"As golf enters its own Moneyball Era, every number counts..."

It's been a longtime coming, but the Moneyball mentality has finally come to golf, reports Tim Rosaforte in this week's Golf World.

Most notably, Brandt Snedeker and Zach Johnson are attributing some of their recent success to more numbers crunching by outside sources, and it's not all ShotLink stats helping the players prepare. Snedeker won't reveal much other than the role Mark Horton has played.

"The lines [between a good and great season] are so thin, so I'm trying to find any edge I can get," Snedeker said. "Mark's done a great job for me of understanding who I am as a golfer. We, as professional golfers, have a tendency of thinking we're strong in particular areas, and that may not be the case at all. He does a great job of identifying what I need to work on, what my strengths are so I play to those, and what my weaknesses are, so I can play away from them."

At East Lake a year ago, Horton worked his computer in the clubhouse, and Snedeker executed a game plan that resulted in a sweep of the final playoff event and the FedEx Cup title for an $11.44 million payday. At the end of the year, Snedeker said Horton was the difference for him in jumping from 38th to ninth on the World Ranking.

Johnson was less secretive about his work with Peter Sanders, whose Shot By Shot website is part of the numbers crunching process.

Sanders, who works out of his house in Connecticut, contends that ShotLink stats are "myopic" and "one-dimensional answers to multi-dimensional questions." The blunt comments point to the theory that identifying tangible areas of improvement that can truly help improve scoring comes from a more focused exploration of the data.

AJGA Averages 4:17 In 2013

Ryan Lavner sums up the AJGA announcement on Morning Drive to tout their 4 hours, 17 minute 2013 pace of play average.

According to AJGA Executive Director Stephen Hamblin, that was six minutes faster than last year and much of the improvement could be attributed to the system of first player holing out heading to the next tee.

At the AJGA level, the tournament committee designates six holes for timing checkpoints, where volunteers are stationed to record both the threesomes’ gap time relative to the group ahead and to the overall time par for the course. In recent years, this system has been duplicated at the college level.

The AJGA said its quickest tournament was the Kansas Junior at Buffalo Dunes, where the average pace of play was 3 hours, 50 minutes. The fastest round of the year was 3 hours, 23 minutes, while the low round of the year played in less than four hours was Wes Artac’s 10-under 62 at the Genesis Shootout.

The interview:

The 9-Hole Question: NGF Finds Cost, Time Still Huge Issues

Lots of interesting stuff in a National Golf Foundation survey probing deeper on the question of nine is fine, a big push by Golf Digest with some support from the litany of for-profit non-profits who gather regularly and sign off on pretty ad campaigns.

Besides the number of people who seem to think there is a stigma attached to 9-holes, the haunting number for golf has to be the majority that cites time and cost as the ultimate issue.

We found that just over half of golfers (54%) report that time constraints negatively impact their frequency of play.  Coincidentally, 54% of golfers also reported that money constraints negatively impact frequency of play.  When measured together, 72% of golfers play less frequently due to time constraints, money constraints, or both.Only 28% of golfers tell us their frequency of play is not affected very much by either.

We asked the 27% of golfers who don’t play 9-hole rounds why they do not.  Most mentioned that they just prefer playing 18-hole rounds. Many simply see golf as an 18-hole game, and that 9holes just isn’t enough.

Video: Dude Perfect's Golfer Stereotypes

My only quibble is that the Dude Perfect folks left out the guys who drown themselves in logoed clothes like they have a hat-ball-glove deal with Nike, which, these guys may. But some fun stuff in here and nice production values.

Thanks to social media hero Robert Andrade for the tip.

State Of The Game Podcast 24: Catching Up

No guest this week but plenty to talk about with Rod Morri and Mike Clayton, including The Open, the PGA, the prospects for distance regulation after the USGA TV deal, great golfers getting younger every year and, well, anything else but the FedExCup.

You can always subscribe here on iTunes or listen below:

Survey: Traveling Golfers Just Want Good Greens

Max Adler summarizes Golf Digest's customer satisfaction survey coordinated by Dr. Dan Sachau, professor of psychology at Minnesota State University at Mankato, and Dr. Luke Simmering, a consultant within the global organizational effectiveness department for Walmart.

Out of 2,434 respondents, the median profile was a 58-year-old male who plays seven rounds a month and pays $62 per round and you may not be shocked to learn that course conditioning mattered more than anything, while slow play was not a factor.

