The Olympics and Golf

As many of you will know, Golf makes a reappearance in the Olympic Games in 2016. The course, yet to be built, is being designed by a wonderful architect, Gil Hanse and I'm sure his design will be fitting for an event of this magnitude. Challenges are plentiful as the land ownership of the golf course property seems still to be in dispute and getting a golf course built in Brazil will be more of a challenge than in some countries, what with permitting, machinery, staff and more. That said, it should get done and with a 4 year time frame (right now) there is plenty of time. The format is yet to be confirmed and one can only hope the governing bodies try and do something other than a 72 hole, 4 day format - but I doubt it!

As I said it is a reappearance, because golf was played in the Olympics in 1900 and 1904 when the Olympics was a different beast all together. The 1900 Games was held in Paris and the 1904 Games was held in the US in St. Louis. Originally, the US Games was awarded to Chicago, but the organizers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis would not accept another international event in the time frame. The exposition organization began to plan its own sports activities, informing the Chicago organizing committee that its own international sports events intended to eclipse the Games, unless they were moved to St. Louis. The founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, caved and awarded the games to St. Louis. What an amazing story and proof positive that Olympic politics was alive and well, even a hundred years ago!

Glen Echo Country Club (still in existence today) was the venue and 77 golfers from 2 countries (USA and Canada) competed for the medals. The individual winner was George Lyon from Canada who defeated Chandler Egan in a matchplay final, following a 36 hole qualifier.  There was also a team competition that awarded gold, silver and bronze. The winners of all 3 of those medals was the USA! That's right, the only teams competing were American and the winners of the gold medal were 10 guys from The Western Golf Association. Great stuff!

Seeing how the 2016 golf format plays out will be fascinating and we will follow the design and construction with great interest. Once the London Olympics are over on August 12, the golf debate will no doubt begin in earnest. In the meanwhile, Enjoy London!

Appearance Fees in Professional Golf...and Brad Pitt

Many people are getting in a flap about tournaments paying appearance fees to high profile players. The conversation began in earnest again last week with Tiger and Phil both playing (briefly!) in Jim Justice's Greenbrier Classic. Shock, horror, Mr. Justice paid them both to come and play and, as we all know, there is no appearance money paid on the PGA Tour. Every commissioner since the Tour officially began in 1975 has confirmed that this deplorable act never happened on the hallowed turf of PGA Tour events. Really, is that right? So Sam Snead, in 1945, just happened to be in Gulfport the same week as the tournament, opening a car dealership: Luke Donald, wearing an RBC patch plays in each of their events just because he is an RBC ambassador...what a coincidence!

The facts are, using a cinematic reference, if you want Brad Pitt in your movie what do you do? That's right you speak to his agent, send him the script and contractually pay him a large amount of money in the hope that you will get a return on your investment. Professional sports, including golf have been no different since athletes turned professional. If you want the best you pay for the best. In a past life, I used to run the commercial operations for Tour events in Europe and the PGA Tour and I have personal experience of these situations - it's in the budget.

So, all Mr. Justice was doing was the same as every Tournament Director would do (if they had access to similar funds), by paying players who have "draw" and sell tickets, hospitality and 30 second TV units. It's just business - happens on every tour in the world - always has done, always will do. So spare me the "golf is above paying appearance fees" rhetoric and take what you hear from Ponte Vedra with a grain of salt. The Brooks Brothers shirts there know what goes on and have been beneficiaries of this free market for decades.

Golf and Customer Service - De Vere - Oh Dear!

