Finally Golf Makes The News For The Right Reasons: Researchers Say It's A Recipe For Longevity

Researchers followed nearly 5,900 adults 65 and up over a decade and are prepared to say at least once-a-month golfers are going to live longer (well, 8% chance). Finally, golf makes national headlines for a good reason!

From a WebMD story:

The study will be presented later this month at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles.

Golf is an option for older adults who want to be physically active, according to researchers from the Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Institute.

"The intensity level of the activity is such that it can be maintained for a longer period of time, and it's something that maintains the interest of the individuals so people can continue it on a regular basis," study author Dr. Adnan Qureshi, a neurology professor at the University of Missouri, told CNN.

The Wacky World Of Golf: Predictions For 2020

Considering the madness witnessed in 2019, a few possibilities for 2020…

Distance Report Delayed Again – After PGA Tour distance averages show a one-yard decline through the first four weeks of 2020, the USGA and R&A decide (again) to delay their highly-anticipated distance insights study. “This year’s slight drop in no way means are players are less athletic, it should be noted,” Tweeted Commissioner Jay Monahan. “We praise the governing bodies for recognizing that the game is thriving and growing, especially with a younger demographic drawn to the aspirational joys of annually spending $550 on a driver to gain five yards off the tee.”

Load Management - A crowded schedule means the dreaded NBA phrase du jour of 2019 will come to golf in 2020. Brooks Koepka and Tiger Woods open as 2-1 favorites as the most likely to employ the phrase. Bryson DeChambeau, opens at a surprising 6-1. Explains oddsmaker Jeff Sherman, “Load management to Bryson is what ‘growing the game’ is to most players.”  

DeChambeau Admits He Bulked Up Too Much - After not breaking 70 on the entire West Coast Swing, Bryson DeChambeau reluctantly admits his 30-pound off-season bulk-up has made a mess of his game. “The idea was right, but the type of proteins my team chose were all wrong,” DeChambeau said after firing his nutritionist, physio, West Coast chef, Trackman-carrier and upper-body masseuse. “In order to lose the pesky muscle, DeChambeau will skip the Florida swing and restrict his exercise to walks from the couch to his kitchen, where his new chef will feed him a protein-free diet.

Live Under Par Survives Another Year. The PGA Tour’s new CMO issues a full review of the most ridiculed slogan in all of slogandom. Rumored internal replacements emerge, including Fields Have Never Been Deeper, These Guys Are 18-49 Demo-Friendly Jocks, Never Laying Up From A Barstool, and finally, Chicks Dig Long, Dimpled (Golf) Balls. Said an internal source, “we still have a lot of Live Under Par T’s to move at this year’s Players before we can move forward with a new one.”     

TPC Sawgrass To Get “Woke” Makeover - Responding to the rise of Sweetens Cove as one of the most beloved courses on the planet, Commissioner Monahan confirms a PGA Tour Policy Board decision to remodel the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse and entrance drive. Despite rumored cost overruns for the new Tour headquarter building, architect Norman Foster is hired to provide a re-imagined clubhouse by moving the entire 60,000 square foot operation underground, with only a double-wide and overgrown “TPC Sawgrass” sign above ground. The TPC’s recently renovated “driveway”, complete with tight turf and Disney World-inspired street lights, will be returned to a swampy dirt road hearkening to the course’s roots. However, players voted against a restoration of Pete Dye’s design to a more natural look, citing the possibility of unfair lies and the potential for white pant stains.  

Tiger Woods Wins The Masters Again. After winless West Coast and Florida swings, Woods cruises to a five-stroke win as a group of fearless, win-loving young players fold down the stretch. Woods reaches the 13th green in two with a long-iron after the club unveils a new tee stretching the hole to 595 yards. Chairman Fred Ridley announced earlier in the week that the USGA and R&A helped pay for the new tee in an effort to not undertake further equipment regulation. 

FedEx Fedup – Company CEO Fred Smith complains on a conference call with investors gets attention. Instead of addressing Amazon’s potentially fatal move into his business, he questions the bizarre positioning of FedEx’s hometown event, the WGC FedEx St. Jude. It is played in July as players focus on The Open Championship but also just prior to a fantastic two-day pro-am in Ireland that will include Tiger Woods. A bevy of players decide not to play the FedEx St. Jude after committing a year in advance to J.P McManus’ pre-Scottish Open pro-am. Smith groaned that an offer to fly the players to Ireland in a FedEx cargo plane the Sunday night prior was met with derision. “These guys are beauties,” the CEO told analysts who were more interested in whether Smith will have an answer to Amazon eating into revenues.

