Rory McIlroy will make his 2017 debut at the BMW South African Open on January 12, and will be making equipment changes through the entire bag. No Laying Up has confirmed that Rory will be playing the new Callaway GBB Epic Sub Zero driver, Callaway Custom Apex MB irons, and reuniting with an old (but improved) friend in the Titleist ProV1x ball.

Speculation regarding Rory’s choice of equipment has dominated the equipment news cycle since Nike announced on August 3 that it would be abandoning its hard goods division. 

, McIlroy put the TaylorMade M2 in the bag in China in his first event of the 2016-2017 wrap-around season. However he did not announce any equipment deal with TaylorMade at the time. Likewise he has not confirmed a specific endorsement deal with Callaway, telling NLU that he does not plan to sign an equipment deal in 2017.

In addition to the new sticks, he will be putting the Titleist ProV1x back in the bag. McIlroy tested a 

 variety of options recently in Dubai, and spent a considerable amount of the time trying to find both the proper equipment, with a particular emphasis on symbiosis between the different facets of his bag.

“I want to play the new ProV1x ball and I know the Callaway driver works the best with it. I also know my Nike irons don’t work as well with the Titleist ball because of the groove format. Too spinny, and a loss of distance,” McIlroy told No Laying Up in late December.

“With everything that’s going on in the golf world and the golf business right now, especially with my sponsor Nike pulling out of the golf equipment business, it’s given me the freedom to try other things in the market that I haven’t been able to try the last few years. It’s nice to have a little look around,” McIlroy

 in November. “The golf ball will be the big thing.”

In addition to the aforementioned changes, McIlroy is opting for Titleist Vokey wedges and will put an Odyssey prototype putter in play – one that features a new insert that recently made its way into Phil Mickelson’s gamer. He was noncommittal about his plans moving forward, ostensibly leaving the door open to further tinkering throughout his arsenal in the weeks and months ahead.

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

At this point, I’m fairly certain that the 2016 PGA Tour season is over. And that means that players who switched equipment companies at the beginning of this season have had a full slate of events to get used to their new sticks.

Now, before I go all scorched earth and declare that PXG is junk science or that Callaway hasn’t made a good club since the 

 (a club which I still trust more than several family members), I realize that the first year with any new club isn’t the be-all and end-all. Transition years are a real phenomenon (see: Rory and Nike (RIP)), so I’m not saying that a change worked for one person and didn’t work for someone else. That being said, I’m interested in these transition years, and I think we can learn a lot from how a player handles a season with new clubs.

Also, I realize this might not be the sexiest topic on a year-to-year basis. The reason for this post was that in January of 2016, a handful of well-known players hitched their wagons to PXG, the high-end, bespoke golf club manufacturer started by billionaire GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons.

As soon as I heard the news that Parsons was starting a new equipment company from scratch, I was skeptical. The golf equipment industry isn’t like the NHL, you don’t just see new organizations cropping up left and right. After reading a few stories about the company, and coming across phrases like “no cost constraints,” “adjustable irons,” and “thermoplastic elastomer,” I was simultaneously more interested and more skeptical. I know that infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters would eventually churn out 

, but could a handful of ex-Ping employees working overtime really create something to disrupt the golf establishment?

The short answer is inconclusive. The long answer will be explained in the following years, as more (or fewer) players jump on (or off) the PXG train and soar to wild success (or slump to bone-crushing failure).


Anyway, I tried to capture the results from these transition years in the charts below, where I put together very rudimentary statistical breakdowns of a few Tour players who fit my criteria. These criteria are as follows:

Switched equipment companies in January of 2016

Played a majority of the past three years on the PGA Tour


This excludes Ryan Moore (switched to PXG April 2015) and recent Mayakoba winner Pat Perez (only made 11 starts in 2016). Both players have obviously seen success with their new gear, so I don’t want to leave them out of the conversation entirely.

In addition to the new PXG convertants, two players each switched to Callaway, TaylorMade, and Nike (RIP).The stats I picked are the ones that I feel give the best overall picture of a golfer’s year: wins, top 10s, missed cuts, total strokes gained, scoring average, and major results.

Hahn’s switch from TaylorMade to PXG has had mixed results so far. In the “pros” column, Hahn notched another win and added three Top 10s in 2016. He also made the cut in all three majors in which he played, made about 300K more in prize money than the previous year, and ended the year at 39th in the FedEx Cup standings (as opposed to 51st in 2015 and 123rd in 2014).

On the other hand, the sabermetrics (such as they are) tell a slightly less rosy story. Hahn ended 2016 with a scoring average nearly a half stroke higher than the year before, and his total strokes gained dipped into the red after a healthy 2015 season.

If I’m playing armchair golf analyst, it almost looks like the new sticks may have been a detriment to Hahn. The improvements in his game year-over-year look like the kinds of things that happen as a young player figures out how to compete on a weekly basis on Tour – more Top 10s, better major results, etc. Conversely, his negative strokes gained and higher scoring average point to a potential discomfort with his equipment. Then again, it’s hard to win on Tour with clubs you don’t care for.

