Barney Frank: Order Up More Golf Sponsorship, Go Easy On The Excess

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Ron Sirak pulls an interesting clarification out of Congressman Barney Frank regarding the Northern Trust/TARP situation.

"No one is saying they shouldn't sponsor golf tournaments and honor existing contracts," Frank, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, said in a telephone interview. "It's the spending on luxury hotels and limousines they should not be doing. Now, if they weren't getting federal money it would be up to them to decide if that's how they want to spend their money."

That's an improvement from Frank's original outburst in which he implied running a golf tournament was a waste of corporate money. But it still means the tour has some work to do in getting its message across to the power brokers in Washington.

"It's certainly good news that Congressman Frank understands the title sponsorship partnership component, but we also need to do a better job explaining the charitable aspects, the economic impact and the marketing benefits it creates for the companies involved," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said by telephone when told of Frank's clarified position. "We have to work harder to make sure the business model is being understood."

Suggestion Commish: start by not saying that you have to work harder to make sure the business model is understood. It'll go a long way toward gaining support from people who are tired of hearing jargon-laced corporatespeak as a substitute for straightforward talk.

Butch: No Love For My Man

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Thomas Bonk talks to Butch Harmon about the state of Phil Mickelson's game and like the swallows returning to Capistrano or Gary Koch uttering "just a moment ago," the talk predictably turns to his former student.

While Harmon is encouraged by Mickelson's progress, he's not so happy with Mickelson's critics, especially after Riviera. It's all about comparisons, Harmon said.

"When Tiger wins and doesn't play as well, or wins with his 'B Game' or 'C Game,' everybody talks about how courageous he is," Harmon said. "Phil wins the same kind of way and everybody says how lucky he is. Different strokes for different folks, I guess."

Obvious Butch does not read this site since I explored the very question of luck vs. courageous play at Riviera, and came down on the courageous side.

"That's five months after his third heart was brought into an operating room packed in an ice chest, mind you."

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Since I can only take one Nicklaus design a month, I was searching for an excuse to record the Honda Classic just so that I could relive PGA National in all its glory. Then Steve Elling reminded me how great a story Erik Compton is and how amazing it is that he's playing the Honda.

Even we hardened, sarcastic, jaded beat writers were amazed the Compton story didn't gain more national traction last fall -- even after he was featured on the ABC evening news. Some of us slogged around Q-school watching him play, shaking our heads at how everybody had made a federal case about Tiger Woods' knee surgery -- he was out for eight months following a fairly routine procedure -- and how Compton was back five months after having his chest ripped open from stem to stern and then stapled back together.

That's five months after his third heart was brought into an operating room packed in an ice chest, mind you. It still gives me a lump in my throat.

Thanks to the help of a new agent -- former IMG player manager Peter Malik, the longtime representative for Mark O'Meara -- Compton has finally secured an endorsement deal, with Titleist. A book deal is being discussed, and it's sure to be one of the best golf tomes in years. You couldn't make up this kid's life story, really, since he received his first transplant at age 12. 

Economic Crisis Ushers In A Dreaded Martha Burk Reference

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Michael Buteau of Bloomberg talks to Augusta real estate agent Diane Starr about the lackluster rental climate in Augusta as the Masters looms.

Week-long rentals of private homes have dropped to $7,000 from $9,000 for a typical four-bedroom, three-bath property, and to $15,000 from $30,000 for five-bedroom estate homes used for private parties, said Starr, who spent 15 years working for the Augusta Chamber of Commerce’s Masters Housing rental unit before starting her own company two decades ago.

“I’ve been doing this longer than anybody in this town and this is as bad as I’ve seen it,” Starr said during an interview in her office four miles from the club. “We had 9/11 and then Martha Burk. This has hurt us worse than either one of those.”

I don't know about you, but it sure sounds like ticket prices still need to come way down.

Tickets for this year’s tournament, which have a face value of $200 for all four competition rounds, have sold for an average of $3,377 on EBay’s Stubhub, down from $3,930 in 2008.

Sean Pate, a spokesman for Stubhub, said he expects prices to keep falling as the tournament approaches.

The company has sold “hundreds” of one-day passes for an average price of $400, Pate said. Tickets for Monday and Tuesday practice rounds have a face value of $36. Wednesday tickets cost $41. Stubhub has sold just four of the approximately 100 four-day “competition round” passes it has listed. 

“You're going to see players forego the latest equipment, but hitting the course.”

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Richard Oliver looks at the economic crisis impact on golf and shares several interesting anecdotes.

The spiraling economy, in addition to ripping chunks out of 401k balances, has delivered hits to discretionary spending. It has forced courses from South Florida to South Texas to alter price structures for green fees, offer aggressive specials and watch several country-club customers take aim at municipal-course flags.

