The Ball, An Update

There's lots of talk....  Yes, just talk for now, but we have to start somewhere...  I'll present in the order in which the items broke.

First a call for a tourney ball from a most unusual source:

In a recent interview with GOLF.com, Bridgestone Golf president and CEO Angel Ilagan agreed with the legends of the game. "As it relates to the Tour...there needs to be

something to standardize [the ball] because the guys are hitting it way too long," Ilagen says. 

This marks the first time the chief executive of a leading ball manufacturer has publicly called for a dialed-back ball.

The CEO echoed the sentiments of Woods — Bridgestone's most high-profile staff player — who said in a recent podcast: "We need to do something about the golf ball. I just think [the ball] is going too far. With the game progressing as it is, I think the 8,000-yard golf course is not too far away. That’s pretty scary.”

Let's remember the messy fight with Ping over square grooves back in the day.  Since then, the logic has been that the governing bodies could not constrain technological advances because of threatened litigation from the equipment manufacturers....  Yet here we have a manufacturer pleading for something to be done.

Now, let me hasten to add that Bridgestone is smallish player in the ball market, though after Titleist they're all pretty smallish.  Also, it's safe to assume that the CEO of Bridgestone is motivated by more than simple altruism, and there's likely some competitive benefit he sees in such a position....  Also, he males clear that he's a proponent of the "B-word", with separate rules for professionals and recreational golfers.

In the wake of that, Brian Costa files this interesting Wall Street Journal article on the subject, which is unfortunately behind their paywall, limiting me to that which others have excerpted.  He was presumably asked about recent reports of Tiger hitting it way far, and had this:

“I don’t care how far Tiger Woods hits it,” Davis said. “The reality is this is affecting all golfers and affecting them in a bad way. All it’s doing is increasing the cost of the game.”

Shack had this reaction:

For those of you more recent readers, you may not know it, but these may be the strongest comments yet from a governing body figure related to the distance explosion's impact.

 The soft bigotry of low expectations.... Shack then had this dispiriting excerpt from Costa's piece:

The concept Davis is floating would leave it to other groups, from the PGA Tour all the

way down to private clubs, to decide which category of balls is permitted on any given course. It could also create new options on the lower end of the sport. 

“What if we said to get more little kids into the game, we’re going to come up with a conforming golf ball that’s the size of a tennis ball, to help them hit it up in the air?” Davis said. “We are really trying to think outside the box.” 

One question to be answered is which groups would mandate the use of reduced-distance balls. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan declined to comment. Until someone requires golfers to use something other than the best-performing balls they can find, manufacturers will have little reason to bring reduced-distance balls to market.

Sigh!  The head honcho of the governing body thinks others should do the heavy lifting....  Hard to see how this issue hasn't been addressed....

“You can’t say you don’t care about distance, because guess what? These courses are expanding and are predicted to continue to expand,” Davis said. “The impact it has had has been horrible.”

Every party involved has some incentive not to force the issue. If the governing bodies tried to mandate a more restrictive ball for all golfers, they would face a massive fight from equipment companies. Those companies thrive by making a hard game easier, not harder. The PGA Tour relies on eye-popping distance numbers to highlight the skill and athleticism of its stars, which isn’t always apparent to the naked eye.

That last bit is laugh-out-loud-funny, no?  There's no doubt truth to the fact that chicks dig the long ball, and it's the simplest measure of the difference between that guy pictured above and us...  But there's also a reason that long-drive champs don't succeed on Tour, and guys like Jordan Spieth do.

Then there's this inevitable bit:

Brian Mahoney, head of the New York-based Metropolitan Golf Association, said elite amateur events like the ones his group organizes would be receptive to a reduced-distance ball. But for the idea to be more than an option presented by the governing bodies, some influential club would need to be the first to adopt it.

Riddle me this, Batman, which club...strike that, which influential club could they be thinking of?  

Like Geoff, I agree that the drumbeats are getting louder.  The last 'graph in his post linked above aggregates these recent discussions by players in the game.  

Next up is the comic relief, pushback from the man with the biggest stake in in the status quo ante, Acushnet CEO Wally Uihlein.  Shack amusingly characterizes the retiring CEO (he has literally announced his retirement, that's not a descriptor of his personality) as entering the "Get off my lawn phase of his career":

The chief executive of the game's best-selling ball manufacturer is unconvinced of the need for a reduced-flight ball. 

In a letter to The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Wally Uihlein, president and CEO of Titleist's parent company, Acushnet, questioned the evidence that a longer ball is negatively impacting the game. The letter came in response to USGA executive director Mike Davis, who suggested in an interview with WSJ's Brian Costa that the costs of lengthening courses were making the game more expensive for all. 

"Is there any evidence to support this canard…the trickle down cost argument?” Uihlein wrote. “Where is the evidence to support the argument that golf course operating costs nationwide are being escalated due to advances in equipment technology?"

Trickle-down?  Longer golf course are necessarily more expensive to maintain, but perhaps only on planet Earth.  Geoff has his own rebuttal at the second link above, I'd just ask Wally if he's played the second hole at Quaker Ridge recently?

Also, Geoff amusing embeds the iconic "get off my lawn" scene from Gran Torino in his post... well played.

Wally gives the game away as he rambles on in his letter:

"The only people that seem to be grappling with advances in technology and physical fitness are the short-sighted golf course developers and the supporting golf course architectural community who built too many golf courses where the notion of a 'championship golf course' was brought on line primarily to sell real estate," he wrote.

And this about his competitor:

"Given Bridgestone’s very small worldwide market share and paltry presence in professional golf, it would seem logical they would have a commercial motive making the case for a reduced distance golf ball," Uihlein wrote.

And you Sir are no doubt above such petty commercial considerations....

Lastly, lest anyone thought my mancrush on Geoff Ogilvy was in remission, the most thoughtful of professionals had this to say from the site of the Australian Open:

Geoff Ogilvy has used a baseball stadium analogy for what the soaring golf ball has done 

to established golf courses, and it is not pretty. 

The 2010 Australian Open champion said baseball was forced to act, and that golf would be the same soon enough. 

“Major league baseball in America they use wooden bats, and everywhere else in baseball they use aluminium bats,’’ he said. “And when the major leaguers use aluminium bats they don’t even have to touch it and it completely destroys their stadiums. It’s just comedy. 

“That’s kind of what’s happened to us at least with the drivers of these big hitters. We’ve completely outgrown the stadiums. So do you rebuild every stadium in the world? That’s expensive. Or make the ball go shorter? It seems relatively simple from that perspective.’’

I do agree that aluminum bats are the most obvious example of bifurcation out there, though the Aussie does mangle the sequencing a bit.  Not only would stadiums be obsolete, but pitchers would die if big-leaguers used aluminum bats.

So, where does this leave us?  The battle lines seem relatively clear.  The organizing bodies recognize a big problem and are supported by certain of their constituencies, including perhaps some of the equipment guys.  But those with the most to lose will inevitably dig in their heels and fight for their spoils....

