Lorne On Canadian Open, Coore/Crenshaw

Lorne Rubenstein looks at the lousy date given to the Canadian Open. 

But why that summer date? Ross said yesterday that the PGA Tour had been aware from discussions during the past 10 years of the RCGA's preferred dates. That would be around Canada Day, which would put the tournament two weeks after the U.S. Open and three weeks before the British Open.

Given those dates, Canada's national championship would fall around a time when Canadians take the time to appreciate where they live and when many celebrations occur across the country.

These factors, of course, don't matter to the PGA Tour, which gave the date to the Buick Open in Flint, Mich. Well, that's just an hour by car from the Canadian border at Sarnia, Ont.

"The PGA Tour has a big contract with Buick," Ross said. Draw your own conclusions as to why the Canadian Open didn't get the far better week between the U.S. and British Opens.

He also wrote a wonderful column a few weeks ago on Coore and Crenshaw, and the possiblity that they may do a course in Canada.  Interesting quotes from Coore too.

Achenbach On The Ball

After writing about how the modern golf ball is all things wonderful--and no one can argue with its amazing design and construction--Jim Achenbach's gets to the heart of the matter:

Touring pros, aided primarily by technology and greater athletic ability, have become longer because they have learned how to outmaneuver golf ball testing standards. The U.S. Golf Association's Overall Distance Standard now reflects a maximum combined carry and roll distance (under normal test conditions) of 320 yards.

Some players have been known to carry the ball farther than that.

Now, you'd think this notion would outrage the USGA and R&A, right? 

So when is enough enough for the bombers of the PGA Tour? It may be sooner rather than later.

If the USGA rolls back the golf ball – in a drastic alteration to the rules – it should reimburse golf ball manufacturers for the expense of adapting to the new distance standard.

You laugh, but I can't think of a more appropriate headache for all sides in this caper!

The USGA handing out millions of dollars to ballmakers? Absolutely. It is the only fair thing to do.

With a shorter golf ball, golf courses will move the tees up. Golfers can play shorter courses. Older layouts can regain some of the muscle they lost in the era of golf ball expansion.

Well, no one is going to move tees up. But if they stop wanting to move them back, that would be a nice, nice start. 

Torrey Tales

More shenanigans at Torrey Pines. Something tells me would not be going on if they were not hosting the U.S. Open.

Tod Leonard writes about the tee time and fee increase issues.

Thanks to reader Scott for this story on the trademarking of the Torrey Pines name, and the various hands trying to get their piece of the pie.

Bubba Drives Interest In The Game

Tim Rosaforte writes:

If you stayed up late Sunday night to watch David Toms blow out the field at the Sony Open, you were looking for something to keep you from going asleep. Nothing against Toms, who won by five strokes; it just wasn�t much of a final round for drama.

Thankfully, there was Bubba Watson. The purists may think distance is ruining the game. In truth, distance drives the interest in the game.

Distance drives interest in the game? Hmm...so is that why ratings are in the toilet and play is way down? I knew it!

Watson is more than a circus act experiencing his 15 minutes. He is the reason why Tiger Woods went to graphite and why Mickelson was experimenting with a 47-inch shaft this off-season. Watson is the future. He is 6-foot-3, 180 pounds of elasticity, and he didn't appear the least bit nervous on the weekend, finishing with an eagle on Sunday for a check of $244,800 that represented job security.

Bubba is the reason Tiger went to graphite?

Huh, wonder why Tiger's never credited him? Shameful Tiger, shameful.

Boswell Blasts Tour

The Washington Post's Thomas Boswell won't be receiving a muffin basket from Tour lobbyist Powell-Tate anytime soon.  He writes:

When Deane Beman, former commissioner of golf, acquired the land for the Tournament Players Club at Avenel, he said, "This is the greatest parcel of land left on the East Coast to build a world-class golf course." A Washingtonian, Beman touted the chance to create a course that might someday rival its neighbor, Congressional. He played down the fancy political and real estate footwork that allowed the PGA Tour to buy the entire property for $1. Beman talked aesthetics while his Tour counted the cash.

Before any earth was moved, architectural consultant Ed Sneed drove around the property in a cart explaining how Avenel would be his homage to Augusta National and the design ideas of Bobby Jones. There'd be natural amphitheaters on every hole: a spectator's paradise. The sixth hole at Avenel would be a mirror image of the 13th hole at the Masters. What a sylvan idyll.

And don't forget, the Tour was going to take the 6th hole and make it a long par-4 (in the redo-that-probably-won't-happen-now).

Wonder if the Tour would do the same to No. 13 at Augusta? Changing it to a two-shotter would cut down on those dreadful birdies and eagles!

