Local Knowledge (Golf Digest)

Shane Ryan, Sam Weinman and Alex Myers will be your guides through the upcoming Netflix show "Full Swing." The trio will discuss what the show gets right, what feels a bit off and everything in between. With each episode, we'll have a podcast to break down everything you just saw, and there may be a special guest to wrap it all up.

The time has come, ladies and gentlemen, to put our hearts on our sleeves and shout our final thoughts into the Roman ether. Today, Luke, Joel, and Shane recap the juiciest news from the week in Rome, give the dish on how to live in the eternal city and make our final predictions for the Ryder Cup. The time has almost come, tensions are at a peak, and as the band Europe once said, this is the final countdown.

The boys are back, and their important job of handicapping the Ryder Cup bubble is now more critical than ever as we approach D-Day. The U.S. automatic picks are set, but there’s so much drama in the race for captain’s picks that only the brightest minds can sort the data, and over in Europe, the situation is even more tenuous as the last four picks remain very much for grabs. On a good week for both Zach Johnson and Luke Donald, and a wild one for their picks, we’re here to set you up for the homestretch. Plus, dramatic eulogies for the players who came into the week with a chance to dance, but left with diddily re: Italy.

A golf rules official’s responsibilities cover a broad spectrum. They set up the course, oversee playoffs, and determine when a golf course is playable in a rainstorm and when it isn’t. Perhaps most important, they help golfers decipher the game’s complicated rules at pivotal moments throughout a tournament. In this episode, Alex Myers talks to retiring rules officials Slugger White and Mark Russell of the PGA Tour, and John Paramor of the European Tour about the highs and lows of their long careers, and which parts of the job made them sweat most.

If you only knew the late Pete Dye as a funny and somewhat crotchety old man, and if you only know a little about his life's work, from Sawgrass to Whistling Straits, you might not have the sense of his hard edge—how he pursued his creative visions with zealous focus, and how we would say what he needed to say and do what he needed to do to see that vision to fulfillment. With his wife Alice, he forged one of the greatest design careers ever, and his sheer genius led the way at every turn.

The final episode of Netflix’s new golf series, Full Swing, and of our limited-run podcast recapping the show, is all about the star power of Rory McIlroy. As hosts Shane Ryan, Sam Weinman, and Alex Myers discuss, the producers were right to focus the entire last episode on the four-time major champion given the prominent role he played in golf in 2022, as well as his willingness to share parts of himself audiences had never seen before.  We discuss some of the bright spots of an eventful final episode, as well as where we felt this show missed the mark. We also took time to assess the series as a whole, and even brought in our special guest novice golf fan to help us determine whether the show worked for audiences who maybe didn’t have the same foundation of knowledge.

Check out Shane's recap of the episode here.

Can a 40-year-old golfer really overhaul his golf game in just 12 weeks? That's what we set out to learn. This spring, Golf Digest's Alex Myers embarked on an intense program overseen by experts to address every element of his sagging game—from his swing, to his body, to his mind—to see what type of change was possible. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Myers describes the process, the staggering results, and even how this sort of program could lead to a breakthrough of your own.

Alex Myers, Sam Weinman and Daniel Rapaport discuss the chances the PGA Tour returns in June, golf terms that they can’t stand and their experiences with Michael Jordan as a golfer. Also, South African golfer Erik van Rooyen talks to Golf Digest about acclimating to playing in America, how he got his temper under control on the course and his stellar guitar playing.

The Official World Golf Ranking has never enjoyed the prominence it has today, but it's not the good kind of prominence. With some of the world's best players no longer receiving points since they're with LIV, the OWGR is under fire, and even LIV-neutral observers think it might be dying. But what is the OWGR? How does it work? How did it come about historically? This week on Local Knowledge, we go deep on the system that is reeling, and might need a eulogy before long.

If you wanted a worse title pun than last week, in the words of Memphis Music Hall of Famer Roy Orbison, "baby, you got it." The PGA Tour playoffs are officially underway, and Digest's three foremost Ryder Cup obsessives are back to talk about what went down in Bluff City. Is Lucas Glover bludgeoning his way onto the team one win at a time? Has JT's stock gone down as he watches from the sidelines? Did the Euros have as bad a week as it looked from the outside, and is there any clarity on the bubble for either team? We're dishing out the barbecue-grade takes today as the Cup train rolls on.

At the first playing of the tournament that is now known as the Masters, Augusta National Golf Club needed to borrow chairs from a funeral home. The club needed money to buy grass seed, and the only reason we now know Augusta National’s clubhouse as one of golf’s most iconic buildings is because the club at first didn’t have enough money to tear it down. In the latest episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers talks to David Owen, author of “The Making of the Masters,” to learn how profoundly Augusta National struggled in its early years, and how desperation led to some of golf’s most important innovations.

The Sambuca Boys discuss the European Ryder Cup team’s six captain’s picks, highlighted by Ludvig Aberg and Nicolai Hojgaard. Shane Ryan issues a mea culpa on Aberg after the fledgling superstar (Aberg, not Ryan) wins the Omega European Masters to earn a spot on the European team. The boys talk about snubs, which pick could come back to haunt European captain Luke Donald, and how the team sizes up to the Americans. Subscribe to the Ryder Cup Radicals on the Golf Digest Local Knowledge feed.

