Golf.Curling?

Thanks to reader Steve for this see-if-you-can-not-roll-your-eyes press release.

DENVER -- When the USGA changed Rule 16-1a(i), it meant a sweeping change for PUTT PAL USA - literally.

PUTT PAL™ and POCKET PAL™ are the only greens brushes permitted by the USGA and the R & A. The PUTT PAL is available in two models. The first can be clipped onto the bag for easy access and is a retractable brush in a tube.

The second is the POCKET PAL. It is a slim, retractable brush, shaped like a deck of cards that can be easily carried in the pants pocket. The PUTT PAL and the POCKET PAL weigh only 2 ounces each.

The third in the threesome is the PUTT PAL Shaft version. This is a PUTT PAL brush attached to the end of a True Temper shaft with a Golf Pride grip on the other end. It eliminates having to bend down to sweep loose impediments from the green surface and will be available in the Spring.

True Temper shaft? How 20th century. Where's the Fujikura? 

"With the new rule change, we have three products that make perfect sense for the golfer," said PUTT PAL USA CEO and founder Steve Wicklas. "It not only sweeps away loose impediments, it does it quickly. Before the rule change, golfers had to remove loose impediments by hand which was a time taking chore. Now, the golfer can sweep them away in short order without affecting the pace of play."

Thrown in a distance measuring device, and I tell you, they're going to have this slow play thing licked.

PGA Tour Driving Distance Watch, Vol. 3

The PGA Tour average drive dropped nearly a yard to 288.4 after the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, played at the gorgeous Classic Club (and elsewhere).

Tiger and John Daly haven't even teed it up, and yet there were 63 more 350 yard (or greater), bringing the tally to 456 through three events.

There were 2059 drives over 350 in all of 2005.

There was some good news for those hoping the distance issue goes away: no 400 yarders last week. 

And if you are wondering why these growing numbers are followed, a full explanation is available here.

"Golf tourney gets help from Tiger's agent"

Thanks to reader Jay for the heads up on this Justin Catanoso story from The Business Journal, dated January 13th (hey, no one ever said blogging had to be timely):

For a while last year, the future of the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro was bleak, at best. Golf's biggest stars avoid it. TV ratings aren't great. And even with vast improvements, the course and setting, fairly or not, are often criticized as less-than-optimal.

But PGA officials have been giving Greensboro a serious second look. They've been impressed with a newly constituted board of directors made up of the city's most affluent and influential corporate leaders, from VF Corp., United Guaranty and Jefferson-Pilot, among others.

And those leaders have pulled a coup of sorts, leveraging the clout of one of the most influential people in professional golf to lobby on their behalf -- Mark Steinberg, a top executive with sports-consultant giant IMG. He is best known as Tiger Woods' agent.

Since last summer, beginning at the British Open, Steinberg has been talking up Greensboro and the seriousness of its new board to top PGA Tour officials. Not surprisingly, they've listened.

"We hired Mark Steinberg," says one board member of the four-month-old Greensboro Jaycees Charitable Foundation, which now controls the Chrysler Classic, "because he has a special relationship with the PGA. He has access; he gets in front of the right folks."

You may recall that after the FedEx Cup was announced, John Hawkins revealed (and it was posted here) that Steinberg was also a consultant of sorts to Tim Finchem.

 "There are going to be two sides to this," said IMG's Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent and a key player in the shaping of the tour's revisions.

Leigh Steinberg, eat your heart out! 

The Bashers vs. The Artists

SI's Chris Lewis takes on the Bubba Watson and his eye-opening drives, but instead of focusing on Bubba and what car he drives or what he thinks of yoga, Lewis actually explores the concept of how the game is played (really!). Even more scary? He considers the ramifications.

Lewis says the main 2006 PGA Tour plotline will be "the Bashers vs. the Artists."

Subtitle: In which the ever-growing ranks of PGA Tour dogleg-cutting, tree-flying, dimpled-ball bombardiers finally and forever vanquish the ever-shrinking number of short-hitting, fairway-dwelling, shot-shaping sissies.

Besides Bubba, he looks at other bashers and artists. And he explores why John Holmes changes his Tour name to J.B. 

Reporter: Why go from John B. [Holmes] at Q-school to J.B. [Holmes] here?

Holmes: You know the answer to that.

