Midweek (Loosely Defined) Musings

I'd apologize for yesterday's unanticipated absence, but the dog ate my homework, I had a headache and had to wash my hair....  Also, I just didn't feel like it.  Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?

I'm Just Glad It has a Future - Gil Hanse gives a typically thoughtful interview, from which this is the takeaway:

"The future of golf is fun"

Fact of the matter is that it always has been.  No fun equals no customers.... The lede reminds of the history of this week's venue:

When Arnold Palmer's original routing for TPC Boston opened in 2002, it felt like a course transplanted from a Florida resort, with eighteen individual holes on a wandering

layout whose long cart rides from one hole to the next epitomized its lack of flow and local flavor. It never quite fit in Norton, Mass., a town of 20,000 some 40 miles south of Boston, but the TPC had already landed a PGA Tour event, the Deutsche Bank Championship. The tournament, which debuted in 2003, was well-attended, but fans yearned for golf carts, while pros and members alike noted how the course lacked continuity. When the PGA Tour announced just three years after TPC Boston's debut that the second leg of the newly minted FedEx Cup Playoffs would come to Norton, the TPC needed to up its game. The Tour tapped Hanse Golf Course Design, a boutique firm that had just opened Boston Golf Club to rave reviews. 

"I think at that point we had a good reputation within the industry, with people who knew golf and golf course architecture, but we weren't on the radar anywhere else," Gil Hanse said in a telephone interview Monday. "TPC Boston literally put our work out there on national television for millions of people to see, and things obviously multiplied from there."

What this reader takes away is the exacting qualification process of the Ratched Regime in awarding Tour events...  Sure, you can have our playoff event on your promise to turn your cow pasture into something playable.  Sheesh! 

That said, it kind of worked out, as Gil has leveraged the prominence of that restoration into a position as one of the new vanguard of minimalist architects.  Everyone will cite Castle Stuart and the Olympic Course in a precis of his C.V., but I first became aware of him from his existential restoration at Sleepy Hollow, which I wrote about here ( Part II here).

You should read all of it, of course, though I'll focus you on the scheduling implications.  The prevailing wisdom is that, with the PGA move to May in place, the next domino to fall in order to conclude before Labor Day will be a reduction in the FedEx faux-Playoffs from four to three events.

Eat Lake is, of course, sacrosanct, so which of New York, Boston or Chicago (very loosely defined) should go?  Boston to me is easily the best of the three because of the great venue.  New York's rota has its high points, notably Ridgewood and Plainfield, but I can live if I never see Conway Farms ever again....  But naturally, Boston is the event that's in the cross-hairs, because we can reward success.... though admittedly it's the one with sponsorship issues, despite strong local support for the event.

Amusingly, Alan Shipnuck was asked this very question in his weekly mailbag:

"Which of the four playoff events deserves the ax in 2019 when the Tour wraps up its season by Labor Day? #AskAlan" - Dan (@djdonof)

The Tour Championship! It’s so f’ing dull. Part of the problem is the dreary venue, East Lake, which has no pizzaz archtecturally and small, lifeless crowds. The other issue is the FedEx structure. At the Tour Championship only a handful of guys actually have a realistic chance to win the Cup – the rest are just going through the motions, burnt-out by the FedEx slog and content that they’re getting guaranteed money and World Ranking points and various exemptions for the following season. A major tweak to the format (match play!) and/or the points structure is needed to make the Tour Championship relevant. Otherwise, it could disappear entirely and no one would really notice.

That is going, going...See Ya!  Is there the remotest chance that anyone will forward this to Jay Monahan?  Nah, what am I thinking...

And just when I can't get any more depressed, Brian Wacker has this that I hadn't heard previously:

But ending the season earlier wouldn’t mean a longer offseason, according to those same sources. The next season would start a week after the previous one ended, which would still compete with football season. 

Or, as one player said, “It kind of defeats the whole purpose.”

 Only one?  Well, they can't force us to watch, can they?

Nothing To see Here - Occasionally one shot captures the public's imagination, and DJ's drive on the playoff hole at Glen Oaks is one such shot.  Kyle Porter captures the zeitgeist:

The reaction to Dustin Johnson's gargantuan drive in the playoff of The Northen Trust on Sunday was not exactly what I thought it would be. Sure, you had the "I think I just woke the children up" screams from folks like me and others, but there was a more ominous, Nick Saban-like vibe from some within the golf world. 

Is this what we want golf to be? 

At first glance, of course. Paul Bunyan-like heroes sending missiles into the New York sky for large sums of money. It passes the initial smell test for sports in the 21st century. But it is also an indictment of how the sport has evolved and a warning about where it is going.

That's quite the scatter diagram, though there are two other dots I'd like identified.... As Porter notes, hitting the ball long and straight is the very essence of our game, so it seems churlish to complain.  But complain they have....

