What's Patrick Mahomes really like?
On the golf course, that is. Plus, the newsletter's back!
Hey gang —
I’m back! More specifically, the all-too-sporadic newsletter GOLF, etc. is back.
My main goal in starting this newsletter last year was to share a selection of what I’ve been writing and thinking about for those of you who don’t regularly sift through GOLF.com or my Twitter feed.
But, as with all things in life, GOLF, etc. needed a harder deadline, so now it has one: Each month I’ll send out a sampling of articles, videos and musings for your entertainment. Bonus events could even get bonus newsletters — but we’re talking baby steps here. In honor of Tom Brady we’ll take this thing one newsletter at a time.
First order of business: Subscribe, if you haven’t already! And pass along to anyone else who might be interested.
A short story
This fall I got some exciting news: I’d been given a space in our magazine for a monthly Q&A, bringing some star power to the mag from the world of golf. My own column! This was awesome — except for the “star power” part, and the fact that I needed to bank my first interview within a couple weeks.
Looking to be responsible and plan ahead, I emailed a whole slew of agents, hoping for time with their player. Nothing crazy; I asked for 30 minutes, hoping they’d counter with 15 and we’d make it work. Instead the agents countered with “Nah, we’re good” or by merely not responding at all. Touche. Maybe I was aiming at the wrong targets.
My only backup plan was to do the only thing I really know how to do: head to an event and figure it out from there. I was slated to cover the Hero World Challenge (Tiger Woods’ first public appearance since his crash) the following week — maybe I could scoop a player Q&A while on site? Woods spoke Tuesday morning, I wrote about it and filed the story in time for an afternoon trip to the range, where I hoped to find someone who’d be 1. Worthy of our magazine’s pages and 2. Willing to chat.
Good news: Rory McIlroy was still out there! He and caddie Harry Diamond were just finishing up a practice session. As they came off the range, I intercepted McIlroy, explained my Q&A desperation and asked if I could borrow him for 10 minutes. He stared blankly back in my direction.
“You want ten minutes?” he asked, incredulous. “Of my time?!”
Then he cracked up.
“Nah, no worries,” he said. “We’re not done, we’re just going to play the back nine. Come walk with!” And so I did, getting an hour instead of the 10 minutes I’d requested. The interview came out well, the magazine arrived a few weeks ago, and the story is going to go live online tomorrow. I’m not sure what the moral of the story is except that sometimes things don’t work out, but sometimes they do! And I’m excited about the excuse for more extended chats with interesting characters, and for conversations to come. (I’ll take requests, too…)
What I wrote since our last newsletter:
Oh man, a whole bunch. The internet is hungry for words, and my job is to feed the beast. But here are a few:
Tiger Woods division
I was lucky enough to be there for his first post-crash public appearance, which came at his tournament in the Bahamas. I wrote about Woods and privacy and just how much we’re entitled to know about his car crash here.
Then I was lucky enough to be there for his return to the golf course, which came alongside his son Charlie at the PNC Championship in Orlando. Leading up to the event, there was chatter he might not be able to play. Instead, Team Woods nearly won. I wrote about that here.
Non-Tiger Woods division
A few faves from the last few months: I wrote about Team USA’s Ryder Cup celebration, why you should play golf in Maine, what Xander Schauffele is like, per his inner circle, why Bryson DeChambeau doesn’t always like being Bryson DeChambeau, the PGA Tour’s new Netflix show, and why LPGA pros would destroy you.
Another one: Back in April — before last year’s Masters — I got to hang out with Patrick Mahomes and talk about his obsession with golf. I spent some more time following him at the celebrity event in Lake Tahoe. That turned into this magazine cover story at the beginning of the season, plus a fun video of us warming up together.
Sidenote on Mahomes: He was terrific. Personable, down-to-earth and an absolute golf nut. Was eager to load up his golf cart with Coors Lights, head off for a round with Travis Kelce and spend the next couple days at the Masters, taking in the entire scene. It was refreshing chatting with a non-golfer because he was genuinely psyched just to be there.
What I’ve been reading (and watching!)
BOOK: I finally got around to Andre Agassi’s book, OPEN, on our honeymoon this fall. (A road trip up the California coast, the actual dream) I know I’m literally a decade late on it and about the millionth person with this revelation but I was blown away by his clear-headedness and the way he was able to strip the ego from his self-examination. (A good co-writer sure helps, too.) One excerpt that stuck with me, as someone who frequently listens to pro athletes answer questions:
“To make matters worse, journalists write down exactly what I saw, while I’m saying it, word for word, as if this represented the literal truth. I want to tell them, Hold it, don’t write that down, I’m only thinking out loud here. You’re asking about the subject I understand leads—me. Let me edit myself, contradict myself. But there isn’t time. They need black-and-white answers, good and evil, simple plot lines in seven hundred words, and then they’re on to the next thing.”
SHOW: Emily and I have been ripping through the Formula 1 Netflix series, too. I’d watched a sampling when I was writing about golf’s equivalent, but hadn’t dived in until now — and damn. I’m ready to move to every city they visit. Melbourne? In. Barcelona? Double in. Monaco? Sure, why not?!
ARTICLE: In the late ‘90s, Tim Layden wrote a story on Olympic skier Picabo Street. She publicly denounced the article and didn’t speak to him again — until recently. From that piece, which you can read here:
I learned that the Street family narrative that we had all run with was not complete, but I did not understand the depth of the family’s pain. And herein lies a hard reality about the relationship between writers and those whom they — we — write about, notably in the world of sports feature-writing and featurized event reporting, where we strive to capture the essence of a subject, constrained by time, circumstance and most of all, truths that a subject withholds, or that we fail to find. As journalists, even at our best and most earnest, we access only a slice of a subject’s life, captured at a singular moment, framed by the emotions of that moment — victory or defeat, celebration or despair; medal or no medal; self-assurance or fear. We take a snapshot and hope it holds.
What I’m excited for
The sunset in Seattle is all the way back to 5:11 p.m., which feels like mega-progress, and February is neighbors with March, the end of hibernation. I’m excited to install a cool new shelf in my office. I’m excited for some spring skiing. I’m excited for a trip to L.A. for the Genesis Open. And I’m excited for a regular cadence of delightful newsletters in 2022.