"Big-Hitting Rookies Are Blowing Game Apart"

David Davies in the Telegraph writes about the "explosion" of "huge hitting" in golf, focusing on Bubba Watson's recent exploits. Lots of the numbers I've hit you over the head with here.

This was an interesting perspective:

Pat Ruddy, the eminent and amiable Irish golf course architect, is appalled by all this. "After these guys have driven the ball they have consumed over 70 per cent of the golf course. There's nothing left. The entire values of the game are being attacked by one club, the driver.

"What are we, as architects, to do? How about growing long grass from the green back towards the tee, so that they have to hit a wedge first and then a three-wood into the green? Or have 10-mile long courses?

"These tee shots have wiped out five or six clubs from the bag."

Bubba Watson won't care, of course, and neither will Jason Gore, but the rest of us should be mighty concerned about the threat to golf as we have known it.

USGA Private Jet Travel

Travel by private jet has become an essential perk for elite PGA Tour golfers. 

And since October 2004 July 2004*, it has become a perk for the president of the United States Golf Association.

Fred Ridley, the outgoing USGA president who will be replaced by Walter Driver when the USGA convenes for its Annual Meeting February 4 in Atlanta, spearheaded the USGA purchase of a private jet membership program.

The program, although available to USGA Executive Committee members and senior staff, appears to have been purchased primarily for use by the sitting USGA president.

Such programs are not cheap. A USGA spokesman could not supply details of the arrangement with their private jet supplier.  However, as an example, NetJets, the Berkshire-Hathaway subsidiary that is used by Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam, offers a single year, 25-hour pre-paid Marquis Jet Card starting at $115,900 in a Citation V Ultra. Rates are higher for other jet types.

NetJets also offers a fractional share ownership plan, which start at $406,250 for a 1/16 interest (the equivalent to 50 hours of annual flying time) in a Hawker 400XP. The ownership plan does not include monthly maintenance costs ($140,000 annually) and hourly charges (starting at $1,500).

The Executive Committee approved “Guidelines For The Use of Private Aircraft,” which state that travel on a private jet by authorized persons and their family “must be pre-approved by the President.”

While the “Guidelines” were created 16 months ago, the private jet program and its qualification as a reimbursable expense for the Executive Committee apparently has been kept quiet even within the organization.

Contacted on January 17, Marty Parkes, USGA Senior Director of Communication stated that “there are certain designated trips for some [Executive Committee members] that are reimbursed.”  But when asked if that included private jet travel, Parkes said, “I don't honestly know.”

Three days later, Parkes was able to confirm the private jet use and where it falls within the USGA's detailed expense reimbursement policy for its 15-member Executive Committee.

“It was set up for two reasons,” said Parkes. “One is, a lot of the places we have to go tend to be in some very out-of-the-way locations, like the Hutchinson, Kansas's and the Bandon Dunes and other places like that. Obviously if you're going to fly from Tampa [where Ridley lives] to Bandon Dunes, that can be a very long, arduous trip if you're connecting throughout.

“The other part of is, I think it was felt that 99% of that travel would be for the USGA President. I don't know of anyone else on the Executive Committee who has ever used a private jet for any reason.”

Not accepting reimbursement for expenses was long considered standard operating procedure for Executive Committee members. Since at least 1998, the USGA has followed an extensive set of guidelines to delineate which events and meetings Executive Committee members were required to cover out of their own pocket, and which were eligible for reimbursement.

“These people are volunteers,” Parkes said in of the Executive Committee. “They're giving up their time from their career. When these people are away from their office working on USGA business, they're not getting paid for their day job. With the time to get back and forth--to say nothing of the wear and tear on them--it was felt that this was fair to whoever is involved. They're already making a heck of a sacrifice for time and a heck of a sacrifice for effort. So this way it doesn't take two days to say, get from Tampa to Bandon Dunes.”

Bandon Dunes hosts the 2006 Curtis Cup and the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.

An attorney, Ridley is a partner in Foley & Lardner Real Estate Practice Group and chairs the Tampa firm's national Golf & Resort Industry Team.

While rumors have circulated that Mr. Ridley used the USGA's private jet service to get to the December 8-11 Argentine Golf Association Centenary and championship, Parkes says that is not the case.

“Fred was invited by the Argentine Golf Association to go there for its 100th anniversary celebration. I do know that he did fly commercial. He did not fly by private jet. That trip was outside the guidelines for his normal duties to attend to and he did follow the procedures as far as the airfare and how he was allowed to travel.”

