Building a Team: The POD System Explained with Comparison to USA Foursome/Fourball Scoring

[Keith White]

Some great stuff here.  I looked at the POD system comments by Azinger and I can see why people believe in it, there is some weight to this approach.

I feel very sorry for Tom.  He was picked by the PGA. The press conference was the wrong time to vent his feelings and Phil was poor in his choice of words.

With Tom you got the captain the PGA wanted, and if the players believe there's a system, make a press conference to the PGA regards the future.

There were no pods in 2012 and USA went to bed on Saturday night with a 10-6 lead from the tactical first two days.

Europe don't need pods. Europe work on bonding 12 players and making them so fired up that they will play with any other man and sweat blood on every shot, for themselves and each other.

The Captains place motivational pictures, emblems, and all sorts of stuff all around the European team and they play above themselves, pumped up beyond all recognition.

Try the PODS again by all means, but that was a one off, Europe have worked so hard in the last few decades to get stronger, unified as 12 and find ways to bring the best golf to three days without a pod in sight.  Have your pods, but don't hang all your hats on one peg.  There's far more to it than that.

I thought Spieth, Ried, Walker, and Fowler were magnificent, for their Catain Tom Watson, maybe they were the right POD, they played their guts out and brought their best. No excuses.

[scorpion12]

Something's wrong somewhere... losing as many Ryder Cups as the US has. How does it get fixed?

It's not like in the Olympics with the US Dream Team comprised of the best players in the NBA went and won almost every game they played... it's more like after the rest of the world reacted to the defeat and started their own league... and improved their play. Dream Team 2 and Dream Team 3 wasn't as successful... because the rest of the world was improving.

Or maybe it's like World Cup Soccer (Futbol to the rest of the world)... historically the US has not done well and hadn't made it to the semi-finals in a long time... until... until Major League Soccer started in the US... and play improved... and the US team is doing better than they have in the past. (Even though they lost being in the league of Doom with the world soccer powerhouses)

I'll admit I watch most sports from afar and I might be hazy on some of my recollections but... the proof is in the pudding. Put effort into making players better... and they'll improve.

Put effort into the Ryder Cup and the US might actually win more than we have in the past. Maybe play more PGA tournaments on European style courses... maybe institute some kind of competitive team play... give the players a reason to come together as a team and play together and win together instead of each player out for their own success.

Just a clueless guy on the internet that sucks at golf but is tired of losing.

[Spitfisher]

Some great stuff here.  I looked at the POD system comments by Azinger and I can see why people believe in it, there is some weight to this approach.

I feel very sorry for Tom.  He was picked by the PGA. The press conference was the wrong time to vent his feelings and Phil was poor in his choice of words.

With Tom you got the captain the PGA wanted, and if the players believe there's a system, make a press conference to the PGA regards the future.

There were no pods in 2012 and USA went to bed on Saturday night with a 10-6 lead from the tactical first two days.

Europe don't need pods. Europe work on bonding 12 players and making them so fired up that they will play with any other man and sweat blood on every shot, for themselves and each other.

The Captains place motivational pictures, emblems, and all sorts of stuff all around the European team and they play above themselves, pumped up beyond all recognition.

Try the PODS again by all means, but that was a one off, Europe have worked so hard in the last few decades to get stronger, unified as 12 and find ways to bring the best golf to three days without a pod in sight.  Have your pods, but don't hang all your hats on one peg.  There's far more to it than that.

I thought Spieth, Ried, Walker, and Fowler were magnificent, for their Catain Tom Watson, maybe they were the right POD, they played their guts out and brought their best. No excuses.

I agree with everything, except the last line. Fowler has yet to win a match-he played well, with some sick shot making but in the end couldn't close it out. Ther was a screen shot during the RC that showed who won on hole 18 in multiple RCs and the euros win big on 18 compared to the americans- That's a problem right there.

[ay33660]

Not an expert at this by any stretch but .........

Seems to me that the concept of "pods" or team work is relevant for 8 out of the 28 points.

The 12 head to head points on the last day does not depend on team work. The better player wins period.

