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+ Is LIV Golf deserving of OWGR points?
ON THE TEE
🏌️ Any idea of a Presidents Cup upset was quashed after a 4-1 thrashing the U.S. dealt to the Internationals on the first day of foursomes. Will it be over before Sunday?
🏌️ All 50 players contracted by LIV Golf wrote an open letter to Peter Dawson, executive director of the Official World Golf Ranking, urging him to pave the way for making LIV Golf players eligible for ranking points by protecting “the integrity of the rankings and the game.” Doesn’t something have to give here?
🏌️ Tiger Woods said his most “nerve-wracking experience” on the golf course was the 2003 Presidents Cup playoff against Ernie Els that was halted by darkness and left the overall match in a tie. Does it sound as if he was asked to say that?
🏌️ When Louis Oosthuizen resigned his PGA Tour membership, it should have made him eligible for the Presidents Cup because of a rule that says non-Tour members can play for the International Team. Someone want to provide the real explanation?
🏌️ Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols, who is the president of the Golf Writers Association of America, strongly suggests adding LPGA Tour players to the Presidents Cup. Anyone else find this intriguing?
🏌️ Stewart Hagestad, a perennial force in mid-amateur golf, shot 59 on the storied North Course at Los Angeles Country Club, site of the 2023 U.S. Open. Wonder what he will shoot at the Open — if he qualifies?
🏌️ What was once the Shark Shootout will now be without its founder as Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf, has been asked not to attend the December event. Isn’t this just getting silly?
🏌️ The famed “Green Mile” — holes 16 through 18 at Quail Hollow Club are Nos. 13-15 for the Presidents Cup so that most every match would have to go through those holes. Do people who think of things like this really care about golf?
🏌️ Some parts of the country are preparing for the end of golf season, while in other parts, this is the best time of year to play. Where would you rather be?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
Presidents Cup’s 'city within a city'
Shaffer Sports & Events has transformed host site Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Texas-based company has erected a PGA Tour-record 700,000 square feet of bleachers — including a 3,000-seat amphitheater around the first tee — hospitality tents and concession areas
:: David Droschak | Read
TFC Inbox: If you could only play one
Donald Ross? Alister MacKenzie? Mike Stranz? Pete Dye? It's clear that The First Call readers have differing opinions on whose designs they would prefer to play
:: The First Call readers | Read
Kenny Perry puts golf in rearview mirror
The 14-time PGA Tour winner and four-time United States Presidents Cup member traded in his clubs for cars in November and the 62-year-old Kentuckian has no regrets whatsoever
:: David Droschak | Read
deWiz co-founder merges golf, entrepreneurship
Markus Westerberg joins 'The ModGolf Podcast' to discuss the value of being uncomfortable and the power of collaboration
:: The ModGolf Podcast | Listen
HOME FRONT
Caye Chapel | Belize
Listing: Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences | Private Residence No. 6.
Stats: 2,960 interior square feet, 718 exterior square feet | 3 bedrooms | 4 baths.
Architects: Mauricio Gomez de Tudo and Taller G.
Interior Designer: Meyer Davis.
Price: $5,500,000 (includes furniture and membership package).
About: Located off the coast of Belize, Caye Chapel is a sustainably focused, luxury private island community situated on the edge of the Belize Barrier Reef, the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere. Exclusively accessible through island-coordinated air and water charters, Caye Chapel opens a world of exploration with Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences, the brand’s first ever private island offering in the Americas. The resort will include 24 private beach and oceanfront residences, alongside a 104-key hotel with luxurious overwater bungalows. Residents will encounter a renewed sense of gratitude for the natural world with exclusive access to the island’s owner-amenity collection that includes curated bucket list water excursions, world class culinary, holistic wellness and entertainment. Highlights include a signature expedition and diving program; a championship nine-hole reversible course; a sunrise sanctuary, full-service spa, targazing observatory and reflection pool; sustainable sushi and omakase restaurant; and nature reserves with hiking trails.
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always …
📖 Pursuit of No. 60: The ordeal of Roger Maris
:: Roger Kahn | Sports Illustrated | 10.02.1961
📖 Watch: Why Honma Golf clubs are so expensive
:: Business Insider | 09.17.2022
📖 Player revolt helped Presidents Cup and now hurts it
:: Doug Ferguson | Associated Press | 09.20.2022
DESIGN NOTES
David McLay Kidd eyes Comporta Dunes finish
The latest news and notes in golf course architecture.
⛳️ After a 12-year roller coaster ride, David McLay Kidd can finally see the finish line on his first design in mainland Europe — Comporta Dunes in Portugal, more formally known as the Dunas Course at Terras da Comporta.
