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The post Report: Gary McCord says he’s in talks to join the LIV Golf announce team appeared first on Golf.

David Feherty. And possibly Charles Barkley. Should Gary McCord also join the LIV Golf broadcast team, he has a thought on what that could be like. 

“Yeah, I think it would be fun to ride in that clown car with those two,” McCord told Golf Digest this week. 

In an exclusive interview with the website, the former CBS analyst said he’s met twice with LIV CEO Greg Norman about a potential role with the controversial, Saudi-backed series starting next year, and that they were to talk again this week. McCord, whose contract at CBS was not renewed after 2019, currently is a co-host for a show on SiriusXM PGA Tour radio.

News

Charles Barkley opens up on potential LIV offer, says 'we all have sportswashed'

By: Nick Piastowski

He told Golf Digest that he would be interested in joining Feherty, who also once worked at CBS, and Barkley, the NBA Hall of Famer and basketball analyst, and that “whatever your feelings right now about LIV — and everyone has their opinions — you can’t deny it’s the biggest thing going.”

“There’s a lot of potential there for some entertaining ways of doing this,” McCord told Golf Digest. “Right now, I’m just listening and taking it all in and seeing where this thing goes.” 

In the U.S., LIV Golf can be watched over only its homepage, Facebook and YouTube. For its first two broadcasts, LIV Golf has had an announce team of play-by-play man Arlo White, analysts Jerry Foltz and Dom Boulet and on-course reporters Su-Ann Heng and Troy Mullins, and Feherty is expected to join for the third event, to be played this week at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.

As for Barkley, he confirmed in an interview with the New York Post that he had dinner with Norman on Wednesday to discuss a broadcasting role. While Barkley said he and Norman only talked, he did commit to play in this week’s pro-am at Bedminster.

News

Report: David Feherty to leave NBC to become analyst for LIV Golf

By: Zephyr Melton

Barkley, the Post reported, is under contract with Turner Sports for three years and $30 million, though he told the newspaper that he could also work for LIV. In the interview, Barkley also revealed strong thoughts on the concept of ‘sportswashing,’ saying, “We have all taken ‘blood money’ and we all have ‘sportswashed’ something so I don’t like those words, to be honest with you. If you are in pro sports, you are taking some type of money from not a great cause.” LIV is supported by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and the PIF serves as the financial arm of the Saudi government, which has committed numerous human-rights violations. 

Barkley also told the Post that his sponsors reached out to him after hearing he was meeting with Norman. 

“Between [my Turner contract] and all my commercials, for me to risk all of that, it would have to be some serious money thrown my way,” Barkley told the Post. 

The post Report: Gary McCord says he’s in talks to join the LIV Golf announce team appeared first on Golf.

The post GOLF’s Subpar: Michael Allen explains how a Nassau bet with Gary McCord as his teammate got out of control appeared first on Golf.

The post GOLF’s Subpar: Michael Allen explains how a Nassau bet with Gary McCord as his teammate got out of control appeared first on Golf.

Subpar’s Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by 8-time Champions Tour winner Michael Allen who explains how a $10 Nassau bet, with Gary McCord as his teammate, quickly got out of control.

—————

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The post Gary McCord reveals 4 sneaky equipment tricks from the old days appeared first on Golf.

The post Gary McCord reveals 4 sneaky equipment tricks from the old days appeared first on Golf.

Nowadays on the PGA Tour, equipment vans and Tour reps help players get dialed into the exact golf clubs they need. Skilled club-builders and high-tech machines help them ensure their lofts, lies and weights are correct. Adjustable sole weights and multi-material composite shafts help players get precisely the right trajectory and spin. Even Trackman helps determine that the golf ball is doing what it’s supposed to.

That’s not how things always were, though.

Before the modern era of technology, golfers were left mostly to fend for themselves when it came to equipment adjustments.

In our recent Fully Equipped podcast, legendary broadcaster and former PGA Tour player Gary McCord spoke on some tricks of the trade when it came to equipment in the old days. Of course, some of these things aren’t necessarily “legal,” but they’re entertaining nonetheless.

“All these old guys had all sorts of tricks that they would do with their clubs and so forth to try to play the game and make some money when there was no money at that particular point,” McCord said on the podcast.

Here are four of the best old-school equipment tricks that players used to dial in their equipment, according to McCord.

1. Spitballs

You know how baseball players used to apply Vaseline or some kind of petroleum jelly to a baseball to alter the pitch and make it more difficult to hit? Well, golfers used similar tactics to manipulate ball flight.

By putting sunscreen, chapstick, Vaseline, or other similar substances onto the face of the driver the player could reduce unwanted spin. This was especially helpful for a popular, fade-hitting major-winner on Tour. McCord says that this one player in particular used to wipe sunscreen on his driver in a left-to-right wind in order to reduce cut spin on the shot.

