On Thursday, Pat Perez came out with some barrel fire takes on Tiger Woods on “Out of Bounds” on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio. Listen to the audio here:

If you’re unable to listen, here is the quote that set golf Twitter ablaze:

“…he’s got this new corporation he started so he has to keep his name relevant to keep the corporation going,” Perez said. “So he’s going to show up to a few events, he’s going to try to play.., he’s going to show the Monster bag, he’s going to show the TaylorMade driver, he’s gonna get on TV. He’s got the Nike clothes; he’s gotta keep that stuff relevant, but the bottom line is he knows he cant beat anybody. He knows it… I mean he shot 77. That guy cant shoot 77. What does he do the next day? Aw my backs gone. He knows he cant beat anybody! I told you! He’s not gonna come out and play poorly.”

The quotes spread like wildfire on Twitter, and the masses grabbed their torches and set out to burn Perez at the stake (take a flip through the 

…. takes!). In a week that had “No Laying It Up” 

unintentionally got caught up in a political shit storm

, our mentions were hotter off that 2.5 minute audio clip than the outrage instigated by the dishonest political media. Sad!

The takes were not very wide ranging, and almost entirely dedicated towards slamming Perez’s two win resume. Probably because no one can argue with anything that he said.

This type of deflecting is what makes #TakeLife so incredibly frustrating, especially on Twitter. People wax on and on about wanting players to be open, honest, and to say what’s on their minds. Then once it actually happens, we line him up for the firing squad for not falling in line and saying the same cliches as everyone else.

Listen back to the audio above. Perez prefaces his take by giving Tiger the highest of praise about his impact on the game, clearly showing his understanding of how much of his own wealth can be attributed to the Big Cat. He then goes on the offensive, and says exactly what’s on his mind. On a show that he co-hosts. It’s literally a show where he shares his opinions. And he shares an opinion that no one (as far as I can tell) disagrees with. And people got mad!

The reality is, there are a lot of guys out there on tour thinking the same exact thing, and are willing to say so in private. Perez is the only one so far with the balls to actually say it in public. It’s worth noting that he’s talking about the 

 state of Tiger Woods, which we can all rationally admit is rather pathetic, right? At no point did Perez even remotely discredit anything Tiger has done in the past. So if you’re citing Pat’s resume and comparing it up against Tiger’s, you are part of the problem. If you’re going to tell me the prerequisite for being able to say anything even remotely critical about Tiger is that you need to have a better resume than him, essentially you’re saying Cat should be as untouchable as Kim Jung-un is in Pyongyang.

One would think that this doesn’t need to be said, but apparently it does. Just because Pat Perez has won two PGA Tour events doesn’t mean he can’t have an opinion on Tiger. He’s not comparing his own career to Big Cat’s, so when you cite his record, you’re moving the goal posts. In the golf take world, we’re mostly stuck listening to talking head’s spouting off the same recycled takes (myself not excluded), so why wouldn’t we put 

 stock in what a peer of Tiger’s has to say on the issue? If he was dissing on his career, and spouting off inaccuracies, I can understand the outrage. But the fact that no one wants to debate what Perez actually said, and only wants to fire shots at him for actually saying it tells the story on the level of credibility of the criticism.

Let me make it clear, if I haven’t already, that I like Pat Perez. He’s one of the few interesting characters on the tour that will straight up tell you exactly how he feels 100% of the time. If you want to disagree with his takes, by all means, have at it. The fact that his resume isn’t even remotely in the same realm of Tiger’s doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have an interesting perspective on the issue. You should absolutely pay more attention to someone who has been in the ring for the better part of two decades over someone like myself any day of the week. We have more than enough talking heads. We don’t have enough guys like Perez who are willing to put their honest feelings out in public.

Double P had already deleted his Twitter account on Monday, with the common theory being that it was related to the flak he was taking for pelting three unsuspecting fans with tee shots at Riviera last weekend. However, Perez made it clear through this Instagram post that he was very aware of the criticism.

Thank you @golfdigest for taking a clip out of my show using it incorrectly and letting people wear me out. Anyone that knows me knows that I am the biggest fan of Tiger and have the most respect for him.

A post shared by Pat Perez (@patperezgolf) on Feb 23, 2017 at 11:23am PST

He directed his disgust at Golf Digest for fanning the flame (although I’m struggling to see what they did wrong here). I did enjoy 

catching flak for not being a serious media member

 by not nailing down the timing of when Pat deleted his account, despite 

not ever saying anything about when he deleted his account

. Regardless of when he deleted it, I did find it rather convenient that his account was gone by the time he got around to sharing this take.

Pat Perez Goes In On Tiger, Outrage Ensues

Rory McIlroy teed it up with the president of the United States, Donald Trump on Sunday morning at Trump International. McIlroy rode in the cart for all 18 holes with the president, and told No Laying Up the following:

“He probably shot around 80. He’s a decent player for a guy in his 70’s!”

This picture was posted by Clear Sports, which also shows Paul O’Neill and Clear Sports CEO Garry Singer, although Rory confirmed to No Laying Up that they were not a part of the grouping. The four ball was rounded out by Nick Mullen from ISM, and Rich Levine (a friend of Trump’s).

Big battle today at Trump International with Clear CEO Garry Singer 

Rory said that he did not get the call to play until Saturday night asking if he would play Sunday morning. McIlroy is nursing a stress fracture in his rib, and was not planning to play golf until the following weekend, but said he had to make an exception for the president.

