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Opinion & Analysis

The real top 10: PGA Tour Power Rankings

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By Nick DeConti

GolfWRX Contributor

PGA Tour player performance is something that fans and media alike are always measuring and sharing their opinions about. When these matters are discussed between friends, enemies, co-workers, spouses, in-laws – there is always some disagreement. Some people like to measure the entire season’s performance when evaluating a golfer, and some employ the “What have you done for me lately?” school of thought. I always thought there was something to be said for both sides.

I wanted to find a way that I can measure a Tour player’s performance over the course of a season, but also keep in mind how hot (or cold) a player is to help me predict what they may (or may not) do in the future. The FedEx Cup standings do a good job of tracking a player’s season, but let’s look at it this way: if you only played in two PGA Tour tournaments and won them, you would have 1,000 FedEx Cup points (assuming one of them wasn’t a major). With those numbers at this time of the season, you could play in every other tournament, not make a cut, and be in 15th place in the FedEx cup standings. Win only one tournament and you’re still good for 61st! What I’m telling you is that you can’t judge a golfer by those standings alone.

So I invented a system that takes those FedEx Cup standings, put them through a series of number crunches and put together my own Power Ranking to give you a mix of how good these players actually are, meshing together their season performance and recent performance in an effort to quell the arguments between you and your loved (or not so loved) ones.

1. Jason Dufner

Dufner has been the talk of the TOUR this year, rightly so based on his performance. Although not active this week at The Travelers, he’s been in the top 5 his last two tournaments, and one of three players this season with 2 wins.

2. Webb Simpson

With a win at the U.S Open, we could be witnessing the growth of a superstar in Webb Simpson. Webb made 11 consecutive cuts earlier this season, letting us know that we should get used to seeing Webb on the Sunday leaderboard. Webb finished T29 at the Travelers.

3. Matt Kuchar

Coming off of a T8 at the Travelers Championship this week, Kuchar has not missed a cut all season, and also won The PLAYERS Championship in May. Kuchar has been playing great golf all season and is currently in very good form.

4. Jim Furyk

With Furyk’s worst finish being T13 over his past month of play, there’s no doubt he would be close to the top of this list. Furyk has played phenomenal golf as of late, highlighted by his T4 finish at the U.S. Open.

5. Rickie Fowler

After winning his first career tournament at the Wells Fargo in May, Rickie followed that performance up with back-to-back top-5 finishes in his next two tournaments. It has really been a coming out season for Rickie, and it seems he’s developed into the player people thought he would be coming out of college.

6. Hunter Mahan

Hunter put together another solid week finishing T11 at the Travelers this week, adding another good finish to a consistent season this year in which he has one two tournaments, one of them the WGC Accenture Match Play event where he took down Rory McIlroy in the final match.

7. Tiger Woods

Leaving all the “Is Tiger ‘back’ yet?” talk aside, there’s no way Tiger wouldn’t make this list by also winning two tournaments this year, one of them being earlier this month. His T21 finish at the U.S. Open is less than what we expected based on his earlier performance in the tournament, but if we’re expecting him to win majors this year, he’s a player to be reckoned with.

8. Marc Leishman

Leishman found his way into the top 10 this week by getting his first career win at the Travelers. Leishman has been having a good season this year, and also finished T3 at the HP Byron Nelson. He has certainly been flying under the radar, but we should be paying attention to him.

9. Phil Mickelson

Any time we see Phil’s name entered into a tournament, we expect a good finish. His performance at the U.S. Open was less than stellar, but with a win this season at Pebble Beach, we know that we can never count Phil out, and he’s always a threat to win.

10.  Ernie Els

A 9th place finish at the U.S. Open and a slew of top-10 finishes this year, the Big Easy continues to be a threat on TOUR. Although he hasn’t broken through this year with a win, his form has been so good lately that we should be expecting one from him soon.

 

See the chart below for the full rankings, and click here for more discussion in the forums.

