Social golf venues are SO hot right now
BRYSON TAKES ON TOP GOLF
From T-Squared Social to Pop Stroke to Five Iron Golf—it seems like there are social-focused golf venues opening everywhere.
And earlier this week, Bryson joined the mix by announcing his new Top Golf competitor, UnderPar Life. (Pause. The name... who's going to tell him about the name. It's awful. Besides UnderPar being a cheap tee time booking platform, I can just imagine Bryson channeling his inner self-help guru in these investor meetings saying $#^& like "You don't just shoot under par, you have to live your life under par."
Whatever.
So the UnderPar 4 Lyfe group gave the scoop to D Magazine. A magazine that's "Making Dallas an
Even Better Place." And here is where I stop with the snark and begrudgingly acknowledge that they've got a pretty interesting spin on the golf entertainment venue going.
Even Better Place." And here is where I stop with the snark and begrudgingly acknowledge that they've got a pretty interesting spin on the golf entertainment venue going.
Check out this layout.
From what I can gather, UnderPar Life's main three differentiators will be:
1) Legit practice facilities designed for low handicap golfers. The theory being that Top Golf is really designed with a non-golfer or high handicap golfer in mind. Which is not wrong.
On this plan alone, you can see it's got a chipping range, a practice tee box with hole lengths varying from high iron par 3's all the way to drivable par 4's, enough runway for a 450 yard long drive competition, and mini golf section for putting competitions.
2) Partner with municipal golf courses with extra acreage to spare to avoid an outright purchase of land and complement a full 18 hole golf course. An approach they say will keep the cost WAY down to build as the land is, I guess, leased.
3) Non-golf extras. This plan has an outdoor stage for music, they've signed on a top notch chef to create food and beverage menus for an indoor/outdoor eating space, and plenty of space (and reason) to hang if you don't want to golf at all. Their quote: "No one has ever said, ‘Hey let’s go to the Topgolf for lunch.’"
Granted we're still two years away from seeing this come to fruition. But as much as I want to hate it, Bryson may be onto something. I'd hang out here.
Grant Thornton pairings are officially out
NOW THIS IS A FIELD!
For the first time since 1999, men and women will compete in an annual mixed-competition event as the Grant Thornton Invitational kicks off in December.
This week, they released the full field of pairings and it's got me PUMPED as it's absolutely loaded with talent. I'll call out a few of my favorites below but click this link if you want to read the full list yourself. Will be really cool to see how these pairings evolve—do we go national team route? Do we see some personality matches for entertainment value? Do we see sponsorship teams like Rickie and Lexi on Team Cobra?
Keep in mind that there is a different format each day of the competition: scramble, foursomes, and a modified four-ball. So we'll get to see the combined power of these teams in a scramble... awesome.
MY FAVORITE DUOS
1) Sahith Theegala and Rose Zhang
I mean, come on. Two of my favorite players on Tour AND they're paired together?! They share the Southern California connection, too.
I mean, come on. Two of my favorite players on Tour AND they're paired together?! They share the Southern California connection, too.
2) Nelly Korda and Tony Finau
We knew this one was coming as they announced they'd participate months back. And at +800, they're the betting favorites at the moment. This will be a lethal combo on the scramble day...
3) Joel Dahmen and Lilia Vu
Vibes guy. Having nothing but his public persona to base this on, you have to assume Joel will be a fantastic playing partner. Keeping it light, loose, and maybe a White Claw or two at the turn.
A double dose of Augusta news
ANONYMOUS AUGUSTA-N ASKS ANNIKA
We got two nuggets of news from Augusta this week. One celebratory. One... well... not as much.
The lead is the anonymous members apparently reporting that Annika Sorenstam has become a member at Augusta—joining Condy Rice, Darla Moore, and "at least four other" female members. A pretty rough sentence to write seeing as how they opened membership to women in 2012... and also, they ONLY opened membership to women in 2012. (Imagine the eek face emoji here.)
All that said, they keep their membership private so no one has officially commented on the matter as far as I can tell. Which has me thinking how funny it would be if a club so chock full of blazer-wearing dudes told new members like the scene from Old School.
The woman here being Annika's husband, Mike. Left holding the groceries in some Piggly Wiggly parking lot in Orlando. Or wherever they shop. Or if Piggly Wiggly's still exist.
The second nugget out of Augusta this week was kind of a nothing burger tbh—but basically they will continue to not allow LIV golfers into the Masters field.
Ok.
Keep your head on a swivel
ARIZONA GOLF IS WILD
Making the rounds on golf media and social accounts this week was the absolute carnage left at Seven Canyons Golf Club in Arizona.
The footage you see above was posted by the greenskeeper on his morning rounds—and WOW that's got to be a scene straight out of a greenskeeper's anxiety nightmares.
The vandal in question? This guy.
Dohhhhh. Little fuzzy dude.
This is a javelina aka a peccary. A pretty small pig-like critter that apparently are all over Arizona despite not being suited for the dry climate. So in particularly hot summers... like, well, every summer now... they come down from the higher grounds to forage on golf courses.
The problem is that Arizona designates them "big game" and therefore people can't really kill 'em or trap 'em. So my Carl Spackler idea is dead on arrival it seems.
In other Arizona news—y'all heard about these haboobs.
Months back Bad Birdie HQ was talking about 'em and I thought it was some sort of sneeze-like sound meets middle school inside joke. But no. They're real and they look terrifying.
They're enormous clouds of dust that roll in like a scene from The Mummy.
And people talk about them like it's NBD. Pour one out for the Arizona people. You're dealing with a lot these days.
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