Loose Threads

Time remains a bit scarce as we're in the glide path to our Scotland adventure.... but we have a few items for you today.

Great Minds... - During my delightful outing to Wykagyl (which I've been meaning to blog) last week, the subject of Trump's involvement with golf came up in conversation with our host.  He and my friend Sid felt that The Donald is good for golf, investing where others fear to tread.

My take was more equivocal, not critical of his involvement but considering it largely irrelevant to the direction and future of our game.  I made the point that his high-end properties in Scotland and Ireland are almost completely irrelevant to golf in those wonderful countries, as precious few Scots will ever tread his links...  Now if you want a developer that's in fact good for our game, I suggested that Mike Keiser would be your man.

I was therefore pleased to see this item in the Oregonian on this very thread, as it seems The Combover can't resist taking potshots at his competitors:

"We're the obvious target," Keiser says with a chuckle, explaining that he and the

Republican presidential candidate are among a small group of developers of high-end golf courses. And Trump, as everyone now knows, is quick to attack competitors whether in politics or business. 

The four major courses at Bandon Dunes are more highly rated than Trump's golf empire -- and Keiser has done it with a very different philosophy. The grounds at Bandon Dunes are more naturalistic and not as perfectly manicuredas the typical Trump course. You won't find gold fixtures in the bathrooms or fancy chandeliers in the clubhouse. 

"We're more in the Oregon mode that more is less," says Keiser in a phone interview. "You won't find a fountain at Bandon Dunes."

I'm thinking he meant that less is more, but we take his point.   

Nope, nothing to see here per The Donald.

As the Bandon Dunes courses have grown in stature over the last decade, Trump has kept up a steady stream of ridicule. 

"You know, everyone crows about Bandon Dunes," Trump told Links magazine in 2010 as he was starting to build a links course north of Aberdeen, Scotland. "Well, I've been to Bandon Dunes. The views there are no better than what we have, and the dunes themselves are like little toys compared to our dunes." 

He hit the same theme in 2012 when he talked to Golf Digest's David Owen: "The biggest dune there is like one tenth the size of our smallest dune. It's a toy. And they get such great reviews. Every one of my courses is, like, amazing."

Keiser makes the obvious point here:

"If you asked my architects, they'd say that you want dunes, but not ones that are too big," he says, because the fairways wind up being in narrow valleys.

The ratings bear Keiser out.

And here:

"He's bombastic, that's his style," says Keiser, who firmly adds: "He's not my candidate." 

UPDATE: A new disclosure report for a super-PAC connected to Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush was released Friday, and it shows a $100,000 contribution from Keiser.

The piece amusingly references this Shackelford April Fools Day parody, perhaps this is the better parody after all:

The billionaire has submitted plans to demolish the resort’s current water feature.

In its place will stand a new fountain boasting lions, big cats and crowned by the ancient Centurion. 

Mr Trump has already spent £100,000 on a similar trademark feature down below at his new £5 million clubhouse. 

But the hotel version, a massive 40 feet in diameter, will weigh in at DOUBLE the size.

Sigh.

Haven't We Suffered Enough? - Sticking with our parody theme, could our Ryder Cup teams be any worse?  Perhaps:

John Daly has a vision for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. And it doesn't involve wearing ties.

Speaking at last week's Paul Lawrie Match Play, Daly said he would love to lead the American squad in the biennial competition against the Europeans.

"Hopefully I would one day be a captain, it would be fun," Daly said. "I don't know if I fit the mold. I don't know if I fit what the PGA of America would want. All I know is my team, if I was a captain, we'd have a blast. I'd make sure they had a blast. You don't want to wear a tie, don't wear a tie. Have fun. It's supposed to be fun."

Daly 2018, I can see the bumper stickers now.  Joel Beall posits five positives to be found in a Daly Captaincy (Spoiler Alert: Team Outfits is the best of it), including this odd note:

It Would Inject Desperately-Needed Pizzazz

The 2014 Ryder Cup was slaughtered in TV ratings. Part of this stemmed from its time slot, yet there's no doubting the American sporting public's attention is divided during the fall between college and pro football and baseball's playoff race.

While golf zealots tune in no matter the ancillary factors, the event needs to draw in the general crowd. Adding Daly to the mix would help garner such eyes.

Ummmm, does anyone think that the Ryder Cup is under-promoted?  And let's just remind ourselves that the man is a disgrace, having been fined by the Tour an incredible number of times for failing to, you know, try...here's just a taste:

Eventually, his personnel file at the PGA Tour swelled to 456 pages, with incidents covering 18 years, through the fall of 2008. Daly was fined nearly $100,000 during that span, suspended from the Tour five times, placed on probation six times, cited 11 times for “conduct unbecoming a professional” and 21 times for “failure to give best efforts.”

 Those 456 pages just scream "Captain", don't they?

Remembering Rory - Still no word on whether Rory will defend at Whistling Straits, but this video of the lad with trick-shot maestros The Bryan brothers was filmed before his infamous kick-round:

Rory acquits himself reasonably well, and word has come that he's scheduled a practice round on Saturday.  Hard to imagine he could be sharp, and it's an awfully difficult walking course.

Trip Preview - We're in the glide path to our Scotland trip, and the blog will turn into a travelogue during that period.  As many of you are aware, the trip highlight will be our excursion to Askernish on the island of South Uist (pronounced YEW-ist) in the Outer Hebrides.

We are delighted to be joined on this excursion by Elsie and John Coupland, who hail from the Highlands town of Strathpeffer.  We met Elsie (the famed Scottish Housewife) and John years ago at Lake Isle in Eastchester, and with our friend Jewelle and Glenn have become quite good friends.  Jewelle and Glenn  have just returned from Scotland (you'll no doubt recall the picture of Glenn from the Road Hole grandstands) and Elsie and John are enjoying a short respite before the arrival of the next colonists.

Jewelle shared this wonderful picture of John, Elsie and Glenn (from l-to-r) hanging with Old Tom at Tain Golf Club:

We'll be there as well, and you'll likely see a similar photo in about ten days.

But for now, this short piece is your required reading, detailing the discovery of "Askernish Old" by John Garrity.  Here's a tease:

Golf writers love the thrill of discovering a new destination for their readers, a heretofore hidden gem. Back in 1990, John Garrity experienced that thrill of discovery in a very profound way, uncovering an 1891 Old Tom Morris design on the isolated Scottish island of South Uist. The course -Askernish – had not simply eluded American visitors. It had literally been 
lost to the ages.