Tuesday Tastings

Thanks for allowing me to skip out of class early yesterday....  It was as good as expected, though the legs remain quite fried.  

Wild About Harry - Via The Fried Egg comes this profile of the great Harry Shapland (I'll admit that I never knew for what the "S" stood) Colt.  The item is by Andy Johnson with contributions from architect Keith Cutten, the latter of whom penned this intro:

“Harry Shapland Colt is likely the most well known, but still under-appreciated golf architects of all time. We tend to study golf architecture by looking at individual artists 

St. George's Hill

and their portfolios of work. Where Colt stands apart is his influence over others, and in the pioneering of golf course architecture as its own discipline. Colt’s practices set the stage, prior to WWI, for the many superlative works which would follow. His work in the Heathlands of England preceded Alister MacKenzie’s and Charles Alison’s spread of the craft to Australia and Japan. His work at Pine Valley inspired many of the Philadelphia School. His work at Old Elm would inspire a young Donald Ross. Finally, his work at Toronto Golf Club and Hamilton Golf & Country Club would inspire a young Stanley Thompson. While his courses are often praised, it is his influence over others that is likely overlooked and of greater significance to the evolution of golf course architecture.”

When you've influenced those guys, you've truly done God's work.  Perhaps a brief list of credits is in order:

Sunningdale (Old and New), the Eden Course at St Andrews Links, Pine Valley Golf Club (contributed), Royal Portrush, Muirfield, Swinley Forest, St. George’s Hill, Old Elm Club, Toronto Golf Club and Hamilton Golf & Country Club.

I did say brief.... there's more.

How's about this for a career change?

Upon graduation, Colt began working at a law firm in Hastings and in 1884 was made a partner in the firm of Sayer & Colt. While his upbringing, education and career would have made him a respectable member Britain’s upper class, Colt was drawn to a future in golf. In 1895, he joined his mentor Douglas Rolland in the design of a new golf course at Rye. That same year, Colt was made honorary secretary of the club. It would be from this position that he would develop his earliest philosophies on design, as he slowly tweaked the course over the next 6 years. Further, in 1897, he became a founding member of the Royal & Ancient Rules of Golf Committee. Colt likely became a member of the R&A through John Low, a friend who was a year ahead of him at Cambridge. 

In 1901, captivated by the works of Willie Park Jr. in the Heathlands of England, Colt made a more serious shift to golf when he applied for the position of secretary at the new Sunningdale Golf Club. At Sunningdale, Colt was on hand as the course was praised for its natural charm. Over the years, he continued to make updates to the course, especially after the introduction of the rubber core golf ball, while also beginning to add to his solo design resume. Colt’s first solo project was near London during the early 1900s, but this quickly led to more opportunities. Demand for his design services soon became so great that he required the addition of several associates.

 I knew of his influence on the good doctor, but didn't realize that they had been professionally affiliated:

the authors do a fine job of describing Colt's design philosophy, a far more difficult undertaking than with other Golden Age architects.  Here's a brief excerpt:

Unlike other greats such as C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor, finding commonly used design principles and characteristics in Harry Colt’s courses is difficult as Colt’s work is intentionally more diverse. Instead, his courses exemplify his overarching design beliefs of variety, strategy and playability. However, from his book titled Some Essays on Golf Course Architecture, published in 1920 with co-author C.H. Alison and with contributions from Alister MacKenzie, Horace G. Hutchinson, John L. Low and others, additional understanding of his design philosophy can be distilled.

During the design process, Colt was known for being a little bit more methodical compared to his peers making multiple trips to a site before deciding on how to route the golf course. This attention to detail showed as nearly every course he worked on became revered. 

If the subject is of interest, then you'll want to read the entire thing.  You'll be glad you did.

Distance Stuff -  Ryan Balangee has a long and thoughtful item on the distance issue, but with more data than is typical for such an effort.  I'll dive in with this dense chart:

There's a lot to unpack, but the significant dates are 1996 and 2000.  The former represents the introduction of titanium into driver heads and the latter is the introduction of the solid core ball, i.e., the Pro-V1.

