Golf Digest 50 Toughest...

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...Courses For Couples To Play Without Bickering?

No, they haven't gone that far yet in Wilton. This time, it's a retro list of the toughest 50 courses, so says Jerry Tarde.

According to the story:

This is not a scientific or even definitive ranking. It's our list of layouts that have battered and bruised us, ruined our scorecards and made us want to weep.

Translation: we editors decided not to use the "Resistance To Scoring" category because our panel is clueless.  

Here's the list, starting with Kiawah in the #1 spot.  

The Future of Bandon

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Peter Sleeth offers the most in depth look I've read into Mike Keiser's future plans for Bandon.

The Chicago greeting card magnate who turned a stretch of isolated coastal dunes into one of the most highly rated golf complexes in the world has been quietly buying up nearly 1,000 more acres of land on the Southern Oregon coast, according to land records in Curry and Coos counties.

Michael Keiser also has taken the unusual step of helping finance a proposed 90-foot dam just two miles outside this coastal town -- an attempt to help local cranberry farmers flood their bogs, which will provide more capacity to an expanding Bandon and, potentially, to water new golf courses.

And...

Keiser said last week that he is considering building at least one more golf course on his property south of Bandon -- in addition to the four, 18-hole courses he owns north of the city. Further, another golf course owned by a Eugene couple is under construction south of Bandon.

The rest of Keiser's land, including more than 300 acres on the Pistol River in Curry County, will mostly be used as conservation areas to preserve the beauty of the south Coast, he said. The multiple purchases range from 10 acres to 235 acres in Coos County, and are primarily farms.

The news of another golf course brings mixed feelings to local residents. With another course south of town, Bandon could easily become a new golf destination, "probably like no other place in the nation, or the world," Winkel said.

And...

Keiser said he bought into a 15 percent share of the Johnson Creek dam out of both altruism and investment savvy. The cranberry farmers who first conceived the dam were short of the expected $9 million to $12 million the dam would cost.

"Water's the new resource everybody wants," Keiser said.
The story goes on to talk about some local opposition to the dam.

You Gotta Love...

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...Peter Harradine. Invited guest in Dubai telling the developers overpaying player architects that they're idiots.

In the liveliest debate of the first day of GolfEx Dubai 2007, Harradine questioned whether money is becoming the only criteria for course designs.

"The whole world is based on marketing," said Harradine. "Tiger is the best athlete that's ever walked the earth, but as a golf architect? If a top player is involved in a course design, it usually means it will be over budget and over schedule. My signature stands for quality, built on time and on budget."

Harradine didn't reserve criticism for the players so much as developers and owners. "The players aren't daft, if they know they can ask for $1 million or $2 million more they will, and good luck to them - they realise that daft people will pay them."
Oh and this is beautiful:
Jeremy Slessor, Managing Director of European Golf Design, defended the use of top players putting their names to projects, saying the increased pulling power invariably leads to higher revenues.

"It may be marketing, but as a mechanism it works. If you put Langer's name on a course you know it will be played by Germans," he said.

 

"Golf’s Dream Team Blows into Dubai"

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I would insert pithy jokes into this press release, but why when it so masterfully does the job all on its own: 

Golf’s Dream Team Blows into Dubai

“El Nino” unveiled as designer of Wind course at Jumeirah Golf Estates

Garcia to work in unique collaboration with Greg Norman and ‘father of modern golf course design’ Pete Dye

Fourth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates to take inspiration from the earliest traditions of golf – creating Dubai’s first links-style course

Dubai, UAE:  Sergio Garcia was today unveiled as one of the designers of the fourth course – Wind – at Dubai’s premier residential golf community development, Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Garcia is to work on the design of Dubai’s first links-style course, taking its inspiration from the earliest forms of golf, in which uneven fairways, thick rough, small greens and pot bunkers create an exciting golfing challenge – which is then made even more memorable by the swirling patterns
of the wind.

In a world first, “El Nino” – so named because of the energy and dynamism of his game - will be joined by two of the world’s leading golf course designers in creating the Wind course.

Huh, and here I was thinking it had something to do with him being Spanish! Oh wait, I said I wasn't going to interrupt. Sorry.

Greg Norman, one of the world’s most successful player-turned-designers, has signature courses around the world.  Already working on the Fire and Earth courses at Jumeirah Golf Estates, Norman will work closely with Garcia in creating the Wind design.

And in his first project in the Middle East, Pete Dye – known as “the father of modern golf course design” – is to collaborate with Norman and Garcia on the project.

David Spencer, chief executive officer of Jumeirah Golf Estates, said:

“We promised something special for Wind and we’re definitely delivering it.

