When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Now that the dust has settled from the unphotographed media center spat (how does that happen BTW?) over Jim Gray's report that Corey Pavin told him that he would inevitably select Tiger Woods for the Ryder Cup squad, I'm curious who you believe. Poll time!
During a major I like to check into the Scoring section and study the course statistics just to see if there are any anomalies in the hole-by-hole play. Today's first round of the PGA at Whistling Straits really caught my eye, what with the field averaging a shade over 60 and their nine hole rounds adding up to 63 and change. Impressive!
(Click on image to enlarge)
Former USGA Executive Director Frank Hannigan read today's website quote and filed this letter to help pass the time during the PGA opening round.
This is to extol the statement by former Curtis Cup player Alice Dye, whose husband never made anything, that the Stimpmeter and Slope have been bad for golf.
I now explain how both happened as illustrations of how dangerous new ideas are to a 500 year old game. (See, more recently, the new groove rule by the USGA which is nothing but trouble.)
A Boston engineer and member of The Country Club, a Dr. Stimpson, inventor of the accused device, was not interested in green speed. He wanted a tool that would roll the ball perfectly. As I recall, his interest was in angle and the effect of hole locations.
The tool he produced was made of wood, lovingly crafted. It was gifted to the USGA where it fell under the eye of Al Radko, the USGA chief agronomist. Al, a lovely man who helped create the White House putting green, was smitten by the idea that golf course superintendents could use a precise method of determining if their greens were running the same speed.
He showed it to Frank Thomas, the USGA technical director, who quickly figured out a way to convert the wooden tool into a cheap metal object which they promptly named the Stimpmeter.
Radko sent copies to all the USGA agronomists scattered around the country. They showed superintendents how it might help them and, in the process, also measured the extent of roll. Pity.
They discovered that the average speed on American golf courses was slightly under seven. Mind, nobody at the time was saying that American golf was lousy because greens were too slow. What happened was that the thing became a speedometer with the likes of Oakmont putting up daily notices to the effect that their greens were running l0'6 that day, to which I say, so what.
The ensuing race, as Mrs. Dye noted, has become a primary status symbol. Much worse, it has made golf so much more costly because it costs a ton of money to produce greens with a Stimp speed of 11. And this: the faster the greens the slower the game.
The R&A knew better. We sent one of the things to secretary Michael Bonallack who tossed it in his closet and never looked at it again. Tell me now: are British Open greens, said to be 10 but actually 8ish, somehow superior to the Augusta greens in the sense of producing more interesting, more variable, more valid golf? Of course not.
Slope was the creation of one of my USGA employees, the estimable Dean Knuth, who dumped a little 800 on his math SATs and went on to pitch with his left arm for the US Naval Academy baseball team.
There is no denying the certainty of Dean's work. It is that the USGA handicap system faltered when the opponents came from courses of intrinsically different degrees of difficulty. Thus, a 9 handicapper from a ratty public course like Juniata outside Philadelphia, would get killed by a 9 handicapper from Pine Valley.
Dean Knuth changed all that mathematically with his Slope so that the guy from the muni would get four shots or so from the Pine Valley patrician. Very nice, but it again has led to a duel to achieve high slopes which means new bunkers and water hazards and more money to build and maintain. Moreover, I contend that golfers on their own figured out that the guy from Juniata needed help when he slammed up against the rich person from Pine Valley.
Dean Knuth may have been too smart for the USGA. Today he is in San Diego where he has an enormous responsibility determining how much of your money is spent on things that blow people up.
Frank Hannigan
P.S. Don't tell Jim Gray where I live. I am too old to defend myself but I have a dog.
The Golf Channel stands by Jim Gray, and their description of the brouhaha today must have been painful for some VP to proofread.
After Pavin’s news conference, Golf Channel contributor Jim Gray, who broke the story Tuesday, approached Pavin to discuss the disagreement. According to Pavin’s wife, who was standing next to him, Gray told Pavin that he was a “liar” and “you’re going down.”
In a statement Golf Channel said it stands behind the accuracy of Gray’s report. “As far as any subsequent conversation between Gray and Pavin, it was meant to be private and should remain as such,” the statement said.
On Live From the PGA Championship Wednesday afternoon Gray said, “there is absolutely not one part of what Corey Pavin said to me that has been misquoted. And quite frankly, I happen to like Corey Pavin. I’ve known him an awfully long time, and in this instance, he is being disingenuous and is not telling the truth.”
Naturally, there is much to enjoy about Golf Channel now having to mop up Gray's mess since they mysteriously brought him on board last year and he opened with an incoherent appearance. And this, after no one else would hire him and he was buying his own star on the walk of fame.
Steve Elling missed his calling as a boxing writer.
In a tense exchange in the middle of the PGA Championship media center on Wednesday, Golf Channel reporter Jim Gray stuck a finger in U.S. captain Corey Pavin’s chest, called him a liar and barked, “you’re going down.”
