Gary D'Amatoon high hopes that the third time around will have Erin Hills looking like a 2017 U.S. Open course.
Some 300 trees have been removed; it's the perfect example of less is more, because 20 specimen oaks now stand out on the horizon. Seas of 18-inch golden fescue wave in the ever-present breeze. Wide, emerald fairways framed by huge, jagged-edged bunkers create jaw-dropping views from almost every tee.
From the elevated tee box on No. 4, Tock pointed out that flagsticks on nine holes were visible. From almost any point on the course, golfers can face east and see Holy Hill looming in the distance, a beacon guiding them home to the Irish manor clubhouse.
In terms of the U.S. Open, there is so much room for spectators and corporate hospitality, the '17 Open most likely will set attendance records.
"This has the potential to be the No. 1 spectator course in the 117-year history of the U.S. Open," Tock said. "There's no other course that has the ease of moving people around and the natural amphitheaters for viewing. We could accommodate 65,000 to 75,000 spectators here."
Where would all of those people stay? Just asking.
The story includes a nice gallery of images as well.
Jim Achenbach isn't exonerating the Duramed rules officials, but he says blame for the Sarah Brown DQ should start with the USGA.
What the USGA needed was, for lack of a better name, a School of Grooves. It should have been open to one and all. Golf associations, organizations and players should have been invited to attend.
Frankly, the situation has become terribly confusing. Many rules officials are not prepared to deal with the ramifications of the changeover in grooves. Most pros are blindly taking the word of someone else (usually a manufacturer or tour rep) that their wedges are permissible for competition. Most amateurs don’t understand whether their wedges are conforming or not.
None of the great putters of the last 50 years -- Bob Charles, Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, et al. -- had a regular coach to help them on the greens. The same goes for today's acknowledged best: Woods, Steve Stricker, Brad Faxon and Brian Gay. For that matter, Stockton and Utley had no putting coach besides their boyhood teachers. The resistance is evident in the fact that the most recent partnerships were not initiated by the player. Stockton was suggested to Mickelson by his caddie, Jim Mackay, as Utley was to Garcia by Billy Foster. Stockton, at the behest of Mickelson, offered his services to Scott.
But when Stockton seemed to be the pivotal figure in Mickelson's immediate improvement, and when Scott and Justin Rose won soon after receiving a lesson from Dave Jr., it became a powerful narrative. "I highly respect what the Stocktons are doing," Utley says. "The buzz is in their court right now."
That was during the height of the Cold War, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the leaders of Congress wanted a safe place where the U.S. government could continue to function in the event of a national emergency. Eisenhower's affection for the resort, where he recuperated during World War II and was a frequent visitor, coupled with its secluded location in the Allegheny Mountains and relative proximity to Washington, D.C., made The Greenbrier a perfect fit.
So the top-secret, two-story facility was built 720 feet in the hillside under the West Virginia Wing of The Greenbrier. When it was finished, there was room for 1,100 people -- all the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as key staff -- with a self-sustaining infrastructure and enough provisions for up to 60 days.
The bunker was maintained, fully functional, for the next 30 years until a May, 1992 story in the Washington Post revealed its existence. Since the facility had been compromised, it was no longer useful to the government and the lease with The Greenbrier ended three years later.
Update on Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 08:31 AM by
Geoff
Sean Martinwith the update on Sarah Brown rejecting the Duramed compensation offer for her nightmarishly handled DQ. Why do I see Gloria Allred in someone's future? Not that I blame her.
The Browns are asking for:
• $5,638, the amount Sarah Brown would’ve earned had she finished The International at Concord at 8-under 208. She was 3 under par for the event when she was removed from the golf course with nine holes remaining.
• A waiver of the entry fee to 2010 LPGA Q-School, a $5,000 value. Brown advanced to the finals last year, finishing 84th.
