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Morning 9: Perspectives on Saudi tourney | Why do we care about the Rules of Golf? | Money shoe

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By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])

January 30, 2019

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans.
1. USGA Distance Report
Released yesterday, the USGA/R&A’s 2018 Annual Driving Distance Report analyzes driving-distance data from the seven men’s and women’s pro golf tours worldwide (PGA Tour, European Tour, LPGA Tour, Web.com Tour, PGA Tour Champions, Japan Golf Tour, and Ladies’ European Tour).
  • The fourth edition of the report found “driving distances on these seven tours increased by an average of 1.7 yards, beyond the previous year’s gain of more than 3 yards.”
  • Traditionally, driving distance is measured on two holes at each event. Across the seven tours, this equals more than 200,000 shots.
  • On the PGA Tour, the report found an increase of 3.6 yards on the holes where official driving distance was measured and a 1.8-yard uptick when all tee shots were factored in.
  • In accordance with the 2002 Joint Statement of Principles, the USGA and R&A stated their “commitment to ensure that skill is the dominant element of success throughout the game,” and pledged to keep close tabs on driving distance figures in professional golf.
  • According to the organizations, the 2018 report will be evaluated alongside data gathered in the Distance Insights project, which was launched in May of 2018.
  • Those involved with the project are expected to deliver an update during the first quarter of 2019.
2. “Tarred by hypocrisy”
Paul Hayward of Stuff pulls no punches in his indictment of those teeing it up in Saudi Arabia this week, the European Tour for organizing the event, and even we the viewing public for tuning in.
  • Here, he quotes Brandel Chamblee…”It is a PR stunt. Non-participation – and I applaud Paul Casey – in some marginal way makes a statement about human rights. By participating, [the players] are ventriloquists for this abhorrent, reprehensible regime.”
  • “Among the “ventriloquists” are Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Johnson, who said in a plug for the event (have your sick bucket ready): “It’s an honour to be part of Saudi Arabia’s golf journey from the onset.” Pressed by reporters, Johnson has also said: “I’m going over there to play a sport I’m paid to play. It’s my job to play golf. Unfortunately, it’s in a part of the world where most people don’t agree with what happened, and I definitely don’t support anything like that.”
  • “Good to know the former world No 1 does not “agree with” murder and dismemberment. Smiles will be fixed, the players will play and everyone will go home richer. At least, some will say, the discussion was had.”
  • “Except that it was not. One part of it was, but the myopia that allows us to suddenly alight on one small corner of the picture while ignoring everything around it is fully in play here.”
And this…”Since the start of the war in Yemen, the UK has licensed at least US$4.7 billion (NZ$6.9 billion) in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and stands with the US as a prop to a regime now inviting the world for a few rounds of golf.”
  • “My point is, yes, the field for the Saudi International has dollar signs in its eyes, but the pact signed by these players is agreed to just about every day in international sport. In the summer, England contested a World Cup in a country accused of poisoning people in Salisbury with Novichok.”
  • “This is not whataboutery or moral relativism. For us to attach moral burdens to golfers is fair only if our own governments and societies are doing everything possible to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, halting arms sales and defending human rights in Saudi Arabia.”
  • “We are doing nothing of the sort. We are complicit – for the money.”
3. Why we care…
David Owen pens a piece for the New Yorker on why we care (and why we don’t) about the new Rules
  • A taste…”Golf tournaments have officials, too, but their role is mainly advisory; the golfers are responsible for policing themselves, and, to a remarkable extent, they really do. The most famous example occurred during the U.S. Open in 1925, when Bobby Jones called a penalty on himself for an infraction that only he had observed: his ball, he said, had moved slightly when he addressed it in the rough. His honesty possibly cost him the title, but he dismissed those who applauded him: “You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank as praise him for playing by the rules.” By contrast, a running back who didn’t try to steal an extra foot by sliding the ball downfield after being tackled would be considered almost negligent. Robey-Coleman, to his credit, said, after the game, that he should have been called for pass interference. But, in football, what a player does matters only if it matters to a referee.”
  • “Not that golfers don’t cheat. There’s an old joke about a weekend player who is so accustomed to fudging his score that when he one day makes a hole-in-one he marks it on his scorecard as a zero. Nevertheless, even at the recreational level-and certainly on the tour-when golfers break rules it’s usually not because they’re trying to get away with something but because they don’t know what they’re doing. The rules of golf are hard even for rules officials to keep straight. Every few years, the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews address confusions, anachronisms, and other issues by revising the rulebook, which they’ve published jointly since 1952. Sometimes the changes make things better, and sometimes they make things worse. The 2019 revision, which was unusually extensive, does both.”
