Buick's Slide

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John O'Dell in the L.A. Times looks at the demise of Buick and mentions Tiger Woods a few times. Considering Tiger's 5-year, $40 million endorsement deal and Buick's sponsorship of three significant PGA Tour events, this is not good news for some in golf. (Though I'm not worried about Tiger finding a replacement uh, vehicle.)

Now as GM faces the threat of bankruptcy, Buick has emerged as an emblem of the auto giant's broader woes. GM sold nearly a million Buicks in the U.S. in 1984. By last year, sales had sputtered to 282,288, a 70% decline over two decades, the biggest of any major auto brand.

Buick has broken down in U.S. showrooms for the same reasons that Americans deserted GM brands such as Chevrolet, Pontiac and Olds in favor of Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

Buick offered bland designs and ignored consumer demand for pickups, minivans and SUVs. Buyers' shift toward snappier styling, snazzier features and — most of all — higher-quality cars left Buick vulnerable in the late 1980s when Lexus, Infiniti and other foreign luxury models invaded its home turf. Even using golf superstar Tiger Woods as pitchman hasn't helped Buick.

And...

Since 1999, Buick has used Tiger Woods, whose name and face are known globally. But the golf tournaments that carry Woods' endorsements don't reach out to young buyers because they are largely watched by older men, some of whom might already gravitate to Buicks.

"While you can sell a hot car designed for younger buyers to an old guy, you can't sell a stodgy old car to a young guy," said Bill Porter, Buick's design chief from 1980 until 1996.

"The average Buick buyer is 69, the oldest demographic in the industry, and there aren't many new buyers coming in to replace them," said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific market research in Tustin.

Early Augusta Previews: Jack and Arnie's Comments

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masterslogo2.gifThe recent changes to Augusta National pale compared to 2002's massive overhaul, yet on the eve of the 2006 Masters the hits just keep on coming. The difference this time around? 

Several past champions bemoaned the latest work, and more importantly, questioned how the work reflects the Jones-MacKenzie design vision that the club says they are maintaining.

The Sunday previews from the British Isles provide more evidence that Augusta National's fall media offensive may have backfired.

First, John Huggan in his Sunday column:

Although arrogant beyond imagination, Johnson is no fool. He could see the outrage coming. Which is why a series of no doubt carefully-selected golf writers have been invited to visit the hallowed grounds over the past few months.

Their brief, at least ostensibly, was to form an opinion on the sagacity or otherwise of the course changes. But the reality was simply Johnson looking for public validation. He was spinning more than a crisply-struck Tiger Woods wedge from a tight lie.

Disappointingly, but expectedly, most of the resulting articles have been a mixture of ignorance and/or forelock-tugging. Obviously flattered by their being summoned from 'above', the chosen few behaved more like paid flunkies than free thinkers.

James Corrigan in the Independent reviewed the pre-tournament criticism while Andy Farrell made an important point in the lead to his story reviewing the comments of Nicklaus and Palmer:

It used to be a Masters tradition for players and caddies to arrive for their first practice round at Augusta National and wonder whether the first tee had been moved - or the clubhouse. The evolution of the course was constant, if often undeclared. Under the chairmanship of Hootie Johnson, the pace of change has increased dramatically, and everyone knows about it.

O'Meara...Rough or No Rough?

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Mark O'Meara jumps on the Augusta National criticism bandwagon while bemoaning the power game in a guest commentary for Scotland on Sunday:

The game is changing. Creativity doesn't seem to be as important as it once was.

The power game is more dominant than it has ever been. And guys who hit the ball as far as me have little or no chance to beat the bombers.

While I think the ability to hit long drives should always be rewarded, any advantage gained should not be overwhelming.

More length and more rough at Augusta National - so far, at least - hasn't really scared any of the big-hitters. The rough isn't so deep that you can't play out of it and it also has the effect of slowing the course down. Where wayward tee-shots used to run into the trees, they are now more often stopped from doing so by the longer grass. To me, that runs contrary to the way the course was originally designed.

Specifically, I think holes like the first and the now not so-short fourth would have been better left alone. Now, our opening tee-shot has to fly more than 330-yards just to make it over the bunker at the top of the hill. So a guy who carries the ball about 275 yards has really been taken out of the equation. That's just one example of where the power player 'who already has an in-built edge' has his advantage multiplied by the extra course yardage.

