Elephant In The Room Files: Green Speed Push Blows Up Again

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While I never enjoy seeing a course setup go bad--especially when I know how sick the PGA Tour rules staffers and weather forecasters will be following Saturday's TPC Sawgrass putting bloodbath--it's good to have days like this to remind people how close golf courses are taken to the edge in the name of resisting technological advances that no architecture can keep up with.

When Stimpmeter speeds hover in the 12-13 neighborhood, the slightest bit of drop in humidity mixed with little root structure and unexpected wind can send greens that just days before were said to be too soft (but still wickedly fast) into a state of goofiness. We reached a point in the sport where the green is taken up to extreme speeds and allowed to play too prominent of a role at all levels in part because agronomists are so good at what they do. But mostly, it's about, but the professional game having outgrown just about every course on the planet.

As the 2016 Players joined the list of tournaments influenced by a setup gone wild, we are reminded again that the modern golf ball, when hit by the world's best, goes distances not foreseen by designers and therefore is not something manageable by any design under 8000 yards.

The TPC Sawgrass, once a beast, is often overmatched in today's game. It's final defense, short of 5 inch rough and and adding new tees: extreme green speeds that are manageable until they're not.

Unlike every other professional sports league, the PGA Tour will never get in the business of regulating the equipment played at its events to keep courses relevant and green speeds at a sane level. So there is sweet irony in watching yet another position taken with profit margins in mind bubble to the surface at the Tour's marquee event.

The unfortunate takeaway most will have from Saturday's debacle will believe that the tour was angry at the low scoring and did this. But having been around the TPC all week, I didn't encounter one PGA Tour official even the least bit bothered by Jason Day breaking the 36-hole scoring record. This was a greater-than expected change in the weather that took greens so precariously close to the speed edge and turned them silly.

It's funny that a sport which self congratulates itself repeatedly for having more integrity than any other looks the other way when it comes to protecting the integrity of its playing fields, solely in fear of (potentially) costly regulatory fights that also might call into question golf's devotion to the gospel of unfettered capitalism. How is this sad state of affairs any less ridiculous than looking the other way on a doping scandal?

But I digress...

In Brian Wacker's GolfDigest.com round up of player comments, note Justin Rose's comment about the ball gliding over the greens. That's what happens when all moisture has been sucked out of the blades from mowing, rolling, heat, lack of humidity and perhaps some influence from the Precision air units underneath (assuming they were in use). Also note these numbers:

Over the first two days, there were 122 combined three-putts among the 144 players in the field. On Saturday there were 149 three-putts among the 76 players who made the cut, and 15 of those players had at least 34 putts for their round including McIlroy, who had 37.

Rex Hoggard has some eye-opening putting stats as well, and has this from PGA Tour VP of rules and competitions Mark Russell.

“We have done the same thing all week. We have been double cutting these greens and double rolling them and trying to get them firmed up,” said Mark Russell, the Tour’s vice president of rules and competition. “What happened today was just kind of a perfect storm with the weather. We weren't expecting a 20 mph wind all day, and the humidity 30 percent, not a cloud in the sky. And they just, you know, sped up on us.”

But then that doesn’t explain a three-putt percentage of historic proportions?

The Tour average for three-putts in a round is 2.93 percent, and on Thursday and Friday the field hovered around the norm with a 2.08 and 2.67 percent average, respectively. On Saturday that number skyrocketed to 11 percent.

Rory McIlroy had one of the worst days on the green, reports Will Gray at GolfChannel.com.

“I mean, it’s like a U.S. Open out there. I can’t really describe it any other way,” McIlroy said. “I just found I had a really difficult time adjusting to them. I stood up here yesterday and I said it’s amazing how differently the course plays from morning to afternoon, but I didn’t expect it to be like that out there this afternoon. That was borderline unfair on a few holes.”

McIlroy opened his round with a birdie, but he realized conditions had changed when his 85-foot eagle attempt on No. 2 raced nearly 18 feet past the hole. It led to the first of five three-putts on the day, including three such instances in a four-hole stretch on Nos. 10-13 that dropped him off the first page of the leaderboard.

Jim McCabe says the Shinnecock word came up a lot after the round.

“A lot of caddies kept asking, ‘What’s this remind you of?’ ” said James Edmondson, the caddie for Ryan Palmer. “Everyone said, ‘Shinnecock.’ ”

And when his back-nine 42 and round of 79 was complete, Ian Poulter blurted out “TPC Shinnecock,” only to catch himself and shake his head.
“I’ll refrain from saying anything,” Poulter declared, and wisely he moved to the autograph area and signed for a long line of youngsters.

