Colonial Daze

The last weekend without professional golf is now safely behind us, as we look forward to the resumption of play in a mere 72 hours.  Not a moment too soon, we can all agree.

Dateline: Fort Worth, TX - Colonial itself is a bit of a faded gem, typically drawing among the Tour's weakest fields.  The big boppers in particular tend to skip this week, as the prevalence of doglegs hinders the modern, bomb-and-gouge game.

Not so in this mother-of-all-years for sure:

I know that might be a little tough to read, but here's the skinny on the deep field (at least once they get their style-book required caveat out of the way):

Even without Woods, the strongest field in tournament history will show up at Colonial, led by world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, who has six top-5 finishes on the PGA Tour this season, including a victory in the WGC-HSBC Champions last fall. 

He’ll be joined by World No. 2 Jon Rahm, No. 3 and reigning PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka, No. 4 Justin Thomas and No. 5 Dustin Johnson. It will be the first time the tournament will feature the top 5 players in the world since the Official World Ranking began in 1986. 

Other top-10 players in the field include No. 7 Patrick Reed and No. 9 Webb Simpson, both major champions. In all, 16 of the top 20 will be at Colonial, and 70 of the top 100.

I'll go way out on a limb here, but it just might be that they're tired of sitting at home....  

Shockingly, Shack has some quibbles....Shall we see how they feel?

One minor first world golf mistake of the COVID-19 era was the PGA Tour committing to expanded fields upon returning to action. It was done in the name of playing opportunities—the lifeblood of VP bonuses and pace of play killer.

So in spite of an incredible field gathering featuring an impress 101 PGA Tour winners, the Charles Schwab Challenge also brings a grandfathered in clause giving lifetime exemptions to 20th century winners at Colonial. With super-senior tour eligible names like Frost, Clearwater and Lehman pushing the field to 148, combined with sponsor invites to fellow geezers Langer, McCarron and Stricker, topped off by a gift to a longtime Colonial member's relative, it’s another reminder that fields feature embarrassing add-ons even in a time of pandemic.

At this hinge-point in history, it's perhaps pace-of-play itself that is the first-world problem, but I digress.  The problem isn't with the expanded field size, a bit of a logic fail there, though like Geoff I'm unhappy with the geezer component in the field.  But Geoff even invokes the V-word:

Given the recent uproar over Vijay Singh wanting a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour’s return, only to WD, you’d think the Schwab folks might have played it a bit safer with their exemptions. Especially since the field actually includes a shocking number from an age group more vulnerable to the virus. Furthermore, no one will now watch this event with the inclusion of PGA Tour Champions players. No one. Zilch. Nada. Zip. Diddly squat. Squat. Did I mention no one?

I agree that it's off-putting, but the PGA Tour has been a closed shop for a very long time, and I'm glad to have such good company supporting my objections.  I'd also want to know when those Sponsor invites were extended, because it's much more palatable were they made before the pandemic, with the expectation of this being it's usual below-the-radar event.

That said, there is one guy excluded from being on-site that had me excited... Win-win, baby:

CBS Sports golf announcer Jim Nantz will be missing something when the PGA Tour returns next week — his partner.

Nantz will call the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial without Nick Faldo at his side, in deference to the PGA Tour’s Covid-19 rules and regulations, two sources with direct knowledge of the arrangement told GOLF.com. 

Faldo will be part of the broadcast but beamed in remotely, while Nantz will operate from a new, more compact location at Colonial Country Club. The traditional CBS tower behind the 18th green has been relocated to a small white building to the right of the 10th fairway, where Nantz will sit in front of a remote camera.

Silliness on steroids, no?   One of the least understood aspects of golf broadcasts is that the announcers don't see much more than we do at home, but explain to me why Nantz can't be in the usual spot behind the 18th green?  Other compromises:

Other on-site CBS commentators will also be missing at Colonial, including post-round interviewer Amanda Balionis, but Trevor Immelman and Dottie Pepper will be roving the grounds as on-course reporters. The Golf Channel, which is handing the first and second rounds at Colonial, will also have reduced staffing.

They'll have to pry Amanda Balionis from my cold, dead hands.... Your presence is expected:

“It’s won’t be the best ever [in golf], because we don’t have Tiger in the field and he drives everything, but I think we’ll do a 6.0 or higher,” Tothe said, referring to the Nielson ratings. “If we had Tiger we could do a 10.” 

In the last decade, Colonial has never drawn better than a 2.0 rating.