Ryan spends much time dissecting the cause of the distance increase, which I find terribly interesting though it may not be all that relevant.  For instance, he notes that the increase from 1996-2000, about seven yards, is the effect of the use of titanium with the old, wound golf ball.  But of course they didn't stop there with the space age materials, they continued to engineer out or move weight to incorporate greater amounts of titanium.  

That's interesting, but this next one on swing speed came as quite the surprise to me:

1 MPH translates to approximately three yards, so color me surprised that with all the ab work these guys do, they're not actually swinging the club much faster.  

Ryan continues his data mining with launch angles, spin rates and smash factors, all available since 2007.  He satisfies himself that he can explain the distance increase (the astute among will notice no actual distance increase, but there was an increase in the carry distance) from 2007, though that necessarily ignores the bigger increase in the late 90's-early aughts.

Ryan ends up making the case for bifurcation, and it's worth your time to give him a hearing.  But as much as I love his analysis, I'm not sure that the allocation of cause changes that determination at all.  They are hitting it ungodly distances, and all these numbers I'll remind you predate Cameron Champ, so we need to deal with the ramifications thereof.  The ball is just obviously the logical place to look, as it's one discrete piece of the puzzle that can be easily controlled by the governing bodies, and there's a precedent in tennis for changing the ball after breakthroughs in racket technology.

Making News - Golf Digest is a tease....  They're rolling out their top 25 newsmakers for 2018, but only releasing there at a pop.  They obviously haven't accounted for my limited attention span, but this one got my attention after yesterday's citation of the incident:

Cheating is golf’s biggest taboo. It engenders a code of omerta, a cognizance of the scarlet letter that comes with the slightest assertion. It all made Joel Dahmen’s accusation 

that fellow competitor Sung Kang had knowingly broken the rules at the Quicken Loans National in July the talk of the tournament. Kang, Dahmen’s final-round playing partner, found a hazard at TPC Potomac’s 10th hole. Kang believed his ball passed over the stakes; Dahmen disputed the account, alleging Kang failed to cross the water. The argument continued so long that the group behind played through. Though a rules official eventually sided with Kang—whose T-3 finish earned an Open Championship invite—Dahmen, 31, remained steadfast, taking to Twitter to air his grievance: “Kang cheated. He took a bad drop from a hazard. I argued until I was blue. I lost.” Speaking at Carnoustie, Kang defended his actions. “I did the right thing,” the 31-year-old from South Korea insisted. One silver lining from the thorny incident: Dahmen, a career journeyman, seemed galvanized by the matter, reeling off four consecutive top-15s to keep his card for 2019. As did Kang. —Joel Beall

I just wish Joell had developed his thoughts further....  And mine, as well, in yesterday's post.  Dahmen had Kang dead to rights, partially because of Kang's own words about his ball flight.

The issue is that the rules official was unwilling to decide based upon the arguments.  So, what message has been sent?  To the Joe Dahmen's of the world, there's no point trying to protect the field.  And to the Kang's of the world, just keep insisting and you'll likely get your way.  That's one hell of an incentive system, no?

Also Making News - John Feinstein bemoans the media's exclusive focus on that certain guy to the exclusion of other interesting stories.  First, we should allow him to make the case that he's not a hater:

Look, I completely get the whole icon thing with Woods. He is, in my opinion, the greatest player in history—all due respect to Jack Nicklaus. I also understand that to

many people the only story that mattered in 2018 was his comeback. TV ratings (and Internet traffic) certainly reflect that fact as do the adoring screams of fans whenever he’s on the golf course. 

Taking out the golf part, whether I completely understand the Tiger phenomenon is another story for another day. But, as I said earlier in this year amidst the hysteria every time he teed it up, I think it’s a shame that his return to glory—not Glory, which would involve winning a major—so completely overshadowed some wonderful golf stories that took place in 2018.

