At Heat Strokes Open, Par Is Hot
+ Poll: What will become of Tom Kim?
ON THE TEE
🏌️ Video of Tiger Woods hitting balls at Spyglass Hill has, as usual, sent the Twitterverse all aflutter. Great to see he’s hitting balls but does it really matter if he plays the Hero World Challenge?
🏌️ CBS’ lead NFL analyst Tony Romo teamed with a 6-foot-10-inch high school player to qualify for March’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course. Tommy Morrison is committed to the University of Texas. Yes, in golf.
🏌️ Golf lifer Dick Mast shot 66 to break his age by five shots and qualify for the SAS Championship on the PGA Tour Champions. Does it matter that he’s old enough to be Tom Kim’s grandfather?
🏌️ Speaking of the 20-year-old Kim, his victory over a collapsing Patrick Cantlay at the Shriners Children’s Open, was his second win in less than three months. Combined with his Presidents Cup performance, is there a bigger rising star in golf?
🏌️ Speaking of wealthy young men, Eugenio Chacarra decided to forego his senior season at Oklahoma State and a path to the Korn Ferry Tour by signing with LIV Golf. That decision paid off with a victory in Bangkok, worth $4 million plus an additional $750,000 for his team’s victory. Would you rather be Kim or Chacarra?
🏌️ Chacarra and the rest of the LIV players could start receiving world ranking points next year after LIV’s ingenious affiliation with the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Tour. The Official World Golf Ranking is still giving LIV a stiff arm but might have no choice but to acquiesce. Right or wrong?
🏌️ Hideki Matsuyama joined Rory McIlroy in support of LIV Golf receiving ranking points. Has the vitriol PGA Tour players have for LIV started to subside?
🏌️ England’s Charley Hull, who won the LPGA Ascendant two weeks ago, said if LIV started a women’s league and made an offer, “you’d be mad not to consider it.”
🏌️ What’s your minimum outdoor temperature for playing winter golf?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
Yeti makes hot cool
Cooler manufacturer hosts the inaugural Heat Strokes Open on an Austin, Texas, day when the temperature — and par — was a sizzling 103
:: Gary Van Sickle | Read
Nine new neutrals for fall apparel
With leaves changing bright red, orange and gold, the subdued and fashionable hues of neutral colors will make any wardrobe pop this autumn
:: Janice Ferguson | Read
What does par actually mean?
The first excerpt in a three-part series from golf course architect Richard Mandell's newly published 'Principles of Golf Architecture' looks at how par has shaped golf
:: Richard Mandell | Read
HOME FRONT
Chanticleer | Greenville, South Carolina
Listing: 114 Dominick Court
Stats: 12,000 square feet | 6-plus bedrooms | 8-plus bathrooms.
Price: $4,275,000.
About: Tucked away in a private cul-de-sac in one of Greenville's most sought-after neighborhoods, this home was designed by renowned architect William Baker, who is known for his classical architectural designs. This home incorporates timeless, elegant architecture with cozy family-oriented areas to enjoy inside and outside. It’s situated on Greenville Country Club’s Chanticleer course overlooking hole Nos. 3, 4, 9 and 18. The course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., has been consistently ranked as the top course in Upstate South Carolina. Affectionately known as the longest 6,900 yards in America, the par-72 layout is situated as a golf-only facility.
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 Loretta Lynn didn’t pretty things up
The country star sang about desire, cheating, heartache and righteous revenge in three-minute vignettes that depicted lives she knew and understood
:: Jon Pareles | New York Times | 10.04.2022
📖 Blame, threat and clash: the war between pickle ball and tennis players is escalating — on and off the court
Pickleball is booming among the older generation in the US and often space is created by encroaching on tennis players’ territory
:: Adam Gabbatt | The Guardian | 10.06.2022
📖 How should LIV Golf wins be weighted? Here’s what the data says
:: Sean Zak | Golf.com | 10.11.2022
OFF THE PLAYLIST
One golfer’s song of choice for the course. Hey, and if you don’t like it? Share your choice. Seriously. .
🎶 Wire :: U2
DESIGN NOTES
St. Johns Golf Club gets an Erik Larsen facelift
⛳️ Golf course architect Erik Larsen has renovated and rebuilt St. Johns Golf Club, a "traditional throwback" public golf course in the northeast Florida town of Elkton.
The course incorporates the essence of Golden Age U.S. and U.K. layouts with its design features and a closer proximity of practice facilities and ending holes.
