2015 Wrap: Where Are We On The Distance Issue?

Since the distance debate was the basis for this blog as it enters its tenth year as a full-fledged blog on Squarespace and thirteenth in some form as a monitor of golf issues, where do we stand?

--Those of us pointing out the issue are no longer treated like lepers for suggesting the ball goes too far. Enough courses across the land have had to deal with safety or function issues. This has meant a much larger audience does not need the issue explained to them. Even better, many more look down on the governing bodies for continuing to work tirelessly not to act.

--A surprising-but-still too-low number of golf fans recognize that distance is relative. This continues to quietly render the real bombers and their occasional 382-yarders less awe-inspiring than they should be. There is also the overall relatability factor, where too many just find pro golf a little less fun to watch because so few can relate to 210-yard 7-irons.

--The PGA Tour driving distance average only went up a yard in 2015. Despite so many obvious signs that players continue to get longer either through equipment, fitting technology or fitness, what gives? Because this last point allows the governing bodies to go back to counting their millions instead of acting. So how is it that the PGA Tour number is not seeing a huge spike even as we see players regularly CARRY the ball 300 yards?

David Dusek explored this at Golfweek.com and while he had no real answer why that one number has not budged much in recent years, he does note the shocking change at bottom end of the spectrum.

In 2000 there were 166 players on the PGA Tour who averaged less than 280 yards per drive. In 2002, that number was down to 100 and in 2003 it was sliced to 47. By 2005, there were just 30 players who averaged less than 280 yards per drive and it dropped to 25 players.

The 25 under 280 number was the case for 2014 (the 2015 list won't come up at PGATour.com).

Things get confusing when you consider Shoshana Agus-Kleinman's GolfNews.net analysis of PGA Tour "carry," something tracked since 2007.

Since that year, the average and median carry number of PGA Tour drives has spiked by ten yards.

To recap: the driving distance average is up a yard in from 2007 to 2015, but carry average is up by ten yards in the same time frame.

We have been told time and time again that course conditioning leads to more roll, yet with a 10-yard increase in carry the distance average has remained almost flat. This means the "more roll" argument is bogus as most anyone who stands in a PGA Tour landing area can tell you. Yes, agronomics have never been better and grass heights never lower, but turf has also never been healthier or more nourished, offsetting any gains made by lower mowing heights.

(Side note: players have already caught up to Hootie's back tees as he predicted, despite literally no roll on those fairways thanks to a higher cut and grain effect created to slow down drives.)

Sadly, this leaves us in that odd place where the governing bodies refuse to acknowledge an issue because to do so would (A) remind us that they let the game down and (B) would see their sustainability campaigns severely undercut by what is an obvious need to keep expanding the scale of golf courses to manage modern distances.

At least a more sizeable audience sees the sad hypocrisy in their mixed-messaging.

Are Young Guns Building Television Ratings?

In a totally random example, for the first time in over a decade, no one is wondering if Tiger or Phil is going to show up at, say, the Northern Trust Open. But Rory McIlroy is and Jordan Spieth will likely play, so when you mention that to most fans, that's shifted to the answer people are hoping to hear.

But do they translate to better television ratings that ultimately pay most of the PGA Tour bills? That's been debatable, but in an interview with Larry Fine of Reuters, Golf Channel president Mike McCarley says the network hosting the Olympic coverage this year believes the numbers do not lie.

The 2015 first quarter ratings for Golf Channel were down 14 percent compared to the year before, but momentum shifted with Spieth's win at the Masters.

The second quarter showed a gain of 3 percent over the year before and grew to an increase of 8 percent in the next quarter before booming to a 13 percent year-ago gain in the last period.

McCarley noted a competitive parallel in the women's game with the rise of 18-year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand as world number one and a natural rivalry with American Lexi Thompson, the 20-year-old world number four.

"Looking ahead, 2016 is shaping up as a transformational year for the game of golf," he said.

Video: Year End Roundtable On The Youth Movement

I continue to be confounded by the number of pro golfers who are so good at what they do at such a young age. Male or female, players are blossoming earlier in life than ever before, and in this digital-only segment taped after the year-end roundtable, Tim Rosaforte, Matt Adams and I discuss the kids.

The actual shows air Saturday and Sunday at 6, 6:30, 11 and 11:30 p.m. ET. 