The 8 best balls points really does not depend on team work. Say if one of the two players shoots lights out for the whole round chances are they would win regardless of how his partner is performing.

So that leaves the 8 points available in alternate shots. Now that does require team work or at least a pairing that is comfortable enough with each other that when one player makes a bad shot he does not feel so bad about it that it affects the remainder of the hole. Also it would be difficult to team a short straight ball hitter with a long but wild player. The straight hitter may not be faced with a lot of recovery shots during his career.

Of course it is important for each player to feel they are part of a team and to play for each other but maybe the US dominated in the past because its 12 players were significantly better than Europe's 12 players.

That is simply not the case today and in the future. So now those 8 best ball points are very important.

A bit off topic but seems like Spieth is in danger of becoming the US version of Sergio. He seems to be able to stay in the hunt but when the chips are down he cannot deliver. He is very young still so there is lots of time to change but I hope the last day collapse does not hurt him in the future.

[iacas]

The 8 best balls points really does not depend on team work. Say if one of the two players shoots lights out for the whole round chances are they would win regardless of how his partner is performing.

I disagree. If you don't like your partner, don't have chemistry, they won't know what to say or when to say it. You will be annoyed by their misses, or frustrated, or upset.

Same is true somewhat of singles - I disagree it has nothing to do with "team." You can be inspired by your teammates playing well and winning. Matters a lot less, but the U.S. didn't lose this Ryder Cup because of singles.

[joekelly]

Although Azinger said he found the Navy Seals method, as presented on TV, very interesting, or whatever, the operational plans for joining a few guys together in order to tighten personal bonds and to reduce doubt was perfected by the Viet Cong during their era in VietNam.  Since the VC had little logistical support and the small teams went out searching for the enemy the 3 man team learned reliance on 2 buddies not some 'pie in the sky', aka B.52.

Since then, other team building enterprises, including USN, have adopted the 3/4 personal 'pods' to achieve results.

In Hazeltine, maybe our guys can wear black pajamas and kick a**.

[Shorty]

I can't think of anything worse than being in a team of 12 and having the prayer group doing their own thing.

I don't mind the concept of pods in a Ryder Cup context, but not if it means Z.Johnson, Fowler, Bubba and Webb Simpson form a pod, which they clearly would.

[Golfingdad]

I can't think of anything worse than being in a team of 12 and having the prayer group doing their own thing. I don't mind the concept of pods in a Ryder Cup context, but not if it means Z.Johnson, Fowler, Bubba and Webb Simpson form a pod, which they clearly would.

Hey, if Jesus helps them win alternate shot points then I'm all for it!!!!

[Mr. Desmond]

I can't think of anything worse than being in a team of 12 and having the prayer group doing their own thing.

I don't mind the concept of pods in a Ryder Cup context, but not if it means Z.Johnson, Fowler, Bubba and Webb Simpson form a pod, which they clearly would.

I think, think the coach forms the POD based on personality tests, etc.

[misty_mountainhop]

I agree with everything, except the last line. Fowler has yet to win a match-he played well, with some sick shot making but in the end couldn't close it out. Ther was a screen shot during the RC that showed who won on hole 18 in multiple RCs and the euros win big on 18 compared to the americans- That's a problem right there.

To be fair to Fowler in Sunday's singles, he got caught in a tornado. What did Rory have? 6/7 birdies and an eagle? In 14 holes? Seriously, there aren't many who'd live with that, from any era of the game.

[misty_mountainhop]

I think, think the coach forms the POD based on personality tests, etc.

The thing with this is that different people have different ways of doing things and respond to different approaches. Let's imagine I make the U.S. team and I'm told to be in this or that pod by Mr. Captain, whomever that might be. Trust me, I'm not going to buy into some psychobabble personality-based assay as to whom I should 'bond' with. However, I would, I hope, do my absolute best even if I think it's a load of horse. At the end of the day I'm playing for my team and, I assume, my country/continent. I don't really get that people couldn't give their utmost just because they didn't feel they'd been consulted on what toilet paper should be in the hotel, or whatever else wasn't to the satisfaction of the disaffected.

