Should Amateurs Play Blades, Ryder Cup Chaos, & Golf D-Bag Behaviors | Off TRAQ Podcast #1

Charles and Roy kick off the Off TRAQ Podcast by diving straight into the arguments every golfer’s had. They debate whether amateurs should ever play blade irons, question if Ryder Cup fans have crossed the line from passion to chaos, and try to define what actually makes someone a “golf D-bag.” Along the way they break down how ego, gear choice, and culture shape the modern golf experience. It’s unfiltered, funny, and all about the parts of the game that matter most to real players.

Chapters ⛳
00:00 Intro
01:09 Meet the Hosts
01:59 Podcast Format
02:35 Should Amateurs Play Blade Irons?
17:57 Ryder Cup Fans Out of Line?
30:50 Golf D-Bag or Not?

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Should amateurs play blades, Ryder Cup chaos, and Golf D-Bag behaviors.

When I was playing Blades compared to Game Improvement or Cavity Backs, my score actually didn’t change all that much. This is going to be a very unpopular opinion. The Waste Management Open in Phoenix every year, I feel like that tournament got worse. Are you a golf DAG or not? Especially since I moved to the West Coast. The rounds here are some of the slowest rounds I’ve ever played in my life, categorically. Hey everyone, welcome to the inaugural episode of OffTrack Podcast, the show where we take all the questions, hot takes, and debates from everyday golf and put them under the spotlight. I’m Charles along with Roy. And together we’re diving into the side of golf that actually matters to most of us. The amateur grind, the culture, and the stuff we all argue about on the course. But before we forget, this episode is brought to you by Track Golf. Track is the easiest way to get instant tour level feedback on your ball striking. Just spray, hit, and see exactly where you make contact. Track also allows amateurs to do tour level drills that we’ve all been scared to do in the past. If you’re serious about practice that actually translates to the course, check out trackgolf.com. That’s t r aqolf. Or follow us on Instagram, Tik Tok, and YouTube @ trackgolf. So yeah, I’m Charles. I am a serial talk entrepreneur and a total golf addict. I tinker with everything from my swing to how my body moves. And absolutely, I am a club junkie, so always tinker with my equipment as well. I’m Roy. I also work in tech, but more importantly, I spend about half my life chasing a little white ball around the field. We’re definitely not pros. We’re not coaches, but you know, I think both Charles and I have been around the game in some way, shape, or form completely on the amateur side that we’ve been known amongst our circles and around our world as these are the guys to go talk to whenever you have questions around golf equipment and we love the game enough that we actually built a company around. Yeah. So, full disclosure, Roy and I are the founders and co-founder of Track Golf, which technically makes us our own sponsors, and that is probably the most startup thing that you can do. We’re here for it. It’s all right. Yeah. Yeah. Um, before we jump in, this is how our podcast works. So, each episode, uh, we’ll pick a few debates and hot topics golfers argue about all the time. We’ll go back and forth, give our takes, and at the end, we’ll throw it out to you to decide who’s right. And today we are starting our first episode with three questions. The first one is should you play blades as an amateur? The second question is should fans be allowed to heckle golfers the way they did at the writer cup this year? And the third is are you a golf dbag or not? So let’s get started. Our first question today is should you play blade irons as an amateur? This is a question that I get asked quite a bit and I started off playing blades uh when I first learned go actually that’s that’s that’s the lie. I started off with game improvement irons but I played them for like 5 months and then I switched to blades and the reason why I switched to blades was because I felt like I was kind of cheating. Roy, did you ever feel that way when you were not using blades? No, I need all the help I can get. But I I get what you mean. Yeah. So, I felt like with game improvement irons and I, you know, I had tailor made burner 2.0’s which kind of a cult following in their own way now, but they were I felt very very forgiving and so now I understand your cheating comment. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. With those maybe a little bit. So, when I went to the range, I was like, I’m a tour pro already. Why do I have to practice? Um, let me first start off by explaining what a blade is. traditionally a blade or today it’s also called a muscle back. It’s usually an iron head that is forged from one piece of steel. Typically you’ll see a very thin thin top line, a very narrow sole and minimal if any offset. It usually has a solid back so there’s no cavities which means that there’s less perimeter waiting and that really reduces the forgiveness. I would argue that it’s designed for maximum forgiveness, workability and control. But if you mishit it, you definitely get punished. Forgiveness. You said maximum forgiveness. Oh, did I say maximum? