Whitten On Major Venues

Noticed this in the table of contents for July's Golf Digest:

Back to Royal O.B.
Royal Liverpool is no place for a major in the 21st century.
By Ron Whitten

It is interesting to see the continuation of Whitten's shift from defender of major venue changes to questioning the relevance of older venues in the modern game and attempts to set them up in the face of massive change over the last ten years.

You may recall his preview of Augusta's changes was less than flattering after having been an initial defender in 2001-02, while his Winged Foot preview appeared skeptical of the USGA's tiered rough and was marked by an underlying tone that rain may could easily render the course defenseless.

It's nice to see someone at Golf Digest putting their name on strong commentary. And it's great to see someone provoking reader thought on the technology issue, its impact on classic courses and setup, and the ramifications for the game in general. 

From Thursday's Memorial Telecast...More Furrowing Talk

KARL RAVECH: Baseball is a statistic driven sport and you get bunkers like this and the numbers are going to go down. Are the players concerned about those things?

JACK NICKLAUS: I never was, but maybe some of these guys are, I have no idea. But I don't see why they would be. A good bunker player is going to have a good sand save record. But I think the guy who can putt those four, five, six footers is the guy who is good at sand saves. It's not necessarily about how good of a bunker player you are.

IAN BAKER FINCH: The best bunker players on Tour are around 60 %, up and downs, and the average is just under 50%, so a little less than half is the up and down percentage.

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, if the Tour continues to do what we're doing here, which I think they will, they say they are going to, ah, then obviously the sand save percentage will go down.

PETER OOSTERHUIS: The average today is just over 34% from sand.

IAN BAKER FINCH: That's just today.

PETER OOSTERHUIS: Yes, 34.2%.

JACK NICKLAUS: I'll tell you what else will happen too, is that your driving accuracy will improve greatly on the Tour with bunkers like this in the fairway.

IAN BAKER FINCH: Because they'll have to take a club to avoid the bunkers and think a bit more about it.

JACK NICKLAUS: Yes, they're going to have to put the ball in play and I think it's going to bring the game back to level of...just a very simple thing, just a rake, brings the game back to where it's a little more controllable for the course and the guys putting on a tournament.

KARL RAVECH: What else? I mean, could you make rough longer during non-major events, what else can you do?

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, you know, Karl what I've always felt is that the recovery shot is one of the most beautiful shots in the game of golf and the norm has been now to make the rough higher, the fairways narrower and to me that makes the game more boring. Because all you do is hit it in the rough and chop it out. And the guys with the golf equipment today drive the ball must straighter so they can have narrower fairways. But when they miss they don't mind missing in the bunkers. But now if we make the bunkers such that you don't want to put it in the bunker, then you're going to start thinking, do we take teh driver out of your hand or do we leave in your hand to do what we're going to do. So I think it's only a plus for the game of golf. Equipment has made game much easier game, particularly for the pros. And I think there are ways to combat that and we haven't combatted that up until this time. Hopefully this will be used effectively in the future.

And this was a little later on...

JACK NICKLAUS: I want to try and equalize the game from power. I think that the game has gotten...it was about 80% shotmaking and 20% power when I played, power has always been an advantage and always will be. But I don't like to see it be 80% power and about 20% shotmaking. I think it's gotten too much where power takes over and you'd like to be able to get it a little more in balance. It takes guys that don't hit the ball nine miles a better opportunity to play the golf tournament and to be on par the guy who's a Tiger Woods...

Furrowgate Breaks Out At The Memorial

They're moaning and groaning about the groovy bunkers at Muirfield Village.  From what I saw on television, the bunkers looked about the way bunkers used to look, oh, 15 years ago when they were dragged careless with a sand pro.

Granted, furrowing is contrived, and this nonsense about going in a certain direction is brutal, but gosh, it didn't exactly look like the Oakmont silliness. Yet...

Mark Lamport Stokes reports that both Nick Price and Ernie Els are not fans.

"I heard someone say earlier in the week that this is the way that they used to rake bunkers way back when and bunkers have always been hazards," the Zimbabwean said after carding a 69.

"I think the difference now is that the greens are running at 13 or 14 (in putting speed). Back in the bygone era, when they did it before, the greens were probably running at about six.

"It's different hitting out of a bunker to a green where you've got no chance to get any spin on the ball. So I disagree with it. I don't like it at all.

"I don't think there's one player out here that does. It's a bit of pot luck, to be honest.

