With professional golf on hold for the foreseeable future only one thing is certain: the pay for play game will look very different on the other side of the Corona Virus pandemic. Can the European Tour survive the current crisis and if not will it be the PGA Tour or the Premier Golf League that becomes its saviour? Just one of the myriad questions pondered when Geoff Shackelford, Mike Clayton and Rod Morri are joined by sports business expert Richard Gillis on Episode 104 of State of the Game.

It’s all anybody’s talking about. Including us. The Corona Virus has touched every facet of life, golf included, and is going to do so for the foreseeable future. What does it mean for professional and recreational golf? Who knows? Certainly not Geoff Shackelford, Mike Clayton and Rod Morri but we chat about it anyway.

Finally. That’s been the predominant response to the Distance Insights Report released earlier this week, a document that may well change the shape of the game for decades to come. Among the most vocal agitators for action on this issue for the past two decades have been Mike Clayton and Geoff Shackelford and on Ep 102 they have their say on the report and what it means.

Not for the first time a World Golf Tour has been proposed with the noble intention of having ‘the best play against the best more often’. Premier League Golf has been in the planning for several years and many of the world’s top players have admitted to being interested. But can the PGA Tour put a stop to it and if not what would that mean for the Tour and the rest of world golf? Join Geoff Shackelford – the journalist who broke the story – Mike Clayton and Rod Morri as they ponder the potential fallout.

It was exactly eight years ago today we released Episode One of ‘The golf podcast that talks about stuff that matters’ and 100 shows later has anything really changed in the game? The answer – as always – is both yes and no. There are dozens more golf podcast to choose from and a movement of apparently ‘fan media’ but the ball still goes too far, lots of players still don’t ‘get it’ and Mike Clayton is still – despite what Mguel Angel Jimenez might say – the most interesting man in golf (as well as being among its greatest contributors). Episode 100 is not a look back show but if you’re in the market for an interesting experiment head to the back catalogue and have a listen to that first episode and you’ll hear many of the same themes resonate in the game in 2020.

State of the Game co-host Mike Clayton has some very special news to share on episode 99 of the show.