ON THE TEE
🏌️ Jon Rahm won the Masters despite a four-putt double bogey on the first hole of the first round for his second major title. Is he now the toughest player in the game?
🏌️ Three of the top four Masters finishers were LIV Golf players — Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson tied for second and Patrick Reed tied for fourth. Is anyone still doubting the top level of LIV?
🏌️ Koepka complained loudly about the pace of play in Sunday’s final round, in particular Patrick Cantlay and Victor Hovland, who played right in front of Koepka and Rahm. Was he right?
🏌️ The par-5 13th hole at Augusta National was lengthened to 545 yards from 510. The stroke average this year was 4.74 as opposed to 4.85 last year. What does this prove?
🏌️ Masters TV ratings were up 19% from last year’s victory by Scottie Scheffler, according to CBS. Did Rahm vs. Koepka have anything to do with it?
🏌️ Tiger Woods withdrew in the middle of the truncated third round of the Masters, obviously in great pain, from what he said was a recurrence of plantar fasciitis. Is he nearing the end?
🏌️ Rory McIlroy will lose $3 million of his 2022 PIP money by withdrawing from the RBC Heritage, which is a designated tournament. Top players were allowed to skip one designated event and this is McIlroy’s second. Is he regretting his support of the designated event model?
🏌️ McIlroy and Justin Thomas both agreed to wear ear buds and do a “walk and talk” with Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman during the Masters telecast — in the middle of their rounds. Both missed the cut. Coincidence?
🏌️ Will Zalatoris will miss the rest of this year after a microdiscectomy in his lumbar spine — after missing much of last year with back problems. This can’t bode well, can it?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
What led to inaugural Commander-in-Chief's Cup
Air Force, Army, Navy are set to renew rivalries and build a legacy event, April 17-18 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia
:: Ken Klavon | Read
For Air Force, the mission is direct
In the battle of golf supremacy among the service academies, Air Force's reputation goes beyond the perception of being 'a golf course and then the runway'
:: Ken Klavon | Read
Writing the 2023 Masters postscript
The First Call readers offer their final thoughts on the year's first major — the winner, the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf drama and other assorted observations
:: The First Call Inbox | Read
PERFECT PUTT
The money behind winning the Masters
As Jon Rahm is finding out, a Masters victory is worth millions in off-course earnings
:: Jared Doerfler | Read
Each Monday, Jared Doerfler breaks down the business of golf. Subscribe to Perfect Putt here.
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 The mobster who bought his son a hockey team
A tale of goons, no-show jobs, and a legendary minor-league franchise that helped land its owner in prison
:: Rich Cohen | The Atlantic | 05.2018
📖 This gifted clubmaker’s handcrafted driver made him a star. Then it all but derailed him
:: Brendan Prunty | Golf.com | 03.31.2023
📖 Will LACC’s North Course provide a U.S. Open rollercoaster ride?
:: Ron Driscoll | USGA | 04.10.2023
OFF THE PLAYLIST
One golfer’s song of choice for the course. Hey, and if you don’t like it? Share your choice. Seriously.
🎶 “We’ll Be Together” | Sting [Spotify | iTunes]
19TH HOLE
Each episode of the “Course of Life” podcast closes with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole experience.
Hope Barnett,LPGA Tour content producer and host: “It's changed since I've done so much travel with the Tour. Thinking of it in more of a European mindset, I'm really liking fish and chips after the round. Always goes well with a beer too.”
:: Alex Lauzon | Co-host | “Course of Life” podcast
HOME FRONT
Caye Chapel | Belize
Listing: Four Seasons Private Residences No. 6.
Stats: 3 bedrooms | 4 bathrooms | 2,960 square feet.
Price: $5,500,000.
About: Situated off the Belize coast is a sustainably-focused, private island experience with direct access to some of the ocean’s most striking wonders, including the Belize Barrier Reef — the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere — and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Complementing a number of on-island experiences and amenities, Caye Chapel is home to the Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Caye Chapel, which is the brand’s first private island offering in the Americas. One of just 24 private residences, Four Seasons Private Residences No. 6 is one of the largest units available, sitting at 2,960 square feet with 3 bedrooms/4 bathrooms, a private plunge pool, direct waterfront access, outdoor kitchen and shower, firepits and more. It also includes a fully turnkey design from Meyer Davis, Mauricio Gomez de Tudo and Taller G. The cost includes all furniture and access to the on-island amenities. As for golf, Caye Chapel will emerge as a new-age golf destination for players of all skill levels. The sustainably designed Caye Chapel Golf Park, immersed into the surrounding open-ocean scenery, will feature a championship, nine-hole reversible course, practice range that converts to a par 3 course in the afternoons and evenings, a sprawling putting course and golf academy.
