The 2018 Ryder Cup will be played somewhere in continental Europe, and five nations have pulled out all the proverbial stops in an effort to land the prized international golf event.
The contending nations have put on their best marketing faces, just as they do when they vie for events like the World Cup and the Olympics. They’ve summoned ghosts from Ryder Cups of the past, called in chits with powers that be, and hired promoters to butter up officials of the PGA European Tour, which oversees the selection.
To be sure, they’ve also thought long and hard about what may be the key element on the Tour’s wish list. “Essential to the bid critera,” the Tour announced last summer, “is a commitment to the development of a world-class golf facility.”
It sounds as if the Tour is saying that it expects to play the 2018 Ryder Cup on a brand-new course.
If that's the case, you can pretty much say au revoir to France, which has identified an existing track in suburban Paris, Le Golf National’s Albatross course, as its venue of choice. You can also add a little weight to the bids from Spain, Portugal, and Germany, which intend to build new courses specifically to host the 2018 Ryder Cup.
As for the Netherlands, it wants to stage the event at to-be-built or to-be-completed courses that weren’t specifically designed for the Ryder Cup but could certainly be suitable venues. How much does that count for?
And what about the designers of the golf courses -– will they influence the Tour’s decision?
It’s an important question, and here’s why: If the 2018 Ryder Cup is played on a new course, it could very well be one designed by an architect who works for the Tour. That’s because three of the courses in contention -– those in Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands -– have been designed or co-designed by architects from European Golf Design, a British company that was jointly created by the Tour and IMG, the Cleveland, Ohio-based sports marketing firm. By keeping things in the family, the Tour would allow some extra money to trickle down to the bottom line.
The Tour will select a winner sometime soon, perhaps as soon as next month. Here’s how the courses and the nations stack up:
France. The Federation Francaise de Golf has hired IMG, one of the Tour’s closest allies, to develop and deliver a winning message to the selection committee. The message is this: While France won’t build a new golf course, it’ll give both the Tour and the world of golf something with broader, longer-lasting value. It’ll create generations of golfers.
If France wins the cup, the FFG says it’ll help to build 100 driving ranges and “short” courses (pitch-‘n’-putt or par-3 tracks) in cities across the nation, in an effort to broaden golf’s appeal beyond its traditional white, male, middle-class base. France currently has 410,000 registered golfers, and the FFG believes it can, with the Ryder Cup’s promotional help, increase the number to 700,000 by 2020.
A year or so ago, when China announced a similar plan, it was hailed by golf organizations all over the planet. But so far, neither the Tour nor any other prominent voice in golf has uttered even a single word in support of France’s proposal. Is it more important to “grow the game” in Beijing than in Bordeaux? Or is it just that the money is better?
As far as a venue goes, the Albatross course -– already a “stadium” course -– has hosted the French Open for nine consecutive years and is well-liked by touring pros. And the FFG, which owns Le Golf National, says it’ll spend whatever it takes to make the track an ideal Ryder Cup venue.
The Netherlands. The Netherlands had an outstanding showing in the most recent World Cup, but it doesn’t carry much sizzle in the world of golf. That’s why it’s a long-shot to win the Ryder Cup.
A Ryder Cup in the Netherlands would be played on a Colin Montgomerie “signature” course at the Dutch, in suburban Amsterdam. The course, which was supposed to open in late 2010 (it doesn't appear to have opened yet), has been co-designed by Ross McMurray of European Golf Design. The Dutch expects to eventually build a second course, a Sam Torrance “signature” track that will likewise be co-designed by McMurray.
Spain. Spain hopes to bring the 2018 Ryder Cup to a new, Robin Hiseman-designed course in Tres Cantos, a northern suburb of Madrid. The Royal Spanish Golf Federation and some private-sector partners will foot the bill for the track, which will have viewing areas for thousands of spectators and ample space for revenue-producing corporate hospitality tents. As a bonus, the federation plans to build a second 18-hole course suited to amateurs.
Extra point: Hiseman works for European Golf Design.
Seeing that the course would be custom-fit for the Ryder Cup and designed by an architect who works for the Tour, what’s not to like about Spain’s bid?