4. Brooks doesn’t get slow play
Speaking on Golf Monthly’s podcast to Michael Weston, Koepka was asked about his thoughts on the criticism DeChambeau and other players have received for slow play. The three-time major winner did not sugarcoat his response.
  • “I just don’t understand how it takes a minute and 20 seconds, a minute and 15 to hit a golf ball; it’s not that hard,” Koepka told Weston. “It’s always between two clubs; there’s a miss short, there’s a miss long. It really drives me nuts especially when it’s a long hitter because you know you’ve got two other guys or at least one guy that’s hitting before you so you can do all your calculations; you should have your numbers. Obviously if you’re the first guy you might take ten extra seconds, but it doesn’t take that long to hit the ball, especially if it’s not blowing 30. If it’s blowing 30 I understand taking a minute and taking some extra time with some gusts, you know changing just slightly, I get that but if it’s a calm day there’s no excuse.
  • “Guys are already so slow it’s kind of embarrassing. I just don’t get why you enforce some things and don’t enforce others.”
5. Meanwhile…
Via Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…
  • “It’s actually quite impressive that we’re able to get all that stuff done in 45 seconds; people don’t realize that it’s very difficult to do everything we do in 45 seconds,” DeChambeau told reporters Tuesday at the inaugural Saudi International. “I think that anybody that has an issue with it, I understand, but we’re playing for our livelihoods out here, and this is what we want to do. If we want to provide the best entertainment for you, it’s part of our process, or it’s part of my process, at least.”
  • “DeChambeau concedes that he’s slower than many of his peers because “they have loads of experience that I haven’t necessarily had, so I have to find another way to be just as consistent as them without the experience.” He believes that once he grows more accustomed to some of the courses – it was just his second time playing the event in Dubai, for instance – his process will be quicker.  “
  • “DeChambeau said that he was put on the clock last week, and that it’s a common occurrence. “We’re put on the clock almost every week,” he said. It doesn’t affect him, however, because he’s “used to it now.”
  • “We try and speed up,” he said. “Trust me, we do our due diligence to speed up and do our best. We’re not trying to slow anyone down. I’m not trying to slow anyone down. It’s just a part of the process, and unfortunately the Rules of Golf allow for a certain amount of time, and we’re used it to our fullest potential.”
6. Hometown Phil
Excellent stuff from John Davis for the Arizona Republic, syndicated to Golfweek…
  • “He was just a lanky, 18-year-old freshman at Arizona State when he made his debut in the Phoenix Open with modest fanfare 30 years ago, but what Phil Mickelson has done for the event since then has “put it on the map” in the view of some organizers.”
  • “Mickelson, who will tee it up for a record 30th time in the Waste Management Phoenix Open this week, first appeared at TPC Scottsdale in 1989, which was just the third event to be played at that venue after a rich history at Phoenix Country Club.”
  • “Later that year, he would win the first of his three NCAA championships, but at the Phoenix Open he wasn’t widely recognized beyond the ASU fans who began to gather at the now-famous 16th hole to cheer him on.”
7. Jarrod Lyle monument
ABC Report…”Lyle’s unforgettable hole-in-one on the iconic 16th hole at the Phoenix Open is to be honoured with a memorial on the TCP Scottsdale golf course.”
  • “Lyle, who died last year after choosing to end his ongoing leukemia treatment, had the 15,000-strong crowd in the stadium that lines the famous par-three hole on their feet with his ace during the second round of the 2011 tournament.”
  • “It was the popular Australian’s first hole-in-one during his professional career and he took off his cap and celebrated hard with the raucous crowd.”
8. No. 5 lengthened
Golf Digest’s Alex Myers…”In the tournament’s media guide, which was released on Tuesday, the par-4 fifth hole is listed at 495 yards. Previously, it was listed as 455 yards on the scorecard.”
  • “No. 5 is an interesting hole to lengthen considering it’s played as the course’s fifth-most difficult hole in tournament history. Although 455 yards isn’t long by today’s standards, the uphill dogleg left around a pair of cavernous bunkers always played longer than the number, and was still the sixth-most difficult hole at last year’s Masters with a 4.16 scoring average.”
  • “It is a 313-yard (uphill) carry over the bunkers.” Translation: Good luck hitting it over the bunkers.”
9. Money shoe
Andrew Tursky details new Nike releases for the Phoenix Open. Beyond the grass shoe we’ve already highlighted, there’s a money-covered sole on one of the models…
  • Per a Nike rep…”Sunday is payday for golfers, so we took shredded money and melted it into the outsole. This is not real money … our original had real money and then we went back and forth with legal, eh probably not a good idea. So we have an image of shredded money, shredded, and then we put that on there.”
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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Ed

