Callaway Investing $50 Million Into Its Ball Plant After MyGolfSpy Exposes Issues

First Costco and now Callaway.

It’s a fairly remarkable day when an independent equipment review site can turn a Costco ball into a must have, but even more remarkable to get a pledge from a major golf company to improve their production efforts.

In this unprecedented case, it’s MyGolfSpy having exposed an off-center core in a Callaway Chrome Soft and unleashing a firestorm in the equipment forums. Apparently there was something to it, since Callaway executives Sean Toulon and Alan Hocknell have since visited MyGolfSpy’s testing facility and pledged a $50 million investment to improve quality control in their ballmaking process.

They discuss how it all went down on their podcast and it’s pretty fascinating stuff, though I’m not sure as many golfers as they think were aware of their initial discovery and the outrage expressed by gearheads as they think.

Stanley Park: Rare MacKenzie Public Course Under Threat Of Redevelopment

Sad news just up from this week’s Walker Cup after plans were unveiled to redevelop one of the few Alister MacKenzie-designed public courses in the world. Worse, it’s a green space in Blackpool and will leave just nine holes in a world with so few MacKenzie’s available to the public.

Thanks to reader Rob for this BBC story on the plans for Stanley Park.

Plans to build 250 holiday lodges and an adventure zone on a municipal golf course have been unveiled. 

However, the £45m investment would cut Blackpool's Golf Club course, in Stanley Park, to nine holes. 

Holmes Investment Properties (HIP) has been revealed as the preferred developer to build the UK's first Adrenalin World attraction on the site. 

Initial plans have been submitted to Blackpool Council but they have angered the club's members and residents. 

Good! Give ‘em hell. Though sadly, the opposition does not seem aware of the course’s historical significance. He designed the course in 1924 and it opened in 1925, arguably near the height of his career.

"A PGA Tour player's goodbye, and record-breaking round, at his childhood course"

Sadly we’ve all lost a golf course we once knew or know of a favorite that may put us in the position Jim Herman recently experienced.

It’s a lovely read from another Cincinnati man, Joel Beall at Golf World, who talks to the two-time PGA Tour winner about returning to the muni that meant so much to his game, Shawnee Lookout. The course is closing in September and will be converted to a nature preserve.

Shawnee Lookout, a golf course that resides on the outskirts of Cincinnati. A place that charged $3 to play, that was so out of the way that Herman usually had the property to himself. A course whose fairways were rough, with greens that weren't, built on an incline so severe that it was better suited for skiing.

"It wasn't much," Herman says, "but it was ours."

Herman kept afloat through the memories of his youth that cascaded back that day, until he reached the 10th. That was the hole, Herman says, where golf hooked him. Driver, 3-wood, two-putt for a 4, from just over 300 yards, when he was no older than a fourth-grader.

Patrick Reed Takes Delivery On His Masters Themed Porsche In Time For The Porsche European Open

The Forecaddie says he wanted this extremely expensive custom Porsche in time to tootle down Magnolia Lane, but alas his Masters-themed car arrived just in time for Patrick Reed to say goodbye as he tees up in this week’s…European Tour Porsche European Open.

View this post on Instagram

‪Great to be back in Hamburg, Germany for the Porsche European Open! Before I left, I broke in my commemorative Masters GT2RS! Excited to play the next three events on the @EuropeanTour. #PEO @KLMOpen, @BMWPGA #1of1 ‬

A post shared by Patrick Reed (@preedgolf) on Sep 3, 2019 at 7:16am PDT

That's Embarrassing Files: World Long Driver Prematurely Celebrates, Then Snaps His Driver

This one has it all for Will Hogue: the premature celebration followed by an effortless club snap after finding out his World Long Drive shot finished off the grid and was unable to put his next in play. The finals are set for Wednesday night on Golf Channel.

Will Hogue thought he won, only to find out his drive had rolled off the grid.

