Blair Ditch Project: Buck Club To Be Built Near Aiken

/
Screen Shot 2020-09-01 at 7.46.51 PM.png

Golf Architecture’s Adam Lawrence confirms what his Instagram followers have known for some time: Zac Blair’s Buck Club dream will be realized near Aiken, South Carolina.

The PGA Tour member and well known architecture aficionado had dreamed of his native Utah but the collaboration with King-Collins Design will be in on a sandy 407 acres currently occupied by a tree farm.

The site has around 60-70 feet of elevation change, and Collins said the Coore & Crenshaw restoration of Pinehurst No. 2 had provided a lot of inspiration for the design thinking on the Buck Club.

Blair’s original plan, to build the course in his home state of Utah had to be abandoned, as land and construction costs made it impractical to complete the project. The player-developer is currently raising funds to support the development, and Collins confirmed there is no rush to break ground.

“We will leave the construction schedule to Zac – it will go ahead when he is ready,” he concluded.

Nothing against Utah, but greater Aiken puts this on a greater golf radar for what is such a neat thing: an active PGA Tour pro who loves courses and plays because he loves the game.

View this post on Instagram

Another successful visit to the tree farm! #TBC

A post shared by Zac Blair (@zachary_blair) on

Ranking For The Wee Ones: Golf Magazine Lists Best Par-3 Courses, Nine-Holers And Under-6000 Yarders

/
Welshpool

Welshpool

Rankings have become redundant, or worse, the last profit centers for some publications. The sheen is all but gone from most listings, though Golf is sticking to a small panel of experts and now, three lists that will only hopefully inspire more non-18-hole, non-elitist recognition of what matters: fun places to play.

Ran Morrissett sets up this new “top 100” this way:

The earliest tracks were 5-, 6-, 7-, 9- and 12-hole affairs. The locals looked for land that drained well, with interesting natural obstacles. If the property only supported six holes, so be it. The sport wasn’t meant to soak up half the day. Work beckoned. The Industrial Age eventually created the chance for more of the population to pursue leisure activities, and golf expanded. Move the clock forward 150-odd years and courses of all shapes and sizes now exist.

The top 50 nine-hole courses features so many nifty places you’d love to play, leading off with Tom Dunn’s Royal Worlington and Newmarket, dating to 1895. While I love everything about the Winter Park 9, seeing it next to Musselburgh was a bit strange. The Cradle of Golf it is not. But we’ll let that slide for the overall grandeur of this stellar list.

Golf also put together 25 “exemplary” sub-6000 yard courses listed from shortest to longest. This highlights a class of course totally underappreciated by rankings and hopefully bolsters travel itineraries with some of the most enjoyable rounds you’ll ever play. Places like Shiskin, Kilspindie and Welshpool (above) get much-needed attention, as do so many other “gems”. The only bummer: just six reside in the United States, but that’s more of a statement about us than architects or developers.

The final and most exciting list of all highlights the world’s 25 best par-3’s in alphabetical order. It’s easy to imagine this growing to 50 or 100 in a few years given not making this iteration, including Turnberry’s revamped pitch and putt, the Spieth Lower 40 in Texas and some of Tiger Woods’s efforts.

I loved this summation of the renewed interest in par-3’s:

“The growing popularity of par-3 courses is a wonderful anomaly in a game often obsessed with distance,” says Adam Messix, a head PGA professional in Cashiers, N.C. “From one perspective, par-3 courses are a test of precision. More important, I think, they’re a joy to play for golfers of every caliber. Par-3 courses lack the formality you see at quote-unquote real courses, where you have to follow golf’s various conventions, like four players maximum to a group. They’re all about fun, families, friends and inclusiveness. Their ability to include all players make them the ideal place to enjoy the game no matter one’s age or ability.”

Naturally it was a treat to see our Horse Course effort at the Prairie Club make the cut alongside some of the planet’s neatest one-shotter classics.

