Webb Still Hasn't Heard Sound Reason For Anchoring Ban

From an unbylined AP story quoting Webb Simpson at the Grand Slam of Golf, and while the language wasn't perfect, he seems to be suggesting that banning anchoring of the putter will be more problematic if it's the USGA doing the banning instead of the PGA Tour. Not that Commissioner No-Controversy would ever do something to protect the game.

"If the USGA bans it, I think it's going to be a whole other ballgame if the PGA Tour bans it," Simpson said.

"It's going to be tough if they do ban it. It's going to be tough for a lot of people. Not players, I think it's going to be tough for the committees to really have their stance on it. If you look at the facts, last year there was no one in the top 20 of strokes gained category that anchored a putter."

"So the argument of, 'It's an advantage', you have to throw that out there," he said. "There's a bunch of arguments going around but I haven't heard a good one yet."

And he continued to point out a bigger change in the game and he continues to be correct.

"We all know that the R&A and USGA love to keep golf as original as possible," he said. "But I think with the changes in the grooves, the golf balls, the drivers — you've got a little persimmon head 20 years ago the size of a fist, and now a titanium head 460 cc. In 1980, the long drive guy was hitting it 285, and now if you hit it 285, you're one of the shortest guys on the Tour. To me, it's a bigger change to go from that size head to what we play now than the putter."

Take That Geezer Golf Architects: Tiger Raises The Bar On Blueprint-Holding Site Photos

I just saw this Diamante-supplied image on the golf.com homepage leading us to Eamon Lynch's exclusive on Tiger's new Cabo design.

Have to say, I don't see Jack or Arnie climbing walls to stare at blueprints!

Padraig's G-III Can Be Had, VCR Included

From Brian Keogh's Irish Golf Desk blog.  And the ad for those of you in the market...

It’s fitted with five single cabin seats “in cappuccino leather”, two double club seats and a four-seater divan that doubles as a bed.

The interior features cream leather, suede and wool carpets in “camel and blue” as well as “new, richly detailed, high gloss teak woodwork.” 

Harrington regularly used the jet to travel with his family and enjoyed every luxury in the book.

The plane has a Sony DVD Player and VCR, a top of the range sound system, two flat screen TV monitors, satellite internet, a Nordskog convection oven, an Omni Fax/Copier, a Braun coffee maker and dual, eight-man life rafts.

While Harrington is believed to have loved his toy, which made it easy to travel with his family and helped him overcome the effects of jetlag, it was costing him a fortune in fuel and maintenance costs and just had to go.

Golf Channel Pausing Big Break Greenbrier Reruns To Re-Air The Best Of Tommy Gainey On Big Break IV & VII

Not to worry, the infomercials for Tommie Copper (hosted by Montel Williams!) and Total Gym Challenge (with Chuck and Christie!) will air in their traditional Tuesday time slots. Your DVR season passes or well-planned afternoon siestas remain intact.

However, Big Break Greenbrier reruns will be tabled to bring back PGA Tour winner Tommy Gainey's appearances on the fourth and seventh editions.

I know you've all seen these, but just in case you forgot, the recap:

Tuesday
4-5 p.m. ET – Big Break IV: USA vs. Europe (Episode six)– The fourth installment of Golf Channel’s reality competition series pitted teams of six golfers representing the United States and Europe.  In this episode, the contestants take a surprise field trip to the home of golf – St. Andrews – with challenges including hitting out of the infamous “Road Hole Bunker” on the 17th hole and putting out of the “Valley of Sin” on the 18th hole.  The episode also includes one of the more dramatic elimination challenges in series history on the 18th hole, when Tommy Gainey executed an unconventional bogey that featured a ricochet off of a van and a complete miss from the rough to stay alive on the series before ultimately being eliminated in a sudden-death playoff.  Big Break IV: USA vs. Europe was filmed at Carnoustie Golf Links and aired on Golf Channel in 2005.
 