McIlroy also said that he played off the forward tees but did hit some drivers, and that TrackMan was telling him that his swing was nearly at full speed. Rory also confirmed to No Laying Up that his rehab is going according to schedule, and he plans to play in the WGC-Mexico Championship next week as scheduled.

Apparently this news contradicts a previous statement made by White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders. 

 that the president “played a couple of holes” earlier that day but that she didn’t believe it was “a full round.”

This story says McIlroy played 18 holes w/ POTUS Sunday, directly contradicting what WH told reporters 

Asked if Trump played a full round with McIlroy, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “He intended to play a few holes and decided to play longer.”

Rory McIlroy Played Golf With Donald Trump This Weekend

 that the U.S. Ryder Cup team was making two somewhat major changes to the selection of the team that he will be captaining at the 2018 Ryder Cup in France. They got it half right.

We’ll start with the good one. The system used in 2016 gave players 2 points for every $1,000 earned in a major championship (compared to 1 point for every $1,000 earned in a normal event). This is now changed to 1.5 points for every $1,000, with the exception that the winner of the major still gets double the points. Furyk said:

“Because the Major Championship purses are so large, and we thank them for that very much, but we’re looking at $10-$10.5 million dollar purses in the major championships. When you double the points in those events you in affect make a $20.5-, a $21-million dollar purse. In effect, they become weighted triple or a little more than a PGA Tour event.”

Nailed it! Credit where credit is due. He may have plagiarized this statement directly from a past podcast, but we’ll forgive him for not saying “as first reported by No Laying Up.” To me, playing well in a major championship in the same season is not necessarily an indicator that you for sure deserve a spot on the team, or that you will play well once the matches begin (see Willett, Danny). So don’t make them worth essentially triple the amount of points a normal tour event is worth. Pretty simple decision here.

Where they lost me is the second part. Although this is the second go around with what will still be known as “The Horschel Rule,” they still haven’t figured out how to make this line up with the calendar. Let’s replay how this rule first came about, and pay special attention to the timelines here.

In 2014, Tom Watson selected Hunter Mahan, Keegan Bradley, and Webb Simpson with his three captain’s picks (pause for laughter) on September 2, after the Deutsche Bank Championship. Billy Horschel stomped his way through Denver and Atlanta on his way to winning the BMW Championship and Tour Championship in the next 12 days, and every U.S. fan on the planet was left scratching their head wondering why we had chosen a team almost a month in advance of the event, and the hottest player on the planet was not on it.

I’m not going to look up the quote, but Watson said something along the lines of “families need to plan” as his reasoning for making his selections so early in the process. I can agree that there is an element to that, but this isn’t Hogan crossing the Atlantic in a boat at the ’53 Open. Every professional golfer at that level has a passport, and you don’t need a visa to get to Scotland or to France. You board a plane and you go. And in 2014, they had the luxury of a bye week after the Tour Championship. Again, what was the rush?

The committee (or task force or whatever you want to call it) reacted to this disaster by announcing that for the 2016 Ryder Cup, three captain’s picks would be made after the BMW Championship on September 12, and one final pick would be made after the Tour Championship on September 25. In others words, about 108 hours before the matches began, and about two hours before Ryder Cup week started up. 

 the Horschel Rule made sense for the 2014 schedule, but in 2016, it turned the Tour Championship into a play-in game, and essentially forced Love’s hand to select Moore. The pick ended up not mattering, and Moore performed well, but it was an unnecessary distraction, and did not exactly play out the way I would imagine the powers that be had envisioned.

Now, for 2018, Furyk has announced that he will make three selections after what is now the Dell Technologies Championship (formally the Deutsche Bank Championship) on September 3, 2018, and the final selection a week later after the BMW Championship ends on September 9 (

The Tour has not released the 2017-2018 schedule yet, so I can’t say for sure what the official date of the Tour Championship would be. Despite that uncertainty, I can’t fathom how the above approach is the best selection method. Let’s break it down in two different scenarios regarding the Tour Championship date.

Scenario 1 – Tour Championship immediately follows the BMW Championship, ends on September 16

: I believe this is how the schedule will play out, which is exactly the same place on the schedule as it was in 2014. This leaves an entire week off before the team departs for France, which is clearly a different scenario than 2016, where the Tour Championship ran right into the Ryder Cup the following week. If you’re even going to bother with using the Horschel Rule, why wouldn’t you save it for after this event? What’s the point of waiting one more tournament (the BMW) between your first three selections and your final selection? Are you really going to have that much more information after the BMW than you had after the Dell Technologies?

Sure, there is an aspect of planning and logistics. But you can’t tell me that the extra week that the 2018 schedule provides isn’t 

 easier from a logistics perspective than what unfolded in 2016. It’s not like an unsuspecting player needs to board a plan for Paris a few hours after the final putt in Atlanta falls.

Scenario 2 – Bye week after the BMW, Tour Championship ends on September 23

: As mentioned, I don’t think this will be the case, but I’ll at least give them the benefit of the doubt that this might be a possibility. If so, making the final pick on September 10 makes more sense, but why not just make all of the picks on that date? Again, what does that one tournament (the BMW) tell you that you didn’t already know?

