Quiet Time...

Very little golf lately -- combine frequent poor weather with scheduling conflicts on the nice days results in no golf being played. Also not a whole lot brewing in terms of golf coverage --  Tiger's win down under was well covered, even though the TV coverage was lacking.

I have a couple stories in the works that will hopefully pan out -- depends largely on the response of hte folks I'd like to interview. Stay tuned.

Mini Tour Profile: Canadian Tour

In the second installment of a series profiling mini tours across the world, we will take a look at the Canadian Tour (commonly known as the Cantour), which has been formally organized in one fashion or another for almost 40 years. Its current governance is led by The Tournament Players Association, which facilitates tournaments throughout North America, and according to the tour’s website, represents more than 200 members from around the world. The tour’s offices are located at the famed Glen Abbey Golf Club, host to over 20 Canadian Opens over the last 30 years.

History

The tour was started in 1970 as the Peter Jackson Tour, and its initial aim was to group scattered tournaments throughout Canada under one umbrella. The tour’s population was predominantly Canadians during its early years, however, as time progressed so did the tour’s diversity. The tour continued to grow throughout the rest of the decade, yet faced financial hardship when the sponsorships dried up due to a myriad of reasons, including new government regulations on tobacco company advertisements.

A turning point for the Cantour was in 1986, when The Tournament Players Association became an independent entity, and thus led to changes in the tour governance procedures. During the next several years nearly every aspect of the tour would be changed, including overall format and the number of holes per tournament, all of the changes aimed at turning the Cantour into a true proving ground for the PGA Tour. From that point the tour has only grown in popularity, and for more than 20 years has been a member (associate status) of the International Federation of PGA Tours.

Schedule

The yearly Cantour schedule consists of roughly 18-20 tournaments, held almost the entire year round, obviously turning to warmer weather climates during the cold Canadian winters. The tour features several qualifying schools, both at the beginning and at the end of the season. In 2009, there was a Florida Qualifying School on March 16th, a California qualifying school in March 24th, and a Spring Qualifying School held in British Columbia on May 26th. For example, the Florida qualifying tournament was a 72-hole event held on two courses in Brooksville, Fla. A maximum of 15 players left the event as “exempt” while another 10 plus ties gained “non-exempt” status but with additional entry rights. The 2009 winner at the Florida school was Welshman Ryan Thomas, who for the week totaled 14-under par 274.

The tournaments held in Canada are spread across the provinces, held from coast to coast both in large and small cities. Purses vary among tournaments, but typically are between $125,000-$150,000 CAD. There were several players to win twice during 2009, including American James Hahn, Canadian Graham DeLaet, and Rafael Gomez from Argentina. DeLaet is leading the tour’s Order of Merit with just over $94,000 CAD, and a total of 191 players earned a paycheck thus far on the Cantour in 2009.

Several of the tour’s events were broadcast by The Golf Channel during 2009, typically earning the Monday evening spot to showcase the tour’s finest talent.

Other than its qualifying schools, the Cantour has yet to formally announce any dates for the 2010 tour schedule.

Alumni

The Cantour boasts an impressive list of alumni, headed by major champion and Canada native Mike Weir. Altogether, alumni have won 99 PGA Tour events and over $365 million USD according to the tour website. Other famous alumni currently enjoying success on the PGA Tour include Steve Stricker, Stuart Appleby, Nick Watney, and Chris DiMarco.

Although a few have made the leap directly to the PGA Tour, many Cantour graduates proceed on to the Nationwide or European Tours to refine their skills before making the jump to the PGA Tour. A number of Cantour grads have won on the Nationwide tour, to include Ken Duke and D.A. Points.

Most recently, 39 current members and alumni advanced to the second stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying School this fall.

Stay tuned in the next couple of days, as one of the members of the Canadian Tour was gracious enough to answer a few questions for me, and I’ll compile those answers regarding life on the tour and post in a couple days.

Also keep an eye out for future profiles of other mini tours, to include The Sunshine Tour and the Nationwide Tour among others.

Indoor Golf Arena

Saw a news article about a new golf arena, and immediately got excited as the poor weather is on its way. I was certainly disappointed to realize it is located in the Netherlands, yet it still looks like quite an interesting project. The project is being constructed by Zwarts en Jansma, and from reviewing their website, the company has a diverse profile of recent projects. There is very little information regarding the project on the Zwarts en Jansma website, but it does note that it will be the largest and most diverse indoor golf facility in the world. The project calls for 20 state-of-the-art golf simulators and 34 bays on a rooftop driving range.

A little further clicking identified the Indoor Golf Arena website, which had far more comprehensive details about the facility, including 14,000 square meters of putting services designed by Nicklaus Design, a Short Game Centre of Excellence, and even a four-star hotel and restaurant. Looks like an outstanding facility, and I'm going to try and get a brief interview with the developers on this project. Stay tuned for more information.

New Feature: Golf Site of the Week

Note: Not getting to play (or watch) much golf lately, so wanted to introduce some fresh content to the site. Have a couple more things in the work that will hopefully go up next week -- but today I am starting  a new weekly feature, the Golf Site of the Week.
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Golf Site of the Week - Itinerant Golf - http://www.itinerantgolf.com/

One of my new favorite sites is Itinerant Golf, a website featuring a wandering golfer's quest to play all the top 100 courses in America. Over the past 27 months he has played 41 courses, including some of most famous courses on the list, to include Pine Valley, Pebble Beach, and Cypress Point. It is a very impressive list, but what is even more impressive are the write-ups he produces for each course. I think I've read probably half of them, and will most certainly read the rest in the near future. He has high hopes to finish the course list in 5-7 years, and I hope he keeps posting as he progresses.

I hope to make contact with the Itinerant Golfer soon to conduct a short interview regarding the site and his goals, so watch for that hopefully coming soon.

I'd strongly encourage everyone to check out the site, and please read the course reviews. As the author describes, they are much more than course reviews really, including an almost diary-type feel which provides a great story to read.

Stay tuned for future courses...

