"If the goal with this new format is to grow the game of golf, why was there no talk of how to stage such an event at your own club?"

I enjoyed the many suggestions from readers who watched the Power Play Golf event at Celtic Manor, and also thought this observation from Stina Sternberg, reviewing the event for GolfDigest.com, should be noted by the television folks.

 If the goal with this new format is to grow the game of golf, why was there no talk of how to stage such an event at your own club? The UK commentators, mainly from SkySports, seemed like they were making things up as they went along and obviously weren't very familiar with the PowerPlay movement.

I think that was most evident when Ian Poulter hit an incredible drive next to the last hole to set up an eagle putt and the on course commentator acted like he'd hit a nice wedge in there, only to be rescued by the play-by-play man who noted what an amazing shot it was.

Jay Townsend, you of course were spectacular.

Power Play Coming Up!

Kevin Garside reminds us that today is the debut of Power Play at a soggy ("pissing down rain" -Poulter) Celtic Manor.

The format, played out over nine holes, offers players two pins to aim at, one with a greater degree of difficulty yielding more points. The format has been trialled at more than 400 clubs over a period of three years. The made-for-TV event is designed to appeal to a new audience, attracting those who might not otherwise engage in golf.

Gary Player is PowerPlay's leading advocate:

“PowerPlay is not meant to take the place of tour golf but to augment it. And if golf is to grow and develop a grass-roots following in other parts of the world PowerPlay is a great idea. Just look at what Twenty20 has done for cricket. You would never have visualised anything like that.

The event appears to have some impressive organizational backing and television outlets across the globe. It's coming on Golf Channel live at 12 ET.

Update on 2011-05-30 19:36 by Geoff

**I had high hopes but as seems to be the case with many of the attempts at novelty, they piled on one too many layers for the format to resonate. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I do love the concept of a second hole location and reward for playing it.

How would you make this just a little more palatable?

NCAA May Madness: Rough Obsession Returns

Northwestern coach and Luke Donald instructor Pat Goss posted this image from the NCAA Men's Golf Championship's today:

Well-informed sources say these signs were posted last year as well, which means the NCAA pulls these out of storage to ship to the NCAA's. All to preserve the integrity of the "rough."

Good to know the NCAA brings its point-missing ways to golf, too.

Woman Qualifies For Canadian Tour!

Thanks to reader Bob for this Score Golf item on Isabelle Beisiegal, a 32-year-old Montreal native who qualified in the the Canadian Tour's Spring Qualifying School. This makes her the first woman to successfully earn status on a men's professional golf tour.

On the back nine Isabelle would make bogeys on eleven and twelve and sit four over par for the day with six holes left to play. She then birdied the par 5 thirteenth before a stubbed chip from off the green at fourteen lead to another bogey. She would make another birdie on the short par 4 15th, but here drive on 16 found the water off the tee and lead to another bogey.

Her tee ball on the par 3 17th left her with a six-foot put for birdie which she would go onto make, and then ground out an up and down par on the eighteenth hole which gave her a fourth round score of 75, and a tournament total of 296 (+8) which would be good enough to earn the last non-exempt card.

"I went into today just trying not to get ahead of myself. I focused on thinking about where I was and not what could happen. I was assured in the fact that no matter what happened it was going to be ok."