The 19th Hole Golf Show

Rory McIlroy took a blow torch to Olympic golf in his news conference ahead of the Open Championship. We look at what McIlroy said and assess where he was right and where he was wrong in his assessment of Olympic golf, its potential impact and his role, if any, in growing golf.

The U.S. Women's Open takes center stage at CordeValle near San Jose, and we talk about the Big 3 (or 4) of women's golf and compare them to the same group on the men's side. We also talk about how players express themselves on the course to cope with golf's inherent stress.

The USGA's handling of the Dustin Johnson fifth green situation at the U.S. Open was, well, not good. We explain why in detail and try to figure out how to prevent something like this from happening again. We also talk about why we're OK with Rory McIlroy skipping the Olympics over fears of Zika.

TaylorMade-adidas Golf CEO David Abeles joins Ryan Ballengee from 2016 U.S. Open site Oakmont Country Club to talk about the state of his company's business, their potential sale, the work his company is putting into this important week for the sport and his outlook for the game's health in the future.

With news that the PGA Tour moved a World Golf Championships event from Trump Doral to Mexico City, as well that Shell Oil is ending a 26-year title sponsorship in Houston, we talk about the realities of the sports bubble and the impact on the PGA Tour. The Tour is going to be just fine because it is smartly positioning itself to get the last of the cable TV money out there and seguing into the fu...

Game Golf CEO John McGuire joins the show for a fascinating conversation about his company, the evolution of golf performance tracking technology, how his product might integrate with other tracking technologies in the future and how the company is giving away up to $1 million this summer.

Phil Mickelson can thank a pair of 2014 cases for why he isn't in handcuffs right now, charged with insider trading and securities fraud. We explain that precedent and how Mickelson was a pawn of the feds. New GNN team member Kevin Power joins the show to talk about Muirfield's decision to remain an all-male club, talking about the implications for them, the Open Championship, the R&A, the Sco...

Day 1 of The Players Championship showed us several things: There's a reason they're changing the greens at Sawgrass, Jason Day is the best in the world right now and Jordan Spieth is facing a crisis on many fronts.

As more and more players announce they're taking a pass on the Olympics, it's becoming clear that golf's Olympic representatives created the mess the sport is now facing. We also look at why golf might be hurting itself with young golfers by not taking a social stand.

TaylorMade VP Bret Wahl joins our show to talk about his 20-year career of designing irons, including his favorites, the biggest innovations and what golfers can expect to come from TaylorMade in the near future.

Adam Scott has announced he won't play the Olympic golf tournament, so what can be done to make it more appealing to top male players, who seem to have the issues with it? Also, Tiger Woods did something, but why is golf still obsessed with a guy who could barely walk four months ago?

On this week's podcast, we go in-depth on Jordan Spieth's Masters letdown, including how he handled the 12th hole, his mini-comeback and how he handled the gauntlet of gotchas in the post-tournament news conference and green jacket ceremonies. Also, we resoundingly answer how this will affect Spieth with caddie Michael Greller as a guide.

We preview the 2016 Masters with Clark Burroughs, who played in the 1984 Masters as an amateur. The former NCAA men's individual champion talks about his Augusta National experience and we talk about the field, the favorites and their chances in the context of the tournament and Vegas odds.

With the Masters a week away, we look at what Jordan Spieth must do at the Shell Houston Open to prep his first major title defense. We also look at the four favorites for Augusta National. Lydia Ko could win her second major in a row at the ANA Inspiration. And your humble host is getting ready for his major: welcoming a second child!

TGA Premier Junior Golf owner Josh Jacobs joins us for a conversation about laying the foundation for the next generation of golfers, what the sport needs to do to get more people playing and what we can do to help.

The WGC-Dell Match Play moves out of pool play to bracket-style play on Friday, and we look at how greatly improved this event is with a format change. We also look at some of the leading Masters contenders and why this should be one of the best in recent memory. Also, we dig into the rumors of Tiger Woods' supposed imminent return. NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS: We have changed our RSS feed to a new locati...

Golf ball maker and owner of Snell Golf, Dean Snell, joins the show to talk about his journey from making the Titleist Pro V1 and leading TaylorMade's golf ball design unit to going out on his own and creating a ball company that is thriving. We also talk about common misconceptions about golf balls and what you should do to find the right golf ball for you.

Golf historian and author Claudia Mazzucco join Ryan Ballengee to talk about her new book, "Legendary Lessons", which chronicles the timeless, lifetime lessons and wisdom of golf shared by so many of its great champions.

After a poor start to the Valspar Championship, Jordan Spieth responded to folks he thought were trolling him on social media. Then Rory McIlroy backed up Spieth. Why do these guys care what the normal people have to say on social media?

Our interview guest this week is the legendary Gary Player. We converse with Mr. Player to talk about potential changes to Augusta National, golf in the Olympics, the importance of faith to Mr. Player's career, how often he would play were he a modern, active player and how golf's governing bodies have to respond to get more people to play the game.

On this week's Interview Edition of The 19th Hole, Ryan Ballengee has a conversation with children's golf fashion maker Kelsey MacLean. We talk about how she got inspired to start her business, how it has evolved beyond her wildest expectations and how her business reflects what golf can do better to appeal to women and kids.

Rory McIlroy took exception to comments Brandel Chamblee made about his fitness regimen, then went out of his way to let Chamblee and the world know how he felt. It's a window into how golfers can be affected by the critics -- fans and media alike -- and what it can do to motivate or discourage a player. Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth is looking to get refocused after a bad few days at Riviera. And why...

In the first episode in a new series of interview-based podcasts, DST Golf founder Bertie Cordle tells us of his journey to create his incredible training aid and the success that comes with having over 400 professionals around the world using his club without payment.

Pebble Beach is the setting for a strong field at this week's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. So why is the tournament practically unwatchable until Sunday? What can be done about it? We also look at the biggest underlying story of 2016, which is how Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy will acclimate to changes in their lives on and off the course, and what affect that will have...

Bubba Watson heard it from the fans at the Waste Management Phoenix Open just a day after saying he was only playing the event to appease his sponsors. We talk about the latest incident of Watson putting his foot in his mouth and the phoniness of his promises to improve as a person and appeal to fans. We also talk about Ernie Els and how he seems to have found a putting stroke that works in Dubai.