"This groove change was a knee-jerk reaction to distance gains that have mostly leveled off in the past six years, and it takes us into the dangerous territory of making the game more difficult for amateurs."

/
It's been way too long since Peter Kostis wrote some non-sensical, credibility-crushing fluff for his friends at Titleist, but the "Golf Products Design Consultant" for the company put together quite possibly the lamest and most inevitable argument one could make about the groove rule change: you're hurting the average man who won't be affected by this rule change anytime soon!
Read More

Tiger Indefinite Leave Clippings, Vol. 3

/
Just another quite weekend in Tigerland with Accenture dropping the golfing great and widespread reports of a child services visit to the Woods home. Most media coverage continued to focus on his Friday statement and the ensuing corporate response, along with (finally) some thoughts about long term ramifications for the PGA Tour.
Read More

"The Golf Channel is a stronger brand, but it could benefit from a link to NBC and its on-air talent."

/
The New York Times' Richard Sandomir contemplates the role Dick Ebersol might play in the new GE-Universal-NBC-Comcast (GUNC?) entity, and suggests that Comcast properties like Golf Channel can only benefit from Ebersol's touch (assuming he stays on past 2012, and assuming they can lock in the Big Break for the next fifty years).
Read More

Kostis Calls For Purse "Rollback"

/

Retired Tweeter Peter Kostis has never been a fan of a ball rollback but he believes the PGA Tour should immediately cut all purses 10%, sending five percent of the savings to charity and the other five back to sponsors.

I'm sure the stand-up guy he is, Kostis has offered CBS a similar deal. Cut 10% of his pay and give half to the Les Moonves's bonus fund and the other half back to CBS.

Everyone is down, and spending in golf is seen as a very bad corporate idea when people are being laid off.

We need to have an immediate 10 percent rollback in purse structures. Of that rollback, 5 percent should go to local charities of the event and 5 percent should go back to the sponsor.

The Tour is fond of two words: partners and charity, and both need some help, a lot more than Tiger Woods needs another $10 million. If we can highlight the Tour's good charitable work and make some short-term concessions to the sponsors, then maybe we can change the perception that golf is a rich guy's game isolated from the concerns and problems of regular working people. Because golf is the game of regular working people, as you can see every day at your local muni.

And as a country club member, Peter can attest!

"Take away the topics of football and women, and most Tour pros are mute."

/

More great stuff from Part 2 of Connell Barrett's Q&A with Brandel Chamblee.

I liked this about the relationship between players and media, which I can confirm by the number of guys who I've tried to ask a question of only to be told they plan to hit balls for the next 4 years:

The separation between Tour players and everyone else—the media and fans—is too wide. And there’s only one reason: money. If the players weren’t so rich, they’d need the media to cast them in a different light, to get more endorsements. In their minds, they don’t need you. They’re rich enough. You’re not gonna impact their life in any way. But they don’t realize that the media can help them connect with fans. Here’s an example. I haven’t seen Jim Furyk smile in two or three years. Last week we spotlighted him on Golf Channel, and he was fan—f---ing—tastic. Funny and jovial and great. I’m gonna root for him now. He gets it. Before, I didn’t even want to watch him because he looks so grim. These guys should be entertainers, not just guys posting numbers on a board.