5-6 p.m. ET – Big Break VII: Reunion (Finale) – The seventh installment of Golf Channel’s reality competition series featured the first-ever reunion show, bringing back 16 competitors from the series’ first six seasons.  The finale of Big Break VII: Reunion featured Tommy Gainey defeating Ashley Gomes in a nine-hole match to be crowned series champion and the recipient of a tournament exemption to the 2007 Cox Classic, $70,000 in cash and prizes and a new Chrysler Aspen.  Big Break VII: Reunion was filmed at Reunion Resort near Orlando, Fla., and aired on Golf Channel in 2007.

Tiger Woods Design Is Back, Cabo Edition

Eamon Lynch reports Tiger Woods Design is back in business! (Thanks reader Chris.)

The long rumored and denied second course at Cabo's Diamante is apparently under construction and will not be a Phil Mickelson design, but instead, a $12 million Tiger effort. Most interesting of all is that it began without a press release, golden shovel event, painfully staged photos and flashy video production. Someone has learned how this design business works!

Woods confirmed via email:

"I want to make it an enjoyable and memorable experience for all players, regardless of skill level," Woods wrote. "I've played in enough pro-ams to know that not every golfer is a scratch player. Creating wide landing areas and avoiding forced carries whenever possible allow all golfers, even beginners, to keep the ball in play and have more fun."

The team at Tiger Woods Design recently made a scouting trip to some courses in Southern California, including Riviera and Los Angeles Country Club. Woods, who is expected to return to the El Cardonal site in a few weeks, has said those classics will influence his work at Diamante.
"I want to be sure that my designs make individuals think their way around the course," Woods explained. "To me, that's an important part of golf and it's what I like to do when I play. I think players like risk-reward opportunities and to feel like they've been challenged in all aspects of the game."

Update on 2012-10-22 16:15 by Geoff

**The routing plan is also available to look at courtesy of golf.com.

Coore On Cabot Cliffs: "If we don’t build something outstanding, we will have failed."

Speaking to the unique business and artistic relationship Coore and Crenshaw have to their shapers, Cabot Links architect Rod Whitman will be working on the second course, Cabot Cliffs, which the normally understated Coore has set a high bar for.

Matty G reports:

Coore and Whitman met in the mid-1970s, when the building of new courses had slowed as drastically as it has now; Coore was the superintendent of a course in Huntsville, Texas, and Whitman was a student at Sam Houston State University. Whitman would mow greens in exchange for green fees at Waterwood National and Coore helped the struggling student by buying him dinner at the local Pizza Hut. “We used to talk about how one day both of us would be in the design business,” says Coore, who has since become one of golf’s elite modern architects.

“I used to just want to play golf,” says Whitman. “It was after spending so much time talking to Bill that I got interested in course strategy and design.”

Now Coore and Whitman will be working together on what might be Coore and Crenshaw’s best yet. “I’ll put it this way, and it’s a little like I felt about Sand Hills: If we don’t build something outstanding, we will have failed,” says Coore, the white-haired, soft-spoken, humble minimalist who confirmed Crenshaw has agreed to be a part of this project, even though he doesn't usually like to travel for work outside of the United States.

"Tommy is such a good boy and for somebody to come from a small town like Bishopville, be a little unorthodox, never went to college and win on the PGA Tour? How hard do you think that is?"

From Doug Ferguson's game story on the course-record-60-shooting Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey breathing life into the McGladrey Classic, which feels like a fall version of the Tavistock Cup only with much smaller galleries.

"Oh, man," Gainey said. "I tell you, you're out here on the PGA Tour. You're playing with the best players in the world. Ninety-nine percent of these guys have already won, and won majors, big tournaments. The only show I can say I've won is the `Big Break.' Now I can sit here and say I've won the McGladrey Classic here at Sea Island, and I'm very proud to be in this tournament and very proud to win. And wow, it's been a whirlwind day.

