More On The Sawgrass Gore Tex Layer

Great hearing the Commissioner tell the NBC boys at Bay Hill about the new irrigation system that allows them to water on the roughs and not the fairways. I'm so glad MacKenzie and Behr aren't here to see this! Anyway... 

Ryan Herrington looks at the TPC Sawgrass renovation and includes this quote from the Tour:

"We spend a lot of time talking to our tournaments about the need to upgrade what they do," said Bob Combs, the tour's senior VP for communications. "Yet we're the marquee event, and if we're going to urge others to keep raising the standard, we have to show them what it is."

I'm having a hard time envisioning that $16-18 million clubhouse renovations and $6-8 million course upgrades are that necessary for one week of Tour play. Especially when the course redo motivation is driven in part by a dislike for low scores, as this Garry Smits story pointed out:

Since Greg Norman torched the Stadium Course for a record 24 under in winning the 1994 Players, the Tour has attempted to set the course up with firm fairways and greens and high rough. In years when there wasn't much rain, that has been accomplished. An example was 1999, when David Duval won at 3 under, the highest winning score in Stadium Course history.

But if the area experiences a wet winter, there's not much Klauk could do with the current course to help drainage, as too much organic material has built up near the surface of fairways, causing them to be slow to drain.

The contrast between wet and dry has been dramatic. During years the Tour considered dry, the average winning score was 8.5-under-par. During years considered wet, the average winning score was 13.6 under, according to PGA Tour statistics.

Elling on TPC Upgrade

Not content to be the fifth of four majors, the Tour's Bob Combs discusses changes to the TPC Sawgrass and Players Championship with Steve Elling and others. Two things jumped out:

 "Soup to nuts, we're changing anything we can change," tour spokesman Bob Combs told a group of Florida-based golf writers. 

Hmmm...it's almost like they have to spend a lot money.

The tour has a wad of money to finance the deal and reams of data to justify it. The winner at Sawgrass over the years has finished an average of 13.6 under par when the course was wet and 8.5 when the course was dry.

But it's not about the scoring and egos tied to the winning score. No, no.

"This has taken as much effort and brainpower as I've ever seen at the PGA Tour," Combs said.

Barr on TPC Redo

Adam Barr looks at the TPC redo and writes, "You’ve got to admire anyone who wants to reengineer a brand while things are good, instead of waiting until problems crop up."

Reengineer a brand? I bet the Commissioner will like that euphemism.

A Layer of Gore Tex!?

COO for the TPC Network David Pillsbury on the TPC Sawgrass renovation:

"[When completed] we'll almost have placed a layer of Gore-Tex over the entire 20-acre complex of fairways and greens that will allow us to ensure consistent, firm, fast and fair conditions regardless of weather," said David Pillsbury, COO of the Tournament Players Club network, who expects the course to re-open in November 2006.

Golf World says the projected cost of the new clubhouse is $16-18 million, while $6-8 million is being spent on theuh, Gore Tex. The story also includes a rendering of the clubhouse, which looks like an Arabian Prince's Lake Las Vegas mansion.

Wouldn't you love to ask some PGA Tour players what they think of spending that much on a clubhouse?

Oh and Golf World also reports that The Players Championship is getting a new logo.

Now we know what's been holding it back from major championship status. The clubhouse and logo.