Thunder Hill Golf Club, Madison, OH

This weekend while visiting family in northeast Ohio, I took advantage of the available time and played 18 holes at Thunder Hill Golf Club, probably my favorite course on the planet. I played it several times during high school golf, and always walked away disappointed with my score, yet appreciative of the terrific layout and condition of the course. The course was built by Fred Slagle, who bit-by-bit purchased farm land in Madison, Ohio, to build a golf course among other projects. My father worked at the course during the early days, and provided me with some of the history of the course. Unfortunately I was not able to write it down, as we were mid-round, but maybe sometime I can get it down on paper or find it elsewhere on the web. 

The basics of the story goes that the course was built and initially maintained by Slagle, and eventually a couple decades later it was handed over to a few management companies who ran the course up until 2007. During the late 1990's, the course underwent a significant renovation, which saw building of new tees and re-routing of several holes. Early in 2007 Todd Bishop and Kevin Laymaster took over ownership of the course, and have got it back to its pristine conditioning. Although we played on a cold fall day where leaves covered nearly all the turf, it was still easy to see the plush fairways and greens. This is not surprising, however, as the course was awarded 4.5 stars from Golf Digest for 2008-2009.

The complex also features a short course called Little Thunder, which plays around 3,200 yards. The course was designed to make golf available to youngsters, and although that it is still its focus, it appears to receive a fair amount of play from adults as well. I personally have yet to play Little Thunder, but hope to do so in the spring.

The popularity of the golf course focuses on its difficulty, which was cited by Golf Digest in 2007 during its listing of America's Toughest Golf Courses. The publication ranked Thunder Hill No. 46, joining some extremely elusive company on that list. Notably, the closest location to my home is the P.B. Dye Golf Club in Ijamsville, Md., which falls at No. 26. The course features five sets of tees, with the back tees referred to as the "Thunder Tees," which according to the scorecard "Playing the Thunder Tees may be hazardous to your golf game." The Thunder Tees play to 7,504 yards, with a rating of 78.5 and a slope of 152, both among the highest in the state of Ohio. The yellow and green tees are 6,866 and 6,436 respectively, with slopes of 74.5 and 72.5. At one point in its past the course featured just under 100 lakes, however, over 20 were removed during its most recent renovation.

One perfect example of the course's difficulty lies in one of the greens on a difficult par four on the back nine. According to credible sources, the club employed an old beat-up Volkswagen Beetle as a utility card to travel around the golf course. One day it was parked on the side of the green and simply would not start. Rather that tow the car back to the maintenance shed, the workers expanded the green to include the Beetle, which now is a very large hump in the right side of the green (see pictures to the left).

The course is very reasonably priced, with rates varying depending on time of the year as well as weekday vs. weekend, but the top rack rate is $49, and deals are to be found for those with flexible schedules or those willing to sign up for E-mail specials. I also found a cheap tee time at GolfSigma, and would highly recommend their services.

Rory McIlroy -- NOT PGA Tour Bound in 2010

Latest report from the UK paper Guardian claims that Rory McIlroy (or rather his management team) has decided that it is best for the young phenom to play the European Tour again in 2010. This is obviously a blow to the PGA Tour, who would clearly prefer the youngster to play primarily on the American circuit. It is interesting that the management team repeatedly sights the travel wear and tear as the prime reason behind the decision...though not having traveled overseas in my life, I cannot speak to such fatigue.

I've followed Rory quite a bit over the years, and thought it might be interesting to cite his performances in 2009, courtesy of his website.

Dubai Desert Classic - 1st
Honda Classic - T13th
WGC CA Championship - 20th
Masters - T20th
BMW PGA Championship - 5th
US Open - T10th
BMW International Open - 15th
Open Championship - T47th
PGA Championship - T3th
Omega European Masters - T7th
Kolon Hana Bank Korea Open - T3rd
Alfred Dunhill Links Championship - T2nd
Portugal Masters - T30th

Rory seems like a good kid to me and I think he will be a big star in this game, both on and off the course. (Plus he's Irish and a Titleist ambassador, which earns points in my book.) I very much look forward to the American events he plays in during 2010 (majors, WGC events) and will be interested to see if he can earn a win on the big-time stage. He's clearly been close several times, to include two top-tens in majors during 2009.

Best Par Threes...

Just flipping through the TV channels I stumbled upon the Golf Channel’s top ten par threes, listed below from top to bottom. I think I agree with most of them, except for the 16th at Scottsdale and the 17th at Warwick Hills. Both of these holes are significant because of the crowd reaction there, which essentially means they are great holes four days out of the year. Not that they are terrible golf holes, they are still pretty good, I don’t think that crowd ambiance should get those holes on this elusive list.

1. 12th at Augusta
2. 17th at Sawgrass
3. 7th at Pebble
4. 15th & 16th at Cypress Point
5. 16th at TPC Scottsdale
6. 17th at Pebble
7. 16th at Augusta National
8. 17th at Warwick Hills
9. 18th at Eastlake
10. 8th at Royal Troon

It is interesting that both Pebble and August land two holes each, as amazing as those courses are, I would hazard a guess that there are two holes better than the 16th at Augusta and the 17th at Pebble.

I think that if I could pick just one of those to play, it would probably be the pair at Cypress Point. Those holes are on the best piece of real estate in the world, and guaranteed to provide a lifetime of memories in probably ten shots or less.

Best par three that I have ever played would have to be the 14th at Cog Hill. When I played, the back tees were closed due to the fact the tour would be there in a couple weeks, so we played it at 194 yards into a heavily bunkered green. See picture above for an idea of what is in store at Dubsdread.

I would love to hear thoughts about the holes on the list.

Presidents Cup Thoughts

With the Presidents Cup in the books for 2009, I thought I would scribble a few thoughts after watching pretty much every shot during Sunday’s singles matches.
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- Captain Fred Couples could not have asked for more out of his opening groups. Hunter Mahan fought hard after a disastrous start, and ended up winning 2 & 1 over Camillo Villegas. Follow that up with the second pairing resulting in a 4 & 3 win courtesy of Stewart Cink over Adam Scott, and the U.S. was well on their way to victory very ealry on Sunday.

- While Tiger took much of the media’s attention on Sunday, it cannot be understated how well Anthony Kim and Sean O’Hair played on Sunday. Kim dominated red-hot Robert Allenby 5 & 3, while O’Hair trounced Ernie Els 6 & 4.

