Money talks – Rory McIlroy flips his stance on PGA Tour–LIV Golf standoff

Rory McIlroy, who became the first invertebrate[1] winner of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am a couple of weeks ago, has totally flipped, in more ways than one, from PGA Tour crusader to LIV-accepting, bootlicking Donald Trump sycophant. According to a pair of articles penned by unabashed Rory fanboy Josh Schrock at Golf.com (‘Get over it’: Rory McIlroy says PGA Tour-LIV unification works only in 1 way; ‘On the Tour’s side:’ Rory McIlroy thinks Donald Trump can help PGA Tour-PIF negotiations), McIlroy has shed his guise as stalwart defender of the PGA Tour, not only adopting a “can’t we all just get along” attitude with respect to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league, but sucking up to the convicted felon who lied and hoodwinked his way into the White House for a second term (to our nation’s shame), saying that the convicted felon, failed businessman, and oligarch suck-up can help with negotiations between the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf league.

With the exception of the reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau (and just typing that made me throw up in my mouth a little) few, if any, of the defectors were or are still players in the top tier of the game—and I say good riddance to them all.

The greedy pros who ditched the PGA Tour to join LIV signed on with an outfit whose goal was to destroy the tour that had, in many cases, made them multi-millionaires, joining a league that is funded by a blood-soaked, misogynistic, religio-authoritarian monarchy with one foot in the Middle Ages who see it as a way to put a good face on their heinous government by participating in international sports[2].

Rory and other LIV apologists on the PGA Tour are caving in because the Tour leadership panicked at the loss of a few big names to LIV and instituted changes that will open the way to making players who stuck with the PGA Tour even richer. (Rory himself has benefitted from these changes: as the winner of the Signature event at Pebble Beach two weeks ago, McIlroy banked a $3.6 million paycheck thanks to the now-$20 million total purse for those select events.)

And now McIlroy is sucking up to the heinous grifter and convicted felon who lied his way into the White House, again, in hopes of cementing an agreement that will put the PGA Tour in bed with not one but two criminal regimes—the Saudis and the current U.S. administration—all in the interests of padding his own already-over-stuffed bank account[3].

Some in the golf media see this attitude shift as personal “growth” on Rory’s part, viz the following quote:

“Everyone sees things through their own lens. McIlroy has  changed his opinion on a multitude of things, but that’s a sign of growth and evolution in any person. It doesn’t mean you have to agree with how the stance has changed or that the contradictions can’t be addressed.”

– Josh Schrock, Golf.com

Others, like myself, see it as giving up in the face of the realization that you are going to make a butt-ton of money no matter what happens, so why bother to push back any more?

Any number of the LIV defectors have shown a similar lack of character, notably Spaniard Jon Rahm, who very publicly declared that he was “playing for legacy, not money” and pledged to remain a PGA Tour player, until the Saudis waved a contract under his nose that has been reported[4] to be worth $300 million over several years. In a press conference after his 2022 win in the Open Championship at St Andrews, Aussie Cam Smith waved away questions about a possible move to the Saudi-backed golf league, saying that he just played golf, his “team” worries about that stuff:

Q. Cam, apologies for having to bring this up in these circumstances, but your name continues to be mentioned, has been mentioned to me this week about LIV golf. What's your position? Are you interested? Is there any truth to suggestions that you might be signing?
CAMERON SMITH: I just won the British Open, and you're asking about that. I think that’s pretty not that good.
Q. I appreciate that, but the question is still there. Are you interested at all? Is there any truth in that?
CAMERON SMITH: I don't know, mate. My team around me worries about all that stuff. I'm here to win golf tournaments.

But Cam is the one signing on the dotted line and banking all that Saudi gelt.

