Golf Channel Matches Highest Rated Year After Slow Start

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But who cares about that...millennials are watching! Well, 50% more than the previous year, no doubt thanks to a wave of millennials vying for majors.

The full release here. Some highlights for my copy and paste archiving purposes. The most notable number may be the finish to the year after a slow start:

ADDITIONAL 2015 GOLF CHANNEL VIEWERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS:
    •    Strong Finish to 2015 after Young Stars Energize (24-hour Total Day 6AM-6AM):
    ◦    First Quarter                 -14% YOY
    ◦    Second Quarter            +3% YOY – Tied Most-Watched Second Quarter Ever
    ◦    Third Quarter               +8% YOY – Most-Watched Third Quarter Ever
    ◦    Fourth Quarter             +13% YOY

Now to the only people who seemingly matter...

    ◦    “Millennial” Growth on Golf Channel (Average Viewers P25-34):
    ▪    +50% in Total Day with Persons 25-34
    ▪    +17% in Primetime with Persons 25-34
    ▪    +22% for PGA TOUR coverage with Persons 25-34

Now to the only people who actually pay the bills:

    ▪    Most-Affluent Audience in All of Television:
    ▪    Total Day: No. 1 most-affluent ad-supported television network for median household income ($77.1k) for the second consecutive year
    ▪    Primetime: No. 1 most-affluent ad-supported television network for median household income ($83.6k) for the second consecutive year

Dreadful: Cobbs Creek Clubhouse Destroyed By Fire

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A terrible loss on many fronts, as the delightful clubhouse building at Cobbs Creek was destroyed in an overnight fire. (Thanks to readers Matt and Len for sending in links.)

The colonial clubhouse has stood for nearly a hundred years, sporting a classic Colonial style and set the perfect tone for the course, which has the potential to be one of the world's premier municipal courses (with a little dusting off.)

Here is a short Philly.com staff report with a surreal image of ice retaking the building after the fire.

NBC Philadelphia's report:


Footage of the fire:

Some of my photos from two years ago, in happier times...



Forward Press: We Have A Tournament Of Champions Again!

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In the first GolfDigest.com Forward Press installment of 2016, I speak to Mark Rolfing about the state of the Hawaii swing, how Kapalua has evolved as a venue with different winds, and his battle with cancer.

Full TV times are listed and do note, it's a tricky one this week with NBC handling early coverage before handing off to Golf Channel.

But as we discussed today on Morning Drive, the real fun this week is in having a Tournament of Champions with an almost full field. Even better, all of those who qualified for one of the more elite clubs on the planet--winners of a PGA Tour event the prior year--are showing up in Maui, sharing on social media what fun they're having, and...did I mention, showing up?

While it's not going to put the full kibbosh on concerns about the Hawaii swing's leadoff spot on the schedule against the NFL Wildcard weekend, we can at least go into this week focused on seeing an elite field, as the TOC should be.

Not included in the column is the latest picture re-posted by GolfDigest.com's John Strege, this one of Jordan Spieth and sister Ellie enjoying some snorkeling.

"Once-popular golf course falls victim to controversial border wall, drug cartel battles"

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Thanks to reader Daniel for this sadder-than-normal golf course closure story from Brownsville, Texas, where the historic Fort Brown Memorial has been closed in what its owner Robert Lucio says is a product of the border debate, drug cartel battles in Mexico and a temporary fence installed across the Rio Grande Valley.

Aaron Nelsen reports.

Yet the demise of Lucio’s business is seen by observers as a poignant reminder of the enduring effect the fence has had on border communities, especially as leading Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has rekindled the contentious debate with his proposal to continue building a wall along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico.

“I think it’s really unfortunate that the community’s recreational spaces were sacrificed for a symbolic effort to look tough on immigration,” said Denise Gilman, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law and a member of the UT Working Group on Human Rights and the Border Wall. “It takes its toll on people’s psyche.”