If you’re going to use the Horschel Rule, use it after the Tour Championship. Select your first three after the Dell Technologies, then wait to see who is the most hot after the next two events. If you’re going to wait to use the pick, don’t do it a week later when there is still one event to go. And if no one gets hot, take the next best player on the board.

If you’re not going to use the Horschel Rule, make all of your picks after the BMW. You eliminate the distraction of the last few events being play-in events, your team is set three weeks in advance, and you’re relatively safe from leaving off a hot player. A guy not on the team that wins the Tour Championship isn’t necessarily going to be the best option for you in France two weeks later in a completely different format, on a totally different golf course.

This in-between option that they are currently going with serves almost no purpose, and does not line up with the calendar at all. Here’s to hoping that none of this matters.

U.S. Makes Two Changes To Ryder Cup Selection: One Of Them Is Good

Editor’s note: This was written prior to the Sony Open, but this past week turned into a slog for me and I was #LPCP (Lacked Productivity, Couldn’t Publish). I say that just to give some context to the picks, which offered some fantastic value for Sony and now for the CareerBuilder. Tron Carter regrets the delay. )

), welcome back. This is the fun part – where we provide you with the tools and strategies you’ll need to succeed in PGA DFS.

All of the “work” necessary to play PGA DFS is complete before the tournament even begins. Once balls are in the air on Thursday off you are locked in with your picks and left to your own devices while you sweat it out. DraftKings updates scoring in real time so your score, finish position, and winnings are dynamic until the completion of the tournament. The PGATour app with ShotLink provides another way to sweat it out, should you so desire. This can be maddening: imagine seeing every time Lucas Glover stands over a 5’ birdie putt, only to see the par update on the app moments later.

Easily, one of the best parts of PGA DFS is the “Friday Cut Sweat.” We mentioned previously that getting all six players, or 

 five, through the 36 hole cut is critical. It never fails that a couple of your guys will linger right around the cut line deep into the afternoon on Friday. Those few hours of tracking each shot while projecting the cut line will have you on the edge of your chair (and can serve as the perfect antidote to the often interminable Friday workday. By design the salary cap setup and corresponding player pricing force you to have to play lower priced guys. Week after week of doing this, and you learn about guys like Cameron Smith (ed. note: “Scam” Smith), Tim “Silky” Wilkinson, and Luke “Sir Double L” List. TV coverage of the TOUR tends to focus primarily on the same ten to fifteen guys week in week out, so it’s refreshing to get familiar with the other players through playing DFS every week (PGA TOUR LIVE has also helped in offering more variety).

On DraftKings, your players will earn points in three ways: per hole, streaks, and finish bonuses. Golfers are given finish bonuses all the way up to 50th place with 1st place taking 30 extra points at the conclusion of the event. Pars earn half a point, birdies earn three points, eagles net eight points, and rare birds/aces yield ten points. Conversely players lose half a point for bogeys and one full point for anything worse than bogey. Now it becomes easier to understand why pin seekers are rewarded in this format, especially if you can get them through the cut for the weekend.

Beyond the basics we discuss specific strategy concepts on 

. As a free gift, here are some groups of players we want to bring to your attention as the 2017 season arrives. Being on these guys early may help you gain your edge on DraftKings, sports books, Calcutta’s, One & Done leagues, or whatever flavor you play. Enjoy the season!

The “Fresh Meat” – WebTour guys sure to see success their 1st year out.

Dominic Bozzelli (Honorable Mention for a PURE swing)

The Euros – Europeans ready to make household names for themselves on the PGATour.

“Mid-Market Money Makers” – These guys are always undervalued on DraftKings, but are consistent cut makers to help fill in your lineups.

Roberto Castro “The Chamberlains” starring these scoring studs!

The “Chamberlains” – These guys score more than Wilt the Stilt in his prime, and they’re sure to make you some cash on DraftKings throughout the year.

The Breakouts – These are some lesser known guys that we think will get their 1st PGATour victory and/or be regular contenders this season.

Roberto Castro & Byeong Hun An (Honorable Mentions)

Henrik Norlander (Doesn’t have full status, but we have some inside info on Henrik that his putting and short game are finally clicking. This is bad news for everyone else on Tour as he’s already one of the best ball strikers on the planet.)

2017 PGA Fantasy Primer

Realizing full-well that there is a certain stigma attached to Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS for short), we are here to dispel those notions and persuade you to give Daily Fantasy Golf a try. We are the Tour Junkies – a duo comprised of two guys, David and Pat, who have been deep in the DFS game since the beginning and decided to share that passion with others via our 

. We connected with the guys at No Laying Up a couple years ago and have stayed in touch. DFS is certainly not for everyone (read on to see if you fall into that group). The following is an intro to PGA DFS and why you should play, followed tomorrow by a look at some tips on how to play and who to look out for this season (also applicable to regular fantasy golf).

We’re firm believers in the great hipster millennial-mind of Simon Sinek, who says “start with why.” So, why would anyone choose to invest time & money in playing DFS? Naturally this answer varies to some degree depending upon the person, as does the veracity with which people play DFS. It’s a wide spectrum, which is great. You do you, man. Here’s why we play:

As I’m sure holds true with anyone visiting this site, we LOVE golf. Playing golf, reading golf, going to golf tournaments, indoctrinating our kids in golf, etc. Simple enough.

