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.
Ryan Herrington reports that USC's Tom Glissmeyer fired a 28-33-61 at Bel-Air Country Club, needing only 20 putts. Having just been at Bel-Air recently, I can safely say the greens are running about 12. And these are not exactly flat greens.
The really good news is that unlike at some classic courses, the club can't go and destroy more of the original Thomas design in a knee jerk reaction to such a low round! It's already been done...in spades
It's Martin Johnson writing on golf, need I say more? Just in case The Telegraph web site disappears some day:
They clamoured around Paul Casey after the Englishman won his second-round match, not to ask Casey anything much about himself, but about Colin Montgomerie. "Tell us Paul, just what is it with Monty?" referring to a character who convinces many of us that global warming can be traced back to Scotland's only active volcano.
American golfers, in general, have the ability to put you into a hypnotic trance as they drone on about their sand saves, or how they're hitting it "real solid", but when Monty is heading for the interview tent people get knocked over in the rush. He knows it, too, and when they were still pouring in to hear his pre-tournament thoughts before last year's Open at Carnoustie, the great man beamed with delight. "Come on," said Monty. "Come along. There's still a bit of room at the back." For many of us, the thrill of attending a golf tournament is not to watch Woods thumping a drive 350 yards, or firing a three-iron to six inches, but being able to say "I was there" when a photographer triggers his lens on the top of Monty's backswing, or a spectator jangles his change on his putting stroke.
Golf, especially with the chronic amount of time it takes to play a round these days, can be pretty boring most of the time, which is why it needs characters as well as just good players. So fingers crossed for Monty qualifying for next month's US Masters. If Woods will not be quaking at seeing Monty's name on the starting sheet, the Augusta National head greenkeeper certainly will be. One bad round and he could see his entire azalea collection reduced to a smouldering heap of garden compost.
A pair of online surveys worth your time, the first on the lower right of ESPN.com's golf page asking if PGA Tour courses should "be set up to encourage low scores or protect par?" You can explain your thinking here and just maybe your comments will appear in Golf World.
As of this posting 299 votes have been cast and 74% say protect par. Apparently with all of the bad news surrounding Ambien the 74%ers are searching for sleeping pill alternatives.
Meanwhile Steve Elling is trying to decide who to vote into the World Golf Hall of Fame and is asking for reader suggestions.
Tiger Woods made a little bit of news in his blog/newsletter post this week:
When I was in Tucson last week, I did a little shopping and noticed my new "Gatorade Tiger" in a store. Must admit it was pretty cool and weird; first my own video game, and now a sports drink. A lot of personal time went into the creation of this product and I am proud of all three of the initial flavors we have created, especially Red Drive.Sorry, copied the wrong part. Here it is:
Before I go, I would like to talk about slow play. It's been an ongoing problem on the PGA Tour for a long time. I honestly believe the pace of play is faster in Europe and Japan. It has been suggested offenders be penalized with strokes. The problem is, you may get one guy that slows down a group for playing at a snails pace and gets them all put on the clock, which isn't fair. I know this is a complicated issue. Hopefully it can be addressed in the near future.
Nice somebody in his position will point it out. And funny, but in the same email he talks about his match with J.B. Holmes. Coincidence?
You can read the exciting, albeit old here. Meanwhile I've managed to procure an early draft of the press release that might explain last weekend's events:
Nick Faldo enters agreement with TaylorMade-adidas Golf Co.
CARLSBAD, Calif. -- World golf icon Nick Faldo has entered a long-term relationship with the TaylorMade-adidas Golf Company (TMaG) in a role that touches on marketing, product innovation and creation, product testing, player evaluation and blatant shilling during his on-air duties with The Golf Channel.
"Nick Faldo is one of the game's true champions, and we're excited to add such an amazing asset to the TaylorMade-adidas Golf family of truly awesome brands," said Mark King, TMaG president and CEO. "Nick's knowledge of the game, his passion and ability to offset Kelly Tilghman's ties to Nike should help us better reach with Golf Channel's puny but loyal audience."
