NCAA Regionals Set
/For those interested in the NCAA Div. I regionals, here's the breakdown of where the committees are sending teams in the new format that attempts to offset regional imbalances.
In golf construction art and utility meet; both are absolutely vital; one is utterly ruined without the other. GEORGE THOMAS
It’s back!
Twenty years later Tatra Press has kindly allowed me to bring back Grounds For Golf now that golf architecture is of more interest to the masses. A new Introduction looks at what’s driven the interest growth and two new chapters I had a blast adding (plus a few edits to keep things up-to-date).
The Amazon purchase page for the book arriving June 15, 2026.
MacDuff's Post-Wachovia Fed Ex Cup Points List
/Reader MacDuff reports that David Duval moved into the 149th spot, two places ahead of John Daly.
He also reported this to me prior to Wachovia: "We've had 18 events so far and there are 17 more up to and including the PGA -- which I take it is the cutoff point for the Fed Ex seedings. Looking at the MacDuff table so far, the top 30 players have an average of 8.6 events each to put toward a grand total; the bottom 30 players (down to no.140) have an average of only 5.7 scoring events to put toward that grand total. So the top boys should have about 17 results to choose from by end of PGA, and the bottom ones only about 11 positive scores to submit."
Here is how a FedEx Cup points race would stand after the Wachovia, and yes, that's right, Lucas Glover is second and Tiger 18th:
1 Mickelson 17509.37 11
2 Glover 15854.16 11
3 Furyk 15212.5 10
4 Singh 14746.87 11
5 Gf. Ogilvy 13762.5 9
6 C.Campbell 12837.5 11
7 Appleby 12662.5 10
8 Toms 12409.37 8
9 Sabbatini 12179.16 9
10 Pettersson 12058.33 12
11 Weir 12009.37 9
12 Goosen 11775 8
13 Verplank 11612.5 9
14 Van Pelt 10977.5 12
15 T.Clark 10897.5 10
16 Olazabal 10875 7
17 Parnevik 10767.5 12
18 T.Woods 10659.37 6
19 Pernice 10625 8
20 Mayfair 10479.16 9
21 Donald 10289.37 7
22 Cink 9708.83 9
23 Warren 9700 9
24 Oberholser 9687.5 9
25 Funk 9262.5 9
26 Lehman 9225 8
27 Ames 9162.5 7
28 Love III 9112.5 9
29 Vn Taylor 8912.5 7
30 Bohn 8733.33 9
31 Watney 8725 9
32 D.Wilson 8712.5 9
33 Els 8650 8
34 Jerry Kelly 8625 7
35 Gay 8500 9
36 Z.Johnson 8475 8
37 Chopra 8267 10
38 Senden 8225 7
39 Villegas 8225 8
40 Pampling 8217.5 8
41 Purdy 8200 8
42 Franco 8087.5 8
43 Choi 8050 7
44 G. Owen 7975 8
45 Harrington 7962.5 7
46 Garcia 7900 7
47 Hoffman 7870 8
48 A.Scott 7750 6
49 Rollins 7675 7
50 JB Holmes 7420.83 7
51 Howell III 7337.5 11
52 Branshaw 7325 8
53 Palmer 7291.66 7
54 J.Smith 7200 7
55 Immelman 7050 6
56 B. Quigley 7000 6
57 J.Ogilvie 6920 7
58 Jobe 6892.5 7
59 Baddeley 6850 7
60 JJ Henry 6837.5 6
61 Couples 6825 7
62 Beem 6768.75 8
63 Imada 6717.5 8
64 Barlow 6712.5 8
65 Rose 6654.16 8
66 RS Johnson 6580 6
67 Bertsch 6575 8
68 Baird 6517.5 7
69 Estes 6500 6
70 Fischer 6425 9
71 M.Wilson 6390 6
72 Langer 6354.16 7
73 Calc 6342.5 10
74 Olin Browne 6312.5 10
75 D. Howell 6262.5 5
76 Pat Perez 6262.5 7
77 Leonard 6220.83 7
78 Bjornstad 6217.5 7
79 Allenby 6187.5 6
80 Poulter 6175 7
81 Lowery 6175 8
82 Herron 6132.5 6
83 F.Jacobson 6075 6
84 Bryant 6050 6
85 B. Haas 6025 7
86 Bub Watson 5962.5 6
87 JL Lewis 5962.5 8
88 Crane 5907.5 6
89 Micheel 5887.5 7
90 Waldorf 5787.5 7
91 Flesch 5755 9
92 Gove 5737.5 6
93 Sluman 5725 10
94 Slocum 5687.5 8
95 N.Green 5662.5 7
96 Atwal 5625 5
97 Gore 5525 6
98 J.Byrd 5500 4
99 Durant 5400 9
100 DiMarco 5384.37 5
101 Curtis 5375 7
