PGA Tour: New Foster-Designed Headquarters "Echoes the Iconic Island Green 17th hole at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course"

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Nick Mafi in Architectural Digest got the head start on this story (thanks reader Tim), but plans have been revealed for a PGA Tour headquarters rebuild. The 187,000 square feet of space will replace the current collection of buildings and put Taj Tim to shame as the largest building on PGA Tour Boulevard.

From Mafi's story detailing the Foster + Partners--Apple Park architects--design for the PGA Tour:

From Mafi's story:

The new, 187,000-square-foot structure will feature a clean, minimalist aesthetic, which makes the reflection off the surrounding natural lake all the more powerful, as it echoes the iconic Island Green 17th hole at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course (an instantly recognizable setting for any golf lover). Narrow pillars support an overlay, which will allow employees to enjoy the outdoors even during inclement weather.

Good news smokers!

Floor-to-ceiling windows spread across each of the three floors in the building, not only allowing an ample amount of natural light into the building, but also blurring the distinction between indoors and out. "Inspired by the lush greenery of TPC Sawgrass and the beautiful Floridian light, the new PGA TOUR headquarters is designed as an extension of its surrounding landscape," said Nigel Dancey, head of studio at Foster + Partners. The interior of the new headquarters will feature an open layout, which promotes a non-hierarchical identity, as well as ample space for informal group collaborations.

Does this mean Jay Monahan will be working from a cubicle, too?

Here is the full press release:

PGA TOUR announces details of new global homewith Florida Governor Rick Scott

Officials reveal first set of renderings and highlight company’s
state and local economic impact

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – During a special presentation today at TPC Sawgrass, the PGA TOUR unveiled plans for its expansive new global home, which will consolidate area employees under one roof in Ponte Vedra Beach. Commissioner Jay Monahan made the announcement with Florida Governor Rick Scott, highlighting the PGA TOUR’s long-standing commitment to Northeast Florida and the positive economic impact it has and will continue to make in St. Johns County.

The new 187,000 square-foot headquarters, which is expected to be completed in 2020, will be located on a portion of the TOUR’s existing property on County Road 210 and surrounded by a large freshwater lake, echoing the iconic ‘Island Green’ 17th hole from THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Designed by acclaimed London-based architectural firm Foster + Partners, the state-of-the-art building will house the more than 750 employees who currently occupy 17 buildings throughout the area, with the capacity to accommodate several hundred more. According to Foster + Partners, the design embraces new ways of working and collaboration for the PGA TOUR, as it responds to changing media landscapes and audiences in the future.

“We are excited for the opportunity to continue to grow in St. Johns County and believe the PGA TOUR’s new home will be a sense of pride for the entire area and state of Florida, while allowing us to become more efficient in the way we communicate, collaborate and operate as an organization,” Monahan said. “Although we have a growing international presence with offices and tournaments around the world, the PGA TOUR and our employees are very proud to be active members of The First Coast and Ponte Vedra Beach community, and call this area home.”

Melissa Glasgow, Director of Economic Development for St. Johns County said, “Golf is woven into the very fabric of our community, and having the world-renowned PGA TOUR headquartered here only serves to strengthen that bond. As the largest corporate headquarters in St. Johns County, the TOUR project represents an innovative public-private partnership that will generate extraordinary long-term benefits. We thank the TOUR for their continued investment in our community.”

The PGA TOUR moved to Ponte Vedra Beach from Washington, D.C., in the late 1970s with three employees who occupied a house in the Players Club development in Sawgrass. As the TOUR grew, it built the West Building, then the East Building – located at the entrance to TPC Sawgrass – that have served as the TOUR’s primary offices for more than 30 years. Continued growth has forced expansion to multiple buildings throughout Ponte Vedra Beach and St. Augustine.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said, “I am proud to announce the PGA TOUR has chosen Ponte Vedra Beach for their new global headquarters and the creation of 300 new jobs. While this global company could have invested in any other state, they ultimately decided that Florida was the best location to grow their business and create new opportunities for our families. Our work to cut taxes and reduce burdensome regulations is helping Florida compete for these important jobs wins. I look forward to seeing the PGA TOUR’s continued success in Florida – the golf capital of the world.”