When it comes to watching golf on TV, we used to only watch the majors, Ryder Cup, and then a few random events with passing interest. We tried to go deeper, but just couldn’t get excited about the actual golfers. It wasn’t the act of watching golf that was less than stimulating. It was the act of watching #LPCP poster boy, Matt Kuchar, headline an event with Shawn Stefani and Cameron Tringale right on the heels of his Sketchers on moving day. We just couldn’t do it. But now that we’ve got some skin in the game and know the players it’s a whole different ballgame. Watching the Sanderson Farms Championship is now akin to watching a Thursday night Jaguars/Rams game with the sole intent of seeing if Bortles feeds in garbage time for my fantasy squad or if the Rams can protect the under. Tour Junkies NOT pictured.

We’re competitive. Aside from church league basketball (I’m from Georgia, it’s a big thing here) and actually playing golf, this is where we can let our competitive juices run wild. We play in a couple of DFS leagues with only friends. Who doesn’t love taking his friends’ $5 week in and week out? Winning is fun. Doesn’t matter what. Hell, one of us won a Potty Putter at the office party this past Christmas. The feeling I get when I win in DFS is especially rewarding, regardless of if the payout is $3 or $30K – just want to see the screen turn green (which happens when you’re winning)!

We like the numbers, stats, and research. The process of digging in to the course, the key stats for success, and the players that either line up or don’t each week is the best part. It’s the same reason people enjoy tracking the stock market. We dig deep every week before we record our podcast, and you can do the same or just rely on experts that you are keen to trust.

One of the things we didn’t mention above: “I like winning millions of dollars while seeing my handsome mug on the side of a DraftKings bus in downtown BeanTown.” Of course we enjoy winning. But, we’re not doing this to quit our day jobs and neither should you. We only spend what we can afford to lose – think of it as an entertainment expense. Hell, you’re more likely to lose $29 and 2 hours of your life going to see some dumpster fire movie with your wife. Is DFS gambling? Yes, unequivocally. As is playing fantasy football for free on Yahoo! while having a side pot with your homies. However, there’s nothing wrong with responsible gambling. As humans, we gamble on various and sundry things all the time. Golfers gamble. Gambling is as much a part of golf as #TourSauce and Johnny Miller’s ego.

In the intro we mentioned we’d tell you if you should stop reading this. Here you go…If you have a problem with gambling, spending too much money, or an addictive personality, then don’t play. If you literally don’t have 15 minutes a week, a positive balance in your checking account, or any friends, then don’t play.

Okay, you’re still reading? Currently, if you want to play PGA DFS, you will only be able to play through the DraftKings website or app. However, FanDuel will likely be adding PGA to its offerings in the very near future, as both companies have now merged and DraftKings continues to see tremendous growth in the number of people playing PGA DFS. Every Monday afternoon before a PGATour event, DraftKings will release the player prices for that event based on odds. Each player is given a dollar amount typically ranging from $5K to $13K.

Ostensibly your job is simple: fill six roster spots without spending more than $50K in salary cap. Points are earned or lost on a hole-by-hole basis, with players earn points for pars, birdies, eagles, an albatross, an ace, and conversely lose points for bogeys, etc. Players also earn points for where they stand on the leaderboard at the end of the week. If one (or more) of your players don’t make the cut then they don’t earn your team any points over the weekend. This point structure greatly rewards players who tend to make birdies and play aggressively (think modified Stableford scoring). But keep in mind that they need to hang around and play the weekend. Roll into the weekend with your full compliment of six players having made the cut and you enjoy a tremendous advantage. Amazingly, picking six golfers out of a field of 140+ is much harder in practice than it is in theory.

If PGA DFS sounds like something that you’d enjoy then get started by signing up for DraftKings and wait with bated breath for our follow-up article where we’ll outline viable strategies and highlight some guys you NEED to know to get that “Green Screen Disease” in 2017…

The Case for Daily Fantasy Golf

The ambassador of #TourSauce himself, Justin Thomas, unleashed an legendary barrage of the sauce on Friday at Kapalua. The best part was, he ended the day tied for the lead. He was striping the ball all over the yard, hitting driver off every tee, and reaching for the tee before the sound of the impact with the ball had even reached the marshalls down the fairway:

If you're gonna flight one down, you gotta be quicker than that to get a pre apex tee grab JT 

Then he began to leak a little bit of oil coming home, and unleashed a streak of sauce that only few legends of the game have ever reached. Oh, and he played this four hole stretch in -1. It started with this tee ball off the 15th:

The point was just instincts, as there wasn’t even a gallery to warn, or a marshall to track the ball.

The awkward follow through, then even a bit of a twirl mixed in. He practically imitated the logo:

And finally, my favorite, on the 18th. He waits for the green to clear from 329 YARDS OUT, you know, just in case he murders one.

(Thankfully he didn’t go driver off the deck, because we’ve seen how that works out:)

The biggest threat to our nation's security is 

He ended up only a 102 yards short of the green. If there is anything I can relate to on the PGA Tour, it’s waiting for the green to clear, then missing it by 100 yards.

He of course went on to birdie the hole, and finish the day tied for the lead with Ryan Moore at -12. On a serious note, it’s great to see JT come out of the gate strong in 2017 (

read about his preparation for the event here

), and firing at every pin in sight. Besides those last few holes, he had the ball on a string, and was swinging it with a bit of an extra swagger that I’m not quite used to seeing out of him. My only request is that he start balling out at tournaments that aren’t located in the Pacific Ocean, and don’t require me to get up in the middle of the night if I actually want to see them live.