    Jan 30, 2019 at 1:17 pm

    To hell with the wahhabists. Biggest state sponsor of te_rr_or_ism in the world. Why are they even remotely a western ally. Oh yea. Petrodollar.

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News

Morning 9: Wyndham Clark on back injury | DiMarco’s bold Champions Tour take | Houston Open photos

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By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: [email protected]

Good Thursday morning, golf fans, as day one of the Houston Open gets underway.

1. Wyndham Clark hurts back…still hopes to play

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach…”Reigning U.S. Open winner Wyndham Clark injured his back while working out at home Monday, but he hopes to play in this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open, which starts Thursday at Memorial Park Golf Course.”

  • “Clark, the fourth-ranked golfer in the world, said he was lifting weights and “got caught in an awkward spot doing a lift and [his] back went.”
  • “It’s not something that happens regularly, but it happened and you live and you learn,” Clark said. “I’m trending in the right direction. I’m hitting it or feeling stronger and more mobile every day. I’m going to give it my best effort tomorrow and hopefully I can play and compete. If not, I’ve got to get ready for tournaments to come after this.”
Full piece.

2. DiMarco’s bold Champions Tour take

Our Matt Vincenzi…”While speaking on the Subpar podcast, former PGA Tour winner and current PGA Tour Champions player Chris DiMarco said he hopes LIV buys the Champions Tour.”

  • “We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour,” he said.
  • “Let’s play for a little real money out here. I mean this is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2 million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC (Sawgrass, at the $25 million PLAYERS Championship) that made more money than our purses.”
Full piece.

3. Charley Hull’s course management problem?

Our Matt Vincenzi…”Charley Hull came just short of her third LPGA Tour victory over the weekend at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship when she played her last two holes at 3 over to slip all the way to 10th on the leaderboard.”

  • “After the round, Hull was blasted by Sky Sports commentator and former LPGA Tour player Trish Johnson for her lack of golf course management.”
  • “While speaking on the Sky Sports Golf podcast, Johnson spoke harshly of Hull.”
  • “I’m probably her harshest critic, because I know how good she is. She doesn’t win anywhere near enough for her talent, and she doesn’t get involved enough, in all honestly.
  • “The thing with Charley is that you’re never going to change her. I read something the other day that said how much she loves the game and it’s her love of the game [that costs her]. She’s never going to change and she’s just going to go for every pin.
  • “In theory that’s great, but it won’t win you golf tournaments, it just won’t because she’s not that much better than anybody else.
Full piece.

