The offseason is restless. Each morning I check the ground (still snow-covered) and another day of outdoor practice is lost. The physical remedy, when available, is a solitary hour at the indoor simulator. It forestalls the Winter Blues, but only for a moment.

The mental remedy is quieter.

It starts with dressing with intention. Corduroys, an OCBD, a cashmere sweater, and a Paul Stuart blazer. My favorite To Boot driving loafers — currently falling apart, very much mid-season form. It's the uniform for dark days, and it matters more than it should.

But the outfit is only half the equation.

The other half is the room. You know the one. Furniture that hasn't moved in decades, certain members with their unspoken assigned tables, portraits sharing wall space with boards of past club champions painted in gold. Trophy cases in the corner. A fire going. Dark green walls or wood paneling, usually both.

Sitting in that room does something for the soul. Whether you pull an old book off the shelf or simply have lunch with a friend, it's a non-negotiable for surviving the dark days up North.

A few readers have sent me clippings of past Golf Digest articles, like this one from 1992:

It’s brilliant, and makes me long for the days where I used to check the mailbox for the monthly edition. Golf Digest in it’s prime was like Greg Maddux in 1994, or Steve Carlton in 1972. An un-touchable fastball.

The reader emails (always appreciated) and articles piqued my interest enough to pay for the premium content (it pains me, yes, to support the slop that oozes out of their publication daily), just to access the Golden Age of golf editorial writing.

They have a section titled “Etiquette” in the archives, and, believe it or not, the most recent articles which fit into that category are from 2016! Hilarious.

Anyway, I stumbled upon Arnold Palmer’s Keys to Etiquette, published in October 2008 as a 12-year-old BTG was pulling for his Phillies in the World Series. Let’s break it down.

A prescient, near vaticinal statement from the King to start his list. Pace of play has never been as much of a hotly contested issue as it is today. In his years fast play was the standard, even in the professional game. Go watch Lee Trevino play the 12th at Augusta and tell me the game isn’t facing a pace crisis today.

As Arnie mentioned in his article, if you’re the slowest player in your group, you are a slow player! Amen to that.

We all know the hot head at the club or on the junior circuit. The golf world is much smaller than you think it is, and reputations are sticky.

Moreover? Throwing clubs is distasteful and fills the air with an uneasy silence. Even the light toss of a putter is a simple way to distance yourself from your peers at a club.

Nobody wants to play with the guy who throws clubs or blames the caddie for a bad shot.

The best way to solve this is to just laugh after you hit a bad shot. Easy to say, difficult in practice.

When I first read this, I thought it was going to be an extension or reiteration of his fast play point. I was pleasantly surprised to see the King trumpet the virtues of showing up on time and not bailing on commitments for dubious reasons.

Make plans and stick to them. Show up on time, if not early to all social events. Important yet overlooked life skills.

Fix divots and ball marks. I’ve belabored this point. I also like to emphasize the removal of broken tees from par 3 tee boxes. The Super will thank you.

A great quote from Arnie:

“Before you exit the bunker, ask yourself, Would I be upset if I had to play from that spot?”

Silence as one of your playing partners addresses the golf ball requires you to stand still. Practice swings are not silent, as much as you may believe them to be.

Knowing where to stand is critical here as well. It’s best to never stand directly in front of or behind a person playing a golf shot. Whether it be on the greens or fairway, stand perpendicular or on a diagonal. The line of a golf shot or a putt is sacred.

Quote from Arnie: “When a player is about to hit a shot, think of the fairway as a cathedral, the green a library.”

Interesting to see the golf cart earn a spot in the top 10 rules. He understood that carts weren’t going anywhere, as much as some of us (me) lament their unnecessary use.

I can’t say it any better than the King:

“Your goal when driving a cart should be to leave no trace you were there.”

I wonder what Arnold Palmer would think of tech camo patterned hoodies and joggers? think he’d take issue with the outfits of the modern golfer, professional and otherwise.

It’s why I’m such a fan of what Arnie McNair is doing.