102 Wetterich 5350 5
103 Gronberg 5312.5 5
104 Barron 5306.25 6
105 Leaney 5225 5
106 Stricker 5212.5 4
107 Westwood 5187.5 5
108 Sindelar 5187.5 7
109 Hart 5137.5 6
110 Cabrera 5100 5
111 Sutherland 5100 7
112 Matteson 5037.5 7
113 Maggert 4937.5 7
114 D.Clarke 4900 4
115 Triplett 4800 5
116 Azinger 4762.5 7
117 Mahan 4462.5 7
118 Br.Davis 4437.5 7
119 Faxon 4362.5 7
120 Armour III 4275 5
121 Lickliter II 4250 5
122 Frazar 4187.5 6
123 Austin 4162.5 9
124 Geiberger 4100 6
125 S. Maruyama 4075 6
126 Veazey 4025 5
127 Cook 4000 4
128 Dickerson 3975 7
129 S.Jones 3967.5 6
130 Kenny Perry 3962.5 4
131 Lonard 3937.5 6
132 Andrade 3895 6
133 Pavin 3787.5 4
134 Goggin 3737.75 4
135 Ridings 3700 5
136 Kent Jones 3612.5 5
137 Kaye 3575 5
138 WMacKenzie 3562.5 4
139 Petrovic 3512.5 5
140 Garrigus 3492.5 6
First Payne Reviews*
/A somewhat encouraging start to the Billy Payne era:
"I think we have it just about right now," the 58-year-old Georgia native added. "We remain hopeful as that some limitations will be placed on equipment that will diminish the gains in distance.
"I think we have the golf course as like it right now."
Augusta National, controversially extended by 285 yards for the 2002 U.S. Masters, was stretched to 7,445 yards for this year's tournament, making it the second longest in major championship history.
Payne said limited changes would be made for the 2007 Masters, with the tee boxes on the 11th and 15th holes lengthened by five to seven yards.
"The length of the tees on the other par-fours averages about 20 yards," he added. "Those two holes are only about 15 yards long and this will provide us with more flexibility if the holes are playing into a substantial headwind."
In the only other changes for next year, the fairway on the par-four 11th will be widened around the 280-yard mark to help medium-length hitters while grass under the newly-planted trees flanking the right of that hole will be replaced by pine straw.
That's a nice start. Of course, just leaving the grass and taking out the trees would have been even better!
And an interesting comment about equipment restrictions. It will be nice to read the transcript to read his complete remarks.
Update on 2006-05-08 20:06 by Geoff
*Doug Ferguson's AP story included this:
Payne also stuck closely to Johnson's position on the possibility of a tournament golf ball for the Masters if he felt the governing bodies were not doing enough to slow gains in distance.
"While we would hope that a resolution would come as quickly as possible through the normal process, we would not take that option off the table," Payne said.
Interesting that he is looking for "resolution." If you read the USGA's recent press release, you might surmise that there is nothing to resolve except the issue of square grooves.
Aberdeen in '11
/From the R&A:
ROYAL ABERDEEN TO HOST 2011 WALKER CUPThe 2011 Walker Cup match has been awarded to Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, the sixth oldest in the world.
In announcing the date and venue for the biennial match between Great Britain & Ireland and the United States , The R&A will be staging the contest at one of Scotland ’s true and most historic links courses located on the outskirts of Aberdeen and overlooked by the North Sea .
David Hill, Director of Championships for The R&A said: “We are delighted to be staging the Walker Cup at Royal Aberdeen which will provide a fitting showcase for amateur golf’s premier match between countries.
