What's With Korean Americans and Golf?

That's the question L.A. Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez delves into in the wake of a golf controversy in South Korean politics and in the era of Michelle Wie.

Was Palmer Kidding Around?

Did anyone catch the Jimmy Roberts interview where a grinning Arnold Palmer talked about changing two of Bay Hill's par-5s to 4s and moving the sixth green based on Bubba Watson's play?

I thought he was joking, but the NBC crew seemed to think he was serious.

It would be somewhat ironic that he criticizes Hootie Johnson for so radically altering Augusta in response to the ball, while doing the same at Bay Hill.

Update on 2006-03-20 15:14 by Geoff

Steve Elling reports that Palmer was "brainstorming" when he mentioned the ideas pointed out above. And Elling reports that Tiger gave a big thumbs up to the idea of reducing par at Bay Hill.

I say take it down to par-68, then you will get rid of even more red numbers and all will be right with the world!

More On The Sawgrass Gore Tex Layer

Great hearing the Commissioner tell the NBC boys at Bay Hill about the new irrigation system that allows them to water on the roughs and not the fairways. I'm so glad MacKenzie and Behr aren't here to see this! Anyway... 

Ryan Herrington looks at the TPC Sawgrass renovation and includes this quote from the Tour:

"We spend a lot of time talking to our tournaments about the need to upgrade what they do," said Bob Combs, the tour's senior VP for communications. "Yet we're the marquee event, and if we're going to urge others to keep raising the standard, we have to show them what it is."

I'm having a hard time envisioning that $16-18 million clubhouse renovations and $6-8 million course upgrades are that necessary for one week of Tour play. Especially when the course redo motivation is driven in part by a dislike for low scores, as this Garry Smits story pointed out:

Since Greg Norman torched the Stadium Course for a record 24 under in winning the 1994 Players, the Tour has attempted to set the course up with firm fairways and greens and high rough. In years when there wasn't much rain, that has been accomplished. An example was 1999, when David Duval won at 3 under, the highest winning score in Stadium Course history.

But if the area experiences a wet winter, there's not much Klauk could do with the current course to help drainage, as too much organic material has built up near the surface of fairways, causing them to be slow to drain.

The contrast between wet and dry has been dramatic. During years the Tour considered dry, the average winning score was 8.5-under-par. During years considered wet, the average winning score was 13.6 under, according to PGA Tour statistics.

Fifth Major Watch

This Scotsman story says "it is hardly surprising that the Players' Championship is commonly referred to as 'the fifth Major'. Golf's powers-that-be have yet to give it that status but they may as well." 

Meanwhile, Dermot Gilleece reports that Johnny Miller says the status of the event is "getting to be a real issue." 

Please Johnny. It became an issue when won Craig Perks won. That's when I thought, "this is the fifth of four majors!"

Anyway, Gilleece talks to Padraig Harrington who noted a change in the TPC Sawgrass:

"Sawgrass used to be fearsome, but it is now quite a normal test of golf. There's nothing extreme about it anymore. But if they get the greens really firm and fast, which they can in May, now you're talking scary course, especially with the rough up."

Would this strengthen its major aspirations? "Maybe," he said. "But I believe that if there is to be a fifth major, it should be the Australian Open, provided you get the right field. Most of the great players have played it; it's been around for more than 100 years (instituted in 1904) and has a choice of some wonderful courses. So all that's missing is the right field."

Oops.

Gushing Johnny

Thanks to reader Noonan for this item from Phil Mushnick's NY Post column:

 It can't get much sillier than this:

Johnny Miller, forthright NBC golf analyst since 1990, until two weeks ago never pointed to a car sponsor and gushed how great its cars are. Until two weeks ago he was never moved to blatantly shill for any sponsors' products.

But two weeks ago, as the Doral Ford Championship was being played on NBC, Miller began to appear in Ford commercials. And then, during NBC's coverage of the Ford Doral, Miller, on at least two occasions, saw fit to interrupt that coverage to tell us what fabulous cars Ford makes.

For that, Miller was scolded in newspapers and golf magazines. The sarcastic question was even raised whether Miller, during NBC's coverage the next weekend of the Honda Classic, would see fit to give his automotive take on Hondas.

And then, during the Honda, Miller, with a straight face - and for the second time in two weeks after having never acted similarly in 15 years with NBC - volunteered his automotive take on Honda, even stating that Honda makes better trucks than Ford and Chevy.

And some folks felt his comments about Honda were evidence of Miller's integrity as opposed to having painted himself into a ridiculous corner, a corner far, far away from the golf commentary he'd been entrusted to provide.

