Let’s tee off!

Chris Gotterup just walked into 2026 and took the mic.

A closing 64 at Waialae, a two-shot win at the Sony Open, and a jump to No. 17 in the world. That’s not a quiet start, and it’s getting harder to call it “one hot week.” We’ll break down what held up under pressure, plus a few other headlines worth your attention. And for the rest of us? There’s a weirdly smart winter drill making the rounds: strap a toy airplane to your iron shaft to get instant feedback on what your clubface is doing through impact.

Simple, visual, and surprisingly useful.

Chris Gotterup opened the new PGA Tour season with a closing 64 and a two-shot win at the Sony Open at Waialae, getting it to 16-under after starting Sunday two back. He took over when 54-hole leader Davis Riley stumbled early, then kept the pedal down with steady ball-striking and timely putts. Gotterup also jumped to No. 17 in the world, a big leap from where he stood a year ago.

The back nine did most of the talking, including key makes on Nos. 12 and 13, plus a closing birdie on the par-3 17th that all but sealed it. The bigger backdrop is that this was a later-than-usual season start because The Sentry at Kapalua was canceled, and there is real chatter that Hawaii’s place on the schedule could shift with Sony’s title deal expiring and the Tour considering a later season launch in 2027. Read more here.

Takeaway: Gotterup is making “one-hot-week” harder to argue, and he is inching toward the Tour’s top tier fast.

Smash GC just announced its 2026 roster, and the headline move is Harold Varner III joining the squad alongside new captain Talor Gooch, plus holdovers Jason Kokrak and Graeme McDowell. LIV says the season opens in Riyadh, and Smash is pitching this group as a depth-first lineup built to contend most weeks.

Varner has been around the LIV block. He debuted in 2022, picked up an individual win at LIV Golf DC in 2023, and logged four top-10 finishes in 2025 while playing for 4Aces GC. Also worth noting: Varner and Gooch already have chemistry from their 2023 season together on RangeGoats GC. Read more here.

Takeaway: Gooch is putting familiar pieces around him, and Smash is clearly trying to win on consistency, not just highlights.

Will Zalatoris is teeing it up again at The American Express in La Quinta, California, and he is not sugarcoating what the last few years looked like. After peaking at No. 7 in the world, he dealt with recurring back problems, had a microdiscectomy in spring 2023, then a disk replacement last May that shut down his 2025 season. His goal now is simple: play his way into more Signature Events.

Zalatoris said the grind got so bad he tried to hide a limp at the 2022 U.S. Open at Brookline, where he still finished tied for second. He also pointed to improved disk replacement tech, already used in other sports, as the reason he feels like his career is still on the table, and he is finally swinging without feeling like his back is the real opponent. Read more here.

Takeaway: If Zalatoris is healthy, the PGA Tour just got a high-ceiling contender back in the mix.

Sepp Straka is back in La Quinta for the 67th American Express, and he is not exactly sneaking in under the radar. The 32-year-old Austrian enters the week ranked No. 12 in the world, making his sixth start in the event as the reigning champ.

He won the 2025 edition by two shots at 25-under, cashing a $1.5M winner’s check, and now gets the fun job of trying to run it back. Straka opens Thursday at La Quinta Country Club, grouped with Sam Burns. Read more here.

Takeaway: The target is on Straka’s back this week, and every contender in the desert knows exactly who they have to chase.

If your winter range sessions are starting to feel like the same old drills, Golf Monthly has a quirky one that is surprisingly practical. The idea is simple: attach a small toy airplane to your iron shaft so the wings give you instant visual feedback on what your clubface is doing through impact and into the follow-through.

The drill is built for mid to high handicappers, especially slicers who keep the face “looking at the target” for too long after contact. With the plane on the shaft, you can rehearse slow swings and learn the feel of rotating your forearms, shaft, and clubface so the wings stay more level and the toe works up. Bonus: you do not even need to hit balls to get value out of it. Read more here.

Takeaway: Sometimes the best swing fix is not a new thought; it is a better visual cue.