Since its introduction in 1963, the PGA Tour's Q School has routinely been one of the most dramatic, heart-wrenching golf tournaments on the planet. This is where careers are made, and where just as often they're broken before they have a chance to soar. Where did it come from? How has it changed? Why did it disappear, only to return last year? This week, we investigate the institution of the Q School, and the outsize place it occupies in the minds of professional golfers.

Hideki Matsuyama's win in the Masters was not only his first major championship. It was the first major won by any Japanese man, providing what could be a shot of energy to a once-thriving Japanese golf economy. As Matsuyama takes center stage in this week's Olympic golf competition outside Tokyo, Alex Myers examines the many reverberations of Matsuyama's historic win, from the lucrative opportunities for the player, to the next Japanese golf boom it might inspire.

To understand why St. Andrews' Old Course is not just the "Home of Golf," but also the most significant golf ​course in the world, it's important to understand just how much of the game's history has run through this unique seaside layout. From the course's deceptive complexity to its seminal moments, Dan Rapaport outlines everything that makes the Old Course so vital to the game's identity, and why the Open Championship there this week comes at a fractious but opportune moment.

The idea that is currently splitting professional golf in half was born around 2010, scribbled in a feverish bout of inspiration on yellow legal pads. The author was Andy Gardiner, a corporate finance lawyer, and ideas weren't his only strong suit. Over the next decade and more, Gardiner used his connections high in the worlds of golf and business to forget a relentless and occasionally brilliant campaign to bring his idea to reality. It was called the Premier Golf League, and depending on who you believe, it may have come to the very precipice of success. In the end, even with big investors like the PIF, the PGA Tour outmaneuvered Gardiner and the PGL, and consolidated its power over the game. When the PIF came back with the full war chest at its disposal, it carried key components of Gardiner's idea, and even some of his top lieutenants, but not Gardiner himself. But when you tell the saga of LIV Golf and its war against the PGA Tour, Gardiner remains one of the most fascinating figures; one who got so close, and whose idea is even still rocking the sport. This is his story.

Why did Phil Mickelson blow the 2006 U.S. Open? It wasn’t just about a pushed drive into the trees on the final hole. It was about poor decision-making, and perhaps wanting something too much. On the occasion of Mickelson returning to Winged Foot for another U.S. Open, host Keely Levins unpacks the confluence of events that led to Mickelson’s crushing double-bogey finish. With the help of experts, she also identifies the series of measures he could have taken to avoid such disappointment.  But this episode is not just about itemizing what Phil did wrong. It’s about looking at ways all golfers can learn from our mistakes, and to help us manage our emotions in our biggest moments on the golf course.

The fifth installment of our limited-run podcast series recapping Full Swing, the new Netflix show, tackles the Matt Fitzpatrick and Dustin Johnson episode. Hosts Shane Ryan, Sam Weinman, and Alex Myers note that just like with Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler in Episode 2, the show’s producers opted to emphasize a contrast. Here it was between the overachieving Fitzpatrick and the naturally gifted Johnson, with a little bit of LIV Golf tension mixed in as well. While neither personality was as engaging as Joel Dahmen or Ian Poulter, we agreed this was still a well-crafted episode, and had the added benefit of following Fitzpatrick through the closing stages of his triumph at the U.S. Open at the Country Club.

Check out Shane's recap of the episode here.

A Masters win brings with it many well-known traditions: an interview in Butler Cabin, the presentation of the coveted green jacket, the ascendance to the vaunted Champion’s Locker Room. But most fans don’t have a full appreciation for the whirlwind of activity that ensues once a golfer has secured a win at Augusta National. In this episode of Local Knowledge. Golf Digest’s Dan Rapaport goes behind the scenes with the men who’ve been there to understand what really happens in the minutes, hours, and days following a Masters win, and why for them,  it was both a blur and an indelible memory.

Even as golf has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years, a number of golf courses are undone by challenging economics and mismanagement. Many of those courses close outright, while others fight to stay alive in the face of considerable headwinds. In this episode, Alex Myers talks with Golf Digest's Keely Levins and Joel Beall and others about a handful of golf courses that got creative in their efforts to remain afloat, those that still met their unfortunate demise, and why so many golf courses to their communities represent much more than mere real estate.

There is no draft in pro golf. When most young players try to make a go of it on tour, they’re on their own, which means the expenses of tournament fees, travel, and caddies can add up in a hurry. In the absence of the type of endorsement contracts given to top prospects, some players have to get creative, and that means relying on wealthy backers who help front the costs in exchange for a potential return on their investment and the entertainment of having skin in the game. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Daniel Rapaport looks at how certain golfers have come to rely on “sugar daddies" in their early years on tour, and how those relationships vary from one to the next.

On paper, it might look like nothing special—another European win on home soil in the Ryder Cup. But drill down, and you'll see something revelatory in Gleneagles. This was the Ryder Cup that took decades of American strategic weakness and decades of European guile and blew them out to epic proportions. It's no coincidence that the end of this Ryder Cup saw Phil Mickelson publicly challenge Tom Watson; this was the week that forced the U.S. to face all its own shortcomings, and that process wasn't pretty. Dive deep with us in this examination of everything Paul McGinley did right, and how the web he wove ensnared the Americans ... but perhaps woke them up, too.

Thanks to Ivan Ross for producing the introduction.

It started at the turn of the century and ran hot for 15 years. From the PGA Championship at Medinah the 2013 Players Championship, there wasn't an ounce of love lost between the two superstars. In Part 1, we examine the origins of where it all went wrong.

