Orders over $125 unlock Free Shipping. Swing Hard, Ship Free.
"Come on Bryson, let's get out of here.” - Steph Curry after torching Bryson in 1-on-1. And get of there they did as the Steph Breaking 50 dropped this week to re-confirm that he may be one of the best non-professional celebrity golfers around.
The time zone thing is killing me but...
DRIVER-FREE IN NEW DELHI
The DP World India Championship debuts this week at Delhi Golf Club, marking a massive milestone for golf in India. Adding to the allure is a pretty stacked field including Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Ben Griffin, and Rory.
The course looks pretty awesome as it features several temples scattered around the property—temples that have caught the eye of Viktor Hovland. (Working theory as I watch yet another series of videos featuring a starry-eyed Vik blissfully wandering around and just loving life. What if Viktor Hovland is actually living out a real life version of the movie Big? What if a 12 year old Norwegian boy wandered into an abandoned carnival outside of Oslo, made a wish on an ancient but cursed fortune teller machine, and magically was body switched into the soon-to-be professional golfer we know as Viktor Hovland? It honestly explains a lot. I'll stay on top of this one for us and report back.)
The other wrinkle is that this place is TIIIIIIGHT.
Like crazy tight.
There were stories galore early in the week about the thick forests surrounding the holes. Indian players were mentioning how many times they'd come back after rounds of golf in their youth with ripped shirts from all the forest balls and plant life.
And the threat was so severe that Rory decided to completely abandon driver in favor of an absolute butcher's block of blades including a 2 iron. I mean look at this club—you could filet a salmon with that thing.
Caution: long form article inbound!
GOLF—BEHIND BARS
A super interesting story courtesy of GOLF.com this week profiled the members of Cedar Creek Golf Club. The hook? All members are currently serving time at Cedar Creek Corrections Center, "a minimum-security prison outside Olympia, Wash., that houses approximately 450 prisoners who have less than six years left on their sentences."
As I warn in the headline, readers beware. The feature is a doozy. But I found it fascinating and if you have time it's worth the read.
The rundown is that the CCGC meets once a week on Wednesday nights to get outside and play golf. The club plays on the softball field using foam balls, hitting mats, and a bag of mismatched used clubs.
Throughout the piece, the writer Nick Piastowski cheekily keeps asking; Should inmates be allowed to golf?
It should be stated that the Corrections Center is minimum-security and only houses inmates with six years or less on their sentence as a way to better introduce them back into society. And while we may all have our opinions on the matter, I found the following quote from an inmate enlightening;
“When you get sentenced by the judge, that’s it,” Rodron said. “You go, you do time. But if you want me to come back into society a better person, then give me all the tools to do that. So what Thrasher is doing is a great thing. A lot of people in the community might not see it that way. But it’s bettering these men. You can see it. The camaraderie, the diversity... Most of us wouldn’t even talk to each other in prison, because of prison politics, they call it. But in golf, we do.”
Take the whole prison thing out of it and I'd say that's a pretty solid foundation for why most of us love golf. It's a chance to talk to, hang with, and compete with people we may have never talked to outside the game. It's about community and pretty cool to see that even in prison, golf can make a difference.
The guy is actually doing it.
JOIN THE JOURNEY
A new follow for me this week is Fairway Fields (@thefairwayfields on TikTok)—where this guy actually bought an abandoned golf course in Chesterville, Maine.
He's documenting the entire journey on his TikTok and just recently opened the first money-making piece of the property—the range and open-air simulator bay.
While the account is about to go a bit dark on the course development front since <Ned Stark voice> winter is coming. There's a part of me deep inside that would love to try this myself. It's enough manual labor that it feels farm-adjacent and the singular focus of waking up every day to work as hard as you can to open a golf course and make it work seems delightfully clear and simple.
Then I remember just how hard I'd have to work. As I sit here now writing, I'm cracking my neck and knuckles, rubbing a knot I've had in my back since I lugged a few car seats through an airport with the family a few weeks ago. I'm far too soft for this kind of job and so here I am, following a TikTok account and living vicariously through them instead. This feels right.
Oh yeah, there was Tiger news.
HOW ABOUT DEM APPLES??
Oh—sorry—did you think I meant the "other" news? Yeah, Tiger got another back surgery. We have to wait longer to see him play again. At this point, I think we've all reached the point of acceptance. If he plays again—we're thrilled. If he doesn't—we're thrilled because he's the absolute GOAT and we got to live at the same time as he did.
No, the news I'm actually talking about was a story posted on @waystogolf about a 2003 pro-am story between Phil and Tiger.
This one seems almost too crazy to be true so there's a non-zero chance I got catfished by this but still...
Basically, Tiger drove into massive trouble among a few apple trees. Phil followed him over to chirp him a bit. The shot seemed impossible. Tiger asked Phil to grab an apple and eat it—then proceeded to hit an insane recovery shot to 3 feet only to turn around and say;
"How do you like them apples, @&**@$^#&$&."
Was this an AI catfish story? Probably. But is it JUST believable enough to be real? Probably but it balanced the surgery news so I figured I'd share nonetheless.
