Golfdom Oakland Hills Podcast
/Larry Aylward asks me about Oakland Hills, the groove rule change and a possible winner.
When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Larry Aylward asks me about Oakland Hills, the groove rule change and a possible winner.
Jeff Rude fittingly kicks things off with a summary of where the wacky year in golf leaves us on the eve of the PGA and asks:
What will Phil do next to his bag? One can worry himself nauseous trying to guess the configuration. After all, Lefty has played majors with five wedges, two drivers, no driver and a driver that kept going left.
Can a junior set be far off?On that front, Steve Elling files an interesting piece with insights from other players on Phil's club tinkering, with plenty of assuredness from Dave Pelz about the Team Mickelson thought process.
"He wouldn't be Phil Mickelson if he didn't change clubs and try new theories," said Geoff Ogilvy, a fellow member of the world top 10.
Welcome to golf's version of saying, "That's Manny being Manny."Bob Harig says Kenny Perry is using criticism of his red-blooded American ways to uh, well, show up at Oakland Hills this week in his final preparations for the Fall Finish. Randall Mell (here) and Craig Dolch (here) also ponder Perry's place in the game.
Phil Mickelson finished 18th, shooting 6-over-par on a course he had played since he was a junior golfer. During the Bridgestone Invitational last week in Akron, Ohio, Mickelson was asked about Jones' work.
"Not a big fan," he answered.
Asked what he would do if he were Jones, he answered, "I would try to not be so monotonous."Ohhhh, I think Rees will be hunting a certain Lefty down!
"Having golf an Olympic sport is exponentially more important to the game of golf than the majors," Mickelson said Tuesday from the site of the season's final major, the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills. "The reason for that is it would bring in 168 different countries and their Olympic foundation and all those revenues and that would be going towards the growth of the game."Hunter Mahan (sadly) apologized for his comments about how players perceive the Ryder Cup (too many cash cow parties for the PGA of America!). Seems he was called into the principal's office.
“They took it personally, and I don’t blame them,” Mahan said after meeting with PGA president Brian Whitcomb and CEO Joe Steranka. “I deserve what I get. I take full responsibility for what I said.”Alan Shipnuck's always fun Hot List features Oakland Hills, Ben Hogan, and this on the "business model of golf":
Ratings for Firestone and the Women's British were microscopic, and sponsors on every tour are pulling back in these lean economic times. Most ominously, neither Van Sickle nor Shipnuck traveled to the British Open.Don't worry, 72-holes of stroke play in 2016 at some stalwart like Medinah will change it all, Alan.
In announcing Tuesday's U-groove ban, the USGA and R&A accomplished something truly spectacular, unprecedented and frankly, impossible: they had people feeling sorry for the PGA of America.
I'll get to the good stuff about this rule change in another post, because for fans of strategic course architecture there could be some very exciting developments from this news. But momentarily, let's sit back and ponder at the utter lack of respect our fine governing bodies have shown their friends from Palm Beach, who have one week a year to shine and who have suppported the decision to ban U-grooves starting in 2010.
After dragging their feet so long, with R&A lollygaggery largely responsible for missing the initial announced timeline, how could anyone in these organizations say, oh, we must announce this on Tuesday of the PGA Championship?
Let's forget the disrespect shown to the PGA of America and consider this strictly from a practical perspective: you want to announce one of the biggest changes in the history of the rules at a time when people can digest the ramifications and give it full attention. With dwindling space devoted to golf in major media outlets, who in their right mind would want to compete with the year's final major?
Oh that's right, the R&A and USGA. Brilliant.
I'm sure this isn't necessary as I'm sure it will be asked, but for Wednesday's PGA of America press conference it would be nice if someone asked Joe Steranka or whoever is invited to field questions...
How do you feel about the timing of the joint USGA/R&A announcement on grooves?
While there has been the usual gushing over the Rees-toration of Oakland Hills, Bradley Klein offers cringe-worthy details in his analysis...
Ambitious plans to move several greens were shelved, but the course has been lengthened by 296 yards from its Ryder Cup muster. More significantly, many fairway landing areas have been made harder through additional choke-point bunkering, a steepening of some bunker faces and a narrowing of fairways to 24-26 yards.
The original boldness of the holes and of the putting surfaces remains, even if tee shots and approaches now are played through narrower defiles on this 7,395-yard, par-70 layout.