"You can get in there and have a perfect lie when it lands on top of a groove, then you can have another one that goes in the trough, in the bottom of it, and you've got no chance." 

Uh, they used to call that Rub of the Green. I know, I know...in his defense, I would add that there also wasn't as much rough on steroids as there used to be. If you read The Future of Golf, you know I argued that if bunkers were to ever get nasty again (preferably through no more maintenance crew raking after Wednesday play), it would also require getting rid of some of the long grass to at least feel more equitable.

Anyway, Els...

"You're either lucky or unlucky," the South African world number six said after three bogeys in the last four holes gave him a first-round 74. "If you're unlucky, you have no shot, basically.

"I don't care how good of a bunker player you are, you have no shot. But I guess that's what they want."

Sean O'Hair had a different take...

"A trap is a trap, it's a hazard," said O'Hair. "You're not supposed to be there.

"The bunkers here are not hidden, you know where they are. So don't hit it there. If you don't hit it there, you don't have to worry about it."

In this AP story, Jeff Maggert, a well known expert on bunker raking who likely will find himself in the USGA's $#@!* pairing in two weeks, was quoted:

Jeff Maggert suggested that if Nicklaus wanted to make the course harder, he should have narrowed the fairways. As it was, Maggert said, "to try to kind of manufacture something is Mickey Mouse."

And Robert Allenby wasn't a fan either, though I'm not convinced by his argument either:

This is the best-groomed golf course, and I can't believe they would do the bunkers like this," Robert Allenby said after a 71. "It already was hard to get the ball tight. I don't think anyone likes it who is playing this tournament."

Nicklaus said that the new rakes and method of raking was a trial run for other stops on the PGA Tour.

"I don't believe that," said Brad Faxon, who had a 73. "I just don't think these bunkers were that easy to begin with, you know? I don't mind, because I'm a good bunker player. So it wouldn't bother me, but I don't think this place is broken, either."

And if you're a  Nick Price fan, this is just painful to read...

"It's kind of a waste, because he [Nicklaus] has such beautiful sand in the bunkers," Price said. "Why put beautiful sand in the bunkers if you're going to rake them with these rakes? You might as well put crappy sand in there."

Guest View: The Brand Lady

LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens penned a guest column in the Star Gazette News of Somewhere to help kick off Corning Classic play, and after days of deep analysis, I now post it for your brain teasing pleasure.

You are not only spectators and volunteers of this event, but you're also fans of women's golf who contribute to the growth of the LPGA. Thanks in no small part to your support, our organization is riding a remarkable wave of momentum. For those of you who come out to Corning Country Club this week, or even tune into The Golf Channel telecast, you'll be witnessing the LPGA Tour at the height of its popularity. You also will see a showcase of some of the greatest, most engaging and entertaining athletes in the world of sports today.

And, their interpreters too!

Yes, I am a little biased, but it's a fact. The world is finally discovering what many of us have known all along -- that female golfers have incredible charisma, power, strength and talent. From young talents such as Morgan Pressel and Seon Hwa Lee to American standouts Christina Kim and Natalie Gulbis -- the future of the game is so bright. And those young phenoms are playing right alongside Grace Park, Laura Diaz and Mi Hyun Kim, who are all in the prime of their careers, as well as accomplished veterans Helen Alfredsson, Pat Hurst and Lorie Kane.

Annika, Shmannkia.

It's an incredible mix of youth, culture, experience and talent that is translating into little girls showing up at a golf tournament with fun, stylish golf outfits "like Natalie," into record-breaking visitors to LPGA.com and into more fans tuning in or coming out to watch a tournament, many of whom have never been engaged with the LPGA or golf before.

Thank Heaven, for little girls...sorry

That excitement is only multiplied by several initiatives that are new to the LPGA since the Tour last came to Corning. Fans of the LPGA are already very familiar with the "These Girls Rock" campaign, which is all about showcasing LPGA players as great golfers -- some of the best golfers in the world.

This year, we also launched the LPGA Playoffs 2006, the first-ever playoff system in professional golf. Throughout the season, your favorite players will attempt to qualify for the season-ending ADT Championship and a chance at the $1 million first-place prize, the largest paycheck in women's golf history. And also earlier this year, the five major women's professional golf tours unveiled the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings, which provide a definitive answer -- and spark lively debate -- regarding the question, "Who are the best women golfers in the world?"

Yes, the debate has been lively. Right up there with, "what's the Schwab Cup?"

