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.
He denies the split-with-Haney rumors and reveals that Sam has already held a club, but it's seven months before she's required to swing it. I know this vital information makes your day, but hey, it's a slow news day.
It appears the Woods web site comments were in response to this John Hawkins column. Of course, Woods could have put this to rest with a stronger answer when he met with the press in Boston.
The message was that the game is worldwide, and retaining that popularity is why Nicklaus is concerned about one trend -- the widening gap between the average player and the touring pro. He said the pros can do more with the new equipment -- the longer balls and perimeter-weighted club heads -- and that separates them way too much from Mr. and Ms. 15 handicap.
"For years and years, they weren't that far apart," Nicklaus said. "Today, we've gone exactly the opposite of where we should go. Can you imagine playing against Tiger Woods today, the average club pro trying to compete with him?
"I used to play exhibitions, and the club pro, because he knew the course, had a chance to beat me. There isn't anybody who is going to beat Tiger or Phil or these guys today."
Nicklaus said the average golfer hits it farther now, but the pros hit it so much farther that it has become a different game. They hit it farther, but can control it. Most amateurs can't.
"We lose people when they hit the ball 330 yards and then they can't find it," he said. "If they hit it 230-240, they can find it and keep playing. It speeds up the game."
As a fellow southern Californian, I know Jim Vernon a bit and frankly I am surprised he was able to ascend to the presidency of the United States Golf Association.
Why?
Because he's intelligent, considerate, friendly, passionate about the game, knows his golf history, is an astute observer of golf architecture and appears forward thinking, yet respects the game's past.
All attributes lacking in recent USGA presidents.
He's the perfect guy to right the ship, if it hasn't already sunk yet.
Oh, and note that he waited to have his presidency announced after the USGA's fall executive committee meeting, whereas the previous president prematurely announced his ascention in July of the previous year, rendering the then current president and purported friend a lame duck. So Jim's already got a leg up.
That enormous cheer New Jersey residents just heard was the staff at Far Hills celebrating news that Jim Vernon is the next president and Walter Driver is now officially a lame duck.
USGA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SLATE NOMINATED FOR 2008
Far Hills, N.J. – James F. Vernon of Pasadena, Calif., has been nominated to serve a one-year term as president of the USGA by the Nominating Committee of the United States Golf Association. The election of officers and the full 15-member USGA Executive Committee will take place Feb. 9, 2008, at the USGA’s Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas.
As president, Vernon, 57, will lead the Association’s professional staff and nearly 1,400 volunteers who serve on more than 30 committees.
He will begin his sixth year as a member of the Executive Committee, a term that has included two years as vice president of the USGA and four years as chairman of the Equipment Standards Committee.
Vernon is a past president of the board of directors of both the Southern California Golf Association and the California Golf Association. He currently serves on the board of directors of the SCGA Foundation. He started his volunteer work with the USGA as a member of the USGA Sectional Affairs Committee in 1998. He is a member of Lakeside Golf Club in Los Angeles and the Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Vernon is the owner of Frank Vernon Diamond Brokers and Wholesale Jewelers, a family business that was started under his father’s name more than 50 years ago. The business has its offices in Los Angeles.950,000! We're already seeing his sense of humor!
Outside of his golf interest, Vernon serves as secretary for the Diamond Club West Coast Inc., a member of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses. He received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and his law degree from Stanford University in 1972 and 1975, respectively. He practiced law for nine years before resigning from his firm to take over the family diamond business.
“This is an exciting time to become president of the USGA with 226 million page views online during the 2007 U.S. Open,” said Vernon. “Thanks to online and new media, as well as the assistance from our corporate partners, we are aggressively developing innovative ways to interact with all golfers, especially our 950,000 members, as well as the state and regional golf associations, the PGA of America, and all the allied groups that care deeply about this game.
“I look forward to working closely with executive director David Fay and his talented staff to make sure that we continue to conduct the very best championships in golf and to fulfill our responsibilities to establish equipment rules that are based on informed science and facts.”
As for the others...
