WSJ: Jack Nicklaus And SNAG

/

Back in January at the PGA Show, Jack Nicklaus floated some ideas about golf in parks, youth leagues and some other peculiar sound ideas.

But after reading John Paul Newport's story on the Golden Bear's endorsement of SNAG Golf, the ideas become crystallized and make a lot of sense. Throw in the nagging issue of injuries in football (something not touched on here), and there seems to be a genuine opportunity to start kids in golf at a young age thanks to the concept.

Although SNAG golf can be played in any large open area, like a park or a beach, the Nicklaus Learning Leagues will use municipal soccer fields. A six-hole course takes less than 30 minutes to set up. Each player carries a rubber tee pad, to elevate the ball before hitting, and two clubs. One is the "launcher," which kids can use to knock a ball 40 to 50 yards. The other is the "roller," a putter equivalent, for the delicate shorter shots that finally "snag" the ball to an aboveground cylinder at the base of the flag. This so-called Flagsticky is covered in adhesive material.

The Nicklaus Leagues will build on a two-year pilot program in 15 cities run by the National Recreation and Park Association. For 5- and 6-year-olds in the Nicklaus Leagues, the emphasis will be on whacking the ball around and having fun, with snacks essential. Seven- and 8-year-olds will get more instruction and compete with partners in best-ball format against other teams. Nine- and 10-year-olds will use slightly smaller, Super SNAG clubs and balls and compete as a team with stroke-play scoring. Plans are afoot for leagues involving older kids and even adults.

There is also this supplemental video feature with the story.

Golden Bear Still Not Over Ford-Era Demons

/

I saw the headline to Robin Abcarian's story and thought, when did Jack Nicklaus ever lose to Doug Ford?

Turns out, it's Gerald Ford he's still upset about and it seems Mr. Nicklaus feels he kind of cost Ford a chance in 1976 by not campaigning for the former president in Ohio, thus explaining his desire to campaign for Mitt Romney this weekend.

 “He asked me to get involved and I didn’t,” Nicklaus said. “I said, ‘Mr. President, I’ve always stayed away from politics. I deal with people on both sides.’ And he respected that and he never had an issue with that, and we played a lot of golf after that. But I didn’t help him and he lost Ohio by several thousand votes. Had he won Ohio, he would have won the election. I’ve always had big regrets about that.

 “In spite of me not doing that, he paid me a great honor: I was a pallbearer at his funeral. He was such a good friend, such a nice man. That’s why I’ve gotten involved.”

Jack: Presidential Election Will Determine Recovery Of Stalled Golf Course Construction Industry

/

Art Stricklin reports that Jack and Barbara Nicklaus will make more appearances in Ohio for Mitt Romney leading up to the November 6, 2012 election. 

Nicklaus told those gathered at the opening of his new Summit Rock course in Horseshoe Bay, Texas that the future of the golf course construction industry is dependent on the presidential election results.

"It all depends on who is elected next Tuesday," Nicklaus said Tuesday during the opening of Summit Rock, his new course in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, just west of Austin. "It will take longer if the wrong guy is elected."

NY's Ferry Point Is Millions Over Budget

/

The New York Daily News's Greg Smith reports that Ferry Point, a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course to be managed by Donald Trump, has been put on notice by New York city controller John Liu due to staggering cost overruns.

On Thursday, Liu informed Parks that the audit “will determine whether the Parks Department carried out or implemented recommendations” from that prior audit.

The recommendations included tracking progress of the project against its start and completion dates, preparing an “itemized breakdown of all required activities” at the project and carefully monitoring all “invoices, canceled checks and other related documentation.”

Parks spokeswoman Vickie Carr did not respond to requests for comment about whether the agency had implemented the 2007 recommendations.

The Parks Department says the project is expected to cost the taxpayers $97 million, although The News found contracts assigned to the Ferry Point golf course totaling $120 million.

As a result, commentaries (here and here) are questioning the wisdom of spending so much while other city services are falling apart.

In a speech last week endorsing Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Nicklaus bemoaned the number of Americans on government funded food stamps and lamented excessive government spending.

