Favoring Caution

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The Hartford Courant's Matt Eagan writes about events that "don't live up to the hype," and includes the U.S. Open as his second choice.

2. The U.S. Open (Golf): Andy North is a nice man and a fine announcer, but he won three tournaments in his professional career.

Two were U.S. Opens.

The tournament doesn't exactly identify the legends.

There is poetry in the democratic foundation of our national championship. The tournament is open to any qualified golfer anywhere in the world.

Alas, the USGA annually manages to ruin things - at least for the viewers.

The shin-high rough and concrete greens favor caution and two-putts.

Heroic shots are penalized. Boldness is discouraged. Power is verboten.

What does this mean to us? ZZZZZs.

 

"It'll be done when it's done"

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Thomas Bonk reports on the USGA's rolled back ball study and confirm's that it is still on a fast train going nowhere.
Nearly 13 months ago, the USGA sent letters to golf ball manufacturers, inviting them to send in prototype balls that travel 15 to 25 yards less, a 5% to 8% decrease in distance.

The prototypes haven't flooded the desk of senior technical director Dick Rugge.

"There have been five submissions," he said. "I expect we'll get some more soon, though."

The USGA's testing is part of an ongoing research project that began in 2002, so the organization would have the information it needed if a rule change was called for in the future.

Rugge said the submitted prototype balls are being tested at the USGA lab in Far Hills, N.J., and that testing by players probably would happen this summer.

As for when the entire project would be completed and a report made, Rugge said it's unclear.

"It'll be done when it's done, but we don't want to drag it on forever," he said.

Taking AIM With Brad Klein

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AIMDarwin.jpgGolfweek Architecture Editor Bradley Klein  joins us for the third installment of Taking AIM, this site's occasional instant message chat with someone in golf proficient in IM chat.  Klein not only runs Golfweek's annual "America's Best" list of State-by-State, Classic and Modern Top 100's, but also covers an array of subjects for the Orlando-based trade publication, including an online exclusive about distance measuring devices and state golf associations who ban them.

He currently has re-issued his entertaining anthology of writing, Rough Meditations (Amazon link in left column), and is working on an much anticipated book about the Jack Nicklaus-Tom Doak design pairing at Sebonack. He is also the author of two classics in their genres, a history of Desert Forest Golf Club and Discovering Donald Ross.

GeoffShac:    so tell us, did you really get on the phone and call of those state golf associations about rangefinders?
GeoffShac:    impressive stuff

IGOLFBadly:    emailed 125 state and regional associations, got 80 responses, called all of the remaining state ones myself. In no case did I rely upon Website info or second-hand reports.

IGOLFBadly:    that would be a "yes"

IGOLFBadly:    I'm a researcher by training, as you might recall

GeoffShac:    oh right, the professor act
GeoffShac:    so my question was, they the devices seem to be pretty much dead as far as big time golf goes

IGOLFBadly:    I don't think they are "dead." They are a back-up plan for caddies, however. The real issue is that they are of value to an extremely small percentage of all golfers, and they are expensive and don't always travel well, depending upon the device and the course set up

GeoffShac:    as a former caddy, do you think they can speed up play or are necessarily more accurate

IGOLFBadly:    No to both.

GeoffShac:    I've heard some great horror stories from college coaches already, so the speed of play thing seems to be a myth

IGOLFBadly:    They might speed up play for golfers in the rough, but not for those in the fairway, where it seems to slow players down, as they are simply double-checking what's available.

GeoffShac:    speaking of myths...your take on the USGA's distance myths

IGOLFBadly:    I have not yet studied them carefully, but on the surface they seem very strained. It's one of those cases where if the distance issue were really a myth, they wouldn't have to strain to explain it away.

IGOLFBadly:    Obviously, ground contour is more decisive than distance in terms of scoring difficulty. But if you ask any architect today, they all tell you they have no idea where to place strategic bunkers in a meaningful way for Tour-quality players

GeoffShac:    there you go again on that strategy stuff!
GeoffShac:    so Rough Meditations is back, 10 years later?

IGOLFBadly:    "Rough Meditations" is back, nine years after the hardcover, this time in expanded, paperback version, with about 25 extra new pages of material

GeoffShac:    it's aged remarkably well
GeoffShac:    it's also stunning to think how much has changed in those years

IGOLFBadly:    I wrote it to be part of a certain classical tradition, joining hands with old-fart writers like Bernard Darwin, Herbert Warren Wind, and Pat Ward-Thomas, and so they were my inspiration and always are

IGOLFBadly:    But the game has changed dramatically in the last decade - except for the USGA disclaimer (see above)

IGOLFBadly:    Golf is also so much more business-oriented, at least in my world, than it was (or I was) when I wrote the bulk of "Rough Meditations"

GeoffShac:    beyond technology, what's the biggest change in the design world in that time...or is it technology's impact?