Note To Karl Ravech...

...that first Memorial honoree was Robert Tyre Jones, not Robert Trent Jones.

The Wacky World of College Golf

My latest Golfobserver.com column on the strange (but exciting) year in college golf, is now posted.

For 20 Years...Muirfield Village Was The Same...

Bob Baptist in the Columbus Dispatch writes:

For 20 years, aside from an occasional nip here and tuck there, the Muirfield Village Golf Club course was the same one Jack Nicklaus built for the first Memorial Tournament in 1976.

Then thin-faced drivers and long-distance, low-spin balls began changing the game. It hasn’t been the same since.

Neither has Muirfield Village.

Fairway bunkers were deepened and moved farther from the tee. Water was rerouted closer to where balls landed. One hole, the 17 th, was bulldozed and redesigned from tee to just short of the green.

Nine of the past 11 years, Nicklaus tacked on yardage, stretching a course that measured 7,104 yards as recently as 11 years ago to one that will set up at roughly 7,337 yards when the 31 st Memorial begins today.

But "length is not the issue," Nicklaus said. "How the course plays is my issue."

Isn't there something wrong with the game when a widely respected, consistent top 40 course suddenly has to do all of this stuff...oh hell, you know where I'm going.

This was also interesting, though I'm still not entirely sure this is the best way to reintroduce "thought" to the game:

Slugger White, the tour’s on-site tournament director this week, said he does not anticipate a controversy over the furrows, which surprised the players when they arrived.

"It’s a change. We’re trying to make (the bunkers) a little more penal. It is a hazard," White said.

"I was talking to Vijay (Singh) and he said, ‘You might not want to short-side yourself this week.’ I said, ‘You mean you might have to think a little bit out on the golf course?’ He said, ‘That’s a good point.’ "

That is Nicklaus’ point, also. Adding length alone to combat technology, as the Masters has done in recent years, does nothing to level the playing field. Power hitters still have the advantage. Deepening bunkers, making them harder to play out of, narrowing landing areas and greasing fairways by cutting them consistently in the direction of the greens — as also is being done this year for the first time — gives players more decisions to make and risks to take. If weather cooperates, that allows a bunter like Bart Bryant as good a chance to win the Memorial last year as a bomber like Ernie Els the year before.

And for Muirfield Village to survive the week with its integrity intact.

Mickelson On Winged Foot, Furrowing

PHIL MICKELSON: Over at Winged Foot, it's tough. It's a very tough golf course. Obviously we know the USGA is going to make it difficult. The rough is thicker and deeper than I've seen it. But I really like the layered rough. In the past you were rewarded for missing a shot with a larger margin of error. If you could hit it into the people, you were much better off than missing the fairway by a yard. Now with the layered rough it's imperative that you keep it, if you do miss a fairway, just off the fairway, because that thick rough is so high that there were sometimes it would take two or three shots just to get it back to the fairway. We'll see a lot of doubles and triples out of that rough, especially given the fact that they're going to keep the people further away. That thick rough won't get trampled down.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: I can always reach the people. If you reach the people now you'll be in the trees and it will be much more difficult to get it back to the fairway, because you have to chip it over the chick rough and get it stopped in a narrow fairway under the trees.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: It wasn't like Carnoustie like it wrapped around and they hadn't cut it for 1 year. They've ^money it perfectly right across the top, probably six inches, just like they said. Very consistent. But the third cut is. But it was thicker than I've seen it. It looks like when the ball would go to the bottom, the grass would just grow over it. It was very difficult.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, yeah, the guy who wins won't be hitting it there. He'll be hitting it in the short stuff or if he ^dismiss it in the shorter cut. However, that thick grass was all around the green, they didn't layer it around the green, the six inch rough around the green.

Q. Do you like it?

PHIL MICKELSON: Do I like it? I'm not in favor of it around the green as much, because it takes the short game out of play. But I think that if you miss it right or if you hit a number of greens you'll be okay.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, oh, yeah.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: No, but I have a hard time seeing it being anymore difficult than Shinnecock in '04 on the weekend. And I think the USGA can make it as hard as they want. Winged Foot is such a good course that it won't require ridiculous things to keep par a good score. In looking at it now, I don't see how guys are going to shoot under par. Of course I say that every open, and every open guys are under par the first couple of rounds.

And on the furrowing...