Perhaps best known for going absolutely ballistic at the end of 2014, winning the FedEx Cup, and not getting picked for the Ryder Cup (a situation which led to the creation of the last-minute “Horschel Pick” for the U.S. Ryder Cup team), Billy seems to be the rare golfer for whom the move to PXG worked out. After coming back to Earth in 2015, Horschel ditched PING for PXG and rebounded, delivering a career-best finish in the Masters to go along with five Top 10s, and great numbers in the scoring and strokes gained department.

 Chucky Triple Sticks has been grinding it out on Tour for a long while, and with his last win coming in 2007, the change from Mizuno to PXG might have been an effort to jump start a mid-career renaissance. And it kind of worked! Or at least, 

. Three Sticks Mafia always has a habit of sniffing around the leaderboard on Sunday, and he carded his fair share of Top 10s in 2016 to go along with a strong scoring average and strokes gained statistic.

Two-time major winner Zach Johnson (sorry Soly) hopped on the PXG train after moving away from Titleist, and it didn’t seem to have any concrete results. No wins for the Iowan after taking down the Open Championship at the Old Course in 2015, and a respectable slate of major finishes (besides that Masters MC). Also, Johnson didn’t really stick to the change, using a Titleist fairway wood and 4-iron in July and switching back to a Titleist driver for the Ryder Cup.

While it’s true that it was going to be hard to live up to his strong 2014 and 2015 showings, Chris Kirk really fell off after switching to PXG from Callaway. The missed cuts increased, the Top 10s flatlined, and the majors were a mess. On the bright side, his strokes gained and scoring average statistics stayed pretty consistent, which means that he was putting together solid rounds, just not catching enough breaks and getting hot at the right times to get into contention.

I can almost definitely say that Koepka’s high performance 2016 had little to do with his switch from Titleist to Nike (RIP). We all remember Rory’s struggles after switching to the swoosh, and he might be the best in the world when he’s on his game. For Koepka to see the same kind of results in 2016 as he did the year previous speaks to his extraordinary talent more than his equipment choice. Also, it really looks like he’s trending towards winning that first major at the 2017 PGA Championship. You heard it here first.

Another mixed bag here from a young, rising talent on Tour. After Finau switched to Nike (RIP) from Callaway for his second full season on the big circuit, he picked up his first PGA Tour win at the Puerto Rico Open in March. However, his strokes gained fell and his scoring average increased. Plus, the missed cuts are a problem, and he couldn’t get it on track at either the US Open or the PGA Championship after making a serious run at them in 2015. Fortunately for Finau, Nike (RIP) is out of the equipment-making business, and Finau put 

The slightly less awesome Aussie replaced his Titleists with Callaways in 2016, and ended up with not much to show for it. He cut down on the missed cuts, which is always good for the pocketbook, and came up with a strong showing at Oakmont and a made cut at Baltusrol. Since 2010, Leishman never finished better than 44th in the FedEx Cup standings, and 2016’s 68th was his second worst finish in that span. All in all, nothing to see here.

If Jason Gore played on Monday Night Football, Jon Gruden would absolutely label the guy as a Gruden Grinder. After bouncing between the PGA and Web.com tours for most of his career, the squat Pepperdine Wave dropped his PINGs and picked up the Callaways. The breakdown here doesn’t do a great job of capturing his seasons, since he didn’t play in any majors in the past three years and spent most of 2014 on the Web.com Tour. But going back through his career, Gore has usually been good for a few Top 25s and maybe a Top 10 per season, with double digit missed cuts thrown in to balance it out. He fell just a bit short of those averages in 2016, making it a bit of a disappointing year. On the other hand, dude made over $400,000 playing golf while I sat in a cubicle and made less than 1/4 of that. So he still did all right.

Rounding out this post is Gary Woodland, a former college basketball player who possesses all kinds of pop. The bomber switched to TaylorMade from Callaway in 2016 with impressive results. He tied his career best finish in a major with a T12 at Royal Troon (which put him about 13 miles behind the scorching hot duo of Mickelson and Stenson), and improved his strokes gained and scoring average numbers. While Woodland hasn’t notched a win since 2013 (in the NLU-approved Reno-Tahoe Stableford Birdie Bonanza), his solid 2016 portends good things going forward under the TaylorMade umbrella.

So there you have it. A lot of numbers and words that don’t really tell us much beyond the fact that yes, these guys really are good, and that all top-end equipment manufacturers are putting out world-class clubs these days. While I hesitate to say that today’s pros can compete using 

, I’m also not sure that switching equipment companies does more than get you a shiny new sponsor on your hat and a few more zeroes in your bank account.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

2016 Equipment Changes: What Worked and What Didn't

At the buzzer, but still got it in before it turned December. The November Mailbag! Let’s go…

 who will the 4 major winners be?



— Will Ogden (@Willogden11) 

Usually this question gets asked repeatedly in every mailbag, but this is actually the first time it’s come through this year! You guys are slacking.

