Midweek Musings

Your humble blogger is back in ski country, but before we go make some turns there's time for a little golf talk.

Winner Wonderland - Geoff catches up with Mark Rolfing in his Forward Press column to  tee up the ToC, though he can't help but name drop in his lede:

Mark Rolfing’s voice should be well rested. And not because he has been battling a rare form of cancer that had taken him away from his NBC/Golf Channel duties last August. 

His voice is rested because the Trevinos paid a holiday visit. 

“You do a lot of listening,” Rolfing said with a chuckle at the thought of his infamously talkative house guest, the Merry Mex, Lee Trevino.

Forgive a rather long excerpt, but this detailed look at the venue is worth reading if you'll betuning in later in the week:

Rolfing will gladly talk about his cancer battle and what he hopes to confirm with doctor Tom Buchholz in two weeks as a successful fight, but mostly he’s euphoric over this week’s Kapalua field (“best in at least 10 years”), the prospects for 2016 (“an epic year in golf”) and an NBC tournament lineup that will take him to the usual stops (plus Royal Troon for the Open Championship, Rio for the Olympics and Hazeltine for the Ryder Cup). But Rolfing’s also not sugarcoating Kapalua’s inability to produce the dramatic ground game it once did or the precarious state of his beloved Hawaiian tour stops. 

He’s excited about a tee installed last year to make the Plantation Course’s iconic 18th hole play closer to its original intent as well as other plans to more radically shift tees depending on winds. With a Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw design relying on a prevailing wind, Rolfing has watched as the course plays in less compelling manner for professionals thanks to a different wind direction. And Rolfing should know as a long-time resident who started working as an assistant pro there in 1975.

“The ground plays so much softer than it ever was,” he said, noting that houseguest Trevino was shocked by how long some holes were playing. “The course was designed with three elements in mind: wind, slope and grain, and with those elements changed a bit, the course essentially plays backwards.” 

That has meant a Plantation Course once known for crazy-long drives and wild closing-stretch finishes has not come close to its pinnacle and arguably one of best events in PGA Tour history: the 2000 Tournament of Champions.

That was a long time ago, but with the ground so soft I'm not sure they can recreate that golf-on-steroids feel of the early aughts.

 Geoff is happy about the strength of the field and that the players seem to be enjoying their stay at Kapalua.  I know, a real shocker that last bit....The only that could get in the way of the players bringing their families on a fun Hawaiian vacation is the inanity of Commissioner Ratched's schedule.

Joel Beall gives us three "loves" and three "ehs" about the event, including this:

Eh: It's in Hawaii

Meaning, late viewings for those on the East Coast. Don't get me wrong: Golf in prime time can be a welcomed, enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, in this case -- a potential 10:30 p.m. EST finish come Sunday -- it's a tad too late.

I guess he didn't get the memo that I'm in Utah.  That's a very important two hours...  OK, it is possible that it's not all about me.... he's not as enamored of the field:

Eh: The weak field 

Eight of the top 15 players in the world aren't playing in Maui, five of whom failed to qualify. That's probably more an indictment on the world ranking formula than the tournament's construction, yet it's still a detriment to the competition. 

One of the eight is Rory McIlroy, who, while eligible, is skipping the event. Same goes for Justin Rose and Jim Furyk. Sure World No. 1 Jordan Spieth and No. 2 Jason Day are playing, but it's not a great look for the tournament when top-10 players decide the trip isn't worth their time. 

Plus, the winner's-only prerequisite, while prestigious, equates to a truncated field, with only 32 players on the grounds this week.

It's easy to reconcile those two divergent opinions... the field is better than it's been recently, but still not what it should be.

Strangely, no one has mentioned the the illogic of holding the ToC in the middle of the season.

Parsons Non Grata - We briefly touched on the new player in the equipment world, PXG, and it's signing of tour players including the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year.  PXG is the creation of Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy and owner of Scottsdale National.  Shack reminds us of his rather unusual membership policies.... go here and here for that background.

Doug Ferguson sums up the business strategy:

“Making money is not what I have in mind,” Parsons said. “My goal with this is to build

some very incredible clubs without regard to cost, without regard to the process. I’ve been telling people what I’m doing and I’ve heard many times, ‘You’re nuts.’ That’s a very good sign.”

The people he hired to build his golf clubs have no limitations and no deadlines. Money is no object, either, and that better be the case for the consumers. Parsons, the billionaire founder of GoDaddy, is selling his PXG clubs at about $5,000 for the entire set.

How long till they end up in the remainder bin at Dick's?  Never mind....How about this:

“It got to the point three or four years before I started the PXG venture that I would spend about $250,000 to $300,000 a year on equipment,” he said. “I bought pretty much everything and would hit it. I could tell you which irons, woods and all that … were real and what wasn’t. Most of it is gimmicky. You take any manufacturer and they say, ‘This will give you an extra 10 yards and 15 yards.’ If all that were true, we’d be hitting it a mile-and-a-half.”