Two big things: First, Spain has already hosted the Ryder Cup once (in 1997), so the Tour may be inclined to award the event to another nation. Two, Spain’s economy is a wreck. Although the state of a nation’s economy may not be important to the average golf fan, it’s vital to the Tour, which uses the Ryder Cup to maximize what it calls “commercial opportunities.”
Portugal. Portuguese golf officials are pinning their hopes on a Tom Fazio-designed course at Herdade da Comporta, a resort community that's to take shape on waterfront property along the Alentejo coast, about an hour's drive south of Lisbon. The site is said to be sandy and bumpy and especially well-suited to golf, and Fazio has by far the highest profile of any designer in the Ryder Cup mix.
Even better, Fazio's course, to be known as Comporta Links, has been co-designed by Ross McMurray of European Golf Design.
On top of all that, Herdade da Comporta is being developed by a heavy hitter with experience in golf development: Espirito Santo Group, a conglomerate that controls Portugal’s second-largest bank. I'm thinking that financing won't be a problem Espirito Santo. Plus it sure doesn't hurt that the company already owns several golf courses in suburban Lisbon, including the 36-hole Ribagolfe complex and Quinta do Peru Golf & Country Club.
One final note: Espirito Santo plans to build two golf courses at Herdade da Comporta. The community's other course, a David McLay Kidd-designed track, is also supposed to be worthy of hosting a Ryder Cup.
Germany. Germany's bid is led by Bernhard Langer, a former Ryder Cup captain, and supported by two true financial heavyweights: Audi, the car manufacturer, and Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds, a big investment firm with substantial land holdings.
By all accounts, a Ryder Cup in Germany would be staged at what’s being called “the Audi Course,” a track to be built somewhere near Munich, presumably on property owned by Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds. It’s possible that the location would be Neuburg an der Donau, a town about 50 miles north of Munich.
No, the course won’t be designed by an architect from European Golf Design. The design will be done by Thomas Himmel, an architect based in Gauting, Germany. Himmel is currently working on solo projects in China, Switzerland, and Poland, and he and Langer are co-designing courses in Russia and Hungary. It seems likely that Langer could be persuaded to co-design the Audi Course.
A new course built with strong corporate support in a nation with a stable economy –- all that sounds like the making of a champion, doesn’t it? But if it appears that Germany is in the driver’s seat, consider this: BMW is the Tour’s official car-maker and the sponsor of its annual championship.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
worth reading The Bigger Picture
Last week I posted a brief item about the criticism President Obama often takes for playing golf.
Just so there are no misunderstandings, let me add this to the discussion: I don't give a rat's ass if Newt Gingrich or Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin or anyone else wants to give Obama a figurative black eye. That's politics. That's their business.
What I don't particularly like is that every time a Republican with an agenda takes a swing at Obama's love of golf, he takes a swing at my business. And if you want to know the whole story, what really riles me is that none of the so-called leaders in our business are fighting back to defend golf's image.
We need to stand up for golf. We need to promote the playing of golf. And we most certainly need the free advertising that a golf-playing president -- like a golf-playing athlete or movie star or celebrity chef -- so generously gives us.
I'm tired of hearing loudmouths with microphones taking cheap shots at golf, even if they're only doing it indirectly. Such talk hurts our entire industry.
It's important for those of us who make a living in golf to let the American public know that our business is still alive and at least somewhat well, to counter all the negative publicity that has socked us of late. So when the president's political opponents suggest that golf is an endeavor best suited to malingerers and ne'er-do-wells, or for rich folks with nothing better to do, we need to draw the line.
In a recent post at Slate, John Dickerson addressed this issue. Here's part of his take on the subject:
Presidential golf jokes may be the laziest of all political humor, with the possible exception of jokes about presidential vacation time. Jokes about presidential appearance are also lazy, but they're just cheap shots. Golf jokes are not only intellectually lazy, but, like teleprompter jokes, they encourage the audience to be lazy, too. No one has to bother thinking about what a president actually does.
Why do we care about this dumb joke? Because it is politically potent. You'll probably be hearing variations of it a lot during the 2012 campaign.
More important, we should care because it exposes a larger problem in the way we view presidents and evaluate candidates. For presidents, who can never escape their job, we should encourage golf playing, not mock it.