“Last year, the Senior British Open Championship was a huge success at Royal Aberdeen with the world’s top over-50’s players full of praise for the layout at Balgownie and with the condition of the course.
“I have no doubt that with the support of the knowledgeable golfing public in the North East, that the Walker Cup at Royal Aberdeen will match that success.”
Royal Aberdeen has been a venue over the years for championships at every level. It has hosted the Scottish Amateur Championship at regular intervals from 1924, the Scottish Stoke Play, the Scottish Boys, the Boys Amateur, the Scottish Ladies’ Amateur and most recently, in 2005, the Senior British Open Championship, one of the five senior majors.
In 2007 the Walker Cup will be played at Royal County Down, Newcastle , Northern Ireland and in 2009 at Merion Golf Club, Pennsylvania .
PGA Tour Driving Distance Watch Week 18
/
The PGA Tour Driving Distance average rose nearly a half-yard to 288.4 yards, up from 288.0 after the Wachovia Championship won by Jim "I'm backing off for the 900th time because my sports psychologish said so" Furyk.
By the way, count me in as a big fan of Quail Hollow. I got in a strong power nap during that closing stretch today (well, CBS deserves some credit too...man are those telecast stale).
But mostly I just love how the holes all meld together into one seemless blend of trees and 3 inch rough. And love those wonderfully scaled greens. Such character!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention, there were 19 350-or-longer drives, with the season total now at 881.
Texas here we come!
Golf Pitches Found Takers
/From E. Scott Reckard in Sunday's L.A. Times Business section:
For $25,000 or more, investors were told they could own part of a company developing luxury resorts and residences, authorities say. One supposed project was next to an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course. At another resort, Greg Norman's company had been hired to design the course.And...
The salespeople pitching the deal also dropped the names of other golf greats, authorities say, and urged investors to get in quick before the company went public.
Carolina Development, the Irvine company peddling the real estate partnerships, recruited many of its 50 salespeople from an addiction recovery program operated by Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, authorities say. To help endear themselves to Christian investors, they said, some sales agents distributed copies of "The Purpose-Driven Life," a best-selling inspirational tome by Saddleback Pastor Rick Warren.
But Carolina and its founder, Saddleback member Lambert Vander Tuig, had other motives, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC has accused the Rancho Santa Margarita man of fleecing about 700 investors across the country and in Canada of $50 million by exaggerating Carolina's holdings — in some cases fabricating its ownership of property and in other cases disguising the fact that it held only options on land or had taken on heavy debt to buy it.
This year, the SEC filed a civil complaint against Carolina Development, its 47-year-old founder and its vice president and sales chief, Jonathan Carman, 43, of Aliso Viejo.
Authorities say that Warren and golf greats Palmer and Norman had no role in misleading investors. Warren said he was unaware of the alleged scam and did not know that his book was distributed by sales agents for Carolina, until he was contacted recently by a Times reporter.And...
Alastair Johnston, chief operating officer of Arnold Palmer Enterprises, said his company became aware of Vander Tuig's operation last year, when a stock brokerage approached Palmer with questions about Carolina's investment pitch.
"It was quite clearly, in our opinion, a violation of North Carolina securities laws in making misleading statements," Johnston said.
An attorney for Palmer wrote cease-and-desist letters to Vander Tuig in July, August and October, warning that he was infringing Palmer's commercial rights and breaking trademark and securities laws by "falsely implying an endorsement," Johnston said.
Johnston said the company complained to the SEC and North Carolina regulators late last year when the misrepresentations continued.
Norman's golf course design company, by contrast, went into business with Carolina Development, accepting a $200,000 down payment for course architecture, according to Thomas Seaman, the court-appointed receiver.
Bart Collins, the president of Great White Shark Enterprises, declined to discuss how his company linked up with Vander Tuig. But Collins said it was not uncommon for Norman's firm to "enter contracts with people who own a piece of land and are developing private communities."
"We try to do what we can to protect ourselves from this type of thing," Collins said. "We try as best we can to complete our due diligence."
