The weekend beckons, so let's clear the slate of items that we need to discuss.
By The Numbers - Golf course rankings are a fairly ridiculous undertaking, but attention must be paid.... relax, not THAT much attention. Like your humble blogger, I'm sure it's of only passing curiosity which course you'll never play is ranked above that other course you'll never play. Unless, of course, Mark W. makes good on his promises....
In any event, the Golf Digest rankings are out and the header promises a big shake-up:
What's the old saying? The more things change, the more they seem the same? That's not
The deposed greatest course. the precise language, but it should be, at least as it relates to Golf Digest's biennial survey ofAmerica's 100 Greatest Golf Courses for 2015-'16. The country's oldest and most respected course ranking will turn 50 next year, and those five decades have seen continual change not just in the makeup of our Top 100 and other rankings (America's Second 100 Greatest, America's 100 Greatest Public Courses, Best in State and Top 30 in Canada) but also in course architecture, and even golf itself.
Take Augusta National Golf Club, for example. It's back at No. 1 amongAmerica's 100 Greatest after barely losing the top spot it had held for four years, to Pine Valley, in 2013.
OK, got it...Augusta National is back after sucking for a couple of years. See what you think of this gem, however:
What's surprising are the many well-known names that have not always been ranked. These include No. 4 Shinnecock Hills, No. 8 National Golf Links of America, No. 14 Chicago Golf Club, No. 19 The Country Club (Clyde/Squirrel), No. 25 Prairie Dunes and No. 35 San Francisco Golf Club. Which goes to show, in the course-ranking game, nobody's perfect.
Let's see if I have this right...you've left those acknowledged classics off prior rankings, but we should take this list oh so seriously? Because why?
Shackelford, who's forgotten more about golf architecture than we collectively know, is not a fan of the rankings and thinks even less of certain specific results. First, after this bit I think we can safely assume that he's off Fazio's Christmas card list:
The big news this year: Augusta National overtook Pine Valley for the top spot this year. Neither reflects the brilliant vision of their founders who are held up as saints at both clubs. Yet neither is worthy of being known as the best course in America after letting Tom Fazioinject his special brand of mediocrity and his shameful lack of understanding of the foundation and soul of Bobby Jones and George Crump's creations. Architecturally, The National Golf Links of America is on another level right now. And it won't surprise you to learn they have not had a Fazio on the property to do any damage.
I just wish Geoff could learn to tell us what he really thinks....and to think people were worried that he'd pull punches after affiliating with Golf Digest. But I think there's a deeper point to made about these top-two ranked courses, because one has the problem of hosting the greatest players in the world every day, whereas the other is never seen.
For instance, the powers that be have decreed that each hole at ANGC will have only two tee boxes, though admittedly they're good sized specimens. But when one of those boxes taps out at 7.600 yards, that's kinda limiting for members play, no?
But here's Geoff's primary gripe about the Golf Digest list:
You longtime readers know how I feel about the course rankings that are too high on experiential factors and depressingly low on timeless design appreciation. But to recap: Golf Digest's still doesn't carry the weight it should because the list includes Resistance to Scoring as a category, which might as well be called resistance to fun, resistance to character and resistance to soul.
Given that Shot Values is it's own category, the man has a point. But how about we do a separate ranking of golf courses based only on Resistance to Soul? Just spitballin' here, but wouldn't TPC West Stadium, Medinah No.3, Bay Hill and Liberty National have to be in the top ten? Other suggestions welcome...
Not to be outdone, Golf Magazine released their World Top 100 a day earlier and Shack can't help but pounce on their love of hyper-exclusive golf courses that no man has seen. Hey, they have to sell magazines. Geoff, and apparently there's a fun backstory on their inclusion of Nine Bridges in South Korea. But still, see if you can resist going beyond exclusivity:
I'm sorry, is there anything in that video that looks like appealing golf? 'cause I sure don't get it...
And before we move on from this topic, Golf Magazine ran one of their silly slideshows earlier in the week ofthe Top Ten Courses of which you've never heard. First on the list is the It Golf Club in the New York area, Glen Oaks Country Club. This is significant not because they were voted Club of the Year by the Met. Golf Writers Association or because they've landed themselves a Barclays, but because MGWA buddy Bill Baum has finally made good and your humble blogger will be hacking up the joint on October 7th.