A president's critics always go for the golf joke because it irritates people at a gut level. And the gut level is where you need to go if you want to pick up votes. To say a president is wrong on some policy issue or another is only so damaging. To suggest he is so clueless that he's lining up his putt while the world burns is what really gets a voter outraged. . . .
Every time you see Obama golf, [Newt] Gingrich wants you get enraged. If things really work out for Republicans, golf will start coming up in David Axelrod's focus groups, and maybe Obama's advisers will have to suggest to the president that he stop playing.
Obama should resist -- and regardless of party, we should all want him to.
The presidency is a prison. Your every move is watched and tended by the Secret Service, your opponents, and the media. Even when you're “having fun,” you do so in quotation marks. At parties or a baseball game, you're watched to see if you're having a good time. If you play basketball, your on-court demeanor is analyzed for clues to your leadership style. You don't drive. You can't keep a diary (they can be subpoenaed). You can't smoke (the kids are watching). You can't take a stroll through your old neighborhood.
All of this distorts the mind. . . .
You don't have to like golf to recognize that being able to walk in relative freedom and hang out with friends is an obvious pleasure and escape. The more tightly someone is confined, the more necessary it is to escape. One of the great problems for any president is a loss of perspective. A distraction, even for a moment, from the constant and attention-shredding duties of the day is one way to gain perspective. . . .
A president's job is to have a vision, convey that vision to others, and make the hard calls when they come to him. It's about making smart decisions, not how many hours a president spends making a decision. . . .
Just so there are no misunderstandings, let me add this to the discussion: I don't give a rat's ass if Newt Gingrich or Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin or anyone else wants to give Obama a figurative black eye. That's politics. That's their business.
What I don't particularly like is that every time a Republican with an agenda takes a swing at Obama's love of golf, he takes a swing at my business. And if you want to know the whole story, what really riles me is that none of the so-called leaders in our business are fighting back to defend golf's image.
We need to stand up for golf. We need to promote the playing of golf. And we most certainly need the free advertising that a golf-playing president -- like a golf-playing athlete or movie star or celebrity chef -- so generously gives us.
I'm tired of hearing loudmouths with microphones taking cheap shots at golf, even if they're only doing it indirectly. Such talk hurts our entire industry.
It's important for those of us who make a living in golf to let the American public know that our business is still alive and at least somewhat well, to counter all the negative publicity that has socked us of late. So when the president's political opponents suggest that golf is an endeavor best suited to malingerers and ne'er-do-wells, or for rich folks with nothing better to do, we need to draw the line.
In a recent post at Slate, John Dickerson addressed this issue. Here's part of his take on the subject:
Presidential golf jokes may be the laziest of all political humor, with the possible exception of jokes about presidential vacation time. Jokes about presidential appearance are also lazy, but they're just cheap shots. Golf jokes are not only intellectually lazy, but, like teleprompter jokes, they encourage the audience to be lazy, too. No one has to bother thinking about what a president actually does.
Why do we care about this dumb joke? Because it is politically potent. You'll probably be hearing variations of it a lot during the 2012 campaign.
More important, we should care because it exposes a larger problem in the way we view presidents and evaluate candidates. For presidents, who can never escape their job, we should encourage golf playing, not mock it.
A president's critics always go for the golf joke because it irritates people at a gut level. And the gut level is where you need to go if you want to pick up votes. To say a president is wrong on some policy issue or another is only so damaging. To suggest he is so clueless that he's lining up his putt while the world burns is what really gets a voter outraged. . . .
Every time you see Obama golf, [Newt] Gingrich wants you get enraged. If things really work out for Republicans, golf will start coming up in David Axelrod's focus groups, and maybe Obama's advisers will have to suggest to the president that he stop playing.
Obama should resist -- and regardless of party, we should all want him to.
The presidency is a prison. Your every move is watched and tended by the Secret Service, your opponents, and the media. Even when you're “having fun,” you do so in quotation marks. At parties or a baseball game, you're watched to see if you're having a good time. If you play basketball, your on-court demeanor is analyzed for clues to your leadership style. You don't drive. You can't keep a diary (they can be subpoenaed). You can't smoke (the kids are watching). You can't take a stroll through your old neighborhood.
All of this distorts the mind. . . .