Tim Rosaforte does a nice job capturing the Gainey backstory beyond the Dexter Morgan two black glove look, including this from Tommy Sr.:

During the two-and-a-half-hour wait between when Gainey posted his 60 and Furyk, Tommy Sr. and Tommy Jr. talked on the phone. When Toms hit a drive, Tommy Jr. could hear Tommy Sr. rooting it into a fairway bunker.

"He said, 'Dad, you can't pull against these guys," Gainey Sr. said. "I said, 'Tommy, those three guys they have everything, they're Hall of Famers."

When it was over, Tommy Sr. headed back to his house in Bishopville so his wife, Judy, could punch the clock for the graveyard shift at the wood plant. He took early retirement when he was 57 but now, at 65, he does consulting work for A.O. Smith, the factory where Tommy Jr. worked as a teenager wrapping insulation around water heaters for $8.25 an hour.

The miniscule PGA Tour highlight package that would look so much better on YouTube:

Yao Ming Looks Great At Address...

...and then there is his swing.

Thanks to Alan Shipnuck for Tweeting this golf.com photo gallery of Eugene Hoshiko's AP images from the World Celebrity Pro-Am at Mission Hills. Included are shots of Adrian Brody, Ryan Reynolds, Michael Phelps, Ronaldo, Andy Garcia and three shots of actress Minka Kelly.

Yao looks tremendous at address and so I went to YouTube to see if the rest of the seven-foot and then-some former Houston Rocket had a decent move.

I think you'll feel better about your wedge game.

"Going 'old school' will give you a whole new appreciation for the greatest game we know."

Here's a nice Saturday morning read from John Kim at PGA.com who played hickories for the first tie as part of Ansley Golf Club's 100th anniversary celebration, with Stirling Hickory Golf providing the clubs.

And as a student of golf history, to play with those clubs was not only a great education in golf equipment and the advantages of today's technology - but it enhanced my appreciation of the skill and talent that the greats of yesterday possessed.  Nothing against Tiger, Rory or even Jack and Arnie - I don't see how they could put up the numbers that Bobby Jones and company could put up using the same set of equipment. 

 

At the end of the day, it was like any other golf outing. Food and drinks were enjoyed, stories were shared about putts that should have gone in and promises were made to get together again soon.  But every golfer walked away with a little more passion and love for the game. If you're looking for a different perspective and a great way to love golf even more - going "old school" will give you a whole new appreciation for the greatest game we know. 

Rory's Agent Has Not "Heard" Of Any Suggestion His Client Is Signing A 10-Year, $250 Million Deal With Nike

Brian Keogh reports that ten-percenter Conor Ridge may want to sign up for some Google news alerts as the rumors of a massive deal for Rory McIlroy refuse to go away. And with Acushnet/Titleist known for showing fiscal prudence by not ponying up silly amounts of money to re-sign high profile players, a deal elsewhere seems likely at year's end.

Unless you are Rory's agent!

It’s no secret that McIlroy’s deal with Titleist expires at the end of this year. And while we’ve been assured by our sources that he’s going to Nike to the tune of $250 million over 10 years, we’re going to have to wait until he turns up in Abu Dhabi in January for confirmation that he will wear the famous swoosh from head to toe.

Horizon Sports Management’s Conor Ridge successfully negotiated a move from Titleist to Nike for McIlroy’s stablemate Ross Fisher this year. But he is duty bound to deny all knowledge of plans to make McIlroy a Nike player in 2013.

“I hadn’t even heard it, to be honest,” Ridge said this week when asked about the strong rumours linking his client to Nike. “Look, he’s a Titleist player and there is no way I am going to make any comment on anything like that.”

If Rory goes to notoriously anti-other-corporate logo Nike, that would mean he wouldn't be able to have the fourteen logos including the "what was I thinking" Jumeirah Estates doozy on the hat. He'll want to win 16 more majors just to never see himself in career highlight films sporting the Jumeirah lid.