His driver would pay the price 😬 #WorldLongDrive pic.twitter.com/sc3f6iWbZj

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) September 4, 2019

State Of The Game 98: Distance, Money And Brandel

We welcome Brandel Chamblee back to the bifurcation deep state and also discuss the season-ending run of professional golf.

As always, Rod Morri, Mike Clayton and yours truly give the drinking game crowd some thrills, though if you focus only on the ball you might leave thirsty.

Jack: “I Don’t Like The New Major Schedule”

In early August Jack Nicklaus appeared on BBC’s Radio 5 Live and his criticism of the new condensed major schedule was noted by Golf Monthly.

The comments came after Justin Rose pointed out concerns about the shortened major season and before Rory McIlroy joined the fray last week.

“I don’t like the new Major schedule, from the stand point that if you have an injury, or if you’re struggling with one tournament, all of a sudden the other one follows too closely, to get it back,” 18-time Major winner Jack Nicklaus told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“I’m not sure that that’s really a good thing for the game of golf, to have all your tournaments in about three and a half months. And I don’t think it’s good for the other tournaments on the Tour.

“The guys have got to skip a lot of tournaments – you saw that this year – guys weren’t playing in between Majors. And I think that’s a shame for the Tour.”

As host of the Memorial, Nicklaus is clearly monitoring the impact and not liking what he sees.

“I know that the all-mighty dollar is important, but I don’t think it’s so important that you really lose out on the tradition of the great tournaments that have been played for years and years and years.”

Nicklaus worrying about those surrounding non-majors events is admirable and something that the PGA Tour will have to examine before locking in the schedule long term.

The interview is not available online but a BBC site posting about Nicklaus’s comments focused largely on Tiger Woods. And included this:

"I think it will work against Tiger - unless he's really healthy," Nicklaus said. 

Remind Me Again: Why Did The PGA Tour Give Up On Labor Day?

Since the new schedule was announced, I’ve long moaned about the lack of a Labor Day Monday finish as a strange abandonment of a solid day for sports watching. Networks generally concede the day to travelers and vacationers trying to get back home, and yet the ratings tell a slightly different story.

Reader KD reminded me of this odd abandonment today, writing:

So let me get this straight the PGA Tour thinks its a better idea to end its Fed Ex Playoffs the week before Labor Day? I am looking at the TV offerings on the east coast this afternoon on the major channels---they include a strong man competition, some non-descript Indy Car race and X Games. Granted the US Open is being shown on ESPN but it is being contested by a couple of lesser known players.

Yep, the offerings are slim and Monday has networks showing their usual weekday shows when in the recent past, the Dell Technologies (formerly the Deutsche Bank Championship) was finishing on Labor Day Monday. The day’s primary competition come from Flushing Meadows and Louisville, where Notre Dame is visiting at 8 pm ET.

The ratings from the last two Dell’s:

2017: 1.8 for Saturday’s third round, 2.2. for Sunday’s final round

2018: 1.8 for Saturday, 2.3 for Sunday

The 2019 Tour Championship played one week ago drew a 2.9 overnight and 1.5 for Saturday’s rain-suspended round. All broadcasts were on NBC.

While the ratings were higher for this year’s tour finale played a week prior to Labor Day, it’s easy to picture this year’s format, stars and promotion drawing a similar rating on Labor Day Monday (and a higher rating if played on the west coast).

Buying an extra week would make players happier after a pretty compacted finish following The Open.

And yes, Labor Day weekend in Atlanta means competing with other things, and the combination of sponsors and proud partners need to be on board (a big if). But reclaiming the last free Monday of summer still seems worth exploring in the next television contract.

I’l leave the last word to reader KD:

Even if they stay in Atlanta how can they not play on the last holiday weekend of the summer when many people will be home tomorrow either sending their kids off to the first day of school or preparing to start the work week. Is Atlanta that small of a sporting city that they cannot handle two major sporting events on the same weekend (happens here all the time here in New York).

They can own the "end of summer" by just pushing things back one week and starting the Fall Season a week later.

Poll Help: You Felt The $15 Million Tour Championship First Prize Was...

