It's National Golf Day...Golf CEO's, Commissioners And Other Luminaries Convene On Washington

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From Bob Combs and the World Golf Foundation:

In a series of meetings on Capitol Hill, golf’s leaders are carrying the message of the industry’s enormous economic impact. A study released last year at the inaugural National Golf Day, the 2005 Golf Economy Report, quantified golf’s annual direct economic impact as $76 billion, and highlighted the fact that the industry provides 2 million jobs and $61 billion in wage income. The study also found that golf generates more than $3.5 billion annually for charities across the country.

And the fate of the game is in these hands...

PGA President Jim Remy, Vice President Allen Wronowski, Secretary Ted Bishop and CEO Joe Steranka will lead The PGA of America contingent. Participants from the allied golf associations included Club Managers Association CEO Jim Singerling, The First Tee CEO Joe Barrow, LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, National Golf Course Owners Association CEO Mike Hughes, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, U.S. Golf Association Executive Director David Fay, and World Golf Foundation CEO Steve Mona.

Feel better?

"In fairness, over the last couple of years we have started to see that the USGA, R&A and Augusta are starting to see the picture."

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Interviewed by Robin Barwick using questions questions from Mark Reason, there was an entertaining round table to promote the Ballantine’s Championship. The participants were Paul McGinley, Ernie Els, Henrik Stenson and Fred Couples. Plenty of highlights, including talk of Bethpage, golf in the Olympics, Stanford Financial (awkward!) and this technology exchange:

In the arena of equipment technology, is the golf ball flying too far now?

McGinley: I think the horse has bolted. The problem should have been addressed 10 years ago, when the scientists that the USGA and R&A had were not as good as the ones the manufacturers had. The manufacturers basically broke through the gates and went too far with the ball.

Els: I am against stopping technology, but people also need to be careful how they set-up golf courses. Look at Oakland Hills last year [in the US PGA Championship]. Some of those fairways were un-hittable. Look at Shinnecock Hills. A great golf course, but they were scared of the technology and scared of a low score winning, and they screwed up the golf course.

Stenson: Longer is not always better.

Els: Exactly. They need to be careful not to take a great, classic golf course, and just for the sake of stopping someone going low, screwing up the golf course.

McGinley: In fairness, over the last couple of years we have started to see that the USGA, R&A and Augusta are starting to see the picture. Augusta was great this year, Torrey Pines was great last year and Birkdale was great last year, so they are starting to get it now. Mistakes have been made in the past though, no doubt about it.

Stenson does point out that not everyone thought Birkdale was so great last year. But more importantly, it is interesting that when this topic comes up, almost no one suggests that improved athleticism was the cause. Even better, you have folks like Els openly making the connection between over-the-top setups and poor regulatory practices. Just a few years ago only select players like McGinley understood the connection. 

"Poor Phil doesn't really wear clothes well; he's just built a certain way"

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I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, John Paul Newport's look at the return of white belts and shoes, and the resulting attention drawn to the matter by Phil Mickelson's fashion choices, or the fact that John Daly responded to Newport's piece on Twitter:

@jpnewport you will see me sportin white belts & white shoes on tourabout
24 hours ago from web in reply to jpnewport

"The issue is that few older courses are capable of staging the Canadian Open."

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Thanks to reader John for Lorne Rubenstein look at all of the reasons why the Royal Canadian Golf Association can't consider some classic venues for the Canadian Open. Actually, there's only one reason in Lorne's view.

Last week's announcement that the RBC Canadian Open will return to Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver in 2011 should be cause for celebration. After all, it's a classic old course, the kind tour players say they love. And it will mean the tournament will have been played at a grand spot two years in a row. (St. George's in Toronto will be the venue in 2010.) So why did I feel some sadness upon hearing the news? It had nothing to do with the choice of course or the Royal Canadian Golf Association's commitment to taking the tournament, as often as possible, to traditional layouts. It had everything to do with what's happened in the world of pro golf tours.

The issue is that few older courses are capable of staging the Canadian Open. This is because the United States Golf Association and the R&A dropped the ball in allowing the golf ball to go so far that it's made superb courses that have held the Canadian Open obsolete for the tournament.

Here's something even the governing bodies understand, without telling it to some of the modern masters to their faces.

At least the RCGA realizes this. Its executive director, Scott Simmons, made it clear last week during the Shaughnessy announcement that the commitment isn't to a fixed rotation, but simply to quality courses. He said that could include new courses, but the message remains clear that tour players prefer traditional layouts.

"We have been on a journey of renewal," then-RCGA president Andrew Cook said last June, when it was announced St. George's would play host to the 2010 Canadian Open. "We want the tournament to get back to the stature it once held on the world stage."

The RCGA is trying. But it would have a better chance of reaching the goal if the courses of the past weren't so ill-suited to the tournament game and demands of the present.

Such are the unintended consequences of "progress."

Well they could look to the R&A solution: proudly alter the courses.

North Shore Post-Madoff

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John Hopkins reports this in his current Spike Bar column:

The latest news is that the North Shore Country Club on Long Island, New York, is in financial trouble after one third of its members, many of whom were clients of Madoff's, resigned, unable to afford the $16,000 annual membership. As a result the club has laid off 20 part-time employees and, having been in existence for 95 years, is struggling to reach its centenary.

Flash: Cart Users Play Extra Holes Without Paying

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Michael Buteau filed a comprehensive Bloomberg story on the struggles of the golf car industry. Meanwhile Golfweek.com posted the results of a Club Car funded "white paper" titled "Golf Car Vandalism: No Joyride," which estimates that operators are losing $8-10 million a year due to...

• 72 percent of courses reported vandalism or golfers playing extra holes without paying a green fee.

• 27 percent said they had retrieved a vandalized golf car from a lake or creek.

• 48 percent reported unauthorized use of golf cars.

• 42 percent reported golf cars being driven in restricted areas.

• 21 percent reported theft of golf cars.

The only solution to all of this bad cart news? Just ban the carts. Yep, I know, shocking. But it's the only way can eliminate this wasteful behavior.