Become Your Own Best Golf Coach
+ Settle the "Die Hard" Christmas debate.
Editor’s note: Wow, what a year it has been. LIV Golf, Tiger Woods’ return, LIV Golf, a quartet of excellent majors, LIV Golf, Lydia Ko’s comeback season, LIV Golf and the debut of The First Call’s Weekend Edition.
Thank you for being a loyal reader. So we can all enjoy the holiday season, this will be the final Weekend Edition of 2022. We will return Saturday, Jan. 7. In the meantime, enjoy family and friends and all the traditions of the holidays.
And have a Happy New Year!
:: Stuart Hall
ON THE TEE
🏌️ Tiger Woods limped around The Match as Rory McIlroy’s partner. Does it make you wonder when he will play a 72-hole tournament — walking?
🏌️ Woods and McIlroy were dusted under the lights by Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth at The Match. Was there a best part?
🏌️ Woods says his son Charlie has hit a driver past the old man — once. Do you think Tiger will let that happen again anytime soon?
🏌️ Colin Montgomerie suggested that Woods should have retired at the British Open at St. Andrews. “Why go on? Go out at the top. It’s something that very few can do,” he said. Does he realize who he’s talking about?
🏌️ Players at the QBE Shootout raved about the ability of Nelly Korda, who was in the field as Denny McCarthy’s partner, wondering why she doesn’t win every week on the LPGA Tour. Have they ever even watched the LPGA?
🏌️ LIV Golf is taking more heat for a report that describes an ambitious business plan that included signing the top 12 players in the world. How many plans are able to come to 100% fruition?
🏌️ Jason Day says he wouldn’t be interested in joining LIV Golf … for now. Wouldn’t he have to start playing a whole lot better for LIV to be interested in him?
🏌️ Golf Digest made the Official World Golf Ranking its No. 7 newsmaker of 2022. Can it make news by doing nothing?
🏌️ Sahith Theegala and Tom Hoge were the third first-time team to win the QBE Shootout. How did they even get invited?
:: Mike Purkey
THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON
Twelve (12) times through Dec. 23, The First Call is giving away a variety of golf gifts. It’s not too late to join, just click here to find out the prizes and how to enter.
FEATURES
Is Sportsbox AI leading golf’s next tech revolution?
Initial 3D app connects golf coaches, students, while the new consumer practice app benefits the DIY crowd
:: David Droschak | Read
Are course architects up to the challenge?
The third excerpt in a three-part series from the newly published 'Principles of Golf Architecture' examines the role of challenge in architecture
:: Richard Mandell | Read
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 'Twas the fight before Christmas
The best Christmas Story is about a boxing match — a 1923 bout between Bill Brennan and a dying Billy Miske, who hoped to stay on his feet long enough to bring home a $2,400 purse
:: Rick Reilly | Sports Illustrated | 12.27.1999
📖 Meet the real people behind these famous Norman Rockwell paintings
:: Raquel Laneri | New York Post | 8.8.2020
📖 Confidential records show a Saudi golf tour built on far-fetched assumptions
McKinsey documents suggest the Saudi league is far off-track for success. Experts say the analysis shows it was never just about profits.
:: Alan Blinder and Sarah Hurtes | New York Times | 12.11.2022
OFF THE PLAYLIST
One golfer’s song of choice for the course — during the holidays.
🎶 I’ll Be Home For Christmas | Bing Crosby [Spotify | iTunes]
HOME FRONT
Panther National | Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Listing: Verbier
Stats: 8,000+ square feet | 4 bedrooms | 4 bathrooms.
Price: $4,600,000.
About: This two-story home offers also includes a den, office and media room. The three-car garage comes equipped with a Tesla EV charging station and enough room for a golf cart. The community, Panther National, is the first modern golf and lifestyle community to debut in Palm Beach County in nearly two decades. Its 218 custom, modern estates are designed by world-renowned architect Max Strang, with an emphasis on sustainable, eco-friendly materials. Floorplans range from 4,000 to 10,000 square feet with ultra-luxury finishes. The Verbier works on both .3-acre and .5-acre home sites. The community offers a wellness and lifestyle center, premium dining, a tennis complex, resort-style pool and more. Panther National features an 18-hole championship golf course by Jack Nicklaus and Justin Thomas and a training facility that features a nine-hole Par-3 practice course, short game area, hitting bays, indoor hitting simulator, putting room and state-of-the-art fitness equipment.