IGOLFBadly:    Technology is part of it. Also, course exposure through photography, promotions, Website, CDs, pre-opening hype and story-boarding of courses

GeoffShac:    remember the good ole days on AOL's ichat when Butch Harmon would join in for your weekly live chats
GeoffShac:    now look at him!

IGOLFBadly:    Yes, that's a good example - also Gary McCord, wasn't he part of the iGOLF team early on?

GeoffShac:    I can't remember what I had for breakfast, but that sounds right :)

IGOLFBadly:    Once you reach a certain age (I have, you haven't) it's much easier to recall 25 years ago than 25 minutes ago

GeoffShac:    oh something to look forward too
GeoffShac:    the internet is great for golf though, for the most part, wouldn't you say?

IGOLFBadly:    Not really. It's great for people who want to find out about golf tournaments, courses, travel, the latest news. For that it's great. But it promotes expectations that are excessive, it leads people away from reading about golf, it creates a kind of dynamic and rapidity of curiosity that is not consistent with golf's sensibility

IGOLFBadly:    Website/Internet is "fast world." Golf is "slow world."

GeoffShac:    literally...does architecture deserve some blame for slow play these days, or is it technology and setup and money?

IGOLFBadly:    Architecture is not the main issue - maybe a secondary one. It's the tees people play, their ego, their conviction that given technology and their newly purchased driver, they can actually play well and hit the ball 250 yards steadily

IGOLFBadly:    There are a lot of hard courses by Bob Cupp, Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus out there, but even when they have multiple tees, or when more forgiving designers lay out multiple options, far too many golfers play the wrong set of tees. I am amazed how, in most foursomes, with two hacks and two fine golfers, they insist on playing the same markers. Ridiculous. People should learn to play from where they have a chance to score within 5 shots of their index if they play decently.

GeoffShac:    so about Augusta
GeoffShac:    first, uh, you were there this year to collect your first place prize in the writing contest

IGOLFBadly:    Accepting an award after 20 years of submission to the annual golf writing contest was the big change at Augusta for me!

GeoffShac:    I hope you milked the opportunity
GeoffShac:    with a nice long speech
GeoffShac:    or did the GWAA police have an orchestra there ala the Oscars to keep long winded writers from thanking their distant cousins?

IGOLFBadly:    My acceptance speech lasted exactly 90 seconds, and that was perfect for the occasion.

As for the golf course, I'll condense here what I wrote in Golfweek. The added distance made some sense, or at least was excusable and explainable. But the narrowing of fairways and the strangling of fairway landing areas with trees was absurd and indefensible

GeoffShac:    I was at an event recently where a good golfer started telling me that he liked the trees because he didn't care for the tree removal movement in golf

IGOLFBadly:    Not only did you lose strategic width and angles, but spectators couldn't see a thing, and the golf course from the tees where the members (remember them?) play was squeezed beyond recognition. ANGC is the only major golf course in the last five years to be relying on trees to toughen its holes. Hootie Johnson always invokes Bobby Jones to justify whatever he's doing. Interestingly, he never invokes Alistair MacKenzie

GeoffShac:    well they've treated MacKenzie so well there over the years

IGOLFBadly:    They still haven't paid his design bill, have they?

GeoffShac:    no
GeoffShac:    I wonder what the tally is with interest

IGOLFBadly:    Maybe there's a still a builder's lien on the golf course!GeoffShac:    will Augusta start a trend back to a tree planting future?

IGOLFBadly:    I'd recommend buying trees in spades if you want to speculate on future ANGC endeavors

GeoffShac:    wow, even more to come eh?
GeoffShac:    have you been to Winged Foot lately?

IGOLFBadly:    Played Winged Foot two weeks ago in anticipation of my review article for the U.S. Open

GeoffShac:    what'd you think of those 21-yard wide landing areas?

IGOLFBadly:    They were 26-27 yards wide in the main landing area and 21-22 in the second-shots on par-5s.

GeoffShac:    oh come on! some of those par-4s get pretty tight

IGOLFBadly:    Course is 250 yards longer, a foot faster on the greens, and 7-yards narrower in the fairways than in 1997. Oh, I forget, the USGA says distance doesn't matter.