Luken Wins Villages Shoot Your Age, Prescription Cannister Cart Parade To Come
/From my friends at Brener-Zwikel PR:
LEONARD LUKEN SHOOTS 81 TO DEFEAT ARNOLD PALMER, GARY PLAYER AND 57 AMATEURS AND WIN THE INAUGURAL THE VILLAGES SHOOT YOUR AGE CHAMPIONSHIP
THE VILLAGES, Fla. – The 530th time was the most charming for 87-year-old Leonard Luken, an enchanting round of golf that must stand above any other in which he has shot his age. Luken carded an 81 – six strokes under his age -- to win The Villages Shoot Your Age Championship at the par-72, 6,251-yard Arnold Palmer Legends Country Club Saturday, besting a mostly amateur field of 60 players and headlined by PGA Tour legends Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.
“This is a great deal. It’s one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me,” said Luken, a Hilton Head, SC resident who actually played with Palmer’s father, Deacon, at Latrobe CC and Laurel Valley CC in Pennsylvania an estimated 35-40 years ago. “It was better than winning the fast-pitch softball World Series. I hit the ball pretty good. I missed three or four putts but I didn’t putt too badly. I hit a lot of greens that I don’t normally do.”
“I think it’s wonderful,” added Palmer. “The enthusiasm from (everyone) is wonderful. The (crowd) just came out like troopers. I’m looking forward to next year.”
After the round, Luken was serenaded in a Villages golf cart parade, where fans showered the winner with empty Flomax prescription drug cannisters (in lieu of ticker tape) while Arnold Palmer performed a flyover in his Lear jet.
The Harvest Has Begun
/Ed Sherman reports on all of the fun Medinah members will have this year playing the No. 3 course.
No. 3 is tough enough as it is without having a forest of rough under the corridor of massive trees. In some areas, it already is 7 inches high.Oh boy, don't give those manufacturers any ideas!
Some of those par 4s are going to turn into par 44s when the amateurs try to hack their way out of high stuff, provided they can find their golf balls.
"Our ball revenue in the pro shop should go up," Scully said.
In addition to the rough, for those who truly like punishment and want to play from the back tees, players will find an added bonus on the fifth and 14th holes.
After watching the pros launch bombs at the PGA at Baltusrol last year, tournament officials decided to push back the tees on both par 5s.
The fifth is 20 yards longer at 550 yards, and the tee box was moved over to the left to bring the fairway bunkers more into play. The 14th was lengthened by 25 yards, pushing it back to 610 yards. It will require a poke of 240 yards just to carry the water, and a blast of about 350 yards to reach the top of the hill on the fairway, affording a look at the green.
All told, Medinah now will play to 7,561 yards, the longest in major championship history.
Makes you just really want to host a major, doesn't it?
Design By Flynn?
/Thanks for Steven T for the heads up on this Joe Logan story about Philmont's design pedigree. It seems William Flynn biographers Morrison and Paul have broken the bad news that Philmont isn't anywhere on record as being designed by the mastermind of places like Shinnecock Hills and Merion (with Hugh Wilson).
"Whenever you see John Daly playing great golf..."
/Ed Sherman probably helps resolve any lingering doubt you have about picking up John Daly's book, sharing a trailer park trash episode between Daly and his father along with more of John's profound thoughts.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Daly also has large appetites in the bedroom. He thinks sex helps his game. He credited an "active" tournament week with current wife Sherrie for victories in Germany in 2001, in San Diego at the Buick Invitational in 2004 and for his runner-up finish last year at the WGC American Express in San Francisco.It's good to know New York publishing is still only looking for quality literature to publish.
"Whenever you see John Daly playing great golf, you know his wife's taking care of his needs," he said.
Oh and don't forget, Daly is on tonight's episode of 60 Minutes.
Questions For Billy Payne
/The Augusta gang has scheduled a Monday teleconference with Billy Payne, and since I'm still waiting for a Glenn Greenspan email letting me know the phone-in number, I thought I'd post a few questions. You know, just in case it never comes.
Let's get the inevitable's out of the way. Odds on which comes first?:
Is there a timetable for admitting a female member?
Will you restore the PGA Tour winner exemption?
Do you have plans to change the course this summer?
Hootie Johnson: Great Chairman, or The Greatest Chairman?
Okay, maybe the last one won't be asked in Colbertian fashion, but you know they'll be talking a lot about the great visionary that Hootie was. Expect the Augusta Chapter of the Mutual Admiration Society to overtake this teleconference.