Monahan revealed the first set of renderings of the TOUR’s new global home via a video documentary. Foster + Partners describes the global home as being a pair of parallel three-story bays flanking a collaborative atrium. The glazed façades and atrium fill the building with natural light, also allowing for views out to the surrounding landscape throughout the structure. Underscoring the sustainable focus of the project, the building is targeting a LEED Gold rating. The roof has five large skylights that bring natural light into the building, and it is also envisioned that the roof will accommodate a series of photovoltaic panels that will support the building’s energy needs.

Nigel Dancey, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners, said, “Inspired by the lush greenery of TPC Sawgrass and the beautiful Floridian light, the new PGA TOUR headquarters is designed as an extension of its surrounding landscape. As the Global Home of the PGA TOUR brings the organization under one roof for the first time in decades, it signifies the progressive spirit of the TOUR.”

The two building bays will be connected by 20-foot-wide bridges that encourage chance meetings and allow for informal gatherings along the edges, without impeding the flow of people. Similar flexible workspaces are located on the wide terraces along the atrium and the far ends of the building on the upper floor, catering to the need for flexible workspaces to support an increasingly mobile workforce.

“As we strive to reach an increasingly diverse, more global fanbase and position the PGA TOUR for future success, we must be equipped to meet the ever-changing landscape in international business, media and technology,” Monahan said. “Moving forward with this beautiful new global home in Ponte Vedra Beach will allow for more creative, efficient collaboration among our staff and partners, and will set us on the right path toward achieving our goals as an organization.”

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Is The Tour Obligated To Work Harder To Save Historic Events?

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In reading Joel Beall's Golf World look at a potential version of the PGA Tour's forthcoming 2019 schedule revamp, it's hard to look past the huge name, foundational events in danger. The likes of Colonial, Bay Hill and Houston, each important and steady presences on the PGA Tour schedule, all face uncertainty going forward.

Beall writes:

Meanwhile, some industry insiders wonder about the status of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. With its namesake gone, the tournament struggled somewhat to draw big names in 2017, and Bay Hill's layout is one that some tour pros aren’t fond of. The tour isn’t expected to pull the plug on the API, but the tournament needs to show signs of life this year to ensure its future.

Also in the spring fog: the Houston Open. Shell dropped out as sponsor, and the event, which has settled into a spot the week prior to the Masters, does not have a title holder for 2018. Redstone G.C., which sustained damage during Hurricane Harvey last summer but should be OK come spring, is a course that some players like because it is set-up to resemble the conditions they'll see at Augusta National. That said, if it returns in 2019, it looks likely to lose its pre-Augusta setting, with the Valero Texas Open moving to the first week in April.

Market forces certainly dictate the status of some of these events, but knowing that World Golf Championship events have taken sponsor possibilities away and weakened fields for non-WGC events, it's hard to pin any blame on these longtime PGA Tour stalwarts for struggling.

I have no doubt the PGA Tour brass is working to save all events. However, the potential demise of events that build the Tour could undermine any sense of connection to the distance or even recent past. You just can't put a dollar figure on those connections, but the legacy of the Finchem era is that no one's place in line matters. Whether that's the legacy of the Monahan era remains to be seen.

Hensby's Year Suspension Is Over A Refusal To Submit Sample

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The rule is simple and the PGA Tour has done its part to uphold the sanctity of their drug testing process, but after seeing Mark Hensby's comments and the summary of his post-round frustration, I think we all understand. A little bit.

First, Hensby's defense, posted byBrian Wacker:

Statement from @HensbyMark on being suspended 1 year by @PGATOUR for violating anti-doping policy ... pic.twitter.com/4eF742KViv

— Brian Wacker (@brianwacker1) December 12, 2017

As Joel Beallnotes for GolfDigest.com, the defense is curious but 

Unfortunately for Hensby, the tour didn't buy his explanation, and was informed of the forthcoming suspension.

Hensby waited for his ruling to go public for about a month, and admittedly is somewhat shocked at how much attention it's received. He also doesn't blame the tour for its verdict.

