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.
An Ishtar reference. I think Gorant's "disaster" mention just got passed by! Does that supercede Elling's FraudEx Cup reference too? Eh...it's a toss up.
Steve Campbell calls the $10 million FedEx Cup annuity "a serious miscalculation" and really, that was the nicest thing he said in this Houston Chronicle column.
The question: Can you name a stud, a spud, a Fudd and a dud?And Tiger?
They haven't yet hit a shot that counts in the FedEx Cup playoff series, and the whole thing is beginning to look like the kind of idea that got Ishtar, Gigli and The Adventures of Pluto Nash on the big screen.
Just like that, Woods rendered the Cup about as meaningless as Paris Hilton's views on tackling terrorism. Just like that, Woods made who isn't playing The Barclays the story instead of who is playing. Just like that, Woods set the cause of golfers as actual athletes back into the 20th century.Meanwhile Tod Leonard in the San Diego Union Tribune is a bit kinder. A bit.
He is supposed to be the fittest, finest athletic specimen of a golfer on the planet. And after a week off, Woods is sitting out the first round of a playoff series designed to inject life and interest into his sport because he's too pooped to play.
His actions, in other words, speak much louder than the words he uttered the week of the PGA Championship: "I know we're trying to build a lot of excitement towards the end of the year where it's been a dull period, and this might do it."
Woods did it to the FedEx Cup, all right. He lobbied for a shorter tour season. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem delivered a points-race system that ends seven weeks earlier than last season did. Woods wanted a tour event to call his own. Finchem delivered the AT&T National, which became yet the latest benefactor to the Tiger Woods Foundation.
The PGA Tour convinced FedEx and other sponsors to ante up $28 million in cash prizes and another $35 million for a deferred-payment pool for this inaugural year alone. Those companies and the TV networks expect a payoff in public interest, measured by buzz and ratings.And...
So far, the buzz has been in a frequency only dogs and tour execs can hear, but that is expected to change this week, when the first of the four playoff events, The Barclays, is contested beginning Thursday at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y.
Woods, citing fatigue after two straight wins, essentially took a first-round bye when he decided last week not to play at Westchester, where he has never excelled. But he is expected to participate the following three weeks, when the initial field of 144 qualifiers is eventually cut to 30 for the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
The winner of the playoffs gets $10 million, which the tour is touting as the biggest prize for an individual in pro sports, but there is a huge caveat to that. It will be paid into a retirement account and the champ might not see that cash for 20 years.
Oooooooh, doesn't 401k talk just send chills up your spine, like watching that green jacket ceremony each April?
Anytime the math goes beyond season records or games behind, they lose most of us. Same for dollar figures. We are numb to, and mostly resentful of, the outrageous money athletes make these days. Why emphasize it?
Thanks to the math, it's also possible the winner of the Tour Championship won't be the champion of the FedEx Cup. “Great victory Phil, now please go away so Tiger can accept the FedEx trophy!”
Weak.
I finally got around to Alan Shipnuck's SI piece on Angel Cabrera, which unfortunately was relegated to the Golf Plus Fed Ex Cup stand alone issue. Unfortunate because it's an oustanding and revealing read that should have made the main issue. Well, those NFL training camp spreads are pretty special.
Anyway, don't miss this. And because I'm kind, the link is to the single page version to save you the trouble of the nine-page version.
Ron Sirak says it's a blessing that Tiger is missing the first event, but he's in the minority on that one.
David Whitley in the Orlando Sentinel isn't so kind.
The FedEx Cup was a contrived money-grab to begin with. When the sport's pre-eminent star blows off the opening act, all credibility is lost. It's like baseball starting the playoffs without the Red Sox, Angels, Mets and the national anthem. Tour officials are trying to put a happy face on things, but they must feel as if they've had a graphite shaft plunged into their backs.
Doug Ferguson reminds us that the Tour tried this once before at the Vantage Championship and has this from David Toms, talking about the $10 million annuity:
"If you have kids old enough to understand, they're more excited about the $10 million than we are because they're the ones who are going to end up getting it," David Toms said.
Furman Bisher sees it as a threat to...uh, the Champions Tour?
The tour is the stage on which he performs and creates his endorsement connections. For that matter, it isn't cash in hand, anyway. At first the payout was referred to as an annuity, then later it was changed to "deferred compensation." Thus, players don't collect their winnings until they retire from tour competition, and not before they reach age 45, this affirmed by the office of Bob Combs, vice president of communications.
This might be a threat to the prosperity of the Champions Tour, for how many seniors might decide to take early retirement with a fat deferred payment there to be collected?.
Gary Van Sickle offers ways to fix the FedEx Cup before it even starts.
And Douglas Lowe sees plenty of positives...for the European Tour.