And I'll be faux-outraged on your behalf, as readers of this blog don't need Golf Magazine to inform them of No. Five Askernish.
The Big Wiesy, An Update - The ladies are playing their twelvth major of the year (we kid because we love) and it's good to see Michelle Wie making some news. She showed up in France sporting these new high-top golf shoes:
OK, and the good news is that if the golf thing doesn't work, she'll be fine in the low post in these. Unfortunately, she also showed up sporting this do:
Also unfortunate is that the 2015 Michelle Wie showed up....meaning that if you want to see her, better watch the rebroadcast of today's round, 'cause Michelle will likely be shopping in Paris over the weekend.
Lamepoint Express - Does anyone understand this nonsense? I get it in a general sense, which seems to be to let your feet feel the slope of the green.... it's the one or two finders that seems....simplistic. What if it's 1.5? Or what if you're playing Askernish and the slope is a six? Just askin'...
Doug Ferguson had this earlier in the week:
Championship, and their birdie putts on the par-5 second hole during the second round were significant mainly because of how they read the greens.
Both use AimPoint Express, only Poulter had to do without on this occasion. He was just under 20 feet away. Chappell was about 12 feet away, and his marker was in the line of where Poulter ordinarily would have straddled the line of his own putt to feel the slope of the green.
''I thought it may go right-to-left, but I couldn't tell until I hit it that I picked the wrong line,'' Poulter said.
Dougie, I think you're playing a bit loose with the concept of "significant," as little done by those two on a golf course meets that standard. But it's a strange lede, given that this is the point of the item:
It has become so popular that the R&A and USGA published a joint statement at the start of the year that cautioned players of one pitfall.
One part of AimPoint Express is to pick an area halfway toward the hole where the feet can feel the slope (and from there players will hold up one or two fingers to help them figure out where to start the putt).
Rule 16-1a, however, makes it illegal for players to touch the line of their putts, which is defined as the line players want their balls to take and includes a ''reasonable distance on either side of the intended line.''
Sheesh, if we can't trust Poults to be reasonable, what can we cling to.
What Would I Shoot? - OK, I lied, one more item related to the course rankings...Golf Mag. has a score predictor feature linked to their course ratings and I took it out for a test drive. One enters your handicap and subjectively evaluates specific skill sets (Driving, Putting, etc.), and here are my results:
Now it just so happens that I played one of these tracks in the recent past, and my real-world results were quite different...though the other four do seem reasonable.
Bandon Burning - Anyone that's taken the time to read Dream Golf, the highly-engrossing account of the creation of the Bandon Dunes resort will understand the Holy S**t! nature of this little story:
Two Bandon Dunes golf courses were evacuated earlier this week after a gorse fire burned more than 40 acres on the north side of the highly renowned resort in Oregon.
On Labor Day afternoon, fires arose after a ATV backfired into tall grass on the southern end of the Sheep Ranch (learn about the allure of the privately owned Sheep Ranch) that sits north of the main resort property, according to the Bandon Western World.
In brief, that's an amazingly dangerous situation that could even threaten the town of Bandon. In the 19th century an Irishman called Lord Jim (not a compliment) for reasons that defy all logic transplanted genuine Irish gorse to the area. Gorse has no redeeming value, growing like weeds and is dangerously flammable in the bargain.
The town of Bandon was destroyed a couple of times by gorse fires, and this threat is likely the only reason that Mike Keiser received permission to build that first golf course. After all, he head to remove a ton of the stuff to route the golf course, and no one else would be crazy enough to undertake that truly nasty job.
When They Were Young - The slideshow format is way overdone, but this last one is well worth your time...showing lots of well-known golfers playing in the Walker Cup. Good stuff, as it celebrates the event that's getting no respect and shows us pics that we've likely never seen. I'll skip the obligatory Rickie and Fat Rory from County Down, we've seen that one often enough...
But anyone know who this is?
I'll give you a little clue....they weren't just Walker Cup teammates.
How about these two:
Now I'm very confused, as The Walker Cup is played in September, but I was always told that one doesn't wear white after Labor Day...Or how about this guy?
Good luck and thanks for playing...
See my comment erroneously posted on the Thursday blog
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