"Here’s why Augusta National slipped"

Noel Freeman deserves kudos for taking the job of explaining why Golf magazine’s panel dropped Augusta National out of its top five courses on the planet.

His take was sympathetic with the dreadful plight of trying to keep up with the modern game:

Technological advancements and the rise of the so-called bomb-and-gouge movement are vexing dilemmas not only for Augusta National but also for tournament courses all over the world. But the feeling here is that Augusta has gone too far in its efforts to “modernize.”

The club could and should pay more homage to the design’s original intent by removing trees and rebuilding a firm course that presents players with more angles and therefore more options. The result would be both a more complete and more compelling test for players, and more interesting theater for viewers.

Prince Andrew's Royal Duty Retirement May Get Extended To Several Famous Golf Clubs

With news refusing to go away involving Prince Andrew’s ties to the lowly Jeffrey Epstein, The Telegraph’s Ben Rumsby reports that officials at Royal Portrush and Royal Liverpool are reconsidering their ties to the golf-adoring prince.

Portrush will be reviewing his ties to the site of this year’s Open after the Prince visited there in September before announcing this week that he is retiring from public duties:

“The allegations surrounding Prince Andrew, and especially the trauma and distress suffered by the victims of Jeffrey Epstein is a matter of deep regret,” the club said in a statement.

“Royal Portrush will continue to monitor the ongoing investigative process. There are no scheduled plans for him to return to the club.

“The council of Royal Portrush is acutely aware of the widespread public concern about these allegations, and Prince Andrew’s decision to step away from public duties will be discussed at our next meeting.”

Royal Liverpool Golf Club is on the record saying it would “not call upon” its patron’s services during his exile.

Not addressed? The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. While the list of associations ended with Andrew, the R&A has said nothing about his future role as honorary this and captain of that…

The Duke is also a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, which will stage the 150th Open in 2021. He is the only royal to have served on a committee there and was captain for the year of its 250th anniversary.

The R&A would confirm only that he was a member, while Women’s Open venue Sunningdale Ladies’ Golf Club declined to comment on the status of the Duke’s patronage there.

Should he disappear from circles over his ties to Epstein, the equipment manufacturers will lose one of their leading advocates for unregulated distance.

PGA Tour Still Slow Playing Updated Slow Play Policy

Rex Hoggard’s GolfChannel.com story from the RSM Classic gives the impression the PGA Tour PAC and Policy Board have signed off on giving their referees more leeway to zero in on slow-pokes.

Naturally, they remain in no hurry to usher in the policy:

The new policy is aimed at avoiding situations where players take an inordinate amount of time to hit a shot, like Bryson DeChambeau at The Northern Trust in August. The plan is to also empower Tour officials to take action if a player is impacting pace of play.

According to the Tour, the revised policy will go into effect in the second quarter of 2020.

Augusta National, Pebble Beach Take (Not Too Surprising) Hits In Revamped Golf Magazine World Top 100

Ran Morrissett now helms the revamped Golf Magazine World Top 100 ranking, long the most respected listing of the planet’s best architecture. And while it’s a little tough to take a list covering the world seriously when there are only 80 or so voters and five panelists are said to have not voted at all, the overall statement says the list is once again about architecture.

Gone are more than twenty panelists, former head Joe Passov and numerous courses that appeared to have bought their way onto the list. The full 2017 list can be seen here and not surprisingly, the controversial Ayodhya Links and Oitavos Dunes are gone this time around, with Nine Bridges and Trump International Aberdeen both plummeting (53 and 54 spots respectively).

Another sign of the changing times? These five courses were said last time to be destined for the top 100 but none made the list. Only one, Royal Aberdeen, made the magazine’s 2019 list of the 50 next best.

Here is the full ranking.

The print package includes the panel, criteria and some dazzling, slightly over-Photoshopped images.

(Note: accessing the list on a mobile device can be jarring as the outdated Golf.com platform is unable to display images and an ad while scrolling, leading to a terrible viewing experience. The early rollout today featured many other glitches and timeout problems reported on discussion groups.)

Anyway, the headline from the list revamp is the dip of Augusta National and Pebble Beach, as Josh Berhow notes in this item focusing on these two icons taking some hits from the architecture-focused panel dinging both for not keeping up with the times by emphasizing restoration.

Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters, dropped from 5th to 9th in the most recent ranking (its lowest ranking ever), and Pebble Beach Golf Links fell out of the top 10, from 9th to 11th.

This from an unnamed rater probably summed up the views of many sensing the architecture just isn’t dialed in enough to warrant top five status any longer:

The raters acknowledged Augusta National’s drop in the December issue of GOLF, saying “When the trend everywhere is to remove trees, widen playing corridors, increase playing angles and promote strategic and attacking golf, something had to give. We appreciate that Augusta National is in the uniquely difficult position of annually hosting the Masters. Still, the founding vision of Bob Jones and Alister MacKenzie matters, and a sense is starting to develop among panelists that the club is moving too far away from it.”

For The Low, Low Price Of $14 Million: "‘Open Doctor’ Jones ratchets up the challenge on Torrey Pines South"

I haven’t a clue how you spend $14 million at an exsiting golf complex—oh wait, Landscapes Unlimited was involved, I stand corrected.

You’d think for that amount Torrey Pines might take on some character but judging by the photos and descriptions offered by the San Diego Union Tribune’s Tod Leonard, the course appears to have fewer trees, more visible cart paths and additional bunkers in that inimitable Rees Jones style: looking like bad puzzle pieces dropped randomly from a helicopter.

Players arriving for future Farmers, the 2021 U.S. Open or simply to pay a green fee, will find more examples of Jones’s imprint. Most heartbreaking of the various changes outlined by Leonard come at the 10th. As someone who first played there in 1991 and remembers how charming the 10th hole and green complex once was, this was particularly dispiriting:

The next hole, No. 10, was arguably the most bland on the course.

“The back nine really started at 11,” Jones said., “The 10th was a driver, wedge every time.”

A new tee was built to make the hole longer, and the visual changed dramatically, with the left side of the fairway split with a bunker, while a right fairway bunker pinches the landing zone.

Judging by the photo above by K.C. Alfred, it should be encircled in yellow tape.

But hey, the views are great, The Lodge makes a killer burger and you can get great fish tacos within 15 minutes of the course.

LPGA's Whan Signs "Long Term Contract" Without Knowing Length, State Of TV Rights

The LPGA Tour’s turnaround and success under Mike Whan can’t be questioned given the dumpster fire he inherited his predecessor, Carolyn Bivens.

Still, I found his admission of a contract extension at the CME Globe finale fascinating on two levels: he claims to not know the length of his deal and this lands before the PGA Tour has announced a new television deal. You may recall Whan has farmed out the LPGA Tour’s next TV contract to PGA Tour negotiators as part of their effort to lock things up from 2022 and beyond.

From GolfChannel.com’s Randall Mell, who had the news first:

“It’s a long-term contract,” Whan said. “I don’t even know how long it is. I really don’t.”

LPGA president Vicki Goetze-Ackerman confirmed there’s a new deal in place.

“It’s a long-term contract,” Goetze-Ackerman said. “That’s all you’re going to get anyone to tell you. He has a vision for the future, and he wants to stay. He’s been fantastic, taking us from a dismal place in 2010 to where we are now, with a vision of an even stronger future.”

As for his legacy, Whan noted this:

“Whenever my tenure is over, nobody is going to remember who started the Founders Cup or International Crown. They are going to remember that there are a heck of a lot more women playing golf. In the next 20 years, you will see what’s happening in junior golf programs today happening in women’s golf. I think that’s what I’ll be most proud of when I’m sitting on a rocking chair someday.”

Next Week's Hong Kong Open Sounds Like It's In Jeopardy

The demonstrations in Hong Kong may prompt the cancellation of next week’s Hong Kong Open which is the—yes, really—co-season-opener for the European Tour’s 2019-20 schedule.

The week after their season-ending championship. Anyway…

Journalist Joy Chakravarty was one of a few to take to Twitter saying cancellation chatter is strong at this week’s season-ending Race to Dubai:

Hearing strong murmurs in Dubai that next week's @TheHKOpen has been called off because of the protests. Will have to confirm this with the @EuropeanTour tomorrow, but if true, I will miss watching the action at the beautiful Fanling course.

— Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyofGolf) November 19, 2019

Golfweek's No. 1 Amateur Turns Pro: Andrea Lee Says Goodbye To Stanford Midseason

Joining other LPGA Q-Series grads and even non-grads relegated to the Symetra Tour, Andrea Lee took longer than her peers but made it official Tuesday: she’s leaving fifth-ranked Stanford mid-season to play professionally.

Even though she’s a senior with a potential NCAA Championship run and Augusta National Women’s Amateur in her future, Lee joins teammate Albane Valenzuela in saying goodbye to Stanford.

From Beth Ann Nichols’ Golfweek story:

“It was really hard for sure,” said Lee of the decision. “I had people telling me to stay, people telling me to go. Ultimately, I chose to turn professional, knowing that it was the best decision for me and my career. Just trusting my own gut.”

While it’s hard to fault Lee for pursuing her dreams, the situation in golf is even more stark than one-and-done in basketball because these players are leaving their programs mid-season.

As for the LPGA, there will probably be players who turn pro and give them Tour a boost, but who are the two best known LPGA rookies right now? Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi, who both played the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and deferred their LPGA status until the college season’s conclusion. Kupcho has made it to the 2019 season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

It's (Not Really) The Gym Time, Files: Kuchar Picks Up 10 Yards After Ball Switch

It’s all about the speed and gym work these guys put in these days. Oh, and some Trackman time, product development and bizarro regulatory complacency helps too.

From Golf.com’s Jessica Marksbury on Matt Kuchar putting a new ball into play at last week’s Mayakoba Classic and reaping noticeable benefits by switching to a Bridgestone Tour B X prototype.

During testing leading up to Mayakoba, Kuchar, who ranks 247th of 248 on Tour in driving distance (276.5 yards), found an additional 1.5 miles per hour ball speed with the ball, which equated to an additional 4 yards. With the rollout, Kuchar was consistently seeing an increase of 10.5 yards per drive.

Naturally what Kuchar done is undoubtedly within the rules, which begs the question: what’s the point of having rules if they can’t regulate the equipment to ensure an improvement in skill achieves the distance gain?

BBC's Masters Run Ends, Live Coverage Exclusive To Sky Sports Starting In 2020

The amazing run of BBC offering live major championship coverage since 1955 is now over, as the Masters and Sky Sports have signed a new deal starting in 2020.

Sky Sports has been part of UK Masters coverage since 2011. However, the move eliminates round three and four coverage that still aired on BBC, and requires a subscription to view.

From The Scotsman’s Graham Bean authored report:

The Beeb will still show highlights but for the first time since the 1950s there will be no live golf on the BBC.

The corporation lost the rights to show the Open live in 2017 after 61 years of free-to-air coverage and has now surrendered the Masters too.

From next year, Sky Sports will show exclusive live coverage of the tournament from Augusta. Sky also outbid the Beeb for the Open.

Up until 2011, the BBC screened live coverage from all four days of the Masters, but Sky Sports came in in 2011 and the Beeb was reduced to screening live coverage from Friday and Saturday only.

Love's Sea Island Plantation Course Redo Sports Some Travis, Raynor And Macdonald Charm

Sea Island’s Seaside Course remains the primary venue for the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic, but the first two rounds of play will be split with the newly remodeled Plantation Course.

PGATour.com’s Sean Martin looks at Davis Love, Mark Love and Scot Sherman’s effort to recapture traces of the course’s past, with nods to Walter Travis, original architect, and Seth Raynor/CB Macdonald.

From Martin’s extensive look at the redo:

Plantation’s historic feel had faded after nearly a century of play and a renovation in the late 1990s. This latest renovation draws upon the designs of architects like Travis, Seth Raynor and C.B. MacDonald.

Those men designed some of Love’s favorite courses, including Chicago Golf Club, Mountain Lake in Lake Wales, Florida, and two courses in Charleston, South Carolina: Yeamans Hall and Country Club of Charleston. It was a collaboration between Love, his brother Mark, and Scot Sherman, an architect with Love Golf Design who worked closely with Dye for many years.

They replicated those classic courses by creating sharp angles and straight lines, producing a look that was distinctive from the neighboring Seaside course and its big, bold bunkering.