After the play-offs, there will be lesser PGA Tour events at which the lower orders can fight out who retains their Tour cards and at that point, with no significant competition from the US, the focus will return to the European Tour, which will be lifted by the returns of Harrington & Co.
The British Masters that has recently heralded the start of British involvement on the Tour in May has been shifted to September 20 to 23, the week after the Tour Championship, to mark the start of a strong tail-end of the season.
The Seve Trophy, Dunhill Links Championship and HSBC World Matchplay Championship will follow in a rousing conclusion to the European Tour, leading up to the Volvo Masters in Spain.
Leave ESPN for the USGA? Now that takes a certain, uh...vision! Thanks to reader Phil for this, which did not land in my email box. You don't think they would...no, not the USGA I love and know!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
USGA APPOINTS ALEX WITHERS
AS DIRECTOR OF NEW MEDIA
Withers leaves ESPN new media post to take newly created USGA position, reporting to Chief Business Officer Pete Bevacqua
Far Hills, N.J. (August 20, 2007) – The United States Golf Association (USGA) has named Alex Withers as the organization’s director of new media, a newly created position making Withers responsible for the overall online and new media efforts of the USGA, with the goal of maximizing online advertising, partnerships, e-commerce initiatives, and industry events to drive revenue and improve the USGA’s core functions.
Having most recently held the position of marketing director for ESPN New Media, Withers brings to the USGA over ten years of marketing and product development experience across a range of global brands. While at ESPN New Media, he managed the marketing strategy and brand positioning for both ESPN.com and ESPN360.com, which included the launch of the myESPN personalization tool as well as the sites’ networking platforms. Prior to his work with ESPN, Withers oversaw marketing, digital, and branding initiatives for the Financial Times and Pepsi Cola. He earned his bachelor of science honors degree in business administration from Britain’s Cardiff University.
Withers’ expertise will first and foremost position the USGA to better identify and capitalize on a range of interactive digital and online capabilities that will ultimately raise awareness of the organization, as well as communicate the USGA’s numerous initiatives and goals.
"As an avid golfer, I’m looking forward to putting the USGA front and center among the next generation of golfers via the online platform,” said Withers. “This is an exciting time for the USGA, as we are tasked with the responsibility of maintaining the history and tradition of golf, whilst helping the sport come of age in a digital world."
"Alex is a perfect fit for the USGA and the ideal person to bring our digital vision to life," said Peter Bevacqua, USGA chief business officer. "A key growth driver and top priority for the USGA is to make our organization relevant and appealing to a younger generation of digitally savvy golfers. We’re looking forward to connecting with them online and, in doing so, making it possible for our members to connect with each other and the great game of golf."
Thanks to reader David for catching Jeff Maggert's remarks to the News-Record's Ed Hardin:
"Probably half the players out here couldn't care less about it," he said of the FedExCup. "The other half are indifferent."
That's hardly the marketing phrase Tour officials want to hear heading into the playoffs, and if Maggert's feelings reflect anything close to those of the rest of the players, Finchem's postseason playoff experiment is doomed.
"I hear a lot being written, but I don't see anybody writing anything about Finchem," Maggert said. "I mean, this was his idea. He really didn't consult any of the players. He kind of shoved it down our throats and said, 'This is what we're going to do.' "
I think reader Toby is right: if The Onion is making fun of the FedEx Cup, something is really wrong with the concept.
Thanks to reader Al for this press release that I know you all will understand just as easily as I did.
A New Method for Ranking Total Driving Performance on the PGA Tour
Northeastern University Business School Professors Argue Current Ranking Method Statistically Inaccurate; New Method More Accurate at Capturing Relationship Between Accuracy and Distance
BOSTON, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Northeastern University's College of Business Administration today announced that three Northeastern professors have devised a new, more statistically accurate and relevant way to rank the Total Driving performance of golfers on the Professional Golf Association Tour (PGA Tour). The new ranking methodology attempts to standardize the differences between driving distance and driving accuracy, as well as account for one factor's influence on the other, enabling a comparison of Total Driving performance to more accurately reflect the true differences between the players.
The table below provides statistics on the top six players under the new "Z" ranking, as well as the top six currently ranked players in the world:
Player New Z PGA Total Driving Driving World
Rank Driving Distance Accuracy Ranking
Ranking(1) (yds.) (%)
Charles Warren 1 1 303.3 66.64 169
Bubba Watson 2 82 316.2 55.34 87
J.B. Holmes 3 61 312.4 56.37 125
Hunter Mahan 4 2 298.6 67.44 48
Matthew Goggin 5 3 297.4 66.21 157
Jason Gore 6 5 301.0 62.87 176
Tiger Woods 30 69 301.9 57.25 1
Adam Scott 36 71 300.9 57.34 5
Jim Furyk 51 77 279.3 74.87 2
Ernie Els 74 113 298.7 56.33 4
Phil Mickelson 103 133 299.1 53.88 3
Padraig Harrington 128 160 294.4 56.22 6
(1) PGA Total Driving ranking as of August 19, 2007
The PGA Tour currently ranks its players according to their overall Total Driving performance by adding together the individual ranks given to each golfer for their average driving distance and for their driving accuracy percentage. According to Professors Frederick Wiseman, Ph.D., Mohamed Habibullah, Ph.D. and Mustafa Yilmaz, Ph.D., however, this widely used and reported measure is inappropriate because it is based upon the addition of two ranks in which the underlying differences between successive ranks are not equal.
