Thursday Theses

Just biding time before the weekend....  No not the Wasted...Not even that little football game Sunday night.  We've got storms heading our way, with the promise of lots of that white stuff.  So, what should we talk about in the interim?

Phoenix On My Mind - A good fit for Super Bowl weekend, The Wasted has the good sense to peak on Saturday, when close to a quarter million souls will brave the drunkards and attend.

Golf.com  has flooded the zone with coverage, first four things to know about the venue:

The origin of the course: The PGA Tour commissioned course designers Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish to build a new course to host the Phoenix Open that was similar to that of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, the home of the

Players Championship. The goal was that every spectator at the event could have a good view of the tournament. Thus, in 1986, the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale opened for business. The following year, it began hosting the Phoenix Open and has so for over 30 years.

The design of the course: The par-71, desert-style course runs 7,266 yards from the championship tees and offers golfers four different tees to use. The championship black tees, the players blue tees, the resort white tees, and the forward red tees are all available to players at the Stadium Course, which has three par-5’s and four par-3’s. The course features forgiving fairways, considerably large greens which run fast, and over 70 bunkers that are strategically placed in the fairways and around the greens. The fairways and greens are both made from TiffDwarf grass. Another intriguing component to the course is the role of water, which comes into play on six of the course’s

holes.

I don't hate this event and venue as much as you might expect, though I do mostly hate Weiskopf's most recent tweaking thereof.  The faux Church Pews and Coffin Bunker seem quite lame, and the blindingly white sand that's readily visible from low-Earth orbit is quite jarring.

The obvious follow up concerns their iconic golf hole:

The par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale is the most iconic hole on the Stadium Course at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. It’s where the event rightfully earns its name as “The Greatest Show on Grass.” Here’s everything you need to know about the place where the party happens in Arizona. 

1. The par-3 16th is the only fully-enclosed golf hole on the PGA Tour. 

2. Because the grandstand seats completely surround the hole, it has earned the nickname “The Coliseum.” 

3. The grandstands seat 20,000 spectators. As a result, it hosts some of the largest and, let’s just say, enthusiastic fans on Tour.

To me the more interesting factoid is that said Coliseum is rebuilt each year for the event.  If I were running the joint, I'd try to leave it up and put dummies in every seat (yeah, I know will be dummies in those seats over the weekend) and pipe in sound effects to recreate the experience of the event.

Other than that, it's about the least interesting golf hole imaginable.... But this is fine the one week of the year, the best news is that absence of imitations at other Tour stops.

And a story like this may just get you over any reservations you might have about the hole:

Reigning Phoenix Open champion Gary Woodland said Wednesday that Amy Bockerstette’s par on 16 was “by far the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced. … I’ve never rooted so hard for somebody on a golf course.”

Woodland, during a practice round a day earlier, helped the PGA Tour and the Special Olympics surprise Bockerstette with a chance to play TPC Scottsdale’s signature hole and a resulting PGA-produced video has gone viral. 

“It feels amazing,” Bockerstette told azcentral sports after sinking an 8-foot putt to get up and down on the par 3 with a sandie.

Do they pay for junk?   Of course this is my favorite bit:

Joe Bockerstette went through the sequence in detail, the way only a sports parent can.

“We knew a 120-yard shot was a sweet spot for her,” he said. “So we gave her one of her top clubs … We had a good feeling that she’d hit a good tee shot.” 

She put it in the bunker. 

Woodland offered to take it out, but she wanted to play it. 

“She said, ‘No, I’ve got this,’” he said. “She was right.”

You go, girl!

Good Night, John-Boy -  Y'all know that Saturday will be devoted to drunkards and louts....  Well, drunkards and louts screaming at Johnny Miller.

We'll take our first dive into Alan Shipnuck's weekly mailbag feature, including this especially clueless questioner:

Why is Johnny Miller retiring at a gong show tournament like the Waste Management? Shouldn’t he go out at the British Open or the Players? What kind of blubber-fest are you anticipating when he signs off? -@mdstoner 

In the ‘70s, some of Miller’s most iconic blowouts came in Phoenix, to the point that he was known as the Desert Fox. But I think once Johnny decided this winter it was time to go he wanted to ride into the sunset as soon as possible. Since it is NBC’s first broadcast of the year, that meant Phoenix. And yes, there is no doubt Johnny will be leaking badly. Despite his barbs he’s a deeply sentimental guy, and he’s taken tremendous pride in being recognized as the most influential voice in the game. I’m sorry to see him go.

Don't know much about history, and am eager to display said ignorance....  Alan was gentler in response than I might have been, but Johnny is sufficiently comfortable in his own skin to know that old soldiers just fade away....  It's actually a generous spirit that knows not to step over a more important event....  Would that more folks understood.

You might enjoy this compilation of Johnny's most famous moments in the booth, including this classic of the genre:

1. “If Ben Hogan saw that, he’d puke.” 

That image of the Wee Ice Mon upchucking came in the waning hours of the 2004 Ford Championship at Doral as Craig Parry, the Popeye-forearmed Aussie with the unconventional action, made his way toward a playoff against Scott Verplank. Miller’s mic-drop comment brought chuckles from Dan Hicks, Johnny’s longtime broadcast partner. But it was Parry who enjoyed the last laugh by jarring his approach for a walk-off eagle on the first playoff hole.

We've even got the video:

It's quite a swing, one has to admit....  

Care for some Ryder Cup insights?

4. This is “probably on paper the worst Ryder Cup team we’ve ever fielded.”

Harsh, right? But given the 18.5-9.5 shellacking Team USA endured at the K Club in 2006, do you really want to argue that Miller got it wrong? 

5. “My hunch is that Justin needs to go home and watch it on television.”

There’s no doubt Justin Leonard wasn’t on his A-game. But many still believed that Johnny was being an a-hole with this comment at the 1999 Ryder Cup in Brookline. Miller later expressed his regrets, saying he’d like to have a mulligan on the remark.

I know Justin sank that putt on Sunday, but he was clueless when Johnny called him out....  Anyway, I'd take even the older, incoherent Johnny over the babbling Sir Nick any day of the week.

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder -  Peace be upon you, but you may be shocked to learn that professional golfers are hitting it further.... I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, our governing bodies have it well under control.

The U.S. Golf Association and the R&A jointly released their fourth Annual Driving

Distance Report on Tuesday, and the data showed that average driving distance was up 1.7 yards across the world’s seven major professional tours. 

Driving information was gathered from the PGA Tour, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Web.com Tour, PGA Tour Champions, LPGA and the Ladies European Tour. 

While every tour saw a distance increase, the most significant year-over-year increase was the PGA Tour’s rise from 292.5 to 296.1 yards (1.2 percent). The smallest increase was on the LPGA, which went from 252.6 yards to 252.7 yards (0.1 percent). 

The professional tour with the longest average driving distance was the Web.com Tour, which saw an increase of 2 yards in 2018 to 304.9 yards (0.7 percent).

