How idle hands built a brand
+ Lydia Ko found gold and the HOF; a pair of courses that are unique in their settings; a Hawaiian hideaway; and what is Tom Doak's next move?
THE STARTER
🏌️ Lydia Ko won the gold medal in Paris, thereby completing the Olympic Slam — she now has gold, silver and bronze. Is this a big deal?
🏌️ The Old Course at St. Andrews is hosting next week’s AIG Women’s Open, the year’s final major. Is it a good thing that the trend continues for women’s majors at the world’s best courses?
🏌️ Hideki Matsuyama, along with his caddie and coach, were robbed in London after the Olympics. Matsuyama was spared his passport but his caddie and coach had to return to Japan. Matsuyama shot 5-under 65 in the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic. How good is he at compartmentalizing?
🏌️ Matt Kuchar forced volunteers and officials to come back Monday morning so he could finish the final hole of the Wyndham Championship — alone. Self-serving or rationalizing?
🏌️ Aaron Rai won the Wyndham while Max Greyserman coughed up a big lead. Which is more newsworthy?
🏌️ Scottie Scheffler, who leads the FedEx Cup points list, called the playoff format “silly” because the points leader (him) could lose the playoffs in one tournament. Do you agree?
🏌️ Graeme McDowell was suspended by LIV Golf after a drug test found a banned substance, which McDowell said came from an over-the-counter decongestant. Should the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revise its list of banned substances?
🏌️ Jay Monahan, PGA Tour Commissioner, says talks between the Tour and LIV Golf are ongoing but there’s nothing new to report. Is no news good news?
🏌️ The Ailsa Course at Trump Turnberry is now set to become the most expensive course in the world. Starting next year, it will cost £1,000 (about $1,286) for players not staying at the hotel. Is any course worth that much?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
How A. Putnam 'intertwines' founder's passions
In 2023, Ali Putnam, a wife and mother of five children looking to fill idle time, tapped her entrepreneurial instincts and vast business experiences to launch a women's resort-to-sport apparel brand.
:: Gary Van Sickle | Read
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 The enigmatic life and complex legacy of Pinky Deras, America’s greatest Little Leaguer
No one is likely to approach the Little League numbers Pinky Deras posted ever again. But Deras himself couldn’t escape their shadow.
:: Cody Stavenhagen | The Athletic | 08.16.2024
Everything you ever wanted to know about Baltimore’s pugnacious TV-advertising lawyer (and maybe a few things you wish you didn’t).
:: Ron Cassie | Baltimore | 07.2024
📖 Why Kenya produces so many world-class marathoners
In the country's poor, rural regions, running has become the pathway to a better life. It has also created temptation to cheat.
:: Jeff Eisenberg | Yahoo Sports | 08.06.2024
📖 Why America’s hottest golf course is cooler than you might expect
:: Josh Sens | Golf.com | 08.15.2024
📖 Anyone up for a round of Horse?
The Prairie Club, located in the sandhills of Nebraska, has two highly regarded courses, but the Horse Course is a spicy offering that plays by a different set of rules.
:: Ken Klavon | Golf Travel Wire | 08.14.2024
BUSINESS
PERFECT PUTT
A 6-month check in: The golf industry
Publisher Jared Doerfler looks at numbers that are helping shape the industry’s mostly positive numbers through the first half of 2024.
:: Jared Doerfler | Read
Each Monday, Jared Doerfler breaks down the business of golf. Subscribe to Perfect Putt here.
WEEK IN REVIEW
1️⃣8️⃣ The industry’s names, news and notables that are making the headlines. | Read
ICYMI
This week’s editions of The First Call:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday
LIFESTYLE
THE STYLE LINKS
New kicks for the end of summer — Puma’s limited edition Electrocat Nitro golf shoes.
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
HOME FRONT
Hinahina Residences at Kohanaiki | Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Listing: Hinahina 13.
Stats: 3,352 square feet | 5 bedrooms | 4.5 bathrooms.
Price: $5,450,000
About: Nestled within Kohanaiki's tranquil setting, the two-story Hinahina Residences offer a blend of privacy and elegance. This home is ideally situated, bordered by the expansive 1,160-acre Kaloko-Honokohau National Park on one side, while presenting breathtaking ocean views, sweeping golf course landscapes and stunning sunsets on the other. The neighborhood includes the exquisitely crafted Hinahina 13. The upper floors of these residences are designed for socializing, featuring panoramic ocean views, gourmet kitchens equipped with premium Wolf & Sub-Zero appliances, spacious great rooms and master bedrooms that open onto expansive lanais with outdoor BBQs, seating and dining spaces. The lower levels offer a peaceful escape, with a secondary living area and two guest bedrooms, each with direct access to a large lanai, private yards, pools and spas. This location also boasts the only golf course in Hawaii designed by Rees Jones. The engaging course includes six holes along a stunning 1.5-mile oceanfront stretch.