“Don’t get me wrong, a year is a long time, but they have rules," he said

Florida Prilosec Shortage Averted: Pro Tours Retain Tax-Exempt Status In Senate Bill

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Since this CNBC story hit last week reporting the potential Senate tax bill inclusion of a giant headache for golf's professional organizations, heartburn and acid reflux medicine has been flying off the shelves in greater Daytona Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach and West Palm Beach.

While we don't know if this shortage was tied to the possibility of losing 501(c)(6) status for the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and PGA of America, things should return to normal after some Senator struck language sometime Friday. The bill was voted on Saturday morning without language that would have done untold damage to the business operations of the tours and potentially to the PGA of America.

My Golfweek story here on the language in the bill and what this might have meant. Not included are insights into the thousands of messages between tours and lobbyists in the frantic moments leading to the final legislation shaping.

Here is a final version of the bill, minus all of the pork written into the margins.

Shark Talks Weakness Of Today's Players Inside 150, Why The Masters Can Make Players Use Anything They'd Like

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We forget that when Greg Norman is not hawking golf carts and posting shirtless Instagram images, he can be a keen observer of the game.

In an interview with an unbylined Gant News writer filing for the CNN affiliate, Norman touches on Patrick Reed knowing so little about his clubs, LPGA players being more accurate with their drivers and many other topics.

But the two getting my attention involved what he sees as a big change in the prowess of today's players with a wedge approach (inside, gulp, 150 yards).

“If you look at today’s top players, their distance control inside 150 yards with a wedge is quite amazingly poor,” he said.

“These guys are 20ft short, 30ft left, 20ft long, their distance control is not consistent. It could just be the way they play — when it works, it works and when it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

“In our era, every time you’d put a pitching wedge in your hand, if you didn’t think you’d get the ball inside 10ft every time, or seven out of 10 times, you weren’t having any control over your golf game.”

I do see this in watching many of today's players compared to Norman's era and wonder what the exact cause is that makes Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson such standouts in this distance.

On the topic of distance, Norman agrees with others that this is about sustainability and Augusta National could be the solution.

“I remember the eighth hole at Augusta was nearly impossible to reach in two and now these guys are hitting irons in there,” said Norman who finished second three times at The Masters, perhaps most notably in 1996 when he blew a six-shot lead and Nick Faldo took the green jacket.

“Augusta can’t lengthen itself anymore but the tech is going to allow these players to keep hitting it longer year after year.

“If they sent out an invitation to the players and said ‘you’re going to use a gutter percha ball and a hickory shafted golf club, go get them worked out, practice before you get there, the best player will still win that week.

“The best players have that ability to make that adjustment no matter what they’re using.”

Guardian: "Golf sponsors happy to pay but appearance fees can distort sport"

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Appearance fees seem like less of an issue than they used to be for the European Tour.

But as The Guardian's Ewan Murray notes in dissecting their current place in the game, still very much on the minds of some and having an impact on schedules or motivation to win the Race To Dubai.

Nonetheless, the situation raises questions. It seems fair to ask what standard of field would participate in Turkey were enticement not given to stellar names. If the answer is that the competition would become the domain of only lower-grade golfers, does that not undermine its Rolex status? There is also an ethical argument regarding why golfers, or any sportspeople of a certain financial level, should be paid simply to appear. In many ways, this surely contradicts the ethos of sport, albeit that such a point could be applied to money’s tight grasp of football, tennis and so many other enterprises.

PGA Tour LatinoAmerica Visits The (Legendary) Jockey Club...

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While there is no television, keep an eye out for some of the social media posts of players and officials from Buenos Aires.

The VISA Open de Argentina tees off Thursday at The Jockey Club's Red Course, one of the last but reportedly best-preserved Alister MacKenzie designs. (The original 16th, pictured to the right has been softened since MacKenzie's day.)

According to architect Mike DeVries, who has consulted on limited restoration efforts for the huge club:

Dr. Alister MacKenzie's design for 36 holes at the Jockey Club was the impetus for him to leave the United States at the beginning of the Depression in 1930.  His two courses, the championship Colorado (red) and Azul (blue), were constructed efficiently by Luther Koontz, his associate that came from the USA to build the two courses and others in South America. The land is flat and the soil is heavy, making drainage a main factor in any construction project in Buenos Aires.  MacKenzie devised a swale system that would help the property drain faster and utilize the dirt cut from such swales to build up his green platforms, making for difficult approaches and recoveries on the sloped putting surfaces. 

