Royal Birkdale Gets Jordan Spieth's Driving Iron

Because of course there is no club that better recalls Jordan Spieth's epic 2017 Open Championship win, even if he was not satisfied with his shot from Birkdale's range. It was the driving iron that took center stage and no one who watched the scene unfold will ever forget it.

Since it's the club he used to hit the recovery setting up an epic unplayable lie-bogey and eventual win over Matt Kuchar, Spieth admirably donated it to Royal Birkdale. They received the club today, to go with their incredible clubhouse collection of memorabilia from past champions.

(Todd Lewis took us on a rare tour during this year's Open and I can concur after a tour from former club champion Ethan Davies that it's as good a display of historic clubs as any in golf.)

The question remains, does Spieth's drop warrant a plaque? I say yes, even if only the driving range attendants will be the only ones who see it!

They're Back...Sort Of, The Costco Kirkland Is Back In Some Form

Thanks to all who sent the GolfWRX post identifying the latest Costco "Kirkland" ball to be offered for sale, just as the CEO promised in January. The original drew great attention and reviews and after selling out, has become a much-demanded cult classic.

While they are billing it as the same ball with "Hot List" branding, the current iteration is only for sale to Costco members, with a 2-order-per-membership limit and no certainty the latest ball is the same as the last (given that it was likely a one-off production run of old Taylor Made cores).

Nonetheless, it spices up discussions about the ball, adds more intrigue to the lawsuits and whether this is a legitimate contender in the golf ball market, as some originals proved to be, or just an occasional stunt.

Here they are Costco members...

Firefighting Mid-Am Champ's Masters Dream: A Practice Round With Tiger Woods

Not that Tiger ever sets goals for injury return on such things, but the older, maybe more sentimental and "making progress" Woods might just relish the chance to fulfill the dream of U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion Matt Parziale. After all, it would mean Woods was even well enough to play The Masters.

From Doug Ferguson's story on the Massachusetts firefighter who won the U.S. Mid-Amateur last week, earning him berths into the Masters and U.S. Open:

Parziale was 9 when he watched the Masters for the first time and saw Woods break 20 records on his way to a 12-shot victory. He was 16 when Woods won a World Golf Championship at Capital City Club, the very place where Parziale realized so many of his golf dreams.

So when asked if he could play a practice round at the Masters with one person, Parziale didn’t hesitate.

“Tiger, and there’s not even a close second,” he said. “I play golf because of Tiger Woods. I was the perfect age to see him.”

Bones Will Eventually Work A Mickelson Grouping

Golf World's John Strege catches up with Jim "Bones" Mackay about his first summer working for NBC/Golf Channel and gets rave reviews from producer Tommy Roy.

Besides sharing some insights into surprises about the on-course reporting gig, Bones addresses Strege's question that many have asked: will Bones cover his old boss, Phil Mickelson?

Mackay has not yet been assigned a grouping with Mickelson in it, notwithstanding the fact that from a golf fan’s viewpoint, it would qualify as must-see TV, to resurrect an old NBC slogan. Roy has not ruled it out in the future. “I think the day will come when enough time has passed to do it,” Roy said.

His concern in the near term is the potential for a distraction caused by the vocal few in a crowd who consider “mashed potatoes” imperative to a tournament sound track and might be inspired to weigh in on the Mickelson-Mackay parting.

“One thing we want to be cognizant of is that we don’t want to put anybody in a bad spot,” Mackay said.

BFF As Caddies More Than A Trend Now

After seeing Tyrell Hatton win two European Tour events in a row with best friend forever Jonathan Bell, Tim Rosaforte says the BFF on the bag movement is "more of a trend." Hatton follows Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day as a top player moving to a BFF.

The players also have a consistent reply for questions about the move.

It’s more of a trend than a coincidence that three top-20 players, all in their 20s, parted ways with their caddies this year and put one of their BFFs on the bag. Rory McIlroy was the first, trading out J.P. Fitzgerald for childhood mate Harry Diamond at the WGC-Bridgestone in August, saying “sometimes to preserve a personal relationship you have to sacrifice a professional one.”

Remember, it's about being able to talk music...

That’s an understatement. As Hatton noted after winning the Dunhill, “It’s good fun having Jonathan on the bag.” Sometimes that’s all it takes, having somebody the same age who you can relate to, somebody that listens to the same music and somebody who simply represents a change."