Ever since two big sea-change events in the world of men’s professional golf—the immense popularity of Arnold Palmer (which coincided with the advent of television coverage of golf and the influx of that sweet TV money), and the arrival of Tiger Woods on the scene, which brought step-changes in both endorsement deals and tournament purses—the game has been a road to generational wealth for those at the top of the heap. No one is saying that it’s easy—golf is still a difficult game to play well, consistently, and fields are deep, but the money is there. Not everyone achieves multi-million dollar status, of course, but a damned good living can be made by those who make it into the pro ranks, and can stay. As middle-tier pro Kevin Kisner said in an interview back in January, 2021[5], “They give away a lot of money for 20th.”

(My favorite quote on the subject of making money in professional golf comes from the great Dan Jenkins, speaking through his character Kenny Lee Puckett in his 1974 golf novel, Dead Solid Perfect: “Compared to your basic millionaire like Jack Nicklaus, I’m nobody. But I can win myself about $200,000[6] a year if I can just manage to thump the ball around with my dick.”)

The ranks of men’s professional golf have become increasingly stratified in recent years—especially in the last couple of years, as the PGA Tour’s response to the emergence of LIV Golf has been to create the Signature Events mentioned above, limited-field no-cut events with purses bumped to $20 million from the measly $9 million paid out at run-of-the-mill Tour events. Rory McIlroy and some other inhabitants of the upper tiers of the game are pushing for more separation between the Haves and the (relatively speaking) Have-Nots in the game, greedily seeking entry into the One-Percenters Club on the back of their ability to knock a little white ball into a small hole in the ground starting from hundreds of yards away, doing so in fewer strokes than can those of us who play the game for recreation.

My final word on this subject again comes from the typewriter of Dan Jenkins, speaking as Kenny Lee Puckett:

“Now if you ask me why so many people want to put up so much money for us to compete for, I can’t give you a sensible answer. There’s no law that says there has to be a golf tour. 

If all the sponsors got together and decided they were weary of seeing us every year, it would be all over. Most of us would have to sit down on the curb and learn to play the harmonica, or something.”

[1] (That is to say, spineless.)

[2] (Also known as “sportswashing”.)

[3] (Rory’s current net worth is estimated at around US $170M.)

[4] (Jon Rahm LIV Golf contract, explained: How much money does he make from LIV deal in 2024?)

[5] Kevin Kisner had a hilarious response when asked if he can win anywhere on tour, https://www.golfwrx.com/644924/kevin-kisner-had-a-hilarious-response-when-asked-if-he-can-win-anywhere-on-tour/ Jan. 14, 2021.

[6] (Quote is from the 1999 edition of the book; that number is chump change these days.)

“Compressing the ball” is an old wives’ tale

Oh me, oh my the September 24, 2024 article on Golf.com entitled Trevino’s secret for hitting solid irons made me shake my head in disbelief. Here’s Lee Trevino, the preeminent elder statesman of golf, promulgating one of the most egregious old wives’ tales in the game—stating that compressing the ball with your irons; no, more than that, actually pushing the ball into the ground, is necessary for getting the ball into the air.

Here is a direct quote from the piece:

“The secret to playing is to push the ball in the ground,” Trevino says. “What makes a ball come up into the air is compressing the ball into the ground.”

Here is another quote from the article, from the Journalism major[1] who wrote it:

“The secret to hitting solid shots with your irons is compressing the ball into the turf. This means you need to be hitting down on the ball at impact.”

The author of this piece got things half right in that paragraph, to wit: Yes, you should be hitting down on the ball with your irons (fairways and hybrids, too—but that is a discussion for another day); that is to say, club-to-ball contact should occur before the club head reaches the bottom of the swing arc, as the club head is still descending (this is often described as “hitting the little ball before the big ball”.) What he got wrong—really, really, wrong—is the part about compressing the ball into the turf.

Without getting into a discussion of force vectors and horizontal and vertical components of impact force, let’s use a visual aid. In the illustration below, the left-hand figure shows a club striking a ball above the equator, or horizontal centerline, of the ball. It is easy to visualize the result of that impact: while the club head is sweeping forward, and will impart some amount of forward motion to the ball, the downward motion of the club head as the swing continues will cause the ball to be driven downward, into the turf. Even the rankest novice will understand that this is a bad thing.