In what was supposed to be a busy week defending his 2019 Masters title, Tiger Woods instead is at home like pretty much everyone else waiting for the coronavirus pandemic to subside. The 15-time major champion talked over Zoom to GOLFTV's Henni Zuël from his Florida home about how he's spending the downtime, the creative ways he's been filling the competitive void in the absence of tournament golf, and the details of that viral photo of his own "Champion's Dinner" alongside his daughter, son, and girlfriend.

Where did golf come from? The easy answer to that question is "Scotland," but the historical record isn't quite so clear. Going back to the 1300s, surviving documents and drawings suggest the story is more complicated than we thought. This week, we're investigating the earliest origins of the game, and asking where it truly originated.

On Aug. 8, Chi Chi Rodriguez passed away at age 88 and left behind him a legacy of a player whose reputation and personality exceeded his relatively modest success. That's how he would have wanted it: Rodriguez was an entertainer at heart, and he always had a joke or an elaborate celebration up his sleeve. But for this child of poverty from Puerto Rico, there's so much that stayed hidden, and it goes deeper than the surface image of a lovable jokester.

In golf, Local Knowledge means you’ve done your homework. In Local Knowledge, Golf Digest applies the same approach to the most compelling golf stories, with each episode diving deep into a subject that resonates with golfers. Host Daniel Rapaport explains what’s to come in future episodes, from stories of racism on the golf course, to the ways alcohol might help your golf swing, and why some great golfers make it on tour and others are forced to find another job.

Five women joined a golf club outside of York, Pennsylvania, only to have the police summoned to the course by the owner midway through their first round. Their crime, they say, was “golfing while black.” The first episode of Local Knowledge, a new podcast by Golf Digest, tells the story of the Grandview Five, a group of African-American women whose inaugural round at their new club became a reminder of an area—and a game’s—uneven history with race. Through interviews, audio clips, court documents, and news reports, host Daniel Rapaport examines a story that began on a fairway, carried on for months after, and provides new insights into the larger conversation about race in the U.S.

As the game's greatest player finalized a swing change that would take him from merely sensational to transcendent, and began playing a revolutionary new style of golf ball months ahead of most of his competitors (who wouldn't adopt the Titleist Pro-V-1 until October of 2000), golfing audiences bore witness to what can safely be considered the peak of human achievement in the sport.

No golf slump is exactly the same, but they all tend to have similar ingredients. Whether it’s Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, or even you, most slumps arise from a crisis of confidence. But as Dan Rapaport reports, a slump doesn’t need to be a death sentence. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Rapaport talks to PGA Tour players and the sports psychologists who work with them to examine the root causes of these downward spirals, and how it’s possible to come out the other side even stronger.

In a sea of speculation and analysis, we are pleased to report today that something actually happened: Zach Johnson made his captain's picks, and Team USA is now fully formed. Here at Radicals Headquarters, we are not necessarily surprised at the six picks who round out the squad, but we have some thoughts. Incendiary, revolutionary thoughts. Plus, Luke and Shane engage in partisan squabbles as we discuss the value of a rah-rah captain, and Joel tries to survive a Phoenix hotel room with dire curtains. All this, plus a tortured Hoosiers reference—what's not to love?

In the second of a series revisiting the best of our first two seasons, Keely Levins looks at how Local Knowledge has explored the intersection of golf and money. From who makes too much to who doesn't make enough, to how aspiring pros even pay their way, the golf economy has remained a consistently fascinating storyline.

The golf world has been awash with news about the threat LIV Golf poses to the traditional framework of the professional game. In far shorter supply is clarity about where this all might be headed. In this episode, Dan Rapaport explores the origins of the PGA Tour-LIV rivalry as well as the turbulent present to help understand how the situation could resolve, and why it might not anytime soon.

On the list of great golf courses around the world, Augusta National often ranks near the top. But when it comes to the course most golfers want to play, there is no question. Owing to its exclusivity, its manicured perfection, and the familiarity from watching the Masters every year on TV, a chance to play Augusta National is considered the ultimate get for most golfers. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers explores how certain players found their way into golf nirvana, and finds out whether it lived up to the hype.

Every time elite professional golfers are asked to come together in a team format, it comes with the awkward adjustment of needing to think about more than themselves. What’s often overlooked is how much golf requires an inordinate amount of self-interest. From how golfers practice, to the time they spend away from home, to even their choice to pursue an individual over a team sport, Shane Ryan explains why even the best-intentioned golfers need to be selfish to succeed.

In the final episode of a year-end series celebrating our favorite moments from the first two seasons of Local Knowledge, we're revisiting the various ways we've peeled back the curtain on life as a professional golfer. From what separates the good from the great, to what happens when you hit it big, Dan Rapaport takes a deeper look into the highs and lows when making you're living playing for a score.

When reports surfaced of a top LPGA player needing to pay for her own clubs while in contention at the season’s second  major championship, it spoke to the harsh financial realities faced by many women golfers. With fewer sponsorship opportunities and smaller purses but often just as high expenses as their PGA Tour counterparts, many LPGA players have been forced to be creative to make ends meet, especially during a pandemic. As Keely Levins reports, whether it’s driving to tournaments or using a pushcart instead of a caddie, the bootstrapping existence of most LPGA players at least produces a product in which players are more driven to win than ever.

An 18-hole experiment with our 11-handicap editor and PGA Tour veteran Joel Dahmen began with a simple question: How much easier would golf be if a tour player hit all your drives for you? In this week's Local Knowledge, Sam Weinman takes you behind the scenes of a memorable round in which he and Dahmen teed off for one another and then played their own balls from there.
You can also read the story and watch the video on the round here.