My picks this year are incredibly boring, and embarrassingly 

. Those picks treated me really well, and I have my reasons for keeping them nearly the same.

As far as I’m concerned, he should be the favorite at Augusta every year. He’s played in three Masters, and has been beaten by a total of two guys. The fact that he 

 has one green jacket is actually pretty remarkable, and I’m going to pick him to win the Masters probably every year for the next five. It can’t be a fluke that he’s played this well in 12 straight rounds at a course that players have spent a lifetime trying to figure out, and I put next to no stock in what happened on 12 last year. I’m not gonna overthink this one, and go with JS all over again.

From what I’ve gathered about Erin Hills, it’s gonna be long, and it’s gonna favor guys that pound it long and straight off the tee. DJ applied that strategy to winning his first major at Oakmont, and I see him doing it again in Wisconsin in 2017.

I mentioned last week that after his win in Japan, Koepka looks like he’s about to make “The Leap.” The start of his career has been impressive, but what we saw from him in the Ryder Cup, in a losing effort in Vegas, and in dominant fashion in Japan makes me think he’s going to springboard into 2017 and become a major winner. In all honesty, I really just want to pick him to win a major in 2017, and The Open is the only one I couldn’t make a firm decision on, so he gets the Open by default. I was so impressed by his ball striking in Vegas, but even more so by his putting stroke. There’s a lot of young guys out there that can move it, but none of them have as complete of a game as Koepka.

This is going to be a REALLY popular pick. The only reason I don’t want to make the pick is because everyone is going to have him winning at Quail Hollow, and the guy that everyone thinks is going to win almost never wins. But he’s dominated at this course, and I just can’t picture him going three straight years without winning a major. Also, I have blinders on when it comes to this guy, but am proud of myself for not picking him to win all four majors.

 will tiger play all four rounds?
Are we sure 

 is actually a real person or is he someone's angry alter ego?



— Kevin (@just4sportsacct) 

I can in fact confirm that Tron is a real person. His incendiary twitter takes can melt steel beams at times, but if you hear him in podcast form (on the 

, or some of his many appearances on the 

, you’ll understand him a lot better. And when he sets his mind to it, 

. His takes make a lot more sense when (Steve) fleshed out in longer form than 140 characters. What I’m excited for though is the fact that there’s about to be a baby Tron, which means sleepness nights for Big Tron, which means fire retardant suits may be required before opening your twitter app.

 If NLU started in 1996, who is your ZJ/Kuch and who is your Brooks?



— Michael Shafrir (@michaelshafrir) 

Ooh, this is a fun one. I’m gonna start by taking a look back at my man crushes over the years. Usually I see something in a guy in year one, then spend the offseason trying to predict their launch into the winner’s circle the following year. So in the example below, I saw something from Gary Woodland in 2010 (one tee shot he hit at the US Open at Pebble) that made me fall in love and predict a breakout in 2011.

2011 – Gary Woodland (as mentioned, the driver-sand wedge he hit into the par five second hole on Friday).

2012 – Kyle Stanley (the driver-wedge he hit into the 590 yard 10th at TPC Deere Run, and the subsequent ball striking display he put on following that)

2013 – Billy Horschel (no moment in particular, but the crisp ball striking and the ridiculous GIR% he put up in 2012).

I’ve been on the Hagy train for a few years, but now that he’s got his tour card, the rest of the world gets to jump on board. This guy’s swing is silk, and pound for pound, there might not be a longer guy on tour not named Justin Thomas. More on him hopefully very soon….

10 year old, 1996 me would have likely made some much more questionable decisions. As a kid, I had an un-explainable fondness for Justin Leonard, but part of me thinks that the ’99 Ryder Cup had something to do with that. When I was like eight or something, Billy Andrade gave me a ball and a glove and I legitimately thought we were friends. Like I would go up to him every year at the Memorial and say hi to him thinking that he would remember me. Those things stick with you as a kid.

In reality, the ’96 man crush had to be Big Cat right? We didn’t have YouTube and all of these other ways to find out about the up and coming guys, and every ounce of media attention went towards this guy’s debut, and deservedly so. Was there even really an opportunity to be a fanboy of anyone else of that era?

For the ZJ/Kuch comparison – there are way too many guys in the mid-90’s that fit this boring profile. This era is essentially defined by the Jeff Sluman types that habitually laid up and cashed checks. What made Tiger so compelling was not only the immediate success he enjoyed, but the fact that he transformed the way the game is played.

 Which Spieth shows up in 2017?



— Will Bardwell (@willbardwell) 

I’m guessing that most people reading this site are aware that Spieth’s 2016 season was not the disaster that many in the media want to make you think it was. Regardless, let’s first look at the trend in strokes gained from 2015 to 2016.

Outside of putting, Spieth did everything a little bit worse in 2016 than 2015, and his iron play was significantly worse. But right there, I just made the mistake that everyone seems to be making. I think Spieth would tell you that the 2015 season was an out of body experience that is unlikely to replicated. Which is understandable! It was legitimately one of the best PGA Tour seasons I’ve seen in my lifetime by someone not named Tiger Woods. So why are we using that as the baseline?

