ON THE TEE
🏌️ Jon Rahm is finally No. 1 after winning the Genesis Invitational, his third win in his last five starts. Isn’t it about time that the best player in the world doesn’t have to fight so hard to be No. 1?
🏌️ Sports Illustrated has introduced the SI World Golf Rankings and along with the Data Golf Rankings, a competition now exists to offer a more accurate way than the Official World Golf Ranking, which top players have blasted as illegitimate. A year from now, who wins?
🏌️ LIV Golf players who meet the qualifications will be allowed to play in British Open and PGA Championship. That makes all four major championships that have welcomed LIV players. Isn’t the desire for the best possible fields good for the game?
🏌️ Dustin Johnson was asked if he watched “Full Swing,” the Netflix documentary in which Johnson was a featured player. “I watched them film me, so I don’t need to watch the episode.” Does he even have a TV?
🏌️ Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy helped break ground for an arena for TGL, a league in which the game’s stars make a lot of money playing virtual golf in front of fans, who will wager on the outcomes. No objections?
🏌️ If the Honda Classic is any indication of the PGA Tour’s non-elevated events, isn’t the gulf between the haves and have-not tournaments becoming even wider?
🏌️ The finalists for this year’s class of the World Golf Hall of Fame include Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, Tom Weiskopf, Johnny Farrell, Dottie Pepper and Cristie Kerr. Why hasn’t Weiskopf, who died in August, been inducted long before now?
🏌️ Suzann Pettersen will be the European Solheim Cup captain for both 2023 and 2024. Hadn’t the Americans better get ready for a tussle?
🏌️ Do you plan to play more golf or less in 2023?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
Old school golf destinations still have a swagger
While newer, more remote, golf-specific locales are dominating the headlines, the larger market golf regions still have plenty to offer
:: Tony Deer | Read
Q&A: Jennipher Satterly | President, AGA
The merging of the contemporary artist's passions — golf and art — took a while, but once they did her career pivoted in a fulfilling direction and today she oversees the Academy of Golf Art
:: Stuart Hall | Read
The makings of a well-designed golf hole
Readers of The First Call offer their perspectives on what elements are necessary for a fun, memorable and challenging hole
:: TFC Inbox | Read
PERFECT PUTT
Golf and independent media: The new partnership
Independent media companies have built huge audiences — now golf companies are leveraging them
:: 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.
📖 She left her 2007 iPhone in its box for over a decade. It just sold for $63K
:: Rachel Treisman | NPR | 02.21.2023
📖 ’Full Swing’ wrap: An interview with executive producer Chad Mumm
”I think the hope was always to do something you could watch with your friend who's not a golfer.” — Chad Mumm
:: Shane Ryan | Golf Digest | 02.23.2023
📖 ‘Cocaine Bear’: Real-life agent recalls surreal 1985 case, and one even crazier
Fran Wiley, a retired Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent, recalls the bear who overdosed on cocaine and, nearly 40 years later, inspired a Hollywood movie
:: Julie Miller | Vanity Fair | 02.23.2023
OFF THE PLAYLIST
One golfer’s song of choice for the course. Hey, and if you don’t like it? Share your choice. Seriously.
🎶 “Times Like These” | Foo Fighters [Spotify | iTunes]
19TH HOLE
Each episode of the “Course of Life” podcast closes with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole experience.
Danny Wuerffel, University of Florida national championship and 1996 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback: “Well, after practice (don’t tell coach Steve Spurrier) ... I’d go to Waffle House and get six eggs with cheese, small order hash browns, triple tomatoes, triple onions, sausage and mix it all up.”
:: Alex Lauzon | Co-host | “Course of Life” podcast
HOME FRONT
Pinehurst No. 9 | Pinehurst, North Carolina
Listing: 135 Saint Mellions Drive.
Stats: 4 bedrooms | 4 bathrooms | 1 half bath.
Price: $1,645,000.
