It’s back!
Twenty years later Tatra Press has kindly allowed me to bring back Grounds For Golf now that golf architecture is of more interest to the masses. A new Introduction looks at what’s driven the interest growth and two new chapters I had a blast adding (plus a few edits to keep things up-to-date).
The Amazon purchase page for the book arriving June 15, 2026.
Thanks to JPB for the heads up on Golfweek's Beth Ann Baldry report of the latest LPGA debacle. This time the Tour os losing 6-year 8-year sponsor Wendy's because, get this, Wendy's didn't like that their existing date was given to another tournament.
So selfish of them! How dare they not understand the dynamics and metrics of making a schedule?
From Stan Awtrey's AJC story on the demise of the LPGA event in Atlanta:
LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens was traveling and could not be reached. In a prepared statement she said, "While we regret the cancellation of the event, one of the stops on the LPGA Tour hosted by the revered Hall of Fame athlete, Nancy Lopez, on behalf of the entire LPGA organization, let me thank the tournament staff, volunteers and the Atlanta community for their hard work and support throughout the years. The LPGA will look forward to returning to the Atlanta market in the future."
I know this is getting pretty picky, but why can't she just say we're looking forward to returning to Atlanta soon? Why does it have to be the "Atlanta market?" That impresses no one and only reminds the people of Atlanta that they're viewed as a market instead of golf fans.
Thanks to LPGA Fan for the latest warm-fuzzies from Carolyn Bivens, who surely must be finding herself courted by several Fortune 500 companies by now.
Rob Oller writes in The Columbus Dispatch:
Bivens, in just more than one year, has encouraged players and frustrated the Tournament Owners Association with her fresh ideas on what the LPGA business model should be. Her view is that the tour needs to start acting like it belongs with the "big boys" of sports — football, baseball basketball, PGA Tour — and part of the plan includes providing health benefits to the players and increasing their retirement fund.
It also means asking tournaments, such as the Wendy’s Championship for Children, to dig deeper into their pockets to invest in the tour’s growth and also help defray costs that the tour has paid for years. For example, the tour is planning to require tournaments to pay for the electronic scoreboards that dot courses. Currently, the Tour splits those costs (about $30,000 each) with the sites.
"The status quo gets the LPGA less than an acceptable marketing budget," Bivens said yesterday at Tartan Fields Golf Club.
Just think of a world without "These Girls Rock" posters. See why charity must suffer?
Tournament directors who wonder how they will raise the additional money need to look around, Bivens said.
"It’s no different than any other corporation or private citizen," she said. "You figure out your salary is X, your expenses are Y. If you’ve got a mortgage that the interest rate is going up next year, you’ve got to figure out … do you take an extra job? It’s life."
Or maybe death, if you happen to be a tournament organizer.
"I think (Bivens) wants to raise the standard of operating practices, which is great. We should all challenge ourselves to be better," Wendy’s tournament director Kip Eriksen said. "I look at that (issue) a little different from the ($100,000) funding request."
Eriksen, who is a member of the Tournament Owners Association, said the owners want a clearer picture of what Bivens’ proposals will look like and how they will affect their tournaments.
"What is the return for us on the incremental investment," he said. "The tour will get better. What does that mean? How does that translate to the Wendy’s Championship? "
Eriksen also thinks he knows how sponsors will react when tournaments approach them for more money.
"They’re going to say, ‘What do we get in return?’ " he said.
And if Bivens is wrong and is aiming too high?
"If I’m overshooting, then the marketplace won’t replace tournaments. There won’t be more sponsors and there will be a new commissioner," she said.
You? Overshoot? That's hard to fathom.
Meanwhile, Gordon White in The Pilot lumps Bivens in with Maurice Clarett, Duke lacrosse and everything else he sees that is wrong with sports. Now that's positive branding.
SI.com features this tough give-and-take session with Natalie Gulbis and supplements this historic coverage with a photo gallery of Gulbis posing in a mobile home kitchen. Not exactly Walter Iooss Jr. Best of the Swimsuit Issue here.
