Questions for 2006

Alan Shipnuck poses 10 questions and answers for 2006. All are spot-on (well, I'm not sure how many of us are wondering if Jay Haas is tough enough to rule the Champions Tour). This is his final question:

10. Will there be a throttled-back ball for pro competition? A definite maybe. Woods has been talking as if such a ball is inevitable, and he always seems to be the first to know. 

If you want to see where Tiger talks if such a ball is inevitable, here's the link to the interview. 

20/20 Report

Sounds like the Golf 20/20 summit was so thrilling that they are going to make it a biannual meeting. Actually, everyone's just sick of playing The Slammer and the Squire Course once a year.

This, from Ron Sirak's report in Golf World, was a shocker:

In a separate report, Frank Thomas of Frankly Consulting released results of a survey of 14,420 U.S. golfers that showed most want to play shorter courses and that the average male overestimates how far he hits his tee shots by 30 yards. The study also indicated time, cost and difficulty were the most common reasons people don't play more golf.

Intelligent Design

Thanks to reader Pete for this intelligent discussion of golf issues between Mike Hurdzan, Richard Mandell, Tim Heirs, Bob Randquist and Jim Moore, courtesy of Golf Course News.

There is less reverence for the game now because of the changing demographic.

Maintenance is more important than design, and visual aspects are more important than playability. As an example, several of the Golf Digest top-rated courses are unplayable but have great views. But that’s what we have to deal with.

We need to have an easy point of entry into the game for people to help bring golf to communities. We need to be creative in bringing people into the game, and using existing facilities are the easiest way to do that.

Golf 20/20 Summit

I haven't seen any substantial media coverage of the 6th annual Golf 20/20 meeting that concluded Monday. Just a few years ago Tim Finchem predicted at the first 20/20 summit that they hoped to grown the game to 55 million by 2020, and people actually were interested in what this gathering of minds had to say.

This press release appears on the Golf2020.com site and gives an overview ofthe 2005 event:

The two-day symposium began with a look back at the past five, and where the industry has come in that time in terms of its fan base, participation, rounds played, facility development, retail spending and international growth.

While the decline of rounds played that occurred so sharply in 2002 has leveled off, that continues to be the area of greatest concern. But at the same time the fan base continues to develop and broaden demographically, there are more participants in golf than ever before, retail spending will hit an all-time high in 2005, and expansion of the game internationally is happening at an unprecedented pace, which is having an impact on many businesses based in the U.S.

Looking back through past press releases (yes, scary), I noticed this major objective in 2001 for Golf 20/20, a topic that does not get mentioned in this year's summary of accomplishments and goals:

Affordability is critical to growing the game. Affordability/value is by far the most important factor that influences play. Nearly 60% of golf’s best customers believe affordability is one of the three most important factors that influences play, and that an 18-hole round of golf is a good value at about $35. A round begins to get expensive at about $55 and too expensive at $117.

"Great Game's Long Goodbye"

It took way too long for John Huggan to weigh in on the Tour's '07 concept and the state of the game.

Oh but it was worth the wait.

A season-long points series will lead to a play-off-style Fed-Ex Cup involving leading qualifiers that will, it is hoped, identify the biggest draws in the game. Otherwise, America's ever-diminishing attention span, and its desire to satisfy an out-of-control gambling habit, may switch from fades to football even earlier than it does now.

Ah he was just warming up.

As always when the PGA Tour is involved, this proposed change to a long-established status quo has nothing to do with what may or may not be good for the game. To the surprise of no-one, this is all to do with money. Instead of taking a long, hard look at an increasingly one-dimensional product involving the use of driver, wedge and putter, Finchem and his army of sycophantic minions have gone for what appears to be a short-term fix: dazzling disgruntled networks with big names and numbers in advance of imminent negotiations for the renewal of television contracts.

Oh heck, why am I interrupting?

Such a move, you won't be shocked to hear, is shortsighted, and pays no attention to recent history and the demise of tennis as a participation/spectator sport in the US. As bigger racquets and hi-tech materials removed entertaining 'feel' players, such as John McEnroe and Ilie Nastase, from the upper echelons, tennis became more and more a power game dominated by big-serving behemoths. And not surprisingly, the public rejected that tedium. From a peak of 34 million in 1975, it is estimated that only 13 million Americans play tennis and only rarely does it make it onto network TV.

Golf is going the same way. The numbers are not pretty, yet administrators on both sides of the Atlantic do nothing to stop the game becoming more about grunts than guile.

Oh I'll stop here because he goes into that tedious USGA/R&A Statement of Principles stuff which you know all too well from the last week. And the various stats also thrown in your face here and here this week.

Relatable?