 Gee, might that man pictured have affected that last data point?

There's a ton going on here, and I'm only one unpaid blogger..... Shack's post on the subject is worth your time (as always), and includes this table:

I'll agree that the increase in clubhead speed is surprisingly low for guys consuming an alarming amount of kale and raw cauliflower (the latter was Shack's contribution), though the combination of reduced spin and launch angle has ball going far.

More importantly, while the Trackman data isn't available that far back, you really need to go back to the introduction of the ProV1 in the early aughts:

That "Stability through Regulation" is a howler, no?  More like like Stability through Kicking the Can Down the Road.....

Shack links to interesting takes on the data from gearheads Dave Dusek and Mike Stachura that are well worth your time, assuming the subject is of interest.  

But just a reminder, this data is all PCC.....  That's Pre-Cam Champ.  Sta tuned.

Acorn, Tree - Not that I have any experience at it, but I've always thought that raising children was a great big black hole, by which I mean that you can do everything right and have it turn out wrong.  Still, who can read this and not feel for Dad?

Wayne Player, the son of golf legend Gary Player, has been arrested over an incident involving a house rental at the 2018 Masters. The Augusta Chronicle reports that Wayne

Gary Player, 56, was charged with deposit account fraud for a bad check on Jan. 23 in Columbia County. The arrest stemmed from an incident involving an Evans, Ga., homeowner. Player had rented a house for two nights during last year’s Masters, but his payment check bounced due to insufficient funds. 

The homeowner made several attempts to contact Player via his lawyer. According to the Chronicle, Player eventually told the lawyer he would send $1,000 to cover his debts, but the homeowner never received the payment. In July, the homeowner reported the incident to police.

 If this seems trivial, there's more at the link....  Carpe Diem.

More Alan - Shippy's mailbag has become a top-tier feature for effortless blogging, today he leads with multiple queries regarding The Professor:

Alan, what are your thoughts on how much of an advantage Bryson really has over other golfers or is it all in the mind? -Paul (@prhughes) 

It’s both. With his one-plane swing and single-length equipment, Bryson has taken much

of the complexity out of the game, making it easier to repeat the same swing over and over, which is what every player desires, especially under pressure. Some of the things he does at first blush seem silly – like spritzing range balls with water to see how that affects their flight – but in a game where one yard can be the difference between agony and ecstasy, you gotta respect Bryson’s endless quest to find tiny advantages. 

Maybe on a damp morning he will be more dialed in than other players who have only ever practiced with dry range balls. Maybe it makes no difference at all. But the key is that Bryson believes he has an edge, and, therefore, he does. Factor in his endless capacity for work, the know-how that has come with winning at every level and his single-minded drive to be great, and you have a player in full flight.

Alan himself is playing with single-length irons, so he's not some impartial observer....  That said, Bryson has won with alarming frequency recently, so it's all working for him.

Given this run of play, what is the ceiling for Bryson? -JJ (@bigeasyWI) 

The roof? Nah, that only works when MJ says it. Clearly DeChambeau has the game to win on any golf course, and this year’s majors are an intriguing mix, with Bethpage and Portrush being big and brawny, while Pebble is a finesse course that demands precision. I think he can excel on any of them, and even as an amateur Bryson showed he can contend at Augusta National. 

One thing we’ve seen recently in the game is that young superstars have these bursts of incredible play and then fall back. Rory and Jordan and Jason Day had their runs, Koepka is enjoying one right now, and JT is trying to keep his going. It appears to be hard to sustain the intensity and focus needed to stay at the summit for more than 18 months to two years. This coincides with unimaginable wealth, global fame/scrutiny, increased corporate demands, and big life changes like marriage and kids. Bryson is so maniacal he might plow straight through all of that, but it’s not easy to do so.

It's all this great mystery, which is why we tune in every week....

#AskAlan Is Bryson taking the piss with his caddie every time he asks for a yardage? -@DungsauPing 

Yes and no. Bryson loves to be the smartest guy in the room, and he knows that the mics will now always find him, so it’s fun for him to engage in esoterica like air density. But the scary thing is that he is also deadly serious about this stuff.

Taking the piss?  Don'y you love how much you learn here?  From the invaluable Urban Dictionary:

OK, glad we cleared that up....

Here's a topical subject:

Would the ruling Li have happened if it was a top 10 U.S. player? -Rikki (@eWanYoungSon) 

A few years ago Tiger got dinged for a bad drop in Abu Dhabi, and Spieth was hit by the Euro Tour with a slow-play penalty, so I don’t think we can say Li is the victim of

prejudice, either against non-Westerners or those outside the top 10. I’m in the minority here but I liked the ruling! Caddies lining up players is so tacky, as is loopers hovering over 3-footers, as Li’s caddie was doing when the penalty was assessed. This is the big leagues, players need to figure out this stuff on their own. Whether or not Li had taken his stance is debatable, but there is no question his caddie was farting around back there where he didn’t belong. I hope this penalty has a chilling effect on helicopter caddies.

Rory as well, for a bad drop....  But the implication is that in America Patrick was correct, that your name needs to be Jordan Spieth (though he's of course no longer in the top ten).

Now the next bit is interesting most for the questioner:

Why are the rules of golf so terrible? -@PaigeSpiranac 

It really is amazing that so many dedicated and presumably smart people spend so much time cogitating on the rules and tweaking them endlessly and yet the pro game remains engulfed by endless b.s. I really think golf needs only three rules: 

1. Play the ball as it lies.

2. If you a lose a ball, drop it where you think it disappeared, one stroke penalty.

3. If something weird or unprecedented happens, talk it over with your playing partners, apply common sense, do the right thing and move on. 

That wasn’t hard, was it?

Now I'm not one that thinks the rules of golf are all that bad, given the complications of playing over hundreds of acres of land and all that can occur out there.   That said, there are a disturbingly frequent lapses of judgement in the writing and administration of the rules, for which the governing bodies are deserving of the opprobrium.  As a for instance, the original rewrite of the rule governing balls moving on greens required the player to know what moved the ball, profoundly silly in the age of greens stimping at 14-15.  

But the lede to this feature included this:

Every week, GOLF senior writer Alan Shipnuck fields questions from the masses about hot topics in the golf world.

So, your newest contributor Paige Spirinac is among the unwashed masses?  Good to know....

Another topical item:

Is Justin Rose today the same Rosie of prior years, with a slightly higher gear, or is he on his way to elite-level separation from the pack?

-@wtgarton1 

Rose has separated himself with elite-level consistency. All that’s missing is to convert all of those high finishes into more wins, and that’s why his performance at Torrey Pines was momentous. Over the last six months Rose suffered some considerable Sunday setbacks: at Shinnecock, Carnoustie, during the FedEx Cup and even in Shanghai. To come back from three early bogeys at Torrey and storm to victory, with a stand-in caddie and new clubs, answered a lot of questions. 