That said, here are some questions I'd like asked with the hope of lending a little more insight into Payne and ANGC:
Are you aware that if you eliminated the second cut along with the silly Christmas trees on 1, 5, 7, 11, 14, 15, 17 and 18, that you would eliminate nearly all questions about the dreadful state of the course?
Are you aware that these simple changes would also make it more fun for the members to play the course again?
Have fellow Augusta members Walter Driver and Fred Ridley ever taken you on AirUSGA for one of those Curtis Cup/U.S. Senior Amateur/Goldman Sachsentertainmentfact-finding trips to Bandon Dunes, Prairie Dunes, Cypress Point, Seminole or Pine Valley?
Do you agree with Chairman Emeritus Johnson that distance needs to be reigned in somehow?
Did you see any of the "Amen Corner Live" coverage and would you consider making it part of the broadcast on USA Network, minus the announcers who reference "Amen's Corner"?
Have you ever read Bobby Jones's Golf is My Game or Alister MacKenzie's The Spirit of St. Andrews to get a better feel for their design philosophy?
You did a lot of session work on Linda Ronstadt albums. Why do you hate America? (Apologies to Colbert again...oh wait, that's the other Billy Payne, sorry).
Readers, what would you ask?
SilverRock Not Up To Standards (But The Classic Club Is!?)
/Larry Bohannan reports that the city of La Quinta's $58 million and counting SilverRock project, expected to host the Bob Hope starting this year, has been passed over for 2007 too.
La Quinta city officials expected their SilverRock Resort golf course to be approved for the 2007 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, but a PGA Tour official said Friday the course simply isn't ready for a tour event.
"There has been some progress (at SilverRock), but it hasn't been enough," said Tim Crosby, director of tournament business affairs for the tour. "We told the Hope committee we would not approve the course as a Hope venue for 2007."
The PGA Tour informed the Hope board April 27 that the Arnold Palmer Course at SilverRock Resort was not approved for 2007. The tournament board told the city this week in a three-sentence letter that the course won't be included among the four to be played in January's Classic, and that the sides should sit down to discuss the coming years.
City and course officials say they still haven't been told the exact problems the tour has with the course and have not seen the letter from the PGA Tour detailing the specific concerns. Tom Genovese, the city manager for La Quinta, said he talked with Classic executive board member John Foster on Thursday, and the two sides are trying to arrange a meeting.
Huggan On Slow Play Disease
/John Huggan serves up plenty of fun anecdotes in focusing his Sunday column on slow play, starting with Nicholas Fasth:
Fasth, who is easily golf's most inappropriately-named player, is the sort of guy who spends five minutes boiling a three-minute egg, who takes an hour-and-a-half to watch 60 Minutes and who, on the course, is basically unwatchable. And, sadly, he's not alone. Plenty of others, by dint of their ponderousness under pressure, make viewing golf on television about as much fun as putting on Ryvita-like greens at Dunbar.And...
Indeed, the European Tour, on the face of it at least, has done more than most to combat the spread of this insidious disease. Exactly one year ago, Simon Khan was fined £8,000 for taking 16 seconds too long over a tee-shot. During the previous 12 months, the Englishman had been penalised one shot and fined twice more for the same offence. Which is fine until one realises that more prominent names, Faldo and Langer, for example, have never been subjected to that level of scrutiny.
The players are not the only direct causes of slow play at elite level. The advances in club and ball technology and the extraordinary distances even the most ordinary professional can hit shots these days have only added to the amount of time it takes to complete 18 holes. During last year's Buick Classic at the Westchester Country Club, weekend rounds were taking five hours - for two-balls. All because one of the most historic courses in America has a couple of par-4s that a field of professionals can potentially reach in one shot and par-5s they can cover in two.
Hot drivers and balls are no excuse for the nonsenses perpetrated by players on the greens, though. Take the insanely-pedantic pre-putt routines of Phil "round and round the clock" Mickelson and Jim "hang on while I line this one up again" Furyk. Both are enough to drive any spectator away from the course or television. Such contrivances have but one redeeming quality - they are still not as tedious as watching Graeme Dott and Peter Ebdon play snooker.