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Minimum forgiveness. Yeah. And and there is always kind of the conversation of what are blades and what are muscle backs. So, just wanted to clarify for this argument sake. I would argue that all muscle backs are blades. However, not all blades are muscle backs. And the reason why I identify it that way is because blades are essentially what irons were when golf was created till like the late 80s where there was no change to the iron itself. But once we got technology, once we got data, engineers started to shift waiting around and move things. So today you actually can’t buy a traditional just blade without any improvements. So every muscle back you can buy today have some sort of, you know, waiting behind the sweet spot or lowering the center of mass. There’s something going on. Obviously not to the degree as cavity backs, but all blades today are muscle backs. So where do you stand? I stand still and and I should say this with a caveat that I don’t play a blade at the moment, but I um after the burner 2.0’s, knows I played blades for the next like 8 n years and the main reason I started it was because I wanted to become a better golfer. One thing about blades is you know exactly if you hit the sweet spot. It is so buttery and it is like that I don’t know that feeling of golf heaven in your hands and then the moment you mish hit you have pain shooting up your arm and I actually really like that. I want to know when I’m hitting the the sweet spot so that I can practice and get better. Right. So, golf Charles is golf masochist confirmed, right? I mean, look, I I love blades, right? I like I do. I I own two sets. My brother-in-law has one of them, and he’s under strict direction. He is never to sell them. He is never to give it away. Like, if he ever decides he doesn’t want them, they’re coming back to me. The the titleist uh 716 MBs, I don’t I don’t think people should be playing them. There is no reason other than just a preference, right? I don’t think the average amateur would get more than one in a,000 strikes to feel buttery. I don’t think they’re finding the sweet spot. So, I don’t think the average amateur could even appreciate blades, let alone let alone know how to play them. I think you got to give them a little bit more credit. Maybe one in every like 100 shots in one bucket of rage balls, you’re going to hit one pure. fair if you stick with the same club for the entire bucket, right? Like, sure, they’re not I mean, I don’t know. I’ve seen some really bad swings out on the range, but then, you know, I I would say even though as much as I love them and I always want to buy them, like I always want to play them. I don’t play them anymore, right? Like I they never come out of the closet. So, you know, I I think realistically, like, yes, it’s for your own enjoyment when you go play. We’re not putting for millions. We’re not making a lot of money. We’re not doing any of that. But at the same time, I don’t see there being any material benefit for the average amateur rider. Do you think it’s the difference between a golfer that wants to become a better golfer versus a golfer that just wants to score well and be able to, you know, play with their friends? Because I I think my argument is that if you truly want to become a better golfer, better ball striker, then there’s no better irons to learn than blades because you don’t get the feedback. I I’ll give that to you. Yeah, I think so. I would I would say though that most people even if they want to get better, right? Like I materially want to get better, right? Like I want to get to scratch one day, which please follow us on Instagram or YouTube or or wherever you get your content, you could you could see my journey there. But most people don’t practice enough to be able to get good enough, right? Like so so intent aside, right? And and I agree with you. Like if I was ever like, “Hey, I really need to work on my ball striking.” like I’ll I’ll probably go through all of the cobwebs and bust out my blades and and go do a range session there, but even with as much as I want to practice and even as much as I want to get there, that’s not the first thing to work on for me, right? Like building on that, it’s it’s not just the practice. Like for most people, they only carry one set of golf clubs, right? So then like that is also what they have to bring out onto the field. And and to put a shameless plug here, I guess now that track is available, you don’t really need Blaze to know that you made good contact. That’s fair. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You you would know regardless. I would say though, not only from a practice standpoint, right, but more like, hey, are you getting out there and hitting just your personal goals? I would say that if you consider the blade on the field, you need to have a faster swing speed than most people actually do to play the blades because when you mishit it even by a little bit, you’re losing what is it like 10 15% of your distance like right off the bat, right? though for most people that would be so detrimental that they’re gapping from like I I think it’s like their six iron and longer there there’s probably no gapping right there they’re probably like it’s interchangeable so again like if you’re doing that like what’s the point of actually playing but I will say that when I was playing blades compared to game improvement or cavity backs my score actually didn’t change all that much and I also have a friend who’s a beginner whose first major purchase was a tailor made P7TW W and those are nice. He scores about what you would expect for someone that’s played that long whether he’s playing blades or game improvement iron. So I feel like from a scoring perspective as well, there is an argument to be made for blades. And I think hitting hitting a little bit shorter, I don’t think that’s as big of an issue as hitting your distance but hitting it 40 yards offline. Because if you’re hitting that same distance but 40 yards off, that second shot becomes just as difficult. or you’re in the woods compared to you just Yeah. Or you just just hitting it short and still being, you know, in the first cut