Thursday Threads

With no live action, we go deep today....

True That - The Guardian is typically the last place one goes for insights, but this Andrew Anthony piece is actually quite good...  Here's the table-setter:

It’s one of the quirks of the English language that, if you didn’t know any better, you could imagine that the words sportsmanship and gamesmanship were synonyms. But, of

course, they mean almost the complete opposite. Gamesmanship is the art of winning by underhand or devious means. It places victory above any code of gracious behaviour.

Whereas sportsmanship entails an attitude that transcends winning and losing and instead places an emphasis on mutual respect and appreciation. In the pursuit of glory it refuses to compromise with the principles of fair play and a magnanimous spirit.

I don'y know why he finds that quirky, as gamesmanship has long been understood, particularly in our little game sport, as cheating by other means.  But still, bear with him.

He could have started his familiar antics at that stage, snapping at his caddie, grumbling at the crowd, chucking clubs, remonstrating with the heavens, demonstrating that he was, as Padraig Harrington has said, “a very sore loser”. 

But instead he accepted the possibility of defeat, made his peace with it, and realised life would go happily on if his Ryder Cup mate Rose emerged the winner. Suddenly the lavishly talented man who wilted against the iron character of Tiger Woods, and twice cracked as the grittier Harrington snatched major victories from his grasp, looked comfortable with – even happy for – his opponent. And finally García won. 

Gamesmanship stems from a desire to avoid defeat at any cost. The secret of sportsmanship is that learning how to lose can also teach you how to win.

I've excerpted the golf bits, but he takes a typically-English approach to sportsmanship in the world of sports, so give him a click.  I might have occasionally been critical of Sergio at times, say for instance the loogie in the cup, but he was nothing compared to the gamesmanship played on Stan Wawrinka....

Of All The GHIN Joints... - This has been in the works for a while:

The USGA and R&A will be working with golf's world handicapping bodies to develop

a singular handicapping system that will be applied to players worldwide, the organizations announced Wednesday. 

Currently, golfers who employ a handicap do so via one of six available systems, which can vary depending on where the game is being played and what format is most popular in that part of the world. A joint committee led by the USGA and R&A, including representatives from from each authority, plus ones from the Japan Golf Association and Golf Canada, will announce a proposal later this year.

If you're looking for something to simplify in the world of golf, this might be a good place to start.

Not to go too deep into the long grass, but there's two major differences between the U.S. and the system administered by the Council of National Golf Unions in Great Britain and Ireland.  First, the USGA system is far more complicated, involving two separate measures of course difficulty.  The rating, which is a number carried to one decimal place that typically begins with a "7", is the assessed strength of a course for a scratch golfer, whereas the slope does the same for the bogey golfer.  There's only one course rating in the UK and Ireland...

The second difference is the scores that are counted.  In the U.S. every round should be posted, whereas the islanders post only competition scores.  The trade-off should be obvious, quality vs. sample size....

Honourable Women - There has been much speculation as to how The Honourable Company would handle the process of admitting women, given the no doubt raw wounds this issue has provoke.  John Huggan takes a deep dive on the subject:

As things stand, there are 600 members of the HCEG, but as a result of a recent resolution put to the club board, that number will rise to 625. All 25 will be women, with 

none being either the wife or partner of a current member. And the hope is that all 25 will be in place within five years—before the Open Championship makes its likely return to Muirfield in either 2022 or 2023—having been given preferential (although not unprecedented) treatment once they arrive in the pool. After that five-year period is up and the quota filled, any female candidate will be treated in exactly the same way as any man wishing to join. 

How all of the above pans out remains to be seen. But, while their past record in the field of gender discrimination is hardly above criticism, the HCEG do seem to trying to figure out a more liberal future.

It seems like a reasonable straddle that will not needlessly offend any of the varied constituencies in the club.  

The Alternate View - Mike Bamberger applies his talented and experienced self to the subject of Tommy's Honour, with curious results.  Not only do I like Mike's review, though that's somehow not quite the right word, but I like the movie much more after reading his take.

Bear in mind that Mike is a movie buff, as well as his own expert on links golf,.  I wrote this post after reading Mike's, To The Linksland two years ago, and in the second half of the book Mike falls hard for Old Tom's gem Machrahanish.  Just reminding folks that Mike has chops when it comes the golf of a linksy sort... So, lets' get to his take:

It's a handsome movie. In the opening credits you see that it was produced by an outfit

called Gutta Percha Productions, and in the closing acknowledgments you see Jordan Spieth's name alongside that of his father, Shawn. For the two hours in between, you're transported to the wet-wool, warm-whiskey world where the professional game as we know it was starting to take root. Christine compared the film to the PBS series Downton Abbey because it captures its period so well and addresses the various know-your-place class questions the British do so well. I left the theater feeling like I knew Young Tom. Not just the facts-of-life stuff. The actual man. (A tip of the tam here to Jack Lowden, the actor who portrays him.) The Bamberger threesome is giving Tommy's Honour a collective six thumbs-ups. 

I don't want to oversell the movie. I wouldn't call it gripping or even surprising. But it's beautifully made and beautifully acted. In one scene, you see the shadows of the St. Andrews Cathedral on the cold, clear waters of St. Andrews Bay. It's a magnificent moment in a film that has genuine majesty.

I don't disagree with much there, except perhaps with his assessment of the acting, some of which didn't impress me as much as it did Mike.  A minor quibble for sure....

Mike then posts this mini-blurb from a local friend:

Neil Oxman, my friend and fellow Philadelphian, who has caddied for Tom Watson since Bruce Edwards's death in 2004, is a fellow movie buff who in a slow year will see a couple hundred movies (all new releases, in theaters). Each December he goes on a public radio station and discusses the high points and low points of his movie-going year. He knows golf in Scotland like you know your home course. He saw Tommy's Honour the night after we did. When Neil and I compare movie notes, they are, may I say, to the point. (A random example: "It's good, despite the boring parts.") Here is Neil's review of Tommy's Honour: 

"Make no mistake, Caddyshack it ain't. But if you want to see an unusual recreation of golf in the 1870s, Tommy's Honour is worth it. Who knows what the real family dynamic was between Old and Young Tom Morris, but it's neat to see Jason Connery's depiction of the Morris clan. And when was the last time you saw Willie and Mungo Park in a movie? Bet it's been a while for that. This is probably not a movie for a non-golfer. But if you're a golfer—or a golf fan—go see it."

