When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
I was walking up to the driving range when a fast moving limo and accompanying Cadillac flew into the TPC Boston entrance circle with two flanking Massachusetts state police cars and one motorcyle officer leading the way (lights flashing of course).
Why, I didn't know the Governor was playing in today's pro-am, that's wonderf...wait, no, no, it can't be.
Look who popped out to march up the clubhouse steps and sign in for his 12:50 tee time...
Looking pink, bloated and determined to win the What-John-Daly Will-Look-Like-On-The Champions Tour-If-He-Lives-That-Long Contest, The Donald sat down for an all-too-frequent Q&A wth Golf Magazine's Michael Walker to plug his various golf courses and other assorted ventures.
The proverbial Trump L.A. is better than Pebble story is getting even more extravagant...
Q Trump L.A. is better than Pebble Beach! Are you crazy?
A That's what people say until they play my course. I have 3,000 acres and 2.5 miles on the ocean.
And why is that the course is jammed into only 110 acres?
That's the ocean, not the bay.
How could we forget?
Every single hole fronts the ocean. I love Pebble too, but even people who love Pebble say Trump L.A. is superior to Pebble. What Pebble Beach has is history and some day Trump L.A. will have history, though I might not be around to see it.
Oh no it has history Donald. There was that time the 18th hole slid into the ocean and...
Trump L.A. is also far better than Bandon Dunes [in Oregon]. It's unfair to compare a course in Los Angeles, a great metropolitan area, to one in a wasteland far away from civilization.
LA's no wasteland, that's right Donald. Of course the drive from LAX to Trump National takes about the same amount of time as Portland to Bandon thanks to our traffic, but who cares when you can drive Crenshaw Boulevard!
Q A web site (TMZ.com) published pictures of you playing at your L.A. course and claimed they showed you giving yourself an illegal drop. Did you see that?
Those are fun. Check out the link. He makes Smails look like a regular Bill Campbell
Only the Donald would be nuts enough of a visionary to see the potential for a golf and housing development in Fresno and better yet, plunk down $30 million for the privilege. Oh, and that's right, it's possibly his way onto the PGA Tour. Next stop, the U.S. Open!
Scott Hamilton reports that The Donald may not be coming to Central California after all...
Golfweek's Scott Hamilton reports that The Donald signed a letter of intent to acquire bankrupt Running Horse, confirming that he is willing to buy into even the most desolate markets just to be tied to a possible PGA Tour event.
Al Berryman, an attorney for the Fresno-based law firm of Baker, Manock and Jensen that represents Trump, said June 27 the terms of the deal are for Trump to pay $25 million in advance, plus an additional $15 million from future profits. Berryman said a purchase and sale agreement is being drawn up, with a July 2 completion deadline. After a final agreement is reached, Running Horse’s attorneys will schedule a hearing in front of a federal bankruptcy judge to have it approved.
Trump told Golfweek June 14 that he had increased his initial offer to purchase the troubled golf and residential development through U.S. bankruptcy court from $10 million to $25 million, with his primary goal being a PGA Tour stop as soon as 2008. But Mick Evans, who purchased the 420-acre property earlier this year from original developer Tom O’Meara, turned down Trump’s offer late last week. Negotiations resumed, however, resulting in Wednesday’s accord.
And...
The property was to be the site of a PGA Tour event this October. But those plans faltered when work on Running Horse was halted last year because of financial problems, as well as the inability to land a title sponsor for the event. Evans filed bankruptcy in April, with the project’s debt totaling an estimated $65 million. To compound matters, it was revealed last month that the club didn’t even own enough land to finish the Jack Nicklaus-designed course, of which only two holes and the driving range have been completed.
Does this mean The Donald will get to work with Jack Gary Jackie Steve the son-in-law?
Cohen indicated Wednesday that Trump wanted to make it difficult for the Tour to say no to his hosting an event.“Mr. Trump’s goal is to move this project as quickly as possible so as not to interfere with the Tour’s plan,” Cohen said.
“He’s a man with a vision right now. He’s already in his mind mapped the course for PGA Tour standards. He’s calculated property locations, the clubhouse, the cart paths, you name it. He’s already calculated what he anticipates the final project to look like, and what he’s doing now is executing on it.”
How can you argue with that kind of vision? A man calculating cart path locations. Such vision.
Yes, that's how desperate The Donald is to get in bed with the PGA Tour.
Scott Hamilton talks to Trump about his possible interest in taking over the failed Running Horse project and securing a "Fall Finish" event.
“I build real large buildings and we’ve had some great success in golf,” Trump said. “But I don’t want to be a Club Corp – I just want to have great courses. . . . I’m only looking to do the really prestigious courses. I think we could make (Running Horse) that, but it’s still got a long way to go."