The missing piece for Rose remains to snag another major championship; hard to believe it’s going on six years since his U.S. Open breakthrough (though I give more weight than most to the gold medal). Rose turns 39 this year. The way he is playing right now he has a chance to go down as one of the best players of this era, but that is measured in wins, not top-10s.

Curious answer, as it seems obvious that the game-changer is the putter grip....  Since the change Rose can putt at a Tour average or better level, and with his ball-striking supremacy that makes him a force.

That said, despite his reputation for consistency and poise under pressure, he has shown some difficulty closing....  But Alan is spot on that, given his age, his career will be defined by the majors over the next 2-3 years.  

This one is quite interesting for sure:

If you could trade places with anyone in golf (past or present) for a day, who would it be and why? -@ROIChristie 

Maybe Ben Crenshaw on Masters Sunday in 1984. It would be magical to feel those

putts go in on those greens. But I’m going to say Sept. 27, 1930, when Bobby Jones finished off the Grand Slam at Merion. At that moment, he was probably the most celebrated athlete in the history of the world, and he had just achieved what nearly a century later remains one of the sport’s most iconic accomplishments. And for Jones it brought sweet relief, knowing he was done with the crucible of competition and that he could retire to a life of writing indelible books. Oh, and already on that night he was nursing the ambition to create a unique golf course that could host a friendly invitational, which a few years later he would bring to life on the site of a former nursery in Augusta, Ga.

Much as I hate to quibble (kidding), there's an obvious flaw with that choice, as significant as the Grand Slam is.  That being that the entire event was a walkover for Jones.... In fact, Alan fails to note that the plaque is at the 11th hole at Merion, kind of an early end to a match, no?

I'd have gone with a certain weekend in Brookline, MA in 1913, I think.  Perhaps Augusta in 1935, though that was really only one swing....  But a fun thought to ponder.

Here's a drum I've been beating for a long time:

Should the LPGA be on Golf Channel more? -Pat (@GalaxyGuy27) 

Obviously, but it requires more creative thinking. I’ve long advocated for every LPGA event to run Saturday-Tuesday. You could have the pro am on Friday, which is a great day for businessmen to play hooky. You could still attract big weekend crowds, but in this scenario the LPGA would be the only live golf on Mondays and Tuesdays and, therefore, could command longer and better broadcast windows on the Golf Channel. Majors could still finish on Sundays to placate the bigger TV networks but shifting the other competition days seems like a no-brainer.

There are issues with this, of course, especially since it's still a daylight game.  But for events that can be broadcast in prime time, it seems quite the natural.

Ship, sailed? 

Is this finally Rickie’s year? -William (@VolHawk411) 

Alas, no.

He does seem to be going the wrong direction.... 

And this as good as any on which to exit:

When will the beer cart girls start selling weed? Or edibles? Talk about slow play!-@JasonABlack 

This is actually a fantastic way to support public courses – if they can get away with $8 beers, imagine the profits that can be cleared on this new generation of “swing aids.” As long as the money gets reinvested in lower greens fees, better course conditions and nicer range balls, I say puff and chew away!

Do it for the children, per Alan..... But we need a better name....  Swing Toke?  Tempo Toke?  You guys got anything? 

Midweek Musings

I have much on my plate, so let's not waste any precious time on the preliminaries....

Eddie Redeems Himself - Eddie Pepperell justifiably took incoming for that tasteless tweet of his about only recently allowing women in his home to wear clothes, and in response he got all..... well, existential.  And I'm man enough to admit that I didn't see that coming:

I’ve been trying to figure out, without the help of books or an education, whether humour is as innate to human beings as suffering. This was prompted by a tweet I received from Lawrence Donegan who criticised my tweet last night where I joked about how I only

allow women into my house if they’re wearing no clothes at all. I considered responding on Twitter but 240 characters obviously isn’t enough when it comes to the topic of suffering and humour. 

It seems to me that as we still have humour, it clearly has utility, else why would it exist? It might be a social construct, but I doubt that. I’m inclined to believe humour has evolved alongside us for millennia, in spite of enormous suffering and pain. In fact, there is less suffering and pain in the world now than ever before, and it would seem, if Lawrence is anything to go by, that humour is also on the decline. Maybe the supply of jokes correspond with the amount of suffering in our own worlds? The more we suffer, the more we joke. Empirically speaking, and of course relatively speaking, any suffering I’ve ever experienced has often been followed by humour. It relieves pain.

More on topic are these comments:

That probably depends who you are. I can really only speak for myself, and plus,

remember I’m not being paid to be here, so I’m only slightly less immoral than the top guys who have showed up. For me, if I didn’t play, I sacrifice the opportunity to play against the best in the world, I miss a chance to improve my world ranking also, which objectively speaking, does hold some importance for me, since if I fall out of the Top 50 before April then I won’t be eligible for a PGA Tour event I have scheduled to play. And that means losing flights etc and having to pay for new ones, which you might say is no problem because I’ve earned a lot of money lately, though resentment isn’t good for anybody.

Two really good bits there, but that only perhaps serves to distract from the larger point, which is that we're all struggling for the answer here...  Oh, and oh so subtly also making the point that those who know with absolute certainty what he should do aren't likely sacrificing anything should he follow orders.

He also had this "slippery-slope" argument as well:

For Pepperell, the answer was no — but he recognized it’s tricky knowing where to draw the line. Saudi Arabia has come under particularly intense examination since the October killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who had spoken out against Prince Mohammed bin Salman. But it’s not the only country to host a major golf tournament with a sketchy approach to human rights. “Like, for example, why do we play in China? Or Qatar? Or Turkey?” Pepperell asked.

Exactly.  Of those three, Qatar seems the most relevant, because Kashoggi was their agent.....though he seems blissfully unaware that the myth of Peak Oil has been discredited:

On top of all of this, maybe, just maybe, the Regime out here really do want to change. Maybe they’ve recognised the perilous state of their own affairs and in particular their reliance on a fossil fuel that won’t be here forever. It might be true that they want to Liberalise their Kingdom so that they can be competitive themselves in the future. Why should we Westerners not accept this, if it is true? After all, aren’t we the true purveyors of forgiveness?

I like this Eddie far more than yesterday's, though Shack has been a bit over-wrought on this subject as well.  I let him pass yesterday on this header yesterday, linking two events that are in  no way like each other:

Human Rights Reminder To European Tour Golfers: Haotong Li Still Alive, But Jamal Khashoggi Is Not

And his latest post continues the virtue signaling:

We’ve seen players travel to far away lands in search of easy World Ranking points and sell their mother’s for year-end world top 50 status. 

And now, look the other way on carved up journalists, beheadings, beatings, violent bigotry and 15 of 19 9-11 hijackers just to help the Crown Prince see the error of his nation’s murderous ways.

Carved-up journalists?  Man, you carve up one journalist (and really, intelligence operative would be the more accurate description) and you can never live it down.....  But much as we love Geoff on most issues related to our game, geopolitics doesn't seem to be his beat.