2020 BMW Ratings Up 10% Without NFL Preseason, LPGA Sunday Finish Fails To Rate

/
Showbuzzdaily.com

Showbuzzdaily.com

Buoyed by a strong finish spilling into the prime time window, the 2020 BMW championship was up 10% from 2019’s playing, drawing a 2.3 and 3.4 million average viewers on NBC. Jon Rahm defeated Dustin Johnson after both made unbelievable 18th green putts, one in regulation (Johnson) and the latter in the sudden death (Rahm).

The 2020 BMW was played a week later than last year and without NFL preseason competition.

The 2.23 final round rating almost won the sports weekend, falling just short of NASCAR’s Saturday race but easily outdrawing several NBA playoff games on cable.

The 2020 BMW weekend lead-in coverage on Golf Channel was essentially flat from last year (.54/.73 in 2019 vs. .64/.68 in 2020).

Meanwhile, the LPGA Tour remained in a traditional weekend finish slow and attempted to go against the PGA Tour and many other sports. Both weekend rounds of the Walmart NW Arkansas on Golf Channel aired from 5-7 pm ET and failed to land in the top 150 cable shows.

To beat the drum for the 913th time: why try to compete with so many viewing options, particularly when fan-free events should free up Monday or Tuesday finishes?

2020 U.S. Open Flyover: Fourth Hole At Winged Foot

/
Screen Shot 2020-08-31 at 8.01.22 PM.png

Winged Foot’s 467-yard 4th features fairway bunkers 300 off the tee that will only come into play for those who have elected not to hit the gym regularly. With a nice right to left bend that’ll fit the eye of most, the 4th ought to be a drive and short-iron. The extraordinary green complex has seen a huge restoration effort mirroring A.W. Tillinghast’s original.

Here is the flyover from the U.S. Open Twitter account, which is currently flooded with a lot of retweeted drivel and sad attempts to seem young and cool. You’ll thank me some day for this embed and sparing you of the unraveling U.S. Open social media account:

Tiger And Phil Sounding Like...Veterans

/

I wouldn’t dare say old since they’re both in great shape but after Tiger’s four days in the 2020 BMW Championship he offered this about his back:

Q. How have you felt?

TIGER WOODS: Felt?

Q. Body-wise, physical-wise.

TIGER WOODS: It aches every day.

Q. Has it hurt you at all, just your back or your health in general?

TIGER WOODS: Well, my back is what it is. It's always going to ache and it's always going to be stiff. That's just -- when you have a fusion, that's just part of the deal. I'll have my good days, and as I've told you guys before, I'll have my good days and bad days.

Then there was this from Phil Mickelson regarding his Monday-Wednesday Champions Tour debut and win. He’s liking that cart!

Club Pro Guy also offered an alternate take on this bit of social insight sounding more like a young Phil.

View this post on Instagram

A new lease on life. #LiveUnderNetPar

A post shared by ClubProGuy (@clubproguy) on

ZOZO Championship Will Make A One Year Stop At Sherwood

/

After two weeks in Las Vegas, the PGA Tour will now move to old friend Sherwood Country Club just two weeks prior to the Masters. The “ZOZO Championship @ Sherwood” will not only give players a decent test prior to the Masters, the use of the @ symbol will resonate with the coveted 18-34 year-olds. Win-win!

Tiger Woods won last year’s inaugural ZOZO in Japan but due to COVID-19, the 2020 version of the PGA Tour’s fall Asian swing is getting replaced by a western United States series.

Sherwood hosted ten Shark Shootouts, 13 World Challenges, one prime time match and most recently, three Champions Tour events.

For Immediate Release:

PGA TOUR and ZOZO Inc. announce ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP will move to Sherwood Country Club in California in October

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and Tokyo, Japan: PGA TOUR and ZOZO Inc. officials today announced that the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP will not be played in Japan as scheduled this October but will instead move to Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California Oct. 22-25, 2020.

Due to unprecedented challenges and the unique circumstances which led to the move to the United States, officials said the tournament will be known as the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD this year. 

