Dallas CC Admits First Black Member After 13 Year Process

James Ragland reports that 58-year-old private equity exec Kneeland Youngblood is the first black member admitted to the "exclusive" Dallas Country Club.

According to Ragland, Youngblood's application took 13 years.

“I respect the club’s decision,” Youngblood said in a phone chat from New York. “I’m honored now that they’ve chosen me to be a member.”

The club’s president, Ray Nixon, issued a brief statement Thursday that gives a modest nod to the cultural shift afoot in Dallas, without discussing the prolonged process Youngblood endured.

“Dallas Country Club is a vital asset and an extraordinary amenity in an increasingly global city,” Nixon said. “We have a long-standing history and commitment as both a social and family club.

“Kneeland Youngblood is an outstanding individual and friend; and we are delighted to have him and his family as part of our club.”

Rolling Riviera’s Fairways!? A Simple Explanation

If you’ve watched the opening two rounds of Northern Trust Open play, it’s been apparent that the course is firmer and faster than ever. For Kikuyu fairways, it’s a rarity to ever even contemplate any kind of run to the fairways unless the ground is frozen. As for an explanation, suffering through drought says a lot and so does all of the incredible soil moisture reading work undertaken by superintendent Matt Morton’s crew.

However, a few of you wrote with alarm at my previous mention that the fairways are rolled to increase firmness. The image of rollers on greens is often met with skepticism and I certainly had the same reaction when I first saw the large rollers on Tuesday. But Riviera superintendent Matt Morton has a simple explanation.

“We’ve made a conscious effort to try to speed up the course through equipment,” he said.

In other words, reduce the use of growth regulators and other chemical tricks to tighten the turf and firm up the course. Morton wants to best accentuate Riviera’s many subtle design features, many of which are muted by spongy Kikuuyu. It also helps that Morton has grown to love links golf, is reading Alister MacKenzie’s Spirit Of St. Andrews, and wants to use more sustainable tools to make Riviera play faster and firmer than ever. It’s working.

There have been some 350-yard bombs from the leaderboard dominated by long hitters, including a few with a good bit of roll that is unusual for Riviera. The field average of 283.1 through (almost) two rounds is right on the tour average but high for a kikuyu course. Still, the precision necessary on a firmer course has made the golf fascinating to watch and should weed out the less-precise by Sunday (22 are within 6 strokes of the lead when play was halted because of darkness Friday). The fairway turf has also never looked more pure, which the tour rules staff chalks up to the rollers.

Morton first saw the fairway rolling effects at Merion last year and Riviera has since purchased two Tranz-former rolling units that look like fairway mowers. The Tranz-formers were put into play just a week before the tournament, but have been in use twice a day during competition. The long-term impact has not yet been determined, but Morton hopes to reduce mowings and in general, continue to shift Riviera toward the more sustainable Australian model of maintenance emphasizing grass management that involves less consumption of precious resources.

And rolling lightly nourished turf instead of constantly mowing overfed grass is a good place to start.

Bifurcation: The B Word Just Won't Go Away

Jaime Diaz takes the pulse of folks at recent industry shows and the bifurcation word just keeps coming up for golf, no matter the context whether it be rangefinders, equipment or putters.

Diaz makes the case for rules tweaks that impact the professional.

The professional tours, and especially major championship golf, would be better with a golf ball that underwent a distance rollback of 10 percent. Don't worry, a Dustin Johnson drive will still look awesome flying 290 yards instead of 325. But more importantly, a rolled-back ball would increase the premium on player skill, bring the driver out of the bag much more often, create more variety in the shape of approach shots, allow the best players to separate from the pack more easily, lead to more classic venues, stop the proliferation of extreme course setups that feature heavy rough and ultra-firm greens, and speed up play. This more interesting version of golf on the biggest stages would make the recreational game more popular and alluring.

Rancho Park: "The American tapestry."

When I think of the great places in the game, Rancho Park always comes to mind because it is the only existing course in America to have hosted all three tours (PGA, Champions, LPGA), millions of rounds of golf and remains the essentially the same place the West Los Angeles muni has been all of my lifetime: a special place to play golf.

Yes, they've raised green fees and conditioning is in flux with the incompetent city of LA in charge, but the people make the place and always have. Michael Bamberger captures it all in a nutshell after just one recent visit.

In the parking lot, I saw a young guy hop out of his truck, zip oranges into his golf bag, slide into his spikes and march off to the clubhouse. (Such an echt display of pre-round enthusiasm.) In the restaurant/pro shop, a man in a nearby booth ate breakfast with his bag beside him, headcovers on all 14 of his companions. A waitress arranged for my rental set, an interesting assortment of lost treasures: Ping Eye 2s, Titleists likely from another century, Stratas, a Zebra putter. On the driving range, there was a middle-aged man loading up his face with sunblock and his mouth with chew. All the while, over loudspeakers, the starter announced the batters off his ever-changing lineup card: Aiello, Shapiro, Chu. The American tapestry.

How The USGA Can Spend Fox Money To Grow The Game

Working off of Tom O'Toole's Annual Meeting speech outlining an emphasis on growing the game, Ron Sirak proposes a few ways they can spend Fox's their newfound millions.

The two I liked most:

• The USGA needs to have public golf represented on its 15-person Executive Committee. Not only are all the current members affiliated with private clubs, they come from the most elite clubs in the country. Since the Executive Committee is composed of volunteers -- one told me he spent $60,000 out of his own pocket to attend championships and meetings -- the USGA would have to subsidize public-course representatives. Still, the USGA at its highest level needs to have a direct connection to what life is like at daily-fee and public courses. It would be money well spent.

• It should encourage every private club to grant four "scholarships" a year, giving juniors playing privileges and free lessons. Base the scholarships not on playing ability but community service or grades. The purpose is not to produce pros but rather players for life. Many likely would end up joining their host club.

Reminder: Victoria GC And The Australian Women's Open

Live tonight on Golf Channel, 8 pm PT, the great Victoria Golf Club can be seen for the first time since the 2011 Australian Masters when play kicks off in the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.

Victoria has been lovingly restored by architect Mike Clayton and his team.

Here is my last DVR alert post on Victoria from two years ago.
Cheyenne Woods, last week's winner, is in the field.

Also entered are Stacy Lewis, Lydia Ko and Karrie Webb.