Buzz Taylor, RIP
/Here's a nice obituary by Kathie Bassett on the former USGA President.
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.
"A question that has been posed frequently on tour is: why do professionals demand deafening silence while they are hitting their shots?"
/Caddie Colin Byrne on the oddity of professional golfers' sensitivity to noise while hitting their shots:
Read More"If phone engineers thought like golf architects, our cell phones would still be attached to the wall."
/It's a slow time for golf news, so let's dine on Ron Whitten's provactive "rant" from the November Golf Digest. Tom Dunne read it a few weeks ago and went all Benihana chef on it in one post.
Read More"There is not 20 percent growth in the game of golf to be had in the U.S. or U.K., in my humble opinion. Out here there is."
/I know what you're thinking. Who said that, Mark King, CEO of Taylor Made? Wally Uihlein, head of Acushnet? Maybe George Fellows, CEO of Callaway in a conference call with shareholders?
Read MoreTiger, Westwood Driving Range Tension Palpable Over No. 1 Ranking
/James Corrigan with the spellbinding, tense and frankly, emotional moment when the former No. 1 saw the new No. 1 in China.
Read More"If we just prepared it on the points won so far this year Woods would not be in the top 50"
/The European Tour's statistics expert Ian Barker defended the World Ranking after Butch Harmon criticized the elevation of Lee Westwood to the top spot.
"If we just prepared it on the points won so far this year Woods would not be in the top 50 and Martin Kaymer would be comfortably the world number one," Barker, the European Tour's director of information services, told Reuters.
"Anyway, Butch may well have his wish on Sunday because Martin will go to number one if he comes second in Valderrama."
"San Diego not feeling much love from USGA"
/Tod Leonard explores the question of why Torrey Pines is not on the USGA's radar for a future Open, and shares this from Mike Davis:
Read More2010 Best New Courses...Whitten Only Edition
/
With only 24 courses opening this year and even fewer on the horizon, Golf Digest's Ron Whitten offers a summary of the best stuff he saw in 2010. Included was Gil Hanse's Castle Stuart and a nice mention of our H-O-R-S-E course at Prairie Club."How do I get my course nationally rated?"
/Besides being really, really nice to panelists?
Golfweek's Brad Klein answers the question "How do I get my course nationally rated?"
Annika Offers Solution To American Unemployment
/I thought you weren't supposed to tweet from customs?
Read More“To become No. 1 you have to win and win a lot to maintain it. That’s the way it goes.”
/That's Tiger sounding the least beat concerned about losing the No. 1 world ranking. It helps when you've won 14 majors.
“As far as the world ranking is concerned, yes, I’m not ranked No. 1 in the world,” Woods said Monday. “In order to do that you have to win and I didn’t win this year.”
Though I'm not sure this has proven to be accurate, but we'll chalk it up to Tiger sticking to diplomacy:
“As far as the emotions go, it is what it is,” Woods said. “To become No. 1 you have to win and win a lot to maintain it. That’s the way it goes.”
Lee Westwood won once this year at Memphis. Martin Kaymer has won four times, including a major.
"Formerly The Slow-Playing Crane"
/Good catch by John Strege from an entertaining roundup of the weekend's golf news:
Read More“David, please don’t start this."
/I'm not sure what's funniest in Andrew Both's Onion-worthy write up of Monty's infaction that cost him a chance at a massive check. That he lost to a retiree? That his penalty occurred because he failed to read the local rules sheet? No, it's that he tried to dissuade the rules official from doing his job.
Read MoreTiger, Elin And Halloween
/Sent in by a reader...uh, I see Tiger, I see Elin, but what's the guy in the middle supposed to be?
Love the homemade Nike swoosh hats!