- Ryo Ishikawa is most certainly a player to watch. NBC did a nice job of giving him quite a bit of airtime, and I thought he even deserved more of it. He is a good ball striker, and is an incredible putter. I may do a bit of research on him and write up a future post. One of the NBC guys said something about how Tiger said that Ryo is far more advanced than he was at age 18, and said he has many more tools in his arsenal. 

- The actual clinching of the event was pretty awkward, in that it appears Tiger had no idea, and Captain Couples may or may not have told Tiger that his putt had just clinched the event. One of the obvious downsides to this format is that there is a certain likelihood that there will not be a dramatic closure to the event -- no big put on the 72nd hole, but rather an incidental putt on the 13th when many were unaware of its consequences.

- I think (from my seat on the couch) that Harding Park played a great host to the world’s best. The course seemed fairly challenging, yet also had holes which challenged the players to play aggressively with several short par 4s. I am lucky enough to have family in the SF area, and playing a round at Harding Park is definitely on the “must-do” list for our next trip out west.

- The big three for the U.S. team, Woods, Stricker, and Mickelson, came through time and time again, collectively compiling a 13-1-1 record. The team of Stricker and Woods tallied a perfect 4-0 record, dominating whichever pair International captain Greg Norman threw at them.

- I don’t often comment on TV coverage, as I feel there are plenty out there who do so, but I really enjoyed the Azinger/Faldo team on the Golf Channel’s coverage Thursday and Friday. Their immediate past experience as Ryder Cup captains provided them with an excellent vantage point to provide analysis into captain decisions and such.

- Speaking of Azinger, I was shocked by his comment that Corey Pavin had not approached him whatsoever with regard to the Ryder Cup. Pavin is of course the American captain for the 2010 Ryder Cup, and it would be downright foolish not to gleam any bit of knowledge he can from Zinger, the architect of the American victory in Kentucky last fall. Let’s hope Pavin makes that call soon.

- I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the American team room...between all the personalities on that team, toss in Couples and Jordan, and it most certainly would have made for a good time.

Golf Sketch - Check it Out...

Last weekend I stumbled upon a website called Golf Sketch, which is the product of Paris-based golf architect Nick O'Connell. The sample sketches he had on the website were very interesting, and I decided to order the calendar last week. Just got the calendar yesterday, and I must say it is a wonderful product. The sketches are black and white drawings of courses throughout the United Kingdom, as well as a cover design sketched by architect as "an idea for a golf hole."

Also of note is that a percentage of all purchases on Golf Sketch are donated to Just a Drop, an international charity which delivers clean water all over the world, so a portion of your purchase goes to a great cause. Take a look at the website, and be sure to check out the calendar, it's a great product.

Cold(er) Weather is Upon Us...

Depending on where you are reading this from, cold weather may be creeping up on you as we head toward the winter months. Though not an issue for courses countrywide yet, the issue of early morning frost has the possibility to present some issues. The folks over at the Country Club at Castle Pines have a great blog dedicated to maintenance and upkeep of their course, and they have a good post from yesterday reminding us how important it is to let the turf warm up on those cold mornings.

I've been there myself, having an early tee time held back to due frost can be frustrating, but not as frustrating as having your ball land in a chunk of dead turf because someone just couldn't wait and extra 15 minutes.

Course Profile: Lake Presidential Golf Club

One of the newest golf courses in the Washington D.C. metro area is also becoming one of the area’s finest public facilities. Lake Presidential, located in Upper Marlboro, Md., opened to the public during the spring of 2008. The course is one of the most recent projects for Landmark Land, a golf and resort community developer well-known for projects to include PGA West and La Quinta, each of which has hosted multiple PGA Tour events.

Lake Presidential’s origins trace back to a different development company, however, as the land was originally routed by Greg Norman’s design company during the late 1990’s. According to Nathan Presnal, the current Head Professional and General Manager at Lake Presidential, Norman was involved with the land in a hands-on fashion. “Norman was on the property at least once during the time his company was routing the land,” said Presnal, “but a moratorium on golf course construction in the late 1990’s resulted in Norman’s company losing interest.” Norman’s loss was Landmark’s gain, as shortly after the moratorium was lifted, a real estate developer teamed up with Landmark through their connection on previous work in Houston and the plan for Lake Presidential was born.

Real Estate 101

In the modern age of golf course construction, the focus on features surrounding the golf course are almost as important as the golf course itself. Lake Presidential was designed from the start to be featured in a golf course community called Beechtree. The matter of building a golf course surrounded by homes is no simple matter, trying to achieve the balance of a great residential community without disturbing the golfing public. “In the master plan of a community, you want to try optimize the elevations for real estate, not only to get good real estate views, but to make sure you don’t have houses on the cart paths just to get those views,” said Presnal. There are currently over 400 residences in the Beechtree community, and according to the front page of their website, over 600 of Beechtree’s 1,200 acres will remain open space for the homeowners to enjoy.

During my time on the golf course, I found it noticable that the course is built in a residential community, however, I would not by any means call it obtrusive in any regard. Most of the courses in the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area feature similar housing developments, and Lake Presidential’s layout is among the best.

High Praise

From its earliest days Lake Presidential has received high praise from the golf media. In Golfweek’s ranking issue published in March, less than one year after Lake Presidential’s opening, the publication ranked the course No. 2 behind only Bulle Rock in its overall ranking. In 2008, the same magazine listed the course as one of the top-25 new courses for 2008. On their website, Golf Magazine wrote that “the only point of debate here is which par 5 is better: the fishhook-shaped, 570-yard 8th, which features a tee shot from out of a chute of trees, or the reachable 515-yard 18th, which tackles the namesake lake from the get-go with an imposing, forced-carry tee shot.”  The site also makes note that it named Lake Presidential one of the Best New Courses for 2008.