The other nominated officers of the Executive Committee are: James B. Hyler Jr. of Raleigh, N.C., and Cameron Jay Rains of San Diego, Calif., as vice presidents; Emily R. (Missy) Crisp of Mill Neck, N.Y., as secretary; and Fredric C. Nelson of San Francisco, Calif., as treasurer.
The other seven returning members of the Executive Committee are: Christie Austin of Cherry Hills Village, Colo.; James T. Bunch of Denver, Colo.; Irving Fish of Wayzata, Minn.; John Kim of Farmington, Conn.; William M. Lewis Jr. of New York, N.Y.; Steve Smyers of Lakeland, Fla.; and Geoffrey Yang of Menlo Park, Calif.
Glen Nager, a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue, has been chosen as the Association’s general counsel for a third consecutive year.
There are three new nominations to the Executive Committee for 2008. They are Patricia Kaufman of Fort Washington, Md.; Thomas J. O’Toole of Chesterfield, Mo.; and Bridgid Shanley Lamb of Mendham, N.J.
My beloved USGA sources called to immediately voice their pleasure with the O'Toole and Lamb nominations and knew little about Kaufman:
Kaufman, 63, is a lawyer who has specialized in wills and estates and civil litigation. She serves as legal editor for a national newsletter on corrections law, and she writes for other legal journals as well. Additionally, for more than five years, she has been a science writer for the National Institutes of Health. She holds a law degree from Catholic University (1979) and a Masters of Science in Biology from West Virginia University (1970).
She was a member of the USGA Women’s Committee for six years, through 2007. She served on the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship Committee, where she was chairman for the past four years, and on the USGA Regional Affairs Committee until 1998.
In addition, she served as president of the Maryland State Golf Association Women’s Division from 1995-1999. She is a long-standing board member of the Women’s District of Columbia Golf Association and the Middle Atlantic Golf Association.
An avid golfer who began playing the sport at age 8, Kaufman has been married for 40 years to husband, Lou, and they have two daughters and five grandchildren.
O’Toole, 50, is a partner in the law firm of Doster Mickes. He specializes in real estate transactions, construction litigation and zoning issues. He received both his undergraduate degree (1979) and law degree (1985) from St. Louis University. A native of St. Louis, O’Toole has been involved with the USGA since 1988.
He has served as a Rules official at more than 100 USGA championships, including every U.S. Open since 1990. He also has been the lead official in conducting more than 120 qualifying rounds for USGA championships. O’Toole has been “certified” as a Rules of Golf expert each year since 1990, and he has been a consulting member of the Rules of Golf Committee since 2004.
In 1992, he founded the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association, a regional association that serves eastern Missouri and central Illinois. He serves on the executive board of the Association.
Shanley Lamb, 61, retired from her law career in 1984 after having served in both private practice and government positions. She also was active in state and national political campaigns following graduation from Newton College (1969) and Seton Hall University School of Law (1976).
She served on the USGA Women’s Committee for three years, through 2007. She began her USGA service as a member of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Committee in 1995.
Two years earlier, in 1993, Shanley Lamb joined the board of the Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association. She was board president from 1998 to 2000. In 2006, she received the Judy Bell Award for contributions to women’s golf in the metropolitan New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area.
She has competed in one U.S. Girls’ Junior and four USGA Senior Women’s Amateurs. She and her husband, Jim, have three children.
And for the traditional buried lede...
The three current Committee members who will be retiring at the upcoming Annual Meeting are current president Walter W. Driver Jr. of Atlanta, Ga.; Pat McKinney of Charleston, S.C.; and Loren Singletary of Houston, Texas.
McKinney departs after joining last year, dashing hopes for the great state of South Carolina. As for Singletary, no idea who that is. And as for Driver, ah, what can we say but, it's a bright, bright day seeing his name next to "retiring" in a USGA press release.
Such exciting news I can hardly contain myself. But, Buddy Marucci does bring several key attributes to the job: a willingness to pretend that he likes people like Walter Driver and Fred Ridley, a huge chip on his shoulder and of course, the deep-seeded belief that there is no more important job in the world.
Frankly, I'm much more concerned about him continuing on as Merion's Green Committee chair. He could inflict a lot more damage that way than with some negative influence on the committee's Captain picks.
