I file this Golfweek.comon informal samplling of big-wigs atAugusta National who are tired of all the talk centering on golf's inability to get this whole replay, rules, scorecard phone-in ruling nonsense figured out. the Masters should not be distracted by such nonsense (or worse, if the forecast holds, issues arising here).
It's time for an emergency meeting of the Five Families. These wars need to happen once every ten years or so.
Leave the guns and the cannolis outside the meeting and get this figured out!
I've been putting you all to work and really appreciate the feedback. For your efforts, I hope you've been able to enjoy the 20% off offer from Criquet, who surprised us on ShackHouse with a nice offer.
Or from Athlete's Collective, who are giving site readers a great deal (promo code: SHACK) on their Conway 1/4 zips in heather grey and a very Masters-friendly heather green. At $34 a piece they're a bargain, but for $60 in the 2-pack bundle, a true steal.
I believe we have detected a theme in the recent polling: distance in the pro game is very much on your minds.
In the coming months I'm going to start rolling out "Eye On Design" videos focusing on various design elements in golf that either interest me or need to be reconsidered. While it's not sexy to kick off with the "variable distance" ball topic, we might as well try to wrap our heads around what I anticipate will be a lively debate centered around golf course design.
To set this complicated topic up, here are my thoughts presented in digital video form. I flesh a few more thoughts out to (hopefully) better inform your votes...
For us technophobic, distance RIPer's, things have come a long way over the last decade. Just look at your reaction to the WGC Dell Match Play last week where we saw epic driving distances on fairways playing at a nice, normal firmness.
A consensus of serious golfers see that distance increases for elite players have altered the brilliance and safety of our best-designed courses. This combination of improved technology, blatant outsmarting by manufacturers and a host of other elements like Trackman and instruction, have forced the governing bodies to defend expensive and offensive alterations to works of art.
No other sport pats itself on the back more than golf for upholding its traditions and integrity. Yet no the other sport has sold its soul to protect a relationship between participation and the equipment professionals play. A relationship, which I might add, will continue even after a bifurcation of the rules.
Fast forward 22 years and the amazing synergy of athleticism, fitting, instruction and technology has produced super-human driving distances for decent golfers on up to the best. No other sport on the planet has tolerated such a dramatic change in short time, so should we see 10% taken off the modern driving distance average of an elite golfer--at certain courses and events--the sky will not fall. The players who use such a ball would restore the strategy and intrigue of most golf courses built before 1995. (That was the year, not coincidentally, when things started to change.)
Several solutions that do not fundamentally alter the sport have been offered endlessly. They've also been resisted even as the game has not grown during a technology boom that has seen golfers offered the best made and engineered equipment in the game's history. Solutions such as reducing the size of the driver head for professionals and tournament-specific golf balls have not been welcomed or even tried.
The growing sense that a first step solution is on the way arrived when the USGA’s Mike Davis suggested at the recent Innovation Symposium that a “variable distance” ball could be an alternative for select courses and select social situations.
“We don’t foresee any need to do a mandatory rollback of distance. We just don’t see it. But that’s different than saying if somebody comes to us and says I want an experience that doesn’t take as long or use as much land, can we allow for equipment to do that?”
As we know, the proposed rules of golf re-write emphasizes speeding up the game and everyone knows adding new back tees has never helped on this front. For the first time, elite golfers are suggesting they see the correlation between distance and new tees, but are also tired of walking back to such tees on golf courses where the flow of the round is fundamentally altered.
Beyond the pace and silliness of it all, all indications suggest the USGA and R&A have also developed ways for the handicap system to address a variable distance ball that could be used in select circumstances.
Perhaps it's a club championship and is employed in lieu of extra rough or greens Stimping 13 feet. Or it's an invitational tournament played from tees other than the back. Or maybe there are golf courses experiencing pace of safety issues that will require golfers use such a ball?
On the social side, I expect the case to be made for golfers of different levels playing the same tees thanks to the variable distance ball, Since Davis’s remarks, I have been surprised how many golfers have told me this would make their Saturday foursomes a more cohesive affair, with everyone playing the same tees and the short hitters not frightened by getting fewer shots from a scratch golfer using a shorter flying ball.