or in the rough, right? Like your area of miss is just better if if you’re a little I could see that. I don’t I don’t know if I ever told you this actually. So when I transitioned to just a full muscle back, right? So the 716 MBs were the first time that I played them. Before that, I was playing the Mazuna MP5s, right? So not exactly a game improvement iron. Still a little bit of a Wait, was the MP? No, MP35s. Okay, I’m going to say them both. I’m going to have to re look it up. Uh either I I was playing one of the Mizuno clubs. It was it was a partial cavity back, right? Not a lot of game improvement. Um this is like circa 2013 or or something like that. My score didn’t change at all either. So when I actually went to play, it’s the same thing. My score didn’t change. I was I was still eating all of my shots. like you know it’s the chipping the three putting the things that most amateurs are struggling with right so like you’re yeah you know if you go to a cavity back I probably save a stroke or two in the course of a round on average right but I don’t know that’s fair I don’t know that you’re materially going to make a difference if you consider like the total amateur game yeah and obviously this doesn’t matter I would say for most amateurs but from a consistency standpoint there is also the argument that blades just give you better consistency. Even if you mishit it, it will consistently be short. Whereas with game improvement irons, like there are some flyers, like jumpy shots that I’ve hit where it wasn’t a good contact, but then it all of a sudden like flies like 20 yards past your distance. And so that distance control I felt was a little bit inconsistent. And I know with the recent models, they’ve gotten a lot better at it, but at least when I was first starting out, I felt like there was a lot of jumpy shots where distance control was annoying me to a certain degree. Yeah. No, no, I feel you. There was um I and I feel like back in the day, the tailor made irons were known for this, right? And and I think my first tailor made irons that I ever played, was it a R5? Was that a is that a thing? Either way, I love the irons, right? But like they they were very springy off the face. So yeah, every once in a while it’s like you hit a good shot. It’s not terrible by any means, but like you sailed the green and you’re just like I don’t have that carry in my bag with this club. Like what what what is happening? So yes, I feel you. I I do agree with with that. They’re going to be way more consistent. Yeah. Um the only real other argument that I have is that blades just look really sexy and so that that top line and also I never did well with offset. So, I don’t know how many people really know about offset, but do you know why they created offsets in irons? It has something to do with the longer clubs and getting it the ability to actually square it in time, right? Yeah. So, that little tenth to 1/4 of an inch offset is what they found that most amateurs needed to actually square their club face because a lot of amateurs open their club face and that gave it forgiveness. For some reason, I cannot play with an offset. If there’s a huge offset, it really throws me off and it really shouldn’t. And you know, obviously I’m not good enough that it really should matter. But I’ve always preferred almost no offset on my irons. And I felt that also helped me just align the club better. I give you this one. There is nothing prettier than than a blade when you’re standing over it. Like the list of clubs, if we won the lottery tomorrow, I’d go find a a pair of old Tiger Victory Reds somewhere, right? get like get them refinished. Yeah. No, I’ i’d probably also buy the one that your friend has, the TWW version. I would probably actually like build a wall of golf clubs and 3/4 of them would be blades, but realistically it would be to look at. I don’t think I’m ever actually going to game blades again because I don’t play enough, right? So, uh I have a kid, right? love them to death, but definitely not conducive to the going out and golfing thing. Right? So, for me, golf has become so sporadic and it’s such a treat that I don’t want to spend a round frustrated and angry because I’m not getting the performance out of my irons that I want, right? I want I want to enjoy myself on the round. I also don’t want to be like my elbow’s numb by the end of the round because it’s, you know, just that shock wave of pain from miss every single time that I I I go to hit the ball. If you go to my personal Instagram page, you’ll see pictures of them, but I once owned two sets of mirrors and they were both blades. The the Mirror MB1s are probably my favorite blades. They made a newer version. It’s the MB 101 now, but I still like the look of the 001’s better. I think if I were to create a set today, I would actually do my last run of blades and not not not in the long irons, but I think I would maybe go seven or six to pitching wedge and then I would get the combo set. I I would probably do a combo and then I would do like a like a like a tour cavity back for like the the five and the four iron. But I think I think I want one more run with blades if possible. I’m for the combo sets. I I could get behind the combo sets. Actually, the second set that I got was a semi-combo set. It was the the five and the four I got as CBS, titleless CBS. Um, and then I did six through pitch uh as the as the muscle backs. Um, and and then you technically, you pointed this out to me once, wedges are muscle backs, right? Or Yeah. blades, right? Or most most of them, I should say. I mean, you you could find a few Cleveland that are like cavity backs, but no one uses them. I will say the one one final thing