It’s back!
Twenty years later Tatra Press has kindly allowed me to bring back Grounds For Golf now that golf architecture is of more interest to the masses. A new Introduction looks at what’s driven the interest growth and two new chapters I had a blast adding (plus a few edits to keep things up-to-date).
The Amazon purchase page for the book arriving June 15, 2026.
I've added John Strege's When War Played Through to the Recommended Reading link on the left. A full review will appear on Golfobserver.com, but of what I've read, Strege has put together a fascinating look at the role of golf during wartime while shining a light on some fascinating American heroes.
The 2005 PGA Tour driving distance average climbed to 288.9 yards, up from 287.3 in 2004. On the surface, not a huge one year leap. However, 18 weather-delayed events surely played a significant err, roll. Remember, the 2005 average was around 280 yards through the Masters. That's when we saw the "ranting distance killjoys" piece that declared everyone had their facts wrong, etc.
However, if one is to believe the USGA, R&A and PGA Tour, 2004 is not the significant comparison year. 2002 is. David Fay called it the "benchmark" during the NBC segment on USGA testing that aired during the U.S. Open.
In May 2002, the USGA and R&A issued the Joint Statement of Principles. Here's the key statement:
The R&A and the USGA believe, however, that any further significant increases in hitting distances at the highest level are undesirable. Whether these increases in distance emanate from advancing equipment technology, greater athleticism of players, improved player coaching, golf course conditioning or a combination of these or other factors, they will have the impact of seriously reducing the challenge of the game. The consequential lengthening or toughening of courses would be costly or impossible and would have a negative effect on increasingly important environmental and ecological issues. Pace of play would be slowed and playing costs would increase.
Faced with the following numbers comparing 2002 to 2005, will the R&A and USGA act in accordance with their Statement of Principles? Change has occurred at the "highest level." Notice that the troubling 1999 to 2002 increase is consistent with the 2002 to 2005 jump:
Top 50 in Driving Distance Average PGA Tour
Nationwide Tour Driving Distance Average
Top 50 in Nationwide Driving Distance Average
Champions Tour Driving Distance Averages
European Tour Driving Distance Averages
The governing bodies can at least point to a not-so-significant jump on the European Tour. However, the increases in distance average between 1999 and 2002 were considered significant enough that the Joint Statement of Principles had to be issued.The distance jumps from 2002 to 2005 are equal to the 99-02 increases.
Will they be deemed significant?
There seems to be a consistent thread emerging from stories looking at the "FedEx Cup" and Tim Finchem's Tour Championship press conference. Dave Perkins in the Toronto Star:
The feeling here is that Finchem is making it up as he goes along, so sketchy are the precise elements to date.
And Tod Leonard in the San Diego Union-Tribune:
As with any new endeavor, there are a lot of questions with very few answers before it gets rolling.
Chris DiMarco, one of the tour's straightest shooters, on and off the course, said last week: "I don't know whether it's my Florida education or not, I still don't quite understand everything that's going on."
Don't worry Chris. Harvard can't have pegged this one yet.
The Drive to double last year's number of players over 300 yards in average driving distance came up just short.
Despite plenty of rain, the 2005 season finished with 26 players averaging over 300 yards. That's up one from last week, thanks to Brendan Pappas joining the list at #6 after registering enough drives.
Speaking of eligibility, Jason Gore and Ernie Els each averaged over 300 yards, but failed to hit enough drives to make the list.
Just one more friendly reminder (well, probably not):
And one other reminder, keeping in mind the USGA/R&A "line in the sand" year of 2002:
PGA TOUR:
Nationwide Tour:
The AP's Paul Newberry quotes Tim Finchem hinting that the Tour might get into the television business. A leveraging ploy or is he serious?
Well, just imagine the thought of a channel filled with 24 hours of programming like PGA Tour Sunday. I'd rather not.
The final 2005 PGA Tour money list.
It took $626,736 to make the top 125.
Interesting to note that among the top 125 were three 2004 Nationwide Tour graduates, but ten 2004 Q-School grads. Two Q-school grads finished in the top 30.
I know it's the hometown paper and the publisher is an Augusta National member, but is this really necessary:
Given one word to describe the most recent changes to the host course of the Masters - stunning.
Stunning in magnitude of its scope. Stunning in magnificence of the execution. Stunning in impact for players and patrons alike.
That's Scott Michaux in the Augusta Chronicle, writing about the latest "distance augmentation" at Augusta National. He rolls out the dreaded "Bobby Jones would approve" lines even as he points out this interesting stat: from 1934 to 1998 the course had been lengthened 230 yards, 520 yards in the last 7 years. (There wasn't roll until '99!)
All of the alterations emphasizing accuracy and retroactive shot values - whether greeted warmly by Masters participants or not - fit into the original philosophy of course founder Bobby Jones.
If there is one change that has players scratching their heads more than any other, it's the par-3 4th. Stretched to 240 yards to its rear limit, what was already one of the toughest par 3s in golf could be brutal. But it jibes with Jones' original intent, as he stated in a 1959 Sports Illustrated story, for the hole to be played "with a strong iron or even a four- or three-wood."
