Books
  • Lines of Charm: Brilliant And Irreverent Quotes, Notes, And Anecdotes from Golf's Golden Age Architects
    Lines of Charm: Brilliant And Irreverent Quotes, Notes, And Anecdotes from Golf's Golden Age Architects
  • The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back
    The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design
    Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Art of Golf Design
    The Art of Golf Design
    by Michael Miller, Geoff Shackelford
  • Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
    Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Golden Age of Golf Design
    The Golden Age of Golf Design
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Good Doctor Returns: A Novel
    The Good Doctor Returns: A Novel
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • Masters of the Links: Essays on the Art of Golf and Course Design
    Masters of the Links: Essays on the Art of Golf and Course Design
  • The Captain: George C. Thomas Jr. and His Golf Architecture
    The Captain: George C. Thomas Jr. and His Golf Architecture
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Riviera Country Club: A Definitive History
    The Riviera Country Club: A Definitive History
    by Geoff Shackelford
Current Reading
  • Fifty More Places to Play Golf Before You Die: Golf Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations (Fifty Places Series)
    Fifty More Places to Play Golf Before You Die: Golf Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations (Fifty Places Series)
    by Chris Santella

    Follow up includes yours truly nominating Rustic Canyon. Shocking, I know.

  • Sports Illustrated The Golf Book
    Sports Illustrated The Golf Book
    by Editors of Sports Illustrated
  • Planet Golf USA: The Definitive Reference to Great Golf Courses in America
    Planet Golf USA: The Definitive Reference to Great Golf Courses in America
    by Darius Oliver

    The highly anticipated second volume comes to America for more design analysis and stunning photography.

  • St Andrews Golf Links: Six Centuries of Golf
    St Andrews Golf Links: Six Centuries of Golf
    by Tom Jarrett, Peter Mason

    Another St. Andrews book to warm us up for the 2010 Open.

  • Swinley Forest Golf Club
    Swinley Forest Golf Club
    by Nicholas Courtney
  • Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty Years of the World's Best Golf Writing, from Hogan to Tiger
    Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty Years of the World's Best Golf Writing, from Hogan to Tiger
    by Dan Jenkins
  • The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life
    The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life
    by Amy Alcott


  • The 19th Hole: Architecture of the Golf Clubhouse
    The 19th Hole: Architecture of the Golf Clubhouse
    by Richard Diedrich

    SI Golf Plus calls this the #1 golf book of 2008.

  • World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played
    World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played
    by Mark Rowlinson

    New and updated, including contributions from Ran Morrissett and Daniel Wexler.

  • Golf in America (Sport and Society)
    Golf in America (Sport and Society)
    by George B. Kirsch


    Fresh and well researched perspective on the history of golf in America

  • Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season
    Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season
    by Bob Smiley
  • Pebble Beach: The Official Golf History
    Pebble Beach: The Official Golf History
    by Neal Hotelling
  • Free: The Future of a Radical Price
    Free: The Future of a Radical Price
    by Chris Anderson
Classics
  • The Book Of Golfers: A Biographical History Of The Royal & Ancient Game
    The Book Of Golfers: A Biographical History Of The Royal & Ancient Game
    by Daniel Wexler


  • A Season In Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands
    A Season In Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands
    by Lorne Ruberstein

    A summer in Dornoch.

  • Emerald Gems:The Links of Ireland
    Emerald Gems:The Links of Ireland
    by Laurence Casey Lambrecht

    Beautiful images of the classic Irish links.

  • Golf Architecture in America: Its Strategy and Construction
    Golf Architecture in America: Its Strategy and Construction
    by Geo. C. Thomas
  • The Spirit of St. Andrews
    The Spirit of St. Andrews
    by Alister MacKenzie
  • Club Life: The Games Golfers Play
    Club Life: The Games Golfers Play
    by John Steinbreder
  • Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Golf Courses
    Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Golf Courses
    by Bradley S. Klein
  • Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald
    Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald
    by George Bahto
  • The Course Beautiful : A Collection of Original Articles and Photographs on Golf Course Design
    The Course Beautiful : A Collection of Original Articles and Photographs on Golf Course Design
    Treewolf Prod
  • Reminiscences Of The Links
    Reminiscences Of The Links
    by Albert Warren Tillinghast, Richard C. Wolffe, Robert S. Trebus, Stuart F. Wolffe
  • Gleanings from the Wayside
    Gleanings from the Wayside
    by Albert Warren Tillinghast
  • The Missing Links: America's Greatest Lost Golf Courses & Holes
    The Missing Links: America's Greatest Lost Golf Courses & Holes
    by Daniel Wexler
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« BCS Breathes Sigh: FedEx Cup To Retain Goofy Point System | Main | "The extravaganza could be much grander." »
Tuesday
03Nov2009

"It's all for show."

GolfDigest.com's Matthew Rudy notes that Doug Barron's previous use of beta blockers may have behind his suspension. An as someone who has done quite a bit of reporting on the subjects, Rudy reminds us of several loopholes in drug testing

Say Barron really is the only one to fail a test in the 15 months the tour has been running its program. All that proves is that he didn't find one of the loopholes in the banned drug list. And if he's not the first person to fail, the Tour's drug testing program serves the exact, cynical purpose Yesalis said many sports leagues' programs do.

It's all for show.

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Reader Comments (4)

I agree with this. This entire incident it just too nicely packaged for me. The Tour needed someone to fail this test just to keep it going. So they found someone that most people have never heard of, and won't really care about, to be the fall guy.

Then Barron comes right out and apologizes and accepts a year suspension?? Where's the outrage and the fight. We all know how much money is at stake for a guy like this and he just accepts it?

Well done by the Tour - a nice neat package that no one will question and they now can tell us forever how great the program is working.
11.4.2009 | Unregistered CommenterGregglink
Hmm - Geoff and Gregglink are quite the conspiracy theorists on this issue and story?
Could it not be that Barron is simply guilty and decided to suck it up and take his punishment? . . . There is very little reason to burn bridges with the PGA Tour and to spend lots of money fighting when the outcome is obvious. . . Barron might need a break anyway - work out (clean) and start getting ready for 2011 and ultimately the Champions Tour.
11.4.2009 | Unregistered CommenterWisconsin Reader
These are a lot of "conclusions" to draw based on no evidence. We don't know what he tested positive for.

A basic principle of logic that Rudy needs to learn - you can't prove a negative.
11.4.2009 | Unregistered Commentercourt
I was just about to ask that; in fact, I meant to ask earlier... Does anybody know what it was that Barron got busted for? Was it a Beta-Blocker second-offense?

I guess that what is weird to me is how hard would it be to get a 'script for them, and go to the tour (sorry; I meant the TOUR) and get a waiver? In fact, if it was beta-blockers, I wonder how Doug Barron got them, if it weren't a prescription?
11.4.2009 | Unregistered CommenterChuck

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