GeoffShac:    they can't let it get too firm at these widths can they?

IGOLFBadly:    They can dry it out - removal of about 500 conifers helped a lot

GeoffShac:    well I hope they do, so we can get a good feel for how that tapered rough works

IGOLFBadly:    New irrigation system will give them a lot of control. Fairways will be hard to locate, esp. if dry

GeoffShac:    fun
GeoffShac:    should be riveting

IGOLFBadly:    The proportional height thing has not been carefully delineated yet. Too early in growing season to know what they can achieve.

GeoffShac:    will the tapered rough idea only be at the Open, or is it going to become every superintendent's worst nightmare?

IGOLFBadly:    I asked about that. They think they can limit the proportional rough heights (not really tapered) to just the U.S. Open, but some shmuck green chairman whose course already posts Stimpmeter speeds of the greens and fairways will try it, I'm sure. It'll be a nightmare for green keepers, mechanics and crew at those "high-end" national golf clubs (need I be more specific?)

GeoffShac:    yeah, I forgot about the mechanics who have to try and change the heights and then deal with some turd who's out measuring rough heights
GeoffShac:    well, I like what Mike Davis is thinking about in trying not to penalize the just-missed drives, it shows some compassion from the USGA side of things

IGOLFBadly:    Mower manufacturers will love it; you'll need a second or third rough unit, or at last more calibration down time to get the heights right. I can't wait to attend that green committee meeting.

GeoffShac:    so you have a Sebonack book coming out soon?

IGOLFBadly:    Book just shipped off to the printer, should be out Aug. 30 or so.

IGOLFBadly:    I did it with Carol Haralson, a Sedona-Az. book designer and researcher with whom I had previously done the book on Desert Forest GC in Az.

GeoffShac:    do we get to read about any cat fights out there or did you keep it neat and tidy?

IGOLFBadly:    Cat fights are there, not that they were bloody. But I get the real story, in earthy tones and language, plus how Doak and Nicklaus learned to work with and around each other. All mocking aside, it was a genuine collaboration, with Doak's routing obviously being central, and Jack playing a major role in strategy and greens.

GeoffShac:    well if the book is even half as beautifully produced as the Desert Forest book, it'll be a winner

IGOLFBadly:    I've been asked how do you do a book on a golf course that has barely been played. The answer is that you start with glaciers and moraines and natural sand deposition, include the social history of golf on Eastern Long Island, and focus on the three main characters -- Michael Pascucci (owner) and Nicklaus & Doak.

GeoffShac:    oh, between those three I'm sure there was plenty of material! :)

IGOLFBadly:    It's a bigger book, more imagery, much more diverse material than even the Desert Forest book.

IGOLFBadly:    Thanks. It's a good story about a good site.

GeoffShac:    and is the club publishing it?

IGOLFBadly:    They were three strong characters, and very much a pleasure to write about and very accessible.

GeoffShac:    lol
GeoffShac:    well, I'm sure we'll all buy it, and then buy the 2014 edition of Rough Meditations when you tell us about the "making of" the Sebonack book :)
GeoffShac:    one last question

IGOLFBadly:    I await

GeoffShac:    how is it that courses like Augusta and Medinah are constantly under construction
GeoffShac:    and yet they hardly move in the Golfweek Top 100 list?!?!?
GeoffShac:    (I save the softball, non-answerable questions for last)

IGOLFBadly:    Time lag and accumulated votes from previous visits create a kind of slowing effect, but there's movement, and might well be more in the future, for all I know

GeoffShac:    ah spoken like a man who has answered many phone calls to complain about the rankings! :)

IGOLFBadly:    Those courses often exist on their reputations, which, like passenger ships, are slow to turn around

IGOLFBadly:    gigantic cruise liners, I mean

GeoffShac:    hey, thanks for your time and good luck with the books

IGOLFBadly:    thanks, and good luck with your Website/blog.


R&A Nominates Former Slazenger Sales Manager

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Missing from the R&A's posted release on Michael Stanley Randle Lunt, its "Nomination of the Captain For the Year 2006-2007," was this bit that appeared in the emailed version:

Following that brief spell overseas, he became a director of the family wholesale textile business in Birmingham and when the company was taken over by Courtaulds, he took up the position of European golf sales manager for Slazenger. He retired in 1998 after 11 years as secretary/manager of Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club.

