50 Things That Changed Golf

No job in golf has evolved more than the tour caddie. Once just a set of shoulders to carry a bag, caddies have grown to assume different roles for different players. Some have been elevated to where they’re mentioned in the same breath as the guys hitting the shot. Others are just friends or family with no prior caddying experience but serve as a player’s trusted ally and protector. The job has simultaneously grown more complicated thanks to the myriad demands on tour; and easier because of new tools at their disposal. In this episode, Daniel Rapaport talks to caddies and the players they work for about the new responsibilities for caddies, how partnerships are formed, and what happens when those relationships go south.

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When reports surfaced of a top LPGA player needing to pay for her own clubs while in contention at the season’s second  major championship, it spoke to the harsh financial realities faced by many women golfers. With fewer sponsorship opportunities and smaller purses but often just as high expenses as their PGA Tour counterparts, many LPGA players have been forced to be creative to make ends meet, especially during a pandemic. As Keely Levins reports, whether it’s driving to tournaments or using a pushcart instead of a caddie, the bootstrapping existence of most LPGA players at least produces a product in which players are more driven to win than ever.

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Every golf club has a sandbagging story. The 26 handicap who miraculously shoots 85. The 12 who flirts with even par. It is the rare handicap event in which certain golfers are  better than advertised, which is great news for their partners, and a source of outrage for everyone else. In this episode of Local Knowledge, host Daniel Rapaport dives into the complicated world of the sandbagger, including some of the tactics they employ to game the handicap system to their advantage. At the other end of the spectrum, we also look at vanity handicappers who turn out to be worse than their number suggests. It’s a lighthearted, half-hour immersion into the gossip that dominates grill rooms across America.

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Why did Phil Mickelson blow the 2006 U.S. Open? It wasn’t just about a pushed drive into the trees on the final hole. It was about poor decision-making, and perhaps wanting something too much. On the occasion of Mickelson returning to Winged Foot for another U.S. Open, host Keely Levins unpacks the confluence of events that led to Mickelson’s crushing double-bogey finish. With the help of experts, she also identifies the series of measures he could have taken to avoid such disappointment.  But this episode is not just about itemizing what Phil did wrong. It’s about looking at ways all golfers can learn from our mistakes, and to help us manage our emotions in our biggest moments on the golf course.

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“The money out here is comical,” admits PGA Tour player Joel Dahmen. But he’s not complaining. After slogging through the mini-tours earlier in his career Dahmen in just a few years on the PGA Tour has already earned more money in official earnings than Jack Nicklaus did in his entire career—all this despite never winning a tour event. The topic of this episode of Local Knowledge is money: how purses have risen so dramatically on the PGA Tour, the key individuals who helped pave the way for the lifestyle players now enjoy, and the surprising ways the golf financial landscape has evolved over time. Also, given the global pandemic and the accompanying recession, host Daniel Rapaport ask whether golf can still hand out the same size winner’s checks in the years to come.

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As Tiger Woods often said, only two players truly owned their swing: Ben Hogan and Moe Norman. But while Hogan won nine major championships, Norman’s career never took off outside of his native Canada. In this episode we’ll revisit the life and career of one of golf’s most enigmatic figures. The late Norman was believed by many to be golf’s greatest ball-striker, but his unique nature, what would now likely be classified as autism, prevented him from greater success. We talk to people who knew and studied Norman and saw firsthand what set him apart, and ponder the level of success he might have enjoyed had he been better understood. 
Read David Owen’s 1995 profile of Norman here.

Norman interview credited to a 1996 CBC feature, "Moe Norman, the Glenn Gould of golf"

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As the PGA Championship draws a collection of club professionals who join the big leagues for this one week, we examine the myriad elements that separate players at the height of the sport from those just one tier down. Whether it’s physical, psychological, or a simple matter of luck, we look at why a journeyman pro named Bob May could take Tiger Woods to a playoff 20 years ago in the PGA and not keep his tour card soon after; or why certain players with plenty of talent can hang with the best in a friendly game, only to struggle once the competition begins for real.

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The question of whether a few drinks can actually help you play better golf is as old as the game itself. In the newest episode of Local Knowledge, host Alex Myers consults experts and everyday players to understand the role alcohol plays in golfers' performance; and revisits a series of experiments that put the theory to the test. The answer is more complicated than you think, and it speaks to the unique physical and mental challenges that golf presents.

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Five women joined a golf club outside of York, Pennsylvania, only to have the police summoned to the course by the owner midway through their first round. Their crime, they say, was “golfing while black.” The first episode of Local Knowledge, a new podcast by Golf Digest, tells the story of the Grandview Five, a group of African-American women whose inaugural round at their new club became a reminder of an area—and a game’s—uneven history with race. Through interviews, audio clips, court documents, and news reports, host Daniel Rapaport examines a story that began on a fairway, carried on for months after, and provides new insights into the larger conversation about race in the U.S.

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In golf, Local Knowledge means you’ve done your homework. In Local Knowledge, Golf Digest applies the same approach to the most compelling golf stories, with each episode diving deep into a subject that resonates with golfers. Host Daniel Rapaport explains what’s to come in future episodes, from stories of racism on the golf course, to the ways alcohol might help your golf swing, and why some great golfers make it on tour and others are forced to find another job.

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