Da Bidness of Golf, And Other Loose Ends

It's gonna be a scorcher, so don't forget to hydrate...

The Business Beat - Our Commish lapses into MBA-speak with such frequency that we'd prefer that he find a home in the orange juice or widget business... Just once I'd love to hear him express a pure love of our game.... I know, when pigs fly.

We hear so often about companies leveraging value propositions, but the dark truth is that very few business acquisitions pay off.  That's why it's so great when that rare occasion surfaces and the announcement of a deal elicits a simple "Wow."  Submitted for your approval is such a moment:

Topgolf, the booming golf entertainment company, has acquired Protracer, the Swedish

company known for its technology that tracks ball flight during televised golf. 

The acquisition gives Topgolf a well-known tool to incorporate into its massive driving ranges, which pair leading-edge technology games with a festive social environment filled with food, drink and music. 

Topgolf customers soon will be able to use the same Protracer technology that they’ve grown accustomed to seeing on television. 

Erik Anderson, co-chairman and CEO of Topgolf, said he hopes to integrate Protracer into the company’s high-tech driving ranges within the next year. His company has 26 locations and hosts 8 million guests annually.

This is effing brilliant.  Topgolf isn't really a golf company, they're in the saloon industry, but they're way smarter than most of the folks that run our game.  Figure out what the folks want, and give it to them hard....And of course the ironies abound.  For instance, the guy at TG shanking a nine-iron will have Protracer before the thirteenth hole at Augusta National....

I have no idea what the economics are and I don't really care if they overpaid.  Shack had a concern that seems illogical:

On the list of viewer requests to improve telecasts, Protracer is always top three. Hopefully this improves and does not impede its expansion into televised golf.

That's the whole point....  See it on TV then go experience it while overpaying for food and drink.

In other golf business news, the long-anticipated Acushnet IPO is being, well forgive me, teed up:

The IPO would come five years after consumer products conglomerate Fortune Brands sold Acushnet, under pressure from activist investor William Ackman, to South Korean sports apparel company Fila Korea Ltd (081660.KS) and Mirae Asset Private Equity for $1.23 billion.

Acushnet is now working with investment banks that include Morgan Stanley (MS.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) and Nomura Holdings Inc (8604.T) on the IPO, the sources said on Wednesday.

Combined with Adidas offering up the TaylorMade stable of brands, we'll see the financial markets appetite for golf-related assets pretty clearly.  While I don't have specific numbers to share, there simply can't be a more profitable golf asset than the Titleist golf ball business.  Why?

Golf balls are cheaper and more easily lost than golf equipment, making them more frequently replaced. The more rounds of golf people play, the more balls they will buy.

Well, I try to do my share.... though I don't play their balls.  Why?  Because there's way too many of them out there, so I'm guessing they do well.

Purple Reign - It was quite the finish to quite the week in Eugene:

EUGENE, Ore. – “You have to clap,” Shannon Aubert said. 

Yes, yes you do. 

Aubert, a Stanford sophomore, had dispatched Washington senior Charlotte Thomas and was standing on the side of Eugene Country Club’s 18th green cheering on teammate Casey Danielson, who was 1 down in a crucial match against Ying Luo. Danielson (5-0) hadn’t lost a match in the NCAA Championship in the last two years for Stanford. She was safely on the green in two and Luo was 45 yards short after her tee shot found some thick, gnarly rough. 

Just when it looked like the match was destined for extra holes, Luo, a senior playing in her last-ever round for Washington, holed out for birdie from 45 yards to win the match.

That’s what prompted Aubert, in shock for several seconds, to finally deliver the line, “you have to clap.” 

“When I was standing behind the shot, I was imagining it going in,” Luo said. “That was unbelievable.”

Team match play is just da' bomb, and this wa son top of the bunker-hole-out to win their semi-final.  Good thing we don't have anything potentially this exciting in the Olympics, because that wouldn't be prudent...

As a nice touch, the Stanford ladies acquitted themselves nicely in a stinging and sudden defeat.

If I Had A Hammer... - I used this item yesterday for a small bit of fun, but missed the money shot, specifically this comment:

Former Scotland rugby player John Douglas, 81, said: “It wasn’t so much a vote against the ladies as a vote against the media and the press telling us what to do. No-one likes being hammered all the time.”

Oh Mr. Douglass, are you sure that's the term you wish to use?   Though I ask while fully understanding his underlying point.

But here's what you need to know....  Muirfield is often called a dining club that happens to have a golf course attached.  And by dining club I, of course, mean a drinking club....

I was fortunate enough to spend a full day at The Honourable Company through the efforts of my dear friend Mark W,. and let's just call it an awkward fit.  Oh, I can rattle off the names of Open winners with the best of them, I just can't hold my drink.  So when my host suggested that we grab a nip "for courage" before heading out to the course, you'll know I was quickly out of my depth.

At lunch I remember looking down at my place setting and seeing five drinks, the provenance of which had long been lost to the ages.  And I vividly remember the golf after lunch, in which I tried to contain my need for plumbing fixtures of all types (remember, no trees to be found).  At one point I remember amidst my life-threatening dehydration seeing a water faucet about a foot off the ground, debating whether or not to abase myself by placing my parched lips around that appurtenance..... Fortunately for Mark's reputation I was able to resist, but I do note that they treat their dogs better than certain visitors....

So they do very much like getting hammered, it's pretty much in the DNA of the club..... just perhaps in another sense of the word.

Today's Obligatory Zika Item - No real news, just an amusing framing of the dilemma:

Olympic qualifying for golf ends in seven weeks, at which time players will have to determine if medals outweigh mosquitoes. 

For now, there is only concern.

That's not bad, though could I also suggest medals vs. maternity?  Or, since it's Rio, medals vs. modernity?

And I missed this as we were assessing Rory's readiness to start a family?

Ask a player a question, and there's bound to be an answer, even if it's not entirely informed. McIlroy said he was planning to get ''injections'' on Wednesday so that ''I will be immunized for whatever - if I do get bitten by a mosquito down there.'' 

There is no vaccine for the Zika virus.

But there's no shortage of other diseases to be had there, so get every shot they're offering.

''They have been receiving regular updates on the topic,'' Whan said. ''No player has suggested she is not coming (at least not to me). But it is certainly a concern.'' 

It could be another example that the Olympics mean more to the women, who rarely get a stage as large as this and have a stronger tradition of competing for country in what was the first truly global tour.

More the former than the latter, you'll no doubt agree.  By the way, have you seen the ladies commercial promoting Olympic Golf?  All the usual suspects are there, earnestly informing us of how big this is....  Christie Kerr says she just loves it.  Ummm Christie, how would you know?  Exactly how many Olympics have you been to?