The loud, polyester-heavy, big pattern stuff was a trend. It rode the popularity of golf and it’s infusion into the cultural zeitgeist of the 2010’s and 20’s. But that is no more. The next generation is poised to shift consumer sentiment back to clothing which would fit the eye of Mr. Palmer himself. Play the classics.

Simple, but not easy. The iPhone had existed for about a year when he said this. Remarkable foresight.

Helping your playing partners find errant shots is necessary when it makes sense. As a player, it’s important to manage expectations when it comes to others helping you look for your ball. While its a nice gesture, it comes secondary to pace.

Helping your playing partners look for wayward shots while maintaining a proper pace is an art form. It’s a muscle that needs to be trained and strengthened over hundreds of rounds.

This made me smile. Golf is full of a million idiosyncrasies which, to the uninitiated, feel cult-like in nature. But, to those in the know, acting within the boundaries of the unwritten rules signals deep respect for the game and your playing partners.

Learning how to walk without scuffing the greens, knowing where to leave the flagstick, and understanding where to stand while others are playing are quick tells that someone “gets it”.

It is my hope that this publication is slowly but surely educating the next generation on the importance of the Little Things.

Host of the TOUR event this week, Riviera has a clubhouse that is certainly worthy of a spot in the Pantheon.

For those new here, I’ve spent the past few months pouring my esoteric and bountiful private club knowledge onto pieces of paper. It’s hard to grasp how much information I had in my head until I started writing it out on paper. It’s a fun exercise.

(I’m not saying everyone should write a book, but I do think that most people reading this could write a 100 page book about something.)

I’ve also decided on a title: In Good Standing.

The book will not be for everyone. It is a deep dive into what proper etiquette, attire, and general behavior looks like at elite private clubs. The book aims to be didactic in nature while winking at the reader when discussing the truly absurd rituals. My hope is you will laugh at least a few times while reading it, while learning lessons that will last a lifetime.

Once the writing is done, I’ll move onto illustrations. Every good handbook needs pictures.

If you’re reading this, you’re subscribed and will be notified of the official release date and will get a few sneak peaks of the book.

For the general public or people who do not read this, I made a website for the book which can be found here: https://ingoodstandingbook.com/.

Footjoy is moving away from what makes them the best shoe manufacturer. We don’t need more sneakers with spikes taped to the bottom.

We need to revive the Icons and the DryJoys. Two iconic shoes synonymous with golf.

Footwear dictates the formality of the outfit. Don’t believe me? Turn on ESPN at any hour of the day and look at the hosts wearing Jordan’s with suits and tell me it doesn’t look foolishly casual.

In an ode to Mr. Palmer, we should all strive to look our best on the golf course, head to toe. That means eschewing the sneaker trend for classic models like the Premier. Make shoes proper again.

Worth 90 seconds of your day. Through line education is nuanced, and critical to proper etiquette. This is a solid explainer.

The 71st Gasparilla Invitational tees off this Thursday at Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club in Tampa, and if you don't know about this tournament, you should.

Established in 1956 as a strictly amateur event, the Gasparilla is one of the premier mid-amateur invitationals in the country. It's WAGR-ranked, draws a stacked mid-am field, and runs 54 holes of stroke play with a 36-hole cut. The kind of event where you earn your spot and keep it by posting numbers.

The venue is the story. Palma Ceia is a Donald Ross redesign from 1923. It’s par 70, and just 6,211 yards from the tips. It's short by modern standards, which is exactly the point.

Narrow, tree-lined fairways and small, slick greens do the heavy lifting. Bobby Weed restored the Ross features in 2011, and the course won Renovation of the Year from Golf Inc. the following year.

Players who've competed at both have compared the green speeds to Augusta.

The history runs deeper than most people realize. Before it became an amateur event, the Gasparilla Open was a professional tournament dating back to 1932, where Walter Hagen won his final individual PGA victory in 1935.

He showed up still wearing his tuxedo from the night before, got a flat tire on the Gandy Bridge, arrived two minutes before his tee time, and shot a course record 64.