Email from reader Keith: 

I just finished reading The Future of Golf, and I'm thrilled that someone other than me is talking about something so obvious as that golf is NOT in good shape. The parallels to the Rise and Fall of the Tennis Empire are very real, but everytime I bring it up to someone in the golf industry they dispute it. We shall see! I also just visited your website for the first time and was glad to see you question the mighty Tim and his incredible use of the English language. It's amazing how long it takes him to say nothing of interest or value. The one factor Tim and the geniuses who run the PGA Tour seem to have forgotten is that NOBODY CARES ABOUT WHO WINS THE FEDEX CUP or any other tournament for that matter. I have yet to meet one person who gives a &%$# about who wins the Charles Schwab Cup, and at least 9 out of 10 people have no idea what I'm talking about when I ask them. Golf ratings are down because none of us can relate to anything we see on the TV. It is BORING to see nothing but drivers and wedges, and to hear about who hits the ball a mile when I (and most players) are happy to hit one 225 yards! Golf is in for a BIG fall as it moves in the current direction, and I think the new proposal is the roadmap to disaster. America cares about the NFL and NBA and MLB ONLY because of heated rivalries. When Tampa Bay plays the Saints - NOBODY outside of those areas cares. When Houston plays the WhiteSox - NOBODY cares - or tunes in. NASCAR is popular only because of rivalries and the fact that all of the top drivers and teams show up for virtually every race. Golf has part of the necessary equation right - cut back the schedule WAY back and tell every player on the tour they must show up for at least 75% of all events - or go and get another job next year.

Finchem Press Conference Broadcast

According to the Tour's media site, Tuesday's "Briefing by PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem" will be viewable via a webcast on PGATOUR.com, starting at 10:00 a.m. ET Wednesday, November 2, 2005. Of course a full autopsy and tally of MBAisms will follow here as soon as a transcript is posted.

Golf Isn't Out Of The Woods

From a front page L.A. Times story today by Greg Johnson:

Operators are dangling discounts and promotions in front of customers — and courting a new generation of duffers who prefer T-shirts to polos and wouldn't think of playing without their iPods and Bluetooth-enabled cellphones. To survive, some courses are taking Palm Desert's approach: plowing under acreage to build homes that will finance improvements.

This isn't the scenario that golf's gurus envisioned in the 1990s, when the "Tiger effect" — a surge in interest in the sport inspired by the arrival of Tiger Woods on the pro tour — and dot-com stock options fueled the belief that a course a day could be built for the foreseeable future.

That euphoria extended into 2000, when 400 courses opened nationwide. This year, about 150 will open, still far exceeding the 50 or so that will shut down.

The build-it-and-they-will-come mentality has been fueled by demand for high-end communities anchored by alluring courses. It comes after a heady half-century of growth; only 3.5 million Americans played golf in 1950, compared with 27.3 million in 2004.

But the number of rounds played increased by just 0.7% in 2004 after three years of decline. The ranks of serious golfers — the roughly half of all players who account for the vast majority of rounds — fell by nearly 5% last year.

"We've gotten to the point where we could probably stand to close a course a day for the next 10 years," said Walt Lankow, the owner of a family-run golf business outside Boston.

Woods has lured newcomers, including many minorities, to the game. Latinos, Asians and African Americans now account for one-fifth of all players, according to a 2003 National Golf Foundation survey.

But many new golfers quickly retire their clubs because of the game's high costs, its inherent difficulty and the time it takes to play 18 holes — or because they come to agree with Mark Twain's observation that golf is a good walk spoiled.

That leaves golf's near-term success in the grip of baby boomers, those now in their 40s and 50s with time and money to play, their fascination with the game ingrained after watching Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer turn it into a television staple.

Want Cheap Golf?

Chris Baldwin at Travelgolf with another excellent story on affordable golf and course developer Tim McNulty.

"I read a quote in one magazine where Arnold Palmer said we had to look at ways to make golf more affordable," McNulty said. "It was sort of funny to me, because have you seen what they charge at a lot of Arnold Palmer designs? I don't think there's a lot of people in the golf business who even know what affordable is to the average family in America."

It's sort of hard to get down with the people when you're flying in your personal Lear jet from ceremonial course opening to ceremonial course opening. When you're cutting the cornstalks yourself along the 606-yard, par-5 12th as McNulty is on Strawberry Ridge, it's a little different.

Tour GCX

Thanks to reader Tuco for this fascinating Michael Buteau story from Bloomberg on a new club membership concept called Tour GCX. A few highlights:

Tour GCX has prospered by introducing fractional -- or time- share -- memberships at top clubs. Some could use the cash. Private U.S. golf courses, with $14 billion in annual revenue, are mired in a bunker of declining members and flat earnings, according to club officials and resort companies such as Dallas- based ClubCorp Inc. Tour GCX pays clubs a fee to discreetly schedule golfers and their guests into vacant tee times, usually at off-peak hours.