DeVries explained more about the course in this GolfClubAtlas.com thread.

And GCA proprietor Ran Morrissett reviewed the Red Course in 2007 here and here, with many photos of the bizarre but fun mounding employed by MacKenzie and Koontz and also used at Augusta National.

A few social posts have already appeared, started with this from

And this one from George Bryan is especially fun in showing off the crazy contours as only a Bryan Brother can:

If you're looking for something old school, this film from the 1970 World Cup there features some sweet (legendary) swings, including Roberto De Vicenzo, Vicente "Chino" Fernández, Tony Jacklin and Lee Trevino.

Colonial Facing December 1 Deadline Over Its Future?

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Updating the situation in Forth Worth, the Star-Telegram's Mac Engel suggests the PGA Tour is not doing enough to help the historic Colonial National Invitational find a new sponsor as Dean & DeLuca looks to get out.

Originally facing a Nov. 1 deadline to resolve the sponsorship situation, Engel says the club has until December 1st.

According to multiple sources, the PGA is not doing much to help. That the PGA is sitting on its hands is only slightly ironic because it was the PGA that put Colonial in this situation.

It was the PGA that lined up Colonial with D&D. Now the PGA is looking at the Fort Worth country club to fix this problem.

Which is a plausible scenario after 2018.

The PGA is not talking about this, which leads fans, club members and media to draw their own conclusions.

It's not implausible to think the PGA Tour will let the event die given the need to consolidate in 2019 when the PGA Championship moves to May. However, this is one thing when the consolidation might impact relatively new tournaments. But saying goodbye to an event dating to 1946 will be a tougher sales job.

Sports Industry Execs: NBA The Hottest Property For Sponsors, PGA Tour Not So Much

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Given that they have one vote, no one would expect a post-Tiger PGA Tour to get many votes. But to get fewer than NASCAR? 

Darren Rovell tweeted the poll results from a September Turnkey Sports Poll of 2000 sports industry executives:

HatCam The Next Golf Television Innovation?

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Fun stuff here from Golfweek.com's Martin Kaufmann on the recent PGA Tour trial of HatCam, a technology similar to one Golf Channel tried earlier this year.

While the current version looks way too big for today's players to safely feel comfortable wearing on the brim of their caps, a smaller one is in development and, at the very least, could be pretty cool on a caddie's cap.

HatCam weighs just 65 grams, and Greg Roberts of ActionStreamer said a smaller version “about the size of a money clip” is in the final stages of development. HatCam has a self-contained battery, is controlled remotely and has MEMS gyroscopes that minimize the bouncing effect in point-of-view transmissions.

Golf Channel tested a similar idea in January, attaching a tiny camera to the hat of Mark Zyons, Billy Andrade’s caddie. It was a worthy experiment, but the constant movement was disorienting. The HatCam seems much more promising, based on video it captured at the Web.com Tour Championship. Scott Gutterman, VP of digital operations for the PGA Tour, said HatCam could be used more in the future in pro-ams and practice rounds, though no decisions have been made.

A demo from the Web.com Tour Championship:

Korean Press Greets Commissioner With Some Tough Questions

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With the inaugural CJ Cup at Nine Bridges over and another nine playings on the docket, Commissioner Jay Monahan and tour EVP of Global Business Affairs Ty Votaw traveled to Korea. They kindly sat down with the assembled media before Sunday's final round and took some interesting questions.

Q: It’s great that we have got another event in Asia. From the next season, 2018-2019 season, you are going to make some big changes with possibly the playoffs coming soon  and the PGA Championship moving. It looks to me as though you are going to free up more dates in the fall, in the post-labor day area. Are you planning more tournaments in Asia? Japan or China?

Jay Monahan: I would answer that by confirming that we have what you just mentioned, which is we have the commitment to move the Players to March and PGA Championship to May. You were right in that it does freeze some time in the fall. The next step we are going to take in order affect change is to essentially complete other parts of our schedule the tournaments that exist in that pre-labor day window in the U.S.