The sad thing is, I'm not sure any of the changes were really necessary. If I was in charge at Augusta I would have kept the course at around 7,100 yards and I would have eliminated any and all rough.

Instead, I'd cut the fairways tight, all the way to the tree lines, where the ball would run onto the pine needles. You'd either be in the fairway or on the pine needles under the trees. That would neutralise the power player enough that the shorter-hitter could compete.

Or you could just address the equipment that has helped fuel the distance disparity?

The Donald Comes To Aberdeenshire

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It reads like an April Fool's Day joke (£14 million pounds to build 36 holes on dunes!?), but here are the gory details on The Donald's plans for his Scottish development:

The development, which will be known as Trump International Golf Links, Scotland, will be comprised of two championship golf courses, a five-star hotel with associated facilities, a state-of-the-art golf academy and a turf grass research centre. The development will also include a mixed use residential element.

The courses will be Donald J. Trump Signature Designs, in association with Tom Fazio, nephew of the legendary American golf course architect Tom Fazio, and his firm, Tom Fazio II, LLC. The land, which is set among towering dunes beside the North Sea, has been acquired. Planning and permitting is underway and work is scheduled to commence by September 2006, with a course opening scheduled for spring 2008.

"Mr Trump was committed to identify a world-class traditional links site in the Home of Golf and Menie Estate was chosen because it satisfies all of the strict project criteria set out by The Trump Organization," said Ashley Cooper, executive vice president, Acquisitions and Development for The Trump Organization. "Our goal is to create the greatest links golf courses in Scotland as part of a golf development that will become the finest in Europe, if not the world."

And this, courtesy of reader Steven T.:

The final cost of the project is estimated to be more than £287million, although that will depend on the outcome of a planning application to be submitted to Aberdeenshire Council in May.

The company said last night that the Menie Estate had been chosen ahead of 200 other sites in Europe, reviewed by the billionaire property mogul himself over the course of five years.

Mr Trump is said to have been "overwhelmed" by the sand dunes and coastline, which he hopes to turn into "the greatest golf course in the world".

Senior figures in the golf and leisure industries, as well as Aberdeenshire Council and other economic organisations, called it a major coup and an "unbelievable" opportunity for the north-east.

Scottish Enterprise Grampian said the project would contribute an estimated £157 million to the economy over the next 10 years and create up to 400 jobs.

But Scottish Natural Heritage, which was consulted about the site late last year, has already expressed concerns because it is a protected area of special scientific interest.

The Trump Organisation promised the finished article would "set new standards in the home of golf".

And...

Geoff Runcie, chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, described the news as "fantastic", adding that it would boost visitor numbers, raise the region's profile and rectify the absence of a trophy golf course.

"This will put the region in line to host high-profile championships in the future - having a course that could secure the British Open would be excellent," he said.

They Juice The Equipment!

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From the March 31 "Real Time with Bill Maher," talking about the latest steroid controversy in baseball and how America's favorite pasttime should emulate golf:

ROBERT WUHL:  In golf, the players are straight but they juice the equipment!

BILL MAHER:  That's actually very true! [Laughing]

I guess they didn't get the memo that agronomy is the cause of 350-yard drives! 


Week In Review, March 26-April 1: The Bivens Brand

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WeekInReview2.jpgAnother weird week in golf, kicked off by the Sabbatini-Faldo feud and debut of Amy Sabbatini's Spring Collection t's for Tour wives. Faldo took the early lead for 2006's funniest quote in response to Amy's "Keep Up" t-shirt.

Besides the painful fifth major debate, The Players Championship brought attention to the concept of rough and whether it works at all, especially on courses not intended to have tall grass lining the fairways (hint: no well-designed course uses rough as a design ploy). The TPC mess prompted reader Carl to write, "lets face it, the golf ball has taken all of the imagination out of the game, and has taken the imagination out of golf course design. The high quality of different shot selections and the high quality of course design is bending over backwards to accomedate a golf ball."

