Turfnet Print Edition Folds

Brad Klein reports that publication formerly known as Superintendent News will continue exclusively online.

“The classic model of houses ringing a golf course is dying"

Sallie Brady of the New York Times looks at emerging trends in golf course housing development and lists some of the cutting edge communities of note.

Got to love the frank lede:

There's never been anything terribly sexy about living in a golf community. Imagine cookie-cutter spec homes dotting yet another dull par 4 in Myrtle Beach, and you get the picture. Even if you like the game and are in the market for a vacation home, you may never have considered buying in one of these old-style resorts.

Fast forward...

“The classic model of houses ringing a golf course is dying,” said John Kirk, an architect with the New York firm Cooper Robertson & Partners, who designed homes at WaterSound, a beachside golf community in the Florida panhandle. “Instead the golf course is like a big public green,” he said, adding that “people want to be able to walk to the post office or to get their morning coffee.”

Vacation home buyers continue to get younger — a median age of 47 in 2006, down from 52 in 2005, according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors — as more families move in next to the retirees at golf communities. Developers have responded by offering more design options, holiday kids’ clubs and summer camps, and myriad recreational activities beyond the driving range.

But the question is whether there are enough buyers for these new golf retreats. “The long-term demographics are favorable,” said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors. “It would not be surprising if we saw the vacation market hold its own while the rest of the market declines.”

"Somebody's built a better mousetrap already."

Okay, the George O'Grady line about testing Tiger first and if he's clean, why does it matter, was cute. One of those fun comments that seems so clever at the time, and upon further reflection, remarkably short-sighted.

Sadly, Jim Litke of AP (who normally gets it right) takes the bait again in wheeling out the tired argument that pro golfers are God's gift to integrity because they call penalties on themselves, therefore, they would never pop a pill or light up a joint. And furthermore, there really aren't that many benefits to using performance enhancing drugs in golf.

I'm going to get political for a moment, so you know where to send your hate mail.

Climate change. Let's assume cynics are right and it's all a bunch of malarkey. Yet, the only people against adopting cleaner energy to help with the problem and perhaps even make it harder for our friends in Dubai to build another mile long shopping center, are those who stand to benefit from the status quo. To a majority of folks, cleaner energy is both a common sense solution to the problem and simply the right thing to do.

Now, if the folks in professional golf love children as much as they claim, isn't drug testing the right thing to do if you want to deter kids from using potentially harmful performance enhancing drugs, even if everyone on the PGA Tour is clean as a whistle and always has been? 

I continue to be amazed that in debating this issue, the notion of discouraging the next generation from harming themselves consistently gets missed.  

ADT Day One Casualties

Doug Ferguson's game story from day one of the ADT Championship illustrates all of the fantastic dynamics involved in this unique format. For those of you not familiar, Friday sees the field cut to 16, Saturday starts with a clean slate that cuts to 8 and Sunday is one more clean slate with $1 million on the line.

Gulbis Never Intended To Be Anything But Totally Hot

Brian Hewitt reports that Natalie Gulbis' rebranding reps deny ever telling Jeffrey Smith that she was going to be turning in her G-strings for slacks.

It was reported in this space last week that Natalie Gulbis and her representatives were unhappy about a story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch saying, among other things, that Gulbis was changing her image. The newspaper based much of its story on quotes from a Gulbis marketing representative.
 
A spokesperson for Gulbis subsequently told GOLF CHANNEL that Gulbis was not re-branding and that the newspaper had gotten the story wrong.
 
For the record, the Times-Dispatch says it has a tape recording of the interview with the Gulbis marketing representative and stands by its original story.

Stay tuned! 

Turnberry Up For Sale

This has to be the most tortured way of saying the 2009 Open site can be yours for £100m...

Yesterday, a spokeswoman said: "In line with Starwood's asset strategy, the Westin Turnberry Resort, Ayrshire, has taken the decision to source an investment partner to realise the development potential of the resort, where there are 300 acres of undeveloped land."

Thanks to reader Ed for this story. 

“Maybe 20 million isn’t so much after all.”