• An annual seminar for Duramed Futures Tour rules official outlining how to handle difficult situations. “I’d like it to be called the Sarah Brown Seminar,” Keith Brown said.
“I went through a lot that day,” said Sarah Brown, who began the day at 5 under par, three shots off the lead, but was 2 over at the turn. “It was upsetting and humiliating for me to be in that situation.”
In the likelihood that you tune into tomorrow's inaugural Greenbrier Classic and wonder why a Nationwide Tour stop broke out, Bob Harigexplains that the event is another victim of the FedEx Cup. So don't expect a decent field for the next few years.
This time of year, any other result would be a huge shock, unfortunately. That remains the fallout from the FedEx Cup schedule that is now in its fourth year and leaves many tournaments without a fighting chance when it comes to securing a field.
Undoubtedly, the tour put some pressure on the big names to show up this week -- you can bet that is why Furyk is taking one for the team -- but it is difficult to criticize the players on this one. The way the schedule falls, there's a ton of golf to be played in the next two months.
Dan Mirocha has the details onBobby Wyatt's incredible stupefying 57 in the Alabama Junior.
Wyatt made 12 birdies and an eagle at the par-71, 6,638-yard Country Club of Mobile, a course where his family has held membership since Wyatt started playing golf at age 4.
His front-nine 26 included seven birdies and an eagle. He birdied Nos. 10 and 11 to get to 11 under through 11 holes, and closed with birdies on Nos. 13, 16 and 17 before making par on the 410-yard, par-4 18th.
And this is amazing:
“When I was standing on No. 8 tee, it hit me that I was 7 under through seven,” Wyatt said. “I told myself, ‘Just play 5 under from here.’ I tried not to think about my score. But then I birdied No. 8 and 9 and that gave me 26 on the front.”
That’s when a small group started to follow Wyatt’s group, including some of his father’s friends who congratulated him as he made his way to the 10th tee box. Wyatt said he had to consciously regroup mentally and stop focusing on his incredible score.
Haven't those friends of dad ever watched a no-hitter? You don't say anything you morons!
Now here's something you don't normally expect to hear:
“I’ve really been working hard with my psychologist about staying patient,” Wyatt said. “It came together for me today.”
First, there was the news of experimenting with a common-sense cell phone policy and now this great Greenbrier Classic idea, which surely couldn't have originated in Ponte Vedra. I just wonder how it got past all of the VP's and legal minds. It makes way too much sense!
Any ace at the par-3 18th hole is worth $1 million -- with $250,000 going to the lucky pro and $750,000 to the tournament's charities. But there's more. Every fan sitting in the stands around the unique finishing hole receives $100.
Should there be a second or third ace on the 162-yard par 3 that day, each would result in the same $1 million payout and distribution. But the fans will receive $500 and $1,000, respectively, for the second and third hole-in-one.
The promotion starts over each day so there is a potential maximum payout of $12 million for the actual aces and about half that much for the fans.
"I hope that will generate some real live excitement," said Jim Justice, who owns the Greenbrier. "There will be a lot of cheering going on for the pros and everything, and I hope they make a beaucoup of hole in ones, and I hope we have a lot of fun with it."
Jim Achenbachdigs up more on the dreadful Duramed DQ of Sarah Brown and it paints an ugly picture considering that there was an on-site testing device (not used) and some silly on-course behavior from the rules official, who is identified in the story as Jim Linyard. I'd like to give Linyard the benefit of the doubt since this isn't exactly the big leagues of officiating work and there were inevitably issues with determining conforming clubs on a tour that only this month adopted the groove condition of competition, but it's hard to look past the events reported by Achenbach.
“I asked him (Linyard) what he would do if he was wrong,” said Keith Brown, who was caddying for his daughter. “What if he disqualified Sarah and later found out he was wrong? How would he rectify that? He refused to answer. He said: ‘The club is illegal. Sarah is disqualified.’ That was it. It was like giving someone the death penalty on hearsay.”