Having just returned from an extended trip to the UK, it gave me the opportunity to see how golf service levels were on the other side of the Pond. You can read about the majority of the trip at Golf Purist here. There was one more round to play with my Dad, brother and nephew before heading home to D.C. and that was at a typical semi private club in the middle of the country. The club, Belton Woods is near Grantham, Lincolnshire and is owned and operated by De Vere Hotels. The round reminded me of the great Seinfeld episode with the rental car - remember the one where Jerry says "You can take the reservation, but you can't hold the reservation". We teed off as planned at 0720 on the Lakes Course and all was proceeding well until our game was rudely interrupted by an officious guy saying "You shouldn't be on this course - your reservation was on the other course". We told him when and on which course the reservation was made and he said and I quote "That's impossible, the tee was blocked off for a competition from 0700". Really, so the 2 groups in front of us were also making it up were they?  I would note we were in position and keeping well in front of the group behind us. So Mr. Obnoxious drove off, clearly not happy. Amazingly, he returned 2 holes later to continue to harang us with the same story and this time was even more vociferous in his defence of the computer booking system (which couldn't possibly be wrong!).

Anyway, thanks De Vere and your rude, inefficient (and incorrect) staff for ruining our golf game. If this is your way of dealing with paying customers, it's little wonder rounds are down! Suggestion of the day - Get a copy of Six Sigma and pass it around!

Slow Play - The curse of the game and 5 culprits

Our 8-man buddy trip is coming up next month to London and Scotland. Finally, I have convinced the boys that London has such great golf that we would be crazy once again to suffer the agonies of Heathrow without the ecstasy of golf in the wonderful heath land to the west and south of the capital of the old country. The classic heather strewn courses are too numerous to mention and we have several of these on our plan - St. Georges Hill, Walton Heath Old, Sunningdale Old. It should be a treat. Then it's off to Scotland for The Old Course, Muirfield, and North Berwick (pictured above).
That all sounds great, but what's the point of this blog, other than to name drop? Well, the point is this, on several days we are playing 36 holes and although the tee times are not set in stone at most British clubs we will have no problem playing 36 holes on these world class courses. Sadly the same cannot be said for many of courses I have encountered in the US where 4 1/2 to 5 hours has become the norm. The reasons are numerous so let's take a look at a few and ponder why the US golfer has slowed to a crawl and yet British golfers simply hit the ball and when it stops, hit it again! Here are 5 of the main culprits.

1. Carts. A dreadful invention and used by able-bodied people who should know better. Golf is a game for walking, not driving. If you have a medical reason, no problem, but kids and anyone who can walk should walk. I see more carts moving sideways or backwards here than I see moving forward! Players driving over to see their opponents ball, or if "cart paths only" are in operation taking one club out to their ball only to return 2 minutes later for another!

2. Electronic devices. Regular readers will know I would like to blow these all up or have a large receptacle by the first tee for them. It would be just like going through the airport and the golf equivalent of the TSA would ask you to dispose of your electronic yardage device - you know it doesn't help anyway and they just add time to the round. "Jerry, you have 167 yards and not 169 yards" (as we thought by looking in a yardage book) - oh, let me take that couple of yards off my 6 iron swing! I don't think so and you took 2 minutes to make your mind up and hit it 130 yards!

3. Watching golf on television. The Brits watch golf too, but for some reason the excruciatingly slow play on the professional tours seems to have had a more negative effect on US amateur golfers than their foreign counterparts. The question is when will the tours actually try and speed up the game and stop pretending that 5 hours is acceptable. Go on, fine someone a shot and see what that does - money won't get it done, but shots will. The American Junior Golf Association has been proactive by introducing a "Pace of Play Program" for their young, aspiring College players - the tours should take a leaf out of the AJGA's book and follow suit, so guys like Webb Simpson, Jonathan Byrd and Ben Crane get a move on!

4. Drinks carts. Don't have 'em in the UK and the only reason they exist in the US is to generate revenue. A noble idea for sure, but just one more thing that holds up play. A bunch of old dudes chatting up the 19-year-old cart girl is no reason to add 15 minutes to the round. Fellas, she is not interested!

5. Keeping score. Stop it now! This is supposed to be fun! If it's inside the leather pick it up and move on. In the UK, 99% of golf is matchplay and it's the major reason that golf keeps moving. I don't need to be waiting 230 yards away watching you putting out for a 7... I'll give you a 6 if you pick it up and get out of the way! Think Chevy Chase in Caddyshack and measure your performance by height!