Remembering Hootie
/
Furman Bisher talks to Billy Payne and offers several tidbits on how this all came about, including a quote attributed to Johnson at this year's Masters saying this would be it. I don't remember reading that anywhere, so it must have been said to Bisher. Odd time to share it!
Damon Hack talks to Martha Burk for the NY Times and has this:
In all matters pertaining to the club, Johnson's voice was the loudest.That's right, just check out another over-the-top effort by Bob Spear in Hootie's home-state newspaper.
"You think of all the great companies and corporations in the world, it seems like they're run that way," said Jim Furyk, who is playing in the Wachovia Championship here this weekend. He added: I don't think anyone is going to argue he's made that golf tournament or the club worse off."
Although he never said so publicly, criticism from Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer about course changes before the 2006 tournament surely stung. His intention was to ensure today’s players hit the same clubs that the Nicklauses and Palmers hit in their prime.I guess it never occured to Spear that 70-year-old Gary Player hitting the same clubs into holes now as his prime might not actually raise a few eyebrows? Well, he does do a lot of sit-ups!
But Johnson found an ally in another early critic, Gary Player.
“I’m using exactly the same clubs, other than (on) No. 4,” the three-time champion said after a practice round.
Scott Michaux isn't nearly as breathless in praising Johnson's tenure, while also touching on the slip-ups.
Thomas Bonk in the L.A. Times:
But Payne isn't expected to come on board and start the bulldozers.
"Nothing significant, maybe only something minor," said one source who knows Payne from Atlanta.
Another source, who also did not want to be identified, said it would probably be a stretch to assume Payne would oversee substantial changes, especially during the early portion of his tenure.
AP's Paul Newberry writes:
The Masters was played last year on a 7,445-yard layout - the second-longest in major championship history and 460 yards longer than it was when Johnson took over.
"It's kind of like being president," said Davis Love III from Charlotte, N.C., where he was playing in the Wachovia Championship. "No matter what you do, half the people are going to think you did it wrong."
Former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young believes Johnson might have gone along with allowing female members at Augusta National if not for Burk's public campaign.
"Mr. Johnson was very much an old-school Southerner. He was ready to grow, he was ready to change, but he wasn't going to be pushed," Young said. "Let's give him credit for all the good he did, and not try to blame him because he wasn't able to see into the 21st century. That's up to Billy to do."
Week In Review, April 30-May 6: Goodbye Hootie and Earl
/
Earl Woods passed away, Hootie Johnson stepped down, John Daly started plugging his book and Brad Klein chimed in for this site's third Taking AIM installment. And once again, lots of great comments from readers.
Regarding the Klein discussion, which included his thoughts on the planned Winged Foot "tiered rough" concept, reader F.X. said, "Graduated rough is a classic example of reinventing the wheel. What the USGA seems to be striving for is preserving the opportunity for recovery in the context of a penal architecture. It's a strained technocentric solution that will have all sorts of consequences, particularly the intended-by-the-mower-manufacturers ones pointed out in this discussion."
Meanwhile The Donald's plans for a Scottish golf course got plenty of attention. Later in the week, John Huggan weighed in. Reader Hux chimed in on the Donald's pride in his ability to create top quality medical facilities to go with his golf course: "He said they build big golf courses, and they understand how the medical situation needs to be done. Can Crenshaw administer so much as a band-aid without getting an end all twisted? I thought not. With medical facilities like they're going to have, even if they don't get the British Open, there's always the British Grand Prix. Always have a plan B you see. Smart fellow, The Donald."
Rex Hoggard noticed some of Dale Jr.'s recent comments about settling for 3rd and wondered how that would impact the FedEx Cup. It prompted plenty of thoughts on the FedEx Cup.
NRH: "As for being satisfied with a nice check vs. winning as the only thing that matters, this has been going on for quite awhile. It sounds terrible to say, read or hear, but it is the truth. The younger guys on Tour can't identify with hustlers along the lines of Trevino or even Rich Beem's stint at the Speaker Shack. The purses are insane...it doesn't seem like that long ago you would read the results in the back of the sports page on Monday morning and shake your head at the $180,000 next to the winner's name. That's tenth place money now."