But unlike staff or Executive Committee members needing approval before embarking on reimbursable travel, the president does not need prior approval to use the USGA's private jet service.

“He [the president] can probably go on his own,” said Parkes. “But what would happen when he went to submit that expense, that would not be reimbursable unless he had followed the guidelines that were set for that [trip].”

It was long assumed that part of an Executive Committee members’ responsibility was traveling and participating in events to promote the USGA. Prospective members were aware of the expense involved. But access to some of the country’s finest courses--including working as rules officials at that Masters--and the respect earned for selflessness in serving the game, more than made up for the high cost of volunteer work.

However, since at least 1998, the rules changed to accommodate certain expense thresholds, after which Executive Committee members were eligible for reimbursement.

“[Reimbursement] basically works the same as our staff travel,” said Parkes. “We go and do the travel, we come back and submit our expenses, and if they are within the guidelines when we submit them--and this works the same way for the Executive Committee people--the USGA goes ahead and reimburses. If there is a question about why you attended that particular meeting, then they have to have demonstrated that they received proper permission from whoever their supervisor was.

“So in the case of an Executive Committee member--and it works the same way for the USGA president--there are certain meetings and times they need to be present. And those expenses are not reimbursable expenses. But let's say there was a special rules of golf meeting at St. Andrews, and again, hypothetically, Fred Ridley would say to Paul Caruso, Paul, as chairman of the Rules of Golf Committee I want you to go, something like that would be subject to reimbursement.”

The president's travel expenses are subject to an appraisal by the Audit Committee once a trip is taken. Once a year the Audit Committee also reviews private aircraft usage and is responsible for assuring compliance with the guidelines.

The Audit Committee is helmed by three Executive Committee members, currently chairman Fred Nelson, Paul Caruso and James Hyler. Caruso is a Vice President who was not re-nominated for 2006.

As with the forty or so USGA committees, the Audit Committee reports directly to the president.

The private jet use by a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, while not completely unusual, does mark a departure for the Far Hills, New Jersey based organization. Executive Director David Fay is a notorious stickler for minimal travel expense and thorough documentation from his staff.

Yet Parkes confirmed that the USGA’s enrollment in a private jet service program that requires a large pre-paid sum to guarantee minimum flight time. However, membership in such a program is not required to charter a private jet.

“There is a service that we contract with,” said Parkes. “There is something where we book a certain amount of time that would be available during the year. I think it's based on a certain number of hours. I just don't know all of the details of that. But obviously, whoever it is, it's covered under the [Guidelines For the Use of Private Aircraft] policy.”

With a significant number of hours paid for before travel plans are solidified, the USGA President is now virtually obligated to use the contracted aircraft service.

Update on 2006-01-23 21:17 by Geoff

* Marty Parkes has confirmed the timeline as follows:  "The [Executive Committee] unanimously approved the policy of private jet travel in limited instances in June of 2004 at its meeting before the Open at Shinnecock.  Everything else came afterwards.  The [Executive Committee] directed the staff in June to review options for such travel and work up a contract with a vendor for the service."

So the policy was approved in June 2004, went into effect in July 2004 and was reviewed and finalized at the October, 2004 Executive Committee meeting.

Parkes also confirms that the USGA contracted 50 hours of flight time with Citation Shares' Jet Card program, which was used over an 18-month period. Another 50 hours has been purchased.

Parkes would not confirm the cost of the jet card program.

According to this March, 2004 U.S. News and World Report story reports that it then cost $84,995 for 25 hours on a five- passenger Citation CJ1.

And in this October, 2003 Wall Street Journal story put the price for 25-hour cards at somewhere between $85,000 and $145,000.

"The Muddying Of The Greens"

Anne Kornblut of The New York Times looks at the lousy image that golf has acquired in Washington thanks to the Jack Abramoff scandal.

Golf is bad. The ominous warning can almost be heard echoing across the greens of the political establishment, where the game is not only a cherished pastime but has increasingly become a critical cog in the wheels of campaign financing and lobbying. Lavish political fund-raisers are built around golf tournaments. Fact-finding Congressional trips are tailored to cross paths with golf resorts. Candidates and their supporters spend tens of thousands of dollars on golfing costs each campaign cycle - more and more each year, it turns out - as part of the cost of doing political business.