Too bad some of the work looks misplaced. New back tees on the par-3 ninth and 13th holes are misaligned to the right. The new greenside bunkers on the fourth and 16th holes have absurdly excessive shaping. And the idea of hanging the back right of the famed 16th green out over the water befits a second-tier TPC, not a classic course like this.
Glory's Last Hope, puhllleaze...this is Kenny's (First and) Last Shot at a major.
Steve Elling reminds us that Kenny Perry is actually making his major debut this week in one of his final tune-up's for the Wyndham Championship.
Bob Harig looks at T.C. Chen's Oakland Hills double-hit and talks to Andy North about how he was handed a second U.S. Open as a result.
It was at the Senior British Open two weeks ago at Royal Troon where he bumped into Chen again. North was working the telecast and Chen was playing in his first Champions Tour event, although he missed the cut.
So will the stars of that fateful final round in 1985 meet again in competition? Chen, who has a home in California, would appear to hope so, as he plans to attend the Champions Tour's qualifying school this fall.At PGA.com they offer first and second round tee times in not particularly user-friendly PDF form.
Saturday's third round of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational had a 1.5 overnight rating for CBS and Sunday's fourth round had a 2.1. The women fared worse on ABC, with a 0.7 on Saturday and a 0.6 on Sunday at the Ricoh Women's British Open.Sean Martin reminds us what fun Woody Austin was last year.
Speaking of Whitten, he takes a crack at predicting the winning score at Oakland Hills and says it'll be +5.
Jon Show reports that the LPGA is seeking a $4 million sponsor to oversee an 8-event run in the vein of the FedEx deal the PGA Tour inked, but as he buries in the last sentence:
Also complicating matters is the roughly $20 million in event sponsorships the LPGA already has on the market.
Another complication that also puts the, gulp, value of the LPGA sponsorships in perspective comes in this story (also by Show) on the PGA of America's attempts to lock up two more partners at a pretty hefty figure.
The PGA of America, one year after announcing American Express and RBS as its first official patron-level sponsors, is still trying to complete the final two remaining deals. The first two companies were signed to four-year agreements at an average of $7 million to $9 million annually,
A few interesting bits from Phil Mickelson's pre-Firebore press conference:
From SI's anonymous PGA Tour pro on returning to Oakland Hills for next week's PGA:
A photo by the Detroit News' Dale Young,
No mention in this AP story of the driver being benched, or a sixth wedge joining the team for the PGA. But they still have "a lot more work to do," which means there is still time.
From SI's anonymous tour pro in this week's Golf Plus PGA preview:
But I do think Phil needs to change his approach. He should show up at Oakland Hills on Tuesday without his scientist and his astrologer and the rest of his posse. He's a feel player who plays with imagination. Charting the greens and all this excess preparation is out of character for him. Phil wants to leave nothing to chance, but everything in golf is chance. You don't know how you're going to feel, which way the wind will blow, whether you'll sleep well, what kind of lie you'll get in the bunkers. There are a million variables.
My advice to Phil is to pull a Padraig. Because of a sore wrist Harrington had no expectations at Royal Birkdale and played one hole on Wednesday after having gone maybe five holes the day before. Phil: Show up at Oakland Hills on Tuesday and play nine holes. Play another nine on Wednesday, then gun it on Thursday and see what happens.
If you are going to the PGA, it seems the folks at American Express will be handing out their Championship Vision TV's to the first few thousand cardholders. Definitely the best deal of the group...
Are You a Cardmember?
While the PGA Learning Center is open to all, only Cardmembers will have the exclusive opportunity to enjoy:
• Championship Vision: Cardmembers can borrow complimentary, hand-held televisions that deliver a live telecast of the championship that fans can pause and rewind, check out aerial views of Oakland Hills Country Club and view player bios from anywhere on the course
• American Express Cardmember Club: The exclusive lounge area features complimentary food and beverage items and a silent auction featuring historic golf memorabilia and travel packages (Located between the 8th and 12th fairways, open all day from August 4–10)
• Commemorative PGA Poster: Special gift available with all purchases over $175 made using an American Express Card at the merchandise tents
After the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, I reviewed Championship Vision here.
Note to Julius: you'll score major points with scribblers if you can procure a few of these for their use. I know you appreciate these tips.
Craig Dolch reports the not surprising news that Norman turns down the PGA of America's exemption offer. Darren Clarke is now in.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.