about blades is maintenance. It does take more maintenance with blades cuz the lie and the loft, they are softer steel. They do tend to shift a lot. So with my mirrors, I got them checked like every 6 months just making sure that the lie and the lofts were correct. And every single time they were off by a little bit, but enough to a point where the gapping would get mixed up from like between like 8 to 7 and then from like 7 to 6 there would be a jump. And so that is one thing with blades that you there is like a maintenance fee that you kind of have to pay to constantly get them rechecked or or you just become best friends with the local fitter and they’ll just hook you up. Yeah, that that reminds me if I ever get these blades back from my brother-in-law, I’m probably going to have to get them completely redone. Yeah. Yeah. You know, this is this is probably a conversation for another time, but I really wanted to buy the lie and loft adjusting machine for my garage. You absolutely should. The only reason I haven’t pulled the trigger is I think I will tinker too much with my clubs if I had one of those. But another conversation we we’ll have a debate whether I should actually get them or not. Yeah. Maybe maybe set it up in the warehouse. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, in conclusion, should amateurs play blades? And my thought is still yes. amateurs, if you are interested in becoming better ball strikers, not just better scorers necessarily, but just better ball strikers, I still think that blades are one of the the most honest tools that you can use to practice. Um, and plus, like I said, I just think they look really, really nice. I’m going to go with if you really want to, you should. There’s no I I started as a no, but I think at this point it’s there’s no reason you shouldn’t unless I’m going to say unless you’re over 40 and and I’m on the wrong side of 40, right? because by now it’s like my back hurts just from like sleeping incorrectly. My swing speed is definitely dropping. I don’t have time to play, right? And for me that’s the recipe of like blades is are almost not worth it. But other than that, it like if you can put in the time, you can keep up your fitness regimen and you honestly just want it, then yeah, go for it by all means. I’m going to disagree with you because I am 40 and I want to be able to play blades for the next 5 years. That’s fair. On to the next question. So, as many of you heard, I mean, this this kind of overtook every single news cycle in relation to the to the writer Kab. I mean, it was this in Victor Havlin’s neck, right? But there was an extreme amount of heckling, almost harassment that was going on to the European obviously playing in New York as a former New Yorker. Yeah, New Yorkers have their reputation, but is this heckling like any other sport? And as an athlete, should you expect it or did the New Yorkers cross the line? Was it unacceptable? Is this something that we shouldn’t be okay with in any sport, let alone golf? I’m pretty cons I’m pretty curious like how much of it were New Yorkers because also for the Ryder Cup, a lot of people travel, right? That’s fair. Yeah. I feel like it’s definitely more of an American thing though. Yeah. Yeah. Probably. So, what’s your take? Is this heckling or is this unacceptable? I play football and so in football there’s always a lot of heckling. you you don’t hear it as much though. I would say that in golf if one person like screams something out because it’s generally a quieter crowd. You will hear it whereas in like football everyone’s cheering and there there’s so much noise going on that you don’t really hear the heckling but it goes on. When I go to a basketball game, when I go to a Laker game, like I hear heckling all the time. So I feel like heckling and crowd noise in such a big event like this where there is for one of the rarest times in golf homefield advantage. I think it should not only be allowed but it’s it’s kind of expected. However, I will say that some of it the outliers that happened at the Ryder Cup is inappropriate and disrespectful. What were the outliers for you when it comes to golf? The moment that they step with their stance, you don’t heckle at that point. if they’re going from hole to hole. Um, like I feel like heckling is fine, but there has to be a point where, you know, to stop. And I think especially in the case with Rory, there was a lot of heckling going on when he was getting ready to take his back swing. And so that is where I think it crossed the line. And obviously when it becomes physical, I think it be it definitely crosses the line. I know there was a lot of things being thrown at. And I think actually it was like Rory’s wife who got hit by like a beer cup. And so things like that, you get thrown out of an NBA game and you get banned. Things like that I am definitely against. But general heckling, crowd noise, I feel like it’s just part of sports today. That’s interesting. So I I also, you know, I grew up playing sports through college. None of my sports had heckling. I I ran around in circles, right? It’s all uh cheer, right? It’s like it’s it’s all um an affirmative cheer. And then I I did like a half a season of rowing in college uh where you’re you’re in the middle of a a river boat like you can’t hear anyone anyway. So So for me I I understand your point about heckling. I I do agree with you that there are certain lines, right? You don’t go after family ever period, right? Like even in an NBA game, right? What was it like Ron Artest or whatever he’s calling himself now? Peace. Metal world peace. Like he like climbed into the fans to go after somebody because and I I think the trigger was they were