But the discouraging part is that bit about the USGA leaving it to others, an obvious recipe for inaction.  In fact, the concept of different balls for different courses is pretty much the craziest thing I've ever heard.....

it seems to this observer that the only way this works is with the USGA, R&A and all of the major professional tours to be in the same room and agree on the need to roll back the ball.  Let me also digress and acknowledge an obvious point, that distance gains are the result of many factors, not just the ball.  That includes equipment, of course, but also fitness, course conditioning, and technology such as video and launch monitors.  But the ball is the simplest means to the end, and likely the only means....

Let's also remember that golf is the only professional sport where players choose their ball.... In Ogilvy's baseball example above, the players choose their bats within general specifications, but the league controls the balls.  This isn't always without controversy, as we saw in the most recent post-season in which the balls were consistently being described as slicker than during the regular season.

But the world Mike Davis envisions seems like madness to me.  The skill of golf is in the repeatability  of one's game....  Don't get me wrong, length is a huge advantage, but it's hard to pull a club if you don't know how far a seven iron goes with the ball being played this week.  That's why the concept of Augusta National doing this is so troubling to me, you're asking them to diminish their competition by having the field play balls with which they're not familiar.

It further seems to me that there's two basic ways to get where we think we want to go...the first being to have the Tour and other sponsors actually produce and distribute the balls.  This seems less likely to succeed to me because it ensures World War III with the ball manufacturers.  You're removing their sponsorship and association with the Tour players, and they won't be amused....

As an amusing aside, though, you might have noted that Rickie Fowler endorses Bushnell rangefinders, despite the fact that they are proscribed on Tour.  Food for thought...

But the smarter strategy to me is the one articulated by Tiger, to publish specifications for a Tourney ball and let the manufacturers work within those specs to produce balls for their players.  Players will still have some ability to find the ball that works best for them, and the manufacturers will still compete for allegiance of the players and the talking heads will translate actual distances into projected distances with the amateur ball.  

It would seem obvious that all professionals and the highest level amateurs would play this rolled-back ball, but the exact cut-off line needs some further thought.  It's also a little disconcerting that all of the attention is on distance, whereas spin is also an important factor, though one that makes eyes glaze over.

Stay tuned to see if this can transition from talk to action.

Weekend Wrap

We were in the city for theater yesterday, so fortunately I missed all the first-rate play...  Shall we lede with the ladies?

Lexi Channels Her Inner Doug Sanders - Bill Fields with the set-up:

Thompson went to No. 18 leading by one and was on the green of the 425-yard par 4 in regulation. From 60 feet after reading the putt with caddie Kevin McAlpine, she lagged 

A box with fake money:  Just what I wanted!

beautifully, cozying her ball two feet left of the hole. So little was left that if Thompson hadn't been worried about stepping in the lines of fellow competitors Austin Ernst and Jessica Korda, she said she would have putted instead of marking. 

When it was time, to finish off a tournament and end a trying season in style, there was no reason to call McAlpine over for his opinion. "I just mentioned to her, 'You've got it,' and my job's done," said McAlpine, who didn't watch what happened next.

Did he pull a Stevie and rip his bib off?  Video is at the link, but I don't recommend to anyone who's a fan of or related to Lexi..... or for anyone that plans on playing golf again.

The thing is that two feet seems like an exaggeration, and yet the putt doesn't even threaten the cup.... Add this to our recent discussion of these season-long awards:

With Thompson's bogey leaving her in a tie with Jutanugarn and Jessica Korda at 14-under 274, it was left to see if Jutanugarn could win without having to go to a playoff. From 15 feet -- the same distance from which she had birdied No. 17 after making putts more than twice that length for birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 -- Jutanugarn sank it to make extra holes unnecessary. 

Not everyone got a trophy, but the wealth was shared.

Jutanugarn collected $500,000 for winning her second tournament of the year and seventh of her career. Despite the blunder on the final hole, Thompson won $1 million for claiming the Race to the CME Globe, the tour's season-long points competition. With a 2017 average of 69.114, she also edged Sung Hyun Park by .113 of a stroke to win the Vare Trophy, named for Glenna Collett Vare, one of the finest golfers in the period before women even played professionally. 

For the first time since the award's inception in 1966, Rolex Player of the Year is shared by two golfers, So Yeon Ryu and Sung Hyun Park, who after a full season of competition were deadlocked in points.

It cost her a chance at this event as well as POY, though it mostly makes us revisit that 4-shot penalty way back at the Dinah Shore.  Good times!

Upon Further Review -  Was it just last week that the Tour Confidential panel was fitting Justin Rose for his Hall of Fame vestment.... and this week, not so much as a question about the Euro Trash.  Was it because of this?

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Tommy Fleetwood was crowned the European

Tour’s Race to Dubai champion Sunday after a spectacular collapse on the back nine by his nearest challenger, Justin Rose. 

Rose appeared to be on track for a third win in as many starts when he eased to a 19 under total after 11 holes Sunday without any trouble on the Earth course of Jumeirah Golf Estates. But his round unraveled after that with bogeys on the 12th, 14th and 16th holes to finish with a two-under par 70 and a share of fourth place. 

With Fleetwood struggling to make birdies and finishing way behind in joint 21st place on 11 under 277, Rose needed to finish in sole possession of fourth to win his second Order of Merit title.

The confusing times continue, as Jon Rahm won the event for Tommy Fleetwood the Order of merit.  Stick around, we'll have more on both of these tours....

Didn't I See this Guy on a Milk Carton? -  Brian Wacker with a good backgrounder on surprise winner Austin Cook:

Part of the beauty of golf, particularly at the highest level, is that there are all sorts of ways to play a hole. Or in the case of Austin Cook, who won Sunday’s RSM Classic by

four strokes over J.J. Spaun, a few different paths to make it to the big stage. 

Unlike other sports, it’s rare when a successful college golfer goes straight to the bigs. Cook, a Southeastern Conference All-Freshman for Arkansas in 2010, an All-American the following year and a fixture in the Razorbacks lineup with nine career top-10s before turning pro in 2014, took a circuitous, and at times testing, route to finally getting his card for the 2017-'18 season.

That's largely because there's so damn many talented players and limited opportunities....  

Item of the Week -  Alan Shipnuck with a much-discussed piece on the future of The Ryder Cup, which also provides us an amusing postmodern moment.  Alan's basic premise is that event is over... yanno, dead, deceased, finished...stick-a-for;-in-it!  Shall we let him make his case?

The Ryder Cup is dead — you just don't know it yet. 

One of the greatest events in sport is on the verge of irrelevancy. The young, talented, hungry golfers from the United States, benefiting from the cohesive leadership of the Task Force era, are going to roll to victory in 2018 in Paris. This will be the first American win on European soil in a quarter century and, coming on the heels of an overpowering U.S. win in '16, will set the stage for a decade-plus of blowouts, sapping the intrigue out of the Ryder Cup. It's going to get so lopsided that you can expect future Ryder Cups to have all the dramatic tension of…gasp!…the Presidents Cup. 