I know Labor Day is supposed to be a day off, but a funny thing has happened since the Tour Championship ended at East Lake: I keep hearing from people how offended they were that the winner received $15 million and that it was such a prevalent part of the broadcast.

Frankly, either I’m numb to the figures or naively thought fans would love see what happened with that kind of money on the line. Because I’ve been stunned not only by the volume of complaints about the portrayal of this year’s increased purse, but from the sources: folks who get all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking of Gordon Gekko utterly “greed is good” and abhor anyone daring to suggest golfers are overpaid.

I’m still collecting my thoughts on what this means for the sport, Tour Championship and parties involved, but would love to put you all to work and tabulate some votes for help crafting this column (and to see if I’m just hearing from an annoyed minority).

You felt the $15 million Tour Championship first prize was...

A fitting and pressure-inducing payout for a season-long competition

Eh, is what it is, I have other things to worry about

Excessive but golf's mega stars still make less than other athletes

An absurd display of excess; there should have been a big charitable component

 

pollcode.com free polls

Who Made The Biggest Leaps With Their Driver In 2019?

With so much attention given to the driver and it’s place in the game, Golfweek’s David Dusek uses the year-end down time to look at who made the biggest gains in strokes over their PGA Tour peers.

There is a fun interactive chart for mouse users, but this was really a standout stat:

Conversely, Phil Mickelson finished the year ranked T-165 in strokes gained off the tee with an average of -0.307. That means the 49-year-old, five-time major winner’s driving cost him about one-third of a shot against the average player. But over the course of a 72-hole tournament, if everything else were equal, McIlroy would typically beat Mickelson by about six shots because his driving was so much better than Lefty’s.

McIlroy made the sixth best improvement in 2019 strokes gained off the tee. And it’s not like this was a weakness in his game.

Video: Bodenheimer Recalls Arnie's Iconic Sportscenter Promo

As part of ESPN’s 40th anniversary celebration, former president George Bodenheimer is interviewed about Arnold Palmer’s ESPN visit to shoot the iconic, icea-tea-and-lemonade mixing “This is SportsCenter” commercial also featuring the late Stuart Scott and Scott Van Pelt. Of course Arnold delivered the greatest of all Sportscenter ads, though oddly I found this one flat the first few times. But, like most great masterpieces, it’s the repeat viewings revealing the genius behind them!

Add Rory To The List Of Players Not Liking The New Major Championship Pacing

Justin Rose was the first to voice concern about the spacing of golf’s majors, and now Rory McIlroy wisely left the country before suggesting he agrees with Rose’s concerns.

Nick Menta reports on McIlroy’s pre-Omega Masters press conference where the comment was made.

“If they are spaced so closely together will fans only care from the second week of April to the third week in July?” he added to the BBC. “I’d like to see them spaced out like tennis does. With the Australian Open in January and the US Open going on now, they’ve a nice nine-month window of relevancy.”

To now have two of the top players in the world essentially declaring the new schedule not working—and two players who think long and hard before they speak—the new tighter schedule is showing signs of cracks before the PGA Tour enters television contract negotiations that will lock in the schedule for a decade or more.

Rose felt the time to reset between majors wasn’t long enough, while McIlroy may feel that way as well, but his primary point that golf is truncating the main focus of fans would suggest he agrees that surrounding events have no been strengthened, nor is there a sense that it works for players.

Both players were not reared on American football, so their interest in the American sports viewing calendar is not high.

I’m not sure what the tipping point is, but if more top players suggest that new schedule is dysfunctional, will there be a reconsideration of he calendar going forward? Golf certainly can’t spread out to a nine-month window due to available daylight, unless it moved the PGA Championship on occasion to Australia or Asia in January or February. But an expansion back to April to August would restore at least some of the spacing. Developing…

Scottish Open Returning To Renaissance Club, After Changes Are Made

The European Tour and Renaissance Club have exercised an option for a second Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open(s) at the course despite lukewarm reviews from male competitors. While the modern Tom Doak design had tough shoes to fill after recent events at Gullane and Castle Stuart, players bemoaned the lack of a proper links test in advance of The Open.