Shack takes his own shot at this issue, though I think he comes up short:

The key to understanding the beauty of the play, in my view, is to separate the tee shot number of 341 yards from the line taken, the shocking tracer lines and the huge advantage gained over Spieth. If you just see this as a long hitter taking a risk under pressure and reaping a reward, it's a beautiful thing. Even better is that the hole was part of the playoff and in a mini-match play situation allowed for this risk-taking. 

I'm concerned how many players were suggesting a playoff hole should be chosen based on some sort of arbitrary design characteristics. No matter how you feel about the impact of distance gains, I would hope that when the day comes, we all agree that long drivers like Johnson get to continue to enjoy an advantage as long as their drives are accurately placed.

I think there's a few issues creating a bit of dissonance.  Initially the line that DJ took, as represented by the Pro-Tracer arc,  created shock in the viewers, simply because no one knew you could go that direction.  And indeed no one had taken that line all week...

But it's a uniquely bad golf hole that creates the uncertainty about its fairness....  Its incorrectly being called a Cape hole, which I think is wrong.  The essence of a Cape hole is for the player to choose how aggressive a line to take on a continuum of possible lines....  Here, the severe 90 degree dogleg makes it a binary choice.   If you could carry it the 300 yards, not only can you take the aggressive line, but you're rewarded with a 100-yard wide landing area.  This is really the ket comment from Dustin:

"It's only 300 carry. I can cover that. I told [my caddie] A.J., I was like, 'If we go into a playoff, there's no way I'm going to the right again. Unless the wind is in the face; the right, it's actually a hard drive for me to go down the right side."

Get that?  The easy shot is actually harder....

My only concern is that the discussion of DJ's drive obscures the true true crappiness of this golf hole for the club's members, that the normal landing area for most tee shot leaves the players with a downhill, hanging lie for a shot to a significantly-elevated green.

I played Tuesday with a friend from the Met. Golf Writers who happens to be a Glen Oaks member, and he agrees with this assessment.

 As long as we're rehashing the Barclays Northern Trust, Mike Bamberger has a wonderful account of the week, though he found the golf more energizing than most.  But his best bits were about the club, such as this:

This was U.S. Open rough at Glen Oaks, one of Long Island's so-called "Jewish clubs," founded by wealthy, accomplished Jewish businessmen years ago when they were not welcome at the elite WASP clubs on Long Island's Gold Coast. New York's Jewish clubs often tried to outdo everything the WASP clubs did, especially in the area of food. Glen Oaks is famous for its food. Its healthy rough has everything to do with the fact that the course superintendent is one of the best in the game, Craig Currier, formerly of Bethpage—and Bethpage Black in particular. There was U.S. Open rough, and U.S. Open greens, and U.S. Open trees. You remember U.S. Open trees, don't you?

You'd be surprised at how many people don't understand why there are Jewish clubs....

And this little nugget about Glen Oaks' hideous clubhouse:

A classic, post-modern series of cement cubes that George Jetson of Orbit City would have been proud to call home.

I think he makes it sound more appealing than it is.... But, perhaps time to move on.

Eh, not so fast...  If we're talking distance, the USGA has reliably informed me that I shouldn't believe my lyin' eyes.  I'll just show you this chart of the round bellies:

These guys are blowing it past where they hit it in their primes....  The scary part is we don't know what's buried in those numbers.  How often are they hitting less than driver and what measures, such as mowing the grass back towards the tees, have been taken to control distance.  

OK, that'll have to keep you for today...

Tuesday Tidbits

Let's continue our catch-up process....

Northern Exposure - DJ's insane drive on the playoff hole provides today's "Math is Hard" moment:

Dustin Johnson got himself into a playoff, and he didn't hold back. 

Evidence of this was his drive on the 467-yard, par-4 first playoff hole, which led to a birdie and a playoff victory over Jordan Spieth at the Northern Trust on Sunday in Long Island. 

Johnson took a line directly over the pond and his drive measured 341 yards—the longest of the week on 18. He had 94 yards remaining to the green (and stuck it inside four feet) compared to Spieth's 174 yards he had left.

OK, I agree that the 80-yard difference between the two is a wow, but DJ's lne turned the 467-yard hole into a 435-yard hole.  Not something we see every day.... 

Given the ease with which he carried the water, one wonders why he didn't take that line the four previous times.

The guys, led by Ian Poulter, were highly critical of the hole...  Let me clarify, those that can't carry it 315, were highly critical.

You might recall that I played there last year in the Met. Open Pro-Am, and it's a God-awful golf hole for everyone... The problem is that any normal human's drive leaves a downhill hanging lie, for a long shot played to a substantially-elevated green.  If you're looking for a definition of architectural malpractice, you could do worse.

One last note on a subject that has long amused me, the linkage of sponsorships and events.  As I understand the Tour's style book, this event, which became the Northern Trust Open this year, is to be treated as if it carried that name from inception.  Barclays therefore becomes the equivalent of a non-person, to be airbrushed out of history like certain Commissars in the review stand for the May Day parade.

