We Need More Night Golf!
Should Pros be dialed back to 300cc Drivers? / Inside Tiger's $57 Million Mansion
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This week in The Mulligan:
How about a little night golf??
Time for Pro’s to be limited to smaller driver heads?
Our (short) Weekly Pub Quiz! 🍻
This week’s best bets for the Wyndham Champs & Cazoo Open
Our 3 best-handpicked equipment deals
Before you go, some bear cubs having a blast on this golf course green!
Snippets including Bryson not shouting fore (again), Si Woo Kim makes 13 on Par 3 at WGC-FedEx, Bubba literally teeing off sideways and lastly a look at Tiger’s $57 million (yes - you read correctly) mansion in Jupiter Island
Free Roll of Olympic 4th placed Aditi Ashok on getting flack from some of her competitors and her opening up on the scenario.
But before we jump in, here are some interesting stats from the past week.
Big OWGR Movers
Here are the biggest movers over the last week on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR)
📈 Abraham Ancer 23 —> 11
📈 Erik Van Rooyen 113 —> 79
📈 Santiago Tarrio Ben 122 —> 106
📈 Andrew Putnam 179 —> 133
📈 Grant Forrest 337 —> 174
Last Week’s Winners’ Cheques
💰 Abraham Ancer - $1 820 000 (WGC)
💰 Erik Van Rooyen - $630 000 (PGA Tour)
💰 Grant Forrest - $222 745 (European Tour)
💰 Joshua Creel - $108 000 (Korn Ferry Tour)
💰 Marcus Helligkilde - $37 460 (Challenge Tour)
💰 George Coetzee - $10 830 (Sunshine Tour)
💰 Nelly Korda - $0 (Olympic Ladies)
Last Week’s Last Place Cheques
💰 $35 500 - WGC
💰 $7 175 - PGA Tour
💰 $3 119 - European Tour
💰 $2 286 - Korn Ferry Tour
💰 $517 - Challenge Tour
💰 $451 - Sunshine Tour
💰 $0 - Olympics
Night Golf Please!
Besides the Middle East, Asia, small parts of Europe and (very little) USA, there is hardly anywhere else that offers night golf around the world.
If only there was at least the option of one floodlit course in a big city for us to go and play 9 or even 18 holes.
Think about it. A perfect summer evening, you’ve got home from work and itching to play golf. Only about a two hours until sunset so even 9 holes is ruled out. Yes you can head to the driving range, but it’s not the same.
Perhaps it’s the novelty of playing at night under floodlights, but there may very well be increased interest - particularly since Covid came about.
The National Golf Foundation in the USA estimated the cost to install LED floodlights for 9 holes is roughly around $500 000. That is steep yes, but consider the immediate interest there will be, the increased rounds, increased pro shop turnover, increased bar and restaurant turnover as the clubhouse would need to stay open until close to midnight. Time would tell if it was sustainable, but considering the amount of floodlit courses there already are tells us it likely would be a half-decent money spinner.
There is a course in Cape Town, South Africa - Metropolitan Golf Club - that would be an ideal candidate. Perfect location near the hustle and bustle of The Waterfront, Atlantic Seaboard and City Centre for tourists and locals alike. Close to the Cape Town Stadium where there are already a number of floodlit fields on the perimeter of the stadium. It’s a 9 hole course too which makes even more sense to convert it to a night golf option.
Too often most of us say there isn’t enough time in the day to do everything we want to. Golf especially. This would be an exciting option for many of us.
Pros Back To 300cc Drivers?
It’s amazing how quickly we’ve forgotten about just how small driver heads used to be. Even just 15 years ago (or 25 odd years ago as in below image).
I remember moving from the Callaway Big Bertha to the original Great Big Bertha thinking at the time ‘WOW - this thing is massive!’
I wouldn’t be surprised if my current 3 wood head is as big as that driver head was.
Most modern driver heads max out at 460cc. Sorry excuse me - EVERY driver head is currently 460cc. And don’t get me wrong, for amateurs and weekly golfers these clubhead sizes are perfectly acceptable. We’re all trying to enjoy bombing driver as far as possible.
