Only Thing That Could Make The Irish Open Better?
/Royal County Down was as stunning as you’d expect in full HD.
Read MoreIn golf construction art and utility meet; both are absolutely vital; one is utterly ruined without the other. GEORGE THOMAS
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.
Fox Baseball Viewers Just Love Hearing About The U.S. Open
/I'm not sure bringing a a USGA President into the booth of an MLB game with his searsucker and hurling his "Jr." designation is the way to cool-up the U.S. Open's move to Fox, but then there I go again thinking this is about the golf instead of branding the USGA!
Sure, Brad Faxon, who loves his Red Sox and could do baseball banter with the announcers while promoting the upcoming debut telecast from Chambers Bay would have been the logical choice. But Brad's not on the Executive Committee and just months from becoming even more irrelevant than ever!
I can't embed the full response because of Squarespace's inability to fix Twitter issues and I'm limited in the number of obscenities visually available in a month, but you can view the Fox fan's reaction to having their compelling Dodgers-Cardinals game interrupted here. But here's a sampling (thanks reader Sean for spotting):
"Still, developers don’t want to stray too far from rolling fairways and challenging courses designed by golf legends."
/John Paul Newport devotes his WSJ weekly column
Read MoreVideo: Chambers Bay First Hole Flyover
/An annual tradition here: become familiar (in slow drip fashion)
Read MorePhotos: Great White Shark Meets His Match!
/We always wondered what would become of the sculpture creation process
Read MoreMaximilian! Royal County Down's 1939 Course Record Falls
/Yes, Royal County Down's finishing stretch has been beefed up a bit this century
Read MoreOops: Brookline Votes To Oppose 2024 Olympics
/The Boston Globe's Ellen Ishkanian and Mark Arsenault
Read MoreGolf Channel Lays Off 3% Of Its Work Force
/Steve Elling at GolfBlot first reported the elimination of 30 jobs at Golf Channel
Read MoreDiaz: "What should we make of Rory McIlroy missing a second straight cut?"
/That's the question Jaime Diaz
Read MorePodcasts! State Of The Game 56 With Koehler & More
/This week Terry Koehler, who is spearheading the rebirth of one of golf's
Read More(Portrait) Video: OU Men's Golf's Best Of Rainy Day Trick Shots
/While there should be a DQ for portrait cinematography,
Read MoreApple Not Far From The Tree Files: Caleb's First Trick Shot
/Embeds from Twitter are still a problem with Squarespace, sadly
Read MoreConfirmed Phil Sighting At Chambers Improves U.S. Open Odds
/Even though he's not a millennial, most eyes are still on Phil Mickelson come U.S. Open
Read MoreUSGA's Davis Clarifies U.S. Open Comments: Players Take Note
/The USGA's Executive Director ruffled some feathers by suggesting
Read MoreRugby Dude: BBC Gave Up The Open Due To Small Audiences
/The Telegraph's Hannah Furness quotes Eddie Butler, plugging his new book as voice of The Beeb's rugby coverage, suggesting that BBC did not put up a hard fight to keep The Open Championship due to audience size.
Furness writes:
Speaking about his new book The Head of Gonzo Davies, Butler, the BBC's voice of international rugby, said: "There is a will to protect the Six Nations, which for most of my working life was not considered jewel by the BBC.
“It was something the BBC did, but rugby was a very arcane, esoteric sport which nobody really understood. Until the BBC did some market research and found ten million people watched it.
"The moment they started to take the Six Nations seriously, they've actually given it their full attention and are going to protect it as best they can.
"They're certainly going to protect it harder than they protected the Open golf, which has gone from the BBC. They didn't defend that with much vigour because not many people watched it.
"All those Sunday afternoons of the Open title being decided, across the land not many people watched it.
"But there are things the BBC will fight hard for."
The Open's rights have gone to Sky Sports, with the American rights current up for grabs in a sudden chase literally out of the blue, even though ESPN is signed through 2017.