Perhaps this newfound interest in affiliations will force an assessment of the relationship that other announcers have with corporations, and how that may influence their commentary? 

Cruden Bay Proposed Changes

Frank Pont posts contents of a letter that went out to Cruden Bay members about proposed changes to the famous links.

Once I read the comment about bringing fairness to the place, I stopped.

With Respect To Innovation Head Room...

In a Copley News Service story titled "Driving For Green," we learn about the state of the golf ball business and its future. It's mostly a look at Titleist's dominance and how much the golf ball has impacted the game (oops...they're not supposed to say that...it's the agronomy, stupid!).

Here's the good part. After explaining how a ball rollback would be detrimental to the game (well, maybe someone's bottom line), we get this:

Any rollback would make it difficult for golf ball makers who spend big bucks on research and development to improve their products, said James Hardiman, an analyst who covers Callaway for FTN Midwest Research. "That's the big fear," Hardiman said. "It's not only will the USGA limit future technological advances but whether they'll roll back the standards of today."

Even now, there is a real question about how much better balls can be made within the current USGA specifications. But manufacturers like Callaway and Titleist insist that they are continually working on improvements.

Callaway's Yagley said the company's HX balls use a hexagonal dimple pattern as opposed to a more conventional round pattern to provide golfers with better aerodynamics as a way to distinguish itself.

"They'll see our HX golf balls stay in the air a little bit longer," he said. Still, golf ball makers also admit that the sea change seen with the switch from wound core to solid core balls will probably not occur again anytime soon.

"With respect to innovation head room, we believe that the limits placed on golf ball performance by physics and current regulations leave very little room for additional distance gains," said Acushnet's Nauman.

That fact may make it harder for ball makers to differentiate their products, especially for those trying to challenge Titleist. "The big player in the golf ball business is clearly Titleist and it remains to be seen if anyone can put a dent in their business," McAndrew said.

So please, help me here because I'm just kind of naive.

If you are the big player, and your position is that there will be little room for innovation or gains, why not solidify your dominance by supporting a rollback that only impacts top level players?

The Norman Conquest

John Huggan writes about the looming Norman-Finchem battle:

What follows is a tale of two citizens, Greg Norman and Tim Finchem. One is a larger-than-life character, as so many Australians seem to be; the other is a former lobbyist in Washington DC. One was a genuinely great, if flawed, golfer who, more than once, was the unfortunate victim of inexorable fate when on the verge of victory in major championships. The other, if talking incomprehensible jibberish becomes an Olympic sport, would make Mark Spitz appear a mere neophyte.

He also quotes Sean Murphy's recent comments, but mysteriously neglected to mention that the remarks were made in the comments section of this website!

Finchem's Response To Norman

Not sure if this ran somewhere else, but the Savannah Morning News and The Examiner (Missouri?) had this response from Tim Finchem on the Greg Norman situation:

However, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem told the Times-Union Wednesday that the information Norman, aka The Shark, is seeking is provided not only to players but to the public as well.

"We provide to the players and the public as much, if not more, than any public company provides to its stockholders," Finchem said after a joint news conference with Arnold Palmer at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge. "We choose to be more open. We follow all the procedures and report enormous amounts of data."

Norman and the Tour have butted heads before, beginning in the mid-1990s when Norman's attempt to form a series of events for the world's elite players was quashed by the Tour. The Tour later adopted some of Norman's concepts to form the four World Golf Championships events.

Finchem wouldn't talk about Norman's specific complaints. "I'm not going to argue publicly with Greg or any other player," he said.

Week In Review, March 12-18: Augusta Talk Continues

Alan Campbell wrote about Tim Finchem and the WGC's staying in the U.S., calling the commissioner's conduct "despicable."  But as reader scott pointed out, "Phil Mickelson cant be bothered to skip trick or treating for the richest payday in golf--why do you think he will lift a finger to go to Europe for the Pizza Express WGC Open?"

Paul Azinger made some interesting comments during the Honda telecast, bemoaning how technology is depriving us of seeing real shotmaking and suggesting that there is no going back. But the better comments were on the thread after.  Smolmania wrote: "Roc can take all those little numbers and symbols that fly thru the air in his commercial with Tiger, and create a core that just doesn't fly so far. Will I -- a maybe better than average joe (5 handicap) -- not hit it as far? Absolutely. But neither will Tiger and the other bombers. . . and the game will be better off."