saying something about his family, right? Uh if I remember correct that was so long and I think and I think they also threw beer bottles at him. Right. Right. So again those two things, right? Like, yeah, there’s no room for that in any sport. I agree with that. This might be I don’t know, maybe maybe it’s again, I’m I’m aging myself, right? Or maybe it’s when I learned golf and I love that more people are into it. I love that more of my friends are into it. But there is a part of me that like appreciates the tradition of the sport. And part of that is, you know, it is a very, and I’m not trying to be misogynistic here. I just don’t know a better word for it, but it’s a gentlemanly sport, right? So there is a a fair amount of decorum and respect and you know I’ I’ve heard debates even about things like the dress code like I like the dress code right I think there is something about the tradition of the sport and carrying that because it’s just so ingrained into what it is now right and I’m not talking about the stuffiness right and I’m not talking about the country club culture because I like I’ve never no I’ve played I’ve never been a part of a country club like I play munis like everybody else but there’s still something about a respect for the game and holding it to a higher standard. That includes the spectators and just anybody being in and around the game that I I do think from a traditionalist standpoint that’s crossing a line, right? A few comments here or there like as a joke and it’s clearly a joke. Sure, fine. It’s a team sport, right? The Ryder Cup is I’m actually wearing my RDER Cup hat from God knows when, but like I’m all for that in the spirit of gamesmanship, but tearing people down, going after family, like some of the comments of what was being said, you know, and and do I think some of the European players were a little sensitive? Maybe. Maybe a little bit. Right. But at the same time, you know, cuz cuz I I I hear the argument like, “Hey, you’re playing for millions of dollar. You’re playing this sport for millions of dollars, right? You do it in front of people. You put yourself out there. you’re a public figure, you should expect this. I don’t think there’s a level of disrespect that anybody should be okay with anywhere, let alone upholding the traditions of the gentlemanly quote unquote game, so to speak. Yeah. So, I think I think that’s been the kind of the battle for a while, that argument, right, of tradition versus modernizing the game. And especially with like Liv coming along, like allowing shorts, which probably we’ll discuss in a future episode. I’ve I’ve heard of this was this is a little bit before my time, but I heard there was a writer cup at Brooklyn in 99. And then obviously Hazeline uh which was a couple years ago, couple years ago, almost a decade, but those two also had some very, very bad crowd behavior. And unfortunately, both of those happened in the US. But I feel like a lot of these fans as they’re crossing over from other sports like basketball and football and even baseball, you go to a Dodger game or a major league game and there’s a lot of heckling. And so I feel like as those fans are crossing over, some of that culture is bleeding into golf. And I am not entirely against it. I feel like the game like every sport is actually evolving, right? The NFL evolves annually. Major League Baseball recently had the best ratings because it’s evolved as a sport with like the pitch clock and all that. Even basketball is constantly evolving with the rules. I feel like golf as well, it’s as much as it is athletics, it’s also an entertainment product. And as we kind of shift into that, yeah, I feel like there’s going to be a lot of traditions that are going to get broken, right, in in the sport. Now, I do have a question. There was an MC at the writer cup. So, she was part of the organizers and she was starting an F Rory chant. I’m assuming that no room. Yeah. Yeah. That I was just like, wow. Like, if an organizer is doing that, that is completely off the rails. Yeah. I I mean, you’re you’re basically giving permission to the crowd. Like, they’re they’re looking at like you’re an organizer. you’re an MC. You’re held assumingly to a different bar than everybody else. So, if you’re okay here, she just gave permission to everybody to go here, right? I think there’s no room for that. Uh, nobody deserves that type of disrespect from the organizers of the game, but I I think things like that and and you know, I’m not opposed to modernizing the game. I I should say that, right? I think there are some rules that are stuffy for no reason or just like overly complicated and you can trace where it comes from, right? But it’s it’s like a legacy thing that I think we can finally get rid of now. But I do think that there are certain parts of the growth of the game that are almost for me, right? I think it’s disrespectful to the game and like I I think of this is going to be a very unpopular opinion. The Waste Management Open in Phoenix, right? It has a reputation for being like a a party tournament. People are encouraged to be talking and screaming, especially on on what is it the 16th hole, right? When I used to watch a lot of golfer, like I just had it on. What what I noticed is every year I feel like that tournament got worse. Mh. Like it started off as like it was a party tournament. Oh, this is fun. And then a lot of other people got wind of it and other people from outside of golf, to your point, maybe they’re used to other sports, they started coming into it and then it became like this is just an excuse to get like blackout drunk in the middle of the day. Yeah. It just became a giant party. That’s for me somewhere around