About: Ever wanted to move to golf's Mecca? There are several homes and homesites available in the Pinehurst area, but this gem will catch an eye. This home is nestled between the 1st and 10th tees of the Jack Nicklaus-designed Pinehurst No. 9 course and the sale includes a transferable Signature (courses Nos. 1-9) membership. The tree-lined driveway with accent lighting leads to this 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom house, which has new updates including flooring, paint, appliances and light fixtures. The open floor plan offers a family room with vaulted ceilings and a formal living area that overlooks the outdoor patio and golf course. The primary suite features high ceilings, great views, a sitting area, walk-in closet and a gorgeous master bath with a soaking tub, shower with new tile and granite pebble flooring. Pinehurst No. 9 is a masterpiece set amidst the longleaf pines, a magnificent 7,122-yard course that is as meticulously designed as it is compelling.
DESIGN NOTES
Cabot Citrus Farms about to play its ‘21’ hand
⛳️ In a stunning January 2022 reveal, Canadian developer Cabot announced that the two Tom Fazio courses at Brooksville, Florida’s World Woods it had recently acquired would be plowed under and redesigned.
In February 2022, the architects were named for the redesigns. And one year later, the company updated the news with a change of architects and the addition of a radical new layout to join the already planned 36 holes.
Kyle Franz got the nod in 2022 to transform the old Pine Barrens course into Cabot Barrens. That assignment remains intact. The old Rolling Oaks was to go under the knife at the hands of Keith Rhebb and Riley Johns, longtime Coore-Crenshaw associates who were praised for their re-do of Orlando’s Winter Park muni.
Mike Nuzzo, of Texas’ Wolf Point renown, was to rework the expansive practice area and was tasked with creating two nine-hole courses. Nuzzo now has expanded duties. He and Franz will team up to reimagine the Oaks course, now called Cabot Oaks, aided by Ran Morrissett. And the two nine-holers? Nuzzo has some extra work to do on those.
The developers gave Nuzzo the latitude to create as many good golf holes as possible on the property he was allotted. Enter The Ten and The Ace. The Ten is composed of 10 mostly regulation holes, with three par-3s, one 560-yard par 5 and six par-4s — four of them in the shortish, 285- to 305-yard range. The Ace features 11 par-3 holes ranging from 85 to 125 yards. The courses can be played separately or combined into a 21-hole layout, the only such kind in the world, forming a course called The 21.
Expected opening for all the new and reimagined courses at Cabot Citrus Farms is December 2023.
⛳️ Tripp Davis and Associates (TDA) has announced its renovation plans for Ridgewood Country Club in Waco, Texas. The rolling, wooded land overlooking Lake Waco first opened for play in 1947 and was designed by native Texas golf course architect Ralph Plummer.
Davis’ focus will be on renovating tees, bunkers and greens while preserving the historic value of the course.
Construction began at the start of the new year. TDA shaper Jason Gold is working with builder Fleetwood Construction to start the redesign of the greens and bunkers, which are inspired by Plummer's original style.
"We renovated and, in part, restored Preston Trail in Dallas 15 years ago, which is also a Plummer original and I really appreciate his strategic approach and simple but elegant style," Davis said. "We also are repositioning the tees to create a more enjoyable and interesting course for all players, redesigning the driving range, and making a significant change to hole number nine.
The course sits on an amazing piece of land and we will be working hard to keep the natural movement while giving the course more of a classic style and strategy to serve the members at Ridgewood for decades to come."
Ridgewood has an anticipated opening date of late October 2023.
⛳️ Art Schaupeter has signed on to design Bella Ridge, an 18-hole public course in Johnstown, Colorado.
Located 45 miles north of Denver near the cities of Greeley and Loveland, Bella Ridge will unfold atop a former working dairy farm.
Schaupeter explained that the routing will provide multiple loops and different lengths for all classes of players. The opening nine will consist of six- and three-hole loops out and back to the clubhouse. The inward nine will be a more traditional layout.
The closing trio of holes will highlight the back nine, as they will play long, though also downhill. A 400-yard practice range, 20,000-square-foot putting green and a 2-acre short game area are included among the offerings.
THE STYLE LINKS
Food @themasters has become an iconic part of the tournament. So much so that TasteOfTheMasters.Masters.com, has brought back its pre-order hosting kit. With the Masters a little more than a month away, it’s time to start your party planning.
:: 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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