That was a fun round of golf! There may not be much of an offseason anymore, but there’s enough of one to make us crave meaningful golf again. Partner that with incredible scenery, a primetime TV slot, and a studded leaderboard, and you’ve got yourself some pretty good television. To top it off, the Golf Channel coverage was fantastic (willing to look past how they somehow missed JT’s birdie putt on 17 to tie the lead when there were only about 8 players left on the course). They showed a LOT of shots, got quiet when the players and caddies were talking, and seem to be making a conscious effort to bring us even closer to the game.

Gonna be a hell of a lot of fun this year if 

 keeps their mics this ???!!



— Big Randy (@BigRandyNLU) 

We’re critical of coverage often, but if you do it well, we’ll recognize it.

Golf Channel delivering the goods thus far. Showing a ton of golf. Cutting quickly between shots w/o feeling rushed. Lots of protracer. ??



— Tron Carter (@TronCarterNLU) 

Starting the year hot, and with another fantastic quintessential Reed quote:

P. Reed hit 18/18 GIR Friday in Maui. “Would have hit all 14 f’ways as well, but my tee shot @ No 1 was too good & rolled through,” he said.



— Rex Hoggard (@RexHoggardGC) 

He was fantastic on his way to a 65, and played so well that Jason Day basically got dropped from coverage, despite playing alongside Reed and shooting 69. He had the patented Reed follow through pose in full flex, and softly bobbed his head up and down as he tracked the ball in the air towards the flag. I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us this year.

Follow us on twitter for more during live coverage:

Justin Thomas Put On An Epic Display Of #TourSauce At Kapalua

I try to do a mailbag each of the “offseason” months, but I missed December due to an extended trip to the motherland. But let’s roll…

 how was africa?



— Zack (@zkupper_bsg) 

). Great sightseeing, animal spotting, partying, and vibes. Incredible life experience, and highly recommended to anyone that has the chance to go. It was a rejuvenation for my soul, and a much needed break from dreary European winter.

To tie it back to golf, I met a recently retired 20-something South African pro at a bar in Cape Town. We had a fascinating conversation about the ups and downs of trying to make it as a professional golfer, and I’m trying to get him on the podcast to tell his story. I think it will be a refreshing change to go from some of the top players of the game, to the perspective of a guy who tried his hardest, but just ultimately failed. Hoping to get this arranged this month.

Most importantly, stepping away from golf for a few weeks has really gotten me amped for this season. Let’s get hyped for this next question!

 2016 was a big year for golf… Ryder Cup, great majors, Olympics… is 2017 going to feel boring?



— Jason Barefoot (@barefoot_jason) 

Alright Jason not the enthusiasm I was looking for to start the year but we’re just gonna shake that off and roll with it. For God’s sake, it’s a Presidents Cup year!!!

2016 was phenomenal in a lot of ways, in particular the two middle majors and the Ryder Cup. But, perhaps this is just me, the “regular season” events caught my eye less and less as the year went on. The Olympics were boring (sorry, but that’s just a fact). And were there really 

 many memorable moments from regular events in 2016? Sure, it finished with a bang with Rory, DJ, and Reed sweeping the playoff events, but just look at the names at this week’s Tournament of Champions and ask yourself if 2016 was really that epic. I’m not saying this to dump on what was a really, really fun year, but I think the 2017 season is going to do a much better job of keeping our attention throughout the calendar, rather than just the big events. It also helps that we don’t have an insane 100-ish day stretch where we have three majors, the Olympics, and the FedExCup. For as much as people around the world complained about how terrible 2016 was, let’s give 2017 a chance to breathe before we bury it!

A Rory that looks poised to return to number one.

A healthy(?) Tiger playing a somewhat regular slate of events.

A Jordan Spieth that isn’t dealing with the pressure and unrealistic expectations of a record setting season.

A reinvented DJ that finally seems ready to start fracking into that bottomless well of potential.

Brooks Koepka making the leap to a major champion.

Justin Thomas becoming a top-10 player in the world.

Patrick Reed just continuing to be Patrick Reed.

A slew of young, exciting players like Brandon Hagy, Trey Mullinax, Ollie Schneiderjans, etc.

And that’s really just scratching the surface on what gets me jacked for this year. I’m as excited for a non-Ryder Cup year as I can be.

I think we’re going on year three of me writing this exact thing, but I really do think we’re going to see The Leap from Koepka this year. The guy I saw at the Ryder Cup (

) and at Vegas a few months has zero flaws in his game, zero fear, and flat out does not lay up. For as far and as pure as he strikes it, he rolls it even better. 2016 was a transition year with equipment, and although he didn’t win, it’s hard to not call it the best year of his young career. I know I’ve hyped him relentlessly, and 

, but you can’t argue with what he’s given us so far. I’m taking him to win the Open this year.

 How much did you underestimate the reaction to your equipment reporting.



— Jim Anderson (@JamesTAnderson) 

I was a few cocktails deep, still on a huge high coming off the huge U.S. Ryder Cup win, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Amsterdam from Minnesota 

). I had a really good source on it, and hadn’t seen it reported anywhere else, and thought our followers would like to hear that information. What I did not expect to happen was a 20+ page thread on Golf WRX, twitter scorn, and people to run with it saying that I was “reporting” this. I worded it as carefully as I could while throwing back Jack Daniels trying to knock myself out on this red eye. As someone who has never really had a foot in the equipment game, I didn’t realize how seriously people took this stuff, and didn’t realize how big this Tiger news was.