This three-part podcast series attempts the big task of summarizing how the world of golf, from the professional to the recreational, has evolved over Golf Digest's existence. As it happens, 1950 is a decent starting point when you're telling that particular story.

What happens when two men who are each forces of nature, in their own way, clash at the most prestigious championship in American golf? When one is rich and handsome and headstrong, but the other is the lord of Augusta National? When Cliff Roberts, the chairman of Augusta, and Frank Stranahan, the playboy son of a millionaire, collided at the Masters in 1948, it was inevitable that something wild would happen. And something did—a controversy that shed a light on two of the strangest American lives in golf history, and gave a glimpse at the paranoia and exclusivity that dominated old Augusta.

The saga of John Montague is one that simultaneously feels like pure fantasy but is also purely American. In 1932, Montague appeared in Beverly Hills seemingly out of nowhere, and through his jaw-dropping golf game, became friends with the biggest stars in the world. Word of his exploits spread far and wide, and when Grantland Rice wrote about him in a national column, the mystery deepened. Why, if he was so good, wouldn't he play in any tournaments? As that mystery unraveled, so too did the life of Montague, who was in fact an escaped criminal from New York named LaVerne Moore. The saga of Montague remains one of the most perplexing, fascinating side stories in the history of amateur golf.

The story of the last 20 years of professional golf is the story of growth's consequences, and is highlighted by the emergence of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour's new rival. We ask the tough question of whether this golf schism was an inevitable consequence of Tiger's rise, and the decision at the highest levels to pursue growth at all costs.

Collin Morikawa talks to Golf Digest about his excitement for a November Masters, what it’s like playing with Tiger and what TV shows he’s been binging lately. Also, from their respective quarantines, Alex Myers, Sam Weinman and Daniel Rapaport discuss the Defining Masters Moments list, how they felt rewatching last year’s unbelievable Sunday at Augusta and the possibility of golf returning without fans.

Welcome one and all to the world premiere of the new Golf Digest podcast "Full Swing Thoughts." As you might gather from the title, we're here to talk about all things 'Full Swing,' the new Netflix documentary looking at the year 2022 in professional golf. We start today with the JT and Jordan episode, and Golf Digest stalwarts Sam, Alex, and Shane go deep on what they loved, what they didn't love, and what made them laugh as the series kicks off. Was this a successful start? Could 'Full Swing' rival 'Drive to Survive,' the blockbuster F1 documentary? Can Justin Thomas learn to use a credit card machine? All this and more as we analyze and over-analyze episode one.

Make sure to check out Shane's recap of the first episode as well.

Golf has had an uneven history in welcoming women into the game, but the pandemic presents a potential turning point. With a record number of women participating in the game in 2020, the question remains how to make sure those new players keep coming back. In this episode, Keely Levins examines the barriers that kept many women from playing golf in the past, how they've been overcome of late, and what still needs to be done to make the game more inviting for female golfers.

The fate that has befallen Young Tom Morris, the greatest golfing talent of the 20th century, is to be known, but only in outline. His singular talent is measured today by lines on a Wikipedia entry, or the ancient scrawling of a name on the claret jug, and if anything, his star has dimmed with the passing years. But when he died on Christmas Day in 1875, just 24 years old, he left the world of golf utterly transformed by a career that ranks with the most spectacular of all time. Young Tom Morris didn't just win with absurd regularity; he transformed his sport, ushering in the era of the celebrated professional, and paved the way for the economic structure of the modern game. To study him in-depth, 150 years later, is to bring color to the massive talent and heartbreaking end of the sport's first superstar.

How does one sleep the night before he has a chance to win a major championship? What happens in the minutes and hours that follow such a landmark event? In this episode of Local Knowledge, Golf Digest Playing Editor Collin Morikawa sits down with Dan Rapaport to reflect on the whirlwind nine months since he captured his major title; how he knew he belonged the PGA Tour; and the parts of being a professional golfer he’s still getting used to.

Golf gambling has taken off in recent years, and it figures to grow even bigger. How did we get here? In this episode, we examine the game’s rapid embrace of what was once considered a seedy pastime, and why golf seems particularly well suited to benefit from legalized gambling. We’ll look at how golf’s massive amount of data has allowed gamblers to wager on seemingly every aspect of the game, and why some players are apprehensive about its influence on the sport.

When Phil Mickelson found himself immersed in controversy recently thanks to comments related to the new Saudi golf tour, it was yet another moment that elicited comparisons to Tiger Woods. Whether making headlines, winning majors, or courting sponsors, Mickelson and Woods haven’t been able to escape each other’s shadows over the last quarter-century. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers provides a history of Tiger and Phil’s relationship, and speaks to the author of a new book on the two, to explain how the two are markedly different, and how they’re more alike than either might want to admit.

In the first of a four-part series revisiting the inaugural two seasons of Local Knowledge, we look at some of the unique characters highlighted in our episodes. From Moe Norman to Babe Zaharias to long-drive champion Kyle Berkshire and others, Alex Myers tells the compelling story behind each, and explains the singular role they’ve played in the game.

The question of whether a few drinks can actually help you play better golf is as old as the game itself. In the newest episode of Local Knowledge, host Alex Myers consults experts and everyday players to understand the role alcohol plays in golfers' performance; and revisits a series of experiments that put the theory to the test. The answer is more complicated than you think, and it speaks to the unique physical and mental challenges that golf presents.