Golf Experts: Millennials Watch MTV, Wear Cut Off Jean Shorts

In today's USA Today, Craig Handel talks to various golf experts about the need to cater to millennials if golf is to survive. While many of you undoubtedly find these articles depressing, I enjoy when experts openly express almost no clue about the generation they feel we must cater to.

Howler number one:

Between 130 and 160 courses are expected to close this year alone.

“It’s attributable to an aging baby boomer population and millennials watching too much MTV and having an attention span of about 30 seconds,” said Paul Chipok, who specializes in land-use local government work for law firm Gray Robinson.

Yes you know those millennials, sitting in front of their cable TV watching Carson Daly on MTV's Total Request Live every afternoon! Oops, wrong century.

The Great White Shark wants to let all of the modern day Huck Finns of the world do their thing.

Norman said it’s about evolving, trying to figure out how to attract millennials and growing the base again.

“If they want to play in cut-off jeans and a T-shirt at a public facility, let them go,” he said. “If they want to go on the course with a skateboard, let them go. If they want to put an iPod in their ears or play music, let them go.

This is the view, even though most surveys have shown that millennials are intrigued by fashion and bespoke style, something golf could use to its advantage (but after golf just let all of us change into jeans when at a club and not feel dirty walking out of the locker room.)

NY Times On Golf Real Estate: "Fewer Golfers, but Some Lush Courses Are Coming Back"

You have to wade through the usual backstory of why golf real estate failed when the economy crashed, but Nick Madigan's New York Times story does reach a  somewhat positive point by noting the improvement at some facilities devoted to golf real estate.

While the story does not address the specifics at the places succeeding as much as I'd hoped, it's the facilties focusing on service and re-imagining themselves as family-driven places that Madigan says are succeeding. Unfortunately, exclusivity is also part of the success recipe.

The Boca West Country Club’s heavy investment in its facilities, Ms. Tanzer said, “is a perfect example of adapting” to the changing economics of golf. “They’re spending a fortune on making the place family-friendly,” she said. “It’s a home run.”

At Boca West, where it costs new members $70,000 to sign up, Jay DiPietro, the club’s 78-year-old president and general manager, suggested that the troubles besetting some of his competitors could be blamed on poor management and on their focus on “the business of selling houses.” But he operates on a different principle, he said.

“We’re in the people-pleasing business,” he said. “These people paid a lot to be here.”

In any case, Mr. DiPietro said, the golf industry was vastly over-supplied with courses. “It was just waiting for a recession to knock the hell out of it,” he said. “The recession separated the boys from the men.”

Oliver K. Hedge, who appraises golf course properties for the real estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield, said the golf industry had “made great strides” in shaking off underperforming courses in the last few years.
“A lot of clubs that have closed really should have closed,” Mr. Hedge said. “Florida is a good microcosm of the nation because we’re so dense with golf courses.”

Many of the closures, he said, have involved public and semi-private courses, the latter a reference to clubs that have an active membership program but that let non-members play for a fee.

Double Standard When It Comes To Female Competitiveness?

Now that we've had some time to digest the Suzann Pettersen-Alison Lee Solheim Cup incident, Karen Crouse raises an intriguing point fueled in part by comments from Butch Harmon.

You may recall Pettersen was well off the 17th green of a match when Lee picked up her ball without a concession. I've always felt Suzann knew that Lee was a little loose with the match play dynamics and etiquette and was lying in wait. Her mistake, in my view, was that she was too far from the action. Had she been standing on the green, arms folded (the international signal for putting out), she is considered a Seve-like competitor. But standing off the green, almost to the next tee?  She was rightly criticized.

Yes, golf is a crazy-strange sport.

But Crouse makes the case that female athletes play under different standards when it comes to competitiveness and that Pettersen may always be remembered in a negative light, perhaps due in part to her gender.

To be a female athlete is to be ever mindful that appearances matter. Prettiness is next to godliness, which is why many of the players wear makeup during tournaments and treat their competitiveness as an imperfection that needs to be covered up with hugs and smiles. The same icy stare that identifies Tiger Woods as a fierce competitor is off-putting when it freezes Pettersen’s opponents.

