Ryder Cup Cleanup, The Crump Cup, and A Clubhouse I Like

Good morning and welcome back.

I’ve had some time to reflect on what I saw and heard from 12 hours at Bethpage on Saturday. Some of it good, some of it bad. Let’s get into it.

The Ryder Cup is something you go to once to say you did it. It’s not a great spectator event, as you end up watching more shots on the big TVs throughout the course than you see live. And with the amount of people in attendance, it takes real strategy to get to where you can see more than a few shots at once. Glad I did it, but won’t go again. I’m a Walker Cup/US Open/Am guy.

The Fans in Attendance

I wasn’t impressed by the Golf IQ of the American (Long Island, mostly) faithful. I wasn’t shocked, but was certainly disappointed. The incessant yelling while guys were addressing the ball crossed the line for me. I’m all for cultivating a home-field advantage, but when you have the PGA-paid emcee at the first tee commandeering “Fuck you Rory” chants, it’s time to take a step back and question if we are crossing the line for what constitutes acceptable behavior.

I’m all for yelling stuff, but let’s get creative with it! Nobody summed this up better than Kevin Van Valkenburg:

That’s it. I was frankly in awe of the 2 -3 verse songs that these guys would just drum up out of nowhere. Not only did they playfully jab at things like Cantlay’s pace of play, but they all sang in unison as if they had practiced for years.

The Attire

I didn’t have super high hopes, and didn’t find myself caring as much what people wore. It was going to be a free for all.

It was the usual suspects of Good Good, Barstool, and other casual trash mixed with guys strolling around with Shinnecock, National, Somerset Hills, etc. Quite the mix!

I saw a guy wearing a “Make Golf Great Again” hat. He wearing an untucked Bad Birdie polo and gym shorts. I’ll let you craft the rest of the image in your head.

Bethpage as a Host

The amount of people in attendance on Saturday was staggering. We walked through the gates around 6:40am and had to struggle to even get a good look at the first green. Golf is certainly growing.

It’s a massive property, and an excellent host for the tournament from a revenue generation perspective. Plenty of room for all of the corporate tents along with food and the biggest merch tent I’ve ever seen. I’m sure it will host the event again.

Rory Abuse

I’m not a huge Rory guy, but I give him a lot of credit for how well he played given the stuff that was yelled at him before and after each shot. It was unintelligent and mean-spirited, in stark juxtaposition to the Euro’s playful melodies.

Captain Keegan

I feel bad for Keegan. This never should have been his event to Captain. He should’ve been playing for another captain, and I think we all know he would’ve performed better than a lot of the guys he picked.

European Likability

As much as I hate to admit it, the Euros are an incredibly likable group of individuals. I think it comes partly from their admiration and reverence for the event itself, and partly from their commitment to one another as true friends. The songs they sang on the bus didn’t hurt either. Going out in NYC with your boys after winning the Ryder Cup is a top 1 or 2 night in your life.

The 100th Annual Crump Cup was won by Bobby Wyatt, a former PGA TOUR pro who regained his amateur status.

He made $500k on the TOUR, and even has a top 5 finish to his name. Am I supposed to be impressed by this? A guy who devoted meaningful years of his athletic prime to making it on the TOUR has suddenly turned into a mere amateur pumpkin.

That’s not in the spirit of amateur golf, and clubs should begin to stand up against the influx of failed tour pros that want to be top dog once again. I won’t stand for it.

I will be the voice for the true amateur. The guy that wakes up, hits 30 minutes of balls in the morning to stay loose, and goes to work. He squeezes in a little putting practice on a mat at night, and plays as many holes as he can on the weekends.

Regaining amateur status will always remain an option (unfortunate), but it should be rare and take at least a decade. Clubs hosting premier mid-am events need to keep tabs on the guys they invite to play.

I love sprawling, expansive clubhouses with old school traditional architecture. Often times the clubhouse reflects the nature of the club and the golf course, so it gives you a hint as to what you’re in for when you step onto the first tee.

A bunker should always be entered from the lowest point that is closest to your ball. Now, this may be out of the way and inconvenient, but it’s an unwritten rule that I see many people break.

Entering from the low point protects the face of the bunker and the integrity of the sand in the bunkers face. It may take an extra 30 seconds to grab the rake and walk to the low side, but its the right thing to do.

In 1932, Alister MacKenzie unveiled his boldest routing at Sharp Park. He threaded five holes so close to the Pacific you could taste the salt spray. Not unlike his masterpiece at Cypress Point. These were architectural masterpieces that represented MacKenzie's coastal genius.

The crown jewels were MacKenzie's twin "Lido holes," mirror versions of the design that launched his career. Sharp Park was the only place in the world where he duplicated this famous template, with the holes playing directly toward one another like oncoming trains across the seaside terrain.

MacKenzie designed split fairways offering risk-reward decisions, greens perched against the ocean, and all the strategic brilliance he later poured into Augusta National and Cypress Point, except this was for the public.

Then came the 1940s storms. The ocean reclaimed what MacKenzie had carved from the dunes. All five holes were destroyed, lost beneath the surf and sand.

Now, golfers cross Highway 1 to play replacement holes in the hills, never knowing what MacKenzie magic once existed where waves now crash.

If you’re headed to a nice club, chances are you are going to need to change your shoes in the locker room. If you’re just getting into the game, or are looking for a nice gift, invest in a nice leather shoe bag. I like the ones from Hudson Sutler. If you’re looking for a solid host gift, I’d look at monogrammed ones from Mark and Graham as well.

Talk soon,

BTG

Email me: [email protected]

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