Sure, TPC Deere Run, which hosts the annual John Deere Classic, is a birdie paradise (1,822 last year). But, here's a brutal truth nobody talks about: the former Arabian horse farm has a sub-70 scoring average… yet it carries the third-highest rough penalty on Tour!

That's the twisted genius of D.A. Weibring's design—he built this psychological warfare machine knowing exactly where to plant the landmines. The par-4 18th hole embodies this perfectly. Last year had almost as many birdies (76) as it did bogeys (70).

So you see, miss those 38-yard-wide fairways by inches, and golf for you that week may just be over. But it’s when that desperation meets magic that legends are born. Ask Jordan Spieth. His impossible bunker hole-out from 2013 on his 72nd hole to force a playoff and then become the youngest Tour winner since 1931 is still one of the best moments the course golf has ever witnessed.

Just watch the beautiful ‘bounce-in birdie’ here!

Spieth’s not competing this year, but don’t assume for a second that the field isn’t still packed. Defending champ Davis Thompson is back after obliterating last year’s field with a record-shattering 28-under. Ben Griffin, with six straight top-15s, will be there too. And let’s not forget Rickie Fowler.

He’s officially five weeks away from a ‘terrible’ 2025 season. The orange-clad golfer is back at the John Deere Classic (after 15 years) to no doubt salvage some points to keep afloat his FedEx Cup hopes. Fowler is presently at No. 72 in the standings and staring down the playoff cutline like a man facing execution. It’s do or die this week. And the odds are certainly not in his favor.

Good luck, Rickie, and the rest of you. You may just need it!

Your Ryder Cup team is now complete. No, not the players, but the leaders. Gary Woodland was just announced as Keegan Bradley's fifth (and final) vice captain for the Bethpage bout in September.

Eighteen months ago, he underwent surgery to remove a baseball-sized tumor from his brain. A year later, he was tying course records with stunning shots like this. “The last thing I'm going to let this do is let this thing in my head stop my dreams,” said Woodland after receiving the Courage Award earlier this year. And well, he’s lived by it.

Back to the captains of the American Ryder Cup team, though. Bradley and his five have got to be the most emotionally complex leadership team America has ever assembled. Europe's either laughing or confused. And Bradley's either a genius or about to implode.

Regardless, he's building something unprecedented here. Brandt Snedeker, the 2026 Presidents Cup captain, is the only one with a success story, having won it as a player in 2016 at Hazeltine. The rest of the VCs seem like they’ll be out for revenge.

Jim Furyk brings 2018 Paris scars (17.5-10.5 humiliation). Webb Simpson has a 0-3 Ryder Cup record. And Kevin Kisner, well, he and Bethpage just don’t mix. Watch what he says about the course here:

So what is Keegan’s strategy here? Well, the one-time major winner is dangerously close to becoming a playing captain territory. And if he does (he fully intends to play by the way), his vice captains essentially become co-captains, and he wishes them to have enough emotion to lead the team to victory.

Bradley knows that it’s emotion that drives the players at these National events. Take Europe’s 2023 demolition in Rome, for example. This moment will tell you all you need to know about the emotion that led to the win there.

So yes, the captain’s team is missing many big names (Phil Mickelson is one we’re all thinking of, huh?). But it’s still a strong team to lead, especially with the plan Bradley has in mind.

Arnold Palmer changed everything at Royal Birkdale in 1961. The King went on to win The Open and bring the Claret Jug home to America for the first time in 7 years. En route, though, he made one of the most iconic shots… so much so that it’s now commemorated with a plaque, as you’ll see here.

At the 15th (now 16th), Palmer’s ball was trapped under a blackberry bush. To even think of a recovery attempt was borderline insane. Yet Palmer went for it. He whacked his ball out of the thick thorny bramble and eventually went on to win. How you can pull off that same ballsy shot, let us tell you:

These tips will help you become a recovery shot maestro without even needing a drop. And if you want to refine your overall iron-play, these major champs’ insights will help:

Golf is weird. This sport laughs in the face of logic. Butter-smooth swing… but it flies straight into the water. A half-drunk, eyes-closed hack—and it’s a pin-seeking missile. You know the drill. We all do. Take this player, for example, a tennis regular who often takes to the course too. His words are more than relatable, right?

But it’s that chaos that makes the game so intoxicating.

And it’s not just us regular folk. Pro athletes agree, too. It’s the reason Carlos Alcaraz was caught practicing golf swings at Wimbledon. And why Gareth Bale has spent more time on the course than he did on a soccer field this past decade.

You see, there's no cure for golf fever. Good thing we're not looking for one, huh!?