The Sea Island YouTube page featured construction flyover updates, including this last one from August:

Golfer Expectations For Bunkers: Still Silly After All These Years

The minimalist architecture movement has helped deliver many sustainable elements to golf maintenance, but it still has not made a dent in golfer expectations for perfect bunker lies.

The Fried Egg’s Garrett Morrison considers the importance of groomed hazards for golfers and the cost to the game through the eyes of USGA agronomist George Waters.

To avoid player complaints about bunkers, courses have to increase spending. In turn, green fees go up. This is a vicious circle that sometimes leads to closure.

“What I think would surprise many golfers is that there are definitely courses that spend as much—or even more—per square foot on bunkers as they do on greens,” George Waters told me. Waters is Manager of Green Section Education for the USGA and wrote Sand and Golf: How Terrain Shapes the Game. “And it’s golfer expectations that drive that spending.”

Just as pressing as financial issues, according to Waters, are opportunity costs. The more time greenkeepers devote to bunker maintenance, the less they have for other tasks.

“The list is basically endless,” Waters said. “For lower- and mid-budget courses, the extra time can make a big difference in improving conditions on greens, approaches, and fairways. That could be more time spent hand watering, more time making irrigation repairs, more time nursing weak areas back to health.”

The story notes that current wokester-darling Sweetens Cove treats all bunkers as waste areas, meaning you can ground your club and maintenance is not as diligent about daily rakings.

The golf course industry generally misses opportunity to make a show of how these things affect cost. Because I’m pretty sure we’d have heard by now of a course knocking 10-20% off their green fees for a week while bunkers go unraked. I’m pretty sure golfers would not mind, but then again, I forget how much people demand perfect lies in hazards.

The 2020 Olympic Golf Projected Field...

…which would not include Tiger Woods by this assessment.

Maybe because Rio offered the first Olympic golf in over a hundred years, the run-up featured far more coverage than the upcoming Tokyo 2020 golf. Or maybe there just isn’t much interest in golf at the next Games because the unimaginative format remains. Anyway…

Courtesy of Twitter’s mysterious Nosferatu, here is the field as it stands currently, though many significant tournaments will be played between now and then.

The #OlympicGolf Top 60 projection for @Tokyo2020 as of 11-Nov-19 (based on #OWGR projection for 22-Jun-2020).

Two Austrians on the first page! 🇦🇹🇦🇹@BenHebertGolf replaces Langasque for 🇫🇷@shubhankargolf moves in to double India's presence 🇮🇳🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/DtX4nvaFjt

— Nosferatu (@VC606) November 12, 2019

Video: CBS Sunday Morning On Renee Powell, Clearview And St. Andrews

CBS Sunday Morning viewers will enjoy this James Brown helmed feature produced by Alvin Patrick about the life and work of Renee Powell. The LPGA pioneer is continuing her father’s legacy, her work with female veterans using golf as a therapeutic pastime and her work in St. Andrews that includes membership in the R&A. (There are also some rare looks inside the R&A clubhouse, btw.)

Henley Nobly Admits To One-Ball Violation, Laments Excessiveness Of Penalty

This is a tough one, as you have to admire Russell Henley’s honesty and clarity in admitting he spotted a problem signing golf balls for his walking scorer and standard-bearer after a Mayakoba Classic second round 69. Henley detected that he may have violated the one-ball rule. And he was correct.

An 8-stroke penalty ensued after much consultation and while it is a harsh result given his need to make cuts and get much needed dollars/points in his accounts, Henley should take immense pride in turning himself in when he very easily could have ignored the matter.

Frankly, I don’t fully understand how 8-strokes was determined as his penalty, or how Henley thinks there should be a max of 4. Either way, Adam Schupak at Golfweek with the story and Henley’s view that the penalty didn’t fit the crime.

“Do I think eight shots is extreme in this situation? Absolutely,” said Henley, who said he was still processing the unusual circumstances. “I think there should be a max of four. I hope eventually we can have some conversations and change the rule. I came from such an innocent place, you could call it a careless place, and given there was no intent I think it’s a pretty harsh rule. It can be debated both ways and I’m aware of that. It’s unfortunate when you’re playing well and in contention, like I was, to you’re missing the cut. It’s tough to swallow.”

As we know, the Golf Gods work in mysterious ways and Henley will ultimately enjoy a reward for his honesty.