But Jim Nantz broke the rules in noting that this was only DJ's second playoff, the first having been at Riviera, when the event was sponsored by, you guessed it, Northern Trust.  But that event is now sponsored by Hyundai, so inquiring minds want to know if they have a cause of action...  Or is Northern Trust treated differently because they're still in the family?  Having, strangely enough, traded the sponsorship of an event in a city in which they have no significant presence for an event in a larger city in which they have no significant presence?

Who's Got Next? - That would be Fred....  As in Fred Ridley....  We'll start with this Tim Rosaforte puff piece, and the C.V.:

Fast-tracking through the hierarchy, Ridley became Walker Cup captain in 1987 and 1989. Five years later he transitioned to the USGA Executive Committee, ascending to

president in 2004 after working on the Championship, Amateur Status and Conduct and International Team Selection committees. 

The door to membership at Augusta National opened in 2000, and the new member was quickly put to work as Chairman of the Cup and Tee Marker Placement Committee. When Payne became chairman in 2007, Ridley was named chairman of the club’s Competition Committee. For the past 11 years, he has basically run the tournament under the direction of Payne.

That's a lot of boxes checked, and he'll be the first Chairman that has actually played in their flagship event, three times to be specific.  Anyone recognize the other guy in this pic of Fred from the '76 Masters?

Tim's profile is of a low-key man liked by his peers:

“You could see it early on in Fred,” Koch said. “We go back to high school golf, back in the late ’60s. He was always a guy that did things the right way, that was very respectful of the game and everything the game stands for. He was a bright guy, very smart, and he figured out through college his golf game wasn’t probably going to serve him later in life as a means to making a living. At a pretty young age, when a lot of kids are indecisive about what the future held, he certainly wasn’t.” 

Ultimately, this is how Ridley found his calling in golf administration. One of his mentors was former USGA president Reg Murphy, who took a liking to Ridley.

“I think he’s one of the really good people in golf,” Murphy said. “He’s courteous as can be on a golf course. He’s just a fine human being.”

But our Shack sees clouds on the horizon:

Payne's likability makes the choice of Fred Ridley as successor a bold and curious move. 

While Ridley has been a dutiful lieutenant as chairman of the rules committee who also

helped right the ship on Masters course setup following the cynical and shallow Hootie-Fazioapproach, it's still not clear what Ridley thinks of Augusta National's architecture. The former U.S. Amateur champion, former USGA President, former IMG agent, former Walker Cup captain and current lawyer is also strongly linked to the USGA's most unsuccessful presidency: the Walter Driver years and nominating committee aftermath.

Driver and Ridley, serving as past-presidents heading the Executive Committee nomination process, have driven the corporatization of the USGA via the nominating process, resulting in the organization taking credibility hits for failing to acknowledge the role of distance and for emphasizing the stockpiling of wealth. 

There is one counterpoint to those repulsed by the organization's infatuation with the dollar: the USGA had to stockpile cash to be ready for a legal fight over distance. It's never been clear if that's where Driver and Ridley stand.

 Shack's got more, but I'll just give you his call to arms coda:

New chairman-Ridley could either be the perfect person to help pave the way for bifurcation using the power of The Masters, or the worst person possible for the job if he's determined to keep sweeping the matter under a tapestry of tees, rye grass and trees. 

Good luck, Mr. Ridley!

I think it's fair to assume that Shack has written off the actual governing bodies in this regard, not that I necessarily dispute that conclusion.  But it remains a big ask of this club to assume responsibility for saving our game....

The other amusing issue to me is that in none of the coverage of Ridley's assumption is there mention of his biggest cock-up, Tiger's famous drop on No. 15.  It was our new Chairman that brushed off David Eger's concerns and failed to speak to Tiger, only to be confronted later by Tiger's unwitting testimony in a media interview.  Not a hanging offense perhaps, but not a good look for the new boss either....

Rio Loco, The Return - Rex Hoggard returns to Rio and provides some good news:

An Agence France-Presse report last November described a layout overgrown with natural vegetation and nearly devoid of players. But as the anniversary of that historic

hand-over passes it appears the rumors of the layout’s death have been greatly exaggerated. 

“The visions of an Olympic course that was going to be overgrown and left to waste didn’t occur. There seems to be a genuine desire to create white elephants when the Olympics are over,” says Mark Lawrie, the R&A’s director for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

In April, when Lawrie returned to the Rio course, he found a much different reality. Although he admits the volume of play hasn’t been what officials hoped for, the course itself remains playable with conditions Galvão contends are better than what the world’s best competed on for medals a year ago.

Fair enough, though Shack and others are I fear reading far too much into this.  One hopes that this is more than wishful thinking:

The remainder of that growth will be homegrown via an ambitious green-grass plan that begins in elementary school. 

