May 21, 2018: Golf's Back On The New Yorker Cover!
/Ok so the latest New Yorker cover is not quite the charming, atmospheric depiction that'll be ordered for office framing.
John Cuneo's The Swamp:
When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
A Steph Curry Hosted PGA Tour Event In The Works?
/
That's what Darren Rovell reports is in the works, with hopes for a fall schedule slot in the Bay Area.
Frank Zecca, a managing director at Octagon who has worked with the Curry family for more than 25 years, would not confirm that a deal was inked but did acknowledge that conversations happened.
"Besides family and basketball, philanthropy, investing, technology and golf are high up on his list," Zecca said. "Culinary, community and the Bay Area are also priorities."
Culinary?
The PGA Tour acknowledged the plans and of course, suggested right out of the gate that he might attract the M's!
"There's no doubt Stephen Curry brings a young, new, diverse audience to the PGA Tour through his passion for this great game and support for the community," said PGA Tour spokeswoman Laura Neal. "We're excited about the prospect of partnering with an iconic athlete of his caliber in the future."
Time For Trinity Forest: One Last Preview Of Minimalism's Big Moment
/
Minimalism's big moment arrives with the AT&T Byron Nelson Classic's bold move to Trinity Forest. The Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design features some of their boldest and best design work to date. I'm very jealous of the select few who get to play here on a daily basis, like LPGA star So Yeon Ryu!
I explain in this Golfweek piece my first impressions and why this is a high risk week for the minimalist movement and why you're going to see some fascinating golf played.
The course's speed dial has been turned down a touch by the PGA Tour wanting to ease into this one, and I explain in this Golfweek piece--with supporting quotes from the firm of Mahan, Scott and Ogilvy that his isn't the worst idea ever.
Here is my Morning Drive chat with Kasey Kauff, the first employee hired by the founders
We discussed what hole has most grown on Jordan Spieth today on Morning Drive:
A&Q: Read An Unusually Terrible Global Golf Post Interview On The USGA Distance Project
/
With news of the USGA and R&A allowing everyone to submit views on distance, this is obviously cause to rage against the machine threatening to take five yards away from angry golf scribes.
It's never a good sign when a writer's rhetorical questions battle the answers for word count supremacy. Nor is normal for a journalist to flood the conversation with so much rage, particularly since the issue involves how far a little white ball flies.
But this unique blend of hostility overtakes Steve Eubanks interview of the USGA's Rand Jerris about the "Distance Insights Project."
The Post: Everyone’s perspective is based on their own life experiences. For example, there’s nobody left who can tell us what the distance impact was like when the game transitioned from hickory to steel shafts. And there was very little data accumulated at that time. So, how do we have this overarching discussion about distance without a legitimate, verifiable and texted data set?
Pausing here to let you ponder the joys of reading the words "texted data set."
Jerris: There are various sources of information at which we can look. One is aerial photography thanks to the United States government. We can look at the evolution of the footprints of golf courses around the country over long periods of time, not just in terms of length but in terms of breadth and how much space they’re taking up. Because we can look at the times of those changes, hopefully we can determine what elements of those changes are directly attributable to distance.
The Post: That last point requires a logic leap. Yes, you can see where the footprints of courses have changed over time. But how do you make the leap, based on that evidence, that those changes were attributable to distance?
Maybe because no one has ever said, the game goes by too fast and we need to drag this out longer.
We must--MUST--spend more time walking back to tees and taking up more space so we can spend more money on maintenance. Now!
Jerris: That’s a fair point.
You are too kind, Rand. Too kind.
The photography will be just one component of the comprehensive data. We will couple that with input from as many external, legitimate sources as we can find. Teachers have been collecting data from their students. Avid golfers have been collecting data about their distance. Then it’s a matter of analysis. That’s where we get all interested parties together and say, “Here’s what we’re seeing in the data. Now, let’s talk about what it means.”
The Post: Going back to the report that we receive in February, the changes in distance have been remarkably small. The incremental increases, and in some cases decreases, surprised a lot of people. A lot of that was confirmation bias. Everyone you see seems to be hitting if farther, so we believe that there must be these huge jumps in distance. But when you look at the data we’ve seen so far, that doesn’t appear to be the case. To launch this program under the aegis that ‘We know distance is an issue,’ doesn’t that fly in the face of the data you’ve already collected and analyzed?
Now that's some confirmation bias!
Adam Scott On Golfers Forced Out Of Their Comfort Zones
/On the eve of the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson Classic, Adam Scott was asked about the PGA Tour locker room talk surrounding Trinity Forest and the uncomfortable demands the course will make.
Look, just most majorities just don't like different, do they? This is just different than what we normally roll out and play.
You know, people are going to get put out of their comfort zones and not many people like that, you know.