That seems a bit optimistic, no?  I mean, I get how deprived folks are, but they're still playing golf, no?

Let's see what the seers in the Tour Confidential panel expect:

1. This marks one of the more intriguing weeks in PGA Tour history when the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial begins Thursday. Player testing. Social distancing. No fans. Jim Nantz flying solo in the booth. And a return to play after three months off. What storyline(s) are you most interested to follow?

John Wood, PGA Tour caddie for Matt Kuchar: For me, I’m fascinated to see how this whole new set of circumstances will play out. Players and caddies are so accustomed to

very specific routines, not only on the course but off the course, not only during practice rounds and practice, but during tournament rounds. It will be interesting if the new “rules” try anyone’s patience to a degree that it will affect their play. Get there Monday for the swab test, wait for the result to see if we can play/caddie that week. Social-distance in instances where we are used to shaking hands, giving high-fives, handing clubs back and forth, handling and cleaning of the flagstick and the rakes, etc. The Tour seems to have done a meticulous job of setting things up for a successful return, but there will always be unforeseen events that will have to be addressed. What happens if we play Colonial, and two caddies and a player test positive, then the next week, three caddies and four players and one official test positive? Is there a contingency for the graph going the wrong way? Hopefully none of that happens, and it’s smooth sailing, but I’m interested in all the hundreds of moving parts of a PGA Tour event and how they’ll come together in this new world. And the no fans is going to be so bizarre. I think it’ll hurt some guys and help others, so that’s something to follow as well.

Sean Zak: John’s right about the meticulousness. I’m impressed with the Tour’s system right now. I hope it works. I’m honestly excited for the elite fields at events that otherwise don’t get Rory, Rahm and Brooks to show up each year.

Michael Bamberger, senior writer: To see competitive golf being played again. Somebody wins, somebody places, somebody misses a cut by a shot who needed it for all the world. 

Josh Sens: Some of the more interesting stories will be unfolding off-camera and behind the scenes, as the Tour sees how its on-paper protocols play out in reality. How will all the moving pieces work? What happens, or doesn’t happen, will be a part of a learning experience that is going to influence the rest of the season, whether we’ll see fans at some point soon-ish or not, and more.

It's certainly an interesting moment to restart....  On a superficial level, we're still observing protocols related to surfaces (think flagsticks and rakes) long after the CDC has backed off the virus being transmitted from surfaces.  It seems pretty clear that the Tour is a bunch of science-deniers...

More fundamentally we've learned that it's OK for crowds to violate social-distancing norms as long as they're espousing the preferred narrative, so the Tour apparently needs to be played for social justice.

As three of the four guys note, it could be interesting to see how the safety protocols affect the notoriously pampered professionals, though that doesn't exactly come across as appointment televisions.  I for one expect the broadcasts to be even more lifeless than normal, and that's no small feat when we're talking about CBS.  I also expect the ratings will be initially strong, though I'm not at all confident that that will last the full four days.

Anyone care about the actual golf?

2. The tourney is loaded, with 16 of the top 20 players in the world. Despite the strength of the field, should we expect rustiness from the guys, given the extended layoff? Or will it be business/birdies as usual from the Tour’s A-listers? 

Wood: Business/birdies as usual from the A-listers. Everyone’s had plenty of time to prepare, and I think you’ll see some phenomenal play. With the abundance of events throughout a calendar year, I don’t think players, maybe in their careers, have had this kind of layoff. They’re going to be EXCITED. They’re going to be HUNGRY. And with the season now feeling more like a sprint than a marathon, their play, good and bad, is going to be magnified. There will be a sense of urgency like we may have never seen before, which will bring some serious excitement. 

Zak: I think there’s potential for some rustiness, but I imagine pros will make the most of their practice rounds even more than in a normal season. I doubt anyone will be going mega-low, but these are the best in the world for a reason. They make it look easy.

Bamberger: I think the players will pick right up where they left off, pretty much.

Sens: Business as usual with their physical games, but no doubt some mental adjustments in going through all the safety checks and playing in an altered atmosphere. No fan energy to feed off. Just the occasional solo golf clap from a camera operator or grounds crew member? It’s going to be odd. It will be interesting to see whose focus stays sharp, and whose gets thrown off by the weirdness of it all.

There's little reason for these guys not to have been honing their games, as it's not like they've been distracted by sponsor obligations and the business aspects of the game.  But it will have a hollowed-out feel to it, and I'm curious to see how Golf Channel deals with that.

