Dis N Dat

We'll cover a wide range of subjects today, things that got lost in yesterday's ballapalooza.  But that will likely have to get you through the weekend.  Tomorrow is the first comp day for our young rock star, and as of this afternoon my condo will exceed its occupational capacity.

Don't Mess With Texas - The PGA of America has been busy, first in opposition to policies that haven't been proposed, but also this:

FRISCO, Texas — In a top-secret project nearly five years in the making, the PGA of America is poised to move its national headquarters from West Palm Beach, Fla., where it has been since 1965, to the new Panther Creek development in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas, according to multiple PGA of America officials involved in the project. 

The move would radically reshape the golf landscape in North Texas and is likely to provide Texas its first major championship in more than 50 years. 

Two new 18-hole semi-public courses are part of the plan — one designed by Gil Hanse, the other by Beau Welling. PGA officials said Hanse would be responsible for delivering a championship course, slated to open by 2020, with the intent of it playing host to the PGA's marquee events, including the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup.

Yanno, I saw a header elsewhere that the PGA wanted to bring its major and a Ryder Cup to Frisco, and I found that strange, since they've already awarded events to Olympic Club.   Wrong Frisco, it seems....

As you'll recall, I'm not a fan of the move to May, and this doesn't move me any closer to embracing it:

"One of the reasons we decided to move the PGA Championship to May is to be able have our major at newly built courses or other courses in a new areas," said PGA of America Chief Operations Officer Darrell Crall. "We are very excited to able to do this."

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.  I suppose the good news is that Gil Hanse doesn't build dog patches, though I'm presuming that this will be one of those 9,000 yard courses we spoke of yesterday.  Gil is already in the 'hood, having been retained to spruce up Colonial. 

Did somebody mention Colonial?  Fasten your seat belts, kids, because coming at you is one of those effortless segues for which I am renown:

The past few months have painted a bleak future for the PGA Tour at Colonial Country Club. Dean & DeLuca backed out of a six-year deal as the tournament's sponsor just two

seasons into the agreement, and, against the backdrop of the tour's upcoming schedule changes, securing financial support had proved problematic. 

However, while its long-term viability remains up in the air, the club announced on Wednesday that four companies—American Airlines, XTO, AT&T and Burlington Northern Santa Fe—contributed $2 million each to keep the Colonial afloat for 2018. In a tribute to the local support for the event, the competition has been renamed "The Fort Worth Invitational." 

"We are thrilled, and think it very appropriate, that this year's tournament will be named the Fort Worth Invitational," Colonial president Rob Doby said in a release. "The City of Fort Worth, the business community and our fans have played a huge role over many decades in making this event what it is today. It is as much their tournament as it is the members of Colonial Country Club."

Can you say "Contraction"?  I thought you could....

It's a tough chicken-or-egg situation.  It's hard to attract permanent sponsorship without a guaranteed place on the schedule, but without permanent financing you're waving your hand at the Commish and begging him to choose you to go away.  Additionally, it's logical to assume that the Tour won't have the luxury of two events in the DFW area, and the competitor, the event carrying the name of Lord Byron, is moving this year to a spiffy new venue.  And we know how the suits in Ponte Vedra Beach love shiny new things....

The Legend Grows - Of Jeff Knox, that is.  Is the name familiar to you?  He's the Masters' Marker to the Stars:

Rory McIlroy skipped last week's World Golf Championship in Mexico City, but he

didn't take the week off altogether. 

Instead, McIlroy revealed at his Valspar Championship press conference that he traveled to Augusta National for a scouting trip that included a rematch with the club's most formidable player, Jeff Knox. Knox serves as a marker during Masters week and has beaten several high-profile pros straight up in head-to-head showdowns, including McIlroy in 2014. This time, though, McIlroy faced a far tougher test: he was forced to give Knox eight shots. So how'd the match go? 

"Oh, I never had a chance," McIlroy said. "I'd already lost on the first tee."

 Well sure, given the way you've been putting....