That has me chuckling, because walking back to our car, I noted to the bride that one of the positives was to see Mungo Park depicted in a movie....  It's always been one of my favorite golf names.

Read the whole thing, which includes thoughts from the author and some of Mike's own experiences in St. Andrews.  I'm actually quite excited about Kevin Cook's next project, as like Mark Frost he appears to love baseball as well, but I'll differ with the author on this point:

I asked if a person were going to have only one Tommy's Honour experience, which should it be, the movie or the book? 

"They should see the movie," Cook replied. 

Why, I asked. 

"It's out now."

I think that viewers unfamiliar with the story, even those that are golfers, will fail to understand the import of these events.  The book is a wonderful overview of a terribly important period in golf, the origins of the professional game and the like.  If the reader wants to see the movie, which is visually spectacular, that's for the better, but one can also wait to catch it in its inevitable endless loop on The Golf Channel.

Golf Reading - I took some time to visit some golf sites to which I've not been in recent times, with mixed results.  I felt remorse in not visiting John Garrity's droll Top Fifty, but my guilt was assuaged when I realized that John hasn't been there either, his last post dated June 2016.

 Links Magazine was more rewarding, specifically this item on shapers:

Today’s shaper is very different to his predecessor, notes Krahenbuhl. “There used to be a clear-cut line between him and the designer,” he adds. “The designer would visit the

site, draw up plans in his office, then hand off those plans to the shaper whose job it was to implement the architect’s vision to the letter. There really wasn’t much room for artistic freedom. The architect would then show up to inspect the work of the shaper who was usually employed by the construction company, and thus not really answerable to the architect.” 

At the turn of the century, as courses gradually became more artistic and less cookie-cutter, the architect began choosing the identity of the shaper more carefully. Now, in many of today’s design/build firms, the shaper is a key component, almost as vital to the success of a project as the designer himself. “That’s especially true of our team,” says Krahenbuhl. “We are the designer and contractor, and our shapers are hugely important members of the process from the first day of construction. Our two top guys are Ernie Polverari and Luis Varela who are instrumental to the success of everything we do.”

The larger story is how little time the Golden Age architects actually spent on site.  Mackenzie famously never saw his final product in many cases, and I've always thought that Tillie's untimely death resulted in the curiously uninteresting green complexes at the Black.

Elsewhere, David Owen is back to leisurely blogging at his old place, and posts a multi-part series titled, "Who was Clifford Roberts?"  I know, not exactly timely, as it was a Masters preview, but it's an interesting subject. as Roberts is probably the most misunderstood personality in golf history.  Here's David's lede:

Herbert Warren Wind wrote in Sports Illustrated and The New Yorker that Clifford 

The Roberts family in 1907, Clifford is second from the left.

Roberts was born in Chicago. (He wasn’t.) Ross Goodner wrote in Golf World that his real name was Charles D. Clifford Roberts. (Not true, although Goodner was close.) Frank Christian—a photographer and the co-author, with Cal Brown, of Augusta National & The Masters—wrote that Roberts as a child spent time in an orphanage. (He never did.) Charles Price, in A Golf Story, wrote that Roberts graduated from high school. (He didn’t finish ninth grade.) Curt Sampson, in The Masters, wrote that Roberts made $50,000 in 1923 and used the money to buy a one-sixth partnership in an investment firm called the Reynolds Company. (Roberts made $2,441.63 in 1923; Reynolds & Co.—the correct name—didn’t exist until 1931; Roberts went to work there in the mid-thirties; he became the firm’s ninth general partner on May 1, 1941.) 

All these errors, and many others, are understandable. Roberts was stingy with biographical detail, and he almost never talked about his early years, even among friends. Jack Stephens, who was the club’s chairman between 1991 and 1998 and was close to Roberts during the last fifteen years of his life, told me, “I just figured Cliff had never been a child.”

Robert's early years are necessary to understand his stewardship of the club and that little get-together every April.  If you're interested, I recommend his book, but if that's more of a commitment then click o the link above and scroll down until you get to Part One.

On our way out, anyone know why the Masters is the first full week in April?  Anyone?  Bueller?

It was timed specifically to be convenient for sportswriters to attend on their way North at the conclusion of Spring Training.  Clifford Roberts was many things, but stupid was not among them.... 

Midweek Musings

I went a little long in that righteous Fisking above, but it's Employee No. 2's birthday and attention must be paid...

The Wedding Planner - Not much golf involved here, but I love some of the sidebars even more....

So, where do you come out on Coldplay?  I'm the wrong guy to ask, unable to name a single tune and barely cognizant of the Gwynneth connection.  But Shack takes it upon himself to suggest the performer that should have gotten the gig:

Ivan Little details those wedding plans for the Belfast Telegraph, set for Saturday at the

beautiful Ashford Castle. 

The Sun is reporting that Coldplay is the musical choice and while I have ever reason to doubt that publication, I'm going to give them the benefit and assume the bride and groom will be serenaded by Yellow, Clocks and, gulp, Viva La Vida.

Rory you've had him perform at your foundation dinner. Furthermore, Have I Told You Lately that Someone Like You is moving Into The Mystic with this marriage, living on the Bright Side of The Road and most of all, marrying a Brown-Eyed Girl? So for this Wild Night of Crazy Love, there is only one man for this wedding: Van Morrison. 

I know, the kids will wonder who that cranky old geezer is cranking out the tunes, but you know Van and the band can still bring it. 

If nothing else, my suggestion was better than Feinstein's. (He apparently thinks you are marrying the daughter of a Long Island hedge fund billionaire.)

That last bit is true enough, though in his defense he did answer the question asked, though why start now?  

Van the Man is an inspired choice, except for the fact that he fits into that "literally dying" demographic discussed above.

Good fun.

Tiger, The Sequel -  OK, where to start....  The book?

Has Tiger fatigue set in? 

His book might be instructive. Celebrity autobiographies tend to be huge bestsellers and in the sports spectrum Tiger’s celebrity was of a magnitude that his endorsement income once ran to more than $100 million annually. Baker & Taylor, a prominent book distributor, reported that the first printing was to have been 100,000 copies, a notable number. 

