"We’re a family golf course — not some Jerry Springer family destruction zone." - Going to be hard pressed to find a better golf-related one liner to kick things off this week. Apparently, a local muni in Long Beach is done watching a local couple use their parking lot as their rendezvous spot... and they've chosen full scorched earth mode on social media.

Google it.

From Texas to Thomas Keller

I SEE YOU SCOTTIE—AND RAISE YOU A NELLY

I'll say that when I first saw the headline that Nelly Korda decided to take her champions dinner at the Chevron this week in a Czech direction... I was less than inspired.

Then I remembered that she enlisted culinary icon Thomas Keller as her head chef—and I actually read the menu. Get those pinkies up, people!

Remember when Scottie opened up his meal with Scottie-style sliders... Nelly chose caviar topped tuna tartare with cucumber, green apple, and dill. Same-same, roughly.

My main takeaway from the rest of the menu—Czech food sounds LUX. Ghoulash topped wagyu, yam gratin, and a berry dumpling all have my mouth watering. Kudos to you Nelly (and Thomas, I guess) for classing up the place.

Fun yet slightly odd humble brag moment. My wife and I took our honeymoon in Sonoma in 2020 as we were still sorting out all the post-COVID world stuff. After a lengthy process of tapping any connection I knew, I was able to get us a reservation at Thomas Keller's French Laundry.

However, following the trend of that year of things just completely breaking down, we visited Sonoma at the tail end of a raging wildfire and so while certain areas were clear and recovered—the night of our French Laundry dinner, the wind had shifted and we dined just under an awning as ash literally snowed from the sky. On one hand, not ideal as we celebrated our love and the fact that we were able to still get married at the Santa Barbara courthouse. On the other hand, it was actually quite pretty and if you didn't know better it looked like a Hollywood winter set with a gently falling snow. It's all about perspective people.

 

Play the Old Course for $50?!?!

A HUGE WIN FOR SCOT(T)S

The St Andrews Links, the organization that manages and controls tee times at The Old Course, announced that they will offer tee times this year at a discount of nearly 90 percent—for residents of Scotland...

So while this is a victory for Scots—it's less so for all Scotts. A bummer for me.

That said, the initiative is part of a much larger push to really emphasize the public in public golf. And it should be a giant flashing Pay Attention sign to American courses.

They also plan to hold “themed days” with times targeted to those working in the armed forces and frontline emergency services, as well as volunteers and disabled golfers.

And for the piece that is most intriguing to me as a dad of two kids who I PRAY get into golf... there will also be family tee times, where you could register up to four players with at least one of the group being under 18 years old.

Just incredible ideas all around. Treat it like a course does charity tournaments. Designated days throughout the year where you open your course up to specific groups that may have considered the idea too exclusive, too difficult to book, too intimidating to try. I'm always asking friends what courses are chill enough to let me bring a toddler out—who may or may not wander into a different fairway, or drag a club through a sand trap. Maybe we skip a hole entirely. Who cares??

I love this initiative and a quick round of applause to Scotland for showing us the way.

 

Dahmen—for the people

THE MOST TRANSPARENT MAN IN GOLF

The world fell in love with Joel after his breakout episode on Full Swing—and yikes were we close to seeing him earn a much-needed victory at the Corales Championship. But sadly, the golf gods did not smile on him that day and he bogey-bogey-bogey finished and fell short.

But in true Joel form, his post-round interview was heart wrenchingly honest. You can see him over the course of the four minute piece working through the stages of grief as he reflected on the round.

It was tuna tartare level raw and while I know we could never expect this kind of honesty from most Tour pros, I find these moments so interesting. I often fall into the trap of viewing professional athletes as someone other than human—characters on a TV show that we can openly mock, tease, worship, etc. But every once in a while, interviews like this remind me that the only thing that separates them from us is an absurd amount of athletic talent—but at a human level, there isn't much.

Honestly, you need to just watch the interview to truly appreciate it. The clip is in this link to the PGA Tour piece.

 

This account is a must-follow.

ALL HAIL THE GOAT PHOTOG

This photo will hang behind me and my absurdly oversized desk some day. It may be my favorite golf photo of all time.

At a distance, it reads like a piece of modern art with a soothing blend of colors and shapes. Up close, you realize it's a lone tee, hanging in mid-air with a ball launching in the distance.

To me, it's perfection.

To those who don't follow this kind of stuff, it's from the Masters collection of photos taken by sports photographer superstar Kohjiro Kinno. He is a legend and across all sports has a knack for fresh perspectives and compositions that make any sport look like it's a fine art performance.

I honestly can't build on what he does so I leave you with a simple charge—go follow him on IG. I promise it's worth it.

And in case anyone is looking for some outside-the-box gift ideas—I will take a giant version of this on canvas please and a mansion-sized office to hang it in. Thankyouverymuch.