ON THE TEE
🏌️ The PGA Tour says in 2024 that its new “designated” events will have between 70 and 78 players with no cut and purses of $20 million each. Any of that sound familiar?
🏌️ The Tour is also slashing its Player Impact Program (PIP) in half from $100 million to $50 million. Most of the money is being reallocated to the FedEx Cup bonus pool. Does it look like Tiger Woods is going to take a PIP pay cut?
🏌️ Jack Nicklaus says the Honda Classic — without Honda as a sponsor — will “be just fine,” despite its place in the PGA Tour schedule. Is he whistling past the graveyard?
🏌️ Newly-minted world no. 1 Jon Rahm says of the ranking, “You want to get to No. 1 by winning.” Isn’t that the way it should be?
🏌️ LIV Golf League debuted on the CW Network with low ratings, according to Sports Business Journal. Should it matter that the entire history of LIV Golf is just nine tournaments?
🏌️ After paying all the expenses of every player and caddie, the 12 LIV teams are now responsible for their own travel expenses. And team winnings will go to the team instead of the individual players. Isn’t that the way a franchise is run?
🏌️ The USGA elected Fred Perpall as its 67th president. Perpall is the first Black man to hold the position. Isn’t this long overdue?
🏌️ A decision concerning whether LIV Golf players can have access to the DP World Tour going forward is now not expected before the Masters and maybe not until June. Why is this taking so long?
🏌️ Daylight Savings Time starts March 12. Doesn’t that really mean it won’t be long until nine holes after work?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
SI’s new world ranking system factors in LIV Golf
Sports Illustrated, in collaboration with Golf Intelligence, creates a system that puts more weight on recent performance and recognizes the results of all tours
:: Stuart Hall | Read
Arnold Palmer's legacy lives in the memories
With the annual return of the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational, readers share their personal stories; other topics include SI's new rankings and the state of LIV Golf
:: TFC Inbox | Read
PERFECT PUTT
PopStroke: Golf's next billion dollar company
In 2022, TaylorMade invested in PopStroke — bringing the valuation to $650 million
:: Jared Doerfler | Read
Each Monday, Jared Doerfler breaks down the business of golf. Subscribe to Perfect Putt here.
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 The great LA dumpling drama
Taiwanese chain Din Tai Fung is at the center of an all-out tug-of-war between two of LA’s biggest malls, but the fight says something even bigger about the future of the mall itself
:: Ryan Bradley | Eater | 02.22.2023
📖 Sportsman of the Year: Arnold Palmer
For dominating the game of golf with a bold determination while adding to its splendor with genuine graciousness and charm, the editors of Sports Illustrated award the Grecian amphora, a classic symbol of pure excellence, to 1960's star Arnold Palmer
:: Ray Cave | Sports Illustrated | 01.09.1961
OFF THE PLAYLIST
One golfer’s song of choice for the course. Hey, and if you don’t like it? Share your choice. Seriously.
🎶 “Easy Lover” | Phil Collins / Philip Bailey [Spotify | iTunes]
19TH HOLE
Each episode of the “Course of Life” podcast closes with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole experience.
Mitch Rossell, country music singer: “Probably just some grilled chicken tenders and fruit, and I’ll usually go with an Old Fashioned to drink — a nice mix of eating healthy while still enjoying a drink after the round.”
:: Alex Lauzon | Co-host | “Course of Life” podcast
HOME FRONT
Ponte Vedra Inn & Club | Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Listing: 340 Ponte Vedra Boulevard.
Stats: 7 bedrooms | 10 bathrooms | 4 car garage | 8,190 square feet.
Price: $7,950,000.
About: Ponte Vedra Inn & Club first introduced golf to the region in 1928 and today its Ocean Course captures the essence of a modern seaside design with expansive fairways, strategically placed bunkers and lagoons with newly designed green complexes. This home is nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the third fairway and is fit for a major champion. With beach access across the street and a short half-block stroll to the PVIC, owners have the best of both worlds. With exquisite indoor-outdoor living, this estate has a pool and spa, expansive multiple-covered lanais and balconies, a summer kitchen, an outdoor fireplace, a fire pit, and plenty of lawn space for recreation and entertainment. Inside there is a custom floating staircase, designer beams, tongue and groove ceilings, and a wide-open floor plan with a high-end kitchen and a separate caterer's kitchen. A guest house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms was added to the property in 2018.