OK, Alan, can you explain one thing done by the Task Force that wouldn't have otherwise happened?  he trys to, though I remain unconvinced...  After describing the aged and infirm nature of Europe's core, he adds this about the U.S.:

Meanwhile, just look at the big steps taken by the U.S. players since the last Ryder: Jordan Spieth, 24, won another major and reasserted himself as golf's alpha male; Dustin Johnson, 33, spent almost all of 2017 at number one; Brooks Koepka, 27, won the U.S. Open. You know who has never even played in a Ryder Cup? Justin Thomas, 24, merely the reigning player of the year. Throw in Rickie Fowler, 28, and Patrick Reed, 27, and you have a rock-star core for the next decade or more — not to mention the fact that these guys will be augmented by wily vets (Phil! Kuch! Zach! Bubba! Sneds! Duf!) and some spicy young comers (Daniel Berger, Kevin Kisner).

That list of "wily vets" is spit-out-your-coffee hilarious, because I'm guessing that the only one of those that's on a future Ryder Cup team is Phil, and that may well be as captain.  Seriously, dude, Bubba?

I do actually agree with his basic point about the ebb and flow of talent, and that Paris 2018 will be a golden opportunity for the Yanks.  That said, I'd be reluctant to pass judgment past next year's event, as the visibility is difficult.  

As for that postmodern moment, the Tour Confidential panel took on Alan's piece, with this query:

4. European golf fans, writers and at least one Masters champion were not thrilled with Alan Shipnuck's take on how the Ryder Cup is "headed for a decade-plus of [U.S.] blowouts, sapping the intrigue out" of the matches. The column was roundly rebuked on the other side of the pond with Sergio Garcia tweeting, "Looks like @AlanShipnuck can predict the future now, so I wonder if he wouldn't mind telling me the next 5 winning lottery tickets too! Unbelievable." Is Shipnuck's crystal ball right?

And among those commenting on the inflammatory premise was the author himself, who is already walking it back:

Shipnuck: I will note for the record that I wrote that column for Golf Magazine, a monthly with a long lead time. Since then, Tyrell Hatton has gone crazy and Paul Casey announced he'll return to the Euro tour, so Europe looks to have a little more depth than when I typed those fateful words. I still stand by the prediction. The U.S. nucleus of Jordan-DJ-JT-Koepka-Rickie-PReed is simply too good, and they have another five of six Cups together.

You no doubt see where I'll go with this...  If Tyrell Hatton is sufficient to cause a reassessment, then the original assessment was speculative.

And while I'm always concerned about sharing an argument with Travelin' Joe, it seems he nailed this one:

Passov: I'll agree with Alan's premise, but not his conclusion. Hey, he's paid to write thoughtful pieces and to give opinions that will elicit reactions. He succeeded brilliantly here. It makes excellent sense. But I'm an old-timer. I've witnessed one Ryder Cup after the next over the years when the U.S. was heavily favored on paper — and lost. Folks, it's match play, with that weird foursomes format thrown in for good measure. Anything can happen in 18 holes of match play, between professionals. Unless it's the Presidents Cup.

On a related note, there was this question as well:

3. At the European tour's season finale, the DP World Tour Championship, the 23-

year-old Rahm prevailed, with 26-year-old Englishman Tommy Fleetwood taking the Euro tour's season-long Race to Dubai. Rory McIlroy has for many years been viewed as the European player with the most upside for the foreseeable future. Did anything you see this year change your opinion on that front?

Bamberger: I don't think you can talk about McIlroy and Rahm in the same breath, from what I've seen, starting with the head and going right through the chipping game. McIlroy is the best European player, by 1,500 meters. 

Sens: Agreed that Rory remains the towering talent but we've seen how life can interfere. There are good reasons to worry about Rory's health. Given what he's got in the bank and other things he's got going in his life, it's also not crazy to wonder about his hunger. To say nothing of his putting. I say Rahm wins more majors in the next five years.

Geez, it's a tough crowd....   I get that Rory has four majors and Rahm has three wins total, but given Rory's recent woes with the putter and wedge, plus his injuries, I think this is way closer than 1,500 meters.

I'll give last word on this subject to the majestic Tweeter Alliss:

You mean like Justin Rose?

Your Morning Laugh - I've never heard of Hamilton Nolan or Splinter News, but I'm going to go way out on a limb and guess that he doesn't play our great game.  What makes me draw such a judgmental conclusion?  Well, here's his well-argued lede:

“Golf is a good walk spoiled,” a famous man once said, speaking to the author of A Book of Quotes. Would it not, in our modern world, be more accurate to say, pithily, “Fuck golf—golfing ass motherfuckers?”

Yes it would. Golf has spoiled much more than walks. The sort of people who enjoy golf do not walk. They ride in ridiculous carts, or are carried in litters by servants. In a more just world they would run, from angry mobs of non-golfers, seeking to reclaim public lands that were taken and clear-cut into sandy wastelands and painstakingly replanted with exotic astroturf-like non-native grass studded with carefully planned hills and curves and mowed and watered and cared for far better than the people tasked with caring for it, all so that a Regional Manager could put on a pastel purple shirt with sleeve cuffs and smoke a cigar away from the office while squinting in the sun from beneath a branded visor. 

Golf is against humanity. So humanity must be against golf.

He makes a good case for minimalist architecture, but the last golfer I saw carried in a litter by servants was....well, never.  But that's hardly the pint, is it?

And since every article must have a photo, can you guess what was chosen?  Of course you can....

OK, Hamilton, but if you ban golf he's just going to spend more time in the office...  Are you sure that's what you want?

Joel Beall does a credible job of Fisking the item, including this:

At this statement, I can already hear the Golf Propaganda Community rushing into action. “Not all golfers are like that,” they will say. Sure. Though most serial killers are men, Aileen Wuornos managed to murder seven people in a single year. Something to be celebrated? Golfers believe so. 

Wow, serial killing. That's quite the parallel. Feels like you've been sitting on this Wuornos analogy for some time. Sadly, not sure it served as the literary device you intended.

Bingo:

Aileen Carol Wuornos Pralle (February 29, 1956 – October 9, 2002) was an American serial killer who murdered seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990 by shooting them at point-blank range. Wuornos claimed that her victims had either raped or attempted to rape her while she was working as a sex worker, and that all of the homicides were committed in self-defense. She was convicted and sentenced to death for six of the murders and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002. 

Enjoy Joel's righteous Fisking, as Mr. Nolan has unresolved anger issues....  His mother must have been a golfer.

Where Have You Gone, Lydia -  What's become of our little girl?  If you'll remember, last year about this time she decided to change EVERYTHING....  Randall Mell with the update:

Much was made of Ko beginning the year with sweeping changes, with new equipment (PXG), a new coach (Gary Gilchrist) and a new caddie (Peter Godfrey).

In the final summary, it wasn’t a Ko-like year, not by the crazy high standards she has set. 

She saw her run of 85 consecutive weeks at No. 1 end in June. She arrived in Naples holding on to the No. 8 ranking. She ends the year 13th on the LPGA money list with $1,177,450 in earnings. It’s the first time she hasn’t finished among the top three in money in her four full years on tour. She did log 11 top-10 finishes overall, three second-place finishes. 

How did she evaluate her season? 

“I feel like it was a better year than everyone else thinks, like `Lydia is in a slump,’” Ko said. “I feel like I played solid.