But I think it’s time Tour Professionals dial back to a max size of 300cc. Generally speaking, the world’s best do not shape their drivers much at all. It’s a frozen rope and raw spaghetti all day long off the tee. It’s merely a matter of how far they hit it.
Why don’t the world’s governing bodies - I mean the PGA Tour - set a limit on driver heads and put a premium on ball striking? I don’t believe it will be a massive difference however it will be enough to make the best players think about things a tad more than usual. A mis-strike with the smaller clubhead will certainly result in a more wayward off-target shot than it does now.
It’d very likely level the ‘off-the-tee’ playing field slightly too with the shorter hitters (but good ball strikers) averaging out closer to the current bombers in the total driving stats. Think about Brooks Koepka when he went on his major rampage a couple years back winning two US Opens & two PGA’s. He lambasted driver off just about every tee not thinking twice. Would he have been in the same mindset if using a 300cc head? Would he have hit as many fairways (due to a couple mis-hits) down the stretch?
It may also have a knock on effect and offer a few different names near the top of leaderboards if they had to dial back to smaller driver heads. Before we know it, there will be a whole host of Bryson’s, Wilco’s, Kokrak’s etc week in week out.
Even the crowds would likely appreciate and value a proper bombing more with a 300cc driver head compared to an ultra large 460cc. Agree?
🔥 This Week’s Hottest Equipment Deals 🔥
Cobra King Black One Wedge less 40% - Check deal here
Callaway Rogue Fairway less 40% - Check deal here
Cobra Speedback Combo Irons less 40% - Check deal here
Callaway Big Bertha 2019 Hybrid less 37% - Check deal here
Cobra King Forged CB Black Irons less 20% - Check deal here
Pub Quiz
Three questions. Three Answers for each. A bit like The Chase except you get bugger-all in return. Just your trivial pride! (Answers at the bottom)
Which golfing legend started out the game with only 3 iron and putter?
A - Phil Mickelson
B - Sir Nick Faldo
C - Seve Ballesteros
Payne Stewart won his first US Open at which course?
A - Pinehurst
B - Hazeltine
C - Olympic Club
Who is the only player to have beaten Tiger Woods in a PGA Tour playoff?
A - Billy Mayfair
B - Rocco Mediate
C - Chris DiMarco
Our Best Bets this Week
We’ve kept a record of our best bets to date as well as profit & loss. Check our detailed record here
Our value picks for this week’s Wyndham Championship & Cazoo Open are as follows.
Wyndham Championship
Kevin Kisner EW @ 50/1 (Place Bet Here - Paying 8 Places)
Jason Kokrak EW @ 28/1 (Place Bet Here - Paying 8 Places)
Matthew Wolff EW @ 45/1 (Place Bet Here - Paying 8 Places)
Cazoo Open
Chase Hanna EW @ 40/1 (Place Bet Here - Paying 6 Places)
Garrick Porteous EW @ 60/1 (Place Bet Here - Paying 6 Places)
Chris Paisley EW @ 66/1 (Place Bet Here - Paying 6 Places)
⚡️ Bet £10 (€10), Get £30 (€30) In Free Bets
✅ Golf Snippets
It’s been the year of Bryson and now the ‘fore’ debate has been rampant since the US Open. Here’s Thomas Bjorn & Brandel Chamblee having their 2 cents
Si Woo Kim found the water 5 times on one hole in final round of the WGC-FedEx and recorded a 13. My goodness me
Here’s a video of a crazy angle Bubba takes off a Par 4 or 5 tee. Not 100% sure where this was even, but taking a Tiger line of note!
Check out Tiger’s $57 million mansion in Jupiter Island. Simply incredible.
Wait a Second!
These bear cubs are having a blast on this green! That flagstick providing a whole lot of fun
Answers to Pub Quiz
- C (Seve)
- B (Hazeltine)
- A (Billy Mayfair)
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Free Roll
Olympic 4th placed lady Aditi Ashok opens up on comments from other players on ‘falling short’. What we don’t know is she was staying 75kms away from course having to wake up at 03:00 whilst others were staying a few kilometres away.