As Thanksgiving hurtles towards us at the speed of 1,000 Bubba Watson tee shots I feel compelled to make a list of things because lists of things are what the rest of the Internet is made up of.

My list, however, is not a snarky list (okay, maybe it’s a little snarky) but rather things I’m genuinely grateful about the sport of golf on Thanksgiving 2014.

Let’s take a look.

1. Fresh blood in the game

It’s not that I was tiring of the old regime but it’s certainly easier to be stoked about a new year when you have intriguing figures like Martin Kaymer, Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel, Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy leading the charge rather than hoping Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker will keep chugging along.

I’m not into torch-passing narratives because I think only history can clearly define them but 2014 might be one of those we look back on and say “yep, that was the one.”

2. Tiger Woods

I get it. He’s nauseating to talk about if only because it seems he is talked about more than the game itself. And yet he is as compelling an athlete as we’ve had in the last 100 years.

It’s fun to try and solve him (whatever it means to solve a human you’ll never meet) and to solve his career. It is the golf storyline of the 21st century thus far and maybe it won’t be topped until the 22nd.

Plus, if it wasn’t for Tiger Woods then I’m not sure I would be writing about golf.

3. Golf GIFs

We have ushered in the “whoa, watch this over and over and over again until you become ill from watching it” era in lieu of the “I saw this thing today, let me spend 10 minutes describing it even though you still won’t understand it in the end” era.

I personally prefer the former and I’m also thankful for Adam Sarson’s work because it gives us jewels like these (to name a few):

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