I guess they didn't take into account that iron lofts have changed (vanished) since then, or that when Jones wrote about what clubs were used, he almost assuredly was not hoping to dictate what players should use even after a major technology fueled distance explosion.
No. 11 - the toughest scoring hole two of the past three years - underwent its third significant alteration since 2002 in its quest to restore the relevance of the greenside pond. In addition to stretching the length to 505 yards, more trees were added to the young grove that hugs the right side to force the golfers to play left and deal with the pond using longer clubs on their approach. Attacking a rear left pin will not be for the faint of heart.
Was force in the Jones golfing dictionary? Everything he preached had to do with the spirit of St. Andrews. Democratic golf. Options. Choose your own path. No coercion from outside sources.
That translated to width and architecture that did not force players to a certain spot, as they are doing at No. 11 (and everywhere it seems...oh to be a pine nursery owner in eastern Georgia!).
Now No. 7 grabs your attention and demands even finer accuracy with a few more pines added to both sides. The green - which should be attacked with fewer sand wedges and more 7- and 8-irons - was tweaked as well, to allow new hole locations on both the back right and left to bring the two rear bunkers more in play.
It is curious that in the case of No. 7, the club is ignoring Jones' writings where he says "length is not a premium here." And they've added more trees there too? Oh Lord.
While the 17th tee was pushed back 15 yards. within close proximity to the back right bunker of the 16th green, the impact on the hole is mostly aesthetic. Clearing some towering pines and trimming another on the left side has accentuated the beauty and impact of the 65-foot tall Eisenhower tree, which stands out more prominently 210 yards from the tee. While the famous loblolly pine can still be carried, additional pines on the left and a narrower fairway await in the landing area.
17 narrower? Is that possible?
How the supersized 7,445-yard course will treat participants in the season's first major remains to be seen. Dire predictions in recent years have proven unfounded, and the massive driving stats at this week's Tour Championship for Tiger Woods make you wonder if Augusta National hasn't gone far enough.
Final judgment will require depth of experience. But on the surface, the initial reviews are nothing but spectacular.
Okay take a deep breath Scott, your credential is safe. No worries mate.
The new tee on 15 is a long overdue improvement, unfortunately it did not come with the removal of trees down the right side.
Tim Cronin lays out a devastating case against moving the Western Open to September. Makes you wonder if anyone at Tour headquarters gave this much thought.
Mark Bradley in the Atlanta JC points out a key distinction between NASCAR and the Tour, and why this proves that the "FedEx Cup" probably won't work too well.
The big golfers --- Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh --- pick and choose. A NASCAR driver runs every weekend. Jeff Gordon can't skip a race just because he feels a little peaked. He can't because the folks at DuPont, the company bankrolling his car, want their logo displayed before 100,000 spectators plus another hefty TV audience every time the green flag waves. Estimates put the cost for a primary sponsorship in a Nextel Cup team at upwards of $15 million. When you spend that kind of money, you expect the maximum return on your outlay.
The FedEx Cup is designed to make the Big Names play more, but will a series of end-of-season tournaments capped by a fabricated "championship" alter the schedules of guys who adjust their calendars to prepare for the four majors above all else? Consider: Ted Purdy has played in 34 Tour events this season; Woods and Mickelson have played in 21 apiece.
As has been noted, NASCAR is different from other sports. It has its Big Event --- the Daytona 500 --- at the start, and then everything else is geared toward the Chase. The Chase works because Gordon and Earnhardt wanted badly to be part of it but missed the cut, not because their attentions were elsewhere.
"Do I fully understand [the FedEx Cup]? No," Ben Crane said. "But the commissioner [Tim Finchem] has a history of doing great things for the Tour."
Still, Tim Finchem doesn't control golf. Tiger Woods does. And Woods, when asked Friday if he'd consider playing five or 10 more events a year to accommodate the FedEx Cup, looked at the questioner as if he were nuts. "I don't know if my body could hold up," Woods said. "I've never played in more than 21 events."
And there's your answer right there. Gentlemen of golf, find yourselves a different gimmick.
During Tim Finchem's ABC visit, a graphic was posted explaining the parameters of the proposed 2007 schedule. Regarding the post-Tour Championship Fall Series, it said that such a swing would determine the "remainder of the 125 players who will be eligible for next year's FedEx Cup."
So if there was at FedEx Cup in 2004, would only the top 125 from the previous year have been eligible for the 2005 season? Where would that have left a 2004 Q-School grad like Sean O'Hair, or a Nationwide "Battlefield Promotion" like Jason Gore?
Eligible or not?
PS - I just looked at the 2004 money list and these players finished outside the top 125, yet each played in this year's Tour Championship: Olin Browne, Lucas Glover, and Billy Mayfair.
