Doak's My Shot

From Tom Doak's "My Shot" interview in the October Golf Digest:

People say that Dr. Mackenzie would roll over in his grave if he saw Augusta National today, but I'm not so sure. Given the advances in equipment, he certainly would have designed something different from the Augusta of the early 1930s. He had tremendous imagination, great mental flexibility. He very well might design something very close to what Augusta National is now. Who can say?

Come on Tom! The seventh stretched to 460 yards, with trees planted down the sides like rows of soldiers? Surely you don't think the Dr. would compromise his masterpiece and his elaborately stated philosophy in The Spirit of St. Andrews, all because a few USGAers and R&Aers have no golfing soul?

Olazabal Interview

Thanks to reader Phillip for the heads up on this Donald McRae interview with Jose Maria Olazabal, who talks about the state of the game, his health problems (and comeback) and about Seve.

I shared rooms with older Spanish players like [José María] Cañizares, [José] Rivero and [Manuel] Piñero. They were like gods to me and I tried to soak up all their knowledge. None of this would happen today. There were no sponsors for young players then, no courtesy cars or practice balls. That's why we shared rooms and cars and developed this great camaraderie. Our minds were a lot more open than the average professional today. We were a lot poorer but our lives were much richer.

But these are also sentimental memories. You know how it is - the first cars or planes look fantastic but they are no longer practical. The world moves on and some of these 22-year-olds don't even know we played with wooden drivers. I'm not saying golf was a better game 20 years ago, just very different. But I would love to see two or three events a year, when the season's over, played with the old equipment and the original golf ball. You wonder how some of these young guys would cope.

We didn't have that cockiness you see in Sergio García. There is a generation between us. I was more interested in golfing tradition while he does things his way. But maybe he's maturing and becoming closer to people. That will help him - not just as a golfer but as a person.

With that lovely short game and his great length off the tee, [García] has the best chance of all the Europeans to win a major. But there are not too many more lonely places than walking those last nine holes on a Sunday afternoon when you're trying to win the Masters. You are surrounded by people but, deep inside, you are in a very isolated place. I still think some of the young guys, like Sergio, need to understand that.

Tour Driving Distance Watch Vol. 2

Thanks to reader Steve for reminding me to check the updated PGA Tour driving distance stats. On August 29, this site speculated that we might see 25 players finish the season averaging over 300 yards this year despite the first half of the season having been played under water.

Well, that was August 29 and there were 17 over the 300 mark. On September 5 it climbed to 20 over 300 yards.

After the 84 Lumber Classic, the drive to 300 continued with 24 players reaching the 300 plateau. Will Mackenzie and Jason Allred are closing in on 300, and if Dennis Paulson, Tag Ridings, J.J. Henry and Geoff Ogilvy would just hit the gym a little harder ;), we could see 30 players over 300 for 2005.

I point this out to remind you that we've heard how laws of physics and the "S Curves of invention application" would take hold and that we would no longer see significant jumps in driving distance.

Ah but you say, what's a few more yards? 3, 4, yards, that's not significant! Perhaps at this poing with things so far gone. But just remember, in 2004, 14 players averaged over 300 yards. 9 players averaged over 300 yards in 2003. Optimization works!

John Daly was the only player averaging over 300 yards for the 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons.

Oh and one more bit of perspective: Dan Pohl led the Tour in 1980 at 274.3 yards. In 1995, Pohl's total would have landed him 16th in overall distance average. In 2000 Pohl's 274.3 would have been 84th on the list. And his 274.3 would put him 195th on this year's list, ahead of only nine others.

Wie'$ Take

Golf World's John Hawkins is the first to report just how much Michelle Wie is going to make when she turns pro.

According to sources involved in the negotiations who requested anonymity, Wie will sign endorsement deals with three companies (one believed to be Nike) worth an estimated $8 million. Adding in tournament appearance fees and other endorsements, the Hawaiian teen's compensation for her first year as a pro is expected to reach $10 million -- not counting what she wins on the course. She also will enlist the services of the William Morris Agency to secure further commercial endorsements and guide her pro career, shunning traditional golf-management companies and suggesting her long-term aspirations may involve transcending the game as much as dominating it.  