"If some members knew about this, they wouldn't be happy,'' says Gary Rosenberg, Tour GCX's marketing chief.

And this:

"The wives control the men,'' says Gold, 53. "A guy can join Tour GCX and not get the aggravation from his wife saying `Honey, we could have gone to Europe with that money.' He doesn't really want to go to Europe.''

And:

When Tour GCX golfers arrive at a club, they'll often find a locker has been prepared with an engraved nameplate like the ones given members.

Seve Unplugged

James Corrigan in the Independent writes about Seve's comments Saturday. Here's the entire transcript. A few of the more interesting exchanges:

Q. Apart from Tiger Woods, any of the Americans that impress you?

SEVE BALLESTEROS: Not really, no. Good swings, good players, but I thinking in that really keeps myself watching TV for a long time. It's true. Good players, good players. It's not easy to impress me, something special.

Q. Can you break that down a little?

SEVE BALLESTEROS: It would take a little long to explain that, we don't have time. Haven't even had lunch yet.

Q. Do you think that part of the reason is the ball that they play with and the equipment

SEVE BALLESTEROS: Yeah, I think it's a good point. You know, it's very hard because the newer equipment, with the metal woods, it's very hard to shape the shots because there's no grooves and it's difficult. The ball has dimples, they are designed with a specific dimple and they have a kind of trajectory. When I play on the course, it seems like they are turning to the right and it looks like they have radar and they come back to the fairway. It's true, it's more difficult to shape the ball on the course and equalize everybody with all of these new clubs, the putter, the 65 degrees loft in the club for certain players; with the grooves, the ball spins as good as ever. I said that a long time ago, and I'm going to say that again, that something has to be done with the rules now, otherwise golf will become more power than anything else.

Q. Inaudible?

SEVE BALLESTEROS: That's one of the reasons, yes. They play shots around the greens that, because of the equipment. But I understand, if they have the equipment available, they use it.

Q. How does it affect your game, the new equipment?

SEVE BALLESTEROS: I'm happy with the Callaway equipment. I think they will do very good. Good ball. I have a new set of irons and I'm happy with the driver. Again, with the driver, it's difficult to shape. It seems to me no matter how you hit it, you have to hit it hard, and it goes or less straight. If you have a good tempo on the swing, as before it was much easier.

Q. A number of Europeans have gone to play in America

SEVE BALLESTEROS: I don't know. I don't know how many there are playing in America.

Q. More are playing

SEVE BALLESTEROS: I really haven't been keeping an eye very much on The European Tour for the last year and a half or so. If they go to America, there must be a reason.
 

Olazabal Interview

Thanks to reader Phillip for the heads up on this Donald McRae interview with Jose Maria Olazabal, who talks about the state of the game, his health problems (and comeback) and about Seve.

I shared rooms with older Spanish players like [José María] Cañizares, [José] Rivero and [Manuel] Piñero. They were like gods to me and I tried to soak up all their knowledge. None of this would happen today. There were no sponsors for young players then, no courtesy cars or practice balls. That's why we shared rooms and cars and developed this great camaraderie. Our minds were a lot more open than the average professional today. We were a lot poorer but our lives were much richer.

But these are also sentimental memories. You know how it is - the first cars or planes look fantastic but they are no longer practical. The world moves on and some of these 22-year-olds don't even know we played with wooden drivers. I'm not saying golf was a better game 20 years ago, just very different. But I would love to see two or three events a year, when the season's over, played with the old equipment and the original golf ball. You wonder how some of these young guys would cope.

We didn't have that cockiness you see in Sergio García. There is a generation between us. I was more interested in golfing tradition while he does things his way. But maybe he's maturing and becoming closer to people. That will help him - not just as a golfer but as a person.

With that lovely short game and his great length off the tee, [García] has the best chance of all the Europeans to win a major. But there are not too many more lonely places than walking those last nine holes on a Sunday afternoon when you're trying to win the Masters. You are surrounded by people but, deep inside, you are in a very isolated place. I still think some of the young guys, like Sergio, need to understand that.

Golf at the Expense of Tennis

Field Maloney at Slate.com writes about the demise of tennis and the rise of golf:

Tennis has become a political liability: effete, preppy, what high-schoolers call a "wussy sport." Whereas golf, no matter how fey the links attire or how pricey the greens fees, has become so solidly red-blooded and all-American that even our folksy president can embrace it.

The Ever Evolving Customer

Adam Barr at The Golf Channel reprints emails about "tailoring the game of golf to the ever-evolving customer."

The responses ranged from thoughtful to downright scary.

Here is his original column that prompted the responses.