there is where I draw the line, right? Like you’re you’re no longer having fun with golf. You’re having fun at golf’s expense. And I think that’s for me where again, maybe I’m a traditionalist, right? But like, but you can go do that anywhere else. So go do it somewhere else, right? Don’t get in the way of the people that are trying to enjoy the game for the way that the game that that it it’s been enjoyed for the last however however hundreds of years. Sure. Sure. What the one thing that I was really surprised was like from an accountability standpoint and from an enforcement standpoint. Obviously, we just talked about an organizer starting to chant, which they did apologize for, but still happened. But there were no arrests and I think a few fans were like removed, but like you get ejected and lifetime bans from other sports for some of the things that happened here. And I think that deters future behavior to a certain degree. And I don’t think there was any accountability that happened from the writer cup. And so I think that’s the one aspect where I’m like, man, I think the organizers kind of missed the ball on that one. And I agree. Is that going to just further allow this behavior to happen at future writer cup events? Right. Because because now it’s like this was okay last time. I’m I’m also the guy that hates when people scream like baba buoy or or whatever it is. Mashed potatoes. Mash. Yeah. First of all, be more creative, right? Second of all, they never zoom in on you. So, I don’t know why people are like what what kicks are you getting out of it? But again, for me, that’s like most people probably don’t even know why they’re doing the screaming. They’ve just seen somebody else do it. It’s not tied to this. There’s no history or or legacy that is important to the game that is tied to this. So, they’ve just seen somebody else do it. They’re like, “Haha, this is funny. I’m going to do this, too.” No. Get rid of all that, right? There there’s no room. You’re you’re making it worse for everybody else. And some of us who have been golfing for a long time and enjoy the game for what it is, like we would appreciate if you just let us do that. I have I have one final argument for potentially why the fans were a little bit rowdy. It’s that the Americans were getting their butts kicked. Would they have done that if the Americans were destroying their Europeans? I don’t think they would have been as rowdy. And this is where I think homefield crowd feels like they’re that extra player, right? like like like in Seattle, Seattle Seahawks, they call their fans the 12th man, right? Because there’s 11 players on the field and they’re the 12th player. And so I feel like they kind of took it on themselves as, hey, I could be responsible for the resurgence of the Americans in this tournament by trying to throw off the Europeans by being annoying as heck. It’s it’s like it’s like the guy in in Happy Gilmore, jackass. Like it’s that guy, right? and also Happy Jackass win. So I feel like that homefield advantage mentality, that crowd mentality also definitely played into this. Yeah. I mean, I think I think they would have been as bad even if America was winning. But I’ll give you that point. Okay. So So to conclude, Ryder Cup behavior, is it just run-of-the-mill sports heckling or was it unacceptable? It was definitely some of the outliers were definitely unacceptable. However, I am generally a fan of heckling, crowd noise, especially in big events like this, giving the home team that homefield advantage. I am a fan of that. Okay. And and again, this is one of the rare events in golf where there is a home field advantage. There really is no home field advantage like the Ryder Cup. Um, I’m going to stick with God, if you really want to do it that bad, go to a baseball game. Go to a basketball game. Go to a football game, right? Let let the old fogies who who like a quiet golf course enjoy the way that it’s been played for the last few hundred years. Well, they can’t do this at a football game because they’ll get ejected. That’s fair. That’s fair. All right. Should we uh go into the last segment? Yes. of our episode today and that is are you a golf dbag or not? We have six questions and after each question you can basically say that was a dbag move or no that’s perfectly acceptable. Okay, so the first question for are you a golf dbag or not is always twirling your club after a drive. Uh I think this one needs a little bit of a qualifier. Do you always stripe your drive? that and that’ll change your answer. Yes. Okay. Okay. Let’s let’s do let’s do both. Yes. Okay. Always stripe your drive and it goes 275 to 290 in the fairway. In the fairway or the first cut, but it’s every Yeah. Yes. You earned it. Bombs away. Twirl away. You got it. I think if you hit a good shot, nobody who cares. You twirl your club to your heart’s content. If you on the flip side, if you just like duck hooked one 70 yards over and you know potentially killed somebody on the other fairway, no, you do not get to twirl your clubs. Like, put that away. That’s a dag. Interesting. Let me let me add I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. You’re not a good golfer, but you want to make sure that like you’re having fun and the rest of your group is having fun. So, to show that you twirl your club after every drive, even if you sliced it to the next hole, but you do it every single time. And it’s kind of like a running joke. Is that still a D-bag move? A little bit. Because for me, I think the bigger D-bag move is that you stripe it every single time and you twirl your club because you you should expect it. Yeah. Yeah. You’re you’re kind of like I’m all that. Everyone like watch. You’re