The contradiction between what people say and do has long served much of that wide field of study called the humanities. In this instance, respondents said pace of play was their top driver of satisfaction, when in actuality it was the least. "It's possible the great majority of people who took the survey happened to have a last round where they felt neither impatient or rushed," Sachau says, "but more likely, this is an aspect that assumes great importance only when others are constant." In other words, pace of play matters a lot at your home course because you already know exactly what to expect in the other areas. When you're a regular, it's more likely the foursome ahead or the kitchen staff comes under your cross hairs than the superintendent.

"Far and away, course conditions proved the most important driver of satisfaction when golfers travel," Sachau says, "much more so than the pace of the round or the cost of the green or guest fee, both of which golfers stated as more important." Specifically, in ascending order golfers value the conditions of the bunkers, the tee boxes, the fairways and, most of all, the greens.

Rams Hill: "It’s a tale of water and desperate homeowners"

Thanks to reader Scott for a pair of sad but illuminating stories (here and here) from J. Harry Jones in the Union-Tribune on the $27 million Fazio re-do of Rams Hill that went back when the previous owner sold water rights to the local district.

This has left the Borrego Springs, California property parched and homeowners with a disastrous 70 percent decline in value, not to mention no golf course.

From Jones' follow-up explaining how the water rights deal went bad, and the consequences of not having water.

What has happened to the golf course, just a few years after it was redesigned for a reported $27 million, is not just a story of one more dream dashed by the Great Recession.

It’s a tale of water and desperate homeowners whose properties have devalued in price by as much as 70 percent in the past five years.

Some believe the future of Rams Hill could determine the fate of Borrego Springs, the small desert town in northeast San Diego County completely surrounded by Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

The once-stunning golf course is part of a 3,000-acre master-planned community made up of six small subdivisions, a luxury oasis in a desert hamlet dreaming of becoming a smaller alternative to Palm Springs. About 350 homes have already been built in Rams Hill — ranging from spacious estates to small retirement and vacation homes — with room for hundreds more.

What Are We Going To Do About The Post Tee Shot Yelling?

One of the big takeaways from the 2013 PGA: what are we going to do about the yahoos who yell after a tee shot. I think the Rochester crowd--which was otherwise amazing in their passion, attendance and cordiality--took the post tee shot obnoxious scream to a new level.

Luke Kerr-Dineen reports and posts a GIF of Jim Furyk's reaction to one yell.

Since the start of the tournament fans have been yelling everything from the old standbys to" Chewbacca," "Baba booey" and "mashed potatoes."

Ian Poulter was one of the many who took issue with it on Twitter, writing: "This baba boo sh-- & mash potato crap shouting wouldn't happen at Augusta, The Open, nor would it happen at Wimbledon. Tazer the thrushes." Things even got so bad at that after Furyk hit his drive on 16, he turned around to the crowd, pointed, and looked to tell them something that didn't exactly appear to be a stamp of approval.

Poulter's epic Tweet, in case you missed it: 

This baba boo shit & mash potato crap shouting wouldn't happen at Augusta, The Open, nor would it happen at Wimbledon. Tazer the thrushes.

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 11, 2013

So what is golf to do? Ejections? Tazer the thrushes? What? Because this has to be dealt with as it's a turn-off to anyone with a pulse.

Update on 2013-08-12 03:51 by Geoff

**I should have known that the "Baba Boey!" comes from a Howard Stern type, as Mike Walker explains.

Bloomberg: As Golf Goes So Goes The Economy?

That's the premise of Bloomberg reporter Nikhil Hutheesing's story which says the economy is improving based on the numbers in golf.

Well, when people retire, some want a house on a golf course with open views and plenty of green, even if they aren't golfers. There’s your existing-home-sales data. When the economy is improving, golfers spend more on golf clothes, golf vacations, greens fees and the like (consumer spending). And as demand picks up, more golf courses, and homes, are built and old ones spruced up (housing starts).

Right now, golf is pointing to an economy that's out of the rough (click here for a closer look at the golf economy). Steven Ekovich, managing director of the National Golf & Resort Properties Group, a division of real estate investment firm Marcus & Millichap, says financing is returning to the industry. He estimates that the number of distressed assets has fallen by 65 percent since 2009 and says that investor sentiment is improving.

"As the economy heals, we expect to see course values go up this year for the first time in six years," he says.

One reason things are looking better: Lenders that were saddled with loads of distressed debt in golf courses when the housing market plummeted have unloaded much of that debt, in part by selling courses. The pace of sales of 18-hole championship-length golf courses slowed from 86 in the first half of 2012 to 55 in the first half of this year. That means the courses that made it through this period are financially healthier, Ekovich says.