While 2016 was a good season any measure, I also think Spieth would tell you that he expects more of himself in 2017. I think we’ll see him hold steady in his driving numbers, improve significantly on his iron play (approach the green stat), and maintain his top-10 putting. This should put him somewhere in the range of about 1.8 strokes gained, firmly between his 2015 and 2016 seasons. I think that’s where his true talent level lies, and I think that’s what we can expect to see from him going forward in his career.

How that translates to success on the course (in terms of results, wins, etc.) is what is pretty much impossible to predict, but I’m already on record saying that he’s going to win the Masters. So in that vein, I’m going to say that we’re going to look back at Spieth’s 2017 as a very successful one.

 Serious question here, Why does anyone care about Tiger's return to golf?



— Michael Weaver (@MLDubya) 

Without looking this up, I think this is his longest layoff ever in golf, right? If you personally don’t care about Tiger’s return, I don’t blame you at all. I’ve experienced Big Cat burnout several times in recent years, and I’m as guilty of the hypocrisy of the “why are we talking about this guy” takes while at the same time still talking about him all day long. The fact is that 

For me personally, I’m as intrigued in this comeback as any of his comebacks. For years, we’ve been clamoring for him to not rush himself back, and take as much time off as he needs. And it seems like he’s finally done it. It’s been 15 months since he’s teed it up, and by all reports, he’s healthy. If Cat is healthy, I’m of the belief that he most certainly can play good golf again. The last time we saw him play, he was in the final second to last pairing at the Wyndham Championship (I feel like people forget that?). Sure it was 15 months ago, but it was a sign of life that the ability has not completely vacated his body.

I’m managing my expectations regarding the early parts of this return. Making cuts will be a good start, yet at the same time, a missed cut is not the end of the world. Sprinkle in some top 25’s, and I’ll be quite satisfied. Anything on top of that is gravy. I’m of the belief that the game is in great hands right now, and true golf fans don’t 

 Tiger back. A certain subset of fans that only pay attention when Cat is in contention… they 

 Tiger back. And I’m not concerned about those “fans” at all.

 how would the golf world react if Tiger wins a medium important tournament this year?



— Eric (@ebenj9) 

 what equipment do you think the CAT will be using? TaylorMade woods? Stick with Nike? Go back to Titleist?



— Christopher Fischer (@ChristopherFi17) 

, TaylorMade driver and three wood, Bridgestone ball, and Scotty putter are the only things that I’m really confident in. I’ve heard Mizuno irons, but have not been able to corroborate that with anyone else in the know. I’ve also heard Vokey wedges, and I’m more confident in that than I am the Mizuno irons. (Updated since I wrote this that he’s confirmed the Bridgestone ball, Scotty putter, and that he’ll be using Nike irons. Driver is still to be confirmed, but it looks like it will be a TaylorMade. Three out of four ain’t bad, right? Especially considering how much I got killed for that tweet….).

To finish it off, an actual (e)mail question! This marks the last question of the mailbag, and the end of the golf section, so if you want to eject feel free.

Huge fan of your work and have been for years. Recently, as a follower of your snapchat, also insanely jealous of the trips you’re taking while living abroad.

I wanted to pass along this idea because you have many followers who happen to be right in your demographic (young, professional, like to drink, love golf) and also are into traveling, especially to Europe. I’d be fascinated to have you rank all the places you’ve been. Choose whatever criteria you want, but I think the final order would resemble the Heisman criteria, i.e., most outstanding (whatever that means).

A lot of people, myself included, would trust your rankings and tidbits about each place more than any travel site. The write-ups on your Scotland and Ireland trips were fantastic. Anyway, just a thought for something to do after the season while basking in the glow of our fired up Ryder Cup victory.

Mark, thanks for the email, and the excellent suggestion.

For those that don’t know, about two years ago I got an opportunity with my real job to move from Chicago to Amsterdam for a secondment. I had never even been to Europe before, had a really nice life in Chicago, and was generally just very content. But, seeing as how I had just gotten out of a serious relationship, was 27 years old with nothing holding me back, it was about as great of an opportunity as you could draw up. While it may sound like a no-brainer decision to take the chance to live abroad, when it’s actually you making the call, it’s a lot tougher of a leap to make. This means missing countless family occasions, weddings, bachelor parties, etc. Why mess with happiness?

The answer is, because there is no laying up. I took the leap for what was initially supposed to be an 18 month rotation, and two years later I can easily say that living abroad has been the greatest experience of my life.

What has surprised me the most is how much I have loved Amsterdam. The American perception of the Dutch capital begins with marijuana and ends with prostitutes. After a few days, you get used to the pot smell on the street, and realize that the Red Light District is small, and simply one of the biggest tourist traps on the entire continent. Getting ingrained in the Dutch culture was surprisingly easy due to the almost non-existent language barrier (the Dutch speak almost perfect English), the huge expat community, and a city that can be both as big and as small as you want it to be. I cycle everywhere, live above a bar where everyone knows my name, date local women, and enjoy a much better work/life balance than I had in the U.S. Overall, of all the places I’ve been to, Amsterdam remains the number one city in Europe that I would want to live in as an expat.