Making it to the PGA Tour is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for many golfers, yet those players quickly learn it's only the first step in a challenging learning process. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Dan Rapaport talks to a collection of tour pros about the difficult, sometimes comical education that accompanies an arrival at the game's highest level, and how their expectations differed from reality.

We're on the verge of the playoffs, but even with the DP World Tour in a two-week break, we had some red-hot action at the Wyndham, where the Tour regular-season finale saw at least seven hopefuls from both teams teeing it up. We're here to talk JT's surge, Bryson's 58, and where they (and everyone else) sit as the bubble watch heats up. Plus, let's gild the lily: Each of the lads chimes in on what they'd change about the Ryder Cup if they had absolute power. (And they should!)

If there's a Jackie Robinson of golf, the title goes to Charlie Sifford, the first black man to be a full member of the PGA Tour. Every part of his journey was difficult, from the obstacles that kept him from competing with the best players in the world until he was almost 40, to the virulent racial hatred he faced once he got there. But unlike some of his fellow athletic pioneers, Sifford never softened, even in his later years as the world tried to make it right by showering him with awards. As he told one reporter, "If you'd been through what I've been through, you wouldn't be smiling either." This is his story.

Alex Myers, Sam Weinman and Daniel Rapaport discuss Dustin Johnson’s tremendous weekend in Connecticut, how the PGA Tour has responded to players contracting the virus and why it matters that NBC took back U.S. Open coverage from Fox Sports. Also, WHOOP CEO Will Ahmed joins the show to discuss the recent hype around the product and Nick Watney’s positive COVID-19 test.

In 1983, under the leadership of Deane Beman, the PGA Tour faced the first great challenge to its existence. The leading players of the time, from Jack Nicklaus to Arnold Palmer to Tom Watson, weren't happy with the direction of the Tour, and felt that the new marketing arm was adding money to its own coffers while depleting theirs. Rebellion was in the air, and when they came after the man they called the "czar," Beman would not go lightly. He mobilized his nascent power structure to save his own job and the Tour itself, and the fight was waged through the spring and summer of '83. At stake was the direction of American professional golf itself, and the echoes of that conflict resonate even today.

As the PGA Championship draws a collection of club professionals who join the big leagues for this one week, we examine the myriad elements that separate players at the height of the sport from those just one tier down. Whether it’s physical, psychological, or a simple matter of luck, we look at why a journeyman pro named Bob May could take Tiger Woods to a playoff 20 years ago in the PGA and not keep his tour card soon after; or why certain players with plenty of talent can hang with the best in a friendly game, only to struggle once the competition begins for real.

The Big Money Classic marketed itself as a rare opportunity for struggling mini-tour players to cash in on a big payday. It instead left players waiting for their payouts and asking for refunds on entry fees. Keely Levins tells the story of a tournament that sold players on big things but instead left them angered, embarrassed and in search of answers.

There was never a moment when Seve Ballesteros wasn't scrambling, when he wasn't recovering, when he wasn't looking for the outrageous miracle. That's how he lived, and that was always going to be how he played golf. We look at the mysteries of the Spanish golf legend, and his entire unbelievable story.

As the discussion around emotional well-being gains momentum in other sports, golfers are beginning to open up about the severe toll the game can take on their psyches. In this episode, Dan Rapaport talks to golfers, coaches, and experts about the unique stresses presented by playing golf for a living, and the various ways many golfers are learning to cope.

The job facing Tony Jacklin, the unlikely captain who took the reins of the European team as Ryder Cup captain in 1983, was a massive one: He had to bring an end to decades of American dominance. The situation on the ground was dire, and to put it plainly, he was inheriting a mess. Since the Cup began in 1927, Americans had won 20 times, lost three, and tied once. Even the addition of Team Europe in 1979, designed to level the playing field, hadn't stopped the U.S. from delivering two straight humiliations. Facing a talent gap, and playing on American soil, he had to stop history in its tracks. The remarkable transformation Jacklin engineered starting that year in Florida was as much psychological as it was tactical, and he had at his side the ideal playing lieutenant in Seve Ballesteros, a man who would become a Ryder Cup colossus. Together, they led the Europeans on a mission to win for the first time ever on American soil, and to redefine the entire event. What they accomplished over those three days was the start of one of the great turnaround stories in the history of sport.

A key component of Jon Rahm's identity, and one that's not often discussed in English-speaking media, is his Basque heritage. The Basque people represent the oldest surviving ethnic group in all of Europe; they pre-date the Indo-Europeans who swept through the rest of the continent, and whose descendants live there today. Euskal Herria, the Basque homeland, is a region the size of New Hampshire in southern France and northern Spain, and the people have their own language and culture that have survived repeated attempts to snuff it out, right up to the present day. But for such a tight-knit and insular community, they've had an outsized impact on world history. As Rahm himself has said, there's a difference between the Basques and the Spanish, and while he represents both on the global stage, it's his Basque background that defines his cultural heritage and his strength as an elite competitor. To understand Rahm, you have to understand the Basques.

The 2003 Masters champion and eight-time PGA Tour winner, Mike Weir, talks to Golf Digest about whether he deserved to be named the 2003 Player of the Year over Tiger Woods, why lefties play well at Augusta and hitting the course with Wayne Gretzky. Also, Alex Myers, Sam Weinman and Daniel Rapaport discuss what worked at the TaylorMade Driving Relief, the pros and cons of the broadcast and what the Tour is going to feel like without fans.