"Both average driving distance and the driving accuracy percentages are ratio-scaled data. What we wish to do is to combine these two measures into a single overall measure of Total Driving performance," says Fred Wiseman, Ph.D., lead author of the study and Professor of Information, Operation and Analysis at the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University. "The measure we propose is based upon two statistically independent standardized z-scores, one for driving distance, and the other for driving accuracy given driving distance."
Standardized z-scores are commonly used in many disciplines for comparing performances when different units of measurement are involved. This evaluation of the total driving rankings of the PGA first appeared in a paper written by these three professors entitled A New Method for Ranking Total Driving Performance on the PGA Tour, which appeared in the Spring 2007 edition of The Sport Journal. The rankings released today are the final rankings based upon regular season play on this year's PGA Tour. In that paper's conclusion, the professors wrote:
"The proposed method for ranking golfers according to their Total Driving skill takes into account the magnitude of the differences that exist between players on each of the two driving dimensions. The current PGA Tour method does not. The proposed method also takes into account the strong negative relationship that exists between driving accuracy and driving distance. This negative relationship is reflected in the new conditional standardized z- score."
These factors resulted in an improved Total Driving Performance Ranking, compared to their PGA Tour ranking, for each of the top six players in the world. Computationally, the proposed method is slightly more involved than other existing methods, but this is not a significant factor today.
About Northeastern University College of Business Administration
Northeastern University College of Business Administration, established in 1922, provides its students - undergraduate, graduate and executive - with the education, tools and experience necessary to launch and accelerate successful business careers. The College credits its success to expert faculty, close partnerships with industry, and its emphasis on rigorous academics combined with experiential learning.
Among many external measures of success, BusinessWeek ranks the College 26th in its "Best Undergraduate B-schools." The College's Bachelor of Science in International Business program is ranked in the U.S. top 15 by U.S. News & World Report. Financial Times ranks the College's Executive MBA program in the US top 50 and U.S. News & World Report ranks the College's part-time MBA program #21 in the country. For more information about Northeastern University College of Business Administration, visit http://cba.neu.edu.
Fog delay of course. But you can go here for results and to the club's very nice web site for field information and other good stuff.
You may recall Tiger's post-PGA comments about his superior conditioning. And now, in light of Tiger passing on this week's inaugural playoff event, Ed Sherman wants to know what the deal is.
Woods, muscles popping out of his red shirt, looks as if he could make a bid to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team in the decathlon, if so inclined.
Yes, contending in a major is taxing, a mental and physical grind, even when the conditions are in the 70s with a nice wind blowing. But runners-up Woody Austin and Ernie Els also endured the pressure, not to mention the heat, and they are playing this week.
The bottom line is Woods would have had nine days off before he had to show up in Westchester, N.Y., for his Barclay's pro-am on Wednesday. That should have been more than enough time for a finely conditioned athlete like Woods to recover.
And even if Woods was a bit tired, so what? This is one tournament where the biggest star most definitely needed to be in the field.
My sources aren't what they used to be, so it's been hard to obtain instant message conversations between the PGA Tour's Tim Finchem and the LPGA Tour's Carolyn Bivens. Thankfully my NSA mole lifted this chat on the eve of the FedEx Cup. Previous chats are here, here, here, here and here.)
After winning Greensboro, Brandt Snedeker actually seems to be one of the few players whose life could be impacted by a FedEx Cup run and win:
Snedeker, a 26-year-old Tennessee native and former Vanderbilt player, had the best round of the tournament. He finished at 22-under 266, earned $900,000 — and, perhaps most importantly, jumped 17 spots to No. 9 on the FedEx Cup points list.
"Everything the tour has been telling us, you have a legitimate chance to win the FedEx Cup, (but) you've got to be inside the Top 15," Snedeker said. "That's why I came here — I wanted to get in the Top 15 and give myself a chance. ... I know my game can leave me tomorrow and I can have the shanks. I wanted to go as high as I could."
With most of the elite players yawning at the $10 million annuity given to the FedEx Cup winner, it would seem that a less established player sneaking in to win may be the only hope for some genuine passion and emotion?
I for one would love to see someone like Snedeker make a run, since the annuity would actually mean something to him.
