Augusta National Planning Clubhouse Work

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Steve Crawford of the Augusta Chronicle reports that a site plan has been filed with the city by Cran­ston Engineering Group to demolish the existing kitchen area and an adjacent building to make way for a new building.

The inevitable jokes will arrive that they need more closet space and women's bathrooms, though it sounds more like updating outdated food preparation area.

Not as fun or sexy, I know! Still, nice Rick McKee cartoon in the Chronicle from a few months ago after they admitted their first female members.

Belly Putter Rant: "The course designers are the ones who have lost sight of the spirit of the game."

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I had such high hopes for Dr. Craig Farnsworth's plea to save the belly putter and anchoring, figuring he was going to make the straightforward but certainly valid point that some everyday golfers would be discouraged if you took away something that has made the game more enjoyable for them.

Farnsworth's point is built around the "spirit of the game" argument cited by anchoring antagonists and he takes the governing bodies to task for not defending the spirit of the game by allowing a hot ball.

And you know who is to blame for violating the spirit of the game? The architects!

So far, the ball is so hot -- let alone the equipment changes -- it has made many courses obsolete for better players, especially PGA Tour players. One answer for this dilemma is to make course changes. That's why we're seeing courses at 7,600 to 8,000 yards. In addition, we can add more bunkers, design greens with multiple sections, and make other adjustments to strengthen the "challenge."

It's no wonder that amateur handicaps have changed little in decades. The course designers are the ones who have lost sight of the spirit of the game.

And therefore anchoring should be allowed to offset the evil work of the architects.

Can't we get some sanity back when it comes to the game -- the spirit of the game -- by starting to realize that present course designs are ridiculous at best? Modern green complexes scare the average player because when they are on the green, they are relegated to a three-putt, at best.

At best, no.

Will The Donald's Golf Course Influence The Scotland Independence Referendum?

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It's been fascinating to follow the political saga that is Donald Trump's fight against the proposed wind farm off the Aberdeen coast which could taint the views from Trump International Scotland (I happen to agree with The Donald that they will, if you are playing the back tees where the views are spectacular...and so are the force carries).

This has led to his row with former bud First Minister Alex Salmond, and now there is the fallout from the BBC's airing of You've Been Trumped, where local police actually come off as poorly as some of The Donald's workers who pettily cut water supplies to residents and engaged in other unnecessary acts of boorish behavior, all documented in this shocking scene captured by filmmaker Anthony Baxter.

Interestingly, the post-You've Been Trumped ramifications have transitioned from a mere spat between filmmaker and developer (passport application bounty offerer that he is), to appropriate questions about the role of police arresting the filmmaker for seemingly no good reason. 

First Minister Salmond, the independence movement's biggest backer, has now asked for an inquiry into the episode, captured and included in the film, after previously ignoring the known incident for nearly two years, reports Neil Drysdale:

Mr Salmond wrote in a letter to his constituents: "The film raises issues which have caused concern to a number of my constituents, specifically the strong suggestion that Grampian Police acted in a partial and unacceptable manner, for example the arrest of filmmakers which took place in 2010.

“With that in mind, I have written to the chief constable of Grampian Police, Colin McKerracher, to allow the police the opportunity to explain their actions and what steps have been taken in response to previous complaints.”

The "breach of peace" arrest came after the filmmaker made a visit to Trump's greenkeeper and interviewed him at the golf course construction offices.

Is it possible that The Donald's project could inadvertently influence the Scottish independence referendum?

Anthony Baxter, the filmmaker who was arrested, writing in The Guardian on Salmond's sudden interest:

Why has it taken more than two years to do so? The only logical answer is that Salmond and his government have been hoping that, in their silence, the truth would not be revealed. To the residents who have had to deal with the Bond villain Trump and his cronies, Salmond's response – or the lack of one – is deeply insulting and they are right to call it a cover-up.

And to the many people who have been shocked, dazed and saddened by what they have witnessed on the small screen this week, the implications for Scottish independence could never have been more pressing.

Throw in Salmond's recently revealed request of The Donald and, well, it does seem possible that the whole indepedence thing could be undermined by the building of Trump International links.

"I think with the testing, it's only enhanced that respectability throughout all of sport."

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There wasn't much in the way of coherent questioning from Tiger's Malaysia press conference to launch whatever event it is they're playing this week the CIMB Classic.

Anyway, there was this:

Q.  It's been a difficult week for sports in some respects with the Lance Armstrong scandal.  Just wondered to what extent you thought golf has any similar problems?

TIGER WOODS:  Could you repeat the last part of it?

Q.  I just wondered if you thought to what extent golf has similar problems, and are the authorities doing enough to catch people who are taking the wrong things?

TIGER WOODS:  Yeah, we just implemented testing probably three years ago I think it is, three years now.  I know we don't do any blood work like some of the other sports do.  Right now is just urine samples, but that's certainly a positive step in the right direction to try and validate our sport.  I mean, this is a sport where we turn ourselves in on mistakes.  A ball moves in the tree, and the guy calls a penalty on himself.  Golf is a different sport.  I think that's one of the neat things about our great game, and I think with the testing, it's only enhanced that respectability throughout all of sport.

It's always worth remembering that if not for Tiger raising the issue, as Steve Elling noted here, the folks in Ponte Vedra might be resisting drug testing. 

For a fun flashback, here's one of Commissioner We Don't Need No Stinkin' Testing's many tortured answers on the topic before he saw the light.