This is a great dude for Rory to be hanging with, as there's likely nobody that knows the course better.  He's one of the precious few club members that lives in Augusta, and is also familiar with the course under tournament conditions.

Now, is Rory asking the right questions?  How about you ditch the childhood friend that week and have Jeff on your bag?

Screen Golf? - I haven't seen much of Luke Kerr-Dineen recently, but he's back with a provocative piece at Golf Digest.  Best of all, it starts with self-abasement, and who doesn't enjoy that?

I am what most people would probably consider a fairly typical millennial. I’m 29 and barely remember life before the Internet. I grew up in a suburb but moved to a big city as 

soon as I could, and I took my first loan not to pay for a house, but for graduate school. I spend too much time on my phone, hate to admit how much I love the vibe in artisanal coffee shops and—judging by the number of first-person references in the previous sentences—am largely failing at dispelling the self-absorbed stereotype.

But you can write in complete sentences, so you're anything but typical.  And this as well:

I also love golf, a thread that has run through my entire life. Golf was basically my job in high school. I played on my college team, and yearn for the summer so I can sneak off for a few rounds any time I can.

Just a second there, bud!  I have it on good authority that your generation can't possibly be interested in our stodgy, slow game.... That's why we have to change it into something unrecognizable, or we're all gonna die.

Luke's premise is obvious in his header:

This is a simulation. (And it's still golf!) 

The sport's best grow-the-game initiative has already been discovered—golf simulators. Now it's time to embrace them

No Luke, it's not golf, it's just an incredible simulation thereof.  I do agree with his basic premise, though, that simulators are great for teaching, winter entertainment and new golfers.  They solve a lot of problems, though cost is still a major issue.

The sales rep of Golfzon is a new member of The Golf Writers Association, and I'll attempt to arrange a demo in the Spring.  He's told me that they've moved the needle quite a bit on the short game and putting aspects of simulators, which have always been the biggest weaknesses.

You'll want to read the entire piece, but please try not to be put off by this:

Luckily, my friend had a different idea: To try The Bridge Golf Center, a state-of-the-art indoor golf facility in Harlem that doubles as a free after-school program for the neighborhood's underprivileged youth. I booked a time on my phone, and 45 minutes later, we were both standing in front of a Trackman-equipped simulator playing a round at the Belfry (we were in a Ryder Cup mood). For $35 each we got an hour at a booth, which gave us time for a warm up, 18 holes and a sneaky range session afterwards.

The Belfry?  Luke, you still have some growing up to do....

Things I Love -  I may have to start rooting for Zac Blair....  Why, because of this:

Ya got the craziness of that?  A full March Madness bracket of golf club logos....the only thing missing are the play-in games....

Do I know my readers?  You're gonna want to see the entire bracket.... Chill kids, I gotcha covered:

That Sleepy Hollow-Maidstone quarterfinal had to be brutal.... I could spend hours looking at this.

The Bunker From Hell - The Hero Indian Open is being played this week, and has anyone ever seen a bunker quite like this?

That's Pablo Larrazabal, and I'm guessing that in long pants he'd be facing the opposite direction.

A Short Follow-Up On Distance - My attempt at brevity is aspirational, so reader beware.

Alex Micelli gives his thoughts on the distance debate, and we can tell what Shack thinks of the effort from his header:

If The Onion Were To Take On The Technology Debate...

The fact is, there's logic failures all around....

First Alex:

Unlike the anchoring ban, which really was much ado about nothing, a distance rollback via rules bifurcation between the professional and amateur games or a reduction of 10 percent or 20 percent would have significant consequences.

Let's see, Alex, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Ernie Els and Adam Scott all won majors with their putters jammed against their bodies.  Since then how are those guys doing?  I know, it's a cheap shot but it had the benefit of being easy....

Back to Alex:

Most amateurs would be uninterested in giving up distance, so equipment manufacturers likely would limit their TV, digital and print advertising if Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and the game’s most visible stars would be forced to play other, inferior equipment. 

