Why Golfers Are Packing Bags, Clubs
+ What Tiger Woods is cooking up in New Jersey
ON THE TEE
🏌️ European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald used his six picks on Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Nicolai Hojgaard and Ludvig Aberg. Do these guys have a chance against a powerhouse U.S. team?
🏌️ Adrian Meronk, of Poland, was left off the European team, despite three wins in the last 12 months, including victory at the Italian Open at Marco Simone, the site of the Ryder Cup. He said he was shocked. Should he have been?
🏌️ Rory McIlroy’s says his back, which was injured at the Tour Championship, is not 100% healed but insists he will be ready for the Ryder Cup. Should he even be playing the Irish Open?
🏌️ Justin Thomas, the lightning-rod U.S. captain’s pick is trying to sort through his swing woes by working mostly by himself instead of leaning on his father, Mike, who has always been his swing coach. Is this a good idea?
🏌️ The U.S. won its fourth straight Walker Cup, overcoming a huge first-day deficit at the Old Course at St. Andrews, led by Gordon Sargent. Is Sargent a star of the future on the PGA Tour?
🏌️ Sargent and his GB&I opponent, John Gough, went good-good on a pair of slippery 4-footers for par on the 16th green with their Sunday singles match tied. What would have been said if Sargent had lost the match?
🏌️ Chanettee Wannasaen, a 19-year-old LPGA rookie from Thailand, won the Portland Classic after Monday qualifying. She had missed nine consecutive cuts heading into Portland. How many times do we need to be reminded that golf is the strangest game ever?
🏌️ At the Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship, Christopher Rainey, of Drums, Pa., shot 99 in the flight winners’ playoff but won the net event because of his 31-handicap. This was after tournament officials disqualified another player for sandbagging. Did they get the wrong guy?
🏌️ In this, the hottest summer on record, how many times did you play when the temperature was higher than 95 degrees?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
Golfers have an itch to travel. Why and where they're going
A Longitudes Group golf travel study and marketplace report reveals that 90% of the respondents have planned at least one golf trip for the remainder of 2023
:: Mike Purkey | Read
Architect Thad Layton decides it’s time to go solo
As the Arnold Palmer Design Company closes its doors, the longtime course designer is ready to branch out and create his own signature
:: Tony Dear | Read
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 She simply couldn’t believe it
Tracy Austin, 17, becomes the youngest U.S. Open champion
:: Barry McDermott | Sports Illustrated | 09.17.1979
📖 That 1980s bowling alley smell
What happens to the scents of our past?
:: Jason Diamond | The Melt | 08.24.2023
📖 Carlos Alcaraz is bringing the thrill back to tennis
Barely out of his teens, the phenom made a blistering ascent to become the top-ranked player in the world—and has electrified fans as he defends his title at the U.S Open
:: Jason Gay | Wall Street Journal | 08.28.2023 ($)
📖 A golf company with $90,000 in sales was valued at $400 million. Its stock proceeded to crash. What happened?
The hottest initial public offering of 2023 was a golf company you’ve never heard of that was significantly in debt, had almost no sales, was short on supply of its most important component and claims to be manufacturing shafts at a facility that local officials have never seen nor heard of.
:: Mike Stachura / E. Michael Johnson / Joel Beall | Golf Digest | 09.06.2023
SCORECARD
1️⃣8️⃣ The golf industry’s week in review — the names, news and notables that are making the headlines. :: Read
LIFESTYLE
THE STYLE LINKS
It’s a U.S. Open weekend — tennis, that is. On foot, the up-and-comer Ben Shelton sported a pair of white On sneakers featuring hits of royal blue. Shelton wears On’s debut performance tennis shoe co-designed with tennis great Roger Federer. The shoe, retailing for $200, is available in other colorways in both men’s and women’s sizes at on-running.com.
:: 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.
David Eddy, professional golfer: “I know this is a basic answer but if you can get an excellent golf course hot dog it's a treat, because there's a lot of bad ones out there. That and an ice cold Yuengling is perfect."
:: Alex Lauzon | Co-host of “Course of Life” podcast
DESIGN NOTES
Tiger Woods unveils the routing for Trout National
⛳️ In late March 2023, the sports world crackled with the news that Major League Baseball star Mike Trout would be building a golf course in his home state of New Jersey with partners John and Lorie Ruga and that the course architect would be Tiger Woods’ design firm, TGR Design. Beyond that, details about Trout National-The Reserve were scarce.
Now there is much more about the routing and concept. Think length, width, sand and options.
The 7,455-yard, par-72 layout will unfold atop land that once housed a silica sand quarry, along with sections of the property composed of gently rolling farmland. Vast natural sand features between holes will highlight each nine.
"Mike and John found a site with a lot of character to make some outstanding golf holes," Woods said. "The sandy and diverse terrain has so many great natural features that have given us a lot of options on how to create a world-class golf course."
Indeed, The Reserve will be highly strategic in nature as sprawling fairways will offer multiple routes from tee to green, most emphatically at the par-5 second, par-4 10th and par-5 18th. Undulating green complexes with low-cut surrounds will further emphasize the challenging, yet fun-focused design where risk-reward opportunities will be presented throughout the round. According to the recently released routing, water will come into play on five holes, including at the full-carry, 186-yard par-3 eighth and at the option-laden, 585-yard, par-5 18th.
"Some of my favorite golf experiences have been ones that have challenged my game while still having fun and that’s what we wanted to create at Trout National-The Reserve," Trout said. "Tiger, John and I walked hole by hole and this course will do just that. Our vision and his design are creating something special here in my hometown."
Accompanying the 18-hole championship course, the golf offerings at Trout National-The Reserve will also include a flexible short course, an expansive putting course, world-class practice facilities and a performance center. At one time Trout contemplated an island green signature hole with multiple tee boxes, called "Mike’s Choice." The current routing did not choose to go that route.
“The land that is home to Trout National-The Reserve has great history here in the city of Vineland," Ruga said. "Tiger and his team were able to incorporate the history and let the land shine through in this championship golf course. It will truly be a memorable experience on the course.”
Construction is slated for completion in 2025.
READ: This week’s complete Design Notes
RELATED: Design Notes archive
SUBSCRIBE | FOLLOW
The First Call [Monday-Friday edition]: Subscribe
Facebook | Instagram | Linkedin | Twitter
a little sad, that most off you choose JT as the „big“ surprise…