“The best quote I heard recently was from one of the Titleist reps,” Jeff Hunter, director of golf at Sonterra, said Tuesday. “He told me he's never sold so many hats. People still want to buy something, but they're buying hats or shirts instead of that new driver.”

Now Wally, resist the temptation to, oh I don't know, reprimand this fellow. After all, the guy interviewed might have meant the Taylor Made reps! The T manufacturers are very easily confused.

Sonterra, like La Cantera and other country-club and resort tracts in the San Antonio area, is fighting to keep its golf landscape alluring, even in the face of droughts both atmospheric and economic.

If players are deciding against that 2009 Titleist 909D2 driver, the task remains to get them to pull out an outdated model and fire away as in the past.

“We were discussing it internally the other day,” said Steve Shields, director of golf at La Cantera. “You're going to see players forego the latest equipment, but hitting the course.”

You do need the golf course to his the driver, last I checked. So we haven't completely lost sight of our priorities.

Reaping the benefits of it in these parts are the Alamo City Golf Trail layouts, including the renovated Brackenridge Golf Course, and other daily-fee spreads such as Pecan Valley and Olympia Hills.

Jim Roschek, general manager of the Golf Trail, said that while numbers may be skewed by the ongoing renovations at the seven city-owned tracts, the number of rounds has been steady.

“What I've seen at times is there has been one or two little depressions in the past and things have looked up for us,” said Roschek, who arrived in San Antonio two years ago after overseeing the makeover of municipal golf in Kalamazoo, Mich. “Here, I don't know if it's because of the economy or that we have less (courses) open, but people are playing the munis.”

The reason, in part, are prices at $75 or less on the public layouts, an increasing temptation for players no longer willing to shell out fees in excess of $100 per round in trying financial times.

 

"Some of the rounds we've played there, it's been almost to the point where it's laughable."

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Ernie Els was asked a couple of interesting Masters related questions on the eve of the Honda Classic.

Q. There's been a lot written about how some of the fireworks are gone, going back to the year you and Phil basically through everything you had at the golf course and there were some dividends for it. Was the course too hard, or do you think that was just a function of weather or have they made it so difficult that there's no wiggle room to allow for weather now, and that's the tipping the point?

ERNIE ELS: Well, I think you've said it all. (Laughter).

I think you're right. 2004 was the last time there was really a nice shootout. I think even if you look at years before 2004, there were a lot more years where there were more exciting finishes.

You could reach a lot of the par 5s. You could take on some of the holes with shorter irons, especially like No. 7, like No. 11. 17 was even shorter. 15, the par 5, you could reach, longer hitters, with maybe a long middle iron. 13 you could get to the green a lot easier. And as I said, 11 was short, so you could go in there with a short iron.

And these greens are all very difficult. They were built by Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones, and there's a lot of slope on that golf course, as you guys know; you've walked it. So there's going to be a lot of slope on the greens naturally; and with the speed of the greens, and as we've seen the weather last couple of years, it's going to be very difficult.

To be honest, the guys are very good on TOUR, but then they will play away from flags, and it's just natural. Like 11, you're coming in with a 3-iron or maybe even a 5-wood with the wind whipping into you, 50-degrees, you're not going to go for the flag. It's impossible. Whether you say hey, the players are not good enough or whatever, the fact of the matter is, professionals are not going to go for a par 4 with water on the left, flag tucked left with wind figured in; you're playing safe.

So that's been the case. I think the last couple of years, especially the final rounds, it's been a bit subdued, and that's going to keep happening if they keep the golf course the same way.

I hear they have changed some things, so we will wait and see. I'll go check out the golf course and see what it's all about, and see where to go from there. But they have definitely -- you know, Mr. Johnson, when he took over as Chairman, he made a lot of changes, and we've got to live by those changes now. And the course is one of the toughest courses in the world now.

They're just getting a little less vague and a lot less diplomatic each year, aren't they?

Q. Geoff Ogilvy said last week, getting back to the Masters, he said if somebody built that golf course today, Augusta National and it didn't have the tradition and the aura and it was the same green complexes and the same speeds and the same difficulty, the pros would walk off it after nine holes and say it's ridiculous.
ERNIE ELS: Well, I won't go that far. (Laughter) It is what it is.

As I said, you know, I'm a fan of Alister MacKenzie's design. We play Royal Melbourne down in Australia where Geoff is from. He plays at Victoria, which is across the road. It has some of the greens, some of the speeds and more wind than Augusta has. And we play golf tournaments down there, too.

He is right in the fact that he says that they kept on, how shall I say, massaging the golf course, to the point where, yes, at times when the weather turns and flag positions are in certain parts, it becomes very much on the edge.

In some cases, yeah, some of the years, some of the rounds we've played there, it's been almost to the point where it's laughable. But, hey, we play a major there. It's still a very good layout, and they just try and test the players. At times, they have gone maybe past the point.

But other than that, they're doing a super job.