BLG18

MJ has a solid piece of advice if you're scared in today's market.

11 months ago | [YT] | 1

BLG18

LIVing Large
Written By Paul Harrington



Now let me say right off the bat-or in this case right off the face of the club, that I am not here to knock the LIV tour. As a matter of fact, that would be contradictory or contradictive, whichever word you'd rather use, to how I feel about why the PGA players decided to play for LIV golf as opposed to the PGA tour.

Over the past 10 years, golf fans have become increasingly disillusioned with the PGA tour and how it runs it's day-to-day operations. Fans have become not too sure as to what it is exactly the PGA tour promotes. Do they promote just the players? Do they promote the courses? Do they promote the manufacturers? Is it a combination of trying to please all of them? So if the fans were confused, imagine how the players felt. This is how they make their living. They try and put out a product that fans enjoy watching and will support.

By contrast, the PGA makes millions of dollars a year as opposed to the players who are daily hires and have no guaranteed income. The players try very hard by staying in shape, by helping develop new technologies, by coming up with better shot selections with longer drives, better accuracy. This is all in an effort to try to create a uniform, fun, product for the people who enjoy watching it. The PGA Tour meanwhile, counters with trying to reign back the technology so the clubs can't hit the balls as far in an effort to bring scores down thinking that's what fans want to see. Meanwhile, they offer nothing more to the pros other than longer, tougher courses under seemingly harder conditions.

Something had to give.

So the Saudis decided to start a golf league of their own. Their concept is to hire the best players they can hire at competitive salaries, then create a more fun environment for the patrons who come to watch the professionals play. So from the professional perspective, how can you pass up competitive pay in a fun environment with great weather on great courses around the world? And, you don't have to change your equipment or worry about how far you hit your ball ?

Something had to give.

So acts of discrimination aside ( We know what the Saudis have done and it took an act of congress for the PGA to change their rules), you can't blame the players for either changing or staying pat. We as the fans also have a choice and if we decide that we like the LIV format and it's more entertaining for us, then that's where we will watch our golf. If we decide we like the PGA form of golf and it's competition, then we will stay with the PGA Tour. For now, the fans have two different styles of PGA product that we can entertain ourselves with. The professionals also have two different styles that they can choose from to make a living.

But if golf starts getting more restrictive and those restrictions trickle down to us as fans and weekend players...

Something will have to give.


Paul Harrington

1 year ago | [YT] | 1

BLG18

It’s time the golf industry put the future first.
Written By Paul Harrington


There’s an old saying in business:

“How you make others feel about themselves says a lot about you”. I can remember learning golf on a 5,800-yard, undulating course in Queens, NY which had rough, trees, sand.. you know all the usual criminals. But what it didn’t have was the underlying sadism that made you wonder why you started playing this game in the first place, and worse yet, why I should keep playing it? I have discussed in previous blogs why I dislike the direction golf design took in the 80’s and 90’s. It was designed by professional golfers for scratch to single handicap golfers who had the mental skills to navigate these advanced tracks. They sacrificed the feelings of the mid to high handicap and especially showed dislike for the beginners who were never given a chance to enjoy how the game can bring happiness to them. They also started charging premium prices for the right to play the course. So that left the beginners almost no place to play with the executive and par 3 courses closing at an alarming rate.

So now enter one of the older names in American golf bringing the old school feel to the 2020’s. With any luck, the industry will take a long, hard look at what needs to be done and start bringing smaller, easy to play and enjoyable courses back into the spotlight.

The Bobby Jones Golf Course in Atlanta, GA was built in 1932. By 2015, it needed repair and updating. Thankfully, the city of Atlanta made sure this would be a shining example of what to do in the future for the future of the game. They now offer multiple platforms of golf to play and have fun at your skill level. Here are some of the changes:

The Cupps Link-it’s a 5-hole what is called “wee links” where the holes are 50-70 yards long. So for beginners of all ages it provides short game skills and gives the ability to have fun.

The Dan Yates Putting Course-It’s a 9-hole REVERSIBLE putting course. It’s a great way to practice the most important part of getting the ball into the hole.

The Murray Golf House- It’s the first Georgia Golf Hall of Fame featuring an interactive experience for beginners to see who have come before them.

The Boone Restaurant was remodeled with better course views and ambiance more inviting to all levels of golfers.

The Ed Hoard Golf Shop. It’s a modern, interactive, digitally advanced pro shop where everything from check-in, to sales, to vendor advertising create a new and fresh interactive experience.

