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.
Jeff Rude was actually serious in expressing his excitement over the Champions Tour's class of 2014.
I do believe this was said without a trace of irony...
I mean, Davis Love III, Scott Verplank, Billy Andrade and Lee Janzen turn 50 next year, and I’m fairly certain I remember watching them before they could shave.
The new crop also includes Woody Austin, Jeff Maggert, Joe Durant, Stephen Ames, Paul Goydos, Kevin Sutherland and Skip Kendall.
Oh yeah, the Champions is set for the next decade!
Merrill Knox reports on Golf Channel's Lara Baldesarra heading to CNN International after working at Golf Channel.
Baldesarra had worked on shows like the Grey Goose 19th Hole and Golf Central.
CNN announced today that Lara Baldesarra is joining the network’s sports unit in Atlanta. Starting in December, she will anchor World Sport, the flagship sports news program on CNN International, and contribute to sports-related event coverage across all CNN platforms.
“We’re thrilled with Lara’s addition to CNN’s global sports operation,” said Bill Galvin, senior vice president of sports programming and development for CNN. “Her expertise as a leading voice in the sports world aligns perfectly with CNN’s commitment to providing a thoughtful perspective across a broad range of news and events.”
Once a staple of the European Tour schedule, the Volvo World Match Play may be coming back as a fall event, reports Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail.
As for venue and location, IMG's Guy Kinnings suggests an English venue would be preferred.
‘We’re excited to be returning to the October date and our hope is that this will mean a return to the UK,’ said Guy Kinnings, global head of IMG Golf, who promote the event.
Kinnings is a passionate advocate for another tour event in England, so fingers crossed.
Shane O'Donoghue got Sergio for a one-on-one to talk about the state of all things Garcia and to find out what exactly he learned from uttering a racially insensitive joke at Wentworth last May, which subsequently led to embarrassing remarks from European Tour Commish George O'Grady.
"I didn't mean it in a bad way. When I was driving back to the hotel, I started thinking about it," Garcia told Shane O'Donoghue.
Nice to know the dead silence in the room took that long to sink in! Oh, and it's still Steve Sands' fault.
"Obviously, I didn't expect that question at all and you try to be funny and it comes out the wrong way I guess," he added.
And Mr. Contrite:
"It was horrible, but what's done is done. Everybody knows how I feel about it, so I think they should be fine with it and if not, it's kind of their problem," he said.
"The most important thing is learning from all those things.
"I'm making sure that all those experiences make you stronger, a better person and things like that. I think that I've learned from those things and I just need to keep getting better at it, and hopefully keep making people happy."
If you have sixty seconds or so of your life to never to enjoy again:
I finally got a few minutes to take in the entire Deane Beman address (text version) from last week's USGA Pace of Play event, and besides enjoying the image of folks squirming as he talked bifurcation of the rules where the rulemakers reside (and steadfastly oppose bifurcation), you have to admire the dry wit.
Beman, most certainly never considered for a sidekick role on The Tonight Show, turned the tide on the bifurcation discussion by accepting that we already have it, and why are we the big, bad governing bodies trying to get rid of bifurcated rules?
The former PGA Tour Commish lays out the ways we are bifurcated now (grooves, one-ball rule) and writes:
Why is it now so important to eliminate bifurcation? There is no evidence that bifurcation has hurt the popularity of our game -- just the opposite can be creditably advanced. Golf’s popularity was surging in the 1950’s and 60’s when two different size golf balls were played around the world. Don’t let the stance on bifurcation stand in the way of addressing some of golf’s problems.
He ties it into the slow play discussion and makes this point about longer, narrower courses in championship play making their way into the everyday game:
The problem of slow play, as well as the decline in the growth and financial viability of golf in the U.S., has some of its seeds from the well-intended notion that in order to identify “a worthy champion” in major championships, it was necessary to alter the playing field to accomplish that objective.
The Red Sox won the World Series and they are the undisputed world champions of baseball. Baseball did not feel the need to add another 10 feet to get to first base, grow longer grass in the infield or move the home run fence farther out. They also have bifurcated rules that allow a designated hitter in one league versus the other and were able to make a mutual accommodation for the World Series for the good and harmony of the game. None of these actions would lessen the crown that Boston wears or harm baseball as a popular sport.
Another entertaining European Tour promo video, this time for the Atlantis in Dubai and the season ending points race. Nice surprise cameo too.
**You may recall there was some tremendous First World complaining about the European Tour mandating players start two of three "Race To Dubai" events. Ernie Els even WD'd from this week in supposed protest.
Steve Elling explains part of the ire, justified in this instance I'd say:
Bigger cracks emerged at the second event in the series, the lucrative HSBC Champions in Shanghai. The co-sanctioned, 78-man event event is not run by the European Tour, which has little sway over the composition of the field. As a result, 10 of the top 40 on the Race to Dubai points list did not find a place on the tee sheet, including Ryder Cup player Nicolas Colsaerts, Thorbjorn Olesen, Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Shane Lowry.
In theory, a points race represents a season-long meritocracy. But if all three of Dubai’s lead-in events have fields of 78 players or fewer, it crimps the opportunity for top players in the points list to participate. In reality, designating co-sanctioned events as Finals Series stops meant even fewer spots were available to European Tour regulars.
It felt like a closed shop.
At the co-sanctioned BMW Masters, 14 players from the China Golf Association were included in the field. At the HSBC, because of the tournament format, Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald played, while players having better 2013 seasons were benched. In points, both players were outside the crucial top 60, the number required to land a spot in the Dubai finale.
Six of the 78 players at HSBC were from China, including two ranked outside the top 800 in the world. One of them failed to break 80 in three of his four rounds and finished a whopping 59 shots off the lead. Ouch.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