Jack Thinks The USGA Will Be Rolling Back The Golf Ball "In the not-too-distant future."

/

From his ESPN 980 radio interview transcript when asked about the ball and the size of the driver head.

“I think both. I think it all starts with the golf ball. I think the USGA will probably end up doing that in the not-too-distant future. (Host: How about a tour ball?) More for the game of golf. The game of golf has three problems. It’s too hard, it’s too expensive and it takes too long. If they dialed the golf ball back it would reduce all those costs. The costs of maintaining the golf course, the cost of land and all those things would be dialed back and as an added benefit there’s only one golf course in this country that is not obsolete to the pros and that’s Augusta National, they’re the only people that have enough money to build the golf course and do the things they needed to do. Every time they have an event what do they do? Build new tees, new bunkers and do everything. It doesn’t make any sense. The simplest thing to do is fix the golf ball.”

Jack To Shark: “Quiet Greg, quiet. Down boy."

/

Thanks to reader Lloyd who saw GolfChannel.com's post on Jack Nicklaus' radio interview with Washington D.C.'s ESPN 980 that covered a variety of topics, including Greg Norman's assertion that Tiger Woods is intimidated by Rory McIlroy.

The full transcript is here:

“Quiet Greg, quiet. Down boy. I think Tiger had a pretty darn good year this year. It’s the first time he has gotten himself back into contention in the majors, he didn’t finish them and I think by his own admission he said he had a hard time finishing them. That’s like anything else. He had a pretty big event in his life that changed a lot of things and he has to learn how to go back and play again. I think he’s learned how to play again, now he has to learn how to finish again. I think Tiger has a lot of wins left in him. He does have a lot more competition. During the couple of years when Tiger wasn’t really there all of the sudden you have Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley and I could probably name a half dozen other guys that have all won and learned how to win in Tiger’s absence. They’re not scared of him anymore. Before Tiger just showed up coming down the stretch and everybody said ‘oh there’s Tiger and I wilt.’ They don’t do that anymore. Tiger’s got his work cut out for him but I don’t think Tiger is by any means finished. I just think Tiger is too good of an athlete and too good of a player.”

John Strege reminds us that Norman's jab may be a result of an ego clash dating back to the early years of Bill Clinton's second term.

Whatever Norman's reasons for his latest analysis of Woods, it is an extension of a clash of egos that dates to 1996 and effectively ended a relationship that had begun five years earlier, when Woods was 15. Tiger was in Florida for a junior tournament, when an arrangement was made for the two to play golf together at Bay Hill Club in Orlando.

DVR Alert: Golf Channel's "Legendary Conversations" With Jack, Arnie, Gary & Lee

/

From Golf Channel, Monday night at 10 ET for an hour:

Legendary Conversation: Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Trevino (Premiere)
Airtime: Monday, 10-11 p.m.

Guests: Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Lee Trevino
Moderator: Rich Lerner

Hall-of-Famers Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Lee Trevino come together for a rare, roundtable-style interview to share stories and experiences from their legendary careers. Rich Lerner hosts.

A preview from Rich Lerner on Morning Drive:

Jack Is Back At Cherry Hills; U.S Amateur Day One Complete

/

Though Bobby Wyatt leads (Ron Balicki's recap here) after the first round of stroke play qualifying in the U.S. Amateur, the real story of day one was delivered by David Shefter, writing of Jack Nicklaus' cameo to watch reinstated amateur Gary Nicklaus en route to an opening 71 (scores here).

Cherry Hills played to a 76.013 scoring average in round one.

Revisiting Olympic Club Slow Play Controversies Through The Years

/

In this week's Golf World U.S. Open preview issue, I write about the slow play crackdown at the 1966 U.S. Open that led to some dramatic changes in times and also some unhappiness from several in the field, including Jack Nicklaus.

In a real career highlight, I obtained the quotes from Mr. Nicklaus during an interview in the Memorial press center men's room. No one said I was classy. But what are you going to do when the best ever says, "well, go ahead, ask your question!"

If only I had a camera to capture the look on his face when told Johnny Miller said that the USGA policy at Olympic made Nicklaus a faster player from that day forward. It looked something like this.