Laid on the ruins of Fort Brown, the 6,000-yard, 165-acre course debuted in the 1950s as a reasonably priced alternative to the Brownsville country club. It quickly became the training ground for generations of Brownsville golfers, including Lucio, and home to the Pan American Golf Association, which promoted the sport in the impoverished and predominantly Hispanic community.

Peter Kostis' Next Post-Round Interviews With Zach Johnson And Billy Horschel Should Be Pleasurably Awkward

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Peter Kostis, CBS on-course reporter, sometimes acknowledged member of Team Titleist who says the golf ball should not be blamed for distance increases, and Twitter motto-holder "Be positive, be happy," sounds really annoyed by players jumping ship to Parsons Extreme Golf.

He's even conducting a poll to confirm the sheer awfulness of the free-market at work.


The news broke Monday included these press release quotes from Zach Johnson and Billy Horschel: 

“The decision to put PXG clubs in play was not one I took lightly,” said British Open and Masters champion Zach Johnson. “My entire team, from caddie to coach, was part of the discernment process. We all agree that PXG is undeniably the best equipment to help me achieve my goals on the course.”

“Being part of PXG is like being part of a very special movement in golf,” champion golfer Billy Horschel added. “What the company has accomplished in its first generation of equipment is mind-blowing. I’ve been playing some really incredible golf with PXG clubs and I feel very confident that great things are to come.”

Now, he could be also referring to new Nike man Brooks Koepka, but based on his quotes reported by Rex Hoggard or in this Nike roundup from Kyle Porter, it would appear Kostis is especially upset with Johnson and Horschel. Can't wait for those post-round interviews with two players are generally most forthright in their assessments.

Will Parsons Disrupt The Equipment Industry With $700 Drivers?

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Long rumored and now reality, Parsons Extreme Golf (PXG) announced the signings of several players including Open Champion Zach Johnson. Not mention were the lucrative renewals or new players signed by players who might have borrowed Parsons as leverage. (BTW Nike announced the signings of Tony Finau and Brooks Koepka today. Finau moves from Callaway while Koepka is now a former Titleist man.)

Doug Ferguson has many quotes from Jim Parsons, the vision behind the newish high-end maker of clubs, who is also owner of Scottsdale National (and not afraid to write his members letters, as you may recall here and here).

Will Parsons serve as a positive disruptive source?

“Making money is not what I have in mind,” Parsons said. “My goal with this is to build some very incredible clubs without regard to cost, without regard to the process. I’ve been telling people what I’m doing and I’ve heard many times, ‘You’re nuts.’ That’s a very good sign.”

An even better sign for the people he's paying! For a while anyway.

Parsons is tapping the billionaire demographic that is tired of spending $250,000 a year on clubs only to hope they...spent more? Though hopefully there is also a level of craftsmanship to justify the price.

“It got to the point three or four years before I started the PXG venture that I would spend about $250,000 to $300,000 a year on equipment,” he said. “I bought pretty much everything and would hit it. I could tell you which irons, woods and all that … were real and what wasn’t. Most of it is gimmicky. You take any manufacturer and they say, ‘This will give you an extra 10 yards and 15 yards.’ If all that were true, we’d be hitting it a mile-and-a-half.”

GolfDigest.com's Mike Johnson weighs in on the signings of Johnson, Billy Horschel, James Hahn, Chris Kirk, Charles Howell III, Cristie Kerr, Gerina Piller and Alison Lee.

Loving Zach's b-speak jargon already...

The signings, terms of which were not disclosed, brings Parsons’ tour staff to an even dozen players who have combined for 55 tour wins, including three major titles. “The decision to put PXG clubs in play was not one I took lightly,” said Johnson, in a statement released by the company. “My entire team, from caddie to coach, was part of the discernment process. We all agree that PXG is undeniably the best equipment to help me achieve my goals.”