For the last 20 years, the Tour has proved it would always suck the last buck out of the enthusiastic Washington golf public rather than put one extra cent back into the Avenel complex. Every time fans endured quagmire parking lots, or were stuck in traffic for hours, the Tour promised remedies. But it never did anything -- except pray it would never rain again in Washington in June.

And he's just warming up.

The PGA Tour may be technically "nonprofit" in its financial structure, because it has a charity component, but its true purpose is to maximize the income of its members -- the pro tour players. When the Tour first came to Washington in 1980, the 125th man on the money list made $20,000. By last year, the 125th man made $627,000. Not bad for charity work.

As recently as last week, sponsors of the Booz Allen Classic still thought they were in good-faith negotiations with the Tour. If pro golf would invest $25 million in its substandard Avenel factory, then Booz Allen would make a six-year commitment (with a value of more than $40 million in purses and ad time) to remain the sponsor of the Washington event through 2013.

Then this:

This is what Washington gets for supporting the PGA Tour for the last 26 years -- with about 2 million tickets sold, often at rip-off prices in comparison to the weak quality of the fields. This is what Washingtonians get for giving far more than a million hours of volunteer work to the Tour. In a typical summer, 1,500 golf lovers give 50,000 free hours to make the Tour's event happen. This is what Washington gets for supporting the Presidents Cup in its infancy when nobody else wanted it very much. Now the event borders on being world-class. Don't bother to thank us local fans, volunteers or RTJ Golf Club.

And finally, here's the money graph:

"What happened last Friday is all about the money," said one of the key Washington golf figures who has supported the Avenel event throughout the years. "What astounds me is that the Tour doesn't understand how important Washington is to golf. A lot of decisions get made in this government that could impact a business that depends on a nonprofit structure."  

More TV Talk

Ed Sherman on the Tour TV deal winners and losers, leads off with his take on the Western Open (R.I.P.).

Steve Elling takes a closer look at Golf Channel and what it needs to do.

"We've got a lot of areas where we've got to get up to speed," said Frank Nobilo, a TGC analyst and former tour player. "We're in the major leagues. Now we've got to see whether the team is good enough. Hopefully we'll be the Florida Marlins."

No question, the sports analogy fits. Comcast, the cable giant that own TGC, just purchased a big-league franchise -- and now it's time to work on that opening-day roster, because Triple-A talent won't get the job done.

And this: 

Still, it's not unusual for TGC to be ranked around 60th in the prime-time window among cable-TV networks, out-drawn by the likes of Great American Country and Country Music Television. Yep, TGC's minuscule ratings are to ESPN's what a crouton is to Winona Judd, and that will soon be a concern.

Classic Club Previews

Thomas Bonk and Larry Bohannan look at the Classic Club. David Duval's effusive praise:

"It's seemingly a good golf course. You have to see it in different weather conditions and stuff. It's hard to even comment," said David Duval, the 1999 Classic winner.

"I think they are kind of changing the face of the event a little bit. Whether you agree or disagree is a debate," Duval said. "Like Indian Wells (Country Club). I didn't realize it was done until last year when they said, 'Oh, we're done with Indian Wells.' It's just kind of sad. You kind of really associated a couple of places with the Hope."

Bohannan also writes about how the Classic came to be in the golf course ownership business, highlighted by this Yogi-esque quote:

"This course has some longevity to it, and it is just starting its history," said John Foster, a member of the Hope tournament's executive board. "So as it goes through time and generation, I think you are going to find it one of the premier spots. Because it has amenities that older venues don't have, older great venues."

Squeezing The Little Guy?

Doug Ferguson wonders if the new Tour schedule is going to reduce playing opportunities for Q-school and Nationwide grads. Of course it will. And a few players are starting to speak up.

It looks like a best case scenario for 2007 grads would be 20 events prior to the post Fed-Ex Cup, "Chase for the Card" events.

Hot and Cold In Golf

SI's Gary Van Sickle looks at who's hot and who's not in pro golf, focusing on the TV deal winners and losers.

And (sorry reader John), it was nice to read I'm not the only who found Karl Ravetch tough to take. He's great on Baseball Tonight though. But golf? Bring back Cadillac Kelly!

Exec VP of International Affairs!?

Ty Votaw's new PGA Tour title:

Executive Vice President, International Affairs

The Executive part is fun because it vaults Votaw to the same all-important title plateau as Charlie Zink and Ed Moorhouse, who are each making over $1 million a year. (Zink made $17 more than Moorehouse last time the numbers were reported, so I wonder if Votaw will be $17 less than Moorhouse?)