Noted.  John offers some suggestions of other compelling stories, most notably Brooksie going from unable to swing a club in April to those two majors.  Fair enough, but what I liked most was his take on the Ryder Cup:

And, oh yeah, the Ryder Cup. Remember two years ago when the U.S. had unlocked the

secret of Ryder Cup success with the famed, “Ryder Cup Task Force?” Not exactly. 

What happened in 2016 is that Europe had its weakest team in years that included six rookies, none of whom made the team in 2018, and a couple of players Darren Clarke had to put on the team because he needed some experience: Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood, even though neither was playing very well. 

You take that, throw in a golf course set up for the U.S.—wide fairways, light rough and fast greens—and, voila, the Americans all love one another and they win going away. Trust me, if you’d given Tom Watson those conditions, he’d have been a beloved captain.

To clarify, it's his take on that 2016 Ryder Cup that I liked...  The one that had Phil & Co. convinced that they had unlocked the key to the universe.   

The Frisco Kids - I was reliably assured that Seth Waugh is not a Texas kind of guy....  And yet:

The PGA plans to move from its longtime home in Florida to a newly built campus at the northern edge of Frisco in a deal that could cost more than $500 million, three sources

familiar with the project told The Dallas Morning News Friday. 

The project would include a new 500-room resort by Dallas-based Omni Hotels & Resorts, the new 100,000-square-foot headquarters building, two championship-level golf courses and a 9-hole practice course. 

It will also include a guarantee that two PGA Championships, two Women's PGA Championships and multiple men's Senior PGA Championships will be played in Frisco, sources said.

Can anyone see where the PGA's 29,000 members might wonder what's in it for them?  Though I might have found Seth's loophole:

According to three pros who heard Waugh’s remarks, he said the association will keep a satellite office in West Palm Beach, likely in their current headquarters where they have been for decades, but would move the membership and general headquarters to a rolling piece of land in northern Frisco.

Frisco for thee, but not for me..... 

Tiger Scat - I guess those guys in Vegas watched The Match:

Tiger Woods remains a favorite to win the 2019 Masters, but he now has company at the top of Westgate Las Vegas Superbook's board. 

Following a poor performance at the Hero World Challenge in which Woods, the tournament host, finished 17th in the 18-man field, Westgate downgraded him from 10-to-1 odds at Augusta National to 12-1. The 14-time major champ is now a co-favorite with Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose.

Woods is a four-time time Masters champ, but hasn't slipped on the green jacket since 2005. Spieth matched Woods' Masters scoring record during his 2015 win, and has four top-three finishes in five starts at Augusta National.

Still feels like a short to me....  Though I do remain the '62 Mets of fantasy golf.

Is anyone but me embarrassed for Tiger for having Monster Energy on his golf bag?  Does anyone know what's really in those energy drinks?  This seems unwise, though of course I wasn't consulted:

Tiger Woods is in talks to produce a drink of his own with Monster Energy, according to a report from Golfweek. 

Woods debuted his Monster golf bag — black with green trim — at the 2016 Hero World Challenge. On course, Woods drinks often from a matching black-and-green Monster water bottle. Two years later, at the conclusion of the 2018 Hero, Woods and Monster appear to be in it for the long haul. 

“We just extended the deal with Monster, and so we’re looking at what the next stages are of that relationship,” Woods’s agent Mark Steinberg told Golfweek’s Dan Kilbridge. Those next stages, Steinberg indicated, could include a Tiger-branded drink.

Ick!  It's vile stuff, and Tiger promoting it is unseemly....  But I had forgotten that there was a previous model for such a deal:

If Monster and Woods were to reach an agreement on a drink, it would not be the first Tiger-branded beverage. Woods was under contract with Gatorade, which produced “Tiger” drinks until they were discontinued in late 2009.