And a certain Golf Channel reporter has been to one-too many boxing newsconferences!
Oh and there's a recording. Lisa, can you say YouTube!
As Gray approached him and they jawed at each other, Pavin said he tried to hold his ground.
“I just said, ‘You’re full of ‘something,’ ” Pavin said. “I’m not going to let that happen. He got upset. His eyes were a little odd … He was just a little crazy.”
Pavin’s wife was extremely agitated about the exchange and ripped Gray for not broaching the issue when more reporters were in the room. She was overheard complaining to a PGA of America official that Gray was a “wuss.”
Of her husband’s supposed guarantee to Woods, she said, “He’s not stupid. He’s had media training.”
Brooks has posted video of Gray's midday clarification of yesterday's precipitating events leading to today's bout
**Steve DiMeglio with some follow up Tweets quoting Captain Pavin:
Wow is this going to be fun with these two Captains!
Never thought I'd say this, but Jim Gray is coming out of this smelling like, well, something. From today's Ryder Cup captain news conference at Whistling Straits:
Q. I wonder if you can set us straight on the whole Tiger Woods thing. He said yesterday he would accept a pick. You were quoted on by the GOLF CHANNEL as saying he'll be on the team. There was a Tweet this morning that said you were misquoted. Probably more than me are confused. Could you run us through what's right and what's not?
COREY PAVIN: Let's straighten this out right now. I had a conversation with Jim Gray yesterday just outside the locker room near where we registered and he asked me a few questions and his interpretation of what I said is incorrect.
There's nobody that's promised any picks right now. It would be disrespectful to everybody that's trying to make the team. I've got quite a few people I'm looking at. I would not disrespect any of the players that are potential players on the team, and obviously there was a misinterpretation of what I said, and that is an incorrect quote.
I don't believe the report was about promised picks. The question he asked was, will you pick him if he doesn't make the team. Just saying...
Q. In regards to the misquoting, could you kind of go through with us exactly what you did say that he could have taken so out of context?
COREY PAVIN: Well, I don't want to get into specifics of the conversation really. But it certainly was something I did not say. Let's just keep it as simple as that. It was incorrect.
Now, onto our other issue of the day...
Q. Monty, I don't know if you're aware, your old friend, Feherty went on a nationally syndicated radio show yesterday and talked about the existence of a super injunction in the U.K. that would bar some potentially embarrassing personal photos, wonder if you want to confirm, comment, deny the existence of those and how it might affect your captaincy at all.
COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Yeah, obviously I listened to that radio show and I know a lot of you are having a lot of fun right now at my expense.
Oh Colin, Colin. You so misunderstand the media. We mostly talk about how to attain world peace and prosperity. But go on...
Let me clear this up, though, that I can categorically say that there's no injunction against the News of the World. I'm really not going to discuss this any -- any further. All I can say is categorically there is no injunction against the News of the World regarding anything.
I apologize for this, that you have to bring this up, but at the same time, no further -- no further comments from myself on that matter.
Well there you have it, no injunction against News of the World. That should put the entire thing to rest!
Now about your players...
Q. You said we might be having a bit of fun at your expense, but have you any concerns that your potential -- your team, might also be having some fun?
COLIN MONTGOMERIE: None at all. None at all. I've spoken to a number of the players, and there's no issue here at all. Nothing at all.
How did those conversations go, exactly?
Back to Corey about Tiger and their long awaited summit.
Q. Could you share any of that conversation? Were you clearing up what was said yesterday?
COREY PAVIN: We were just trying to figure out what we were going to have for dinner tonight and how our kids are growing up and how they are getting bigger.
Ah, there's a nice anecdote, a little sharing of your private conversation. Thanks. Any more?
Actually, you know what, the conversations that I have with all of my players or potential players are between us.
But you just...
It's very serious stuff sometimes that we with talk about and sometimes it isn't. Out of respect for privacy and how I go about doing things, it won't be discussed besides what we've been eating and things like that.
Now Monty, about that...
Q. There is an injunction against Paula Tadd; correct?
Whoa...where did that come from?
COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Excuse me, I'm here to talk about The Ryder Cup, okay. So please, no further questions on that or any other subject regarding anything -- or anything regarding my private life. By definition that, is private.
The dreaded non-denial denial.
COREY PAVIN: I agree with Colin, actually. Let's stick to golf subjects here. We'd appreciate that. Thank you.
So about that conversation with Jim Gray...
Interesting Twitter wallpaper...
**Jim Gray is standing by his quote. I'm not sure who to believe, but oddly, I'm leaning toward Gray in this case. Pavin has not show great media savvy and the PGA surely was not pleased by this, as I noted in last night's post.
However, Ryan Ballengee quotes a source in the Pavin camp who says he hadn't spoken to one media outlet all week.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