Last October, the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP was launched as Japan’s first official PGA TOUR tournament at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba. Tiger Woods emerged victorious following a three-shot victory over Hideki Matsuyama and tied the all-time record of 82 PGA TOUR victories held by Sam Snead.

“The PGA TOUR is grateful that ZOZO Inc. has partnered with us to host the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD this October,” said Ty Votaw, PGA TOUR Executive Vice President, International. “Considering ZOZO Inc.’s main business is in Japan, the decision to hold its event in the U.S. underscores their commitment and support towards our sport, communities where we play and the PGA TOUR. We are truly thankful for our partnership with ZOZO Inc. and the Japan Golf Tour Organization.”

Votaw added: “Following last year’s successful launch, our players will no doubt be disappointed to miss traveling to Japan to play in the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP this year, but we look forward to returning in 2021. Through the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD, we are excited to showcase another strong field and deliver world-class golf to fans in the U.S., Japan and around the world.”

President & CEO, Kotaro Sawada, ZOZO, Inc. said: "It is unfortunate that we are unable to have the PGA TOUR stars in Japan this year and we’re sorry to the faithful Japanese fans who have been eagerly waiting to welcome the players back to Japan and to see them back out on the course. However, we are pleased to be able to host this year's ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in the U.S. at the acclaimed Sherwood Country Club. During this difficult time, we look forward to dedicating this year’s tournament not just to the fans in Japan, but to fans around the world. We are proud to be able to provide an opportunity for the players to compete and our team will continue to work closely with the PGA TOUR to stage a world-class event this October.”

The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD will now be part of a three-event swing on the West Coast in October as part of the early 2020-21 PGA TOUR Schedule: the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, Nevada (Oct. 8-11); THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK in Las Vegas, Nevada (Oct. 15-18); and the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD to be held at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California (Oct. 22-25).

The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD will feature 78 professionals, including the leading players from the 2019-20 FedExCup points list, players designated by the Japan Golf Tour Organization and sponsor exemptions.

In addition to the US$8 million purse, ZOZO, Inc. is planning various charity activities in Japan, the proceeds from which will be donated to fund programs and measures to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus among other things.

Sherwood Country Club is a Jack Nicklaus Signature designed golf course and has hosted numerous PGA TOUR-sanctioned events in the past, including the Greg Norman hosted-Shark Shootout, World Challenge hosted by Tiger Woods and a PGA TOUR Champions event. Woods also played David Duval in an exhibition billed as the “Showdown at Sherwood” in 1999, which Woods won 2&1.

“Sherwood Country Club and its Members are honored to host this year’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD and welcome golf’s greatest players as our guests for the week. We are greatly appreciative to ZOZO Inc. for this unique privilege. Our staff throughout the club are excitedly preparing the club in anticipation of this extraordinary event and look forward to once again working closely with the PGA TOUR. Sherwood’s scenic Jack Nicklaus Signature design will provide an exceptional background for a memorable week of golf during an unforgettable time,” says Rob Oosterhuis, PGA, General Manager and CEO of Sherwood Country Club.

Jon Rahm Sinks Epic 66-Footer To Pull Within Two Of Dustin Johnson's Tour Championship Lead

/
Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 8.08.01 PM.png

Oh, and that amazing putt helped Rahm claim the BMW Championship in a thrilling finish over Dustin Johnson, who also made a doozy to send the tournament into overtime.

But I digress. Why focus on the BMW when the real story is next week’s Thursday leaderboard? While we’re in the midst of this playoff let’s send it down to Steve Sands for more. Will JT be four back or two back next Friday? Could Rahm cut into his deficit next week with a win this week? Inquiring minds do not need to know.

