I do not mean to imply that short par-3’s do not exist anymore, though its type is not frequently attempted by many architects today. But quite selfishly, I would enjoy seeing more of them, for it's one of the many ways to check unbridled power, and occasionally, make those long hitters' knees tremble.
BEN CRENSHAW
The Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga takes pro golfers to task for taking Saudi Arabia’s money at the PIFSIFSIA/Bonesaw/Saudi Golf League group get together next month. Full disclosure: Svrluga’s former colleague at the Post, Jamal Khashoggi, was lured to his death and reportedly sliced into pieces and disposed of by a squad working for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At least in the CIA’s assessment.
Thanks to all who shared this and who wondered if the players will see it—or care—but this about LIV Golf Investments’ Greg Norman and the Public Investment Fund will put Svrluga on the Shark’s bad list:
Here’s Norman, in a November interview with Golf Digest within days of his announcement, immediately trying to distance the PIF from the brutalities inflicted by bin Salman.
“[The PIF is] obviously a commercial operation,” Norman said. “They’re very autonomous. They make investment decisions all around the world. They’ve invested in major U.S. corporations because of commercial reasons. They invested in LIV Golf Investments for a commercial opportunity. They’re passionate about the game of golf.”
He’s a self-serving snake-oil salesman but worse. Don’t trust him.
Just as their strategic partners have done, the Tour Formerly Known As European will be granting releases to the Asian Tour’s PIFSIPSIA next month, reports The Guardian’s Ewan Murray.
Filling the field of the Saudi-backed event, formerly a European Tour event that was the brainchild of Chief Keith Pelley and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, appears to be quite easy. Especially when tours are rolling over so easily. There was a Telegraph report of possible repercussions after players tee it up.
Murray writes:
By the Monday deadline, between 30 and 40 members of the tour had requested releases to play in the Asian Tour-run event near Jeddah, from 3 February. It is sponsored by the Saudi public investment fund and carries huge appearance fees.
Despite speculation of potential bans for European players who compete in the Saudi International, dismissed by some as little more than a cash grab, it is understood they should be informed this week that releases will be granted with conditions relating to future commitments to DP World Tour tournaments. Should those conditions not be met there is scope for disciplinary action, but player power has seemingly won the day.
As we inch closer to a decision based on the Distance Insights Study, just about any decision will lead to from Carlsbad even as they stare at record profits, give little back to the charitable side of the game and account for maybe 10% over the overall golf “business”.
So with that inevitable sobbing to come, perhaps as soon as May, the January 4th launches by Taylormade and Callaway—with their partners at the independent media operations hoping they’ll buy ads—will be good to file away for safe keeping.
Traditionally when any form of rulemaking is discussed to keep certain skills and courses relevant, the manufacturers claim they’ve maxed out the technology. When they want your $600, the technology is breakthrough, stealth, AI infused and almost guaranteed to add distance and lower spin.
The various golf publications peddled it all as usual. There was this from a Taylormade engineer to keep in mind as they phase out Titanium for the next great innovation, speaking to Golf Digest’s Mike Stachura.
THE DEEP DIVE: The titanium face driver, the golf industry’s staple since the mid-1990s, has run its course. So says TaylorMade’s team of engineers who in fits and starts over the past 20 years have been pursuing something they say is not merely entirely different from titanium, but of course, fundamentally better. As Tomo Bystedt, TaylorMade’s senior director of product creation, puts it, referencing the famous “S Curve” for innovation, “We knew the S curve for Ti was ending and the S Curve for carbon-composite faces was beginning.”
It’s a short list of people who have both designed courses and suggested it’s ok to ask courses to adjust to modern distances. Golf architects Rees Jones, Tom Fazio and Steve Smyers have all been ok with that notion, but I never expected Tom Watson to join that list. Especially since just three years ago he was saying the ball goes too far.
From his Q&A with Golfweek’s Adam Schupak:
When I designed golf courses, I first started at 250 was my turning point. Then it became 267. Now it’s like 280 is the turning point, back tees on championship golf courses.
Again, golf courses I think have to adjust to the distance that guys hit it. I would think the wrong thing to do would be to make the golf ball go shorter. If they did, they ought to make it go shorter for everyone, you, me, Aunt Alice, everybody.
GW: You’re not a bifurcation guy?
It’s a little more complicated than George Crump and friends building a course in the pine barrens and you are more than free to admit this makes no sense, but Josh Sens has the lowdown on golf’s first significant decentralized autonomous organization.
LinksDAO sold more than 9,000 NFTs in and initial offering for $11 million in Ethereum. The “grand experiment” is the vision of Mike Dudas, a Stanford start-up entrepreneur hoping to buy a course and create a community of members. Initial buyers of the NFT’s merely bought the right to buy into the next purchase.
