Every year, as we wind down from the excitement of the holidays, most of us like to reflect on the year that's passed; how we've grown, what we've learned, the experiences and stories that stayed with us. As I reflected on the top SoCal golf stories from 2023, it got me thinking: why wait until the end of 2024 to do this again? Let's get a jump start on it now and save myself some time at the end of the year. I'm sure there's no way any of this ages poorly:
The PGA Tour shook the golf world last June when they announced that they had reached an agreement to join forces with PIF, the financial source of LIV Golf. Since that time, the golf news cycle has been dominated by speculation of what a potential merger could mean for the two tours and their respective players, but we're now six months on from the initial announcement and all the speculation remains just that. The sides had hoped to finalize the agreement by the end of the year, but that point has come and gone while talks continue on.
Meanwhile, LIV Golf isn't showing any signs of letting up soon as they continue to pursue golf's top players, most recently swaying Jon Rahm to join the start-up league. The PGA Tour is still seeking outside sources to keep their purses competitive, but as merger discussions drag on, the Tour will continue to lose leverage with each golfer that defects to LIV. While it's reasonable to expect that we'll have a clearer picture of the situation at some point in 2024, this story promises to be on the mind of professional golf fans for years to come.
Professional golf entered the mainstream discussion when the first season of Full Swing dropped on Netflix last year. The series will return for a second season at some point in 2024, although an official release date and details on which players will be featured have not been revealed yet. However, it's a safe bet that we'll get a healthy dose of the aforementioned PGA/LIV drama and some (albeit limited) coverage of the spicy 2023 Ryder Cup. Oh yeah, and the return of season 1 fan favorite Joel Dahmen:
In what seems to be an annual occurrence at this point, the topic of when and where we'll see Tiger play in 2024 has once again become a major talking point. The 48-year-old legend announced plans to play in one tournament a month this year as he continues to battle back from a catastrophic leg injury suffered in a car crash in 2021. That means his first appearance is likely to be part of the Southern California swing at the beginning of the 2024 season, either at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January or the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February.
How much he has left in the tank remains to be seen, but whether he's contending or missing cuts, Tiger will always generate headlines whenever he makes an appearance. I, for one, am not going to be the one to rule out Tiger doing something special one more time.
In one of the biggest updates to the World Handicap System since its creation, "short courses" will be eligible to receive an official Course Rating and Slope Rating under USGA guidelines. For those unfamiliar with the Course Rating system, it's designed to assess the difficulty of each course for golfers of different skill levels and is the backbone of the World Handicap System.
The most immediate impact of this update is that golfers that keep an Handicap Index can now post their rounds played at short courses. It also affords the opportunity to fairly play a net scoring event at one of these facilities, whether that be match play with a friend or a large tournament. Finally, it provides greater access to the World Handicap System for golfers that, for whatever reason, prefer to play at short courses.
Another update coming to the World Handicap System this year: all 9-hole rounds will be eligible for handicap purposes. While golfers have always been able to post these scores, historically you would need to post two separate 9-hole rounds in order to create a "complete" 18-hole round to count towards your Handicap Index. This update is a big win for golfers who call a 9-hole facility home, like to squeeze in a twilight round after work during the summer, or just prefer to play their golf 9 holes at a time.
While it's safe to assume that these topics will be talked about for much of 2024, it's an even safer bet that they won't be all that's discussed. The great golf ball rollback debate is sure to rage on (although it doesn't actually go into effect for several years), drama will unfold on the professional circuit, and new groups and personalities will burst onto the SoCal golf scene. Whatever happens, we'll look forward to breaking it all down with you throughout the year.