As for compensating Brown for a lost paycheck...
At this point, there has been no discussion about a financial payment to Brown.
“She had averaged 4 under on the back nine,” her father said. “I pleaded with them to let her finish the round. She had a real shot at a top 5 or even a top 3. Instead, they held up play for probably 20 minutes. They were sitting in a golf cart with a laptop. A crowd was gathering. Sarah was sobbing the whole time. It was a circus.”
“The rules official came up when Sarah was on the ninth green,” said her father. “He started pulling clubs from her bag. She had a 10-foot birdie putt on 9, and she could see him pulling the clubs because he was directly on her line. She burned the edge of the cup on 8, and she did it again on 9. She was ready to play the back.”
Keith Brown, a former mortgage banker who has not had a job for the last year and a half, said his daughter was “devastated and sobbing uncontrollably on the course, but she impressed the heck out of me. By the time we got to the clubhouse, she was dignified and she was courteous. We knew they were wrong, but she kept herself under control.”
You know the CBS announce team will be in relentless suck-up mode this weekend for the inaugural Greenbrier Classic, so before they have you hating the resort's savior, Jim Justice, check out Hunki Yun'sLinks Magazine profile. It's a good read.
This caught my eye...I wonder if there is sports betting on site?
Next up is the completion of the casino, which Justice describes as “Monte Carlo meets Gone with the Wind.” The facility will be 100,000 square feet in size and $80 million in cost, four times what Justice paid for the resort itself. This amenity is sure to be polarizing, with traditionalists decrying its incongruity and more-contemporary guests cheering the addition of an evening activity at a resort that still has signs in the hallways asking for quiet: “It’s sleepy time down South.”
Those fearing that the Greenbrier will turn into a mountain version of Harrah’s, with tour buses depositing gamblers at the front door, will be heartened by the regulations. For one, the casino will be underground, discreetly out of view. Second, there will be restrictions for access, by West Virginia law: Only resort guests, homeowners and members, as well as those attending events at the resort but staying off-property (but only if more than 400 of the 721 rooms are sold).
“I don’t want the casino to be the driver of the hotel,” says Justice.
Yun also notes this about the C.B. Macdonald course restored by Lester George:
It will be fascinating to see how players react to holes like the 205-yard 3rd, a Biarritz with a deep valley bisecting the green, and the Alps, the 474-yard 13th, which asks for a blind second shot. The most dramatic hole could be the finishing one: Short. The 162-yarder has a green dominated by a large horseshoe-shaped ridge that could either repel or contain shots. Depending on the hole location, there is a chance that the tournament could end with a hole-in-one.
Ron Green Jr. doesn't sound too wild about the decision to make next month's Wyndham Championship the guinea pig for possibly allowing fans to bring cell phones to all tour events, but as horrible as the attendance has been I don't see how the tour can afford not to try it.
The best golf tournament/cell phone policy has been something close to what they have at the Masters: Don't even think about it.
But officials at the Wyndham Championship, with the blessing of the tour, are going to see if they can play a tournament with any number of smart phones vibrating in the pockets of the spectators. Good luck.
In theory, it should work.
"People are going to sneak them in anyway," defending Wyndham champion Ryan Moore said Tuesday. "It's adults. If you let people bring them out there, they'll probably respect the fact you did and they'll probably use those (designated) areas."
What am I missing about all of the columns and complaints regarding Alexis Thompson not getting a chance to qualify for the Women's Open Championship? She had a way in, as an amateur, and at 15 she decided to turn profressional. Now her agents--key distinction there--are making it sound as if she was unjustly blocked.
James Corriganreports on the Ladies Golf Union admirably admitting it was no longer in the exemption business post-Wie.
Shona Malcolm, the chief executive of the Ladies Golf Union, insisted there was nothing the governing body could do to accommodate Thompson and revealed it was the preferential treatment of Wie which led to them adopting strict criteria. When Wie was 15 she received a "special exemption" into the Women's British Open, ironically held at Birkdale, where she was to finish third. "We have tightened up our regulations since then because of other players' criticisms over that exemption," said Malcolm.