Nonetheless, it’s never great to hear of changes in response to a tournament, unless they are largely revolving around improving firmness or setup.

Martin Gilbert, Chairman of Aberdeen Standard Investments said: “We’re looking forward to returning to The Renaissance Club in 2020. The facilities Jerry and his team offer both sets of players, on and off the course are second to none. The feedback we’ve received is that the location works well with the golfing public as well as our colleagues.

“We’ve also listened to the professionals who played the course this year and collectively we will be implementing a number of changes based on their feedback. We look forward to welcoming back the world’s best players to Scotland’s golf coast, for what is sure to be another memorable two weeks of golf next summer.”

The men’s Scottish Open drew its strongest field ever, while the Ladies event several weeks later was unfortunately placed the week after back-to-back majors.

Did The New Schedule Make The Majors Stronger?

As a fan of The Players in May, I had doubts the new tighter PGA Tour schedule would flow well and protect the place of the majors. Yet a rejuvenated Florida swing and more balanced spacing of 2019 majors seemed to strengthen golf’s four majors.

I’m not really sure how such a thing is measured, but on anecdotal evidence, the majors are stronger than ever.

Justin Rose did suggest the downtime between majors was too short—and he may have been speaking for many of his peers—but the fan perspective seemed to relish the new tighter pacing between the big four.

Check out this fine ratings wrap for 2019 from Robopz that confirms, even with some numbers down, the strength of the big four stands out in an overall (slightly) down final round ratings year (like all sports):

2019 TV Ratings down compared to last year. Here's a comparison of the 31 Sunday Network final ratings for 2019 to 2018.

Bottom Chart is events played after the OPEN prior to this year. 2019 compared to prior 5-year avgs. @GeoffShac @BobHarig @RyanBallengee pic.twitter.com/vUr361KeVs

— Robopz (@Robopz) August 28, 2019

Another sign of majors as the most important events in golf came in Doug Ferguson’s AP case for Rory McIlroy as player of the year over Brooks Koepka.

It's a strong case for McIlroy.

Except for the majors.

Along with winning the PGA Championship for the second straight year - Woods is the only other play to win back-to-back at the PGA in stroke play - Koepka finished one shot behind Woods at the Masters and chased Gary Woodland to the end at Pebble Beach before finishing second at the U.S. Open.

He tied for fourth in the British Open, nine shots behind Shane Lowry.

McIlroy had only a pair of top 10s in the majors, and the biggest blow was missing the cut at the British Open at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland.

Majors matter. All four of them.

This is not to downplay the enjoyment derived from other weeks of the year or the great efforts of players in non-majors. It’s just a reminder that players, fans and media care a lot more four times a year. Maybe more than ever thanks to the new schedule.

Doral's Airport Adjacency Finally Coming In Handy!

Always perceived as a bit of a hindrance to genuinely relaxing on the links or by the pool, Trump National Doral’s location near the Miami airport is now a national news story.

That’s after President Donald Trump offered up his resort as the likely locale for the 2020 G7 because, on top of the lovely weather in August, it’s airport adjacent.

And every world leader can have their own villa!

From Bloomberg:

“Each country can have their own villa, or their own bungalow” if the meeting is at Doral, Trump said Monday at the end of the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France. The U.S. is next in the rotation to host the annual meeting of world leaders, which will occur in the middle of the 2020 presidential campaign.

“I don’t want to make any money,” said Trump, who also said that he’s losing $3 billion to $5 billion just by serving as president.

Earlier in the day, Trump ticked off advantages of holding a global summit in the Sunshine State of Florida. “It’s very big,” and it’s Miami, “so it’s a great area.” He told German Chancellor Angela Merkel, sitting next to him, that she’d have just a three-minute helicopter ride from the airport to the site.

“People are really liking it,” Trump said.

Doral members are trying to get out and get some of their money back, revenue is plummeting and the PGA Tour no longer goes there.