Golf Course Design by Cornish/Hurdzan

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Today I received my paperback copy of Geoffrey Cornish and Michael Hurdzan's new bibliography of golf architecture writings, Golf Course Design. Grant Books (www.grantbooks.co.uk) published it and has created three editions: paper, a limited 425 edition and a 75 leather bound signed edition.

You can poke around the Grant Books website to find the various editions. But just on an initial glance, the book is outstanding (though I'm biased, several of my books are featured and praised).  From the web site:

The book is divided into three sections: Part I: The Architecture of Golf, a chronology which discussses the evoloution of golf course design, architecture and construction. Part II: The Literature of Golf Design, which deals with the literature of golf design, land marks in the literature of golf design, biographies of golf architects, architects who are authors. Part III: The Bibliography which is devided into various sections. Part IV: Arrangements of Large Collections. Part V: Resources. The appendix includes short title index and the index of authors. This is a landmark production in the field of golf course design. The extensive bibliography is graded in both importance and value.

R&A Design, LLC

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Mike Aitken reports on the R&A's not so stellar start in the design business.

You may recall that most links have only seen minor tinkering in preparation for Open Championships, but now that the pesky ball is going so bloody far and scores might go lower if something isn't done, why, driver must be taken out of the players hands.

Therefore, the R&A has begun to inflict assorted design atrocities on the rota links that pale when compared to anything the USGA has ever...well I just had an Oak Hill flashback.

Anyhow, Aitken reports:

...after embarking this winter on the first phase of a programme of improvements which will cost around £250,000 and increase the number of bunkers on the Ayrshire links to nearly 100, Turnberry has been advised by the Royal and Ancient to remove a number of traps and soften others because the test was in danger of becoming too severe.

Peter Dawson, the chief executive of the R&A, believed alterations to the first, 12th and 14th on the Ailsa now demanded too much of the golfer and needed to be revised.

You know how much I hate to be sarcastic, but you may recall this post about Dawson's planned February visit to help supervise these changes.

You see Mr. Dawson, there are people called golf architects who do this for a living and...oh I know, they would tell you to do something about the ball instead of littering Turnberry with rabbit-dropping inspired bunkers. Silly me!

Aitken provides the crime report:

On the first, for example, two new bunkers were introduced down the left and a third, large pot bunker was also added on the right at around the 280- yard mark. Dawson's reaction to this hazard was that it might take the driver out of the long hitters' hands and persuade them to err on the side of caution with an iron or utility club.

"Sometimes you can't fully appreciate the impact of an alteration until it's been built and you have another look at them in reality rather than on a drawing," said Dawson yesterday. "What happened on the first was that when we saw the new bunkering, we were concerned the element of risk and reward in going for the green might be taken away and the players would use an iron off the tee. But we haven't gone back to the way the hole was before. The hazard is just less severe than it was going to be."

On the back nine, though, the R&A did ask for new bunkers to be removed on the 12th and 14th holes. On the 12th, a new bunker was built on the left of the fairway beyond the existing traps. From what will be the new tee, however, the landing area was miniscule.

That bunker has been filled in as was one of the new traps on the 14th, where there were concerns the hazard couldn't be seen from the tee.

Stewart Selbie, the manager of Turnberry Hotel, was happy to comply with the R&A's wishes, though perhaps not displeased with the notion that the Ailsa had become so challenging.

The original plan was to add 30 traps before the Senior British Open is staged in Ayrshire in the summer and as many as 100 by 2009. Before work began, Turnberry had just 66 bunkers, the fewest of any links on the Open rota.

The second phase of upgrading will take place after the Seniors when Turnberry's finishing stretch will also be toughened up. Although plans for the closing holes have not yet been made public, it's thought the 16th could become more of a dogleg to create enough space to build a new tee which would extend the par-5 17th.

With an Amateur Championship also on the horizon, both Turnberry and the R&A are keen to retain a balance between heightening the challenge and retaining the character of a scenic links regularly ranked in the world's top 20. "What we don't want is to end up making the links unplayable for the regular golfer," said Selbie.

Aitken also outlines changes to Carnoustie to deal with "new technology and improved fitness," and the boondogglery continues...