D'Amato on Distance Devices In Wisconsin

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Gary D'Amato took on the distance measuring device issue, and in particular the Wisconsin State Golf Associations's approval of them for play.  Some borderline LOL funny quotes in this one:

"Absolutely," said Rob O'Loughlin, president of Madison-based Laser Link Golf. "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. This is a big problem but if I can take 20 minutes off even a six-hour round I think they should build a monument to us."

And here I was starting to feel sorry for the fact that the devices were unapproved for play by college coaches.

"In the month of April we made deals with Oakland Hills, Oak Hill, Baltusrol and Inverness (to install Laser Link reflectors on flagsticks and provide rangefinders to members)," O'Loughlin said. "We have 31 of the top 100 Golf Digest courses. We're going to get everybody. We're going to get Pine Valley and Augusta National, eventually."

"Jim Reinhart, I have Rob on line 2 again, should I put him through?"

 The image-conscious PGA Tour hasn't approved rangefinders because of the way it would look on TV when Woods or Phil Mickelson used them. Rangefinders also would seemingly diminish the importance of caddies.

"Never say never," O'Loughlin said. "The PGA Tour is not averse to technology."

No argument there.

Soffian On Norman, B.C. Open

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Seth Soffian's profile of Greg Norman's crusade includes some interesting info and quotes on the demise of the B.C. Open and this quote from Norman:
“I’m in the corporate world. I hear some of the stuff, that corporations get treated certain ways at the PGA Tour, and it just kills me,” Norman said. “I always taught myself, as you go up that ladder, when you start coming down, you’re going to go past the same people you squashed going up.

“That was part of my mandate within myself, treat everybody (well) going up, because you want to be treated the same coming down.”

USA Today On Distance Myths, Readers React...Sort Of

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Jerry Potter and Tom Spousta of the USA Today do their best Judith Miller imitation by wheeling out the USGA's Distance Myth press release...as if they came up with this propaganda on their own! That's right, instead of noting that the "myths" came to them as a release, they report having "consulted" with the USGA's Dick Rugge.

The USA Today: all the prepackaged news that's fit to regurgitate.

Anyhow, they follow up their myth "research" with more hard hitting reporting, this time calling on Rugge and Wally Uihlein to fill up most of a story about what was supposed to be reader feedback on distance regulation, titled "Readers Decide It Must Be The Ball." In the story, we hear from a whopping three readers, with two saying the ball needs to be rolled back.

But first some really, like, you know, like really heavy discussion of the meaning of myth.

The power of myth has long been a steadying influence for people, allowing them to believe what they want to believe often when it flies in the face of scientific evidence.

"In most cases when there is a myth," says Wally Uihlein, chairman and CEO of Acushnet Company, which makes Titleist golf balls, "there is a symbol of something that can't speak for itself. It's assigned supernatural power."

Like a golf ball.
Ah yes, the poor, picked on golf ball! We're all delusional! It's the agronomy, it's the ster...sorry, continue.
To the question posed last week about lengthening courses or reining in technology to combat the game's long bombers, many readers zoned in on the ball.

"I am completely in favor of reining in the distance a golf ball travels by adopting standards for the ball and the club," responded Timothy W. Broos of Dixon, Ill. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with a 275-yard drive being impressive and a 440-yard par-4 being long."

Fred Daum, the retired golf coach at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., wrote in an e-mail that "it's a no-brainer" to rein in equipment because it's destroying the traditional venues for the game, and its past heroes. He laid the blame on the U.S. Golf Association for not controlling technology.
Well, enough of those pesky readers! 
Dick Rugge, the USGA's senior technical director, gets similar e-mail at his headquarters in Far Hills, N.J., but he says, "We don't believe the ball needs to be changed at this time."

Yes, we kind of got that from the distance myths memo.

Uihlein says there always have been periods when technological advancements stirred concern and brought predictions of ruin. That included changes in the construction of the golf ball and golf clubs, made possible by new materials and production processes.

"There was a similar noise level when Sam Snead and Ben Hogan became prominent (in the late 1930s)," Uihlein says, "and were hitting the ball long distances. That was a time when we went from hickory shafts to steel shafts."

You know, I've looked through a lot of old golf magazines in the late 1930s, and it's kind of hard to even find Ben Hogan's name mentioned, much less stories about technology impacting the game. And actually, all of the late 20s and early 30s talk centered around the ball, not the clubs. Ah how times haven't changed.

"If we only made rules only for the Tour," Rugge says, "our job would be easy. We make the rules for the 28 million people who don't play professional golf."
Most are amateurs with double-digit handicaps, and they don't drive the ball 300 yards.