Fourteen years into this FedExCup, we’re still subjected to the hard sell. I realize there is a gargantuan sum of money at stake. And a season-long sponsor demanding full value for their investment even at the expense of other sponsors trying to have their moment. Yet once again, a compelling final round on a penalizing parkland course was mostly overshadowed by the effort to push FedExCup narratives that no sane individual cares about in the best of times. During a pandemic, it’s nails-on-the-chalkboard stuff. Especially with a fascinating final round featuring a better-than-most variety of characters.

As NBC’s Paul Azinger noted on Saturday, the FedExCup is a “pretty prestigious” competition. That was an apparently slight he mopped up, undoubtedly after an 904 area code popped-up on someone’s phone. This overall demand to focus on the perennially lame “playoff’ race was more of a shame than normal. The NBC team really never got to go deep on any topic or even do something mildly in-depth on the difficult setup conditions. There were just too many non-BMW obligations to juggle.

Even Mackenzie Hughes’s putt to get into the Tour Championship, while dramatic, felt like NBC’s team turning it into Ouimet beating Vardon and Ray. The hard sell brings down genuinely great moments.

Producer Tommy Roy was working without several once-normal production values that would have made this “playoff” event better. Yet the final putt replay sequence was vintage NBC stuff, yet not having an aerial shot of a few key tee shots getting amazing kicks off of trees turned out to be a huge storytelling miss we’re not used to with NBC. Particularly with CBS now mastering that element over the last 11 weeks and Winged Foot looming in two weeks, we can only hope the accountants loosen some purse strings. (NBC’s 2006 U.S. Open coverage was so epic in part thanks to aerial’s of Phil’s 18th hole adventure.)

Mercifully on this Sunday, we had Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm to thank for an unforgettable 2020 BMW finish.

Their absurdly long putts are embedded below and Daniel Rapaport covers all of Rahm and Johnson’s reactions here at GolfDigest.com. If you just have to know what the Tour Championship leaderboard looks like Friday morning (Labor Day finish), Ben Everill has it in this FedExCup points race roundup.

Take a look at the ShotLink scatter chart for the 18th green Sunday and note how there was no birdie putt resembling what Rahm made. Johnson’s make in regulation is highlighted in the second slide followed by a clean slide showing the 18th hole birdies in regulation:

Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 8.30.52 PM.png
Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 8.33.04 PM.png
Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 8.31.17 PM.png

Video of Johnson’s incredible 18th hole birdie putt, sending the 2020 BMW into overtime:

Rahm’s 66-footer for the ages:

The final round highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment:

2020 U.S. Open Flyover: Third Hole At Winged Foot

/
Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 7.37.52 PM.png

Winged Foot’s 243-yard third is in that sour spot no one likes unless they’re standing on Cypress Point.

With a classic Tillinghast bunkering scheme, the steeply pitched green should welcome today’s 4 and 5-irons unless tournament tees are moved up. A particularly goyish house behind the green also highlights OB lurking, though such a costly outcome seems unlikely on a hole of this length.

Stack: Dick's And Golf Galaxy Seeing Big Spike In Sales And Junior Golf Thriving

/

Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack, at one time believed to be the most arse-kissed executive in golf, deservedly lost his allure around 2014-15 after the whole PGA pro firing thing that set off a ridiculous blaming of revenue falls on golf’s “structural decline”, and then realizing it was nonsense and golfers might take business elsewhere, backtracked.

As retail sales decline, Stack also appears less powerful with the move to direct-to-consumer online commerce. That all said, even though his past actions and assessments suggest he’s all about the bottom line, his company and the people briefing him remain important observers of industry trends.

Thanks to reader Steve for Myles Udland’s Yahoo Finance story on golf’s positive numbers during the pandemic and this assessment from Stack on junior golf.

And a standout during the quarter is what the company saw in its golf segment. An area that Dick’s management expects will continue to be a point of strength for the company through the rest of the year.

“The golf business has been great both at Dick’s and [Golf] Galaxy,” said Dick’s CEO Ed Stack on the company’s earnings conference call on Wednesday.

