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| A Look Back: July 31 1949: Sam Snead wins the Western Open. 1959: European Tour member Peter Senior is born in Singapore. 1961: Jerry Barber beats Don January in an 18-hole playoff to win the PGA Championship. 1983: Jan Stephenson wins the U.S. Women's Open by one stroke over JoAnne Carner and Patty Sheehan. 1988: Scott Verplank takes the Buick Open title with a two-stroke advantage over Doug Tewell. |
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Publications
"Routing the Golf Course", a 528-page hardbound reference work about how
to lay out a golf course by Phoenix-based golf course architect Forrest Richardson,
is now available through booksellers.
For
more...
Courses
Toll Brothers, the nation's leading builder of luxury homes and developer of Palm
Cove Golf & Yacht Club in Palm City, reports that construction of the Chi
Chi Rodriquez Signature Golf Course is progressing on schedule. Anticipated opening
of the par 71 course is Fall 2002.
For
more...
Hyatt
Resorts Caribbean announces the next phase of a sweeping $22 million renovation
and redesign of the four championship golf courses shared by its two Puerto Rico
sister resorts, Hyatt Dorado Beach Resort & Country Club and Hyatt Regency
Cerromar Beach, located on Puerto Rico's "Gold Coast."
For
more...
Architecture
Ten of Tom McBroom's golf courses rank in the top 100 of Canada's best
courses as determined by SCOREGolf. The highest-ranked Links at Crowbush Cove
on Prince Edward Island jumped to No. 6 from No. 10.
For
more...
Equipment
According to the independent Darrell Survey, the winners Sunday on the PGA Tour
(J.P. Hayes), LPGA (Gloria Park) and Senior PGA Tour (Bob Gilder) wore Softspikes
brand cleats.
For
more...
SRIXON
introduces the Pro UR, a multi-layer, urethane cover golf ball that was used by
Noboru Sugai to win the Senior British Open last weekend. The company also brings
its XXIO driver, the top selling driver in Japan, to the U.S.
For
more on Sugai's win...
For
more on the Pro UR golf ball...
For
more on the XXIO driver...
Tournaments
Defending champion Kemp Richardson leads a strong transatlantic challenge for
the Seniors Open Amateur Championship which will be played at Woodhall
Spa in England Aug. 7-9.
For
more...
Former
motor racing champion Nigel Mansell plans to organize a European Seniors Tour
event to be held on his own course, Woodbury Park Hotel and Country Club near
Exeter, England, next August.
For
more...
Technology
Burgwyn & Burgwyn selects Jencess Software & Technologies, Inc. as its
technology partner for the Carolinas Region.
For
more...
People
The Chicago Park District and KemperGolf Management hire Derrick Moseberry
as coordinator of junior golf outreach. Moseberry is a product of the youth golf
program.
For
more...
TourTurf,
the distributor of FieldTurf brand synthetic turf for commercial golf applications,
hires Tom Burke as Director of Operations for the Northeast Region.
For more...
Contests
Beginning this month, two 18-ounce boxes of Wheaties featuring Tiger Woods
will be banded together with two free special-edition Nike golf balls from Buick
and details on how to win a new Buick Rendezvous.
For
more...
Players
CSMG Sports signs new clients Kevin Haefner from Auburn University, Steve
Sokol from Florida Southern College, D.J. Fiese from Georgia State
University and Garth Mulroy from North Carolina State University.
For
more...
Briefly
Fortune Brands, parent company of Acushnet brands Titleist, Cobra and Footjoy,
declares a regular dividend of 25 cents per share on its common stock, payable
in cash on Sept. 3 to stockholders of record at the close of business Aug. 14.
...
The Golf Association of Philadelphia and Hartefeld National Golf Club
will host The Deeg Sezna Four-Ball tournament, A Salute to Mentors, this
Friday at the event's site, Hartefeld National Golf Club in Avondale, Pa. ...
DaimlerChrysler sponsors the Fifth Annual "All For Kids" Golf Outing
for Boysville of Michigan, Inc. Sept. 19 at Lakes of Taylor Golf Club in Taylor.
Contact Bryan Mincks at 800-909-7451, ext. 237 for more information. ...
KIK
Technology International develops a new tire and wheel assembly to satisfy
the demand for a much wider wheel for pull carts. For product information, call
1-888-KIK TIRE or visit www.kiktire.com.
...
The ASGA Tour enters into an Event Agreement with Golf Management
Group to conduct an event Nov. 20-24, 2002, at Royal Oasis Resort and Casino,
Grand Bahamas.
Commentary
Tee it up
and go
What a pairing at the Battle of Bighorn - Sergio Garcia and Lee Trevino, re-re-re-grip and barely grip.
What a real pleasure it was watching Trevino race the cameraman. His playing competitors Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus had barely hit their shots and Trevino was in the blocks teeing off. With no wasted motion, he set his feet and off he went.
That's exactly how golf should be played. Why do we continue to take so long to play golf?
Two weeks ago in Scotland The Wire found that the slow play that Garcia, Bernhard Langer and Padraig Harrington have brought to golf has trickled down to the masses. For the first time play seemed to be just as slow at the home of golf as it is in the U.S. on a daily basis.
Golf can be many things, but slow should not be one of them. Most people are still too slow.
The speed of play may be why in the most recent Golf 20/20 Industry Report that core and avid golfers has gone down from 2000 to 2001. Core golfers decreased from 7,399,000 to 5,676,000 and avid golfers from 6,276,000 to 5,934,000.
At the same time, occasional golfers during the same period went up from 10,961,000 to 14,190,000. But with more than 50 percent of golfers in the occasional category, those in the golf industry must be a little concerned.
While it is great that golf seems to be growing in some categories, the industry has to be leery as well of the occasional golfer. They are less versed in the etiquette of the game, which includes speed of play. And unfortunately, they will learn about speed of play mainly by watching the PGA Tour professionals, which as we are all aware can be extremely slow.
Instead of building more golf courses and trying to get more players in the game the powers that be should work toward increasing the quality of the game, of which speed of play is a large part.
A faster round will go a long way in increasing participation and allow more rounds of golf to be played on a course. Doesn't it make sense to spend money to speed up play versus building more courses and keeping the quality of play at a sub-par level?
Maybe the best way to teach the occasional golfer or for that matter any golfer the way to play golf is the Trevino way. Tee it up and go.
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Reader's
Forum Recently, Tiger Woods was asked to comment on whether women should be invited to join traditionally men-only golf clubs like Augusta National and Muirfield. "It's one of those things where everyone has ... they're entitled to set up their own rules the way they want them," Woods said. As the world's No. 1 golfer and an established sports celebrity, what is Tiger's role or responsibility in speaking up on social issues, like opening golf's exclusive venues to women members? Let us know your opinions by sending your responses to info@gpagolf.com with the subject line RE: Responsibilities. Also include your first initial and last name, along with your email address. |