Does East Lake Make the Cut?
+ Poll: Enough already with the public bickering?
ON THE TEE
🏌️ Tiger Woods was in the house for Serena Williams’ second-round victory at the U.S. Open tennis tournament during what appears the last major for Williams. One GOAT cheering for another.
🏌️ Europe’s Ryder Cup apparatus released new criteria for qualifying for the 2024 team that will play in Italy. It does not rule out LIV Golf players.
🏌️ The LPGA Tour’s International Crown will return to the schedule in 2023 in the San Francisco area, giving non-American and non-European players an opportunity to play as a team.
🏌️ The DP World Tour will allow LIV Golf players to play in the BMW PGA Championship but will restrict their logos and won’t show them in featured groups on television.
🏌️ LIV Golf announced the signing of some high-profile players, including Cameron Smith, the British Open champion and at No. 2, LIV’s highest-ranked player yet.
🏌️ Fourteen-year-old Gianna Clemente Monday qualified into two consecutive LGPA Tour events. Lexi Thompson gave the teenager a signed glove at Highland Meadows Country Club in Ohio.
🏌️ Hideki Matsuyama’s apparent spurning of LIV Golf was good news for International Presidents Cup captain Trevor Immelman. Despite Matsuyama’s decision, the Internationals are badly undermanned at Quail Hollow Club in September.
🏌️ Rory McIlroy is committed to making his first start in the Italian Open in September. No word whether he’s receiving an appearance fee.
🏌️ What would you give for 10 more yards off the tee?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
Is East Lake the right Tour Championship venue?
The First Call readers offer mixed opinions on whether the iconic Atlanta course should be the PGA Tour's permanent site for the season finale or if there are better venues
:: The First Call readers | READ
Odin Golf going 'balls out' to build golf community
Co-founder Jordan Lunetta joins 'The ModGolf Podcast' to share his vision for building an engaging platform for the 'everyday golfer'
:: Colin Weston | LISTEN
HOME FRONT
Old Lighthouse Club | Los Cabos, Mexico
Homesites: Starting at $2.75 million.
About: Old Lighthouse Club is located 1 mile from downtown Cabo where the Sea of Cortes meets the Pacific Ocean at the southernmost tip of the Baja Peninsula. This exclusive neighborhood lies within Quivira Los Cabos and is situated overlooking pristine blue waters. Owners have access to exclusive amenities, including Quivira Golf Club, a Jack Nicklaus-designed world top 100 course. All homesites feature spectacular ocean and/or golf course views, and range in size from .50 to .75 acres. With captivating 180-degree ocean vistas and mystical sunsets every day, the destination’s natural physical beauty is unrivaled. Adding to this distinctive setting, Old Lighthouse Club rests along high bluffs, gentle dunes, and lush native desert. Rich in history — home to El Faro Viejo Lighthouse erected in 1905 — and steeped in natural wonders this gated enclave is distinct from other neighborhoods in Quivira.
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always …
📖 Serena Williams: 2015 SI Sportsperson Of The Year
She not only dominated her sport in 2015 like few athletes ever have, but she also continued to grow off the court, searching, speaking out and, most important, healing an old wound
:: S.L. Price | Sports Illustrated | 12.21.2015
📖 Full circle at Shoal Creek
An untold story of one man’s convictions changing racial inclusion at 1990 PGA Championship and golf as a whole
:: Adam Schupak | Golfweek | 09.02.2022
📖 The Deacon and the Dog
Fifty years later, a former FBI agent looks back on the bizarre bank robbery that inspired an iconic New York film
:: Daniel Edward Rosen | City Journal | Summer 2022
DESIGN NOTES
Bobby Weed opens Stillwater in Florida
The latest news and notes in golf course architecture.
⛳️ Bobby Weed Golf Design (BWGD) and the Northeast Florida division of Lennar Corporation announced the grand opening of Stillwater Golf and Country Club in St. Johns, Florida.
Located between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, the course serves as the centerpiece for an active adult gated community in St. Johns County. Within Stillwater’s 18-hole routing, BWGD has creatively designed loops of three, six, nine and 12 holes that start and finish near the clubhouse.