The greatest players have all managed to succeed out of their comfort zones and learn to love links or learn to love a parkland golf to succeed, and I think the greatest champions over time have all done that and whoever is going to be here this week will be someone who really embraces the different challenges of this golf.
You're not going to be able to fight it out there this week. You're going to have to go with it and hit a nice shot from 200 out one time and catch the wrong side of the hill and you'll have some putt that you would never feel like you deserve but that's a different style of golf than target golf that we're used to playing.
You're just going to have to do your best to two-putt it or however many putts you need to make to get down and move on and get the right rub of the green on the next one. That's probably the links side of golf. There's a bit more rub of the green, a little less predictability.
I think if I think about Tiger who has grown up playing golf in America but just had this instant desire to love links golf and win the Opens and he showed so much creativity in his game that was apparently just suited to win on the U.S. Tour, he embraced the challenges of all parts of the game and he did it all.
So, it's kind of how I see it. The guy that does that this week will do well.
State Of The Game 77: Geoff Ogilvy On Trinity Forest
/Geoff Ogilvy talks to Rod Morri and Mike Clayton about Trinity Forest, host of this week's AT&T Byron Nelson Classic.
Doug Ford Remembered
/
Golf's oldest living major champion, Doug Ford, passed away Wednesday.
Jim McCabe filed this excellent tribute and remembrance of a golf life well-lived.
For proof, consider that Ford – who considered a professional baseball career before choosing golf – was like a lot of young men of the World War II era and put military service first. After a stint with the Coast Guard Air Division, Ford returned to playing competitive golf, but didn’t decide to turn pro until 1949, when he was 26.
Why the delay? Ford said it was because he made a better living by playing money games. “In fact, he told me that (former USGA Executive Director) Joe Dey walked up to him at a tournament and said, ‘We know you play for money, so you can’t enter as an amateur,’ ” said grandson Scott Ford, a teaching professional on Long Island. “My grandfather told me that’s pretty much the day he decided he was a professional golfer.”
Here is Ford recalling the shot that won The Masters.
Will Sports Gambling Bring Fan Interference?
/Here at the AT&T Byron Nelson Classic, players are slowly beginning to realize the economic benefits of sports gambling may come with a downside.
While they aren't ranting like Randall Mell did in his piece for GolfChannel.com, they are sharing the same concern.
With legalized gambling, there promises to be a billion new reasons for fans to root against a player, just as there will be a billion new reasons to root for a player.
Thomas had a right to be annoyed at the Honda Classic. Golf isn’t like the NBA. A fan screaming in a player’s backswing is different than a fan screaming at a player on the free throw line. A golf fan can control the outcome of an event a lot easier than an NBA fan can.
Nobody’s paying to see Joe Blowhard dictate who wins. But that’s the thing about legalized gambling. It’s a pretty good bet we’ll see more Joe Blowhards coming into the sport. And I’ll wager one of them costs a PGA Tour player a chance to win.
Will Gray talked to some veteran players who see potential issues. Ernie Els sees pushback when a player lets a fan down, while Jimmy Walker pointed to the intimacy and quiet of golf.
“Golf is so much more intimate, player to fan base, than any other sport. Tennis may be the only other one where it’s so quiet and the fans can get so close,” Walker said. “I think that’s the big deal, and that’s what people have to realize when they come out here, is that you can stand 5 feet from the best players in the world. You can’t do that at a football game. It’s hard to do that at a basketball game because it’s so loud, nobody can hear all that. So I just think we need to police it a little better.”
Bill Coore Explains Trinity Forest's Short Par-4 5th Hole
/Great stuff here from Andy Johnson combining Bill Coore's explanation with a flyover of Trinity Forest's 5th hole.
I just love how he describes the issue at hand for players in just barely driving over the fairway bunker to get to the green. That kind of attention to detail--and the time put into getting that element just right--is why Coore, Crenshaw and The Boys are the best.
I Guess We Have To: Governing Bodies Launch "Multi-Pronged" Distance Insights Project
/
Here goes another year in the distance discussion, all because the two PGA's have decided they want to be in the rules business. I'm pretty sure we know what the input will look like ("Don't blame the ball! "-Wally, Fairhaven, MA).
Anyway, if they must, but Senator you can have my answer now: do something.
The USGA and The R&A Launch Golf's Global Distance Insights Project
LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. USA AND ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (May 15, 2018) - The United States Golf Association (USGA) and The R&A have launched a comprehensive project to analyze distance in golf and gather perspectives from the worldwide golf community.
The Distance Insights project will examine distance through a multi-pronged approach that includes global stakeholder engagement, third-party data review and primary research. Focus groups and discussion forums will play an important role in the project, to secure a broad range of perspectives throughout golf.
Beginning today, anyone interested in the topic can provide feedback by visiting usga.org/distanceinsights or randa.org/distanceinsights or by emailing either association directly.