Many will support with the LGU's hard-line, but Thompson's situation is different from her starlet predecessor. As a member of the US Curtis Cup team, Thompson received an exemption into final qualifying, but, under their rules, the LGU rescinded it when she turned pro six weeks ago. That meant her only possible route was through the first stages of qualifying.
"The problem was they clashed with the US Women's Open so there was no chance of Lexi making it," said the management spokesman. "After she finished 10th at the US Open we made repeated requests to the LGU to allow her into final qualifying. They refused. Lexi is obviously disappointed. There was basically no path into Birkdale. All she wanted was the chance to try to qualify."
She had that chance had she remained an amateur. You cash in and there are consequences that come with that. What am I missing here?
Sean Martinfleshes out the story of Sarah Brown's terribly unfair DQ in a Duramed Futures Tour event. While the confusion of determining conforming vs. non-conforming wedges could be chalked up to a USGA rule implementation issue, you really have to wonder about the official who pulled her off the course. I'm guessing a retired school principal type missing the days of major power displays.
An anonymous person informed a rules official earlier in the round that Brown may be using wedges with nonconforming grooves. The official, whose identity could not be obtained by Golfweek, consulted the U.S. Golf Association’s Web site before determining the wedges were nonconforming. Instead of allowing Brown to complete her round as the matter was further investigated, the official removed her from the golf course.
Brown was using a Ping Tour-W wedge with 54 degrees of loft. Some models of the wedge do not conform with the new grooves rules, but Brown’s wedge conforms because the letters ‘XG’ were stamped on the hosel (‘X’ is the Roman numeral for 10, i.e. 2010, while ‘G’ stands for ‘grooves’).
“There’s nothing that can be done to rectify the situation,” said Sarah Brown’s father, Keith. “It’s not that (the rules official) made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. It was the arrogance to say, ‘I’m pulling her off the course.’ I said, ‘Let her finish the round and check with the USGA.’”
Thanks to reader Stuart for Rich Thomaselli'sAdAge look at the authentic outreach campaign by adidas Golf to circumvent the lack of organic social connections found in your every day television ads: send two finalists chosen unrandomly from an applicant pool of thousands who are will to do anything for a job working at adidas, and film the entire thing in a Survivor meets Big Break in the vein of Amazing Race social media campaign aimed at...golfers!?
Ironically, the two contestants -- Steve Olsen and Chris Dukeminier -- are from the agency world. Prior to the adventure, Mr. Olsen worked at Hiebing, a small marketing agency in Madison, Wisc., while Mr. Dukeminier worked at Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore., on the digital media team for the Electronic Arts account. Both resigned their posts before taking on what is perhaps the world's longest job interview.
The irony!
"There is no question that working for an agency, specifically in digital, helped me land this gig," Mr. Dukeminier said via e-mail from Chanthaburi, Thailand, as he and Mr. Olsen got ready to go to South Korea for the next portion of the contest. A decision is expected Aug. 14, after the contenders return to the U.S., finishing up at Brandon Dunes Golf Course in Oregon.
I do hear Brandon is pretty this time of year.
Both men said they have been pleased with the amount of interaction taking place between advertising and social media.
"That said, I don't see epic TV spots ever going away or losing their effectiveness, but virtually no major brand can get away with doing just that anymore," Mr. Dukeminier said. "Many consumers like to interact with a brand via social media and learn about the brand through that channel as opposed to traditional advertising or marketing. That makes it crucial for brands like Adidas Golf to have a prominent social-media footprint."
That's a nice quote, but to get this job, we need more Ad-speak. Other former ad guy, show us your best stuff.