Mid-round interviews - One year after a failed attempt to allow for mid-round interviews, the PGA Tour copies the European Tour’s successful in-round chat model by transporting Sky Sports’ Tim Barter in to conduct them. The idea lasts one week after Barter tries to interview Patrick Reed following a possible rules violation and Reed’s caddie Kessler Karain threatens to physically harm the broadcaster.

Reed Wins Bobby Jones Award - After handling two more high-profile rules dust ups “like a gentleman,” the USGA announces that Reed has agreed to accept the Bobby Jones Award at the 2021 U.S. Open as long as wife Justine is also listed as co-winner.

Season Of (More) Championships - Bolstered by 2019’s Season Of Championships graphic depicting the Players, four majors and FedExCup as the beginning and end to the Season Of Championships, the PGA Tour allows sponsors to spend an additional $4 million to join the prestigious grouping. Only the John Deere Classic, which says it will lower its staggering annual $14 million donation to charitable causes in an effort to raise the tournament profile, accepts the opportunity.

At Least Two Longtime Golf Publications Will Cease Printing Issues - Yet,sophisticated golf journals are filling the printed void by ignoring any urge to appeal to demographics hostile to reading. Media executives search for solutions to this alarming trend.

TikTok Here We Come! - Despite concerns of spying, cyber security and unwanted harvesting of personal data, all of golf’s major organizations create TikTok accounts in 2020 to better reach the exploding youth audience that simply can’t get enough of golf coverage on the platform du jour. Oh wait, it’s already started.  2020 is here!

Happy New Year.

Nothing A Good Recession Won't Fix, Files: Alpine Country Club "sues its own waiter after wine spilled on ultra-expensive purse"

Our late, great friend Dan Jenkins certainly would have filed Rodrigo Torrejon’s story under the old “nothing a good recession wouldn’t fix” files. In a nutshell: a New Jersey woman sued Alpine Country Club for $30,000 when a waiter spilled wine on her Hermès purse, only to be outdone by the club suing the waiter.

In a response to the lawsuit filed Oct. 29 by Maryana Beyder against the Alpine Country Club in New Jersey, the club denied almost every one of Beyder's allegations – including that it was liable for the damage to her Hermès Kelly bag – and capped off the response by suing its own employee, according to court records.

The action is called a cross-claim, in which one defendant sues another in the same proceeding.

"So basically, what this is is that they're asking the employee to pay whatever they owe under the law to my client," said Alexandra Errico, Beyder's attorney. "So they're suing their own employee that they hired."

Calls to Kenneth Merber, the attorney for the country club, were not immediately returned.

I bet they were not.

"Caracas Country Club: Where the 0.01% Await Socialism’s Collapse"

Bloomberg’s Ethan Bronner takes us inside Venezuela’s Caracas Country Club, where the dress code standards have been slipping. But given what’s going on outside the club gates, it’s a minor issue for the historic club situated amidst a crumbling country.

It may seem remarkable, if not obscene, that a citadel like this exists, and thrives, in the middle of one of the world’s most violent and distressed cities, the capital of a country whose economy has collapsed and where malnutrition and disease rates are soaring. Millions have emigrated to escape the grind of finding enough to eat, of living without reliable electricity or tap water. And here, inside a gracious hacienda where chandeliers twinkle overhead, there is renewed focus on sartorial protocol.

Bronner’s piece goes on to consider the many striking and bizarre issues facing the country club set in a place of turmoil.

Former Cal Golfer Opens Rustic Canyon Round With 10 Straight Birdies

As co-architect I should be horrified but any course that rewards such incredible play must be a masterpiece, no?

Anyway, enough about me.

The Forecaddie reports on Brandon Beck’s 10-birdie start at Rustic Canyon in August and suggests that it’s a record given how few documented 10-straight moments have been recorded.

Oh, and he lipped out on the 11th.

Three-Year Suspension For A Bird Flip After Phone Goes Off Mid-Swing?!