Hmmm...did something happen in late '09?  Oh yeah, that little spot of bother. 

Don't Know Much About History - So, how good is Brooks Koepka?  It's a bit early to be making that call, but Josh Sens pays tribute in an item that purports to identify the six greatest multi-major winning season in history.  We'll get to his choices, one quite strange, in a sec, but he interestingly includes this list of such seasons:

Strength In Numbers: The Multiple-Major Seasons

1922: Gene Sarazen (U.S. Open, PGA Championship)

1924: Walter Hagen (U.S. Open, PGA Championship)

1926: Bobby Jones (U.S. Open, PGA Championship)

1930: Bobby Jones (British Amateur, British Open, U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur)

1932: Gene Sarazen (U.S. Open, British Open)

1941: Craig Wood (Masters, U.S. Open)

1948: Ben Hogan (U.S. Open, PGA Championship)

1949: Sam Snead (Masters, PGA Championship)

1951: Ben Hogan (Masters, U.S. Open)

1953: Ben Hogan (Masters, U.S. Open, British Open)

1956: Jack Burke Jr. (Masters, PGA Championship)

1960: Arnold Palmer (Masters, U.S. Open)

1962: Arnold Palmer (Masters, British Open)

1963: Jack Nicklaus (Masters, PGA Championship)

1966: Jack Nicklaus (Masters, British Open)

1971: Lee Trevino (U.S. Open, British Open)

1974: Gary Player (Masters, British Open)

1975: Jack Nicklaus (Masters, PGA Championship)

1977: Tom Watson (Masters, British Open)

1980: Jack Nicklaus (U.S. Open, PGA Championship)

1982: Tom Watson (U.S. Open, British Open)

1990: Nick Faldo (Masters, British Open)

1994: Nick Price (British Open, PGA Championship)

1998: Mark O’Meara (Masters, British Open)

2000: Tiger Woods (U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship)

2002: Tiger Woods (Masters, U.S. Open)

2005: Tiger Woods (Masters, British Open)

2006: Tiger Woods (British Open, PGA Championship)

2008: Padraig Harrington (British Open, PGA Championship)

2014: Rory McIlroy (British Open, PGA Championship)

2015: Jordan Spieth (Masters, U.S. Open)

2018: Brooks Koepka (U.S. Open, PGA Championship)

My eye inevitably goes to the worst players to have accomplished this, the candidates being Jackie Burke, Jr., Craig Wood, Mark O'Meara and Padraig Harrington.  Bad players only very occasionally win majors, Ben Curtis call your office, and two in a season is a bridge too far for them.  The list is populated mostly with the immortals of our game, so expectations should be high for Brooks.

I also can't let pass the obvious error above in Bobby Jones' 1926 season.  To the best of my knowledge he would never have pegged it in a PGA, though he did win the 1926 Open Championship as well as the U.S. Open.

But Josh makes some really curious choices, such as Jack's 1980 season, remarkable for a 40-year old, but hardly his best.  Though that's perhaps the result of yet another mistake, leaving Jack's 1972 season off the list.  In that year, he won The Masters and U.S. Open at Pebble, and was narrowly beaten by Trevino at Muirfield.

But this one is just bizarre:

Ben Hogan, 1951 

The year that gets most mention is 1950, when Hogan returned from the wreckage of a

car crash to claim the U.S. Open. But his showing in ’51 wasn’t shabby either. Entering the Masters with a history of close calls, the Ice Mon sealed the deal by chasing down Skee Riegel and Sam Snead. For good measure, he also nabbed the ’51 U.S. Open, becoming the first player since Ralph Guldahl to go back-to-back in the event. In the post-Hogan era, only Curtis Strange and Koepka have done the same.

Ummmm Josh, a brief perusal of your list should have Hogan's 1953 season screaming at you.  He won all three majors he entered, including that arduous trip to Carnoustie.

Will that do you for today?  I have just a couple of things in my hip pocket for tomorrow, so deal with it.