It's Back! Ayodhya Links Resurfaces On Golf Digest's World Ranking

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While Golf Digest’s non-U.S. ranking of courses has always featured odd inclusions, the latest edition posted online features more eye-openers than normal. While some might find it jarring to see The Bluffs at Ho Tram Strip ahead of Royal Cinque Ports, I’m just thrilled to see RCP/aka Deal on the list.

While edged out by the vaunted Ba Na Hills, the real stunner involves the resurfacing of Ayodhya Links. You may recall it was the inclusion of this extraordinarily ordinary Perrett and Lobb masterwork near Bangkok landed on Golf Magazine’s World Ranking a few years back. That instigated a domino effect resulting in a massive overhaul of the ranking, with a new panel head and many panelists shed from the process. Questions remain unanswered to this day about what exactly led to the ultra-private Ayodhya earning prestigious world status and whether undue influence led to its place.

And yet, here it appears again. Ron Whitten’s pained description is hard to read.

The site of Ayodhya Links didn’t look promising to Australian architects Ross Perrett and Tim Lobb at first. It was a flat, treeless marsh near Bangkok. To build a championship-caliber golf course on such property, the architects had to drain the swamp. They did so by excavating canals and ponds.

Oh did they now?

This generated fill for tees, fairways and greens, which they shaped into endless humps and rolls. So, arguably, it’s links-like, although manmade and far from an ocean.

Just missed out on the links-like category. Sounded close though!

Today, Ayodhya has water in play on every hole, lagoons throughout the front and back nines, with the ninth and 18th along the shoreline of a large lake. Across the same lake is the island green of the par-3 12th. An estimated 10,000 trees were planted to add beauty and while the turf conditions at this exclusive private club are considered opulent, the course boasts membership in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program, so it must be growing turf with sustainable methods and fewer chemicals.

And that’s good enough to make it a world top 100. Again.

Happy Ending: Two Gloves Tommy Gainey Back In The Winner's Circle

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The 44-year-old one-time PGA Tour winner best known for wearing two gloves and last month’s solicitation arrest during the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying tournament, has won that tour’s season opener. It was his first top 10 since 2015. The last time Gainey played in the Greater Xuma Classic, he shot 87-84.

From Joel Beall’s GolfDigest.com report on Tommy Gainey’s improbable return to a major tour winner’s circle:

Gainey played that week at the final stage of the Korn Ferry qualifying tournament. Though he was among the Round 1 leaders, a 74 and 71 on the weekend ultimately dropped him to T-75.

On the 72nd hole at Emerald Bay, Gainey dedicated the victory to his family.

"My wife, I love her to death," Gainey said. "Her and the boys mean everything."

The Golf Channel did not mention the December arrest through the final two days of the broadcast, and Gainey only alluded to "getting his life back on track" in a post-round interview, which could have been a reference to his health. The Korn Ferry Tour told Golf Digest that Gainey was not available for additional questions, and Gainey's team has not responded to a Golf Digest interview request.

He has a team? Sorry.

Hey, it’s not Hogan coming back from the bus accident but on the list of improbable wins, this is first team all-conference stuff.

Pursuing Speed Files: Bryson, Phil And Matthew Wolff Edition

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Someday when the PGA Tour is just a traveling long drive exhibition with launch monitors on tee boxes and players earning FedEx points only for drives, historians will look back at these posts embedded below. They’ll ask why the USGA and R&A didn’t just reduce the driver head size a bit or take away a few dimples on the ball to retain some semblance of the sport that somehow grew and attracted millions for a few hundred years. One that called on a variety of attributes to score.

Chiropractors and surgeons, these are for you, starting with Bryson DeChambeau’s explanation for his new build, followed by Phil Mickelson showing how he’s addressed his huge strokes gained drop to outside the top 100 putters and approach artists, and ended by Matthew Wolff giving a long drive show for members at the Vintage Club.


Going Against The NFL Playoffs, 2020 Sony Open Rates About How You'd Expect

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We’ll just move on past how the weather and freak show that was the 2020 Sony Open may go down as one of the worst PGA Tour events ever played. It ended on Sunday, and that’s all that mattered.