“He’ll never use an adjustable driver!”

“Pigs will fly before he uses a TaylorMade driver!”

Ok that last one may have been made up. Tiger of course ended up withdrawing from the Safeway, and showed up a charity event with all Nike clubs still in the bag. The scorn increased ten-fold for me, and I swore off the equipment game forever. If you looked at the below chart, I was definitely on top of Mount Stupid, and I wanted to come down from that mountain.

Then he turns up at the Hero World Challenge with a TaylorMade driver, a Bridgestone ball, and a Scotty putter. No Mizuno irons, but it turns out I was onto something, eh? The fact that the Tiger news ended up being almost entirely true gave me the confidence to come out of witness protection. But it also taught me to be especially careful what I say, as I was the least confident in the Mizuno irons part of it, and I should have made that more clear.

The subsequent reports have been easy, as it helps a ton when I’m able to get information directly from the source, which alleviates any anxiety about a minute detail changing, or getting any part of a report wrong.

The hard part is, most of the stuff that’s out there really is just rumors. And when there is some real, legitimate news, the equipment companies themselves want to be the ones announcing it. That’s what made the Rory story so unique, in that there was no endorsement deal, so there’s no announcement from Callaway or Titleist. Why Rory gave that news to me is still a bit of mystery, but it was awesome that he did.

So don’t expect a ton of breaking news from us in this arena, but we’ll continue to share what we hear through the grapevine, as long as it’s credible.

 does JDay run the risk of becoming golf's villain with the new slow play comments? Was already pretty annoying to watch in 15-16



— Nick Baldus (@BmoneyBaldus) 

I’m not sure if it makes him “golf’s villain,” but it sure felt like the tide turned on Day in 2016. This is typically something I’m pretty strongly against, as I feel like in the golf world (and the sports world in general), we love a guy on his way up to the top, and once he’s there, we start to pick him apart until the narrative completely changes. It happened some with Spieth in 2016 as well. We get overexposed to them, and what might have seemed like a minor idiosyncrasy a few years ago flat out annoys us when we see it every week.

I want to like Day. Part of me still does. Everything I’ve heard about him is that he’s a great guy. I met his wife at the Memorial last year, and she could not have been nicer. I respect his grind, and from the stories I’ve heard, really is one of the hardest working guys on tour. I forget where I heard this story, so apologies that I can’t give the proper attribution. But I’ve heard he has 3-4 hour sessions on the range at Muirfield Village on the reg, at a part of the range completely isolated from everyone else. He goes through his full pre-shot routine, and takes the same amount of time before 

 he hits on the range. I’ve talked to some players who have referred to the fact that their practice needs to as closely mimic their routine during a round, but I’ve never heard of someone putting this level of commitment into it. He’s worked incredibly hard to get to this level, and I have great respect for that.

But when you spend every press conference making it harder and harder to like you, it starts to wear on the fans. He can’t stay healthy, he overreacts to every runny nose, and flat out announced that he’s planning to play even slower in 2017. When he made that eagle on the 72nd hole of the PGA Championship, I should have felt more than I did. I hope he reigns in the antics this year and gets back to being a likable guy, but I think he’s due for some rough social media treatment this year (

the new Nike wardrobe did not help his case

). The players out there most definitely talk about his dramatics, and I’ve talked to several pros that are really annoyed by it. Said one: “We’ve all got shit going on!”

 which "risky" shots worked out but could've altered history under different circumstances (eg Henrik on 18 almost bunkering)?



— Platitude Parade ด้้ (@SpecialKStreet) 

Great question. What I love about when Golf Channel has the highlights from a major are the reminders that, for most of them, the result is very much in doubt with an hour or so to go. It’s easy to look back at the winner of an event and forget about the coulda, woulda, shoulda’s. Len Mattiace has to think about the fact that Mike Weir gets to go to the Champions Dinner every year. One shot can change a person’s life forever. Once a player has his name on a trophy, that’s the lasting memory we have from that week (the 2016 Masters not withstanding).

I don’t have the energy to go back and look these up, but here’s a few shots that were a bit risky in some way or another, and if they didn’t work out, could have really changed the outcome:

Rory’s tee shot at the 72nd at Valhalla at the 2014 PGA that almost went in the water.

Rory’s bunker shot in the dark on that same hole (how easy would it be to blade a bunker shot in the dark?).

Phil’s shot through the trees at Augusta in 2010.

Spieth going for the 13th in two on Sunday at the 2015 Masters with a four shot lead (No Laying Up).

Bubba’s hook wedge at the 2012 Masters.

Tiger’s 6 iron from the bunker on the 72nd hole at the 2000 Canadian Open.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I would love to hear some others in the comments below.

 struggle for a little while getting used to the new sticks?



— Patrick Blewett (@PatrickBlewett) 

I’m totally in the bag for Rory, and will immediately start mobilizing troops anytime anyone even hints at criticizing him. So to answer your question, I doubt he struggles, but if you’re looking for objective Rory takes, please know:

Of course it’s going to take some time to get used to the new equipment, with the biggest emphasis being on the ball. It’s kind of one of those things I have a hard time relating to when it comes to tour pros though, because we obviously have no idea where they’re at with their “feels” with their game and equipment. What I do know is that the difference in the Nike ball vs. a ProV1x is significant throughout the bag, all the way down to how they come off a putter face. I won’t be concerned if Rory starts slow-ish in this early European Tour stretch. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t have everything sorted by the time he heads to Riviera.

