"It's expensive to change everything, and the ball manufacturers would not be happy."
/Ron Kroichick interviews Robert Trent Jones Jr. and the ball comes up.
Read MoreIn 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.
Isn't It Great Having Jack In The Booth?
/CBS's normal nap-inducing telecast has been livened up by Jack Nicklaus's presence during the Memorial final round. Naturally I loved his snide remark about the golf ball not going any longer after Phil Mickelson drove the 14th, but I couldn't tell if Nick Faldo was needling Jack or simply obvious when he brought up Seve and the Champions exhibition at St. Andrews. Thoughts?
Read More"Create The Next Great Dream Hole"
/
The GolfDigest Armchair Architect Contest goes hi-tech and ought to inspire some amazing entries. Details here.
Update on 2010-06-07 15:11 by Geoff
Here are several videos with some how-to info for interested armchair designers.
Maybe The Players Really Is A Major!
/Granted, the evidence is thin, but how many tournaments would provoke this kind of passion...
Who knew laptops were so fragile?
"Ridiculous"
/I'm still trying to understand Paul Lawrie's eight-putt and whether it was induced by a faulty hole location at Celtic Manor (thanks reader Brian for this).
A sixth birdie of the day was his hope at that point, but after splashing out 20 yards past the flag his first putt rolled off into a hollow.
He needed three attempts to get back up, then from 20 feet beyond the cup he putted back down the slope and took three more from there.
"Ridiculous," he said after signing for a 74 and making plans to fly home to Aberdeen. Asked if the blame lay with him or the pin placing the 41-year-old replied: "Bit of both.
"I hit the first putt about a foot out. When you do that from 60 feet and you end up where I was then that's a bit silly."
"So follow me, if you will, as we magically enter the head of the eight-time European number one."
/John Huggan tries to think like Monty and as you'd expect, it's not pretty.
John Wooden, R.I.P.
/He didn't play much golf later in his life, but as we learned last year Coach Wooden accomplished an incredibly rare feat during his Indiana golfing days.
Cliff Schrock interviewed the Coach for the April, 2010 Golf Digest. And I can attest to his fascination with the game, as he always asked about my game and I know from one chat that he was particularly fascinated by Tiger Woods.
The lengthy L.A. Times obituary by Bill Dwyre and David Wharton is here.**
**This was the only way to read the remarkable piece of work by Dwyre and Wharton for many LA Times subscribers since Wooden passed away at 6:30 p.m., past the printing deadline for the Times, which has to make room on its own presses for the Saturday Wall Street Journal printing.
More Nicklaus Oral History
/Besides the print edition, there are also these online extras broken up by categories.
Read MoreShock: Innovative New Pro Tournament Format Does Not Originate In Ponte Vedra
/Instead, it's coming from Down Under where the PGA of Australia launched a new tournament set to appear on the 2011 PGA Tour of Australasia schedule. "The Surf Coast Knockout" features three rounds of stroke play, with the two cuts and the final 16 decided by six hole matches on Sunday.
Read MoreMonty Vows That He Won't Be A Distracted Captain
/He says there's "no way" his troubled marriage won't impact his ability to annoy his players and in general do his best to lose the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.
Yet back in January when talking about Tiger Woods, it seems Monty believed distractions were inevitable when trying to save a marriage.
"He knew when to quit."
/I'm not really sure where to begin with the goldmine of material Brett Avery has pieced together for a Jack Nicklaus oral history in this week's Golf World, but I have to say that the below quote caught my eye. It may provide us with a little bit of context in better understanding why Nicklaus may be sincere in his stance of not returning to St. Andrews for this year's Champions exhibition.
Read MoreMonty Photo Caption Fun, Autograph Edition
/I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Monty's Twitter account sent out this touching image on the same night a tabloid report details (with confirming quotes from Monty) an affair with his old flame.
Read More"When I found out my tee time is 7:30, I said, 'I'm not going to go and qualify.'"
/The more I read about Vijay Singh's U.S. Open exemption, the more it stinks and the more it becomes apparent that a dreadful precedent has been set.
Read More"She had bought the wedges and had been told they were conforming."
/It took a while, but the rush to make the groove rule applicable to 2010 USGA events without a simple way to test clubs has finally created an unfortunate situation, reports E. Michael Johnson.
It was time to bring some life and fun back into golf."
/WSJ's Suzanne Vranica reports on EA's new "lighthearted" Tiger Woods ad.
"It was time to bring some life and fun back into golf," says Peter Moore, president of EA Sports. "It's been a tough six months in the business of golf and with what went on with Tiger...it is time to lighten up."
Mr. Woods hasn't had much to smile about of late. In May, he withdrew from the Players Championship in the final round because of a neck injury. He is expected to return to competition at the Memorial Tournament, which starts Thursday.
The EA ads were shot on May 11 in Orlando, Fla., marking Mr. Woods's second campaign since his image and golf career were upended by marital infidelities.
May 11th eh? Two days after the Players WD? Wasn't the facet joint still inflamed?
Update on 2010-06-03 15:13 by Geoff
Tiger, Wednesday at the Memorial, on his post-Players golf:
Q. Tiger, can you fill us in on when you were able to get back to practicing. It sounds like you put the clubs away for a little while after the diagnosis and then what it's been like since then?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I was off for three. So it was about a week and a half before I picked up a club and then gradually got into it.