And, on the treacherous 17th, there was concern a bail-out area now existed on the "island" rather than players having to think about laying up short of the burn or going for broke. This will be remedied by the introduction of rough mounding.

"We did feel that a bit of a bail-out area had emerged since the re-turfing of the 17th and so we've done something about that," acknowledged Dawson.

Rough mounding?

USGA Clubhead Speed Report

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Maybe I've underestimated the USGA's recent propaganda releases on distance. I was thinking that they would be easily misunderstood by the golfing public and would only increase member apathy. But maybe they're laying the groundwork for something else? If so, they have Titleist biting, with a post on the corporation's website of the latest position paper.

I've only skimmed it (I see equations on page 1, eh), but reader G. Bayley writes:

The paper starts by giving trajectory formulae, but then never uses or references them again. The paper gives references to experiments showing that COR declines with higher swing speed. The largest portion of the paper then replicates this result with five unidentified tour balls. A clear explanation of the previous results would have been enough for me, why replicate an accepted result. Is that doing science? This replication is the first of three results claimed. The second result being that launch angle decreases with increased swing speed. It is totally unclear as to how this came about. The final result claimed was the astounding (satire) result that ball spin rate increases with increasing club speed.

In an appendix, tour driving distance is charted for distance ranges and implicated to agree with the COR result. Since this data has no controls, no reasonable assumption as to what it correlates to can be made and is of little scientific value. Also, the paper claimed that 2000 data was from pros using wound balls, but a graph on the Titleist website would seem to indicate that at the beginning of 2000 27% of the tour players were using the modern ball and by the end of the year 42% were using the modern ball.

The article could stand a little better writing given that it was referenced as the lead item on the USGA home page. For example, I would appreciate it if someone could explain what the following means, "some specification had to be made in how the ball would be positioned on the tee. The tee position was first set at the highest speed in accordance with the ODS" which gives me visions of a tee streaking through space with a ball sitting on it. Perhaps it has no meaning and is just poor writing.

What I would have liked to see was graphs of ball trajectory predicted by the equations that were presented and then ignored, and graphs of ball trajectory as seen in experiments with balls. I would also like to have seen what the model would predict for older balls.

 

Speaking To The Decision-Makers...

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Reuters offered these Tim Finchem comments on the Tour's return to New Orleans:

 "The PGA Tour is trying to do its part to communicate to corporate America what is happening in New Orleans and what can still happen," Finchem told a news conference after hosting an economic forum attended by around 100 chief executive officers (CEOs).

"Our telecast this week will be speaking to the decision-makers throughout America.

"Our telecasts skew higher than any other sport in terms of reaching CEOs, vice presidents, chief marketing officers, people that would make the decisions to bring groups here, the individuals who make the decision about how to expand their businesses.

"I don't think most people recognise it, but if you add up the cumulative audience of a PGA Tour event it is second only to the NFL (National Football League) in terms of the total number of people that come in for a telecast."

The Lukewarm Reviews Are In

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AP's Chris Duncan reports that the Rees Jones-David Toms course at Redstone didn't exactly remind them of Riviera.

The Shell Houston Open will move to the weekend before The Masters next year, a change organizers hope will lure a more star-studded field.

It's not the date, but the course that could keep many away.

The Tournament Course at Redstone, where Stuart Appleby shot 19 under last weekend to win the event, got a lukewarm response from the players, most of whom were seeing it for the first time.

Vijay Singh won the previous two Houston Opens at the adjacent Jacobsen/Hardy course at Redstone. The event moved to the 7,457-yard Rees Jones layout this year.

Singh said too many of the holes look the same.

"The golf course did not grow on me," said Singh, the 2000 Masters winner. "Normally, the more you play, the more it grows on you. I just hope they go back to the old golf course next year. I think that's the consensus of most of the players."

Bob Estes, who finished second to Appleby, didn't like the distance between holes. The second tee was more than a quarter mile from the first green and though players had carts waiting to shuttle them, Estes said the process backed up play.

"It's just so spread out, the rounds were really long, and that's the downside of it," Estes said.

I'm shocked.  Jim Nantz said it was getting rave reviews!