Q. The sand traps, they're going to do something different for the first time here at this tournament, the raking. It's really going to be a penalty. What do you hear about that, what are your thoughts?

PHIL MICKELSON: It is a hazard and nothing says that the bunkers need to be immaculate. Bobby Jones, back in the 20s, I believe, played Oakmont when they were using those furrowed rakes, and he said that he didn't like it, because it took the skill out of the game. Now, it just depends how bad a lie. Is there a chance we can hit a shot out of it? Or is it going to be just ridiculous where you're lucky to get it on the green, and it takes the skill out of it? So it's a fine line between the two. But I don't mind making a bunker a hazard, because it is.

Well said. It's almost like...na! 

Howell on Furrowing...

David Howell talked about the bunkers at Muirfield Village and Winged Foot...

Q. To change gears one second, they're doing some different things with the bunkering out here. We always talk about how the Europeans, they play in all different conditions, do these bunkers differ for you, do they make a big difference, have you seen bunkers like this or worse?

DAVID HOWELL: No, I haven't seen the bunkers. We were talking about it last night with a gentleman that does the course design. It's going to be interesting to see how it works out. There's really different points of views. Ernie is one of the best bunker players in the world and feels his talent for getting in the bunkers is being questioned. If you don't have a great lie you can't play a great shot. So all of a sudden it's possibly favoring the guys that you've really seen them as hazards, and you have to stay away from them, and you have to alter your game plan. And it's going to be an advance to the guys that hit a lot of greens. If you get in bunkers, you're not going to get up and down all the time. It's going to take it back more to accuracy off the tee. If you want to see golf like that they're doing the right thing. And if you want to see them Tiger's form of golf or whoever, just goes out there or as Seve used to play, and see guys getting up and down to save par, you're not going to get so much of that. It's going to make people play slightly differently, I think. And I guess only after doing it a few different times or different tournaments will we see if it's the right way to go or the wrong way. It's certainly the easiest way to make the golf course harder is to change the rakes. It's the cheapest way.

Q. Have you been warned, if that's the right word, about the severity of the bunkers at Winged Foot, and how steep the faces are, has that been discussed amongst your peers?

DAVID HOWELL: I really haven't got a clue where Winged Foot is or what sort of course it is, I'll have to admit, so, no.

Blog Bomb?

The latest Golf Digest entry into the blogosphere may be the most bizarre yet, as E. Michael Johnson and Mike Stachura engage in back and forth exchanges under the names "Bomb" and "Gouge" that not only prove difficult to read (anyone heard of an enter key?) but mostly seems to engage in the same old attempts to smooch up to equipment manufacturers.

Why not a straightforward blog on the latest equipment, rumors about clubs in development or buzz on what elite players are using?

Instead, the blog has started off as another chance to tell us that grown men must be allowed to continue to shop free of interference from the big, bad regulators.

But at least the writers in question are trying a different approach, and trying to keep it light and even self-deprecating. Which is more than you can say for...

Achenbach Says Distance Changes Cause Costly, Unnecessary Course Changes To Layouts He Likes!

Look for a makeup column from Golfweek publisher Jim Nugent after yet another awakening column from Jim Achenbach:

Here is another good reason why the U.S. Golf Association eventually will cut back the distance of the golf ball: Eugene Country Club.

One of the best golf courses on the face of the earth, Eugene CC has followed an all-too-common path for bolstering its credibility and reputation.

Out of fear it was becoming too short and too easy, Eugene has constructed 10 new tees. Five already are open, and the other five will be playable by the end of the month.

The new tees will push the overall championship tee distance from 6,847 yards to about 7,050 yards. Among other changes, a new back tee will transform the fifth hole into a 235-yard monster of a par 3 –all carry, over a pond, with a green that slopes perilously back toward the water.

I love this golf course. While I am not opposed to additional yardage, I am sad that contemporary golf has forced courses such as Eugene to expand or perish. Courses that want big-time tournaments need big-time length.

This next part landed on my lap like a big Christmas gift, since I was searching for a July Golfdom column topic:

The club maintains a committee called The Top 100, which helps promote the course among the various publications that rank courses.

Lengthening the course is just as important for rankings as it is for tournament play, so the 10 new tees serve a dual purpose.

The issue of distance has affected Eugene and many other courses. Some members of the USGA's 15-person Executive Committee – the body that makes all final decisions for the rulesmaking organization – are known to be supporters of reducing the distance of the golf ball.

