The Week That Was, october 30, 2016

     More than a year after he originally floated the idea, Michael Jordan has taken another step toward building his own personal Golf Valhalla. The Chicago Bulls legend recently attended a public workshop (which would have been news on its own) where he laid out a plan for the private, super-exclusive golf club he wants to build in Hobe Sound, Florida. An unidentified source told TCPalm.com that the venue would be “celebrity laden” and that Jordan has found 25 investors who are willing to pony up $1 million apiece. As far as the golf course goes, it won’t be designed by Tom Doak, as once rumored, but by Bobby Weed, who apprenticed with Pete Dye and served for several years as the PGA Tour’s in-house architect. Weed did the heavy lifting for the touring pros who ostensibly designed four of our nation’s Tournament Player Club courses, including TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut and TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, Nevada. His solo work includes the Slammer & Squire track at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida, Hilton Head National Golf Club in Bluffton, South Carolina, and the Golf Course at Glen Mills in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. No doubt, the commission from Jordan will lift Weed’s profile to a place it’s never been before. And while we’re waiting for Jordan’s proposal to see its way through the entitlement process, let’s all remind ourselves that ego isn’t the best reason to open a private club.

     Just days after Greg “the Living Brand” Norman announced that he was changing the name of his company, Eldrick “Tiger” Woods came out and did pretty much the same thing. No fair nicknaming him “the Copycat,” though, because this move has been percolating in Woods’ brain probably since Elin Nordegren celebrated Thanksgiving by taking a nine-iron to his Escalade. Woods calls the move “the next step in what I like to call Chapter 2,” which he defines as “my evolution as a competitor off the course.” The new company is called TGR, which is, of course, “Tiger” without the vowels. Removing vowels and writing in all capitals is pretty popular these days, especially for rock ‘n’ roll bands (MGMT, STRFKR, PWR BTTM), so jeez, maybe he really is a Copycat. Then again, he’s the first to bring the idea to golf, so give him some credit. According to Fast Company, Woods is “wagering that the move will help define his legacy and keep him in the game long after he’s done bringing home golf titles,” although most people think those days ended long ago. Perhaps the move also indicates that Woods no longer thinks of himself as a golfer or a serial adulterer but as a corporate pitchman, a restaurateur, an events promoter, a philanthropist, and a golf course architect. Regarding the latter, he’s changed the name of his architectural firm to TGR Design, although he’d probably get a rise from millennials if he called it TGR DSGN.

     It’s starting to get crowded on the African bandwagon. Here’s proof: For the first time, a golf course in Africa has won the PGA’s seal of approval. The PGA (the British version, of course, not the American) has accredited Vipingo Ridge, an 18-hole, David Jones-designed layout in suburban Mombasa, as a worthy destination for its members. The course, the centerpiece of a 2,500-acre community, has generally been regarded as Kenya’s top track since it opened, in 2009. Such recognition may not mean much to us in the United States, but it’s a significant honor in Africa. With the PGA’s branding, Vipingo Ridge’s owners will be able to attract more golf travelers, host high-prestige tournaments, charge more for their real estate, and perhaps even break ground on their long-overdue second course. Business Daily Africa thinks the honor “could mark a new phase in Kenya’s golfing scene” and “could very well be the biggest thing in the Kenyan golf scene since the eradication of ‘browns’ at the Machakos Golf Club!” Now there’s a day none of us will never forget!

     The distant pounding you hear is the ever-louder drumbeat of complaints being leveled at the USGA for playing one of its premier events at a venue owned by Donald “the Nominee” Trump. We’re talking specifically about the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open, which is scheduled to be held next July at Trump’s tony club in Bedminster, New Jersey. After hearing what Trump said about women on the “Access Hollywood” bus, Christine Brennan of USA Today wrote a column in which she argued that the tournament “must be moved,” and then three U.S. senators -- all Democrats, naturally -- recommended that the USGA not only relocate the Open but “seriously consider suspending further events at Trump properties.” The USGA is bunkered down and hasn’t responded, probably because it’s worried that its partner is going to be elected. Then again, maybe the USGA has taken the pulse of the women who play professional golf. Golfweek reportedly interviewed a dozen of them and discovered that they don’t find Trump or his clubs in the least bit deplorable.