🔥 The Putter Collectors Will Regret Missing

October 11, 2000 - Titleist debuted the Pro V1 on the PGA Tour, setting a new performance benchmark and rapidly changing ball usage.

Rory McIlroy just signed a deal with GolfPass that runs through 2038. If you think this is just another "logo on the shirt" sponsorship extension, you’re missing the forest for the trees.

The big news: Alongside the extension, Rory is launching Firethorn Productions.

This isn't a vanity project; it's a massive shift in how top-tier athletes monetize their IP. Rory is moving from "renting" his influence to building owned infrastructure. Firethorn is a production house designed to pump documentaries, branded campaigns, and live events directly into the veins of the Golf Channel and GolfPass ecosystems.

Why this is a masterclass in business strategy:

The Takeaway: By 2038, Rory might not be driving the ball 320 yards, but his equity in the media landscape will likely be driving his net worth. The era of the passive brand ambassador is dying; the era of the athlete-executive is just teeing off.

For decades, global golf has revolved around a familiar axis. The US. The UK. A short list of legacy destinations that dominate bucket lists, capital flows and conversation.

That hierarchy is now being quietly disrupted.

New data from Top 100 Golf Courses shows Asia-Pacific recording some of the fastest growth in global golf interest anywhere in the world. In 2025, traffic surged 33.5% in Australia, 29.3% in Thailand and 25.7% in Japan. This isn’t idle interest; it’s golfers actively mapping future trips.

Asia is no longer a curiosity on the golf map - it’s a destination golfers are planning around.

The bigger signal sits beneath the surface. Asia-Pacific isn’t waiting for validation from the US or the UK. It’s building its own gravity - through investment, innovation and experience.

Golf’s future isn’t abandoning its roots - it’s widening its map.

It’s a trajectory the industry should expect to track closely as the game’s next phase takes shape.

In a world of endlessly iterated mallets and face inserts, a name from 1997 is back. Golfers everywhere are about to wish they acted sooner.

The Scotty Cameron H25 Limited Teryllium Newport 2 commemorates 25 years since Teryllium (TeI3) was first introduced to Scotty’s iconic lineup. This copper-alloy insert became legendary for its soft, responsive feel - a sensation that players and collectors still chase more than two decades later.

This limited run blends that historic feel with modern engineering. A precision-bonded Teryllium insert sits in a milled 303 stainless steel Newport 2 head with classic plumber’s neck and toe hang that suits arc-based strokes. The result? A muted, rich sound and exceptional distance control - especially on mid-range lag attempts.

Numbers matter here:

For players and collectors alike:
When it’s gone, it stays gone.

Some clubs are wielded. This one will be remembered.

👉 Fun fact: Tiger Woods famously won his first major, the 1997 Masters, using a Teryllium-insert Scotty Cameron putter.

By Drew Hinesley, B9B Resident Caddie

PGA Tour Q-School → Korn Ferry reality

This year, a player was carefully moving loose debris around his ball when it happened - the slightest nudge, barely perceptible and the ball rolled.

Two penalty shots.
A double bogey.

Ten holes later, Kohles went from leading PGA Tour Q-School - from staring straight at a Tour card, the schedules, the courtesy cars, the life - to the reality of the Korn Ferry Tour. Next month, instead of private jets and player dining, many players will be riding a bus to work.

That’s how thin the margin is.

LPGA Q-School: one less chance

Elsewhere, at LPGA Q-School, the weather turned so bad that officials reduced the tournament mid-event.

One less round.
One fewer chance to climb back into contention.

For some, an entire year of preparation - travel, coaching, expense, sacrifice. Disappeared with a decision completely outside their control.

Second stage: when the math changes after you finish

Then came the cruelest cut of all.

Second Stage. Final round underway. Weather delay. Hours pass.

After deliberation, officials decided to revert to Round 3 scores and declare the event complete. One player had played his way from outside the bubble to safely inside it - only to be told the result wouldn’t count.

Sorry. Better luck next year.

The part of golf you don’t see

That’s professional golf stripped bare.

Last week, across multiple sites, the coldest reality of the game played out quietly - opportunities handed out with one hand, dreams taken away with the other. It went largely unnoticed by the wider sporting world.

In the trenches, men and women who will be on your television screens over the next decade were fighting - desperately, for a seat at the table.

A very different golf story at the top

Meanwhile, the headlines tell a very different story.

Contract negotiations.
Silly season.
Exhibition events where impossibly wealthy players compete for even more absurd sums.

Golf, apparently, is enjoying the most wonderful time of the year.

The ones left watching

Behind the scenes, hundreds of professionals are refreshing job boards, calling in favours, pitching friends and family for financial backing - just one more go, just one more season.

Some feel as exposed as the child begging for change beneath Ebenezer Scrooge’s window.

The calendar will turn soon. Desert golf will bloom on one side of the world. Tropical islands will host winter escapes on the other.

We’ll watch - entertained, inspired.

Somewhere, in the minor leagues of this game, they’ll be watching too. Only they’ll be asking a quieter question:

What could have been?

Because for a fleeting moment - painfully close, they truly did touch it.

Catch Drew on My Side of The Bag.

With the PGA and DP World Tours in winter shutdown until the New Year, TGL Season 2 steps into a familiar gap, but this time with clarity. Season 1 proved the concept. Season 2 is about execution.

TGL Season 1 — The Scorecard

Viewership

Money & Economics

Season 2 - The Million Dollar Question

Can TGL turn interest into habit, and momentum into scale?

