Testing Their Sense of Humor

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Nothing like some good ole blue blazer, what-we-do-to-protect-par humor (from Leonard Shapiro's Washington Post story):

But beyond about seven yards from the first cut, all the way to the spectator ropes, the USGA wants the grass to be between five and six inches, maybe longer. In that sort of spinach, players likely will only be able to hack the ball out into the fairway with a wedge.

"The idea of adjusting the rough is to make it appropriate for the shot they hit," said Walter Driver, the new president of the USGA. "A player who hits it 15 yards out of the fairway, well, let's just say their sense of humor is going to be tested."

 

I Don't Know About You...

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...but after reading this Gerry Dulac story on the 84 Lumber Classic's demise, I could take a big rain check on meeting  Joe Hardy's daughter:

"My dad, he can spend money," said Maggie Hardy Magerko, Joe's daughter and president/owner of 84 Lumber Co.

It was that spending, apparently, that helped lead to the demise of the tournament, which will be discontinued after this year as part of a growth plan by 84 Lumber to expand the nation's largest privately owned lumber and building supply retailer into a $10 billion company.

And that decision was made by Hardy Magerko, not her father, whom she says did not want to cancel the tournament.

"It was my decision," said Hardy Magerko. "I'm 40 and my dad is 83. We don't always agree on things. He has different motivation. I want to pass 84 Lumber to my sons. He likes legacies.

"That's our biggest dilemma. He spends too much money. I want to make money."

The 84 Lumber Classic agreed to a six-year sponsorship extension with the PGA Tour that would allow the tournament to move to June, beginning in 2007. Four months later, Hardy Magerko changed her mind because she said the cost of running the tournament for the next six years would have been $100 million.

Among the reasons: Hardy Magerko said her company will be spending "lots of money" to aggressively purchase smaller lumber and framing companies to eliminate competition.

So good to know the money is going to such a worthy cause. What a legacy!

Big Easy Blues

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Ron Kroichick is already tired of the PGA Tour back-patting for returning normalcy to New Orleans. Wait until he hears CBS debut Yanni's new Fats Domino-inspired "Katrina Theme," backed by a 400-member violin section. Just kidding.

It's obviously a sign of progress for normal business to resume. But golf as therapy for one of the worst natural disasters in United States history? Easy now.

Make no mistake, the PGA Tour has been generous in its response to Katrina. The Tour's hurricane-relief fund has raised more than $5 million. Louisiana native David Toms has contributed time and money. Phil Mickelson, playing in New Orleans for the first time, announced Wednesday he would donate his prize money to hurricane-related charities.

Still, the tone emanating from New Orleans this week has bordered on excessive. The presence of professional golfers will not magically clean up the destruction, nor will it abruptly revitalize the region. And though the PGA Tour is skilled in the art of self-congratulation, it's not as if all the top players flocked into town to support recovery efforts.

Carts On The Champions Tour

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championstour.gifJay Haas doesn't like carts returning to the Valiant Competitors  Senior  Champions Tour:

"I'd like it to go back to no carts," said Jay Haas, at 52 a relative youth on the Champions Tour. "It just seems right. It seems like if spectators can go out and walk, we can, too. It's part of the competition."

I'd make a joke about needing spectators to actually make it an issue, but that would be way too easy.

Rearranging the Furniture

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Mike Aitken on the reshuffling of holes at Royal Liverpool Hoylake:
Donald Steel, the architect who oversaw the latest round of changes, modestly insists he has just "rearranged the furniture".

Nevertheless, even Steel concedes the decision to open the batting with what was previously the 17th, means Hoylake will now confront the game's best players with "as stout an opening hole as any on the Open rota".

The old first, now the third, with out of bounds on the right, is as fierce as ever. After once sending five balls out of play there, Jamie Anderson, the winner of three Opens, rued: "My God, it's like playing up a spout."

Change has been gradual at Hoylake rather than violent with the links showing a modest increase in length of 122 yards, to 7,258 yards, compared to the Amateur Championship in 2000. More telling was the rearranging of certain holes so that the par-5 16th, where de Vicenzo struck that famous 3-wood, has become the new 18th.

"We have slightly rearranged the way the holes are played to set competitors a more challenging finish," explained Dawson.

"The last three holes add up to nearly 1,600 yards and the 18th in particular has enough room around it to meet the [spectator] demands of a modern 72nd hole. Measuring 560 yards, the last will present a birdie opportunity, but as a left to right dog-leg with out of bounds ever present on the right, it will also be a hole for potential disaster. A lot will happen over those holes and anyone in the lead with three left to play may not be in the lead at the end."

USGA Distance Myths, Vol. 8

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USGA Distance Myth #7:

The average distance for 5-irons on Tour is more than 200 yards.

False.  The PGA Tour Shotlink system, which records virtually all shots throughout the season, shows that the average 5-iron shot from fairway to green is approximately 185 yards.  From the tee on par threes, the average 5-iron distance is about 197 yards.

As with all of the USGA distance myths, I'm not sure I've ever heard one person cite this particular example. But let's say it is a prevailing myth that needs to be refuted, author Dick Rugge isn't exactly dispelling this purported myth.

The 5-iron is not a 200-yard club on average, yet it is a 197-yard club on par-3 tees? So yes, it is a myth, but not one that's very far off!

And if I'm not mistaken, if 197 is an average, then that means a whole bunch of 5-irons are being used from more than 200 yards?