“Garcia is one of the most exciting raw talents in golf today. The excitement and raw energy he brings to the game will be balanced by the maturity and sophistication of Norman and Dye.

Key word here, raw.

“No course in the world has been able to bring together three such major talents.  This is a truly unique collaboration.

“Wind is without a doubt going to become one of the most stunning courses
in world golf.  It will be a natural work of art – a masterpiece.”

A natural work of art completely manufactured out of desert. Uh huh. Just like Joan Rivers's is a natural work of art.

Scheduled for completion in 2009, Wind joins Fire and Earth – each designed by Greg Norman – and Water, designed by Vijay Singh, in creating one of the world’s leading golf developments.

And on a side note, Philip Bayley will be joining Vijay on the Water Course design, and to return the favor, Vijay in turn will be on backing vocals for Earth, Wind and Fire's joint billing with the Credence Clearwater Revisited this summer at the Fort Lauderdale Center For The Performing Arts and Fair Grounds.

Sergio Garcia said: “I love the demands of links golf.  A great links-style course means it is both a physical challenge and a mental test – and offers the most enjoyable golf there is.  That’s exactly what we want to create with Wind at Jumeirah Golf Estates."

It almost reads like he wrote that himself.

“I’m really excited to be working with Pete Dye and with Greg Norman on the design.  I cannot think of a more experienced and successful pair of golf course designers in the world today.

Oh I can.

Odds that Sergio has ever met Pete Dye?

Greg Norman said:  “I don’t know of another project anywhere in the world that has brought together three internationally recognized figures to collaborate on one golf course. Sergio Garcia brings enthusiasm and excitement to this project that is contagious.  I'm looking forward to keeping him away from my daughter during his two contractually obligated site visits.

Oh wait, that last sentence shouldn't have gotten in there! 

"And working with Pete Dye again is fantastic.  There is nobody in the world today that knows more about golf course design – especially links golf.

Pete Dye was champion golfer in his own right, before turning to golf course design nearly 50 years ago.  Heavily influenced by his early trips to Scotland, the home of golf, Dye’s designs have established new levels of quality and challenge for golfers over the last four-plus decades.  Wind marks his first project in the Middle East and his first collaboration with Garcia.

Pete Dye said: “The Dubai desert provides what every golf course designer dreams of – a completely blank canvas on which to work. 

Well, not every designer.

"I’ve always believed the traditional elements of real golf in Scotland offer the greatest test for
golfers and that is what we want to create here.

“You will see the undulating fairways, pot bunkers and protected greens that you’ll find in all the best links courses.  We’re determined to create a truly memorable experience.”

Oh yeah, Pete said that!

"It's soft rolling hills in Jackie Kennedy horse country. It's designed for majors..."

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Michael McCarthy files a nauseating puff piece on Donald Trump's desire to bring a U.S. Open to Trump Bedminster.

"Literally every single aspect of (Bedminster) has been designed for the highest standards of the USGA," says the 60-year-old tycoon-turned-TV-star of NBC's "The Apprentice." "It's 20 minutes from the Lincoln Tunnel. It's soft rolling hills in Jackie Kennedy horse country. It's designed for majors - and I'd be honored to have them.
Soft rolling hills in Jackie Kennedy horse country. You have to love The Donald! 
"The only thing that would stop Donald is the USGA being terrified he'll upstage the tournament by grandstanding - which he probably will," says Eamon Lynch, senior editor of Golf Magazine. "There's no question Bedminster can handle a U.S. Open. But some people will oppose anything Donald Trump is involved in. Why? Because golf is still full of stuffy people with cravats and blue blazers. They frown at anything that wasn't in existence when Old Tom Morris (a four-time British Open champion and golf pioneer in the 19th century) was playing the game.""

I know, how lame of golf to want to cling to the past when when its present could be represented by that bastion of class, Donald Trump!

And I guess this is why he makes $600,000 a year...

David Fay, executive director of the USGA, is a member of the private club and plays frequently, says Trump. And what a coincidence: Trump has placed Fay's locker right across from his own in a private corner of the men's clubhouse.

Fay is a man of the people...is he closing in on the 14-club limit?

The Bedminster course, nicknamed "Trumpminster" by Sports Illustrated, passes all the benchmarks to host a major, says the course's designer, Tom Fazio.

He would know, with all the major championship venues courses that he's messed up  claimed to have restored  designed worked with.

The Classic Club...Classic Tournament Killer?