Kidd has teamed with Vanguard Properties, the largest real estate developer in Portugal, to bring the long-awaited creation to fruition. The opening is slated for July 2023.
"I’m super excited about the course and it is pretty much finished," he said. "We are around seven months from a soft opening and, in the next few months, we’re going to be trimming up the bunkers and setting up the course so that it’s ready for players. And as part of that, I get to play to see how it feels after quite a few years of working on the project."
The par-71, links-style layout is situated on the coast, one hour south of Lisbon, in a secluded setting on the edge of the Sado Estuary Nature Reserve. First launched in 2010, Comporta Dunes languished after the struggles of the original developer. It sat fallow for several years, until Vanguard purchased it in 2019. The course unfolds over natural, sandy terrain and Kidd promises that the course — and the region — will be a compelling draw.
⛳️ Rees Jones has completed work on a renovation for one of America's most prestigious playgrounds, the Tuxedo Club.
Situated just to the northwest of Manhattan in New York’s Orange County, the Tuxedo Club was founded in 1886 and played host to the country’s first interclub matches in 1894. Shinnecock Hills and then later St. Andrews Golf Club and The Country Club (Brookline) participated.
In 1886, the fledgling club also introduced the concept of the tuxedo— the tail-less jacket in formal evening wear — courtesy of member James Brown Potter, who had dined with the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in England, observed the Prince’s attire and adapted the look back home.
In 1955, the club’s golf course was decimated by the creation of the New York Thruway, so golf’s royal architect of the day, Robert Trent Jones was summoned. Jones created a new nearby layout for the club, with nine holes opening in 1956 and the second nine the following year. Now son Rees Jones has restored parts of his father’s layout and modernized other aspects.
"It was a very exciting project for my father because it was such a high-end established club and he was able to select this wonderful, pristine piece of property within this natural area, where you really feel like you are away from the travails of life in the city, while also being so close to a major population base," Jones said.
Needing an update, not an overhaul, the club turned to Rees Jones to refresh his father’s work, especially as it concerned bunker shapes and placements, notably on the par 5s.
"From my father’s time to my time the par 5s have really become par 4s, so they had to be adapted to today’s play a bit more," he said. "In particular, we wanted to make the second shot more thought-provoking and place more demand on the drive, so it wasn’t just an automatic bomb."
⛳️ Fresh off their design of Nebraska’s Landmand Golf Club, King-Collins Golf Course Design will create a new reversible nine-hole course for Palmetto Bluff, the acclaimed private residential and resort community near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
King-Collins — composed of Tad King, director of construction and Rob Collins, principal designer — first burst into prominence with its nine-hole design of Sweetens Cove in Tennessee, which quickly attracted a cult following. This new nine-hole, par-36, 3,100-yard effort, situated on level terrain that edges an inland waterway, will offer the bonus of reversible play.
"We had a blank slate on about 50 acres," Collins said. “We’re doing something different with this space. We have room for nine holes, so we thought, why don’t we do nine reversible holes? This will allow us to deliver something outsize on a small site."
Even with the limitations of the site, King was encouraged by what they could accomplish.
"The site is completely flat, but we can build cool dune formations and really get the ground moving," he said. "Normally in the Lowcountry you can only cut two or three feet before you hit groundwater but this site is a bit higher so we can cut fifteen feet if we need to."
⛳️ The Raven Golf Club at Three Peaks has recently benefited from a bunker renovation by David Whelchel.
Located in Silverthorne, Colorado, 30 miles east of Vail and 67 miles west of Denver, the Raven at Three Peaks sits at 9,035 feet of elevation. The course was a 2000 design collaboration between Tom Lehman and the firm of Hurdzan/Fry, and they draped an entirely new layout over the remnants of an old one, Eagle’s Nest. Intrawest sold the course to Escalante Golf in 2009. Whelchel, a former associate with Hurdzan/Fry has assisted the club since 2012.
Most recently, Whelchel oversaw a bunker renovation that deleted some bunkers, constructed new ones that were more easily maintained and reduced the overall sand footprint from 160,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet.
RELATED: Design Notes archive
NAMES | NEWS | NUMBERS
BUSINESS
▪️ Rolex: Serving as the official timekeeper of the Presidents Cup, being held at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. … Ahead: Apparel brand and subsidiary Tournament Solutions to return to the 2023 PGA Show. … EPA, GCSAA: Partnering on environmental stewardship and sustainability for golf courses through the sharing of information on environmental issues, best practices and industry challenges. … PGA Tour, Autograph: Sign a multiyear agreement to create a digital collectibles platform that pulls from Tour competition video, data, imagery and other competition-related components. Autograph is a web3 brand co-founded by Tom Brady. … GCSAA: EXCEL Leadership Program, which offers leadership training for future leaders in golf course management, names eight assistant superintendents to its fifth class. … Capstone Hospitality: Jacksonville Business Journal names the Florida-based company to its Best Places to Work list.