“We have to implement the golf legacy from the Games. We need to increase the number of golfers through social inclusion,” Galvão says. “It’s important to have a partnership between the public and the private school to bring kids to the course.” 

Every Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon, Galvão and his staff offer free lessons to new players, both children and adults, on the Rio course practice range. Players graduate to the small four-hole course from there. Galvão says those clinics are currently fully booked, a sign, however anecdotal, that despite the public perception of golf being only for the elite, there is at least a passing interest in the game.

But reality has a way of intruding:

Galvão’s optimism is contagious and he’s confident his plan, which he will present to the IGF and R&A later this month, is a rare mix of financial responsibility and social activism, but the challenges he and his staff face can’t be ignored. He sees them every morning on his drive to work. 

Green fees for foreigners at the Olympic course are about $150, a reasonable sum for a tourist to play the same course where Justin Rose won a gold medal, but resident rates range from about $75 on the weekend to $50 on a weekday, which are both outrageous sums for a country where the average monthly salary is $678. 

“I would say a little bit,” Galvão concedes when asked if those green fees might be too expensive.

This is a country that can't process the sewage created by its citizens, so forgive me for playing Debbie Downer.  But should they be worrying about golf?

Best Job in Golf? -  It's either Joe Passov or Matt Ginella, but don't struggle too much making the decision, because they have the same job.

the latter files a two-part video series on golf in Ireland, that might wet one's whistle....Part I, which starts at the over-rated Cliffs of Moher, but the time in Lahinch is well-spent.  Not only is it a spectacular links, with the unlikely design lineage of Old Tom and Dr. Alister MacKenzie, but it's great hipster surfing town.

But it's Part II that I really highly recommend, as it concludes with  Matt on the links with our old friend John Farren at Beloved Ballyliffin.

Not. Gonna. Happen. - We love taking the air out of delusions of grandeur, but this one has far too low a degree of difficulty:

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Los Angeles is a town defined by stars and the stages

on which they perform. It has the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys, the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl and Hollywood Bowl. Go big or go home, as they say. 

This is the underlying principle that animates Michael Yamaki, a prominent criminal defense lawyer and power broker in Los Angeles sports. 

“Los Angeles is a town that only comes out for the big events,” Yamaki, a board member of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, said here last week. “But it’s got to be the main event. When it comes to the big events we can showcase and do it better than anyone else.” 

So it is that Yamaki, who runs Riviera Country Club as its corporate officer , is determined to host championships and competitions commensurate with the course’s standing as one of the finest in the country, No. 24 on Golf Digest's ranking of the 100 Greatest Golf Courses, in the heart of the entertainment capital of the world. 

His is a short wish list long on history that starts with the U.S. Open and the Ryder Cup.

They just had a cameo with the USGA, an U.S. Amateur in which way too many balls were lost because there were no spectators.... 

Laid back LA and The Ryder Cup seem an especially bad fit, no?  But how do you think this elevator pitch will work out:

“If Merion [site of the U.S. Open in 2013] can do it with that footprint, we could do it. It just has to be a mindset for the USGA. [The Open] has been such a money driver today that everything is getting bigger and bigger and needing more and more space. In that regard we’re limited. The course certainly holds its own. But here’s the difference. You can make more money here with less volume than you can any place anywhere else because in LA they’re used to paying higher prices. 

“With the USGA, we drove by San Vicente [Blvd.] and Allenford and saw a Union Station and gas was four dollars a gallon. How much is gas for you? Well, this is how much gas is in this area. You go go a Lakers game it’s $75 for valet parking. In LA we would pay a heftier price.”

Come here, we'll let you rip us off....  It's an historic club and a fine course, but we already see it every year.  And, as the author notes, he'd be better focused on a PGA, whose options will have shrunk by the move to May.  But neither Merion nor the PGA's visit to another regular Tour stop, Quail Hollow, were particularly successful.

Things We Already Know - Jason Sobel tackles the subject of the effect of pairings on the quality of play, with predictable results:

Ask most touring professionals and they'll usually insist that there are extremely beneficial playing partners and ... other guys. Which is to say, when players receive their

early-week text messages revealing first- and second-round groupings, most will celebrate the positive discoveries, but won't grouse about potentially negative ones. 

"I usually play well when I have a fun group, guys who I like," Pat Perez said before the opening round of The Northern Trust. "This week is going to be fun as s---. I've been playing against [Charley] Hoffman since I was 7. [Brian] Harman is cool as s---. We're going to have a great group."

the conclusion is spot on, that it shouldn't matter but it does....

Most people think of this issue in terms of quality of play, but the second obvious point is on pace of play.  Mostly quick players complaining about the slowpokes, though this was interesting:

There's the negative impact: During last year's third round of the Masters, when McIlroy 

Didn't your experienced caddie tell you to slow down?

played with Jordan Spieth and -- stressing this was an explanation, not an excuse -- said the slower pace of play affected his focus.

