The Green

According to this story, a golf magazine called "The Green" managed to provoke outrage over a recent cover.

(February 21, 2006) The Green Magazine recently learned that the management of the Sports Authority retail stores issued a nationwide directive to destroy all copies of the February/March issues because of customer complaints about the cover image. The issue, which celebrates African American and Women's history, has a cover image of a 1784 sign advertising "Negroes For Sale."

 An Arizona-based Sports Authority employee, who noticed the magazine because of the email from his superiors, contacted the magazine's offices to say that the image was "just rude to be on the cover of a golf magazine."

Obviously the Sports Authority folks haven't seen any of Golf Magazine's recent covers.

Sorry, continue... 

The Green Magazine, which carries the slogan “golf beyond the links,” is privately owned and operated by Ina and Rafael Martinez. The publisher says he founded the magazine because of a distinct multicultural void in the editorial content of mainstream golf publications.

"I think we have an obligation to provoke people to think and ask questions about slavery and many, many other issues we are clearly still grappling with," said Ina Martinez. "I stand by our decision and welcome the dialogue."

And the publicity! After all, I wondered what the magazine is, and found this on their website:

Vision Media & Communications is a privately-owned multimedia publishing firm committed to reaching the untapped affluent multicultural market through print and broadcast venues. Since its June 2004 inception, The Green Magazine has enjoyed an international audience that continues to grow. Vision Media is planning a network/cable television program to complement The Green's focus on travel, luxury, and golf called “The Green TV.” The projected timeline for the program's launch is 2006.

Longer Rough For Shorter Holes

Steve Elling writes about the USGA's new "rough" policy that will debut at Winged Foot this June.

Under the new plan, the length of the grass will increase in inverse proportion to the misfire. Sort of like serving detention, the punishment for bursts of wildness will indeed fit the crime.

Moreover, the rough heights will be adjusted depending upon the length of the hole, which means missing a fairway by a few yards on a 495-yard par-4 won't be as bad as hitting it sideways on a shorter two-shot hole.

And an early candidate for line of the year followed by the details:

Heck, the USGA will be cultivating more gradients of grass than all the hippies in Humboldt County, using everything from tweezers to a scythe to trim the various stages of rough:

1. The fairway cut will be trimmed to the usual firm-and-fast length of a quarter-inch or thereabouts. It will look like indoor-outdoor carpet by comparison to what's framing it.

2. The light, 6-foot-wide swath of transitional rough between the fairway and the heavy stuff will measure about 1 1/3 inches in height, the usual standard.

3. Here's the real change. The grass for the next 10-12 feet will be cut to a height of 3-4 inches. Players hitting a ball into this area have a fair shot at reaching the green.

4. This is the heavy stuff, the type of rough where a guy can't see his socks, much less his shoes. It will measure six inches in depth and cover the remainder of the area to the gallery rope.

Fairness is at the grassroots of the decision. Those who barely miss the fairway won't be penalized as harshly as those who miss by a mile. Meanwhile, it lessens the chances that players who hit the wildest shots will land in sparse areas, as was formerly the case at times.

Big improvement, right? This should end the madness of players missing a fairway by 4 yards and having no shot.

But, as Elling writes, there are "a couple of important caveats."

There will be no intermediate rough, only the long 6-inch type, on short holes such as the par-5 fifth (515 yards) and the par-4 sixth (321 yards) and 11th (396 yards). So it could be argued that the biggest hitters will nonetheless enjoy an advantage, since they'll face the graded rough on the longest holes. They can belt away with a driver as long as the misses are moderate.

Ah, yes. Flogging may actually be rewarded with the tiered concept. But that's not Mike Davis's fault, that's the fault of past committees who ignored the equipment issue.

So we will see the tiered concept on most the holes, except on the ones where birdie is more likely to be made.

If the USGA owned Fenway Park, would they automate the Green Monster to move up when the bombers come to the plate? 

It would be like Notre Dame Stadium harvesting rough to slow down Reggie Bush? (Wait, that happened, bad example.)

Mike Davis's concept of tiered rough is introducing more equity into a setup situation that has long been awkward, if not downright goofy. But then, it's as if somene higher-up is suggesting a way to eliminate red numbers on holes where they are most likely to occur, therefore completely contradicting the concept of more equity introduced with the tiered rough.

Here's the funny part and where the USGA shows that it has not fully grasped why flogging occurs. If the rough is the same throughout on these three shortish holes--a nasty 6 inches let's say--and the fairway is a silly 21-yards wide (sad, but true), then why not take your chances and drive as far down the hole as possible?

If you are going to wedge out, you might as well do it as close to the green as you can?  How many players have said this...Tiger, Phil, J.B., etc...