Thanks to reader Scott for catching this Alan Blondin story about the end of the course closing trend in Myrtle Beach thanks to overbuilding and now, the housing market meltdown.
Sixteen area courses closed in 2005 and 2006, all with redevelopment plans that included housing developments.
But as the Beachwood and Azalea Sands owners struggled to gain approval of their jointly proposed planned-unit development and annexation into North Myrtle Beach by City Council, the business climate around them changed.
The rash of course closures has remedied a struggling golf market that had been saturated with layouts, and contributed to the flooding of a housing market that has been burdened with increased listings but slower sales over the past two years.
And...
National homebuilders, who swarmed the area seeking large tracts of land and spurred the fire sale of courses, are no longer knocking on clubhouse doors.
"Builders overbuilt in 2006, and they've cut back," said Tom Maeser, president of the Fortune Academy of Real Estate and market analyst for the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors. "We're not seeing a lot of land acquisition right now. It's more selling existing inventory. I don't think we'll see the need for these golf courses being converted."
Where there were going to be up to 2,500 residential units, a town center featuring a regional shopping center, a resort hotel, offices and marina at Beachwood and Azalea Sands, there are now increased golf rounds and profits.
Though paid rounds on the Strand are down 215,000 through the first three quarters of the year compared to 2006 - to 2.69 million rounds according to statistics compiled for marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday - paid rounds per course are at 31,551, which is the highest since 1999.
Demand has increased and Strand course operators have raised rates nearly across the board in the past two years to further increase profitability.
"We're up like we're accustomed to being in years gone by," Elliott said. "Indications are for the courses that remain in play, the profitability factor is much better."
Charity was at the heart of the PGA Tour's decision to invite Boo Weekley to represent America in the World Cup, November 19-25.
Can't wait for those interview transcripts where Boo opines on the food, culture and other worldly insights.
I know what you're thinking. Leroy Neiman still paints?
Unfortunately.
He was commissioned by the PGA of America to capture the current Ryder Cup captains for reasons unknown. Azinger could not look more pleased, don't you think? The look says, "this will look great in my garage right next to the Leroy Neiman African safari prints that the previous owners left behind."
But Azinger won't have to make room for it, charity will be the uh, beneficiary.
The works of art will be auctioned to benefit the Ali Center and The First Tee of Louisville.
The unveiling was held in the LeRoy Neiman Gallery of the Ali Center, which also features Neiman's famed portrait and other images of Ali.
The Ryder Cup Captains' portraits will move to the Cobalt Artworks Gallery nearby on Louisville's Main Street. Both pieces of original art will be auctioned off by public bidding, which will continue until Sept. 17, 2008, when the portraits will be awarded to the highest bidders during the Ryder Cup Gala Dinner.
...so much so that they are willing to fight a Scottsdale city variance, all so their new "Superstore" can proudly display the stars and stripes. Peter Corbett reports in the Arizona Republic:
The PGA Tour Superstore plans to seek a variance from the city to allow the stars and stripes - 30 feet by 50 feet - to fly from a 100-foot flagpole, said Paul Rodriguez, district manager for the Atlanta-based company.
The 47,000-square-foot golf and tennis store northwest of Shea Boulevard and Loop 101, opened Oct. 11.
A new Chandler PGA Tour Superstore has a 30-foot-by-50-foot flag on a 100-foot pole, and other stores in the chain have even larger flags on poles of 135 feet.
"With the wind blowing, they are just plain awesome," Rodriguez said. "You can see them from a mile away."
Scottsdale's zoning code limits spires, which includes flagpoles, to no more than 65 feet, said Tim Curtis, a Scottsdale principal planner.
Bob Harig reports that you can kind of feel the Fall Series dying right before our eyes and offers up some tough comments from Steve Flesch:
Dubbed the Fall Series, the final seven events on the PGA Tour schedule will mercifully come to an end next week in Orlando, where the biggest stories will revolve around players losing their full-time status (despite making $700,000 this year) or secure veterans who try to fit in golf around visits to the Disney theme parks.And this from another reliable mind:
"There were 100 people following the final group last Sunday in Scottsdale," said PGA Tour veteran Steve Flesch. "It's like a glorified club championship. I don't think that's what the tour intended. And I think they need to address it."