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Bill Dwyre in the L.A. Times makes up for Saturday's Phil Mickelson column (Phil remembers the names of his pro-am partners!) with a succinct indictment on The Classic Club course, which frequently delivers winds like Sunday's.

Many said it was the worst wind they have experienced, and those were the former mountain climbers. The weatherman put the winds at 15-20 mph, with gusts up to 40. Mostly, there were gusts.
Now keep that number in mind when reading the next bit. First, Larry Bohannan in the Desert Sun:
It was an ominous question at best.

"Are they going to play this course again next year?" Phil Mickelson asked after his windy Sunday round on the final day at Classic Club in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Yes, Phil, they are going to play this course again. They own the course.

"Who?" Mickelson asked.

The Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, came the response.

With that, Mickelson turned and walked away to sign some autographs without a response.
And here's where it gets fun...
Mike Milthorpe, the Hope tournament director, said he certainly hopes Mickelson and other players won't make decisions about whether to play in the Classic in the future simply on one horrible day of weather.

"I don't know that (Mickelson) questioned the course," Milthorpe said. "He may have questioned the conditions. It's a tough day today, no ifs, ands or buts. If anything, he may have just questioned the day."

Milthorpe said Classic Club isn't fighting a bad perception about wind among the PGA Tour players. The perception, he said, comes from media reports about wind and the so-called wind belt on the north side of the freeway.
I wonder where they would get the idea that it blows?
 

The trees lining the railroad tracks? The thousands of wind turbines? The fact no one in their right mind would build anything out there until the last few years?

That biased, negative, liberal elite media!

Last year's final round, for instance, was described as a blustery day, making it tough on the final groups down the stretch. But Milthorpe said the official tour report on the final day listed a wind speed of 17 mph.
Key word: unofficial.


Tod Leonard in the San Diego Union Tribune offered this:

Perhaps because he knew he would get queries, Milthorpe said he checked with the other three courses in the Hope rotation yesterday and said the wind conditions were similar.

“The perception is the media's perception,” Milthorpe said. “We had firemen gauging the wind today, and it didn't get above 25 mph. We got a tour report from last year for this golf course and the winds Sunday were 17 mph. But if you listened to the commentators and what the media wrote, it sounded like it was huge wind.”

They say the camera adds 10 pounds. Maybe it adds 10 mph too? 

Either way, you have a new 7,600 yard course that is so massive in scale that the amateurs clearly don't enjoy walking and playing it. 

You have a final round that took just under 6 hours (based on my TiVo calculation) and an event that drew only one player in the world top 30.

Those short, harmless little old desert courses like Indian Wells, Bermuda Dunes and El Dorado aren't looking so bad are they?

Oh that's right, they're dated because the guys are working out too much. I keep forgetting!

Few More Thoughts On Phil Entering Design

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In re-reading the story on Mickelson entering design (this Golfweek version pretty much regurgitates the press release), a few things came to mind.

First, it was refreshing that there wasn't the obligatory paragraph about how he wants to design courses that are challenging for the professional and yet playable for the average golfer. (It was probably T.R. Reinman who spared us that nonsense.)

But at the same time, it would be nice to know why Phil is entering the business now just a year or so after indicating that he was slowing down to focus on playing. (He was featured in a Links cover story I wrote on emerging player-architects, but his design career was downplayed because of this apparent dedication to his game while he was still at his peak).

I'm fascinated by the move of Tiger, Phil and Ernie into design when the money is really not that great compared to what they make on the course. That was one of Mickelson's reason for not being more interested, unless of course, like Tiger, his fee has skyrocketed into a stratosphere that us mere mortals.

Actually, I think I've answered my own questions here. Thanks for bearing with me. 

"Phil is only going to design about 10 golf courses"

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In the release covering Phil Mickelson's surprising move into course design (surprising because just a year or so ago he was downplaying his interest in this area for the time being), there is the usual stuff about projects and who he'll be working with (different people on different projects).

But reader Jordan caught this quote from his agent, which I thought was odd.

"Phil is only going to design about 10 golf courses, and RiverRock will be his mountain course," said Tim Ummel, Mickelson's agent.

Only 10? This year or ever?

Open Letter To Tiger

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Golfweek has finally posted Brad Klein's open letter to Tiger, which is the column I wish I would have written had I had the courage to upset the game's most powerful figure!

 Will everything be there right in front of the golfer to see, as with Firestone? Or will you build in the quirky, odd and occasionally arbitrary (perhaps even unfair) element just to test a golfer's patience, as is the case at St. Andrews? In the past you've expressed admiration for both courses, yet their basic design styles are wildly divergent. Not that you need to resolve the tension or opt for one style over another.