There’s a growing sense of uneasiness among LIV Golf players – and it’s not about their swings.
According to this report by Ben Parsons at Today’s Golfer, several LIV players are starting to realize that the long-term picture might not be as clear (or guaranteed) as it once seemed. Early deals came with massive upfront money, but as contracts begin to approach their expiration dates, questions are starting to surface.
The big one: what happens next?
Some players reportedly assumed renewals or ongoing opportunities would be automatic. Now, there’s growing awareness that future deals could be more performance-based – or not come at all. That’s a pretty stark shift from the “guaranteed money forever” narrative that helped launch the league.
There’s also the broader issue of LIV’s place in the golf ecosystem. With ongoing negotiations involving the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and Saudi backers, the future structure of pro golf is still very much in flux. Until that gets sorted, LIV players are stuck in a bit of a holding pattern.
For now, the money’s still good. But for the first time, it sounds like some LIV guys are starting to think about what happens when it isn’t.
This is me.
When I was in my 20s, I got really lucky.
I started a business with some buddies. We were in the right place, at the right time, with the right product.
It changed my life.
We built that business to about $10 million in revenue. We paid ourselves real salaries. And we went through everything that comes with it – mistakes, losses, firings, resignations, lawsuits. The whole deal.
I won’t bore you with all of it, but three things happened during that stretch:
- I learned a hell of a lot
- My wife got pregnant with our first daughter (we now have two)
- And somewhere in there, I fell in love with golf
Around that time, my wife suggested we move from Austin back to Pennsylvania, where we both grew up, and where most of our family still lives.
I didn’t want to go.
But sometimes, when you’re married, you disagree and commit anyway. That’s what being a good teammate looks like.
Take notes, fellas.
Anyway, we moved back in 2022, and she was right – it was the best decision we could’ve made for our family. There’s nothing better than raising your kids around people who love them.
If you’re reading this, please send it to my wife so she knows I publicly admitted she was right and I was wrong. Thank you for your time.
I’d love to say that was the only time I’ve been wrong, but I made a few more mistakes in that stretch – and somehow, they all led to Caddyshanks.
Where I Got It Wrong
Moving wasn’t the only major life event happening at that time.
Within a pretty short window, I:
- Walked away from the business I had spent most of my 20s building
- Sold our house in Austin (after a failed Airbnb attempt)
- Had our first child
- Bought two small golf businesses with my brother Jesse and my friend Jon
If you take nothing else from this article, take this:
Do not stack every major life decision on top of each other.
Because I did.
And I wildly overestimated myself.
The two businesses we bought were easiergolfing.com and bodyforgolf.com.
Easier Golfing sold a swing trainer called The PowerFlex. Body For Golf sold a few fitness E-books, which we still sell today.
At the time of purchase, the two businesses combined for about $25,000 per month in revenue – most of it coming from the PowerFlex.
There were thousands of positive reviews. We were working on bringing shipping in-house to improve margins. Everything looked stable.
I felt like a genius.
I had analyzed search volume, spotted a trend, and thought I was skating to where the puck was going.
Then reality hit.
Within a few months, Amazon released an Amazon Basics version of the PowerFlex.
Same concept. Lower price. Infinite distribution.
Overnight, our sales cratered.
We couldn’t compete and I was reeling.
I had walked away from a comfortable salary. I was living off buyout money. We had a newborn at home.
And the business I had just convinced my brother and one of my best friends to buy with me… got crushed almost immediately. (By the way, we still have about 1,000 swing trainers sitting in Jon’s garage if you want one.)
The Pivot
But there was one piece of the business that didn’t break.
The newsletter.
When we bought the sites, they came with a small email list – a few thousand subscribers. Over time, we had learned how to sell ads to brands trying to reach a golf audience.
It wasn’t much. A few hundred bucks a month, but it was profitable.
And more importantly, it was ours, and not something that Amazon, or others, could easily replicate.
So we leaned into it and slowly, it started to grow.
Not enough to pay a salary. Not even close. But some advertising dollars were rolling in. Enough to cover its costs. Enough to keep going.