Ryan Lavner reports for GolfChannel.com on one of the more extreme suspensions in sports history after Bio Kim flipped off a ringer-on gallery member.

The incident took place on the Korean PGA’s DGB Financial Group Volvik Daegu Gyeongbuk Open—aka the DGBFGVDGO—where Kim heard a cell phone camera and slammed his club into the ground. The club slamming was, frankly, more bothersome in a golf context given the course destruction.

He went on to win the tournament but lose his plea for forgiveness, reports Lavner:

Apparently that mea culpa wasn’t enough to avoid a suspension, as the Korean Tour cracked down by unanimously voting to ban Kim for three years and fine him the U.S. equivalent of $8,350. After the emergency tour meeting Tuesday, news-wire photos showed Kim kneeling in front of a row of television cameras.

In a statement, the tour said: “Kim Bi-o damaged the dignity of a golfer with etiquette violation and inappropriate behavior.”

I poked around a bit and have yet to find an explanation for why the bird-flip is so offensive in Korean culture, but did learn this about the arm wave, just in case you are headed to South Korea.

Don't hail a cab or wave someone over to you with your palm facing up in South Korea. That's how Koreans summon their dogs. The proper way to wave is to move your hand up and down vertically with your palm facing down.

Avoid Using In: South Korea.

There you go.

But back to Bio Kim. Here is the video:

Tripp Isenhour and I discussed this bizarro story on today’s Golf Central:

$39.5 Million: Listing Price For Tom And Gisele's Estate On The Country Club

It’s a nice club and neighborhood, a Richard Landry design and good economy, but is it rude to say that this is still a little excessive for five acres?

Bill Speros with the details for Golfweek of Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen’s home overlooking The Country Club in Brookline going on the market.

Ladies European Tour "Moonlight" Event This Week Is Finishing Under LED Lights

We won’t get it on Golf Channel this year with several other events on the schedule, but the simulation of the LED lighting package being employed to finish a Ladies European Tour event under the lights looks interesting. Jessica Marksbury with details for Golf.com.

From their Tweet:

Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic 🌓
First ever day-night event ✅@EmiratesGC May 1-3📍@NickFaldo006 course 👍🏻
World class golf 🏌🏼‍♀️
Entry is FOC 👀 #ODMC #MadeForGreatness pic.twitter.com/RuKSsYeL0u

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) April 29, 2019

Topgolf Happy Ending: Lil Pump Gets His Ring Back

Lil Pump Gets His Ring Back

I know readers of this site are all fans of Lil Pump—rapper of course—who has made enough to wear a $100,000 ring to Topgolf.

But not enough apparently to take it off and pay someone to hold it while he swings away at golf shots.

Not to worry though, this craftsman of the English language has been reunited with his bloated rock. Somewhere, desperate-to-reach-the-kids golf organizations are jealous.

Thank you for helping me find my 100 thousand dollar ring https://t.co/YN8VSwoEC7

— Lil pump (@lilpump) March 22, 2019

Wimbledon Park Members Accept £63.75m Offer

The Guardian’s Kevin Mitchell reports on Wimbledon Park Golf Club members accepting a huge offer to sell their course to the neighboring All England Club.

The course is already used during the fortnight and would see further expansion of the tennis grounds if the deal goes through.

Naturally, the final decision yielded a Brexit reference.

The club will decide finally in December whether or not to accept the once-and-for-all bid by the All England Club, which owns the dwindling lease. As a Wimbledon member remarked: “This is their Brexit. They have to make a call one way or another – in or out.”

Valentino Dixon Freed After Golf Digest Investigation, Profile

Six years ago Golf Digest’s Max Adler profiled and co-wrote a piece by Valentino Dixon, convicted of killing Torriano Jackson and an avid painter of golf scenes even though he’d never played the game in his life. (He was also profiled in this excellent Ryan Griffiths-produced piece for In Play with Jimmy Roberts.)

Fast forward to this week where Dixon, serving 39-to-life, had his murder conviction vacated after Golf Digest’s story and several others worked to get Dixon freed for a crime he insisted he did not commit.

Adler’s follow up piece on Dixon, who served 27 years.

Although Dixon has never hit a ball or even stepped foot on a course, the game hooked him when a golfing warden brought in a photograph of Augusta National’s 12th hole for the inmate to render as a favor. In the din and darkness of his stone cell, the placid composition of grass, sky, water and trees spoke to Dixon. And the endless permutations of bunkers and contours gave him a subject he could play with.