And Josh Hoisington offered this: "The difference between the Longest and Shortest average drivers over the years. As of now, the driving distance leader, Bubba, is averaging 320, Brad Faxon, I guess he's the driving distance loser? Anyway, he's averaging 260. Obviously it's early, but last year the difference was the same at the end of the year: Scott hend 320, Corey Pavin 260. The difference is 60 yards. In 1980, which is as far back as pgatour.com seems to go, Dan Pohl was leading with 275, the shortest hitter was averaging 240, making only a 35 yard difference."

John Hawkins reported in Golf World that it's CBS making the call to keep Gary McCord off the Masters telecast, not Hootie Johnson.  This prompted Frank Hannigan to write another Letter from Saugerties.

MacDuff gave us an updated look at his FedEx Cup points standings, which award points equally from event to event. The result? Playing well and playing a lot are rewarded. Another great discussion broke out after this post.
 
njmike pointed out what could be a nightmare scenario in the FedEx Cup concept: "Can you imagine Tiger winning two majors and nine events and not having enough points to win it? Ranked lower to someone that played in 25+ events- big deal."

And reader J.P. wrote, "the Top players really only play in the larger purse events, where they are payed a lot more than just your average Tour event. If every tournament purse was the same across the board as well as a Fed Ex Cup points structure, I think we would be seeing a totally different group of players being considered the Top Players."

Greg Norman let it be known to Tim Rosaforte at Golf World that he was contemplating a lawsuit to force the PGA Tour to open its books. Sean Murphy shared some of his experiences in a similar quest to Norman's.
And some of Norman's past comments were posted here and here.

The question of whether there is any interest in DVD's of golf events in their original telecast form, with bonus commentary and extras. Several readers offered great suggestions for possible events to release.

John Davis looked at the abysmal start to the Carolyn Bivens era, which now is about to have its first major, with golf's most prominent publication still not reaching an agreement on covering the LPGA Tour. Amazing.

John Huggan brought us up-to-date on the situation at Musselburgh.

And finally, (and I mean finally!), the drastic changes to Augusta National have taken center stage three weeks before the season's first major.

I wrote about the recent remarks of Nicklaus and Palmer, and the past writings of Bobby Jones.

Jack Nicklaus held a press conference and continued to question the design changes. Arnold Palmer tried to back off some of his remarks and also jokingly ducked the golf ball issue with Commissioner Finchem present.

Tiger Woods called the new look Augusta "interesting," his nice way of saying he thinks it stinks.

Ernie Els said the event has become no fun and may be the toughest of the four majors. Reader Steven T. noted, "The Masters is taking on some characteristics of a US Open course setup. Perhaps they will move up the tees on the back 9 on Sunday to create some fun. Perhaps not. Also, Jack Nicklaus must be really ticked off that Fazio got the job to rework AN instead of him."

And reader Jay wrote, "Tying this into the Nickaus in '86 thread, it was way more fun to watch because he was making birdies to roar past the field."

More Els remarks on Augusta and technology were looked at, but maybe the best comments about Augusta came from Mike Weir, who questioned what Bobby Jones would think of changes to his design.

Never has Augusta received so much (constructive) course criticism in a week from so many former champions. Maybe the club will re-think it's approach to the course?

More likely,they'll re-think inviting former champions as members or allowing contestants to play the course before Masters week.

Ermergence of Tribal Courses

Bruce Selcraig writes about the emergence of tribal courses in the New York Times. Included was this quote:

"I think the tribal courses are probably the single most impressive force in golf architecture over the last 10 years," said Ron Whitten, Golf Digest's architecture critic. "I've been impressed with every one."

I smell a new list!  America's Best (Native American) Tribal Courses?

Vijay Regret$ Middle East Trip

Vijay thinks it might have been a mistake to go to Dubai to collect a big check for appearing and for making a design site visit:

Singh began the year by getting into a playoff with Stuart Appleby at the Mercedes Championship and finishing sixth in the Sony Open, but then traveled to two European Tour events in the Middle East -- something he now considers to have been a mistake.

"It was a real bad move," he said. "The first week is just getting used to it and you come back over here, you do the same thing. It was a good trip, but it was very tiring on my body and I think I wasted three weeks."

Singh tied for eighth in Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and shared 24th place at the Qatar Masters. Since returning to the States, he has been 20th, seventh, ninth and 15th -- not awful, but not what he wanted.

I don't know about you, I'm tearing up...