The Future at Lake Presidential

Although the course has only been opened for less than two years, the staff at Lake Presidential continues to strive for improvement. Perhaps the lone criticism among online course reviews comes down on the course’s extensive use, citing divot-filled fairways and worn tee boxes. Presnal acknowledges that the course can look well-used at times, although that’s not always a bad thing. “The positive is that if you have worn tee boxes, then you know you’re getting lots of players, and that is a great problem to have,” said Presnal. He continued to explain that the greenskeeping staff at Lake Presidential have employed extensive measures to attempt to solidify the turf from tee to green through regular maintenance which is for the most part invisible to the everyday player. “Our groundskeeping philosophy has a lot to do with topdressing and putting lots of sand on the course. First of all, this helps to improve the drainage and keep us in good shape during the inevitable rainy periods. Second, this process creates a stronger root system which will help the turf once the hot weather comes next summer,” explained Presnal. Their process of topdressing begins by punching tiny holes in the tees, fairways, and greens, and then adding a layer of sand as topdressing, a process which when repeated regularly has eliminated the need for a fall round of green aerations, which of course is welcome news for all who have ever putted on a freshly punched green.

Though the greenskeeping staff does not have any large scale plans ahead of them, they are working on a couple of smaller changes to make life easier for the everyday player. “We are in the process of building an additional tee box on the first hole which will play to 340 yards,” said Presnal. “We have heard comments that the opening hole can lead to a difficult start, and this new tee will allow players a better chance to get around the dog leg and open up the hole a bit more,” he added. Presnal also explained that the staff is continuing to conduct select clearing, where instead of removing entire trees, they remove the underbrush from the sides of the fairways, causing fewer lost balls and allowing the player to advance his or her ball back to the fairway as opposed to having to drop.

The course also continues to look toward the future in terms of hosting events, both single-day and those which may span the course of a weekend. In their young history, Lake Presidential has already held several day-long tournaments. “Last year we held a qualifier for the Maryland State Amateur tournament,” explained Presnal, “And we have also hosted The Golf Channel’s Amateur Tour several times as well. Once we get into our third and fourth year, and hopefully more good rankings come out, the course will catch the attention of more people.”

Golf Resume?

Was browsing other golf blogs the other day, and saw where someone had listed all of the courses he had played during his short golf career. That got me thinking...what is my number? Took a couple minutes while watching Sunday Night Football and came up with the list......unless I am forgetting some, I count 32. The blog referenced above had each of them hyperlinked. Call me lazy, but you are probably just as skilled using Google as I am.

Chapel Hills Golf Course - Ashtabula, OH
Maple Ridge Golf Club - Ashtabula, OH
Village Green Golf Course - North Kingsville, OH
Hemlock Springs Golf Course - Austinburg, OH
Geneva-on-the-Lake Golf Course - Geneva-on-the-Lake, OH
Powderhorn Golf Club - Madison, OH
Thunder Hill Golf Club - Madison, OH
Hickory Grove Golf Club - Jefferson, OH
Riverside Country Club - Perry, OH
Harbor Golf Club (formerly Ashtabula Country Club) - Ashtabula, OH
Conneaut Shores Golf Club - Conneaut, OH
Windy Hill Golf Course - Conneaut, OH
Fairway Pines Golf Course - Painesville, OH
South Toledo Golf Course - Maumee, OH
Beechwood Golf Club - Erie, PA
JC Martin Golf Club - Erie, PA
Over Lake Golf Course - Girard, PA
Downing Golf Club - Erie, PA
Lawrence Park Golf Club - Erie, PA
Whispering Woods Golf Club - Erie, PA
Cog Hill Golf Club - Chicago, IL
Fairway Hills Golf Course - Columbia, MD
Waverly Woods Golf Course - Marriottsville, MD
Blue Mash Golf Course - Laytonsville, MD
Musket Ridge Golf Course - Myersville, MD
Maryland National Golf Course - Middletown, MD
Hobbits Glen Golf Club - Columbia, MD
Timbers at Troy - Columbia, MD
Diamond Ridge Golf Course - Baltimore, MD
Eisenhower Golf Course - Annapolis, MD
Bay Hills Golf Club - Arnold, MD
Lake Presidential Golf Club - Upper Marlboro, MD

Sad part is that only one of those courses is ranked by Golf Digest as the Top 100 You Can Play. I suppose that is a future goal.

Tour Championship

 
Tour Championship Observations - caught most of the TV coverage today (on DVR...), just a few thoughts.

- Par four fifth hole is a monster. Not often you see PGA Tour players with 200+ yard approach shots into par fours. Played at 520 yards today, Tiger had 204 for his approach shot.

- Billy Andrade is a great guy...but needs to work on his announcing skills. If he says perfect one more time, I think I’ll scream. He said it five times in the first six shots he called.

- It was something to watch Stewart Cink hit two straight out of bounds on the 10th. First one bounced over a fence boarding a road. A bit unlucky that it took such a huge hop, but he left no doubt with his second ball, flying it over the fence by a good couple yards (thanks to great blimp camera work). Even better was to see Cink looking over the fence to see if they were really there.

- Why in the world would you build your 18th hole to be a par three?

- I love the “worm cam”...the camera view where it is as though the camera is resting on the ground behind the player. Very interesting to watch the break from that angle. With the field noticeably smaller this week, I would think this would be easier to facilitate, but didn’t see too many worm cam shots today.

- I would think one could say this fairly regularly...but if Tiger made even half the putts he should have today, he would have gone low. He missed at least half a dozen fairly easy putts inside 15 feet. He is hitting the ball pretty well, just not capitalizing when he should -- like the five wood to five feet, missing his eagle putt.

Lots of golf left, but doesn't seem like anyone else in the running wants to make a move at the top. Course is not playing overly difficult (easy for me to say...) but the way the TV folks are praising its condition tee-to-green, no reason there couldn't be some low numbers mixed in.

Mini Tour Profile -- NGA Hooters Tour

While the PGA, Champions, and LPGA Tours get all the glory, it is important to keep in mind there are many other avenues where professionals are teeing it up week in and week out. The most famous of the tours subservient to the PGA Tour is the Nationwide Tour, which receives some (though not enough in my opinion) national attention, particularly when it  comes time for Nationwide players to earn their PGA Tour cards. The tour following immediately under the Nationwide Tour is the National Golf Association’s (NGA) Hooters Tour.