For a long time, I wrote and sent the newsletter 3x per week to almost no one.
There was just one problem – I couldn’t work on something that made no money forever, no matter how much I enjoyed it.
So we did what a lot of people in that situation do.
We started something else.
We launched a marketing agency. We started another newsletter. We pieced things together.
It wasn’t glamorous, and it wasn’t clean, but things were starting to work.
Where We’re At Now
Fast forward to today.
We run a marketing agency called That’s Crisp. We help clients – mostly in sports – create content, grow their audiences, and build their brands.
Last week, we were credentialed media at the JM Eagle LA Championship, an LPGA event, with one of our clients.
That was a bit of a “holy sh*t” moment for our small team. We got to meet great people, shoot content, and be inside the ropes at a professional golf tournament – not something I saw coming a few years ago.
We also own two media brands:
Caddyshanks, for golf, and Dad Day, for dads.
You can check out our deck for the two media brands here, if you’re interested.
I’ve written Caddyshanks three times a week, every week, for over three years now. I love it – it doesn’t feel like work. I get to talk about golf, make picks, tell stories, and try to figure out how to deliver as much value as possible to people who care about the game as much as I do.
On the other side, Adam Kunes has been the driving force behind Dad Day. We’re really proud of what that’s become – a private Slack community for dads, real-world run clubs and events, and now a YouTube channel focused on telling the stories of great dads.
In a few weeks, we’ll be launching a Caddyshanks YouTube channel as well, with some crossover episodes highlighting dads in the golf world.
It’s funny – a couple years ago, I thought the big win was buying those golf businesses. Now, the best parts of what we do are the things that don’t feel like work at all, and through a series of happy accidents, we’ve ended up with with a real business.
And for the first time since all of this started a few years ago, it looks like I might even be able to take a small salary this year.
If you made it this far, I appreciate you reading. If you ever want to connect, shoot me a note – josey@caddyshanks.co
Justin Rose has a new bag, and it’s not just a logo swap.
The 45-year-old Englishman has officially signed with McLaren Golf, becoming the brand’s first-ever ambassador after quietly working with them behind the scenes for the past two years.
This isn’t your typical “here’s a check, throw the hat on” deal. Rose has been involved in the development process – testing, tweaking, and helping shape what McLaren believes is a performance-driven entry into the golf equipment space. Now, it’s go time.
He’ll put the new sticks in play starting this week in Miami.
And look, anytime a brand with McLaren’s DNA – speed, precision, engineering – steps into golf, it’s at least worth paying attention. Whether that translates to actual gains on the course is a different story, but if anyone’s going to stress-test new gear under real pressure, it’s a guy like Rose, who’s somehow still striping it at 45.
Remember last week when we said Matt Fitzpatrick has serious stones?
Yeah – he doubled down.
This time, with his brother’s PGA Tour future hanging in the balance.
What Happened?
The Fitzpatricks blew a four-shot lead on the back nine. It looked like the tournament was slipping. Then, like we’ve seen before, Matt stepped up when it mattered most.
Final hole. Same script.
Last week it was a four-iron. This week, a wedge – and somehow, it might’ve been even better.
A 35-yard bunker shot, under max pressure, that he clipped clean and spun to tap-in range.
His brother Alex got to be the one to do the tapping – knocking it in to seal the victory.
They finished at a tournament-record 31-under.
And for Alex, it’s career-changing stuff – a two-year exemption on Tour, plus tee times locked in at the 2027 PGA Championship, The 2027 Players Championship, and the remaining signature events this season, including the Cadillac Championship and Truist Championship.
What About Everybody Else?
Behind them, the teams of Alex Smalley / Hayden Springer and Kristoffer Reitan / Kris Ventura finished one back (-30) in a tie for second.
But this one wasn’t about the leaderboard.
It was about two brothers helping each other turn a dream into reality.
What’s Next?
This week, the PGA TOUR heads to Miami for the Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral.
