The Bacon Mailbag: Ryder Cup courses, caddie stories and if Taco Bell is good on the golf course

February 26, 2014 by

Each Tuesday for the remainder of the golf season we will be rolling out a mailbag, with any and all questions invited from readers and fans around the world. Have a good question you want answered? Hit me up on Twitter at @shanebacon and we will try to get to it in the coming weeks. Here we go …

Bacon: The fun thing about my time at St. Andrews is all the people that come through. I had former NFL players in my group, famous broadcasters, and just everyday golf fans getting a chance to play the most famous course in the world, but my favorite moment was walking up to the tee and seeing Peter Tompson in the group.

I didn’t get his bag because one of the quick Scottish caddies got in there first, but I did get plenty of time to chat with him about the game, his five British Open wins and St. Andrews in general.

Tompson was well into his 70s at the time, but the man could still make a good move at the ball, and his compact position was incredible.

That was definitely the coolest moment for me in Scotland, and something I won’t ever forget.

Bacon: Okay, I think this is a fair point, with TPC Scottsdale having a solid finish, but me and a golf buddy were chatting on Monday night about this very topic and came to the conclusion that TPC Sawgrass would be such a great match play venue (remember Tiger at the ’94 U.S. Amateur?!).

First, Sawgrass is the crown jewel of the TPC courses, so why wouldn’t the PGA Tour want to give it the unique opportunity to host two big golf events in the same season? Augusta National has the one major each season, why couldn’t Sawgrass be the only course that gets two runs in a single year?

Second, that finish would be match play heaven. The 16th is a really fun par-5 that would give us eagles, water balls and serious highlights.

The 17th needs no introduction, but just think of the nerves if you were standing on that tee with a 1-up lead, needing to stick it on the green with the wind swirling and the water everywhere.

Lastly, you’d get some great drama on the 18th, one of the toughest finishing holes on tour and a place that could give us birdies to win matches and high numbers to lose them.

I think Sawgrass would be a great match play venue, and while it probably would never happen, it is definitely fun to think about.

Bacon: Absolutely not, they were absolutely insane.

I live in Arizona and play a ton of desert golf and I’ll say this; I’ve never seen a better recovery shot out of the desert than the first one Dubuisson hit, and then he followed it up with an even better one!

You always can tell how good, or lucky, something is when fellow pros react, and the Jason Day smile after his second chip really showed just how good that shot was.

Bacon: I love this idea, and while we do have the season-ending Skills Challenge, it isn’t nearly the level of competition that we could really get if this happened.

With the introduction of the wraparound schedule on the PGA Tour, players literally get no breaks, so why not have some week off between the U.S. Open and British and call it the Golf All-Star Weekend? It could be in the summer, it could be hosted near where the U.S. Open wraps, and the prize money would have to be mammoth to bring in the big stars, but if that could happen I don’t see why this wouldn’t work.

The PGA Tour could have a long driving competition between players which would be fun because guys like Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland would hold nothing back when going after drives (Callaway did this a couple of years ago in Scottsdale and Woodland was overheard saying he was going back to his college golf swing to make sure to get the most out of it).

I would love to take a page out of the Big Break show on Golf Channel and have a glass breaking competition, plus any short game battles would be really fun to watch.

My final game to see who the overall champion? A game of H-O-R-S-E, where players can literally pick anything they want, with closest to the hole winning that round. How great would this be, with guys strategizing against fellow competitors and picking shots that they know the other player would have a tough time with (like making Tiger Woods or Bubba Watson hit a draw or a short hitter forcing someone like Bubba to try and hit a 7-iron from 130).

Is anyone not watching a golf H-O-R-S-E game? I guarantee it would do better ratings than something like the Grand Slam of Golf and would be something every website would want to post and talk about.

Bacon: I’m posting a Scottsdale golf guide on Devil Ball later this week, but just to answer your question, here are my five; Quintero, Troon North Pinnacle, We Ko Pa Cholla, Camelback Padre and Whirlwind Cattail.

Bacon: Heyyy-o, it’s my favorite NBA blog editor and podcaster, and a fashionable man in his own right.

I’ve been pretty lucky with all the clubs I’ve received over the years, from an old school 1-iron TaylorMade sent me to a Callaway hybrid that only a few people in the world have.

But, if I had to pick the coolest club, it has to be the Augusta green Cobra Amp Cell driver I got last year before the Masters. It was a limited edition push, and the thing is just beautiful.

I actually stopped hitting it at one point because I didn’t want to get the face all beat up, so that one sits proudly on my bookshelf.

Bacon: Oh man, my favorite mailbag question of the year so far comes from one of the best people on Twitter.

Since I’ve turned 30 I’ve tried to cut back on the fast food, so I figured I would ask one of my best friends, and a Taco Bell freak in his own right, Andrew, to take this one on.

Here was his response:

“You can absolutely bring Taco Bell to the course. In fact, I’m pretty sure the Taco Bell Party Pack was designed with golf in mind. You get to mix and match 12 of your favorite crunchy taco flavors in a highly portable and reasonably resealable container (this decreases the chance of taco theft by birds or cart partners). I’d personally go with five Fiery Doritos Locos tacos, five Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos tacos and two original crunchy tacos. This gives you the necessary taco stock to give away a couple tacos to the jealous people who weren’t nearly as smart, and didn’t bring Taco Bell to the course. I recommend giving away the original crunchy tacos first because it will allow you to appear to be a kind-hearted and generous person while guaranteeing that they won’t be bugging you for additional tacos (let’s be honest, nobody wants more than one original crunchy taco, especially in a post Doritos Locos world).

Some people might worry that the tacos would get cold and/or soggy after sitting in the box for an extended amount of time. They would be right. Eat faster, slow eater.”

And that, my friends, is about as beautiful a writing as you’ll ever see about Taco Bell. Well done, Andrew.

See you all next week!

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Shane Bacon is the editor of Devil Ball Golf and Busted Racquet on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shanebaconblogs@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter at @ShaneBacon!

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