GeorgeM noted that "The Nextel Cup is flawed by the VERY low number permitted to qualify. The FedEx Cup will admit the vast majority of fully exempt players. On the other hand, each cup attempts to minimise any lead in points gained during the season. The end result will not be a season champion, but the player who is playing best in early September."
Sean Murphy asked, "What happened to great golf selling itself, why all the smoke and mirrors??? Players in the locker room on the PGA Tour are really scratching their heads, what will they think of next???"
Regarding the driving distance stats and the New Orleans event, Steve White wrote: "I remember being on the course during one of the first years they played at English Turn and watching Greg Norman hit what everybody thought was a Herculean 3-iron to get it on the green in two at 15. Now, it's a routine driver, mid-iron hole. The only players who don't go for the green in two are those who drive the ball in the rough."
A reader from Spain kindly sent in a few entertaining photos, including a religiously-correct bunker that MacDuff noted was the ultimate cross bunker. You be the judge!
On the subject of shot shaping, grooves and the changing game, John V asked, "I've seen Tiger and others shape shots. Is it perhaps that many of today's players don't know how or have forgotten how? Is that because they've only been taught one way to hit the ball or really because it can't be done?"
Sean Murphy noted that "A rules official shared with me on Monday that players are changing wedges every two weeks and irons every 4 weeks, all in an effort to be able to work these rocks today. Yes, it is possible to somewhat work them, but it is an awfully expensive proposition for the average Joe who would like to be able to do the same."
On the USGA Distance Myths, as regurgitated by the USA Today, John V pointed out that one of the readers seemed to not be aware of USGA testing standards, perhaps justifying the myths: "One of the myths is that there are not standards. This guy certainly sounds like he thinks there are none."
Tom Wishon responded that it may just be a myth that the USGA actually tests today's typical launch conditions: "There is a .083 on Cor for drivers witnessed at 109mph so that no more than an 83% transfer of energy can be witnessed. John V., what is the ceiling for Cor transfer as it relates to thicker club faces bouncing a harder core golf ball at 120mph where not all professionals on the PGA Tour swing the club 120mph? A COR reading for any swing speed above 112mph should not be allowed to be witnessed at anything over an 83% transfer of energy. That is where the ceiling should be with regards to Cor benefits for drivers."
On the news that the USGA is finally getting around some of the rolled back balls that they asked for a year ago, reader Matt wrote, "They don't want to drag it on forever but that's exactly what they're doing. Meanwhile the integrity of the game continues to erode...I sincerely hope this is the last year of the juiced ball era on tour, but I won't hold my breath."
Our resident think, Pete the Luddite, asked Matt for patience. But I asked Pete if he would conduct research as the USGA has, issueing press releases dispelling myths before the results were completed. Pete wrote: "Pre-supposing the results for the client and using cash as a means to drive the answer desired. I've seen those consultants out there who will tell you what you want, regardless of fact, if they are paid enough. Makes me sick. Ethical twists occur, and this is essentially what USGA's "researchers" are doing. For them to state that it will be "done when it's done" is farcical."
David Feherty joined the long list advocating a change in the ball. Reader C.W. wrote, "Yes, the only thing that needs to be done is standardize the core hardness of the golf ball and the Cor benefits of drivers...It would be easy to soften up the core of modern golf balls while maintaining the same flight characteristics. The golf balls have been made harder to increase their distance by expanding the Cor of a driver further."
And finally, the bombshell of the week: Hootie Johnson handing over the keys to Augusta to Little Feat co-founder Atlanta Olympic game head man Billy Payne. Nice work by reader Smolmania noticing that Payne is associated with Eric Gleacher, former member of the USGA-Augusta cabal.
I'm sure we'll get more discussed on the subject of our dearly beloved Hootie next week, but he has a fan in reader Matt: "Im actually disappointed in a way over this-say what you want about him, but Hootie really stirred things up in his time as Augusta chair; he raised The Masters profile I think. You may not have agreed with the way he did things, but you respected him because he didn't care what people like Martha Burk had to say. He didn't even flinch when the majority of the golfing world condemned him for the course changes. Hey, the guy stuck to his principles."
Too bad for golf that he didn't stick to Jones and MacKenzie's design principles!