Brian Hewitt scored an exclusive "one-on-one" with the PGA Tour Commish and as you can see by the breadth and length of the Finchem quotes, it probably occurred when they ran into each other at the World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony buffet line. One fun highlight pertaining to Lawrence Donegan's Dubai-$20-million-purse exclusive from last week:

Regardless, $20 million is a staggering sum to play for in one week. “The world of golf’s going to change massively in the next few years,” said one highly-placed European source with knowledge of the Dubai deal.
 
But maybe $20 million is not so staggering when you consider that the six gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have made a reported $1.5 trillion from oil in the last four years. That’s $1.5 trillion as in a 15 followed by 11 zeroes.
 
PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said he was “delighted” at the reported size of the purse because, he said, the compensation levels for the world’s top golfers still “trail” those of athletes in the major team sports.
 
As to the $1.5 trillion figure, Finchem cracked, “maybe 20 million isn’t so much after all.”

"In order to have a genuine brand, you must consistently deliver a promise that is genuine and distinct in people's minds."

Annika is blogging now and kicked off her new media New Media agenda with a painful-to-follow online chat that included this vital exchange:

Posted by: Rachael McMillen | November 14, 2007 at 02:14 PM
Annika, I have heard you mention your "brand." What exactly do you mean by "build your brand?"

Posted by: Matt | November 14, 2007 at 02:18 PM
Jerry, great question!
In order to have a genuine brand, you must consistently deliver a promise that is genuine and distinct in people's minds. I try to deliver the promise of "inspirational experiences" through all of my businesses. I hope that makes sense.

I'm inspired just reading this.

"I thought hitting the fairway was part and parcel of golf. Silly me."

Lawrence Donegan talks to Andrew Coltart about his struggles with distance and the flogging approach to course setup.

"When I played with Tiger he was a brilliant player but he was also very physically imposing, so I went away and tried to work on hitting the ball further. That was 1999. We're now in 2007 and I'm still trying to get more distance," he said. "If I don't try and hit the ball further, the way technology is going I'm going to be left way behind."

The truth is that Coltart, now 37, whose trip to tour school comes after his failure to make the top 115 in the 2007 European tour order of merit, may already have been left behind. Last year he was 181st in driving distance, hitting the ball 268 yards on average - a full 40 yards behind the longest hitters. In the Italian Open in the summer he had to play a five-wood shot into the green on seven of the first nine holes.

"How the hell can I get a five-wood shot close to the hole consistently? If I'd shot two under par I would have done really well - the winning score was 16 under par," he said sarcastically. "I don't want this to come over as bitterness but I feel technology has allowed guys to prosper who 15 years ago wouldn't have been able to make a penny. But because of technology and the way the courses are set up they are going to do really well.

"A guy might be able to dunt the ball 260 yards down the middle but that guy is constantly being outdone because the bigger hitter - the animal, for the want of a better expression - hits it 330 yards and it doesn't matter if he is in the rough because he has only got a wedge in his hands for his next shot. And the greens are saturated, so whatever he can lob up on to the green is just going to plug and stop somewhere near the flag.

"There is one statistic that is very curious to me - you have guys who are 150th in driving accuracy yet are 10th in greens in regulation. How can that be right? I thought hitting the fairway was part and parcel of golf. Silly me."

Interesting to note that he doesn't seem optimistic that a change in grooves will help him reverse his fortunes. 

"Right now, we'll have to punt on that question"

Steve Elling weaves together an interesting contrast between the PGA Tour's announced drug testing policy and the LPGA's, which appears a bit more organized and a whole lot tougher. Check this out:

A player who tests positive after a tournament faces disqualification, having their results expunged and the revocation of their winnings -- not to mention a lengthy suspension. If a player fails a test administered during the week she won an event, the runner-up will be declared the victor. If two players tied for second behind a player who tests positive, the one who recorded the lowest score on Sunday is declared the winner. If multiple runner-ups posted the same score in the final round, officials will match scorecards to determine the default winner. Bizarre as that scenario sounds, the PGA Tour hasn't determined how it will solve a comparable issue and will wait until February to address the various hypotheticals of testing. "Right now, we'll have to punt on that question," spokesman Bob Combs said Wednesday. The men's tour won't start testing until July.

"Our people are our product."

The Brand Lady got off to a great start in her lecture to the assembled scribblers who dared to show up for her pre-ADT Championship press conference. Paragraphs of dialogue without anything to make fun of? 

But she's still the Brand Lady...