Then there was the 2011 Masters. 

"When I played with Angel Cabrera on the last day," explained McIlroy, "he was almost too quick for me and [it was] almost like I started to rush. I'm a fast player, but the pace of play was almost too quick, to the point where we were waiting so much on the group ahead instead of me maybe just taking my time and walking a little slower in between shots."

That's the reaction of an inexperienced player, with predictable results.

But this was my favorite bit:

You play with Ernie Els and by the end of the day, your rhythm is better.

Well, yeah! 

Weekend (and Wales) Wrap

Back to business as usual....  Let's catch up on the weekend, but also some important stories that went down during our travels.

Duh Playoffs - They got everything they could have dreamed of, no?  The two biggest names in the game mano-a-mano down the stretch, and I believe that soporific is the word you're looking for....  Shack led with this:

What a strange weekend at the immaculately groomed Glen Oaks, as the first Northern Trust to replace Barclays fell a tad flat despite a fantastic leaderboard.

Maybe it's the time of year on Long Island (better things to do), the venue (exclusive club), every fan turning into a documentarian (cell phone video and photos allowed), chip-out rough (ugh!), but for a showdown with two top players this one seemed a bit low on energy.

If I had to pick an order, I'd blame time of year impacting Long Island fan interest, player fatigue at this point of a long season and a lack of urgency in the playoff format that might inject some life. Plus, Glen Oaks Club did a nice job but it's hard to beat Bethpage energy.

It was more than a tad flat, my friend...  Especially considering the back-to-back bombs they dropped on each other on Nos. 17 and 18.

Then Geoff dives deeper in this post:

Dustin Johnson won in a playoff over Jordan Spieth, and while the August timing is

tough when the weather screams "family-day-at-the-beach," the event fell flat for another reason: the "playoff" word.

We connote playoffs with excitement in sports.

With do or die.

With drama.

With upsets.

With play well or go home.

He goes on at length, so feel free to dive in...

Now's not the time to for a long-form piece, but there's a reason that I always tried to acknowledge two things when deconstructing Commissioner Ratched.  The more substantive is that despite controlling the most important golf tour on the planet, Fortress Ponte Vedra Beach has no control over the 4 1/2 meaningful events each year.

It's not hard to imagine how frustrating that must be, the indignity of it all.  But under the control of a non-golfer like Tim Finchem, we've ended up with the proverbial camel.  The events can be appreciated as big-money tourneys with strong fields...  But as a coherent climax to the season, they're a joke.

Finchem also erred in reacting to the early events, most notably the Vijay win that was locked down before East Lake.  The events are structured to ensure that the winner isn't chosen until Sunday in Atlanta, but that yields Billy Horschel and Brandt Snedeker...  And while Shack focuses his wrath on "Playoffs", perhaps the more telling phraseology is "season'long."

Because a true playoff concept is alien to golf, where any one week is a crapshoot....  I actually think they'd do better in embracing the big-money shootout option, but that involves giving up the pretense that it's meant to reward long-term performance.  The only drama to be found is guys scrambling to get into the field for Boston, but that requires a fan to care about the guy sitting in the 101st slot...  Oh, and he might finish his round before CBS comes on the air.

So, it's a hot mess that we'll pray Commissioner Monahan can somehow make rational.  Limiting it to three events and ending earlier can't hurt...  At the very least we won't have the guys talking about their vacations... Maybe.

Changing Of The Guard - Easily the biggest story to break while I was away, was the announcement that Billy Payne ha stepped down as Augusta National and Masters Chairman.  Jaime Diaz with a typically-strong profile of the man and his significant tenure:

In his relatively short time, Payne has fulfilled an enormous to-do list, ranging from admitting the first women into the club in 2012 to the successful development of the

Drive, Pitch and Putt Championship, demonstrating vision, grit and nuanced gifts for leadership.

Under Payne, the position of the Masters and Augusta National among golf’s major organizations has climbed in stature and import. The club has a bigger voice in the game’s issues and seems to operate with more autonomy. By shrewdly blending its increased revenues with a broader, more culturally current vision, Payne pushed the previously often hidebound club and its tournament into the 21st century with a vitality that in retrospect is stunning.

You'll need to read the whole thing, though the list of accomplishments seems a bit forced.  Yeah, he took down a damaged tree, but we're not yet at the point where that warrants a Nobel Peace Prize.  He got the cub through the women membership issue with grace, inviting substantive women and ensuring that they're visible and welcome.

I do think his most substantive legacy will be in opening ANGC to the Drive, Chip & Putt, which was quite the stroke of genius.  It shows the club in a different light, one that's open and welcoming.... Combined with the club's role in promoting amateur golf, this might be how Billy is remembered.