Pods may have worked for Azinger but I doubt it was close to being all about that. As @iacas said, somewhere above, there was quite likely some lightning catching involved and, in addition, it appears he was up against the worst Europe captain in history in Faldo. Faldo might be unique in having taken a ready-made silk purse and turned it into the sow's ear.

[Mr. Desmond]

A scathing article in golf.com of the Team USA Organization

McGInley and Monty read Azinger's book ... reminds me of Patton exclaiming, "Rommel, I read your  g-d book!"

Another quote that expresses the attitude of the USA Team towards Watson was a text to the reporter on Sunday evening of Watson: Although he’s rarely right, he’s never in doubt!”

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, let's get it out so we quit repeating history, the article paints a picture of a disorganized PGA and Clueless Captains due to a lack of understanding and teamwork...

The Text:

(Building a team? No... name one)

Watson made little effort to get to know his charges or do any team building beyond a few get-off-my-lawn speeches. He was a remote and disengaged figure in the run-up to the Cup, and once the competition began, he had little understanding of how his players were feeling, physically or emotionally. (It didn’t help that two of his vice captains -- Ray Floyd, 72, and Andy North, 64 -- are decades removed from playing the Tour and the third, Steve Stricker, 47, is now a part-timer.)

(Pairings ... USA ... eeny, meeney, miney, mo...)

While Watson’s counterpart Paul McGinley, 47, was meticulously prepared, having spent years seeking the counsel of his players over long dinners and b.s. sessions on the range, Watson seemed to be making up his pairings willy-nilly. A series of botched decisions for the Friday-afternoon foursomes had a cascading effect that led him to bench his putative team leader, Phil Mickelson, and Bradley, the guy who could have been the team’s emotional juggernaut, for both Saturday sessions. (To that point they had teamed to go 4–1 in the Ryder Cup.) These proud major champions were understandably wounded by the slight, but according to a team insider, what left them more upset was the heartless way Watson delivered the news.

(Frustrated USA Team Member)

Mickelson vented his frustration on Sunday night in a team press conference that was exquisite in its awkwardness. “Nobody here was in any decision,” Mickelson said of his teammates. In a text message to me later that night, one U.S. team member amplified the thought, saying of Watson, “ Although he’s rarely right, he’s never in doubt!”

(The USA Rigid Template for Captaining: Win a Major and be 40 something ... or 60 something in Watson's case, or just pick somebody!!)

Over the last 20 years the talent on both sides of the Atlantic has been more or less even. That the U.S. keeps losing is due to problems that are structural and cultural, which Watson’s disastrous captaincy highlighted. The PGA of America has long had a rigid template for its captain: a major championship winner in his late 40s. H e is selected by the PGA’s president, vice president and secretary. These are ever-changing outsiders who have no real knowledge of the inner workings of the Ryder Cup. Outgoing PGA president Ted Bishop, 60, is a self-styled maverick who wanted to defy convention during his two-year tenure, and it’s revealing that he conjured in Watson a man who is as out-of-touch with the modern Tour pro as Bishop is.

(The Euro Process -- ooooh, they actually gave it thought)

McGinley, like the captains before him, was selected in a vote by the European tour’s tournament committee, a body of current players, many of whom were regular Ryder Cuppers. The process has since been modified; future captains will be chosen by the tour’s executive director (George O’Grady), the chairman of the tournament committee (Thomas Bjorn, a competitor at this Cup) and the three immediate past European captains. This is an even better way to do it -- this gang of five knows what works and has close relationships with potential candidates.

In the U.S., the selection of McGinley was considered an outside-the-box choice because of his slight playing resume, though it’s mystifying why anybody would think there is a correlation between succeeding at an individual sport and being a leader of men.

(Europe grooms its Captains ... USA? forget about it...)