Back to those predictions of boffo ratings and the like:

3. Charles Schwab Challenge tournament director Michael Tothe said he expects the TV audience that tunes in to the event will likely be more than three times larger than the usual draw. How much do you expect the Colonial event will resonate beyond core golf fans? 

Wood: Frankly I think that’s why we are coming back before most of the other sports, so I think he’s absolutely right. It’s a great field and a great course, but I feel like if you put on a repeat of Boris Spassky vs Bobby Fischer, colorized it and told people it was live, you’d get some damn good numbers. Like I said, I think the reason golf is coming back before the other sports (other than NASCAR) is specifically to try to grab those football, baseball and basketball fans who haven’t had any competition whatsoever to watch.

Zak: Agree with John here. I think the Tour will enjoy its month of being back before other sports catch-up. I HATE to think this way, but if there was ever a time to get a top 5 showdown at a non-major, now is the time. BK and Rory in Texas? Subscribe.

Bamberger: John Wood rolling strong here, and good to have you back, sir. The only way you’d get better numbers were if Hogan, Tiger and Arnold were paired for the first two rounds.

Sens: Grabbing those other fans isn’t the reason golf is coming back before the others. It’s coming back before some others because it has a better chance of operating safely. But no doubt attracting newbies will be an upside of beating other sports to the punch. To say there’s pent up demand for live televised anything is an understatement.

You guys slay me...  I get that there's pent-up demand, but you actually think that football and/or hoops fans will tune into golf and....stay?  I'm thinking they might tune in, say on the weekend, because they've heard talk that there's sports to watch.  But will it hold them?  Maybe if there's a blizzard... or maybe if there was, hypothetically, a quarantine....  But, alas, that ended with the tragic event in Minneapolis.

Shockingly, the caddies want to go back to work:

Still, their response to the Tour’s planned restart is universal.

“I have not talked to one caddie who isn’t pumped about getting back,” said Paul Tesori, who caddies for Webb Simpson. Adds Brennan Little, who’s on Gary Woodland’s bag:

“Even with the uncertainty, I think there’s a lot of excitement.”

It is an eagerness fueled by a myriad of factors. As Aaron Fleener points out, caddies by their nature are not prone to idleness. “It’s good to get a vacation, but with our work ethics, lying around ain’t our thing,” says Fleener, who teams up with J.T. Poston. “We love what we do, being around the guys, and want to get back to doing it.”

“We are used to a certain lifestyle, being on the road, guys are itching to return,” Tesori says. “There are only so many puzzles you can do, you know?”

A failure to understand this seems to be a requirement to hold elective office or to work for the CDC....  Otherwise, very much a dog-bites-man story.

But given the protective bubble, aren't we being a bit silly?

Most of the caddies don’t bat an eye regarding the risks, be it through travel or at the tournament. But they do acknowledge the uncertainty ahead, and how that will change their responsibilities.

“The Tour is adamant that we adhere to the safety procedures,” Tesori says. “Are we going to be six feet apart every single moment? No, but we’re going to try.” Tesori says he and Simpsons already had a long chat on how to go about their strategy with the restrictions in place. “Reading the greens is going to be a big difference,” Tesori says. “I’m usually a foot away from Webb. But everyone is making changes on the fly.”

“There’s no high-fiving, nothing like that,” Fleener says. “How are we supposed to celebrate, tap feet? And it’s going to be weird when someone wins and there’s no fans around. It’s hard to picture that; it’s an adjustment.”

This hits on one of my bigger frustration with the powers that be.  Obviously we all understand the need to cancel large events that could potentially be super-spreaders.  But more than three months into our two-week lockdown, the powers that be still have not accommodated any gradual extension of our social networks.  The inevitable result of this is that we've simply stopped listening to them....  Of course, we also stopped listening to them because they were wrong about pretty much everything...

In case I didn't make that reaction clear, let me explain further.  The player and caddie both arrive on Monday and are swabbed.  Assuming they're both negative (I believe they get results within hours), why exactly are we worried about high-fives?  Yes, there are some concerns that the Tour has excluded some of those on site from the testing regimen, but larger question remains, as that six-foot perimeter, which always had far less science behind it than was acknowledged, was designed for environments where anyone could be an unwitting carrier.