Fifth of Four Majors Watch

Last year, this site commenced on the 1st annual "fifth of four majors" watch, where our  radar searched for the inevitable Players Championship stories that,

A) Proclaim the 72-holes of swamp golf to be Golf's Fifth Major (sometimes capitalized)

B) Said the Players is deserving of "fifth major status," whatever that means...it could be ninth major too if it wants!

C) Or quite simply, called it a major because the Players displays major-like tendencies (the worst of which is an uncanny tendency to mimic the best attributes of the other four majors...well, the other three in the U.S., which explains the azaleas, the rough, and the blinding white sand).

This annual rite of spring, which has become a fallback column or Wednesday story, has even earned The Players a mention in a golf glossary under "fifth major."

Contending stories in our "watch" inevitably include mentions of the field being the greatest ever assembled, the course the finest of its kind, the PGA Tour deserving of its own major, and the list of champions incredibly diverse. (After all, how else do you deal with Jimmy Roberts' favorite, the Craig Perks win?)

PGATour.com references do not qualify. 

Amazingly, none of the credentialed scribes filed a genuine fifth-of-four majors story last year, though we did get several fifth-of-four references, and even a few "so-called" fifth major mentions (those cynical European writers).

Yet here we are on the eve of the Players, no one has even had a chance to get bored sitting around the press room in search of a story, and we have 2006's potential Grand Prize winner!

Let the mundane stories begin! 

Weir: Jones Would Be Like !?!?!

Ken Fidlin in the Toronto Sun talks to Mike Weir about the new look Augusta National. As we've seen with other players, the recent criticism by Nicklaus and Palmer seems to have made the observations much more to the point. And again, the club's move away from his design vision while citing Jones quotes to justify the changes seems to have opened the floodgates...

Once again the tall foreheads who run Augusta National have chosen to mess with God's golf course. For more than half a century, it was considered unique and beautiful and very nearly perfect in every way. Now those bright lights in green jackets have taken to tearing the place apart just about every year. Just because they can.

It used to be bad form for players to make anything but complimentary comments about the place but now these latest changes are getting trashed from all sides

"I'm sure if Bobby Jones was still around," Weir said, "it would be, like 'What are you guys doing?'"

Weir played Augusta on Sunday and Monday and is somewhat dismayed. They've added more yardage to bring the length up to 7,300 yards but in the process, they've started to tinker with the personality of the golf course.

"I don't know what they're doing," he said. "I don't mind them lengthening the course. That's fine.

"The thing that kind of disturbs me is they're getting away from the character of the golf course. Now they're bringing in all these trees. Besides lengthening No. 11, they pinched the trees in even tighter on the right side. It's like a tree-lined golf course now. Totally different from 10 to 15 years ago. It's not even the same place.

"I don't think Mr. Jones wanted that. I think he wanted it cut down so you could see creative shots from all over the place, into tough greens."

Oh it's going to be a fun Champion's Dinner!

Twenty Years Later

Thomas Bonk looked at the anniversary of Jack Nicklaus' Masters win and offered this perspective on changes in the game.

And Nicklaus' Masters victory in 1986 clearly represents the end of an era in more ways than money.

The two most important pieces of equipment in golf were going to take on a drastic new look.

It wasn't until 1991 that Callaway Golf revolutionized drivers with the large-headed Big Bertha, shoving into the back of the closet the flat-faced, unforgiving block of persimmon wood on a steel shaft.

And it was in 2003 when Titleist brought out its Pro V1 ball. A three-piece ball instead of a wound ball, and with a thinner cover, the Pro V1 was immediately hailed for its greater control, better feel, improved trajectory and longer flight.

The combination of driver and ball has altered golf's landscape, perhaps forever.

In 1986, Nicklaus averaged 266.4 yards off the tee. A 22-year-old Davis Love III led the driving statistics, averaging 285.7 yards and the PGA Tour average drive was 261.6 yards. The 190th and last-ranked player in driving distance this year is Brad Faxon at 260.7 yards. Love is ranked 27th in driving, averaging 299.3 yards, but 23 players are averaging more than 300 yards.

Woods, by the way, is eighth, with a 304.8-yard average. Bubba Watson is hitting it farther than anyone, averaging 320.9 yards, and the average PGA Tour pro drives the ball 289 yards — about 27 yards farther than the average pro in 1986. And Watson's lead over what Love averaged in 1986 is more than 38 yards.

Don't think these kind of numbers have been overlooked. Just check the numbers at Augusta National. In 1986 when Nicklaus won, it was listed on the scorecard he kept at 6,905 yards. In a couple of weeks, they're going to play a course that's 7,445 yards and has been lengthened for the third time in seven years.