MacDuff's Post Houston FedEx Cup Points

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Reader MacDuff supplies us with this week's breakdown of where players would stand if this were 2007, the first year of a PGA Tour "playoff" that will be created with a seeding of some sort.  

1    Mickelson    15346.87        9
2    Singh    14021.87        10
3    C.Campbell    12837.5        11
4    Furyk    12712.5        9
5    Glover    12404.16        9
6    Gf. Ogilvy    12237.5        8
7    Toms    11871.87        7
8    Sabbatini    11741.66        8
9    Weir    11459.37        8
10    Pettersson    11333.33        11
11    Olazabal    10875        7
12    Verplank    10725        8
13    T.Woods    10659.37        6
14    Pernice    10625        8
15    Mayfair    10479.16        9
16    Appleby    10425        8
17    Donald    10289.37        7
18    Oberholser    9550        8
19    T.Clark    9547.5        9
20    Van Pelt    9302.5        11
21    Goosen    9162.5        6
22    Cink    8633.83        8
23    Parnevik    8530        10
24    Gay    8500        9
25    Z.Johnson    8475        8
26    Lehman    8350        7
27    Warren    8237.5        8
28    Villegas    8225        8
29    Chopra    8212        9
30    Choi    8050        7
31    Ames    7975        6
32    G. Owen    7975        8
33    Els    7925        7
34    Pampling    7867.5        7
35    Bohn    7770.83        8
36    Love III    7762.5        8
37    Rollins    7675        7
38    Jerry Kelly    7662.5        6
39    D.Wilson    7425        8
40    JB Holmes    7420.83        7
41    Funk    7337.5        8
42    Purdy    7325        7
43    Palmer    7291.66        7
44    Vn Taylor    7237.5        6
45    Garcia    7175        6
46    Jobe    6892.5        7
47    Couples    6825        7
48    Franco    6800        7
49    Beem    6768.75        8
50    Imada    6717.5        8
51    Barlow    6657.5        7
52    Bertsch    6575        8
53    RS Johnson    6525        5
54    Baird    6517.5        7
55    Harrington    6500        6
56    Hoffman    6457.5        6
57    Fischer    6425        9
58    Langer    6354.16        7
59    J.Smith    6312.5        6
60    D. Howell    6262.5        5
61    Pat Perez    6262.5        7
62    Leonard    6220.83        7
63    Bjornstad    6217.5        7
64    Allenby    6187.5        6
65    Watney    6187.5        7
66    F.Jacobson    6075        6
67    Bryant    6050        6
68    Rose    5991.66        6
69    JJ Henry    5875        5
70    M.Wilson    5852.5        5
71    A.Scott    5850        5
72    J.Ogilvie    5845        6
73    Waldorf    5787.5        7
74    Estes    5775        5
75    Crane    5770        5
76    Senden    5750        5
77    Gove    5737.5        6
78    N.Green    5662.5        7
79    B. Quigley    5650        5
80    Atwal    5625        5
81    J.Byrd    5500        4
82    Baddeley    5387.5        6
83    DiMarco    5384.37        5
84    Curtis    5375        7
85    Olin Browne    5337.5        8
86    Gronberg    5312.5        5
87    Calc    5200        8
88    Westwood    5187.5        5
89    Slocum    5150        7
90    Hart    5137.5        6
            T91    Cabrera    5100        5
            T91    Immelman    5100        5
93    Bub Watson    5075        5
94    Branshaw    4962.5        6
95    Maggert    4937.5        7
96    D.Clarke    4900        4
97    Howell III    4862.5        9
98    Flesch    4805        7
99    Triplett    4750        4
100    JL Lewis    4675        7
101    Matteson    4600        6
102    Barron    4581.25        5
103    Poulter    4550        6
104    Herron    4507.5        5
105    Azinger    4500        6
106    Gore    4450        5
107    Br.Davis    4437.5        7
108    Micheel    4425        6
109    Leaney    4337.5        4
110    Sluman    4287.5        8
111    Lickliter II    4250        5
112    Frazar    4187.5        6
113    Stricker    4125        3
114    Mahan    4112.5        6
115    Geiberger    4100        6
116    Veazey    4025        5
117    Cook    4000        4
118    Dickerson    3975        7
119    Kenny Perry    3962.5        4
120    Lonard    3937.5        6
121    S.Jones    3912.5        5
122    Faxon    3812.5        6
123    Pavin    3787.5        4
124    Goggin    3737.75        4
125    Ridings    3700        5
126    Lowery    3612.5        6
127    Kaye    3575        5
128    Wetterich    3550        4
129    Andrade    3545        5
130    Kent Jones    3537.5        4
131    Petrovic    3512.5        5
132    Sindelar    3512.5        6
133    Jimenez    3387.5        3
134    Stankowski    3290.5        6
135    Sean O'Hair    3287.5        6
136    Kevin Na    3275        4
137    Ws Short Jr    3187.5        6
138    Katayama    3171.87        4
139    Daly    3050        5
140    Gamez    3037.5        5