While the name may be a bit comical, the level of competition is intense. Although the purses are nowhere near that of the PGA or Nationwide Tours, there is prize money at stake, and more often than not, lack of winning is enough to send a player packing for lack of available funds. To join the tour a player shells out $2,000, and then must pay $1,100 for each tournament entered. There is a pool of players exempt for events based upon performance in 2008, those performing well in 2009, and special status for those who are previous champions on the Hooters Tour. In addition, there are weekly Monday qualifying tournaments for the final 10 spots in the field. Those who do are forced to attempt to qualify on Mondays must also pay the $150 ($250 for non-members) fee each time.

The tournament fields are comparable to that of the PGA Tour at 168 members, with a cut after 36 holes narrowing the field to top 60 and ties. Also similar to the PGA Tour, the Hooters Tour has a Pro-Am event each week, with the participating players earning a bit of extra cash for their efforts. Other perks lie in free practice rounds during the week of the event, as well as free range balls and snacks/refreshments throughout the week. There are also several major golf club manufacturers who offer discount purchasing plans for members of the tour.

The tour’s schedule is at 18 events for 2009, primarily in the southeastern part of the country. In skimming over the schedule, none of the courses sound familiar, though that obviously does not imply that they are playing beat-up muni tracks. The purse for each tournament is guaranteed at $200,000, with the tournament champion earning just over $33,000. With one event left in the 2009 schedule, Ted Potter, a native of Silver Springs, Fla., is the money leader with $171,567, a nearly $70,000 lead over the second place finisher. Thus far in 2009, 302 players have cashed a paycheck, with three individuals having made $750 on the year. Potter, who has three wins in 2009, has a scoring average of 68.81 this season and has only missed one cut in the 16 events he has played.

Most of the players on the Hooters Tour see their time on the tour as a short stepping stone to bigger and better places. One of the more experienced guys on the circuit is Marion Dantzler, who was recently profiled in The Golf Channel’s “Golf In America” program. Dantzler has teed it up 88 times on the Hooters Tour since 2005 (as far back as website stats go...), cashing a check in 56 of those events. Throughout these five years, Dantzler has earned $86,722.15. When you calculate his membership fees for five years ($10,000) plus the entry fee for each of those events ($96,800), he has most certainly spent more than he has earned. As featured in the TGC special, he earns extra cash on the side with a yardage book company, selling books on the practice tee of Hooters Tour events for $10/book.

The Hooters Tour also has a 12-event Winter Tour, traveling throughout Florida from late October through late January. For those not wishing to travel to Florida, there are 12 events in North Carolina as well, running from the first week of November through mid-February.

In case you’re curious, as I was, the tour has not made a stop in Maryland since 2005, and from 2005-2008 they stopped in Chesterfield, Va., teeing it up at the Lake Chesdin Golf Club.

There are several more tours I hope to profile, and may even try to contact a couple players for a possible profile interview. Stay tuned.

Driving Ranges

During my daily blog reading, stumbled upon a good piece by John over at Golf Dash. His article presents a very valid point -- that there are few good public practice facilities in many of America's cities. It seems as though the only courses in the country featuring prominent practice facilities are private clubs. I don't get to practice nearly as much as I'd like...primarily due to time and financial constraints, but the lack of a quality practice facility within 30 minutes of my house is also a significant inconvenience. I haven't researched the issue very thoroughly, but to my knowledge, the nearest public driving range with a grass hitting surface is Waverly Woods Golf Club, a 30-minute drive from my home.

Earlier this summer Golf Digest published their ranking of the top 75 practice facilities, which was a pleasant read, except many (if not most) of these facilities are at private clubs. I wish they would expand their rankings to include a listing of purely public clubs, akin to their "Top 100 You Can Play" rankings. It is almost a tease to see a course in my town listed in the top-ten, yet I will probably never be able to hit one practice shot there, as the course is one of the most exclusive in the country, and sure does not allow the general public to use their fine facilities...

CAVES VALLEY G.C. | Owings Mills, Md.
Pick a target: "You could play a closest-to-the-pin contest with every club in your bag, including driver," says a panelist.

All in all, I'd love to hear if anyone in the Baltimore/Washington area knows of an affordable place to practice. I would be very interested in such a fine facility which charges monthly dues to use the facilities, of course assuming that the quality of facility is reflective of the price. I think I'll try and do some research to compile some of the better facilities, after all, I for one need plenty of range sessions to get my handicap where I would like it to be.

Course Review: Cog Hill Golf Club, No. 4 Course (a.k.a. Dubsdread)

Course: Cog Hill Golf Club, Course No. 4
Location: 12294 Archer Avenue Lemont, IL
Yardages: 5441 (red)/6033 (green)/6382 (white) /6750 (blue) / 7144 (gold) / 7554 (black)
Website: http://www.coghillgolf.com

During a recent roadtrip with college buddies, I had the privilege to play the No. 4 course at Cog Hill Golf Club, also known as Dubsdread. The course will be hosting the BMW Championship later this month, the third of four stops in the FedEx Playoff series. Let me start by saying this is by far the nicest course I have played in my life, and thus my review may be most positive than others, however, I would contest there is not much to dislike when it comes to Cog Hill No. 4.

The course has a tradition of hosting golf tournaments at the highest level, to include the Western Open Championship from 1991-2007, the 1997 U.S. Amateur, and as previously mentioned, will be hosting the BMW Championship through at least 2011. Although it has the storied history, the course was renovated between Sept. 2007 and Sept. 2008, and is truly a different test than the old Dubsdread.

The course is ranked No. 45 in Golf Digest’s “America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses,” and No. 1 in Golfweek’s “Best Courses You Can Play.” I am not sure, but I think these ratings may have been prior to the renovation, and I would be interested to see the overall reviews of the course post-renovation. The renovation was conducted by Rees Jones, know as the Open Doctor for his work on courses such as Bethpage Black and Torrey Pines among others. (I am no expert, but I can certainly foresee the Open heading to Cog Hill No. 4 in the next decade or so.)

The greens fee of $150 includes cart and a small bucket of balls to warm up with. Perhaps my only two complaints lie here, both the fact that carts were quite old and slow, and for a fee of $150, I feel one should be allowed to hit 1,000 warm up balls if he or she so desires. (On our given day it was warm, so 10 balls into the warmup session I was drenched in sweat and ready to give up on the range.)

