Over the Green

Former technical director of the USGA, Frank Thomas, told me several years ago the average golfer is deluding himself about how far he hits his tee shots. When asked, most will answer a typical blast travels in the 225-yard (or better!) range.

Thomas however had done a study which showed the average was under 200-yards so, aside from the potential ego inflation benefits from not being truthful with himself or his fellow linksters, our average weekend warrior sets himself up for several hours of frustration, interminable playing times and possible financial loss. This is presumably why a club professional of my acquaintance says many of his lessons are not so much in swing mechanics but anger management.

A few months ago another solon of the game, Barney Adams, suggested one of the ways to attack the no-growth problem golf faces was to make the game more fun. No, not with bikinied caddy girls or windmills on par-3s, but by shortening the time spent and letting the average hacker do his hacking thing but still have a good time.

Among Adams suggestions was to have everyone play a shorter course or if you normally play from 7000-yards, move up to say 6700. Adams assumed the average drive was between 205- and 230-yards (different than the Thomas study but the principle is the same) and therefore some 70-yards shorter than elite players such as those on the PGA Tour. This means with 14 non-par-3 holes in a round the average players is giving up at least 70 times 14 or roughly 1000-yards not counting the distance advantage pros have with their iron play.

Put another way it’s like the pros attempting to play an 8000-yard course each week. Ridiculous you say? But, that what recreational players are doing almost every round.

Now in what may be a minor miracle golf’s two premier organizations, the USGA and the PGA of America (who don’t see eye to eye very often), are cooperating in a program named Tee it Forward and pushing for all golfers to try a shorter set of tees based on the distance they drive the ball. The request is only for a limited time, July 5 through July 17, and is meant to serve as an experiment for golfers to use tees more suited for their game and ability.

As the press release put it, “With TEE IT FORWARD, golfers can potentially speed up play and have more fun by utilizing tees that provide the greatest playability and enjoyment.”

There’s even a chart showing guidelines for 18-hole yardage:
Driver Distance Recommended 18 Hole Yardages
PGA Tour Pro……7,600 – 7,900
300………………..7,150 – 7,400
275………………..6,700 – 6,900
250………………..6,200 – 6,400
225………………..5,800 – 6,000
200………………..5,200 – 5,400
175………………..4,400 – 4,600
150………………..3,500 – 3,700
125………………..2,800 – 3,000
100………………..2,100 – 2,300

This seems like a neat idea and definitely worth a try.
Who knows it night catch on because its makes golf faster and more fun.

Kyle Phillips has worked mostly in Europe

If one thinks about the greatest golf course architects of the modern era the list would probably contain names such as Doak, Dye, Fazio, Hills, Jones and Jones II and plus perhaps players turned architect like Palmer, Nicklaus and Norman.

However there’s one more name which should be included, Californian Kyle Phillips. Who is Kyle Phillips, you say? American golfers are not familiar with the name nor the courses Phillips has to his credit but the list is impressive…it’s just most of them are outside the U.S. MORE…

Bobby Jones described Pinehurst as, “the St. Andrews of United States golf,” and the best known venue in this small North Carolina village is Pinehurst Resort, home to Donald Ross’ famous Course No. 2.

No. 2 has been the site for many epic golf battles and for more than 100 years host to the North-South Championship, the second most prestigious amateur event after the U.S. Open. Jones, Nelson, Snead, Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus and virtually every other member of the Hall of Fame competed over the Ross layout while in modern times there is the memory of Payne Stewart’s emotional 1999 U.S. Open victory four months before his death.

Ross lived in the Village of Pinehurst and considered No. 2 his favorite course continuing to tweak and tinker the design from its opening in 1907 until the end of his life in 1948. MORE…

Yesterday’s AP story concerning statements by Proctor & Gamble chief executive officer Bob McDonald to the effect their Gillette division won’t be using Tiger Woods as a spokesman any time soon, if ever again, prompted a question in my mind about some of the other high profile business deals in which Woods has an interest.