This passage is interesting:

Wie's alignment with William Morris formalizes a relationship that began seven or eight years ago, according to an insider, although the agency has no prior experience in representing pro golfers and has struggled in previous partnerships with athletes. 

Seven or eight years ago?  Boy, IMG is really losing its touch! 

Presidential Critics

Not every golf writer has whipped out their pom-poms for the Presidents Cup. Steve Campbell says the Presidents Cup is "a meaningless exhibition disguised as a legitimate sporting event." He recounts the 2003 Cup debacle.

Gary Van Sickle feels the same way and skewers Mike Lupica's recent Travel and Leisure column, which on a second read, is even more ridiculous.

Wie Turning Pro Soon?

The Golf Channel's Brian Hewitt has an update on the status of Michelle Wie's career.

Whitten on RTJ Sr.

Ron Whitten pens an exclusive for GolfDigest.com. He remembers Robert Trent Jones Sr. fondly and shares several career anecdotes. This one caught my eye because it was a reminder how quickly Trent's portfolio is starting to wear thing with the Digest panel.

In the 35-year history of Golf Digest's rankings of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses, 44 different Trent Jones layouts have been listed, the most of any architect. The 1999 list contains 14 of his most recognizable names, like Spyglass Hill, Congressional, Mauna Kea, Bellerive and Point O'Woods. 

He has zero in the current top 50 and only five overall.

If there had been no Trent Jones, there would have been no Pete Dye. Without Dye, there would be no Nicklaus, at least not in the field of golf design.

And without Nicklaus, there would be no Fazio, at least not Fazio-sized budgets. In a sense, Robert Trent Jones started it all, the modern business of golf architect-as-celebrity producing real life calendar art. Everyone in the business, and everyone who enjoys modern architecture, ought to remember that every time the sun rises.

 Yes I will! I'll remember how he really made a mess of things.

Golf at Goodwood

Thanks to reader Phillip for this intriguing story from the Independent:

Lord March, the son of the Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Gordon and owner of Goodwood House - the Sussex pile famous for the Glorious Goodwood horseracing festival - would appear to be an unlikely disciple of Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the Greek founder of easyJet, the budget airline.

What is all of that Lord and Duke nonsense about anyway? Sorry, continue...

In January, March will unveil Golf at Goodwood, a concept that he hopes will prompt revolution in the hierarchical world of golf clubs, with their dress codes, prohibitive prices, long waiting lists for membership and snobbery.

Golf at Goodwood will be based on the easyJet principle that the cost of the service will be directly linked to demand - the lower the demand, the cheaper it will be. Golfers will buy "credits" and the number of these expended per round will depend on how busy the course is. There will be no dress code, no waiting list for new members and no parking space reserved for the secretary.

But the purists do not need to worry that they will be playing on a second-class course. Nestling on the South Downs with a view of the Isle of Wight, it was designed by James Braid, who created the famous King's and Queen's courses at Glen-eagles. Laid out in 1901, it has been under-used in recent years, but is seen by some aficionados as one of the finest downland courses in Britain.

So what is March up to? Why is this landed peer opening up his course to the hoi polloi?

He says he is trying to knock the elitism out of golf, or - as he puts it in a chillingly Blairite phrase - trying to create an "inclusive experience in an exclusive environment".

"Golf has very much been the domain of the stuffy members' club. I think there's a much younger audience who don't want that any more and aren't prepared to be told that they've got to wear certain things," he says.

"Take Formula 1, where everything is cornered off and hierarchical. It is impossible to get where you want to get unless you've got the right passes. You immediately feel that you are not good enough. We are keen to have none of that," he says.

 The story goes on to cite various numbers and more on the "concept."