The practice facilities include a grass driving range, a small short game area which includes a regulation-sized green and several angles to chip from, and a monstrous putting green featuring plenty of room to hit putts from all angles and elevations. I’m not sure I could have hit a sand wedge from one end of the green to the other, it seemed to travel on forever.

As for the course itself, it was literally perfect. When the course was renovated, almost every blade of grass was torn up, to include every tee box and every green. This resulted in perfect teeing ground, flat as a pancake and perfect angles. Except for divots from the those playing that day, there were no imperfections on any of the tees. Each box had a yardage plate, and given that they are only a year old, you can assume they are pretty accurate.

The fairways are lush, perfectly manicured, and each and every sprinkler-head was marked. Since the carts are not GPS equipped, these markings were much appreciated, providing distance to the front, middle, and back of the greens.

The most memorable, and costly in terms of strokes, are the bunkers on the course, all 98 of them. I’ll do the math for you, that’s over 5 bunkers per hole. They have all been rebuilt, and can be very punishing if when you find them. The quality of sand is very good, and even after a major rainstorm, they were still very playable and seemed to soak up the water very well.

The course is quite lengthy, playing almost 7,600 yards from the back tees. During our round the back tees were closed in preparation for the coming event, and we played the blue tees which measured 6,750, still lengthy from that tee level. One of the many changes they made during the reconstruction was to create additional teeing grounds, and each hole now has numerous teeing options. This is likely a feature aimed at demonstrating the course’s versatility to host a major such as the U.S. Open, giving the USGA flexibility in how they setup the course.

Overall, very high praise for the redesign of Cog Hill No. 4. I did not have the opportunity to play the course prior to the redesign, however, after seeing numerous photographs in the clubhouse and watching video of the tournament held there in 2007, it is quite evident that the course has changed significantly. The $150 price tag may scare those not native to the area, but when you consider the other premier options in the Chicago area, the price is not unreasonable. Highly recommended, and I’ll give it five stars on the Palm scale.

Weekend Thoughts...

Things settling down a bit, hopefully going to equate to more time to write. Lots of thoughts on the golf world in general...

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Surprise at the Barclays

I was lucky enough to catch the back nine coverage on Sunday at the Barclays, and it was quite a show. Had the makings of being a drama-filled marathon with a large group at eight under par, but the unsung hero came through. I am not sure which was more surprising, that Tiger missed his seven footer, or that Slocum made his bomb on 18. Neither looked to be a terribly difficult putt, but just about everyone was ready to concede the putt to Tiger, while Heath looked like a sure-fire bogey to send the tournament to a playoff. Quite a swing of events in that last hour of coverage, and proved to be another quite entertaining playoff event. I think I’m going to write another piece on my opinions about the playoffs, so nothing else on that broad topic for now.

Marino’s Meltdown

I was saddened to see Steve Marino’s meltdown on the back nine Sunday, as he put together three pretty good rounds and just shooting par would have been good enough to tie at nine under. Marino has a few top-tens on tour this season, and his game seems to be just above average in every category. I’d guess he bounces back and finishes in the top ten at least once more this year. Someone in one of the big golf forums posted an interesting story about Marino from back in 2007 when he played a muni course with Washington Post writer Eli Saslow...fascinating read.

Liberty National

Although I didn’t get to watch near as much of the coverage as I would have liked, it seemed as though Liberty National Golf Course held up to the test of the PGA Tour event, just one year after its opening. Many of the players were less than impressed with the course, citing tiny greens and the course’s compact and overcrowded layout as primary concerns. That said, it seemed to pass the overall test, and one cannot argue that the view rival that of a place like Pebble Beach. The media made a big deal of Tiger’s comments about the greens being difficult to read, but I would think much of that has to do with his (and the rest of the tour’s) unfamiliarity with the greens.

U.S. Amateur Recap

I guess I have been more preoccupied than I had thought, as I was completely oblivious to the fact the U.S. Amateur was being held this week. The Amateur is one of my favorite events to watch, as there is not a more diverse field anywhere in golf. I did flip back and forth a bit on Saturday and Sunday between the Barclays and the Amateur, and was surprised (saddened really...) to see one of the semi-finalists in each group playing with a “popped collar.” Call me a traditionalist, but I cannot help but think that these young players should have a greater respect for the game and thus dress more professionally. The winner, 17-year old Byeong-Hun An, has a sound golf swing and although he didn’t play his best on Sunday, earned his with solid play. I am setting my reminder now to tape all of the 2010 Amateur, scheduled for August 23-29 at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. I also checked the future sites for all USGA events for the next four years, and doesn’t look like any of them will be even remotely close to my location, save for the U.S. Open at Congressional in 2011.

Handicap Update

Just a quick update...I posted previously regarding the handicap experience. Well so far so good, and to be honest, I am a bit surprised how low it is. Toward the end of my high school career, I was in the mid single digits, but given how infrequently I play these days, I expected to be nowhere near that. Currently it is right around 13, about double what it was in high school, but all in all I'm fairly satisfied with that.

The process is nice through my work league, as they automatically enter in our tournament scores (an outing roughly every two weeks), and then we manually enter our own scores. I find this gives me a renewed focus when playing a casual round with a friend, as I don't want to get too carried away and inflate my index too much in a lazy Saturday afternoon round. I assume that the handicap entry process is similar to that of a country club or other private club, where you enter your scores in the computer and it does the magic and spits out the handicap at the end.

I am still curious to see how it will fluctuate over the remainder of the season, as I will hopefully get at least five or ten more rounds in and see where it ends up.

Musket Ridge Golf Club

Once again lacking on posts, summer is such a busy time for weddings and other travel obligations. Hope to be more steady with the posts...

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Course: Musket Ridge Golf Club
Location: Myersville, Maryland
Yardages: 5,333 (r) / 5,884 (w) / 6416 (b) / 6902 (g)
Website: http://www.musketridge.com/

Several weeks back I had the opportunity to play at Musket Ridge Golf Club off of I-70 out in Myersville, Maryland. The course has recently been ranked seventh in the state by Golfweek Magazine in its rankings of public golf courses. I was playing in an outing, so my experience is a little different because of that, but I can certainly say from pulling in the parking lot to putting the clubs back in the trunk, it was a fantastic day. I have nothing but high praise for this course, and want to highlight some of the best aspects of Musket Ridge.

