The Long, Ugly SilverRock Saga Continues

Larry Bohannan reports the Arnold Palmer-designed course in La Quinta has been dropped from the new Hope rotation, which only has room for three courses.

At a reported cost of at least $58 million, this one has to go down as one of the great tragedies of modern design. The city had a lovely site, an open bidding process with a wide variety of architects offering ideas for something different in desert golf, but all along the job was going to Palmer because of his name. They poured massive sums into building it, then put more money in to fix design flaws pointed out by the tour, only to get just a few Bob Hopes and little in the way of positive buzz.

"BAY HILL'S BRUTISH BUNKERS"

The SI/golf.com gang was joined by Davis Love and they talk about whether the buried lies at Bay Hill are intentional. Remember, the PGA Tour rules staff has a reduced role in how two tournaments a year are prepared: Bay Hill and the Memorial.

Herre: I was surprised to see so many balls plugging in the bunkers. I suppose that was by design. Anyone know if that was new, softer sand in the bunkers? It was an almost automatic bogey every time someone flew a ball either high or into the upslope.

Bamberger: Or the downslope! Arnold wants his course hard. He feels bunkers have been emasculated. He masculated them.

Love: Soft sand has to be a strategy there, that's the only knock on the course the last few years.

It's Up To Arnie To Restore Pebble Beach's 14th Green

Jim McCabe tells us how the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach came to be announced and slips in this about the 14th green.

Harper said they will hold tickets at 37,500, the same as 2010, but one thing that won’t be the same come 2019 is Pebble Beach’s diabolical 14th green.

“It will be rebuilt according to USGA specs,” Perocchi said, though he emphasized it’s part of Pebble’s long-range plan to convert all of its greens. The 14th as it currently sits presents an enormous challenge to players, even with wedges in their hands. There’s very little room to land approach shots to an elevated left side, and the right side is very low and hole locations are virtually non-existent.

Perocchi said Arnold Palmer – not only an icon, but part of the group that owns Pebble Beach – will oversee development of a plan for the 14th. Expect an expansion of the upper left side of the green, as well as a softening of the steep slope to the right. No decision has been made as to when the changes will be made, but Perocchi said it probably would be in the next two to four years.

Arnie: "That should be one of the major things on our agenda, to slow the golf ball down so that we don't tilt the scale."

Mark Lamport-Stokes quotes Arnold Palmer talking about today's players and it seems The King slipped this in about the ball:

Palmer, who was a member of the so-called Big Three with fellow golfing greats Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, had no doubt about the one thing he would like to change most in the modern game.

"Because of technology, the players of today hit it too far," Palmer said. "That should be one of the major things on our agenda, to slow the golf ball down so that we don't tilt the scale.

"We have so many great golf courses but, as the players start hitting it so far, they are outdating our golf courses. We need to see if we can't just keep it in the range that we have known it for so many years."

Don't be so logical Arnie! Sheesh.

Now why is this interesting since he's mentioned the ball before? Well you might recall back in April we learned that the USGA's Dick Rugge said the groove rule change was motivated by Arnold Palmer telling that the USGA had blown it on grooves.

And as reader Andrew asked back when that item was posted, "I wonder what would have happened had Palmer said the biggest mistake they made was letting the ball go so far?"

Good question.

Arnie: Tiger Should Let Media "Shoot At Him"

I think a firing squad is a wee bit harsh, no?

Update on 2010-03-25 03:19 by Geoff

The entire Arnold Palmer transcript.

Bay Hill Will Be New To The Players...Again

Jeff Shain on Arnold Palmer's latest redo of Bay Hill.

"We've literally done something to every hole," said Palmer, who has made Bay Hill his winter home since 1965 and acquired the club 11 years later. "It'll be new to most all [the players]."

Bedecked with an old-school par. After three editions as a par 70, it reverts to 72 as two long par-4s are returned to their original state as par-5s. One of those comes at No. 16, which should help inject some risk/reward thrill to the closing stretch.

"I think it's going to be more fun for the players and a lot more entertaining for the fans," said rookie pro Sam Saunders, who as Palmer's grandson has more familiarity with the new look than anyone else in the field.

Like an aging house, every golf course gets to a point where it needs some maintenance and upgrade. Greens and bunkers tend to shrink as rough slowly overtakes the edges; new technology requires some modification.

Or some committee guy or benevolent dictator jacks around with it to the point that no one really likes it anymore!

Whew. Glad Bay Hill doesn't fall into that category.

On a serious note, wouldn't it have just been cheaper to mow the rough down and change 16 back to a par-5?

Ron Paul Voted To Deprive Arnold Palmer Of A Much Needed $30,000 Medal!

Reader Bruce left me with no choice but to post the Ron Paul-votes-against-The King story that I had avoided. After all we've done enough politics this week, though the details are quite entertaining.

Ben Goad writes this about the 422-1 vote for Arnold Palmer's Congressional Gold Medal:

Here's the explanation from Paul spokeswoman Rachel Mills:

"It is certainly nothing personal against Mr. Palmer. In fact, Congressman Paul admires him greatly. Dr. Paul opposes using public monies for any and all of these gold medals given to private citizens, just on principle. Not to mention, it is unconstitutional to use taxpayer dollars in this way. He even suggested on the House Floor before he voted against Rosa Parks's medal that if it meant so much to the Members of Congress, why not fund the award out of their own pockets? He pulled $100 out of his own wallet, but had no other takers. At a time like this when all budgets are stretched so thin, it seems especially inappropriate to lavish gifts like this on private citizens, as much as he may admire the individual."

The legislation authorizes the expenditure of $30,000 to make the medal and duplicate bronze versions, which could then be sold to cover the cost.

Kevin Robbins posted the item and judging by the comments, most of Texas agrees with Paul's position.