Anyway, the Vice President part is fine too because, why not? Everyone else is a VP down there.

But International Affairs? For someone who had an affair with an international
player, creating problems at his last job? Surely a wordsmith like Tim Finchem could have done better.

Oh and in case you were wondering, Votaw will be the Commissioner's lapdog will report to the Office of the Commissioner.

Annika: Euphoria...

...

Annika Sörenstam flew into South Africa on Monday to announce that she was set to stop a trend and make some golfing history in the process. She is to become the first lady of golf course design in Africa.

Until now the job of designing South African golf course has been the strict domain of males, some of the best known of these being Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Darren Clarke.

But that's about to change.

Retief Goosen and Darren Clarke have designed courses in South Africa?

You learn something new and meaningless everyday.

Now, for the first time, Sörenstam is to create the first lady's signature course in the country - to be called the Euphoria Golf Estate and Hydro and to be developed on a site north of Pretoria en-route to Polokwane, the hometown of SA number one, Retief Goosen.

Euphoria Golf Estate and Hydro? It's official, they have run out golf course names.

"South Africa is a country I have always wanted to visit and I'm absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to take part in this project," the 35-year old World No 1 told reporters. "Courses are typically designed from the back tees for men whereas the brief at Euphoria was to design a course that will challenge men, women and children equally."

The brief at Euphoria? Note to to Annika's quote-maker-up-er...you can't have her talking like a South African in the same release she's mentioning how she's always wanted to visit there.

Oh, and we non-lawyers in the States call them talking points, not briefs.  

Roman Soldiers: Golf Inventors?

Thanks to reader Chris for the heads up on the response in the British Isles to recent claims that China was the home of golf, not Scotland.

Now it seems Roman soldiers invented a form of golf that the Scots formalized, sending HBO and the BBC back to the storyboards for a revamp to season two of Rome.

Jim McBeth writes:

THEY came, they saw, they played a neat chip shot onto the edge of the green. More than a millennium before golf is said to have been invented in Scotland, Roman soldiers were playing the game, according to experts.

Trumping recent claims that the game was being played in China in AD943, academics have chipped in with a theory that the game was actually imported to Scotland by the foot soldiers of Emperor Severus.

The Roman version of golf was called paganica, and was first recorded in 30BC as a generic ball game. However, by the time of the Roman invasion of Scotland, it was played with a curved stick used to strike a feather-filled leather ball. The ball was hit towards a predetermined target such as a tree, the aim being to strike the “mark” in the fewest strokes.

Michael Whitby, a historian at Warwick University, said: “Legionaries were in Scotland from the AD140s. The Emperor Severus was on the Fife Peninsula and, significantly, there was an important marching camp near St Andrews.

“A legacy of games, such as paganica, would have been left. The roots of golf would have passed through the 8th century to the medieval university folk and aristocrats.”

Malcolm Campbell, a leading golf writer, agreed: “Paganica is the earliest form of a game we could recognise as golf. After the Romans left, it evolved and in the 15th century the Scots uniquely formalised it. The game was truly ‘invented’ in Scotland, with a little help from the Romans.”

If It Were Only On TV...

The Ladies Golf Union released the results of a research project on golf in Great Britain and Ireland.

Questioned on barriers to more women playing golf the top responses from both lady golfers and golf club secretaries were: lack of time 53.9%, lack of TV coverage for ladies’ golf 42.2%, clubs too male dominated 41.6% and too expensive 40.5%. Clubs seen as unfriendly polled 28.9%, lack of family atmosphere 24.9% and dress code 16.1%.

Lack of TV coverage for ladies' golf, 42.2%?  

Product Enhancement

My latest Golfobserver.com column is posted. I know you've been planning your post Martin Luther King day celebrations around it.

Bubba Numbers

This unbylined Shark.com story looks at Bubba Watson and his prodigious driving distances.

While David Toms won the Sony Open by five shots for his 12th career PGA Tour win, it was Bubba who stole the show. It wasn't just his career-best fourth-place finish, thanks to a final-round 65, as much as Bubba's rare ability to hit tee shots into the next time zone. He averaged an eye-popping 347.5 yards at Sony.

How much of a sideshow was it? At the par-5 18th hole on Saturday, Bubba out drove playing partner Fred Funk by, oh, about 140 yards. Imagine what that was like to witness. "He's already pretty small," Bubba said of Funk.

Four of Bubba's drives in the final round were measured at more than 360 yards, including a 398-yarder at the 12th hole. Even more amazingly, he managed to hit 11-of-14 fairways during a week when the field averaged hitting just 45 percent of the fairways.