"It's a slap in the face to some of those events to almost label them B-class events," said Daniel Chopra, who was in contention for his first PGA Tour victory at the weather-plagued Ginn. "Disney's been around for years. Vegas has great history at that event. ... We need to do something because these sponsors are putting up a lot of money, and the tournaments are not getting the respect they deserve."
Harig also explores possible solutions, including one that I remember hearing in the early FedEx Cup chatter: points in the fall counting for the following season.
I've always wondered why that notion died. Seemed like a win-win for the Tour, FedEx and the fall event sponsors. Oh, and those guys the Tour revolves around, the players.
Okay, it's not Tiger chasing Jack's 18 or Snead's 82, but according to Craig Dolch, he's leading the tour in WD's with his Ginn Classic bail out.
Meanwhile Steve Elling says the Tour's obviously not fining him enough, then dares to go where few have thought to venture, boldly questioning how fans can keep loving the guy when he pulls this stuff. I also like this point, which does punch a hole in the regular guy persona that Daly has been abusing:
He's become an affront to the credibility of the PGA Tour and has offered repeated slaps to the face of those buying tickets to watch him. Moreover, his behavior is offensive to players who could have better maximized the notable number of wasted, and mostly undeserved, opportunities that Daly received this year from various sponsors.
Nobody received more largesse than his largeness.
Daly, playing mostly on sponsor exemptions because he didn't finished in the top 125 in earnings last year, won't reach the financial threshold again this year, either. He was at No. 182 entering the week, despite playing a full schedule of 24 events. He has been reduced to seeking handouts from title sponsors to get into their fields.
That latter figure means a couple of things. Firstly, many tournament directors are lining up to give him exemptions into their events, because they know that fans buy tickets to watch Daly's seemingly inevitable train wreck. And, second, it underscores that he remains the biggest quitter active in the game today, if that's not an oxymoron.
To wit, Sunday marked his sixth withdrawal of the year.
He didn't give a reason for quitting but didn't report any injury or illness, a tour media official said. According to tour rules, he has 30 days to send a letter to tour brass outlining his reasoning, which will be reviewed. He faces a possible fine if his excuse doesn't pass muster. Whatever the dollar amount figures to be, and the tour has never disclosed its fines, it clearly hasn't been enough to modify his behavior. He should be booted on general principle for conduct unbecoming a professional.
For those of you new readers who haven't followed the technology debate and its impact on the game, John Huggan offers a juicy primer that is also filled with some fresh quotes and thoughts for those of you who have tracked this key issue.
The other day, former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy played a round with friends at the splendid Kingston Heath course in his home city of Melbourne. When they came to the 567-yard 14th hole, which was playing downwind, admittedly, Ogilvy hit a good drive... before striking a 7-iron approach through the green.Fast forward...
That's not a misprint. How long does a hole have to be before one of the game's leading exponents is unable to reach the putting surface with two full-blooded shots? Given that Ogilvy hit a drive and 7-iron around 575 yards, he was capable of reaching a green about 200 yards further on with his 3-wood.
Let's make the hole 800 yards in length, just to make him think a little. As the world No.11 asked companions rhetorically: "Why would anyone bother trying to design a course for us?"
"I don't pay too much attention to distance statistics, because most of my courses are not being built for the professionals," says leading designer Tom Doak. "But I try to stay abreast of what's going on, because the governing bodies don't!"
Wow, the Doakster finally speaking out forcefully! Better late than never.
And from Huggan:
The typical response to this new breed of tour player has been predictably, and disappointingly, one-dimensional. Most courses have resorted to golf's most boring hazard - longer and thicker rough - and ever-increasing length, and in the process have destroyed any semblance of strategic choice for players who are supposed to be the best.
In other words, thinking and planning have largely been eliminated from the game at the highest level. On almost every hole there is but one choice of shot, with the creation of interesting angles for the approach something those old guys did before technology ran amok. It is tedious and heartbreaking to watch and, no doubt, to play.