Making Friends - Brooks Koepka is one of those suffering from enhanced immorality according to Eddie Pepperell, though he might redeem himself in Shack's eyes with his rather harsh comments on pace of play:

“I just don’t understand how it takes a minute and 20 seconds, a minute and 15 to hit a golf ball; it’s not that hard,” Koepka said. 

“It’s always between two clubs; there’s a miss short, there’s a miss long. It really drives me nuts especially when it’s a long hitter because you know you’ve got two other guys

or at least one guy that’s hitting before you so you can do all your calculations; you should have your numbers. 

“Obviously if you’re the first guy you might take ten extra seconds, but it doesn’t take that long to hit the ball, especially if it’s not blowing 30. 

“If it’s blowing 30 I understand taking a minute and taking some extra time with some gusts, you know changing just slightly, I get that but if it’s a calm day there’s no excuse. 

“Guys are already so slow it’s kind of embarrassing. I just don’t get why you enforce some things and don’t enforce others.”

This is from a podcast to which I've not listened, but apparently The Professor was specifically referenced in the question to Brooksie.... However, Bryson begs to differ:

“It’s actually quite impressive that we’re able to get all that stuff done in 45 seconds; people don’t realize that it’s very difficult to do everything we do in 45 seconds,” DeChambeau said on Tuesday. “I think that anybody that has an issue with it, I understand, but we’re playing for our livelihoods out here, and this is what we want to do. If we want to provide the best entertainment for you, it’s part of our process, or it’s part of my process, at least.” 

DeChambeau partially blames his lack of experience for his measured approach. He says he's put on the clock "almost every week" but is accustomed to it now. Still, it's not his intention. 

“We try and speed up,” DeChambeau said. “Trust me, we do our due diligence to speed up and do our best. We’re not trying to slow anyone down. I’m not trying to slow anyone down. It’s just a part of the process, and unfortunately the Rules of Golf allow for a certain amount of time, and we’re (using it) to our fullest potential.”

So, how do we resolve this disagreement?  We;;, I'm inclined to suggest protractors at twelve paces,  but go to that second link and watch the video embedded therein....  I'm gonna go way out on a limb and guess that Brooks spends far less time on air density than Bryson.

John Feinstein takes on the issue of slow play, including some amusing strolls down memory lane:

If there is one subject that will stir debate in a PGA Tour locker room, it is the issue of pace of play. It can also lead to confrontations, such as the time years ago when Jerry Pate and Ronnie Black stood nose-to-nose on the first hole in Greensboro after Pate told Black walking off the tee that he needed to keep moving during the round because he didn’t want to get put on the clock because of Black’s meanderings. Black didn’t take the comment well, and the two men engaged in a spirited shouting match. 

The slow-play moment that might be most most vividly remembered on tour took place almost 14 years ago, during the last round of the now-defunct Booz-Allen Classic, played that year at Congressional. By the (unfortunate) luck of the draw, Sabbatini (who had to slow down most days to play at under 100) was paired with Crane (who had to floor it to hit 40). Crane’s nickname among the rules officials is “The Anchor.” (The best rules officials slow-play nickname is Langer’s: Herr Sundial). 

The two men were paired on Thursday and Friday and then, because they were tied after 36 and 54 holes, ended up together on Saturday and Sunday. Late in the final round, Sabbatini simply couldn’t take it anymore. After hitting his ball in the water at the 17th hole, he walked up to drop before Crane had played his second shot. Then, after putting out, he left the green while Crane was still circling his putt and walked to the 18th tee.

Paul Azinger, who was working the tournament on television, blasted Sabbatini for his lack of etiquette. So did many others in the media, in part no doubt, because Sabbatini can be prickly and because Crane is almost always a willing interview. Many players will tell you that slow play is a breach of etiquette. Playing at “a reasonable pace” is considered part of the game’s etiquette. 

The day after the Sabbatini-Crane incident, I was standing on the range at Pinehurst—site of that year’s U.S. Open—when Sabbatini walked out to hit some balls. It was late afternoon and there were perhaps 20 players practicing. Almost every one of them stopped what they were doing and clapped for Sabbatini.

Caution needs to be the watchword any time one finds oneself on the same side of an issue as the notorious South African Czech..... That said, I've always thought that Glen "All" Day was the best of the slow-play induced nicknames...

This is tedious because there is no will to do anything, as John competently recounts, though it does provide amusement.

On Pinheads - I skipped this in yesterday's post, but it's been fun watching folks adapt to the new rule, not least myself during our play in Florida.  Adam Scott has become the poster child for leaving the pin in on all putts, regardless of length, whereas the Professor has been going back and forth.

Here's Adam explanation of his putting at Torrey:

Scott missed two short putts that might have been the difference. But flagsticks are off

the hook. He just forgot to adjust to his radical new putter setup. 

“Making the putter change was a pretty good experiment this week, it worked nicely,” he said after his first Farmers appearance. “I learned a lot with that style of putting this week, and it was quite a big adjustment, I have to say. And I made some errors out there with it, but hopefully it’s looking all positive and I like that.” 

The length was standard, the grip a claw, but the angles were extreme: 6 degrees of loft and a grip 3 inches in front of the blade made Scott “a little fiddly getting into position.”

The missed putts were more “carelessness” than any kind of yippiness. But combined with his decision to leave the flagstick in to have something to aim at, he finished 14th in strokes gained putting and set his 2019 PGA Tour season off to a strong start.

That last bit about having something to aim at is what's been bothering me about the discussion, including the broadcast commentary.  He's always been allowed to leave the pin in for aiming purposes, he just needed to have it tended by his caddie.  Obviously the longer the putt the more it's a factor, but I've always thought there's a benefit to the pin in terms of judging distance.

Those Tour Confidential busybodies took on the issue as well:

1. Bryson DeChambeau, who has become the poster boy for flagstick-in putting, picked up his first European tour victory when he dominated the field at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and won by seven. Meanwhile, at Torrey Pines, Adam Scott — another flagstick-in proponent — shot 65-68 on the weekend to finishrunner-up behind Justin Rose. Are these guys on to something? Why haven’t more people followed suit yet? 

Sean Zak: For starters, let’s be careful what we attribute success to. If the flagstick helps Adam Scott, great, but it’s way, way, way too early to act like he’s onto something. He

gained eight strokes simply approaching the green. Why haven’t a lot of players followed Bryson’s almost-always-in mentality? Well, they’re creatures of habit, far more than you or me. Give them some time. 

John Wood: Most of these guys will give anything a try if they see someone else having success with it, be it a new shaft, a new driver, or a different way of eating their breakfast (LEFT hand rather than right). It’s something so new and so foreign, it’ll take some time for guys to adjust and give it a whirl. You gotta realize these guys have been incredible at golf for anywhere from 10-40 years, all the while putting with the flagstick out. I foresee more and more people giving it a whirl with Adam and Bryson having high-profile success with it. It’ll be interesting to me when we play events (Augusta and the U.S. Open come to mind) that use thicker, heavier metal flagsticks with no give. I think they would be more prone to having a ball ricochet off them than the fiberglass flagsticks we use day in and day out on tour that have some give. 