A more interesting myth for Rugge to address would have been "Vanishing Loft Disease," as outlined by Tom Wishon in his book, The Search For the Perfect Club. 

However, pointing out changes in standard lofts to show that distance isn't an issue might have led to grumbling from manufacturers, but so what? As the kids like to say, it is what it is.

Tait on R&A and Links Golf

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Alistair Tait writes:
Credit goes to the R&A for remaining loyal to the tradition of taking the Open Championship to seaside links. All I can say is long may it continue. Given the abundance of links golf in these isles, it is sad that the game's top players only play links golf twice a year at most – the Open Championship and the insipid Dunhill Links Championship.

So enjoy the pictures on your TV screen of this year's Open Championship over the glorious links of Royal Liverpool. Revel in the joy of watching the game's elite play the game as it was first played all those years ago on the windswept coast of the Kingdom of Fife.

Too bad we don't see the big boys playing links golf more often. Too bad the game's oldest championship isn't taken to more traditional courses in the British Isles.

Monarrez On USGA Testing

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Carlos Monarrez in the Detroit Free Press reports that the reduced distance balls have been submitted for testing, and more remarkably, Monarrez understands where the USGA is headed on equipment regulation.

The thing that concerns Rugge most about distance is the lack of concern for accuracy it promotes. With a wedge in their hands, tour pros don't care where they are on the course. So now Rugge and the USGA are testing grooves on irons.
Of course, they could just widen out the fairways to a whopping 30 yards and the accuracy numbers would improve. But wait, that might let someone shoot 11 under! And that would reflect poorly on the us! Sorry...I always forget the priorities.
"In fact this was first told to me by Arnold Palmer a few years back," Rugge said. "He said that that's one of the biggest problems, that we need to tighten down on the grooves because it's too easy to get out of the rough, especially for the best players."

Rugge spoke more about the aerodynamic drag of a golf ball that could slow it down at higher speeds. He mentioned how the moment of inertia limit could help amateurs who use today's massive drivers.

Then it dawned on me. By changing the properties of equipment -- more efficiency at slower swing speeds, more forgiveness on off-center hits, balls that slow down at tour speeds -- it seems Rugge and the USGA are standing up for the little guy. Slowly, I'm beginning to understand the madness.
I'm glad someone understands what they are up to.

Open Media Day This and That

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The various British outlets each covered the Open Championship media a bit differently.

Mike Aitken wrote in the Scotsman about the vaunted ball study and the attempt to cajole shorter flying balls out of manufacturers on the one-year anniversary of the original request.

The Royal and Ancient reported yesterday progress had been made with golf's manufacturers on providing prototypes of a ball which will travel shorter distances than the ones currently in use.

A year ago, the R&A invited companies to send in balls for testing which fly 15 or 25 yards shorter than existing models. "We requested sample balls from top manufacturers for testing and progress has accelerated recently after balls - and in some cases clubs as well - were submitted for testing," reported R&A chief executive Peter Dawson . "The next step is testing. But we're concerned if we get a shorter ball someone will design a clubhead which will get back most of the reduced distance."

"Don't run away with the idea that we're going to see a shorter ball by the end of the year," cautioned Dawson. "Right now we're dealing with the scientific side of things. The philosophical aspect is a different question."

David Smith reported that the R&A is attempting to get the other major associations to get moving on drug testing.

Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal and Ancient Gold Club which promotes The Open, said: "There is no particular evidence of drugs helping you in golf, and there is no particular evidence of anyone taking them.

"I certainly don't think we've got a sport in crisis but I think golf would be wise improving that rather than just relying on its reputation."

He said: "We've taken the view that it is not possible for the organisers of one event like ourselves, with the Open Championship, to introduce an anti-doping policy in isolation of what goes on in the other 51 weeks of the year."

Douglas Lowe writes about the organizers' desire to not call the host course by its official name.

The club is called Royal Liverpool, but organisers have requested that the championship on July 20 to 23 be referred to as the Hoylake Open, referring more accurately to the town where the club is located with views over the Dee estuary to the Welsh mountains.

And he offered this story from Dawson:

Despite this long history, an American professional is said to have called the R&A to ask if this was a new course.

"He is a senior professional who shall remain nameless," said Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A. "You might imagine we were a little bit bemused by the question, but it does show that we have been away for far too long."

And this gem:

There are fears that the world's top players might take it apart, but that is a view not shared by Martin Kippax, the R&A's championship convener, who assured the course would not be tricked up.

"It is like any other links course," he said. "Regardless of length, it depends on the weather conditions. If we get a warm, wet spring and some real growth in the rough, and if the wind blows, it will provide a very stern test.

"Nobody has made a monkey of any of the Open champion-ship courses and Hoylake is no exception."

He must not have seen the Road hole last year.

James Corrigan reports that the R&A seems upset no women have entered qualifying:

Talk about a change of heart. After 145 years of refusing to allow the fairer sex to play in their precious Open Championship, the Royal and Ancient revealed itself yesterday to be now seemingly just as desperate to have a female entrant. It did so by admitting that it is considering sending out letters to the leading women players reminding them that they can now try to qualify.

"We did not open it up to them last year hoping women would not enter," said the Royal & Ancient chief executive, Peter Dawson, at Hoylake, the Liverpool course that will host its first Open in 39 years from 20 to 23 July.

"Having done that, it will be a shame if they do not take advantage. Maybe we should write to them individually."

Hey, what a good idea!