DESIGN NOTES
Tom Marzolf renews Bonita Bay Club's Cypress
⛳️ The Cypress Course at Bonita Bay Club in Naples, Florida — a private, 1997 Tom Fazio design — has reopened following a 14-month renovation. The 400-acre layout, which sits adjacent to the Everglades and other protected wetlands, was mildly impacted by October’s Hurricane Ian.
Led by Fazio Design senior associate Tom Marzolf, the renovation touched every hole on the course to make it more strategic for championship-level competitions and more playable for the entire club membership.
The most significant aspect of the renovation was raising the entire course by 12 to 18 inches to improve drainage. Six new lakes were created, four existing lakes were expanded, and the resulting 200,000 cubic yards of earth were spread across the property. Fairways were widened, 450 new catch basins were added and perforated pipe was laid underground to move water away from playable areas. The hurricane and record rains in September revealed areas that needed additional drainage work, which has now been remediated.
No less important was the addition of two new tees — one shorter and one longer — so there are now seven teeing platforms on every hole, set at 500-yard intervals. The course plays from 4,500 to 7,500 yards, which, according to Marzolf, makes Cypress the first Fazio design with a 3,000-yard spread.
While the routing remains intact, significant work was done on and around the greens. With the extensive drainage work completed, the course now plays firm and fast, and the green surrounds are shaved-down, low-mow areas that encourage a wider variety of short-game shots. The greens also were enlarged to allow for both more member-friendly and championship-level hole positions. In another Fazio first, some greens feature wooden bulkhead walls that enhance aesthetics, especially when the often-fluctuating water level drops.
RELATED: Design Notes archive
⛳️ The final phase of an ambitious project is underway at Scotland’s Royal Dornoch Golf Club, as reported on the club’s website. Hard on the heels of major improvements to the seventh hole on the Championship Course in 2020, the greenkeeping team and renowned UK architects Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert have turned their attention to "Dunrobin," the 434-yard, par-4 eighth hole.
Massive amounts of gorse and soil are being removed to open up the handsome views of 1,302-foot Ben Bhraggie, which generations of golfers previously enjoyed. The makeover is also designed to restore the challenge envisioned in the 1940s, when a series of tweaks were made to the original Old Tom Morris layout.
"This is the final piece in the jigsaw and we are confident it will further enhance the experience golfers enjoy when they play the Championship Course,” said deputy greenkeeper Scott Aitchison. "The main challenge we face is ensuring the work is completed and the hole is back in play for the new season.
“The new tees are being pushed back towards the location of the old seventh green. The likelihood is that more golfers will be playing their second shots into the green from the top of the hill, as was the case before the advances in golf club technology. In a sense, we are turning back the clock to the way the hole was designed to be played."
The new fairway will encounter a ridge-top setting, rather than follow the old railway line to the left. The approach will play over the ridge and down to the existing green.
Anticipated opening of the revised eighth hole is April 2023.
⛳️ Nashville, Tennessee’s venerable Percy Warner Golf Course closed in November for an 11-month renovation and enhancement project led by architect Bruce Hepner. Metro Parks and Recreation, the Tennessee Golf Foundation and Friends of Warner Parks are partnering to restore the nine-hole golf course and surrounding landscapes with a tentative grand opening of September 2023.
Percy Warner Golf Course opened in 1937 as the second public golf course in Nashville. Among those introduced to the game there is nine-time PGA Tour winner Brandt Snedeker. The vision is to create a modern, sustainable golf course that will inspire a connection to nature and introduce the greater Nashville community to the Warner Parks.
The final puzzle piece will be the replacement of an almost obsolete practice, a two-green system. These days, they are primarily only seen in Japan, and even there, more sparingly than in the past. Since 1937, however, Percy Warner has utilized a summer and winter two-green system of putting greens and green surrounds. Hepner will be converting the two greens per hole to one, which will likely improve playability, smoothness, consistency and maintenance efficiency.