Alan Shipnuck: Whatever Adam Scott is doing is going to inspire other pros to try the opposite. But Bryson is the bellwether — if he keeps piling up Ws other folks will certainly try it, because why not? 

Josh Sens: I’m with Alan here. As much as they are creatures of habit, they are also always on the lookout for an edge. And if the flagstick in gives them one — be it real or perceived — we’ll be seeing more and more players go to it with every passing week. 

Dylan Dethier: Nearly every study and piece of research done so far — save the USGA’s “Eh, it should be about the same” handwave – shows this gives a slight advantage. If the only thing working against it is muscle memory, it’s only going to get more popular.

So they're creatures of habit who will try anything?  Square peg meet round hole.... Here's the thing, the guys that will be most likely to throw caution to the wind are the guys that are struggling on the greens.... Duh!  Yanno, like Adam Scott.

But as for research, up until now all we had was Dave Peltz, and his work on the subject was long ago with a markedly different golf ball.  MyGolfSpy.com, has recently conducted their own research, and here are their conclusions:

OBSERVATIONS 

Leaving the flagstick is always an advantage vs. taking the flagstick out

Leaving the flagstick in also keeps the ball closer to the hole on misses

The less rigid flagstick has the highest make % and least distance after a miss

The most rigid flagstick is still an advantage for both makes and misses vs. flagstick out

Dead center strikes on the flagstick provided the best make % while leaving the shortest remaining distance to the hole on misses

Off-center strikes on the flag still provided a higher make % vs. flagstick out

While the advantage is not as significant leaning the stick forward (toward the golfer) is still an advantage vs. taking the flag out 

VERDICT 

Don’t let the tradition of pulling the flag out while you putt get in the way of shooting lower scores. 

Leave the pin in.

I will note that during our play in Florida it felt really weird leaving the pin in on shorter putts.  Also a bit awkward figuring out the to-and-fro of the pin going in and out, though I suspect that's transitory.

But given that we were in Florida I have an obvious follow-up question.  What happens to all of this research if the pin is moving in the wind?  

There's more, but I'm going to leave you nice folks there and attend to some obligations.  Not to worry, though, we'll get to everything over the next couple of days, I promise. 

Weekend Wrap

Your humble blogger is safely back in Western HQ, where they had 60" of snow in my absence....  Not that I'm counting, or anything.

A Rose By Any Other Name - From Golf.com's invaluable 30-second guide:

World No. 1 Justin Rose had a stranglehold on the Farmers Insurance Open through 54 holes, but he had some big-time players chasing him on Sunday in Adam Scott, Jon

Rahm, Rory McIlroy and more. Here’s what you missed on Sunday at the Farmers at Torrey Pines. 

Who won: Justin Rose (three-under 69, 21 under overall) 

How it happened: Rose opened the day with a three-shot lead over Scott and led Rahm by four, but his Sunday playing partners did little to threaten him early. Rose was even on the front, but so was Scott, and Rahm played the front side in one under, making Rose’s lead three at the turn. A birdie on 10 pushed Rose’s lead to four, and he won by two despite Scott birdieing the last four holes. Scott shot 68 and was alone in second place. 

Why it matters: It’s Rose’s 10th victory on the PGA Tour (to go with his 12 European tour wins), making him the winningest pro from England since 1945. 

Best fill-in caddie performance: Rose’s regular looper, Mark Fulcher, had heart surgery on Jan. 17, and Rose has used Gareth Lord in his absence until Fulcher can return. So far, so good. Rose and Lord, who used to caddie for Henrik Stenson, tied for 34th at the Desert Classic last weekend before winning this week. Fulcher, of course, was watching the win unfold.

I just hope that Gareth was aware that the going rate for fill-in caddies is $5,000, and that's only if you get the "W".  

The biggest winner was likely Honma, with an early return on their investment... Rose is an interesting case in the present moment, a superior ball-striker that has finally found a means to putt well enough to win consistently.  The remaining knock is just the one major, with 2013 seemingly long enough ago to have been in the persimmon era.

But the side stories might have been more interesting....  First, of course, the return of the Striped One, as covered by the Tour Confidential panel:

2. Tiger Woods saved his best for last at the Farmers, birdieing five of the final eight holes to shoot 67 on Sunday and tie for 20th. What should golf fans take away from Woods’s 2019 debut?

Zak: It was an impressive start to the season for a 43-year-old man. I kind of expected him to need some warm-up to really get going before playing well. But nope, not with Tiger. He played really well, even at a course where he’s expected to. Golf fans should expect him to be hitting the ground running and rightfully aiming to contend at every event.

Impressive, Sean?  I so hate to quibble (kidding, guys), but I'd stipulate to solid....  He was, after all, on the wrong side of the golf course the entire weekend, though he did seem to improve each day.

This exchange is amusing, though I suspect John Wood will be hearing from the Tour:

Wood: That Tiger is healthy, and he has a good understanding of what his body can do and will set his schedule accordingly. I wouldn’t expect him to chase any points lists. The rest of his career will be focused on four weeks a year. But I’m excited to see how healthy he looked and how much he seemed to be enjoying it.

Dethier: I am offended on behalf of the Tour at J. Wood’s suggestion that Tiger isn’t chasing FedEx Cup points (although deep down he surely has Presidents Cup points on the brain), but the solid showing reminded us that last year wasn’t a mirage. This felt like an engine rev and then a natural continuation.

But there was a far bigger controversy swirling around our Tiger....  After all, it's Sunday and, like Patrick at Augusta, what's up with the pink?

For twenty long years Tiger has been giving up nothing to the press, which he continued after Sunday's round:

Q: Big debate on TV this morning about whether that’s pink or red or orange. 

Tiger Woods: Yeah. 

Q. Do you have an answer? 

Woods: Yep.

Yep, there's that new Tiger we've heard so much about....

 This, of course, is why God had to invent Notah Begay, the Tiger whisperer:

Gotta be a Pulitzer in there for him, no?

Of course, everything takes a back seat to the hug heard 'round the world:

Justin Rose might be in the lead at the Farmers Insurance Open through three rounds, but that wasn’t the storyline that caught golf fans’ attention at Torrey Pines. Instead, it was

the reconciliation of the Jordan Spieth–Patrick Reedbromance on the first tee on Saturday. 

Paired up together for the third round, the two greeted each other warmly with a big hug and praised each other afterward. It was a moment that many golf fans had been waiting for.

“I laughed. I think he did, too,” Spieth said. “It was more kind of sarcasm towards [the media]. That was kind of, just, we knew the cameras were on and we knew people were interested in that, so I just thought it would be kind of funny.”

Sarcastic, eh?

Despite their moment of forgiveness on Saturday, Reed said that the Ryder Cup has not come up between the two when they have chatted.