DESIGN NOTES
Nicklaus Design reopens Florida’s BallenIsles East
⛳️ BallenIsles Country Club’s East course, host to the only PGA Championship ever played in February, has reopened following a nine-month renovation from Nicklaus Design.
Venue for the 1971 PGA Championship, won by Jack Nicklaus, the venerable layout in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was originally a 1963 Dick Wilson/Joe Lee design.
The renovation, led by senior designers Chris Cochran and Chad Goetz, boosted yardage from 7,189 yards to 7,474. It also included improvements to the bunkering and green complexes, and featured a regrassing of the entire course. In particular, some of the deeper bunkers were shallowed, other bunkers were eliminated, the greens were enlarged and recontoured and the green surrounds were updated with shortgrass run-off areas, humps and hollows.
In addition, the reimagined practice facility incorporates an all-new, 65-bay, two-sided long-game area, complete with Toptracer technology and Flagd Golf digital yardage boards; aiming targets; a practice putting green; rough, uneven lie and fairway bunker practice areas; and a wedge range with targets from 30 to 105 yards. The short-game area features a 25,000-square-foot Snead Green putting course, five pitching and chipping greens, warm-up green and the world’s flattest putting green. The area is located near the newly built ’71 Learning Center, slated for completion in April.
RELATED: Design Notes archive
⛳️ Windsong Farm in Independence, Minnesota, has retained John Fought to design a second golf course for the Minneapolis-area club.
Fought teamed with Tom Lehman to craft the club’s first course in 2003, then returned on his own in 2015 to renovate tees and bunkers. The new layout, tentatively called the North course, is expected to feature six par 3s, eight par 4s and four par 5s, for a par of 70.
"I generally don’t like to do the same thing with my projects, so this one will be really different from any of my other courses," Fought said. "It’s a unique piece of land with lake views and rolling terrain, and we will be doing what it allows us to do without having to move a lot of dirt. It will be the perfect complement to Windsong Farm Golf Club."
The new course will measure just 6,477 yards from the back gold tees — much shorter than the club’s existing layout, which can stretch to 7,500-plus yards. However, Fought expects the new spread to be plenty challenging.
"This second course will play tougher than people think as length is not the only factor in determining difficulty," Fought said. "Playing strategies will very much come into play here. Plus, the 18th hole will be a ‘Cape’ hole — a long, 483-yard par 4 that plays around a lake."
Indeed, 13 holes will offer views of Fox Lake. Additional inspiration came to Fought following a visit to Chicago’s Shoreacres, a venerable Seth Raynor design from 1921. A fistful of the new Windsong Farm holes will embody tributes to the classic template holes of Raynor and his mentor, Charles Blair Macdonald.
"This will be like creating a course from the early 1900s but with a modern infrastructure,” Fought said. "This is open, rolling land with natural, native areas that are fescue and gives us the opportunity to integrate several old-style holes into the mix."
The course is expected to open in summer 2024.
⛳️ Jackson Kahn has concluded a renovation of former PGA Tour venue Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Illinois, north of Chicago.
Originally designed by Tom Fazio in 1991, the club played host to the Tour’s BWM Championship in 2013, 2015 and 2017 when winners were Zach Johnson, Jason Day and Marc Leishman, respectively. It was also the venue for two USGA national championships, a Western Amateur and an NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship.
Tim Jackson and partner David Kahn worked for Tom Fazio and the Fazio Design team for 14 years before venturing out on their own in 2009, so both men are well versed in the Fazio sensibilities and philosophy. However, they have also incorporated their own unique stylings that modernize the layout, yet do justice to the original creation.
The Jackson Kahn masterplan, developed in 2017 and commenced in 2021 revolved around relocating and reworking bunkers, installing a new irrigation system and remodeling the first green and its surrounds. Other fixes included redesigning two short par 4s, the seventh and the 15th.
In collaboration with Wadsworth Construction, work on the front nine concluded in December 2021, with the back nine finished in December 2022. Additional grassing will take place this spring.
THE STYLE LINKS
In case you’re curious, there’s a good story from 2021 about how Keith Mitchell started getting outfitted by Sid Mashburn and that launched his “Cashmere Keith” nickname on the PGA Tour.
:: 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
THE LAST CALL
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