Every serious study or article on golf course architecture all the way back to Old Tom Morris has grasped the cardinal principles of strategic golf-course design but, strangely enough, these principles are not understood as clearly today. One reason for this is that modern designers don’t give themselves enough room—or are not allotted enough room by developers—for their layouts. A golf course with different ways to play each hole requires a good deal of land. BEN CRENSHAW
Every serious study or article on golf course architecture all the way back to Old Tom Morris has grasped the cardinal principles of strategic golf-course design but, strangely enough, these principles are not understood as clearly today. One reason for this is that modern designers don’t give themselves enough room—or are not allotted enough room by developers—for their layouts. A golf course with different ways to play each hole requires a good deal of land. BEN CRENSHAW
Every serious study or article on golf course architecture all the way back to Old Tom Morris has grasped the cardinal principles of strategic golf-course design but, strangely enough, these principles are not understood as clearly today. One reason for this is that modern designers don’t give themselves enough room—or are not allotted enough room by developers—for their layouts. A golf course with different ways to play each hole requires a good deal of land. BEN CRENSHAW
Samuel Agini of the Financial Times explores the Saudi efforts to start a golf league and does a nice job reviewing how we got to the point. In the way of original reporting, he gets some comments from Callaway’s Chip Brewer, the R&A’s Martin Slumbers and a strange “statement” from the PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan. So two of the three like the FT and felt it was worth the time to call back.
But I think what I enjoyed most is a reminder that we will get to hear Greg Norman act like he thought of things that are just totally stolen from the Premier Golf League concept. Like this on franchising:
But the structure of golf means teams cannot be bought and sold. Unlike in football and basketball, golfers are individual contractors. They work for themselves, while the tours run competitions, aggregate media rights and monetise the coverage. Despite the apparent independence of players, they typically require permission from their member tour if they are to play on rival circuits. Norman argues that this model is a missed financial opportunity. “You look at that value that’s been generated through other sports, for other players and other franchises,” he says. “Golf has never recognised that or had the ability to capture that market.”
As for quotes, the R&A’s Slumbers tried to distinguish between investment and blowing up the current structure, though he doesn’t make a case for why the current structure is that special.
He distinguishes between LIV proposals for breakaway golf leagues and initiatives such as oil company Saudi Aramco’s sponsorship of the Ladies European Tour, the women’s golf group of which Slumbers is a board member. “I think there is a difference between wanting to invest and support within the current structure and wanting to be a disrupter,” he says.
Every serious study or article on golf course architecture all the way back to Old Tom Morris has grasped the cardinal principles of strategic golf-course design but, strangely enough, these principles are not understood as clearly today. One reason for this is that modern designers don’t give themselves enough room—or are not allotted enough room by developers—for their layouts. A golf course with different ways to play each hole requires a good deal of land. BEN CRENSHAW
Rex Hoggard looks at the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program as the exciting, unpredictable season-long race for Meltwater Mentions nears its secretive conclusion. He quotes several players who either do not understand it or care for the program’s secrecy.
“No idea,” Herman laughed when asked to explain how the PIP list is created. “I wish we had a list. I wish we knew, so if a guy is on the list and he’s close and had an idea of what they needed to do to crack the top 10. That’s the hardest part for the rest of us. They are throwing a lot of money out there without a real good understanding of how you can crack the top 10. We feel like it’s a popularity contest.”
According to various sources, the Tour will not show the entire list to players but will tell each player where they are on the list, which only seems to fuel the confusion over how the list is compiled.
And these fellows cut right to the chase:
“It’s a way for Tiger Woods to be rewarded even more for what he’s done for the game of golf,” Chesson Hadley said.
The Charlotte Observers Michael Gordon with the bizarre story of San Diego Padre Wil Myers getting sued by Charlotte’s Carmel Country Club and then countersuing in what can only be called the First World at its Finest.
The short version: Myers joined the club, the pandemic hit and tee times became tough to get. Hardly a news story to any golfer. But the story gets strange given that Myers will make $22.5 million next year and is being sued for non-payment after resigning due to the lack of availability.
