Issue No. 121 | October 11, 2024

Two straight Q&A Fridays, two straight Euro Tour legends.

Last week was somebody you’ve probably heard of, this week is somebody you maybe haven’t. Jamie Kennedy is the director of digital content at Golf Digest but for much of his career he shaped a lot of the amazing content the European Tour pumped out.

Stuff like the anger management group therapy, trying to make an ace with 500 shots, little interviews with big names and the awkward reporter with DJ (of all people).

All of them are awesome, and most (if not all) were shepherded by Jamie.

Interviews like the one below are obviously not massive traffic drivers — just two nerds talking golf nerd stuff — but man, I enjoy them a lot. Jamie is a friend, a great golf mind and somebody I learn from constantly. Also someone I have to apologize to constantly for one of my worst takes of all time.

Summer 2022, we’re eating fish and chips in North Berwick with Shane Bacon, Sean Martin and Joel Beall. Just soaking up the end of a long, fun day of golf and thinking about the 150th Open. Bacon says, “Who wins?” Jamie goes, “I think Cam Smith is going to win the Open.” I just stared at him and said, “No chance, Cam stinks.”

Five days later.

Up and down from here for the trophy.

Hope you enjoy the interview!

But first!

A thank you to this week’s sponsor … the Ryder Cup!

If you have followed or read me for more than, like, 15 minutes, you know how I feel about the Ryder Cup, and I know Jamie feels the same, which we get into a bit below in our Q&A. If you can only attend one golf event in a given year, it’s not the Open, not the Masters, not any of the majors, not even close.

It’s the Ryder Cup.

And thankfully, the Ryder Cup is making it easier for you to attend next year at Bethpage. If you enter your info right here, you are eligible to be selected for the opportunity to purchase what will be one of the more insane golf tickets of the last few years.

In other words, more people want tickets than the Ryder Cup has available so they randomly select folks who are then eligible to purchase the tickets. An absolute no-brainer that you should take advantage of right here.

The registration is open until 11:59 ET on Oct. 22 and those selected will be notified on Nov. 4.

Now, onto the convo with Jamie!

KP: You played golf at a really high level. One of my corners is that people don't understand how good somebody like Denny McCarthy is, so they lose context for how good Xander, Cantlay and Hovland are.

Having played, how big is the gap between a great amateur and a Denny McCarthy and then how big is the gap between Denny and Xander?

Jamie: Firstly, I did not play at a high level but thank you. I played college golf but was more of a participant than a stand-out!

My dad always played to a handicap of about 12 when I was growing up. When I played at college I told him he was closer to me in terms of ability than I was to a PGA Tour player.

There are more than 300 teams in Division I men's golf. Each has around eight players. That's more than 2,000 golfers who were all the best players in their club, town, area etc. Only a handful each year will break through and become elite professionals. The margins are tiny. The pyramid in golf is deep and the top is beyond elite.

Denny is a great example. He's a throwback sort of player. A modern-day Luke Donald in a way. Undersized, consistent and arguably the best putter in modern PGA Tour history. That is his superpower. He has been in the top three players in strokes gained putting in five of the six years he's been on Tour. That is ludicrously good.

His overall game has him at nearly one shot better than the average PGA Tour player per round (0.7). It doesn't sound like much but that makes him a very good PGA Tour player. He is 31st on Tour this year in strokes gained total, ahead of names like Patrick Cantlay, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas.

You'll laugh, but Moneyball is my favorite movie, and I'll often have it on in the background if I'm working late into the night. In the movie and in baseball itself, players are often viewed by how many "tools" they have. Are they a five-tool player? Can they hit for power, hit for average, field, throw and run. You rarely find four or five tool players. Golf is similar.

You asked the difference between someone like Denny McCarthy and Xander. To me, it's that idea. Denny is a great player but he is a one, maybe two, tool player. Xander, especially this year, has become what I’m calling a four-tool golfer.

As you know, there are essentially four strokes gained measures in golf: off the tee, approach, around the green and putting. While McCarthy excels in putting, Xander excels in all areas. He is top 25 in all four. There were only 20 golfers who gained strokes in all four areas of the game this year. Xander was the only player who gained more than 0.2 shots in all four areas. That's what makes him great. All golfers, of any level, strive for consistency. Xander has become consistent, only he has become consistently elite.

KP: You have done some truly innovative and interesting media work throughout your career. What piece or thing or video or thread do you think are you best known for?

Jamie: Honestly, I prefer to be behind the scenes and see the success of something from afar. I think for a long time I was credited (too much in my opinion) with the success of the European (now DP World) Tour content on social. The stunts, the challenges, the stuff we did with players. However, I do have a lot of people now tell me they enjoy some of the posts I throw out on Twitter.

Ed. note: A recent favorite of mine is Jamie’s bit on the best golf Wikipedia pages.

I really enjoy golf Twitter, as I know you do as well. I have a lot of people I know who enjoy golf but maybe don't love it to the levels I do.