For the first time in the sport’s history, the defining moments of the professional golf season took place somewhere other than on a golf course. The ongoing battle between the PGA Tour and the fledgling LIV Golf circuit instead took place in private backchannels, on social media, and even in the legal sphere. But as much oxygen as it took up in 2022, it was hardly the only event that mattered to golfers and golf fans. In this year-end episode of Local Knowledge, Keely Levins, Alex Myers, Shane Ryan, and Sam Weinman discuss what resonated with them most in a wild 2022, from the high-profile dramatic episodes to moments of personal poignance.
 

In May of 1981, in the parking lot of Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a man named Johnny Martorano killed his 19th victim. His target was the millionaire businessman Roger Wheeler, owner of a company called Telex that employed 5,000 people in Tulsa alone. Wheeler had been successful his whole life, but when he delved into a mob-connected business, he didn't realize in time that the men he became involved with were more dangerous than the average business rival. A network of corrupt FBI agents and the infamous Winter Hill Gang, including their leader Whitey Bulger, got nervous when Wheeler asked too many questions, and set in motion a crime whose effects are still felt today—and it all happened on one of the most renowned golf courses in America.

No tournament in golf appeals to the dreamer more than the U.S. Open, where a qualifying process puts journeymen, club pros and even schoolteachers just three rounds away from a spot in the field next to the game’s elite. On the eve of the U.S. Open at The Country Club outside Boston, Dan Rapaport examines the U.S. Open qualifying process, explains why it remains one of golf’s most intriguing opportunities, and dives into some of the incredible tales that arise out of it every year.

Annika Sorenstam, arguably the GOAT of women's golf, joins the pod to discuss her game during the pandemic, whether players should be mic’d up at tournaments and what she remembers from her LPGA record-breaking 59. Also, Alex Myers, Daniel Rapaport and Keely Levins talk about everything surrounding the European Tour restart and how entertaining it was to watch Tiger dissect amateurs’ swings.

Jan Stephenson won 16 times on the LPGA, including three majors, but in the 1970s, the tour sought to market the Australian as more than just a talented player. From her photoshoots in a nightgown or in a bathtub full of golf balls, Stephenson faced backlash from fellow competitors who thought marketing players’ appearance diminished their abilities as athletes. Yet the controversies around Stephenson didn’t end there. She dated a series of famous men, was once removed from a golf course and brought to a psychiatric hospital, and lost her game when a mugging left her with broken fingers. In this episode, Keely Levins looks at Stephenson’s journey on tour, the criticism she faced, and the underrated career she carved out as a result.

Not until Netflix released “Drive to Survive”, its multi-season behind-the-scenes look at Formula One racing, did the sport really take hold in the U.S. It explains why top PGA Tour players have agreed to let Netflix cameras shadow them like never before in 2022. If  golf enjoys a similar surge in popularity, the pie will get bigger for everyone. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Dan Rapaport talks to the show’s creators to understand what they hope to achieve with the new show, and how they hope to tell the story of golf to a whole new segment of fans.

It has been almost 12 full years since Anthony Kim last hit a shot on the PGA Tour, and in that time, he managed to almost disappear completely. But the legend around him has grown in his absence, and now, as he's on the precipice of possibly playing once again, we look at the life and career of one of the most intriguing golfers since Tiger Woods. Who was he, where did he come from, and what happened when it was all over? Is the mystery something that can ever be explained, and can our fascination with him survive his return?

With eight LPGA Tour wins between them, the Korda sisters join the Golf Digest podcast to discuss how they’re staying in golf shape while quarantining, their plans when play restarts and the competitiveness between the two. Also, Alex Myers, Keely Levins and Daniel Rapaport break down whether Vijay Singh should play on the Korn Ferry Tour and who will win the McIlroy-Johnson vs. Fowler-Wolff charity skins game.

Season 3 of Local Knowledge launches with a look at Greg Norman’s longtime vision of a competing golf circuit to the PGA Tour. Norman first championed the concept as a top-ranked player who wanted to start a “World Tour” in the 1990s, and it continues today as the frontman for an ambitious Saudi-funded effort. Dan Rapaport examines the common threads between Norman’s idea back then and what it looks like today, and why he has been so determined to make it happen.

In the third of a four-part series revisiting our favorite episodes from the first two seasons of Local Knowledge, we’re looking back at the various ways we’ve examined the mental game. From how we process difficult outcomes to how we work our way out of a slump, Sam Weinman highlights our sharpest insights into how golfers think, and the various ways we can improve our mindsets on the course.

“The money out here is comical,” admits PGA Tour player Joel Dahmen. But he’s not complaining. After slogging through the mini-tours earlier in his career Dahmen in just a few years on the PGA Tour has already earned more money in official earnings than Jack Nicklaus did in his entire career—all this despite never winning a tour event. The topic of this episode of Local Knowledge is money: how purses have risen so dramatically on the PGA Tour, the key individuals who helped pave the way for the lifestyle players now enjoy, and the surprising ways the golf financial landscape has evolved over time. Also, given the global pandemic and the accompanying recession, host Daniel Rapaport ask whether golf can still hand out the same size winner’s checks in the years to come.

July marks the 25th anniversary of one of the two most notorious collapses in major championship history when Jean Van de Velde lost a three-shot lead on the final hole at Carnoustie. In the wake of Rory McIlroy's loss at Pinehurst, the Frenchman's late meltdown feels more relevant than ever; not just for the bizarre way it happened, but for his remarkable reaction, both then and in the 25 years since.