In other words, no bathing suit shots (in case you were on the fence about hitting the link.)
Thanks to Pete the Luddite for this.
You have to love her honesty. And while they'll never be confused with Grisham, she probably should brush up on them a bit.
The Independent's Andy Farrell reporting from Royal Lytham:
And this is the basis of the problem with Michelle, which is ours as much as hers. Wie has done has great things, getting into contention in the majors, almost winning last week at the Evian Masters, and through to final qualifying for the men's US Open.
But she is not the finished article, and at 16 why should she be? She is still learning her trade and is still not a full-time golfer. This is her summer holiday, and yet already her every score, every shot, every action, every word is scrutinised.
Last autumn she turned professional, earning millions in the process, but in many ways she remains a talented amateur, albeit one with great potential. While she remains in mainstream education, she will not be able to complete her golfing apprenticeship.
It's the little things. She cheerfully admitted to not being quite ready for her early tee-time on Thursday and promptly bogeyed the first three holes. It's also the not so little things, like not being aware of the rule about sweeping away a loose impediment on the backswing in a bunker.
A two-shot penalty resulted when she did just this on Friday. "It's not a great read," she said sweetly when asked if she would be examining the Rules of Golf more closely. But an important read, and the fact that a shocking number of players have a limited knowledge of the rules is no excuse for a professional.
Travelgolf's Tim McDonald says Carolyn Bivens is the worst thing that has ever happened to the LPGA Tour.
It looks like the Michelle Wie-ranked-second-without-a-win-farce is over.
From the LPGA:
Following is a media question and answer session with Chris Higgs, chairman of the Rolex Rankings Technical Committee regarding two modifications to the Rolex Rankings.
PAUL ROVNAK: I would like to welcome Chris Higgs, chairman of the Rolex Rankings Technical Committee to the interview area. Many of you were present when Chris announced two slight modifications to the way the
Rolex rankings are calculated. For those of you who were not present, Chris, if you would briefly review the modifications and then we'll take questions.
CHRIS HIGGS: Be happy to. As you know when the rankings first came out with a minimum number of events required to be ranked in the rankings, that number was 15. As a result of our biannual meeting of the Technical Committee and the Board of the World Rankings, we decided to make two modifications to the ranking system. The first is the elimination of a minimum number of events, and the second is the addition which is similar to men's golf, of a divisor.
The easier way to describe that is beginning with the conclusion that of this week's Weetabix Women's British Open, any player on any eligible tour who scores points will now be eligible to be ranked.
And getting to the point behind this...
Q. So before this week where would Michelle Wie be ranked using the new
system?
CHRIS HIGGS: If you were to use this week's current rankings, pre-British Open, and apply the new 35 divisor, I believe Michelle would now be ranked seventh.
The Golf Channel's tough questioning of Carolyn Bivens did not quite live up to say, the Ely-Fay debate on the ERC driver (back in the last century when David Fay was concerned about the distance issue!), but did yield this curious question and answer from the LPGA Tour Commissioner:
BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: Your brief tenure has been plagued by some resignations and at least one dispatch of Barb Trammell. I'm just wondering if you can elaborate a bit about what happened in some of those cases.
CAROLYN BIVENS: Well, first of all, as we all know who work in business, you can't talk about private personnel and human relations issues. So, not going to get into any individual situations. But I will say that any time an administration changes, any time there is change from the top, there will be some who will leave for a variety of reasons. And in some cases it may not be that they have something against the person who is coming in. It may simply be that they've been through a number of changes as different commissioners have come to the organization and they don't want to go through it again. In some cases it may be a disagreement with the direction its headed, and in some cases it's better opportunities. Some of the--I would consider unfair criticism--several of those people left before I even had a chance to make any impact or actually took over the organization.
Uh huh.