Interface Our Customers, Weave In The Messaging...

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Brian Allee-Walsh of the New Orleans Times-Picayune sits down for a Q&A with Commissioner Tim Finchem.

Q: A local business leader said your decision to bring upwards of 50 corporate leaders to New Orleans to participate in Monday's economic forum will be the "most powerful thing to happen in our city this spring." What is your response?

A: It's a nice comment. I don't know powerful it will be. It should be helpful, because what we're trying to do is get the positive side of the equation in front of the corporate community and get them thinking about business, not just tourism, but business in general. We thought the best contribution we could make along that line was to interface (with) our customers. We have a broad range of companies that are involved in our tour. We want to bring those companies in and let them hear first-hand from the city, state and the feds about the future of New Orleans and why people are optimistic.
Oh some crafty editor inserted that (with) after the dreaded interface word. Somehow I think he really did mean to say "interface our customers."  Just sounds so much more MBAish, don't you think?
Q: How did the idea hatch?

A: It goes back to last fall when our golf course was damaged and we had to move our tournament. We were trying to figure out a way to get things moving on our tournament. Then the community down there was telling us that there were some struggles with other sports and wanted us to be the first major televised sporting event to happen in post-Katrina. That was when we decided to move our Commissioner's Cup competition, where we invite all CEOs of our sponsoring companies to New Orleans. The idea to is to combine that with this message and use it kind of as a platform.
I know, I know, I was worried too. Platform has been on the sidelines for some time now, but it's back. Well, "kind of."
Of course, on the telecast that weekend we'll be trying to weave in some of the messaging that comes out of those meetings. We have a TPC club presence there and a longtime tournament history. So we're obviously about the community and it just made sense to try to help out.
Weave in the messaging that comes out of those meetings. Let me set my TiVo now.
Q: How much did your business interruption insurance play into the decision for the PGA Tour not to reopen the TPC of Louisiana for a year after the storm?

A: I don't know the details on that.
Oops! Where did that little cut slider come from!? Sorry I interrupted...
I don't think it was hugely significant. It was a combination of things. A lot of our employees got spread around. It had something to do with some of the work that had to be done on the golf course. Once we determined that we weren't going to be prepared to play the tournament there, and we were moving the tournament, that sort of took away the necessity to get the golf course ready that quickly. So there were a number of factors. I can't really speak to the extent to which the insurance-related matter figured into it. It may have had some impact.
Given that most players hate the course, were you hoping it was completely destroyed? Oh sorry...
Q: Are you hopeful that the golfers will take time to tour the devastation for themselves?

A: I think they will. Interestingly, we've invited spouses with our corporate guests. Particularly in a situation like this you wouldn't see a fairly good turnout of spouses because it's partly a golf event. But a lot of spouses are coming because there is this interest in terms of where New Orleans is and what has happened. There's that side of it.
Uh, am I missing something here? What's interesting about the spouses tagging along?
Q: You must be proud of the PGA Tour players' relief efforts and fund-raising work the past eight months, specifically the three Louisiana pros, Kelly Gibson, David Toms and Hal Sutton. Do you anticipate the contributions of your players increasing during the week of the tournament?