That is a decidedly minority opinion, though Mell ignores the elephant in the corner, which I'll hint at with this photo:

Our girl hasn't been the same since she lost the glasses.... 

Joking aside, I've always been worried about Lydia's long-term prospects because she's such a short hitter...  We play an extremely difficult game, and it's made all the more difficult when you cede a significant distance advantage to your peers.

Keith Pelley, Unhinged - I find myself liking the man and enjoying his willingness to experiment with new formats and amusing promotions.  For instance, there was this video of Euro players trying to hit a 2-yard wide fairway in the beautiful countryside of Dubai.  Shack thought it a coming attractions video, assuming no change in the ball.

Other times, he's like the crazy Uncle in the attic, as with this:

Within five years, golf will exist in a shorter format, according to European tour CEO Keith Pelley. 

"I do believe that this is a very special game with incredibly skilled players in it, and it has the makings of just exposing personalities and athletes and I've worked with them my whole life, they are great individuals and great role models. But in order to do that to a wider audience, we have to look beyond the 72-hole traditional tournament," Pelley said from the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

Errr....No!  And you know who agrees with me?  Yup, Keith Pelley, for this is the next 'graph in that item:

Although Pelley asserted that the 72-hole tournament will always be at the core of competitive professional golf, he cited a continued need for innovation. The European tour has been at the forefront of format experimentation since Pelley took over, and will continue to keep its product fresh.

Glad you came around to my way of thinking.....Golf already exists in any form you can dream up.  Heck, we played a three-ball skins game on Saturday, but with the stymie re instituted to amuse ourselves....  But big-time events need to be at 72 holes of stroke play, there's just no other format that's remotely feasible.  Those millennials can just suck it up!

I'll leave you here, but with much to discuss tomorrow.  There's been some interesting developments on the golf ball front, so tune in tomorrow.

Thursday Threads

Or, more likely, an abbreviated version thereof, as my heart isn't fully in it...

Read of the Day - Much of what we cover here falls derisively into the category of first-world problems, but not all.  While Meghan Khang might not be a household name, her story is well worth your time:

ROCKLAND, Mass. – Megan Khang’s journey is unlike any other in professional golf. 

She’s on a path no one has ever taken to the LPGA, a dreamy yellow brick road that extends beyond the bloody trail her Hmong family navigated on its way out of Laos while fleeing communist death squads during the Vietnam War. 

Khang, 20, knows she wouldn’t be playing the LPGA today if it weren’t for her family’s midnight escape across the Mekong River to Thailand in 1975, when they fled the retribution Hmong endured for helping the Americans fight communism in Southeast Asia. 

“I know I wouldn’t be here without the sacrifices my family has made,” Megan said. “It’s us against the world. That’s kind of how I look at it.”

Kind of makes Q-School look like a walk in the park... 

Euro Stuff - The stage has been left to the Euro's, though I don't remember this much coverage in prior years.  Adam Schupak seems to have landed a N.Y. Times gig, not sure if that mean my pinata Karen Crouse has moved on, but he makes the point that the Euro Tour doesn't spend all that much time in Europe:

Paul Dunne of Ireland always wanted to see the world, but he is not traveling through

Europe like most 24-year-olds. 

Dunne, a rookie on the European Tour, is scheduled to make his 29th start of the season this week at the World Tour Championship in Dubai. It’s his third trip this season to the United Arab Emirates, one of 20 countries he has visited and he is in the midst of playing five straight tournaments on three different continents. At this rate, he may replace Gary Player as golf’s global ambassador, but for Dunne, the financial benefits are too lucrative to pass up. 

“I’m not going to turn down $7-million events,” he said. “Why would I?” 

That is exactly the mind-set that Keith Pelley, the European Tour chief executive, was shooting for when he launched the Rolex Series, a collection of eight events with a minimum purse of $7 million that debuted in May at the European PGA Championship and culminates on Sunday in Dubai.

I'm just surprised they can spare the column inches from being home office for La Resistance.

Meanwhile, in The Guardian, Ewan Murray takes on the only-discussed-in-hushed-tones issue of appearance fees:

There is little or nothing by way of complaint from other players. Everyone benefits, for example, from the participation of the world’s leading players and the knock-on boost to

ranking points. Woods, albeit a different commercial animal to all others, collected appearance fees all over the world for years, with a tournament’s appeal enhanced by his presence or even just his picture on billboards. From players themselves, there would be the not unreasonable point that use of their status – and time – to promote a tournament should not be on voluntary terms. 

Nonetheless, the situation raises questions. It seems fair to ask what standard of field would participate in Turkey were enticement not given to stellar names. If the answer is that the competition would become the domain of only lower-grade golfers, does that not undermine its Rolex status? There is also an ethical argument regarding why golfers, or any sportspeople of a certain financial level, should be paid simply to appear. In many ways, this surely contradicts the ethos of sport, albeit that such a point could be applied to money’s tight grasp of football, tennis and so many other enterprises.

See, not everyone benefits.... It's also a little unseemly when those paid large appearance fees and do little more than, you know, appear...  See, for instance, Tiger in Abu Dhabi last year.

Murray also has quite the strange comment buried in the piece:

On the PGA Tour, appearance fees are virtually accepted as part of the week-on-week scene – in stark comparison to Europe. In the United States, incentive comes in various forms: paid for travel, accommodation or even meals with sponsors. Golfers are very quick to assert how money does not supply motivation, which should not be mistaken for those individuals not appreciating their own value.

Maybe it would be clearer in the original English?  I think his point is that the PGA Tour does not permit appearance fees, but that the sponsors use payment for other services as a work around....  

But in the search for those things that unite us, we can all agree that Ryan Herrington takes Jon Rahm's Euro Tour's Rookie of the Year award far too seriously:

Despite a victory at the Farmers Insurance Open in February, 11 top-10s in 23 PGA Tour

starts and $6.1 million earned in the 2016-’17 campaign, the 23-year-old Spaniard was ineligible for ROY in the U.S. when the award was handed out in early October (Xander Schauffele snatched it up). You see, technically Rahm’s rookie season came in 2016—even though he played just nine events that year and wasn’t a member of the PGA Tour until the last tournament of the regular season. (It’s complicated, but the long story short is Rahm, No. 5 in the World Ranking, has spent his entire first 17 months as a professional playing too well for his own good.) 

Yet while what happened on the PGA Tour felt like a raw deal, was the European Tour honor the equivalent of a college basketball make-up call? Yes, Rahm played in 12 officials European Tour events in 2017, claiming one win at the Irish Open and four top-10s while earning €2.8 million to put him fourth in the Race to Dubai entering this week’s season finale. However, of the 12 events, eight were either major championships or WGC tournaments that also counted toward his PGA Tour numbers. Is playing only four regular-season events native to the European Tour enough to be deserving of the honor?

Interesting question,...  Oh, who am I kidding, even the question isn't terribly interesting, though the answer can be summed up in two words: Dylan Frittelli.

No sooner does Herrington try to work up a head of steam making the case for Fritelli, seemingly on the basis of his more frequent starts on the Tour, than he shows us their comparable performance in the four actual Euro events played by the Spaniard:

Rahm met the Tour's membership requirements and is light year's better than the other guy, so what's the pint again?  Oh yeah, it's November and we need content....

