ON THE TEE
🏌️ The golf media created something out of nothing between Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy at the Dubai Desert Classic over a flying golf tee that came out of Reed’s hand. Have we scraped bottom for contrived controversies?
🏌️ The elusive, reclusive Anthony Kim is in the news as his former caddie, Eric Larson, suggested to the New York Times that he might make a comeback and that LIV Golf would be the place. Would LIV even want him?
🏌️ Scott Brown played two events last week, making the cut at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour. He withdrew when he found out he was in the field at the Farmers Insurance Open. Should he be able to do that?
🏌️ PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Keith Pelley, CEO of the DP World Tour, have recused themselves as the board of the Official World Golf Ranking determines if LIV Golf will receive world ranking points. Was that the right thing for Monahan and Pelley to do?
🏌️ LIV Golf made the long-awaited announcement that its 2023 tournaments will air on the CW Network. In case you think CW is a small player, “C” stands for CBS and “W” for Warner Media. Does that mean you’ll watch?
🏌️ Greg Norman, LIV Golf CEO, is getting more autonomy, according to a report on SI.com. Is this a good thing?
🏌️ Paige Spirinac will take on John Daly in a match at Geneva National in Wisconsin early summer, so she says. No TV partner yet but which network would get near this?
🏌️ Adam Scott joins TGL, a technology-based golf league that is scheduled to start in January 2024. Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas are already on the roster. Have you even heard of this?
🏌️ The annual PGA Merchandise Show is this week in Orlando. What are you likely to change in your bag for 2023?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
The grass can be greener on the other side
Off-course golf participation continues to grow and surpassed green grass golf for the first time in 2022, according to a survey by the National Golf Foundation and Topgolf
:: David Droschak | Read
2023 PGA Show Notebooks
Are the clubs you're playing the real deal?
U.S. anti-counterfeiting group explains what to look for in questionable clubs; World Long Drive gets infusion for 2023; new board game seeks to win best new product at the PGA Show | Read
From the Baffler to today, Cobra Golf remains an industry presence
Mach One Golf Balls proves the game can have a lighthearted side; Loudmouth apparel as outlandish as ever | Read
Tall Order socks are leaving a large footprint
FootJoy device seeks the proper fitting shoe; True Linkswear going beyond footwear into apparel; and more | Read
When a scorecard becomes a work of art
CleanFlight takes golf ball washing to a new level; PuttLink wins a PGA Show Best New Product award | Read
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 No chattering in the press box
The lost tribe of sportswriters known as the Chipmunks
:: Bryan Curtis | Grantland | 05.03.2012
📖 How mild-mannered Joe Burrow became iced-out Joe Brrr
The NFL's newest superstar has also blossomed style-wise. Just ask his jeweler
:: Eileen Cartter | GQ | 02.01.2022
📖 How to keep a great magazine going
When I started writing for Texas Monthly in 1973, I didn’t expect it to last very long. But it’s still here, five decades later
:: Stephen Harrigan | Texas Monthly | 02.2023
📖 He was compared to Tiger Woods. So why did he walk away from golf?
Is it OK for an athlete — or anyone, really — to have an extraordinary gift and not use it? The golfer Anthony Kim apparently decided, emphatically, that it is
:: Andrew Keh | New York Times | 01.26.2023 [$]
OFF THE PLAYLIST
One golfer’s song of choice for the course. Hey, and if you don’t like it? Share your choice. Seriously.
🎶 “You Get What You Give” | New Radicals [Spotify | iTunes]
19TH HOLE
Each episode of the “Course of Life” podcast closes with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole experience.
This week we feature mini tour pro Chris Wiatr based out of Juno Beach, Florida:
Chris Wiatr, Professional mini tour player:
”I have been — and always will be — a turkey club guy since day one. Especially if it’s a daytime round, a nice turkey club and an Arnold Palmer is a hard combo to beat.”
:: Alex Lauzon | co-host of “Course of Life” podcast
DESIGN NOTES
Tripp Davis returns to finish Texas’ Green Tree
⛳️ Tripp Davis and Associates (TDA) is back at Green Tree Country Club in Midland, Texas, to begin construction on the West Nine. The club’s East Nine was completed in 2022 and opened for member play Labor Day weekend.
"The members have found that the East Nine design requires a thoughtful approach to playing each hole, and that the greens are challenging yet fair," said Wray Crippin, COO of Green Tree Country Club. "The East Nine has a fantastic turf quality, and the course went from flat West Texas land to a unique golf course with undulating fairways not commonly seen in this area. We are excited to see what Tripp will do on the West Nine."
TDA, along with golf course contractor Course Crafters, will focus on redoing all the tee complexes, fairways, bunkers and greens on the West Nine. Most of the irrigation will be upgraded. Tif 419 Bermuda will be used in the roughs and fairways, and the greens will have .007 Bent Grass.
New practice facilities along with a 20,000-square-foot lighted putting course named The Pine also were constructed last summer.
Construction is expected to be complete in early summer, but the club is committed to not opening the course until it is fully ready.
⛳️ Scottsdale, Arizona’s Desert Mountain recently completed work on its one-of-a-kind Renegade course. The much-lauded club and community opened its seventh course in 2019, but it’s the very first course, Renegade, that put Desert Mountain on the map back in 1987. The unique Jack Nicklaus Signature design features two distinct targets on each hole, an easier-to-access white flag and a more challenging gold flag. In some cases, both flags were planted in one massive green, in others there were two separate greens. When it opened, Golf Digest called it "The most versatile course in the world."
Following a thorough renovation of Renegade in 2019, the club embarked on further refinements to the course in 2022 as it prepares to debut a new clubhouse later this year. This included construction of a new double-ended driving range, regrassing the bentgrass tees and fairways with ryegrass, and altering the design of the first hole. Among the first hole changes were eliminating the left-side fairway bunker to open up more landing area, adding three bunkers down the right side and softening the white flag green.
The project involved a collaboration between Nicklaus Design, Marvin Mills Irrigation Consulting, Landscapes Unlimited and Desert Mountain’s agronomic team.
⛳️ Libertyville, Illinois-based architect Rick Jacobson has begun work on all 27 holes at Winnetka Golf Club.
Located in the northern suburbs of Chicago, Winnetka has committed to an ambitious renovation to its public-access 18-hole championship layout, as well as to its nine-hole, Par-3 spread. Under the auspices of the Winnetka Park District, Winnetka has also enlisted KemperSports to manage the course operations and to oversee the renovation project.
Jacobson has started the process of releveling and resurfacing tees, fairways and greens, reworking fairway and greenside bunkers, and enhancing the infrastructure with improved drainage and irrigation. Work to the Par-3 course commenced in August 2022, while the championship layout began its transformation in November. The storied championship course has roots that date back more than 100 years and features the architecture of William B. Langford and C.D. Wagstaff.
"The Winnetka Golf Club has been a special part of the Winnetka community for more than a century, and we are proud to help Rick Jacobson lead the restoration of such a prized local asset right here in our backyard," KemperSports CEO Steve Skinner said. "The golf course has great bones, and this renovation will take it to the next level."
Both courses are expected to reopen in summer 2024.
SCORECARD
1️⃣8️⃣ The golf industry’s week in review — the names, news and notables that are making the headlines. :: READ
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