4. Sahith’s interesting idea

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”Which brings Theegala to his big idea: “There’s got to be something, like a fan challenge or – I think it would be awesome to see a scratch handicap go out and play like the Monday after a tournament, keep the same conditions and see what they would shoot just to put it into perspective how hard a PGA Tour golf course is.”

  • “Theegala loves the thought so much that he’d even come out and watch.”
  • “Shoot, I’d commentate on it,” Theegala added before continuing, “I have a pet peeve, sometimes when I watch golf on TV, a great example is hole 8 at Valspar last week. It’s a 230-yard par 3, the green’s 12 yards wide and someone will hit the middle of the green and, you know, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, really smart shot there.’ I’m like, ‘Well, no, he’s absolutely laced this 4-iron in the middle of the green, that’s right where he’s looking and to hit a 4-iron that straight is really, really hard.’ … Even like chipping, a lot of the stuff just looks flat on TV, but then when you get over the chip, like, oh, great, I have to land it over a mound on a downslope down grain?”
Full piece.

5. Top am Rachel Heck not going pro

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”As Rachel Heck nears the end of her college golf career, she has decided that the LPGA isn’t for her.’

  • “Heck, the 22-year-old Stanford senior who won an NCAA individual title as a freshman and has climbed as high as second in the world amateur rankings, penned a first-person essay for No Laying Up in which she explained her reasoning for remaining amateur after graduation this summer and starting an internship not in professional golf but rather private equity. Heck, a political science major, also will be pinned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.”

Read her piece on No Laying Up: https://nolayingup.com/blog/why-im-remaining-an-amateur

Full piece.

6. DJ’s new LIV signing

Golf Monthly’s Elliott Heath…”Dustin Johnson‘s LIV Golf team 4Aces GC has announced former TravisMathew CEO Chris Rosaasen as the side’s new General Manager.”

  • “Rosaasen, who is a long-time friend of Johnson, is also the founder of the team’s apparel sponsor Extracurricular and has been CEO of the Omniverse Group for the past four years.
  • “He joins with more than 20 years of “brand-building, marketing, and business leadership” according to LIV Golf, which says his “record of innovation in the golf industry will strengthen and accelerate the growth of the 4Aces GC brand.”
Full piece.

7. Photos from the Houston Open

  • Check out all of our photos from this week’s event!
Full piece.
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Four books for a springtime review

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One thing that never changes over time: snowy evenings give purpose to reading (is it the other way around?) It has been a snowy 2024 in western New York, and I’ve had ample time to tuck into an easy chair with a blanket, coffee, and a book. You’re in luck, because despite the title of this piece, I’ll share five books and their worth with you.

There is great breadth of subject matter from one to five. Golf is as complicated as life, which means that the cover of the book isn’t worth judging. The contents begin the tale, but there is so much more to each topic presented within. If you’re like me, your library grows each year. Despite the value of the virtual, the paper-printed word connects us to the past of golf and humanity. Here’s hoping that you’ll add one or more of these titles to your collection.

        

Rainmaker

Hughes Norton interviewed with Mark McCormack for 20 minutes (30 if you count the missed exit at Logan International) while driving the founder of IMG from Harvard to the airport. The lesson of taking advantage of each moment, of every dollar, because you might not get another opportunity, is the most valuable one that life offers. I say to you, be certain to read this book, because another opportunity to bend the ear of Hughes Norton may not come our way.

Hughes Norton was with Tiger Woods for waaayyy fewer years than you might guess, but they were the critical ones. Be warned: not all of the revelations in this tome are for the faint of heart. Some, in fact, will break your heart. Golf was a sleepy hamlet in the 1990s, until the 16-lane interstate called Eldrick “Tiger” Woods came into town. Everything changed, which meant that everything would change again and again, into eternity. Once the ball starts rolling, it’s impossible to stop.

