Getting a Grip on Grips
+ Female agronomists making U.S. Women's Open course look on point.
ON THE TEE
⛳️ If Dustin Johnson is suspended — or banned — from the PGA Tour, will LIV Golf pay his legal fees for the lawsuit against the Tour?
⛳️ And what about the other PGA Tour members who have signed on for the LIV Golf Invitational Series event at the Centurion Club outside London next week? Will they file individual lawsuits or a class action? Or will they just wait for the outcome of Johnson’s legal process?
⛳️ We still don’t know which television entity will broadcast the Centurion tournament. If you have to watch it on YouTube, will you take a pass?
⛳️ And does it make any difference to you that this event will be 54 holes, a shotgun start and a four-man team aspect?
⛳️ Has anyone since Bernhard Langer at the 1991 Ryder Cup — he won the German Open the next week — bounced back as quickly from a devastating loss than Mito Pereira? And with a smile?
⛳️ Before TV talking heads hammer Will Zalatoris about his putting, shouldn’t they realize there’s a reason he uses a putter that looks like that?
⛳️ Which was more impressive: Justin Thomas’ perseverance in the final round of the PGA or the surgical way he took apart the three holes of the playoff?
⛳️ Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club is the perfect U.S. Women’s Open site when you combine quality of the course, ambience and the locals’ love of golf. Any arguments?
⛳️ Thomas hit a world-class shank at the par-3 6th hole in the final round and still won the PGA. Remember that next time a hosel rocket goes flying off your club.
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
Golf Pride getting a firm grip on consumer data
Company is launching new educational initiative at Pinehurst headquarters to better understand the impact of grips on a player's game
:: David Droschak | Read
Female agronomists' major moment
Thirty female turfgrass specialists from around the country are volunteering at this week's U.S. Women's Open in Southern Pines, N.C.
:: David Droschak | Read
RBC splits with Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell
Both players' endorsement agreements were terminated after deciding to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Series
:: The First Call Staff | Read
Pace of play tops list of golfers' pet peeves
If there is one issue that touches a nerve with The First Call readers on a golf course, it's slow play
:: The First Call Readers | Read
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always …
📖 The fugitive next door
:: Greg Donahue | Altavist Magazine | Edition 126
📖 A major breakthrough
:: John Garrity | Sports Illustrated | 07.24.1995
📖 It’s time to bring back the AIM away message
:: Lauren Goode | Wired | 05.31.2022
📖 Casey Martin lost a leg, but he hasn't lost hope
:: Max Adler | Golf Digest | 05.26.2022
DESIGN NOTES
The latest news and notes in golf course architecture.
➡️ Belleair Country Club in Belleair, Florida, has undertaken a massive renovation of its historic West Course. The architects at Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design, led by Dana Fry and Jason Straka, current president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, broke ground on the project in March. It’s all happening as the Clearwater-area club celebrates its 125th anniversary.
"After a full survey of the members, it was clear they desired and supported no mere run-of-the-mill renovation of the West Course, but a restoration that embraced its historic significance and pedigree," says Ed Shaughnessy, Belleair's COO.
Straka is collaborating with Ft. Myers, Florida-based Clarke Construction Group on the $8.8 million project. All 18 greens are being rebuilt to USGA specifications, then restored according to Ross’ 1924 construction drawings. Straka and Belleair superintendent Andy Neiswender have chosen TifEagle ultradwarf for the putting surfaces, with Bimini bermudagrass everywhere else on the 120-acre course.
A prime attraction of the property to what Ross originally called the No. 1 Course is its 30 feet of elevation change, unusual for the west coast of Florida. His course was set beside half a mile of frontage on Clearwater Bay.
Belleair began as a six-hole loop with crushed-shell greens, laid out beside railroad baron Henry Plant’s colossal, new winter hotel, The Belleview. After its 1897 christening, this sprawling structure would come to be known as The Great White Queen of the Gulf.
The plan is to reopen all 18 holes by mid-November 2022.
➡️ Madison’s Cherokee Country Club announced on May 24 its intention to rebrand as the first TPC facility in Wisconsin. Twelve-time PGA Tour winner and Wisconsin native Steve Stricker will oversee the course redesign, which will include a revamping of its Golf Academy.
Stricker’s first foray into course design involves regrading the terrain, repositioning design features, rebuilding all of the infrastructure, including greens, tees and bunkers and installing new cart paths.