ESPN.com's Bob Harig says players were not buying the tour's stance on greens getting the same treatment as the previous days. Technically that is true with one extra rolling between the conclusion of round two and the start of round three.

"It was a massive change -- it wasn't very subtle,'' Scott said.

"That was borderline unfair on a few holes,'' Rory McIlroy said.

"I felt like I was putting on dance floors out there,'' Billy Horschel said.

"It was crazy tough,'' Matsuyama said.

There were just three rounds Saturday in the 60s and only six under par. There were seven in the 80s. The 76 players in the field combined for 149 three-putts or worse -- a record for the course. There were 86 double-bogeys or worse.

Sergio's six-putt should not be watched by young children...

 

Poll: Post-Masters Distance Average & Bifurcation

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Mike Stachura points out at GolfDigest.com how the PGA Tour driving distance average is on course for a new record high in spite of tough driving conditions at Augusta National this year.

This is news because we've been told by the governing bodies that things have flatlined, but any further "significant" increase on top of the significant increases of the last twenty years might lead to action.

The average drive of 277.8 for the week at the Masters was the lowest number for the tournament since 2008, and nearly 10 yards off of last year’s average of 286.2. But the PGA Tour average driving distance year to date is still almost 290 yards. The current 289.4 average marks the highest all-time, 1.6 yards over last year’s high mark.

But here's the one that'll make men in navy sweat.

Curiously, the PGA Tour record for average driving distance at the end of any year was set in 2011 at 290.9, but by Masters week that year, the average was 285.3, four yards shy of this year’s hot pace.

Now that more people have more understanding of the issues ramifications than ever thanks in part to an economic crisis, water issues, the lack of pleasure found in a 7,500 yard couse and a greater understand that distance is all relative for the elite player, it seems more people than ever understand the sensibility of bifurcating the rules between elite and hacker.

Adam Scott's recent comments to PGATour.com's Brian Wacker about limiting driver head size became more appealing to me (in light of what he said about the change in the driver's role). I don't know how much of an impact distance-wise such a size reduction would have, but given all of the whining about how difficult it would be to regulate the ball, this could be a solution that is more easily enforced and allow manufacturers to sell something to wannabe pros (and slightly larger versions of the same club to the general public).

But most of all, such a reduction in driver head size could return the reward for driving the ball with length and accuracy, while allowing the sport to put an end to the unproductive expansion of its 18-hole footprint.

What is the most sensible bifurcation solution for golf?
 
pollcode.com free polls

State Of The Game Podcast 65: 2016 Masters Preview

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Rod Morri, Mike Clayton and yours truly kick around the Masters and more, from Horse Courses to Austin to the demise of the other "Masters."

As always you can listen via the embedded player below. Or get the MP3 here, check out the SOTG homepage here, or get it on iTunes here.

Meanwhile, ShackHouse Episode 2 with Joe House is alive and well and still an iTunes Top 15 show, including #1 in Sports!

iTunes users can get ShackHouse here, or specifically, Episode 2 here.

Or for Soundclouders, the show's page is here. Sticher just needs to approve and so you'll be able to get it there soon!

Adam Scott Not Opposed To Bifurcating Equipment Rules

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We'll put him down for reducing the driver head size. Since the scientists can only make a ball longer and not shorter, this may be an option.

From a very enjoyable Q&A with Brian Wacker at PGATour.com:

BW: If you were equipment czar of the game for a day, running the USGA and R&A, what would you change?
 
AS: I think it's possible that you could make an argument for having different equipment rules for us than the amateurs. I think that's almost logical to do that. I’d re-implement anchored putting because until I'm given facts that it actually is a game-improver, performance-enhancer, then I'm going to have to say I'd put it back in. Maybe driver head size is something I'd look at. That’s a massive difference now. When I was a kid, pulling the driver out of the bag was a concern, like you're going to have to make a great swing to hit a good drive. Now it's the go-to club. It's the most forgiving club we have. That's a huge difference in how you get off the tee to start a hole of golf.

And in the one-course-you-could-play-for-the-rest-of-your-life division, Adam picks...

 AS: I guess I'm torn. I could play Kingston Heath every day for the rest of my life in Australia, and the upside of that is in it's Australia and it's an amazing golf course. But I love Cypress Point. It's my favorite course in the world. I just love playing socially on those golf courses that are so much shorter and just less demanding length-wise for me, and then the people I play with can enjoy it. It's very hard to enjoy a round of golf when I play 90 yards from them. It's like we're on different courses. So those two, if I’m allowed to say two.