I'll post some photos later and you can be the judge whether a lay-up or launched tee shot would be the wiser option. I know you can't wait. 

La Costa and PGA Tour, 1969-2006

Doug Ferguson writes La Costa's obituary on the eve of the match play.

Hard to believe that it's run of hosting the Tour is over. Perhaps it'll be the fill-in course for the 2008 Buick? 

ShotLink: 12 at Riviera

Riviera's 480-yard par-4 12th featured the most penal rough during the 2006 Nissan Open, so it was the first hole I've looked at with the PGA Tour's incredible ShotLink system that is available to the media during tournament week. 

Besides 3 inches of healthy rye, the 12th fairway was 25 yards wide. The combination of prevailing wind, rough and a narrow landing area made it play as the 3rd toughest hole, with a scoring average of 4.232. (The par-5 first played to a 4.299 average.)

However, a case could be made that the rough added very little in terms of defining skill or rewarding accuracy.

According to ShotLink, the scoring average from the fairway was 4.13. From the left rough, it was 4.28, and 4.26 from the right rough.

12th Hole at Riviera dataLooking at the scoring numbers provided in the screen capture  to the left (click on image to enlarge), the rough on 12 did not seem to impact scoring  much despite the obvious attempt to penalize those missing the fairway via narrowness and tall grass.

I've taken the left and right rough numbers and combined them to get these percentages:

7% of tee shots finishing in the rough made a birdie 

9% of tee shots finishing in the fairway made a birdie

63% of tee shots finishing in the rough made a par

70% of tee shots finishing in the fairway made a par

30% of tee shots finishing in the rough made bogey or worse

21% of tee shots finishing in the fairway made bogey or worse

And according to ShotLink, here's the scoring average by distance off the tee:

320+yard drives averaged 4.04

300-320 drives averaged 4.15 

280-300 drives averaged 4.19

260-280 drives averaged 4.33

240-260 drives averaged 4.57

<240 drives averaged 4.70

12th at Riviera "proximity to the hole" dataNot surprisingly, the idea of hitting the ball as far down the hole as possible seems to be the percentage play, with the rough not having enough of an effect to reward accuracy.

The "proximity to the hole" data from ShotLink would also seem to indicate that flogging is an intelligent strategy. (Click on image to enlarge.) 

"Virtual Janet"

Ken Klavon introduces the USGA's exciting new online research tool named after longtime curator Janet Seagle.

This could become addictive.

Rough Justice?

Adam Barr at TheGolfChannel.com questions the use of rough in golf. He kindly mentions Lines of Charm as the inspiration for his column.

Greetings From LA, Wrap-Up

The way the guys are driving the ball and the 15-year Golf Channel deal were the two most frequent topics of discussion last week.

On the distance front, it's fun to hear folks who shrugged the issue off a few years ago now finding themselves startled to see where the guys are hitting it, how little rough matters and how rarely "shotmaking" occurs anymore. Apparently with time to ponder the ramifications, many who are around the Tour regularly appear to be realizing the same thing that got my attention on the issue: the impact on courses and pace of play. 

No. 2's ShotLink Accuracy stats for the week (click to enlarge)It may seem somewhat sad that the distance issue gets noticed in part because of the press tent location at Riviera. But hey, it's something.

Situated on the "practice fairway" between the 1st and 2nd holes for five or so years now, the tent finds itself in play off the 2nd tee.
A player hits his 2nd shot on No. 2 after getting relief from the press tent (click image to enlarge)

It was one thing to see a drive on No. 2 reaching the fairway bunker that Thomas certainly never meant to be in play from the tee. And each year there have been more and more drives equidistant to the media center, but those drives were in the fairway. Now offline drives are almost reaching the press tent some 320 yards off the tee, forcing many players to take line of sight relief.

The other distance eye-opener at Riviera: the 10th now plays like a long par-3, with all groups waiting to tee off until the green clears. On Saturday, groups were waiving up the players behind them.

Throw in the fact that the par-5 11th is reachable for a player in nearly every group, with No. 17 almost as reachable in two for the long bombers, and you have three back nine holes where there is a whole lot of standing around.

So for the second year in a row, the PGA Tour was unable to get all 144 players finished the first two rounds due to slow play. 

The other subject that you'll start to see getting more scrutiny: The Golf Channel and its 15 year deal with the PGA Tour.

It was fascinating how many conversations drifted to the astounding length of the contract, the failure to include ESPN to maintain a SportsCenter presence and the lack of time The Golf Channel has to take its production values up several notches.

The consensus: TGC is going to have to start offering pay comparable to other television outlets, something it has so far been reluctant to do. And they are going to have to do it quickly.

Match Play First Round

The WGC first round match pairings have been finalized.