 

1 Jason Dufner 15 1,849 2 6 2054.444444
2 Webb Simpson 15 1,298 1 5 551 1261.944444
3 Matt Kuchar 14 1,423 1 6 426 922.3148148
4 Jim Furyk 13 931 0 4 918 896.5185185
5 Rickie Fowler 16 1,197 1 5 652 886.6666667
6 Hunter Mahan 14 1,572 2 3 277 815.1111111
7 Tiger Woods 10 1,452 2 3 397 806.6666667
8 Marc Leishman 15 897 1 2 952 747.5
9 Phil Mickelson 14 1,313 1 5 536 680.8148148
10 Ernie Els 13 802 0 4 1,047 675.7592593
11 Justin Rose 12 1,169 1 5 680 649.4444444
12 Zach Johnson 16 1,420 1 4 429 631.1111111
13 John Huh 17 982 1 4 867 618.2962963
14 Michael Thompson 17 628 0 2 1,221 593.1111111
15 Johnson Wagner 18 1,142 1 4 707 571
16 John Rollins 17 719 0 5 1,130 565.8796296
17 Bubba Watson 12 1,617 1 5 232 539
18 John Senden 14 604 0 4 1,245 469.7777778
19 Graeme McDowell 10 812 0 3 1,037 451.1111111
20 Mark Wilson 17 940 1 2 909 443.8888889
21 Ben Crane 16 747 0 4 1,102 442.6666667
22 Ken Duke 19 622 0 5 1,227 437.7037037
23 Keegan Bradley 17 915 0 3 934 432.0833333
24 Charlie Wi 16 709 0 2 1,140 420.1481481
25 Brendon de Jonge 19 596 0 2 1,253 419.4074074
26 Dustin Johnson 10 898 1 4 951 415.7407407
27 Brian Davis 17 655 0 4 1,194 412.4074074
28 David Toms 14 524 0 3 1,325 407.5555556
29 Brandt Snedeker 12 888 1 3 961 394.6666667
30 D.A. Points 16 662 0 3 1,187 392.2962963
31 Charles Howell III 17 621 0 1 1,228 391
32 Cameron Tringale 17 603 0 4 1,246 379.6666667
33 Carl Pettersson 16 1,258 1 4 591 372.7407407
34 Bo Van Pelt 15 664 0 5 1,185 368.8888889
35 Kevin Na 17 779 0 5 1,070 367.8611111
36 Charley Hoffman 17 579 0 2 1,270 364.5555556
37 George McNeill 17 573 1 1 1,276 360.7777778
38 Padraig Harrington 12 538 0 3 1,311 358.6666667
39 Seung-Yul Noh 19 507 0 2 1,342 356.7777778
40 Ryan Palmer 15 641 0 4 1,208 356.1111111
41 Matt Every 15 641 0 5 1,208 356.1111111
42 Martin Laird 15 847 0 3 1,002 352.9166667
43 Rory Sabbatini 17 545 0 2 1,304 343.1481481
44 Rory McIlroy 9 1,372 1 5 477 343
45 Jonathan Byrd 14 655 0 5 1,194 339.6296296
46 Steve Stricker 10 911 1 4 938 337.4074074
47 Kevin Chappell 18 333 0 1 1,516 333
48 Kevin Stadler 16 561 0 3 1,288 332.4444444
49 Kyle Stanley 18 992 1 2 857 330.6666667
50 Sang-Moon Bae 17 510 0 2 1,339 321.1111111
51 Aaron Baddeley 16 535 0 2 1,314 317.037037
52 Robert Garrigus 16 709 0 3 1,140 315.1111111
53 Jeff Overton 17 495 0 2 1,354 311.6666667
54 Bud Cauley 17 492 0 2 1,357 309.7777778
55 Lee Westwood 8 690 0 5 1,159 306.6666667
56 Louis Oosthuizen 12 690 0 2 1,159 306.6666667
57 Scott Piercy 17 485 0 1 1,364 305.3703704
58 Jimmy Walker 17 483 0 3 1,366 304.1111111
59 Luke Donald 10 1,070 1 4 779 297.2222222
60 Greg Chalmers 17 464 0 1,385 292.1481481
61 Ryan Moore 15 518 0 3 1,331 287.7777778
62 Harris English 17 455 0 2 1,394 286.4814815
63 John Merrick 17 454 0 1 1,395 285.8518519
64 Blake Adams 20 383 0 1 1,466 283.7037037
65 Greg Owen 16 477 0 2 1,372 282.6666667
66 Chris Stroud 16 469 0 2 1,380 277.9259259
67 Sean O’Hair 14 518 0 1 1,331 268.5925926
68 Pat Perez 15 473 0 1 1,376 262.7777778
69 Tommy Gainey 20 350 0 1 1,499 259.2592593
70 Bryce Molder 15 466 0 1 1,383 258.8888889
71 Nick Watney 15 463 0 2 1,386 257.2222222
72 Martin Flores 19 365 0 1 1,484 256.8518519
73 Bill Haas 15 922 1 2 927 256.1111111
74 Vijay Singh 16 429 0 1 1,420 254.2222222
75 James Driscoll 17 400 0 2 1,449 251.8518519
76 Colt Knost 18 370 0 2 1,479 246.6666667
77 Robert Allenby 16 415 0 2 1,434 245.9259259
78 Spencer Levin 19 695 0 3 1,154 244.537037
