Thursday Threads

It's that time again, kids...

Scenes From The Riv - It's that time again, when the PGA Tour meets La La Land...  Just remember, it'll be your last week unburdened by animal-themed three-hole stretches of sand and water....

Our first note is that the weather forecast sucks.  Looks like they should get Thursday in, but after that it's 3-6 inches of rain, so hope you're in the middle of a good book.

As is too often the case, there's seemingly more talk about the guy not here than the 156 that are...  Jason Sobel has some thoughts on that guy:

Like this one: "Since when does a news conference count as activity?" 

Or this: "You're telling me Woods was healthy enough to endure a cross-country flight,

healthy enough to serve at least some of his responsibilities as tournament host, but not healthy enough to sit in a comfy chair and answer questions for 20 minutes?" 

It is well within Woods' rights to decline an interview session, just as it's well within everyone else's rights to be skeptical of the rationale behind that decision. 

That's perhaps an unfair excerpt, as Jason spends the rest of his column on that which we all know, that the presser was cancelled because Tiger isn't prepared to answer the one relevant question...

Bob Harig scores the big get, and grabs this from the ever-elusive Steiny:

"This is more precautionary,'' Steinberg said in a phone interview with ESPN.com early Wednesday morning. "This isn't about him not doing a press conference. What is going to be accomplished? What is he going to say? That he hopes his back spasms calm down. 

"This is about the Genesis Open, the Tiger Woods Foundation and supporting Hyundai and his foundation. He is doing all he can without having to get up and move around all that much so that he can put himself in the best position to recover.''

Does that sound good to you?  he goes on in that vein for quite a while, so read it all if you've got the patience.... I choose to move on.

Geoff has some Golf Channel videos here, most notably showing us the deep, lose-your-golf ball rough on the ninth hole...  Enjoy it, lads, as this is the last time you'll likely have the full five minutes to try to step on your ball.

And since someone mentioned the long grass, it's that time again in which we peek in on Shack's obsession with the 10th hole.  You'll find him sitting with the AP's Doug Ferguson in the grandstand on the grassy knoll behind the green.... I sometimes don't know what else can be said about this little temptress, but Geoff has a full post of "more" and I always pay attention, not least because he wrote the book.  Literally...

Tour players aren't always the best judges of architecture, but Zac Blair shows some chops in this piece:

If your tee ball is not placed down the far left hand side of the hole, your angle into the

green forces you to play towards the middle of the putting surface. This green is extremely shallow, and tilted from right-to-left, so it makes it almost impossible to attack the back hole locations (even for the best players on the planet) if the lay-up is hit anywhere right of center. 

Thomas’ creativity makes it easy to remember each and every hole at his masterpieces, which include three of Los Angeles’ top courses: Los Angeles Country, Bel Air Country Club and Riviera, as well as Whitemarsh Valley in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania. The 10th hole is just one example of his genius, and still challenges TOUR players today.

Ain't that amazing?  Dave Dusek has all sorts of interesting number-crunching about the hole, including this scatter diagram:

Lastly, you know how you never want to go on stage after the comedian?  Perhaps Tiger cancelled his presser because he didn't want to follow this guy.  

Here's more on the admirable young man, from a completely impartial source:

"We enjoy watching Kevin compete," his mother said. "We enjoy watching him

overcome the hearing loss. We enjoy watching him not let that be a handicap. He was taught to just use that as a positive and use it the best you can. He's never allowed deafness to stop him." 

She calls her son's sense of humor "second to none," and if his laughter that penetrated the interview room throughout his answers didn't prove it, then some of his stories should.

I still have misgivings about the process by which he's in the field, but I have no misgivings about this fine man.  

Nothing To see Here...  - Geoff's obsession for the 10th hole takes a back seat to only one issue, and we have such a cosmic convergence.  There are so many decisions to be made, which do I go with?

1. Lies, damn lies & statistics;
2. Figures don't lie, but liars figure; or the ever-popular...
3. Who ya gonna believe, me or your lyin' eyes?

Here's the news item:

USGA and The R&A Publish Research on Driving Distance in Golf 

FAR HILLS, N.J. and ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (February 15, 2017) - The USGA and The R&A have published their annual review of driving distance, a research document that reports important findings on driving distance in golf.

Introduced last year, the review examines driving distance data from seven of the major professional golf tours, based on approximately 285,000 drives per year. Data from studies of male and female amateur golfers has also been included for the first time.

Key facts noted in the paper include: 

Between 2003 and the end of the 2016 season, average driving distance on five of the seven tours has increased by approximately 1.2%, around 0.2 yards per year. 

For the same time period, average driving distance on the other two tours studied decreased by approximately 1.5%.

Well, that's relief!  Errr, except for the minor detail that our eyes tell a far different story...  Here's Shack's anecdotal refutation:

Furthermore, Governor William J. Lepotomane chimed in: "Gentleman, this study is the finest of its kind ever published!" 