Tom Kite's comments in Golfweek's Forecaddie prompted the debut of The List, which is a look at recent statements from well known figures in golf on the distance issue.

MacDuff provided us another updated look at a mythical FedEx Cup points race. It's becoming clear that someone like Vijay will win it by playing often and playing well. MacDuff suggest that the Tour consider "putting a cap on the number of events to score, but not weighting upward for those that play fewer events. Base it on your top 20 performances of the year, and winner take all."

Martin Kaufman blasted the Ohio Golf Association's retro ball invitational, prompting reader Hannibal Smith to ask "Why don't they let one of the more talented writers like Brad Klein or John Steinbreder who are more traditional when it comes to the ball issue write an opposing viewpoint?"

And Smolmania noted, "The best players want the ball reigned in, so that talent will prevail over athleticism. Us bunters want it reigned in so that the game played at the highest levels isn't simply irrelevant to the game we play. The only people who don't want these changes are the manufacturers, and people who don't have a clue. . . in my patently 'unbalanced' opinion."

After watching players struggle out of the TPC Sawgrass' rough-on-steroids, I floated the possibility of a player getting seriously injured by such a harvest. That prompted reader RM to question my sanity: "Your imagination is running wild today. Must be Bellsouth week."

Ned Ludd made me feel a lot better by not completely shooting down the possibility: "There are two parts to every lawsuit: liability and damages. Assuming a player like Woods could prove liability ( as in the Tour created a foreseeable risk of injury by implementing such rough ), and that he could survive an incurred risk defense (that he willingly and voluntarily took the swing knowing the probability of injury), IMAGINE the number his lawyers would blackboard and that a jury could award with respect to his damages, especially if the injury had any permanency to it. Even the South Park 'Chewbacca' defense would not carry the day."

Andrew Both wrote this week about the Tour's astounding pension projections. Reader Carl responded that it's "quite interesting that the Tour would be rolling out the big numbers again with regard to retirement, especially with players like Sean [Murphy] questioning the whole process."

Ryan Ballengee chipped away at Tim Finchem's eye-opening new 6-year, $27 million deal. Reader Brett noted, "Now we know why Greg Norman is asking for the minutes to every meeting. There is a lack of accountability involved here. Who is making all the decisions on the Fed Ex Cup? I've read where Paul Azinger said that the membership to his knowledge had never been asked for any input. That would mean that the Commissioner is making all the decisions. Scott are the players working for Commissioner Finchem or is Commissioner Finchem working for the players?"

Reader RThompson wondered, "Is it just the handpicked independents that are setting (staging) Commissioners Finchems contract, salary and benefits, or do the 4 player directors on the 9 member policy board have a say in the Commissioners agreements. If it is only the independents, and Commissioner Finchem has hand picked them, then this would basically be justified as self-dealing."

Golf World's "Big Bang" story on flogging and working-out prompted an interesting discussion on shotmaking between JohnV, Sean Murphy, J.P., Steven T. and Smolmania.

The Australian Open will now be headed by Paul McNamee, who made some Bivens-like comments in his first interview with The Age. But as reader Hux noted, "have a talk with Mike Clayton before judging McNamee. Mike has been pushing for this appointment for years, which is good enough for me. Give him a chance."  Alright, alright, I can't argue with that!

Bill Huffman wrote about a recent speech given by Jim Vernon, another encouraging sign that the USGA is laying the groundwork for doing something about regulating distance.

And finally, LPGA ommissioner Carolyn Bivens' first major and the ensuing coverage has not been pretty.

Doug Ferguson looked at an LPGA major and wasn't impressed. Reader Scott Stearns noted, "you know its a major when you see members hitting balls on the practice tee right next to the players."

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post and Peter Yoon of the LA Times devoted significant space to evaluating the Bivens era.  Frank Hannigan weighed in too.

Bivens talked to the media and it wasn't pretty. Her April Fool's Day-worthy comments, while entertaining, also means that there are ramifications for the emerging LPGA Tour. Reader Pete the Luddite noted: "she is singlehandedly setting back the development of the game, women's golf, and dare I say feminism in general with this powderpuff approach."

Augusta here we come...