Ridley: "We will take whatever action, whatever course of action is necessary to protect the integrity of Augusta National.”

Brentley Romine reports on a media call with new Masters chairman Fred Ridley was asked about the golf course in the face of most distance gains since the last round of changes.

After saying something vague about the Jones design philsophy ("strategy and skill were equal components in how the golf course should be played"), he issued this strong statement:

“We will take whatever action, whatever course of action is necessary to protect the integrity of Augusta National golf course,” Ridley said.

Now that could mean many things. Given that the club has planted trees, introduced longer fairway cuts pushed toward tees and added numerous back tees, more lengthening is about all the club can turn to without further damaging the Jones approach.

Jones and MacKenzie's very clearly stated design goals for Augusta National are already hanging by a thread, and with a consulting architect who doesn't practice strategic design or even the art of respecting those who practiced the art before him, it appears there is only one course of action that will work: restricting driving distance.

Restoring width and removing recently planted trees, as Michael Bamberger wrote in this suggestion list piece, would also be nice but they won't addres the simple fact that the strategy has been rendered less interesting by modern driving distances.

Drone Flyover Of The Horse Course At The Prairie Club

It's been a few years since Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner, myself and a fun cast of characters created the Horse Course at The Prairie Club, so it was nice to see the 10-hole par-3 course finally get the drone treatment its setting deserves. Especially now as the game opens its very closed mind to par-3 courses, the concept of H-O-R-S-E golf will hopefully get a little more attention.

And given the difficulty of maintaining prairie bunkers, it's especially neat to see how well they've evolved. Thanks Patrick Koenig for the great shots.

If you don’t have the Horse Course @theprairieclub in your list of top short courses, you better giddyeup on over to the local horsepital.

A post shared by Patrick Koenig (@pjkoenig) on Oct 6, 2017 at 5:23pm PDT

Happy Birthday: The Open Turns 157

The day consisted of 36 holes, three trips around the 12-hole Prestwick designed by Old Tom Morris. The Earl of Eglinton sponsored the event featuring eight professional golfers, including Willie Park Sr., Andrew Strath, Robert Andrew, George Brown, Charlie Hunter, Alexander Smith, William Steel and of course, Old Tom. Some competitors seen in identical lumberjack shirts given to some to mask what might have been deemed inappropriate attire. Apparently lumberjack was the new tweed.

Josh Morris summarizes the event for Golf History Today and Kevin Cook's Tommy's Honour re-created the events quite nicely. But in a nutshell, Park Sr. edged Old Tom by two strokes in a nail biter and professional tournament golf was born!

Sheila Walker on Old Tom kicking off the proceedings...

And while there is no film, we do at least have this final Open at Prestwick in 1925 to sense what Prestwick means to the game and what a golf tournament looked like long ago--warning, people walk in lines and the sacred through lines!

The anniversary is a nice reminder that tournament golf owes much to the efforts of those first eight who teed it up sixty-five years prior to this:

The plaque commemorating the old first hole...

And so it began...157 years ago today - The Open Championship!

A post shared by Travelling the Fairways (@travellingthefairways) on Oct 17, 2017 at 8:43am PDT

Hank Likes What He Sees In Tiger's Swing

Tiger shares a swing video featuring driver and his old instructor, Hank Haney, chimed in with a positive review.

That’s a swing he could win with, it’s not across the line and stuck inside coming down, a little stiff looking but it’s good enough

The Tweet in case you don't believe me:


Even better, the cautious approach from agent Mark Steinberg sounds like Team Tiger has learned from past mistakes, offering just enough reason to be optimistic but not committing to a comeback timetable.

From Bob Harig's ESPN.com exclusive on Tiger getting the go-ahead to be a full time golfer again.

"He got a nice report and is allowed to proceed," Steinberg said. "He can do as much as he needs to do. Tiger is going to take this very, very slowly. This is good, but he plans to do it the right way."

We discussed on Morning Drive that the signs point to all positives, but I understand, we've seen this movie before. However, the rhythm and audacity to post clips suggests this is a different.

Wanda Group Courses Declared Illegal By Chinese Government

Gabriel Wildau reports for the Financial Times on the Chinese government has declared "illegal" two golf courses owned by the powerful Dalian Wanda Group.

The FT storys says this is part of "a campaign against luxury and waste ahead of a Communist party gathering that begins in Beijing this week" and continues the trend of high profile attacks on golf in China. Given the Wanda Group's international standing, even if the move is targeting the group for non-golf reasons, it appears to be yet another blow for the game in China.