What makes his situation so unique is that he’s got such incredible freedom to literally put anything in his bag that he wants. It’s not like switching from one company to another, where you’re typically doing that for financial reasons, and you get kind of pigeon-holed into finding the right combination within that company that works for you. He can go with whatever feels best for him, and if he doesn’t like it, he can put something else in the bag. It’s going to kind of be fascinating to watch.

 Assuming there's some $$$ for putting a club in play, could more guys go Rory's route and play a mixed bag without a contract?



— Mike Caverhill (@mcaverhill) 

What’s happening the current post mortem Nike world is pretty fascinating. These former swoosh guys trying to balance what works best for their game, while trying to calculate exactly how much money you’re passing up on my not signing a deal has gotta mess with you a little bit.

From what I’ve gathered, and perhaps this is specific to Rory, there’s not $$$ for “putting a club in play.” A signed endorsement contract is very different from simply using a manufacturer’s clubs. With it comes hours and hours of sponsorship obligations, along with many other considerations. A company doesn’t pay you just to use their clubs. They pay you so they can plaster you all over their website, flood social media when you play well, and to have you be a spokesman for the company.

If I’m a golf fan looking at buying equipment, I can’t think of a better endorsement than what Rory just gave to Callaway. He can put whatever he wants in his bag, and they don’t even have to pay him to choose their equipment. That being said, his bag may look entirely different next month.

 What do you think of Bubba dropping Titleist for Volvik?



— Josh Phillips (@wxjphil) 

“I took five balls out and hit all kinds of shots,” Watson said. “Teddy [caddie Ted Scott] bought some and tested them as well. And we couldn’t come up with anything wrong with them. Then it comes down to the fun factor—how could you not want a colored ball when you have a colored driver.”

Needless to say I hope this backfires on him. He’s free to do whatever he wants, but I’m free to make fun of him for it. If you want to be different, that’s cool! I’m not gonna hate on that. If you want to be different for the sake of being different, it just comes off as forced rather than a “Bubba being Bubba” kind of thing. At this point in your career, to give up on an amazing golf ball just because it would be fun to play a colored one legitimately sounds like an explanation my 7 year old cousin would give at a putt putt course.

 got the potential to be the best tournament this season? ?



— Iain (@7Iain) 

A lot of people are really excited about the format change, but I’ll ask you the same question that 

 asked me. Do you watch the Shark Shootout? Sure, it’s during silly season when everyone is trying to tune out golf, but there already is a team PGA Tour event on the schedule. And no one watches it or cares about it. I tuned in this year only to watch 

 kill it in the booth, and to see Greg Norman’s veins popping out of his biceps.

The energy at the Zurich will be totally different, and I love how the players have seemingly embraced it. I love that they can pick their own partners, and I hope this year is a great success and encourages more players to join in the future.

But what I’m most excited about isn’t the actual tournament itself, it’s the fact that the Tour is willing to think outside the box and try something different. I have not heard one person say one single bad think about new PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, and while I’m not sure how much credit he’s owed for this particular move, I take this as a good sign. As long as they hire me as the official half-baked ideas consultant.

 Now that you've set the baseline of podcast guests (Rory, Jordan, Bones) – who can we look forward to in 2017? JT? Rickie? Beef?



— Jeff Morgan (@jeffmorgan7) 

Oh how quickly JT’s NLU podcast visits have been forgotten!

In all seriousness, we do owe a lot to JT for being the 

first pro to ever come on the podcast back in 2015

. Being able to point tell agents and players that we had a top young pro on the podcast, he didn’t die, and the feedback for that style was great helped us open the door with a lot of other future pros, including 

. It’s been a dream come true run, and I can’t wait to see what 2017 has in store.

With regards to Rickie, I have no relationship with him at all. He doesn’t follow us, so I may have a tough time getting in that door.

Beef – Same. I’ve been a bit put off with Beef just because of how much the mainstream media freaked out over his arrival this year. I’m sure he’s as awesome as he seems, but what is there left to uncover with him? His agent can’t spell the word no, and he went from cult hero to overplayed in like three days. This is why we can’t have nice things.

I don’t want to give anything away, but early to mid-next week we 

 be recording with one of our dream guests. And I’m kicking the tires on another legend, but that one might be a long shot.

To close this question, I wanted to quickly mention our appreciation for everything you guys have given to the podcast. From the downloads, ratings, reviews, feedback, questions, linking, retweeting, and inspiration, you really are the entire reason for the success of it. It’s what keeps us going, and with your continued support and your eagerness to spread the word about the podcast, we’ll continue to pound out the content. Just don’t get mad if we add a sponsor or two this year (*ducks*).

 in celebration of your eventual return to the Windy City, what would you consider to be the Wrigley Field equivalent of golf?



— Brad Repplinger (@TCRBrad) 

The countdown is on! Now that the calendar has turned to 2017, I’m half dreading and half excited about the move back across the pond. Most of the dread comes from the fact that I have to return to see Cubs 2016 World Series Championship banners strewn across the city. As a lifelong Reds fan who lived six years in Chicago, I’ve never had a stronger hate for a professional sports franchise than I do the Cubs. I’ll never forgive the Indians for what they did.