St. Johns was established as a county-owned facility in 1988 and operated as a 27-hole course for a several years, with nine holes closing in 2012. After weighing developers’ offers, the county opted in 2021 to fund an $8 million renovation, which included drainage improvements. Approximately 30 days per year were previously lost due to wet conditions, and the drainage upgrades are anticipated to bring that total down considerably.
RELATED: Design Notes archive
Larsen and Wes Tucker, St. Johns' director of golf, brainstormed old-school design principles by taking three old holes and changing others drastically to produce a new routing. The par-71 course has the look of early 1900s architects Seth Raynor and C.B. Macdonald, including wider fairways, Biarritz, Punchbowl and Redan greens in places and low maintenance "coffin" bunkers throughout. A large short-game area was created, the putting green was enlarged and the range, holes nine, 10 and 18 were situated much closer to the clubhouse to form a social hub.
The club anticipates reopening in mid-November. Fees will range from $25 for walkers to $60 for out-of-state visitors.
⛳️ Harrison Lake Country Club in Columbus, Indiana, recently reopened following an extensive renovation by Tim Liddy. Originally designed by Bob Simmons, the course was restored in spots, redesigned in others, with a rerouting and five new holes (7-9, 16, 17) being the byproducts.
"The project is a remodel with a new routing," Liddy said. "The eighth was an important hinge point for the rerouting. This is a short par 3 of 165 yards, playing over a deep swale. The green site was lowered approximately eight feet, benched into an existing hill. It has similar design qualities of a 'visible' Dell hole."
Work at Harrison Lake has also focused on tree removal and on bunkers.
"The course is located in a rural area, and I felt that natural looking bunkers combined with updated bunker infrastructure would improve the layout," Liddy said. "Our work has aimed to add strategy and artistry along with addressing safety issues. One other hole where strategy has been improved is at the third which now has a risk-reward element to it. We have increased the challenge for bigger hitters around the landing areas, while allowing plenty of width for the shorter hitters."
Harrison Lake reopened in August.
⛳️ The team of Tyler Rae, Kyle Franz and Bradley Klein has commenced work on the restoration of Wampanoag Country Club in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Klein — an area resident, Donald Ross scholar and keen student of design — joined the two veteran architects to produce a master plan, following detailed research on the 1924 Ross creation. To arrive at their final suggestions, they studied historic overall plans, hole-by-hole drawings and ground and air imagery.
The architects intend to cut back trees to restore sightlines, to restore fairway width lost over time and to lengthen the course by 400 yards — to slightly more than 7,000 yards — while also adding forward and intermediate tees. The team will also strip three greens and rebuild them to their previous character and expand the putting surfaces on nine other greens.
NAMES | NEWS | NUMBERS
BUSINESS
▪️ TMRW Sports: Announces key staff appointments, including Scott Armstrong, vice president, Gameplay and Tech Integration; Marysol Fuhr de Blanch, vice president, People and Culture; and Jon Kropp, vice president, Digital Media. … KemperSports: To manage four Columbus, Ohio, area public golf courses, and now has 18 new golf and sports facilities management deals in 2022. … Golftec: Opens a 2,345-square-foot instruction and clubfitting facility in Lehi, Utah. … GCSAA: February Conference and Trade Show in Orlando, Florida, will offer interactive experiences. … PGA Show: Attendee registration opens at PGAShow.com for the Jan. 24-27 event in Orlando, Florida. … OnCore Golf, Fans XR, MetaFore.golf: Collaborate on fan engagement technology that will allow users to become directors of their own online golf event broadcasts. … PXG: Opens a 7,330-square-foot retail, clubfitting facility in Boston — the company’s first location in New England. … Ace Indoor Golf: Named a preferred vendor by the Home Theater Specialists of America. … Club Champion: Opens facilities in five new markets as company is on pace to hit over 115 domestic and international locations by the end of 2022. … Dan Shepherd Public Relations: Retained by Coeur d’Alene Resort in Worley, Idaho, for increased services to include promoting the resort, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and its cultural activities and amenities. … Cobra Puma Golf: Plans to exhibit its complete product lines at the 70th PGA Show, Jan. 24-27, in Orlando, Florida. … True Spec Golf: Opens True Spec Chicago North Shore at The Golf Practice, a Chicago golf academy. Facility features two indoor fitting bays equipped with Foresight GCQuad technology. … OnCore Golf: Launches live ‘Speaker Series’ with Erik Compton, the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour player who underwent two heart transplants. He will share his story with VIP membership via the company's 'Club OnCore' brand loyalty program. … College Golf Experience: To hold a TJGT Lonestar Boys Invitational Preview Camp on Oct. 21. … College Golf Experience: Announces JTNC Holiday Preview Camp Series that will provide juniors the opportunity to simulate college golf practice rounds and engage with college golf coaches in Monterey and Paso Robles, California.