Anyway, McGinley had strong support among the players because of a pair of successful captaincies at the Seve Cup. This grooming of captains is another way in which the two sides differ, with Europe enjoying a far-reaching advantage . The Presidents Cup could be a platform for auditioning unorthodox Ryder Cup candidates -- how about Joe Ogilvie or Butch Harmon or Jim Mackay or Brandel Chamblee? -- but the PGA Tour treats it as if it’s an important event, and commissioner Tim Finchem has opted for the box office of old-timers like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Ken Venturi to lead the U.S. Europe is also cagier in its use of vice captains.

The U.S. tends to bring along old cronies who haven’t earned the trust of the team -- in 2004, Hal Sutton used his acid-tongued octogenarian mentor Jackie Burke. After a lopsided loss some U.S. players were bitter because they felt Burke threw them under the bus to reporters.

McGinley was twice a vice captain before ascending to the captaincy. Last week his five (!) lieutenants included Padraig Harrington, a surefire future captain, and Miguel Ángel Jiménez, a definite maybe, along with past captains José María Olazábal and Sam Torrance. McGinley’s pairings were masterly, and this core group of advisers certainly played a role. Avuncular Des Smyth was the fifth vice captain, and his stated purpose was to shepherd the four benched players, providing them with up-to-the-minute information about their roles and to gently soothe egos when necessary.

(USA is the Lone Ranger... No Succession Plan and No Grooming)

“A big difference between us and them is that Europe always has a succession plan,” says Paul Azinger, the only U.S. captain to win a Ryder Cup this century, back in 2008. “McGinley was surrounded by past captains and future captains, and they all reap the benefits. We’re lone rangers as far as captains go . Nobody knows what we’ve done in the past. There’s zero collaboration or institutional knowledge. Corey Pavin [Azinger’s clueless successor] never called me until two weeks before the matches began. And I think he did it only because he was being criticized in the media for not having done it. I’d like to see the PGA of America announce the next three captains at the same time, so they could get together as a cohesive group and create a guiding philosophy.”

(ZInger - POD System is a template ... at least look into it (Hint: The Euros Did))

Azinger instituted sweeping reforms for his captaincy, changing the qualifying criteria to add weight to more recent results and insisting on four captain’s picks instead of the traditional two. (Watson inexplicably gave one back.) After studying the small-group dynamics of Navy SEALs, Azinger instituted a “pod” system that essentially broke his team into three four-man units. To ratchet up the buy-in, he let the veterans in each pod help make his captain’s picks. All of this and more was laid out in detail in his 2010 book, Cracking the Code. Says Azinger, “McGinley says he read my book. So did Colin Montgomerie [Europe’s captain in ’10]. No American captain has said that. There’s a template there that worked. It’s stupid to not at least look into it.”

Read more: http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/ryder-cup-2014-tom-watson-phil-mickelson-team-usa#ixzz3EpsWW3Iy

[jgreen85]

I think the idea is a system is necessary. Doesn't have to be this pod system, but there needs to be a formulaic approach, something to rely on. The San Antonio Spurs are proof of that. The team relies on the system. The team trusts in the system and this allows poorer individual players to out play more individually gifted players. I'd be interested to hear what kind of system Love III put in place that allowed the US to play so well in 2012.

Nothing ever guarantees a team or person victory that is, of course, why we/they play the game. Something is required. Something should tell a captain/coach when a team has gone to the 18th hole 3 matches in a row, it's time to rest them - or even two matches in a row for that matter. The Spurs are happy to give away games in the regular season to ensure their players are fresh. A system that makes the players determined to not let each other fail (see Bubba "well, I played well"). This system should be out in front for the players to see to have buy-in and investment in the success of the team. Otherwise, Watson is right; it's just hoping 12 guys play well and the other guys don't (see Watson/Kuchar day 2 fourball).

At the end of the day, we don't see a lot of players in team sports bash the coach/manager publicly b/c coaches/managers know their success is entirely dependent on their players buying-in to the system. These coaches/managers do what they can to get that buy-in. Popovich and Duncan are, again, perfect examples of the best player buying-in to the coach's system and the coach doing whatever he can to get the player's buy-in (the Spurs practice facility is conveniently within walking distance of Duncan's house).

edit: and when/if you lose, the system failed not individual components, so you adjust/fix the system.