A mix of dominance, innovation, controversy, and what’s coming next. One player is back on top of the world, another story dives into how far equipment testing can go, one decision splits fans, one lays out the future of a major, and another follows a player looking for redemption on one of golf’s toughest stages.
→ Nelly Korda Wins Chevron Championship to Reclaim World No. 1
Nelly Korda is back where she belongs – and she didn’t sneak up on anyone getting there. This win wasn’t just another trophy, it was a statement that the consistency, the adjustments, and the dominance we’ve been watching are very real. Reaching No. 1 again feels less like a comeback and more like a correction.
→ Can a Golf Ball ‘Private Club’ Work? Inside the Underground
Golf Magazine’s Johnny Wunder caught up with the minds behind the movement: Hollywood icon and certified stick Mark Wahlberg, industry veteran Garry Singer and retail titan/philanthropist Doug Meijer. They aren’t just trying to sell you a golf ball; they’re trying to change the way you think about what’s in your bag…and how you get it.
→ ‘Bad sport’: Rory McIlroy’s Decision to Skip Cadillac Championship Leads to Mixed Reactions
Rory McIlroy made a call, and not everyone is happy about it. Skipping events always comes with opinions, but this one hit a nerve. Some see it as a smart scheduling move, others as a lack of commitment. Either way, it shows how nothing can happen in professional golf without it turning into a debate.
→ PGA Championship Future Sites: List of Venues and Courses for Men’s Second Major
The roadmap for one of golf’s biggest events is starting to take shape. Future venues give a glimpse into how the PGA Championship wants to position itself – a mix of classic tests and modern setups that can challenge the best players in the world. It’s not just about where they’re playing, but what kind of golf they want to showcase.
→ Sam Burns Is Ready for Redemption at the U.S. Open
Sam Burns knows how quickly things can turn at a major. This is about getting another shot, learning from what didn’t go right, and stepping back into the spotlight with something to prove. The U.S. Open doesn’t hand anything out, which makes a redemption story like this one worth watching.
A mix of where the game is headed – and where it might’ve already peaked. One story looks at a league losing its pulse, another reminds us older gear still has plenty of life, one follows a player separating from the field with a few small tweaks, and the last questions whether we’ve been thinking about the game the wrong way entirely.
→ LIV Golf Is Dying of Boredom
The outrage phase is over, and that might be the biggest problem of all. What once felt disruptive and impossible to ignore now feels like background noise – fewer headlines, less emotion, and a noticeable drop in energy around the product itself. LIV Golf isn’t dominating the conversation anymore, but it also isn’t replacing it with anything compelling. And in sports, indifference is a death sentence.
→ 5 Vintage Fairway Woods That Modern Technology Still Struggles To Beat
Every golfer has that one club they’ll never get rid of, no matter how many “better” options come out. This piece digs into why that might be more than just nostalgia. For all the promises of distance, forgiveness, and innovation, some older fairway woods still deliver a feel and performance that modern designs haven’t fully replicated. It’s a reminder that progress in golf equipment isn’t always linear – and sometimes the old stuff just works.
→ Nelly Korda Made Some Changes. Now, She’s Running Away With a Major
Nelly Korda didn’t show up with a completely new game – she made a few targeted changes, trusted them, and now looks like she’s playing a different sport than everyone else. That’s what makes it so impressive. At the highest level, the gap between winning and contending is razor thin, and right now she’s stretching it in real time. When someone gets into this kind of rhythm, it stops feeling like a hot streak and starts feeling inevitable.
→ Rising Architect on Enjoying Golf More? I’d Try to Change Your Mind About Keeping Score
This one challenges something most golfers take for granted – that the scorecard is the entire point. But what if it’s actually the thing getting in the way? The idea here isn’t to stop caring, it’s to rethink what makes the game enjoyable in the first place. Less pressure, more presence, and maybe a version of golf that feels a lot closer to why you started playing in the first place.
When young athletes accomplish something amazing and are quickly plucked from their local community and plopped onto the world stage, the expectations are understandably enormous. How could they not be?