Yet The 1997 Masters: My Story narrowly snuck onto the New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list, debuting at No. 15 in the April 9 edition of the Times’ Book Review. And this Sunday, it will have vanished from the list altogether (though it is No. 5 on the Times’ Sports and Fitness monthly list for April, behind Tim Tebow’s Shaken, which debuted last October).

Well, it was a very boring book with horribly pedestrian title, so color me unsurprised.... but while I initially thought the Tebow comparison would have his nostrils flaring (that has to be racist, no?), this is the one he'll paste to his refrigerator:

Contrast that with Hank Haney’s book (written with Golf World editor Jaime Diaz), The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods, which was published in 2012. It debuted No. 1 on the Times’ print and e-book nonfiction bestseller list and No. 2 on its hardcover nonfiction list. Moreover, it remained on its lists for several weeks, and Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press reported in May 2012 that 228,000 copies were in print.

Tiger is always gracious when he sees people making money of his name.....especially that guy.

There was this announcement of some import:

HOLLISTER – Standing a few feet away from Tracey Stewart, the widow of the late Springfield native and World Golf Hall of Famer Payne Stewart, Tiger Woods said

Tuesday he has a simple job ahead of him. 

“I have to make sure I don’t screw this up,” Woods said in announcing “Payne’s Valley,” a new 18-hole course adjacent to the Buffalo Ridge site and the newest part of the Big Cedar Lodge stable of courses south of Branson. 

Woods made the trip to the Ozarks on Tuesday to make the announcement, and was joined by Bass Pro Shops founder and CEO Johnny Morris, and a group of big names in the world of golf, tourism and the state of Missouri.

You'll understand that I am simply incapable of letting this nugget pass:

Payne’s Valley is at the former site of the Murder Rock Golf Club, a John Daly course that has been closed since it was purchased by Morris in October 2013.

A John Daly course..... words I hoped never to hear.

But this is the bit that triggered the header:

Woods was challenged to a closest-to-the-pin competition Tuesday by a 10-year-old. Woods hit his first shot into the water with a sand wedge - a scene reminiscent of last year's media-day disaster – but then "stuffed" it on his next attempt.

Good days and bad days, eh?  I guess that enters the lexicon with reps and golf feels....

He's building a Par-3 course as well, which I always think is great...  But most curious is Shack's take on it all:

I'm trying to be positive, and like many, struggling to decide how much energy to give Tiger these days given the dramatics and public indifference (noted by John Strege based in part on book sales for the 1997 Masters book). But he's still Tiger and I was still excited when he Tweeted last week about a public course design unveiling.

Most of us were hoping this meant the funds had been raised for the Chicago re-imagination project near the Obama library, but it turns out this was, as Andy Johnson at FriedEgg.co predicted a few days ago, another course at Big Cedar Lodge for Johnny Morris. 

Open to the public yes, but calling it a public course with an unspecified green fee is a tad ambitious.

Unlike Geoff, I'm prepared to give Tiger as much attention and energy as needed, because it's been reliable comedy gold....

But it's his support for the Chicago project that mystifies me, as it seems a clear-cut vanity project that is ill-conceived and will likely be ill-executed.  First and foremost, they are converting two existing public golf courses into one, super-sized golf course for the sole purpose of luring the PGA Tour once every five years.  Geoff, I though I knew you...

But ask the citizens of NYC, with their $235 million sunk into Trump ferry Point, whether it's a good use of city resources...  And this is Chicago, a city that perhaps should prioritize other concerns.

And, pray tell, do we think, Geoff, that the greens fess will be lower than at Payne's Valley?

Lastly, this guy must be new to the story:

Well sure, that is if you enjoy being lied to.... Remember, Steiny has the last word, these are temporary back spasms unrelated to the back surgeries.

Asked and Answered - Some good stuff from Alan's weekly mailbag:

"Do you sense real excitement from the pros for the new format at the Zurich Classic? Or is "whatever" the predominant sentiment? #AskAlan " -- @1beardedgolfer

Well, seven of the top 10 in the World Ranking are showing up to a pretty track, so you tell me. And checking out the new team-play format is a big reason why I’m going, too. The pros might enjoy the food and feeling of a given city but what exists between the ropes is what motivates them to play a given tournament. Clearly the format has already been a home run for the tourney.

Yes, and I'm guessing the excitement will only grow and help in future years.  Life is better with a partner... you know, it gets old blaming everything on one's caddie.  Better to spread it around.

"Why do pros give away important golf balls? Putt out to win a tourney, chuck it into the crowd; ace 16 at Augusta and give it away; etc." -- Jamie (@hencheese) 

Clearly it is the recognition that they are humble servants of the fans. Or perhaps it’s a kind of offering to the golf gods, for bestowing upon them such good fortune. Or maybe when they were kids they wore orange polos and Gucci fedoras and they’re enjoying a kind of Rosebud moment. Also, they get the balls for free.

I am surprised when they give certain balls away, as I'd rather they auction them off and give the proceeds to a worthy charity.

"Don't you think TW could take 2-3 full years off to get healthy, come back and have a productive career? He'd only be Phil's age. #AskAlan" -- Dan (@djdonof)

Yeah, and maybe he can ride a rainbow to the first tee and have a unicorn as a caddie.

Dan got a far more thoughtful response than I thought the question warranted.

"How many majors does Spieth have when it's all said and done?" -- Caleb (@cjkonstan) 

Given his track record at Augusta National let’s give him two more. A U.S. Open with tough, crusty greens will suit Spieth quite well, such as Shinny (’18, ‘26), Pinehurst (’24) or Oakmont (’25). Let’s give him one of those. With his creativity and knack for scoring it’s hard to believe Spieth won’t win at least one British Open, too. So that’s six, which will stamp him as one of the greatest players of all-time.

Wow, Spieth would no doubt take that deal in a NY minute....  I'm not actually as bullish on the young man, as there's an endless supply of talent that bomb it past him.  Jordan has that useful skill of getting the ball into the hole, but it will be fun to see the arc of his career....