TFC EVENTS
Solheim Cup + Kerr Cellars
9.11.2024 | Aldie, Virginia | Event and registration information
ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN NOTES
Tom Doak ponders 2nd course for Cape Kidnappers
Ahead of a special “Weekend with Tom” event in 2025 at New Zealand’s Cape Kidnappers, architect Tom Doak began contemplating bringing to life a second course at the world-renowned resort.
Located on the southeast coast of New Zealand’s North Island, Cape Kidnappers offers the acclaimed Rosewood Cape Kidnappers lodge as well as Doak’s original layout, which opened in 2004. That course ranks among the world’s top 50. However, Doak is now turning his thoughts to a course he didn’t get to build at Cape Kidnappers — "the project I most regret not having gotten the chance to design."
Developed by American financier Julian Robertson and still owned by the Robertson Family, Cape Kidnappers remains a massive working cattle and sheep farm. It certainly has the room to house more golf, as Doak well knows.
"The very first time I went to Cape Kidnappers was the end of 2001, and I was late," Doak said. "They picked me up in a helicopter and landed me on the point down below. At that time, Julian wanted to build a lodge down there and, in my opinion — then and now — that would have been a superb place to build a golf course. It was flat enough, to go with plenty of acreage. From the moment the helicopter touched down, I was like, ‘Why wouldn’t we build it down here in this valley?’
"It didn’t take long for Julian to make himself clear. The clifftops were his first choice and it’s hard to argue. His vision for golf on those cliffs was inspired. It’s a setting like no other. But I thought then — and I still think — a very good golf course could have gone down there in the valley."
Guests at the 2025 “Weekend with Tom” will also be treated to at least one intimate tour of The Farm, the 18 holes Doak routed next door, didn’t build, but has never forgotten.
"We would take picnic lunches down there when Cape Kidnappers Golf Club was being built," Doak said. “I think it was our second trip when we gave Julian and his wife Josie a tour of the place. We had spent a few days on site just sticking flags in the ground — to show what the golf course could be. I think I undersold it back then. Julian’s focus was always on building a top-100 golf course, whereas at The Farm, Bruce [Hepner] and I were thinking more about a course with sheep and cows all over it. Which is what they use the land for now, of course. That’s what so many ‘country courses’ do, all over New Zealand.
“I don’t honestly remember when Bruce and I went back and tried to actually routesomething down there. It may have been 2008. We had played around with maps from the start, but that was definitely our impetus — to get Julian more interested in a second course down below."
The architect returned to New Zealand in 2013, to design and build Tara Iti Golf Club, which opened in 2015. He followed up with nearby Te Arai Links (North), which debuted in 2023.
Early in the 21st century, Doak’s idea of building a second course at Cape Kidnappers proved a bit fanciful. Today, however, New Zealand is arguably the most desirable luxury golf destination on earth — a reality he helped create. What’s more, pushing the limits of middle age, he is more focused on the dream projects that truly matter to him.
"I’ve not discussed it with anyone there at Cape, not formally. But maybe the Robertsons would think differently about The Farm Course today — because of what’s been happening up at Te Arai. I don’t lie awake at night thinking about it, but I can tell you we’d jump at the chance to design and build a course down there. I don’t know that there is the will to do it, today, but maybe what’s happening at Te Arai has upped the ante some.
"I’ve been spending so much time in New Zealand of late. It’s hard not to think about The Farm. One thing I want to do someday is go back and build it."
THIS WEEK: Read the complete Design Notes
RELATED: Design Notes archive
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Steve: Thanks for the comment. A few of media outlets that cover the Tour regularly detailed at length what all happened on site.
Question: I heard that Matt Kutcher waited til the next day because he needed to ask for a ruling on his lie and wanted to be careful as he is near the 125 tour card cut off. He teed off too quickly by accident but with the intent to finish. Yet had he asked for a ruling to continue, the delay would have been detrimental to the eventual winner.
Is that true? If so, why isn’t that being made clear in golf industry media?