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.
We hardly knew ya, Ari. Before we say goodbye, there are still a few unanswered questions I have regarding Tiger's former advisor.
Now, I was listening to the Golf Channel Tavistock coverage Monday and heard my pal Tim Rosaforte say that Ari has laid out a script and Team Tiger will be following it in the days to come. That may well be the case. But I doubt it.
Isn't it hard to believe that a PR guru would leave because he was was causing an unwanted distraction, when the client in question needs people to be distracted as much as possible right now? Or when it's arguably the greatest account a PR guru could possibly land in the history of celebrity image rehab?
I'm not able to embed it, but just hit the link. Funny stuff.
Jeff Shain on Arnold Palmer's latest redo of Bay Hill.
"We've literally done something to every hole," said Palmer, who has made Bay Hill his winter home since 1965 and acquired the club 11 years later. "It'll be new to most all [the players]."
Bedecked with an old-school par. After three editions as a par 70, it reverts to 72 as two long par-4s are returned to their original state as par-5s. One of those comes at No. 16, which should help inject some risk/reward thrill to the closing stretch.
"I think it's going to be more fun for the players and a lot more entertaining for the fans," said rookie pro Sam Saunders, who as Palmer's grandson has more familiarity with the new look than anyone else in the field.
Like an aging house, every golf course gets to a point where it needs some maintenance and upgrade. Greens and bunkers tend to shrink as rough slowly overtakes the edges; new technology requires some modification.
Or some committee guy or benevolent dictator jacks around with it to the point that no one really likes it anymore!
Whew. Glad Bay Hill doesn't fall into that category.
On a serious note, wouldn't it have just been cheaper to mow the rough down and change 16 back to a par-5?
I've read several accounts of Tiger's ESPN interview with Tom Rindaldi in which writers seized on Woods talking in the past tense about why he married Elin.
Rinaldi: I ask this question respectfully, but of course at a distance from your family life. When you look at it now, why did you get married?
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
