"These guys can thrill thousands with their shot-making -- and don't need to squirt vintage champagne over nightclub revellers to make themselves appear 'interesting'."

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A very nice column by Karl MacGinty makes a simple case that the need for more colorful characters is ultimately not a product of their off-course life, as in Anthony Kim's case, but what happens on the course and how the emotions, strategy and beauty of the game will bring out the color.
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"Wild Green Yonder"

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Thanks to all the readers who emailed the link to Alastair Gordon's WSJ Magazine story on just how far the game has drifted from the kind of golf many of us love. He also touches on the surge in cross-country golf.

As we were starting to get a feel for the raw conditions, the back nine opened with a series of surreal encounters as I climbed over a barbed-wire fence and faced an enormous bull who seemed aggravated that I’d sliced my ball into his paddock. The 12th green was completely hidden within a mysteriously bowl-shaped depression within a hillock (cnoc in Scottish Gaelic) and I had to shoot blindly over a jagged ridge and scamper up to the top of the cnoc, where I found that my ball had landed in this secret little valley and rolled within a few feet of the pin. By this point we had torn up our scorecards in a moment of giddy liberation, and Iain turned to me with a bright expression and said: “This is the only way that golf should ever be played. No status, no fancy pants.” And he was right. We could have played stark naked and putted with stale baguettes and no one would have cared or known.

Gordon also lists some of his favorite remote golf experiences.

“All the boomers are doing is masking what’s really leaking in golf."

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I missed Gene Yasuda's alarming Oct. 4 piece on just how far down the drain golf is headed, but it's loaded with some great stuff and one huge stink-bomb of blame directed at the wrong source of the game's troubles. First, he explains how retiring boomers are masking huge declines in play among 25-44-year-olds.
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Sea Island Auction Looms As Tour Event Is Played Before Invisible Gallery

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One reader likened it to a "club invitational-sized" crowd for the McGladrey Classic. I thought that was kind. But they certainly do seem to be sticking to their 7500-a-day gallery limit!

Meanwhile, Monday is auction day for Sea Island, as J. Scott Trubey reports. Just all around good vibes!

After two years of doubt, a measure of clarity should come Monday for Sea Island in the form of a bankruptcy auction.

The remaining assets of the bankrupt Sea Island Co. — the five-star Cloister and Lodge hotels and four celebrated golf courses among them— will be sold to the highest bidder at the headquarters of Atlanta law firm King & Spalding.

Walter Driver's old stomping grounds where diversity makes for prime Awkward Family Photos material!

But an auction is required by bankruptcy law, and a competing group of bidders has brought drama to a community known more for tranquil marshes, elegant hotels and plush service.

“We’ll be holding our breaths on Monday,” said Jane Fraser, a Sea Island member and resident.

The partnership of Oaktree Capital Management and Avenue Capital Group won a lengthy bid process to acquire the storied resort for $197.5 million. Its offer, known as a “stalking horse bid,” is said to honor Sea Island memberships, keep Sea Island’s 1,400 employees and retain Sea Island Co. scion A.W. “Bill” Jones III as chairman and CEO.

A competing team made up of Starwood Capital and Anschutz Entertainment is also cleared to bid at Monday’s auction.

Uh Oh! Tiger "Understands" Calls For Ball Rollback

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Steve Elling reports on today's comments in Boston:

On Thursday, Woods was asked at the Deutsche Bank Championship about his view on the issue, which is being studied by the USGA. The organization has yet to release any findings from its various studies.

“It's just something, the guys are hitting it a long way,” Woods said. “For instance, last week, No. 8 is a par3 down the hill, playing 207 the last day, and I hit 7iron. I don't ever hit 7iron that far. Then I watched Dustin Johnson hit 9iron.

“It's just, I can understand them wanting to obviously pull the game back a little bit, because the guys are just becoming more athletic. Here I am 6 foot and I'm considered short. Most of the guys now are 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Just like every other sport, it's evolved, become more athletic.

“The guys have speed, and now we're getting some great athletes playing the game.”

Tiger is in a no-win position if he takes a hard stance on the modern distance chase. Though he has made several statements about not minding a change, he has to be careful not to upset Nike and also to appear to be favoring a possible rule change that benefits his ability, which many believe a "spinnier" ball would.

Now factor in that his distance advantage has been passed by, and he has to be even more careful. Still, I like the comments today.