Gear

Gary McCord explains why he once missed every green on purpose in a Tour event

By: Andrew Tursky

McCord, however, made the mistake one time of putting too much Vaseline on his driver face in a money game.

“I was on the tee first and these guys were still putting out on [the 8th hole],” McCord explained. “So I get in and I take a big goop of it out and I hold it up where they can’t see it and I wipe it across the face. Well, the one guy three-putted and the other guy was four-putting, so I had more time. So I wiped it again. I get up on the tee and I nail it. And the ball went about 40 yards and then right in the ground. I put so much on it that it took all the spin off. That’s the last time I did it. The ball went 80 yards. It looked like I topped it but I didn’t.”

2. The Groove Guy

As McCord tells it, there was a certain golf club company that had a big wooden door — McCord compared it to a “medieval castle” door — in its facility. There was a special knock required to get through, and inside the door was “The Groove Guy.”

This skilled club repairman would take a chisel to wedges in order to sharpen the grooves and make them spin more. McCord says the groove guy was so good at sharpening wedge grooves that he started spinning the ball too much afterwards.

During his first round with the newly repaired wedges, McCord says he got some advice from his playing partner Gene Littler, who saw what was transpiring.

“I get this arm around me as I’m walking… Gene goes, ‘Gary, I’ve seen you’ve been to the groove man,’” McCord explains. “And I go, ‘No, Mr. Littler, what are you talking about?’ He goes, ‘I know, you’ve been to the groove man. You need to go to the range and you need to hit balls for a week and dull those things up.’”

3. Sam Snead’s trick to reduce wedge spin

Playing with those super sharp wedge grooves meant McCord was spinning the ball back way too much. During one round at Cypress Point, Sam Snead suggested that McCord take a divot during his practice swing and not clean it off, to get some dirt into the grooves and reduce the spin. Apparently, however, the trick didn’t work out too well.

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How Gary McCord, with the help of Tour wives, got so many pros to appear in Tin Cup

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“I’m on the first hole [at Cypress] and I drive it down there…that green is tilted, it has to be a 10-degree angle,” McCord said. “I hit a flyer and it went 20 yards over the green… I go, ‘Sam Snead you son of a…’ I couldn’t control it.”

4. Concrete club fixes

Before lie angle and loft machines were readily available, golfers went for the less-refined approach of hitting their irons against concrete to change the lie angles. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it worked.

Here’s McCord’s explanation:

“You’d find concrete… asphalt was too bumpy… and you’d put a towel down. If I wanted to flatten my club, I’d give it a violent swing… go down right on the heel of that thing and you’d extend your arm as soon as you hit it to flatten it. Three hits…the hard thing was to get it upright. You’d have to find a curb…put the head over the end of the curb, and then whack it as hard as you could to get the thing a little more upright.

“That’s how we did it, because there were no vans out there. You might find a guy somewhere 102 miles from the golf course that had a place in his garage where he’d fix clubs. But he would always screw it up anyway. So you just did it yourself. And there was never any tools or anything… it was kind of fun. We didn’t have any way to measure the loft or anything, so I might have had five 3 irons in my bag at one time because I’m messing with a 4 iron and a 5 iron. You didn’t know until you hit balls and figure out one goes farther than the other.

“I remember one time my 4 iron was going shorter than my 6 iron. So I just [switched them]. I put my 4 iron as my 6 iron and 6 iron as my 4 iron. Math guy.”

Incredible.

If you enjoyed these stories, make sure to tune into the full interview with McCord below.

The post Gary McCord reveals 4 sneaky equipment tricks from the old days appeared first on Golf.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Gary McCord reveals old school equipment tricks appeared first on Golf.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Gary McCord reveals old school equipment tricks appeared first on Golf.

In the latest episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast, co-hosts Tim Briand and Andrew Tursky are joined by former PGA Tour player, and broadcasting legend, Gary McCord who reveals some of the old school gear tricks he witnessed on the PGA Tour.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Gary McCord reveals old school equipment tricks appeared first on Golf.

The post The story of the tour pro who burned Gary McCord’s putter collection appeared first on Golf.

The post The story of the tour pro who burned Gary McCord’s putter collection appeared first on Golf.

Free golf clubs are part of the gig when you’re a professional. It can be both a blessing and a curse. When you’re struggling, having an endless supply of gear can add an extra layer of anxiety when searching for, say, a putter that doesn’t misbehave inside 10 feet.

Do you go with the face-balanced mallet or a blade with the latest insert? It’s a question every pro has been forced to answer at one point or another. When the new putter doesn’t work, it’s usually discarded in a dark corner of the garage, never to be seen from again.

The putter is a club that can be swapped out on a whim, which makes it easy to accumulate a decent collection if you’re a pro with a respectable career resume.