With tees measuring from 4,760 yards to 6,745 yards, Stillwater was designed with an eye toward environmental stewardship. With only 70 acres of irrigated turf (148 total acres), the course realizes a number of environmental benefits. Up to 25 million gallons of water are to be saved annually from non-irrigated areas; Tiftuf bermudagrass fairways, tees and approaches will use 38% less water than similar varieties; an absence of traditional rough will reduce maintenance; non-irrigated centipede grass in the native areas offer contrasting swaths of color; and 18 acres of shell screenings replace cart paths, reducing maintenance and delivering visual contrast.
Stillwater’s 16-acre practice facility will be a rain-or-shine, year-round destination. The lighted driving range has covered hitting bays equipped with Toptracer Range. The practice facility also includes three putting and chipping greens, highlighted by a 16,041-square-foot, Himalayan-style putting course.
“Stillwater delivers terrific shot values with ample playing areas that encourage the old-style game of low running approach shots,” Bobby Weed said. "It is incumbent upon us as architects to be good stewards of the environment, while simultaneously designing courses that create interest, flexibility and fun. We accomplished these goals at Stillwater.”
⛳️ The Landings Club in Savannah, Georgia, has retained Bill Bergin to spearhead the renovation of its Palmetto course, one of six championship layouts at the property. Palmetto was originally designed by Arthur Hills in 1985. Work is expected to begin in early 2023.
Bergin intends to rework bunkers and greens and add new forward tees, along with other tweaks aimed at improving playability.
⛳️ Venerable Lookout Mountain Club has commenced construction on a $12 million restoration of its 1925 Seth Raynor design. Originally opened as Fairyland Golf Club in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, the golf club was part of a mountaintop resort that embraced a whimsical garden-and-stone wonderland reminiscent of rural England.
The golf course is situated in uppermost northwest Georgia, in what is actually a prosperous suburb of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Raynor passed away shortly after completing plans for the course, leaving his protégé-associate Charles Banks to bring the layout to fruition. However, Raynor’s plans were never fully implemented, due to a combination of hitting rock, devastating storms and the Great Depression.
Architect Brian Silva developed a master plan in 1995 that would bring the true Raynor vision to life, but cost concerns limited the work to a large extent. Enter the team of Kyle Franz, Tyler Rae and Jim Ryan. The three restoration specialists teamed up and, in October 2021, won the bid to conjure up what Raynor had intended all along.
Restoration and enhancements to the golf course are slated for completion in spring 2023, alongside renovations to the Fairyland Clubhouse.
⛳️ Brian Curley of Schmidt-Curley Design has added to his vast portfolio of Asian courses with the opening of the third nine at aptly named Stone Valley Resort, near Hanoi, Vietnam. Stone Valley debuted its original 18, also designed by Curley, in 2018. The latest addition features a unique landscape amid towering Karst rock formations.
"Whereas the first 18 holes play largely within a wide, sweeping valley, the new nine mostly plays as single corridor holes framed on most sides by densely vegetated jungle with rock formations serving as massive backdrops," Curley said. "In addition to the landscape that evokes a King Kong-themed movie scene, the holes also feature significant elevation change, especially the tee shot on the ninth hole, which descends some 130 feet to the green, and offers views to the valley and mountains well beyond."
RELATED: Design Notes archive
NAMES | NEWS | NUMBERS
BUSINESS
▪️GolfPass: Launches a limited-time free membership offer for students. … Malcolm DeMille: Chosen by CP Women’s Open tournament sponsor Canadian Pacific to design pro-am gifts that embody the company's 140-plus years of shaping cross continental freight and travel. … Golftec: Opens a 4,000-square-foot facility in Pikesville, Maryland. … GCSAA: Announces the Larry Powell Scholarship, which focuses on underserved students planning a career in golf course management. … GCSAA: Launches a property and environmental stewardship practices survey. … 2K: Reveals the 23 licensed courses available to play in PGA Tour 2K23. Among the courses are Bay Hill Golf Club and Lodge (Arnold Palmer Course), East Lake Golf Club, Quail Hollow Club, Riviera Country Club and 10 TPC courses. … Tagmarshal: To host a Sept. 7 webinar on optimizing course operations. … GreatLife Golf and Fitness: Merges with Brown Golf, a multi-course management operation. GreatLife will retain its name and now boast a collective portfolio of 70 golf courses across nine states. … Peter Millar: Company announces it will return to the 2023 PGA Show and makes a multiyear commitment to the Orlando, Florida, event. … The Wigwam Resort: Red Allen’s Bar and Grill Patio is named to Club + Resort Business’ Top Ranked Private Club and Resort Patios in the U.S. list.