“Absolutely, there is a double standard,” said Pettersen’s swing instructor, Butch Harmon, whose past clients include Mickelson and Woods. “It’s not right. One of the things I love about Suzann is what a great competitor she is. She prepares, and she plays, to win.”

Speaking by telephone, Harmon added: “If you look at Serena Williams, she gets put in the same category. People say Serena Williams is overaggressive. No, what she is is very, very good and very, very competitive.”

I really don't think of Pettersen in a negative light because she missed a nuanced element of gamesmanship and it didn't hurt that she apologized (even though she isn't the one who made the initial mistake). 

But a few months later, how do you view Suzann and the incident? Are females held to a different standard when it comes to competitiveness?

Faldo On Overtinkering, Why Young Players Are Excelling

The most famous swing overhauler of the modern era is warning Jordan Spieth not to overtinker, and while that certainly is a headline worthy topic, I thought a few other points by the Nick Faldo were worth reading.

In a lengthy chat reported by Reuters' Tony Jimenez (who dutifully plugged the six-time major winner's six new wines), Faldo sounds horrified by Spieth's off-season plan to gain yardage. But it's his take on the role of technology via things like Trackman and the application of biomechanics that may explain why we are seeing so many complete, ready-for-prime-time players under 25:

"Now you have what I call the appliance of science. You have machines to tell your swing path, club-face angle, ball flights after one shot -- that's fantastic.

"I wish I would have had that rather than hit a million balls and then go, 'Oh, I wonder how this feels?," added Faldo with a giggle.

Europe's 2008 Ryder Cup captain also said golfers were much more powerful nowadays.

"The physical side has been taken to a new level. They've really done a good job in dispelling the thought that it's an old man's sport," said Faldo.

"These guys now are unbelievably strong. We have more than a dozen doctors travelling on tour with degrees in biomechanics ... they know exactly how to build a golfer and that's fantastic.

"This is all factual information, it's not a guess. It's been around for years now and kids at 15 get this knowledge for five years and bang, that's why they can come out at 20 and be impressive golfers."

Water Week And Goat Hill: Morning Drive's Coverage

I understand that on the list of sexy television topics, water issues in golf sounds about as thrilling as the early rounds of the National Paint Drying Championship. And while I'm biased because I'm on the show and much of the coverage focused on issues facing California courses, we all know that water use is a big deal in golf going forward for three reasons.

One, the playability of a course is just better and more fun when it's not overwatered.

Two, the game will not survive if most of the world thinks that a golf course is a place where water goes to disappear.

And finally, a generation of people whose annoying name starts with an "m" have already shown they are not afraid to make decisions about purchases or associations based on how something fits into the world. If golf is a water waster, the m's and the Gen Z's are probably not going to want to get near it.

So in case you missed it, and the chances are you have a job and did, here are three of the better moments from Morning Drive's Water Week coverage.

A look at the experimental work at Poppy Hills by Toro to develop new technologies gives a wonderful visual and behind the scenes look at what smart people are doing to make a golf course not waste water. There was also the backlash Pasatiempo received after photos appeared in Golf Digest showing it parched, with insight into the effort to reduce water and change community perceptions in Santa Cruz.

And the third piece involves Matt Ginella going to Goat Hill in Oceanside, California to learn about both saving the course, the effort to re-imagine the affordable muni going forward in the face of water shortages and all of the other great things they are doing to make it a true 21st century "community" course.

Update on 2015-11-17 03:16 by Geoff

**GolfAdvisor.com has this roundup of what courses are doing to conserve or rethink their approach.

State Of The Game 62: Ru Macdonald And Scottish Golf

Ru Macdonald joined us to discuss the state of Scottish golf and in particular, the travel industry there. We also kick around the exciting new Royal Dornoch-adjacent project under development by Mike Keiser, news of which was broken by Ru on his website.

If you are not a subscriber to his podcast you might want to add him to your queue, as the episodes are never too long but always filled with insights into Scottish golf. Of late he's been joined by recent University of St. Andrews graduate Graylin Loomis.

You can listen to the MP3 here, or listen and download the show here.

For iTunes, the episode is here.