Then again, as considered in this post and poll last weekend, you as golf fans agree that trying to compete against the NFL makes little sense. Yes, a Monday Sony Open finish would have meant finishing against the start of college football’s national championship game. Then again it probably could not rate any worse than the weekend rounds of the 2020 Sony.

According to ShowbuzzDaily.com, Saturday’s overnight was a .03, averaging 215,000 in the 18-49 yo demographic, making it the 142nd ranked cable show that day while going against two NFL Divisional games.

Sunday’s Sony final round against the Seahawks and Packers on Fox drew a .03, with 282,000 avg viewers, making it the 137th ranked cable show. Good news though, it just beat out Secrets of the Zoo: Tampa on National Geographic. Though they drew more 18-49 year olds with a 309,000 average.

It’s supposed to be a great zoo!

Patrick Reed And The Astros: Smoltz On The Parallels And Differences Between The Cheaters

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Is this a bad time to remind everyone of the PGA Tour’s Houston Open brought to you by the Astros Foundation? Eh, it’s in the fall. We’ll deal with the cheating Asterisks then. Hopefully Patrick Reed is not their headliner. Oh right, Brooks Koepka has to play.

Anyway…

The LPGA kicks off its 2020 season with the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions where a celebrity tournament within the tournament draws many of Major League Baseball’s recent greats. Former Brave and current Fox broadcaster John Smoltz was asked about the breaking Astros scandal and Patrick Reed’s recent brush with integrity.

Randall Mell with the full story for GolfChannel.com and Smoltz’s view that both golf and baseball are struggling to manage technology. But this was a nice quote:

“What makes golf unique is that it's up to the integrity of each person to determine whether they want to apply the rules as they're meant, and that's why golf has always been known as the gentleman's game. But it's frowned upon, and we all know enough people, and play with enough people at our clubs, that just can't help themselves by getting an advantage and an edge, because they want to compete, and they want to be successful. That bothers me, but it's not immune from anywhere.”

While the Reed fallout continues because fans do not feel he got the punishment deserved for so blatantly bending the rules last December, Major League Baseball may face a similar issue if fans and players feel the Astros punishment did not fit the crimes committed.

PGA Tour's New Slow Play Policy Leans On Jargon To Coddle The Turtles

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Joel Beall’s “here’s what you need to know” item on the new PGA Tour slow play policy can be whittled down to telling what you jargon you need to be warned about.

Because as with so many rules shaped by the players, heavy petting is involved. Beall explains the core components, both supported by a jargony name and a long list of ways to help a slow poke get multiple opportunities to take his time before experiencing a penalty.

After setting up the backstory of how the Tour got to this point, Beall writes of the “observation list”:

An "Observation List" will be created, one that will be kept private from the public and PGA Tour membership as a whole.

And right there the policy already became less effective than it could have been.

How will a player make the list? The parameters are as follows:

—Each stroke throughout the round must be played in under 60 seconds in absence of a valid reason. If observed by an official to exceed this time, that player will be timed on an individual basis as soon as he can be notified. If the player does not have a bad time (same bad time rules as with out of position) within two holes, timing will cease.

At multi-course PGA Tour events, there is now just one rules official per nine holes. Kind of tough to be a roving rules official and be timing the slow pokes, it would seem. But, should they be able to find the time to pull out the stop clock…

—If any player is observed to take more than 120 seconds on a shot in the absence of a valid reason, he will be given an "Excessive Shot Time" and observed throughout the round by an official.

—The list will be updated on a weekly basis. Any player with an overall average of 45 seconds or more per stroke based on a 10 tournament rolling period will be on the list, along with anyone who receives two "Excessive Shot Times" in a tournament will be played on the list in subsequent tournament rounds.

Scary!

Oh but there’s the enforcement. At least the bank accounts are getting hit harder, but will we ever get to this stage?

A player will receive a warning for their first bad time. On the second, he will receive a one-stroke penalty. For each additional bad time, another one-stroke penalty will be given.

There will also be fines. Excessive Shot Times will receive $10,000 and $20,000 punishments for second and additional offenses (with the first offense receiving a warning). Though the first bad time also gets a warning, a second offense comes with a $50,000 penalty, with a $20,000 penalty attached to further offenses.