"I couldn’t ask for a better scenario with my first golf course design project to be the same property that I spent the better part of 30 years of my golf career and where I raised my family," Stricker says. "TPC Wisconsin will be a dream project for me."
The golf course renovation is expected to be completed in August 2023.
➡️ Who better to restore and renovate the Arnold Palmer course at PGA West in La Quinta, California, than Arnold Palmer’s design firm?
Brandon Johnson, senior architect at Arnold Palmer Design Co., has finished Phase I of a renovation project at PGA West’s Palmer layout, a course that played host to the PGA Tour’s Desert Classic on 25 occasions between 1988 and 2015. Johnson took the greens back to Palmer’s original creation, which provides for more hole locations. He also substituted the existing TifDwarf bermudagrass with TifEagle.
Greenside bunkers have been reconfigured and new bunkers have been added. Green surrounds have been refurbished and holes 14 through 17 feature improved irrigation.
➡️ It took a dozen years, but David Williams has finally completed the renovation of Real Golf de Pedrena, Seve Ballesteros’ old stomping grounds, on Spain’s north coast.
Williams, a 25-year veteran in the course design business, is also known for his consulting collaborations with Neil Coles, former chairman of the European PGA Tour chairman and a 29-time tour winner. At Pedrena, Williams renovated two or three holes at a time every other year on the H.S. Colt design so as to minimize disruptions in play for the membership. The club’s short nine-hole course, designed by Ballesteros, saw some of its holes serve as substitutes during the time when Colt’s holes were out of commission.
An ill-conceived greens rebuild in the 1990s featured a dearth of acceptable hole locations, so Williams has redesigned and rebuilt the most problematic of them, which included new drainage and irrigation. A new hole, the 174-yard, par-3 10th, was built in 2015 and features a recreated Colt green. The hole replaced a poorly received 207-yard uphill test that appeared in the 1970s.
In 2020, Williams completed work on the course’s signature hole, the par-3 seventh, which resulted in expanded pinnable areas on the green, refurbished bunkers and selective tree removal. Throughout the course, thinning and removing trees has yielded views across the course that also reveal sea and mountain vistas. In 2021-’22, Williams tweaked the long par-3 second hole and the meaty par-4 fourth with the help of Spanish contractor CugarGolf.
RELATED: Design Notes archive
HOME FRONT
Tributary | Driggs, Idaho
Listing: Tributary Cabin
Stats: 3,250 square feet (interior), 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms.
Price: $2,750,000.
About: This two-story Tributary cabin is derived from the rustic homesteads found in the surrounding Teton Valley and is built with authentic materials, walls of glass and generous living spaces. The open floor plan is designed to invite the outdoors in, along with timeless features that make for a refined mountain lifestyle. Tributary 2.0 offers a sense of refined luxury in a sophisticated mountain-modern package. Tributary is a 1,500-acre low-density private residential community located due west of the Teton Mountain Range and is rich in rivers, wildlife and mountain-town culture. Amenities include a 2-mile elevated boardwalk, an 18-hole David McLay Kidd-designed golf course, wellness facility, farm-to-table restaurant and bar, seven fishing ponds, trails for cross-country skiing and a members-only ski lounge at the Grand Targhee Resort base.
RELATED: Home Front archive
NAMES | NEWS | NUMBERS
BUSINESS
▪️Registration opens for the PGA Buying and Education Summit, July 11-23 in Las Vegas. … The PGA of America launches the PGA Jr. League Safari Par-Tee mobile app, an interactive mobile game that allows users to collaboratively play golf as animal avatars while transforming their own setting into an imaginative Adventure Park Golf Course. … In partnership with the North Florida and South Florida PGA Sections, PGA Members and Tagmarshal are offering two educational webinars for MSR credits. … Golftec opens a 2,500-square-foot instruction, clubfitting center in San Diego. … KemperSports names Toptracer as its range technology partner, providing its properties and partners an engaging, fun and data-driven golf experience. … deWiz expands its global footprint and is now offering product online across Australia, Japan and South Africa. … Rory McIlroy, NBC Sports Next unveil the GolfNow Compete app that offers playing tools to elevate a golfer’s game and gives players of every level an opportunity to compete. … GolfPass 'Breaking' instructional series returns to streaming service and features instructors Martin Hall, Devan Bonebrake, Nathalie Filler Sheehan and Martin Chuck. … TurfHound provides the range tee surfaces for a pair of different Mid-Atlantic facilities — Washington Golf and Country Club [Arlington, Virginia] and The Preserve at Eisenhower Golf Course [Crownsville, Maryland]. … SkyGolf opens its exclusive golf course database with the launch of its SkyPins service, which is available to all U.S., Canadian and United Kingdom golf clubs following a successful three-year trial with the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland tournament directors. … First Tee, John Deere partner on the “Drive Your Future” event, June 6-10 in San Francisco, that empowers 24 teenage girls through a week-long golf academy.