Then there’s the course….IT’s REVERSIBLE. Two 9-hole courses are laid on top of each other so you can play different courses in the same area. AND…there is no rough. So beginners can play without angst and quite frankly, single digit should be able to play to par..if they really are single digit. I’ve always said “IF you can’t play to par on a par 3 or executive, you’re not as good as you think you are”.

“I just give myself permission to suck..I find this hugely liberating” said every golfer who finally got it..

So I want all of you to consider what beginner courses in your area need your help. As good golfers and as some of you are PGA associated, this is a great time to start some kind of club for those who have a liking for the game and just need some kind of platform to learn to develop the passion and fun for the game. Remember, GOLF is a Game Of Learning Fun.

This is a trying time for the youth of the world and golf is the perfect distraction, a way to make friends and gain some self-esteem. It is our opportunity to showcase the sport and develop a new clientele. Find youth groups like Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs. Put together some after school events for all grades. Even with the Covid environment, there is a way for golf to excel given it is socially distant and outdoors. Start leagues for them. They need distractions that are fun. It’s a very poignant time for every society to get human interaction up front again while being responsible. Let’s set the example.

“I just give myself permission to suck..I find this hugely liberating”. I love this phrase

1 year ago | [YT] | 1

BLG18

Should pro golfers play with a cart? Ask Payne Stewart
Written By Paul Harrington


“The first golf cart was a 1932 homemade cart, it became popular with people that had disabilities. It was not till the early 1950s when people started using them on the golf course. The early manufactures of the golf car were Marketeer, Cushman, Lektro and E-Z_GO. Harley Davidson started making them in 1963.

It was not until the early 1970s when the gas golf car made its debut and became a huge hit with the public. Electric golf carts arrived at the first courses to use them in 1951. Merle Williams from Reading, California produced the first electric golf carts using knowledge he attained from electric cars produced during the World War Two gasoline rationing period.

Gas golf carts came upon the scene in 1971 and immediately became a huge hit. Currently you will see both gas and electric carts at most golf courses. “

Thank you Gulf Atlantic Vehicles for that information.

The first thing that comes as a question: If we had electric cars in WWII, why weren’t they mass produced after the war? Why as of 2021 are electric cars finally becoming a massed-produced, affordable entity of the world’s society? What’s that? Talk to the gas companies and the thousands of politicians that retired securely for the last 80 years?………

Back to the main point. Golf carts are celebrating their 70th anniversary. They have been a main staple in the golf industry longer than the PGA Tour has had relevance in sports society. So why not?

In Golf Digest July 2019, John Feinstein wrote a very solid article about this. Here is an excerpt:

…Perhaps the most adamant in that group was Fred Couples, who has dealt with back issues most of his career. “If he gets a cart, why can’t I go to the tour and say my back hurts, I need a cart?” Couples asked. “Where do you draw the line?”

Payne Stewart had the answer. “This isn’t an injury, Freddy,” he said quietly. “This is a birth defect. It’s a disease, and it’s only going to get worse. The kid may lose that leg someday. Everyone gets injured out here at some point. Very few people have diseases like this one.”

Later, as the argument raged on, I stood in the corner of the locker room with Stewart. “They should give the kid a cart,” he said. “They’re worried about what it will look like for carts to be on the golf course. What are we talking, one, two carts? Maybe? They should be worried about looking completely heartless, because I think that’s the way people perceive it.”

So was Payne Stewart right?

In 2001, Casey Martin had asked to use a cart in a major. He had won earlier that year and qualified for the major. The PGA said no. “Walking is an integral part of the game” said a group of heartless men with no disease in their legs. The Supreme Court disagreed. The Americans with Disabilities Act proved they were being prejudiced against Martin and his birth defect. He had the skills and proved it. All he asked was to use a cart because his leg hurts before the end of the round. Imagine they had to go to the Supreme Court to allow a competitor an even playing field. BTW, he was 44 when he debuted on the tour.

I see many similarities in other sports. Don’t football players use casts for a broken bone during a game? Don’t baseball players and basketball players use wraps and splints to secure a body part in order to play without pain? Yes, but they’re not birth defects. They are injuries. Two very different scenarios, yet they get the same result.

Golf has always been behind in social equality. In the private courses, that’s your business. Discriminate against whomever you want. The PGA Tour represents anyone who enjoys the game of golf. I have played with many players with disabilities. One arm, no hand, amputated leg… never heard them complain about it. Recreationally, they use a cart. They need it.