Gear

Gary McCord explains why he once missed every green on purpose in a Tour event

By: Andrew Tursky

Former CBS commentator and two-time Champions Tour winner Gary McCord used to have a sizable putter collection — until a fellow pro decided he’d eliminate it during a Halloween party.

During an interview on GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast, McCord recalled the day Andrew Magee — yes, the same Andrew Magee who recorded the only ace on a par-4 in Tour history — started a backyard bonfire and used McCord’s entire putter collection as kindling.

“It was a Halloween party and we’re all just having a good time in the backyard, and I smelled something,” McCord recalled. “So I look over, and Andrew got with the guys, and he got a bonfire going in my backyard, and he went into the garage and he took out every putter that was in my garage and he burned it to the ground. Every putter.

“There must have been a hundred putters. And I come out and there’s smoke going everywhere, and I’m smelling this resin and stuff, and I look over and he is laughing his rear end off. I forgot who he was dressed as, but they burned all my putters. All of em. Every one of ’em. The only one I had left was in my bag so I had to start over. So that’s one of the reasons I don’t have any putters.”

For someone who was struggling with the flat stick, Magee may have done McCord a favor. What he didn’t appreciate was the mess a pile of 100-plus melted putters left in his backyard.

“When grips melt, and I have rocks in the backyard, they melt and I have all these rocks, and there was this giant 20-foot diameter black thing and I couldn’t get rid of it! And Andrew didn’t care.”

Now that’s a real Halloween nightmare.

The post The story of the tour pro who burned Gary McCord’s putter collection appeared first on Golf.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Why all of Gary McCord’s putters were set on fire appeared first on Golf.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Why all of Gary McCord’s putters were set on fire appeared first on Golf.

In the latest episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast, co-hosts Tim Briand and Andrew Tursky are joined by former PGA Tour player, and broadcasting legend, Gary McCord who tells the story of how all his putters were once set on fire by a Tour pro.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Why all of Gary McCord’s putters were set on fire appeared first on Golf.

The post Gary McCord explains why he once missed every green on purpose in a Tour event appeared first on Golf.

The post Gary McCord explains why he once missed every green on purpose in a Tour event appeared first on Golf.

Most golfers know Gary McCord because of his popularity as a broadcaster, but he’s also played in over 400 PGA Tour events. Although he finished second a couple times in the 1970s, he never cracked the winner’s circle.

McCord is in the record books, though. In 1984, he finished on top of the hotly-contested, season-long “fewest putts” category, and he did so in a way that only McCord would think to do. On our recent Fully Equipped podcast, McCord told the hilarious story of how it went down.

Heading into the final round of the 1984 Pensacola Open – the last tournament of the year for him – McCord had a slight lead over George Archer in the fewest putts category. With his career on a downturn, McCord really wanted to win it.

“I knew at that particular point my career sucked, and it wasn’t going anywhere,” McCord said. “So, this was the only thing literally I was going to win.”

Ahead of the final round, McCord crafted a plan to minimize his number of putts as much as possible in order to lock up the win. Playing alongside Archer and Peter Oosterhuis, McCord planned to miss every green in regulation. That way, he’d have a better chance to get the ball close to the hole for his first putt and reduce the odds of three-putting. It’s easier to chip the ball close from around the green than hit it close with iron from the fairway, right?

“This is the only thing I’m probably ever going to win on the Tour,” McCord said to Archer on the 1st tee. “And I’m telling you right now, I’m going to miss every green short.”

So, with this scheme in mind, McCord told his caddie to give him the yardage to the front of every green, but to take 5 yards off the number. And it worked. According to McCord, he missed every single green that day and beat out Archer for the fewest putts category.

“I was very good at getting the yardage right, because I never hit a green,” McCord said. “And [Oosterhuis] was laughing his rear end off every time I hit a shot into the green.”

This tactic is not recommended to shoot lower scores or win tournaments, but it’s a hilariously genius way to cut down on your total putts.

Never change, Gary. Never change.

If you want to hear more classic stories from McCord, make sure to listen to the entire podcast below, or here on iTunes.

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The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Gary McCord on how he won the PGA Tour putting title appeared first on Golf.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Gary McCord on how he won the PGA Tour putting title appeared first on Golf.

In the latest episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast, co-hosts Tim Briand and Andrew Tursky are joined by former PGA Tour player, and broadcasting legend, Gary McCord who reveals the unique strategy he used to bring home the Tour putting title.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Gary McCord on how he won the PGA Tour putting title appeared first on Golf.

The post Gary McCord thinks bifurcation is a bad idea for the PGA Tour: ‘I don’t know how you slow down without getting sued’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Gary McCord thinks bifurcation is a bad idea for the PGA Tour: ‘I don’t know how you slow down without getting sued’ appeared first on Golf.