Being able to share thoughts or discussions on Twitter and hear from fellow golf sickos is a pretty special thing. I learn things every day about golf, golf courses, history and whatever else pops up in mentions and DMs. 

KP: After so many cool Euro Tour videos -- undercover vids, the 500 shots for a hole in one challenge -- which one was your favorite to shoot and execute? Also, which one did players push back on the most? 

Jamie: That's tricky. Doing the Little Interviews, when we hired an eight-year-old kid to ask players questions we couldn't get away with, was a lot of fun and landed really well with fans.

The Fastest Hole challenge was a big operation and took a lot of planning but looked amazing when it was finished.

However, I think the Chase The Ace series was probably my favorite. The idea that if you give a pro 500 balls and one par three, will they make an ace.

It's not produced so that they will, it's almost a "reality" challenge. We were doing all this before golf YouTube really became a thing, and you could see then just how popular content like that was going to become.

When we first designed Chase The Ace, we thought most pros would make an ace and it would all be about the celebration, the shot, the different angles etc. But what we found was that it is actually exceptionally difficult and seeing a Tour pro go through that is fascinating.

The highs, the lows, the stress, the fatigue, it all came together to create these long form videos that were emotional and raw. It wasn't necessarily the happy ending gimmick we maybe thought it would be but ultimately I think fans could relate to the struggle and the pain more than the elation of making a hole-in-one.

As for pushback, there was some. Usually just players saying "no" early on in the process. The majority of content we produced was done during tournament weeks so it was a fairly big ask for players as they prepared for an event. 

However, the more we did and the more success we had, we could feel the tipping point happening and players became keen to get involved and would often come to us or even recruit other players to get involved. That was very rewarding.

KP: How do you generate ideas? You have so many great ones that make me say, "I wish I'd thought of that!" What is your process for it?

Jamie: At the DP World Tour, those meetings, honestly, were probably some of the most fun times I've had professionally. Three of four times a year, we'd get a core group of us together, bringing in a handful of people from production, creative and even player relations, and we'd throw out wild and wonderful ideas and together we'd sculpt them and try and get a feel for how good it could be. There were no bad ideas, and we all respected each other massively so there was no anxiety in pitching something you had been thinking about.

Now, whether it's for Golf Digest or my own stuff, the ideas come from all over. I'm extremely fortunate that my work is my passion. I don't have to switch my work brain on or off. I'm always thinking about golf, Tour golf, golf courses, stats etc. You know that meme with the wife lying next to her husband, wondering if he's thinking about another woman when actually he's thinking about the best opening holes in golf or Scottie Scheffler's new putting setup, well that's me. 

It’s true

I always carry a small notebook with me wherever I am and it's full of ideas, thoughts, quotes, or stuff I've seen that I think would apply well to golf. I'm a sports addict so I'm constantly watching football or NFL or tennis or snooker even and thinking to myself, how could we apply what I saw or read into golf.

Most of what I work on or pitch is based loosely on something I've seen elsewhere in media or sport.

Ed. note: Can relate!

KP: If one of my friends who lives in Dallas is going to Scotland on a dad-brother or buddies trip, what's the course -- take the Old Course out of it -- that you would tell them they absolutely have to play and why?

Jamie: Haha, that's a question I get asked a lot. I usually reply to people and try and get more info from them on what they want from their trip and their golf. Scotland has a ton of amazing courses and areas to explore. Tailoring the trip to you and your group is important. It's easy to just center it around the Old Course and then try and tick off the other "crown jewel" courses.

Scotland isn't massive, so you can drive between them all pretty easily. But you risk missing out on the stuff that makes golf trips great, the in between. The towns, the pubs, the evening nines, the stories from locals etc.

However, to answer your question, Cruden Bay. It's my favorite golf course in the world. It's probably two hours from St Andrews, just north of Aberdeen. If I had one round left to play, I'd be there. It has the views, the quirk, the land, the green sites, the variety and the fun that to me is unparalleled. 

KP: As you have gotten older, have you become more or less enamored with pro golf? And have you become more or less enamored with amateur golf?

Jamie: That seems to be a popular topic of conversation right now. I think, like many, I've probably become less enchanted with professional golf. The conveyor belt of events, news, divides, money etc has become off-putting. I have two small boys so the idea of sitting down on a weekend to watch five or six hours of golf is a thing of the past. I do still watch a lot of golf but not in the same way I used to.

When it comes to amateur golf, I've certainly become far more interested and passionate about the game of golf, rather than the sport of golf. I love to chat with people from different parts of the world about how they play and experience the game. I love to travel and play courses and get a feel for what golf is like in different places. For a long time, I think I took it for granted that I grew up and live in Scotland and how important a role it plays in global golf.

I love sitting in a pub or airport in Scotland and overhearing groups of golfers that have come over to play discussing their trips. It reminds me how special a place Scotland is.

KP: What golf-related company should exist that doesn't currently exist?