PGA of America is kicking off 2026 with a resolution most of us can get behind: stop turning birdie looks into stress-putt pars. Their point is pretty simple: a huge chunk of your score lives on the greens, yet plenty of golfers hit balls on the range, skip the putting green, then wonder why the card looks ugly.

To help fix that, PGA Coach Ethan McCallister shares a straightforward lag-putting drill built around speed control, not perfect reads. The idea is to train your pace so your first putt finishes in a makeable zone, which means fewer long comebacks and fewer accidental three-putts. Read more here.

Takeaway: If you want to score better fast, you do not need a new driver; you need fewer second putts that feel like a coin flip.

Golf Monthly’s Johnny Percival says his game fell off a cliff from October 2025 to January 2026, complete with topped drives, sliced irons, and about 20 yards of carry missing from every club. Trackman showed the usual suspects: an over-the-top move and an open face that produced a “wipey fade,” so he booked a session with Top 50 Coach Ian Clark to find the root cause.

Clark’s diagnosis was brutally simple: his chest was set too far forward at address, which led to a reverse pivot, limited rotation, and forced the over-the-top path. The fix was to shift the hips left (right-handers) and feel the chest and shoulders sit farther back, then turn with a “right glute toward left ankle” feel to actually rotate. In one session, his rotation numbers jumped, his swing direction tightened from 16 degrees out-to-in to about 4, and the lost distance showed up again. Read more here.

Takeaway: Before you chase a new swing, double-check your setup, because one small address fix can unlock speed and solid contact fast.

Jess Ratcliffe says her nerves used to spike the moment a round felt even slightly “serious,” especially when she worried about being judged instead of focusing on the shot. After dropping her handicap from 34 to 9, she put together a winter routine aimed at making pressure feel familiar by the time spring golf rolls around.

Her five-step plan is practical: lock in a timed pre-shot routine, pick a simple focus word to shut down mental spirals, build a quick reset after bad shots, rehearse the whole thing during practice until it is automatic, and purposely seek low-stakes pressure reps (like winter comps or playing with strangers) so nerves stop feeling like a surprise. By spring, you are not hoping for confidence -- you are training it. Read more here.

Takeaway: Your swing is not the only thing to train this winter -- your response to pressure is, too.

My foursome has a rule: one breakfast ball on the first tee, no questions asked.

Last weekend, I hit my first tee shot into a place that doesn’t exist on any scorecard. You know the spot -- half swamp, half thicket, full regret.

I calmly announce, “Breakfast ball.”

My buddy goes, “You already used it.”

I said, “No I didn’t.”

He said, “You used it last round.”

I said, “That’s insane. The breakfast ball is a daily right.”

He said, “No. It’s a lifestyle privilege.”

Now we have a Rules Committee. It’s two guys who average 94 and one guy who once watched a USGA YouTube video.

They call a meeting on the cart path like we’re negotiating world peace.

One guy says, “Did you eat breakfast?”

I said, “Yes.”

He says, “Then you don’t get a breakfast ball.”

I said, “That’s the opposite of how breakfast works.”

My buddy adds, “If you ate breakfast, you’re not eligible. If you didn’t eat breakfast, you’re too hungry to be trusted. So nobody gets one.”

At that point we’re just playing golf with emotional damage.

Anyway, I played the original ball, found a snake, made an 8, and I’m now starting a new policy: the only breakfast ball is a mimosa at the turn.

Submitted by Natalie R., Phoenix, AZ

Gotterup’s win is a reminder that real separation usually looks boring on the surface: steady ball-striking, a couple of timely putts, and no panic when the moment gets loud. The same idea applies to your game.

You don’t need a new swing thought every week. You need a repeatable cue that tells you the truth. That’s why the toy plane drill is more than a gimmick. It turns “I think I did that” into “I can see it,” and that kind of feedback is how you actually change patterns. Keep the work simple, keep it measurable, and let consistency do the heavy lifting.

What’s the one part of your game you’re most focused on fixing before spring?

See you next edition,

Adam Rosen
Editor-in-Chief, Birdies, Bogeys & Bourbon

PS: Have a fun golf story? Share it here, and we may include it in the next edition.