“There’s a number of young people who have come into the game because they’re not playing football or soccer or some other sport,” Stack added. “So they’re out playing [golf]. Guys are out playing golf because they’re not at their kids’ games. Men, women, and kids have really all jumped into this game and we expect that to continue through the balance of the year, too.”

2020 U.S. Open Flyover: Second Hole At Winged Foot

/
Screen Shot 2020-08-29 at 7.50.11 PM.png

The 484 yard second is highlighted an audacious green enlargement/restoration that took place under Hanse Design’s supervision.

The tee shot features a bend to the right and kind of odd looking outside-the-dogleg fairway bunker at 300 yards, in other words, only a minor annoyance to most in the 2020 Hale America 2/U.S. Open tournament.

Don’t hesitate to hit pause when the flyover reaches the green. Most will focus on the overhanging tree—certainly an odd hazard on a classic course. But spend more time looking at the putting surface shape. You can see a lot of intricate movements, no small feat in the era of USGA Green construction that has made contours and extreme shapes quite cumbersome to create.

Yet it’s those corners, bends and wings that add more interest and natural lines, all things you’d expect in a revered design. For more on Winged Foot’s effort to rebuild greens and retain contours, the USGA produced this video two years ago.

2020 U.S Open Flyover: First Hole At Winged Foot

/

The countdown begins to Winged Foot and this year’s delayed U.S. Open and as is the tradition here, all 18 flyovers will be posted. While not as cool as this dreck for Executive Committee members to see youth outreach as envisioned by “adults”, we like to stick to the important stuff here.

This year’s tournament will be played September 17-20, meaning, with 18 holes it’s time to chip away at the memory banks since the West Course has not hosted since 2006’s Geoff Ogilvy win.

Much has changed, as Hanse Design oversaw restoration work of A.W. Tillinghast’s original. Out of the chute we get the drive-and-pitch first with its diabolical green. Squared corners and refreshed bunkers look superb.

At just 451 yards, a nice drive sets up a likely wedge for today’s decathletes. Maybe a Pelz nine on a cooler early fall morning.

Olympia Fields Bites Back And It's Still Not Getting A U.S. Open Any Time Soon

/

Since 2003 I’d somehow forgotten what an absolute snoozer Olympia Fields can be on TV. As in, get out the hair dryer-to-deal-with-pillow-drool-dull, confirms the blogger coming off two amazing BMW Championship afternoon power naps.

That said, if par-protecting-fests-to-make-up-for-the-apparent-indignity-of-Jim-Furyk-winning-your-U.S.-Open, Olympia Fields is certainly a contrast from last week’s birdiefest. However, with a logjam of masterful venues in the queue, the USGA likely shrinking things down to a rota, several bigger name classics offering restored designs, Olympia Fields is not getting a U.S. Open anytime soon.

Dylan Dethier with some of the more extreme numbers for a regular Tour stop.

Billy Horschel says its fair, so in addition to deep naps, I’ll sleep so much better tonight.

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein is reveling in Olympia Fields playing like a U.S. Open course, reporting on the odd USGA shot taken by 36-hole co-leader Rory McIlroy.

Asked if Olympia Fields could be a good U.S. Open venue, McIlroy said yes and added this zinger: “I think what they could do is hire the Western Golf Association to set (it) up. Yeah, this would be a wonderful test for a U.S. Open.”

The course was softened in 2003 by weather but more notably, the PGA Tour rules and agronomy staff oversees the setup this week. So I’m not entirely sure Rory’s punch landed.

Ironically, the event ushering in this whole players v. USGA was at Shinnecock Hills a year later. Not all believe that’s a coincidence.

55 (-16) For 18 Holes!

/
Screen Shot 2020-08-28 at 8.34.29 PM.png

Also, Alexander Hughes parred the first and last hole at South Lakes in greater Tulsa to post 55.

From Adam Woodward at Golfweek:

Hughes, a former player at Central Oklahoma, tied the Guinness Book of World Records’ lowest score in a single round of golf with a 55 on Thursday at South Lakes Golf Course in Jenks, Oklahoma.

