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.
SI's John Garrity offers a witty take on Rory Sabbatini and his brief press Q&A after a round 1 66 at the Sony Open.My Yahoo column on Sony Open host Waialae's history and current course conditions, is now posted. Also included is some speculation on the recent U.S. Open venue news.
And because great minds whose parents opted for the G-E-O-F-F spelling think alike, Golf World's Geoff Russell wonders the same thing I did about a certain Bedminster course becoming a viable candidate.
Scott Hamilton reports the good news for those who were alarmed by last fall's reported re-branding.For what it's worth, this incident ought to generate a debate. Not about the word lynch, but about the origin of Kelly Tlghman's joke gone awry: overexposure.
During the Kapalua event, Tilghman and Nick Faldo are asked to be entertaining four hours a day, over the course of four days. It was inevitable that something stupid would be said. Golf Channel's skimpy production approach and overuse of announcers caught up to them here.
I don't expect them to change their ways, but hopefully it is a reminder to Golf Channel executives that there is a reason other networks have so many announcers on long telecasts to spread out the commentary.
Anyway, other writers had plenty to say.
Craig Dolch says it's overblown and if Tiger has not problem with it, we should not. Ron Green Jr. says she apologized, end of story.
Steve Elling with help from Doug Ferguson's AP piece fleshes the story out with some interesting background and all of Al Sharpton's quotes from a CNN appearance. Sharpton:
"If I got on this show and said I wanted to put some Jewish American in the gas chamber, I don't care under what context I said it, the entire Jewish community has the right to say I should be put of this show or put off my radio show," Sharpton said Wednesday night on CNN, before Tilghman was suspended. "This is an insult to all blacks. It's not murder in general, it's not assault in general, it's a specific racial term that this woman should be held accountable for."Jeff Rude believes the punishment doesn't fit the crime" and that we need to keep her comments in context. Exactly. If Bobby Clampett said it, we all know what would have to be done. But Kelly, come on...
Tilghman, 38, who ascended through the network ranks to the top of her profession after starting as a low-level lackey in the video archives room, until late Wednesday night was scheduled to anchor all four rounds of the Sony Open, which begins in Honolulu on Thursday. However, 2½ hours after the Sharpton interview aired, she was suspended for by network officials.
I was out trouncing around in cactus and other stuff with big thorns in Cabo all day, so I didn't see Golf Channel's earlier statement that said they would not be suspending Kelly Tilghman for her lynch remark. But apparently Al Sharpton speaking out may have changed their mind?
My Links Magazine interview with Pete Dye is now posted. I didn't even have to ask about the USGA. He brought it up!I warned of this last month and you can already see it playing out: the cynical, secular, communist, pornography-addicted press will be the real guilty party in any positive drug tests in golf. From Ron Sirak's Golf World story on the subject:
"That depends on [the media]," LPGA counsel Jill Pilgrim says, when discussing the public-relations risks. "If we have a 1 percent failure rate, [is the media] going to report that 1 percent or on the 99 percent who are clean?"
Meanwhile Doug Ferguson reports this related to the permissible drug list in his weekly notes column:
DRUG LIST: Toward the end of the PGA Tour's anti-doping program manual distributed to players last month is a section that lists examples of medications that are permitted, such as antibiotics, hemorrhoidals and muscle relaxants.
It was surprising to see vaginal preparations as the final entry.
Turns out it was a reminder that the PGA Tour is not a men's tour. Annika Sorenstam played in the Colonial in 2003, Suzy Whaley played in Hartford late that year, and Michelle Wie has played every year since then.
"In the era of females wanting to perhaps play on the PGA Tour, our policy had to reflect that such products were permissible," tour spokesman Ty Votaw said.
Thanks to the reader who caught this wire story:
Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman has apologized after saying during Friday's telecast of the PGA Tour's opening event that today's young players should "lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley."
Somewhere, Ben Wright is smiling. He's off the hook!
A spokesman for the network said Tilghman apologized on Sunday's telecast and has reached out to Woods' representatives to express her regrets for the comments, according to New York Newsday.
Yeah, that'll do the trick.
**Scott Hamilton fills in a few more gaps in this Golfweek column.
Geoff Ogilvy's contention in his chat with Jaime Diaz is that shotmaking is dead in large part not because of grooves or architecture or the ball, but because greens are too soft.
"The truth is that hitting it high and straight, with the equipment we have now and on the turf conditions we play, is the simplest option," he says. "It gives you less to think about, and sometimes on the golf course, thinking about less is good.
"But the big thing is that the reward for hitting the proper shot -- on a regular tour course -- is just not as great anymore. Off the tee you just look down the fairway and hit it, because it really doesn't matter where the ball ends up as long as it's in relatively short grass. Coming into the soft green, when the ball stops easily and it doesn't matter what side you miss it on, all of a sudden the perfectly shaped shot loses its relevance and becomes not worth the effort."
And...
"Especially at Augusta and the British Open, golf courses with really firm greens where it's really bad to miss it on the short side of the pin, that's when the reward for shaping is much greater. When the ball actually does something when it hits the ground -- when it rolls a bit after it lands -- that's when shotmaking matters."
Okay, here's a hypothetical I've been wanting to float for some time.
What if a course, in a quest to present firm greens for a championship, were to cover their greens at night the way a baseball crew covers the infield during a rain delay?
