It's been quite the week for your humble blogger here in Utah. They opened the top of the mountain yesterday, and it was spectacular. I found myself in waist-deep powder a couple of times, just freaky for this early. Of course, none of us has any legs left, for once it's not just the flatlander that's played out.
Tomorrow is a travel day, so no blogging... Worse yet, I'll likely take Friday off from the keyboard as well. I've got some commitments that morning, and it's unlikely that there will be much in the way of news.
An Edifice Complex - Well, that didn't take long.... The PGA of America's move to Frisco, TX is a done deal:
The PGA of America announced on Tuesday it will move its headquarters from Palm Beach County, Fla., to Frisco, Texas, paving the way for future PGA Championships and perhaps even a Ryder Cup to take place in the Lone Star State.
This move, which was previously reported by other outlets, will end the PGA’s four-decade run in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. GOLF.com first reported the proposed move back in March.
The 600-acre development, anchored by the PGA’s 100,000-square-foot global headquarters, will have two championship golf courses, a short course, a practice area, clubhouse, 500-room Omni resort and convention center and more.The courses, one designed by Gil Hanse, are expected to open in the summer of 2022, with the hotel expected around the same date. The announcement also came with several scheduled PGA-run championships for Frisco. The first will be the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in 2023. PGA Championships are slated for 2027 and 2034, and KPMG Women’s PGA Championships are scheduled for 2025 and 2031.
Shack finds that gaggle of logos to be Nascar-worthy, a good one for sure, and also has his way with the press-releases over-reliance on B- school jargon. Here's a good example:
The PGA of America is teaming with Omni Stillwater Woods (OSW), a jointventure led by Omni Hotels & Resorts with Stillwater Capital and Woods Capital; the City of Frisco, as well as its Economic and Community Development Corporations; and the Frisco Independent School District.“Our move to Frisco will be transcendent for the PGA of America,” said Seth Waugh, CEO, PGA of America. “Everything great starts with a dream. This is the beginning of a bold, new journey as we bring together world-class partners in a world-class location – to deliver innovative and differentiated experiences for our nearly 29,000 PGA Golf Professionals, golfers of all abilities and our staff.”
May all your experiences be innovative and differentiated, though I'll be interested to see how this Taj Mahal effects those 29,000 members.....
But let's go to those headline numbers:
PGA of America relocating headquarters to Frisco as part of innovative public-private partnership
Deal also links Omni Hotels & Resorts, Stillwater Capital, City of Frisco, FISD and Hunt Realty
Frisco, Texas (Dec. 4, 2018) - The PGA of America is moving its headquarters from Palm Beach County, Florida to Frisco, Texas, the ‘2018 Best Place to Live in America,’* where it will anchor a 600-acre, mixed-use development with an initial investment worth more than half a billion dollars.
Today’s announcement follows votes by the Frisco City Council, its Economic and Community Development Corporations and the Frisco Independent School District (FISD) board of trustees. The PGA of America will initially employ at least 100 people at the Frisco-based headquarters.
$520 million large for a facility to house 100 employees.... Couldn't they have covered Amazon's HQ2 for that number?
But this gives away the game:
Be sure to get those dues checks in on a timely basis, kids...
Strange Daze - The PGA Tour started the palace arms race with its fortress-on-steroids in Ponte Vedra Beach, making this seem a curious move:
After nine years, the Web.com Tour is leaving the First Coast.
The PGA Tour, in a surprise announcement on Monday, said the season-ending event of its developmental tour will move to Evansville, Ind., in 2019. The Web.com TourChampionship will be played for the next 10 years at the Victoria National Golf Club, after three years years at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course and two at the Atlantic Beach Country Club, with one year lost in 2016 because of Hurricane Matthew.Web.com Tour president Dan Glod said there were a variety of factors in play: the Tour was offered the long-term deal at Victoria National, with a presenting sponsorship by Evansville-based United Leasing; the course has hosted a regular-season Web.com event for seven years; and less oppressive weather in Indiana on Labor Day weekend than in north Florida.
Kinda strange, given the news from Frisco.... You build this massive complex to host your championships, and then you get a better offer in Indiana? I'm gonna go way out on a limb and guess that it's not really about the weather....
The next Tour-related story requires a bit of background. In their mission to bestride the globe like a Colossus, the Tour has negatively impacted the amateur game. With the demise of big tour Q-School and the need to serve at least a year in purgatory, a/k/a the Web.com Tour, players are incentivized to turn pro earlier.