Have the Movie Rights Been Sold - I'm actually amused by this item, in which Dylan Dethier mines the top item on Golf.com's site from a 4-word Rickie Fowler quote.  To be fair, your mileage will likely vary, but the art involved is something.

On Tuesday I attended a Cobra/Puma media event at which Cobra introduced its new line of clubs. Rickie Fowler and Bryson DeChambeau were there, too, hitting a series of shots and taking questions in an open-forum Q&A.

I was eager to fire off one more question. As a recovering mini-tour player and one-time resident of the greater West Palm Beach area, I hear my share of Tiger-related rumors, most of them unsubstantiated. But the word from Medalist, where Woods and Fowler both play, is that the 14-time major champ is oozing confidence and pounding his tee shots — outdriving Fowler in their games by 20-30 yards.

As I thanked Fowler for his time, I asked him about it. 

"So, is it true that Tiger’s been hitting it by you in practice at Medalist?" 

He didn’t hesitate. 

"Oh, yeah," he said with a grin as he walked off. "Way by."

It was meant to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, a juicy bit of innuendo. I mean, I got a four-word quote — it wasn’t exactly indisputable video evidence. But the tweet took off. (As of this writing, it had nearly 300 retweets.) I was flooded with excited quote-tweets, and within a few hours the exchange had quickly transformed into "Tiger’s-back" internet blog fodder on both sides of the Atlantic.

OK, this is a nothingburger, but Dethier turns it into something with what follows:

 So what’s actually true? Here’s what I believe:

1. It’s fairly likely that Tiger is, in fact, hitting the ball as long or longer than Fowler. This would be consistent with their driving distances of the past, and it appears Tiger hasn’t exactly been dogging it in the gym. 

2. I also think that Fowler got a kick out of the question and dropping a walk-off answer. These guys are all used to getting asked incessantly about Tiger — there’s no question that they like to have fun with it, when they can. 

3. If Tiger is knocking it past Fowler in practice, that doesn’t mean "he’s back!", as the UK’s Daily Express screamed in a headline Wednesday morning. Remember the "worst-ball 66" before the 2015 Masters? Yeah. That didn’t exactly pan out in the long-term.

As a fan of the art form, dropping that worst-ball 66 into the mix is just priceless....  It reminds the reader that his tongue has familiarity  the outline of his cheek....Read the rest if you're so inclined, but this reader enjoyed it.

Dethier on Fire - He parlayed that Cobra fitting into a second feature on single-length irons, an interesting and topical subject:

It was my first crack at Cobra's new signature single-length F8 One irons, which will hit stores Feb. 2 but were available at a media preview day at The Floridian on Tuesday. The single-length irons have become increasingly popular — accounting for around 60 percent of Cobra's iron sales in the latter part of 2017 — and I was intrigued to give them a whirl myself.

 This was one of his six takeaways:

4. DeChambeau could convince me of just about anything 

Most professional athletes possess quite a bit of self-assuredness, but DeChambeau says

everything with a next-level feeling of certainty. He was a positive, excitable presence on the range; he was readily engaging and eager to explain when he thought something might be interesting — or even to make sure we were properly impressed by one of his or Fowler's shots. 

"That was really good, guys," he told us multiple times after a favorable range swing. 

He certainly seems to know more about the finer points of physics and body mechanics than your average pro athlete, too, which contributed to my overall feeling that I'd have a hard time disagreeing with him on anything.

Well, he's called The Professor for a reason.... 

I tested a set of custom irons with single-length shafts at one of the Met. Golf Writers outings, but just on the range.  What I've never understood is how they manage distance and gaps throughout the bag.  It seems you'll naturally sacrifice length in the longer clubs (though do read Dethier's account of 220-yard 7-irons) due to the shorter shaft,  which most players will not like.  Am I missing something?

I Beg To Differ -  With this:

’Tis the season: 2017 Holiday Gift Guide for golfers

'Tisn't the season, and won't be for a month or so..... That said, they start off in daring fashion:

Titleist My Pro V1 golf balls

$56/dozen

Titleist makes it easy to put a holiday message on the game’s most-played balls with the My Pro V1 program. Select any one- or two-digit number on a model of ball and add as many as three lines of block text (17 characters per line) on two sides. A variety of logos and symbols also can be displayed.

It's all the usual stuff, except for those items seemingly having no relevance to golf....

A similar list from Golf Digest has an even more tenuous relationship with golf...  Olives?

I'm off... there's even a chance that some golf might be played this afternoon.

Midweek Musings

A late start to blogging today, but frost delays aren't unusual this time of year....

Desperate Times - I a delightful postmodern kind of way, I blogged Shack's Golfworld piece on desperation before he did....Apparently he took my criticism to heart, using this Pravda article on the tennis world to support his tenuous arguments:

Instead of drawing chips from a bowl, organizers instructed the young players to select a model who would then reveal a letter, A or B, on her body to determine each player’s group. 

The first model selected hiked up her dress and pulled her garter to reveal the letter A. 

Another instructed a player to remove her glove with his teeth. 

The tennis world quickly expressed its disapproval at the crass sexualization of the event. The Hall of Famer Amélie Mauresmo called it a “disgrace,” while the French player Alizé Cornet mocked the regressive start to a showcase of innovations. 

“Good job ATPWorldTour,” Cornet wrote on Twitter. “Supposed to be a futurist event right? #backtozero.”

Boy, those tennis people have no sense of humor....  I get that he thinks we should have some institutional confidence in our 500-year old sport, and that we shouldn't be injuring players in promotional stunts, but I'm still unclear of his precise point.

That said, I'm pretty sure that Keith Pelley's plans for the 2018 Ryder Cup will not make him any happier (from the interview we linked to yesterday):

Our first tee experience at the Ryder Cup is going to be sensational. The opening ceremony, it should be a show, right? It’ll be much more of a show in France than it’s ever been before. I can guarantee you it will be. Still, we’re not bringing the players out in smoke tunnels, right? You’ll still have that aura that golf has, that majesty that golf has, but there will be a big entertainment element, absolutely, no question.

 OK, but if there's to be harnesses, let's only put assistant captains in them....

Close to Home - Just yesterday I was critical of Mike Bamberger for his feature on sexual harassment as relates to cart girls, an opinion I'll stand by.  I just think we're about to go through a horrible reckoning, and golf should stay as far away from it as possible.

Except, you know, when it lands on our front porch:

As allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace plague Hollywood executives and government officials, a renowned Oregon golf course and its powerful parent corporation are the focus of an explosive lawsuit that alleges rampant sexual misconduct and inaction from local and corporate executives. 

An employee of Bandon Dunes golf course, often rated as one of the world’s top golf courses, has sued the longtime general manager of the resort and its parent company, KemperSports, alleging sexual assault, harassment, discrimination, retaliation and negligence. 

Court documents show the allegations aren’t just limited to the golf club in Bandon, Oregon. Two employees claim the alleged misconduct has been pervasive for years at the corporate office. Top executives are accused by the lawsuit of not only condoning the behavior but also participating in sexually inappropriate conduct themselves. 