Most of all, such a ball on certain courses would return certain skills (hitting a long iron approach?) and end decades of pretending golf does not have an integrity problem.
I point all of this out because Davis’s remarks were no accident. Whether anyone likes it or not, this ball is coming. The variable ball will not be forced, just another way to play the game. The British ball did not break the sport and neither will this option. Because that's all it is, an option. Given that The Masters arrives next week featuring long fairway grain mown toward the tee to prevent roll, I believe the variable distance ball will again be on the minds of all watching.
Rendering of renovated clubhouse at Gus Wortham ParkUnder the leadership of Steve Timms, President/CEO of the Houston Golf Association, the organization has turned the Shell Houston Open into a must-play tour stop for many pre-Masters. They are behind the effort to save Gus Wortham Park Golf Course, a potential model for other communities.
In year 16 as tournament director, I asked Steve to answer a few questions about how they structured the effort to save Wortham and also the upcoming end to Shell's run as sponsor. Timms also oversees the largest First Tee chapter in the U.S.
Given the importance of this topic in so many cities across the land, we all know how important it is to hear from those successfully tackling this vital issue for golf. Oh, and to see the project underway!
GS: Explain how the Houston Golf Association got into the management and renovation effort at Gus Wortham, and the role Shell Oil Company played?
ST: In 2014, Houston Golf Association (HGA) assumed operations of F.M. Law Park Golf Course, taking over maintenance and turning the public golf course into a dedicated The First Tee (TFT) Facility. That same year, we learned about a proposal to turn the historic Gus Wortham Park Golf Course into a botanic garden. As advocates and stewards of the game, we felt it was our duty to help save this golf course and restore it to its former glory.
Houston Golf Association, backed by the financial engine of the Shell Houston Open (and Shell Oil Company), was in a position to pursue a solution to manage and operate the courses, raising private funds as a nonprofit self supporting enterprise to maintain facility quality for years to come. Given our proven track record maintaining F.M. Law Park Golf Course, City Council unanimously approved a resolution that Gus Wortham would remain a public golf course operated by the HGA. As we approached our second fundraising milestone needed to initiate the construction start, Shell Oil Company stepped up to provide funds needed for the proposed community center.
The Gus Wortham Park property has much potentialGS: Is the non-profit model for this much-needed work something you see as repeatable in other cities with tired courses or is this unique to Houston?
ST: The original non-profit model was implemented in Baltimore in the late 80s. We feel that this model is applicable in other cities because it has six main benefits:
1) Lessens the financial burden on the government 2) Sets up a sustainable business model (long-term operating lease agreement in our case) 3) Allows for private fundraising to upgrade the facilities 4) Allows cash flow generated from the facilities to be reinvested back into the facilities (by design as a nonprofit) 5) Improves accessibility of affordable golf, and in our case, extends our youth programs (The First Tee of Greater Houston and HGA Junior Golf) into more underserved communities 6) Acts as economic development stimulus in the surrounding communities (in our case, Houston’s East End)
GS: Are you looking at ways to revitalize the other city courses?
ST: Yes. We have developed an overall master plan for four additional facilities that’s currently being evaluated. We are also proposing the establishment of a new The First Tee location on an old golf course property, Inwood Forest, whose land is owned by the City of Houston.
GS: What has been the most difficult aspect for your organization in getting this restoration/revitalization effort going?
ST: In January 2015, we signed the contract with the city and were required to raise $5M by the end of that year -- a time period that was challenging for fundraising. Now, with our fundraising needs met, we are experiencing the normal challenges of any organization involved in a major, multi-phase construction project. We are seeing great progress though and are excited about the project’s eventual completion later this year.
Construction underway at Gus Wortham ParkGS: From your perspective, what are some of the best ways to “grow the game” and attract new junior golfers?
ST: We think it’s important to attract young people and pique their interest in golf at an early age. Through The First Tee of Greater Houston, we reach almost 300,000 students in 455 schools throughout Houston. Access and affordability are also important in trying to foster interest. Public golf courses serve as a key expansion of our The First Tee program into underserved communities. These courses, when revitalized, can provide kids from every walk of life with a place to practice, grow their skills and move into competitive opportunities like our HGA Junior Golf program.