COMPETITION / COURSES
▪️ TrackMan: Launches the Bullseye Championship, a global competition that invites golfers to show off their shotmaking skills at participating TrackMan-powered driving ranges. The competition runs through Oct. 31. … LPGA: Hanwha, a global business conglomerate, will serve as title sponsor for the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown. The team match-play competition will return to the LPGA Tour calendar for the first time since 2018 and will be held at San Francisco’s TPC Harding Park, May 4-7, 2023. … Nemacolin: Pennsylvania resort announces The Woodlands Club membership. … LIV Golf: Announces that two-time major winner Dustin Johnson secured the inaugural LIV Golf Individual Championship on Sunday at the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok. Johnson totaled five top-10 finishes in the opening six events, including a win at the LIV Golf Invitational Boston. … United States Golf Association: Selects El Caballero Country Club, in Tarzana, California, as the host site of the 2024 U.S. Girls’ Junior. The 75th edition of the championship will be July 15-20. … Piza Golf, GEO Foundation: Partner to collaboration on sustainable Desertica project at Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico, where the 'Butterfly Golf' course will respect its natural surroundings. … 2K: PGA Tour 2K23 will feature post-launch bonus content in collaboration with Barstool Sports, Dude Perfect and 100 Thieves. In late October, the PGA Tour 2K23 community will be able to clothe its MyPlayers in apparel from Dude Perfect and 100 Thieves. In early 2023, branded merchandise and playable personalities from Barstool Sports' "Fore Play," the digital sports, entertainment and lifestyle multimedia brand's golf podcast, will be featured. … Pelican Women’s Championship: Seven of the world’s top-10 players are scheduled to compete in LPGA tournament, Nov. 7-13, at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. … Briggs Ranch: Tom Fazio-designed club, located close to downtown San Antonio, Texas, undergoes renovations to its green complexes and debuted a third round of casitas. … Sterling Grove G&CC: Surprise, Arizona, club’s new $14.6 million clubhouse placed second in Golf Inc.’s Private Clubhouse category of its Clubhouse of the Year competition. … Valencia CC: Santa Clarita Valley, California, club reopens its Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed golf course after a seven-month renovation. … PopStroke Entertainment Group: Rickie Fowler and Paula Creamer will compete as the Tour Pro team in the PopStroke Tour Championship on Oct. 28 in Sarasota, Florida. Fowler and Creamer will face the winning team from the international putting competition in a made-for-television, winner-take-all format for $25,000.
GEAR
▪️ PXG: Launches its special-edition Stars & Stripes 0311 3X Forged Wedges that have a design that pays homage to its military roots. … deWiz: Tests in-tournament swing data capture with Vijay Singh, Notah Begay at SAS Championship. Wearable tech captures comprehensive swing data, providing new layer of understanding of how swings differ on the range vs. inside the ropes.
PHILANTHROPY
▪️ Sqairz: Partners with Breast Cancer Research Foundation and will donate a portion of sales from its pink Freedom golf shoe for women and Speed shoe for men directly to the BCRF. … T-Shotz: Kansas City golf, entertainment and restaurant venue to host Oct. 29 golf clinic to benefit Play for P.I.N.K. … OnCore Golf: Partners with LetsFCancer, a nonprofit organization that provides access for early detection and support to those diagnosed with cancer, and reintroduces its pink ribbon logo golf balls. … Golftec: Driver for HOPE initiative will make a $1 donation for every lesson given through Nov. 11 with all proceeds benefitting PGA HOPE. … USGA: Continues its investment in First Tee by commemorating a 25-year partnership with the awarding IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility) grants to 25 chapters across America. In 2022, the chapters from Massachusetts to California were awarded up to $25,000 each to provide transportation, hire diverse coaches, train volunteers and build programs in diverse communities, among other activities.
THE STYLE LINKS
A sucker for good packing tips. TY @footjoy.
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
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