One of the main considerations I had before taking the leap was the availability of travel across the continent. I made a bucket list of places I wanted to see during my 18 months abroad, and set out at a ridiculous pace to see them all. I quickly realized that it was going to be impossible to do everything I wanted to in that period of time, so when the opportunity came up to extend my stay here, I jumped on it, bringing my total contract to a length of 33 months.

Travelling around Europe is astonishingly easy (and surprisingly affordable), especially from Amsterdam. The airport is fantastic, and is about a 12 minute direct train ride from central station. I can go from my couch, take public transportation, and be through security in 45 minutes. Coming from the mess that is O’Hare and Midway in Chicago, this is something I’ll never take for granted.

Flights tend to be about half the cost of what I would expect to pay in the US. I work with, and have become very good friends with a lot of American expats, and while I do have local Dutch friends, it’s great to have friends here that have similar travel ambitions. It’s common practice for us to work a Monday through Thursday Friday week, jump a EUR 100 flight, and have dinner in another country by sun down. It’s a stupid life, and one that I’m gonna have a hard time giving up next summer.

I’ve been very aggressive with my weekend travels, and have adopted a “say yes to (nearly) everything” mindset when someone presents a travel opportunity. This has brought me to 33 new countries in just a bit more than two years, many of which are countries that I never had even imagined visiting. Without a tip or some serious research, whoever ever gets to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina? Montenegro? Ukraine? The experience has been every bit as amazing as it sounds. You hate me already, don’t you? It’s about to get worse.

I often get asked what my favorite trip I’ve done is, and I can never answer it without giving about eight different examples. Every trip is so different, and it gets to a certain point where it’s impossible to say whether or not Morocco, the Algarve, the Amalfi Coast, or Slovenia was a better trip. So while I will attempt to give these a ranking, please note that whatever I rank 7th today might be ranked 3rd on my list a week from now.

Also, for the purposes of this list, I’m not including either the Scotland or Ireland golf trips, because they’re in a completely separate class of trips that is impossible to rank next to other European travel.

This is the only one I’m comfortable saying was the best trip I’ve ever done. I went there with two buddies this summer for a week, drove the entire ring road, and had the time of our lives. It doesn’t even feel like you’re on the same planet when you see the things you see in Iceland. Waterfalls, canyons, glaciers, iceberg lagoons, puffins, lava fields, whales, black sand beaches, fjords, more waterfalls, more puffins, etc. 10:30 August sunsets, PB&J’s on the side of the road, and snorkeling glacier water between two tectonic plates are some of the best memories I have from travelling Europe. Iceland is so easy to get to from the U.S., and there’s a reason why everyone you know is going there. It’s that good.

Most impressive waterfall I've ever seen. Pretty sure this island is not Earth.

A photo posted by Chris Solomon (@csolomon1515) on Aug 9, 2016 at 12:38pm PDT

Like Iceland, it’s expensive. But also like Iceland, it’s some of the most unique landscapes I’ve ever seen. You can’t describe how enormous some of these fjords are, and the pictures never properly capture the scale. The people are super friendly, the roads are amazing (we went through several tunnels that were over 10 km’s long), the hikes were scenic, and the beer was cold. To top it off, we saw the Northern Lights in August, which supposedly never happens. There is still a lot of Norway that I would like to see (Lofoten, Svalbard, Stavanger area). You can’t get to it all in one week.

22 km, 8 hours up and down on Norway's most famous hike. May have to look closely to see me. Sorry mom! #Trolltunga #norway

A photo posted by Chris Solomon (@csolomon1515) on Aug 27, 2016 at 7:07am PDT

Iceland and Norway stick out as clear cut #1 and #2, and everything else below I had a much tougher time sorting out.

Moving to Europe ignited an interest in history within me that I didn’t know I had. I’ve traveled to a lot of WWII sites since moving abroad (Arnhem, Bastogne, Berlin, Nuremburg, Munich, Auschwitz, etc.), but none stuck out like Normandy. First of all, ignoring the historical significance, that entire coastline is epic and stunning, and worth a visit on its own. When you add in the stories of what happened there, and the magnificent way it is documented and memorialized, and you’ve got one of the most special places I’ve ever been.

The final resting place for 9,400 brave heroes. ??

A photo posted by Chris Solomon (@csolomon1515) on Jun 28, 2015 at 4:02am PDT

Epic views, hikes, weather, and scenery. You can be walking along a cliff thousands of feet in the air, looking down at the ant sized people below you, yet still looking up at massive snow capped peaks.

Last full day hiking in Switzerland. This place is beyond pure.

A photo posted by Chris Solomon (@csolomon1515) on May 17, 2015 at 5:54am PDT

Popular place, but it’s for a reason. We went in May before the height of tourist season, ate our faces off, swam in the sea, boated around the cliffs, drank limoncello, and had one of the most memorable trips of ’em all here.

