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It’s been 14 days since the PGA Tour hit pause on its season and we’ve already got a heavyweight battle on our hands between two well-known pundits of the game. Yep, 67-year-old David Leadbetter and 57-year-old Brandel Chamblee are going at it.
This whole thing started after Chamblee, a Golf Channel analyst and one of the most outspoken commentators in the game, made a bold statement about golf teachers being exposed as social media and YouTube have “bitch-slapped” golf instruction into reality.
Leadbetter, who’s one of the most well-known golf instructors on the planet, didn’t like that comment too much and decided to pin an open letter with Golf Digest responding to Chamblee’s take.
Leadbetter did not hold back and jumped right into the fire with his very first sentence in the letter.
“It’s sad how a person of influence in the golf world like Brandel Chamblee can spew out some of the nonsense that he does.”
He then basically brags about the fact that he’s a golf instructor and points out that Chamblee has likely never given a meaningful golf lesson in his life, therefore he doesn’t know as much about the instructor world as he thinks he does.
“I doubt that Brandel has ever given a golf lesson of any note in his life. I certainly have not heard of any tour players running around singing his praises as a coach.
Brandel should realize the time, passion, study, commitment and the amount of devotion that coaches put in to help their students succeed.”
Now, in my opinion, Leadbetter’s remark here is showing that he’s out of touch in regards to Chamblee’s comments. Chamblee never once downplayed the actual act of instruction, just the fact that it has completely evolved over the past handful of years due to social media.
Leadbetter essentially started a pissing contest four sentences into his letter. ‘Do you know how long I’ve been doing this, you golf commentator, you!?’
He then turns the clock back to 30 years ago and says that he and his assistant spent hours on the driving range to help Chamblee get his game in order, but they weren’t ever paid for it.
I say this because I and my assistant Adam Schreiber spent countless hours in the late ’80s and early ’90s on the range helping Brandel to try to reach his goals. It certainly was not for the money, as I think the check is still in the mail.
Now all we need is Chamblee to post a video on social media of him writing Leadbetter a check. That’s the content we need in these trying times.
Leadbetter also went on to write that instructors do deserve some criticism, but then reeled off his impressive resume for those that may have forgotten just how great of an instructor he is.
Should there be some criticism of coaches? Absolutely. But that’s the same in any profession. I have faced criticism over the years, some justified and some not. It comes with the territory. I would say on balance, though, having taught seven World No. 1 players and players who have won 23 majors, that I would consider myself to have had a fairly successful career.
Leadbetter is a golf instructor. Chamblee is not a golf instructor. Chamblee is, however, a former PGA Tour winner, so I think it may be alright to assume he knows a thing or two about the instruction world.
Most fans, players and anyone else involved in the game of golf in any way respect the hell out of both of these guys, I certainly do, but this entire ‘situation’ seems, for the lack of a better word, dumb. Chamblee shouldn’t have said ‘bitch-slapped’ or maybe you could argue Golfweek should’ve left the phrase out, but Leadbetter writing this letter seems uncalled for as well.
It truly is quite the time to be alive, folks.