A Look Back: Sept. 7 1916: Fourteen-year-old Bobby Jones, playing in his first U.S. Amateur Championship, loses in the quarterfinals to Bob Gardner 5 and 3. 1969: U.S. Open winner Orville Moody wins the World Series of Golf at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. The event is an exhibition featuring the year's four major championships, making it the early day Grand Slam of Golf. 1975: Hubert Green wins the Southern Open by three strokes over John Schroeder. 1986: Rick Fehr wins the B.C. Open by two strokes over Larry Mize. 1997: Steve Jones wins the Bell Canadian Open by one stroke over Greg Norman at Royal Montreal Golf Club. Jones finishes at 5-under-par 275, while Tiger Woods misses his only cut as a professional two days earlier.

Courses
The National Golf Foundation issues a report on golf course construction activity that shows 30 new golf courses opened in August. In 2001, 278 golf course construction projects have been completed.
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Equipment
At last week's Air Canada Championship, more players wore Softspikes' Black Widow cleats than metal spikes, according to Darrell Survey. A total of 74 players wore Black Widow cleats, as compared to 53 who wore metal spikes.
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Thirty new courses use E-Z-GO golf cars with the ProLink GPS golf course information and management system installed, those companies report. More than 200 courses around the world now use the GPS-equipped carts.
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Media
Sunshine Network premieres the September edition of Mercedes-Benz Florida Golf Scene on Saturday, Sept. 8 at 9:30 p.m. ET. This month's features include a travel piece on the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, Fla., and its recently restored 18-hole course by architect Ron Garl.
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TravelGolf.com, a chain of travel-related Web sites and publications, opens a Charlotte, N.C., bureau to cover golf in North and South Carolina. The company also promoted senior writer Shane Sharp to senior editor. Sharp will head the new Charlotte bureau.
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Turf
Victor Industries files for trademark protection on its first two products, the Envirolizer and Putt Perfect, the latter directed at the golf industry. Putt Perfect is an inorganic soil amendment that attracts and holds nitrogen, ammonia, phosphate and potassium to help greens and tee boxes retain those nutrients. The product can also be used as a top dressing for turf and a granular fertilizer.
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Casual Friday
Golf ball costs on upward trajectory

Does money buy a better golf ball? Golf ball manufacturers sure hope you will think so. The trend has been going on for a while -- remember Callaway debuting its Softfeel and Firmfeel Rule 35 balls at a hefty $44 for 10 balls? Nike got into the golf ball game as well, luring Tiger Woods away from Titleist and grabbing a noticeable share of the ball sales pie with its Tour Accuracy ball.

That trend continued with the success of Titleist's solid-core Pro V1, which retails for $54 per dozen -- if you can find them. And now just about every manufacturer has a premium ball or is working to put one on the shelves.

So you've tried Callaway, Nike and Titleist -- maybe you even put a few of those Lady Precept balls that were all the rage in your bag sometime last spring or summer.

Interested in continuing to try the latest and greatest? Maxfli introduced its A10 ball about six weeks ago, and it's starting to hit the stores now. At $52, this solid core ball with tungsten in the core and a soft cover is the latest "longest golf ball ever" and has seen success on tour in only a few weeks.

Precept offers a new "seamless" cover in the new three-piece solid core Tour Premium LS. You'll have to wait a little longer for these $50 per dozen babies -- they aren't on shelves yet.

TAP-INS

Don't forget golf balls on the cheaper end, either. Titleist's NXT Tour and NXT Distance balls are selling for a more reasonable $30 per dozen and Top Flite introduced a line of its XL 3000 golf balls for just $25 a box....
We knew it was coming, ever since the original Desert Inn was demolished. Now site owner Steve Wynn is going ahead with plans to build a $1.3 billion casino on the site along the Las Vegas strip, but fortunately he won't mess with the Desert Inn Golf Course. It'll close in at the end of June 2002, though, and will not reopen for one year....
Tune into C-Span today at 6:50 and 7:50 p.m. ET for a short piece titled "The History of Golf As A Presidential Pastime." The segment draws heavily on the USGA traveling exhibit called "Presidential Golf" and also features a history of the White House putting green.