A 21-year-old just held off the best player in the world, the PGA Tour’s Detroit stop is playing its final year at a Donald Ross classic, and we sit down with a golf insider who’s seen the game from every side of the ropes. PGA Tour caddie Mike Hicks — Payne Stewart’s former caddie — breaks down the 3M Open shocker and previews the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and golf lifer Chad Arsich shares a career spent everywhere from the pro-shop grind to the game’s most famous fairways.
Here’s what went down on Episode 23.
▶️ Watch the full episode:
https://youtu.be/P12A-5gH5sQ
Caddie Corner: The 3M Recap & a New Star
Last week, Mike previewed the 3M Open as a putting contest — whoever got hot with the flat stick would win. This week we have a champion, and almost nobody saw him coming: Jackson Koivun, 21 years old, won at TPC Twin Cities in just his third start as a pro — barely five weeks removed from his final amateur round — holding off Scottie Scheffler down the stretch.
Mike broke down Koivun’s game. There’s a big side-bend in the swing that raises long-term durability questions, but right now he’s one of the best putters on the planet, with a pre-shot routine he rehearses from behind the ball and the offensive mindset to close out the world No. 1. Koivun wrote “dominate” on his glove and takes full ownership of his own decisions — the mark of a player who belongs. The win banks roughly $1.5M, a two-year Tour exemption, and a FedEx Cup jump into the top 70.
Then Mike looked ahead to the Rocket Mortgage Classic — the final year at Detroit Golf Club’s Donald Ross North course, freshly lengthened and re-bunkered in a restoration in the neighborhood of $15–16M. With Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka in the field, the question is whether the changes finally tame what’s long been a birdie fest.
▶️ Watch just this segment:
https://youtu.be/Fg7tmxu-mpU
Caddie Corner: How to Prep for a Bucket-List Golf Trip
Booked the trip of a lifetime? Mike’s prep list starts months before you fly. Get walking — many destination and links courses are walking-only, and your legs need to be ready. Hire a caddie, especially overseas where blind shots are everywhere, and study the layout ahead of time using course websites and aerial flyovers so nothing surprises you on the first tee.
He also gets into the turf. Bermuda vs. bent grass play differently, and so does the rough on each. And a great course doesn’t have to be lush and green — Mike makes the case that firm, brown, tight lies that reward the ground game are the real test, links-style golf as it was meant to be played.
Two things amateurs almost always skip: spend your warm-up dialing in green speed instead of pounding drivers, and eat throughout the round so your body and mind don’t fade over the closing holes. (This one was recorded around Rocket Mortgage week, so there’s a little Detroit course-renovation talk to lead it off.)
▶️ Watch just this segment:
https://youtu.be/hqaljWLxqmU
Guest Segment: A Golf Life & Course Etiquette, with Chad Arsich
Chad Arsich has lived the golf business from every side. He came up through Ferris State’s Professional Golf Management program and cut his teeth as an assistant pro — 10-to-12-hour days through the season — before stepping off the shop floor for a life where he could actually enjoy the club as a member.
Along the way he’s played the game’s cathedrals — Shinnecock Hills, Merion, Maidstone — and once slept outside the Old Course starter’s booth just to grab a single tee time at St Andrews. Now he sits on his club’s board through a season of big renovations, makes golf content on his own channel, and champions the one habit he wishes every player had: fix your ball mark — yours, and one more while you’re at it.
It’s a fun, honest look at the game from someone who’s seen it from the inside out.
▶️ Watch just this segment:
https://youtu.be/gOO3jrlvPq8
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