The Peper Files

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Another gem from the "When Good Editors Move To St. Andrews and Don't Care Anymore" Files, has Links Magazine columnist George Peper dismantling the claim that Jones and MacKenzie would approve of recent Augusta National changes.

This appears to be another sign that the club's pre-tournament media offensive has backfired.

Let’s face it. If Jones and Mackenzie had been cryogenically preserved and brought back to life, they’d take one look at what has happened to their course and head straight back to the freezer. Augusta National is no longer a Jones/Mackenzie course—it’s a Jones/Mackenzie/Clifford Roberts/Perry Maxwell/ Robert Trent Jones/George Cobb/John LaFoy/George Fazio/Joe Finger/Byron Nelson/Jay Morrish/Bob Cupp/Jack Nicklaus/Tom Fazio course—and in the process of all that revision the guys at the wheel have, to borrow a Scot’s expression, lost the plot.

Hootie, if you think your founding architects would approve of what you and your predecessor chairmen have wrought, it’s time you started reading something other than putts. Pick up a copy of Mackenzie’s The Spirit of St. Andrews, written in 1932, the year he completed Augusta National.

Peper goes on to look at various holes, contrasting the changes that have taken place with MacKenzie's own writings.

Ed Bradley/Tiger Woods : Ahmad Rashad/Michael Jordan

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Phil Mushnick writes about Mike Wallace's claim that  Tiger and Co. "dictated the ground rules for what correspondent Ed Bradley could and could not ask," Richard Sandomir pens a must read critique of the interview. (Thanks to reader John for the link.)
Bradley looked to be enjoying himself too much as he smiled and chuckled along with Woods in various locales, conjuring comparisons to the buddy act of Ahmad Rashad and Michael Jordan, who, like Woods, surrenders so little to journalists but whose consent to be interviewed is deemed an occasion to send a camera crew.

This puffy profile reminded me of a "documentary" about Woods — "Son, Hero, Champion" — that preceded CBS's fourth-round coverage of the Masters in 1997. It was produced by IMG, the agency that represents Woods, so you know how objective and unconflicted it was.

Bivens Meets With The Media

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Carolyn103005.jpgI want to apologize for saying Thursday was a slow news day when all along a goldmine of the most absolutely LOL priceless MBASpeak waited over at ASAPSports.

Second, I must apologize to PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem who, despite the occasional Yogi Berra inspired line, can at least speak English.

Which brings us to LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens. Get a cart ladies and gentlemen, we're going 36 here. Commissioner:

On the business side, talk about a few things we're doing. The first, as we talked last year, the preparation for this year, our overarching theme for the next three years is going to be building the LPGA brand. We're going to build that brand by continuing to build on the fans first and the five points of celebrity.

Build on the fans first? Oh, and the five points of celebrity are the product of Ty Votaw's imagination, in case you were afraid to ask.

Some of the first initiatives is we have we are doing a lot of work and having an individual branding coach available for the women. The idea being that we will do everything we can to help them build their very own unique brands.

Is we serious, we have branding coaches?  Are they like a life coach, only armed with a Masters degree?

The women have really gravitated to this. We had a couple of the players go through this during the off season. They were part of a panel. During the player meeting we offered sign up sheets and we actually had to expand having this coach for more than one day. We actually had to go to three days.

Someone actually, like, actually bought into this? Oh yes... 

And we're bringing her to a couple more tournaments and we will be putting up matching funds for the women who want to continue to work with the branding coach. We want to open up more endorsement opportunities and more opportunities to earn livings not only on the course and at the tournaments but beyond.

We've done a number of things in general media marketing. Examples of what we talked about last year, that we think these women and these stars have pulling power outside the world of golf.

I'll spare you the Academy Awards recap.

We have something coming up in a couple of weeks. We're putting two of the LPGA rookies with two of the NASCAR rookies and doing a cross promotion, if you will. It's a program that is already on the Speed Channel. And we're going to have two of the LPGA rookies take the NASCAR rookies to a course outside Dallas one day and they're going to go through the five points of celebrity. They're going to go through the fans first and then they're going to go through all of the pretournament warm ups and routines and then the four of them will play nine holes of golf.

They're going to go through the fans? That sounds dangerous. Sorry, continue...