Clayton On Presidents Cup

Golfobserver's Mike Clayton looks at the Presidents Cup and questions Gary Player's selection of Trevor Immelman. He, like many others, wonders why Geoff Ogilvy and his stellar season in the majors was not rewarded with a selection. Well, he doesn't wonder, he just comes out and says what many have felt:

Immelman was fifth at Augusta but Ogilvy has played all over him this year and if he had been a South African one has to suspect he would have got the last place.  

Huggan on Schofield, Hewitt

John Huggan looks at Ken Schofield's post European Tour work and includes this anecdote:

...there is little doubt that Schofield is enjoying his new roles in life. Already, there is a more relaxed aura about him, a less guarded and less intense outlook. Even his legendary propensity for talking in politician-like circles when answering the awkward questions is less pronounced.

The edge is still there, though. Sitting with his notoriously jingoistic and often xenophobic Golf Channel colleague, Brian Hewitt, during an on-air conversation at last month's USPGA Championship, Schofield was quick to stick up for those he represented so zealously for so long. More than once the horrible Hewitt found himself politely chastised.

I think it's safe to say that if there's ever a Golf Writer's Association of America four-ball, there will not be a Huggan-Hewitt team! 

Gore Wins

Jason Gore's post round press conference says it all. Some interesting stats on Gore's win at the 84 Lumber Classic:

Gore never finished higher than 18th during two previous stays on the PGA Tour, in 2001 and 2003, and had won only $40,399 on that tour this year. Now, he joins Paul Stankowski (1996) as the only winners on the developmental Nationwide and PGA tours in the same year. The portly, big-swinging Gore is the first to do so after earning the automatic in-season promotion that goes to any three-time Nationwide winner.

And here's proof that those Pepperdine preacher, err, professors didn't ruin his sense of humor:

"It's pretty incredible," said Gore, who played with a sponsor's exemption. "Around May-ish I was wondering if I could get formula for my child, if I was going to make a house payment, and now look. They just handed me a check for $792,000. It's amazing where a little perseverance and grit and maybe a little ignorance can take you."

Gore's funny, he smiles, he has perspective and he's self deprecating. (Trust me, it's those wretched religion classes they make you take in Malibu.)  He is exactly what the PGA Tour needs, and oddly, what the Tour discourages in some mysterious, perhaps unintentional way.

AP Els Story

There's an AP story appearing all over the place announcing that Ernie Els "will skip the first two PGA Tour events in the United States next year to rest his knee and stay fresher for the majors."

He had to have won a tournament to be eligible for the first of the two that he's chosen to skip. I know, quibbling again. Anyway...

"The South African will not play in the United States until the Nissan Open in California in mid-February, and he will only be there for 10 weeks until after the Masters in April."

Hey, at least someone knows the 2006 PGA Tour schedule! So we can pencil the Nissan in for mid-February?

Anyway, the main point here is that this is all from John Huggan's reporting in The Guardian (Sept. 17), which was posted here a few days ago. The AP story does not mention Huggan or The Guardian.

Now I know he wasn't reporting the content of the Pentagon Papers or the names Hugh Sloan mentioned to the grand jury investigating Watergate, but Huggan did have an exclusive that should have been acknowledged by AP. Maybe this looser standard is part of AP's attempts to pander to a new audience, though I thought such shenanigans would be left to its forthcoming asap service (which you can bet the 18-34 year old obsessed PGA Tour will be pandering to in no time).

World Match Play Final Set

John Huggan provides an entertaining recap of Saturday's World Match Play and previews the finale between Michael Campbell and Paul McGinley.

Presidents Cup Excitement

At least a few writers seem excited about the Presidents Cup. If you are trying to get up for it, click here and here for some inspiration.

Hard to get up for an event that has yet another different format, along with a course re-route in the interest of better corporate hospitality viewing. And as Brett Avery reported in Golf World this week (yes, my postman got through the issue fast), Robert Trent Jones's self-declared masterpiece has seen numerous revisions by PGA Tour Design Services.

Huggan Catches Up With Els

John Huggan talks to Ernie Els about his knee surgery and his plans to not travel so much next year when he returns to the PGA Tour.