PGA Tour Driving Distance Watch, Vol. 7

The cold and kikuyu at Riviera kept the PGA Tour driving distance average nearly the same at 286.1 yards. 

ShotLink at the Nissan also says that the Tour driving distance average for all drives is 285.6 yards (it was 279.8 at the Nissan).

And 5 drives were added to the 350 and longer club, bringing the season total to 493.

Rory and Paul

Catching up on the ABC telecast at the Nissan, I listened to the Paul Azinger-Nick Faldo summary of Rory Sabbatini's slow play incident with Ben Crane last year. Azinger reported that he and Rory had kissed and made up, even played a practice round together.

But unless there is someone else who blasted Rory on the air, everyone in the press tent assumed these post-final round comments were referring to Azinger. 

Q.  Was there a part of that you was worried about blowing this thing, especially as you come off 15?

RORY SABBATINI:  Well, obviously, you always hear the stories, you always hear the things after, everyone is a great commentator on golf on Mondays, oh, he blew it. This happened, that happened.  You know, I didn't want to give them anything more to fire at me.  I feel like there are a few people out there that have taken a lot of pot shots at me and, you know, it's one of those things that I didn't want to give them any more ammunition.

Q.  You said you didn't want to give people more ammunition, what basically?  I mean was it the incident with Ben last year, or was it just a lot of things? Without getting too personal, can you go into that?

RORY SABBATINI:  Well, actually I choose not to get into that.  There are a few people that seem to have their opinions.  You know, it's pretty sad.

10th at Riviera and Nissan Notes

10th at Riviera (click on image to enlarge)Now posted is my latest Golfobserver.com column looking at the brilliance of Riviera's 10th, along with other assorted Nissan notes.

Greetings From LA, Vol. 7

An uneventful week at Riviera turned interesting Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure how it translated on television, but the back nine was pretty exciting thanks in large part to the crowd's love for Fred Couples.
Couples on 4 (click on image to enlarge)

I'm also not sure how the wind appeared on television, but it was downright nasty at times. Adam Scott's final round 64 was remarkable considering the combination of wind, cool temperatures, soft fairways and a tough setup.

Though the final setup was extremely difficult, the Tour officials did inject some variety, using the lower tee on the par-4 5th twice just to keep the boys honest. On Sunday there were reasonable birdie opportunities on 1, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14 and 17. The rest ranged from tough to extremely difficult hole locations.
No. 4 Sunday (click image to enlarge)

No. 6 Sunday (click on image)The par-3 sixth was played from the far back tee (originally built for the "permanent temporary" green). With a back left hole location, this meant a 200-yard+ shot to a tiny quadrant. Silly, but not the first time this setup has been used.

Before the round I mentioned to ABC's Ian Baker Finch that Rory Sabbatini had suggested he would be changing irons for the final round. I later mentioned it to Nick Faldo, who stood near the cameraman's gathering area on the third tee, signing autographs and watching the play. Both were shocked to hear that Sabbatini would even contemplate such a move.

I'm not sure if they mentioned it on the air, but it turned out that Sabbatini's wife talked him out of this nutty scheme (more on this in my Nissan Notes column at Golfobserver.com).

Rory on 12 (click on image to enlarge)
Rory at 12 green (click on image)Sabbatini finished his range ball session 50 minutes before his tee time. That seems like a long time between shots in any weather, but especially strange in today's cold temperatures. In general he's one odd dude, often yammering away at his caddie between holes. They had a nasty exchange from 11 to 12 tee where his looper seemed to be taking receiving the blame for a misread. But Sabbatini played with confidence and poise despite a pro-Fred gallery, only snapping once when an obnoxious fan uttered something, well, obnoxious.

RORY SABBATINI:  There were a lot of very snide remarks out there.  12, I hit a great bunker shot and I walked out of bunker and someone said something.  It's sad when, you know, you have that situation.  Obviously, Freddie is the great player, they can support him.  I have no problem in the world with that.  I'm an ever believer in the fact that, if someone hits a good shot applaud it.  Don't make snide remarks.  Just appreciate the game, appreciate the shots. 

Rory's Super Belt Buckle (click on image)Sabbatini was sporting an old car hood interesting belt buckle during the final round.  The Superman logo appealed to him because "S" is his initial.

Q.  We were all admiring the belt buckle out there, what's the story behind it?

Admiring? Well, that's not what the scribblers were saying.

RORY SABBATINI:  I don't know I just  this was this week walking through the mall, there was a vendor with a bunch of belt buckles.  I like wearing belt buckles and I found one that I liked.  It happened to be Superman logo and happened to be my initials, so I figured hey, why not.

I saw Golf Digest fashion editor Marty Hackel hanging out in the press tent before round and would loved to have heard his thoughts on Rory's taste. But fashion guy was long gone by the time I returned for the press room lunch.