“The guys can’t understand,” Dixon has said. “They always say I don’t need to be drawing this golf stuff. I know it makes no sense, but for some reason my spirit is attuned to this game.”

Dixon leaving the courthouse and understandably grateful to Adler for helping his cause:

View this post on Instagram

After 27 years in prison, Valentino Dixon walked free today. With an investigation Golf Digest's Max Adler helped open, an county court vacated Dixon's murder conviction. Adler was there to greet Dixon as he left the courthouse. For more on how Dixon found a passion for golf through art and how that led to Golf Digest raising the question of his innocence, tap the link in bio. (📹:Twitter/@NewsRadio930)

A post shared by Golf Digest (@golfdigest) on Sep 19, 2018 at 3:44pm PDT

Much Needed Animal Golf Course Video Surfaces! Fox Steals Golf Ball

It's been too long. With slow play fights leading to severed digits and other bleak news in the world, we are faced with the FedExCup and it's completely moribund format as a diversion.

Thankfully a wee critter has come along to give us hope for humanity. Or, at least for young animals.

From Springfield CC and while I recognize it's no dancing bear, we'll take it:

A Tonya Harding Incident Comes To Golf?

Ryan Lavner at GolfChannel.com explores the antics at the Florida Mid-Amateur.

Let's just say the caddyshack at Streamsong will be pretty lively!

York, PA Golf Club Owner Calls Police On Supposedly Slow Golfers

Then it gets appreciably worse, as an unbylined AP story notes of Grandview Golf Club apologizing to a group of five black women--known as Sisters of the Fairway--who were harassed by the course co-owner and his father for not playing fast enough. 

At the second hole, a white man whose son co-owns the club came up to them twice to complain that they weren’t keeping up with the pace of play. Thompson, an attorney and the head of the York chapter of the NAACP, told the newspaper it was untrue.

On the same hole, another member of the group, Sandra Harrison, said she spoke with a Grandview golf pro, who said they were fine since they were keeping pace with the group ahead of them.

Despite that, the women skipped the third hole to avoid any other issues, she said.

And there was this dreadful image...

Thompson said the man from the second hole, identified as former York County Commissioner Steve Chronister, his son, club co-owner Jordan Chronister and several other white, male employees approached the remaining two women and said they took too long of a break and they needed to leave the course.

Former Secretary Of State Tillerson To Resurface At Masters As Berckmans Place Greeter

Rex Tillerson, the former Secretary of State and Augusta National member who has not been seen publicly since his firing last month by President Donald Trump, will resurface at this week’s Masters in a "working" capacity.

According to four sources privy to conversations between Tillerson and new Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley, the former Secretary volunteered for "just about" any committee role. Tillerson has told friends “that any job would be better” than the one he just held for a year, including working on the media committee. 

“Tilly offered to do anything, even give tours of the members’ wine cellar,” said one club source. “But that’s a job for new members like Finchem. Chairman Ridley thought Rex needed to get acclimated with every day working folks again and assigned him to work as a Berckmans greeter for a few hours Monday morning.”

Berckmans Place is the club’s $6000 a ticket, all-you-can-imbibe luxury pavilion opened in 2012 and spearheaded by Chairman Billy Payne as another patron experience opportunity. Tillerson will share meet-and-greet duties with another former Secretary of State and member, Condoleeza Rice. Current USC Athletic Director Lynn Swann is also a regular Berckmans presence. 

“Having Rexy join Condi down there allows Berckmans patrons to ask probing questions about our most hostile foreign powers," said another member. "How cool is that?"

Another club source said part Tillerson's transition to non-government life, which has included getting re-acclimated with flying on Gulfstream V's and VI's, will be a special gesture from Chairman Ridley.  While it's not normal practice, the Chairman is allowing the former Secretary to leave two patron badges for Jared and Ivanka Trump at Will Call. The badges have been deactivated and anyone trying to use them would be subject to arrest by the Sheriff.  

"Rex is pretty beaten down, but the Chairman thinks it might even lift his spirits to passive-aggressively leave badges for 'Jarvanka.' It's a key component of Rex's Acceptance and Commitment Therapy program."