One day the USGA is going to be sued by a rec golfer because he needed a gas cart to carry his beer cooler around the course and they said no. His mom drank during pregnancy. Who wins?

As a positive end note, this from Golf Digest August, 2020:

“A 22-year-old Irishman made history on Thursday, becoming the first golfer with disabilities to compete in a European Tour event. Brendan Lawlor shot 84 in the first round of the ISPS Handa UK Championship at The Belfry in England. He has a rare genetic disorder called Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, which is characterized by short limb dwarfism, abnormal development of fingers and/or toes and, often, congenital heart defects. He has not let any of that get in the way of a budding professional career and was excited upon receiving a sponsor’s invitation to play against some of the best players in Europe.”

It took the R&A 20 years after denying John Daly, but they realize that is in the past. Brendan Lawlor is rightfully part of the future.

1 year ago | [YT] | 1

BLG18

So what would a 70-time tour winner know about the game….
Written By Paul Harrington



For those of who not familiar with New Zealand’s Bob Charles, here’s some stats. He won his first tournament in 1963 in Houston and won his last in 2010 at the Legends. He has three majors to his name. He is someone who has been on the global big stage for 47 years.

So when Geoff Shackelford retweeted Tony Smith’s interview with him, he took no short cuts in what he felt:

“Shorten the tees, shorten the golf courses and shorten the performance of the ball”

I was a volunteer at the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage in NY. I was talking to a couple of USGA officials and one of them mentioned (I can’t verify) that Cory Pavin had said that the USGA was becoming more favorable to the long hitters on tour. The way the course was set up, there were two par-4s where your drive had to carry 270 yards to reach the fairway. Because he can’t do that, he was starting the tournament at +8 since his odds of parring the hole dropped. Now whether or not it is accurate, what is accurate is the USGA’s desire to use the bomb drive like baseball uses the home run to draw in the fans… or actually the fan’s money. By The Way, Tiger won with -3..the only under par score that year. Pavin finished at +17.

Now we as golf fans like watching the pros play. Their skill level is far above our own. We can learn things about the strategy and shot making that we can take to our own battles with the course. So in this context, I don’t believe anything should change. I enjoy watching professional golfers battle at the highest level for first place. I like the way courses are set up to challenge their level of skill every week under all kinds of conditions.

What I don’t like and believe should change is when those courses have to be battled by players with considerably lower skills, mismatched equipment, spending 5-7 minutes to find their ball because they don’t know how to mark it when it leaves the fairway and seemingly hours of free time… that are playing in front of me!

What Sir Charles was referring to was just that. Why are we building, and have been for 30 years, courses for the general public that beat them down as the round goes on to a point where they know they are over-matched and slow down just out of being defeated. The people designing these courses are the same professionals that design them to fit their games, not the inept public. From Nicklaus to Crenshaw, Price to Norman, these courses have so many strategic nuances built in that the average bogey golfer or worse could never understand. But they build them for just those people. They disguise them by putting them in resort areas, making it an “honor” to play one of their courses and charging a lot of money for the pleasure of being pounded into submission without their permission because it is the only course around. So when a mid to low handicapper gets to play it, thinking that their skill level will at least give them a fighting chance, and gets behind the inferior combatants, he/she is beaten into the submission of the anticipation of playing this challenging course in 5+ hours of waiting and waiting. I understand this completely. As a 10-handicap, I had many of these rounds at Bethpage Black on non US Open days, playing behind grandpa and his 13 year-old grandson and walking back to the clubhouse on the 15th tee after 5 hours and 10 minutes and four of the toughest closing holes in golf in front of me. There is even a sign that tells you “This is a tough course that should only be played by skilled golfers”. But because it’s a public course, they can not deny any entry to anyone. So, too bad for me!

Golf used to be the only game that came with an apprenticeship. You started out with a set of used tools. You practiced at ranges to develop a certain level of skill. Once you had those skills, you advanced to playing on a short course, either Par-3 or Executive. You continued at the range to develop your skills to advance to the 5400-6000 yard courses. Once you felt that your skills had advanced, you finished your test. Now you could go onto the 6000+ courses. In that apprentice period, you learned shot making skills, equipment, rules, and etiquette. You were now a skilled golfer capable of keeping up with the other seasoned golfers. Only the low to mid used the back tees and you knew which you were. You learned how to mark your ball and play ready golf. The rounds were 4 1/2 hours and everyone in the group shook hands after.