At the top of the list are the three residential real estate developments Woods has a contract to design golf courses; one in Dubai, one in North Carolina and one in Mexico.

Starting in Dubai, the course is reportedly fully designed and engineered but only construction of the first nine has been completed. The world wide real estate meltdown has postponed the Dubai Properties Group development although an interview on Bloomberg.com with the CEO indicates there are no immediate plans to finish either the course or the development.

The High Carolina development, which is part of the Cliffs Communities company and the site of another Woods design, is looking for funding along with the other Cliffs properties. The search is centering on residents and propertiy owners says the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times. “Cliffs Communities is trying to raise $60 to $100 million, and it has sent letters to its members (an estimated 2,400 at six different developments in North and South Carolina, including High Carolina, where Tiger Woods is building a golf course) to see if they would like to contribute.”

The newest Woods contracted course is an hour south of San Diego and named Punta Brava. The San Diego Union-Tribune says ground breaking will be in 2010 with a 2012 opening, two years later than originally projected with a long permitting process blamed.

So Woods may be out of sight but the courses he is contracted to design are not looking especially healthy either.

Finally, Accenture Plc, who was among the first to fire Woods after the revelations of his misconduct has emphatically stated they will not rehire him, now or in the future. Of course, it’s only a coincidence this came to light after Woods chose to use last Friday, day three of the Accenture March Play Championship, to make his televised appearance thus upstaging all the tournament news for the day and the week.

A PR photo of Nicklaus from a few years ago that's been a favorite.

Jack Nicklaus, nicknamed “Ohio Fats” when he turned pro in 1960 and challenged the reigning king of golf Arnold Palmer, is 70 years old today. He won’t officially celebrate until tomorrow though as he’s on Christmas Island on a fishing trip and to save you looking it up, Christmas Island is in the Indian Ocean south of Jakarta, Indonesia.

His nickname soon morphed to the “Golden Bear” or now days even the “Olden Bear” but his accomplishments in tournament golf have never been matched and without question Nicklaus was the most dominant player of his era; maybe even of all time.

This won’t be a recital of his tournament wins, although as a refresher his first was the 1962 U.S. Open and his last the 1986 Masters, but a couple of other pertinent facts. He will join his long time friend and competitor Palmer as honorary starter at the Masters in April, a fitting sentimental gesture for the millions of golf fans who will watch in person or on TV.

Secondly Nicklaus and his wife Barbara celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in July. He always has made no secret of the fact to him family would be first before golf or for that matter his global business interests. Without becoming too maudlin this says as much about the man and his character as anything possibly could.

So from someone who has admired you and had a couple of cracking good interviews with you, thanks and Happy Birthday Jack.

The Pete Dye course at French Lick Resort in southern Indiana has been named by Golf Digest in the January issue as “Best New Public Course.”
“As we began the journey some four and a half years ago, we never imagined that golf at French Lick would become so highly acclaimed, and recognized both regionally and nationally, in such a short timeframe,” said Dave Harner, French Lick Resort’s director of golf. “Great things happen when you combine the efforts of three visionaries Bill Cook, Steve Ferguson, and Pete Dye.”

The Dye course according to Golf Digest’s Ron Whitten is “a stark, treeless, wind-swept concoction by octogenarian Pete Dye, the Gandolf wizard of course design.”

Golf Digest annually surveys a panel of 950 golfers for its best new survey. Rating is done assessment of shot values, design variety, resistance to scoring, memorability, and aesthetics.

Designer and namesake Pete Dye said he was pleased upon receiving notice his course had been awarded best-of-the-best. This is the fifth of his designs to win this award. Dye noted that designing the course on such a severe, hilly landscape was challenging but a lot of fun.

Dye said, “I made more than 140 trips there and I walked that course 40 to 50 times,” he said. “As I built the golf course I tried to get the tees, the fairways, and the greens in position that they have these long views over the valleys and hills. A lot of southern Indiana is natural forest, a lot of it is state owned, so you can see for miles. The ambience of the course is the look, the vistas from all the different tees, greens, and fairways.”

