That's a wrap. Tying up loose ends and holiday bows
+ Will 2025 be the year?; thoughts for a respected colleague; some last-minute holiday gift-giving suggestions
EDITOR’S NOTE: With the holiday season upon us, this will be the last The First Call | Extra of 2024. So, we want to take this opportunity to say thanks for your continued readership, your comments and participation in our weekly polls. And we hope you enjoy the holidays and have a happy new year. We’ll see you in 2025.
:: Stuart Hall, Senior Editor
THE STARTER
🏌️ After Scottie Scheffler won the Hero World Challenge for his eighth victory of the year — seven official PGA Tour wins — pundits were making noise about his season being Tiger-like. Is that even fair?
🏌️ Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau said they expected a Ryder Cup-like vibe about their match with Scheffler and Rory McIlroy in The Crypto Challenge next week. Wouldn’t you think they’d be a little more intense about this thing than their opponents?
🏌️ McIlroy says The Crypto Challenge match will help to bridge the divide between the players on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Do you see it that way?
🏌️ Reports indicate that the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV Golf, has reached a deal to take a $1.5 billion stake in the newly-formed for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises. Is the finalization of this deal getting closer?
🏌️ Joaquin Niemann, captain of the Torque team in LIV Golf, won the Saudi International for his third victory of the year. Should he be getting more credit?
🏌️ Ninety-three players teed it up at LIV Golf’s Promotions Event for one spot in next year’s LIV Golf League. That’s pretty brutal, isn’t it?
🏌️ Michael S. Kim revealed that he spent $92,698.11 on air fares and hotels while playing 30 PGA Tour events during the 2024 season. He won $1.48 million in prize money. Nice tax deduction, huh?
🏌️ Scott Van Pelt will be the lead announcer for TGL, the simulator league backed by McIlroy and Tiger Woods, which will be televised on ESPN. Wonder what the network had to promise Van Pelt to persuade him to do this?
🏌️ Jeff Babineau, former editor at Golfweek and former president of the Golf Writers Association of America, died unexpectedly this week at age 62. He did his work with integrity and always with a smile. Won’t you please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
A few words not to golf by
Readers of The First Call share some of the worst bits of advice they have received about improving their game.
:: TFC Inbox | Read
Best Practices: Kenwood CC expands retail horizons
The Bethesda, Maryland, club boosts member engagement and sales by expanding lifestyle merchandise and hosting unique events that cater to the community's diverse interests.
:: Association of Golf Merchandisers | Read
TFC Holiday Market Lists
Curated collections of items that are sure to spice up any gift-giving list.
:: No. 1: Lifestyle | Read
:: No. 2: Gear | Read
:: No. 3: Apparel / Footwear | Read
:: No. 4: Stocking Stuffers | Read
BOOKMARKED
Good reads — and listens — that are sometimes about golf, but not always.
📖 Behind the scenes of NBC Sports’ Kevin Kisner hire
How the PGA Tour player was lured from the course to the broadcast booth.
:: James Colgan | Golf.com | 12.10.2024 | Read
📖 Inside Army-Navy: A day in the life of students at the service academies
One of college football’s greatest traditions is renewed today.
:: Heather Dinich / Chris Low | ESPN | 12.11.2024 | Read
📖 What ever happened to the Lady Jaguars?
They were the Lady Jaguars, a winless basketball team of troubled teenage girls. The New York Times spent months with them in 2012 and 2013. Recently, we wondered: What happened to the girls? Had they risen from their circumstances and fulfilled their visions of a better life? We set out to find them.
:: John Branch | New York Times | 11.24.2024 | Read
📖 The strange theft of a priceless Churchill portrait
The inside story of one of Canada’s most brazen, baffling, and mysterious art heists and how the police cracked it.
:: Brett Popplewell | The Walrus | 11.24.2024 | Read
THE LIBRARY
Recent drops to The First Call’s video and podcast section.
▶️ 5 tips to help women get into golf
Birdies Babes Golf founder Courtney Campbell joins host Colin Weston to discuss ways in which the first-timer's intimidation factor can be mitigated.
:: The ModGolf Podcast | 12.12.2024 | Watch
🎧 Why branding is about so much more than a great logo
Derek Sussner, founder of Sussner, joins co-hosts Jon Last and David Klein to discuss how branding is playing a key role in the golf course industry.
:: Driver$: Inside the Golf Industry | 12.11.2024 | Listen
TFC Libraries: 🎧 Podcasts | ▶️ Videos
BUSINESS
THE FIRST CALL
Week in Review: The industry’s names, news and notables making headlines. | Read
This week’s editions: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday
Industry press releases | Read
Industry press release videos | Watch
TFC / PR Newswire feed | Read
LIFESTYLE
THE STYLE LINKS
Looking for a special gift for the golfers on your list? Claire Nilan Art + Design golf course maps make a perfect keepsake to display. Need more gift ideas? Check out The First Call’s Holiday Market series and tee up the best gifts this season.
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
19TH HOLE
Each episode of the “Course of Life” podcast closes with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole experience.
Actor Ryan Rottman: “Usually a nice cold Jack and Diet Coke after a couple of beers on the course ... and the other day I had a good crispy chicken salad so that's the meal lately.”
:: Alex Lauzon | Co-host of “Course of Life” podcast
TFC EVENTS
PerryGolf: Scottish Links and Islands
June 19 – July 1, 2025 | Southampton, England to Dublin, Ireland
:: Event and registration information
ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN NOTES
Tim Liddy concludes multicourse PGA West restoration
PGA West in La Quinta, California, well-known as "The Western Home of Golf in America," announces the completion of its multimillion-dollar, three-year restoration initiative across its three Pete Dye-designed resort courses.
Located in the Southern California desert region known as the Coachella Valley, PGA West has been a top resort destination and residential community since it debuted in 1985.
The investment from its new owners, Hankuk Industry, which owns golf courses throughout the United States and Japan, and Century Golf Partners, an operator of high-end clubs and resorts, showcases their commitment to ensuring PGA West’s continuing success.
To restore the Pete Dye-designed Stadium, Mountain and Dunes courses to their original splendor, PGA West enlisted golf course architect Tim Liddy, who collaborated closely with Dye for nearly three decades. The Pete Dye Stadium Course, famed as the host course of the PGA Tour’s The American Express tournament, promises to offer an even more exhilarating and challenging experience for players at the upcoming event, Jan. 16-19.
"The goal of this restoration project was to bring the courses back to their original conditions as Pete Dye first conceived them, while also upgrading elements for enhanced playability and sustainability,” says Ben Dobbs, PGA West's executive director. "We are thrilled to showcase the results of each renewed course, offering an unforgettable experience for golfers of every skill level while solidifying PGA West's standing as one of the top destinations in the world."
Liddy likened this project to an exciting archeological dig, uncovering the original aspects of the greens and bringing them back to their earlier beauty and contours. The restoration was handled with precision to reclaim the visual impact that had been lost. The work was performed by meticulously hand digging around the bunkers and greens to unearth the original sand lines. Turf was then removed, as well as layers of organic material that had built up over many years.
RELATED: This week’s Design Notes in full
RELATED: Design Notes archive
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Condolences to the Babineau family. Because of his skills and journalistic talent, he was the first golf writer I ever followed back in the 90’s.
I anxiously awaited each edition of Golfweek and immediately turned to his page.
He was a trendsetter and was far ahead of his colleagues. To me he was a celebrity. Today many recognized golf writers owe a lot to Jeff and it’s good to see them writing of him this week.
Please know that he touched far more people than you can imagine and my heart goes out to your family.