Thoughts On The Grooves Announcement

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In announcing Tuesday's U-groove ban, the USGA and R&A accomplished something truly spectacular, unprecedented and frankly, impossible: they had people feeling sorry for the PGA of America.

I'll get to the good stuff about this rule change in another post, because for fans of strategic course architecture there could be some very exciting developments from this news. But momentarily, let's sit back and ponder at the utter lack of respect our fine governing bodies have shown their friends from Palm Beach, who have one week a year to shine and who have suppported the decision to ban U-grooves starting in 2010.

After dragging their feet so long, with R&A lollygaggery largely responsible for missing the initial announced timeline, how could anyone in these organizations say, oh, we must announce this on Tuesday of the PGA Championship?

Let's forget the disrespect shown to the PGA of America and consider this strictly from a practical perspective: you want to announce one of the biggest changes in the history of the rules at a time when people can digest the ramifications and give it full attention. With dwindling space devoted to golf in major media outlets, who in their right mind would want to compete with the year's final major?

Oh that's right, the R&A and USGA. Brilliant.

R&A Finally Acts On Grooves...To Preserve The Importance Of Rough!

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Of course, the opening line of the press release is revolting on a level I can't begin to describe.

THE R&A ANNOUNCES NEW GOLF CLUB RULES
St Andrews, Scotland, 5 August 2008:  The R&A has today announced revisions to golf’s equipment Rules, which are designed to enhance the benefits of accuracy by making playing from the rough a more challenging prospect in future.
Yes, yes, rough is vital to the game. Old Tom would have wanted it that way. Don't worry about building new tees on the New Course, just make sure that we can continue to line fairways with rough. Or, in the case of the Road Hole, just eliminate the fairway. That's a priority!  Anyway, carry on...
The new Rules will augment the existing limitations on grooves and will affect all clubs (with the exception of drivers and putters), with the new regulations limiting groove volume and groove edge sharpness.  Essentially, larger volume grooves have the ability to channel away more material, such as water or grass, similar to the tread on car tyres.  At the same time, sharper groove edges facilitate a better contact between club and ball, even in the presence of debris.
Both new regulations will apply to golf clubs with lofts greater than or equal to 25 degrees (generally a standard 5-iron and above) with only the rule limiting groove volume applying to clubs of lesser loft.
So a 3 or 4 iron could have...ah forget it.
The Rules will apply to all clubs manufactured after 1 January 2010.  Clubs manufactured prior to this date, which meet the current regulations, will continue to be regarded as conforming under the Rules of Golf until at least 2024.
Well, that's not going to cause the rush to Roger Dunn's that the manufacturers would have hoped for.
It is intended that the new Rules will be introduced as a Condition of Competition at top professional level from 1 January 2010 and at top amateur level and in other professional events from 1 January 2014.  The R&A and the USGA will introduce such a Condition of Competition at their respective championships in accordance with this schedule.  The world’s top professional tours for both men and women, and the organisers of golf’s major championships, have all indicated their support for the new groove regulations and their intention to implement the Condition of Competition in 2010.

At GolfDigest.com, Mike Stachura summarizes the news while USGA.org offers...no announcement as of 10:15 a.m. PST.

"Ihe idea of hanging the back right of the famed 16th green out over the water befits a second-tier TPC, not a classic course like this."

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While there has been the usual gushing over the Rees-toration of Oakland Hills, Bradley Klein offers cringe-worthy details in his analysis...

Ambitious plans to move several greens were shelved, but the course has been lengthened by 296 yards from its Ryder Cup muster. More significantly, many fairway landing areas have been made harder through additional choke-point bunkering, a steepening of some bunker faces and a narrowing of fairways to 24-26 yards.

The original boldness of the holes and of the putting surfaces remains, even if tee shots and approaches now are played through narrower defiles on this 7,395-yard, par-70 layout.

Too bad some of the work looks misplaced. New back tees on the par-3 ninth and 13th holes are misaligned to the right. The new greenside bunkers on the fourth and 16th holes have absurdly excessive shaping. And the idea of hanging the back right of the famed 16th green out over the water befits a second-tier TPC, not a classic course like this.


Tuesday PGA Championship Clippings: Kenny's Last Shot

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Glory's Last Hope, puhllleaze...this is Kenny's (First and) Last Shot at a major.

Steve Elling reminds us that Kenny Perry is actually making his major debut this week in one of his final tune-up's for the Wyndham Championship.

Bob Harig looks at T.C. Chen's Oakland Hills double-hit and talks to Andy North about how he was handed a second U.S. Open as a result.