COMPETITION / COURSES
▪️ Wailua GC: Kauai, Hawaii, course to host the 13th World Deaf Golf Championships, Oct. 17-21. … Lohla Sport: Announces the inaugural Tournament of Club Champions, which will bring together 36 current gross ladies club champions from around the country and be played Dec. 1 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. … R&A: Winner of the Women’s Amateur Latin America championship will earn an exemption into the LPGA’s 2023 Chevron Championship. This year's WALA will be held Nov. 17-20 at Pilar Golf in Buenos Aires. … Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions: January tournament to start LPGA 2023 season and bring together roughly 50 notable figures from sports, entertainment and music to play with LPGA players. … Landscapes Unlimited: Completes installation of a new irrigation system throughout Woodmont Country Club’s 18-hole South Course in Rockville, Maryland. … Explore Branson: All of Branson’s golf resorts are featured prominently on GolfPass’ interactive map for Missouri. … Heritage GC: Plans to open La Reserve Golf Links, the Indian Ocean’s first contemporary links course, in December 2023. The course, located in Mauritius, has been co-designed by former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and course architect Peter Matkovich. … Keswick Hall: Unveils the renovation of its Full Cry course by architect Scot Sherman. The Charlottesville, Virginia, course was originally designed by Pete Dye and opened in 2014. … Circling Raven: Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel amenity earns Golfweek’s Best Casino Course distinction. … The Ascendant LPGA: Expected to feature its strongest field, Sept. 29-Oct.2. Field to include major champions Lexi Thompson, Georgia Hall and Hinako Shibuno.
GAMING
▪️ 2K: MyPlayer customization and MyCareer mode will return to PGA Tour 2K23, which is currently available for pre-order. MyPlayer will include apparel and equipment from Adidas, Bridgestone Golf, Callaway Golf, FootJoy, Mizuno, Nike Golf, Puma, Titleist and TravisMathew. In MyCareer, players will start on the Korn Ferry Tour and work their way up to the PGA Tour to play against a list of PGA and LPGA tour standouts.
GEAR
▪️ True Linkswear: Debuts Future Staples line. Men’s and women’s FS-01 available for ‘early access’ preorder starting Sept. 27. … USGA, Peter Millar: Announce a multiyear partnership in which Peter Millar will become the official outfitter for the organization and U.S. Open. The apparel brand will collaborate with the USGA on its suite of retail and merchandise offerings, including outfitting the U.S. teams for the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup Matches and the World Amateur Team Championships. … FootJoy: Collaborates with menswear designer Todd Snyder on The Links, a fall collection that features polos, sweats, cardigans, varsity jackets, pants and golf shoes, and was inspired by the links-style coastal courses of Scotland. … Ping: PLD Anser Patent 55 copper putter drops Sept. 26. Company's year-long celebration acknowledging the issuance of the Anser putter patent 55 years ago continues with 55 collector's models being made available.
PEOPLE
▪️ Gerald (Jerry) Matthews: Former ASGCA president (1993-94) died at age 88 on Sept. 15 in Mackinac Island, Michigan. Matthews designed or renovated more than 200 courses, gaining recognition for such Michigan courses as The Lakes Course at Michaywe, Gaylord; Timber Ridge Golf Course, East Lansing; St. Ives Golf Club, Stanwood; Timberstone Golf Course, Iron Mountain; and Bucks Run Golf Club, Mt. Pleasant. … GCSAA: Names Kevin Sunderman as COO. … Piza Golf: Founder Agustin Piza is to speak at Ignite!: A Leadership Symposium in Brownsville, Texas, on Oct. 10. … Vattanac Golf Resort: Phnom Penh, Cambodia, destination appoints Chris Geraghty as general manager, James Durkin as golf operations manager, Rory Tinker as head golf professional, and Sambath Chheang as sales and marketing manager. … Outlyr: Promotes Lesley Baker to Chief People Officer. …
PHILANTHROPY
▪️ PGA REACH: Awards scholarships to 17 students at eight colleges through the PGA Works Golf Management University Scholarship Program for the 2022-2023 academic school year. The $8,000 scholarships were presented to students who are working toward PGA membership through one of the 18 accredited PGA Golf Management University Programs across the nation. … Pure Insurance: Surprises Pure Insurance Championship First Tee participant with scholarship. Company grows its support of First Tee with a commitment for $1 million to the First Tee College Scholarship Program.
THE STYLE LINKS
Everything’s coming up Presidents Cup this week. Some sick looking custom shoes made just for the occasion like these Drips from Cuater by TravisMathew.
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
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