Marine Vet Puts Heart Into New Mission
+ LIV Golf still a lightning rod topic among players.
ON THE TEE
🏌️ So much for Rory McIlroy’s silence on current golf issues. He believes that Brooks Koepka has already earned his place on the U.S. Ryder Cup team but the European LIV Golf players should be kept off their team. Would McIlroy rather win or make a point?
🏌️ Jon Rahm, on the other hand, says, "It's the best Europeans against the best Americans, period. And whatever is going on, who is playing LIV and who is not playing LIV to me shouldn't matter.” Shouldn’t that be the prevailing sentiment?
🏌️ McIlroy, talking about the majors appropriately raising their purses, says, “The major championships basically rent the talent for a week from the PGA Tour, and you could argue from LIV and DP World Tour and wherever else.” What was that about playing for legacy?
🏌️ Sergio Garcia went out of his way to qualify for 24th consecutive U.S. Open and dozens of other PGA Tour and LIV Golf players will attempt to qualify on June 5. Do they consider themselves USGA rental property?
🏌️ Jack Nicklaus sent Koepka a note of congratulations but said of the LIV players, “I don’t really consider those guys part of the game anymore.” Wonder what the PGA of America said about Nicklaus when Arnold Palmer and he broke the Tournament Players Division away to form the PGA Tour?
🏌️ Phil Mickelson said he’d be happy to debate Brandel Chamblee on a neutral site. Their spat apparently ended when Chamblee blocked Mickelson on Twitter. Why does Chamblee block virtually everyone who disagrees with him?
🏌️ Rose Zhang ended her college career as one of the best women amateurs ever with an individual victory at the NCAA Championship. Is she a “can’t miss” on the LPGA Tour?
🏌️ Fred Biondi of the University of Florida won an NCAA individual and team championship, which apparently wasn’t enough to get him from No. 2 to No. 1 on the PGA Tour University ranking. So, Texas A&M’s Ludvig Aberg gets the Tour exemption for this year and next. Is this a fair system?
🏌️ Is Koepka in the conversation for Player of the Year?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
Marine vet Ben Wilson uses golf in new mission
Aspiring PGA Professional found golf to be therapeutic following his military days. Now he's helping veterans in similar situations through Patriot Golf Days and the Veterans Golf Association
:: Dan O’Neill | Read
Brooks Koepka's legacy is complicated
While winning a fifth major further cemented the 33-year-old's reputation among the game's greats, the fact he jumped to LIV Golf muddies the water for some readers of The First Call
:: TFC Inbox | Read
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 What it takes to see 10,000 bird species
Peter Kaestner has traveled the world on an adventure-filled quest to become the first birder to hit 10,000. Ornithologist Jessie Williamson hitched a ride on a rollicking South American mission that involved land, sea, and (you guessed it) air
:: Jessie Williamson | Outside | 05.11.2023
📖 The plot to steal the other secret inside a can of Coca-Cola
Shannon You was a good chemist, a bad colleague — and a thief. When she tried to use the $120 million technology she stole, she got played
:: Drake Bennett / Jordan Robertson | Bloomberg Businessweek | 05.11.2023
📖 What’s the deal with adulthood? 25 years later, ‘Seinfeld’ feels revelatory
The show about nothing ended in May 1998. But in an era when priorities are being re-evaluated, the sitcom has taken on new relevance
:: Maya Salam | New York Times | 05.12.2023
19TH HOLE
Each episode of the “Course of Life” podcast closes with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole experience.
Robbie Amell, actor and star of the Amazon Prime series "Upload": “Because I grew up golfing, there's a special place in my heart for chicken fingers and fries with sweet and sour plum sauce for dipping. If we're on the patio, I'll do a cold beer or a radler to go with it.”
:: Alex Lauzon | Co-host of “Course of Life” podcast
HOME FRONT
Juniper Preserve | Bend, Oregon
Listing: 65870 Pronghorn Estates Drive.
Stats: 3,412 square feet | 4 bedrooms | 4 bathrooms.
Price: $1.95 million.
About: This Northwest-style home is located along the fifth fairway of the community’s Jack Nicklaus Signature Course and offers stunning views of the course. The home features high-end, timeless finishes in its chef’s kitchen, a towering stone fireplace, an upper loft with views and a private sun deck. The home also comes equipped with solar panels. While the Pronghorn Club at Juniper Preserve is home to the Nicklaus course, which is open for public play, there is also a Tom Fazio-designed course reserved for members. The two nationally acclaimed courses are surrounded by views of the Cascade Mountains and have emerged as a bucket-list destination for golfers of all levels. The award-winning course designs, relentlessly sunny weather and natural beauty of Bend transform every round into an experience to boast about.