“The topic of increased distance and its effects on the game have been discussed for well over a century. We believe that now is the time to examine this topic through a very wide and long lens, knowing it is critical to the future of the game,” said Mike Davis, CEO of the USGA. “We look forward to delving deeply into this topic and learning more, led by doing right by golf, first and foremost.”
Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “Distance in golf is a complex issue which is widely debated at all levels of the sport. It is important that we collate all of the relevant data and hear the many different perspectives on this issue that exist in the international golf community. We intend to conduct this process openly, comprehensively and promptly and will work with all of the key stakeholders to ensure we have a fully rounded view of distance and its implications.”
Stakeholder groups invited to participate in the project include amateur and professional golfers, worldwide professional golf tours, golf course owners and operators, golf equipment manufacturers, golf course architects, golf course superintendents and others.
Among the many topics to be explored, the organizations will seek distance-related data on pace of play, golf course construction and maintenance practices, the evolution of equipment, golf course design and player enjoyment and participation.
The USGA and The R&A will engage various golf industry stakeholders through 2018, with plans to deliver a report in 2019.
One Year Away: The PGA Championship At Bethpage Black
/May 16th marks the one year out date for the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.
Glad we aren't there this week!
ShackHouse 64: Players Wrap, Legalized Wagering Coming To Golf And Trinity Forest Preview
/Busy week in the ShackHouse: we wrap up Webb Simpson's impressive Players Championship win, Tiger's week at TPC Sawgrass, the Supreme Court's decision to let states regulate legal sports gambling and my first impressions of Trinity Forest, host to this week's AT&T Byron Nelson Classic.
As always the show is brought to you by Callaway and The Ringer. You can listen via the embed below, wherever podcasts are streamed and of course, iTunes.
Video: Ogilvy Taking Us Through The Best Of Trinity Forest
/Great set of content videos here from the folks at Trinity Forest, host to this week's AT&T Byron Nelson Classic.
Ogilvy on the double green at the third and eleventh holes.
Ogilvy on the short par-4 5th:
On the short par-3 8th and it's green complex:
On the well-placed bunker at the 14th:
And finally the zany 17th green:
First Preview: PGA Tour Heads To Coore And Crenshaw's Trinity Forest
/
Big week for minimalism!
The AT&T Byron Nelson Classic moves from the many-times remodeled TPC Las Colinas Four Seasons to the year-old Trinity Forest Not A Four Seasons Golf Club.
The recently opened Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw course is built on a landfill next to the Trinity Forest and is decidedly linksy in appearance. I'm getting a firsthand look and will be filing a review for Golfweek and Morning Drive coverage for Golf Channel, but in the meantime here is some preview coverage to whet your appetite...
Graylyn Loomis filed this preview for Links and featured this quote from Bill Coore on the design philosophy:
“We couldn’t make the course look like a prototypical Dallas layout with streams, trees, and lakes,” says Coore. “You can’t plant a tree because the roots break the cap. We knew early on there couldn’t be a stream or water, either. The focus had to be the rumpled ground created as the landfill settled over the decades and we tried to highlight those features.”
The intrigue will be in watching player comments to see how the design style is embrace given the lack of major visual eye candy and the general propensity of today's pros to find the ground game offensive.
Jordan Spieth, who makes Trinity Forest his primary practice facilities, was asked about the course at The Players:
Q. You got your home game next week; what's the scouting report on Trinity?
JORDAN SPIETH: It looks as good as I've seen it since -- and I've been going out there since before the greens were even sprigged. It looks really good. It's grown on me a lot over the past six months, and in the springtime, I think it's at its best. It's in his best condition that it can be now or the next month or two. I think the weather looks like it's going to really cooperate to give it a good first showing.
A lot of big grandstands. It's like an American links. You've kind of got to play it from the air, not really a bounce the ball up kind of links, but it is still a links-looking golf course. So it's weird, it's unique. It's actually -- Birkdale was kind of the closest comparison I've found to a links course that you kind of have to attack from the air. You get maybe four or five, six holes where you can bounce the ball up, but the way to get balls close is to come in with a higher shot. That's not necessarily true links. I don't want to say that about Birkdale because of the history and everything, but it's just the way I've found to play it well is that route.
Here is a sampler from the AT&T Byron Nelson:
Andy Johnson broke down the 6th hole in this flyover. Check out that green!
The turf looks ready!
Rick Reilly's Back On The Golf Beat
/
He's never short on energy, one-liners or a passion for telling the stories of players, so it'll be fun to watch how longtime writer Rick Reilly adjusts to the modern PGA Tour player assuming the Deep Golf State is out to expose their battle with athlete's foot.
The Forecaddie talked to Reilly about what's changed since he was last on the beat and why on earth he'd leave Tuscany.