The next day it will be reversed. The LPGA rookies will go to the race track. They will go through all of the prerace routines, including all of the sponsor meetings, and then they will work the pits.

Wow, through the sponsor meetings?  And I bet there's a camera crew to record it all!

There is a lot of cross marketing we can do with NASCAR for a number of different reasons. The primary one being is that we both operate very heavily in the space called hospitality. And I think there are a lot of things that we can learn from each other, and a lot of fun opportunities to have these women who have very unique and different pastimes and personalities into new arenas where they are very comfortable.

You see you dumb writers, "we both operate heavily in the space called hospitality." There is a lot of reasons I have to talk to you like this, but mostly it's because you don't understand the sophisticated world of brand cross-pollination.

PAUL ROVNAK: Thank you, Carolyn. We'll now take questions.

That's right, the questions haven't even begun.

Okay, the gentleman on the right with his jaw dropped:

Q. Carolyn, you say three years. Is that the time frame at the end of which you would want to see the major changes you want or the major differences you want established for sure?

COMMISSIONER CAROLYN BIVENS: Larry, it is. We have such great momentum, and I keep talking about this great foundation. We couldn't be doing what we're doing now in branding with fans first and five points of celebrity not so inculcated throughout the organization.

Yes, she just said inculcated.

So we will extend, and we actually know where we want to go beyond the three years, but each one of these is going to be a continuum, a building block on top of each other.

Now I'm just going to let this next part go uninterrupted because, well, it's frightening.

Q. How do you measure that? Is it strictly a television ratings thing? Is it a sponsorship thing, purse thing?

COMMISSIONER CAROLYN BIVENS: How do you measure branding?

Q. No, how the success has been of branding and the growth and translating the buzz into tangible results.

COMMISSIONER CAROLYN BIVENS: There is a lot of different ways. I got here late last night. I had attended for Monday afternoon and the first part of yesterday, the Sports Business Journals World Congress, dedicated to sports and a great cross section of sports.

It opened up Monday night with a interview with David Stern. If you want to talk about building a brand in the sports world it would be the NBA. They brand everything NBA and you know pretty much what you're going to get when it says NBA.
From an entertainment standpoint I would say Oprah is the best we know. She is a great personal brand. Whether it's her magazine or TV show, you know what you're going to get and there is a consistency.
Again in the entertainment world, Disney would be another world class brand builder. So there are a lot of different metrics that go behind that, it's not just one.

Ok, enough!  Metrics. Major, major points for that MBA jargon classic. I bet we've got a product, a benchmarking and a core values in our system today too.

Q. When you speak of branding and a branding coach for the players, I'm not quite clear on the concept. Are you talking about, in essence, becoming producer of their own product?

COMMISSIONER CAROLYN BIVENS: They are their own product. Each individual golfer is a brand. They stand for something. They have core values. The companies that they choose to associate with and put on their hat or wear on their sleeve then begin to communicate to the rest of the world what those core values are.

So, like, their sponsors are their personal brand? Wow, what individualism!

So it's making sure that those that they represent are consistent with who they are, and that the messages, the way they conduct themselves, is communicating to the rest of the world this is who I am and this is what I am about, is it consistent.

In going through the process, it also includes things like a number of these women have managers. When was the last time that you checked your press kit. What photo is being used. What's been said about you. If it's 2 or 3 years old, you may want to update it. You've grown, you are a different personality.
You have a mustache from the steroids you've been taking and you need to Photoshop it out...oh, sorry.
It's looking at things like the products and services that they use, and would use whether or not they are endorsed by. What's comfortable. They'll end up being better spokespeople and they'll end up being better business partners.

To the extent we can get them to do that, again we can roll this up to the LPGA and our overall brand.

Roll this up? Oh, is it like toilet paper?

Q. I want to ask you a media related question, actually. With ABC television dropping out of the PGA Tour next year, does that conceivably open up any opportunities for LPGA events to perhaps be on network TV going head to head with the PGA, and would that be something that's desirable?

COMMISSIONER CAROLYN BIVENS: The media landscape is something we're spending a great deal of time looking at. First we're looking at it from inside the LPGA Tour. Let's talk about that first. We talk about this wonderful 30 year pipeline that ranges from Michelle and from Morgan all the way up through Juli and Beth. That is a great opportunity. It's also a challenge. It's a challenge because it requires very different messages be targeted at very different audiences and use different distribution channels. What do I need.