Nor will the money raised by the NFT sales be put toward buying a course. It will be used instead to fund other DAO operations, including course scouting, acquisition planning, marketing, legal compliance, community development and more.
Dudas concedes that there is a still a way to go.
After intense, last-minute negotiations, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia has been named title sponsor of the Saudi International. Terms of the deal were not announced.
More alarming for the PGA Tour and European Tour should be the continued addition of players to February’s field. Besides now having commitments from five of the world top 10, they’ve added Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, Matthew Wolff, Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert. The allure of the Asian Tour!
The gold rush and late adds seem to be fueled by the PGA Tour’s “stand” against the existential threat, which included creating the widely-mocked PIP and granting of releases with meager consequences for players passing on the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. It’s a far cry from last summer when players were supposedly going to face membership expulsion for jumping ship. But the Saudis went out and got themselves some Asian Tour co-sanctioning and the snowball is picking up speed.
As Rex Hoggard notes here in the best possible light, the Tour was “slow” to grand competing event releases. If that’s the best they’ve got in their arsenal, it’s going to be a long year at the Global Home.
The PIF has assembled an impressive field at this point and sets up the potential for some fascinating names finding their way into the AT&T Pebble Beach field. As in, half the Champions Tour, all Korn Ferry grads, and definitely some Beljan’s and Uresti’s. Shoot, at this pace they may be the headliners!
GolfMagic.com’s Andy Roberts listened to John Daly on the Full Send podcast so we don’t have to and shared a key exchange. The topic was Tiger’s jab at John Daly for taking a cart and a purported apology from Woods at the recent PNC Championship dinner.
Sitting behind a beer, ashtray for his diabetes-assisting cigarettes and a plate of fried chicken, Daly offered this regarding Tiger:
"Yeah, but he didn’t know the facts because the media, ‘the media’ (sarcastic gesture) didn’t tell him I had diabetes and I had a bad two knees and my hips out and all this stuff," Daly said on the podcast.
"He apologized to me at dinner the other night. I mean, he’s fine. I love Tiger."
You know John is right. No one could look at him sitting there smoking, drinking and looking like a man just a few years under 100 and know he’s unwell.
Despite £3.3m in emergency support from the UK government during 2020’s pandemic, Trump properties at Turnberry and Balmedie show the businesses lost £4.7 million. Severin Carrell reports for The Guardian.
The resorts reported heavy losses due to their enforced closure during the lockdowns: the headline loss for Turnberry was £3.4m, after a £321,000 profit in 2019, and £1.3m at Balmedie, compared to a loss of £1.1m in 2019.
The story notes that this is the ninth consecutive year that Trump International near Aberdeen has reported a loss.
Also from the filing: the Trump’s blamed also Brexit for impacting the family business, notes The Daily Beast’s Justin Rorhlich.
Three months before he won the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump gave himself a new nickname: Mr. Brexit. After the nation voted to break away from the rest of Europe, Trump appeared at Turnberry, his golf course in Scotland, and commended the Brits who “took back their country.” He later said Brexit was “a great advantage for [the] UK.” But, in true Trumpian fashion, Brexit wasn’t great for Trump personally. According to a financial disclosure filed with Scottish authorities and signed by Eric Trump, Brexit “impacted our business as supply chains have been impacted by availability of drivers and staff, reducing deliveries and availability of certain product lines.”
A friend, who, although not a golfer, was on the whole an impartial and appreciative critic of games, retailed for our edification with great gusto the other day the story of Colonel Pepper calling out to the woman sauntering across the fairway with an infant in her arms. “Now then! Hurry up with that baby of yours,” and receiving like a flash the answer, “Baby yourself, playing with that little ball and in them knickers!"
TOM SIMPSON and H.N. WETHERED
Golf Australia’s Jimmy Emmanuel reports on the first-ever Sandbelt Invitational hosted by Geoff Ogilvy and Mike Clayton, won by 31-year-old Brady Watt the former World No. 1 amateur and Perth native. The four-sandbelt course featured, men, women and amateurs. Grace Kim won the low woman pro title.
Emmanuel writes:
All four will leave the event and the spectacular Peninsula Kingswood extremely happy. But so will Clayton, Ogilvy and co. who have created something extremely special that has proven big names and big tents aren’t the recipe for tournament success. Quality courses and a unique learning opportunity for young players a winning combination that might draw the other sooner rather than later.
And in a follow up column, Emmanuel raved:
The four layouts that welcomed the likes of Herbert, Ogilvy, Peter Fowler, Su Oh, Grace Kim and others were the stars of the show. All four are ranked in the top-20 courses in the country and setup as if the Australian Open was finishing on the grounds the day they welcomed the field of a little over 60.
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