"We are not looking to hand out these penalties," Dennis said. "But players have to know they are there."

Players may know, but if players, fans and media knew they’d made the list, might that be just as effective as strokes and fines?

The Lucky Ones Giving Up Valuable Life Minutes: PGA Tour's 2020 Player Advisory Council Announced

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While GolfChannel.com’s Rex Hoggard notes the inability of Bryson DeChambeau to have convinced caucus goers he was worthy of adding context to the council’s prime area of concern—slow play—I’m struck by the departure of Matt Kuchar.

The veteran, who takes his bronze medal around the world in a sock, was said to have added many wonderful thoughts and concerns for the less-privileged on Tour. He was beloved by his Council peers and will be missed. Or not.

For Immediate Release, the 2020 Slow Play Policy Advisory Council and players who have shown an ability to use their brain for other thoughts besides those revolving around golf, I mean PAC:

PGA TOUR announces 2020 Player Advisory Council

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR today announced the 16-member Player Advisory Council (PAC) for 2020. The PAC advises and consults with the PGA TOUR Policy Board (Board of Directors) and Commissioner Jay Monahan on issues affecting the TOUR.

2020 Player Advisory Council

Ryan Armour
Paul Casey
David Hearn
Harry Higgs
Charley Hoffman
Billy Horschel
Zach Johnson
Russell Knox
Anirban Lahiri
Peter Malnati
Rory McIlroy
Ryan Palmer
Jon Rahm
Kevin Streelman 
Justin Thomas
Harold Varner III

Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati and Justin Thomas have been selected by the Player Directors to run for PAC Chairman via election which ends February 7. The leading vote-getter will replace Johnson Wagner as a Player Director on the PGA TOUR Policy Board, serving a three-year term (2021-23).

When In Far Hills..."The Art Of The Golf Course" Exhibit Opens

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For those in the greater Far Hills, or now, Liberty Corner region—aka USGA headquarters—a new Golf House exhibit focusing on golf architecture as art has opened.

The description:

The USGA Golf Museum’s exhibition, “The Art of the Golf Course,” encourages viewers to consider golf course architecture as an art form, as an analog to landscape architecture, in which design choices are made for aesthetic reasons as well as functional purposes. The exhibition is an examination of art, through art, challenging viewers to expand their perspective on golf as linear journey from tee to green.

The full slide show teasing what to expect.

Old Course Is The Centerpiece Of Climate Change Study

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This unbylined Sky Sports story looks at St Andrews university Professor Bill Austin's planned three-year study of coastal erosion and the impact on golf. An R&A grand as part of its Golf Course 2030 initiative.

"This research will allow us to consider all climate-related factors that will have an ever-lasting effect on the home of golf."

The Coastal Change Action Plan is a key component of the R&A's Golf Course 2030.
It was established in 2018 as an industry initiative to consider the impact of the changing climate, resource constraints and regulation on golf course condition and playability.

Researchers estimate almost £400m worth of property and infrastructure around Scotland's coastline is at risk due to erosion.

Waugh, PGA Making Last Ditch Effort To Save West Palm Beach Muni

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Tony Doris files an in-depth Palm Beach Post piece on PGA of America president Seth Waugh trying to get the city of West Palm Beach to not develop its shuttered muni.

With the city’s latest effort to nail down a redevelopment deal ending unsuccessfully, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh, a longtime Palm Beach County resident, has urged West Palm Beach leaders to let the organization restore the course, run programs there and still have it affordable for city residents, he said in an interview Monday night.

“The city has to make a fundamental choice,” he said: “Do we want this to be about real estate and finances or about golf? ... We just want it to be golf, not another development.”

A two year effort to find a savior for the golf course has failed, so Waugh has offered to get the PGA involved along with instructor Mike McGetrick and investors. It would seem a no-brainer given this:

Former City Commissioner Shanon Materio, now president of the South End Neighborhood Association, said Wednesday the city should acknowledge that the site was given to the city on the grounds it remain a golf course.

“For over five years, the golf course has remained in disrepair while the prior and current city administrations failed to complete the most basic of reviews by issuing a legal opinion regarding the question, can anything other than a golf course even be allowed on the property,” she said.