DESIGN NOTES
Tom Doak renovates own Cape Kidnappers design
⛳️ Cape Kidnappers Golf Club in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, a perennial world-top-50 course, has been renovated by its original architect, Tom Doak.
Opened for play in 2004, Cape Kidnappers immediately staked its claim as one of golf’s modern architectural and scenic marvels. Much of the back nine strategically flirts with sheer, white cliffs that drop nearly 500 feet down into Hawkes Bay.
VIDEO: Cape Kidnappers
Ownership was determined to restore the firm and fast conditions that Doak first created — because bounce and roll are vital to the strategic function of links designs, heathland designs and one-of-a-kind hybrids like Cape Kidnappers. Working with Doak and ace shaper Angela Moser, course superintendent Brad Sim oversaw the regrassing of all 18 fairways, in addition to the rebuilding and regrassing of all 18 greens.
"We rebuilt the putting surfaces from 10 inches down and Angela put the contours back exactly as they’d been before," said director of golf Ray Geffre, who also looks after golf operations at Kauri Cliffs, located 311 miles to the north and a world-top-100 golf course in its own right.
“Regrassing the greens at Cape and addressing our thatch problem was pretty straightforward. But the fairways were a huge undertaking — just an enormous volume of turf for an in-house crew to peel back and replant. Oh, and that entire project was undertaken and completed under COVID conditions. My hat’s off to Brad and his crews. They did an amazing job.
The course was not the only thing addressed. Geffre added that the club expanded its range, built new putting and chipping greens, and began strategic tree clearing.
"We’re determined to keep that going," he said. "This is an incredibly diverse and lush eco-system, and I doubt there’s another resort on earth that takes environmental protections more seriously than we do. But we need to protect our vistas, too, and preserve the original design here."
⛳️ Tom Watson, a two-time Masters winner, is designing a new golf course in North Augusta, South Carolina, just 4.5 miles from Augusta National Golf Club.
More details are forthcoming, but Watson has confirmed his design role for Cypress Shoals, a 1,742-acre sporting retreat in Edgefield County.
"There’s really no vision right now, it’s just what the land tells you to do," Watson told The Post and Courier. “We’ve got some riverfront property and we’ve got some hilly property, so it’ll be some combination of some flat areas and some hilly areas.”
Aside from the elevation changes and attractive natural setting, Watson will deliver a memorable collection of bunkers, from tiny, penal pot bunkers to large, sprawling waste bunkers. Watson’s course is expected to open later in 2023. A second course is planned, with an architect to be named later.
⛳️ WeaverRidge Golf Club in Peoria, Illinois, has successfully refreshed its collection of bunkers, courtesy of Weibring-Wolfard Golf Design.
The owners of nearby Metamora Fields Golf Club — Jim and Carol Ring, their daughter Vickie and son-in-law Kevin Brinkman — purchased WeaverRidge in June 2019 with the intent of restoring the 1997 Hurdzan/Fry design to its previous heights.
By 2005-2006, it was ranked as high as No. 37 in the U.S. by Golf Digest on its Top 100 Public Courses list before falling off entirely. Ownership retained five-time PGA Tour winner D.A. Weibring and his design partner Steve Wolfard, architects of Metamora Fields, to bring about the transformation.
Unfortunately, a few months after signing on, Weibring and Wolfard had to hold off making any progress due to a 100-year flood event that visited the course in September 2019. The first round of storms brought 5 inches of rain and by midnight, that number had climbed to seven inches. Eventually, several hundred thousand dollars of damage were incurred. And then ... COVID.
The pandemic changed business. The bunker renovation was put on a hold, but the club went through with opening a second restaurant that included the addition of two AboutGolf simulators that proved to be an off-season revenue boon.
Fleetwood Services, a Dallas-based company that builds and renovates sports fields and golf courses, commenced the bunker work in June 2022. The process reduced the total sand bunker areas from 145,000 square feet to 58,000 square feet. It also installed Better Billy Bunker liners and OhioBest white sand throughout.
The bunker renovation focused on three main points: playability, visibility and maintainability. The new bunkers also reduced the overall bunker square footage, though the new design allows for maximum visibility of the bunkers from all angles on the course.
Known for its variety, WeaverRidge serves up a flattish front nine with generous landing areas and well-guarded greens while the back nine is characterized by dramatic elevation changes.
RELATED: Design Notes archive
THE STYLE LINKS
A winning state of mind.
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
SCORECARD
1️⃣8️⃣ The golf industry’s week in review — the names, news and notables that are making the headlines. :: Read
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