The enhancements to the club I'm of mixed minds about....  I have no problem with improving the patron's experience and the new driving range was no doubt much needed, though that has had the unintended result of keeping the players out of the locker rooms.  The media center seems like overkill, and on this I think Jaime misses the point:

• Media innovations including, in 2016, the first live 4K broadcast of a sporting event in the United States, and the first live virtual-reality experience made available to the public for a professional golf event with Masters Digital.

Yeah, great, but still no shot-tracer, on course reporters or blimps on the flagship coverage....  Remember, when Bubba hit his famous gap wedge we had no clue where he was, his yardage, his lie or his path to the green.

But this I think was always an unrealistic expectation:

On creating a rolled-back Masters ball: “That would be a very drastic step, and we would hope before that was necessary, there would be a collaborative decision. We love to follow collaborative decisions. Not be a loner. But we reserve the right to do so if we think it’s needed. We retain options about our course. So, I would suspect we would exhaust those before we would unilaterally jump ahead of others.”

No one wants to see those fifty yards added to No. 13, but to expect one club to blaze this path is really a bit much.  They're not just any old club I know, but we have governing bodies for a reason....

But I'll just leave it that this picture is an enduring legacy for the man everyone knows as Billy:

Yes, we do need to discuss Fred, but how about we circle back to that tomorrow?

The Solheim Cup - I was disappointed to be away for this, though it was mitigated by the Suzann Pettersen no-show.  I'm still unconvinced that she's been made to understand her sins, but until she starts reading this blog that may remain the case.

Two items have jumped out at me in the aftermath, excluding the obvious issue of how the event survives in light of Asian dominance of the women's game.  While I like Juli Inkster everywhere but as an on-course reporter, her inclination to share her inner Stacey Lewis is off-putting:

Juli Inkster used her post-Solheim Cup press conference to sound off about the lack of

respect she feels the women's golf game gets in the sports world. 

"As women golfers we always get shortchanged, and it irks me," Inkster said sitting next to the trophy, not long after the 16.5-11.5 American victory. 

"Even from the PGA Tour down, I just don't think we get the respect we deserve," she continued. "I'm going to say it right now, and I probably shouldn’t say it, I just don't understand how all these companies get away with supporting PGA Tour events and not supporting LPGA. It makes me a little upset because I think we've got a great product, I think we do a lot of things really good and I think the golf is fantastic, and I think we deserve our due."

The good news is that she didn't go Full-Stacey and pretend that the women are as good as the men....  But the implied threat of blackmail should not go unremarked.  How do they "get away" with it?  It's actually quite simple, you have to compete for their support, and prove that associating with your product enhances their business....

Or you can unleash the dogs of social justice war on sponsors, and makes us hate everyone involved....

And Annika also garnered some good press:

When I remember Sorenstam’s captaincy, I won’t remember the final score as much as I’ll remember seeing Annika open herself up to us like we’ve never seen before. 

This is one of the all-time greats, a Hall of Famer who won more LPGA titles (72) than anyone except Kathy Whitworth (88) and Mickey Wright (82), but Sorenstam distinguished herself in this losing effort. She showed her team how to lose with grace and dignity and how to put up a fight even when you are overmatched. 

I’ll remember Sorenstam for her inspiring appearance Saturday in the media center, where this captain, who was so measured her entire playing career, let her guard down and invited us into her head and heart. She was as good as you could possibly ask a captain to be answering questions with her team getting trounced worse going into singles than any European team in the history of the Solheim Cup. Chin up, jaw resolutely set, she let us hear how a champion thinks when her back’s to a wall. She struck such a genuine tone. There was a bonus, too, there was her unexpected good humor that night, which sent a couple jolts of laughter through the interview room.

I'm glad, because she was kind of an a******e in prior versions, especially in Pettersengate.  Randall Mell particularly like this scene when all was over:

 Although these events do thrive on a little bad blood between the teams....

Amateur Hour - Did you catch that great U.S. Amateur Final?  Unfortunately, not too many did...  Shack was all over it here, but then he also offered options to enhance the event:

--Ranking incentive? As mentioned in the Golfweek piece, the it may be time to

consider some exemptions to match play for top-ranked amateurs, which would incentivize them to remain amateurs and reward summer performance leading into the U.S. Amateur. The World Amateur Golf Ranking would also get a huge credibility boost. 

--Day and date change. The U.S. Amateur has always fallen near the start of school for those on the semester system and traditionally falls on a Sunday finish against other golf. Perhaps being played a couple of weeks earlier and finishing on a less competitive day will restore some prestige. Other events on the USGA calendar may be moving (Herrington/Golf World) so why not consider the Amateur as well? 

--Perks for semifinalists and finalists. We know that exemptions to the U.S. Open disappear when a player turns professional, as do free passes to U.S. Open sectional qualifying. This is why winners of semi-final matches seize on the Masters invitation and not the U.S. Open exemption, prompting the USGA to bring the U.S. Open trophy to the first tee. It's time to reconsider. 