You don't have to like golf to recognize that being able to walk in relative freedom and hang out with friends is an obvious pleasure and escape. The more tightly someone is confined, the more necessary it is to escape. One of the great problems for any president is a loss of perspective. A distraction, even for a moment, from the constant and attention-shredding duties of the day is one way to gain perspective. . . .
A president's job is to have a vision, convey that vision to others, and make the hard calls when they come to him. It's about making smart decisions, not how many hours a president spends making a decision. . . .
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The Week That Was: March 27, 2011
. . . zambia . . .
Any day now, a South African design team plans to begin a complete overhaul of Nchanga Golf Club in Chingola, Zambia.
Mark Wiltshire and Mark Muller figure to spend $2.5 million on the makeover, which will include improvements to the layout's tees and bunkers and the installation of a new irrigation system. In addition, one of the course's holes will be redesigned, and the clubhouse will be upgraded.
The work will likely take six months. Nchanga's course, which opened in the mid 1930s, is expected to reopen in time for this year's Zambia Open, tentatively set for October 20-23. The renovation was requested by Konkola Copper Mines, which sponsors the tournament.
Wiltshire is a former professional golfer. Muller, a former golf course superintendent, attended the University of Massachusetts and worked on Jack Nicklaus' construction crew for five years in the 1980s.
In a marketing statement, Wiltshire said, “Our aim is to build user-friendly golf courses, enjoyable for all, and at the same time create a balance in design with tee and bunker placements to ensure a stern championship layout.”
Back in the late 1970s, Golf Digest said that Nchanga was the 14th-best course outside the United States. As best I can determine, it's one of 19 golf courses in Zambia. The remaining 18 are evenly split between nine- and 18-hole tracks.
. . . canada . . .
The developers of Cabot Links, the much-anticipated, links-style track in Inverness, Nova Scotia, appear to have settled on the architects for their second course.
According to Golf Course Architecture, the track will be designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the proprietors of the world’s hottest design firm. The Austin, Texas-based duo got the industry’s attention with Sand Hills Golf Club in Mullen, Nebraska, solidified their reputation with the Trails course at the Bandon Dunes resort in Oregon, and recently wrapped up a restoration of the #2 course at the Pinehurst resort in North Carolina.
The magazine says their property at Cabot Links “may not be classic rumpled linksland, but it’s a site that any architect would be overjoyed to work on.”
Cabot Links is being developed by Ben Cowan-Dewar, who runs a travel-oriented company called Golf TI; Ran Morrissett, the creator of GolfClubAtlas.com; and Chicago, Illinois-based Mike Keiser, the man who made Bandon, Oregon famous.
The property’s first course, a walking-only track designed by Rod Whitman, is scheduled to open 10 holes this year, with the full 18 to open in the spring of 2012. GCA notes that the second course “has not been officially confirmed,” but Keiser has been talking about it since October 2008, when the World Edition of the Golf Course Report profiled Cabot Links.
. . . british virgin islands . . .
A political candidate in the British Virgin Islands has promised that, if elected, his party will build a golf course on Virgin Gorda, one of the main islands in the archipelago.
The course would take shape on the island's South Sound, and it would be accompanied by a five-star hotel and other tourist attractions.
“I have this vision to build up that whole area there on Virgin Gorda into a commercial paradise,” Hubert O´Neal said in a radio address.
The course would be the first in the BVI. Of course, the implication is that it won't be built unless O'Neal and the National Democratic Party's other candidates are elected. The party advocates making big investments in all kinds of development ventures, in the belief that the benefits will eventually trickle down to every member of society, making them all healthy, wealthy, and wise.
The idea of building a golf course in the BVI has been percolating for a while. Last June, I posted about an elected official who'd beseeched his colleagues to support golf construction, to prevent his nation from losing potential tourists to the nearby islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, Puerto Rico, and even Cuba, all of which have golf courses.
O'Neal is singing much the same song.
“We are going to raise the level of tourism,” he told his listeners, “and make it an opportunity for our people to improve their financial standing.”
Geez, I can practically hear the NDP's supporters cheering.
. . . scotland . . .
If you just dropped in from Mars, you may not know that Donald Trump is building a “spectacular,” even “incomparable” golf course in Scotland.