This one might even be the more interesting query:

"Which one happens first: Rory completing the career Grand Slam or Rickie winning any major? #AskAlan" -- Dusty (@_Greyhound_) 

Oooh, tough one. Fowler’s Sunday debacle at this Masters was a big step backward. Then again, per this question, he has four chances a year and Rory only one. But McIlroy’s Masters was both disappointing and important. He looked strangely flat at times and never really got it going across four days but still tied for 7th, his fourth straight top-10 at Augusta. He said afterward it was the most comfortable he’s felt on that stressful course. Putting is clearly important at the Masters but Sergio made two of the worst pressure-putts in recent memory, on the 70th and 72nd holes, and he still prevailed. I gotta think McIlroy will take one of the next two Masters. I’m not so sure Fowler’s breakthrough will come that quick, so I’m taking Rory.

Trick question, Alan, and you were so close to nailing it....  Not only does Rickie get four times as many opportunities, but he gets the next three.  And if he doesn't start winning with some regularity, I fear the backlash.

I'm also not as upbeat as Rory on Rory, as he seems to have perfected the art of the back door Top Ten.  This year may have felt different to him, but it didn't look any different to anyone else....  

But it's fun to speculate...  But a viewer warning, '62 Mets and all.

It's Not You, It's Her - What's happened to our little girl?  It's all just gobe pear-shaped since she ditched the eyeglasses....

It turns out that the caddie sacking was even stranger than known at the time:

Following the split, Matthews spoke with Golf Digest/Golf World senior writer and Golf

Channel insider Tim Rosaforte about the decision. 

"In all honesty, there is no communication in the whole camp. You never know anything or are told anything," said Matthews. "The agent [Michael Yim of IMG] called me on the Monday after Palm Springs and said, 'She needed a change, we’re going with somebody else, but you can caddie in Hawaii.' 

"I’m like well, never in 19 years have I been fired, and I’m still working for the person. What was so strange for me, we worked unbelievably well in Hawaii, the communication and everything was just phenomenal."

That sound enjoyably awkward, but she actually did play well...  Of course, in a caddie-player relationship, the caddie, like the husband in a marriage, is always the last to know....

Though in all fairness, there was this exculpatory evidence later in the item:

Matthews admitted he was initially hired on a tryout basis, but thought he had earned the full-time gig early in the season. He remains puzzled about the situation. 

"I was like, 'This is a bit strange; I didn't think I did that bad of a job.'"

"Thought", as opposed to "was told".  Big difference, and it's really not relevant what you think....

But lest you think I'm defending her, while I think caddies are over-rated, her inability to decide what she wants from her looper and find that skill set is getting old.  She's changed everything except her parents (hint!), and we've heard talk from Leadbetter of communications failures.  I just want to see her playing better, and I don't really care who's on her bag....  Iassume they're all competent at the business of caddying, it's just she needs to decide what she wants in a sidekick and find it.

Golf, R.I.P. - Volume LXXXIII

Today's Golf is Dying thumbsucker comes courtesy of Market Watch, and it's a damned fine piece of work.  Let the defenestration begin...

We shouldn’t be saying this a few days after the Masters, but we will anyway: Golf isn’t helping itself. 

It isn’t the Professional Golfers’ Association’s fault that world No. 1 Dustin Johnson fell down some stairs and couldn’t play in the biggest major tournament in the U.S., but it certainly wasn’t doing much to help ratings, which faltered in the early rounds. Even when players are healthy and the rounds are as dramatic as they were at the end of last year’s tournament, Masters ratings still manage to slip. Golf’s answer is to change absolutely nothing and trudge onward.

Yes, it is damning that those involved in a game whose history is measured in centuries have confidence in the appeal of their game...  How dare they?  When you've lost Market Watch, you've lost the country....

But wait, the accusations are flying....

It is very much the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s fault that it allowed a tattletale television viewer to call in and add four strokes to Lexi Thompson’s total at the ANA Inspiration tournament after she spotted a ball less than an inch from its original position. Those strokes cost Thompson the tournament and not only incurred the wrath of Tiger Woods but of just about every golfer at Augusta National in the first weekend of April.

Though both the United States Golf Association and Britain’s Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews have agreed to sweeping rules changes that would eliminate such pedantic penalties by 2019, they’re more than happy to let Thompson’s loss stand and continue their draconian approach to the game for another year and a half.

Less than an inch?  The wrath of Tiger Woods!  Wow, this seems criminal, though who wants to volunteer to share with the author Tiger's rather tortured history with the rules of the game he plays?  And that bad drop at the 14th at Sawgrass?  Way more than an inch involved...

But the thing is, when you're writing a piece like this, it's helpful if you get the facts correct...  The new rules have not been agreed to, they're in the comment period....  It's also unclear, at least to this writer, whether they would have avoided Lexigate, but they are clearly trying.

But note the quality of the argument....  We go from "Changing absolutely nothing" to pending rules changes to address Count No. 1 in his indictment...  No agenda here.

No doubt you anticipate what comes next... Yup, women and minorities hardest hit:

In the United States, golf doesn’t have the luxury of time. In 2014, Nielsen noted that 63% of the PGA’s television audience was over the age of 55. Some 87% of that audience was white, while only 12% was younger than 35. By comparison, only 25% of the National Basketball Association’s audience is 55 or older, 47% is younger than 35, and 57% is nonwhite. 

The LPGA’s key demographic isn’t all that different from that of its male counterparts. Both the PGA and LPGA have a viewership that’s about 63% male. Roughly 64% of the LPGA’s audience is 30 or older, and 84% is white.

So, sports demographics skew male...  Alert the media.  Oh, right... And by all means the NBA is just the perfect comparison point, no?  No agenda there....

But you know what might have been helpful and insightful?  Is the audience any older or whiter than it's been in years gone by?  

And yes, we go on in this mode for a while:

Golf’s core audience is literally dying, and it’s affecting golf far beyond its television broadcasts. After the U.S. built golf courses at a rate of roughly 400 a year during the 1980s and 1990s, it’s retreated from a peak of 16,000 courses. Though the U.S. still accounts for more than 40% of the world’s golf courses, according to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), the country has lost nearly 800 courses in the past decade. Some have been outright abandoned for their real estate value. 

Of course, it would help if anybody actually wanted to play the game. The NGF says the number of U.S. players dropped from an all-time high of 30 million in 2005 to 24.1 million in 2015. That’s below even the pre-Tiger Woods high of 24.7 in 1995. Though optimists note that the average number of rounds being played per player hasn’t dropped, the U.S. golf industry has been largely unable to woo beginners into playing more than a few rounds before dropping the sport entirely.