Said Mr. Olsen: "Social media is another touch point to reach consumers like print or TV. The difference is that social media is 24/7, changes daily and involves talking 'with' consumers and not 'to' consumers. This is a great space for Adidas Golf. Through my adventures so far, I have learned one amazing thing: the word 'Adidas' is universal. No matter what language, what country, this brand is global, and people are passionate about it."
Thatta boy. I know who just took the lead!
And adidas VP Harry Arnett, what do you say to those cynics out there questioning the authenticity of the campaign with two, gulp, "agency creatives"?
Mr. Arnett said he didn't think it made the "Wear in the World?" challenge (there is a customized website with this name that both contenders post to) disingenuous considering that with all the applicants, it was two agency creatives undertaking this challenge.
"Because we're actually hiring one of these guys to be our social-media guru, their résumés stuck out as guys who were media savvy," Mr. Arnett said. "That was really one of the biggest challenges -- the way we wanted to use social media and authenticity, we didn't try to necessarily find somebody who worked at an agency, we just wanted guys who were media savvy and could think on their feet and think quickly."
Or, do just about anything in front of a camera...love the background banner. It screams authenticity!
E. Michael Johnsontells us about the latest groove rule change debacle, this time on the Duramed Futures Tour where 18-year-old Sarah Brown was DQ'd for having an illegal wedge that it turns out wasn't non-conforming. Thanks to reader Troglodyte for raising my blood pressure and finding this.
Gosh, just the thought makes you want to be part of the scene there.
Gene Yasudareports that the popular folks at Goldman Sachs have ID'd possible buyers for Sea Island. They might want to check out the comments in this thread to see what they're buying into.
…Of Rolling Hills to its Bushwood CC days. After reading Brian Wacker'swrite-up on the place, I feel this is a national treasure and should be treated as such! Put back the clubhouse and caddyshack to the way Harold Ramis envisioned it!
Yet short courses have struggled in the marketplace recently. According to the National Golf Foundation, executive and par-three layouts make up 9% of the nation's courses but accounted for 22% of course closings in 2009.
I learned the game at a nine-hole course surrounding a driving range. I spent many hot afternoons going around and around the place, even playing through a partial solar eclipse one summer. The course is long gone, but some of my lost Top-Flites are surely still there, quietly testing the half-life of Surlyn.
Such courses dotted the landscape in the 1950s and '60s, providing entry-level golf after a period when few 18s were built because of the Depression and two wars. Geoffrey Cornish, the 95-year-old dean of American golf architects, owned a flood-lit pitch-and-putt course in Shrewsbury, Mass., and laid out and built a slew of them for clients up and down the East Coast. Then the boom stopped, Mr. Cornish recalled: "As the use of golf carts became universal, par threes lost their major appeal—shorter walking distances.
SBJ's John Ourand asks TV execs if the 2.1, all time low final round Open Championship rating was a product of the move to cable and ESPN. No one is alarmed.
“One event with no American in the hunt is not a reliable sample. We can’t take anything from it,” Hancock said. “We’re not alarmed, by any means.”
Hancock’s view was echoed by others. The majority believe that this year’s Open certainly would have flirted with record-low numbers even if ABC had carried it. The tournament was a dud for American audiences. It featured a virtual unknown in Oosthuizen running away with the victory. It added up to an anemic final day rating of 2.1, which is off by a whopping 44 percent from last year, when U.S. golfing legend Tom Watson was in the mix.
But more importantly, audience demo quality was high at the end, at least if you are going for the divorced mid-50s, yacht-owning sector. This from Louis Oosthuizen in John Strege's weekly roundup:
"I got a call from Mr. Greg Norman and he said something that I will remember for the rest of my life. He said I am the first person to get him to watch a full round of golf on television. He watched my first shot (on Sunday) to my last and couldn't leave the couch." -- British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen
Gary D'Amato on high hopes that the third time around will have Erin Hills looking like a 2017 U.S. Open course.
Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 08:32 PM
Geoff
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