You mean TaylorMade has been lying to me all these years?  How disillusioning...

So, what do we get for that $5,000?  Golf.com got their hands on a fairway wood, and it's.... well, you make the call:

Clubmakers rarely use the word "sexy" in a mission statement, but it shouldn‘t surprise those familiar with PXG chief and GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons. (Remember GoDaddy's titillating Super Bowl ads featuring Danica Patrick?)

Named after the Marine Corps code for a mortarman, the 0341 is studded with 11 weight ports, allowing players to position five 2.5-gram tungsten and six half-gram titanium screws any way they see fit to make the ball fly high, low, left or right. The plugs sit flush against the sole in a stainless steel body, keeping the CG -- and the spin -- down. 

A super-thin maraging steel face provides the pop, while an adjustable hosel can alter loft +/- 1.5°. This midsize head fits a wide range of players, but it‘s only available direct from the company or through select clubfitters.

 Reminds of the guy in the commercial with a bag that includes only drivers.... 143 hosel adjustments.

And you know who threw a little hissy fit?  Peter Kostis:

OK, Peter is a paid member of Team Titleist and distance denier, but he's shocked, shocked to find out that there's gambling in Casablanca....  But I'm quite certain that those following Peter on twitter constitute a perfectly valid random sample for his online poll.  Put me down in the "Some" camp...

Shack amusingly awaits Peter's first awkward post-round interview with Zach or Billy Horschel.

Lastly, Josh Sens had an interesting back-and-forth with Parsons, including this bit getting the most attention:

GOLF.com: Great feel. Great look. Longer shots. Isn’t that what every club manufacturer tells us? What's so different about that? 

Parsons: What’s different is that our clubs actually do what we say they do. Have you talked to anyone who has hit them? 

GOLF.com: Not yet. 

Parsons: You haven't? How is that possible? Brother, you need to get out more.

Josh actually started the interview as I would have:

GOLF.com: What’s this we hear about $250,000 a year on golf clubs? 

Parsons: Yeah, I’ve been quoted as spending that much, but the year before I started the company it was probably closer to $350,000. People say, how is that possible? Well, if you buy every club and you buy all sorts of different shafts and have the clubs re-shafted in every combination ... it adds up. I can tell you what’s good, what isn’t, what is not a gimmick.

What I find of interest is that this is the first I've seen the subject of shafts come up.  Given my belief that shafts matter more than clubheads, I've seen to mention of what shafts he's offering.  

A Love Letter - Upon my return to Park City I found this open tab in Chrome, a Michael Bamberger 

love letter to golf, wife Christine and/or both.  You quickly see where the tab got opened from the title:

Spouses Be Warned, the Game Is a Fever That Must Be Fed

Set aside that old adage about starving fevers.....Just read the damn thing, as it's quite personal and moving.  

The missus and I, married 25 years ago today, spent the first summer of our married life in Scotland. For our silver anniversary we came here, to New Scotland, where the village signs are in English and Scottish Gaelic. There were days in that summer of "91 that I played 36 -- in St. Andrews, in Gullane, in Machrihanish. Christine was not then or now a regular golfer, but she has had a general tolerance, and even enthusiasm, for my golf. During our courtship, she would clip New York Times game stories by Gordon S. White Jr. -- the third round at Akron, that sort of thing. Young love.

That initial trip to Scotland was the subject of To The Linksland,  or at least it was of the second half.  The first half was his account of his work as a caddie on the Euro Tour, but you'll have trouble deciding which half you like better.

As for this piece, I think we can agree that Mike "pured" it, but you'll have to actually read it to understand that remark.

Fun on Twitter - Nope, not an oxymoron....Do you follow STP?

One of the most popular golf follows on Twitter these days is a player who wishes not to be revealed. The Secret Tour Pro (@secrettourpro), in case you haven't heard of him, is just that, a secret tour pro who takes to social media to offer insight into life on tour (like the time he said a tour pro used his caddie to help pick out a Christmas present for his wife), give golf advice, give strong golf opinions and even break news.

Alex Myers tries to figure out who he might be, chasing down these leads:

• He thinks Miguel Angel Jimenez is the "coolest man ever." (OK, so that doesn't help at all.)
• He can't stand Robert Allenby. (OK, so that doesn't help, either.)
• He's "not a huge fan of the range."
• He is a big fan of drinking.

Well, that first one does likely eliminate Keegan Bradley...  Good time, that.  And the third might call Veej into question, but it's mostly a wild goose chase.

But the STP things Sergio is one of the game's greats and a great guy, you'd think that would narrow the field considerably....

Cobbs Creek - Is a venerable Philly muni that I played a lot when I lived there.  Their clubhouse was destroyed by fire in a tragic loss:

That's a long video, but Shack has a shorter local news account here.  The clubhouse was almost 100-years old and Shack has photos of it in better times.

I've got more, but I'm going to head fro the mountain.  Catch you later....