Look, math is hard, but apparently logic is even harder.  Yes, we created a series of insane incentives that got abused, and too many golf course were built to sell real estate....  But if the core audience for golf were, literally, dying, how do the average rounds per player stay constant?  Obviously, as we've noted before, those six million golfers that disappeared were once-a-year players, which doesn't have much of a revenue impact.  

OK, viewer warning, more scary statistics ahead:

Nike NKE, -0.46% has stopped producing golf equipment, Dick’s Sporting GoodsDKS, +0.72% is cutting sales-floor space dedicated to the sport and business is moving off the golf course. Even worse, the number of people ages 18 to 30 playing the sport is down 35% in the past decade. It’s an expensive sport that takes more than three hours to play, and instead of making it more attractive to newcomers, designers have been hell-bent on making courses as difficult as possible. 

Listen, we understand this is an era of niches and that golf doesn’t have to try to be all things to all people. But golf isn’t e-sports. It isn’t soccer. It isn’t the NBA. It’s a sport whose niche is narrowing and whose player base is dwindling. It also sits on acres of real estate that have become increasingly valuable as expanding cities consider the redevelopment of golf courses into industrial sites, agricultural areas, housing, park land and mixed-use developments.

OK, that 35% number jumps out, but with no citation I'm going to assume that it has the same kind of bias as the NGF number above.  It's probably more significant, because of the age bracket, but one also might speculate that 35% more of that age group reside in their parents' basement...

But the author, while acutely aware of the inevitability of death, seems curiously unaware of the equally inevitable ageing process....  Cheer up, man, there's always going to be old people.  I mean until we get a single-payer health care system, that is....

But it's his rousing coda that's the piece de resistance:

There is no second coming of Tiger Woods. There is no burgeoning generation of children longing to play a four-hour game filled with nitpicky, self-policing rules. There is no city in the U.S. willing to trade density and tax ratables for divots and rough. If golf has little to offer this country but televised shots of manicured greens and galleries and living rooms of cranky, aging diehards, then it should prepare to take a seat beside horse racing among U.S. sports antiques.

This guy is so caught up in his narrative, that he doesn't understand the extent to which he missed what should have been his lede.  Why is the fact that there's no resurrection important, when the first coming of Tiger Woods didn't create any golfers.... Which is actually good news, given where we currently stand on that front.

There's little doubt that the current kiddies, those we label with the M-word, are a bit of a challenge for our game.  That's partially due to their economic circumstances, but also due to some defining characteristics that Geoff gets into in his post on this article.  But most of what I've seen recently, data points like rounds played and ball sales, point to a very stable environment.  

More importantly, golf continues to draw in its share of athletes from other sports, and I know many millennials that are totally hooked on the game.  And once hooked, it often evolves into a lifetime passion...  As Geoff notes, the game can do better at adapting, which it has done for centuries.  I don't find that a top-down approach proves all that effective, witness Hack Golf and Foot Golf and the like...  

But it also seems to me that there's something else at play in these kinds of pieces, the author seems almost offended that golf exists in its current form.  That we who love the game can't see it as it appears to him, rather than the effort required to see it as we do....  But we're not going away and we're not all dying off, but no need to go to the effort of formulating a coherent argument...

Wanna bet which way he voted in November?

'Dis & 'Dat

An odd melange for you this morning....

The 'Duf Abides Offends - Twitter has blown up, but your humble correspondent just flat-out missed it.... Missed what?  An emotional outburst from the reliably placid Jason Dufner that has folks demanding his head.  Here's what the critics are saying:

Definitely the club drop of the week. pic.twitter.com/fPy4chvkf3

— Skratch (@Skratch) April 16, 2017

Disgusting from Dufner... pic.twitter.com/p4jvSFiRsg

— Barry Havenga (@LooseImpediment) April 16, 2017

Even Curmudgeonly James Corrigan gets in on the fun:

Prick https://t.co/hzdPY6jVx9

— James Corrigan (@jcorrigangolf) April 16, 2017

Ooops, wrong tweet, though on the same subject.  Here's the full 140-character version:

Many golfers have been a prick when I've tried to talk to them. But Dufner is the first ever to go on and prove it on course so empathically https://t.co/nXvZXxyOmg

— James Corrigan (@jcorrigangolf) April 16, 2017

Here are Geoff's thoughts (and he's got the video if you haven't seen it already):

While he didn't spoil the otherwise pleasant and satisfying RBC Heritage final round, Jason Dufner did open a few more eyes to a sour attitude that has lingered well past the Sell By date for someone with so much talent. 

His plight is especially perplexing given how much fans want to root for him and media wants to hear from the 2013 PGA Champion, whose dry wit and insights would be welcomed if he were not on a media blackout for two years running now.

 Alex Miceli is also out for....errr....blood:

Dufner instead walks the fairways every week as if someone were drawing blood from his veins, lifeless and without purpose. 

That’s his prerogative, but most players understand that professional golf is entertainment, so they do what they can to provide fans with excitement and enjoyment.

I agree it's not a good look and, were I Duf's caddie, I'd perhaps be updating the CV.  But I'm having trouble working my way to that toxic level of outrage of the Twitterati, perhaps because I've been mostly immune to the charms of The Duf.... As I understand his appeal, it's the flatlining lack of emotion to both the good and bad that happen on a golf course, so isn't this minimalist hissy fit playing to type?

Employee No. 2, who has long adored The Duf, thinks he tripped....yeah, that's the ticket.

John Wesley Bryan - Quite the meteoric rise for the young man, as noted by Kyle Porter at CBS:

Wesley Bryan is ranked No. 37 in the Official World Golf Rankings on Monday after his win at the RBC Heritage by one stroke over Luke Donald. He is ranked ahead of two-time major winner Martin Kaymer, Bill Haas, Lee Westwood, Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Jason Dufner.

One month ago, Bryan was ranked No. 72. Three months ago, he was No. 134. One year ago, he was No. 364. At the beginning of February 2016, he was No. 1,127. 

Right now, the No. 1,127 golfer in the world is a guy by the name of Daehyun Kim. So how does one go from outside the top 1,100 in the world to the No. 37 golfer who will now be invited to all the WGCs, the Players Championship and all the majors? As is so often the answer in golf: Play better.