My favorite aspect of this book is its candor. Hughes Norton is well into his time on Planet Earth. He has no reason to hold back, and he doesn’t. My least favorite aspect is that George Peper got the call to co-author the book (and I didn’t.) Seriously, there is no LFA for me, so this is the best that I could do.

Decision: Buy It!

The Golf Courses of Seth Raynor

Michael Wolf, James Sitar, and Jon Cavalier, in abject partnership, collaborated to produce a handsome volume on the work of gone-too-soon, engineer-turned-golf course architect. Seth Raynor was pulled into the game by Charles Blair MacDonald, the crusty godfather of American golf. Raynor played little golf across the 51 years of his life. His reason? He did not wish to corrupt his designs with the demands and failings of his own game.

Jon Cavalier began his photography career as a contributor to the Golf Club Atlas discussion group. I met him there in a virtual way (we still have yet to shake hands) and have exchanged numerous emails over the years. Despite the demands of his day job, Cavalier has blossomed into the most traveled and prolific course photographer alive today. His photography, both hand-held and drone, makes the pages pop. Michael Wolf invited me and two friends to play his home course, despite having never met any of us in person. His words, melded to those of James Sitar, are the glue that connect Cavalier’s photos.

My favorite aspect of the books is the access it gives to the private-club world of Raynor. Fewer than five of his courses are resort or public access, and knowing people on the inside is not available to all. My suggestion? Write a letter/email and see if a club will let you play. Can’t hurt to try! My one complaint about the book is its horizontal nature. Golf is wide, but I like a little vertical in my photos. It’s not much of a complaint, given the glorious contents within the covers.

Decision: Buy It!!

Big Green Book from The Golfer’s Journal

Beginning with its (over)size, and continuing through the entire contents, there is no descriptor that defines the genre of the Big Green Book. It is photography, essay, layout, poetry, graphics, and stream of consciousness. It harnesses the creative power of a lengthy masthead of today’s finest golf contributors. Quotes from Harvey Penick, verse from Billy Collins, and prose from John Updike partner with images pure and altered, to immerse you in the diverse golf spaces that define this planet.

One of my favorite aspects is the spaces between the words and photos. Have your friends and others write a few notes to you in those blank areas, to personalize your volume even more. One aspect that needs improvement: the lack of female voices. I suspect that will be remedied in future volumes.

Decision: Buy It!!!

Troublemaker and The Unplayable Lie

Books that allege discrimination and mistreatment check two boxes: potentially-salacious reads and debate over whose perspective is accurate. In the end, the presentation of salacious revelation rarely meets the expectation, and the debate over fault is seldom resolved. Lisa Cornwell spent years as a competitive junior and college golfer, before joining The Golf Channel as a reporter and program host.

Despite the dream assignments, there were clouds that covered the sun. Cornwell documents episodes of favoritism and descrimination against her, prior to her departure from The Golf Channel in 2021. Her work echoes the production of the late Marcia Chambers, who wrote for Golf Digest in the 1980s and 1990s. Chambers took issue with many of the potential and real legal issues surrounding golf and its policies of access/no access. Her research culminated in The Unplayable Lie, the first work of its kind to address issues confronted by all genders and ethnicities, and immediately predated the professional debut of Tiger Woods in 1997.

My favorite aspects of the two works, are the courage and conviction that it took to write them, and believe in them. My least favorite aspects are the consistent bias that many groups continue to face. Without awareness, there is no action. Without action, there is no change.

Decision: Buy Them!!!!

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open

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GolfWRX is on site in the Lone Star State this week for the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

General galleries from the putting green and range, WITBs — including Thorbjorn Olesen and Zac Blair — and several pull-out albums await.

As always, we’ll continue to update as more photos flow in. Check out links to all our photos from Houston below.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

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