The documents reveal an alleged “Boy’s Club,” which is described as a place where women could only advance if they accepted a sexually hostile work environment that included regular harassment, inappropriate touching and, for at least one female executive, a threat of rape.

The source is a Portland newspaper, but the article is horribly written.  You'll note all those awkward references to "golf course", as they seem unfamiliar with the word resort.  And the reference to corporate office is also misleading, as it seems to apply to Kemper Sports, the manager of the resort.

We're not going to be immune from this plague, and the behavior alleged sounds all to familiar....  We'll just hope that there isn't too much more of it in our little fishbowl.

Right on Schedule - Comes this genuine tweet from the poster boy for Millennials:

See, that wasn't so hard, was it?  Perhaps next time you could just issue the apology in lieu of whatever matter you find desperately craves your trenchant commentary.

Alan, Asked - It's proven itself a viable feature despite the God-awful name...  For instance, how timely is this query:

"Time for another made-for-TV-match: Grayson Murray vs. Bernhard Langer. To make it fair Langer could give him three shots a side." -Carl (@clcarlisme) 

Honestly, I would be more excited for this scrum than practically any other matchup we could conjure. Both dudes would grind so hard, because they’d have a lot at stake. The funny thing about Murray is that he’s a natural heel but he’s afraid to fully embrace the role, hence the endless apologies. Just own it, dude.

The answer is fine, but sometimes it's the question that shines...  I also have to feel that we could somehow include Jimenez and Bradley for a fourball cage match.

 But this is wishful thinking:

"Do you think Payne Stewart would have been a Ryder Cup Captain and how do you think he would have done?" -@DonnyVanta

Oh, he would’ve been an incredible captain. Nobody loved the Ryder Cup more and Payne was Seve-esque in his ability to rally teammates. Stewart would’ve been 47 years old at the time of the 2004 Ryder Cup, the perfect age for a Ryder captain. So one of his biggest contributions to the game would have been negating a Hal Sutton captaincy.

But would he have had the brilliance to pair Tiger and Phil?  And, to remind the viewer, that was only the runner-up as stupidest thing Hal did that week....

Payne did love the Ryder Cup, though he did embarrassingly lose to Feherty in singles at Kiawah.  And badly....

This is a tough one:

"6/4 for Rory to win a major next season......a bet or a lay in your opinion?" -Kevin

(@hezz332) 

He has to win one, doesn’t he? It’s been three years and in that time Jordan, Dustin, JT, Brooks, J-Day and sundry others have made major leaps forward. Rory has immense pride and doesn’t want to become irrelevant at the age of 29. On the flip side, his putting issues are a serious red flag, he hasn’t been able to stay healthy and he’s displayed a dismaying inability to raise his game at the majors. I’d still take the bet that he’ll win one, but don’t put your whole 401(k) on it.

Yeah, you'd think he'd be plenty motivated....  But it wasn't just the putting, his wedge play has been atrocious.  He's got to show me something before any shekels are wagered....

And folks seem to want to talk about caddies this week:

"Any word on who Phil will hire as his caddy next year? He said [his brother] Tim would only finish out 2017.#AskAlan" -Joan (@J58golf)

I reached out to a couple of people close to Phil and they professed to have no clue. I imagine Mickelson begging his brother to stay on; Phil has always been intensely loyal and afraid of change. If Tiger blows out his back at the Hero I could see Phil making a run at Joe LaCava, as they’re buddies. At this point I think Phil wants a friend and a companion as much as anything, so if Tim gives up the job I could imagine his replacement won’t be a Tour caddie at all but someone else who is already part of the inner circle.

It doesn't matter who loops for him, he's not going to listen to them in any meaningful way.

"Are caddies athletes?" -Kevin (@CaddieKev)

Are movers?  Actually, Alan has a reasonable answer comparing them more to coaches....

Algorithms on Parade - It's kind of funny from where I sit, that despite FedEx Cups going to the likes of Bill Haas and Billy Horschel, it took the round belly nonsense to awaken the masses....  Yeah, it was a pretty stark example of the genre, but Billy Horschel for chrissakes....

The winner, Kevin Sutherland, actually had a very thoughtful comment on the controversy:

“I’ve heard a lot of (the criticism) and I guess my feeling about it is I don’t think the Schwab Cup is designed to crown who had the best season,” Sutherland said of the "season long" points race. “Obviously, Bernhard Langer did. He had an amazing year and I don’t think anybody would say because I won the Schwab Cup that that takes away from the fact that he has the best year and he’s definitely going to be Player of the Year."

That is the nature of these things these days, especially with them loving that anyone in the top five wins that last event, where the field is so small that anyone in it can win.

Over in Europe the Middle East, Sergio can't seem to contain his excitement over their Race to Dubai:

The Spaniard can end the year as Europe’s top player if he wins this week’s $8 million DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. Garcia must win and hope current No. 1

Tommy Fleetwood finishes outside the top 12, and No. 2 Justin Rose finishes fourth or worse. 

Garcia really couldn’t care less. 

“Winning the Race to Dubai is great but I’m not going to change my whole life for it,” Garcia said. “I’m happy finishing second, third or fourth or whatever.”

That'll help sell tickets....

In Other News, Sun Still Rising in the East -  An interesting study on the following subject:

Faster Green Speeds Result in Slower Pace of Play

What makes this more than a "No S**t, Sherlock" moment, is that they've quantified it:

An increase of one foot in Stimpmeter reading resulted in an increase of 6.39 seconds per 

green per player. This one foot increase equates to an increase in total round time of a foursome of 7.67 minutes. In some instances, the increase in time spent per player per green resulted in an increase of as much as 30 minutes per round for a one foot increase in green speed (25 seconds per player per green). Overall, playing experience ratings decreased as green speeds increased. This decrease, although statistically significant, was small.

In conclusion, we found that faster greens equate to longer round times. The strength of this relationship, however, is not as substantial as we had hypothesized.

I like the admission that the correlation was less than they thought, but I'll also add Geoff's take, admittedly throwing in the kitchen sink, arguing for greater significance:

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but I would disagree that the number is insignificant. 

On these findings of one foot of speed increase, greens Stimping 9 for a foursome would take 76 seconds less to play a hole than a group dealing with 12 on the Stimpmeter. Over the course of 18 holes that adds up to over 20 minutes. Throw in the added cost, stress and architectural impact, all of which do not improve the game, and the chase for speed continues to make little sense.

Of course, the battle to keep greens stimping in single digits is already lost...  And at the highest levels of our game, green speeds are one of the few tools remaining to control scoring....

But it's food for thought for sure.

Taxes and Golf -  An interesting item on a golf-related provision in the proposed tax plans being circulated, but does every single item involved have to be framed through POTUS?  

Here's a pretty good description of what's involved, a so-called easement donation:

Here’s how it works: a golf-course owner agrees to restrict development on his or her property in perpetuity, which is known as creating a conservation easement, and to donate that easement to either a land trust or a local government. He or she can continue to own the golf course. 