With Bryson DeChambeau averaging 340.1 yards off the tee at the 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge, the distance debate has been reenergized. In response, Colin Montgomerie recently told BBC Radio that he’s in favor of a Tour-only ball, which would imply bifurcation.

“I’m an advocate of what Jack Nicklaus proposes – a tournament ball for professionals, that goes only 80-85% as far,” Montgomerie said.

Former PGA Tour player and legendary broadcaster Gary McCord, however, sees things from a different perspective. On our recent Fully Equipped podcast, McCord was asked a hypothetical question; if he was named PGA Tour commissioner, how would he handle the equipment situation?

Below are some key points from McCord’s debate against bifurcation, which has a “boatload of consequences,” according to McCord.

Editor’s note: Some responses have been edited for brevity and grammar.

Protect pension plans and don’t get sued

“[The PGA Tour is] a 501(c)(3) [organization]. That means that we can accumulate assets but we have to get rid of all the money and everything else…[The PGA Tour] has TPC [courses], pension plans that are worth zillions of dollars. We have all these assets. We would not like to be sued. I’m the commissioner; I don’t want to get in litigation. Because all they’re going to do is litigate.

“We’re going to bifurcate and we’re going to make our own rules for the PGA Tour, autonomous from the USGA and the R&A. OK? So the first thing I do is say, ‘OK guys, we’ve got to slow down the driver. That’s going to be our deal. Slow down the driver and the ball.’ Whoops. Whoops. Now, we’re going to get sued by people you don’t even know.”

Smaller drivers and losing advertisers

“Just for instance, slow down the ball. You could probably slow down the ball a little bit, but let’s just make the driver 200cc. They just did a test with 200cc drivers with the top-5 guys, I think it was at Charlotte last year. I think the average distance was… about 280 yards, which would be really nice for a driver. Right?…

“Now all the other golf courses, the old ones come back into play. Well, 60-70 percent of all advertising on the Tour… is golf club companies. So golf club companies are trying to sell the longest, fastest driver ever in the history of man that goes 40 yards farther, right? And a golf ball that goes farther, farther, farther, farther, that’s all you read.

“Well, now, we’re going to go slower, slower, slower, slower. They’re going to sue. They’re going to sue on every level. Do we want to be litigious, and I’m the commissioner? No! We haven’t done it yet. I don’t want to be litigious… we’re going to have to settle, settle, settle.

“I got to protect pension plans, I got to protect TPCs, I gotta protect all our income, all of our sponsors, everybody. That would be the worst thing in the world.”

What now?

“So how are we going to gear it up, because… amateur golf and professional golf, it’s not the same sport. I play with these guys; it’s not close. We kind of need our own local rules, and we use them a lot. We do use local rules on the Tour. So we do bifurcate, in essence.

“But the fact of slowing down? I don’t know how you slow down without getting sued, and without losing all your sponsors for television. I really don’t. You’d have to go corral a bunch more sponsors. Try that right now in the Covid-19 era. Try to get some new sponsors with extra money to get on television. As the commissioner, wow. I wouldn’t bifurcate, and I’d just play the game as we have it right now until we figure something out.”

Will it make the game better for the viewer?

“If I’m the longest at 340 yards, like Bryson, then I’m going to be the longest at 290. I’m still going to be the longest…all that’s going to do is bring back these old golf courses… instead, Bryson’s going to be out there with a driver and 6-iron, and everyone else is going to be hitting a 4-iron.

“It’s all relative, and that’s how we’re gearing all of the [strokes gained] stats now. But would that make the game better to the viewer? Um… I really like to watch these guys bomb it and take bunkers out at 320. It’s kind of interesting.

“This Tour now, if you look at the top-10 guys, go find a guy that doinks it down the fairway. I dare you. You can’t do it. I tell these kids now… I say, ‘You learn to fly it 320, because that’s where the farthest bunker is. If you can hit it over that bunker and you can take the crookedness out of the dogleg, you’re gong to beat these other guys in the longterm. You can’t if you’re hitting a 3-wood short and hitting a 5-iron and they’re hitting a sand wedge. You’re gonna get killed.’

“…that’s where it is right now. And Bryson, I do believe is going to ignite a fire – a hellfire – of getting bigger and stronger and everything else.”

Don’t forget to tune into part 1 of our interview with Gary McCord below!

The post Gary McCord thinks bifurcation is a bad idea for the PGA Tour: ‘I don’t know how you slow down without getting sued’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Gary McCord speaks out strongly against bifurcation appeared first on Golf.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Gary McCord speaks out strongly against bifurcation appeared first on Golf.

In the latest episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast, co-hosts Tim Briand and Andrew Tursky are joined by former PGA Tour player, and broadcasting legend, Gary McCord to discuss bifurcation of equipment rules and why he advises against it.

The post Fully Equipped Roundtable: Gary McCord speaks out strongly against bifurcation appeared first on Golf.