We’re back with real PGA Tour golf to talk about! Alex Myers, Sam Weinman and Daniel Rapaport break down the Charles Schwab Challenge, from Daniel Berger’s win to Jordan Spieth’s putting game to Bryson DeChambeau’s new look. Also, John Wood, Matt Kuchar’s caddie, joins the podcast to discuss the scene at Colonial, what it's like to loop at the Ryder Cup, and his side hobby as a musician.

From wildcard picks to pairings to uniforms, a Ryder Cup captain’s responsibilities cover a broad spectrum. But the question remains, can a guy with a walkie-talkie really make much of a difference in a competition featuring 24 of the best golfers in the world? In this episode, Dan Rapaport speaks with a selection of former U.S. and European leaders to hear where they believe a captain’s influence can be felt most.

L.A. Times Pulitzer Prize winner Jim Murray was one of the most celebrated sports columnists of his era, at a time when columnists held more influence and power by far than they do today. His humor and insight were legendary, but a lesser known element of his story is the personal boycott he led on Augusta National between 1968 and 1975, when he helped pressure the club to allow a black player into the Masters. On this week's episode, we look at Murray's quiet activism on the 50th anniversary of Lee Elder's pioneering first trip to Augusta.

Golf's major championships are when the stakes are highest, and how the best players in the game are measured. But the downside of putting so much emphasis on four weeks a year is it risks undermining the rest of the golf calendar. In this episode, Alex Myers examines how the men's major championships evolved to become the mega-events they are today, and the unexpected challenges that dynamic presents.

The word "cheat" is golf's one-syllable powder keg, and whenever it appears, fireworks follow. That was the case at the first-ever Skins Game, in Arizona in 1983, when Tom Watson pulled Gary Player aside along with a rules official to privately accuse him of breaking the rules at a critical moment in the event. A reporter was close enough to listen in, and when the story ran, two of the sport's foremost figures were embroiled in controversy. This is the story of two strong personalities, impressive and difficult in their own unique ways, butting heads on a controversial day that lives on in both men's legacies.

Before the professional of Tiger Woods ever began, a PGA Tour committee met and determined that Sam Snead had accumulated 82 official wins in his PGA Tour career. As fate would have it, this is the exact number Tiger has landed on as his career seems to be winding down. In this podcast, we go deep on Snead's wins, and why that 82 total is—sorry to say it—highly dubious.

Ken Duke’s 65 at the 2016 Players Championship isn’t close to one of the lowest rounds in PGA Tour history. It’s not even the best round ever at the Players. So why does it qualify as the greatest round in Players history, as well as one of the greatest rounds in the history of golf? In this episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers tells the story of a journeyman pro’s improbable round on a difficult scoring day at the Players, along with the backstory of how our measurement of golf performance has grown more sophisticated in recent years. In talking to Columbia University professor Mark Broadie, the creator of golf’s strokes-gained statistic, Myers explores how advanced metrics have altered our understanding of golf, and has helped everyone from tour pros to average players understand where they excel and where they most need improvement.

Not so long ago golf on TV was filled with a series of breathless infomercials that promised desperate golfers the cure for their ailing games. The products themselves didn’t always deliver on their promises, but the ads were at least effective in hooking consumers, sometimes in a big way. Alex Myers revisits the golden age of the golf infomercials, why they worked, and why they’ve generally disappeared.

Every golfer breathes, of course. But experts in and out of golf say how you breathe can play a vital role in how you perform on the course—from the tempo of your swing to your ability to sink an important putt. In this episode, Sam Weinman examines the underrated difference proper breathing can make for golfers; how breath training has aided elite players like Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, and what average players can do to feel an immediate difference.

In the second installment of our limited-run podcast series on Netflix’s Full Swing, hosts Shane Ryan, Sam Weinman, and Alex Myers discuss a much-improved second episode that focuses on Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler. We discuss the portrayal of Koepka as a one-time dominant force now in the throes of a prolonged slump; how it contrasts to Scheffler, an amiable up-and-coming star who catapulted up the world ranking last year and won his first major at the Masters; and how the filmmakers appeared to have righted the ship after a sluggish start.

Check out Shane's recap of the episode here.

There are 50 tournaments on the 2021-22 PGA Tour schedule, and truth is, top-level players have compelling reasons to skip most of them. So what do tournaments do to maintain relevance on a busy schedule? In this week’s episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers examines the growing pressure on regular tour stops to recruit players, as well the creative steps they take to ensure their event stands out.

It wasn’t so long ago a sign hung at Royal St. George’s, host of this week’s Open Championship, banning “women or dogs” from the clubhouse. Only this month did Pine Valley, the No. 1 golf course in the U.S., invite its first women to be members. In this episode, Dan Rapaport looks at all-male golf clubs—the series of events that led some of golf’s most elite clubs to reverse their policies and allow women, and the reasons certain clubs are still holding firm in keeping women out.

There is no worse tag in golf than that of a cheater. In a game that prides itself on honor and self-policing, the players who betray that trust even once struggle to restore their reputation. In the aftermath of an incident in a qualifier tournament, Alex Myers looks at the particulars of the case, but also the wider world of cheating in golf—how often it happens, why it happens, and why it's so counter to golf's core principles.

It’s not often that we have a knight on the podcast. Six-time major champion Sir Nick Faldo joins the show to discuss broadcasting PGA events remotely, how these tournaments feel without fans and what his sweater collection is looking like. Also, Alex Myers, Sam Weinman and Daniel Rapaport discuss Webb Simpson’s Father’s Day victory, Nick Watney’s positive COVID-19 test and a remarkable comeback on the Korn Ferry Tour.