The property owner then gets two appraisals: one for the value of the property if it were sold on the market to the highest bidder without any restrictions on development, such as a homebuilder that would subdivide it, and the other for the property with the easement intact. The difference between those two values can be deducted from the golf course owner’s income for tax purposes. 

The laws allowing for conservation easements were meant to protect forests, farmland and other open space for the benefit of the public. Golf courses are just one of many types of land that use the easements.

Now I'd be happier if this kind of nonsense didn't exist, but it predates Trump and he's far from the only guy to take advantage of it.  

But this is the Bloomberg lede:

Republican lawmakers pushing to close dozens of tax loopholes have left open one that’s been good to President Donald Trump: the golf break.

It's a small revenue item, he's had little involvement in the drafting of these plans and there's no mention of the cost to him of eliminating the state and local tax deductions, but we can only discuss this as it relates to one person.

OK, enough for today....

Tuesday Trifles

Today will be the good, the bad and the....well, Grayson Murray.  It just uglier than that....

Venue Variations - They're giving out major championships like there's an endless supply, which is only true on the LPGA Tour.

First, came this shocking news last week:

Rory in the gloamin'

Ten years after Rory McIlroy defeated Phil Mickelson and gathering darkness to win the PGA Championship, the major championship will return to Valhalla Golf Club in 2024. 

Ted Bishop wonders why it took so long to book a return trip. 

The former president of the PGA of America, who suggested Valhalla as a permanent site for the tournament in an August essay on MorningRead.com, expressed surprise Friday that the cost benefits of staging the event at a PGA-owned facility had not prompted an earlier return date.

That picture caption is a semi-obscure baseball reference. 

The link is to the local paper, which interestingly doesn't see the need to inform its readers that the PGA of America owns Valhalla....  As Shack notes, it must have been a difficult negotiation.

Of far greater interest comes this announcement from Joe Juliano in the Philly Inquirer:

Aronimink Golf Club has been awarded a major championship on each of the world’s

predominant men’s and women’s tours — the 2027 PGA Championship and the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, sources told the Inquirer on Monday.

Aronimink officials and the PGA of America will make the formal announcement of the two majors Tuesday at the club, located in Delaware County.

The awarding of two more prestigious tournaments — majors on the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour — is a big development for Aronimink, which next September will host the BMW Championship, the third of four PGA Tour FedExCup playoff events.

The club has been in contact with the PGA and the U.S. Golf Association since the AT&T National, hosted by Tiger Woods, was held at Aronimink in 2010 and 2011. The idea of holding national events at the club became more feasible after Aronimink embarked on an extensive course restoration in October of last year.

 Now we're talking....  This is the kind of inspired choice that we'd hope to see much more of.  I'll admit that I had forgotten this history:

Officials said about 85 percent of the project was completed before work stopped in early spring, and that the entire undertaking will be completed early in 2018. 

Aronimink last hosted a PGA Championship in 1962 and waited a long time for a second one. The PGA of America named it as host of the 1993 PGA but the club pulled out of the agreement in November 1990 when it determined it could not have minorities as part of its membership by the time of the event.

That '93 event was moved to another Ross design, Inverness, and won by Paul Azinger when The Shark three-jacked in the playoff.

Even better, Shack links to this 2016 Juliano article previewing the Gil Hanse restoration, which is a mini-Master Class in golf architecture:

Over five decades, the legendary architect Donald Ross designed about 400 golf courses, but he believed that just one - Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square - deserved this

lavish praise: "I intended to make this my masterpiece, but not until today did I realize I built better than I knew," he said.

As it turned out, the Aronimink that you're accustomed to seeing, the course that hosted the AT&T National hosted by Tiger Woods in 2010 and 2011, is not exactly the one to which Ross was referring. 

The recent discovery of photographs, an aerial shot and several from ground level, from 1929 - one year after Aronimink opened at its current location - has unveiled some never-before-seen features of a Ross design that have disappeared over time. As a result, the club's membership has given approval to returning the course to that vintage look.

It's all there, from restoring lost areas to the greens to reinstating Ross' more free-flowing tee boxes....  Also, apparently, Ross' original clusters of bunkers had morphed over time into single bunkers, with all sorts of attendant drainage issues.

Here's one quick look at one of the restored greens:

How Donald Ross is that chipping area between the front bunkers and the green?  More like this, please.

Harvey Plays Golf?  Who Knew? - I know it's the Silly Season, but it should never get quite this silly:

How vulnerable are 'cart girls' to sexual harassment? Here’s one woman’s take after three years on the job

Sigh.  Mike Bamberger does his best with the subject, including a disclaimer that leads the piece.  And the girl whose story it is, 25-year old single Mom Ashley McConnell,  seems quite sensible and likable, in addition to her obvious qualifications for the gig.

But it's just an objectionable addition to the oeuvre, given it's inherent lack of importance.  We've been inundated with such stories, many of which conflate obviously disgusting behavior with the merely rude and obnoxious.  There's no need for our little corner of the world to pile on in such an obviously trivial environment.  Cart girls have a cart, duh, they can drive away from any behavior that steps over the line.  

Fewer like this, please.

Golfers On Twitter, Women and Children to the Lifeboats - Grayson Murray was born without a filter....  I know, its an evergreen for folks that blog, but is he really that divorced from reality that he can't see the obvious endpoint of his brilliant commentary?

Admittedly, the current circumstances are really quite trivial..... It's just the inability to get along with others, and by others I mean everyone else, that's such a train wreck.  So, here's the lay of the land....  Will Gray had this terribly provocative tweet:

OK....  I can see where that's sufficiently incendiary that Grayson must be heard.....  So, heard he was:

And you'll likely never be relevant, but what purpose is served by entering the fray?  And when challenged, he violates the first rule of holes:

Don't know much about history....  Maybe you're right about those guys, especially Tiger, but guys named Nicklaus, Palmer. Trevino, Watson and the like have played that Tour, and you'll not endear yourself by questioning their relevance.

There's this as well:

An invoice for sure.... For those new to Mr. Murray, here's a brief background:

Murray has on multiple occasions tried to rein in his Twitter use, usually after one of his tweets stirred up controversy and brought him unwanted attention. He has had his agent change his password; he has deactivated his account; he has made his account private.

That lasted all of ten days.  It seems the kid can play a bit, but there's something deep in his persona that causes him to pick these fights his peers.  It's OK to think that the round belly tour isn't terribly important, an opinion most of us hold.  But the world doesn't need to know what Grayson thinks on all these issues, especially when he's such a jerk.

On the other side of the pond is another Twitter spat, though we lead with this interesting header from the estimable John Huggan atGolf Digest:

Is Eddie Pepperell too smart for his own good? 

The 26-year-old Englishman has plenty of talent to become a European Tour star. If he only didn't try to outthink himself.

Worth a read on a November morning, at least until one sees this item with the following tweets:

And this:

I'm guessing you'll continue to live that beautiful life....  But as for Huggan's question, I'll go with "No".

The Euro Beat - Adam Schupak has an interesting interview with Euro-Tour majordomo Keith Pelley:

MR: What are your goals and what are your concerns for the debut of the Shot Clock Masters next year in Austria?

