Two gloves. Iron covers. Wanamaker.

This week: The PGA Championship at Aronimink delivered, and NJ talent was front and center. Chris Gotterup finished T10, Max Greyserman T14. Plus Griffin Jayne, the new head pro at Navesink, on how a Tennessee kid ended up giving lessons to Justin Timberlake before discovering Jersey Shore golf.

— The DROP Podcast

#GolfingInTheGardenState

The PGA Championship at Aronimink has come and gone, and for once, nobody's saying it was the forgettable major.

Mike and Chris broke it all down. and the thesis was simple: the golf course showed up, the setup was right, and the leaderboard on Sunday was every bit as compelling as the finish. Aaron Rai shot 65 in the final round to win at -9 and walk away with the Wanamaker Trophy. He’s the first English-born player in more than a century to do it. Two gloves. Iron head covers. A story that gets better the more you read into it.

The iron covers, by the way, aren't just for show. When Rai was seven or eight years old, his father, an immigrant to England from India who worked multiple jobs alongside Rai's mother, bought him a set of Titleist 690 MBs for £800 (roughly $1,000). They cleaned the clubs with baby oil after every round and put iron covers on them. Rai has never stopped. That's not a quirk. That's gratitude.

Chris was physically at Aronimink on Saturday, walking holes alongside Chris Gotterup's dad. His son was tracking Rory. Gotterup finished T10 (-3) after tying the low round of the tournament, a 65 in Round 2 and the gallery made sure everyone in Newtown Square knew where he was from. Jersey Shore chants. CBA chants. A top-10 at a major, right across the state line.

Max Greyserman was even better through two rounds but cooled off over the weekend to finish T14 (-2).

And a quiet shout for Chris Gabriele, our former guest from Quaker Ridge who made it to Aronimink with an eagle on the 72nd hole of qualifying at Bandon Dunes.

Aaron Rai has head covers on his irons, but the story behind them is anything but silly. When Rai was about seven years old, his father bought him a first set of irons for roughly £800. They cleaned the clubs with baby oil after every round and always put the iron covers on. What brand were those irons?

A) Ping G irons
B) TaylorMade P-series
C) Titleist 690 MBs
D) Callaway X-14s

(Answer at the bottom)

This week we introduced Griffin Jayne, only the fourth head professional in the history of Navesink Country Club, and the first one who had to look up where the club was on a map before applying.

Griffin grew up in Chattanooga, went to Furman on a pre-med track, and found his way into golf almost accidentally. His early career took him to the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana, 8,000 feet of elevation, a 100-day season, Tom Weiskopf design, and a membership that required him to learn to play golf with an eight-iron that flew 247 yards. He eventually became head professional there before connections from Ocean Reef Club (where he spent two winters) pointed him toward Navesink.

What drew him east? His wife is from Bergen County. And Chris Dymek called.

Griffin is following Steve Sieg, 37 years at Navesink, NJPGA Hall of Fame, course record holder at 64. The Drop had Steve on the show in December 2025, and it was clear then that whoever came next had big shoes to fill. Griffin got one year of overlap before taking over full-time. He played three holes in December rain during his interview. He hadn't seen the rest of the course before he was hired.

What he's found: a family-oriented club that doesn't try to be Hackensack or Knickerbocker — it tries to be Navesink. The course is "playable," the greens are a mystery even to the head pro ("I think everything breaks toward the hospital across the river — I can't figure it out"), and a new superintendent (Brett Scales, formerly eight years at Hudson National) has the place firmer and faster than members have seen it in years.

He also made his first hole-in-one as a professional this spring — hole 2 at North Jersey Country Club in the NJPGA Match Play final four, against Tyler Hall. He'd been teasing a friend for never having one. Two weeks later, he had his own.

Oh, and there was that one time at Yellowstone when his boss called him in and told him to adjust the loft on "JT's" clubs.

Justin Thomas? No. Timberlake.

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Griff Jayne said Navesink doesn't need to be a top-5 golf course in the state to be a top-3 country club. That's an interesting distinction. Do you think the best club experience in NJ is at a top-tier golf course, or somewhere else entirely?

Reply and let us know which NJ club you'd argue for on the "best overall experience" argument. We may have to do an episode on it.

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TRIVIA ANSWER: C) Titleist 690 MBs. Rai's father bought him a set when he was seven or eight years old, a significant sacrifice for a working-class immigrant family. The iron covers weren't a quirk. They were a reminder to appreciate everything that made his golf possible.