Not having a board or shareholders to report to should free-up Parsons to not oversaturate their audience who are paying a premium price. But $500 for a hybrid not jewel encrusted? (Golf.com has a photo of the hybrid here.)

But will they be able to resist the rapid fire product cyles that are now expected in the clubmaking world?

Shocker: Palm Springs Area Golf Club's Facing Tensions

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Any number of reasons for the coming Palm Springs/Palm Desert/Rancho Mirage/Indian Wells/La Quinta golf crisis could have been guessed...

--Too many mediocre courses built carelessly over gloriously sandy terrain

--Not enough baby boomers ready to retire to a golf community

--Tired concepts for what a club, clubhouse and golf community should be

--Not enough golfers to buy homes along the courses, meaning non-golfers will have to help pay bills they wont' like maintaining to...

--Defray costs to maintain an unsustainable aesthetic

The list goes on and on, but the greater Palm Springs area and its 100 or so courses face major issues in the coming years if clubs do not reinvent themselves and their designs that are lined by too many homes and not enough people willing to pay for the upkeep of the grass they look out upon.

As John Strege notes at GolfDigest.com after reading Rosalie Murphy's Desert Sun feature on HOA fights with courses,

It already is a concern for many of the golf course communities there, but is it destined to expand into a full-blown crisis in the desert?

Murphy writes in her story looking at various spats, including a Club At Morningside lawsuit breaking out over who is going to pay for all of those rye grass overseeds.

Zien, president of the HOA board, describes the division between the club and HOA as an “inherent flaw in the design.” The two bodies are symbiotic, he believes: Homeowners benefit from the club whether or not they play golf, because it surrounds their homes. And the club needs homeowners’ financial support to maintain itself.

Schneider, Asher and 27 other plaintiffs say that’s not what they signed up for. They chose not to join the club, and requiring them to support a club they don’t use — regardless of its impact on their property values — nullifies that decision. Hal Asher, who wants to take his house off the market, said he won't buy into an HOA-governed community again.

“I made a decision that I didn’t want to belong (to the club),” said Jay Cooper, a plaintiff in the suit. “I bought the house with that assumption, and I still have that assumption. I don’t want to be railroaded.”

Shirtless Shark's Hedge Fund Makes Push For Tablet Maker

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WSJ’s Stephanie Gleason reports on Greg Norman’s hedge fund ("The Great White Shark") making a push to buy a bankrupt manufacturer of Nabi children’s tablet.

I know what you’re thinking…how did living icon of his own brand come up with that clever name? Or…Greg Norman has a hedge fund?

Anyway, WSJ says a bidding war is in order..

The tablet maker selected the fund, an investment arm of Mr. Norman’s sprawling Great White Shark Enterprises, lead bidder for its business at a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The fund has also agreed to finance Fuhu’s bankruptcy case with a bankruptcy financing package.

The entry of Mr. Norman’s fund sets the stage for a bidding war over Fuhu, whose lawyers spent most of Wednesday in court fighting for the right to conduct an auction at all.

To prep for his hedge fund’s battle, Shirtless Shark made a few year-end Instagram posts (here and here) doing what he loves most: posing shirtless.

Oh, and he prepped by reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. Or pretending to read it. Very 2008 of you, Shirtless Shark!

OMG - I cannot think of the last time I did this!!

A photo posted by Greg Norman (@shark_gregnorman) on Dec 30, 2015 at 12:02pm PST

 

Video: Holiday Trick Shot Roundup

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The holiday break means one of two things: new GoPro's in the stockings to try out for trick shots, or cripplingly cold weather that leads otherwise good golfers to experiment with a fun shot.

Team Fana of Norway's Junior squad has a page devoted solely to their efforts and while I'll try not to figure out why they hit balls into the one lake not yet frozen, I instead focused on the deft handwork that led to this gem (note the initial mini-flop shot...soft hands!).


A young lad going under Joris Golf is taking his talents to new locales, namely cool European public spaces. Look out Matty18Unda!