We also asked Ru to pick a random sampling of shows for new listeners. Here are the links to the shows:

Episode 79 – Alan Shipnuck’s 10 Rounds In 6 Days
Episode 73 – Father/Son Trip to Northeast Scotland
Episode 67 - The Undiscovered Links of the Highlands with Jason Scott Deegan
Episode 63 – Ran Morrissett (Golf Club Atlas)
Episode 55 – Finding your Linksoul with John Ashworth
Episode 42 – A Scottish Golf Trip with Geoff Shackelford
Episode 22 – Playing Scotland’s Hidden Gems with Robert Thompson and Ian Andrew

Here's the embed:

New R&A Chief, Finchem Say Distance Issue Not An Issue

The R&A's Martin Slumbers and PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, speaking at the HSBC Golf Business Forum, made clear they are not the least bit interested in doing a thing about distance increases.

So much for those hoping Slumbers would reverse the course of Peter Dawson, who said things were holding steady as he ordered "The Treatment" on all Open rota courses to mask his organization's fear of doing something meaningful.

No doubt this gibberish, quoted by Doug Ferguson AP notes colum, was followed by speeches about the need for sustainability to keep the game healthy. Hard to do when 8000 yards becomes the norm.

"What we are seeing at the moment is a fairly consistent percentage of some tremendous athletes who are hitting the ball farther," Slumbers said at the HSBC Golf Business Forum. "The percentage of them is unchanged. The average is a lot less than what the media talk about. The average has only moved 3 to 4 yards in the last 10 years. There's no burning desire on our part to make any changes."

We knew about the burning desire part, but to say players are hitting it farther and then say they are not according to the average, is an inconsistency even Peter Dawson never let slip.
at least made clear he's all about the PGA Tour.

"I do think if we get to a point where 75 percent of the field is hitting it where Dustin [Johnson] is and it gets a little boring, and we see signs of it affecting the integrity of the sport, it's a different matter," Finchem said. "Right now, I agree totally. We shouldn't do anything."

Slumbers also said distance "isn't getting out of control."

"It's a single-digit number of players who hit over 320 [yards]," he said. "The average is in the mid-280s -- this is run and carry. As long as it stays within those parameters, I'm celebrating skill."

Sigh.

"Public park vies for pro golf, sparking New Orleans debate"

AP's Cain Burdeau looks at the lack of community consensus over City Parks' $13 million Rees Jones renovation that is remaking the New Orleans park post-Katrina. A Zurich Classic date post-2020 is mentioned as a possibility.

Burdeau writes:

A group called the City Park for Everyone Coalition filed a lawsuit against the park, alleging it had violated wetlands protection laws by digging up the golf course and filling in wetlands.

In July, the Army Corps of Engineers agreed with the plaintiffs and said the park had illegally removed a 1.3-acre area of wetlands.

Golfers, too, have expressed doubts about the pricy course in the public park.

"I'm expecting nothing but fantastic out of it," said Carl Poche, a pro golfer from the New Orleans area. But he said building a top-flight course in City Park is contrary to the spirit of the park, where he fondly remembers playing rounds during the summer as a young man.

"It was mainly for people who couldn't afford the country club," he said.

The Youth Movement Is Real Because They Play A Different Game

Let's be honest: the youth hype in golf started as an effort to appeal to folks who don't watch golf for ad buyers who want to reach a younger audience. Then one by one men in their early 20s and women in their teens started not only getting tour cards, they started winning.

Yet something about the recent back-to-back wins to start the 2015-16 PGA Tour schedule by Grillo and Kaufmann have, in a weird way, been as powerful as the emergence of Spieth, Day and McIlroy. Why? Because we're seeing an ushering in of fearless youth clearly playing a different game, especially under final round pressure. These are not mere copy cats or young ones inspired by their peers.

Jaime Diaz, like me, was a skeptic of the rush to declare that a youth movement had taken hold. But after Kaufman's final round 61 and Las Vegas win--by someone who was not even a full time starter at LSU--he's no longer a denier.

There has been a discernible increase in truly competitive, younger-than-ever players who are ready to win. They might have names we barely know, but there are really no more upsets or even Cinderella stories in pro golf.

It’s evolution – from a litany of factors. Bigger and athletes drawn to the sport, following better fitness regimens, who have emulated physical specimens like Tiger, Dustin and Rory. There is more intense early competition, and equipment that can be tuned to minimize persistent flaws, breeding more confidence to swing harder.

But the biggest reason? Style of play.