Campbell Wallace

It sure does.

@TheStalwart Number 10 has me lol ing

I asked Opus 4.7 to come up with 10 tweets in my voice. And they sound nothing like me. But some of them have a kind of bizarre or absurd quality that I kind of like

@zagnut Man this is so well said. 100% agree.

Why do you value a player that can’t hit a green and denigrate athletic players that can as “just a bomber”? Is hitting the ball accurately a long distance just some base skill for idiots? Probably worth referencing how the game of golf works and how low the ceiling is on and around the green and how unreliable sinking long putts and chips is. Difficult to separate players there. I understand you want golf to work that way and that it “ought to be that way” but the reality is it’s not that way. And we can mathematically prove it. And the best players develop the skills that do allow them to separate from others. Which means long drives in play. And we should celebrate that. Not condescendingly call them “just bombers”. They’re actually “great golfers”.

Cam was great for golf because he helped balance the game, geographically and stylistically. Golf is better when we have a great Aussie in the mix. And a guy who is a thinker and wizard around greens, not just a bomber.

@kenmendonca @LouStagner Launch monitors and organized data collection and analysis. Turns out, golf always was, whether Young Tom Morris knew it or not, a game of proximity. Rollback fans pine for the days when you could lock up guys like Galileo.

@LouStagner As you said, launch monitors are the culprits. Once the actual numbers are known, they start to get optimized. Which leads to optimal plays and pushing those numbers. So players start to become more similar to meet the performance targets. Same thing happens in all pro sports

The "imagination and creativity" argument doesn't hold up. Fred Ridley says golf used to be a game of "imagination, creativity, and variety." What does that actually mean? That players used to curve the ball more? That they hit more creative shots? Here's the problem... if you roll the ball back, elite players aren't going to suddenly start shaping the ball more. They'll still optimize for the lowest score possible. That's what they do. That's what you would do if you were playing for tens of millions of dollars. Curving the ball costs distance. Costing yourself distance will tend to cost you money. Players know this. They have launch monitors and decades of strokes gained research telling them exactly what works. Rolling the ball back doesn't change that math. They'll still hit the shot that gives them the best chance to score. And here's something most people don't realize, distance was actually MORE valuable per yard in the 1980s than it is today. The USGA's own research found that the scoring value of an extra yard of driving distance was at its highest in 1983-85 and declined over the next 30 years. Players weren't hitting more creative shots in the 1980s because the game rewarded creativity. They were optimizing with the tools and knowledge they had back then. The tools and knowledge they had back then were rudimentary by today's standards. We have MUCH better tools (trackman, etc..) and better knowledge today. Our knowledge and understanding have evolved. You want players to curve the ball more? Rolling back the ball won't do it. Plant more trees. Design holes that demand it. Create situations where the optimizer says, "the best play here is a draw with driver around that tree line." The irony is that many in the rollback crowd who want more "shot shaping" also seem to be in the "chop down all the trees" crowd. You can't have both.

@TheStalwart @krithikavaragur Check Mountain Gazette. Not at all "odd lots-y" very excellent paper mag.

Aramco World is one of the few print magazines I subscribe to. Great read here from @krithikavaragur

@hutch_golf @Top100Rick @LudvigTracker This whole thing happened roughly because modern stats revealed the underlying truth of the game which is that proximity rules. Dudes adapted strategy and technique to get longer. That's what we're mad about. So... Rollback data? Rollback optimization? Rollback the Enlightenment?

This is so dumb. The variable that’s changing year-over-year is NOT the ball. It’s the faster swing speeds. This is just going to incentivize them to swing faster. There are a half dozen things they could do to make distance less of a factor. This does the opposite. Absolutely senseless. It’s embarrassing how much of the game is governed by the most mediocre minds.

Are you ready to lose some driver distance? In 2030 you will be. If you hit driver 220 yards you will lose 4.5 yards. An elite pro like Rory will lose 12 yards. This ball rollback is a start, but imo not nearly enough. Rory going from 325 to 315 won’t change almost anything. Which means another rollback or tech change will have to come. IMO they should just do more all at once. Rip off the bandaid. Great stuff from Golf Digest. Full read in next post.

@willystaley @fried_egg_golf @TheRealPJClark thoughts?

Zohran please fix the routing at Dyker on 2 and 3: bring 2nd green forward and left, so it plays shorter, ~150 yards (remove tree); and pull back 3rd tee so it plays longer, ~375 yards, improving the hole's strategic risk-reward layout.

@TheShotgunStart @AndyTFE @BrendanPorath Andy was getting *what* wet in Puerto Rico?!

💸 Rahm continues his DPWT fight over fines 🔙 JT returns to PGA Tour action 🆕 New putter, new grip, new Keith Mitchell? 🏗️ Ben Crane market is MOVING! 🇵🇷 In/Out/Alt for Puerto Rico Open @AndyTFE & @BrendanPorath preview another busy week of pro golf: youtu.be/Cm9ZyIfi_rk?si…

@Fit_For_Golf Most depressing thread ever.

I have two questions for anyone who got really good at golf. Let's say, + hcp or competing at a good level as an amateur, or better. 1) How much practice and play were you doing when you first achieved this level? 2) What age were you when you first got to this level?

PGA Tour hastily adds a "must be in good standing at Oakmont Country Club" clause to the Returning Member Program

@MMGOLFSTUDIOS Lasering around the green feels so goofy but once you I learned a 12 yard shot vs a 18 yard shot vs a 25 yard shot... I can't stop.

Partial wedge was a weakness this year, if I couldn’t get within 30y I’d lay up to 110-115 Started practicing a “clock system” but it’s not based off a clock, it’s based off body parts. Thigh, Hip, 1st rib, 3rd rib, nipple, armpit, shoulder, trap, neck, ear, top of head 10-110

@ANTIFAldo +1

Not the first Gooch to get a bump because the smash team misses their favorite asshole

@ShaneGoldmacher Odd lots

End of year question: What are people’s favorite podcasts? Politics/economics/news/culture

@_brianpotter Ribbon machine trivia from Origins of Efficiency has already entered my conversational lexicon

I've decided that if I ever write a deranged, excessively thorough history of something it will be the incandescent light bulb and its technological descendants.

@TheStalwart @tracyalloway @AlexBores Hey now! Great guest.

NEW ODD LOTS: Meet the politician the AI industry is trying to stop @tracyalloway and I talk to Assemblyman @AlexBores, a candidate for congress in NYC, which is a being targeted by a pro-AI super PAC podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/odd…

@BrendanPorath Didn't Barbaro win that one time?

What’s SPOTY?

@willystaley Cool. Congratulations on shaving 2 strokes. That's sick.

@C_Wallace259 just learning about it. sounds like not my problem, I don't hit it that long

The USGA handicap app does a year-end wrapped now: best scores, worst scores, index trends. (I took 2.1 strokes off my index this year by the way, no big deal.)

@TheStalwart I thought you covered that in the John Coogan / elf bar ep...

I want to do an episode on how these obviously fake Zyns enter the supply chain.