For all of #GolfTwitter's goods, like the chatter on a major championship Sunday (specifically about Tiger’s arrival), the fans who provide us with grainy video that would normally never see the light of day, and of course, anything involving Patrick Reed, there are an equal or greater amount of evils. Namely, dumb, sometimes even nauseating spats.
Some are quite enjoyable, like Rory McIlroy and Steve Elkington’s famous back-and-forth during the 2017 U.S. Open. Others (pretty much all the others) make you want to throw your phone through the wall, then go grab your computer to hop back on in case you missed anything. This could be described as an “addiction,” but let’s just go with “unhealthy obsession” because that sounds better even though they are one in the same.
Despite Grayson Murray deleting the app entirely in May of 2017, we still had plenty of great exchanges on the social media app that kept us scrolling for more. Here were some of our favorites, and if you find yourself on this list, please keep ‘em coming. This list is not meant to discourage, rather to celebrate the Brandels and the Kesslers on another great year of online beefing. Can’t stop, won’t stop.
Justine Reed vs. the haters
FacebookPinterestWhile she denied any knowledge to Golf Digest of tweeting out in defense of her husband from the @JustineKReed account on Sunday morning of the Ryder Cup, we have a sneaking suspicion that the account does in fact belong to her:
FacebookPinterestMaybe it's the fact it's her name and a picture of her, or the fact that all 14 of her tweets are in defense of the Masters champion. Just a hunch. While all her replies are entertaining (check them all out here), the most notable spat came that Sunday morning in France, when she added fuel to the fire regarding the Reed/Spieth split:
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FacebookPinterestDefinitely NOT Justine K. Reed.
Jimmy Walker's backstopping admission sparks heated debate
FacebookPinterestPrior to Walker's admission, "backstopping" was merely a conspiracy theory that existed on the periphery of #GolfTwitter. Then Walker's comments inserted the debate into the mainstream, leading to a heated back and forth with former Australian tour pro Michael Clayton:
https://twitter.com/JimmyWalkerPGA/status/1005579145387085824
https://twitter.com/JimmyWalkerPGA/status/1005579885258133505
https://twitter.com/JimmyWalkerPGA/status/1005580417267888129
https://twitter.com/JimmyWalkerPGA/status/1005580981938647041
https://twitter.com/JimmyWalkerPGA/status/1005581406171525120
https://twitter.com/JimmyWalkerPGA/status/1005581572521775104
https://twitter.com/MichaelClayto15/status/1005582385788809216
A few other tour pros weighed in on the matter, almost all in favor of Clayton. Oddly enough, the issue never really came up in any meaningful way for the remainder of the golf season.
Peter Kessler vs. literally anyone, anywhere, at any time
FacebookPinterestTo be honest, the height of Peter Kessler's career was before my time. All I know of him are his tweets, and let me tell ya, they are electric. The guy will dive into the mud with anyone, anytime, anywhere. Yes, he can be very aggressive, but that only makes him even more of a must-follow. Some of his greatest hits in 2018 include going after Brandel Chamblee:
Going after Ian Poulter, and generating a response:
https://twitter.com/IanJamesPoulter/status/1059095329625329664
And taking shots at a video made by No Laying Up:
His takes really can be too hot too handle, and we barely even scratched the surface. For more fire, start scrolling away here.
Random golf architecture nerd thread I fell upon one night
This thread hardly garnered the attention of a backstopping beef or a Kessler insult, but when I randomly fell upon it one night I was transfixed. It's got videos, written statements, blockings, accusations, you name it. It starts with Scott Fawcett, a former aspiring tour pro who now teaches and caddies for amateur players in addition to running a website titled playinglesson.com. Fawcett made a video that sort of "debunked" the idea of "hunting for angles" on certain golf holes, or something architecture-y like that. See if you can decipher this nauseating debate yourself:
https://twitter.com/KingCollinsGolf/status/1063510562397663232
https://twitter.com/the_woke_yolk/status/1063529752265453569
It's absolute chaos in the architecture streets. My goodness. Can't we all just get along? By the way, this is ONE of about a million threads of guys arguing over golf course architecture. I'm all for passion, but we're not curing cancer here people.
Lee McCoy apologizes for controversial comments, deletes Twitter account
FacebookPinterestFollowing a final-round 67 at the Web.com Tour’s Club Colombia Championship back in February, McCoy made some questionable comments about the young fans in attendance that week, as well as South America. The backlash was enough to cause McCoy to not only delete all the tweets, but his account entirely:
McCoy has since rejoined Twitter, and it's fair to chalk up his comments as one pretty bad moment. In speaking to Golf Digest shortly afterwards, he seemed as contrite as he could have been.
Braindead FOX Sports Radio host says Tiger dominated a "bad era" of golf
The guy who made this statement deserves absolutely no recognition, and to be honest I still have never heard or seen what the guy looks like, so he failed miserably in his mission to grab long-term attention with these comments. As for short-term attention, he succeeded, and it produced some fiery shots back from #GolfTwitter:
https://twitter.com/FoxSportsRadio/status/1029762904265043968
https://twitter.com/KVanValkenburg/status/1029773846763720704
https://twitter.com/RyanBallengee/status/1029772687160291328
https://twitter.com/TweeterAlliss/status/1029822095390375936
https://twitter.com/Leehemmings91/status/1029776896098283521
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Some just shouldn't be allowed to see the light of day.
Brandel Chamblee calls Dustin Johnson's drive in Hawaii the best shot in golf history
Brandel deserves his own list of Twitter spats, but for time's sake, we'll go back to the first real #GolfTwitter debate of 2018. It all began on January 8th following Dustin Johnson's win at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, a victory that included, in Chamblee's opinion, the greatest shot in golf history:
https://twitter.com/chambleebrandel/status/950308337823830017
No. 1 shot … EVER! Let's see how everyone felt about that:
https://twitter.com/chambleebrandel/status/950391070319243264
https://twitter.com/chambleebrandel/status/950396395244040194
https://twitter.com/chambleebrandel/status/950408299043733504
https://twitter.com/chambleebrandel/status/950800164754731008
Say what you want about Brandel, but the man knows how to incite a Twitter riot. Is he the Stephen A. Smith of golf? #EmbraceDebate
Tiger vs. Phil promoting "The Match"
FacebookPinterestJust kidding. This was some of the worst trash talk in the history of trash talk. Let's pretend it never happened. Cool? Cool.