Commissioner Tim Finchem stopped by the ABC booth for his annual Tour Championship visit. He noted that the reaction from players to the proposed FedEx Cup has been "very positive" and the dreaded "impactful" was dropped again. Most importantly, the new, more impactful finish will allow the events "to raise more money for charity."
Mike Tirico asked why now, and Finchem launched into the usual lines about how the Tour has been growing and will "continue to grow," then offered this: "The competition in today's environment is strengthening. When you see what other sports are spending to create the theaters for their sport and the fan experience for their sport..." etc, etc...
So the message remains the same: continue to focus on the imagery and mythology, ignore issues with the way the sport is played and how it might be made more entertaining. It's worked so well for tennis and the NBA, why not golf?
John Huggan presents his awards for the best and worst of the year, along with grades for European Tour players. A must read. My favorites:
BIGGEST PIECE OF SELF DELUSION
Perennial contender Colin Montgomerie is up there again with his misguided, "I'm as good as I've ever been" mantra. The same is true of Peter Dawson, secretary of the R&A, whenever he opens his mouth to talk about how the modern golf ball doesn't go too far when struck by the modern professional. But this year's Huggy goes to Seve Ballesteros, who thinks he can still win on the European Tour. Stunning.
DISGRACE OF THE YEAR
The sight of long grass growing all over the Old Course last July was enough to make any self-respecting golfer puke. Because of their ineptness in the high-powered face of modern clubs and balls over the last decade and a bit, the R&A were forced to destroy the basic point of the game's most famous and revered venue in order to keep the scores within reason.
Most vomit inducing was the sneaky rough grown up the right side of the Road Hole. Without it - as the R&A knew full well - the world's best players would likely have been flipping half-wedge shots into the most feared green in golf. All of which would have represented nothing less than final confirmation that the game's administrators have lost the technological plot. Shame on them.
MOST BLATANT BIAS
In a repeat of the discriminatory selection policy he adopted for the 2003 President's Cup (when he shamelessly picked his compatriot Tim Clark), international team captain Gary Player gets a Huggy for nominating yet another undeserving South African, Trevor Immelman, for the '05 joust with the Americans. Immelman is a fine young player, but selecting him ahead of Australia's Geoff Ogilvy, a man who has beaten Immelman like a redheaded stepchild all year, was unjustifiable. One would like to think Player's actions had nothing to do with the fact that, as well as a spot on the team, Immelman received a two-year exemption onto the dollar-laden PGA Tour. One would like to think that, but one is not so sure.
Art Spander's Sunday Herald column has him weighing in on the Tour's television dilemma and the odd nature of sports on TV in the U.S.
Tiger on the new Nike driver he's not using in competition yet. Underlining added:
Q. Will you try the Sasquatch again?
TIGER WOODS: I'll continue experimenting with it because I certainly hit it the physics behind it, you're going to hit it a little straighter. I'm just having a hard time finding the right launch conditions. I hit it much further than I do now, which is kind of freaky, but the thing is it's getting the right flight consistently each and every time, and that's what I want to have. It's higher and it goes forever. I just need to get that ball down a little bit.
Q. When you're on the swing speed launch monitor machine stuff, what's your off the rack swing speed at impact with the driver right now?
TIGER WOODS: Swing speed or ball speed?
Q. Swing speed.
TIGER WOODS: Probably about 27, 28 26 to 28, somewhere in there.
Q. If you jump on it?
TIGER WOODS: 35.
Sean O'Hair was first out as a single (thank you Phil) Saturday and toured East Lake in 2 hours, 24 minutes.
Email from reader Keith:
I just finished reading The Future of Golf, and I'm thrilled that someone other than me is talking about something so obvious as that golf is NOT in good shape. The parallels to the Rise and Fall of the Tennis Empire are very real, but everytime I bring it up to someone in the golf industry they dispute it. We shall see! I also just visited your website for the first time and was glad to see you question the mighty Tim and his incredible use of the English language. It's amazing how long it takes him to say nothing of interest or value. The one factor Tim and the geniuses who run the PGA Tour seem to have forgotten is that NOBODY CARES ABOUT WHO WINS THE FEDEX CUP or any other tournament for that matter. I have yet to meet one person who gives a &%$# about who wins the Charles Schwab Cup, and at least 9 out of 10 people have no idea what I'm talking about when I ask them. Golf ratings are down because none of us can relate to anything we see on the TV. It is BORING to see nothing but drivers and wedges, and to hear about who hits the ball a mile when I (and most players) are happy to hit one 225 yards! Golf is in for a BIG fall as it moves in the current direction, and I think the new proposal is the roadmap to disaster. America cares about the NFL and NBA and MLB ONLY because of heated rivalries. When Tampa Bay plays the Saints - NOBODY outside of those areas cares. When Houston plays the WhiteSox - NOBODY cares - or tunes in. NASCAR is popular only because of rivalries and the fact that all of the top drivers and teams show up for virtually every race. Golf has part of the necessary equation right - cut back the schedule WAY back and tell every player on the tour they must show up for at least 75% of all events - or go and get another job next year.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
