2024 was an incredible year for golf. My game throughout was not great but there were a few highlights and the pro game had many stories that will etched into the history books.
My Year
I’ve already written a 2024 Season Summary but I do not mention the winningest moment. Our 4-man scramble team won the midsummer open with a score of 57. This is our personal card (not the entry one) so the handicap is too high in this picture but we won the tournament by one shot.
LIV Golf
LIV I guess was mostly dominated by Jon Rahm. I think the most interesting parts of the year were the promotional event, that just took place and the LIV players results outside of the LIV Golf League.
Bryson‘s showings were exceptional and his off tournament content on YouTube has been brilliant in parts. His Break 50 series has been compelling viewing and his recent hole in one challenge over his house has brought in millions of views.
It also seems that the doors have been opened to them on other tours too, so that can only be good for the game in the future.
PGA Tour
Scottie Scheffler has been dominant and won the players player of the year for the third year in a row. Incredible that he won by such a margin over someone, Xander, who won 2 major titles this year.
I guess Olympic Gold, a Major and the Players trumps a couple of majors. I truly believe he is close to Tiger, but he’ll have to maintain this form for such a long time. I think he can. He’s handled his distractions well this year: arrest and a new born child.
DP World Tour
Rory wins. Surprise. I still prefer this tour as the locations and national Opens are more diverse than the resort courses on LIV or the target golf courses they play for the majority of America events.
Although I cancelled my ViaPlay subscription this year, I did renew it just in time to get the final round of the Dunhill Championship in South Africa. This is one of my favourite events of the year. The golf course is great and the scenery is majestic. And the filming / photography is fantastic – they emphasise the scenery.
Shout out too to Lefty Bob – Robert McIntyre had a stellar year, with a win in the Scottish Open (after finishing 2nd the year before) and winning an event on the US PGA Tour also.
LET
I followed the LET a bit this year, with some of their events being streamed on YouTube. I would really like to work this them to help promote their game. The quality of the ladies on tour is very high and they should get more exposure.
LPGA
The LPGA had many highlights this year too. Nelly being Nelly. She had a similar year to Scottie.
She made steps towards the Hall of Fame by also winning the player of the year and made gains on my favourite: Lydia Ko.
Lydia completed the Olympic medal set with a Gold in Paris. She followed up the fairy tale by winning the British Open a month later to cement her place as a hall of famer.
Media
The Showdown is this week – whatever. The match or whatever that was called – whatever. A skins game announced for next year – whatever!
YouTube golf has been interesting, with lots of reports of lost viewership for many. My Top 5 Golf YouTube Channels – worth watching perhaps hasn’t changed so much, but I think it has become apparent that as well as great content – you do need personality.
I feel that, Good Good, for example, is suffering a bit. I certainly don’t have the bond to the current crop of guys as I once did. And competition is fierce. How can a regular Joe compete with the likes of Bryson or Phil Mickelson (when he teams up with Grant Horvat)?
Of course, you need compelling content too, that is something that I have not got to grips with in My Golf YouTube Channel but I am still Chasing the YouTube Dream – so if anyone wants to collaborate or share ideas, find me here or on twitter.
What a year, I have probably forgotten something. But I will share a final stat from my year. I keep track of my birdie & eagle (good) count versus double bogey or worse (pish). Last year, for the first time ever I had more good than bad.
This year, with one scoring round to go, I had one more pish than good. I made a triple bogey early in the round, but managed to get two birdies shortly after. Going down the last my good v pish was even. I drove to about 120 meters from the flag, and promptly chunked a 9 iron into water – thus ending my chances of a positive result and ended the season at -1 gains.
The stats come from all the rounds I counted with my shot tracking software, so there were no stableford & only a few better ball scores. I did make quite a few solo birdies in the group games that I played in but they don’t count. Next year I hope to come back stronger.
How was your golfing year? What was your highlight?