Can You Feel The Love This Afternoon?
/Sadly, I'm going to miss this one. But there's always the transcript.
Teleconference With PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem and
PING Chairman and CEO John Solheim
In golf construction art and utility meet; both are absolutely vital; one is utterly ruined without the other. GEORGE THOMAS
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.
"Since the beginning of the year, the golf police have been frisking finished and unfinished golf courses throughout central China's Sichuan province, a hotbed of construction activity."
/Two days ago I posed a question about the sanity of exporting the American version of golf to China. With that soul-searching out of the way, the latest installment of great coverage from China by Dan Washburn is up at Slate.com. Titled "The Forbidden Game: China's on-again, off-again war against golf" looks at the bizarre relationship between the government and golf course development, highlighted by the partial bulldozing of the prominent King Valley course, slated to host a Ladies Euro Tour event this year.
Read More"Paranoia is raging already, and it's wearing thin among club residents."
/I don't usually feel too sorry for folks who choose to live in a gated community, but it's hard not to shed a wee tear for the folks of Isleworth when you read this from this note about Tiger's security detail from this week's Steve Elling authored Up And Down column.
Read More"Of the 10 Englishmen in the world 100, I reckon that maybe two have benefited from the elite squad system."
/In the context of Olympic golf and how we hear that funding will arrive to create academies in various countries to breed future medal winners, check out Alistair Tait's look at the small role the English Golf Union has played in the development of the outstanding Englishmen currently in the world top 10.
Read MoreHank Arrives: Who Says Tiger Doesn't Take The Tavistock Cup Seriously?
/And who knew Hank Haney was part of the rehab process? Is that step 13 of the 12 Step Program? Bring in swing coach to tweak plane issue?
David Feherty Declares His Slightly Creepy Love For Tiger
/Talk about a bromance...Feherty's Golf Magazine column continues its downward spiral trajectory. But at least this month's kind of makes sense, unlike the last one.
Read More"Notice Regarding USGA Forum on Equipment Rulemaking"
/Here's what the USGA says about it's just announced (but no date set) forum on "Equipment Rulemaking."
Read More"We will have a statement after the tournament."
/Jeff Shain looks at the likelihood of Doral losing CA as its sponsor and the Tour having to find someone willing to put up the, gulp, $12 million or so necessary to sponsor a WGC event.
Without someone to pony up the approximately $12 million price tag each year, Doral could get stripped of its WGC status. One pessimistic view suggests the Blue Monster could fall off the schedule altogether. PGA Tour brass, however, rejects that scenario.
"I'm confident there will be a PGA Tour event here," tournament boss Eddie Carbone said at last month's CA media day.
Ty Votaw, the tour's executive vice president, was quick to stress that CA can't be counted out yet. He said the two sides will sit down after the event to discuss an extension to their four-year deal.
However, CA communications chief Bill Hughes didn't leave much room for optimism. "We will have a statement after the tournament," he said.
Well at least he didn't say they were looking to spend more time with the families.
"Employees don't get to rat out employers as a general rule, with all due respect to our shamefully toothless whistle-blower laws, and especially not in a one-on-one relationship like that of golfer-caddie."
/You know I've been watching the Stevie Williams interview over and over again trying to figure out what's so comical about it and Ray Ratto makes a great point about it which I was unable to see: if Stevie is all hot and bothered with Tiger, and is claiming he would blown the whistle on Tiger's off course activity, how does Stevie keep his job? Oh that's right, he's full of it too and Tiger knows that. Shoot, maybe even likes that about him.
Read More"If the numbers are correct, how could the average Chinese person go out and spend $2,000 on a new set of Nike clubs, then spend $80+ for every 18 hole round?"
/With this Reuters report making the rounds suggesting only one in 20 golf courses in Beijing having been developed legally, what better time than to debate China's horrible human rights track record the idea of exporting the failed American model for golf.
Read MoreOscar Producers Nix Tiger Jokes After Declaring Any Hint Of Humor Off Limits For 2010 Show
/Wow, that was a painful 4 hours. This might explain why. From the NY Post:
Read More"Seems like now, more than ever, it was a slap to Accenture."
/Slowly but surely the golf media realizes it was duped by Tiger Woods and Tim Finchem into believing that the timing of his statement reading was absolutely inflexible. From this week's SI Confidential:
Read More2010 Honda Classic Final Round Open Comment Thread
/If the Bear Trap references top 100, we all receive advance copies of Gary Koch's forthcoming memoir, Better Than Most.
"If Woods is considering entering the Arnold Palmer Invitational before its deadline on Friday week then he should also be considering the flak he would receive. And he would be wise to line up a few more apologies."
/James Corrigan is the first to take a hard look at the question of how the Tiger Woods of a couple weeks ago could go from say he just didn't know when he'd return to golf and not ruling out this year, to being on the cusp of a return at Tavistock or Bay Hill or both.
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