Editor’s Note: Beginning today, the Names | News | Numbers section of this Saturday newsletter is being rebranded to Scorecard, but will remain a compilation of the golf industry’s news and notables. While Scorecard can still be accessed by reading this newsletter, it’s moving to its own section under The First Call | Extra umbrella as a weekly post that will be updated each weekday. The move will allow us to explore new features for this newsletter.
How can I read Scorecard?
1. Each Saturday’s edition will have a link you can simply click.
2. If you’re a Substack subscriber and want update notifications, go to Settings, then Subscriptions, click on the right arrow next to The First Call | Extra and select Scorecard. Each day the post is updated you will receive a notification.
We’ve also added The Last Call, an interesting, insightful or just purely entertaining social media find to close out the newsletter. As always, let us know what you think. Please feel free to email me at shall@buffalogroupe.com.
Thanks and enjoy your weekend.
— Stuart Hall
Senior Editor :: The First Call
ON THE TEE
🏌️ There’s a mathematical chance that Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay could share the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking, depending on where they finish at The American Express. Think the world ranking is just crazy?
🏌️ There’s no mathematical chance that Jon Rahm could reach No. 1 after The American Express, even if he wins – which would be four wins in six starts. Think he’s happy?
🏌️ The field at the Sony Open in Hawaii looked for all the world like a Korn Ferry Tour event, despite Si Woo Kim as the winner. With the NFL playoffs on TV, think anyone watched Sony? Think Sony — a longtime sponsor — was happy?
🏌️ A pile of Tiger Woods’ memorabilia has been sold at auction in the last year, including the irons he reportedly used to win win the Tiger Slam, which fetched $5 million. Think Tiger needs extra money?
🏌️ Nelly Korda just signed an endorsement deal with Nike. Think she got the money she deserves?
🏌️ If you didn’t notice the inaugural Hero Cup, you should have. A Ryder Cup-style match play event between Great Britain & Ireland vs. Continental Europe, it featured every European Ryder Cup hopeful other than the obvious stars. Think the Europeans are outpreparing the Americans for the match in Rome this fall?
🏌️ Adam Scott is not playing the WM Phoenix Open — a “designated” tournament with a $20 million purse — for what called an “embarrassing reason.” He thought Pebble Beach was between Phoenix and Riviera on the schedule instead of Pebble-Phoenix-Riviera. Think Scott needs someone who takes care of that kind of thing?
🏌️ Scott was named in the past week to the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council. Think Tour players want someone who can’t read the Tour schedule making important decisions on their behalf?
🏌️ NBC’s Paul Azinger called his time on the PAC a “colossal waste of time.” Think Zinger got an earful from Tour commissioner Jay Monahan?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
LIV Golf, The CW Network strike multiyear deal
Network will reach more than 120 million households across the U.S. as second-year tour seeks stronger foothold
:: The First Call | Read
The Drops
💧 Titleist expands Vokey Design SM9 with shaft options
Lightweight offerings make popular wedges accessible to wider range of golfers
💧 Titleist's new TSR hybrids boost performance, playability
TaylorMade's Stealths makes loud debut; L.A.B. Golf introduces blade-style putter; Cleveland Golf's Bloom designed for women
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 The media dramas of Norman Lear
How a mass-entertainment sitcom got America to deal regularly with racism
:: Michael J. Arlen | The New Yorker | 03.02.1975
📖 Arnold Palmer’s last stand
In 1973, The King came to the desert and shot his best and final round on the PGA Tour
:: Bill Dwyre | Palm Springs Life | 08.29.2019
📖 13 common misconceptions about how golf courses work, according to superintendents
:: Josh Sens | Golf.com | 01.20.2023
OFF THE PLAYLIST
One golfer’s song of choice for the course. Hey, and if you don’t like it? Share your choice. Seriously.
🎶 “Hey Ya!” | OutKast [Spotify | iTunes]
19TH HOLE
Each episode of the “Course of Life” podcast closes with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole experience.
Daniela Iacobelli, LPGA and Epson Tour player:
“Something with french fries and I don’t really care what … and if it’s warm enough outside I love a good Mango Cart. You know those sweaty rounds where you need to change your shorts? To me, a Mango Cart is the most refreshing post-golf beer that exists for rounds like that.”
:: Alex Lauzon | co-host of “Course of Life” podcast
HOME FRONT
Tumble Creek at Suncadia | Cle Elum, Washington
Listing: 251 Leaden Queen Lane.