GS: Have you seen any impact from the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship in the Houston area?
ST: We are proud of our two The First Tee participants, Ariana Saenz and Bella Saenz. Ariana qualified for the Drive, Chip and Putt in 2015. Now her sister is following in her footsteps. Bella is headed to Augusta to participate in the 2017 competition. The fact that they are sisters has certainly generated a lot of buzz and excitement in our community.
GS: What is the hoped-for best case scenario for the Shell Houston Open going forward as it looks for a sponsor and the PGA Tour potentially juggles the schedule in a few years?
ST: As our 26-year partnership with Shell wraps up, we are continuing to work hard to secure a new title sponsor that will help us continue to do so much in our community. We have enjoyed success with our date before the Masters and hope to keep that date on the schedule, which is dictated by the PGA Tour.
I think we all hate dwelling on the future of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in the year following The King's passing. But Palmer was a businessman who loved and nurtured this event. So discussing its past, present and future would presumably resonate with him even as he would undoubtedly be uncomfortable taking attention away from the players.
Jeff Babineaudid a super job for Golfweek.com summing up Wednesday's ceremony at Bay Hill to remember The King, but also reflected on how far this event has come and where it may go without Palmer.
I loved this anecdote:
The API, which moved to Bay Hill from nearby Rio Pinar (Florida Citrus Open) in 1979, has come quite a long way. The purse has been bumped to $8.7 million, and this week’s winner not only will leave $1.56 million richer, but will receive a three-year PGA Tour exemption, not the usual two a winner grabs.
This week’s event will celebrate the everyday fan who connected with the blue-collar likes of Palmer, with large public grandstands now sitting up close to seven of the course’s greens.
It’s a far cry from Year 1 at the then-named Bay Hill Citrus Classic in 1979, when the makeshift grandstand that sat behind the 18th green was borrowed from nearby Boone High School.
That little nugget is a perfect reminder that is was events like the Bay Hill Citrus Classic, the Western Open, the Los Angeles Open, the Houston Open, the Bob Hope and on and on we can go with 10-12 events that built and stabilized the PGA Tour.
And with too much regularity, the focus of these events revolves around their weaker-than-normal fields, their strange new dates or their difficulty in attracting a sponsor. Nearly all have been adversely effected by many factors, but it's the creation of World Golf Championship events that consistently tops all side-effects.
We all understand the globalization of golf and market forces, but when those forces so adversely impact even an event nurtured by a modern sports legend. it's time for all current players and executives to take a hard look at the tour's purpose. Because if this is, as they say, about playing opportunities and charitable dollars, it's these core founding events that deserve to be treated as kings.
The cool kids are gathering in Austin this week prior to next week's WGC Dell Match Play andin a tradition unlike any other,a golf panel was assembled Sunday because, well, someone probably paid for it.
Brands must evolve and sports brands are no exception. But sports traditions are sometimes the most sacred of customs and golf may be the most brutal of masters.
It's debatable whether that was an attempted play on words, but the judges'll give it to them. Go on...
Golf is attempting thrive in an era that is changing so rapidly that the way a sport is consumed might be radically different in just one season.
Hmmm...profound, though not entirely accurate until I get a PGA Tour Live press release touting some numbers. Any numbers.
But hey, it's a golf panel at the cool kids conference, so I get the hard sell mode. I'll stop interrupting...
Does a round count at a Topgolf range and is a fan of an irreverent smartphone video worth the same attention as an argyle-wearing TV-watcher?
Ok, I know I said I was done interrupting but seriously? An argyle association?
How can golf keep the attention of potential fans? This panel will explore these challenges, examining what a game that can be burdened with its tradition and but lives by its history needs to do to survive the attention span of a 20-year-old.
Eh-em, golf's history dates back at least 400 years so I'm guessing it'll survive the attention span of today's 20-year-old.