“The land was given to the city for a single purpose, a municipal golf course. Not for housing, not for hotels, and not even as a city asset.”

If the city fails to honor that restriction, it could lose the property, under the terms of a reverter clause, she said.

Trinity Forest Out As Nelson Host After This Year

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The Dallas Morning News’ Tim Cowlishaw explains why the 2020 AT&T Byron Nelson will be the last at Trinity Forest. The bold Coore-Crenshaw design was just one issue, along with the courses location, the lack of shade and a huge decline in tournament revenues.

We have learned that it’s over, that the 2020 Nelson will be the final one held on the south Dallas course. Eventually, the tournament will move to PGA Frisco but it may need to make a stopover back at the Four Seasons TPC for 2021, which is sort of like telling your ex-wife: “Hey, things didn’t work out with my new partner, but I need to come home and crash before moving on to my next one, is that OK?’’

The tournament was expected to eventually move to the PGA of America project in Frisco, but that is at least two years away, meaning the Nelson may have no choice but to return to the TPC it left. Indeed, as Cowlishaw notes, that’ll be an awkward reunion.

It’s a shame. Trinity Forest may be the most eccentric Coore-Crenshaw design of all and one of their more amazing accomplishments given the not-thrilling landscape. But without the lively bunkering they are known for, an emphasis on the ground game (except during Nelson week when things were kept softer), and an awkward clubhouse/course/range setup for a big tournament, this was going to be a tough sell in May date prior to the PGA.

(The course would be the perfect Open Championship tune-up test, but the club is closed by July when players are prepping for the last major.)

The only good news in this case? From the start, sponsor AT&T was involved in the tournament move and former AT&T executive VP Ronald Spears is a club co-founder with Jonas Woods.

Alistair Johnston Gifts Golf's Greatest Private Library To The R&A

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Amazing news out of London and St. Andrews: longtime agent Alistair Johnston is gifting his incredible 30,000 golf book collection, easily the most complete and remarkable private collection today.

From a Reuters story:

“We are very grateful to Alastair for this generous gift,” Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said.

“We are excited to continue his vision and support his desire to display this collection in its entirety in Scotland. I can think of no more appropriate place than St Andrews to create the world’s most comprehensive library of golf books.”

The goal is to have the library in place by the Open’s return to St. Andrews in 2021.

Having seen some of the great private collections broken up by auctions or failures to protect them in one locale, this is a great day for the R&A and a remarkable contribution from Johnston. Giving future generations access to essentially the entire story of the game and in St. Andrews, is a very special thing for golf and golf history.

Global Golf Post’s John Steinbreder profile of the collection is available here for Global Golf Post subscribers.

The above Gigapan was captured by Darren Carroll.

Patrick Reed's Lawyer Tries To Silence Chamblee's Suggestions Of Cheating

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While anyone who has played the game is uncomfortable with the actions of Patrick Reed—at best—his obvious effort to improve his lie at December’s Hero World Challenge has also involved behind-the-scenes efforts to squash free speech.

Eamon Lynch reports on a cease and desist letter Reed had his attorney send to Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee demanding and end to accusations of cheating.

“The purpose of this letter is to obtain assurance that you will refrain from any further dissemination, publication or republication of false and defamatory statements concerning Mr. Reed, including any allegations that he ‘cheated’ at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas,” wrote Peter Ginsberg, a partner at the New York City law firm of Sullivan & Worcester.

Ginsberg, who previously represented Ray Rice and has sued the PGA Tour on behalf of Vijay Singh and Hank Haney, confirmed to Golfweek that he represents Reed and sent the letter.

Chamblee’s comment drawing the most ire from Team Reed: “To defend what Patrick Reed did is defending cheating. It’s defending breaking the rules.”

Since the letter was sent in December, fans have continued to taunt Reed at the Presidents Cup and in his first 2020 PGA Tour start. Having served no suspension and having been deemed a gentleman for accepting his two-stroke penalty presumably for not trashing the scoring trailer, appears to have only outraged a majority of fans who value the integrity of professional golfers.

Sending such a letter on top of whatever other efforts Team Reed are pursuing behind the scenes would seem to only be keeping memories fresh of Patrick Reed’s recent and distant past issues with the law.