Is this an artificial intrusion, or simply a clumsier method of doing what the Sub-Air systems accomplish at courses with the system installed?
The Tour Championship will still be a dud most years, but at least they're trying to make the "playoffs" more volatile. From John Hawkins in the new Golf World:
Not that anybody ever understood the FedEx Cup point-distribution system to begin with, but a series of significant changes will be submitted in a proposal to the Players Advisory Committee when it meets next month. In an attempt to make Woods and Mickelson play in all the postseason events, playoff points would increase dramatically, perhaps by as much as 2,000 per spot. For example, the value of a 10th-place finish in Boston would leap from 1,350 to 3,350.
What's strange about this option is that the 2,000-point raise runs consistently down to the player who finishes 70th, meaning a measly 100 points would become 2,100. Nobody ever said the tour doesn't reward mediocrity, but the official purpose of the increase is to generate more volatility in the postseason standings, something that was clearly missing in the 2007 debut.
"As it turned out, the top 22 [regular-season finishers] had a free pass to the Tour Championship," Ogilvie says, referring to the 30-man season finale. "I think the consensus is that we'd like that number to be a lot smaller."
I know tournament directors have to say this kind of stuff, but...from an Arizona Republic piece notes that Tiger Woods is officially choosing Dubai over the FBR at TPC Scottsdale.
"I think that we will get Tiger Woods to play the FBR Open (some day)," tournament Chairman Tim Lewis said. "I'm disappointed it's not this year. I thought with the Super Bowl here in town that it might attract Tiger, but it makes a lot of sense for him to play in Dubai financially. We have a hard time competing with that."
...but wouldn't it be refreshing if just once, instead of noting that it makes a "lot of sense" for Tiger to play in Dubai "financially" when he certainly does not need the money, how about just bemoaning the fact that you can't pay his appearance fee?
I know, I know, Tiger never forgets.
Tim Rosaforte notes on the Local Knowledge blog that Rory Sabbatini (or his agent whispering in Tim's ear?) is mulling a donation of his Target World Challenge winnings to charity.
As for the $170,000 he earned that week, look for him to donate it to a charity connected with the Wounded Warriors program.
Now, why would this take so long? Shouldn't Sabbatini have made this gesture already if it really was a sincere desire to reconcile a mess he made?
Golf Digest's Bob Carney reports that entries for the reality show at Torrey Pines have topped 20,000. So glad three spots will be taken up by has beens! I swear that's the last time I'll mention it this week.
Jon Show in the Sports Business Journal manages to get ahold of the latest Form 990 showing PGA Tour salaries for 2006.
Tim Finchem earned $5.2 million in salary and bonuses in 2006 as commissioner of the PGA Tour, an increase of $1 million from the $4.2 million he earned in 2005.Well, cost of living is going up in Jacksonville...and wherever else he's got a second home.
Without commenting directly on Finchem’s compensation, Ron Price, CFO of the PGA Tour, said executive compensation tied to PGA Tour Holdings varies depending on responsibilities within the subsidiary. “We look at how individuals actually spend their time during the year and come up with an allocation to Holdings,” he said.The piece also lists these salaries and benefits and benefits payable after retirement:
Both entities pay most top executives a salary, annual and long-term incentive bonuses, and benefits payable after retirement. Bonuses are based equally on the performance of the company and individual performance, such as whether an employee met both financial and nonfinancial goals.
Finchem’s $3.9 million income from PGA Tour Inc. consisted of $922,500 in salary and nearly $3 million in incentive bonuses. The organization paid him $3.16 million in 2005 and $3.05 million in 2004.
Another $1.3 million of Finchem’s pay in 2006 was paid by PGA Tour Holdings, including salary, incentive bonuses and deferred compensation. PGA Tour Holdings paid Finchem $1 million in each of the previous two years.
Tim Finchem Commissioner $5,222,240 $38,635 $1,018,016
Charlie Zink EVP, co-COO $1,308,162 $28,869 $189,334
Ed Moorhouse EVP, co-COO $1,308,144 $22,266 $202,490
Ron Price EVP, CFO $908,554 $22,686 $55,948
Tom Wade EVP, CMO $899,795 $25,284 $25,000
Henry Hughes EVP, chief of operations $621,195 $24,018 $23,400
Richard George President, Champions Tour; EVP, champ. mngt. $531,050 $17,501 $11,000
Bill Calfee President, Nationwide Tour $527,098 $20,545 $18,806
Richard Anderson EVP, chief legal officer $508,395 $16,648 $11,000
Bob Combs* SVP, public relations and communications $372,494 $15,674 $13,053
Ty Votaw** EVP, communications and international affairs $266,346 $8,470 $11,000
I'm running to catch a plane, but if anyone bored with a calculator would like to tally up that sum, it would be nice to know!
Mark Lamport-Stokes reports on Chopra's exciting win that gets him in the Masters.
Meanwhile, AP's Doug Ferguson tried to talk to Rory Sabbatini to find out if he would be returning his Target World Challenge last place check after his suspicious WD.
"I'm done talking to you guys," he said.
Well, you really aren't since you said something.
Approached a few minutes later at his locker, Sabbatini said, "I have nothing to say."
Not even about his change in golf equipment?
"I'll let my clubs do the talking," he said.
Good get by the Adams people!
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