Barney Adams Suggests It's Time For A Tournament Ball

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Ahhh...love when the great minds come to their senses!

Welcome, Barney, to the technophobic, anti-capitalist set of subversives who think major championship courses are a thing to be protected so that future generations can enjoy big events at the Merion's of the world.

Thanks to reader Chuck for longtime equipment industry leader Barney Adams' commentary calling on the USGA to introduce a tournament ball to protect classic venues and to generate interest in the U.S. Open that can't no longer sniff the ratings of the Masters, even when it's played in primetime.

Writing for GolfWRX, Adams says...

A shorter-flying ball brings dozens, if not hundreds of great venues back into play for our nation’s championship. The USGA can give all kinds of altruistic reasons, but the reason I use to justify is the media. Each venue is a repository for stories on how it will be played with a shorter ball that spins more. The stories, the build up, the after stories about next year’s course… one objective, the No. 1-rated major golf tournament.

House Q&A, ShackHouse Podcast Episode 1 From The Ringer

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John Ourand at SBJ beat me to the earth-shattering reveal: The Ringer is getting into golf and to host the latest addition to their podcast network they've enlisted longtime Bill Simmons podcast confidante Joe House and yours truly.

You can subscribe by going to the usual spots: Soundcloud, iTunes or if you'are an Overcast app user, just search for ShackHouse. (And I have to say this while I can, the show is current #1 on iTunes in Sports/Recreation and 15th overall.)

Simmons discussed the new podcast at the 33:00 minute mark of this week's Rollin' With House episode and noted the golf podcast world lacking any standout shows. That may be true, but as with most things, golf is late to the podcast game but there are some folks building followings and helping the sport catch up with the times.

As for ShackHouse, 21 episodes are scheduled around most of golf's biggest events, though we won't shy away from tackling topics outside of the pro golf realm. Mostly we just hope to add some fun, informed conversation to your golf media consumption menus.

The best thing so far with the show? All of House's fans getting over the shock that he not only plays golf, but follows golf religiously.

A few questions with House, who kindly answered even though he's enjoying a family vacation in Jamaica.

GS: Why a golf pod for your 1st as co-host?

JH: I have been pestering Simmons for a full decade now to get back into the game so we can tackle middle-age in the most cliched way possible. Aside from a 6 month stint where he caught the bug - and then promptly lost it again - no luck. It's a true fact that we have never played a single round of golf together in our 25 years of being pals. Though I did kick his ass in an epic 36 hole putt-putt match down in Orlando Florida that also included Rembert Browne and David Jacoby (that's a story for another day...) Anyhow, I believe this podcast was his clever way of getting me to shut up and stop bothering him about golf.

GS: You're a big consumer of all things media and golf is going through a similar transition to the digital era that other sports have dealt with. So what do you watch/read? What is different about golf media vs. other sports?

JH: I am an avid and fervent consumer of all golf media. Obviously the Golf Channel is in heavy rotation. I read Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, Golf Illustrated, Golf WRX, Golf World and Golf Playboy. I may be mis-remembering one or two of those. I enjoy very much the Twitter-feed of the dude(s) behind @NoLayingUp. I visit Pat Mayo and Geoff Fienberg's weekly picks:gambling angles and YouTube chat. The Instagram feed of GolfProTracer is a rabbit hole I go down for about an hour a week. And GeoffShackelford.com, duh. One thing I have been on the lookout for - that seems to be easier to find in other sports media - is a person or place that is regularly synthesizing the incredible data on the performance of the pros each week.  And breaking it down into digestible bites for a dummy like me. It's easy to get nuggets on the accuracy of the dudes who win each week, but I'm also interested in some analytics that help explain/provide context for where the guys that didn't win came up short.

GS: Your favorite Course in the DC area?