The rest of the story includes comment from Chamblee on the apparent claim by Reed’s lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, that video captured by Golf Channel cameras exonerated his client. This, even though it was the video that became the only way we learned of Reed’s nefarious actions.

Roundup: First Pete Dye Tributes And Remembrances From The World Of Golf

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What a perfect headline and New York Times obituary from Richard Goldstein, where Pete Dye is fittingly remembered as a mad scientist and golf architecture’s Picasso from of a perfect quote from Arthur Hills.

Rarely using a set of grading plans for construction, relying instead on his instincts as he laid out a course, walking it in khakis and work boots or sitting atop a tractor, Mr. Dye emphasized strategy over raw power.

“I think of Pete like Picasso, somebody that has created a nontraditional design, whether it’s a painting, a sculpture or a golf course,” the prominent course designer Arthur Hills was quoted by ESPN as saying. “He was so innovative in a profession that is very traditional.”

Ron Whitten nails it with his GolfDigest.com tribute, especially this:

Before Pete, golf architects mass-produced their products. Assembly lines of bulldozers stretched from coast to coast and chugged out facsimiles of the latest fashions. Some would eventually be deemed top-flight tests of golf, but all bore trademarks of one another.

Pete was a disruptor 50 years before that became a corporate buzzword. We called his style of design “target golf,” for it embraced abrupt change in its landforms, its sink-or-swim choices, its death-or-glory options, its my-way-or-the-highway reasoning.

Ran Morrissett penned this salute for Golf.com, including this:

Dye famously remarked that he didn’t need to produce plans because he would be on site every day. That practical, hands-on approach spoke to his Midwestern roots. It also made an impact on people who worked for him, including Bill Coore and Tom Doak. Those two headline the Dye Tree of architecture, and their firms have gone on to produce more World Top 100 courses as selected by GOLF Magazine than any other architects over the past 25 years. Other notable designers who are quick to acknowledge Dye’s influence include Rod Whitman, Tim Liddy, Brian Curley, Lee Schmidt and Bobby Weed. The list goes on.

Jack Nicklaus:

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The golf world lost a great friend today in Pete Dye. I first met Pete when I was 16 years old. Pete was 30, and we played an exhibition with Sam Snead in Urbana, Ohio. We became friends; we played a lot of golf together; and we designed courses together. It was Pete who inspired me to start designing courses more than 50 years ago, and so in many ways I owe my second career to him. I think Pete Dye was the most creative, imaginative and unconventional golf course designer I have ever been around. Pete would try things that nobody else would ever think of doing or certainly try to do, and he was successful at it. If there was a problem to solve, you solved it Pete’s way. In the end, Pete’s way usually turned out to be the right way. I followed Pete. I loved Pete. Barbara and I loved Pete and his wife Alice. We lost Alice less than a year ago and now Pete today. We have lost two wonderful people. Pete was the most innovative golf course designer in my lifetime, and certainly the golf world should mourn the loss of this great man. It is the end of the era, but Pete’s legacy in golf course design will endure because of the courses he has designed and the courses people will play for years and generations to come. They will enjoy them, perhaps copy them, and certainly be inspired by them. @asgca1947 @pgatour @rbcheritage @seapinesresort #HarbourTownGolfLinks (Photos courtesy of @jimmandeville and @nicklauscompanies)

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PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan:

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Pete Dye, a true friend of the PGA TOUR and one of the most important course architects of this or any generation. 

A 2008 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, Pete’s influence is far-reaching, leaving a global imprint on both the amateur and professional games. He designed some of the best known golf courses in the world, though none more recognizable than THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. It was here that Pete masterfully brought Commissioner Deane Beman’s revolutionary stadium golf concept to life, melding Deane’s vision with a brilliantly designed course that is celebrated annually as one of the game’s great strategic courses during THE PLAYERS Championship.   

Pete, though, was always quick to credit his beloved wife, Alice, with his success, including the concept for his most famous hole, the 17th island green at TPC Sawgrass.  Together, Pete and Alice made a formidable team in golf and life, and with sons Perry and P.B., themselves successful course architects, they are recognized as one of the most accomplished families in golf.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Dye family.

Developer Herb Kohler in Doug Ferguson’s AP obituary.