The biggest change is simple: players now understand the format. The early hesitation and experimentation are gone, replaced by smarter targets, clearer roles and teams playing to win. Season 2 will be sharper, quicker and far more revealing.

For golfers, TGL works because it strips the game back to decision-making under pressure. There’s no time to reset, no hiding after a miss - shot selection matters more than swing mechanics and wedges and mid-range putts decide matches. Momentum is ruthless: get hot and matches flip fast; lose focus and it spirals.

The arena amplifies everything. Noise and pace make it feel closer to elite match play than tournament golf, while short, decisive matches reward attention rather than endurance.

2026 tech upgrades? Expect a bigger, tougher GreenZone, smarter hole designs and improved visuals - pushing risk-reward decisions to the forefront.

TGL Season 2 Teams

👉 Don’t miss it - Season 2 begins Dec. 28, 2025 on ABC, with regular coverage on ESPN/ESPN2.

Buffett’s First Golf Play Was an Arbitrage Trade.

Even his golf origin story is classic Buffett - as a teenager he flipped refurbished golf balls, buying at $3.50 a dozen and selling at $6. Margin first. Masters later.

Warren Buffett’s golf clubs were never meant to be collectibles. Yet in 2019, his only set sold at auction for nearly £40,000.

The equipment was modest: Ping Eye2 irons, a basic Ping putter, ageing Orlimar drivers. Nothing rare. Nothing flashy. The intrigue was hidden inside the bag. Buffett had never cleared it out. Tucked away were ball markers from Augusta National and Seminole, plus a worn Four Seasons bag tag. The value wasn’t in the clubs - it was in what they revealed: extraordinary access, ordinary taste, and a billionaire who never felt the need to upgrade.

Performance fitting at the highest level is built on precision - clubs are constructed to exact specifications, tested in competitive environments and refined under real pressure. When margins are small, consistency is non-negotiable. Those same principles apply just as directly to the amateur game.

Here are three mistakes seen repeatedly in amateur club fitting.

1. Chasing Distance Instead of Consistency
The most common request in a fitting bay is simple: more distance. But when distance becomes the priority, dispersion often suffers and swings start compensating.
At elite level, players care about repeatability. They focus on a reliable ball flight and predictable misses, not the occasional out-of-the-middle strike. When a club is properly fit, speed and distance tend to improve naturally - without sacrificing control.

2. Not Matching Wedge Bounce and Grind to Playing Conditions
Wedges are precision tools, yet bounce and grind are often misunderstood. Turf interaction plays a major role in strike quality, launch, and spin. Firm, links-style conditions demand a very different setup to softer parkland courses.
Wedges also wear faster than most golfers realise. For regular players, replacing wedges every 12–18 months helps maintain consistent performance and control around the greens.

3. Letting Aspiration Override Reality
Another frequent fitting issue is selecting equipment based on what a player wants to use, rather than what helps them perform. At the highest level, players actively choose forgiveness, correct gapping and specifications that support their movement.
Amateurs benefit from the same approach: choosing equipment that works with their swing, not against it.

Think of yourself as the CEO of your golf game. Own the fitting process, make decisions rooted in reality, and choose equipment that supports how you actually play. Get the fit right and the game simplifies - the scorecard usually follows.

The Golf Channel Games wasn’t designed as a tournament. It was designed as a broadcast product.

The Golf Channel Games, debuting in 2025, is exactly that. A freshly created, made-for-TV exhibition built from the ground up for prime time. Not adapted from tradition. Not squeezed into a quiet window. Designed with television, sponsors and viewers in mind.

This was golf engineered for broadcast. Fixed timing. Fast formats. Controlled conditions. Under lights. Every decision pointed in one direction: make golf work like modern media, not the other way around. It marks a clear strategic push by Golf Channel to extend golf’s broadcast footprint beyond the familiar tournament cycle.

The timing is no accident. December has historically been commercial dead space for golf. Low inventory. Limited sponsor leverage. Little narrative pull. The Games flips that logic. Off-season golf becomes programmable, monetisable content, creating new revenue without touching the core 72-hole product.

Crucially, it still mattered. The night ended with a one-inch chip-off between Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. World No.1 versus World No.2. Real pressure. Real consequence. Strip away tradition and the stakes don’t disappear. They concentrate.

Then there’s distribution. McIlroy and Scheffler weren’t just playing, they were the platform. Star-led formats reduce reliance on institutions and lean into individual gravity, a playbook already proven across modern media and brand-building.

Prime-time golf isn’t here to replace tradition. It’s here to sharpen it. Extend surface area. Add commercial edges. Build relevance where attention already lives.

It’s less a reinvention of golf and more an expansion of how the game is packaged, timed and distributed.

Who’s your pick for longest drive? ⬇️

📖 Read: Contours is a beautifully crafted exploration of golf-course architecture that deepens any golfer’s appreciation of the game by revealing the artistry, strategy, and storytelling woven into the landscapes we play

🎥 Watch: Relive final round highlights of Andrew Novak and Lauren Coughlin winning the 2025 Grant Thornton Invitational.

🎧 Listen: ‘Will Artificial Turf Change Golf?’ Top 100 Golf Courses sits down with Paul Jansen, a golf course architect and founding member of Himalayas Golf.

📊 Trending Stat: Hull and Brennan went 15-under through 13 holes in Round 1 at the Grant Thornton Invitational, setting the tournament record with a birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle streak.

Most rounds are decided by the risky shots you don’t take.

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