Good News: Links Trust Taking Over St. Andrews Tee Times

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Andrew Argo of The Courier reports what appears to be excellent news for those hoping to get a tee time on the Old Course.  The Links Trust is taking over control of the commercial trade times and will continue its other management duties.

Argo writes:

The arrangement does not impact on the general ballot to play the Old Course or local preferential times, which will continue to be a mainstay of the St Andrews Links operation.

Euan Loudon, St Andrews Links chief executive, said: “Following a lengthy period of consideration the Trust has decided that it is the appropriate time to take control over the presentation and sale of all Old Course commercial times as well as developing and managing a closer working relationship with multiple tour operators.

“This change in emphasis will bring to a close the existing contractual arrangement which we have enjoyed with our partner, OCE, for more than 20 years.”

It sounds like there is more news to come out of this, besides perhaps a streamlining of the process for tour operators and one that theoretically offers a better value. 

Mr Loudon said the trust will undertake a significant programme of business development for the Old Course from 2018.

He added: “This work will focus only on commercial tee times and will not impact on the ballot, advanced reservations or local preferential times on any of our courses.”

The full release is here.

I look forward to Ru Macdonald's take on the details, but over at the Scottish Golf Travel blog he says this is good news for increasing chances of getting on the Old Course.

Not Going Anywhere: Finchem Calls His Future "Ill-defined"

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Commissioner Tim Finchem tells AP's Doug Ferguson that his retirement schedule is still on hold as he works on "a couple of three major kind of projects" he'd like to get "pushed a little bit."

This was a startling revelation for an organization that allowed Finchem to put numerous executives out to pasture when they turned 60:

Finchem turns 69 next year, though the PGA Tour policy board recently extended the age limit of board members to 75. So that's not an issue.

Hilariously, another massive amount of cash is set to be put into The Players and Stadium Course, and there is the inevitable effort to re-up FedEx for the Reset Cup beyond 2017.

There was also this:

An early start on the next round of TV negotiations. The contracts are up in 2021, though it's never too early to start.

If the tour was going to invoke an out clause in their current network deal, it would need to happen very soon. But with ESPN getting out of golf and Fox not showing much sign of interest outside its USGA contract, the leverage to pick up more money seems gone. As does the cord-cutting momentum that now makes some TV rights deals look bloated.    

Tillie! Celebrating The Architect Extraordinaire

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I try not to think about the induction of A.W. Tillinghast to the World Golf Hall of Fame because all I can see are PGA Tour pros talking about playing a few of his courses.

So with this year's induction still in our tailights, Morning Drive's Architecture Week coverage decided to pay homage to a man who was more than a master golf architect. Tillinghast led one of the most remarkable and productive lives in our game's history, enriching our lives in ways few others have.

Our short tribute and discussion, produced by Katie Miller:

And our discussion:

USGA, ASGCA Partnering For Pro-Bono Design Services

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I know what you're thinking, the USGA has been changing courses free of charge for decades.

But this is actually a program geared toward courses no hosting championships and hosting the everyday golfer. Certainly something like this is a long overdue use of the Green Section and of architects, though I do fear for courses receiving recommendations designed to generate pricey re-construction of greens to USGA specs.

What also is missing: the USGA maybe commiting some of its $400 million in reserve to the occassional restoration of a worthy muni. Oh well, a great start...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

USGA, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTS ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP
TO SUPPORT PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE GOLF COURSES

FAR HILLS, N.J. (Dec. 8, 2015) – The United States Golf Association (USGA) and the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) have launched a collaborative program to help publicly accessible golf facilities improve the design and maintenance of their courses and deliver a better experience for their customers.

Combining the expertise of ASGCA member architects and USGA agronomists, scientists and researchers, the program will provide pro bono consulting services to facilities that need assistance to achieve their goal of making  their layouts more enjoyable and reducing their maintenance costs.

“Course design and maintenance form the foundation of a golf facility’s operations,” said Mike Davis, USGA executive director. “With the knowledge that the ASGCA and USGA can offer, more publicly accessible facilities will be able to strengthen this base, while promoting resource efficiency, a better golf experience and a stronger connection to the local community.”

Starting today, facilities can submit an application for the service, which will include an on-site evaluation, professional analysis and a report outlining recommendations for improvement. Recommendations can cover course design, agronomy, environmental stewardship and golf course operations, with the goal of lowering costs while also improving the golfer experience.