KP: Well, the goal is merely to see if it is a significantly betterpaced tournament with a monumental entertainment element to it. The challenge is, how would you implement it week in and week out if it is ridiculously successful? But then again, that would be a good problem to have. We're comfortable experimenting. We're also comfortable if something doesn't work. Then, we just say, ‘It didn't work.’ And that's exactly what happened when we launched our new website and app. We might have been too aggressive and ambitious in terms of what we were trying to accomplish there and maybe geared away from a little bit of the actual critical mass of the golfers that still needed this, this, this and this. So, there's a fine line, and understanding that balance is key, but not being worried about making a change or making a mistake is critical. As long as you make more right decisions than wrong decisions, you'll be OK.

That's a great attitude, especially for a minor Tour.....  I know, but we only kid because we love. 

Pelley has made the Euro Tour a fun place, quite the contrast with the mind-numbing boredom closer to home.  They've been especially aggressive with video content, this being just the most recent:

I do hope they carry malpractice insurance....  But, as Derek Lawrenson explains, even his biggest success creates issues.  In the instant case, the creation of the high-purse Rolex Series has made it more difficult for graduates of the Qualifying School to make to the season-ending event in Dubai:

In all, a record low of just three players — the others were Englishman Ashley Chesters and 2010 Ryder Cup member Edoardo Molinari — kept their cards for next season from the 30 handed out 12 months ago. 

Contrast that to the nine who kept their cards the previous year and the 12 who retained their privileges in 2015. 

Why has the success rate plummeted so alarmingly? Ironically, the prime reason is the Rolex Series: eight events that have added wealth and prestige at the top end of the European game but have skewed life horribly for those seeking to make their way who don’t gain access to them.

There far more of this in our game than folks realize, especially with the World Golf Championships.  Qualification for those events creates automatic OWGR points (small fields and no cuts) that prop up world rankings long beyond that from the actual quality of play.  And don't get me started on the Hero World Challenge, World apparently being defined as seventeen guys that Tiger likes.

Caddie GOAT - See if you think this is as silly a question as I do, from this week's Tour Confidential panel:

2. Steve Williams, who is best known for caddying for Tiger Woods from 1999-2011 (he also helped Adam Scott to his first major title in 2013), said in a recent podcast that 2018 will be his final year caddying. Where does Williams rank in the looper pantheon, and what made him so effective?

You're kidding, right? 

Apparently not....

Wood: Despite what the press may have thought about Steve as a personality, or perhaps mistakes he has made in regards to his post-Tiger career in remarks about Tiger, it’s hard not to argue he is the greatest caddie of all time.

Watch me.

Zak: I am no authority on separating the best of the best of caddies, but the guy pulled off possibly the toughest (or was it easiest?) job of all-time by caddying for Woods during the peak of his powers and popularity. That will never be fully appreciated. In times like these, I lean on the long-winded power of the man typing before me, John Wood, to tell me who is the GOAT.

Bamberger: He is by the far the most accomplished caddie of all-time. He was intense, hard-working, knowledgeable and not afraid to speak his mind. Sometimes, he should have been.

It apparently hasn't occurred to these nice folks that we have absolutely no basis for assessing their performance.  Or, rather, that the only basis, the performance of their players, is likely to be highly misleading....

And while I agree that Stevie's post-work comments shouldn't affect our judgment of his capabilities, how do we declare him the GOAT based upon his work for a black man that treated him as slave?  Just askin'....

The only thing that mitigates this silliness is that embedded in the item is a slideshow of famous player-caddie pairing, which will introduce younger readers like Grayson Murray to names like Tip Anderson, Angelo Argea and Carl Jackson.  Though I will call BS on this one:

That's of course Nancy Lopez with hubby and former third baseman Ray Knight.

Kudos for including Fanny, though her more significant pairing was with Sir Nick.  Oh, and Jeff Dolf isn't exactly a household name....

Desperate Times - Shack has a really curious item at Golfweek, which calls out for a strong editor.  It's header is grabby for sure:

Shackelford: Golf's desperate bid for attention puts game at risk

Coulda been the header for the Grayson Murray piece for sure...

Golf is not the problem. Desperation, however, is a recurring theme worth monitoring. 

Like other sports, we know the game faces issues related to its pace, scale, cost and the time constraints of modern society. The efforts to “grow,” sustain and jump-start both pro and recreational sectors are worthy given signs of a shifting modern sports landscape. And for every silly element piled onto recent European Tour gimmicks (pyrotechnics, really?), there is nothing desperate about sampling new formats to break up the monotony of 72-hole stroke play. 

But there is such a steady air of desperation to the improvement efforts that we may scare off the very people golf hopes to retain or attract. In a recent case, the desperation may have injured a top player.

OK, but that accompanying photo shows he's about to tie it into the unfortunate Stenson injury.  OK, but does this support that argument, or is it more of an admission against interest:

Pre-tournament publicity stunts have long been part of the game. The Los Angeles Open held a long-drive contest in the Coliseum during the 1940s and the Masters used to kick off the week with a downtown parade. In modern times, social-media stunts and other visual presentations are used to get people excited for tournaments and some of them, particularly European Tour videos, have perfectly toed the line between creative and fun. But it’s the nearly relentless volume of efforts meant for attention, with that unmistakable undertone of desperation, that undermines respect for the core merits of golf as a product.

These things have been done since the beginning of recorded time, but now there's what, too may of them?  It's really unfortunate that Henrik injured himself and the HSBC folks have some 'splainin' to do, but it's called marketing and it kind of works.

Geoff in this 'graph makes an important argument about institutional confidence in our game, one I make regularly when we have the ubiquitous Death of Golf items:

The sport is too sound, too time-tested and way too full of smart people to miss the point so regularly. Sure, appeal to the next generation, but don’t insult an older generation by so regularly suggesting we’ve never seen times like this. Rest on golf’s timeless laurels sometimes and consider pushing at a time when there are openings to grow the sport.

This is the proper response when we hear that loud music on the course or Foot-Golf is the salvation of our game.... Golf is timeless and appeals to the greatest athletes in the world, so a little backbone wouldn't hurt.

But he uses this argument to this effect:

Several issues have made the NFL less popular. Ratings are down, in part, because of changing perception about the NFL as a safe, sound product. The long-term prospects for the sport attracting young people look shaky. Golf, perhaps because of its genteel nature, has sat back and avoided wading into the controversy.

There was also the issue of needlessly alienating half the country....But here's his rousing coda:

Why bring negative attention to our sport – the thinking might go – by pointing out that parents ought to send their kids in golf’s direction instead of football? Yet that is the very thing golf should be doing. The health benefits of the sport are known, and outside of excess exposure to the sun or rib injuries at unnecessary photo calls, it’s a much safer alternative that can be played for a lifetime. 

Golf has survived a little of everything over 500 years and will be here for another 500. Yes, we should get the house in order on a few fronts, but the inherent values in this sport are time-tested. Let’s own this game and stop trying to sell something it is not. Let’s stop dressing golfers as Superman and suspending them in mid-air. They’re just golfers, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Methinks we're way over-reacting to one admittedly stupid promotional bit.... Chill, Geoff, we're good.