I do wish he had suggested that last bit earlier...  Here it is in visual form:

Anyone remember who that Keegan Bradley fellow was?

Now I do have a small quibble with this, that seems highly irregular:

Wesley Bryan said he "threw up a little in my mouth" down the closing stretch of Sunday's RBC Heritage. We're guessing he might be experiencing the same sensation Monday morning. 

For Bryan, who grabbed his first PGA Tour title at Hilton Head, decided to take his victory lap south of the border Sunday night with a trip to Taco Bell.

C'mon, you can't tell me there isn't a Waffle House near Hilton Head. 

Notes From the Amateur Game - A couple of seemingly unrelated stories that I think are, in fact, linked...

First, per Jim Nugent at The Global Golf Post, the USGA has rescinded its commitment yo allocating two slots on the Walker Cup team for Mid-amateurs, those 25 and older.  GGP is an E-Mag, and therefore unexcerptable for those with my minimalist technical capabilities, but Geoff applauded the move:

There is some irony in yet another impeccably-timed USGA move (given that 26-year-

WC Captain Spider Miller

old Stewart Hagestad was low amateur at the Masters and may be America's top amateur right now). 

Given the depleted college ranks this year, the 2017 team has a chance to see at least two mid-ams without the requirement. Or maybe more.

While I get that reaction, ultimately the requirement suggested that mid-ams needed help making the team. But without that crutch the mid-amateurs who make the team will actually receive even more respect. They will stand out less as recipients of a special exemption, and fit in more naturally as U.S. Walker Cup team members.

Of course there had to be some whining from the protected class:

That prompted passionate responses on social media from 2015 Walker Cupper Scott Harvey, who tweeted that it was “very, very sad” for mid-ams, and fellow mid-am Patrick Christovich, who said that the “USGA is probably a big fan of the One-and-done college basketball rule too…Support the ‘Real Amateurs’ and the game will grow.”

Do it for the children....

It's a friendly competition, but it's still a competition.  And any time you undermine your ability to compete, the results may not be those anticipated. 

Here's our second item:

Jeremy Paul will leave school early, as the Colorado senior announced Monday that he has decided to turn professional ahead of this week’s Web.com Tour event.

Paul, of Viernheim, Germany, previously made it the final stage of 2016 Web.com Tour Q-School after passing through the first two stages and was in position to earn his tour card there by finishing in the top 45 and ties. But Paul closed in 3-over 75 to drop 46 spots to a tie for 72nd.

“Jeremy has determined turning pro at this time is in the best interest for his budding professional golf career,” Colorado head coach Roy Edwards said in a release. “We respect his decision. He has a tremendous future in front of him.”

The PGA Tour has significantly damaged the amateur game through the changes in its qualification process.  It's requirement that talented young players endure a year of indentured servitude on its developmental tour incentivizes them to leave the amateur game early.

One of the primary reasons to defer that is to play on a Walker Cup team, which is a cherished memory for so many of the greats of the game.  Now the USGA doesn't seem to have previously gotten this, maintaining a secretive selection process that sows confusion and and with the previous affirmative action policy the makes a top-ranked amateur even more uncertain as to whether he'll be selected....

Given the great venues ahead (LACC, Seminole and the MOAV, Cypress Point), I'm delighted to see the USGA field the strongest team possible.  Now, does anyone have Jay Monahn's cell phone number?

Quick Hits - People seem surprised by this, but I don't get why:

You were expecting what, Taco Bell?

I do need to get here, post haste:

That's quite spectacular for sure, but I'm guessing it took God a few centuries to get it just as he wanted it...

Don't mess with Texas:

With the Masters in the rearview mirror, it's natural to look ahead to the U.S. Open or

Players Championship, but the most intriguing tournament in the upcoming schedule is the Zurich Classic and its new team format. 

And the field is getting even better. 

That event received an entry from a heavy-hitting Texan duo today: Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer. The announcement was made public on the tournament’s social media accounts Friday morning. Spieth and Palmer join the likes of Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and Jason Day, and Brooks and Chase Koepka, among others. The Zurich now includes four of the top six players in the world ranking.

Full listing of teams here.  Happy to see Team Cheesehead is taking their act on the road, but really smart of the Zurich folks to get there before other second tier events.  The guys will love the change of pace, and the networks will have lots of good audio.

My favorite header of the day:

Fans were asked how they'd improve golf. Their answers are horrifying

Whadja expect?  They're golf fans, their standards have been systematically lowered.....

My favorite golf photo of the week:

That's Edoardo Molinari, long MIA, after winning the Euro Tour's Trophee Hassan II in Morocco....

We have a selection of trick shots for you, many of the epic fail variety....  We have this compilation courtesy of reader Mark W.  You'll hate yourself for laughing, but laugh you will.

This one is oh-so-predictable, but I'll confess to being slightly curious as to the process by which they got the ball teed up.

Then there's Swift Justice II....

And a timely collection of greatest hits from the Bryan Brothers....  Anyone know what's become of them?

Oh, and Martin Kaymer tries to get creative.... alas, that works better off a stone wall.

And this week in curious gear... This from Cobra is giving me, well, there's no other way to put it, a woodie:

I've often liked the look of retro clubs, but this does nothing for me.

And the new Bat Attack Putter from PXG:

The face-balanced Bat Attack putter comes standard with 4 degrees of loft, a lie angle of 70 degrees and costs $550.

Of course it does....

Weekend Wrap

It was a lovely weekend of golf, the playing thereof...  So the watching of the gawf was secondary....

Safe Harbour - I had the taped final round coverage on as I dealt with some paperwork, and it seemed more demolition derby than golf tournament.  But kudos to this young man who blazed a most unusual path from YouTube star to the big Tour:

WINNER: The incredible rise of Wesley Bryan continues. The former trick-shot artist burst on the pro golfing scene in stunning fashion last year, winning three times on the

Web.com Tour on his way to capturing the money title. Bryan struggled at first in his rookie 2016-17 season on the PGA Tour, missing four straight cuts at one point and not posting a finish better than T-41 in his first eight starts of the season. Bryan then caught fire, though, going T4-T4-T7 in February and March. A 69th and T-62 followed, but now there’s a PGA Tour win in the books. Bryan fired a final-round 67, using a four-birdie run on the front nine to put himself in position. He then took the solo lead for good with a birdie on 15. That moved him to 13 under, where he finished for a one-shot win. Bryan played college golf at the University of South Carolina and becomes the first native of the state to win this South Carolina-based event. What an incredible journey for Bryan, who goes from a guy who got famous years ago through trick shots and is now a PGA Tour winner. Pretty cool.