As a TMaG team member Faldo will contribute in very few ways. In addition to playing TaylorMade® clubs and balls and wearing adidas Golf apparel and footwear in his sleep, he will be involved in the design and testing of TMaG products. He will also act as a loudspeaker for marketing and advertising campaigns during his on-air duties, glowingly evaluating only up-and-coming players using TaylorMade® clubs while posing for photos in adidas glasses, pretending to be helping in the upcoming redesign of the golf range at TMaG headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif. Faldo is also expected to offset Jim Nantz's deep admiration and love for all things Titleist during CBS golf broadcasts.
Turns out that two hour wait to pee in a cup was just a test run, only the players didn't know it (and they aren't too happy!).
Ron Sirak reports.
I haven't been to Myrtle Beach in a while, but the real news to me is in the third sentence of this unbylined AP story:
Police have removed a noose found hanging on a subdivision sign where an announcer for The Golf Channel used to live.
The announcer, Kelly Tilghman, was suspended for two weeks last month after saying golfers who wanted to overtake Tiger Woods should "lynch him in a back alley."
The noose was found at the entrance to Tilghman Estates, which includes the description, "Home of Kelly Tilghman, Golf Channel."
National Golf Foundation Vice President Greg Nathan took issue with the recent New York Times front page article on the Americans giving up golf, and sent out an email to "friends and colleagues in the golf industry."
One of those friends forwarded his comments:
I’ve received a few inquiries regarding The New York Timespiece that appeared last Thursday (“More Americans Are Giving Up Golf”). Since the article included National Golf Foundationdata to support the writer’s negative view on the state of golf participation, I wanted to make sure you had the straight story on the numbers, directly from me and the NGF.The mortality ones probably don't make it back another day.
There were a number of factual errors in the story and the general perception may be that all the data and conclusions are completely consistent with the NGF's perspective. That is not the case, however, and the NGF has forwarded a correction to The New York Times.
To clarify a few things:
The article correctly cites our data showing that the number of Core golfers (those playing eight or more rounds per year) has fallen from 17.7 million in 2000 to 15 million in 2006. This drop is due, in large part, to golfers “on the cusp” who have reduced their play from eight or 10 or 12 rounds per year, to seven or less rounds, and thus are reclassified as Occasional vs. Core golfers.
While the reduction in core golfers presents a meaningful challenge to the growth of golf businesses, the damage to the industry is mitigated by the stability of overall U.S.rounds played. Annual rounds have remained static at roughly 500 million over the past five years. So, effectively, the activity of the 28.7 million U.S.golfers is holding stable at approximately 17 rounds per year, on average.
I’m not sure where the writer found his data for avid golfers (those playing 25 or more rounds annually). These are not from the NGF, though many readers came away with the impression that we were the source.
Regarding attrition, the writer stated that “about three million golfers quit playing each year and slightly fewer than that have been picking it up.” The NGF never discussed this topic with the writer. In a study we did a few years ago, we estimated that about three million golfers come into the game each year. Of these, half, or 1.5 million, are retained for at least one year and the other half try it, and then decide golf is not for them. Meanwhile, 1.5 million previously existing golfers leave the game for three main reasons:
Mortality/Infirmity – some of the infirm return to play another day
Hiatus takers – they return later
That's why they call it a hiatus!
Quitters – they don’t return
Thus, there is a net gain of roughly 1.5 million newand a loss of 1.5 million existing golfers per year – resulting in little or no growth.
The article also states that the total number of golfers dropped from 30 million in 2000 to 26 million currently. This is not correct, and NGF did not provide these numbers to the writer. Our data shows that the number of total golfers actually increased from 28.1 million in 2000 to 28.7 million in 2006, an increase of approximately 2%.
The NGF's mission is to Help Golf Businesses Succeed. Reporting the most accurate possible data to the industry is central to our efforts. I hope this was a helpful clarification of the flat, yet stable participation we've experienced in recent years. The results of the NGF's 2007 participation study are starting to come in and initial numbers are positive. More to come on that in the spring.