Bubba - The Natural

Bubba Watson's victory at the Masters was a win for the old school. His self taught, natural way to play golf is refreshing in the world of overwrought swing coaches. He gets up and hits it, then he finds it and hits it again! And as he proved with his shot of the tournament wedge on the second playoff hole, it doesn't really matter to him if it is deep in the trees. (Yes, of course Louis' albatross on the second hole of regular play was majestic, but it was early in the round and the tournament wasn't yet on the line). We were happy to include him a week ago in our picks to win and he did manage to stay with it for 72 holes - actually 74 holes as it turned out. (we were wrong about a European victory, but you can't win them all!) So congratulations to Bubba and his pure talent and natural swing - let's hope it encourages some young people to explore the game with their unique swings and not have it coached out of them.

Phil, Masters Champ and Masters Fan

The opportunity to see "The Big 3" tee off was just too great to miss and along with thousands of other golf fans, 3 time Masters Champion, Phil Mickelson was there. Not only did he get to experience The King, The Golden Bear and The Black Knight hit their tee shots, but once again Phil proved that he is the people's champ...and the Master when it comes to PR. No other green coated players showed up and it was fully 6 hours before Phil teed it up, so he really made the effort and it didn't go unnoticed by the patrons or the members. Good on you Phil!

T minus 6 days to The Masters and a European victory

The anticipation is probably greater this year than for any Masters Tournament in a decade. The leading lights are all playing well and this year's PGA Tour has had many great finishes by a very strong contingent all looking to make their mark.

The resurgent Woods is the Vegas and British bookies favorite, followed closely by Phil, Rory, Lee, Luke and Justin. It's hard to see past that posse of first names, although we'll try. How about Charl to defend?,  Bubba to focus for all 72 holes?, Webb to hit a shot within the allotted 2 minutes?.  That said we still like the European players to challenge and ultimately prevail. The last European winner was Jose-Maria Olazabal in 1999 and it's time for another to step up and Charl to hand over the jacket.

On the golf course front, it will be in its usual perfect condition and you can expect to hear about the changes to the front of the 8th green and back of the 16th green. It's tough to tell from the picture above, but the back right quadrant of the 16th seems to have been flattened out giving enough room for a pin back there. I'm not saying its easy! - this remains one of the easiest 3 putts out there - I can testify to that!

European Tour players win again on the PGA Tour and Tim isn't happy!

You know Mr. Finchem isn't happy! For the first time ever, another interloper from Europe won on the insular PGA Tour, making it 3 wins in a row. This time it was Luke Donald winning in a 4-man play off at The Transitions. Last week it was Justin Rose's great win at the dreadfully named World Golf Championship - Cadillac Championship (one "Championship" in the title is sufficient!) and the week before that the media's new one word darling, Rory, at the new and improved Honda.
I have dug around on the PGA Tour website and can't find another instance of 3 of Mr. O' Grady's men winning 3 in a row, so this is great news for the European Tour and confirms my belief that The Masters Tournament trophy is once again heading west to Europe. Six of the top 8 in the Official World Golf Rankings are from the European Tour, including defending champ, Charl Schwartzel (who is also on top form). Only Webb Simpson and Steve Stricker represent the US in the elite 10. The countdown is on for Augusta, with CBS and the Golf Channel upping the promos to extraordinary levels - only 2 weeks to go before we once again get to see the green, green grass of GA.

2012 - A Mixed Bag of Majors Venues

As always, the season starts in April at Augusta National and The Masters Tournament. The golf course is completely different from that laid out my Messrs Jones and MacKenzie back in the 30’s, but it is still captivating both in person and on television. I was very fortunate to spend an overnight there recently and the golf course was in its usual perfect condition. I spotted a couple of minor changes including “softened” 7th and 16th greens. Both will have more accessible pin positions - that treacherous 16th hole top right pin looks like it will be a tad easier for the pros – I still three putted, so what do I know!