“Literally when we got off the plane it was old news and we all moved on from there, so not really,” Reed said. “I mean, it’s really nothing. Jordan and I, we’ve moved on. We’re now just out here trying to play some good golf and trying to feed off of each other as well as just trying to go out and shoot low numbers.”

If you guys say so....  

Bryson In Full -  This is becoming rather a routine occurrence:

Bryson DeChambeau didn’t just win his first European Tour event – he ran away with it. The world No. 5 practically lapped the field to win the $3.25 million Omega Dubai Desert Classic. 

The 25-year-old returned a closing 8-under-par 64 to set a tournament record. His 24-under 264 total for a seven-shot win bettered by one the 72-hole record Haotong Li set last year. 

England’s Matt Wallace finished second on his own on 17 under. Spaniards Sergio Garcia and Alvaro Quiros, and Englishmen Ian Poulter and Paul Waring shared third place on 16 under. 

Dubai wasn’t just DeChambeau’s first European Tour victory, but his maiden international win to go with five on the PGA Tour.

He's winning a lot, and doing by a TD and PAT is really impressive.....

Of course he's still Bryson, terminally weird and all.  He had this after a second-round 66:

The 66 left DeChambeau happy and frustrated. More importantly, he’s in a terrific

position to win alongside 24 other players within four shots of the lead. 

“Still shooting six under, I was happy about that,” DeChambeau said. “Unfortunately, didn’t have the right sensations and proprioception over shots. I just felt uncomfortable unfortunately and was not ball-striking at my best. But hey, I mean shoot, I’m not complaining one bit.”

Don't you just hate when that happens?

Shack is there for us, with this from Wikipedia:

Proprioception (/ˌproʊprioʊˈsɛpʃən, -priə-/[1][2] PROH-pree-o-SEP-shən), is the sense of the relative position of one's own parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement.[3] It is sometimes described as the "sixth sense".[4]

 Glad we cleared that up.... 

As with Torrey, the more interesting stories are sidebars to the event itself, though perhaps of greater long-term import.

First, Haotong Li and his caddie might want to find themselves a rules seminar:

Haotong Li became the first high-profile player to run afoul of the new rule that bans a caddie from assisting in lining up a shot. 

The defending champion at the Dubai Desert Classic, Li was in position for another high finish when officials determined that Li’s caddie stood on a direct line behind his ball when he took his stance on the 18th green. The two-shot penalty turned his birdie into a bogey, his 71 became a 73, and he dropped from a tie for third into joint 12th – the difference of about $100,000. 

It’s one of the major changes in the new rules, which went into effect Jan. 1.

Again Shack is there for us with the wording of the new rule:

New Rule: Under Rule 10.2b(4):

The previous prohibition is extended so that, once the player begins taking a stance for the stroke, and until the stroke is made, the player’s caddie must not deliberately stand on or close to an extension of the line of play behind the ball for any reason.

There is no penalty if the caddie accidentally stands on or close to an extension of the line of play behind the ball, rather than in trying to help in lining up.

I'm not sure what I think here, because in watching the real-time video it seems so trivial.  Shack makes a spirited defense of the ruling and I recommend you watch the Morning Drive video embedded.  The Tour Confidential guys, however, capture many of my thoughts about intent:

Wood: This was PATHETIC. This was an overzealous rules official overstepping their bounds when they saw even the smallest opportunity to enforce one of the new rules. The caddie was in the final stages of reading the putt for his player, taking one last look and conveying what he saw to Haotong. They were conversing. Haotong hadn’t grounded his putter behind the ball. To the side, yes, but it’s more than a stretch to interpret his movement as addressing his ball. And why does intent matter for some rules but not for others? It boggles the mind that someone using a long putter can anchor it against their chest and make a stroke as long as they didn’t intend to anchor it, but in this case, intent is irrelevant. I know a caddie’s motions, and he wasn’t doing anything close to lining him up.

We can all find common ground to conclude that Euro Tour majordomo Keith Pelley's reaction  was a bit over the top, as Geoff covers in the linked post above.  he goes so far as to suggest that Pelley is trying to distract from his current PR issues related to this week's event.  Not to worry, we'll get to that one in a sec.

I've been saying from the start that intent is an awfully slippery slope, but that second paragraph above seems to imply just such a standard.  Back to you, Shack.

What Is To Be Done? - There might be more fireworks on the Euro Tour this week than on the American, no small matter when the PGA is at the Wasted....  But Mr. Pelley picked a really bad week to quit smoking:

Last spring European Tour CEO Keith Pelley announced a three-year partnership with Saudi Arabia that would bring golf to the Middle Eastern country. "We are very excited

to be taking the first steps toward bringing professional golf to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the first time and I must thank His Royal Majesty, Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for his vision in making this happen," Pelley said in March. Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Paul Casey were highlighted as early commits; Pelley would name drop Justin Rose and Brooks Koepka in the ensuing months as participants.

But the tournament has been complicated by matters that have transpired since. Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor who lived in Virginia and was a critic of the Saudi government, was brutally assassinated—intelligence officials believe his body was drained of blood, cut in parts and dissolved in acid—at the country's ministry in Istanbul in October. After initially denying its role in Khashoggi's killing, Saudi Arabia has taken responsibility for his execution, with the Saudi attorney general announcing the murder was premeditated. Turkish officials and the United States intelligence community have asserted with "high confidence" that Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing. 

Khashoggi's murder has put other Saudi Arabia human-rights issues into light, putting the European Tour, Pelley and players in a precarious position.

I absolutely love this story, though it's a difficult one to address.  And I do feel a bit for the players involved, as I'm not completely sure how I feel about the matter.  But there's so much nonsense and misinformation involved, that we cant' help but have some fun with it....

First, this from the man in the blue glasses was pretty lame:

European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said he had no second thoughts about bringing a tour event to Saudi Arabia.

The European Tour has held events in the Middle East since 1989, and there are now six tournaments on the Arabian Peninsula, but never have they attracted so much attention.

“Our main focus is on the safety and security of our players and staff,” Pelley said 

Sunday on “Morning Drive”. “Like many global companies who operate in the region, we monitored the situation. … Having looked at that – and having done our due diligence in terms of the safety and security – we’re obviously moving forward and looking forward to this new chapter on the European Tour.” 

Pelley added that the event is an extension of the tour’s “Middle East strategy.”

Folks are outraged that the Euro Tour would hold an event in a brutal and oppressive country such as the Kingdom whereas, as noted above, the tour has been holding events in Middle Eastern countries for decades.  Are those regimes less oppressive and brutal?  

Shippy had this supporting point in the TC linked above:

Shipnuck: It’s interesting this one event is getting so much attention when a full quarter of the Euro tour schedule is played in authoritarian countries, including some of the biggest purses of the year. If the tour suddenly developed a conscience it would be in danger of going out of business.

But Pelley's assurance that no golfers will be chopped up and removed in garbage bags doesn't seem especially responsive to folks' concerns....  