Christopher Powers is here to jog your memory on the highly-important early portion of the golf season.  Well, highly important to someone, I presume:

Tony Romo shot an under-par round on the PGA Tour

In his previous three Tour starts, Romo missed all three cuts, and his scores looked like

this: 77-82 (Corales Puntacana), 79-80 (Corales Puntacana), 76-74 (AT&T Byron Nelson). When he got his fourth crack at the Safeway Open in September, the skeptics were (understandably) as vocal as ever. How many more chances does this former NFLer get? Romo briefly muted the haters, shooting a two-under 70 in the opening round in Napa. For a tournament where the winner routinely shoots a 72-hole total around 20 under, it was nothing special, but it was also two shots better than Hideki Matsuyama and five better than Phil Mickelson. A second-round 78 caused Romo to fall down the leader board (an even par round and he would have made the cut), but his first under-par round in a PGA Tour event was worthy of praise.

 Yes, I had completely forgotten that, though I'd argue for good cause...  Though, to be fair, that might actually be the single most exciting thing that happened in the early portion of the wraparound season.  More's the pity...

And the obligatory big cat reference:

Tiger didn’t play much

Tiger Woods has never played that much, opting to craft a schedule that prepares him for

the biggest four weeks of the season his entire career. But as he continues to age and his fused back continues to play tricks from time to time, Woods has shown he’s going to play less and less with each passing year. In 2018, he made 18 starts, including all four majors, the Players and four playoff events. In 2019, he played just 12 events, including all four majors, the Players, but only two playoff events. This season Woods competed only three before the pandemic, and he chose to skip the Players.

Chose?  If you're going to mention the guy, the obvious bit of interest is the trend line on his health.  After looking fine at Torrey, something was obviously amiss at Riviera and the Players' WD had the golf world in crisis.  Yet he showed up at Medalist looking fit and flexible.... My takeaway is that golf had better be preparing for a post-Tiger world, because it'll be upon us without warning.

Wither Tiger - Just another effortless segue, as you've come to expect from me.  These guys might be scraping the rust off their games, but your humble blogger remains in peak form.  I know, more's the pity....

This seems to be the only question on everyone's mind:

4. Tiger Woods, after an impressive showing in the Match II, is not in the field. When do you think we’ll see him back, and how much do you suspect he’ll play in the run-up to the major season, which is slated to kick off with the PGA Championship, Aug. 6-9? 

Wood: I don’t think you’ll see Tiger back for a few weeks, even with the extended layoff we’ve just had, but that’s a guess. Just looking at the schedule of the upcoming events and comparing them to what he usually plays, maybe The Rocket Mortgage in Detroit? Then down the line and leading up to the PGA, I could see him playing both events at Muirfield, Workday and The Memorial, seeing that he’s won about 37 events on that course, then the FedEx and the PGA.

Zak: I think Tiger comes back for both events at Muirfield Village. No need to bother with courses he’s never played in competition. Eight (or six) rounds at a top track he knows well is exactly the prep he needs for Harding Park.

Bamberger: I’m guessing his caddie, Joe LaCava, a New Yorker in spirit driving with Connecticut plates, will talk Tiger into playing Hartford, as he talked Tiger into playing the Tampa event in 2018. The Hartford course is way underrated; it’s like a short, traditional, U.S. Open course, with interesting, sensibile greens and a tournament run by people who know golf and the players. 

Sens: The Memorial. A course where he’s feasted many times before. That doesn’t give him a ton of reps before the first major of the year in August. But it gives him enough.

The chances of Tiger playing both events at Muirfield Village is no higher than that of your humble blogger receiving a sponsor's exemption into either of them.  He is simply not in the business of playing much golf, and b-to-b is just a no-go zone.  A reminder, he played consecutive weeks in December, and came up stiff on Saturday at the Prez Cup.

There was news Friday on that second event at Muirfield, which I assume you've heard by now:

Muirfield Village is about to find out if its bunkers are made of quicksand. 

The private golf club in Dublin got the go-ahead Friday to allow a limited number of fans to attend the Memorial Tournament on July 16-19, becoming the first PGA Tour event to be played with spectators since the coronavirus pandemic shut down most American sports, in mid-March. 

A maximum of about 8,000 spectators will be permitted on the 18-hole course at any one time, according to a draft prepared by tournament organizers.

For those interested in the underlying logistics, here's the action plan:

The Memorial’s action plan, which undoubtedly will be massaged once Sullivan sees how the tour handles safety protocols at the five tournaments preceding the Memorial — all to be played without spectators — is impressive in its attention to detail. Its draft includes: 

• Daily attendance reduced by one-half to one-third of normal. The Memorial typically does not release crowd figures, but the 8,000 estimate represents about 20% of maximum capacity. 