COURSES / COMPETITION
▪️Sylvan Glen Golf Course: Maurice Kimpe-designed course in Troy, Michigan, to celebrate its 100th anniversary on Sept. 10. … PXG Women’s Match Play Championship: Names INK! (Investing in Kids) as charity partner. Pro-am and ticket sales will benefit St. Johns County, Florida, public education initiatives through the nonprofit. … Pure Insurance Championship: Annual PGA Tour Champions event, Sept. 20-25 at Pebble Beach, to feature professionals, teens from First Tee chapters and amateurs in unique format. … Pinehurst Resort: No. 8 course reopens following an agronomic remastering that includes new TifEagle greens. … Five Iron Golf: Casa de Campo Resort and Villas in the Dominican Republic is the newest sponsor of the Five Iron Golf Leagues. … The Golf Performance Center: Announces its 2022 Foster, Ouimet Cup winners. … Ascendant LPGA: Major champions Paula Creamer and Yuka Saso, along with 13 of the world's top 20 players, commit to the tournament. … Timber Craft Whiskey: Becomes the title sponsor of the Sept. 21 Skn in the Game charity tournament that benefits Payne Stewart Kids Golf Foundation and SknVue.
GEAR
▪️Lyle and Scott: Spring 2023 apparel line is now available to industry buyers. … Whiskers: Korn Ferry Tour’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship winner wore Whiskers' black-white braided laces with his black shoes in the final round. … OnCore Golf: Debuts Vero X2 ball, which features a higher compression rating than the Vero X1. … Fujikura: Ventus shaft played by the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup winner. … More Golf: Ambassador Louis Kelly advances to Korn Ferry Tour First Stage Qualifying while playing a full set of More Golf Mod/1 irons and wedges, and Mod/1 Endure putter. … LPGA: Dunning Golf is named the uniform supplier of the U.S. Solheim Cup Teams in 2023 and 2024. … Club Champion: Celebrates Putter Fitting Month by waiving putter fitting fees through Oct. 2 for any golfer who purchases a new putter or custom putter shaft with Club Champion installation. … PXG Apparel: Launches its fall/winter 2022 apparel collection, which is inspired by PXG’s American roots and features a western flair. … True Spec: To open a second North Carolina location at Raleigh’s Dogwood Country Club on Sept. 17.
PEOPLE
▪️GCSAA: Connor McBride receives the 2022 Allan MacCurrach Jr. Award, which supports outstanding non-traditional students pursuing a career in golf course and turf management. … LIV Golf: Signs Cameron Smith, the world No. 2 and British Open champion, along with Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Cameron Tringale, Marc Leishman and Anirban Lahiri. … Women’s Golf Day: Founder Elisa Gaudet is named to the 100 Successful Women in Business list. … Colony Bay Club: Stephen Bush, the Bonita Springs, Florida, club’s executive chef, is named the American Culinary Federation's Southeast Chef of the Year.
TRAVEL
▪️Discover Puerto Rico: Offering late summer and fall packages to a destination that features 18 diverse golf courses. … The Sea Pines Resort: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, destination announces reduced rates through Feb. 24 for its fall and winter packages. … Island Resort and Casino: Offering September and October golf packages that include play on the Sweetgrass and Sage Run courses in Escanaba, Michigan.
THE STYLE LINKS
Being named the uniform supplier for the U.S. Solheim Cup teams in 2023 and 2024 is a big deal given that Dunning has fairly recently entered the women’s golf apparel arena. Perhaps, maybe, finally, we are seeing more attention being given to female golf fashion?
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
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