Kid Rock On Joining The Bear's Club, Tiger's Reclusiveness

The February 28, 2015 Rolling Stone features a Patrick Doyle-authored story on Bob Ritchie, aka Kid Rock, who has joined the Bear's Club and hit golf balls at Tiger's house.

Doyle writes:

Lately, Rock has been getting into golf. He was just accepted into Jack Nicklaus' private Bear's Club, near Palm Beach, Florida. "If you told me five years ago I'd have to take my hat off and tuck my shirt in, I'd have slapped the taste out of your mouth," Rock says. "Now I'm like, 'Look at me, hair slicked back, shirt tucked in.' I'm like, 'What a fag!' "

What a lovely sentiment. I think Jack needs to call Bob into his office, too.

As for Tiger, his comments were of interest. Really.

Rock recently got some pointers at the range from Nicklaus himself, and he hit balls at Tiger Woods' nearby house. "Nice kid," Rock says. "A little bit of an Eminem and Axl Rose syndrome. Very reclusive, literal, and sometimes you feel a little bad for them. Sometimes they think the world's against them. You gotta loosen up, man! People are gonna talk shit. You just gotta enjoy it!"

Continuing the music metaphors, the March 3rd, 2015 issue of Rolling Stone featured this Michael Weinreb piece suggesting Tiger has moved into Michael Jackson territory.

He is, as Sports on Earth's Will Leitch wrote, firmly ensconced in his "freak show" phase; he now appears so far removed from normal life that it's getting more difficult to imagine he'll ever be an object of mainstream affection any time soon. In, say, 2002, it would have seemed utterly absurd to compare Tiger Woods and Mike Tyson; now it feels like an increasingly apt metaphor. The fact that he felt the need to publicly attack a biting satirical column by a legendary sportswriter best known for biting satire may have been the least self-aware and most humorless screed by an athlete who was never exactly known for his edginess.

The State Of The Donald

His helicopter will be strategically parked and he'll be conspicuously present this week at Doral (as well as next week for another PGA of America-related announcement), so Steve DiMeglio takes stock of Donald Trump the golf course developer.

As I told John Patrick's radio show today, love him or hate him, The Donald has an entertainer's sensibility and seems to do a nice job reminding the PGA Tour that they are, in fact, supposed to be entertaining.

Even Commissioner Moonbeam is a fan...

Trump started building courses using some of the game's best architects. Then in 2008 when the market crashed, he started buying up existing golf properties and rebuilding them.

"I've always liked to say I'm a plus 10 (handicap) at building," Trump says.

He says he has no plans to expand his golf portfolio unless the right deal comes along. Such as the 800-acre Doral resort, which he snapped up out of bankruptcy in 2012 for $150 million. Trump pumped $250 million into a tired-looking resort in need of restoration, refurbishing the 643 guest rooms, updating a 48,000-square-foot spa and rebuilding and touching up 90 holes of golf, including the 18 of the famed Blue Monster course the PGA Tour stars will tackle this week.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem says Trump is leaving a lasting mark on the sport.

"He has found a successful formula in purchasing wonderful properties like Trump National Doral Miami and then teaming with respected designers like Gil Hanse to bring these courses to their true potential," Finchem says.

The Annual Most Overpaid Golf Association Executives List

The March Golf Digest features Ron Sirak's annual look at the 50 biggest wage earners in golf. But of more interest are the concrete numbers listing executive salaries. Most are based of 501c-3 filings and while coming from 2013 means we miss out on some newer execs or leaps last year, you get the idea at the excess, waste and occasional golden parachutery.

Congrats to Joe Steranka for a 6&5 win over Dick Rugge in the Going Away Package Classic, while Zink and Moorhouse continue to collect generous pay for telling Commissioner Farquaad what a great job he's doing. And that David Pillsbury makes more money than Mike Whan or Mike Davis or Mike the cartboy at TPC Sawgrass is just plain wrong.