• Each hole will include designated sitting or standing corrals, through which a predetermined number of spectators will be permitted. Each corral will be marked with a maximum number of fans and will be monitored. 

• Nonsurgical masks will be required upon entry for all attendees, with exempted exceptions recognized. Temperature readings will be conducted at all entrances and to all those on the property through handheld units and thermal temperature readers. 

• There will be no on-site bleachers. 

• Players will be advised to not interact with fans. 

• All general public shuttle transport will be eliminated. 

• Media will be limited to 25% of typical attendance, and there will be a 50% reduction in CBS and the Golf Channel’s on-site crew.

Don't know about you guys, but wearing a mask for ten minutes while grocery shopping is pretty damn annoying, so the concept of wearing one for hours on end in the heat seems, well, avoidable.

More importantly, how does one get 8,000 people to the golf course without a shuttle system?   As the piece bravely notes (brave, because of the heresy involved), just because it's open to 8,000 spectators per day does not ensure that 8,000 people will actually show.  

One more thing on the fortnight in Dublin, OH, is this sketchy advice about that trial run:

Tricking up new Columbus Workday event would benefit Memorial

Wait, I thought we were all in this together?  But what exactly do they mean by "tricking up"?

But my sense is the tour needs to take things further by cooking up a format for the Workday event — say, some variation of a team event, perhaps grouping players into college rivalries or by state, and also adding tweaks like skins and longest drive or closest to the hole. 

Gimmicky, sure, but this is a one-and-done event at Muirfield Village — a source said it is being used as a “test run” for a tour event sponsored by Workday to be hosted by NBA star Stephen Curry in 2021 in northern California — so forget how cheesy it looks. The goal should be to make it different enough to stand out. 

But how different? That is where things gets tricky. Make Workday too entertaining and the Memorial might come off as comparatively bland, which is why the tour is taking a risk by presenting two events at the same venue on consecutive weeks. 

It is a tightrope walk, so how to make sure the Memorial does not take the fall? Well, for one thing, the more exotic you make the Workday event, the better it makes the\ 

Memorial look in terms of “golf integrity.” That matters to golf purists, which tend to be the core fans.

That runs dangerously close to being interesting, so I assume it'll be a non-starter.  As we approach the restart on Thursday, merely will draw attention and eyeballs,  But a month from now that could be old hat, so it would make some sense to generate interest in this one-off event.  But heaven forfend that they make it too interesting, and diminish the actual Memorial a week later....  The irony, she can burn.

Get Woke, Go Broke - I at least had the courtesy to self-quarantine my rant on the subject, but folks just didn't pay attention to recent events involving ESPN and the NBA, among many others.

Here's the TC panel falling into the same trap as most folks:

5. Harold Varner, one of the few black players on the PGA Tour, released a statement this week calling for unity in the midst of the social unrest following the death of George Floyd in police custody. A day later, Tiger Woods called for education. On Friday, the Tour released a statement from commissioner Jay Monahan entitled “a time to communicate and search for answers,” then published a video with Monahan and Varner labeled “an open and thoughtful conversation.” Many Tour players shared these messages, and on Tuesday, several also participated in the “Blackout Tuesday” campaign on social media, where participants posted just a black background. How would you assess the Tour’s response to the social unrest that has rocked the nation?

When exactly did it become the law that every organization has to have a response to everything that happens on this planet?  I know, I'm a lonely voice of sanity these days...

Wood: I think it’s been appropriate. It’s something that has to be addressed. Morally, it has to be addressed. I’m a huge fan of Harold, and obviously of Tiger, and I’m glad they’re taking a bit of a leadership role in this. We can have ideas and thoughts about what it’s like to simply walk around as an African-American in America, but there is no way we can truly understand unless we close our mouths and open our ears, and even then, we may be able to grasp only a small part of it. And I’m proud that the commissioner talked about communicating and searching for answers, because that’s what we need. We have to listen. Golf hasn’t wrapped itself in glory when it’s come to racial issues throughout its history. Hopefully, this will give it a fresh start. 

Bamberger: American golf has been backward on every aspect of race issues and social equality. The country-club mentality, and I am part of the problem, is go with the flow and which way to the first tee. Golf is a game of social conformity. It shouldn’t be. Golf, the institution and the sport, should be a place where you can stand for something without being ostracized, bring in people without the host or guest getting the evil eye. The Tour should allow the players to wear shorts. In other words, start letting go of some of the meaningless obstacles that makes golf look ridiculous and focus on the meaningful aspects of the game: Golf is a competitive sport in which you start by treating your playing partners and your opponents with respect and fairness. You can go anywhere you like from there, in golf and anywhere else.