This may therefore be a welcome initiative:
“The PGA Tour has been working to develop a new program that will identify, prepareand transition top collegiate golfers to professional golf,” according to a Tour statement sent to Golfweek. “This program will be designed to reward season-long collegiate play with varying levels of playing access to tours operated under the PGA Tour umbrella, while upholding the principles and virtues of collegiate athletics.”
In other words, the best college golfers would be guaranteed status on one of several tours, ranging from PGA Tour China to the PGA Tour.
One Tour official with direct knowledge of the project called it “unprecedented.”
The key word here is of course "may".... There's nothing on the bone yet, but it's refreshing to at least see them pay lip service to their minor league circuit.
The Slow Reveal Continues - Golf Digest continues to roll out its top 25 newsmakers, employing quite the broad definition thereof:
No. 20: Backstopping
Backstopping as a routine isn’t entirely new on the PGA Tour, but it became more out in the open in the fall of 2017. That’s when Justin Thomas confessed his right to play faster even if it means taking advantage of a ball near the hole and not waiting for it to bemarked. The previously little-spoken occurrence gained more attention in June when Jimmy Walker found himself at the center of a firestorm after saying, “If you don’t like a guy you will mark anyway. If you like the guy you might leave it to help on a shot. Some guys don’t want to give help at all and rush to mark their ball. To each his own.” Fellow tour pros—Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Luke Donald among them—took issue (rightfully so) with Walker’s stance. The most notable examples of the practice took place at the 2017-’18 season opener when Tony Finau hit a greenside bunker shot from a plugged lie as playing partner Jason Kokrak didn’t mark his ball that was next to the hole. At this year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, there was a similar situation involving Thomas and Brian Harman. The latter led to Paul Azinger blasting the idea of helping a fellow competitor—and in turn hurting the rest of the field. There have been other occurrences as well. But given the genial relationships between many of today’s young players, and with no rule in place for something that is almost entirely intent-based, don’t expect this controversy to die down anytime soon. —Brian Wacker
Happy to see it get some attention...
A Preview - The only golf of any import is the final stage of Web.com Q-school that will be contested starting tomorrow, of course without any TV coverage.
In the field is David Pastore, the official wannabe Tour Pro of Unplayable Lies.... David is a former Fairview caddie who's been knocking on the door for a while, with whom your humble correspondent has played a couple of times.
David was the medalist in the first stage, and obviously qualified through the second stage as well. But this preview makes clear that which he is up against:
1. T.J. Vogel. The PGA TOUR’s ‘Mr. Monday’ in 2017-18 has advanced to Final Stage once again this year after surviving both First and Second Stage. Vogel, who Monday qualified for eight TOUR events last season, is no stranger to needing to go low when he’s under some serious pressure. A veteran of the Mackenzie Tour, Web.com Tour, and with a ton of PGA TOUR experience under his belt as well, it would be no surprise if Vogel topped the leaderboard at week’s end.
2. Norman Xiong. Xiong played both First Stage and Second Stage and was medalist at his First Stage site. The 2018 Jack Nicklaus Award winner as Division I’s men’s golfer of the year was also the Haskins Award winner as the most outstanding collegiate golfer. He played five TOUR events before turning professional earlier this year.
3. Braden Thornberry. Thornberry, one of three amateurs to compete in Final Stage, was formerly No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He won the 2017 NCAA individual golf championship and was named the Haskins Award winner that same year. Thornberry is Ole Miss’ all-time winningest golfer and since he was ranked in the top-5 of the WAGR, he was able to skip both pre-qualifying and First Stage.
4. George Cunningham. Cunningham finished in the top three in 33 percent of his Mackenzie Tour events this year, and had it not been for a three-win season from Tyler McCumber, he would have won the Order of Merit. Cunningham was the first person in Mackenzie Tour history to earn more than $100,000 and not sit No. 1 at season’s end. He’s no stranger to going low – his scoring average ranked second on the Mackenzie Tour in 2018.
5. Jordan Niebrugge. Niebrugge’s 2019 got off to a quick start – winning the first event of the year on the Mackenzie Tour. He played 10 tournaments on the Web.com Tour and four others on the Mackenzie Tour, where he finished 14th on the money list. At just 25, Niebrugge has a lengthy list of experience worthy of someone much older. He had a celebrated amateur career and is primed to take the next big leap.
6. Andy Zhang. Zhang, who is still an amateur, played the U.S. Open as a 14-year-old before heading to the University of Florida. The Sean Foley pupil won the 2018 SEC Championship as an individual. He finished T4 at his First Stage site and T9 at Second Stage.