The course was designed by famed architect Joe Lee, who lists Cog Hill, Doral, and Bay Hill on his lengthy resume. Overall, the course has a fairly challenging layout, featuring few flat lies, numerous giant bunkers, and plenty of tall fescue to find as you travel through the beautiful Maryland countryside. The course features many wide fairways, though it is quick to punish a poorly struck shot that misses the fairway by more than a few feet. Though some holes would be considered “tight” from the tee, by and large they are more than fair and oftentimes the short length allows the player to hit a fairway metal or long iron and still face a reasonable approach into the green.

It is hard to pick a signature hole on this course, as given the beautiful terrain it is laid upon, there are several tee shots with breathtaking views. The majority of tee shots require some strategy, as it is certainly not a golf course conducive to automatically pulling driver for every par 4. Once you have found the fairway, golfers are left with reasonable approach shots into fairly large greens. Miss the green, however, and there is a good possibility you will find yourself in one of the course’s many large bunkers. The greens were in great shape, each putt rolling true as can be. The rest of the course was nearly perfect, both tees and fairways in great shape, and the rough was plush with deadpan nowhere to be found (despite the recent lack of rain).

The service in the clubhouse as well as on the course was terrific, a well stocked pro shop and bar provide a nice after-round setting. The course features a full grass practice facility and giant practice green, both of which are complimentary with a greens fee purchase.

Short of being closer to my house (I know...) I think this is an idea golf setting for both the advanced and intermediate level player. I give it the highest of recommendations, and a 4.5 on the Palm scale. With regard to this, and any other course I review, I’d be glad to answer any other questions you might have.

Course Review -- Hobbit's Glen Golf Club, Columbia, MD

note: been a busy couple weeks, so somewhat behind on posting. Apologies for that...
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Course: Hobbit's Glen Golf Club
Location: 11130 Willowbottom Dr., Columbia, MD
Yardages: 5434 (r)/6162 (g)/6687 (w) /7078 (b)
Website: http://www.columbiagolf.net/


In the first (of hopefully many) course review I present Hobbit's Glen Golf Club in Columbia, Md. Hobbits Glen is owned by the Columbia Association (CA), and is a semi-private course open to CA members and their guests. Not being a CA member, this is the only the second time I have played at the course. I volunteer with the Special Olympics of Howard County golf program, and Hobbit's Glen is one of the courses that host the program. (Periodically following our golf lessons the kind folks at Hobbit's Glen allow coaches to play a few holes before dark, and thus I’ve only played the first few on the front.)

The course is considered one of the best, if not the best, in Howard County, and has been voted Best Golf Club in Howard County by Columbia Magazine’s Howard County Readers’ Poll for the last eight years. The course has also hosted the State Farm Senior Classic on three occasions earlier this decade. I would be curious if the course has made any efforts lately to acquire any other tournaments at the PGA, LPGA, or Champions Tour level, and may just inquire about that....so stay tuned.

One of my favorite aspects of Hobbit's Glen is their practice facilities. In addition to a nice driving range, they feature a large practice green as well as a large chipping and pitching area, complete with bunker and fairway which can accommodate practice shots up to nearly 100-yards. The driving range features a large turf hitting area, however, every time I have visited the range the turf area was closed and golfers were limited to traditional artificial mats. The practice green has a very large surface area, and features both holed-out cups as well as some pins without cups, providing numerous targets across the green. Additionally, the holes are well placed, affording the player an opportunity to hit a putt from literally all angles and slopes. I did not have the opportunity to visit the short-game area this time around, but from a distance it appeared to be in good shape and a excellent venue for an intense short-game practice session.

In terms of length, Hobbit's Glen is not extremely long, through by no means is it a short course. The course plays to over 6600 yards from the white tees (over 7000 for blues), and features two par fours of 420+ yards. There are no “short” par 5’s, but a couple are reachable for long hitters with two good shots. The course is very fair, in that there are several tight holes, along with several others which are more wide-open. One of the nicer features of Hobbit's Glen is the scorecard, available here, which includes a detailed yardage book typically found only at more exclusive clubs. The course features a bar and grill, The Coho Grill, which serves typical bar food. I did not eat anything there, so cannot speak for it, but from what I have heard from others, it is above average for golf course food.

One word of advice, as is similar with many courses in the Baltimore/Washington metro area, the course is not friendly to walkers. There are several spots on the course where there is a considerable walk between the green and the next tee, sometimes to the point where if a foursome in carts were playing behind you, they would probably be able to catch you while you were making the trek to the next tee.

One other word of caution is that the club experienced difficulty in greening their fairways this season. Please see (undated) quote below for more detail, but basically several fairways have large dead spots, and in the outing I played in recently, free drops were given if your ball landed in one of these dead spots.

I would like to provide an update on the progress and condition of the fairways at Hobbit's Glen. As you have seen, there are a number of areas, mainly in wet and shaded areas, where the Bermuda grass is not doing well yet this season. It is, however, improving from day to day. This week we started an aggressive program of sprigging, sodding or seeding areas that require our attention. This process will be essentially complete by the end of this week. Previous sprigging experience tells us that we will be mowing these areas within two weeks or so. Many fairways are in relatively good shape at this point. Holes one, four, six, nine, and seventeen are good examples. Other fairways are in good condition with the exception of some isolated areas. In total, about 1.5 acres of turf were affected by the weather conditions. The pre-emergent that was applied in April has slowed the recovery process. The fairways will fully recover over the next month, but you will see an improvement each time you come out to play.

This spring has been unusually difficult for the Bermuda grass, but great conditions are soon to come. I have spoken to other superintendents growing Bermuda grass in this area, and they are seeing similar winter damage. We all believe it occurred in the early spring with the drastic swing in temperatures and cloudy conditions. Last year we had just a few areas that needed attention. The fairways at Hobbit's Glen pose several challenges regardless of the turf type. Shade and drainage are the two most difficult to deal with, but we have a comprehensive, ongoing plan to address these issues. Addressing these issues will minimize winter kill events in the future. We are dedicated to improving the conditions.