The move is a blow to Wanda’s tourism and entertainment ambitions as the group seeks to diversify from shopping malls. The government of Fusong county in China’s northeastern province of Jilin has revoked permission for the two courses there, according to a notice dated October 1 seen by the Financial Times.

Wanda is one of a group of privately owned conglomerates, including HNA Group, Anbang Insurance Group, and Fosun International, that have come under scrutiny in recent months, with a particular focus on their overseas acquisitions. Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin tumbled from his position as China’s richest man, according to the country’s best-known rich list released last week, falling to fifth place in this year’s Hurun ranking.

The ChangBaishan International Resort facilities cited include one 18-hole Jack Nicklaus course and 36-holes of Robert Trent Jones designed golf. Also on site are several thousand hotel rooms, including a Sheraton, Hyatt, Westin and Holiday Inn(s).

Golf photographer Patrick Lim kindly shared some images he shot of the courses and facilities, which I think better illustrates the significance of the closures.

U.S. Women's Mid-Am Needs Volunteers At Champions GC

With the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur moved to Champions in Houston after hurricane Irma caused damage at the original venue (Quail Creek in Florida), the short-notice move requires volunteers.

For those in the Houston area, it's a great chance to hang out at legendary facility and help an amateur event and the Texas Golf Association, which is helping take on some of the responsibilities for the event November 9-16th could use volunteers.

Here is their Tweet and the link to their registration page.

Chairman Ridley On Distance: “We’re interested in that issue"

While not kicking the door wide open or sharing his views, it sounds like new Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley isn't quite shying away from the issue either.

From Doug Ferguson's AP interview with Ridley discussing several topics related to The Masters.

He also was reserved about how the club felt about the distance the modern professional is hitting the golf ball, referring only to a good relationship with golf’s two governing bodies, the USGA and the Royal & Ancient.

“We’re interested in that issue,” he said. “It’s not my place to talk about what’s good and not good for the game. I might have opinions, but I’m not the person to talk about it. What I can talk about is what’s good for Augusta National and our golf course. Going back to the guiding principles, again, I believe that the philosophies that Jones and (Alister) MacKenzie established here are timeless.”

His predecessor, now-Chairman Emeritus Billy Payne, never seemed entirely comfortable talking about the impact on the course. It seems reasonable to surmise, however, that no one at Augusta National is pleased to have fairways mown toward tees and to be spending more money on possible back tees locations. But what will they do?

I also thought this was of note (and admirable) related to the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock...

He was not directly in charge of the golf course, but “I was the president, so the buck stops there.”

Welcome Statement From New Masters Chairman Ridley

A new era in Augusta begins today as Fred Ridley becomes seventh chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and The Masters:

Update on 2017-10-16 19:32 by Geoff

**The club posted this image on Instagram:

Fred Ridley began serving today as the seventh Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament. To mark the occasion following the announcement of his appointment in August, Ridley released the following statement: “Throughout my life, Bobby Jones has been my idol and role model. I remember meeting Clifford Roberts during my first visit to Augusta National as an amateur invitee more than four decades ago. So to become Chairman of Augusta National and the Masters is beyond humbling. I stand ready to embrace the responsibilities that come with this important position, strengthened by the lessons the sport teaches and the example of those who have provided leadership to me over the years. As Chairman, I will always look to Jones and Roberts as a source of wisdom and inspiration. I fully subscribe to their mandate of constant improvement and their commitment to maintaining the highest standard in all that we do. I pledge to use my deep-rooted respect for the customs and traditions they established to further elevate our Club and Tournament, while continuing their mission of contributing to the development of the sport around the world. I would like to thank Billy Payne, our esteemed Chairman Emeritus, who appointed me as his successor. His confidence in allowing me this honor has already had a profound impact on my life. I am grateful to consider him a friend and mentor, both personally and professionally.” . The full announcement is available at Masters.com.

A post shared by The Masters (@themasters) on Oct 16, 2017 at 7:59am PDT

Tiger Up To The Driver: "Making Progress"

Someone is feeling pretty good about himself these days! The swing rhythm is especially nice, as is the length of the backswing. Even better, someone has the itch again!

Great to see:

Making Progress

A post shared by Tiger Woods (@tigerwoods) on Oct 15, 2017 at 2:03pm PDT