They say that every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. So with that in mind, as we come to the end of our 2007 season, we deliberately chose the ADT Championship as the first tournament to exclusively display our brand new logo, the LPGA's first new logo in 15 years, and one that truly reflects and celebrates the diversity, the global strength and the evolution of our brand.

This tournament and our logo both epitomize our commitment to a bold new look and to bold business, especially when you look at the LPGA has taken ownership of the ADT Championship for the first time. This year everything you see, from beginning to end, the LPGA is calling the shots. Another first, we are actually producing all nine hours of television that you'll see.

I don't know a lot about golf and television, but in general is that really something to brag about? Isn't it better when someone pays you to do the production?

As we acquire more strategic assets, the LPGA brand will continue to flourish. Last month's launch of our first-ever on-line pro shop opened for business. For those of who have not visited, LPGAproshop.com is part of a merchandising program that we expect will grow to be a significant revenue stream for the LPGA.

 Is that definition of significant like the USGA's?

Also located very closely to the media tent, not by accident, is our first-ever pro shop and merchandise shop, so please visit. You have all week.

Please, slingers in attendance, tell me that last sentence was said with a wink and a laugh? Oh how would you know, you had already made your way to the door shop 'til you drop.

All of these are signs that point to the strength of our product, to our members and to our brand. I want to thank you all for recognizing the talents and the attributes of our players and for sharing their stories with your readers.

Outside the world of golf, coverage of the LPGA could be found in airline magazines, Business Week, Newsweek. In fact, in mid-October Lorena was actually the cover story on the Latin American edition of Newsweek. One of our greatest strengths is the fact that we don't separate our people from our product. Our people are our product. The LPGA is an organization, and our members as individuals are not afraid to assume greater responsibility and to hold us all to a higher standard.

I wonder how many times she practiced that mantra in front of the mirror? Try saying "our people are our product." It isn't easy (on many levels). That's why she gets the big bucks.

Q. I think, Carolyn, you said that the LPGA was producing the TV for this week. What exactly does that mean?

CAROLYN BIVENS: It means that we hired a production company, Castro Communications, somebody we've worked with before. We've worked with the Golf Channel, with ESPN to get our production crew, accepted as the ones who would be producing and calling the shots.

We've done profile pieces on just about every woman who's competing here. Those will run periodically during the telecast. We are doing the production of everything. That means we are covering the nine hours of this tournament.

We've worked in combination with the Golf Channel and with NBC, but for the first time the LPGA will be guiding what is seen on television.

Gee and I was looking forward to watching some of this.

Fresh Off Comeback Player Award, Stricker On Ballot Again!?

I guess if you can reclaim your amateur status twice, why not have a comeback award worthy year after a comeback award worthy year?

Doug Ferguson says Stricker is on the player ballot again.

"That (report) got some attention" **

The first reactions are in on the PGA Tour's Tuesday announcement and it's apparent there are a few questions that need to be raised.

Gary Van Sickle analyzes the changes (or lack thereof) to the FedEx Cup and notes the inclusion of marijuana and cocaine on the banned list. He also isn't too wild about the Tour's decision not to deal with FedEx Cup points.

Steve Elling asks what took so long to rejig the schedule. Of course, with not even a cosmetic change in the points structure and no decision on tweaks to the playoff points structure, you have to wonder if the particulars of a drug testing program have overwhelmed the boys in Ponte Vedra.

I find it inexplicable that the playoff points volatility was not addressed. Now, Elling points out in his piece that this will be revisited in February, as does Doug Ferguson in his recap, but a major sports organization of the Tour's caliber should not be tinkering with a playoff format midseason.

Buried late in Elling's column is this little shocker regarding the change in FedEx Cup payout and Finchem's gabfest with writers following the PGA Tour's media summit:

Finchem said governmental pressures contributed to the tour's decision to back away from giving the FedEx winner's bonus out in deferred payment. Instead, next year, the winner will receive $9 million in cash and $1 million in deferred payment. Elected representatives in Washington, D.C., are taking a long, dim look at large deferred payment plans, Finchem said.

One publication reported that if Woods won six FedExs Cup titles, he would have a $1 billion nest egg by the time he retired, based on earnings projections.

"That (report) got some attention," Finchem laughed.

Should be interesting to see if anyone pursues this angle.