And finally in our don't-try-this-at-home award winner, Black Diamond Design's Tyson Lamb is unveiling a new putter at the 2016 PGA Show, but in the meantime he's showing some trick shot courage here...

 

'15: PGA Tour Drums Euro Tour In Average World Ranking Points

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It's about the least interesting topic imaginable to a golf fan, but to insiders, players and their agents, world ranking points rank right there with Wheels Up credits and free courtesy cars.

Doug Ferguson reports that the PGA Tour widened the gap between their tour and the European Tour in 2015 average World Ranking points to tournaments.

The gap continues to widen in the average ranking points for PGA Tour events compared with Europe - up an average of one point this year, two points from 2012.

Including the four majors and the four World Golf Championships, the PGA Tour averaged 56.4 points for the winner compared with 42.2 points for the European Tour. That's a difference of 14.2 points, up from 13.3 points a year ago.

$27 Million Gets Views Of Pebble's 10th, White Sand Beach

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Ok, before you balk at the $27 million someone paid for the 4-bedroom house behind No. 10 green at Pebble Beach Golf Links, check out the slideshow from Architectural Digest (thanks reader Tim).

Besides looking at one of my favorite holes in golf and the white sand beach (hope you like dog walkers!), there is that little bar and the view looking out at holes 7 through 10...

 

A Few Gentle Reminders Now That Anchoring Has Been Banned

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No doubt a few golfers grumbled to their unsuspecting relatives over the holidays about the looming anchoring ban. And while we don't know how (or if) it will be acknowledged in the everyday game, the pros are definitely saying goodbye to a method that's been around longer than you might think.

Jason Sobel of ESPN.com has this nice, brief recap of anchoring's place in golf leading up to the ban.

At GolfDigest.com Mike Johnson files an excellent primer on key elements to the new rule and alternatives for those seeking them. The dreaded "intent" word also surfaces.

2.) You’re not penalized if your club accidentally brushes against your shirt.

What the new rule is aimed at addressing is intent and what constitutes anchoring. A club accidentally brushing against your shirt doesn’t violate either dictate so stop thinking about getting some form-fitting shirts—it’s probably a bad look on you anyway.

Golf A Step Closer To Paralympics Inclusion

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Arguably the biggest bummer in golf's 2016 return to the Olympics: the failure to be recognized in time by the International Paralympic Committee, which would have opened the doors to golf in the Paralympics (where it belongs).

Dan Palmer reports on a key step in that process as the International Golf Federation is now a member of the IPC, setting up the possibility for future inclusion in the games.

 

The Donald Says "No More Golf" In A Sanders Administration

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Playing to his Hilton Head audience, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says Democrat Bernie Sanders will end golf as we know it should he be elected. Though Sanders has never mentioned an Eisenhower-like 90% tax rate, that didn't stop our Donald!

GolfNewsNet with the quotes and video.

“This guy wants to tax you — think of it — this guy wants to raise your taxes to 90 percent,” Trump said. “No, no, think. You’ll have to move out — I love this area by the way, I’ve been here many times. Great golfing area, right? We love it. No more golf — no more golf. You won’t have any golf any more. You won’t have any money left to be golfing.”

Tiger Back Hitting Balls? In The Dark? At Bear's Club?

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Enough questions?

Maybe Tiger's taking comeback advice from Seabiscuit trainer Tom Smith. Or maybe he just loves the smell of the Bear's Club in the dark. Or maybe he doesn't want to see where his ball goes. Or maybe the photo just isn't current.

Either way, the elusive "Secret Tour Pro" is said to have contributed this image to ClubUpGolf.com, where David McCreery explains the back story.

More shocking than the sight of a longtime professional golfer hitting range balls is the location: Jack Nicklaus's Bear's Club. Does this mean Medalist has fallen out of favor?

I won't believe any of it until Senior Jupiter Correspondent Tim Rosaforte sets the record straight.