--Lose the logos. While it's difficult to pin down the impact, the sight of players sporting company affiliations does not exactly cry amateur golf or improve the event. Years ago the NCAA made players cover college affiliations in non-NCAA competitions, but it may be time to ask players to not look like professional golfers at the U.S. Amateur.

There was a day when the Am was a more important event that the Open, but admittedly that was many generations ago.  The event has been badly hurt by the Tour's changes to its qualification process, notably doing away with Tour Q-School.  Guys just don't want to hang around as amateurs, given the increased time to make it to the big tour.

But the other ting that has diminished this event are the NCAA's, which have seized the role of primary amateur competition, thereby complicating the USGA's options for finding new dates.  

But the USGA has also been shooting itself in the foot with its Walker Cup selection process.  No sooner was the Am concluded than they announced the team for this year's event at LA Country Club, when the inevitable occurred:

Among those left out were Sam Burns, who earned the Nicklaus Award as the top player in college golf and recently tied for sixth in a PGA Tour event; mid-am Scott Harvey,

who was part of the 2015 Walker Cup team; and Illinois senior Dylan Meyer, ranked No. 4 in the world. 

The USGA’s International Team Selection committee does not make its points list public, and no USGA official was made available for comment Sunday to discuss how the roster was constructed.

Not only would a points list provide a news peg after each event for amateur golf, but how can w expect players like Burns to wait around only to take a shiv from the USGA?

Millennial Nonsense, A Continuing Feature - Strange Daze leading up to September 1st, as the Tour takes steps to suck up to millennials....This I suppose was inevitable, so bring those cameras:

The Northern Trust is the first FedEx Cup playoff event, but it’s also a first in another

way. 

This week’s event marked the first one in which a new spectator phone policy was introduced by the PGA Tour. Beginning with the action at Glen Oaks Club, spectators will now be allowed to take photos and video of on-course action during tournament rounds. 

Photo and video of practice-round action was previously allowed, but this new policy extends that permission to actual tournament play.

It's the posting to social media where the Tour was so clueless, so this is mostly for the good.  Obviously the players will have to deal with the cameras...  I did see a guy using his iPad on yesterday's coverage, and I just don't get how lugging that around all day is any fun.

Then there was this that reeks of desperation:

Alexandra Dieck is known for touting the latest fashion trends on her blog Lexicon of Style. Later this week, she'll be tackling a rather unexpected subject: golf. 

Dieck, 26, is among a handful of social media influencers hired by the PGA Tour to tout the sport to younger audiences during the Northern Trust tournament this week. Dieck's social media peers will include other fashion writers, foodies and mommy bloggers. 

"We are creating a totally new experience in addition to great golf that is inherently more social and fun, and we want more people to know about it," said Julie Tyson, PGA Tour's senior vice president of championship management. "We are widening our circle of storytellers to include influencers we know our fans already look to for insights and information."

Mommy bloggers?  Yeah, that's the ticket...  But see if you find this even funnier, as Ms. Dieck provides her golf bona fides:

For Dieck, golf isn't just another subject matter. She grew up watching her dad play on Sundays and earned a scholarship to compete for the University of Houston. However, it's remained a hobby for her. 

The PGA Tour social media team discovered Dieck's passion for the sport after she posted a few Instagram pictures from the Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas, which she regularly attends for fun with her friends and family. 

"People always get super surprised when I play," she said. "I'm not really good at golf – but I can hit under 100."

Yards, I assume?  They're hiring her to promote golf, and not even smart enough to correct her language to something a golfer won't cringe at....

This is her day job, in case you need help folding a scarf...  Just screams golf, doesn't it?

On Deadline - The more significant deadline has thus far been noted only by Shack, that Friday is the expiration of the PGA Tour's opt-out of its network TV contracts with CBS and NBC.  In a year of declining ratings and with the parameters of the schedule remaining unclear, if I'm the Eye or the Peacock I'm begging Jay Monahan to pull the trigger.  Which means he won't.... With Fox choking on their USGA contract and the horrible demos, it's hard to see where he could do any better.

The second deadline, also this week, is for public comment on the proposed rules changes.  Geoff had these personal comments:

'm still not a fan of dropping the ball one inch from the ground or tapping spike marks, and we'll see if the governing bodies heard from many on those topics.

Yeah, it's just a silly look and what problem is being addressed?  It's the second though, about which I'm curious, given his coverage of the ball-marking fiascoes.  If we maintained the inability to fix spike marks a scuffs of the green, we're enabling those that choose to be "loose" with their marking technique.  I'm unhappy that this is the state of play for the next sixteen months.

I've got way more, but I'll entertain a motion to adjourn until tomorrow morning....

Effin' Nefyn

Nefyn & District Golf Club is a place of some renown, notable for nine holes jammed into a peninsula fit for perhaps five.  Much more on that later....