The Pete Dye course edged out some of America’s best new golf courses including, Palouse Ridge at Washington State University; Tetherow Golf Club, Bend, Ore.; Pound Ridge Golf Club, New York; and Blue Top Ridge Golf Club in Iowa; which rounded out the top five.

To read of your editor’s visit to the Dye course click here…

“Unique” is an overworked word but the FarmLinks Golf Club at Pursell Farms is unique. It’s a one-of-a-kind, award winning golf experience far from the maddening crowd located in rural Fayetteville, Alabama south of Birmingham.

FarmLinks opened in 2003 and the Hurdzan-Fry design has had rave reviews ever since. On a huge site (just over 3,500 acres) they built a very challenging five tee set layout that can be stretched back to a professional length of 7,444-yards. More…

A fall out of the Dubai government financial problems is the already troubled Tiger Wood Dubai project is in even more trouble. Opening of the first golf course designed by Woods was delayed last summer when Tatweer, the government-owened development company, first admitted there were problems. One hopes Woods got his supposed $25 million design fee up front ‘cause the likelihood of any more money coming to him or the course ever opening are growing dimmer.

I had heard about Limestone Springs in northern Alabama so was eagerly looking forward to a visit and found once off the interstate the drive gave a prelude to the Appalachian Mountains foothill terrain cradling the course.

Located outside of the town of Oneonta, north of Birmingham, Limestone Springs opened in 1999. General Manager Buster Inman is in charge and oversees each aspect of the customer-centered operation. The Limestone Springs experience runs right from a staff member’s welcoming smile to the wait staffs quick attention when stopping in the grille for an after round drink. And the grille by the way, offers a knockout view of the closing hole.

Former U.S. Open champion Jerry Pate designed Limestone Springs and like most of his designs it has a natural look, not contrived, following the contours of the hill sides and valleys. Keeping with this natural theme and since this is an inland, hilly course sand is not a major feature – there are only 36 bunkers – rock outcroppings, trees, and various water hazards are much more prominent. More…

In a report by Alex Miceli on GolfWeek.com, Jack Nicklaus, long a proponet of “reining in the golf ball,” made an interesting comment. Basically the Golden Bear’s thesis is the USGA by declaring box grooves nonconforming has forced pros into playing a softer cover ball in order to regain control of shots into the green. A ball with a softer cover spins more hence more control but also probably means a loss of distance and more side spin (hook/slice).

If you have been studiously avoiding the whole issue and want a quick update, here is a link to a cloumn that will help.
http://frontpagegolf.com/News/SoNowitsGrooves0909.html

Nicklaus is agreeing with the USGA, making the game more difficult is good and rolling back technology as it applies to golf equipment is a way to achieve the desired result of controlling driving distance which they insist has made some of the “great old courses” obsolete. A commendable desire to be sure but a similar argument has been made a number of times over the years; in fact every time golf balls or clubs have broken new ground in construction or design. Don’t believe it? Look back at the dire predictions of the games’ demise written when the gutty ball was replaced by the rubbery or when steel first started showing up in shafts instead of hickory.

The USGA/Nicklaus position also ignores the introduction of graphite shafts and titanium for driver heads not to mention better agronomic practices allowing firmer fairways giving more roll to tee shots or the much better physical fitness level of of today’s touring professionals. Of course it’s acknowledged the USGA’s really wanted to control driving distance by altering the allowed performance characteristics of drivers. And it’s not that they didn’t try with restrictions on C.O.R., shaft length and head size. But as Miceli points out that’s just asking to be sued.

Driving distance on the PGA Tour is down the past few years after the initial jump when soft covered (Urethane) multi-layer balls were brought out by Acushnet with the ProV1. Increased distance from the tee also doesn’t seem to resulted in lower scoring averages on Tour but every golfer knows scoring is dependent on putting, which is an entirely different skill than driving.

But the oddest part about this whole discussion is the USGA view an almost hysterical insistance what a tiny number of professionals do, should drive the Rules of Golf for the rest of golfers.