Want Cheap Golf?

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Chris Baldwin at Travelgolf with another excellent story on affordable golf and course developer Tim McNulty.

"I read a quote in one magazine where Arnold Palmer said we had to look at ways to make golf more affordable," McNulty said. "It was sort of funny to me, because have you seen what they charge at a lot of Arnold Palmer designs? I don't think there's a lot of people in the golf business who even know what affordable is to the average family in America."

It's sort of hard to get down with the people when you're flying in your personal Lear jet from ceremonial course opening to ceremonial course opening. When you're cutting the cornstalks yourself along the 606-yard, par-5 12th as McNulty is on Strawberry Ridge, it's a little different.

 

Still Giddy After All These Weeks

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Golfweek's Jim Achenbach is still elated about the USGA/R&A rules change on distance measuring devices.

The primary argument in favor of rangefinders and GPS systems is straightforward: They help speed play by allowing players to know yardages without hunting for distance plates or marked sprinkler heads.

Still waiting on someone to actually document this one.

Either way, the tours will likely never accept these because, well, they're vain and they don't want their players to look silly. For all of the talk of better athletes, there is something rather unseemly about these uh, jocks, pulling out a device and looking through it, then putting it back in their pur...err...I mean bag, before hitting a shot.  

 

Tour GCX

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Thanks to reader Tuco for this fascinating Michael Buteau story from Bloomberg on a new club membership concept called Tour GCX. A few highlights:

Tour GCX has prospered by introducing fractional -- or time- share -- memberships at top clubs. Some could use the cash. Private U.S. golf courses, with $14 billion in annual revenue, are mired in a bunker of declining members and flat earnings, according to club officials and resort companies such as Dallas- based ClubCorp Inc. Tour GCX pays clubs a fee to discreetly schedule golfers and their guests into vacant tee times, usually at off-peak hours.

 

"If some members knew about this, they wouldn't be happy,'' says Gary Rosenberg, Tour GCX's marketing chief.

And this:

"The wives control the men,'' says Gold, 53. "A guy can join Tour GCX and not get the aggravation from his wife saying `Honey, we could have gone to Europe with that money.' He doesn't really want to go to Europe.''

And:

When Tour GCX golfers arrive at a club, they'll often find a locker has been prepared with an engraved nameplate like the ones given members.


 

Mark Your Calendars!

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The inaugural Golf Digest Panelist Summit takes place November 18-20. Borrowing from Golfweek's playbook, the magazine is convening its panel for education seminars and guest speakers. Three days for just $1200! The program:

  • Friday November 18: Town Hall discussion on Golf Digest rankings with Jerry Tarde and Jack Nicklaus, Dinner with address by Mitchell Fox, CEO of The Golf Digest Companies.
  • Saturday November 19: The future of Golf Digest rankings panel, discussions with Pete Dye and Tom Fazio (and Rees Jones?!), Dinner address by Thomas Friedman titled, err, no, I won't go there.
  • Sunday November 20: Ron Whitten and Golf Digest ranking criteria, Ron Whitten on "Architorture" and Stan Zontek on "what good course conditioning really means" (oh Lordy...).

 

The Trump Torch

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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.

 

Rules of Golf Update

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usga logo.gifThe R&A and USGA have announced 111 changes to the Decisions on the Rules of Golf. Included is the expected announcement that rangefinders and GPS distance measuring devices can be used, provided there is a Local Rule.

A noteworthy change is the governing bodies’ sanction of the use of distance measuring devices, including GPS-based systems and laser rangefinders.  New Decision 14-3/0.5 allows a Committee to permit the use of distance-measuring devices by Local Rule. This applies to devices that measure distance only, not any other conditions that might affect a player’s play (e.g., wind or gradient). In the absence of such a Local Rule, the use of a distance-measuring device remains contrary to the Rules. 

 
 

PGA Tour Driving Distance Watch Vol. 3

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PGA Tour logo.jpgThere are 26 PGA Tour players topping the 300-yard average mark following the Texas Open, that's two more than last week.

On August 29, this site speculated that we might see 25 players finish the season averaging over 300 yards this year. Oops! Now 30 is well within reach! (And remember, the Tour average was down 7 yards through the Masters because of the weather...or guys working out less?).

So the number of players breaking the 300 barrier (that's on average!!) may double the 2004 total, when 14 players averaged over 300 yards. 9 players averaged over 300 yards in 2003.

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

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.

These Guys Aren't Out of Hoosiers Yet

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Some fun stuff from Thomas Boswell's Presidents Cup column:

In a year or two, perhaps we'll know whether this week at RTJ, with the touch of Jack and Barbara Nicklaus setting the tone, will actually transform the Americans into a true team. One player brought a sports page to read to the final interviews because he doubted he'd be asked questions and did a squeaky imitation of Nicklaus's voice. These guys aren't out of "Hoosiers" yet.

But this event might be a turning point. This time, it was the U.S. team at a victory podium doing its impromptu teasing skits as Nicklaus played father-figure moderator.

If one central U.S. player has to be melded with the rest of the team by a strong, even sarcastic captain's hand, it's Mickelson. And maybe only Nicklaus has the stature to do it.

Mickelson was asked about the indelible moment when, after making a five-foot birdie putt on the 18th to square his match with Angel Cabrera, he celebrated as though he thought he'd just won the Presidents Cup -- because he thought he had.

"I thought that that was it. I thought that we had won because I am an idiot and didn't read the rules of the game," Mickelson said. At that, the whole team melted in laughter.

"Better yet," Mickelson said, fingering himself further, "Captain Nicklaus told me on the 15th hole that there were no ties. Didn't quite get it. Still didn't get it."

 "I thought you understood," Nicklaus said.

"You would think I would," Mickelson said.

"I told you there were no ties and you had to play to a conclusion," Nicklaus said, mischievously.

"Yeah, I thought you meant, 'Don't go for the tie. Go for the win.' "

More gales of delighted team laughter.

"Okay," Mickelson said sheepishly, "I got it, I got it."


Flashback

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While doing research for a story, I stumbled across this article on Tiger from May, 2001. He was asked if course design was in his future.

Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player began their design businesses in their 30s and 40s.  The 25-year-old Woods said he has no clear timetable for beginning a design career. He also said that he wouldn't necessarily design long courses just because he is known for his length.

"You really don't have to have the hole 470 or 480 yards for it to be challenging," Woods said.

I point this out because 470-480 was sort of still a "long" hole four years ago for most players, except maybe Tiger.

Yet how many times during the Presidents Cup did you see players hitting wedges into 475 yard holes?  And NBC's announcers making sure to point it out?

While watching I was thinking that you would need another 75-100 yards to create a "long par-4" in the modern professional game, assuming you would like to see a mid-to-long iron approach.