79 J.B. Holmes 15 440 0 2 1,409 244.4444444
80 John Mallinger 16 410 0 1 1,439 242.962963
81 Tom Gillis 15 432 0 1 1,417 240
82 Ricky Barnes 17 376 0 1 1,473 236.7407407
83 Jonas Blixt 14 455 0 3 1,394 235.9259259
84 Brian Harman 19 332 0 1,517 233.6296296
85 Chad Campbell 17 370 0 1 1,479 232.962963
86 Geoff Ogilvy 14 445 0 1,404 230.7407407
87 J.J. Henry 19 325 0 2 1,524 228.7037037
88 Jeff Maggert 17 363 0 1 1,486 228.5555556
89 David Mathis 20 307 0 1 1,542 227.4074074
90 David Hearn 17 350 0 1 1,499 220.3703704
91 Brian Gay 16 357 0 2 1,492 211.5555556
92 Billy Mayfair 17 335 0 1 1,514 210.9259259
93 Daniel Summerhays 15 379 0 3 1,470 210.5555556
94 Bob Estes 14 402 0 1 1,447 208.4444444
95 Tim Herron 19 296 0 1,553 208.2962963
96 K.J. Choi 13 423 0 1 1,426 203.6666667
97 Will Claxton 17 323 0 1 1,526 203.3703704
98 Harrison Frazar 14 386 0 2 1,463 200.1481481
99 Kris Blanks 20 268 0 1,581 198.5185185
100 Ben Curtis 8 886 1 3 963 196.8888889
101 Andres Romero 14 377 0 1 1,472 195.4814815
102 Fredrik Jacobson 12 434 0 1 1,415 192.8888889
103 Kevin Streelman 17 306 0 2 1,543 192.6666667
104 William McGirt 18 289 0 1,560 192.6666667
105 Roberto Castro 15 330 0 1,519 183.3333333
106 J.J. Killeen 22 222 0 1,627 180.8888889
107 Graham DeLaet 16 305 0 2 1,544 180.7407407
108 Boo Weekley 14 335 0 2 1,514 173.7037037
109 Brendan Steele 16 288 0 2 1,561 170.6666667
110 Kyle Reifers 17 268 0 1,581 168.7407407
111 Dicky Pride 9 503 0 3 1,346 167.6666667
112 Vaughn Taylor 16 280 0 1,569 165.9259259
113 Chris Kirk 14 318 0 2 1,531 164.8888889
114 Josh Teater 18 245 0 1,604 163.3333333
115 Henrik Stenson 11 394 0 1 1,455 160.5185185
116 Trevor Immelman 14 309 0 1,540 160.2222222
117 Chris DiMarco 19 223 0 1,626 156.9259259
118 Rod Pampling 16 261 0 1 1,588 154.6666667
119 Heath Slocum 17 236 0 1,613 148.5925926
120 Ian Poulter 9 443 0 2 1,406 147.6666667
121 Bobby Gates 18 220 0 1 1,629 146.6666667
122 Jerry Kelly 16 242 0 1,607 143.4074074
123 Gary Christian 17 225 0 1,624 141.6666667
124 Camilo Villegas 15 251 0 1,598 139.4444444
125 Erik Compton 15 248 0 1,601 137.7777778
126 Chez Reavie 17 218 0 1,631 137.2592593
127 Gary Woodland 14 258 0 1,591 133.7777778
128 Brandt Jobe 17 211 0 1 1,638 132.8518519
129 Jhonattan Vegas 17 211 0 1 1,638 132.8518519
130 Sergio Garcia 9 396 0 1 1,453 132
131 Nick O’Hern 16 221 0 1 1,628 130.962963
132 Hunter Haas 19 186 0 1 1,663 130.8888889
133 Brendon Todd 18 196 0 1 1,653 130.6666667
134 Stewart Cink 14 248 0 1,601 128.5925926
135 Bill Lunde 16 204 0 1,645 120.8888889
136 Davis Love III 10 323 0 1 1,526 119.6296296
137 Jason Bohn 17 187 0 1 1,662 117.7407407
138 Y.E. Yang 14 225 0 1,624 116.6666667
139 Charl Schwartzel 8 380 0 2 1,469 112.5925926
140 Jason Day 10 295 0 2 1,554 109.2592593
141 D.J. Trahan 16 184 0 1 1,665 109.037037
142 Justin Leonard 17 173 0 1 1,676 108.9259259
143 Sung Kang 20 146 0 1,703 108.1481481
144 Mark Anderson 14 205 0 1,644 106.2962963
145 Adam Scott 8 356 0 1 1,493 105.4814815
146 Tim Clark 11 256 0 1 1,593 104.2962963
147 Troy Matteson 19 147 0 1,702 103.4444444
148 Matt Bettencourt 20 139 0 1 1,710 102.962963
149 Danny Lee 15 181 0 1,668 100.5555556
150 Miguel Angel Carballo 15 179 0 1,670 99.44444444
151 Robert Karlsson 11 239 0 1,610 97.37037037
152 Scott Stallings 16 152 0 1,697 90.07407407
153 Jason Kokrak 17 143 0 1 1,706 90.03703704
154 Retief Goosen 8 200 0 1 1,649 88.88888889
155 Chris Couch 15 157 0 1,692 87.22222222