Now, I write to you from Riviera where, when I started hitting balls on the driving range tee in the late 80s, a 10-12 foot fence was in place. Then it went to 40 or so feet in the 90s, 80 feet in the 2000's and since 2012, for the PGA Tour's annual February visit, a special extension is added to raise the driving range fence to 120 feet.

The same fence extension will be needed this August when the U.S. Amateur comes to Riviera. Here's guessing the USGA would not appreciate an invoice to cover the cost of installing a temporary addition since, after all, today's report says recent distance gains are a figment of our imagination.

 What's your point?  Shack links to good work by Golf Channel's Will Gray on this subject:

As any PR firm can attest, statistics are a versatile tool. Choose the right data points, frame the right time period, and you can quantify support for nearly any argument. Such is the case with this study, the second in as many years released by the game’s governing bodies and one that simply continues to miss the point.

Just picking the right starting point can skew data immeasurably, as per Michael Mann's famed global warming hockey stick.

The study’s data focuses not on distance outliers, but instead on the large swath in the

middle where, for the PGA Tour, the average drive reportedly lingers around 290 yards. But those top-end outliers have become increasingly noticeable in recent years as more and more marquee players launch towering drives. 

A whopping 27 players cracked the 300-yard average last season on Tour, 15 more than the 2010 season and 18 more than in 2003. Individual drives over 300 yards, which made up just 26.56 percent of tee shots in 2003, accounted for 31.14 percent last season. 

Then there’s Rory McIlroy tweeting out other-worldly Trackman data, Dustin Johnson bending Oakmont to his will and Henrik Stenson lifting the claret jug by relying not on his driver, but instead his trusty 3-wood.

This is really discouraging, and it's far worse if they actually believe it.... I've long wondered to what extent players using less than driver has skewed results, but we all know what we see.

If you want to dig deeper, this Rex Hoggard item is quite good.  There's a lot going on here, far beyond just the ball and clubs.  Not only are the guys getting stronger, but other technology such as Trackman are allowing for the optimization of launch conditions...

Or we can just stick our head back in that hole...

Elton, Unplugged - It's like The Wild West on the Euro Tour these days, as who knows what they'll dream up next....  Alan Shipnuck continues his hot streak, scoring an interview with Tour majordomo Keith Pelley.  Alan goes straight for the jugular, opening with this hard-hitting question:

Alan Shipnuck: So let’s talk about the most pressing issue facing the European tour

today: your eyeglasses. Did you ever imagine that they would create such a buzz?

Keith Pelley: Yeah, there’s been a lot of talk about my eyewear. I do have quite a few pair. I don’t know how I got into it. But somehow it’s become something that people quite like to talk about.

The Elton bit is a recurring Shack gag, so consider him credited.... But this bit has me scratching my head:

"Because in the way that people live their lives, they want immediate gratification," he continued. "They want to be able to get immediate results. And they want to follow things that are meaningful, because there is such a saturation of content. Our Thursday-Fridays are not as meaningful as they need to be. Yes, they position you for the weekend, but there is no result. There is no payoff at the end of Thursday or Friday. So what I'm turning our attention to internally is what are we going to do in 2018 to address Thursday-Friday? Because we need more engagement. We need higher ratings. I think that is a worldwide challenge for every tour. You're the only person I've ever said that to."

Ummmm Keith, the payoff on Friday is that you make the cut....  But who wants to break the news to him that millennials aren't going to watch even if there are ritual beheadings of those that fail to make the cut.

These Guys Are Good - I'm guessing they've got the right man for the job:

Phil Mickelson is known for having one of the greatest short games in golf history. Now

he's doing something that will help his alma mater's golf teams with that aspect of the game. 

Papago Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz., is going to be the new home track of Arizona State's golf squads. And that move will include the creation of a new practice facility that's being designed by Mickelson's design team and ASU's two head golf coaches, Matt Thurmond and Missy Farr-Kaye. 

"This short-game facility is going to be the single greatest short-game facility in the country," Mickelson says in a video uploaded by Sun Devil Athletics. "It's not going to be the biggest, it's not going to be the most aesthetically beautiful. It's going to be the most functional."

It's his alma mater, so he'll work cheap. 

Cheap Shots - A quick survey of headlines that caught my eye....

Oh, I've Never Forgotten Her - Let's not forget SI Swimsuit Issue cover girl Kate Upton also dabbles as a golfer

He's Irish, And It's The Law - Darren Clarke joining Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell in the bar business

I Don't Think He Knows The Meaning of "Responsibility - John Daly says putter throw was accidental but takes responsibility

I Didn't Know There Would Be Math - Jordan Spieth is the clear favorite to win the Masters -- but not to win a major in 2017

Isn't That What Caused That Spot of Bother a Few Years Back? -Tiger Woods’ father taught him to ‘listen to your body’