According to the Joint Statement of Principles, issued in 2002 by the USGA and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, rules changes can be made at any time to confront the threat of increased distance or any other factor that might alter the historical foundation of the game.

No one should be surprised if the USGA and R&A ultimately decide to cut back the performance of the modern golf ball.

This would make it more important than ever for golfers to play the appropriate tees. While macho men would continue to head to the back tees, many golfers would realize that the joy of the game can be enhanced by playing the forward tees.

Golf does not have to be all about length.

Questions For Tiger, First Tee Edition

Thanks to reader Steven T. for this Harry King column about questions that kids submitted to earn their way to the Tiger Woods at his First Tee outting held yesterday in Arkansas. If only golf's inkslingers could think of questions like this...

The clinic begins at 7:30 a.m., and not one of the winners from Fort Smith said a discouraging word about getting up in time to leave town at 5 a.m. , in one of two vehicles.

They wanted to know if there was a dress code; whether shorts were acceptable. They asked how to address Woods - Tiger or Mr. Woods? Can they approach him or will he come to them? How about autographs? All were nervous questions from kids who want to do what is right.

Woods probably won't take questions from the youngsters and that could be in self-defense. Those making the trip from Fort Smith won their way to Little Rock with letters about what they would ask Woods, and there is a 12-year-old Bob Costas-Barbara Walters in waiting in Van Buren.

His name is Denver Horton and his letter reveals some research, plus a knack for thoughtful questions, and an interview-ending kicker.

He wanted to know how Woods feels about changing the future of golf for kids and how he finds the inner strength to compete when playing poorly.

Familiar with Woods' Learning Center for Children in Anaheim, Calif., Horton asked why changing the lives of children was so important to Woods. The world's best golfer donated the first $5 million for the center, which prompted Horton to say, "That was a lot of money just to give away."

After setting up Woods, Horton went for the kill.

"One more thing, how does your mom feel about you cussing not only on the golf course but on national TV. Be glad your mom is not my mom you would be grounded for a long time. The closest I would get to a golf course would be pulling weeds or planting bushes ... all day if I was ever caught cussing on this golf course."

Travis Jumper, 15, of Fort Smith, had a series of questions for Woods, including some about ethics and etiquette.

"How hard is it to be honest to the companies that want to endorse you but you disagree with the company's values or their product? Is it hard to say no to them paying you millions of dollars just because you don't believe in the product?

You go Travis!

WSJ Story on Bowling

Who says Wall Street Journal readership is down? Thanks to readers David, David and John for the heads up on this WSJ story by Steve Levine who writes about one man's about technology issues in bowling, and efforts to restore significance to the 300 game.

Eric Pierson thinks there are too many perfect games in bowling, and he knows what to do about that.

The 41-year-old Mr. Pierson is the lane manager for amateur bowling's premier event, the U.S. Open Championship, a five-month competition involving about 63,000 players now under way in this port city on the Gulf of Mexico.

It isn't that Mr. Pierson hates to see players reach the pinnacle of bowling, achieved when they knock down all 10 pins, 12 times in a row, for a perfect score of 300. But, in Mr. Pierson's opinion, there's such a thing as too much flawlessness.

His management tool is oil, which all bowling alleys spread on their lanes. Oil protects the lane surface, but oil artists like Mr. Pierson can use it to make the game harder or easier depending on how they apply it.

At this point while reading the story--assuming the USGA jet wasn't at 40,000 feet--Walter Driver is text messaging Mike Davis to see if this oil would hurt Winged Foot's greens.

Sorry, continue...

But while golfers are driving farther and tennis players are hitting more aces, they have nothing on bowlers. To score a strike, bowlers are generally aiming to hook the ball into what they call "the pocket," the space between the front pin and the next pin on either side. If the pins are walloped just right, they knock or bounce into one another, and all 10 pins will fall. It used to be an extraordinary feat to knock down all the pins at once a dozen times in succession. Few players had the consistency to do that. But in the late 1980s, the sport began to shift away from polyester balls to super-engineered polyurethane balls with special resins and particles that grip the lanes better and strategically weighted cores that make aiming easier.

The maple pins were covered with a new plastic called Surlyn that not only protected them better but made them bouncier and easier to topple.

As a result, the bowling congress has seen an explosion of perfect scores, with more perfect games rolled last year than the combined total racked up in the 87 years after official record-keeping began in 1895.

But of course all these perfect games are growing the sport, right?