156 Derek Lamely 16 145 0 1,704 85.92592593
157 Stuart Appleby 14 156 0 1,693 80.88888889
158 Nathan Green 12 177 0 1,672 78.66666667
159 Michael Bradley 15 141 0 1,708 78.33333333
160 Kevin Kisner 14 149 0 1,700 77.25925926
161 Arjun Atwal 16 130 0 1,719 77.03703704
162 Stephen Ames 14 142 0 1,707 73.62962963
163 Rocco Mediate 14 136 0 1,713 70.51851852
164 Cameron Beckman 16 116 0 1,733 68.74074074
165 Ted Potter, Jr. 15 119 0 1,730 66.11111111
166 Richard H. Lee 14 127 0 1,722 65.85185185
167 Roland Thatcher 11 156 0 1 1,693 63.55555556
168 Angel Cabrera 13 131 0 1,718 63.07407407
169 Joe Ogilvie 17 98 0 1,751 61.7037037
170 Matt Jones 10 143 0 1 1,706 52.96296296
171 Joe Durant 8 178 0 1 1,671 52.74074074
172 Jarrod Lyle 7 199 0 1 1,650 51.59259259
173 Billy Hurley III 17 72 0 1,777 45.33333333
174 Briny Baird 13 92 0 1,757 44.2962963
175 Mathew Goggin 13 87 0 1,762 41.88888889
176 Russell Knox 13 84 0 1,765 40.44444444
177 Troy Kelly 14 76 0 1,773 39.40740741
178 Gavin Coles 13 81 0 1,768 39
179 Garth Mulroy 11 95 0 1,754 38.7037037
180 Jamie Lovemark 14 73 0 1,776 37.85185185
181 Scott Brown 14 72 0 1 1,777 37.33333333
182 Lee Janzen 8 125 0 1,724 37.03703704
183 Tommy Biershenk 17 57 0 1,792 35.88888889
184 Tom Pernice Jr. 14 63 0 1,786 32.66666667
185 Duffy Waldorf 7 123 0 1,726 31.88888889
186 Patrick Sheehan 11 73 0 1,776 29.74074074
187 Shaun Micheel 8 100 0 1,749 29.62962963
188 Alex Cejka 6 118 0 1,731 26.22222222
189 Daniel Chopra 11 64 0 1,785 26.07407407
190 Chris Riley 7 96 0 1,753 24.88888889
191 Charlie Beljan 12 49 0 1,800 21.77777778
192 John Daly 5 114 0 1,735 21.11111111
193 Billy Horschel 8 71 0 1,778 21.03703704
194 Rich Beem 7 81 0 1,768 21
195 Lucas Glover 11 47 0 1,802 19.14814815
196 Steven Bowditch 9 57 0 1,792 19
197 Ryuji Imada 17 30 0 1,819 18.88888889
198 Fred Couples 4 108 0 1,741 16
199 Marc Turnesa 6 64 0 1,785 14.22222222
200 Paul Goydos 6 64 0 1,785 14.22222222
201 Marco Dawson 12 28 0 1,821 12.44444444
202 Garrett Willis 7 47 0 1,802 12.18518519
203 Edward Loar 13 25 0 1,824 12.03703704
204 Steve Marino 6 54 0 1,795 12
205 Tim Petrovic 9 36 0 1,813 12
206 Anthony Kim 10 32 0 1,817 11.85185185
207 Todd Hamilton 4 70 0 1,779 10.37037037
208 Frank Lickliter II 5 56 0 1,793 10.37037037
209 Shane Bertsch 8 33 0 1,816 9.777777778
210 Steve Wheatcroft 12 22 0 1,827 9.777777778
211 Woody Austin 5 50 0 1,799 9.259259259
212 Kenny Perry 4 62 0 1,787 9.185185185
213 Will MacKenzie 4 55 0 1,794 8.148148148
214 Skip Kendall 4 53 0 1,796 7.851851852
215 Kent Jones 4 50 0 1,799 7.407407407
216 Richard S. Johnson 4 47 0 1,802 6.962962963
217 Fred Funk 4 47 0 1,802 6.962962963
218 Paul Stankowski 5 35 0 1,814 6.481481481
219 Michael Allen 3 52 0 1 1,797 5.777777778
220 David Duval 12 13 0 1,836 5.777777778
221 Robert Damron 5 30 0 1,819 5.555555556
222 Corey Pavin 2 67 0 1,782 4.962962963
223 Scott Verplank 7 17 0 1,832 4.407407407
224 Paul Casey 5 19 0 1,830 3.518518519
225 Hank Kuehne 8 10 0 1,839 2.962962963
226 Craig Barlow 4 18 0 1,831 2.666666667
227 Brett Wetterich 6 11 0 1,838 2.444444444
228 Alexandre Rocha 11 4 0 1,845 1.62962963
229 Robert Gamez 6 7 0 1,842 1.555555556
230 Stephen Gangluff 13 3 0 1,846 1.444444444
231 Brett Quigley 1 37 0 1,812 1.37037037
232 Bart Bryant 2 18 0 1,831 1.333333333
233 Zack Miller 6 5 0 1,844 1.111111111
234 Tom Lehman 1 25 0 1,824 0.925925926
235 Scott Dunlap 10 2 0 1,847 0.740740741
236 Jose Maria Olazabal 4 4 0 1,845 0.592592593