Decent place to park a yacht. #KaylaAndTheBoys

A photo posted by Chris Solomon (@csolomon1515) on May 6, 2016 at 1:10pm PDT

Probably would be higher on the list if we had went during a better time of year. We visited in late March, which was too early to swim, and a lot of the restaurants weren’t even open for the season yet. It’s still a really special place, and is also very popular for a reason.

Morning coffee view in Santorini. #KaylaAndTheBoys

A photo posted by Chris Solomon (@csolomon1515) on Mar 25, 2016 at 9:17am PDT

November Mailbag

, the dream western Ireland golf trip moves on to our final destination, Carne Golf Links in Belmullet.

This course came highly, highly recommended to me by a friend, but I’ve always had such a great curiosity for the this place due to the way that Sports Illustrated’s J

In case you skipped the link above, the words he used, and the sincerity behind it had an impact on me, and served as possibly the strongest endorsement for a golf experience that I’ve heard.

“Every summer I leave Kansas City to spend a week on what I call the finest stretch of golfing ground in the world. It’s not Cypress Point. It’s not Pebble Beach. It’s not even the Old Course at St. Andrews. It’s the Carne Golf Links in County Mayo, the Republic of Ireland.”

It was these few sentences that inspired me to schedule a Friday morning tee time at Carne, knowing it would be about a four hour drive from our Thursday gaunt around Lahinch. The driving in this part of the world is less than ideal, and for an American used to driving on the other side of the road and from the other side of the car, it can be quite intimidating. But if a respected golf writer is going to endorse a place that strongly, it has to be worth the trip, right?

For our final round on the trip, it was only fitting that we got one more perfectly sunny day. Another wide open links style golf course, but yet again, a completely different challenge from the day before, and a monumentally different golf course from any other track we experienced throughout the week. The winds whipped as strong on this day as they did on our first day at Waterville, and did not let up for one single hole.

One thing that John Garrity most certainly did not lie about was the dunescape. I’m not sure how many times in these recaps I’ve mentioned that pictures don’t do a place justice, but perhaps nowhere is this statement more relevant than when discussing the size of the dunes that frame the holes at Carne. (Unfortunately, I lost a ton of my photos 

). What came as a surprise to me was the remarkable undulation of the fairway to match it. This added an entirely new layer to the challenge, leading to many blind shots, uneven lies, and even fatigue. This was our 7th round in six days, and little did we know, we had saved the toughest walk for last.

The first hole, before my phone crapped out

An example of the extreme undulation in the fairways

If I had to choose a word to describe Carne, it would be raw. Perhaps I felt that way just compared to the other courses, but it was easily the least groomed and manicured course that we played on the trip, and I mean that in a good way. People often say that a good quality of a golf course is one that feels “discovered” rather than “designed,” and Carne is probably the best example of that of any course I’ve played in my life. They will proudly tell you that they did not use bulldozers to shape the holes or the dunes, and it’s easily believable.

There are no smooth walkways between the holes. The turf seems a bit more firm, and is harder on your feet. The wind whips just a little bit harder. The bounces are more extreme, and the putting surfaces less predictable. If any of this is perceived as faint praise, trust me, it is not. This golf course is so incredibly unique that I feel like playing it just the one time was not enough to appreciate how special it truly is.

It’s difficult to describe just how remote of a location Belmullet, Ireland is. Throughout the entire day, we saw two other groups on the golf course, and only a handful of people working in the pro shop and the bar. I’ve traveled all over the world in the last two years trying to find Anthony Kim, and for the first time, I felt like I was finally in a place I might see him. If there was ever somewhere a golfer wanted to go and hide out from the world, it would be this golf course.

From many of the elevated tee boxes, you can see for miles. But you don’t see much. A few houses sprinkled in the distance. The bright blue sea at the horizon. And without exception, a challenging golf hole in front of you. I’m looking back at my pictures, the scorecard, the yardage book, and the website, and I can’t think of one hole I would call easy.

One of the signature holes, #11. Biggest dunes I’ve ever seen on a golf course.

I’m getting nostalgic all over again just looking at these

Dad on one of the signature holes, the par-3 14th

It’s hard to pick one hole as a signature hole, but if you held my feet to the fire, I would say the 16th (pictured below) takes the gold, with the 11th and 14th (above) on the other two podiums in some order. And if you played out there, your top three holes might include three I haven’t even mentioned in this post.

Coming off the 15th green, you climb a huge hill to get to the plateau that is the 16th tee box. On this day, it was easily the most exposed piece of land on the entire course. With no dunes around to protect you, the wind hits you with its full force, and you’ve got a few seconds to try to figure out a plan to get the ball out of the air as fast as possible. On this day, the wind was straight off the right, and playing 175 yards. With this significant of an elevation change, with no wind, I would have opted for an 8-iron under normal conditions, but the thought of the golf ball getting more than 20 feet above my head gave me vertigo. The wind might just take that ball off the property.