But now, as the Abramoff ordeal in Washington unfolds, golf is acquiring the whiff of scandal, its exclusive fairways and cozy clubhouses redolent of an improper commerce between money and influence.  

And this:

Until golf entered the picture, the ethics scandal surrounding Tom DeLay was hard for many to fathom. It involved complicated transactions between obscure political action committees. 

Huggan On TV Deal

John Huggan weighs in on the 2007 schedule and PGA Tour TV deal.

Even with the world's most famous sportsman - Tiger Woods - as part of the package, professional golf in the fall cannot come close to competing with the NFL and NASCAR for the ever-shortening attention of America's increasingly overweight and couch-ridden populace. Watching enormous men in silly uniforms running into each other to no obvious purpose, or logo-festooned cars going round and round in seemingly endless circles apparently holds more appeal than the sight of Tiger majestically ripping a drive down the middle. 

He also looks at the European Tour ramifications and also the possibility of the Tour going global at some point.  

The Elevated Fee Structure...May Be An Impediment

Thanks to reader John for the heads up/reminder to post a story by Marisa Taylor in The Virginian-Pilot about the struggling TPC Virginia Beach. Golf World this week picked up the intriguing quote from the PGA Tour Golf Course Properties' Vernon Kelly.

TPC President Vernon Kelly Jr. told city officials his company wants to sell the leasing rights to Sandler because of the course’s financial difficulties.

TPC is South Hampton Roads’ most expensive course, with greens fees of $128 for 18 holes for nonresidents during peak playing season, spring through fall. For Virginia Beach residents, the charge is $96.

“Unfortunately, the association of the TPC with the golf facility has not resulted in the hoped-for financial results,” Kelly wrote to City Manager James K. Spore in a Nov. 29 letter. “In fact, the absolute performance standards associated with that brand ... and the elevated fee structure which is part of the high-end experience may actually be an impediment.”

 Figures on the course’s financial problems are not available. TPC is a private company and does not report its business figures to the city.

The elevated fee structure which is part of the high-end experience may actually be an impediment.

The green fees were too high. 

Balicki On Coaches

Ron Balicki writes about America's finest college coaches meeting this week to bicker over rangefinders and their (still) lousy NCAA regional system.

McCleery On ABC

Peter McCleery remembers the contributions ABC has made to televised golf and considers what golf will be like without them. I loved his comments about the old ABC openings with Jim McKay building excitement for the round.

And as I read the column, all I could think was, "can they re-open negotiations? Please?"

Week In Review Jan 15-21: '07 Schedule Fallout

It was a week of firsts here. Record traffic with 25,000 hits and yes, I have included Google Adsense in the lefthand column so that I could better understand how Google makes so much money. Despite many people kindly clicking on the ads, revenue to date might cover a Frapuccino...tall.

Also debuting was the Taking Aim interview with Stu Schneider of Golf World. I've already warned several writers (and I'm hoping a few Tour players) that I'm going to be IM'ing soon.

While we're on the firsts front, we learned that Roman soldiers may have invented golf, not the Chinese or the Dutch or even Donald Trump.

Jim Achenbach followed up his Golfweek prediction that the USGA would roll back the ball this year with an online column fleshing out the same topic.

There was bad news for muni's hosting big time events (besides the fact that they probably need to add another 500 yards of length because the guys are working out so much), at Harding Park and Torrey Pines.

The Tour TV deal and 2007 schedule news continued to be the big story, led by the growing sense of shock over the 15-year commitment to The Golf Channel. John Hawkins touched on the ESPN issue.

Paul Azinger was the only player to issue particularly strong comments. He also says we can look forward to unfiltered commentary from him this year.

The tournaments themselves reacted to the TV deal in several articles. And writers looked at the deal, starting with Thomas Boswell, who blasted the handling of the TPC Avenel event in the Washington Post.

Frank Hannigan's Golfobserver.com column was great fun (as always), while Scott Michaux made a subtle but important point about a Masters-related impact of the deal.

Robert Bell looked at how Greensboro got a better date and revealed some interesting details.

I considered the signals this backward step should (but won't) send to the Tour about course setup, pace of play and the power game.  Several looked at winners and losers, including Gary Van Sickle, Ed Sherman and Steve Elling.