"People say, 'Roll back the ball 10%,' " Rugge says. "If you do that, then a guy hitting the ball 300 yards off the tee will be hitting it 270. But someone hitting it 200 will be at 180."
Rugge added that a blanket reduction wouldn't even be good for all Tour players.

Oh right, because long hitters don't get a disproportionate boost from today's equipment. I forgot.

Uihlein says distance is a factor of more things that just the ball. It's the club; it's the course conditions; it's club fitting; it's the athleticism of the players.

"You don't control the athleticism of the players," he says.

Well, a little steroid testing wouldn't hurt.

"Technology," Uihlein says, "has had a democratizing effect on golf. Without it we'd have far fewer people playing golf. One thing we know: As long as people believe they can play better, they continue to play. When they don't think that, they quit."

Ah...now, I wonder if there are "facts" to support the claim that people would play less if they had less frequent shopping opportunities? Or is corporate pro-technology bias?

And remember, as long as the illusion of getting better through purchasing power exists, they'll keep playing. Now that is touching.

Hey, but at least one reader chimed in on the good side:

Joshua Reynolds of Lee's Summit, Mo., agrees: "For those of us who can't cream the ball 330 yards, we need the extra distance. ... 'Dear USGA & PGA. Please let the average Joe enjoy his round of golf with whatever ball he wants to play."

Send that man a dozen Srixon's!

Daly Declines Counseling, Brand Coaches Worldwide Breathe Sigh of Relief

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Mark Soltau reports on John Daly's Tuesday talk with reporters.
"My life is unbecoming of a professional, basically," Daly told a handful of reporters Tuesday.

Daly met with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem for 15 minutes on Monday at Quail Hollow. "He said he thinks I should have counseling," said Daly. "He said, 'I won't make you.'"

Asked if he would consider it, Daly replied, "I'm not really into that."
Actually, Finchem offered to put Daly in touch with a branding coach recommended by Carolyn Bivens.
"Harper Collins wanted to change it," said Daly. "They changed it about eight times. Too many cuss words. The whole book is not just about gambling, it's just life. A lot of good things, and a lot of bad things. It was kind of therapeutic talking about it. I'm 40, and it was cool to get one out now. And, hopefully, there'll be a sequel or a movie, maybe."

Arron on Spin

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Arron Oberholser talked about Winged Foot and technology prior to the Wachovia Championship:
Q. I talked to you a little bit at Sawgrass about it, but what are your memories about that one round at Winged Foot? What did you come away with?

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I'll tell you what, I've heard that they've added about 200 yards to the golf course since when I played it. It's like 7,300 yards now. It used to play like 7,100, just over 7,000. I was playing a wound ball back then with a steel headed driver, and I think the golf course is going to play a lot different now.

I remember having to work your golf ball off the tees out there and being able to do that with the old equipment. With the newer equipment it's kind of stand up and aim and bomb it.

I remember the greens being I remember it being a good test of golf, short par 4s, long par 4s, flat lies, uneven lies, short par 3s. 10 is that really good par 3. You don't get to start on a par 3 a lot, and it's kind of cool actually, I think.
And, a few minutes later, this follow up was asked:
Q. You seemed to suggest that maybe new technology can be a detriment because you can't shape the ball around some of those fairways.

ARRON OBERHOLSER: I think on certain holes in certain situations I think new technology can be a detriment. You're always guessing, well, if I make the swing that I want to make, is the ball going to hook enough, is the ball going to fade enough, or is the ball just going to kind of fly straight. So it's not a question of getting the ball to do what you want, it's getting the ball to do what you want enough because the balls all kind of you don't produce as much spin as you used to. Obviously anybody who understands the golf swing in physics, you've got to produce spin to make the ball curve. If you don't produce, you're not going to make it curve.

Roman Ruins Golf by Seve

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230136-329470-thumbnail.jpg
(click to enlarge)The same reader from Spain who sent in the image of the religiously-correct bunker has emailed another photo, this time of Alicante Golf Club in Alicante Spain.

Apparently that mess of stuff to be crossed for the third shot to a par-5 green is supposed to resemble a faux Roman ruin, only with the columns shortened for playability reasons. 

The reader insists that the faux ruins are played as Ground Under Repair, not a hazard! He  also reports that this hole is from that design genius extraordinaire Seve Ballesteros, who supposedly builds at least one bunker per course in the form of an "s", but at Alicante he constructed a lake in the shape an "s". 

Excuse me, "S." As in Seve. Get it. I probably didn't need to explain that last part.