We'll be all over the map today, from a Supreme Court decision to a toxic dump in Texas. And no, that last bit isn't redundant....
Trinity Forest, A Preview - I do hope that in naming this project using the "F-word" that someones tongue was embedded deeply in their cheek, because it's not like any other forest you've known.
But it's not often that the PGA Tour commits to new venues, and this one is quite different from your week-to-week Tour stop. Geoff had this little bon mot:
The AT&T Byron Nelson Classic moves from the many-times remodeled TPC Las Colinas Four Seasons to the year-old Trinity Forest Not A Four Seasons Golf Club.
Fair enough. Coore-Crenshaw are minimalists, and no one has ever checked into a Four Seasons demanding a minimalist experience, so we've got that going for us. Not mentioned is that Las Colinas was likely the single worst golf course on the Tour's rota, so no tears please.
But this course is not your Grandfather's PGA Tour venue:
Coore-Crenshaw is known for minimalist design, using as much of the natural landscape and features as possible while moving relatively little earth to create world-class courses. So what could be so hard?
Blame the site, a 400-acre, former landfill.
“Candidly, we didn’t think we would be qualified to work on a landfill,” says Coore. “We’d never done it, but Jonas invited us up and Ben made the trip. He called me a said, ‘It’s covered in bushes and tall grass, but I think there might be some interest here.’” What Ben liked was the land’s movement, rumpled waves in the ground reminiscent of sandy linksland close to oceans. When Coore visited, areas of thick grass were cut back to expose even more of the links-like ground. He liked what he saw and the work began.
Shack also leads with this B&W photo that makes the site appear to be on the dark side of the moon:
What's it like to build a golf course on a landfill? I'm glad you asked:
Building anything on a landfill is governed by environmental constraints. Millions of pounds of trash and waste are buried under a thin “cap,” which seals the site. Depending on what’s underneath, caps can range from a single layer of asphalt or concrete to amulti-layer mix of soil and synthetic membranes. And no matter what happens on top, the cap cannot be broken.
“We couldn’t make the course look like a prototypical Dallas layout with streams, trees, and lakes,” says Coore. “You can’t plant a tree because the roots break the cap. We knew early on there couldn’t be a stream or water, either. The focus had to be the rumpled ground created as the landfill settled over the decades and we tried to highlight those features.”
Something else about a landfill: The ground keeps shifting and settling for decades. Coore welcomes the movement, likening it to how dunes continue to change by the sea.
If you can’t break the cap, you can’t dig, which means the course can only go one way. Up.
We have such a place closer to home, the Trump course at Ferry Point. As the taxpayers of New York City discovered, this is an extremely time-consuming and expensive process, not for the faint of heart. So what do world-class architects due with such constraints?
“As soon as you build up, I think about greens that fall off on the edges, like those at Pinehurst,” says Coore, who grew up playing golf in the Carolina sandhills. Trinity Forest’s greens were fashioned in the style of those at Pinehurst No. 2. Tons of earth were brought to the site, moved and shaped into mammoth rolling putting surfaces, nearly all of them raised above the fairway. The most notable is the double-green serving holes 3 and 11, which spans over three-quarters of an acre. It’s guarded by only two bunkers, but like almost every other hole on the course, falls sharply off on every side.
Give this video a look, a flyover and description of the 6th hole:
How about that green? If I was in the field this week, four 3-putts might be the best-case scenario.
Shack has this from Jordan Spieth:
Q. You got your home game next week; what's the scouting report on Trinity?
JORDAN SPIETH: It looks as good as I've seen it since -- and I've been going out there since before the greens were even sprigged. It looks really good. It's grown on me a lot over the past six months, and in the springtime, I think it's at its best. It's in his best condition that it can be now or the next month or two. I think the weather looks like it's going to really cooperate to give it a good first showing.
A lot of big grandstands. It's like an American links. You've kind of got to play it from the air, not really a bounce the ball up kind of links, but it is still a links-looking golf course. So it's weird, it's unique. It's actually -- Birkdale was kind of the closest comparison I've found to a links course that you kind of have to attack from the air. You get maybe four or five, six holes where you can bounce the ball up, but the way to get balls close is to come in with a higher shot. That's not necessarily true links. I don't want to say that about Birkdale because of the history and everything, but it's just the way I've found to play it well is that route.