A loss of that advertising, promotion and support by the equipment companies ultimately would challenge the PGA Tour’s system of rights fees by the TV networks and cable outlets as a large part of the advertising inventory would be available if the equipment manufacturers were to flee.

Set aside for a moment that Alex zigzags between bifurcation and an across-the-board rollback, here's Geoff's rebuttal.

80% of a PGA Tour event ad inventory is purchased by the event sponsors. The other 20% props the whole things up? Interesting theory!

Geoff, you ignorant slut!  Supply and demand is a pretty basic concept.  If the Titleists of the word discontinue advertising on Tour broadcasts, that's gonna drive down the value of the advertising and that 80% will, of course, be affected as contracts expire.

You want more?  Alex:

Is limiting distance by rolling back the ball or any other method worth putting the millions of dollars in charitable contributions in jeopardy? An argument, which Bjorn was making, could force golf’s manufacturers out of supporting professional and amateur golf, leaving little or no backing.

And Geoff's coda:

How on earth did golf's participation levels peak when we were hitting persimmons and steel? Shoot, how did the planet earth survive that dark time when 280 yards led the tour in driving distance. It's minor miracle. 

The notion that pro golf exists as a means to move golf equipment product would not portend well if true. Mercifully, at least as of now, people still watch to be entertained, not to be told what to buy. They have the Home Shopping Network for that.

The logic failures and category errors are difficult to wade through.... But let me try to remind you and them of a couple of basic realities:

1.  Under any imaginable scenario, Titleist and TaylorMade will still be in the business of selling clubs and balls.  The most logical place to advertise those wares will remain the broadcast of professional tournaments;
2. That said, these are important players in our game and we are unlikely to effectively implement any change without their involvement and acceptance.  
3. Most important in my mind, is understanding how bifurcation would affect the manufacturers.  It disrupts that linkage to DJ bashing it 340, for sure, though there's much illusion therein as well.  Hackers are still going to want to hit it as long as possible, they just wouldn't be paying the exact ball that DJ plays....  
4. Lastly, and this is for Alex, your entire premise is based upon an implicit assumption that there are no risks in doing nothing.  The gravy train just goes on forever..... I give great weight to the Alan Shipnucks of the world that argue for a do-nothing strategy, because he makes a reasoned argument that one set of risks outweighs the others.  

Just a few more rambling points.  In all of this, no one mentions the significantly lower spin of the modern ball.  I've noted previously that Bobby Jones could hit it 300 yards with hickory shafts.  But his misses were really bad.... That's for a number of reasons, he didn't play with a driver head the size of an ocean liner...  But the point is that some of this arguing about distance could be mitigated if, as William McGirt suggested, foul balls were really foul.

My last point is that Mike Davis and Martin Slumbers can push for anything they want, but Jay Monahan is where all these ides will go to die.  This is from a worthy submission from the Golf Digest gearheads:

I’ve heard manufacturers, the PGA of America, the PGA Tour and possibly the LPGA are opposed to any rollback, but none of them make the rules of the game. Can’t the USGA just make whatever rule it wants?

It can and it might. Certainly, manufacturers almost universally have disagreed with equipment rule changes over the last two decades. And their pleas at best had only moderate impact on any rule changes. But when the PGA Tour decides it doesn’t want to follow a rule, it’s unlikely that rule is going to be proposed, so whether they can get the tour on board is something that bears watching. As former USGA Executive Director David Fay once put it nearly two decades ago, “It gets to the issue of power and authority,” he said. “The power is in enforcing the rules in our own 13 championships. The authority comes through the positions that we've taken over the years and whether those positions are regarded as persuasive by those who play the game."

Jay's job is to keep that gravy train on its tracks for his members.... what would his motivation be to put that at risk?

That leaves the majors, two of which are controlled by the governing bodies.  But, as I've always said to those that felt that Augusta National should introduce a Masters ball, isn't that a bit of a big ask for one club?   As the five families line up currently, I simply don't see how any action is taken in the near future.