bringing attention to yourself that you’re just so amazing at driving. And so I think that is actually more of a dag move than someone who sucks that is twirling their club after every drive. Okay. So So let me ask you this. twirling your club better or worse than flipping your bat in baseball? Oh, I think they’re about the same. You So that’s where twirling your club is for you flipping. Yeah, cuz but yeah, if you flip your bat in an MLB game and it’s severe enough like you will start a fight. Actually, do people do they still fight over that? But like for a time like you you would start a fight. I don’t think they I don’t think they would fight over that over twirling your bat. I feel like there’s been instances where like a bad or just like a very very egregious flip teams have gotten into like I think I think that’s I think those are instances where there is a backstory behind it. But if there was no like history between you and the pitcher and you flip your bag after every home run. I think it’s about the same as twirling your club. I see. I see. That’s why and that’s why if it was me, I would do it once in a while, but as like a power hitter, like an Aaron Judge or like a show, for them to flip their bat after every home run, that would be a Dback move. But they’re allowed to do it here and there. Okay, I’ll give that to you. Okay. If that’s the equivalency that we’re making, I give that to you. For for for you, which was worse? Was was flipping the bat bat worse than twirling? Oh, like 100 times worse. 100 times worse. Like because I I feel like with a club twirl and it’s like barely noticeable. You’re bringing your club down anyway, right? If you’re doing the Miguel, what’s his name? Like samurai sword, like flipping your club around and Yes, that is that’s even worse than a bat flip, right? But just like a normal little like twirl like a My twirls are It’s not a little twirl. Oh, okay. Like like the tiger twirl. Oh, where he’s does the the bad and just walks off. Okay. Okay. Maybe maybe a little Dback move. Okay. Second question. Walking in your putts. Is that a Dback move or not? I’m going to go with yes, but if you’re a bad putter, you should still try doing it anyway because it was it would just be so funny to me if you tried walking in your putts all the time and you just kept missing. Like, yeah, you’re being a dag, but I think that’s actually like you’re making yourself look so dumb. That’s hilarious. What about you? Wow. I don’t think it’s that big of a Dback move. Is it like Is it I guess I guess I’m in a sense contradicting myself, but you’re walking it in because you’re expecting everything to go in, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like especially for amateurs, you’re going to miss a lot of putts. Yeah. I think if you’re an amateur, like you’re not going to make all of those putts. So, I’m perfectly fine with people trying to walk in their putts. Like you said, I think it’ll be really hilarious when they miss. And for amateurs, that’ll be most of the time. But yeah, I I normally don’t have an issue with people walking in their putts, but do we see people walking in their putts all that often when we play? We don’t, right? No. No. I I think our friends are just not even remotely confident enough that they’re going to make it that. I actually I take that back cuz I know I feel like I’ve done this. You walk up to your putt. It’s not walking in your putt, right? Like you putt and before it’s it’s stopped, you start walking, but it’s because you know it’s so awe that you’re going to go to market faster. I don’t know if that counts as walking in your putt, but I I definitely think that’s that’s a thing because I I think for this question, walking in your putt, it’s like you have like a three-footer and like you putt and like you immediately go in to grab the ball, right? Right. Cuz cuz I mean for Yeah. Cuz for amateurs like anything beyond 5T like your numbers drop drastically, right? Yeah. All right. The third question is rangefinder to the pin on a par4 Dback move or not? I’m going to go with yes because I’m assuming you mean like they do it on every par4. Yeah. Yeah. Every every like remotely remotely drivable par4 they pull out the rangefinder and they have to shoot the pin. So 300 and they’re like oh the flag the flag today is you know 320. It’s 305. I’m gonna I’m gonna go with yes, right? Because and and in my younger days I used to be a long hitter. Like hitting 300 was was not a big deal. So there’s reachable par force. We would wait for the group to walk off just in case, but we would also know like, hey, we’re not so accurate that we think we’re going to hit the pin. Like the scorecard tells you how how long the hole is. You know reasonably where it’s going to be plus or minus 15 yards, right? On on uh front to back. Do you really need a a rangefinder? No. So I’m going to go with Yeah. A little bit of a a Dback. Okay. I’ll stop doing that. Okay. But why why do you do it? I guess so. On par 4s where I see on the scorecard that it’s like 325 or less, I will shoot it because there have been times where it’s actually not as far as you think. It’s only like 275, 280, right? And there have been instances where I’ve overshot the green. M. And so in cases like that, yeah, I I’ll either like take off the driver a little bit or I’ll like actually just pull out a 3-wood, right? And so there are instances where I do want to know, is this realistic? Like obviously I think everything’s realistic, but can I actually hit the green or is the driver actually not a good idea on this hole because there’s a higher chance I would miss it, especially on the shorter end cuz I I can’t I can’t swing slow. Everything’s one speed. So