The next installment of our limited-run podcast series recapping Netflix’s Full Swing reflects on the value of personality, and how the show’s third episode featuring Ian Poulter stood apart from the previous two for that reason. Whereas earlier episodes had bigger names in Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, hosts Shane Ryan, Sam Weinman, and Alex Myers argue that devoting an entire episode to the charismatic Poulter was a smart decision. We break down Poulter’s struggle to remain relevant, and why his decision to join LIV Golf was at least given the necessary context. We also discuss the show’s unique structure, one in which producers opted against a straight chronology in favor of jumping around to different points of the season.

Check out Shane's recap of the episode here.

We've spent a decade wondering when Rory McIlroy will win his next major, but as the PGA Championship heads to Valhalla, we turned our eyes backward, to the last time he pulled it off. On that hot, humid Sunday in Kentucky, Rory asserted his will and claimed his throne atop the sport ... and it was one of those strangest finishes you could ever imagine.

When Title IX was enacted in 1972, it was hard to imagine its influence could still be felt in golf a half-century later. But the landmark legislation not only ushered in a new wave of women golfers, those golfers went on to raise golfers of their own. On the eve of the U.S. Women's Open, Keely Levins examines what the golf landscape was like for women before Title IX, and the myriad ways it's been reshaped in the decades since.

This May marks the 20th anniversary of Annika Sorenstam playing the Bank of America Colonial at Colonial Country Club, where she became the first woman in more than 50 years to play with the men on the PGA Tour. That week was highly anticipated, stressful, and loaded with controversy as more than 300 reporters, hundreds of photographers, and thousands of fans flocked to Texas to see her play. The reactions to her inclusion ranged from supportive to hostile, and though she handled herself admirably both on and off the course, it's no surprise that she never did it again. In a way, Sorenstam was playing for the entire LPGA Tour and women's golf in general that week. She wasn't the first. Two women before her, and three after, also took their turn playing with the men, and the story of those women is one of courage, triumph, failure, and a no small amount of sexism. This is the story of the six women in history who teed it up with the men on the PGA Tour.

After recapping and analyzing every episode of the new Netflix golf series, Full Swing, it was time to bring our questions to the man who put it all together. In this bonus episode, Chad Mumm, the show’s executive producer, discusses who he envisioned as a target audience, how he locked in on different subjects, and why the show opted against a traditional chronological format. Mumm also reveals his favorite moments, and at least one gem of a scene that ended up on the cutting room floor.

In 1962, Mapmaker C.S. Hammond & Co. asked Golf Digest for a list of the country’s best courses for its cartographers to chart, but editors thought such a list was too subjective. Instead, the magazine embarked on a four-year project using USGA course ratings along with its own research to determine the country’s most difficult tracks. The first such list, America’s 200 Toughest Courses, was published in 1966. In 1975, the list became America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses, and it's been the definitive ranking of golf courses since. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers explores the process and criteria that go into constructing the list, how it's evolved over the last half-century, and why criticism from pundits and everyday golfers is still unavoidable.

Before his retirement from Golf Digest last month, Guy Yocom had one of the most unique jobs in golf. In his 36-year career, Yocom came to know virtually every great player in the modern game by way of extensive one-on-one interviews for the magazine. Yocom met with Ben Hogan in his Forth Worth office, stayed with Phil Mickelson in his first condo fresh out of college, and came to know firsthand Lee Trevino’s generosity and compassion. Along the way, Yocom not only produced some of Golf Digest’s most important interviews, he developed an appreciation for what these giants of the game were like as people, what motivated them, and how they compared to one another. In this episode of Local Knowledge, Dan Rapaport turns the tables on Yocom and asks the veteran golf journalist to share some of his favorite stories about the characters behind the headlines.

From Greg Norman to Jordan Spieth, there is a long tradition of players speaking to the media after tough losses, but it's a tradition that is being lost in the modern game. Today we look at some of the most fascinating instances of player-media interaction after heartbreak, and how it made all parties better.

The concepts of honor and integrity in golf are inseparable from the inevitability of cheating. The former are prominent because the latter is so easy—when self-policing is the best hope for fair play, you better have a code of honor to work as a secondary enforcement. In 1955, at Deepdale Country Club on Long Island, that code seemed to fail when two unknown sandbaggers won a tournament and took home thousands of dollars thanks to an associated Calcutta auction. In fact, the code had not failed: A crisis of conscience led to a confession, the scandal became national news, and the USGA took action. For the two men at the heart of it, the fallout was swift and severe, and lasted a lifetime. On this episode, we look at golf's most notorious amateur scandal and the aftershocks that transformed the amateur game.
 

When Johnny Miller shot his famous 63 in the final round at Oakmont in 1973, it instantly became one of the most staggering achievements in the history of major championship golf. For the USGA, it was also something else: an insult. Oakmont was supposed to be one of the toughest courses in the world, and the U.S. Open was supposed to be the toughest test in professional golf. What Miller did undermined that identity, and when the Open came to Winged Foot one year later, the one certainty was that it wouldn't happen again. From the tournament committee to the club members, the mission was to return the U.S. Open to its place of prominence by all means necessary. The course the players encountered that summer was a monster, and they were its victims. What happened next can only be described as carnage; this week on Local Knowledge, we look at why it happened, and what it tells us about America's national open and the people who run it.