Jamie: I have a good one for you actually. When my wife and I moved from London back to Scotland, we drove the five hours up to Edinburgh and I was pitching her on the idea of a golf app for lessons. Every golfer on the planet wants to get better but investing the time and money to improve is tricky. Going to see a coach can be a pretty intimidating concept for a lot of people, and instead they'll just waste time on YouTube or Instagram and try the shotgun approach of applying all they hear to their game. 

My idea was an app that is like Uber for teaching pros. You upload a video of your swing (at home or at a course) and choose a coach based on what it is you want. Do you want the ability to see the coach and for them to be close to where you are? Or do you need a quick tip before going on a trip or playing a round? You could then have a back-and-forth over the app, see drills, have the pro draw lines on your swing and give you feedback.

Ed. note: This is basically what I do with LKD!

I see far too many competent pros at clubs who spend the majority of their time selling chocolate bars and balls rather than helping players get better. They could look at a swing and give feedback in 10-15 minutes, rather than an hour on a range somewhere. The price of the lesson would reflect that and be a lot more affordable and accessible for a broader range of players.

Probably not the answer you were expecting, but there you go!

KP: What are the components or characteristics of a golf media business that will be successful in the future?

Jamie: I think the ability to adapt. Media and consumption is changing so fast these days that often sticking to the same strategy year-on-year can see you getting left behind. I give a lot of credit to the two companies I've worked with most recently, the DP World Tour and Golf Digest. 

When I started at the Tour in 2013, social media and video content wasn't really a part of sports media. Despite being a long-established golf tour, they were ambitious and gave me and the team around me the freedom and ability to produce.

I remember when Keith Pelley started at the Tour in 2015, he called a meeting with the content team. We walked into his office expecting a new regime and a new direction, dictated from the top. Instead, he told us how much he (and his son) enjoyed the stuff we were creating and told us to do more. He loved that it was engaging, modern and showed the players in a good light.

He told us to spend the next 18 months making the best content we could. Then, he was expecting it to start making us money. After 18 months, we had sponsors, events, player etc all reaching out to us to produce stuff with them.

Likewise at Golf Digest. For a long time, it was a golf magazine. Clearly the idea of print media is changing and online is where companies like Digest are going to grow. Seeing some of the things the brand is doing with news, video and social is very cool. I'm biased of course, but the ability of everyone within the company to adapt to modern consumption and continue to be the authority in golf is amazing.

KP: Give me three Jamie Kennedy Beliefs About Golf that you can't be talked out of.

Jamie: Wow, what a question.

One belief I have is that Melbourne is the greatest golf city in the world. Yes, it's a long way away from most of us, but for all it has to offer, it's unbeatable. The sandbelt courses, even the municipal courses, the people, the weather, the culture, the coffee, the beers, the city, the beaches, the proximity of everything, it's a must if you're obsessed by golf like we are.

Second belief, if Tiger's third shot on 15 at Augusta in the third round of the 2013 Masters doesn't hit the pin, he would have gone on to win and at least tied Jack's major record with 18 wins. Bold I know, but I honestly think about it a lot. So much so that I even produced a deep dive video on it for Golf Digest a couple of years ago.

I often think about the biggest "what if" moments in golf history. That one comes to mind a lot.

Lastly, the idea or belief of embracing the conditions. It's something that growing up playing golf in Scotland will undoubtedly teach you but it's a motto I use across a lot of my life. Just like the satisfaction you'll take from holding a ball flight against a 30mph crosswind on a par three in the rain, you can get the same satisfaction from hurdles and hazards in life or at work.

I've seen a lot of friends or fellow golfers struggle mentally or even give up when the weather or conditions turn during a round, but I think you need to embrace it and strive to take more joy out of success and challenge in the tough times than success in the easy times. 

KP: Last one, I know you love the Ryder Cup as much as if not more than I do. Give me your favorite moment ever.

Jamie: Woah. Where do I start. I love the Ryder Cup. Working behind the scenes at three of them (2014 to 2018) was a dream. 

I could go a lot of different ways but one story that comes to mind is from Paris. Before the week, we found a photo of Tommy Fleetwood and his caddie Fino. It was the two of them in the first tee grandstand at the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. Four years later they were both making their debut we wanted to recreate the photo during a practice day. 

We met at the crack of dawn on the Monday or Tuesday of Ryder Cup week and filmed Tommy and Fino in the first tee grandstand. It was just the two of them. It was a nice moment and then Fino came down the stairs and met us. I asked him where Tommy was, he said he had a meeting. I laughed. But he was serious.

Tommy was meeting with a sports psychologist, at the top of the first tee grandstand. It was his first Ryder Cup and his psychologist had suggested that they meet, discuss the atmosphere of the Ryder Cup, how it might make Tommy feel and how he might deal with those emotions and nerves.

I thought it was fascinating. And that was before he went out and went 4-0 with Francesco Molinari and anchored a memorable European victory.

Thank you for reading until the end.

You’re a sicko like me and Jamie, and I’m grateful for it.

Don’t forget to enter the Ryder Cup giveaway!