After making par on the first hole, Hughes made a hole-in-one on the 155-yard par-3 second, followed by another par. Then he got hot, birdieing Nos. 4-8 with an eagle on No. 9 to make the turn at 9-under 26. His birdie streak ended on No. 10 with a par on 11, but the four-year letter winner at Central got to 10 under with a birdie on No. 12.

The card and last hole attempt at birdie.

Oh and it was almost lower:

Popov: LPGA Sticks With Finalized ANA Inspiration Field Minus Recent Major Winner

/

A tough, even seemingly irrational call was made by LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan and the LPGA to remain firm on September 10-13th’s ANA Inspiration: the field set for earlier this year remains in place, despite Sophia Popov’s improbable Women’s Open win.

Some context from Julie Williams at Golfweek summing up the tough situation and membership “category” issues created by the pandemic rescheduling. From Whan:

“You don’t have to like that, you don’t have to agree with me on that,” Whan said. “But that way, from the very beginning we knew that a winner there was going to qualify for the 2021 ANA.”

As for limited membership, Whan points out it has happened before – and recently.

“I’ve been commissioner 11 years. I’ve seen plenty of non-member wins at majors,” Whan said. “And I’ve seen almost all of those non-members go onto long and storied careers on the LPGA.”

According to the LPGA, In Gee Chun (2015 U.S. Women’s Open) and Hyo Joo Kim (2014 Evian Championship) are among recent players who won a major championship and received a two-year LPGA membership. Hinako Shibuno (2019 AIG Women’s Open) would have received the same if she had accepted LPGA membership.

No matter how you feel, Whan deserve major plaudits for not merely wheeling out a press release. I happen to think it’s the right decision because of precedent-setting fears.

His video statement:

PGA Tour's Champ Discusses Showing Support For Racial Injustice

/
Screen Shot 2020-08-27 at 9.13.52 PM.png

After posting a BMW opening 77, Cameron Champ still spoke to press about his show of support for protestors and other professional athletes choosing to not contest official games and matches. From Adam Schupak’s report in Chicago:

The PGA Tour posted a video on social media on Wednesday that Champ re-tweeted, in which he wore a Nike golf shoe that is black on his left foot and white on his right foot, the latter with the words “Jacob Blake” and “BLM” in blue marker. During Thursday’s round he shook up his message.

“I have Papa Champ on my sneakers, Black Lives Matter and Breonna Taylor,” he said. “Obviously there are some very important reasons why that’s on my shoes. For my grandfather, if anyone knows my story, he grew up in the South, Jim Crow, all those eras through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s and obviously Breonna Taylor, which is another ongoing issue. For me again that’s kind of where I stand with this. I just want to show my love and support and obviously with my hat, as well.”

Champ’s full remarks here were also of note:

Q. Just to build on that, with the NBA it looks a lot different than the PGA TOUR. I just wonder, there's probably a number of players, certainly fans who have a different idea of what Black Lives Matter means. I just wonder if you feel in any way like an outlier when you support this or you wear the shoes and you're the only one here, right? Just how you kind of square that and how you feel about that.

CAMERON CHAMP: Yeah, I mean, it's -- again, I mean, I do to a sense. Like I said, it's a situation where, again, that video I did yesterday, and I've been told what some people have said. I'm like, that's just -- if you don't understand the full view of everything and realize what's going on and realize the statistics with massive incarceration to law and order to war on drugs to statistically speaking there's, what, I think 12 percent of the U.S.'s population is African-American which makes up 33 percent of the incarcerations versus 62 or 63 percent Caucasian and it makes up 30 percent. So how do those numbers add up?

So it's just, again, a topic that again, I'm going to always show my support. Again, it's part of me, it's part of my family, again, with my grandfather who I looked up to more than anyone, and he's the one who I've learned all the knowledge from and kind of fed off, and again, I think it's a good thing we're all talking about it, because again, it's what needs to happen for change to happen.