Ah, distribution channels in the media landscape.

To communicate with Juli Inkster fans and followers is very different than communicating with Morgan's fans and followers.

What's the difference between a fan and a follower? Sorry...

There aren't very many of the under 25 fans, those that are following Natalie and Julieta and that group, that are going to rush in on a Thursday or Friday and sit down and watch a two hour telecast whether it's on cable or network. They probably won't do much of that on Saturday or Sunday either.

Hey, at least she's honest about no one watching the LPGA Tour any day of the week! Nice positioning there with the networks.

We have to find out and understand more how do they consume media and how do they want to. So far some of the things that we're finding, they would much rather, the hole by hole scoring be pushed through and preferably to their cell phones.

We have to be able to what I call slice and dice our audience, know exactly who it is we're targeting, what messages works and what distribution channels.

What I call slice and dice? Everybody on three...one, two, three... "OY VEY!" 

The 35 and older audience, we need to reach them in more of the traditional media. I don't mean to suggest that TV is ever going to go away, but I do believe there are different combinations that we have to use. Maybe a highlight show or a combination of a highlight show and live coverage. Should it be an hour, what much should it be, how much should be broadcast. Should we be taping the after round interviews and webcasting those. We're looking at all aspects of inside and outside content.

Does this mean when I turn 35 this year, that I'll stop using the Internet?

Q. There have been a couple of negative headlines earlier this year regarding off course issues, rankings, media credentials policies. I'm wondering how you would characterize the first two months of the season off the course?

COMMISSIONER CAROLYN BIVENS: I'm surprised I got that question.

Q. Surprised it was this late?

COMMISSIONER CAROLYN BIVENS: No. But let me say this about that. It had to happen. It just had to happen. I'm not go going to give you these, but I'm going to suggest that you go onto the Internet and that you Google LPGA and then pick out some of your favorite players and see what you can buy, see what kind photographs have been taken at tournaments. And you can purchase just about anything that you want.
The LPGA, as I've said, was late to this game. We were the last mainstream sport that wasn't controlling the credentialing and controlling of the photographs. This was not targeted to the mainstream press. The mainstream press does also sell to a lot of other organizations who in fact generally tell the mainstream press that they are going to use it for news coverage.

And after a whole bunch of mumbo-jumbo...

As we discuss about brand building, we have got to have control of our content. It's also important, as you all know from a commercial standpoint. The two headlines that came out of the Sports Business Journal meeting the last couple of days have been two things. No. 1, brand is everything. And No. 2 is, he who owns content has it.

Was Yogi the deliverer of message No. 2?

One of the things that they asked Mel Karmazin spoke yesterday, kicked off with an interview and talked about what they're paying for different content for serious radio. And they said how much of this can you afford and how much do you want to own. He said, "We want to own every content that's ever been developed and anything that's going to come along." The commercial aspect of controlling this is part of the brand and it had to happen.

Note to LPGA Tour: proofreading, it helps. FYI, it's called Sirius, and uh, I guess no proofreader could make sense of the rest of that nonsense.

And now onto the World Rankings debacle...

Again, in talking to a number of people who have worked very closely with the PGA and been part of that whole system and doing studying on my own, it seems in just about every ranking there is always something that's called an aberration, or the ones that I was most interested in, is the fact that the same conversation had been had over the years with Jumbo Osaka. I don't think he ever won on the PGA Tour, but he consistently ranked in the Top 10, much like Uri Futo did because he played so often and won so frequently on the Tour.

I'd crack a joke here but my face is buried in my hands.

Q. On the credential matters again, I thought LPGA went a little bit too extreme on that and I don't understand that. I believe that the first regulation the LPGA drafted was that the media, when they take pictures, that they can use that for only 48 hours and after that they needed LPGA's permission. I want to know why you went that extreme.

COMMISSIONER CAROLYN BIVENS: Good. First of all, let me say that we had hired about a month ago one of the best First Amendment lawyers and law firms in New York City. We had had conversations and prolonged sessions with the heads and the general counsels of a number of sports organizations. Every sentence that was in the credentials, from SBS is taken directly from a major sport credential.