You may not know that Trump International Golf Links Scotland is being built in “a perfect location” on the nation's northeastern coast. Or that it'll most certainly become “a destination for golfers from all around the world.” Or that the Martin Hawtree-designed track will “deserve” to host a major tournament and that Trump is “certain [it] will happen.”
At least that's how Trump sees it. He likes to brag about the course that's rising out of the sands of Scotland, and CNN Money didn't have the energy to put a muzzle on him or to evaluate the veracity of his comments.
So when Trump said “There are no negatives” -- a fact that comes as a surprise to those of us who've been following his controversial project from the start -- the news service didn't question him. And when he said that his 7,400-yard links would one day be known as the “world's greatest golf course,” it didn't even suggest that Scotland already has some pretty great competition.
It seems that CNN Money didn't want to ask Trump even a single tough question. Is CNN hoping to lure him to its television network? Is it afraid of offending a potential presidential candidate?
I have no doubt that Trump is going to deliver an outstanding golf course, perhaps even a true world-class layout that will one day stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Scotland's finest. But can we at least wait until the darned thing opens before we start fawning over it?
Any day now, a South African design team plans to begin a complete overhaul of Nchanga Golf Club in Chingola, Zambia.
Mark Wiltshire and Mark Muller figure to spend $2.5 million on the makeover, which will include improvements to the layout's tees and bunkers and the installation of a new irrigation system. In addition, one of the course's holes will be redesigned, and the clubhouse will be upgraded.
The work will likely take six months. Nchanga's course, which opened in the mid 1930s, is expected to reopen in time for this year's Zambia Open, tentatively set for October 20-23. The renovation was requested by Konkola Copper Mines, which sponsors the tournament.
Wiltshire is a former professional golfer. Muller, a former golf course superintendent, attended the University of Massachusetts and worked on Jack Nicklaus' construction crew for five years in the 1980s.
In a marketing statement, Wiltshire said, “Our aim is to build user-friendly golf courses, enjoyable for all, and at the same time create a balance in design with tee and bunker placements to ensure a stern championship layout.”
Back in the late 1970s, Golf Digest said that Nchanga was the 14th-best course outside the United States. As best I can determine, it's one of 19 golf courses in Zambia. The remaining 18 are evenly split between nine- and 18-hole tracks.
. . . canada . . .
The developers of Cabot Links, the much-anticipated, links-style track in Inverness, Nova Scotia, appear to have settled on the architects for their second course.
According to Golf Course Architecture, the track will be designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the proprietors of the world’s hottest design firm. The Austin, Texas-based duo got the industry’s attention with Sand Hills Golf Club in Mullen, Nebraska, solidified their reputation with the Trails course at the Bandon Dunes resort in Oregon, and recently wrapped up a restoration of the #2 course at the Pinehurst resort in North Carolina.
The magazine says their property at Cabot Links “may not be classic rumpled linksland, but it’s a site that any architect would be overjoyed to work on.”
Cabot Links is being developed by Ben Cowan-Dewar, who runs a travel-oriented company called Golf TI; Ran Morrissett, the creator of GolfClubAtlas.com; and Chicago, Illinois-based Mike Keiser, the man who made Bandon, Oregon famous.
The property’s first course, a walking-only track designed by Rod Whitman, is scheduled to open 10 holes this year, with the full 18 to open in the spring of 2012. GCA notes that the second course “has not been officially confirmed,” but Keiser has been talking about it since October 2008, when the World Edition of the Golf Course Report profiled Cabot Links.
. . . british virgin islands . . .
A political candidate in the British Virgin Islands has promised that, if elected, his party will build a golf course on Virgin Gorda, one of the main islands in the archipelago.
The course would take shape on the island's South Sound, and it would be accompanied by a five-star hotel and other tourist attractions.
“I have this vision to build up that whole area there on Virgin Gorda into a commercial paradise,” Hubert O´Neal said in a radio address.
The course would be the first in the BVI. Of course, the implication is that it won't be built unless O'Neal and the National Democratic Party's other candidates are elected. The party advocates making big investments in all kinds of development ventures, in the belief that the benefits will eventually trickle down to every member of society, making them all healthy, wealthy, and wise.
The idea of building a golf course in the BVI has been percolating for a while. Last June, I posted about an elected official who'd beseeched his colleagues to support golf construction, to prevent his nation from losing potential tourists to the nearby islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, Puerto Rico, and even Cuba, all of which have golf courses.