But hey you guys explore, we can't wait to study the transcript for deep, deep thoughts on how to survive the 20-year-old's attention span!
Of course we know that (A) most people only pay money to see a handful of players and (B) most of those paying people couldn't tell the difference between a 290 yard drive a 325 yard one.
But good news, instead of reciting talking points of manufacturers, the idea of a golf balls to suit surfaces makes sense to players who have seen what the folks in tennis have done to better suit their implements to surfaces and athletes.
Charl Schwartzel views Davis’ idea as an added opportunity to help pace of play if new tees built well beyond the course’s original design no longer have to be used.
“Now you have to walk 150 yards back and then walk this way, so you’re walking 300 yards and you’re still at the same place,” Schwartzel said. “If you can make the balls and clubs go shorter, and you can play the old courses, then the game will be 3 ½ hours again. It’s simple. But you’ve got to walk so far, how are you going to play quick? It’s impossible to play quick.”
After Jamie Lovemark is quoted saying folks pay to see the long ball, Augusta National comes up (as it's known to do in these discussions).
“I think if the USGA or R&A try to do it, there might be a lot of players kicking and screaming,” he said. “Somehow when it happens at Augusta, there’s a slightly different respect level there. Not sure why, it’s just something special about Augusta.”
And even better was this:
“Something’s got to happen,” McDowell said. “We’re starting to lose the integrity of some of the most beautiful courses in the world. They’re becoming outdated, which is just a little scary, really.”
While we hope the folks in Silicon Valley emphasize world-changing advancements over helping golfers, it's fun to read some of the augmented reality ideas and other concepts that ex-Yahoo CEO and start-up investor Jerry Yang sees potentially impacting the game.
From Mike Stachura'sreport at the USGA Innovation Symposium in Vancouver:
“If you look at the categories of things that are coming across our investment activities and how people are understanding their bodies, every element of that is applicable to golf,” he said. “Measuring brain waves, measuring all the body metrics and understanding those things, I think is all very interesting.”
Yang imagines a near future where laser-rangefinder technology is incorporated in your sunglasses, where a golf simulator in your garage “will let you play St. Andrews in a way that really feels like St. Andrews.”
But Yang thinks that sort of development is only a start. He talked about a coming “smart ball” technology that would track every shot and its launch conditions, direction and distance. He also suggested that the kind of “haptic suits” designed to help the disabled walk could “be the same suit that can make you become a super person where you can literally swing like Dustin Johnson if you wanted to.”
Or were able to. Nonetheless, keeping dreaming big. If nothing else it's fun to read about. After all, it's not our money!
Just skip past the part where we hear about how this distance thing is cornered and flatlining for 15 years now. After all, if this belief makes them do the right thing, the game's governors are entitled to their always-correct opinions!
GolfDigest.com's Mike StachurareportsUSGA Executive Director Mike Davis' suggestion at the USGA's Innovation Symposiumthat no rollback is happening, but there is a place for a rolled back ball that allows Dustin Johnson's to enjoy the Myopia Hunt Club's of the world.
The key line:
“We don’t foresee any need to do a mandatory rollback of distance. We just don’t see it. But that’s different than saying if somebody comes to us and says I want an experience that doesn’t take as long or use as much land, can we allow for equipment to do that?”
Yes!
Davis continued in what I would dare say are by far the most provocative comments from a governing body officer (in office, of course the late, great Frank Hannigan was long outspoken on this topic).
“Anybody is hard-pressed to say that as distance has increased in the last 100 years that that’s been good for the game,” he said. “We all want to hit the ball farther. We get that. But distance is all relative. When you think about the billions and billions of dollars that have been spent to change golf courses, and you say, Has that been good for the game?
“Is the fact that Shinnecock Hills went from 5,500 yards to 7,500 yards, what has that done good for the game? It’s increased the expenses to maintain it. It’s cost us time to walk an extra 2,000 yards. So you have to say, What has that actually done?”
Davis later even suggested golf was alone among all sports because of the way its equipment has dictated its playing field.
I feel like I have read about this classic course ball thing in a book somewhere, say, about 14 years ago it seems if memory serves. And I know PING's John Solheimhas offered a proposal on this, but it sure sounds like we are headed (finally) for having a ball suited to designs of a certain vintage.