I took out a 5-iron and opted for about a 65% swing, trying to basically just punch it through the wind. While I managed to miss the green long and right, I’m still not sure what the right strategy is on a shot like this, and I can’t say I’ve ever had to hit a shot like that in my life.

Can’t remember what these putts were for, but I can promise it wasn’t for birdie

The Hackett course at Carne was the most unique blend of elevation change mixed in with a links course that I’ve ever experienced. I don’t think I was fully prepared for it, and would love to get another chance to play there again.

One more splendid perk of the Carne Golf Links is that after 18 holes, you’re not done (well, if you’re my dad, you’ve had enough of a beating and you’re done). There’s a new nine holes, built in 2013, called the Kilmore course. If you thought the first 18 holes appeared “discovered” and not “designed,” then it’s hard to even call the Kilmore discovered. The greens have not fully taken shape, and the nine holes wander through the property seemingly haphazardly. Legitimately on more than one occassion, I walked off a green and did not know where to go to the next tee. There’s no walkways, and the location of the next hole doesn’t necessarily even make sense. The course guide helps you a bit, but for the most part, you are pretty much alone out there trying to “discover” where the next tee is. It’s awesome!

The par-3 2nd hole on the Kilmore Course (photo credit Eamon Mangan)

This may sound like a criticism, but it most certainly is not intended to be. Those nine holes were some of the most unique nine holes of golf I can ever remember playing. It felt like one of those extreme courses you unlock in a video game once you’ve mastered all of the pedestrian courses. The same elevation changes, enormous dunes, and an heightened sense of freedom made for a pretty special way to wrap up this trip.

More enormous dunes on the Kilmore Course (photo credit Eamon Mangan)

For more photos from the Kilmore course, 

check out this incredible album from Eamon Mangan

As much as we enjoyed the golf experience at Carne, my dad and I both agreed that we may have overdone it a bit. I wasn’t sure when I would have the chance to play in Western Ireland again, and with the things I had heard about Carne, I did not want to miss it at any cost. In hindsight, having this walk as our final round, after a week’s worth of 18/36 hole days, hours of driving, and little sleep, was probably a bit too much. I would love to play Carne again with full energy and the mental preparedness required for this tough of a walk. It may sound like we’re giant wusses (and we very well might be), but until you’ve had those 30 MPH winds hitting you in the face while you’re going up and over these ridiculous dunes, you likely can’t relate.

In summary, Carne as a golf course is 100% worth it, and meets the hype. It just didn’t make the most sense with our itinerary, and our eyes were a bit bigger than our stomachs. With the luxury of more time, we would have gladly spent a few more days in the area and played a few rounds at County Sligo and Enniscronne, which are also top notch courses in the area that we basically had to drive by. This corner of Ireland is absolutely worth a visit, and there is plenty of golf and culture to experience up there that make the trip worthwhile.

And with that, the dream Ireland golf trip was a wrap. We shared one last Guinness before making the four hour trek back to Dublin. It was pretty much the perfect week of golf. Thank you, Ireland.

I summarized this trip in podcast form for those interested

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part V: Carne

Matt Fitzpatrick and Charley Hull were already well known among British golf fans long before the biggest wins of their career last Sunday.

However, while both players were already firmly established on their tours, respective victories at the DP World Championship and CME World Tour Championship represent a ‘changing of the guard’ for English golf – a change that has been coming for a while.

In men’s golf, the likes of Lee Westwood, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald have been household names for over a decade.

While these guys will no doubt still have ambitions to challenge for major championships in the future, Fitzpatrick could become England’s answer to Rory McIlroy.

The 22-year-old from Sheffield was always one to watch following his impressive performance as an amateur at the 2013 Open Championship – where he won the Silver Medal. However, it wasn’t until his breakthrough at the British Masters in October 2015 that he really started turning heads.

2016 had already been a relatively successful one for Fitzpatrick before last weekend – picking up a top ten at the Masters, a win at the Nordea Masters in June and qualifying for his first Ryder Cup. His one-shot win at the DP World Championship, though, had similarities to McIlroy’s first professional victory.

Not only was the Northern Irishman’s win also in Dubai, but he also got up and down from a bunker on the 72nd hole to beat an English golfer, Justin Rose, by one shot.

That was back in 2009. McIlroy went on to pick up his first win in the U.S. one year later at Quail Hollow and his first major at the U.S. Open in 2011. Since Congressional, he has since won a further 19 times worldwide at the age of 27 – not a bad benchmark for the likes of Fitzpatrick to chase.

It is always easy to heap praise on the winner of an event, but Tyrrell Hatton did everything but win in Dubai last weekend – leading for most of the back nine on Sunday before a final-hole bogey.

I first saw Tyrrell play in person at the 2010 Open Championship. Then an amateur, he missed the cut by nine shots in testing conditions at St. Andrews. Six years later, it seemed fitting that he got his revenge on the Old Course by picking up his first European Tour win at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Hatton finished four strokes ahead of Ross Fisher and Richard Sterne (Credit: Ian Walton/Getty Images)

The 25-year-old is one of eight English golfers in the world’s top 50, and England is now by far the second-best represented country in the rankings behind the USA.