237 Neal Lancaster 5 2 0 1,847 0.37037037
238 Kevin Sutherland 4 2 0 1,847 0.296296296
239 Matt McQuillan 7 1 0 1,848 0.259259259
240 Peter Lonard 3 2 0 1,847 0.222222222
241 Omar Uresti 3 2 0 1,847 0.222222222
242 Jesper Parnevik 3 1 0 1,848 0.111111111
243 Ted Purdy 2 1 0 1,848 0.074074074
244 Kirk Triplett 3 0 1,849 0
As of June 25, 2012

Nick is a true New Englander with a love for Boston sports, and carries a deep passion for golf and hockey. He played hockey collegiately, but has since focused mainly on golf. When Nick isn't working on his swing, you can find him sharing his sports opinions, or earning a living as chemist.

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Opinion & Analysis

The 2 primary challenges golf equipment companies face

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As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!

Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.

Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.

One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?

Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.

Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.

Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”

For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…

Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.

Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…

That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.

Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.

@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic

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Podcasts

Fore Love of Golf: Introducing a new club concept

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Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!

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Opinion & Analysis

On Scottie Scheffler wondering ‘What’s the point of winning?’

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Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.

 

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“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”

Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.

That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.

As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.

I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.

One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.

The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.

If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.

Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.

As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.

It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.

David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.

In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:

“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”

Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”

Eventually, though, something shifts.

We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.

Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.

Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.

Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.

So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.

I see someone evolving.

He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.

It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.

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