DESIGN NOTES
CBS’ Jim Nantz tries hand at course design
⛳️ Hello, friends ... here’s where architecture news meets broadcast news. Legendary CBS broadcaster and golf fanatic Jim Nantz has signed on as design consultant for the short course at Minnesota’s Tepetonka Club.
On May 23, Tepetonka Club, a new, 228-acre private golf destination located in New London, two hours west of the Twin Cities, announced that Nantz will collaborate with Tepetonka’s design firm, OCM Golf, on the creation of The Prox, the club’s short course.
"I’ve had the pleasure of knowing [Tepetonka Club chairman] Mark Haugejorde for over 40 years and Tepetonka is his life’s calling," said Nantz, who has broadcast sporting events for CBS since the 1980s. "After visiting with Mark and the OCM Golf team nearly a year ago, it became apparent that they were on the brink of building something that will be legendary. I’m proud to be a founding member and honored to join [OCM partners] Geoff [Ogilvy], Mike [Cocking] and Ashley [Mead] as a consultant on The Prox. I have deep admiration for OCM and the forward-thinking creativity they are bringing to the game."
Tepetonka is Minnesota’s first entry into the highly popular private golf destination category, this despite the state being renowned for hosting events at historic venues. Led OCM Golf and the architecture firm of Douglas Fredrickson Architects, the goal for each member's or guest’s day is summed up in the phrase: "Can’t wait to get there — hate to leave!" The Prox is the club’s short course and practice facility, to which Nantz and OCM will bring their considerable combined golf experience.
"After meeting with my old friend a few times, Jim said he wanted to become a member and I asked if he might be interested in a deeper involvement," said Haugejorde, a former teammate of Nantz’ on the University of Houston golf team. "Jim personifies the three guiding principles of Tepetonka: camaraderie, community and charity. And given the decades he’s spent calling tournaments at courses that include some of the world’s best par 3s, and the level of attention to detail he brings in all things he does, we know he’ll add his experience onsite with OCM in August. We can’t wait."
MORE: Read complete article
⛳️ The Arizona Biltmore Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona, began an extensive renovation project in late April on its Adobe Golf Course.
Led by the Lehman Design Group and five-time PGA Tour champion Tom Lehman, a Scottsdale resident, the multimillion-dollar renovation project will bring modern golf course design and water conservation technology to the 95-year-old course. When complete, the new Adobe Course will offer golfers more variety, challenge and length, feature recontoured fairways, new greens and enhanced landscaping.
The Adobe Course is expected to reopen for public and member play this fall, while the club’s Links Course will remain open for daily play.
"It’s a pleasure and exciting to work with the JDM team to refresh one of Arizona’s most iconic and historic golf properties," Lehman said. "The renovated Adobe Course will demand a much wider variety of shots, will have more length and much improved strategy. We’re using the most efficient and highest quality modern turf to dramatically improve the ability to maintain the greens, fairways and tees to the highest standards. Add on to that a wonderful landscape plan full of new trees, colorful plants and flowers and the result will be a far more visually appealing and fun Adobe Course for players of all levels."
⛳️ Firecracker-hot Beau Welling Design, recently lauded for its contributions to the new PGA Frisco complex in Texas, has completed a renovation of Indiana’s Evansville Country Club.
In addressing safety concerns about its driving range, the club eventually enlisted Welling for a series of improvements, including relocating the driving range, building several new holes and rebuilding a number of greens.
"This thought process led to the idea of upgrading infrastructure throughout the golf course," Welling told GolfCourseArchitecture.net. "This was especially the case for the greens, which were built with different methodologies at various times. There were old push-up-type greens, some quasi-USGA-type ones, and others that were a bit in between. There was also a desire to change the grass due to the different strains the greens had."
Work began on the project in September 2022, with Heritage Links handling construction duties. A new short-game area accompanied the course and range reopening. Design associate Hunter Rigsby was onsite, assisting in carrying out Welling’s directives.
RELATED: Design Notes archive
THE STYLE LINKS
By popular demand, and in conjunction with golf personality, Will Lowery, allbirds debuts its first sustainable golf shoe for men and women.
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
SCORECARD
1️⃣8️⃣ The golf industry’s week in review — the names, news and notables that are making the headlines. :: Read
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I enjoy reading your weekly NL, but am frustrated because the lines of writing are cut off at the right side of my laptop screen. It seems that the software needs to be 1" wider that it is. Cheers.