NAMES | NEWS | NUMBERS
BUSINESS
▪️ Women in Golf Awards: Celebrates inaugural event. … Malcolm DeMille: PGA Tour Champions Advisory Council honors Jeff Purser with a Malcolm DeMille-designed bronze sculpture. The award is presented to the person or organization that has contributed to the PGA Tour Champions. … Blue Tees Golf: Becomes a partner of Invited, owner-operator of private golf and country clubs, city and stadium clubs in North America. … Golftec: Opens a new 2,743-square-foot instruction, clubfitting center in Allen, Texas. … DP World Tour, PGA Tour: Announce an expansion to their relationship with the Korea Professional Golfers’ Association. The KPGA’s Genesis Point Award Winner will earn membership onto the DP World Tour for the ensuing season, beginning with the current 2023 campaign, and the launch of a new $2 million tournament in Korea.
COMPETITION / COURSES
▪️ PGA of America: Selects Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington, as the site of the 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Sahalee hosted the 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship as well as the 1998 PGA Championship. … Apes Hill Barbados: Course architect Ron Kirby completes renovation of par-72 layout that will officially open in late 2023. … Discover Puerto Rico: Reports that record tourism has benefited the island’s golf industry and that the United States Golf Association, R&A and Augusta National will combine to host the Latin America Amateur Championship, Jan. 12-15 at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande. … Troon: Troon Challenge national finals conclude, crowning winners in gross and net divisions for the 36-hole event, held Dec. 10-11 in Indian Wells, California. … LIV Golf: Announces three U.S. venues as part of the 2023 LIV Golf League schedule — The Gallery Golf Club, Tucson, Arizona (March 17-19); Cedar Ridge Country Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma (May 12-14); and The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia (Aug. 4-6). … Arcis Golf: Acquires TPC River's Bend in Maineville, Ohio. The course continues to operate as a licensed TPC property. … Finca Cortesin, Troon: Announce a collaboration ahead of a milestone year as the Spanish destination prepares to host the 2023 Solheim Cup. … Rumbling Bald: Lake Lure, North Carolina, destination releases its winter, spring golf packages for 2023. … KemperSports: Partners with the Winnetka Park District to oversee extensive course renovation of Winnetka Golf Club. … Palmilla Golf Club: Celebrates 30th anniversary as Los Cabos, Mexico’s golf pioneer. … Galleri Classic: Ticket, pro-am and volunteer opportunities are available for the inaugural PGA Tour Champions event, March 20-26 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.
DEALS
▪️ Rain or Shine Golf: Extends deals through holiday season and include equipment from advanced portable launch monitors to hitting mats and simulator packages. … Edison Golf Company: Extends its special promotion of $40 off per wedge through midnight Saturday, Dec. 31.
GEAR
▪️ New Balance: Launches the New Balance 997 golf shoe, which will be available in February in spiked and spikeless models, and will retail for $119.95. The 997 SL will retail for $109.95. … DeWiz: Capturing in-tournament swing data from Vijay and Qass Singh at the PNC Championship. Both are using wearable tech to capture the data. … Usev: Introduces Innovate, an eight-passenger golf car, to the U.S. market. Developed and produced by Seoul, Korea-based DY Innovate, the low-speed vehicle is designed off of an automotive platform with automotive-caliber components. … PGA Tour: Announces Golf+ as the tour's official virtual reality golf game. The agreement will also see the creation of new PGA Tour game experiences where Golf+ players will be able to enjoy exclusive, interactive content and features tied to real-world PGA Tour tournaments.
PEOPLE
▪️ GCSAA: Honors J. Bryan Unruh with its President’s Award. The University of Florida turfgrass educator and researcher will receive award honoring his environmental stewardship at the 2023 GCSAA Conference and Show. … 7Diamonds: Announces Andy Ogletree will become the company's first golf ambassador. Ogletree, 24, who earned his first professional victory last month at the Asian Tour’s International Series event in Cairo, Egypt, will wear the lifestyle brand's apparel starting in 2023. … Newtimes Group: Announces that Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters champion, will return as the face of Ashworth Golf, which is making a comeback to the U.S. marketplace. Couples, who wore an Ashworth polo during his 1992 major win, will wear the brand's iconic Golfman logo and a selection of items from the spring and fall 2023 lines when competing on the PGA Tour Champions. … PGA Frisco: Names Paul Earnest as PGA director of golf and operations of fields ranch. Earnest, a past president of the Northern Texas PGA Section, will lead all golf and club functions and operations at the facility. … Dollar Dollar Dollar Inc.: Trent Edwards, former National Football League quarterback and co-founder of VR-technology company Strivr, joins D3 Golf as director of strategic relations.
THE STYLE LINKS
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Seeing red?
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
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