The other aspect that continues to amuse me is the nature of Kashoggi himself, who is typically referred to as a Washington Post reporter. and critic of the Saudi regime  This is willful ignorance worthy of the Post itself, has Kashoggi has long been a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.  In other words, he opposed MBS and the Saudi's because his heart belongs to a different brutal political faction.  More recently, it became apparent that Kashoggi was an agent of the Qatari government....

Of course that doesn't justify his brutal murder, but this was very much an intramural skirmish.....

The players obviously don't know what to do...  One of our favorite pinatas had this:

Most players are interested in little else. "I'm probably not the most educated man in the world to sit down and have a discussion about politics," Ian Poulter told BBC Sport. 

"I tend to err on the other side and try not to go too deep into that because my IQ is not great. 

"Obviously, we all know what's going on around the world, but when I see the tour trying to make good and give us opportunities then I think it is a good thing."

See how we build bridges here....  We've already found common ground on Ian's IQ not being so great.

Remember recently we were giving Eddie Pepperell props fro his Twitter game?  More common ground is to be found in the revoking that credit:

Thud!

I'm going to leave you here and we'll pick things up tomorrow. 

Back In The Saddle

Man, I missed you guys....  Shall we pick up the thread?

Torrey, Torrey, Torrey - Golf.com has a helpful piece on everything I missed from Round 1:

Tiger’s round was up and down 

Currently the world’s 13th-ranked player, Woods had expectations running high — especially at a tournament where he’s thrived in the past. (Woods has eight career wins at Torrey Pines). 

But Round 1 was pretty meh for the Big Cat, whose five birdies were mitigated by three bogeys. He finished at two under on the day, currently T51 and eight shots shy of Jon Rahm’s lead.

It was on the South Course, so it's not a horrible day....  

Speaking of Rahm… 

After battling the flu and rallying to finish 6th at last week’s Desert Classic in La Quinta, Jon Rahm proved he has plenty of firepower left in the tank with an impressive first-round score of 62 on Thursday. That’s 10 under par! 

Rahm made two eagles on his opening nine (Nos. 10 and 17) and carded seven birdies, including four in a row on holes 5-8.

Not all that helpful since Jessica Marksbury couldn't be troubled to tell us which course they played....  I'm guessing she wasn't hired for her deep knowledge of our game...

The biggest issue to come out of Torrey is no doubt pizzagate....  What, you haven't heard?  

Talk about a slice problem. During Wednesday’s Farmers Insurance Pro-Am, Tiger Woods headed to a concession tent operated by Dang Brother Pizza in search of a snack. The 80-time Tour winner crossed Torrey Pines’s 13th tee box to get to the tent…and got rejected. 

“They aren’t letting us serve right now,” the attendant, Daniel Johnston, told Woods sheepishly. Woods laughed off the incident, which Brandon Stone of KUSI News captured on video.

OK, now nobody but me seems to find the reason they weren't serving outrageous:

“No comment,” Johnson said later with a smile. Stone reported that the rejection came from bad timing: the health inspector was conducting a status check.

This is mad hatter stuff, a food inspector shutting down a concession during an event.  I know it's The People's Republic of California, but does it ever occur to anyone that there might be too much government for our needs....  

But Shack is ranting on another aspect of this story, that the PGA Tour can't let anyone have a laugh:

As an eyewitness to this adorable little moment in Wednesday’s Farmers Insurance Open pro-am, I can attest that it was 100% comedy and totally innocent.

Here’s what happened: Tiger Woods tees off at the 13th and walks to the forward tee where a local pizza vendor has been commissioned to hand out pies to pro-am participants. The legendary golfer and one of the most famous people on earth is rejected because, it turns out, a health inspection was taking place at that moment and they could not hand out pizza. Tiger doesn’t know this but laughs off the rejection with Joe LaCava and his pro-am partners.

Everyone had a good chuckle at the sight of Woods getting turned away in the same way Roger Federer’s rejection from entering the Australian Open locker room last week went viral.

Brandon Stone of San Diego’s KUSI captured the whole thing and posted it on Twitter. He also wrote about the light moment here and the star-struck lad who loves Tiger but had to say no because of the inspection taking place. Stone’s video of the moment went viral, of course. But Stone also Tweeted the news of the video takedown notice from the PGA Tour.

I thought this nonsense was over with the reign of Nurse Ratched....  All I can say is that the food inspectors and suits in Ponte Vedra Beach all deserve each other....  As for what we deserve, that doesn't seem to be a consideration.

A Good Call - The boys will head to Phoenix next week and the Desert Fox will bid us adieu....  But I do think this is a very good call:

JOHNNY MILLER TO CALL FINAL BROADCAST ON SATURDAY AT WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN AFTER NEARLY 30 YEARS AS LEAD GOLF ANALYST

NBC Sports to Celebrate Miller’s Three Decades with the Network through

Special Tributes and Reflections During Live Third Round Broadcast

Not only is there the issue of not stepping on the final round, but there's that little football game to distract everyone.  This actually makes so much sense, it's amazing that they got to the right answer.

Johnny is famous for being opinionated, so this waffling seems inappropriate:

Most golf fans would agree that Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus are the two greatest golfers of all-time. But deciding which one is better than the other? Good luck making that call. But don’t feel bad because you’re not alone; even the sport’s biggest names can’t decide either. 

Enter acclaimed golf broadcaster Johnny Miller, who will be retiring from the booth following the Waste Management Phoenix Open next week in Arizona. On a conference call on Wednesday leading up to his final event, Miller was asked about what it would mean in the golf world if Woods were to eclipse Sam Snead’s career PGA Tour victories record of 82, and how that would compare to the Golden Bear’s record number of 18 majors. So, in other words, who would you take: Tiger or Jack? 

Well, even after almost 30 years of color commentating experience, Miller can’t say.

“It’s a close call between those two,” Miller said. “They’re both so consistent. The body of work has been amazing. They’re both right there at the best of all-time.”

Yeah, Johnny, we know it's a close call....Never mind, just enjoy your grandchildren and retirement.

Inside Baseball - Alex Myers goes quasi-serious on us, sitting the entire CBS golf crew around a conference table, which at times is unintentionally insightful.  Here's a sample:

What are some challenges to broadcasting golf that the average fan sitting at home doesn’t realize?

Pepper: Everything. It’s a city that gets put up and broken down every week and relocated. The logistics of it are incredibly thick. If you just think about the towers that

go up however many stories, they have to have an occupancy certificate. So this is so far in advance, but people think you just flick the light switch and it magically happens. There’s miles and miles of cable, and trucks, and it’s a city that moves every time we move. It’s not like you can just plug it in and press play. 

Kostis: There’s also when they watch the show they see this seamless transition of Jim to Nick talking, to throwing it to 16 to this and that, and it’s very soothing. What they fail to realize what’s going on in our ear pieces. An announcer’s first rule is never, ever let what’s going in your ear come out your mouth. Ever. So while it seems like it’s a slow-moving sport, in our world, our lives exist in six-second increments, and we’ve got two people talking to us in our headphones while we’re trying to say something on air. From our perspective, it can be chaotic at times, even if it comes across as anything but.

