"More than 400 private clubs have opened their doors to public play in the past decade."
/Peter Finch looks at the trend of private courses
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.
Chambers Bay Up $15K On U.S. Amateur! Down $700k For First Nine Months Of '10
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Kris Sherman of Tacoma's News Tribune, the same paper that did a bang-up job covering last summer's U.S. Amateur, weighs in with an exclusive on the bleak financial state of Chambers Bay. The story would seem to indicate that any hopes of the hotel, beach house, water park and ampitheater will not be happening anytime soon and almost assuredly, not in time for the 2015 U.S. Open.G-Mac Signs Lucrative New Deal With Srixon
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According to a Belfast Telegraph report, Graeme McDowell has accepted a “multi-year” deal worth $3 million per year. Before you question his sanity for dropping the stuff that helped him win a U.S. Open, his deal with Callaway was expiring December 31.
"Speak to me Monty, speak to me."
/John Huggan offers his predictions for 2011. I'm particularly looking forward to April.
Read More"THIS is why the Euro tour is just cool."
/Reader Alex sent the latest Euro Tour viral video, which I had watched with amusement a few weeks and about 500,000 viewers (!?) ago. Alex wrote, "THIS is why the Euro tour is just cool...somehow, I can't imagine Finchi and a couple of tour pros getting together for something like this."
I have to say, he has a point. Hard to imagine the PGA Tour filming a spot without a script that hasn't been vetted by the briefcase brigade.
Of course after watching it also begs the question, how many PGA Tour brats players would have the personality and disposition to spend all day filming such a spot?
"Patton was the swashbuckler of the bunch for whom no recovery shot was impossible."**
/RIP Billy Joe Patton, who passed away Saturday and is best known for a heroic 1954 Masters run as an amateur. Bill Fields files this remembrance.
Read MoreHappy New Year
/Thanks for your continued support, input and insight!
Read More"Golf Channel’s ‘Morning Drive’ to Feature Palmer, Trump and More as Part of Premiere Week Guest Lineup"
/The headline says it all. I want to be excited about this show but when Donald Trump is right behind Arnold Palmer, you get the distinct feeling this could turn into a tortuous shillfest for Golf Channel's mostly dismal original programming slate.
Read MoreSay It Ain't So: “There’s no obvious premium for the Trump name.”
/John Gittelsohn and Nadja Brandt of Bloomberg devote an incredible amount of space to the state of The Donald's brand. So much fun stuff here, starting with the dreaded brand dilution discussion.
Read More"A US Tour official spotted James Nitties picking up his courtesy car in board shorts - shortly after came a $US2500 fine."
/Mopping up a few links I had open but not read. From Peter Stone in the Sydney Morning Herald:
Read MoreAh To Be A Professional Golfing Brand Or Even A Fledgling One...
/As much as I love not linking slideshows, check out the top 50 money earners in golf as compiled by Ron Sirak. Once again, it's unfathomable to me how much some not-so-dynamic figures are paid to endorse products. And Tiger won't be clipping coupons anytime soon.
Read More"Sunny fore-cast in Hawaii! America's East Coast toils under two feet of snow and where's the president... he's golfing AGAIN"
/Clearly, the Daily Mail has run out of stories this week if they think the President should cancel his golf to monitor snow drifts!
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"Like a relic of an earlier time, the club stands for so much of what Mr. Chávez is against."
/Thanks to all who sent in Simon Romero's front page New York Times update on the possible demise of Venezuela's Caracas Country Club at the hands of Hugo Chavez's government.
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