It was at the Senior British Open two weeks ago at Royal Troon where he bumped into Chen again. North was working the telecast and Chen was playing in his first Champions Tour event, although he missed the cut.
So will the stars of that fateful final round in 1985 meet again in competition? Chen, who has a home in California, would appear to hope so, as he plans to attend the Champions Tour's qualifying school this fall.
At PGA.com they offer first and second round tee times in not particularly user-friendly PDF form.

Vartan Kupelian offers the hometown preview for the Detroit News.

Doug Ferguson reminds us that the Europeans have fond memories of Hal Sutton's hatwear  the Phil and Tiger pairing disaster the 2004 Ryder Cup rout.

Ferguson also reports that national club pro champ Scott Hebert is a Michigan native playing Oakland Hills for the first time.

Thomas Bonk previews the PGA and offers a long list of interesting golf world notes as well as the weekend ratings recap. Yikes:
Saturday's third round of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational had a 1.5 overnight rating for CBS and Sunday's fourth round had a 2.1. The women fared worse on ABC, with a 0.7 on Saturday and a 0.6 on Sunday at the Ricoh Women's British Open.
Sean Martin reminds us what fun Woody Austin was last year.

Adam Schupak reports on the auto industry gradually pulling back its investment in golf tournaments and in Detroit area clubs.

Rich Lerner shares some Oakland Hills horror stories.

Carloz Monarrez pens an obituary for the 16th hole willows and talks to Ron Whitten and Brad Klein about the infamous trees and their significance (or lack of).

Speaking of Whitten, he takes a crack at predicting the winning score at Oakland Hills and says it'll be +5.

Golf World's course map with text by Brett Avery, including an interesting breakdown of the epic 1996 U.S. Open overnight bunker salvation project, can be opened here

PGA.com breaks down the changes to each hole and also offers a hole-by-hole tour with Director of Golf Pat Croswell. Many of the photos reminded me what an exquisite property this is for golf and how...oh I won't say it. It's only Tuesday.


Brand Lady: Can You Spare $4 Million?

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Jon Show reports that the LPGA is seeking a $4 million sponsor to oversee an 8-event run in the vein of the FedEx deal the PGA Tour inked, but as he buries in the last sentence:

Also complicating matters is the roughly $20 million in event sponsorships the LPGA already has on the market.

Another complication that also puts the, gulp, value of the LPGA sponsorships in perspective comes in this story (also by Show) on the PGA of America's attempts to lock up two more partners at a pretty hefty figure.

The PGA of America, one year after announcing American Express and RBS as its first official patron-level sponsors, is still trying to complete the final two remaining deals. The first two companies were signed to four-year agreements at an average of $7 million to $9 million annually,

"Play those courses today and you appreciate the craft and talent involved.”

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Very nice story today by Bill Pennington on the impact of Van Kleek and Stiles in northeast U.S. golf architecture.

Some of the names that dominate this era are Ross, Alister MacKenzie and A. W. Tillinghast. You will rarely hear the names of their contemporaries Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek.
But the Boston-based Stiles was prolific, designing more than 140 courses from Maine to New Mexico. More than 70 remain, including many memorable layouts throughout New England. Van Kleek, his partner for several years, designed courses all over the world and in the mid-1930s was the supervising architect for a renovation of the New York City Park Department’s golf offerings.
Van Kleek put his stamp on golf courses throughout the city, from Split Rock in the Bronx to the Clearview layout in Queens — with Dyker Beach and Van Cortlandt Park in between.
“Stiles and Van Kleek weren’t splashy, self-promoting guys,” said Bob Labbance, who along with Kevin Mendik wrote “The Life and Work of Wayne Stiles” (Notown Communications), a book published earlier this year.
“They didn’t do many big, expensive projects,” Labbance said. “They pleased their clients and their communities with relatively low-cost golf. But play those courses today and you appreciate the craft and talent involved.”

Vijay Wins On Eve Of PGA; Can't Wait To Try Out His Yips On Oakland Hills Greens

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I did eventually fast forward through the final round at Firestone to watch poor Vijay (yep, it was that painful to watch him putt) stab it around the back nine. But only after I had watched, rewound, watched, rewound and watched yet again Commissioner Finchem and Jim Nantz's state-of-the-WGC's interview. I noticed Faldo wasn't included in on that one?

Anyway, Steve Elling on Vijay's win:

It's no stretch to assert that Singh essentially won the $1.35 million prize with 13 clubs, and despite the bane of his existence, which he holds cross-handed and anchored in his abdomen. At times, in that pose, he looks like a guy who is considering committing hari-kari.
Meanwhile this note from Doug Ferguson ought to have the numbers crunchers filing multiple reports on the 2.5 inch rough cut experiment:

A year after only one person (winner Tiger Woods) finished under par, there were 26 subpar scores.