Now there is a segment in the public golf world where playing on a course is another excuse to drink and be an a**hole. These people need carts not for their clubs, but for their cooler. They are obnoxious and don’t know or care to know the rules of the game. They drive everywhere and walk to no ball. When they’re looking for their .50 cent ball, they don’t know to let you play through. Rules? What are they?

There is a lot wrong with the game today. It has devolved into a Wild West scenario where the USGA will not take the responsibility to bring order back. The problem with the game lies in that. The true golfers know how to play a round. How to be responsible for their actions as they have a cause and effect on those behind them. True golfers don’t need rangers to keep them moving or to threaten to punish them for misbehaving. I remember throwing a club when I was 15 after duffing my second shot on the first hole. My father walked toward the green in front of me. When I caught up to him, he turned to me and with a mad face I rarely saw on him, he said “ How dare you embarrass me like that” and kept walking. He didn’t talk to me for 5 holes.

If there is one change I would like to see it is this:

Create courses that require a skills card to play. The skills card would be given by a pro shop to every player, They would evaluate you on a simulator and a few questions about rules. Then based on your skill level, you would get a rating. 1- would be scratch, 2-to10 handicap, up to 5-beginner. Then the course only allows certain handicap levels to play at certain times on certain days. So imagine a 10-handicap knowing he booked a tee time with other like skilled players. Knowing it could be a 4 hour round of enjoyment might be a reason to keep playing.

GOLF HAS TO BE a Game Of Learning Fun not a Game Of Leaving Forever.

1 year ago | [YT] | 1

BLG18

good golf requires FEEL

1 year ago | [YT] | 1

BLG18

It's too hot to play outside...
Written By Paul Harrington


How often does that happen? Well here in the Northeast US, not very often. But the weather patterns are most certainly changing. It has become harder to predict when playable weather will be here. There have been a few days that were good for the range and more than enough good to play. But it seems that weather will continue to play a major part in which courses can stay open and which can't. When the cold stays too long, the grass can't start its growth. When the hot weather persists, how much water needs to be used so the course doesn't get a rating of "cow pasture" or "so dry it hurt my wrists trying to take a divot". It's not that these problems are anything new; it's just that there are far less customers willing to compete for tee times under these conditions. So what is a course owner to do?

It's just an example of the multiple conundrums course owners face today. In Golf Course Architecture there was an article entitled "When does a course become too difficult to be fun?" As architects, their conundrum is designing a "championship" course (for the championship that will never come") and keeping the bread and butter 5-26 handicaps coming back.

Here is an excerpt: “The biggest group of golfers is that with handicap 26 or higher. They pay the bills!” says Dutch designer Michiel Vandervaart. “The gap between the novice and the professional tour player will only get bigger.” And in emerging markets, where most local golfers are just learning the game, this issue is even more important. Across the developing golf world, we see championship course after championship course; fine for the pros, but pros play for free. If golf is ever to embed itself in the sporting culture of these new countries, it needs more courses that are designed from the bottom up to appeal to average and below average players."

Mike Keiser from Brandon Dunes believes designers are missing the challenges for the average golfer: In America, we have tended to go for small greens, because they are inexpensive to maintain. That’s a mistake in my view. The ampler the greens are the better. Courses have been designed so that the retail golfer is playing 6,300-6,600 yards. That’s too long! They should be playing 5,800. They don’t want it to be slam dunk easy – no bunkers, every green flat – but they don’t like being penalized for missing a shot by six inches.” These are some of the very valid reasons why golf is failing to catch on and grow worldwide.

This type of conundrum is what I have been discussing for some time. There are fewer and fewer courses for golfers to learn the game. And fewer and fewer to play to enjoy their time. The idea of 6500-7000 yards being the yardstick for enjoyment can only be derived from those that play those length courses week in and week out. For the working slob who can't even get to a range before his 6:05 am tee time, 6800 yards is a double-bogey, over par round. When I get to that level of scoring, as much as I live for this game, I'm quitting. I defy any of you that shoot in the 80's to tell me you would still play when you're shooting 110. Shorter, year round courses need to be built if we are going to save this game. Add in the year round indoor golf concepts going on, developers and manufacturers would be smart to start looking at collaborations to insure the bread and butter of our game don't get "toasted" and move on.



Paul Harrington
Retired from work and rehiring in fun and charity.

1 year ago | [YT] | 0