Excellent representation in the men’s professional game is never likely to be replicated in the women’s, however, given the dominance of Asian and American players. But what England may lack in quantity, has certainly been made up in quality in the form of Charley Hull.

The Englishwoman was probably best known for taking down Paula Creamer 5&4 in the 2013 Solheim Cup singles; until she sprung back into the frame at the ANA Inspiration in April – finishing just one shot behind the eventual winner Lydia Ko.

Hull’s bogey-free final round of 66 at the CME Group Tour Championship last Sunday gave her a first LPGA Tour win and ended a 12-year wait for an English winner on the circuit. She also became the first British LPGA Tour winner since Scotland’s Catriona Matthew won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in 2011.

It’s easy to forget that Hull is only 20 years old. In a sport where the world number one is just 19 and seven of the world’s top ten are under the age of 25, it has become the norm for LPGA players to win young.

With that being said, Charley has an ever-growing fan base in the U.K. and it is unlikely to be long until she secures her first major.

As an Englishman I will be the first to admit that we don’t have the best golfing weather, however, we are blessed with an excellent amateur and coaching set up that keeps churning out world class players.

It’s an exciting time to be a golf fan that’s for sure. Bring on 2017.

Fitzpatrick and Hull Prove English Golf is in Safe Hands

The #TourSauce has been sprayed all over the place in 2016. Back in January of 2014, we brought you 

 have taken their turn in stirring the sauce.

All year long (with your help of course), we’ve been pointing out the best and most unique 

. Below, we highlighted some of the most unique and hilarious sauce moments of the year. Now it’s your turn to really weigh in and help us award some lucky unsuspecting tour pro the prize of the most ridiculous sauce move of the year, in the third annual #Saucies.

Below you will find the final matchup (to see all 16 finalists, see 

). This is it. The winner of this is your 2016 Saucies champion.

. One hand follow through, one hand club twirl. 

The 2016 Saucies: The Finals

Below you will find all of the matchups for round 3 (

). The winners will move on from the final four will move on to the championship match.

The Saucies, Round 3: The Final Four

Below you will find all of the matchups for round 2 (

). The winners will move on from this round of 8 until an ultimate winner is crowned.

Good thing they’re the last match, because it’s going to take a while to clean up the sauce on the 2nd that Patrick Reed just dropped. 

The helicopter finish with the seamless transition into the crowd point. Top shelf 

The 2016 Saucies: Round 2

Below you will find all of the matchups for round 1. The winners will move on from this round of 16 until an ultimate winner is crowned.

 Phil at Torrey waving before he plays from the wrong side of a fence 





— Irwin Rosenrosen (@RealRosenRosen) 

Velcro rip into thumbs up. How saucy is that 





— A Good Talk Spoiled (@AGoodTalkGolf) 

KJ’s Crowd Wave to No Crowd (there was no crowd allowed on the grounds that day)

 we've been waiting for. Waving to the crowd, when there is no crowd. 

Spencer Levin adding a little extra club toss to his 





— My Name Is Earl (@TheBossman102) 





— Michael Shamburger (@mshamburger1) 

The 2016 Saucies: Round 1

For most of us, watching the pros play on the PGA Tour is as close as we’ll ever get to playing the same courses as them.

Clubs such as Augusta National, East Lake, and Firestone shut their doors to the general public, with only rich members and their guests allowed to play.

However, it may come as a surprise that there are still multiple high profile courses that are happy to accept the general public through their gates.

Here are my top 15 PGA Tour courses you can play in America that have hosted an event in the last year.

15 – TPC San Antonio, AT&T Oaks Course (San Antonio, Tex.)

The AT&T Oaks Course closing hole as seen during the Valero Texas Open (Credit: Cohen/Getty)

The Valero Texas Open dates back to 1922, but it was only in 2010 that it moved to its current home at TPC Antonio.

The AT&T Oaks Course was designed by Greg Norman with help from Sergio Garcia, and it sprung to fame in 2011 when Kevin Na recorded a 16 on the ninth hole in the opening round of the tournament.

TPC Antonio also has another 18-hole course, the AT&T Canyons Course, which has hosted the San Antonio Championship on the Champions Tour since 2011.

No Laying Up

Writing

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

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part V: Carne

Fitzpatrick and Hull Prove English Golf is in Safe Hands

The 2016 Saucies: The Finals

The Saucies, Round 3: The Final Four

The 2016 Saucies: Round 2

The 2016 Saucies: Round 1

15 PGA Tour Courses You Can Play

October 2016 Mailbag

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part IV: Lahinch

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part III: Tralee

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part II: Ballybunion

Tiger's withdrawals don't signal the end for golf in 2016

Western Ireland Golf Trip, Part I: Waterville Golf Links

Ryder Cup Recap: Underrated Performances

Why the Ryder Cup Can Save Golf