But we are a global game. If you follow the logic trail of being here, you look at the fact that you’ve got 3.5 million participants and 36 million rounds of golf played, we love what we are seeing in terms of emergency screening technology, the fact that we’ve got such a rich number of players.

Wait what? Uh, I'm chalking "emergency screening technology" up to a translation gaffe. Go on...

As you look out into the future, the reason that we are putting so much resource into key international markets is so that we are prepared when an opportunity presents itself to expand to be in the right position. But to say something is imminent would be a miscalculation and a mistake at this point.

We'll put them down for no further Asian expansion at this time.

Q: Are you surprised to see only a few foreign press covering the event, given that this event is quite significant? Why do you think that there aren’t many global press covering this event here?
Ty Votaw: There is no question that we are very excited about the opportunity to be here, first time being an official event. The media landscape in all countries is changing and as you know, the golf media in the US is also changing with decreased budgets and decreased stabilities to cover even some domestic events in the US. We now have opportunities with other platforms and other areas.
Opportunities!
I know that our own platforms are here covering extensively for the US and for other countries around the world. I will say that, much like the reactions of our players, when they go home and talk to other players about their experience here, I think you will see over the next 10 years when we are coming to South Korea and to Jeju for this event that a broader swath of media coverage will follow.
Actually, probably not.
Q: The Korean fans are grateful that Sang-moon Bae and Seung-yul Noh were given exemptions, given their situation with the national service, and that PGA has shown a lot of respect for the Korean golf. However, given that is a Tier 1 tournament with a decent sum of prize money, don’t you think that we are missing a lot of the top-class players? For example, Hideki Matsuyama and Ernie Els pulling out and not many players from the top 20?
Ty Votaw:As I mentioned earlier, I think that the experiences of the players who are here this week, when they take those stories and those experiences back with them to the PGA tour it’s going to be very positive story that they are going to be telling. As any PGA tour event on our schedule, our players choose their schedules according to what fits their specific need and their specific goals and desires. Certainly, we have added a third event in Asia this year and there has been a significant support of all three events by the top players but, perhaps not all three events by the top players.
Uh, no way.
I think what you are going to see is, the ability for players to evaluate what their experience was this week and last week in CIMB and in HSBC, and they will set their schedules accordingly. I think we are very pleased with the feel that we have this week, as commissioner mentioned earlier, our ability to have our Fedex Cup champion, our rookie of the year, former number ones Jason Day and Adam Scott plus all the other great players who are on the field this week. It’s a great start to a long term commitment by CJ and I think we will continue to do everything we can to make sure that our players support these important sponsorships.
All fair points, but it's hard to read this and wonder about the impact on up to four sponsor-less U.S. stops and many other domestic events get poor fields because players may now skip those for $9.2 million purses in Asia.
Q: I think there are a few things that can be improved in the future. The tournament is over at 3pm and it seems to feel a bit loose and it’s difficult for the gallery. Would it be possible to increase the field?
Monahan: This is just the first of our ten-plus years here. One of the things we knew going into this week was that we're going to do our very best to execute a world-class THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, but when we left at Sunday night there’ll be a number of things we could learn from over the course of the week, and our constant pursuit to improve and get better and do the best we can in South Korea.
That’s exactly what will happen. We’ll look at every facet of the tournament. We'll make significant improvements in any facet of this event. We're not done yet. This tournament will be finalized in the next several hours but I would say that at this point on Sunday, what has happened on the grounds here, the response that we received, the things we learned from the fans here, we’re really pleased with where we are.
First on tap, ordering extra satellite time!

Change Of Policy? Grayson Murray Tantrum Shared On PGA Tour Social

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Unlike other sports leagues the PGA Tour has resisted sharing absurd athlete behavior for obvious reasons: theirs is a business built on players behaving like gentleman.

So whether this is a change in policy or just a share because it involves the troublesome Grayson Murray or was simply the posting of a bored overnight shift stuck trying to find the CIMB Classic, is yet to be determined.

But the post was a nice tie-in to the baseball playoffs...not so nice for the green where Grayson dug in his shoe soles:

If the @yankees, @astrosbaseball, @cubs or @dodgers need another arm in the bullpen...

A post shared by PGA TOUR (@pgatour) on