From The Golf Channel:
LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens to Answer her Critics on Friday’s Sprint Post Game on The Golf Channel
WHO: Carolyn Bivens Commissioner, LPGA Tour
Steve Sands Sprint Post Game Host
Brian Hewitt Sprint Post Game AnalystYes, fully aware that they'll be doing something unusual, like actually asking tough questions!
WHAT: Carolyn Bivens will appear on Friday’s Sprint Post Game news program on The Golf Channel, following the conclusion of the third round of the Evian Masters. Fully aware that she will be asked tough questions, Sprint Post Game will provide a forum for Bivens to answer her critics, explain her positions and to defend her record.
WHEN: Sprint Post Game
Friday, July 28, 9:30 – 10:30 p.m. ET
WHERE:The Golf Channel
This ought to be fun. I mean, to see if The Golf Channel asks tough questions...
Thanks to reader Charlie for submitting this year's leader in the clubhouse for Rally Killer of the Year Award.
Q: Your father is not your caddie anymore. Do you miss having him on the bag?
MICHELLE WIE: Honestly, not really. (laughter)
Q: What don't you miss?
MICHELLE WIE: Umm, well he is in the room. No, but it was fun when he caddied for me, but he is getting old. He cannot carry that big bag around. He wouldn't make it around. (laughter)
Q: What is your favorite color?
MICHELLE WIE: I like all different kind of colors, purple, pink, blue, green. Pink I like, obviously because I am a girl. I really like all different kind of colors. It really depends on my mood. When I am really, like morbid, I really like black. But I like all different kinds of colors.
Jay Coffin writing in Golfweek:
This time, the LPGA commissioner bailed on a July 20 Tournament Owners Association meeting at the last moment, saying she was uncomfortable with the situation. Bivens made her decision moments before she was to board an airplane heading for Denver, and she told several other LPGA staff members they were not permitted to attend. One senior staffer was at the Denver airport when Bivens made the decision, and the staff member immediately returned to the tour's Daytona Beach, Fla., headquarters.And this is nice...
"The performance of the TOA board over the last couple of weeks is beginning to cause some serious dissection," Bivens told Golfweek July 20.Dissection?
"The only way the LPGA and TOA as a group can have a relationship is if it is based on trust. I don't feel as if there has been full disclosure."And she even gets all Freudian on them.
Bivens had a 2,800-word speech prepared for the TOA meeting – a copy of which was obtained by Golfweek – where she planned to set the record straight by going point-by-point through "misconceptions or differences that have been reported." The subjects included Bivens' strategic plan, the 2007 schedule, new sanction fees, tour finances and the characterization of Bivens' relationship with the TOA.
Under the latter heading, Bivens wrote, "I have repeatedly left meetings and conversations with many of you feeling energized about our future together, and comfortable that I have shared the LPGA's goals and direction in detail. Yet I turn around and read articles that depict a much different picture. This sort of public outcry does not have the LPGA or its players as the primary focus. One can only conclude there are individual agendas at work.
"The passive-aggressive dealings of the TOA leadership are not healthy and are not in the best interests of the LPGA and anyone associated with our organization."
You go Carolyn!
Thanks to reader Noonan for this Kevin Iole story:
In a letter to volunteers, tournament manager Ava Kawana wrote that LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn V. Bivens doesn't think Las Vegas is a good market for the tour.
The Takefuji Classic took place at Las Vegas Country Club for four years beginning in 2003.
"I regret to inform you the new commissioner of the LPGA does not feel Las Vegas is a good market for the tour and we will not be continuing the tournament," Kawana wrote in her letter. "I hope that in the future, the LPGA will have a different view and we will be able to work together again."
Ron Sirak has the latest on the LPGA-ShopRite spat in this week's Golf World, with this quote from the Commissioner.
Harrison says Bivens gave his date away while they were still negotiating with the LPGA Tour. Bivens denies that, and the level of acrimony is evident. "I have trouble with her credibility and I have trouble with her integrity," Harrison said.Isn't "own self-interest" redundant?
"We would love to be able to work it out," noted Bivens, "but it hurts the overall product when people care only about their own self-interest."
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
