'Dis and 'Dat

Work kept me from you yesterday, so there's much on which we need to play catch-up.

Honcho Happenings - The deck chairs on the Titanic at the major governing bodies have been rearranged.  First up, we've been aware for a while that Peter Dawson is stepping down next year as CEO of the R&A.  Now comes word of his successor, one with a delightfully soporific name:

The R&A has announced the appointment of Martin Slumbers as chief executive and

also as secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, with effect from October 1, 2015. 

Slumbers will succeed Peter Dawson, who is retiring in September 2015 after 16 years leading the body which organises the Open Championship and governs golf worldwide, jointly administering the sport with the USGA.

Slumbers' background from the R&A press release:

Born in Brighton and educated at Lancing College, Mr Slumbers (54) gained a BSc in Production Engineering and Economics from the University of Birmingham. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London before embarking on a career in investment banking. He spent 12 years working for Salomon Brothers International in London and Hong Kong, becoming Chief Financial Officer in Asia and then Europe.

It's a bit of a surprise, since Slumbers is a complete unknown in golf and not even a member of the R&A.  But Dawson was equally unknown, so that seems to be the model.

Dawson seems to be retiring at a good time.  he'll oversee one last Open Championship, then having succeeded at admitting women members to the R&A will have moved on before the furor over Royal Troon's membership policies kicks off in anticipation of their hosting of the 2016 Open.

And for those who really revel in their inside baseball, Shack has the dope on the USGA reshuffle of their 624 Vice Presidents.  

Course Restorations - Tom Weiskopf has apparently revamped his TPC Scottsdale:

TPC Scottsdale announces the re-opening of the Stadium Course, host of the PGA TOUR’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, on Friday, Nov. 14, 2014. The City of Scottsdale began the extensive renovation on April 1, 2014 with a goal of modernizing both the clubhouse and golf course, ensuring its future as host of a PGA TOUR event and as a world-class golf resort. 

Original course architect, Tom Weiskopf, and his design team partnered with Landscapes Unlimited to manage the golf course project. “The time had come to update the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale to provide a more modern and state-of-art tournament course for today’s TOUR players. These changes will also position the Club to continue as the leader in the competitive Scottsdale resort and daily fee market,” said Weiskopf. “The golf course and clubhouse improvements will provide a long-term asset to the City of Scottsdale, while enhancing the venue for the world’s largest attended golf event, the Waste Management Phoenix Open.”

A lot of corporate-speak there for my taste, but it's actually a reasonably good match of venue and event.  Shack took potential umbrage at this:

The renovated bunkers will feature white sand, which will add a dramatic new look to the course. More than 250 trees have been planted for both strategic and aesthetic value.

I like Weskopf and think his work is quite interesting, but I'll also agree that white seems a strange, visually-jarring, choice given the desert locale.   

Also, the Phil Mickelson restoration of the North Course at Torrey Pines is set to begin right after February's Farmers' Insurance event:

Mickelson, the San Diego professional golfer, and his team, led by architect Mike

Angus, did the design work that was well received in public meetings. The plan calls for a renovation of all bunkers and the greens, while also reducing turf to conserve water and give the North a more natural aesthetic.

This course deperately needs to go under the knife, though I wish they were considering rerouting it.   But the course plays a good 3-4 shots easier than the South, and the first round leaderrboard tends to be all "N's".

When Is the Rent Party - The party's over according to James Corrigan:

Is Tiger Woods losing his appeal, is the lure of the greatest player of his generation not as valuable as it used to to be? Certainly that appears the case in Middle East, where for the first time in a decade will not be paying an active Woods his enormous appearance fee in 2015.

The organisers of both the Abu Dhabi Championship and Desert Classic will not be shelling out the estimated $2m-$3m which Woods requires to make the trip.

We'll always have Paris Abu Dhabi. 