Yanno, I saw him out there in his pink pants and didn't connect the dots plaid.  Of course, for most of that time he wasn't in contention, until he was...  Just a shame that he wasn't paired with The Duf, who was in his traditional Sunday pink shirt.

This was pretty honest and funny, from the winners interview in the tower:

QUOTABLE: “Honestly, I wasn’t nervous at all, all day, and then No. 17, I got up and honestly I just threw up a little bit in my mouth, and I was like, well, shoot, I guess this is what nervous feels like.” – Wesley Bryan

Cry me a river on this one:

JUST MISSED: Poor Luke Donald. This is his fifth runner-up finish at the RBC Heritage and his seventh top-3 showing overall. Yet, he hasn’t won here. Another chance slipped by Sunday.

His problem remains as ever, specifically being Patient Zero for the malady known as Luke Donald Disease, the indicators of which are being simultaneously the shortest and least accurate player in the field.

The Tour Confidential panel was asked to make the case that he's here to stay, and Shipnuck handled it thusly:

Shipnuck: Already on Tour the other players talk about Bryan's wedge game as if it's voodoo. The guy just has a knack for scoring and heavy mettle on Sundays. He's definitely here to stay.

 I see what you did there, Alan.  He's definitely here to stay.... at least for the next two years.

Lotte Da - The placement of LPGA stories on the Golf.com home page is quite telling, such that they might be better served just ignoring women's golf as they did during the Dinah.  This is the lower placed item:

KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) -- Cristie Kerr won the LPGA Lotte Championship on Saturday 

for her 19th tour title, closing with a 6-under 66 for a three-stroke victory. 

The 39-year-old Kerr broke the tournament record at 20-under 268, a day after shooting 62 at Ko Olina to match the event mark. She earned $300,000 to top $18 million in her career. 

Kerr hadn't won in 30 starts since the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in 2015. She was a pedestrian 4 under halfway through Lotte, then made a made a big move. She birdied seven of the last eight holes Friday, soaring into contention with the 62 and growing comfortable walking in her birdie putts before they fell in the hole. 

"People think that I do it intentionally," she said. "It never happens when I try to do it intentionally. It's just that once I know it's in, I walk after it."

The Saturday night finish is something you'd think they'd do more of, though it was too late for this guy.  

This is the item that garnered the higher placement, up in the pantheon next to the Wesley Bryan WITB:

 Lydia Ko is changing caddies — again.

The No. 1-ranked women's player and caddie Gary Matthews have split up, according to a report from Golfweek's Beth Ann Nichols. Ko's management team confirmed the

breakup to Golf Channel's Randall Mell. 

Ko, 19, and Matthews worked together for just nine events. 

Ten of Ko's 14 LPGA tour victories (and both majors) came with Justin Hamilton as her caddie, but Ko fired Hamilton in October. Before Hamilton, Ko used seven different caddies during her rookie season. Matthews caddied for Ko on a trial basis at the end of 2016 and was on her bag for seven events in 2017. She's finished in the top 11 in five of those '17 starts and was T2 at the LPGA LOTTE Championship over the weekend.

That bit about using seven caddies her rookie year is a bit of a cheap shot, as she made it clear she wanted to play the field before getting serious.

That said, she does seem to be morphing into something of a diva, while her T2 this week is the best stuff we've seen from her in an eternity.   

Viewer Discretion Advised - That's the world-class header of Jaime Diaz' take on Lexigate, though surely that's not because of adult situations... Let's let Jaime set his table:

At a time when the USGA and R&A are in the midst of a rules modernization initiative

scheduled to be implemented in 2019, the penalties applied to Thompson seemed to defy the simplification and clarity golf’s leaders are seeking. Players in particular called for the end of viewers chiming in with alleged violations, arguing that no other sport allows such input. And just about everyone disagreed with the need to impose a penalty after an earlier round was over, as well as applying an additional two-stroke penalty retroactively for an incorrect scorecard. 

In terms of future policy, the most important element of the Lexi fallout were closed-door meetings at the Masters among the heads of golf’s major stakeholders—the USGA, R&A, PGA of America, PGA Tour, LPGA and European Tour. There were intense exchanges in which tour leaders, worried about the perception of their products, argued that rules changes were needed posthaste to stop situations that fans and even players found unfair and nonsensical. The most aggrieved party was the LPGA, and its commissioner Mike Whan, who had publicly called the Thompson ruling “embarrassing.” 

“I understand Mike’s perspective,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said. “This was hard on Lexi Thompson, and hard on Mike Whan. But it was not bad for the game, because this is exactly the kind of dialogue that good change comes out of.”

Thud!  I'm sure that will come as great consolation to Lexi....  I like Mike Davis, but this is right up there in world-class tone deafness with his famous request for a mulligan after DJ-gate...

Now, Diaz appropriately adds this:

Davis cited the expedited change that was made to Rule 18-2 (“ball at rest moved”) in the wake of the Johnson ruling at Oakmont, which now allows a player whose ball has inadvertently moved on the green to simply return the ball to the original spot without penalty. Davis also pointed out that because of another recent rules change, Thompson only got a two-stroke penalty for signing an incorrect scorecard rather than being disqualified under the previous iteration of the rule.

Yes, I'm glad Jaime added this, as Davis did well to expedite that change....  We all understand that the wheels of justice grind slowly, but we're seeing far too many human sacrifices to be complacent.

It's Jaime, so our standing orders to read the whole thing apply....  He does a good job of explaining why such a ruling is important, despite the numerous red herrings to be found.  But I have a couple of other thoughts on this topic.... But do also avail yourself of Shack's take, in which he avails himself of his recurring five families bit, including video.

One point I've made before, and shame on all our so-called leaders, is the utter passivity demonstrated with regard to technology.  I continue to involuntarily shake my head at the lack of foresight in evidence.  Case in Point:  When DJ's ball moved, the official who was to review the video required 30 minutes to head in from the golf course....