Declining interest in organized bowling has made the problem worse. In the sport's U.S. heyday, the 1960s to the early 1980s, bowling alleys served as magnets for teenagers and as social venues for adults gathering to drink beer and compete in local leagues. But league participation has fallen to under 3 million players from more than 4 million at the zenith, the bowling congress says. So many bowling-alley owners, according to officials of the sport, have tried to make it easier for players to roll high scores. "There are fewer bowlers, so they want the ones still bowling to feel good," says Matt Cannizzaro, the spokesman for this year's championship here.

Many bowling alleys have opted for oil patterns that raise scores, which, along with the improved balls, help account for the climb in perfect games, experts say. Meanwhile, the U.S. Bowling Congress, trying to slow the pace of perfect scores, is encouraging the growth of "sport bowling," a version of the game in which the oil is strictly limited so as to increase the challenge.

Hey, is that like club invitationals where they grow rough and ratchet up greens to 12 on the Stimp?

The bowling congress has watched as perfect games have soared in its prestigious annual tournament. After the first tournament in 1895, it took 13 years before a player, using a wooden ball, delivered the first 300 score. By the 1990s, the tournament was regularly seeing 25 to 50 perfect games.

When players scored 64 perfect games in the 2002 tournament, it was too much for Mr. Pierson, the lane manager. "I think that's outrageous," he says.

So...

All bowling alleys use a lubricant composed mostly of mineral oil to protect the lanes from the battering of dropped, heaved and sometimes bounced balls. But, after bowling just two or three balls, skilled players can detect the pattern in which the oil was applied -- where it's thick, where it's thin -- and try to aim in a way that after a while grooves out an effective guide straight to the pocket.

Walter Driver just sent another text message to Davis: forget the oil.

Sebonack Membership Story

Thanks to reader Tuco for the heads up on this Michael Buteau story about Sebonack's affordable membership pricing.

Sebonack Golf Club, which opened for limited play last weekend in Southampton, New York, costs what might be a world- highest $650,000 for a membership that ensures accommodations at one of 15 four-bedroom ``cottages'' being built around the course. It's $500,000 just for golf.

The new club sits between 95-year-old National Golf Links of America and four-time U.S. Open host Shinnecock Hills Golf Club at the eastern end of Long Island. Other neighbors include Atlantic Golf Club and the Bridge, both in Bridgehampton. Membership in those clubs -- by invitation only -- tops out at $575,000.

``The numbers are all amazing, but you're dealing with the Hamptons here,'' said Phyllis Dixon, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman, which lists about 2,500 properties in the area. ``I guess that's the going rate.''

The initiation fee at Sebonack doesn't include the $12,000 annual dues, or items such as tips for caddies. Like most clubs, members can play as much as they like for that price. They will have access to a yet-to-be-built 28,000-square-foot clubhouse and a 19th hole with a green rather than barstools; it's a par-3 constructed especially to break ties and settle wagers.

And...

Sebonack has 10 founding members who paid $1.5 million each to join. Among them are Stanley Druckenmiller, chairman of Duquesne Capital Management LLC; Richard Santulli, chief executive of Woodbridge, New Jersey-based NetJets Inc.; Paul Desmarais Jr., chairman of Power Corp. of Canada; and Johann Rupert, chief executive of Geneva-based Cie. Financiere Richemont, the world's second-largest luxury-goods company.

The 7,286-yard course, similar in length to a PGA Tour event, was carved into the dunes along the Great Peconic Bay. It once was ``Bayberry Land,'' the summer estate of Charles H. Sabin, a former president of Guaranty Trust Co. of New York.

Most recently, the property was owned by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local No. 3, who used the old Sabin mansion as a convalescent home for its members.

The club will cost about $120 million to build, including $46 million for the 314-acre site, Pascucci said.

And...

The pairing of Doak, who lets the contours of the land dictate his designs, and Nicklaus, who builds manicured courses to challenge the best golfers, brought together two opposing philosophies. Pascucci was able to get them to put aside their differences: Doak once criticized a Nicklaus design with man-made waterfalls as "client overkill.''

"It was insurance that we wouldn't have any bad holes,'' Pascucci said.

And...

Pascucci said he's drawing people from around the world, and prefers serious golfers over jet-setters.

"Our type of members love golf, respect the game and are low-maintenance, non-glitzy type of people,'' he said. "It's not a valet-parking type of place.''

Now This Is Furrowing...

From The Golden Age of Golf Design, Oakmont circa 1929.