The Week That Was, march 8, 2015

     Jay Morrish, a golf architect whose work included dozens of courses in at least 17 U.S. states, died earlier this month. Morrish, a big-game hunter who served as a president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, learned his trade while working for Robert Trent Jones, George Fazio, Desmond Muirhead, and Jack Nicklaus, and in



the early 1980s he famously collaborated with Tom Weiskopf on a series of well-regarded designs, among them Loch Lomond Golf Club in Scotland, Troon Golf & Country Club in Arizona, and TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium course. Lee Schmidt, the ASGCA’s current president, called Morrish “a stalwart who was admired by everyone.” Cary Bickler, a fellow architect, said he was “a lion-hearted man of great talent, courage, and dignity,” and Paul Fullmer believed him to be “a man who knew how to excel in everything he did.” Morrish was 78 and reportedly suffered from heart disease. His son, Carter, inherited his love of golf architecture and is a designer today.

     Royal St. George’s Golf Club, an old-boys’ club since 1887, has voted to admit people they describe as “ladies” to their historic digs in Kent, England. The former all-male club, which needed to appear to be more welcoming to women to secure its place in the rotation for Open Championship, adopted the change in its rules by a 90-10 margin. It’s following the lead of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, which decided to open its doors to women last fall, and heeding a threat from HSBC, a sponsor of the Open Championship, which has said that it would prefer golf’s biggest event to be held at clubs that admit women. Royal St. George’s has hosted the Open Championship 14 times since 1894, most recently in 2011, and could host it again as early as 2021.

     Here’s a surprise: Despite its international fame, Bandon Dunes attracts hardly any golfers who live outside North America. Of the roughly 30,000 golfers who made their way to the oceanside venue in Oregon last year, only about 300 -- a measly 1 percent -- came from overseas. “The resort is not yet iconic for them. They think it’s in the middle of nowhere,” explains Mike Keiser, the managing partner of Bandon Dunes’ development group. “Americans and Canadians have figured out that it really isn’t difficult to get to, but Asians and Europeans haven’t. Eventually they will.” It’s worth noting that Golf Digest ranks all four of Bandon Dunes’ 18-hole layouts among the world’s top 74.

     Sri Lanka’s tourism ministers hope to turn their nation into a golf destination, but the private sector is learning that golf development can generate controversy. Alpha & Omega Developers (some sources call it Alfa & Omega) wants to build a 628-acre resort -- one that’s been described as “the country’s biggest golf course and ecotourism resort” -- in Beragala, a small town in the southern part of the island. The venture has been kicking around since 2012, if not before, under various names -- Hidden Valley Resort, Bergala Golf Resort, Beragala Eco-Friendly Golf Resort -- but it’s been stymied by critics who fear that the construction will inevitably compromise the environment. Ceylon Today identifies Alpha & Omega’s principal as Vasudewan Rasaiya, who’s said to own golf properties in Australia and Indonesia. If he can fend off the venture’s critics, Vasudewan will reportedly build 2,000 houses and overnight accommodations, a theme park, a world-class hospital, and an 18-hole golf course.