COMPETITION
▪️NFL quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen highlight the field of athletes and celebrities for the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe, July 6-10. … ShopRite LPGA Classic announces that world No. 1 Jin Young Ko, along with hall of fame golfer Karrie Webb are among the headliners for the June 10-12 LPGA tournament at Seaview Golf Club [Galloway, New Jersey]. … The PGA Tour Latinoamerica will hold its season-ending tournament at El Tigre Golf Club [Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico]. The 72-hole, limited-player tournament is July 14-17. … Nickelodeon’s Nickelodeon Slime Cup will simulcast on Saturday, June 25, at 8 p.m. ET across Nickelodeon, TeenNick and Nicktoons. The special will feature four teams competing on a tricked-up golf course to reach the final round. Golfers Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Lexi Thompson and Justin Thomas will participate. … The Presidents Cup names the six Historically Black Colleges and Universities that will compete in the inaugural Charlie Sifford Centennial Cup, Aug. 29 at Quail Hollow Club [Charlotte, North Carolina] — host Johnson C. Smith, Howard, Florida A&M, Alabama State, Texas Southern and Livingstone.
COURSES / DESTINATIONS
▪️Reynolds Lake Oconee [Greensboro, Georgia] receives a Golf Digest Editors’ Choice honor for being one of the top golf destinations in the southeast. … Island Resort and Casino's Sage Run [Harris, Michigan] makes Golfweek’s Best in State course list. … Palheiro Golf [Madeira Island, Portugal] announces a seven-figure investment in its golf, hotel and lifestyle facilities. In 2023, the club will open a golf academy that will feature 28 bays and a fitting center. … Rumbling Bald [Lake Lure, North Carolina] announces its fall 2022 golf packages. … Sanford Ferris Golf Course Design to renovate historic Cavalry Club [Manlius, New York]. … Champion Hills [Hendersonville, North Carolina] moves up in Golfweek’s Best Private Courses list.
GEAR
▪️Royal Albartross introduces men’s style shoes that are inspired by the spirit of London. … Puma Golf introduces the Ignite Articulate golf shoe that features an all-new design with an articulating outsole, midsole and upper that flexes with your foot. … Titleist unveils three Tour-inspired Scotty Cameron Phantom X mallet putters — the zero-offset Phantom X 5s and the updated Phantom X 11 and Phantom X 11.5 models. The additions will be available in select Titleist golf shops on June 17. … Fujikura reports that its Ventus shaft was played en route to wins on the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Champions last week.
PEOPLE
▪️Youth on Course names online media personality Roger Steele as ambassador for the 100 Hole Hike, the nonprofit’s largest charitable initiative. … TaylorMade extends a multiyear agreement with Charley Hull, who will continue to play a full bag of TaylorMade equipment and golf ball on the Ladies European Tour and LPGA Tour. Hull is currently ranked No. 33 in the world. … Golf Heritage Society will host golf landscape artist Linda Hartough as part of its Grand Zoom Series on June 8. … Adidas signs Rose Zhang, Stanford University's NCAA D-I Women's Championship medalist, to the company's first Name, Image and Likeness endorsement agreement.
PROMOTIONS
▪️Golfzon unveils its TwoVision simulator upgrade program, allowing owners of Golfzon simulators to update to the company’s most advanced model at special rates. … SkyGolf is offering a Swing into Summer savings promotion of $50 off the SkyCaddie SX550 and SX400 rangefinders and the LX5 and LX5 smart watches. The promotion ends June 11. … GolfForever is offering the chance to win an autographed Scottie Scheffler Masters flag to anyone who takes advantage of free shipping on a Swing Trainer order through June 21. … FlightScope lists several Father’s Day gift ideas, including its Mevo, Mevo+, Mevo+ Pro Package software add-on and a trade-in upgrade for current Mevo users. … Rain or Shine Golf’s list of Father’s Day ideas varies from turn-key golf simulator packages to DIY simulator components with its new simDIY line. … Club Champion gift card purchases through June 19 will earn a 15% bonus on denominations up to $1,000.
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