The danger is that the average golf club committee will imagine that growing more and deeper rough and creating longer holes by way of more back tees offer the way forward for their course. Big mistake. That approach ignores the fact that the average golfer gains little or no advantage from modern technology. Largely starved of the club-head speed that is yardage's fuel, his drives have "stretched" by only a few measly yards. Besides, there is a better way.
"On most of the courses we work on, we put in back tees for the good player only on those holes where the green size is appropriate," says former European Tour player Mike Clayton, now a much-respected course designer. "We would not, for example, make a 310-yard hole 40 yards longer just because we could.
"In fact, par-70 is the answer to many tour course design questions. By reducing the par by two shots, you create two less vulnerable holes. Throw in a couple of great short par-4s and a short par-3, and it is possible to keep a course around 7,000 yards in length while still making it both difficult and thought-provoking for the professionals, and playable for the members without having tees they never go anywhere near."
Of course, all of that could be achieved by hauling the ball back 50 yards. Come on guys, get it done!
50? Shoot, I'll take 20 at this point.
Bob Carney does a super job summing up the various debates and vigorous give-and-take that took place during the Golf Digest Panelist Summit, and offers this from Tom Fazio on his work at Augusta National. I missed his presentation today while flying the unfriendly skies. But it was a typically masterful blend of Fazio rationalization:
Fazio, who did that remodeling, was having none of it. "Put yourself in Hootie Johnson's postion. You are in charge. And you have the best players in the world and you have a venue that used to contain long, strong par 4s--No. 1, No. 5--that required a long drive and a mid-iron. What do you do. Well, it's a simple issue. You just fix it. You do it."
Yes, and it's been so well received.
Length, yes Tom. Rough, silly tree planting, no optional tee flexibility and an overriding emphasis on protecting egos through other contrived features? Not working.
Fazio suggested another exercise in imagination. He said imagine Donald Ross, today, watching Tiger Woods tee off on Pinehurst No. 2. The ball explodes off the tee. "Donald Ross has never seen anything like this, says Fazio. "What do you think he thinks? He's going to say, 'If that's the way golf is now, we need to look at that.'"
Yes, on the regulatory side. But since Fazio has openly encouraged the distance expansion, it's clear he has his own best interests at heart over the health of the game. What a shame.
I sat through two enjoyable Powerpoint presentations by John Fought and Rees Jones here at the Carolina. Two points by Jones were of most interest.
Encouraging was his message to Golf Digest and the panel: categories like Aesthetics, Ambiance and Conditioning threaten to make the rankings "into a rich man's list." Losing those categories while emphasizing how much "continuing interest" (repeat playing fun) of a course would make, in Jones's view, for a better ranking that serves the game better. Naturally I wholeheartedly agree.
Another comment of interest was his disdain for the Golf Magazine panels' love of "collapsing" bunkers and how courses featuring this "fad" were overtaking their list and threatening to ruin it. Collapsing would be your Coore/Crenshaw/Bradley/Doak/Urbina/Hanse/Wagner/Devries etc. style that Rees has always hated, but unfortunately which many golfers are finding more appealing looking compared to cleaner, rounder hazards.
I got a giggle out of his remarks, yet on a similar theme, the panelists who had just played Pinehurst No. 2 were saying privately at the evening dinner (after Jaime Diaz gave a great talk on Tiger entering the design business) were consistently underwhelmed by the course. And in large part, their lack of enthusiasm stems from the course's lack of visual interest, and in particular, the bunkering as well as the mundane wall-to-wall Bermuda look eliminating much of the sandy scrub that once gave the course such a distinctive flavor. I have to say I strongly agree that Pinehurst has lost much of it's unique character and other than its distinctive greens, looks like way too ordinary.
So the morale of this story is simple: visual stuff does matter in making you want to play a course. I think those rugged, wild, inspiring and seemingly natural "collapsing" bunkers are here to stay.
More importantly, Rees posed for a photo with his favorite golf blogger (I've cropped the others in the shot to protect the innocent from any potential photo caption fun!).
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