So you’re asking which course would I compare to that shit hole they call Wrigley? (I begrudgingly have to admit that the stadium has improved remarkably in the last eight years). Let’s go with Pebble. Although Pebble is most certainly not a shit hole, it’s similar to Wrigley in that they are both bucket list type experiences, date back to to the early 20th century, a bit smaller than their peers, incredibly crowded every (game) day of the year, and have both swallowed up hundreds of my dollars. They’re both classics, and while both a bit flawed, represent so much about about both golf and baseball that we love, and are terrific blends of modern and old school. I could hit a 5-iron from my porch and hit Wrigley from my first Chicago apartment, and can definitely say that aesthetically, they do not belong in the same category. However, both places also have great 19th holes, and are as much about the atmosphere and experience as they are the substance.

 Do a poll about which network does the WORST broadcast. Threw my beer at tv last year watching PGA Champ. 10 min-1 shot.



— Superbad (@gateone100) 

Do we have to have a poll to know the answer is CBS? I caught like two seconds of PGA Championship highlights the other day, and just hearing Nantz trying to shove stories down our throats made me cringe. We were 

, and there have been no hints as to any changes in their approach. I strongly believe that their broadcasts contribute towards pushing people away from watching golf on tv, and have that much more respect for how the Golf Channel, NBC, and even Fox cover the game. They are on notice for 2017, and it might get ugly if they don’t start listening.

TV networks are our window into a golf tournament. We can’t see what they don’t present, so what they present is inherently essential to our experience. This is why CBS needs to be held to a higher standard, and needs to get with the times.

 What changes should we expect from No Laying Up when you move back to the United States this year, if any?



— Michael Huschart (@Da_Husch22) 

Ideally, we’d love to get to the point where this becomes our full time job. And I’d like to think that we’re on our way towards that.

We’ve got a lot of stuff in the hopper. I’d love to attend more tournaments once I’m stateside, and planning to be at the Memorial and the BMW, along with the Irish Open and the Open Championship back on this side of the pond. We’re also working towards planning a big outing in late 2017. Would love to do more video work. Actually setup a podcast studio, and not have to sketchily record podcasts in the middle of the night to accommodate US time zones. The possibilities are limitless, but the key will be time.

Fun fact – the four co-founders have only ever been together in person one time in our entire lives, and that was at the 2014 RBC Heritage for what we coined our “Board of Directors Meeting” at a Japanese restaurant that I’ve since forgotten the name of. I think we’ll change that in 2017, and with that, a slew of new content and changes will hopefully emerge.

Thanks all for the questions! Here’s to a saucy 2017….

January 2017 Mailbag

Below are a bunch of the best golf tweets of 2016. If I left out your tweet, BE offended. This list is intended to be entirely complete, I most definitely didn’t put it together in less than 30 minutes, and any tweet I left out is 100% intentional, and a personal jab at you. Enjoy!

(Kyle Porter’s Ryder Cup week probably deserves it’s own post, but I just threw them all in here intermittently.)

If his putter did not sit, you MUST acquit!!!



— Tron Carter (@TronCarterNLU) 

Articles

Pat Perez Goes In On Tiger, Outrage Ensues

Rory McIlroy Played Golf With Donald Trump This Weekend

U.S. Makes Two Changes To Ryder Cup Selection: One Of Them Is Good

2017 PGA Fantasy Primer

The Case for Daily Fantasy Golf

Justin Thomas Put On An Epic Display Of #TourSauce At Kapalua

January 2017 Mailbag

The Best Golf Tweets of 2016

Rory McIlroy To Use Callaway Woods and Irons, Odyssey Putter, Titleist Ball And Wedges At BMW South African Open

2016 Equipment Changes: What Worked and What Didn't

November Mailbag

15 PGA Tour Courses You Can Play

October 2016 Mailbag

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part I: Waterville Golf Links

Davis Love III Selects Ryan Moore With His Final Ryder Cup Captain’s Pick, But How Did We Get Here?

Ryder Cup Mailbag

The Case Against Jim Furyk for the 2016 US Ryder Cup Team

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part IV: Killeen Castle

Articles

Pat Perez Goes In On Tiger, Outrage Ensues

Rory McIlroy Played Golf With Donald Trump This Weekend

U.S. Makes Two Changes To Ryder Cup Selection: One Of Them Is Good

2017 PGA Fantasy Primer

The Case for Daily Fantasy Golf

Justin Thomas Put On An Epic Display Of #TourSauce At Kapalua

January 2017 Mailbag

The Best Golf Tweets of 2016

Rory McIlroy To Use Callaway Woods and Irons, Odyssey Putter, Titleist Ball And Wedges At BMW South African Open

2016 Equipment Changes: What Worked and What Didn't

November Mailbag

15 PGA Tour Courses You Can Play

October 2016 Mailbag

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part I: Waterville Golf Links

Davis Love III Selects Ryan Moore With His Final Ryder Cup Captain&#8217;s Pick, But How Did We Get Here?

Ryder Cup Mailbag

The Case Against Jim Furyk for the 2016 US Ryder Cup Team

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part IV: Killeen Castle

Davis Love III Selects Ryan Moore With His Final Ryder Cup Captain’s Pick, But How Did We Get Here?