Zak: I disagree. It wasn’t enough of a timely response from the Tour. For about four days, when the sports world was catching up with the rest of the world, all the PGA Tour did was press RT on Twitter. The Tour retweeted Varner, Woods, Max Homa and Jon Rahm. That’s great, but it waited until most other branches of the sports world spoke out. It waited until part of the dust had settled to show what side it was on. It waited long enough for people to notice relative silence from the Tour. Now, eventually Commissioner Monahan sat down with Varner for their discussion. I enjoyed hearing that and was happy to see Monahan pushing players and Tour staffers to read, but overall the entire week felt like a non-progressive outreach from the Tour. So I was unimpressed.

Sens: Sean’s right, but it’s also hard to take a more aggressively progressive stance when you don’t have that leg to stand on in the first place. Golf has never been a sport at the leading edge of social change. Quite the opposite. Read Charlie Sifford’s memoir if you need a refresher. The Tour’s response was pretty much the least it could do. It’s in no place to pose as a leader here. But if you’re looking for a positive, at least there was a response, something that hasn’t always happened in the past.

This is so supremely misguided...

First and foremost, sports will only survive to the extent that they position themselves as an oasis from the perpetual culture wars.   If tuning in subjects me to the usual liberal claptrap, then folks will avail themselves of the silent veto.  It's even stupider in golf than in hoops, for instance, because the golf universe quite obviously skews older and more conservative.

But the history that Mike and others espouse of golf's regrettable history of elitism should be its own warning flare, as I'm not quite sure why they assume golf will get it right.  Perhaps because they'll shout down any non-conforming opinions?  Which just makes my first point quite clearly... 

And just one last point... what side does Sean think the Tour is on?  The side that supports reckless homicide against citizens?  The side in favor of looting and Molotov cocktails?  Life is notoriously complicated, but can Sean not see how being against police brutality could be taken as an incitement of violence?  I would argue that the Tour and other should stay out of the fray, there's more than enough incitement to violence and destruction as it is.  Just say no to the culture wars!  Do it for the children....

Dateline: Crail - It's not often that my club makes national news, though you should be forewarned that it's not my home club and it's not my home nation.  Writing in The Scotsman, Martin Dempster has this on a notable changing of the guard:

David Snodgrass to become only second Crail Golfing Society head pro

Fife club extends gratitude to Graeme Lennie who will retire in January after 34 years in post

David Snodgrass will become just the second head professional in Crail Golfing

Society’s 234-year history when he suceeds Graeme Lennie in January.

Snodgrass, 31, is a well-kent face at the Fife club, having worked under Lennie for eight years after completing his PGA training at Hilton Park on the outskirts of Glasgow.

“It is a privilege and honour to follow in the footstep of Graeme Lennie to become only the second head professional at this prestigious club, and I am extremely indebted to Graeme for his assistance and guidance in my now eight years at Crail,” said Snodgrass.

Graeme was one of that generation of elder statesmen to game features so many of, and it seems hard to picture Crail without Graeme's warm welcome.  

On a personal note, David was the first person we told after filing our applications to join as Overseas Members.  It was Graeme's relationship with Gil Hanse that led to the architect's first solo gig:

Lennie is retiring after 34 years, during which time he has helped establish the club as one of Scotland’s favourite golfing destinations. It was also his close friendship with renowned course designer Gil Hanse that led to the American designing Crail’s Craighead Links that opened for play in 1998.

“Graeme will be missed at Crail Golfing Society but, with David as his successor, golf’s seventh oldest club will continue to grow in nurturing, promoting and also enriching all that is good in the ancient club-and-ball game,” said club captain Jim McArthur.

This is a transition that's been planned for a number of years, though it happens in a time of existential peril for golf clubs.  Peril that's magnified by the unfathomable regulatory miasma gripping Scotland these days....  I can only wish them some helpful social unrest, so they can experience firsthand the bait-and-switch of social distancing....

I can also only hope that we'll have an opportunity to visit and support the club sometime soon.

Now, did someone mention Gil Hanse?  Funny, because the bride and I watched a few minutes of the girls from Rio last night, playing on Gil's work product.  Golf.com has a list of Gil's ten favorite golf courses on the planet, and there's nary a surprise to be found:

In fact, I could have done his list and gotten 9-10 of them.  I've only played half of them, so there's still much work to be done...

I'll leave you to get on with your day, and see you further on down the road....