English translation: Heads will explode. Please tell me Billy Ho isn't in the field this week... I don't want to see a grown man crying....
Joking aside, these hybrid golf course are a high-wire act. All the references to inland links aside, the issue is that the grasses used in a location like Texas tend to be grabby, and the ball doesn't release like on a proper links. That's why, despite the visual cues of a links, Jordan is referencing the aerial game.
It should be good fun to see how the players attack it.... And this change of venue has likely saved the event, including the ties to its namesake.
Get Yer Golf Action Here - You might have heard that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Chris Christie yesterday, though the plaintiff was unavailable for comment:
Do you miss him as much as I do?
Alex Myers, whose made a mini-career out of prop bets, breaks it all down for us:
Good news! You might be able to start doing it legally pretty soon. Here's a helpful breakdown by ESPN showing how close individual states are to actually offering sports bets. In most cases, this is probably going to take awhile to get set up. Unless you move to New Jersey, the state which spearheaded this righteous movement and where they've been preparing to become the Vegas of the East Coast for years. But then you'd be moving to New Jersey, so. . .
And this:
How does the PGA Tour feel about this?
They're on board. And they (smartly) want a piece of the action.
"You have keep in mind that betting is happening right now, with illegal black markets and offshore betting, and we don’t have any exposure to what is happening,” PGA Tourcommissioner Jay Monahan told USA Today in April. “If it’s legalized and regulated, you get to a point where you can better ensure the integrity of your competitions. You can provide adequate protection for consumers, which doesn’t exist today. There are commercial opportunities for us, which is one of the things we’re here to do, which is to create and maximize playing and financial opportunities for our players."
The ol' "If you can't beat them, join them" argument. And to that end, the tour will be seeking an "integrity fee" (READ: TAX) of 1 percent. Savvy move. Monahan also believes being able to gamble on golf will allow his sport to reach "a broader audience" each week. And as someone who watched wall-to-wall coverage of the freakin' Shriners Open final round because I had a few bucks on the line, I'm not inclined to argue.
An integrity fee? That's a good one, Jay.... But you're making it expensive to Live Under Par™.
Josh Sens, on the other hand, says it'll rock our world:
1. Greater Fan EngagementBased on data from across the sports world — from the NFL to the Kentucky Derby andbeyond — we hold this truth to be self-evident: Gambling fuels fan interest. Will it get more people on the course? Maybe. But there’s little doubt that it will get more people watching. Call it a different way to “grow the game.”3. New Ways to WatchGambling doesn’t just drive viewer interest. It also influences what there is to see. Witness all the NFL and college football programming devoted to fantasy play. In recent years, golf has been drifting in that direction, with a growing emphasis on instant scoreboard updates, video streaming and special coverage of featured groups. Expect that kind of coverage to proliferate, along with punditry that focuses on gambling-related action.
Am I the only one that thinks that this will not have a big impact on golf? Golfers love their action, but more typically so that a four-footer renders them unable to take the putter back. Those that love to bet, such as Phil, bet on football and other games...
There is one aspect, however, that is a mortal lock. In seeking authorization, sate legislatures will promise that the proceeds will be used for education, It's for the children, and then spend it as they see fit.... Where can I get a wager down on that?
Before we leave this subject, I should note that Alan Shipnuck thinks I'm an ignorant slut.... Even I'll conceed that he's at least half-right:
What effect will the ruling on allowing sports betting have on professional golf? #AskAlan - Mike (@mknjvt91)
It's going to drive a massive amount of attention to the sport. Think of it this way: the NFL offers only one good day a week for betting, for barely 5 months. Pro golf is four long days of competition pretty much every single week, all year long. And for prop bets you have 150 or so guys in action, as opposed to maybe a couple dozen in any other sport.
Even more intriguing is how regular fans can glean real-time information to use to their advantage when betting. For every major sport, practices are closed to the public and data about players' health and well-being is tightly controlled. On Tour, all you have to do is hang around the putting green or driving range – where any general admission ticket grants access - to see with your own eyes who is using a bunch of contraptions and video cameras and convening summits with instructors in a desperate attempt to figure out what's wrong. Or follow certain players in their practice rounds to assess the state of their game.
None of this has a straight-line correlation with how they'll play in competition but it does give the would-be bettor more proprietary information than is available in almost any other sport.