7. Zach Wright. Wright started his 2018 Mackenzie Tour season on a record-breaking heater: he finished in the top-10 in six straight events. He added one more for good measure before the end of the year and finished third on the money list. He topped the Mackenzie Tour in both total birdies and total eagles, and this week in Arizona, he’ll have the luxury of sleeping in his own bed.
8. Doug Ghim. The Low Amateur at this year’s Masters finished fourth at his Second Stage site. Ghim had a lengthy list of accomplishments while playing at the University of Texas and continues to lean on fellow Longhorns like Jordan Spieth and 2018 Web.com Tour winner Kramer Hickok. Ghim played a handful of events on the PGA TOUR and in Europe this summer.
David has already secured status on the Mackenzie and Latin American tours, but he better plan on living under par this week, because these guys are good.
A Glossary - The gang at Golf.com have compiled this glossary of golf terms, quite a few of which are familiar. But there's enough that's new to amuse:
Danny DeVito noun a nasty little 5-footer
Dick Van Patten noun picking up your ball when “eight is enough”
Dollar Menu noun a guy who shortchanges his caddie
James Joyce noun a putt that’s impossible to readLardage noun yardage you give when your buddy’s been hitting his shots fat (i.e., you find the yardage, add 10-20 yards to it and give him the “lardage”)
I like lardage.....a lot.
Alan, Asked - The artist formerly known as Shippy is back with his mailbag feature, sorting through the major issues of the day:
List of books/content we should be asking for as Christmas gifts? I’ve got Golfer’s Journal, Confidential Guide Vol. 5, and Keith Cutten’s new book on my list. What else? Are there any books that aren’t $70 since apparently non-golfers think that’s high for a book… -PJ (@p3stock)
No joke, include a subscription to GOLF magazine on that list. With the February 2019 issue we’re unveiling a total redesign and it’s going to be f’ing awesome. It’s true that golf’s coffee table tomes are very expensive but there are tons of great books you can get for $25 or less. In no particular order, here is a sampling of my favorite golf books:
Down the Fairway, Bobby JonesGolf Dreams, John UpdikeTo The Linksland and Men In Green, Michael BambergerThe Bogey Man, George PlimptonThe Golf Omnibus, P.G. WodehouseAncestral Links, John GarrityDead Solid Perfect, Dan JenkinsThe Autobiography of an Average Golfer, O.B. KeelerThe Spirit of St. Andrews, Alister MacKenzieArnie, Tom CallahanAlister MacKenzie’s Cypress Point Club, Geoff Shackelford
geez, shouldn't that have come with a paid content warning?
Good choices, though Tommy's Honour and the Mark Frost books, most notably The Match, should have been included. The golf book I'd like most remains stubbornly expensive.
What’s with the constant references to being No. 1 in the World Ranking? Majors and wins and Ryder Cup stardom are what count, not a contrived mathematicalformula that deems a particular player “the best” because he’s ranked No. 1. Westwood, Donald and Lehman made it, so big deal. -@wbenstorey
You’re forgetting the brief but glorious reign of Martin Kaymer! I hear what you’re saying. It’s especially unsatisfying right now when the top spot seems to change every coupla weeks. But the Ryder Cup happens only every other year. With the new schedule it’s now going to go nine months between the playing of the Open Championship and the ensuing Masters. What are we supposed to talk about… FedEx Cup points?! The battle for No. 1 is a fun subplot, as long as you don’t take it too seriously.
Martin's picture is on my milk carton this week..... But Alan does hit on the scary issue, the forty-years-in-the-desert between The Open Championship and the Masters.... I recommend counselling.
Is men’s golf capable of another transformative player? Nicklaus and Tiger were so dominant in large part because they were longer. But are we nearer the limits of that skill? Can any player really dominate with another skill? -Greg (@gkellynyc)
We only thought we were at the outer limits of driving distance, and then along came Cam Champ. But there is certainly a point of diminishing returns – until the advent of the #9K yard course, there are only so many holes were a guy like Champ can truly separate himself. Spieth’s all-around game has always been underrated but there’s no doubt his seven-win, two-major binge across 13 months in 2015-16, and his epic back-nine rally at Birkdale, was built on historic putting. But as we saw in 2018, that is harder to sustain than the kind of driving that keyed Nicklaus’s long-term dominance. The new equipment, outdated ballparks and prevelance of advanced stats and training methods have all leveled the playing field, which is why we are seeing so much parity at the top of the game. Brooks Koepka has discovered the secret sauce but even if he wins another half-dozen majors, I’m not sure he’ll count as transformative. He’ll just be remembered for doing a few things slightly better than everyone else.
