I Can Quit Any Time

As I understand this addiction thing, the first step in conquering it is to admit you have a problem...  I'll keep you posted as I work my way through Denial, Anger and Bargaining.... my people are very good at the bargaining thing.

Just a couple of notes before we hop on our chariot to Salt Lake City.

• Keiser on a Roll - Shackelford jumped on the Global Golf Post interview with Mike Keiser to which I linked yesterday.   Here's his summary:

While his concerns for Gil Hanse's reputation taking a hit because of Rio's Olympic design delays stood out (as did criticism of the green designs of Tom Doak and David McLay Kidd), the only thing most care about is where Keiser hopes to build going forward after his success at Bandon Dunes and guiding hand in Cabot Links and Barnbougle Dunes.

I do hope you've read it, as Keiser talks more sense in a two-page interview than the PGA of America's Ted Bishop in a year of bloviating.   And there's precious few guys building new golf courses in our current environment, and Keiser has, shall we say, a pretty good track record.

As for Geoff's take, I'm not worried about Hanse's reputation being sullied by the Rio course, as by all accounts it's a first-rate design and the delays are not his responsibility.  Besides, it's not like anyone will be watching...

The criticism of Tom Doak's greens was the single most surprising comment, especially since Mike just hired him to build, you know, a massive putting green.  Of course that one is supposed to be over the top: 

As Shack correctly notes, all most of us care about is what comes nest for Keiser.  I'm personally less interested in Mexico than the two Irish sites mentioned, especially the Bushmill Dunes site.  That's been a political football in Ulster since forever, but Keiser has a history of succeeding where others have failed.  I'll check in with our Portrush correspondent Lowell, and see what the grapevine scuttlebutt is.

But here's where Shack gets me salivating:

And in last week's Golf World, Ron Whitten looked at the history of the Lido hole and contest and talked to Keiser, who revealed that he has a proposal in to the developers of Streamsong to re-create the Lido at that popular development.

Be still my foolish heart!  You wouldn't tease me now, would you Mike?  Though I'm also saddened that George Bahto won't be around for this, if it comes off.

In other Keiser news, with the expiration of the restraining order, my bride has once again written to Mr. Keiser, this time to make him aware of this blog.  By way of background, she first did so before our 2011 trip to Bandon.  In one of those agonizing near misses, had we been there one more day she might have scored me an invite to join his Chicago buddies in the sneak preview of the Bandon Preserve Par 3 course.

In her charming naivete, she thinks Mike needs to know me because... well, I'm not entirely clear.  He's got every golf architect in the world beating a path to his door, but he needs to talk golf with ME?  But her prodding got me to start this here blog, so we've got that going for us.

• Titanium: Is There Anything it Can't Do? -  Luke Kerr-Dineen with this alarming tale:

Here's the scenario: it's your second shot on a short par 5. You're feeling frisky -- you've been hitting it well all day -- and there's no trouble short of the green. You decide to go for it, and reach for your 3-wood.

That situation, or one similar to it, isn't just potentially jeopardizing your score, but could be setting the scene for a deadly and wide-ranging wildfire, according to a new study from the University of California at Irvine. 

The study describes how the makeup of titanium clubs, when struck against a small, embedded rock or other hard services, produces "intensely hot sparks" that could potentially start a fire. The study added that sparks like this could have been the cause of recent golf course fires, notably the 2010 fire at Shady Canyon Golf Course in Irvine.

Ummm..."Could have been" seems light years removed from "did."  But it's The People's Republic of California, so I'm sure the ban is in the works.  

• Reed Redeemed - I've been a tad tough on young Patrick Reed, all in the attempt to be constructive it goes without saying.  But I did like this item, From Dave Dusek in Golfweek's Tool Box,just because it's weird:

Golf’s newest three-time winner has gone old school in practice: Patrick Reed has used a persimmon Ben Hogan driver as a training aid for the past month.

"It teaches you to hit the center of the clubface, especially with the driver," he said inside Callaway's PGA Tour trailer Monday. 

Asked how far he can hit a modern ball, such as his Callaway Speed Regime 3, Reed said, "I can still hit it out there about 290, maybe 280. I've noticed that you don't lose distance with it if you hit it in the center of the face. If you don't hit it in the center of the face, you're going to hit it 230 and the ball is going to be head-high and either slicing or hooking. It really gives you feedback quickly."

Choose your weapon.  

I get the benefit of practicing with the smaller club, but I wish Dusek had told us what kind of shaft is on the club.  

I remember reading a similar item about Rickie Fowler.  The interesting part of that was that per Rickie you can't hit the modern golf ball with the old persimmon heads, so Titleist had to score him some Tour Balatas or such.