Massive? I'm not sure what the metric might be, but one of us will be proven wrong....
Players Leftovers - This shouldn't surprise anyone:
Webb Simpson didn't need to hit it a mile to win the Players Championship and bring home a $1.98 million check.
Simpson, who shot 73 Sunday and won the Players by four — even with his 72nd-hole double bogey — ranked dead last in driving distance for the week (280.5 yards) and was nearly 13 yards behind the field average. But this is nothing new for him — he ranked 145th in driving distance (290.8) entering the week. (The driving distance statistic is calculated at two holes per tournament round. Dustin Johnson led the Players field with a 313.3 average.)
Webb did lead the field in driving accuracy, and this is the rare week when bomb-and-gouge is not a viable strategy. This joint has produced big time winners, but it's also given us Tim Clark, Craig Perks and Stephen Ames as champions.
Did you see Tiger finish on Sunday? If so, you were also treated to Jordan's finish, the least bad part of which was the pull-hook into the water off the tee. I get that he had a disappointing day in his marque pairing with Tiger and that he had no chance to win, but what is up with this kid? Watch the video (not for the squeamish) at that link and see if you don't agree with me... His ball-striking stats are quite good, but he's currently 183rd in Strokes Gained: Putting. Who is this guy and what has he done with our Jordan?
If this week's home game, outside a dome, doesn't help, I'm unclear on what will....
Alan, Asked - A fine week of back-and-forth with his readers, with this the best performance by a questioner:
How unlucky was Tiger to have the 2mph wind shift on him on 17 and make his slightly chunked sand wedge come up 10 yards short? -@GeorgeBooth73
I like the cut of George's jib...as does Alan.
Haha, well played. That was a revealing moment for a couple of reasons. It was certainly the most aggressive play possible, which tells us that Tiger was thinking only about trying to steal a victory and not protecting World Ranking points…or his pride. It was also a healthy reaction from a guy who suffered so many ritual humiliations in 2015-17. If Tiger is going to reclaim his destiny he needs to go back to believing that he is incapable of hitting a bad shot, and that the wind, or the lie, or a rock in the bunker, or a spike mark is the only possible explanation when things go awry.
Jack Nicklaus once told me he usually went the entire West Coast swing without a three-putt. That's impossible, especially on the bumpy, shaggy greens of yesteryear. But he was totally serious when he said it. Great players never admit weakness, so Tiger blaming a nonexistent wind is actually progress of a sort.
Fair enough, though he was in no sense in a position to win on the 17th tee.... But he was pin-hunting for sure with that club selection. set aside the money, but folks may wish he was a bit more focused on those OWGR and FedEx points just to be in the field for the WGC's and "playoff" events.
And this question on a burning issue of the day:
Gun to your head, do you wear the Nike nightgown (blade collar, is that what they call it?) or Mickelson's puffy button down? I go with the latter. Reluctantly. - @CHFounder
Really, CH? I don't like the no-collar look either, but the puffy shirt was a wardrobe failure for the ages....
Alan nails it, though the degree of difficulty is quite low:
I take up tennis.
A little early for this, no?
The U.S. Ryder Cup picture looks like a mess coming out of the Players. Lots of vets (Simpson, Duf, Bradley, Walker) showing life + talented young guys. What would your squad look like today? #AskAlan -Brian (@brianros1)
It's not a mess, it's an embarrassment of riches! It's really hard to project because spots 6-11 are separated by barely a thousand points, which equates to a million dollars, which is less than the winner earns each week on Tour. And double points become available at the summertime majors, so there is going to be a lot of volatility for the top 8 spots, which automatically earn a place on the team. But based on where they are on the points list right now, their Ryder Cup history and/or who they are, I think these guys are locks for the team, either because they will qualify automatically or certainly get a captain's pick: PReed, DJ, Jordan, JT, Bubba, Phil, Tiger.Brooks Koepka is currently 7th in the standings; if he stays healthy he's a sure thing. So is Rickie Fowler (6th), given his strong run at the Masters and, more to the point, the fact that he was a member of the Ryder Cup task force! So that's already nine no-doubters. Ten, when you count Kuchar (10th). He's wildly popular with his teammates, has been solid in previous Cups and will turn 40 soon – this could be his last hurrah so no way his contemporary Jim Furyk denies him a spot on the team. That's an exceptionally strong core, giving the U.S. the luxury to be more creative with the final two picks.If the venue was a big ballpark maybe you take a Tony Finau (15th) or a Gary Woodland (17th) and turn them loose in fourballs, but Paris National is tight and quirky. I would take Zach Johnson (24th), who hasn't missed a cut all season while racking up nine top-25 finishes. In the Task Force era, the American leadership is focused on continuity and the big picture, which would argue for a young player like Bryson DeChambeau (12th) or Xander Schauffele (14th).But with Reed, Spieth, Thomas, Fowler and Koepka all in their 20s, giving young players a shot is not that important. Especially not this time around, given that the U.S. hasn't won on foreign soil in a quarter-century. In a hostile environment, against a very strong European team, experience will be key, so the 12th and final spot will go to the hottest veteran when the teams get picked – could be Simpson (9th), could be Walker (18th), could be someone we're not evening thinking about yet who gets hot this summer, like a Bill Haas (37th).