Here’s an example. A 10-year-old girl from Hawaii qualifies for the 2000 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and then shoots 74-76 to advance to match play. She makes it to the third round the next year, then the semifinals the next, until she knocks out all adversaries to win the darn thing in 2003 and become the youngest champion in the history of the USGA at age 13.
Oh, and just a month earlier, she took advantage of a sponsor exemption and shot 66 on moving day at the LPGA Tour’s Kraft Nabisco Championship to move into the final group of the day on Sunday. In a major championship. At 13 years old. When her eighth grade classmates were on spring break. Wow!
Seven months later, she shot a second-round 68 at the Sony Open. On the PGA Tour. Double wow!
And although she missed the cut by a shot, she beat some big names that week: Scott Hoch, Craig Stadler, Adam Scott, John Cook, and Zach Johnson. And many more.
So by the time she became a teenager, it’s natural that the expectations for Michelle Wie West were wild. As previously posed, how could they not be after all she’d done at such a young age?
But all too often a player, no matter the skill, no matter the sport, heck no matter the profession (child actors?), the dramatic rise levels off. For whatever reason, it just does. For all but a very, very, very select few anyway.
But Wie West was still on her ascent at this point in time. She turned pro in the fall of 2005 at age 16, and had a strong rookie season in 2006, recording three top-five finishes in major championships. Three!
And then came a bit of a backtrack. Wie West struggled to keep the momentum she’d built as a rising star through 2008.
Then, she won the limited-field Lorena Ochoa Invitational in 2009, and she won again at the Canadian Women’s Open in 2010 before various long-term injuries led to another slide.
But Wie West is a fighter and she climbed back to the top in emphatic fashion at the start of 2014 with a T2 at the first major of the season at the Chevron Championship (nee Kraft Nabisco) down in Houston, followed by a win two weeks later at the LOTTE Championship, then four top-10s in a five-week stretch before a dramatic culmination and crowning achievement at the U.S. Women’s Open at the famed Pinehurst No. 2.
Wie West was a major champion, 14 lightspeed years after teeing it up in her first big event at 10 years old. And while she only won once more, at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in 2018, she has undoubtedly won in life. Apologies if that sounds cheesy, but watch and listen as she talks about her family and her position in the game and it’s easy to see it’s true.
Wie West gained major sponsorships after turning professional, most notably from Nike and Sony, conducted herself with grace and poise at all times while representing those worldwide brands, and was inarguably worth every penny. She did things the right way, even when skeptics squawked about her playing in too many men’s events, and naysayers knocked her for failing to meet expectations on the golf course.
Wie West didn’t win 10 majors or 20 tour events. Those are facts. But she served as a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf throughout her career. And even after she married Jonnie West, son of NBA legend Jerry West, in 2019 and became a mother in 2020, Wie West recognized that while her full-time playing career had more or less come to a close, she could still use her clout and charisma to continue to advance the game.
She joined Mizuho, a powerful worldwide financial institution, to spearhead a new LPGA Tour event in 2023 that features LPGA Tour players and the AJGA’s best competing simultaneously for separate trophies.
“The genesis of this event really came from my history of being a junior golfer and kind of my trajectory,” she said. “We wanted to create a space for juniors to experience being a pro for one week, playing with the best of the best, having the juniors compare their golf game to the pros that they’re playing with on the weekend.”
Add in an iconic venue in Liberty National Golf Club with jaw-dropping views of both the Statue of Liberty and the New York City skyline and success was sure to come. And it did.
Decorated amateur player Rose Zhang won the inaugural event in her professional debut, in a sudden-death playoff no less. Yana Wilson, the 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior champ, won the AJGA event that first year. Wilson, an LPGA Tour rookie in 2026, will be in this year’s field.
Nelly Korda followed Zhang in 2024, and Gianna Clemente, another talented and decorated junior, won the AJGA amateur event. Atthaya Thitikul took last year’s Mizuho Americas Open win and turned it into a trifecta of season-ending awards: player of the year, leading money winner and Vare Trophy champ for lowest scoring average.