There are a couple of things. No. 1, the first week we allowed redactions, changes, to be made to the credentials. We gathered all of those and consulted again with some of the other sport general counsels and with our First Amendment law firm and made changes.

The 48 hours, by the way, is and always has been in our credentials for all of the video and television footage. That wasn't new to the LPGA. That was new to the press credentials, not to network or broadcast.

The other change that the Associated Press asked us to make was the addition of a sentence that clearly stated that we were not controlling news stories. We added that.

The other language that ended up beyond the first 36 hours, by the end of this happened on a Wednesday. By Friday morning there had been a joint press release issued by the Associated Press and LPGA that the language did not inhibit news stories, nor was it ever intended to. Everything beyond that has been over the commercial use.

The other sentence that has caused so much conversation was taken out of a paragraph that said that the LPGA had the right to use the photographs solely for the purpose of promoting that tournament.

Now, where did that come from? That came from the NCAA credentials, for exactly the same reason the NCAA uses it. We're two organizations that don't have our own press core. We don't have our own in house crew, be that either photographers, reporters, whatever. We don't have that. So the only way that we promote the tournaments the next year is with the use of those photographs.

In some cases, the media is not the right owner of that. Unlike some of the other sports who will not credential freelancers, we do credential freelancers. So sometimes the media is not the rights holders, which meant that we needed to negotiate individual media by media for the use of that.

Does that answer your question?

Yes. So all of the language was "taken directly from a major sport credential."

Maybe these major organizations need to add language stipulating that other sports organizations are barred from lifting language from press credential forms more than 48 hours after the event?

Well, time for the final tally: 22 references to the brand, 7 to branding and 2 to brands.

30 out of 3500 words, nearly a 1% clip. Not bad, not bad.

Huffman on Vernon Speech

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Bill Huffman in the East Valley Tribune:

Like you, I enjoy driving the ball as far as I can. But I was bothered by comments from USGA official James Vernon, who was the guest speaker at last week’s Arizona Golf Association awards dinner at Moon Valley Country Club in Phoenix.

Vernon is the 2006 chairman of the Equipment Standards Committee. He also is in his first year as vice president of the USGA after serving as a member of the Executive Committee for the past three years.

In other words, Vernon knows golf. And what he said about the high-tech ball in relation to how far it’s traveling these days deserves our attention.

For instance, Vernon mentioned how all of this bombing of the ball has led to a “de-skilling of the golf swing.’’ And he’s right, as Tiger Woods doesn’t resemble Bobby Jones or Ben Hogan in any way, shape or form.

And face it, everybody wants to be like Tiger. If that means hitting it a mile and then searching for it, so be it. That Woods ranks No. 9 in distance (302.9 yards per drive), No. 140 in accuracy and No. 3 in money ($2.16 million) says it all.

According to Vernon, higher swing speeds are “more about athleticism’’ and less about rhythm and tempo.

“Today, there is no correlation — none — between driving accuracy and winning on the PGA Tour,’’ Vernon said. “But there is a clear increase (in money won) for players who drive it over 300 yards.’’

Vernon said it’s gotten to the point where the Tour’s motto — “These guys are good!” — is debatable.

“Maybe,’’ he said of the Tour’s claim. “But more and more, they’re hitting it off-center and getting away with it.’’
And...
Vernon sees the impact of the high-tech ball on the “No Fear” generation, and it troubles him. He said unless the ball gets brought back by 20 yards or so, we’ll be forced to bulldoze our way into the future.

“The lengthening of golf courses is costly, and in many cases, impossible,’’ Vernon said. “That’s why we need everyone’s cooperation on this (issue).’’

The textbook case is Augusta National, which this year has been lengthened — for the third time in five years — to 7,445 yards for the Masters. And it’s a crying shame, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus told Golf Digest.

Trust me, it’s not like Arnie and Jack are old fuddy-duddies lashing out at change. It’s more like golf has become “Star Trek,” with Captain Tiger and his crew powering the ball at warp speed to destinations unknown.

So Huffman wasn't bothered by Vernon, but by theme of his speech.