Flat, yet stable. And the spring collection looks strong. Especially in Canada, as reader Patrick noted this Garth Woolsey article saying things are better north of the border.
Staying interested is another matter. But a Stats Canada study in 2005 established that among Canadians aged 15 or over, golf had the highest participation rate of all sports, at about 22 per cent (one of the highest in the sport among all nations), ahead of, in order, hockey, baseball, swimming, basketball, volleyball and soccer.
Larry Dorman reports that the new Phil Mickelson ad campaign for Crowne Plaza aspires to deliver something last year's roundtable discussions managed to avoid: laughs.
Generating the lines for the laughs was the star, Phil Mickelson, whose sometimes barbed, often self-deprecating sense of humor has been confined to the relative privacy of PGA Tour locker rooms, pro-am pairings and interview rooms. His audience will grow considerably now that Crowne Plaza, which last April started a series of amusing, golf-themed ads, is shooting a new batch starring Mickelson for release this April.
Depending on what survives the editing room, these promise to be funnier than last year’s six 30-second and three 15-second spots of unscripted banter from golf celebrities, moderated by Feherty.
Love the quote from Phil:
“I like doing this,” Mickelson said. “The gist of the humor is self-deprecating, which I like. It gives me a chance to laugh at myself in different settings. And I get to work with Feherty, who is really hilarious. Honestly, I’d rather be out playing tournament golf, but this is a different and challenging part of the game that every top player has to deal with.”
Ah the burdens of being on top...filming cutesy ads.
Jim Moriarty on the Golf Digest's Local Knowledge blog quotes the Honda Classic tournament director on their new date in '09:
"Looking at the big picture it's going to help us," says Ken Kennerly, the Honda event's executive director. "Wedged between the two World Golf Championships with Match Play being the event before us I think will help. Half the field is eliminated by Wednesday and then another 16 by Thursday. If it was a full field event prior to us and a full field event after us, that's a lot of big golf right in a row and I think that would be a little bit more concerning. But, I think with Match Play before us a lot of the international players are going to stay in America because they're going to want to play at Doral.
"We've really upgraded [the Honda Classic] substantially. It's a very similar golf course to Doral, in terms of condition. Bermuda greens, Bermuda grasses. It's a great warm up for Doral, frankly. It's like Westchester was prior to the U.S. Open."
Honda is to Doral as Westchester is the U.S. Open. I smell an SAT question.
I've received a fun email from staffers of a certain organization in golf that would make for amusing blog fodder, but the email in question contains this disclaimer:
The information in this email and any attachments may contain legally privileged, proprietary and confidential information that is intended for the addressee(s) only. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, retention or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. When addressed to our clients or vendors, any information contained in this e-mail or any attachments is subject to the terms and conditions in any governing contract. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately contact the sender and delete the e-mail.
Now lawyers, since I'm a journalist who has obtained something revealing and worthy of public consumption, just how seriously should I take this?
From Alan Shipnuck and his golf.com Hot List:
5. Rick Reilly. My esteemed former colleague and soon-to-be ESPN star was visiting NorCal and asked me to arrange a round for us at Pebble Beach, which I happily did. (And it was comped, too.) On the appointed day, a refreshing light mist was falling, so Reilly begged off, saying he doesn't like to play in bad weather. Does the TV lifestyle make you soft? Apparently!
Now, NOBODY gets comped at Pebble Beach. So to turn that down you really have to be special...in your own mind.
John Hussar of PRNewsWorks submitted this item to the Desert Sun:
Playing at Eldorado Country Club in January, Baker-Finch shot the 61 (32-29) from the tips - two shots better than the new Fazio-course record of 63. Without hitting any practice balls at Eldorado, he started the round by playing a lunch ball off of the 1st tee which officially kept him from claiming the course record.
Okay, I give up. What's a lunch ball?
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