“The ASGCA, along with the ASGCA Foundation led by John LaFoy, is pleased to partner with the USGA on this initiative,” said Steve Smyers, president of the ASGCA. “Golf facilities have long benefited from the efforts of ASGCA members and USGA agronomists. Collaboration between our experts will have a positive impact on the facilities we support. ASGCA members are excited and proud to bring their expertise to this program.”

Interested facilities must submit an application by one of three deadlines over the coming year: March 15, Aug. 15 or Dec. 15. The application can be found here.

Canal Shores Golf Course, a community-owned and operated facility in Evanston, Ill., is the first course to receive a pro bono evaluation through the program.

“This has been an incredible opportunity,” said Jason Way, of the Canal Shores planning committee. “We have some great ideas about how to improve the course, but the assistance from the USGA and the ASGCA allows us to get past the initial planning process, so we can move forward with our vision for making Canal Shores a multi-use community green space that the maximum number of people can enjoy.”

Selected facilities must express a willingness to carry out the recommendations from the USGA and ASGCA. Facilities will be expected to track and report the effectiveness of their improvements based on specific metrics.

A video that shares more detailed information on the program and Canal Shores can be found at usga.org via the following link.

The partnership complements the USGA’s course consulting services, which deliver implementable solutions to support a healthier future for golf facilities. In October, the USGA also announced a five-year master research partnership with the University of Minnesota to study and develop solutions to golf’s present and future challenges, including environmental sustainability.

The video features Hunki Yun explaining the program from the USGA's new Far Hills TV set. Love the echo chamber vibe!

Here is the application page.

Golf Pros Will Do Anything For Money Files: Thailand Chic Edition

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To kick off the Asian Tour's 2015 Thailand Golf Championship, the star attractions justified their appearance by dressing the part.

No idea who the gent in the portrait photo sporting the camera in the background is, but a good time almost looks like it's been had by all (except when they were handed the sombrero-like hats).

For lots of laughs, the ThaiGolfChamps Twitter account.

Some highlights:




Jack Still Thinks Tiger Has "Good Chance" Of Breaking Majors Record Because Saying Otherwise Would Cause A Migraine

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Paul Gittings of CNN talks to Jack Nicklaus after Tiger issued his fairly grim assessment at the Hero World Challenge and the 18-time major winner wisely holds the line on his past view.

Because to say otherwise would have spokesman Scott Tolley carrying Costco-sized bottles of Aspirin.

Woods, who is 40 at the end of December, gave a decidedly downbeat assessment of his future Tuesday, saying he had "nothing to look forward to." However, Nicklaus told CNN that his fellow American could still challenge in golf's top tournaments, including the four majors held each year -- of which he has won 14 since 1997.

"He has always been a very focused young man with a great work ethic, and is tremendously talented. To count him out of that (the majors record) would be foolish, he certainly has a very good chance of doing that," the 75-year-old said.

79 & 81: R&A Takes Two More (Honorary) Female Members

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They certainly won't be accused of discriminating against an older demographic!

Congrats to new Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews members Judy Bell and Marlene Stewart Streit. Bell was the lone former USGA president in modern times not admitted to the club because of its longtime (and former) stance against female members.

Two of its first female members from the 2014 class, honorary member Louise Suggs and regular member Patsy Hankins, have since passed away.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
For Immediate Publication
THE ROYAL AND ANCIENT GOLF CLUB ANNOUNCES TWO NEW HONORARY MEMBERS

7 December 2015, St Andrews, Scotland: Two of North America’s most successful women amateur golfers have become Honorary Members of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

Canadian Marlene Stewart Streit, the only player to win the British, Canadian, U.S. and Australian women’s amateur titles, and America’s Judy Bell, a former Curtis Cup captain and player and United States Golf Association president, accepted invitations to become Honorary Members.

They follow Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Dame Laura Davies, Renée Powell, Belle Robertson MBE, Lally Segard, Annika Sorenstam and Louise Suggs, who sadly passed away in August, in becoming Honorary Members. A further eight women have also become Members of the Club.

Stewart Streit said, “I am absolutely delighted to be invited to join such a historic and prestigious institution in golf. I would never have dreamt of this all those years ago when I started out playing golf but I have enjoyed every moment of it. I am extremely proud and grateful to receive this honour and it means a great deal not just to me but to Canadian golf as a whole.”

