talk about being wowed by a place, this has to be it. So much fun and different golf nestled in the red sandstone cliffs, you will be floored by the golf and the prices of most of the destinations. I went on a media trip to St. George a couple of years ago and walked away knowing it would be a place I’d talk about to people for years because each golf course has a very different personality but they’re all great and breathtaking. The one knock? It’s Utah, which means the nightlife isn’t exactly going to conjure up ideas of Las Vegas on New Years Eve. But you can find a bar to have a drink or two after the round and if you’re a group that places 36 a day, that’s really all you need, right?
What was the best/funniest story from your time playing tournament golf?
To be fair, I wouldn’t classify any of the year as “funny” because it was such a grind and I realized quickly I was up against a different breed of players.
But my first ever professional start was a Pepsi Tour event in Phoenix. The Pepsi Tour was around and hosted one or two day events for the most part, a place for guys to get those tournament feels, knowing money wasn’t the main goal.
My dad flew out to ride along with me and as we stood on the 18th tee, I remember leaning over to my dad and saying, “Dude, I’m the only guy in this foursome with a bogey today.” A couple of guys actually chopped it up the 18th to join me in the over-par on a hole department, but it was a gut-punch when you realize you’re the only guy with a square on your card after 17 holes.
Maybe the funniest part of that entire first event was winning two skins the first day and realizing my total earnings were nearly equal to the guy that actually won the event, so at least I got a little cash back in my pocket.
I also remember being paired in my second or third event with a guy that ordered a vodka-cranberry on the second hole (it was an early tee time, mind you). He was “old” to me at the time (probably in his early 30s), and either was having his worst day ever on the golf course or never should have checked that box that read “professional.” He ended the afternoon right around the 90 mark and after shaking hands I watched him toss his bats in the back of a brand new Range Rover and at that moment it all made sense.
The mini tour world is a mixture of beneficiaries and donators. You quickly learn which one you are. Either you’re providing or you’re taking, and you do not want to be in that former group. You also learn quickly what the cut will be. If it’s two days on some simple track, you know it’ll be under par (and this was 10 years ago … now it’s probably 8-10 under just to make the cut on the goat tracks). I remember missing a 20-footer or so on my 36th hole of an event, signing my card and without looking at the website or any other scores calling my uncle and telling him, “I missed it by one.” I just knew. Sadly, I was spot-on. I missed making it to the money by a shot. That’s the life out there, and it is a fast one if you aren’t making any dough.
Who is an underrated American player you could see making a run to the Ryder Cup team?
There is only one answer to this question and it’s Patrick Cantlay. Currently 31st in Ryder Cup points, I would be shocked if he wasn’t wearing red, white and blue in France come late September.
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The commercial begins with the above shot of a golf course, the one us regular folk would think is beautiful. But not Dustin. Dustin sees that aggressive pin, even though the only green we can really see is the one that looks a mile or two away in the distance. I’ve circled the green below.
There is the green. I’ve looked at this image for far too long trying to figure out another possible green that he would be playing to, and I’m not seeing it.
I’d never seen Brad Faxon so rattled. 
Most golf trips happen in the summer. It’s when groups of guys take over the Bunker Bars of the world in hopes of some good scores, some cold drinks, and that unreal golf experience. When I started writing about golf, buddies trips weren’t nearly talked about as much as they are now. Bandon Dunes had just two golf courses. Streamsong was, in my twisted imagination, a swamp riddled with massive alligators hoping that those large mechanical things taking over their land won’t disrupt an afternoon sunbathing. And all the other places we love to visit (Sand Valley, Cabot Links and on and on) were either ideas in a twisted brain or land that people passed by every so often and mentioned to whoever was within earshot, “that’s the spot for our dream home one day.”