JH: This is an easy one, there is nothing like the East Potomac Golf Course in East Potomac Park. I wish I could write this up in a way that doesn't sound like I'm shilling for them, but it's one of the two courses where I've bested 80 so lovefest. The facility is owned and maintained by the federal government and situated on a tiny piece of land that juts into the Potomac River barely 10 minutes from downtown DC. There is an 18 hole course and two other 9s (one executive, one par-3) that get up to 90,000 rounds a year according to the folks who run the joint and the whole track sits at or below sea-level so conditions are never what anyone would call pristine. Two things make it special (not including my 78): it is a place where you can potentially play golf with someone from anywhere on planet earth. I have played there with Brits, Germans, Japanese, Australians, Africans and the rarest of all - native Washingtonians. Secondly, the views and experience are pure DC. On no less than 5 holes, the Washington Monument is a good aiming point. The Marine Barracks are across the river so if you are playing at the right time, you can catch the afternoon bugle call. And I have had the President's trio of helicopters pass overhead at least a half-dozen times.

GS: You're a renowned foodie, your best golf course food?

JH: Again, have to rep the DMV here a little bit.  Breakfast is served all day long at the historical Langston Golf Course in NE DC (opened in 1939, first non-segregated course in the DC area) and the breakfast sandwiches are extraordinary. Do not be afraid to ask for jelly on the egg & cheese. I have also had the good fortune to play the golf course at Piedmont Driving Club outside of Atlanta a couple times.  The cup of 'cue at the turn (a Dixie cup filled with five bites of pulled pork) is quite brilliant and quite delicious and I have never been through there with just one cup.

Video: Save Lions Municipal Golf Course

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The University of Texas has plans to bulldoze and develop the historic, important Lions Municipal course in Austin.

With the WGC Match Play set to play out at a lush country club course surrounded by high-end real estate and three-story corporate tents, there's something very unsettling knowing that a historically important muni, urban green space and starting point for Austin golfers is doomed. Especially since UT-Austin has the largest university endowment in America.

Here's a good film on the course. And a reminder, as I noted in the Forward Press, the Criquet gang hosts a fundraiser Friday to help raise money for the fight.

NGF: "A slight dip tempered by strong positive indicators"

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The National Golf Foundation says the M's are buying in to something other than Snapping on their phones, so I'll sleep better tonight!

For Immediate Release:

2015 Golf Participation in the U.S. – A slight dip tempered by strong positive indicators

Twenty years after Tiger Woods stepped before a microphone in Milwaukee on Aug. 28, 1996, and with the words “Hello, World,” touched off the most meaningful golf industry growth since Arnold Palmer and President Eisenhower jump-started it 40 years earlier, there are reasons to be confident about the stability of the game. While the latest NGF participation numbers show a slight dip in 2015 to 24.1 million (over the age of 6 who played at least once) from 24.7 million the two previous years, numbers remained strong in several crucial areas: among committed golfers, beginning golfers and in the number of people interested in taking up the game.

While the total drop in golfers from 2014 to 2015 was within the national study’s statistical margin of error, the results do suggest that a slow leak in overall participation persists.

Slow leak?

However, NGF analysis continues to show that attrition is confined mainly to those who never really got into the game.

About 80 percent of all golfers, or 20 million of the 24.1 million, make up a committed base who accounted for 94 percent of all rounds played and equipment spending in 2015. Play among this group drove an overall increase in rounds played of 1.8% versus 2014, as reported by the National Rounds Played Coalition (comprised of NGF, Golf Datatech, PGA of America and NGCOA).

The twenty-somethings like Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Lexi Thompson and teenager Lydia Ko appear to be resonating. Beginners numbered 2.2 million in 2015, which compares favorably to the all-time high of 2.4 million in 2000, at the peak of Woods’ success when he won three major championships. And the biggest group of beginners in 2015 were Millennials.

They like us! They really, really like us!

Interest in playing golf is at an all-time high with an estimated 37 million non-golfers saying they are interested in taking up the game. And roughly 20 percent may already be making their first moves. In addition to the 24 million people who played golf on a golf course last year, another 7 million took part in the game at a driving range, a TopGolf facility or on an indoor golf simulator.

Golf’s overall reach is impressive. An estimated 81 million*, including 62 million non-golfers, watched golf on TV in 2015 while 27 million read about the game in traditional or electronic media. One out of three Americans – about 95 million – played golf on a golf course or alternate venue, watched on TV or read about it in 2015. The interest is there. The challenge is to activate more of the people who are interested in playing, and retain a higher percentage of those who do give golf a try. Getting more beginners to enter the game through structured introduction programs like Get Golf Ready is key to improving retention.

While participation growth remains difficult to achieve, with the recession in the rearview mirror and an exciting new wave of young players in front of us, there are good reasons to be optimistic about future growth if emphasis continues to be placed on converting more beginners into committed golfers.

Or, until President Trump declares a ban on grow the game initiatives to protect its aspirational qualities.