I wonder if this hits at some of the complaints players like Sean Murphy have had about the deferred compensation? 

Update on 2007-11-14 17:29 by Geoff

** Looks like I'm not the only one who can't comprehend a mid-season playoff adjustment. Both Jason Sobel and Bob Harig at ESPN.com don't get it either.

Sobel, after suggesting a leaner look to the points system I hadn't seen mentioned before, writes:

February??? As in, three months from now? As in, during the season? The PAC and the Policy Board were in constant discussions about these matters -- which also, we believe, may include whether the number of players in each playoff field will remain the same -- from season's end until now, but still couldn't come up with a worthy decision.

What's the hold up? Why not work to finalize such decisions prior to Tuesday's announcement? Instead, it seems like the tour is taking a make-up-the-rules-as-we-go-along mentality. Call us old-fashioned, but we'd like to see everything in place prior to the schedule taking effect.

And Harig:

Apparently, the discussion didn't last too long, at least as it pertained to the FedEx Cup. Other than the Tour Championship move -- a no-brainer, considering all the talk this year about the heavy late-season schedule that would have asked the top players to compete for five straight weeks in 2008 -- and a change in how the bonus money will be paid, we are left with the same points-earning system and qualification for the playoffs that was largely met with indifference this year.

And that is disappointing, given the healthy amount of opinions offered by players, fans and media that the system could use some tweaking.

"The biggest complaint we heard was that the system was too complex," Finchem said. "And we just didn't share that view."

It's not that the system was complex -- players are awarded points based on their finish in a tournament, with everyone who makes the cut getting something in a similar proportion to how prize money is paid at each event -- it's the fact that the compilation of points didn't create the kind of drama tour officials envisioned throughout the year. Despite incessant hype, few paid attention to the FedEx Cup standings until after the British Open, when the playoffs drew near. And with 144 making the playoffs and only a dozen or so players truly capable of winning the whole thing, the regular season remained more about the major championships and the individual tournaments, not something greater.

Finchem did leave open the possibility of change to the playoff events, but it won't be decided until the tour's policy board meets again in February. That smacks of changing the rules in the middle of the game, but with so many players qualifying for the playoffs, changing how they operate will hardly have any effect so early in the year.

"So I'm proud to be mentioned with Old Tom. If we played each other? Well, I'd have the edge, because of my fashion sense."

I managed to put three minutes aside for my monthly power flip through Golf Magazine and actually stumbled upon  something worth reading in the form of Connell Barrett's look at innovators.

Granted, a couple of them I trust as far as I can throw them, but at least Ran Morrissett got some nice recognition.

"I think of GolfClubAtlas.com as a museum. Architecture is an art, and a course is like a 200-acre canvas. My Web site gives like-minded people a place to discuss and debate these works, to keep the discussion happening. People on the site are regular guys who want to protect great courses and preserve classic architecture. The dialogue can get pretty intense. Things got personal a few years back when Tom Fazio redid the bunkers at Merion. A lot of name-calling. Some thought that changing the bunkers was akin to drawing glasses on the Mona Lisa. It's funny — the nicest, kindest gentleman can become a pit bull online! But that's part of the passion. It's my passion, too. This is a nonprofit site. Since I started it in 1999, I've gotten a lot of offers to sell, but I never will. It's like those commercials. Annual cost of running a web site: a few thousand dollars. Helping to keep architecture debate alive: priceless."

Actually, priceless was Greg Norman fawning over himself in arguably the most nauseating paragraph of self promotion ever published in a major golf publication.

Here's Greg, on himself:

"This January, I'll be honored with the Old Tom Morris Award, for giving back to the game. For one, I feel that golf should be more compatible with the environment. Courses elevate property value and create jobs as well as provide green spaces, filter air, and create a wildlife habitat. Doonbeg, in Ireland, was built with shovels, not bulldozers. We moved just 26,000 cubic yards of soil and protected a microscopic snail species. In addition to that, my tournament, the Merrill Lynch Shootout, has raised more than $10 million for CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation. So I'm proud to be mentioned with Old Tom. If we played each other? Well, I'd have the edge, because of my fashion sense. I'd wear something from my Greg Norman Collection, which is comfortable and stylish. How can you make a full turn wearing a double-breasted three-piece wool suit?"

Yet Another Castle Stuart Video...