If I were Bill, I wouldn't procure any non-refundable tickets just yet.... But the bigger issue right now is whether Patrick will dump Jordan as his partner.... If he's 183rd in putting in August, watch this space.
That answer was typed before I read this Q&A:
Regarding Dufner's latest "man trapped in medieval motion-limiting torture deviceencounters poisonous snake" putting ouvre... What the hell happens to golfers with short game demons, man? -Vaidya (@vs2k2)Yeah, that yippy display is why I didn't mention Dufner above – if you're Jim Furyk, are you gonna bet your legacy on that putting stroke? I think not. Fact is, Dufner has always been shaky on short putts; I covered his first win, in New Orleans in 2012, and even in victory he was all but puking on the short ones. Some of it is technical – the path of his putter on the backswing was visibly inconsistent down the stretch at the Players – but mostly it's mental and emotional.
I think Duf's got a good chance to be on the team, as long as he wins 2-3 majors between now and August.
With Webb beating the pants off one of the deepest fields of the year, can we finally end the "whose A+ game" is the best debate? At the PGA Tour level, all of these guys have phenomenal A+ games. #askalan - @ShoshEAK
Yeah, Webb's blowout win was certainly a graphic illustration that when any of these guys get hot they're capable of tremendous (and deeply unexpected) performances. It certainly helped that this finesse player decided to go crazy on a position golf course where his lack of power was not a glaring weakness. The more relevant questions are: 1) Who can access their A-game most often? 2) Who can still win with their B-game? I'd say the answer to the first question is Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, while Spieth is clearly the answer to the second.
Horses for courses, my friend. The more interesting question is what Webb's A+ game would yield at other Tour venues. Seems like eh could win at places like Colonial or Harbor Town....Torrey Pines? Not so much, methinks.
Back To Work - The Forecaddie with the news of the return to golf of an éminence grise:
Sitting on a Players Championship media shuttle bus, The Forecaddie heard a boisterous gent wearing a “Pray For Birdies” flat-brimmed cap and looking eerily like Rick Reilly. The Man Out Front soon was amazed to learn the longtime Sports Illustrated-writer-turned-retiree was making a writing comeback with The Athletic, a subscription-based sports website that’s brought in Reilly to generate some buzz.
If his presence at this week’s Players is any indication, Reilly’s return to covering (mostly) golf will, if nothing else, add zest to major-championship interview rooms. Away from covering the game for almost five years while enjoying the spoils of a lucrative and now-expired ESPN contract, Reilly’s been splitting time between Tuscany and southern California. Judging by how many changes in the game Reilly became aware of Players week – “Guys read the greens with their fingers and books of arrows?” – Tuscany doesn’t have much internet service. Or Golf Channel.
Asked what’s changed, Reilly reeled off a long list.
“People are wearing shirts with no collars, guys are wearing office shirts, I’ve seen a pair of high tops, and Golfweek is a monthly (in print),” he said.
He gave up retirement in Tuscany to cover Grayson Murray? Curious.
Reilly was a force at his peak, though in my limited exposure to his later work I thought he had gone all the way to Italy to mail it in. My favorite Reilly piece ever is this because, well, Dornoch. But he seems to be hitting all the right notes:
“One thing got me out of Italy,” Reilly said. “I love golf. I really missed being out here.”
All righty then, welcome back.
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