Bell said, “I’m honoured to follow in the footsteps of so many great players and people who have been so influential in the game. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club enjoys such a special place at the heart of golf and I am thrilled to be part of it. Golf has been very good to me over the years and this is a wonderful distinction to receive. ”

Gavin Caldwell, Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, said, “It is a privilege to welcome two women who have enjoyed such long and distinguished careers in golf to The Royal and Ancient Golf Club. Both Marlene and Judy have made substantial contributions to golf through their outstanding achievements as players and their tireless work in supporting the development of the sport. They are both wonderful examples to follow and tremendous ambassadors for golf.”

Stewart Streit’s remarkable career saw her win 11 Canadian Ladies Open Amateurs, nine Canadian Ladies Close Amateurs, four Canadian Ladies' Seniors and three U.S. Senior Women's Championships. After winning the Ladies’ British Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl in 1953, she went on to win the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1956 and the Australian Women's Amateur in 1963.

In 1951 and 1956, Stewart Streit, who was born in Cereal, Alberta, was named Canada's top athlete of the year. She went on to establish the Marlene Streit Awards Fund to support promising young golfers. In 2004, she became Canada’s first member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and is also a Member of the Order of Canada, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

Bell, who was born in Wichita, Kansas, took up golf at the age of ten and in 1952 reached the semi-final of the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship in California where she was defeated by Mickey Wright. Bell went on to play in two American Curtis Cup teams in 1960 and 1962 and captained the team in 1986 and 1988. She set the then lowest score, a 67, in the U.S. Women’s Open in 1964, and, in a successful amateur career, won the Broadmoor Invitational title three times, the Florida East Coast Championships three times, the Palm Beach Invitational, the 1958 South Atlantic Championship, and the 1963 Trans-Mississippi title.

In 1996, Bell became the first woman to be named president of the USGA. She joined the USGA’s junior championship committee in 1961 and went on to act as a Rules official at the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open. Bell served on the USGA’s women’s committee for 16 years and became the first female member of the USGA executive committee. She was nominated to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.

Video: Defining Strategic Design

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The architecture world often gets bogged down in trying to define styles of design, styles of architects and styles of template holes.

What is often forgotten by golfers and sadly, golf architects: understanding what strategic design means.

While creating and maintaining strategy is incredibly difficult with huge distance leaps over the last 20 years, asking players to make tactical decisions with a reward at the end for the combination of mental and physical skill, is still the ultimate in golf. It's satisfying to play and compelling to watch when a nice balance of risk and reward can be offered.

So with that in mind, that's why we started with a definition of stategy, kicked off by the definition from the late Geoffrey Cornish and his Golf Course Design co-author Robert Muir Graves.

Bamberger's Case For Spieth As Sportsman Of The Year

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Jordan Spieth is lagging at 3% in the voting as American Pharoah has opened up a huge lead over the Kansas City Royals with time running out on Sports Illustrated's Sportsman Of The Year voting.

SI's Michael Bamberger makes his case for Spieth and while the likelihood of swaying The Editors seems unlikely, it was good to read where he places Spieth's historic 2015 campaign.

There were other highlights in a season that will go down as one of the five or 10 best in the (roughly) 150-year history of professional golf. In August, Spieth took solo second at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, near the factory town of Kohler, Wis. In September he won the Tour Championship at East Lake, in Atlanta—the course Bobby Jones grew up playing—and with it the FedEx Cup. In October, at the Presidents Cup in South Korea, he was the buoyant epicenter of the winning team, as the U.S. beat the Internationals by a point.

So, yes, this Jordan Spieth was a big-time big winner in 2015. But the name of the honor under discussion here is Sportsman of the Year. That’s why he’s most deserving.

The Queen! Royal Blackheath's Prized Painting Up For Auction

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Matthew Rudy notes that Royal Blackheath outside London is auctioning a prized club art piece December 9th to buy the ground they play golf on from...The British Crown.

It seems rather silly that the club is selling one of the oldest and most important early pieces of golf art that has hung on its walls since the 1800s(!!), all to help The Crown pay some bills (or whatever prompted the move by the Queen's real estate arm).

But since its inception in 1608, it has sat on ground owned by the British Crown.

