19th Hole
Should Jack Nicklaus stop talking about rolling back the ball? GolfWRX members debate.
Oh boy. Shots fired at the Golden Bear! The game’s most esteemed elder statesman continues to lobby for a rollback of the golf ball, whilst citing a list of the modern ball’s negative consequences, and some GolfWRX members have heard enough.
Daniel32293 leads the charge in a thread titled “Jack Just Won’t Give Up.” Here’s what he says about the 18-time major champion’s advocacy.
“I am so sick and tired of Jack complaining about the golf ball. Jack drove the ball 300 yards.. it is no secret that he was long.. He is quite frankly annoying on tv.
“Give it a rest and let these guys play. The TOUR has the best talent it has seen top to bottom ever. Golf has evolved and so should Jack. Quit being the grumpy old man barking about how back in his day…He had his day in the sun, but that sun has set, so be more appreciative than negative.”
No, sir! If you come at the Golden Bear, you best not miss. Daniel is out of his gourd, right? Not so fast. 27 GolfWRX members liked his original post (which leads off a thread that’s already) six pages and more than 160 replies long in only its second day of existence).
Falken19150 agrees, suggesting ulterior motives for Mr. Nicklaus’ complaints.
“Completely agree. Although remember you can’t have a golf course taking up precious land that can be sold to some private equity jerks so they can build condos and make millions…”
And Ashley Schaeffer says
“He’s always been a whiner.”
JaNelson38 thinks Nicklaus is missing an opportunity to put his money where his mouth is.
“The Nicklaus Design Group continues to build 7400 yard golf courses all over the world with no problem. Perhaps if Jack wants to be a factor in changing the game before he passes, he can start designing world class courses that play to 7000 yards or less on a regular basis. Start emphasizing courses that are second-shot courses, not driver-wedge tracks. More doglegs. More bunkers or hazards near landing areas. More risk reward off the tee.”
GioGuy21 says
“Jack at this point seems like that senile old man complaining the kids (who are walking) are running up and down the street.”
Of course, there are plenty of WRX members who are keen to defend golf’s greatest major champion.
Wobgon asks sarcastically
“Who is Jack Nicklaus to be voicing his opinion on anything golf related?”
Hawkeye77 writes
“Nicklaus is hardly an angry or bitter old man. He respects golf and its traditions and is also pretty darn encouraging of up and coming and already here younger generations of players, it just isn’t that hard to find the evidence and take in some of what he has to say.”
Jagpilotohio provides a context for opinion-giving
“Jack is a living God and we are only mere mortals. If he wishes to speak about the golf ball, shut up and let the man speak.”
Perhaps, DavePelz24 had the best post of all in the context department
“There are so many treasures we have in life that are people who impact our lives. Some raise us, some teach us, some inspire us. We’ve lost gifts like Seve, Arnie and so many others. Enjoy Jack while he’s with us because he’ll be gone too soon.”
And these replies are all from the first page, folks. This thread is shaping up to be an all-time great, which is appropriate considering its subject.
You’ll want to read the replies and share your opinion, as few are on the fence in their feelings about Mr. Nicklaus’ leading of the Rollback Brigade.
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish
An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
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