Secondly, there's a seeming naivete in the rules-making process.   In terms of balls moving on closely mown greens, they had already changed this rule recently, but in a way that didn't conform to the real world.  For DJ to have avoided his penalty, he would have had to be able to identify that which caused his ball to move....  You know what makes balls move on green stimping at 14?  Exactly!

So, here's their solution to Lexigate:

In what would be new Rule 1.3a(2), a key passage states: “This means that the player’s reasonable judgment would be upheld even if later shown to be wrong by other information [such as video technology].” Such a rule would give more weight to a player’s intent when assessing the physical evidence during a ruling.

Can anyone translate this into English for me?  

But there's one other aspect of this all that has recently occurred to me, as relates to that Augusta meeting above.  Mike Whan (who is no doubt an excellent Commish for the ladies), is seemingly an innocent victim in all this, but why?  Another in the long list of ways in which golf differs from other sports, is the existence of an external rules-making organization.  Obviously nobody dictates rules to MLB or the NFL....

But the various pro tours can implement local rules as they see fit, in fact the USGA recommended the implementation of a local rule to solve the DJ issue, whilst they took their sweet time codifying it into an actual rule.  They can play foot-golf if they so choose, it's almost as if they don't want the responsibility.... They can declare a round over, say two hours after the last player putts out, and have done with Lexigate situations...  or waive the penalty for the incorrect scorecard.

There was much discussion of this during the comment period for the anchoring ban, and I do believe that they have been well-served in general by adhering to the USGA's rules-making authority.  But there's nothing that compels them to do so....

Tommygate - Was I too harsh?  Obviously, you'd need to see the film to know....But Shack finds some positive press for the effort, including this from the LA Times:

Connery and his crew, including director of photography Gary Shaw, production

designer James Lapsley and costume designer Rhonda Russell, richly evoke the harsh beauty of Scotland, while warmly re-creating the style and manners of the period. There’s a certain “Chariots of Fire”-like reverence for all things golf and Scottish, but the woolly courses, a far cry from the manicured fairways of today, and comparatively crude implements used by the players, provide an earthy balance.

I don't disagree with a word of that, but here's where we part company:

The elder Morris initially sees little need for change in a society that allows him to provide for his family, yet remain in debt. But through his love for Tommy, he bestows a begrudging acceptance. The veteran Mullan, best known for his work with Ken Loach and Danny Boyle, can do more with a narrowing of the eyes than most actors can with a soliloquy, and his ruddy features and stoic demeanor anchor the film, grounding it in social realism whenever it tends toward romanticism and sentimentality. 

The younger Morris also bucks convention when he falls for Meg Drinnen (“Guardians of the Galaxy’s” Ophelia Lovibond), a maid 10 years his senior. The film pins much of its story on their romance, a match met with judgment from the community and strong displeasure from Tommy’s mother, Nancy (Therese Bradley). Fortunately, there is plenty of chemistry between Lowden and the winsome Lovibond, and their scenes of courtship both lighten the tone and earn our emotional investment.

And this?

The veteran Mullan, best known for his work with Ken Loach and Danny Boyle, can do more with a narrowing of the eyes than most actors can with a soliloquy, and his ruddy features and stoic demeanor anchor the film, grounding it in social realism whenever it tends toward romanticism and sentimentality.

Does he think that social realism is a compliment?  Egads, you'd probably have to go to J-School to think that.... 

I just didn't find the film captured that as well as this reviewer and, as I said earlier, if you can't make ME care about the Morrises of  St. Andrews, who else will care?

This review takes umbrage at the golf swings on exhibit:

While there's a certain charm in seeing these early sportsmen dressed as though ready for mass (no kilts, alas), the golf scenes are undone by the fact that no one can actually swing a club. For some roles, actors will learn to play an instrument of master a manual skill, but there's none of that authenticity here. Instead, Connery has gone back in post and unconvincingly inserted digital balls, which defy the laws of physics as blatantly as the CG goo in Disney's "Flubber." The strategy robs us of what little thrill golf has to offer, whether spectating live or on TV, as impossible shots remain precisely that: impossible.

Alas?  I should trust you on golf swings when you expect the players to be in kilts?  he obviously has no clue as to how friggin' cold it can be out there....  Thing is, Connery and the actors spent much effort trying to swing as players of the era did.  I have no clue, as I've never seen video of Young Tommy's swing.

I did enjoy this piece about the magic involved in making the film:

The Old Course in its present state was too manicured to represent the 1860s and ’70s. Striving for authenticity, the filmmakers found Balcarres estate, about 30 minutes south of St. Andrews. Funny enough, golf's most cherished temple was reproduced in a cow pasture. Once the filmmakers relocated the cows and cut down the weeds, they built two holes, including the famed 18th. That meant digging a Swilcan Burn and the bridge that golfers know and love.

"There's a little movie magic involved," said Keith Bank, one of the producers, noting that the snow in a winter scene was shot with paper on a 60-degree day.

I have to say, those greens reminded me very much of Askernish, which seems authentic.  I'll also link you to this Guardian item on the first superstar of golf:

His swing was quick and wristy. He hit the ball hard and when he needed it to go further

he hit it harder. It was said that he could break a shaft with the force of his preliminary waggle on addressing the ball. He accepted no conventions and created a variety of shots hitherto unknown. The rut iron, a club with a very small, lofted head that most players carried to extricate the ball from ruts or rabbit scrapes, he used to great effect, floating the ball up to the flag in a wide variety of approach strokes.

Tommy carried two putters and used them both differently. On a good surface he putted with a wooden-headed putter that had a longish shaft with which he was described as "invincible", while on poorer greens he used an iron-headed driving club with a little loft on it and with a very short shaft. He had, in fact, invented the "jigger", the pitch-and-run approach shot that would become popular on all links courses for years to come.

Amusingly, this was Alan Shipnuck's response when asked if he was eagerly anticipating the movie:

Shipnuck: Well, I was more excited until I saw the commercial where an approach shot rips backward with modern-day Tour spin - pretty sure that didn't happen with mid-19th century equipment and agronomy. But I liked the book and want to support its author - former SI colleague Kevin Cook - so I'll put my excitement at 8.2.

I'm not one to make fun of someone else's memory, but in the book Kevin Cook does note that Tommy was the first player to spin a ball back with his rut iron?  I'm sure it wasn't Tour Sauce, but I'm going to rule that movie scene "True Enough".

There's more of everything but time....