Otherwise, if this is just an extension of the rich-get-richer pyramid scheme where underdogs have no chance to contend, then it'll probably fail.
The LA Times' Paul Lieberman pens a fascinating West Magazine account of David Dilworth's efforts to fight the proposed Pebble Beach Co. expansion, documented over several years of Lieberman's visits to play golf and Dilworth's multi-year effort to battle the creation of an 8th course on the peninsula.
The Telegraph's Andrew Both feature this on the Tiger Woods-Hank Haney break up rumors:
To suggest his coach, Hank Haney, is on the way out any time soon would be an exaggeration, but Woods increasingly is working on his own. Haney was not at the PGA and is not expected to be a regular presence at tournaments Woods plays in for the foreseeable future.
One man who has noticed the changes in Woods' swing is Ian Baker-Finch, the 1991 Open champion who is now a commentator with the American CBS network.
"Hank and Tiger are great friends. They continue to talk and Hank is still Tiger's coach in a way, but I think Tiger is using Hank more as a sounding board," Baker-Finch said.
"Tiger is doing a lot of stuff that he used to do and it was obvious the past two weeks that he has changed his swing. Hank's teaching methods certainly helped Tiger gain more power and the ability to shape the ball better, but at the Open he didn't seem to have a go-to shot under pressure.
"Tiger, under pressure, likes to trap the ball by standing closer and more over the ball, with his hands closer to his knees. That allows him to get the shaft on a more upright path and hit better controlled, low-flighted iron shots, and he certainly showed that the last couple of weeks."
Here I was going to begin the PGA Tour "Playoffs" with a special watch to see who would be the first to declare the FedEx Cup a "disaster."
Well shoot, they haven't even begun the darn playoffs and already SI's Jim Gorant uses Tiger's absence to pretty much say so, while Sportsline's Steve Elling is even tougher, declaring it the FraudEx Cup.
Gorant writes of Tiger's pass:
The aftermath is nothing short of a disaster. The Tour is attempting to change its entire business model, and this is the first tournament ever in the four-event playoff series. Tiger's decision to blow it off sends a message to everyone — other players, sponsors, fans — about how unimportant it really is. If he returns for the last three weeks and still wins the cup, a distinct possibility, it won't make everything all right. It would only reinforce the original message and exaggerate it. "Told ya it's no biggie to skip the Barclays."
Tiger has begged every columnist in the country to ask: In what other sport can you skip a quarter of the playoffs and still win? If the FedEx Cup survives, which is not a given, the Tour should reconfigure it so that no player can win if he skips a playoff tournament. Otherwise the entire thing stands to become a joke.
The killer is that part of the reason behind the remaking of the schedule was Woods's lobbying for a shorter, more compact season. He was consulted during the planning stages and gave the entire program his approval (although he was and still is unhappy about the $10 million first prize being a deferred payment). To turn his back on it now damages the entire undertaking.
Among Elling's finer points:
After more than a year of incessant self-promotion and endless hype, playing the opening round of the so-called playoffs minus the game's top star is a blow that no amount of creative slant can correct. But that didn't stop the tour from trying.
"We're disappointed that Tiger will not be playing The Barclays next week," said Ty Votaw, an executive vice president with the tour. "It's clear from Tiger's statement he remains focused on winning the FedEx Cup. Whether he can do it will be one of the many exciting things our fans will be following over the next four weeks."
Maybe he meant mini-exciting things.
Spin control? You bet. The first tee ball of the inaugural playoffs just sliced badly out of bounds, into your living room and through your plasma TV screen.
"Any good strategy involves all of the stakeholders buying in," said sports-marketing expert Paul Swangard of the University of Oregon. "Does one infer by his absence that not everybody bought into the idea?"
Seems that way, professor, though Woods indicated he sees value in the ballyhooed new plan and hopes to win the $10 million annuity awarded to the winner, the biggest bonus in pro sports.
And...
Because he's been seeded No. 1 in FedEx points, the first prize remains statistically within his reach, which upon closer examination, is a systemic flaw worth fixing going forward. The tour has been pimping the FedEx Cup for months, to the point where even the true-believers have been rolling their eyes at the overkill. Earlier this month, for example, tour official and cup architect Ric Clarson likened it to the precursor to the biggest sports event of the year.
"I wonder if the members of the Green Bay Packers, when they won the very first Super Bowl in 1967, which wasn't even called the Super Bowl then, realized their place in history," he said. "Thus, we embark on a new era in golf called the FedEx Cup."
More like the FraudEx Cup now that Woods has disembarked. Did Bart Starr skip the first AFC-NFC Championship Game?
Elling also looks at Tiger's tendency, well, regular habit of entering tournaments at the last second and the ramifications for the PGA Tour and reminds us that Tiger skipped the Nissan Open in part to film FedEx Cup promotional spots. What a high point for all involved.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