Ryder Cup Task Force - Shack scored the minutes of the first meeting of this kick-the-can-down-the-road task force.  You'll want to read the whole thing, as the kids say, but here's a tease:

Co-chairman Pete Bevacqua introduced the Task Force’s goals of improving all elements of the Ryder Cup. Before opening the floor to general brainstorming, he announced that the Task Force will be broken up into pods, with members Sprague, Bevacqua and Levy leading each of the pods.

Pods?  What a concept....

Wrap-Around Blues -  You know my thoughts on the silly schedule, but as I watched Hunter Mahan and Matt Kuchar sleep-walk through the tourney, I was asking myself why are they there.  Turns out there's an actual reason, though the reader can decide if it's a worthy one:

Woods and McIlroy are part of the “Turkey Eight,” players who skipped the Frys in 2012 for a cash-grab exhibition event in Turkey. PGA Tour officials granted those eight players a release, on the condition they play in the Frys once by 2015. 

Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan and Lee Westwood showed up this year. Woods, McIlroy, Justin Rose, Webb Simpson and Charl Schwartzel are obligated to make an appearance next year.

Oy.  Johnny Miller is quoted as salivating over the field they'll have next year, and as a part-owner of Silverado you can't blame him.  But is it all that helpful if they're burned out, and while next year doesn't have a Ryder Cup the President's Cup is in Korea.  My guess is that at l;east Woods and Schwartzel will be trading the trip to Korea for a get-out-of-Frys-free card...

Do You Read the L.A. Times? - my respect and appreciation for Geoff Shackelford is not a well-kept secret, though from our long-ago disagreement on the Dr. V. story and a few other telltale signs I've long assumed that he's a conventional card-carrying California liberal.  Not that there's anything wrong with that...

But I'm greatly amused by his long-for-him post on the Rio AP Bureau's coverage of the construction of the Rio golf course.  Here's an excerpt:

This is not to say the project has been smooth sailing or that Rio's preparation, politics and vision for the 2016 Olympics has been even remotely solid. It's a mess and a shame. However...

The land dispute coverage from writer Tales Azzoni often emphasized the side of the (eventual) losing party disputing the ownership. And every dispute over environmental issues since, usually authored by Azzoni and/or Stephen Wade, has produced stories suggesting the course’s demise is potentially imminent

He's no doubt 100% correct, it's just the note of surprise that I find naively amusing.  This is the current state of journalism, and is little different than the coverage in the New York Times on any day ending in a "Y."

But I'll throw one little quibble into Geoff's stew:

Some have questioned the need to build a new course for the Olympics. At least one other venue in the Rio area, the Itanhanga Golf Club, could have been suitable. It has hosted the European Tour, and a U.S. LPGA Tour event and club officials were optimistic a few years ago they would land the Olympics.

Itanhanga is 6,178 6,439 yards from the tips, about 1400 yards shy of where it’d need to be for the modern game. If they'd picked up the phone to any golf expert they would have known this, but that might have gotten in the way of a good story.

The sad thing is that for about half the men's field, 6,400 yards is about right.  

Favorite Item of the Day -  See if you find this as funny as I do:

A couple that built a 5,000-square-foot dream house worth an estimated $680,000 is in shock after learning it was built on the wrong lot in Florida's prestigious Ocean Hammock golf community, home of a Jack Nicklaus-designed course that is one of the Top 100 You Can Play. 

Mark and Brenda Voss, who own 18 other residential lots in Ocean Hammock, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that they are “just amazed this could happen.” 

Six months after the five bedroom, five and a half bathroom home was built -- which includes a game room, home theater and screened-in pool –- the Vosses learned it was built on the wrong lot. A North Carolina couple own that lot, adjacent to the one the Vosses bought in 2012.

I think we're all pretty much amazed, as well as amused.  I assume that if they own 18 lots that they can absorb whatever hit is involved, though I'll also guess that the North Carolina couple haven't made any site visits.  Hopefully they like the Voss' taste in counter-tops, cabinets and plumbing fixtures, because they might be the lucky recipients of a free retirement home.