Onto the U.S. Open in June and Olympic Club. Now I haven’t played the golf course, but having seen it and played the other great courses in San Francisco – it may be the third best golf course in the city – after The Cal Club and San Francisco Golf Club. The Lakes Course, designed by Sam Whiting and (redesigned by RTJ Sr.) has a history of unexpected winners.  From Jack Fleck in 1955 , Billy Casper in 1966, Scott Simpson in 1987 through to Payne Stewart’s loss to Lee Janzen in 1998 the golf course does strange things to those leading at the end of round 3.  That said, they do have one of the great logos in golf! (see above)

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club was founded in 1886 and the actual Open venue constructed in 1897. It has hosted ten Open Championships, two Ryder Cups and several other major tournaments. It happens to be one of my least favorite Open venues despite all of the drama that has happened there over the years. The stories are legendary - from Bobby Jones having to pay to enter the event after leaving his player badge behind and not being recognized at the gate, Seve’s magic around the greens and the car park in 1979 and 1988 with Woosie having one driver too many in 2001. All great stuff, but it’s not a golf course to love – the houses around the golf course are intrusive and Colt’s improvements and the subsequent R & A tweaking have done nothing to endear the golf course to the hearts of most players.

And finally on to the magnificent Ocean Course at Kiawah for the final major of the year. (PGA of America – please stop with “Glory’s Last Shot”). I first played Kiawah after the 1991 Ryder Cup and it was hands down the hardest golf course in America – we played off the secret tees making the golf course over 8,000 aided by 210cc metal woods and I may not have broken 90! In 1997 I was the Commercial Director at The World Cup, won by the Irish team of Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley and the course was considerably easier than at the Ryder Cup. Since that time the magnificent Sanctuary has been built, the 18^th improved by moving it closer to the ocean and the rest of the golf course made more playable for the average resort guest. Don’t get me wrong, when the wind blows at The Ocean, it is as good as it gets and a whole lot of fun to boot!  It will be a fitting golf course to end to the Majors season. 

Thoughts from "The Show"

I have just returned from Orlando, where the weather was predictable, the food at International Drive restaurants better than ever (no, really) and the food inside the cavernous hall impossibly bad and expensive. And quite why Reed Exhibitions and the Convention Center still seem incapable of providing more than 16 chairs for the 42,000 visitors to sit down is still a mystery. Okay, enough of the rant - It was a great show!

There was a real buzz around the hall this year and that augers well for the forthcoming golf season. There were really 2 shows this year. Nine hundred and ninety nine exhibitors were in the aircraft hanger know as Orange County Convention Center and TaylorMade Adidas Golf were in a "booth" that was big enough to have its own zip code. Once inside the TMaG extravaganza, having been scanned (actually Compuserv did a first class job of misprinting 90% of the badges, so I doubt anyone was scanned correctly!) visitors were treated to a veritable feast of fun golf activities and shopping opportunities. Mark King, the CEO of TMaG was clearly making a statement about the company's intentions for the year and he is continuing to build off the stellar year of the white R11 driver. Although I don't like the Rocketballz name (I do like RBZ) the 3 wood, hybrid and driver are great looking and at a $100-$150 cheaper price point than the R11 they are going to shift container loads of them.

On the cool products side I saw a hosts of good things including the TRUE Linkswear shoes, Callaway copper finish wedges, G-Fore golf gloves, Smathers and Branson belts and hats, Seamus Golf headcovers and new designs of Tin Cups.

Of course I also saw the usual array of products worthy of a spot on "the ridiculist"- a piece of cloth you stick on your head to stop sweat getting onto your golf cap, a golf tee that you stick in the ground and then unscrew to the correct height, a rubber mat with a logo that you jump up and down on to make a logo in the bunker. It will be surprising if any of these will be at the 2013 show and yet one has to admire the spirit and passion with which these inventors enter the golf business.

Let's hope the buzz at this years show continues through the sell in to the trade and to the season's real opener in April!