That to me is the real effect of modern equipment, it's compressed the field of players and made putting the dominant differentiator.
He’s designed a couple of Top 100 in the world courses, and even a few gems in the Northeastern United States, but outside of Canada, Stanley Thompson seems to be a designer very few speak of. Is he on the list of all-time great course designers? If not, who are the GOATs? -Tej (@boatical)
I think Thompson is more of a cult classic than a GOAT. When you talk about the greatest course architects of all time, the list begins with Old Tom Morris, MacKenzie, Ross and Tillinghast. Some of Pete Dye’s more audacious creations haven’t aged well but he still makes the list. Coore/Crenshaw have earned a place in the pantheon, along with fellow modern masters Doak and Hanse. MacDonald and Raynor are a quandary for me: their influence is massive and a handful of their courses utterly spectacular, but reproducing the same holes over and over strikes me as a lesser art. Still, they have to be listed among the GOATs. Robert Trent Jones is also an interesting case: he was a great showman who helped popularize the very concept of a golf course architect, but how many classic designs did he create? Spyglass, yes. Peachtree? Okay. Mauna Kea? Maybe. Valderamma, Firestone and Hazeltine don’t blow my skirt up but there’s no denying their championship pedigree. I guess he has to make the cut. The next tier of greats but not GOATs would include Thompson, George Thomas, Bell, Colt, McLay Kidd, Strantz and, gulp, Fazio.
That is just one Goddamn awesome gulp.... I wouldn't have had him in the same zip code, but this was highly effective.
I mean Alan is completely off his rocker on this subject. Mike Strantz as the moral equivalent of Harry Colt? Colt deserves to be in the pantheon, as does Macdonald, and that bit about reproducing the same holes makes me want to invite him outside to settle this like men.... But again, the gulp was well-done.
What has happened to Lydia Ko? Used to be dominant. Changed coaches etc. seems like no one ever mentions her anymore. Any insight? She was gonna be the next biggest thing at age 18! -@JimsOrr
Ko is one of my favorite people in golf and it’s been a bummer to watch her struggle over the last two years. All the swing changes, equipment changes, caddie changes and management changes have no doubt deeply unsettled her. Lydia’s easy smile and carefree New Zealand vibe always masked the intense pressure she was under – from her parents and trying to live up to the incredible expectations she created as a mere 15-year-old. I think some of what we’re seeing is burn out. Also, the women’s game has evolved into a bomb-and-gouge style and Ko is giving up a ton of firepower to Ariya and Lexi and Brooke and other neo-bombers. Ko is only 21 so there is plenty of time for her get back to her winning ways. But it’s also hard not to think of Yani Tseng, who enjoyed one of the most dominant runs in LPGA history only to inexplicably fall into the abyss at age 23.
Alan, have you ruled out the glasses?
Seriously folks, any time you see a short hitter enjoying success, be very skeptical about that player's long-term prospects. Lydia gave up 30-40 yards off the tee, and wasn't all that straight as well. Too slim a margin for error.... But Yani was a beast, making her fall from grace the far more inexplicable.
Who among these youngsters has the better career trajectory: Bryson, Rickie, Jordan, Justin, Xander, Tommy, Jon or Tony? -Ian (@DizzyG1964)
Spieth quite clearly has had the best career so far but his current trajectory has to be a concern, given his struggles over the last 18 months. Of all the players mentioned above, who will win the most majors from this point forward? You’d have to say Justin Thomas. For starters, he has already shown he can do it. He’s proven to be a prolific winner on a variety of courses, testament that he has no holes in his game. And he has a certain flair for the moment – see his walk-off eagle to shoot 63 at the U.S. Open or his slaying of Rory in the first singles match at this Ryder Cup. So I like his traj above all others.
Jordan but not Brooks? Kind of a mess of a question given the widely varying ages of players listed....
Lastly, I think we can agree that this is way TMI:
Is it okay to keep my clubs in my cold garage over the winter? -@RonJFitz
They won’t sustain any lasting damage, if that’s what you mean. But is it okay to be so thoughtless with your most important possessions? Put it this way: I keep my clubs in my bedroom, where they are nice and toasty and can readily be given the love and affection they deserve.
Didn't Alan get the memo that it's ski season?
I'll see you when I see you.
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