Golf here in Morfa Nefyn (Morfa means march), dates back to 1912, though no provenance was provided for the original routing.  Two-thirds of The Great Triumverate, James Braid and J.H. Taylor, laid out eight new holes that eventually turned into nine.  The use what's called, appropriately enough, the Front Nine for all players, then feed the members onto the new nine and visitors onto the Old Nine, also d/b/a The Point.

The opening drive takes you straight to the sea, and who would object to that?

Past that guide post it goes straight down, though somehow left your humble correspondent with a downhill hanging lie...  But I'll not be bitter for long, especially after a birdie at the second.

Tom Doak has this to say about the next couple of holes:

Routing goes straight to the cliffs for 2nd and 3rd holes, which would be world-beaters with more interesting green sites.

That's spot on, as the greens are almost willfully uninteresting.  Then again, there's the sea:

It's a delightful walk and fun to play, but not terribly linksy.  The turf was a mixture of grasses, and the lies far more plush than one expects over here.  Equally important, the bunkers were more American style, as one could advance the ball from them without issue.

This was the only course on the trip where they required that I play from short tees, though I wasn't going to pass up this tee box on the Par-3 fifth that just out into the water.  Pulleaze!

No shortage of beautiful vistas:

Now we come to the reason we've come to Nefyn, pretty much the reason anyone comes to Nefyn.  It is on this peninsula that they've somehow created nine holes:

As you can see, there is not sufficient room for nine holes, which exist only in the sence that one can stick a peg into the ground nine times.  There are, unsurprisingly, four one-shotters and it plays to a par of 33 (only 2,363 yards from the tees they want me to play), 34 for the ladies.  

The opener is a short Par-4 that plays downhill about 200 yards where the fairway abruptly ceases, then up and over a steep-faced hill to a hidden green (the photo of Theresa above is actually this first tee on the Old).  Alas, we are blind, as my GPS watch provides the distance to Ireland in lieu of that to the 10th green.  Theresa left her second on the bank, from which I'm able to retrieve it, but my own must have gone long.  Behind the green is a sharp fall-off into the Amazon, seemingly unnecessary in view of the blindness and uncertain distance of the approach shot.  

We then play back-to-back Par-3's, one more beguiling than the next:

That's the 12th tee above, which features a massive sinkhole off to the right.  It's not especially in play on either this or the 16th, but still something one doesn't expect to see on the links.

No doubt you'll rightfully assume that I included this picture of the 12th green to show off my fine tee shot:

But you'd be wrong, it's in fact to show how close the pubic walking paths come to the line of play.  The slightest tug off the tee and we're down one hiker, and on a sunny, dry day it's a target-rich environment.

The best of these as actual golf holes is no doubt the 13th, described by James Finnegan:

“The 415-yard thirteenth, calling up the marvelous 10^th on the Ailsa (now changed), is a great hole; a platform tee set thrillingly above the sea, a dogleg left around an inlet daring you to bite off all you believe you can chew;a green sited on the edge of a promontory and defended not by sand, but by rock outcroppings.”

I don't see even a passing resemblance to the old tenth on the Ailsa, but I do share his enthusiasm for the hole.  It's a cape hole on steroids, and the best kind since it favors my draw.  

And here the green sits, among the rock outcroppings:

We've seen a strange structure of some kind at the far end of the peninsula, not realizing that it doubles as a tee box:

And yes, that's the thirteenth green below that we've just played.

There are all sorts of folks hanging on the cliffs out here at the end of the Earth:

And when we get to the green we discover they're watching the seals:

We head home in the same manner:

Our last hole is the most terrifying tee shot ever, having little to do with golf.  It's a dead straight Par-4 of some 325 yards, playing a little longer because it's straight up the severe slope.  They've created the illusion of a dogleg left in how they've cut the fairway, but the terror comes from the walking path just to the left, not even twenty yards from the fairway.  

We've seen many the sign in our years of travel instructing players to not hit until walking paths are clear, but traffic here is so heavy that this is impossible.  It's a relief to have this behind me, as there seemed little upside and far too much of the other kind....

Our post-round libation was enhanced by watching a juniors competition finish up.  This young girl was easily our favorite, as we watched her take egregious liberties with the rules in the putting competition:

The pink plaid skirt matched with green socks is simply fashion genius.  

Nefyn is best thought of as a golf playground, as opposed to a serious examination of the game.  Such a thing may not work in most situations, but in the midst of the Irish Sea and with just enough imagination to create interesting challenges, it's quite the hoot.

Now, if it were shrouded in fog and chucking rain, a different matter entirely.

Thus ends our journey and this travelogue.  We'll shortly be rolling our bags across the way to Manchester Airport and beginning our journey home.  I hope you're enjoyed the ride, and we'll be back to our regularly-scheduled programming when next we visit.