“While Pete designed to torment the most accomplished professional, his forward tees allowed the most inexperienced to play,” said Herb Kohler, who brought Dye to Wisconsin to build courses such as Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run. “He would challenge the professional both physically and mentally, while remarkably accommodating the raw amateur who was learning the game..”

The USGA’s Mike Davis:

With PGA West on the PGA Tour schedule next week, Larry Bohannan considers Dye’s desert legacy that actually started in a big way with La Quinta resort.

Dye was an active but not terribly well-known architect when he was first summoned to the Coachella Valley. Two Oklahoma club pros, Ernie Vossler and Joe Walser, wanted to build a couple of golf courses around the La Quinta Hotel. They had worked with Dye before and felt he was the guy for the job.

The result of the collaboration of Dye, Vossler and Walser were two amazing golf courses, the Mountain and the Dunes courses at what is now La Quinta Resort. The courses, opened in 1980 and 1981, were like nothing the desert golf world had seen before. They were dramatic, featuring big lakes, Dye’s trademark railroad ties, an island green set in the middle of the desert and the Santa Rosa Mountains as a backdrop.

This from Rory McIlroy:

Gil Hanse’s tribute:

And this short slideshow from photographer Fred Vuich:

The Legacy Of Pete Dye: How He Changed Golf

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Pete Dye will be remembered in so many ways that it’s hard to pinpoint where golf would be had he not come along.

The ace golfer turned-insurance salesman turned-restless artist forever changed the sport with his extreme links-inspired features and hybrid of strategic and penal elements, all delivered with a dry, Midwest-rooted wit to squelch the haters.

Tributes will flow over the coming days from the many architects he brought into the business. Flags will be lowered at the venues where his legacy is so profound every day they are open for play. And we will hear tributes from the tours whose tournaments have been forever made more compelling thanks to Dye re-imagining how a “championship” venue should play.

While his work has aged in both beautiful and bizarre ways, Dye’s design legacy will never be rooted in one particular course. This, even as the impact of TPC Sawgrass and “Stadium golf” alone made him World Golf Hall of Fame worthy. Instead, the real genius of his work is almost overwhelming to contemplate. Dye put a stop to the runaway craze of 1950’s runway banality built to punish and all with so little character. This, after playing the great links of Scotland and Ireland and giving up his career to pursue better ways to design a course. And his brilliance was not merely in copying a few features or bringing back “template” holes when he returned. Dye expanded on what he saw overseas, pushing the art of course design places well beyond anything seen before.

Sure, some of it didn’t work, some of his designs were excessive and he had to remedy problems that surfaced on the tournament stage. But like any of the great anarchists and outliers, that Pete Dye could jam railroad ties against lake walls, force offensive blind shots from the middle of the fairway and get away with building other unmaintainable features, spoke to his artistic eye. Pete Dye courses inspired golfers to test their skills against him even when they knew he’d get the best of them.

Pete Dye broke the cardinal rule of timeless design by making about himself instead of a battle against nature. Yet he got away with the outlandishness. It was that wink of his eye and self-deprecating manner which, when combined with oddball touches—like the noose hanging from a dead tree that he left behind from the construction process—that made Dye lovable even as his designs violated most of the time-honored traditions of the great works. Alice’s editing, questions and golf savvy also should never be underestimated in making Pete what he was.

Pete Dye’s hands-on approach to construction also began a renaissance in the building of courses, His attention to detail and willingness to shape features approach took longer-than hoped to break the model of contractor-built, assembly-line golf courses that appeared stamped on the landscape by a blueprint. Eventually, however, his disciples have returned elite golf architectural creation to the field and away from the office.

And it is those Dye-inspired legacy of acolytes that have taken his lead in a renaissance of links golf, an emphasis on fun, and rekindling elements of design whimsy to offset the sport’s cruelty. Even the restoration movement responsible for rejuvenating so many classics, can almost entirely be tied to the awareness Pete Dye brought to the works of those who came before him. At heart, he was a traditionalist who played up his simpleton Midwest roots, but deep down inside there was a rebel, a nutty genius and imagination like no other. I hate to think what the game would look like had Pete Dye decided selling insurance was not for him. Thankfully, we don’t have to.