The only mystery remains, why hasn't a company gotten out of front to be the first to corner the vintage course market where purists buy golf balls too?
Anyone, anyone? How about rollback advocate Jack Nickaus, who has a golf ball line? Nope. How about Solheim's PING? Any prototypes brought to the market? Nope.
One would think this lack of urgency within companies might change given this last comment from Davis:
Would one of those options include bringing the best players in the world to a course like Myopia Hunt Club for a U.S. Open in the future with a reduced-distance ball?
“We haven’t talked about that,” Davis told GolfDigest.com, “but if we were closed-minded to that, shame on us.”
I'm guessing it starts with the difficulty of determining "point of entry" when treating OB like we currently treat a lateral hazard. Though in thinking about holes bordered by a boundary, it seems like the option to re-tee for a ball that went OB or will not be able to be dropped in a playable location would address most situations.
One of the biggest hang-ups is differentiating the penalties for a lost ball and a shot that was hit out of bounds. Any option that requires an estimation of the spot where the ball was lost could lead to significant debate about players, and it’s not yet clear how many penalty strokes should be assessed, one or two.
Meanwhile, the Rules maintain that out of bounds is a strategic part of the challenge of playing some holes and that it could be “undermined” if players can hit toward those areas with less concern, such as if they were marked with red stakes.
“We’ve looked at every angle,” Pagel said. “But of all the alternatives we’ve considered, we haven’t found one that is workable for all levels.”
From an architect's perspective, Out-of-Bounds is not as intriguing of a ploy as many think. Because we all know it's not an ideal risk-reward hazard. Ultimately, the risk on OB-lined holes nearly always outweighs reward and we take the safest route.
My hunch is that safety is another part of the issue: would changing the rules make a hole lined with OB to protect homes or a road become less safe?
I also wonder if those involved in the rules discussions keep thinking of elite players playing the Road hole at St. Andrews. If they hit one into the Old Course hotel, where do they tee? If we change this rule after centuries of the Old Course boundaries having played a key role in defending the course, what will happen? (Though I'm fairly certain defined OB is much less than a century old there as players famously used to play off of The Links road to the 18th green).
Scoring wise, a change in stroke and distance would almost assurely lead to a few lower scores in major events by elite players. But I can't think of a scenario on the Old Course where, at psychologically, modified stroke and distance significantly lessens the impact of those boundaries.
I can, however, think of many ways that the golf ball flying way longer than it did 20 years ago lessens the impact, safety and resistance to scoring of the Old Course's hazards.
John Hugganreports that in comments related toRoyal St. George's getting the 2020 Open Championship, R&A Chief Martin Slumbers said he has worked "very carefully" with high-profile critics of the distance explosion that isn't happening.
Except that in a disturbing but not shocking twist, former head R&A man Sir Michael Bonallack says he and other longtime players and leaders with Jack Nicklaus' Captain's Club a
“I am on Jack Nicklaus’ ‘Captains Club,’” said the five-time British Amateur champion. “We meet at Muirfield Village every year. At one of those we had Jack, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Bill Campbell, myself, Charlie Mechem from the LPGA, all with huge experience in golf. Jack was talking about the ball. We all agreed it was out of control and going too far. It had to be pegged back. So a letter was composed and sent off to the R&A and the USGA, signed by all of us.
“The only reaction we got was an acknowledgement. But I happened to see a copy of the memo that was passed from David Fay to Peter Dawson. “Have you got this?” it asked. “Please note the average age of those who signed it!” And that was the end of it.
While that was a few years ago and Slumbers may have a different view than his predecessors, no evidence suggests that the wise old guard will be listened to.
Bonallack goes on to recount a conversation with a golf dignitary defending the governing bodies in which he is told that all distance gains are from fitness. Apparently this person isn't watching much PGA Tour Champions golf, where the gains have been largest both off the tee and around waistlines.
Geoff Shackelford
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
It's time for an emergency meeting of the Five Families. These wars need to happen once every ten years or so.