Wie West, who has served as tournament host each year, made the first of what are sure to be many headlines surrounding the event Tuesday when she revealed that she has accepted a sponsor exemption to compete this year and serve as playing host.
“One of the privileges that comes with being the host of the Mizuho Americas Open is that I, along with Mizuho and the tournament team, review the potential golfers that could fulfill our sponsor exemptions that we add to our field,” said Wie West.
“When I was presented with the idea for me to play, I couldn’t think of a better time to return to the course and compete with the world’s best golfers, as well as have the opportunity to play alongside the top AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) girls.”
Wie West will also compete in this year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club.
The Mizuho Americas Open is scheduled for May 7-10 at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, N.J., roughly 20 miles west of New York City. The historic club features a dramatic Donald-Ross designed golf course highlighted by expansive, intriguing greens and a great mix of short and long holes. Mountain Ridge C.C. will host the tournament again in 2027 before the event heads back to Liberty National G.C. in 2028.
Tickets are available at www.
The first three rounds of the Mizuho Americas Open will be featured on Golf Channel and the final round will be televised on CBS. More information is available at MizuhoAmericasOpen.
The Mizuho Americas Open is a purpose-driven tournament on the LPGA Tour. As title sponsor, Mizuho Americas created and drove the vision for a distinctive and premium event that celebrates women and advances the next generation, with a charitable focus on providing leadership and life skills to young girls from low-income communities.
“I think it’s really inspiring to be around other women who are driven, who work hard … it’s one thing to watch your idols on T.V., it’s another thing to watch them in person, but it’s a whole other thing to be inside the ropes with them, competing alongside them. From the young ladies who come to the [Mizuho] DrivHer Summit, there’s a lot of talk about leadership, taking control of what you can do, putting in the work. We talk a lot about work ethic and believing in yourself, networking, asking the right questions, and this is why the mentorship program is so special this week for the juniors and the pros. We want to make that connection.”
“We just really want this week to be a week of mentorship,” Wie West later added. “a week where juniors really throw themselves into the process and just learn a lot. I want them to soak as much up as they can over the week.”
Gary Player has never been one to hold back an opinion, and his latest is a loud one: the golf ball needs to be rolled back, and Augusta National is the place to start. Golf.com reports that Player made an impassioned case during Masters week, calling the distance issue a “tragedy” for the game and urging officials to act before iconic courses become obsolete.
Jack Nicklaus has echoed similar sentiments for years, and the two legends are increasingly aligned on this issue. Their argument boils down to this: when players are flying par-4s with mid-irons and bombing drives past landmarks Bobby Jones never imagined reaching, something has gone wrong.
The USGA and R&A have already begun implementing rollback measures for recreational play, but the pro game remains a different conversation. Player and Nicklaus want that to change — loudly, and soon.
Scottie Scheffler is the best player in the world, but Augusta has a way of making even the best look human. Sports Illustrated captured the moment that may define his 2026 Masters — a devastating lip-out on the 17th hole that had the crowd gasping and Scheffler staring into the cup in disbelief.
The miss came at a critical moment when Scheffler was still in contention, and it effectively ended any realistic path to the green jacket. It’s the kind of putt that a player of his caliber makes nine times out of ten — which is exactly what makes it sting so much.
Scheffler has been the dominant force in golf for the better part of two years. He’ll be back at Augusta with something to prove, and you can bet that putt on 17 will be playing on a loop in his head between now and next April.
The New York Post didn’t mince words after the 2026 Masters: LIV Golf has softened its players. The argument isn’t new, but Augusta provided the latest — and perhaps most compelling — evidence yet.
Several of the biggest LIV names arrived at Augusta with fanfare and left quietly, unable to contend on a course that demands the kind of sharpness that only comes from consistently competing against the world’s best. The limited schedule, the team format, the lack of cuts in many events — it all adds up, and Augusta exposed it.
The piece stops short of calling LIV a career killer, but the implication is clear: the competitive edge that made these players household names is eroding. Whether that’s reversible — and whether anyone in the LIV ecosystem is willing to admit it — remains to be seen.