The fees are somewhat complicated depending on your particular situation, so instead of posting them here, I will instead provide the link to the fees.

All in all, a highly recommended course...3.5 stars out of five on the Palm scale. With regard to this, and any other course I review, I’d be glad to answer any other questions you might have.

The Golf Handicap Experience

I think I am going to post updates as I proceed through acquiring my first official USGA handicap. I played high school golf from 1999-2003, and during that period I had a scoring average (as published in the local paper) but never kept an official handicap. In the years since high school I rarely played more than five rounds per summer, but have made an effort this year to play significantly more, and figure now is a good of time as any to register my handicap.

I have joined the golf league through my work, and that will do the majority of the legwork behind my handicap. The league has roughly eight events left on the schedule, one of which I believe is a two-man event, so that obviously won't count. I also plan to add in my casual rounds as they come along, with the first possibly coming this weekend.

My wife and I are traveling to Pittsburgh to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday, and the husband of the friend and I have an 0845 tee time at a course near Pittsburgh. If the weather holds, which I am seriously doubting it will, I plan to have that serve as my first official round. If not, my first event as a member of the work league is on Monday, so that will count as well.

It seems like it should be an interesting process, as it is much more than just how many over par one usually shoots, so I am curious to see what the magic number will be after the five required rounds.

Remebering Payne Stewart

The year 2009 marks the tenth anniversary of Payne Stewart's magical win at Pinehurst No. 2, but unfortunately also marks the anniversary of his tragic death in October of that year. Payne was one of the greatest personalities on the tour, appeared to be loved by all, and is most certainly missed. There has been an influx of stories recalling Payne's legacy and updates on his family, and they are all touching to read. I found an ESPN story to be very moving, and well-written at the same time.

Although he has been gone for a decade, his legacy certainly lives on, and just this month his alma mater, Southern Methodist University, broke ground on the Payne Stewart Golf Learning Center. Payne's son Aaron will begin his sophomore season at SMU this fall, and his daughter Chelsea is a charity coordinator for the Tour Championship in Atlanta. It is a tribute to Payne that his children both have chosen to have golf remain in their lives, when it would be easy to want to block out golf because of the many memories it must bring back.

A quick Google search for Payne's name reveals an excellent video produced by the PGA Tour about the Payne Stewart Award, given to the tour player who best exemplifies the morals and qualities that Payne exerted throughout this life. In the video, the following quote is presented, and I think is an excellent way to remember Payne.

But in the end it's still a game of golf, and at the end of the day if you can't shake the hand of your opponents and still be friends, then you've missed the point.

Top Ten in Maryland?

In case any locals are browsing, here is the top-ten public courses in Maryland, published by golf.com in Sept. 2008. I can only claim to have played on course on the list, Maryland National, and was very impressed with the course. I think it would be an admirable goal to try and play the rest by year's end... edit: looks like course #3 on the list is closed as they appear to building residences on the course instead.

1. Bulle Rock, Havre de Grace
2. Links at Lighthouse Sound, Bishopville
3. Beechtree, Aberdeen
4. River Marsh, Cambridge
5. Atlantic Golf at Queenstown Harbor (River), Queenstown
6. Maryland National, Middletown
7. Rum Pointe, Berlin
8. Whiskey Creek, Urbana
9. Rocky Gap, Flintstone
10. Musket Ridge, Myersville

Golf in the Olympics?

One of the stories I think will gain quite a bit of attention over the coming weeks will be the proposal to bring golf back to the Olympics. Graham Dunbar of USA Today wrote a brief article today about the idea, and it is thought provoking. I think that it is an excellent idea, however, I think that concessions must be made in order for the event to draw the elite status that it should.

Golf has grown substantially over the last decade in terms of its international presence, one perfect example being the World Golf Championships. Since their inception back in 1999, these tournaments have brought the world's best together to play on golf's best courses. I would suggest that during Olympic years, these championships be limited in number, as the format in the proposed Olympic events matches that of three of the WGC events:

"The IGF proposal calls for 72-hole stroke play tournaments for men and women, with 60 players in each field. Three-hole playoffs will decide the medal places. The world's top 15 players will gain automatic entry with remaining places filled by the highest-ranked players whose countries don't already have two players in the field."

Again, I think the WGC events have been successful, but the Olympic events would be that much more unique if it were one of the few truly international competitions of the year.

Anyone else with thoughts?

Blog Topics

Here are a few things I plan to write about...

• Course Reviews -- mostly limited to Maryland/DC courses, and probably a couple in NE Ohio where I grew up.
  
• New Golf Gadgets -- the industry continually develops new toys aimed to make life easier on the golf course. Many of which I am skeptical of, but others may be useful. Such hands-on reivews will be subject to budgetary constraints...but who knows, maybe we get a few readers and companies start sending me stuff...
• TV Coverage Reviews -- not rehashing the golf shot-by-shot, rather looking at the way in which it was covered. I unfortunately don't get to watch all four rounds each week, so these will be sporadic at best.
• PGA Tour Insider -- again, not shot-by-shot, but hope to look at the inside of the tour happenings, and maybe not just limited to the PGA. As time permits will look at LPGA, Senior, and Nationwide tours.
• Book Reviews -- many a journalist has written about the game, going to look at some of the better works, past and present.

I am also a believer that there are many out there with more time/dedication than I have to put into this blog, so I will try to highlight the best of these blogs as time permits. I know this is a popular feature on many other blogs, so I will try my best not to reinvent the wheel.

Introduction

I find that my obsession with golf is not unique among bloggers, and by no means do I plan to stack up next to the greats. That said, I think there is quality in numbers, and thus will do my best to find golden nuggets on the web to be shared with all who are willing.

I do not plan to post weekly recaps of tournaments, as that is heavily covered in both mainstream reporting and the blog world. I will post my opinions regarding tournaments on occasion, but there is much more to golf than the weekly happenings of the pro tours.

I make no promises as to how often and what specific content will be posted, and welcome any and all suggestions.