Here's the lowdown on Vernon's speech to the USGA Annual Meeting earlier this year spelling out what was likely talked about in Arizona.

I must say it's most encouraging to hear that the USGA is letting Vernon speak to groups like this to explain its findings.  Not only does it restore some balance to the argument, but enlightens those are curious about the ramifications, but were afraid to ask.

It also demonstrates that the Executive Committee is not paying much attention to the position put forth by David Fay earlier this year: that the USGA really governs more for the average man than the elite player. 

Rough Call

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Garry Smits writes about the apparently monumental decision facing the PGA Tour:

Dozens of players interviewed since the decision was made to move to the tournament to May agree that the course should not be over-seeded for that date, given the warmer temperatures that will now be as much a part of the tournament as cold March winds had been for 40 years. When played in March, the course was over-seeded with grass that would better stand up to the winter months. But with the tournament in May, and new irrigation and drainage systems being installed, superintendant Fred Klauk can simply let the natural Bermuda grass take over.

As a result, the rough would be cut to 2 1/2 inches. Because of the nature of Bermuda rough, and the small, undulating greens of the Stadium Course, anything deeper would be unplayable, since balls tend to sink all the way to the bottom of that grass. Even the United States Golf Association, never shy about torturing players for the U.S. Open, capped the Bermuda rough at 3 inches for the last two Opens held at Pinehurst.

Past Players champions such as Tiger Woods, PGA Tour Policy Board member Davis Love III, Fred Funk, Mark McCumber and Craig Perks, as well as Joe Durant (another Policy Board member), and Jim Furyk, David Toms, Len Mattiace, Frank Lickliter and Zach Johnson are among the players who have come out in favor of not over-seeding, either in news conferences or in interviews with The Times-Union.
Mark Russell, the rules official who set up the Stadium Course for last week's Players Championship, said a final decision hasn't been made. But he also said having shallow Bermuda rough with firm fairways and greens would be closer to what architect Pete Dye intended when he designed the course in the late 1970s.

A Stadium Course set-up such as that would offer two strategies that don't exist now: a lot of drives previously caught by heavy rough (and giving players only one alternative, hacking out with a wedge) will run into the trees on holes such as Nos.1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 11 and 16, forcing the pros to play recovery shots. Since the days of Arnold Palmer, golf fans have enjoyed watching professionals try to hit shots over and through trees.

"We like that challenge also," said Love. "That would give us the chance to try a lot of exciting golf shots."
And there was this from Jim Furyk:
"They're trying to get the input of guys who have won this tournament, and guys who play at this course a lot, in all kinds of weather and conditions," said Furyk, a Ponte Vedra Beach resident. "I'm encouraged by what I'm hearing. Not over-seeding, cutting the rough down to around 2 inches and getting this course really firm and fast would tremendous for this tournament."

Hannigan on Bivens v. Media

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golfobserver copy.jpgAs usual, Golfobserver's Frank Hannigan whittles the brouhaha down to a few sentences:

Suppose a calendar maker in Thailand lusted for a photo he's seen of Morgan Pressel in Golf World wearing a skirt that would not be allowed on the premises of Winged Foot or Seminole. The issue: Who does he pay? Big stuff, huh?

Forget about readers who have gone hungry in order to pay for subscriptions in the expectation they would get Michelle Wie's SAT scores. All Golf World has been running is little agate print results of LPGA events way in the back of the magazines, next to its Viagra ads.

Amen Corner Live

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masterslogo2.gifTangible benefits to Hootie's progressive ways:

For the first time ever, visitors to masters.org, the Tournament's official Web site, will be able to see every golfer play Amen Corner live.

Visitors to "Amen Corner Live" on masters.org will be able to see live action prior to the start of the daily television broadcast. The free service will be available Thursday, April 6 through Sunday, April 9. Approximate web cast times are 10:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 12:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Sunday. Visitors should check masters.org daily for exact times. All times are eastern daylight savings times.

"The importance and use of the Internet continues to grow and we think this is another service to our patrons," said Hootie Johnson, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament. "The ability to see live action at Amen Corner is something very special."

In previous years masters.org has provided live coverage of hole Nos. 6 and 12, but only during the practice rounds.