SI's Michael Bamberger had the uneviable task of playing each of Donald Trump'sDavid Fay bloated golf courses and filed a lengthy essay on his good times. Well, at least the online version seems a lot longer than the print version, or maybe I just missed a page? Anyway, a few nuggets, including this on the USGA and Executive Director David Fay.
In the men's locker room, on darkly stained doors with gold hinges, there were lockers bearing the names of several USGA executives. Working at the USGA is about like working in a university, in terms of salary and benefits, and the initiation fee at Bedminster is $350,000, with annual dues of around $18,000. The club's not meant for those living in the genteel poverty of golf administration.
"Do you have corporate memberships here?" I asked Trump.
"No," he quickly answered.
"What about for the USGA guys?" I asked.
"For them I do." It meant this: The top USGA executives were welcome at the club as honorary members. Certain USGA executives have enjoyed such privileges at various nearby oldline clubs, clubs owned by their memberships. But Trump's a new kind of personality for the USGA, and his course is a new kind of course.
Which is exactly why they should decline!
Hmm...fast forward to this long overdue clarification.
On Jan. 21 USA Today published a front-page story that outlined Trump's golfing ambitions, most particularly his desire to have a U.S. Open at Bedminster, his New Jerseycourse. But there was one paragraph in the story that caused problems. In the story Trump describes David Fay, the executive director of the USGA, as a member of the club who plays the course frequently and has a locker near Trump's.
Fay read the story, seething. He told me later that he was only an honorary member and that he had played the course as an honorary member exactly once, and that if he had a locker there, he knew nothing about it.
Whoa there. So he did accept an honorary membership from a guy who you know badly wants a U.S. Open? And you thought the Donald wouldn't take advantage in his own special way? Okay!
The LA Times Bob Pool reports on a strange prank played on Trump National.An official-looking sign at Sunset's southbound freeway onramp pointed the way to the Trump National Golf Club with a giant arrow.
One passerby who was not amused was Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss, who represents several nearby Westside neighborhoods and for years has crusaded against illegal signs and billboard blight.
Weiss called Caltrans officials demanding to know whether they had authorized a sign advertising something 30 miles away — and in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes to boot.
Puzzled transportation planners quickly explained that the sign wasn't placed at the onramp by them and promised that Caltrans workers would be sent today to remove it from the ramp, used by 4,100 motorists daily.
"Advertising businesses is totally not our policy. That would not be our sign," said Caltrans spokeswoman Judy Gish. "I can't begin to imagine who put it up. It wasn't us."
Weiss said he hoped that that is the case.
"If it is a real Caltrans sign, you have to be outraged. Assuming that it's not, I have to say I'm impressed at how authentic-looking it is. But my feelings on this will sour if Caltrans doesn't take it down right away. Intended or not, this is tremendous free advertising for the one man in the United States who least needs it."
Managers at Trump's golf club in Rancho Palos Verdes did not respond to inquiries about the sign. A Trump spokeswoman in Pebble Beach said she knew nothing about it.
But others were wondering if the sign might be the handiwork of a shadowy group of prankster artists, architects and builders who call themselves Heavy Traffic. Six years ago the guerrilla artists created a flurry of excitement by posting fake but authentic-looking MTA signs around the Westside announcing the "future route of the Metro Aqua Line."
Chris Baldwin at Travelgolf writes about the phone call he received from The Donald about Ocean Trails Trump National L.A.'s inability to crack the Top 10 in southern California.
I'm still waiting for The Donald to call and question my take on the course.
Tod Leonard has fun with The Donald and the redesigned Ocean Trails opening this week...
When he purchased troubled Ocean Trails Golf Club – the infamous course with the 18th hole that had disastrously toppled onto the beach – out of bankruptcy for $27 million in 2002, The Donald had to give it the Trump Touch. So that means grandiose waterfalls and man-made lakes amid the coastal sagebrush and a new finishing hole that was rebuilt from the beach up.
Price tag: $61 million – for the 18th hole.
Total cost to basically redo a course that already was built: $264 million, making it the world's most expensive face-lift.
"When I took it over, I had to make a determination," Trump said last month in a conference call with reporters. "Did I want to just fix up what was there, or did we want to do something that was really special? We decided that the land was just too good to not to do anything but the best.
"We feel it's better than Pebble Beach. We have had some people out who are very familiar with Pebble Beach. Most people consider (Trump National) to be substantially superior."
Trump didn't drop any names, but those people he's talking about were probably kissing up for a spot on "The Apprentice."
In reality, Trump National doesn't come close to rivaling Pebble Beach in either its scenic grandeur or its quality of golf. Well-traveled Southern California golfers who picture a blend of Torrey Pines, Pelican Hill and Bajamar can get a fairly accurate mental image.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