A: I can't speak to that. I don't want to assume anything. The players have families at home and they give an awful lot themselves for charities around the country. Our tournaments raised over $90 million last year for well-deserving charities. The players themselves raised over $25 million in fund-raisers around the country. People need to recognize that they do an awful lot. Whatever we're doing in New Orleans is just an extension of that. But it's also important to recognize that there are hundreds of thousands of people around the country who are impacted by what players do and what tournaments do.
Sheesh, relax, it was just an innocent question! 
Q: As you look long-term at the FedEx Cup Championship Series, what is your vision? Are you looking at this as a Final Four or Super Bowl environment?

A: The PGA Tour FedEx Cup Championship Series, those last four weeks, it's unheard of in this sport to have all the best players playing head-to-head in the same field week after week after week. It just doesn't happen. There is a question of stamina. There will be a lot of movement after these players are seeded. They'll be seeded after the first part of the season and when they go into the playoffs they'll be seeded again. It has a tremendously exciting potential to elevate a consistent relevance with the fans and will give the media a lot of things to focus on and continue to raise the profile of the sport. I'm very optimistic about what can happen. Now we have to execute and we have a lot of work to do to bring this on next year. I'm very bullish on it.

He's bullish! The part about players being seeded after the first part of the season is interesting.

And I don't know what this next answer means:

Q: Are you concerned that you might lose some elite international players who might be involved in the European Tour at that time of the year?

A: Not really. It may be that a particular player who's also playing the European Tour and isn't very highly seeded, he might not play in the FedEx Cup Championship Series. Mathematically, everybody has a shot and there's a lot at stake here. Each of these tournaments in and of themselves is going to be a big tournament. So you add it all up, I've got to believe virtually everybody is going to be playing.
If this doesn't make you laugh out loud, I don't know what will...
Q: Is there one accomplishment you're most proud of during your tenure?

A: It's a very simple one. I'm most pleased that we've developed and continued a history of a close working relationship between the people who work at the Tour and the players.
See, I told you it was funny. Continue...
That's fundamental. I think we've done a much better job of working closely with our tournaments and represent our volunteers out there on the charity side. There are a lot of specific things I'm pleased that we've done. It's like anything else in business, you can't move away from the fundamentals. There are things that might have more notoriety and have a little bit more flash that are great, but in this sport it's very important to have these working relationships. We have a great team here.

 

The Signature Hole Has Not Been Established

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Garry Smits reports on Tom Fazio's latest masterwork, Florida's Amelia National (aren't we about to run out of names you can put next to National?).

You'll be shocked to learn that the course is going to be tough from the back tees, but still playable from the member tees.

"Tom did a very nice job," said 2005 Players Championship winner Fred Funk, who conducted a clinic and participated in an opening-day tournament, along with Fazio. "It's a very good test from the back tees, but it's also going to be a very good member's course."
According to Smits, the only thing left is a decision on the signature hole.
Although a "signature hole" hasn't been established, it might be the 460-yard, par-4 18th, with a series of fairway bunkers down the right side. But the par-5 ninth hole, reachable in two shots for good players, is a twisting, winding beauty, and the parallel par-4 fourth (424 from the back tees) and par-4 fifth (405) form a picturesque pairing.
 The American Society of Signature Hole Comittees (ASSHCom) will have a tough decision on their hands. I say give 'em two signatures, the front nine and the back nine signature holes.

Work for you all?


Tiger's Vigil

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You may have noticed that AP story about Tiger Woods saying he may not play until the U.S. Open because of his dad's health?

Well, so far the vigil has included a 440-deep bungy jump (what a great idea!) and a $500k night at the MGM Grand's "Mansion" tables. 

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Playing blackjack in Las Vegas was more profitable over the weekend for Tiger Woods than his recent Masters appearance. Woods, who won $315,700 for sharing third place in the Masters, told friends he won more than $500,000 on the green felt surface at the MGM Grand's Mansion.

Monty For 2010!

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This may not be the endorsement he's looking for, but Monty has Paul Casey on his side when it comes to the 2010 Ryder Cup captaincy. Count me in too. After all, wouldn't it be fun to have the European writers rooting for America every now and then! What better way to have Huggan and Donegan and Lawrenson rooting for the red, white and blue than a Monty captaincy!

"I think he'd be a wonderful captain," said Casey, who is hoping to be in the team for the showdown in September at the K Club outside Dublin.

"I know it is not the same level, but I played for Monty in the Seve Trophy last year and he has been a fabulous captain for that."