O'Neal is singing much the same song.
“We are going to raise the level of tourism,” he told his listeners, “and make it an opportunity for our people to improve their financial standing.”
Geez, I can practically hear the NDP's supporters cheering.
. . . scotland . . .
If you just dropped in from Mars, you may not know that Donald Trump is building a “spectacular,” even “incomparable” golf course in Scotland.
You may not know that Trump International Golf Links Scotland is being built in “a perfect location” on the nation's northeastern coast. Or that it'll most certainly become “a destination for golfers from all around the world.” Or that the Martin Hawtree-designed track will “deserve” to host a major tournament and that Trump is “certain [it] will happen.”
At least that's how Trump sees it. He likes to brag about the course that's rising out of the sands of Scotland, and CNN Money didn't have the energy to put a muzzle on him or to evaluate the veracity of his comments.
So when Trump said “There are no negatives” -- a fact that comes as a surprise to those of us who've been following his controversial project from the start -- the news service didn't question him. And when he said that his 7,400-yard links would one day be known as the “world's greatest golf course,” it didn't even suggest that Scotland already has some pretty great competition.
It seems that CNN Money didn't want to ask Trump even a single tough question. Is CNN hoping to lure him to its television network? Is it afraid of offending a potential presidential candidate?
I have no doubt that Trump is going to deliver an outstanding golf course, perhaps even a true world-class layout that will one day stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Scotland's finest. But can we at least wait until the darned thing opens before we start fawning over it?
Thursday, March 24, 2011
News & Notes from the USA
. . . The Nicklaus empire has launched a slick, glossy promotional vehicle and vanity publication called Nicklaus Premier Clubs. The magazine is mostly packed with fawning profiles of prominent Nicklaus “signature” courses. (In the inaugural issue, you can read about Country Club of the Rockies, Dismal River Golf Club, Shoal Creek Country Club, and Muirfield Village Golf Club.) After perusing volume one, number one, Jack Nicklaus told his publicist, “I look forward to the next edition of Nicklaus Premier Clubs.” . . .
. . . The city of Rockville, Maryland has discovered a doozy of a mistake in a study of its golf course operations. Earlier this year, the National Golf Foundation encouraged the city to outsource the management of RedGate Municipal Golf Course, asserting that the move would net “a positive working capital balance” of $161,257 by 2015. But when the city's auditors crunched the NGF's numbers, they determined that the course would instead tally “an $804,000 deficit in working capital,” even in “a best-case scenario.” Whoops! The NGF blamed the miscalculation on “a flaw in [its] computerized spreadsheet files.” It reportedly charged the city $25,000 for its work. . . .
. . . It appears that Rees Jones may soon break ground on his long-awaited golf course in New Orleans' City Park. Park officials hope that a private-sector group will foot the bill for the tournament-worthy, 7,240-yard track, but they say they'll build it on their own (partly with FEMA money) if a deal can't be struck. The track will reportedly offer “a high-end golf experience” that “will be challenging for every type of golfer” -- or at least those who can afford to play it. The CEO of City Park tells the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he expects to get into the swing of things sometime during the first quarter of 2013. . . .
. . . The legend of Mike Nuzzo continues to grow. In recent years Nuzzo has become golf's most famous unknown architect, a reputation he's established on the strength of a single commission: Wolf Point Golf Club, an 18-hole track located somewhere deep in the heart of Texas. By all accounts, Wolf Point is a terrific golf course. Unfortunately, it's also a personal golf course, one built and maintained for the pleasure of its wealthy owner. Few people have heard of it, let alone played it. Texas Golfer, which profiled “The Curious Case of Mike Nuzzo” in its April issue, asks the question Nuzzo himself has been trying to answer ever since Wolf Point opened: How do you build a following with a property that few golfers are intended to see, let alone play, as your calling card? The answer to that question, it's sad to say, is You don't. Nuzzo will eventually make his mark, but he'll do it by designing a course that people can actually play. It's the currency of our realm. . . .