Doug Ferguson analyzed whether the little guy would get squeezed in the new deal, while Lorne Rubenstein looked at the Canadian Open's fate.

Golf World's Ron Sirak called the new TV deal "pure magic" and suggested that the Tour may have intentionally run off ABC while Rex Hoggard talked to tournament directors and questioned the length of the contract with The Golf Channel.

In other Tour news, Ty Votaw joined the Tour and took on a most ironic job title.  We (well, I) continued to look at the driving distance numbers. And we may have to create a Bubba Watson watch, now that the Nationwide distance king is on the PGA Tour.

Speaking of Bubba, we learned that the entire power game is really why golf is in the situation it is in thanks to Tim Rosaforte.

So many good comments from readers this week. Not sure where to start, but here goes:

Mark Smolens on the Achenbach ball post: "Until the non-governing bodies of the game step up, the Bubba Watsons of the new age are going to continue to make golf courses look silly. I know that people like CB McDonald were making these very same protestations of doom many years ago, but it's now becoming reality."

Pete the Luddite on the same thread: "When did tennis "jump the shark" or start to die in terms of viewership and popularity? When guys like Phillipousis (spp?) started winning with the cannon-speed serves and no other fundamental game elements. Tennis bacame a boring, for TV at least, sport where the server bombed it, the receiver lunged, and you moved to the next point. Who cares about golf when it's: blast it as far as possible (Hi, Vijay!), then pull out one of your 5 wedges to flip it onto the green. There's no need for players to focus on true shotmaking anymore."

The Big K came clean about watching the Big Break and I admire him for it. We should support him: "I for one wish everyone would cease and desist on the 'Big Break' jokes. I know, I know, but I kinda like the show. To me, golf is about performing under pressure, whatever that pressure is: a $2 nassau or your best round ever or just that approach shot on the hole you always seem to screw up. That's why I don't watch a tournament when someone is six strokes ahead with 5 to go. No mind-racing, stomach wilting, vision-blurring pressure (OK, that's what happens to me). OK, I admit the show is presented in melodramatic fashion. But that is why man invented the digital video recorder.  OK, I feel better. My secret is out."

Hey, I TiVo'd John Daly's show...while we're in the confessing mood.

Finally on the DC schedule, uh, shift, Jonathon and Mike M's comments were insightful too. Actually the whole thread with the help of sodface, njmike and Smolens is fun.

Thanks for the comments, look forward to more. 

Player Reactions To TGC Deal

Thanks to reader C for the heads up on Doug Ferguson's notes column from earlier in the week. A few eye opening comments:

"If we're trying to reach out to non-golf fans, how you leave out ESPN is beyond me." - David Duval, on the PGA Tour giving exclusive cable rights to The Golf Channel in a 15-year deal. 

And... 

"It would be nice to know what's going on," Brent Geiberger said. "It seems like we find out just like everybody else. And it's our tour."

The tour has a 16-man Players Advisory Council and four players on the nine-member policy board.

"But when those players get in the room, they're already outnumbered 5-4," Paul Azinger said. "I wish the players had a little more say."

Spc. Dustin Kendall, RIP

Sad news courtesy of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette:

Spc. Dustin Kendall...21, was killed in Baqouba, Iraq, on Sunday in a noncombat-related accident when his humvee struck an M 1 A 2 Abrams tank and rolled over, according to the Department of Defense. He was assigned to the Army’s 1 st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3 rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4 th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Kendall spent about two years in the Army Reserve before signing up for active duty last summer. He was deployed to Iraq in November, Ballew said.

“He was very outgoing, very flirtatious,” Ballew said. “He was just a happy-go-lucky guy.”

She said he had studied business but was considering a career in golf-course design. “He loved to golf.... He was very competitive in sports and in girls.”

Parrish recalls him purposely driving a golf cart into a pond one chilly February day.

A memorial service will be held for Kendall on Saturday in South Carolina, where one of his sisters lives. Bradford said about six or seven employees are planning to attend.

Kendall is the 39 th soldier with Arkansas ties to have died in the United States’ wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — 36 in Iraq and three in Afghanistan. To date 2,225 military personnel have died in the war in Iraq.

GQ List

Thanks to reader Steve for the heads up on GQ's ten most hated athletes in sports. You might be surprised which golfer made the list. Or, after comments like this, maybe you won't be surprised.