Stats: 959 square feet | 1 bedroom | 1.5 bathrooms.
Price: $1,490,000.
About: Nestled on a private and large home site at the end of a cul de sac is a true craftsman cabin. Also, with 1.4 acres, there is ample room to build another home or expand the current cabin. The home site borders hole No. 9 of the private Tumble Creek Golf Course, designed by Tom Doak, and views can be magnificent. The warmth and openness of the home expands to the covered deck, extended patio and firepit. Located 80 miles east of Seattle, Tumble Creek at Suncadia is spread over 6,400 acres with a variety of neighborhoods, each with a distinct vibe. Tumble Creek, for example, is an exclusive enclave with a collection of homes and community amenities, including the course, The Great House (a private clubhouse that includes private dining, a bowling alley, a tween-friendly game room and an arts and crafts room), The Hill House (a state-of-the-art fitness and aquatic center), plus miles of trails, parks and access to Suncadia Resort amenities. There is also no shortage of outdoor activities, including river floating, fly fishing, mountain biking, hiking and camping at Sasse Mt. Outpost.
THE STYLE LINKS
When the background scenery in a photo shoot is as cool as the apparel. @greysonclothiers spring collection, Glacier Forest.
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
DESIGN NOTES
Grandfather feels young again
⛳️ Bobby Weed Golf Design has completed a three-year modernization project on the Championship Course at Grandfather Golf and Country Club in Linville, North Carolina.
Situated northeast of Asheville in a scenic valley between two mountain ridges, Grandfather’s Championship Course was designed by Ellis Maples in 1968 as one of America’s first true mountain courses. Maples later designed a second course on-site named Mountain Springs, which was constructed in 1977 to monetize the remaining real estate development inside the gates of Grandfather.
Bobby Weed Golf Design has provided consulting services focused on short-term improvements and master plans to both golf courses for over a decade. Weed, a nearby seasonal resident, has tactically overseen these projects that have restored and improved upon Maples’ original intents.
"My past conversations with golf course architect Ed Seay — who mentored under Ellis Maples and served as the on-site project manager — assisted our firm in understanding Mr. Maples’ true design objectives," Weed said. "Mr. Seay also revealed how challenging the golf course construction was in difficult mountain conditions. From those discussions, we have upheld their design philosophies, while improving upon the golf course’s infrastructure, maintenance and aesthetics."
RELATED: Design Notes archive
⛳️ Master restoration artist Andrew Green has touched up some of America’s most historic courses in recent years, from Inverness to Oak Hill to Congressional. Over the next few years, Green will embark on a different proposition: Rather than restore the existing Kalamazoo Country Club layout, parts of which date to a Tom Bendelow design from 1910, the club elected to have Green produce a completely new design.
Green’s new creation will be part of a total transformation of the club, according to the A Position’s Terry Moore. Club owners Bill Johnston and his wife Ronda Stryker, both prominent philanthropic forces in Kalamazoo, had a desire for the city’s namesake country club to reinvent itself with a new course and new clubhouse facilities that will rival any in the country.
Ownership procured a 50-acre property southwest of the existing facility which is intended to house a 100,000-square-foot clubhouse, which will include underground parking. Among the amenities will be a short game training area and a short course.
Kalamazoo will be Green’s first original design and he has completed the routing. It is expected to play as a par 71, and tip out at 7,200 yards. The course is tentatively scheduled to be completed by 2026.
⛳️ Nicklaus Design has completed its design and routing of a new version of Normandie Golf Course in St. Louis, Missouri, with construction expected to commence in August 2023. Reputed to be the oldest public golf course still being operated in its original location west of the Mississippi, Normandie was a 1901 design from Robert Foulis, a native Scot who was a protégé of Old Tom Morris.
Normandie’s transformation is occurring under the auspices of the Metropolitan Golf Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the local Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association and Beyond Housing, a nationally recognized community development organization focused on creating a stronger, more equitable and prosperous St. Louis. Nicklaus was introduced to the project by his friend Tom O’Toole, a past USGA President and founder of the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association.
The Nicklaus folks will retain some of the old Normandie routing and corridors, but drape an entirely new layout atop the existing terrain. While par will remain at 71, back tee yardage will increase from 6,534 yards to 6,842. Nicklaus will retain the unusual finish, a closing par 3 of 250 yards.
SCORECARD
1️⃣8️⃣ The golf industry’s week in review — the names, news and notables that are making the headlines. :: Read
THE LAST CALL
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