that is one of the main reasons why I do pull out the rangefinder and shoot the pin on a par4. Fair enough. You know, I I would have also accepted that you’re just doing really good course management and so you’re trying to figure out how you’re working backwards to the to the pin, but let’s be honest, we’re we’re not that meticulous about our course management. All right, fourth question. Is this a Dback move or not? When you humble brag on your wedge shots that it’s spinning too much today, yes, 100% Dback move. Most amateurs can’t control their spin. You didn’t do it on purpose, right? Like you you were probably shocked that it spun back at all. So trying to say, “Oh, no. It spun back more than I intended it to.” No, you were just shocked that it spun back at all. So, I’m going to go with with yes. Yeah. Um I I’ll agree with you on this one. I don’t think it’s humble bragging at all. I think it’s just bragging that your wedge shot spun back because like you said, most amateurs, they don’t put a lot of backspin on their wet shots. So, I don’t think it’s humble bragging. I think it’s just bragging. And don’t do it. But how did you feel when I said that when we played on Friday? I was like, “Oh, my ball spun back.” I was like, “Oh, yeah. I guess it did.” No, but I said it because I knew this question, right? All right. Fifth question. Giving yourself unlimited mulligans. Is that a D-bag move or not? Not only a dbag move in my book, but also one of my biggest pet peeves. All right. Those guys that they’re just like immediately ready to reload and go go for another one. And cuz cuz you know they’re they’re not playing provisionals, right? They’re giving some themselves a free stroke every single time. And I would say, especially since I moved to the West Coast, the rounds here are some of the slowest rounds I’ve ever played in my life categorically. And I’m going to say it’s probably because there’s a few guys in every group that are just giving themselves a second T-shot whenever they want. And then sometimes probably playing both. Either way, like I also don’t think you get better if you just keep giving yourself a better shot. So take your licks, go find your ball, take the penalty drop up there, figure it out from there. Yeah. Wait, when you played in the East Coast, how long were your rounds? A long round was 4 hours and 50 minutes. That is crazy. We would be complaining. We’d be like, “What the hell?” Oh my goodness. If you didn’t routinely finish in four and a half hours, the ranger would have come and talked to you like three or four times. Oh wow. Wow. Okay. I’m I’m used to like 5 hour rounds. Yeah. Yeah. And so when we finish in like 4:30, we’re like, “Oh, today was so fast.” Yeah. 4 4:30 is the accepted norm. Any slower than that and you’re like, “What is going on with this course?” And and if it’s like if it’s open in front of you, not rushing, walking, my my friends and I have finished in like 340, right? And these are longer courses, too. These are like 68 to 7,200 yard courses. So I I just don’t understand what’s wrong with LA. Yeah. I for this one I would also agree like ask if you’re going to take a mulligan and and you know if we’re so backed up and we give you unlimited mulligans that’s fine but yeah don’t just give it to yourself and you know what I hate are the people that will take a mulligan and you’re playing match play and then at the end of that hole they’re like oh we tied and we’re like like no you took a you took a mulligan yeah I think the way that we play just just for everybody else’s sake is that generally You get one mulligan per nine and you use it or lose it. It does not roll over from the front to the back. Right. So I would say like for me that’s like it’s a friendly game. That’s totally fine. We’re not professionals. We’re not good enough that we’re always going to stripe our drive. So like cool. But other than that, yeah, I don’t think you should be taking mulligans. Yeah. Okay. Final question for today. And and I think this question is actually going to be its own episode down the line, but head covers on your irons. Is that a DAG move or not? I’m going to caveat with I don’t know why I feel this way. Can’t really explain it, but yes, it is. Head covers should not be on the irons, period. So, I told you about these very sexy mirror MB1s. At the time, they were like $1,600 that I had head covers on them, which to be fair, if you’re going to put head covers on any irons, those are the ones to do. Yeah. For for me it was I didn’t mind there being a scratch or a dent like something from play. M I hated it when there was damage due to bag chatter and so and especially you know when you’re riding and depending on who’s driving you’re going to hit a route and it’s going to like smash into each other. Like it was for that driver. It was for that use case that I used a head cover for my irons. I don’t, you know, I’m playing with, you know, JPX tours right now and I don’t have them for that, but for blades because they’re so soft, especially when it’s made in Japan. Um, I just feel like the Japanese made irons are a little bit softer, which is why we love them, right? But because of that, I had head covers on them. And so for me, because I had it, it’s not a Dback move. Although although I realized like out of these six questions, I do like four of them. Four. But you know, it’s okay. with you. Yeah, we’re good. It’s fine. We’re good. All right, everybody. Thanks again for uh coming to check out our first episode. Please don’t forget to subscribe and follow for more. And check out our Instagram @ trackgolf. That’s t r a q g o lf. And with that, we’re out. And may your mulligans be many and your three putts be few. [Music]