Now look at the figure on the right. As the club head is sweeping down and forward it contacts the ball first, a fraction of a second before it contacts the turf. The club head’s forward motion propels the ball forward, and due to the angle of the face, upward—and at the same time the downward motion of the club head imparts back spin on the ball due to the friction between the club face and the surface of the ball. Thanks to the aerodynamic phenomenon known as the Magnus Effect, back spin helps the ball rise higher than it would otherwise, adding distance to the shot. In addition to the added distance, the residual spin that remains when the ball lands can reduce rollout by imparting a braking action when the ball hits the turf.

Also apparent from the figure on the right is the path of the club head after contact with the ball (light blue line). Since the club face contacts the ball before the low point of the arc of the club head’s path, the club continues to move downward and forward through the turf after the ball leaves the club face, creating the nice divot that indicates a well-struck shot. The earlier in the swing that contact comes, the steeper the contact angle is and the greater the induced back spin will be, but there is a point of diminishing returns, because the earlier that contact comes the deeper the sole of the club will dig into the turf .

It is the combination of the downward motion of the club head with club-to-ball contact before club-to ground contact that results in a great iron shot—and it is the act of hitting ball then turf, which can be described as “hitting down on the ball”, that is often described (as in the Golf.com article linked to above) as “compressing the ball”, though I have never before seen or heard it characterized as “pushing the ball into the ground.”

The article concludes with a couple of paragraphs that are a mixed bag. The author correctly cites the tendency of the less-skilled (shall we say) golfer to create a scooping motion, by breaking the wrists forward at contact, in an attempt to help the ball into the air. 

“Often time amateurs will try to help the ball in the air with a scooping motion when they come into impact. This is a poor idea as it will rob you of power and limit the amount of spin you can produce, meaning the ball will actually fly lower than if you hit down on the ball.”

This action lofts-up the club face and tends to slide the club head underneath the ball, simultaneously popping the ball up more than propelling it forward, because of the higher loft, and reducing the spin-induced lift that increases carry distance, due to poor contact.

Then Lee, bless his heart, gets it all wrong, again:

“What happens is people put what we call an overspin on it and the ball never gets in the air,” Trevino says. “Every shot you hit, your first intention is to compress the ball in the ground.”

So-called “overspin”, or top spin, is not unknown in club-to-ball interactions, but while it is very common in that other country-club game, tennis, it is very difficult to produce in golf. It is accomplished in tennis by tilting the top edge of the racket forward and hitting up on the ball while simultaneously rolling the wrist in the direction of the swing. Creating top spin in golf would require the club face to contact the ball above the ball’s equator with negative loft. Even in the case of the common duffer’s mistake of hitting the turf behind the ball and then catching the ball on the upswing of the club’s arc, the resulting poor contact results only in reduced spin and ball speed, not top spin. The result that Lee is referring to is generally the result of a combination of chunking the ball (hitting the ground behind the ball) and scooping the club.

***************

If I were being kind I would give both Lee and the author of the cited article the benefit of the doubt and say that when they say “hit down on the ball” and “compress the ball into the ground” what they mean is “catch the ball before the low point of the swing”, but when the same mistaken characterization is repeated throughout an article, I wonder if they don’t actually believe exactly what they are saying. In any event, it is appalling to me that a leading golf publication would promulgate what is at best a poor description of the required action, and at worst a totally incorrect description of the proper way to hit a golf ball, and it is a disservice to the golfing public to present such misinformation.

Golf is hard enough, guys…

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[1] Longtime readers of my work may be aware of the thinly-veiled contempt in which I hold the Journo and English Lit majors who write about technical aspects of the game of golf which they are ill-prepared to understand, let alone explain to their audience. I will name no names in this column— but his name is on the article, so…