Speaking of food, in an effort to inspire cranky final day game stories they served a mystery beef later described to me as Santa Monica Canyon Tree Squirrel sauteed on a bed of carrots and kikuyu clippings. I passed and went with the fried rice and fresh fruit.

Couples Plays Into No. 9 (click on image)The course played as firm as kikuyu could play (well, early in the week) and maintained enough firmness today despite an early Sunday morning downpour. As usual, the maintenance team did an amazing job. Now if we could just get them to understand that they have no business tinkering with the design...

After collecting the ShotLink stats and saying goodbye to the fine folks running the press room, I strolled out to the 10th for a final look in the glorious evening light. Knowing that the course is about to undergo a major meddling, I thought about George Thomas and Billy Bell, wondering if they could have ever imagined an event like today's being played on their design. 
No. 10, after the fans have gone home (click to enlarge)

Architects can never envision how all of the parts of their design will work, but there are so many elements of Riviera that work so beautifully because Thomas and Bell clearly thought out each design element. They cared so much about the detail work that astounds me every time I see Riviera.

And now it faces more change. What for?

That's the question everyone in the press room asked me all week: what about Riviera needs "fixing?"

I wish I knew.

Plenty of Big Names

Tom Hanson upset some of the Champions Tour players with a column he wrote, and he offers an entertaining follow up.

OK, I'll concede that there are plenty of big names — Eichelberger (11 letters) Summerhays (10), San Filippo (10), Karbowski (9) — out on the Champions Tour.

Unfortunately those names don't get me fired up as much as the players are about their tour.

Clayton On State of Big Time Aussie Golf

Mike Clayton looks at the state of major Australian golf events. His comments and concerns sound familiar to those wondering about the state of U.S. tournament golf. Thanks to reader Graeme for the heads up on this.

Greetings From LA, Vol. 6

It was an intensely boring but glorious weather day at Riviera. The crowd woke up with Fred Couples' charge, setting the stage for a retro final day with Couples seeking his third L.A. Open title at Riviera. 
Riviera rainbow (click image to enlarge)

Adding to the final day intrigue is leader Rory Sabbatini's surprising revelation that even after putting a new set of irons in the bag in Hawaii, he's taking them out after 7 straight weeks (see post below). In their place will be his old set, apparently stored in his motor home.

There's no truth to the rumor that Phil Mickelson consulted on this decision. 

Well so much for the Woods-Holmes shootout, with Tiger WD'ing because of the flu.

Holmes on 13 (click image to enlarge)J.B. and Geoff Ogilvy still put on a good show, with Ogilvy carding a 66 and Holmes unleashing his power on his last few holes.

Nothing about Holmes' game is "fundamentally sound," and yet that's what makes him so promising. He clearly has a feel for the game, which is saying alot with today's equipment divorcing so many players from any kind of feel shots.

JB's approach to No. 8 (click on image to enlarge)Check out where I saw Holmes hitting from on the non-alternate-alternate fairway 8th, where a record number of players have used the left fairway this week (at least 20!).  
Shotlink shows Holmes's huge drive (click on image to enlarge)

Holmes had a nice angle to the hole and made birdie (see ShotLink photo to the right). Oh, and for the second time this week, I saw Holmes taking a ball out of play, and instead of stuffing it in his bag, Holmes went out of his way to find a young boy. And again, another priceless smile by the surprised kid and lifetime fan for Holmes. He's the only player I've seen do this all week. A wily veteran at 23.

ShotLink tracks Holmes on 7 (click on image to enlarge)Back to his long hitting antics. Check out what ShotLink says about his drive on the par-4 7th (left), which I unfortunately missed.  Who knew the sand short of the green would become a fairway bunker?

Elsewhere, well, it was pretty dull at "The Riv," as the hot-selling pro shop hat says. (Okay, on three everyone...1-2-3...oy vey!).

A few other notes going into Sunday...

The day-to-day setup has been excellent.  A nice mix of hole locations, with not too many tucked ridiculously and the tee placements varied.
No. 6 Saturday (click on image to enlarge)

Let's hope tomorrow is not another final day U.S. Open wannabe thing like we saw at Pebble Beach. But based on early season trends, I'm expecting a par-fest.

My favorite hole location was the front-middle spot on 6, set just below the gentle tier. Players could feed the ball down to the hole, allowing the crowd to cheer their ball down. But if they missed a bit too far left, the players faced a difficult two-putt.

Couples on 16 (click on image to enlarge)No. 16 featured the classic sucker-right location, but that didn't stop Fred Couples from going right at it. He missed an 8-footer for birdie.

And finally, a shot of the rollers they are using on the greens this week... 
Riviera rollers (click on image to enlarge)