. . . President Obama has reportedly played 61 rounds of golf since he was elected, which is way too many for his ever-carping political enemies. But at least one Republican VIP -- Dan Quayle, who played second fiddle to George Bush the First -- believes that Obama is perfectly capable of both hitting the links and attending to the nation's problems. “I'm glad he's out playing golf,” the former vice president told the Fox Business Network. “I mean, what do you want him to do, stay in his house and be on the phone with the ambassador to Japan all the time?” . . .
. . . The city of Rockville, Maryland has discovered a doozy of a mistake in a study of its golf course operations. Earlier this year, the National Golf Foundation encouraged the city to outsource the management of RedGate Municipal Golf Course, asserting that the move would net “a positive working capital balance” of $161,257 by 2015. But when the city's auditors crunched the NGF's numbers, they determined that the course would instead tally “an $804,000 deficit in working capital,” even in “a best-case scenario.” Whoops! The NGF blamed the miscalculation on “a flaw in [its] computerized spreadsheet files.” It reportedly charged the city $25,000 for its work. . . .
. . . It appears that Rees Jones may soon break ground on his long-awaited golf course in New Orleans' City Park. Park officials hope that a private-sector group will foot the bill for the tournament-worthy, 7,240-yard track, but they say they'll build it on their own (partly with FEMA money) if a deal can't be struck. The track will reportedly offer “a high-end golf experience” that “will be challenging for every type of golfer” -- or at least those who can afford to play it. The CEO of City Park tells the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he expects to get into the swing of things sometime during the first quarter of 2013. . . .
. . . The legend of Mike Nuzzo continues to grow. In recent years Nuzzo has become golf's most famous unknown architect, a reputation he's established on the strength of a single commission: Wolf Point Golf Club, an 18-hole track located somewhere deep in the heart of Texas. By all accounts, Wolf Point is a terrific golf course. Unfortunately, it's also a personal golf course, one built and maintained for the pleasure of its wealthy owner. Few people have heard of it, let alone played it. Texas Golfer, which profiled “The Curious Case of Mike Nuzzo” in its April issue, asks the question Nuzzo himself has been trying to answer ever since Wolf Point opened: How do you build a following with a property that few golfers are intended to see, let alone play, as your calling card? The answer to that question, it's sad to say, is You don't. Nuzzo will eventually make his mark, but he'll do it by designing a course that people can actually play. It's the currency of our realm. . . .
. . . President Obama has reportedly played 61 rounds of golf since he was elected, which is way too many for his ever-carping political enemies. But at least one Republican VIP -- Dan Quayle, who played second fiddle to George Bush the First -- believes that Obama is perfectly capable of both hitting the links and attending to the nation's problems. “I'm glad he's out playing golf,” the former vice president told the Fox Business Network. “I mean, what do you want him to do, stay in his house and be on the phone with the ambassador to Japan all the time?” . . .
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
argentina Makeovers on Tap
Several years ago Hugo Chavez, the world’s most golf-phobic president, threatened to shut down the two most prominent golf clubs in Caracas and replace them with houses for people stuck in Venezuela’s shantytowns.
But the clubs -- Valle Arriba Golf Club and Caracas Country Club -- have survived, and today their members are thinking about renovations. Valle Arriba, which opened in 1942, wants to rebuild the greens and greenside bunkers on its course, while the nature of the job at Caracas, the city’s oldest club (it was founded in 1918), is to be determined.
Both clubs have hosted the Venezuela Open several times, and both have discussed the work with Randy Thompson of Santiago, Chile-based American Golf Course Design.
Thompson designed the first golf course at Fazenda Boa Vista in Porto Feliz, Brazil as well as Manta Raya Golf Club in Farallón, Panama; Four Seasons Golf Club in Carmelo, Uruguay; and three courses in Chile.
But the clubs -- Valle Arriba Golf Club and Caracas Country Club -- have survived, and today their members are thinking about renovations. Valle Arriba, which opened in 1942, wants to rebuild the greens and greenside bunkers on its course, while the nature of the job at Caracas, the city’s oldest club (it was founded in 1918), is to be determined.
Both clubs have hosted the Venezuela Open several times, and both have discussed the work with Randy Thompson of Santiago, Chile-based American Golf Course Design.
Thompson designed the first golf course at Fazenda Boa Vista in Porto Feliz, Brazil as well as Manta Raya Golf Club in Farallón, Panama; Four Seasons Golf Club in Carmelo, Uruguay; and three courses in Chile.
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