According to Myers’ counter-claim, all of this came as an unpleasant surprise. He said he joined the club after being assured that there were ample tee times available on both of Carmel’s courses. Instead, according to his court filing, Myers “found it almost impossible to find a tee time and frequently could not even use the driving range.” He and Margaret resigned their membership in December, telling the club that they had been duped into paying for golf privileges that they couldn’t enjoy. The club responded by citing the provisions of the Myerses’ membership contract and billing them for the $64,000 initiation balance, with a due date of Dec. 31, 2020, and some $785 in outstanding golf shop purchases and overdue charges. Carmel sued last March.
Myers fired back in June, claiming in his countersuit that he and his wife had been victimized by Carmel’s “knowing misrepresentations and omissions” which his complaint described as “immoral, unethical and unscrupulous.”
That seems a tad excessive.
Criticizing a golf course is like going into a man’s family. The fond mother trots up her children for admiration. Only a boor would express anything else than high opinion. So it is a thankless task to criticize a friend’s home golf course. ‘Where ignorance is bliss ‘tis folly to be wise.’ It is natural one should love his home course. He knows it, and with golf holes familiarity does not breed contempt, but quite the reverse. C.B. MACDONALD
No major surprises on the 2022 broadcast schedule that commences a new television contract and with it, hopefully noticeable improvements on the streaming side now that a majority of production is to be under one umbrella. CBS has 20 events to NBC’s 12, with ESPN+ taking over from NBC Sports.
Details remain at a premium but we did get confirmation of four daily streams fed to ESPN+ starting with the American Express in La Quinta.
For Immediate Release:
PGA TOUR announces broadcast schedule for media partners NBC Sports, CBS Sports and ESPN+ for 2022
CBS Sports to feature 20 events and kicks off 2022 network coverage with the Farmers Insurance Open featuring the first scheduled Saturday finish on the PGA TOUR since 1996
To keep a man continually asking ‘How far is it?’ is to make the game at once more difficult for him than by any other method. If, on the other hand, you supply him with a belt of clearly defined bunkers leading to the green, opening up the passage, he sees precisely what he has to do without the trouble of further thought. TOM SIMPSON
To keep a man continually asking ‘How far is it?’ is to make the game at once more difficult for him than by any other method. If, on the other hand, you supply him with a belt of clearly defined bunkers leading to the green, opening up the passage, he sees precisely what he has to do without the trouble of further thought. TOM SIMPSON
David A. Fahrenthold, Jonathan O'Connell, Josh Dawsey and Shayna Jacobs report that New York state Attorney General Letitia James is considering a lawsuit or convening a grand jury to hold the Trump Organization accountable for wildly different property valuations.
Because Donald Trump was a resident of New York, James is able to investigate the valuation of Trump National Los Angeles, a.k.a. the-better-than-Pebble Beach-because-it’s-on-an-ocean course Trump purchased. And the shaky cliffs of the old Ocean Trails just keep on causing headaches, this time with regard to homesites overlooking the Palos Verdes course.
In 2012, Trump’s “Statement of Financial Condition”— a document that is typically used to demonstrate value to potential lenders — said the course had “52 home sites available for sale,” indicating a potential source of future cash flow.
At the time, however, the club had only received approvals for 36 home sites and six of them had already been sold, according to public records.
In May — after Reuters published an article on the club’s fluctuating valuations — investigators from James’s office contacted the city of Rancho Palos Verdes. They asked for hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, covering the history of the club’s efforts to get home lots approved, according to an email exchange released by the city’s lawyers.
The golf architect’s endeavor should be to instill in the golfer the spirit of conquest by presenting him with definite objectives upon which he must concentrate. The golfer, in meeting nature thus fashioned to his pleasure, is again face to face with life in the raw. It is for him to gain the good in it by the virtue of his courage and skill. It is for him to stamp his law upon it. Therefore, it is not for the architect, by the dictation of his hazards, to lay down the law to the golfer. His duty is merely to assist nature by rendering, in greater contrast, the interest which she, in the first place, affords. MAX BEHR
The golf architect’s endeavor should be to instill in the golfer the spirit of conquest by presenting him with definite objectives upon which he must concentrate. The golfer, in meeting nature thus fashioned to his pleasure, is again face to face with life in the raw. It is for him to gain the good in it by the virtue of his courage and skill. It is for him to stamp his law upon it. Therefore, it is not for the architect, by the dictation of his hazards, to lay down the law to the golfer. His duty is merely to assist nature by rendering, in greater contrast, the interest which she, in the first place, affords. MAX BEHR
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