That land has been put up for sale, and to buy it, the club is auctioning off its prize possession -- an 18th century painting of club captain Henry Callender by Lemuel Francis Abbott.

Bonhams auction house is administering the sale and sees it going for over $1 million most likely.

Here is the Bonham's page, in case you were looking for my Christmas gift.

Here's a video about the painting, introduced by Andrew McKenzie:

Is Bubba A Horse For No Particular Course?

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Rex Hoggard takes in Bubba Watson's Hero World Challenge on a course that Jordan Spieth said was made for the two-time Masters winner, yet which wasn't exactly to Bubba's liking.

Which begs the maddening question, what does Bubba Golf really like? For bettors, fantasy players and fans of his playing style, he remains so hard to read.

Hoggard writes:

He’s won the Travelers Championship twice – which is played at TPC River Highlands, one of the circuit’s shortest layouts (6,841 yards) – and the Northern Trust Open at Riviera, widely considered a ball-striker’s paradise.

“I get nervous just like anybody else, and I just try to find a way to get the ball in play,” said Watson, who set the stage for his Sunday romp with a then-course record 63 on Saturday. “I hit some big slices today, hit some big hooks today, just [trying] to get the ball in play. I’m just trying to look for a score. I’m not looking for perfection.”

Although generally speaking, Watson certainly favors open fairways with straightforward visuals - or, put another way, a layout that offers a right-brainer like Bubba immediate and unimpeded feedback - but there is more to his magic than that.

Courses like Plainfield (N.J.) Country Club, host of this year’s Barclays, have far too much subterfuge and, ultimately, doubt for a player like Watson.

The highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment:

Refreshing: Courses Have Rose Emphasizing West Coast In '16

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After trying to get excited about the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas and failing (I blame the lack of urgency on Bermuda grass over cool season grass golf), it was nice to read Justin Rose's thinking heading into 2016. The Englishman plans to play a West Coast-heavy schedule because of the courses.

Jim McCabe reports for Golfweek.com:

“My allergies were so bad in Florida last year, I was miserable,” Rose said. “Also, I just feel like the golf courses in Florida are a little tricked up. You end up playing great defensive golf.”

On the flip side, with a nod to Torrey Pines (the Farmers Insurance Open), the Pebble Beach-Monterey Peninsula-Spyglass rota (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am), and Riviera (Northern Trust Open), Rose said, “I think the layouts are the best on Tour on the West Coast.”

Rose's inclusion in West Coast fields will help at a time of year that many top players will be taking their off-season, or cashing in overseas.

Video: Tiger Gets In His First Ryder Cup Reps

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Tiger's taking the transition slowly, driving the kids and their nanny around the 2015 Hero World Challenge. But note how he deftly swirves away from McCabe and DiMeglio, handling the shuttle-model like someone destined to someday have his own Captaincy cart. Granted, he's working with a vehicle sporting a top and he's not getting vital pick-up instructions through an ear piece as he will at a Cup event.

Nonetheless, the reps are a start and his potential as a cart driver look solid:

Golf.com: Tom Weiskopf Wins Torrey North Renovation Bid

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After Phil Mickelson was ruled ineligible by a pending ruling related to governmental rules, the job to remodel Torrey Pines North was opened to contractors who then brought in an architect to join their bid. Meanwhile it was all done in a secret process, though Tod Leonard had reported some (Tom Weiskopf, Robert Trent Jones) but not all of the names of architects who were attached to the contractors (Natalie Gulbis!).

The entire thing has been done in secret, which is probably best in a time of drought since the entire process makes one yearn for a long shower. Now Joe Passov reports for golf.com that Tom Weiskopf will be overseeing the renovation of the affordable daily fee North.

The renovation budget for Weiskopf's team is roughly $12.6 million. They will rebuild all 18 greens and rework the greenside bunkers. All the tees will be leveled, with some enlarged and others combined. Other planned enhancements include a new set of forward tees, several new back tees for tournament use and reshaped and relocated fairway bunkers. Approximately five acres of existing turf will be removed and replaced with a drought-tolerant landscape pallet.

The renovation will also include new cart paths and a new irrigation system to help maximize water efficiency. There will be no major alterations to the par or routing, but Weiskopf may look to find a worthy candidate to transform into a drivable par-4, one of the designer's trademarks.

Well he's got a little over a month to figure it out. Construction is slated to begin after the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines South.