Pepper: There are no timeouts. There’s a ball in the air all the time, even if we’re not on the air live. So that has to be covered as well.

Really, Dottie, because those 22 minutes per hour of Cialis commercials seem very much like a timeout.

Give it a full read,as it's well worth your time.  Go ahead, I'll wait for you...

Lots of fun stories and good insights....  I mean, who knew that Frank Chirkinian, The Ayatollah, was such a people person?

It's an interesting phenomenon, but perhaps they're all just a little bit too nice?  Excepting Sir Nick, of course.... Because while they seem individually focused on the right stuff, the CBS broadcast has, to my way of thinking, driven off the cliff.  They're so busy with the treacly background stories and talking about last night's dinner, that they show us very little golf...

I'd love to sit them around a conference table and run a tape of their broadcast, with Martin Kaufmann and The Forecaddie critiquing it...

OH, and Jim Nancy-Boy (that's what Employee No. 2 calls him) is very muck looking forward to the Open at Pebble....  Not only because it's a home game, but he's picking this guy to complete the career slam.  Ummm, Jim, care to make it interesting? 

Golf, Not Broken Yet - From the PGA Merchandise Show comes this next savior for our game, its elevator pitch being traditional golf meets TopGolf:

The Golfuture concept encapsulates pieces of traditional and simulation rounds into a

compact adventure. The course is divided into four quadrants: driving, approach, short game, putting, each with targets of varying distance, with the capacity for 120 players to tee off at once. 

Which is the first wrinkle in Golfuture: a golfer does not play 18 holes in the traditional sense. Far from it. In the first quadrant, a player will hit all their drives on every par 4 and 5 before moving to the approach area. Meaning you will hit your second drive of the day, but your second shot on the scorecard will come later. 

As for where those drives head, a computer screen will direct you to a target on the range to hit your drive for each specific hole. Each ball's distance and location is saved, transmitted to the approach area to be displayed for the player when they reach that quadrant. Within 10 minutes, a player's tee shots for the round are completed.

I have no objections to an improved version of simulator golf, and this does obviously address many of the obvious limitations.  And there's this obvious incentive:

While time is the major pitch to players, it's only a piece to potential buyers and investors. 

The range-like format boasts low maintenance and operating costs. It's a small footprint: the property takes up just 15 to 25 acres. For context, according to the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America, the average golf course uses 150 to 200 acres. This makes it ideal not just for urban areas, but for existing ranges that want a makeover or courses looking to add a different component to its portfolio.

And this is music to my ears:

The Korpachs don't view Golfuture as a substitute for traditional golf, and the altered flow may leave something to be desired for certain golfers. Conversely, they have constructed one of the few tangible responses to golf's litany of worries. Moreover, it's more than just a glorified driving range, and its set-up should serve as a conduit to beginners and non-golfers.

It's not golf....  I know that seems a rather obvious point, but one worth reinforcing.  

And by the way, perhaps golf isn't going the way of the dinosaurs?

According to the 2019 report, the golf equipment business grew by 4.1 percent in 2018

compared to 2017, reaching $8.41 billion. While that number is a significant boost over2017’s down numbers, it remains behind the research firms’ first numbers from 2014. Those showed a total equipment sales decline of 3.5 percent compared to 2014’s $8.72 billion.

The U.S. market was up by 5.4 percent over 2017 and was among the fastest growing golf economies, trailing only Germany, which was up nearly 6 percent year over year.

The study showed the top five golf markets in the world all grew in 2018, compared to 2017. In addition to the U.S.’s growth, Japan (+5.1 percent), Korea (4.3 percent) and the United Kingdom (+4.5 percent) had some of the largest improvements versus last year.

Of course there were some bad years in there, but over the longer term it's a much more stable picture than folks admit.  Equipment sales can be highly cyclical, affected by perceptions of technological improvements, so I prefer to watch sales numbers for consumables, such as golf balls.  But it's not a death spiral, merely a niche sport.

And, to be fair, even the above-referenced extinction of the dinosaurs is widely misunderstood, as Gary Larson clarifies:

Stat So? - Shane Ryan sorts through the ocean of data from the ShotLink era to cherry pick some statistical anomalies, although he calls them unsung statistical feats.  I know, one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter, but when you end up with a list that includes Johnson Waggoner, Chucky Three-Sticks and the like, a more modest header seems appropriate.

Don't get me wrong, I love the ShotLink data and the insights resulting therefrom, it's just that perspective is required.  For instance, this is quite the feat:

3. The Norman Three-Putt Gauntlet 

Sue me: Another pre-ShotLink stat. Going back to 1992, Greg Norman is the only PGA

Tour golfer to make it through an entire season three-putting on less than 1 percent of his holes. It happened in 1994, when he three-putted 11 times in 1,134 total holes, just dipping under that 1 percent mark at .97 (one more three putt, and he’d have missed it). It’s an astonishing figure, and only Rick Fehr (1996) has given him a real scare since—Fehr finished with one three-putt too many that year, ending at 1.05 percent. This, to me, is the closest thing golf statistics has to an unbreakable record.

And yet, my mind inevitably resurfaces a repressed memory of Norman three-putting at Inverness and handing a PGA to Paul Azinger.   

There is some good stuff there, a couple of Tiger sightings and Jason Day's unbelievable work with the flatstick.

A Game For Gentlemen - The PGA Tour is taking some heat for allowing this guy into last week's Pro-Am:

The narrative thrust of The Act of Killing is that few of the hatchet men involved in the

CIA-backed massacre of between 500,000 and 3,000,000 Indonesians ever faced consequences for the killings, and many of them don’t even harbor remorse. Their nonchalant openness about the murderers is what makes the documentary so chilling. Pancasila, which played a major role in the genocide 50 years ago, is still very much active and very much for hire for any, say, European conglomerate that wants to break up a nascent union by force.

Most recently, Soerjosoemarno was one of the amateur partners for PGA Tour pros Jim Herman and Rod Pampling at this year’s Desert Classic (he shot a 201 over three rounds.) Soerjosoemarno is especially fond of playing in the Coachella Valley, where the PGA has held a January event for 60 years.

The way I figure it, with Billy Walters in the slammer, they had an open slot to fill....And no need to respond to inquiries:

Deadspin reached out yesterday to two Desert Classic representatives about Soerjosoemarno’s long-running involvement with the tournament, and whether or not they knew he admitted to participating in the 1965-66 genocide. They did not reply. Deadspin also asked three PGA Tour reps if they would allow Soerjosoemarno to participate in future events, and whether or not they condemned the Indonesian massacres of 1965-66. They did not respond either.

To be fair, they were awfully busy taking down highly sensitive videos and otherwise Living Under Par™.

Gonna leave you there, kids...  Have a great weekend.  I should warn you that Monday is a travel day, so we might not wrap the weekend until Tuesday.

.