"Proposed" Ban on Anchoring

After much waiting (Over 2 years behind the scenes, BTW not 15 months) the joint teleconference was held a short while ago.

A further refinement of the definition of "stroke" is the summary.

It was issued as a proposal with a proffered 3 month period of discussion and not a hard ruling.  It is short and sweet.  There is a feel of "testing the waters" perhaps as information gathering for a future reference point.  We all know that the distance issue is a greater one.  That one can be a win-win in many way and is easily addressed by pure science - utilisation of polymers that conform to a lesser standard - really rather easy.  Kudo to Geoff Shackleford for trying to bring up the topic.

Staying in the present - the definition of stroke and both defining and banning anchoring (which has never in my mind constituted a "stroke") was well-thought out and well-presented today. Let's embrace keeping the nature of the "stroke" functionally the same with each of the 14 clubs in the bag.

Too long in coming, but very welcome.

Here's some polls to follow - Two sides of the pond


Telegraph.co.uk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/9708750/Ban-on-anchoring-long-putters-to-be-imposed-from-2016.html


Geoffshakelford.com

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2012/11/28/anchoring-ban-instant-poll-do-you-support-rule-14-1b-as-prop.html

edit: Into the poll 4 days there is more support for the broomstick on the West side of the pond.  I'd have thought it the East. Both polls are substantially on board with the ruling bodies' proposal.

Shorts for Professional Men

In Turkey this week the wearing of shorts brought out more than a few comments on Professional Men Golfers wearing shorts.  I heard it at clubs and it was on the almighty internet  some were downright silly calling out "Chicken Legs" was one kind one, but shorts are the wear of choice for most men who play unless it's cold or mandated.  Gentlemen at Baltusrol used to go to great lengths to get wafer-thin trousers to meet the requirement which considering the hot humid days one gets in central New Jersey a bit much.

During my stint at the California Golf Club of San Francisco, long pants were mandated, but with weather closer to Brora than Barcelona, hardly anyone but me complained.  Places such as ANGC talk about "Tradition" and "Gentlemen" but one must remember that the (Egalitarian, by contrast) Scots who invented and popularized the game wore what they wore because it was well, rather cold.  Plenty of Scots and Englishmen wear shorts when it makes sense to them, they choose.

This week the argument at Geoff Shackleford's site in discussion of this aspect of the game got way off track on a skin cancer debate but I guess it is irrelevant that Natalie Gulbis or Sandra Gal get skin cancer as these sports fans want to see some skin.  I pick these two ladies for a reason - Ms. Gulbis is fair and needs to watch more carefully than Ms. Gall (although German a Czech by birth as are my forebearers) who tans easily and naturally due to genetic predisposition.  Me?  I'm for a ban on tight white pants on fat men and while we're at it, all white - belts, shoes (ugh!) and Drivers, too.  I'm OK with keeping white balls, for the record, they are a nice contrast on green and shades of brown- speeding play.

So what are we to take from the debate?

The caddies have finally been relieved of their long pants and an overwhelming majority have donned Bermuda length shorts.  No calls of chicken legs there.  Having endured the 90-90 days South Florida (as well as other spots) is famous for, I have been a shorts wearer at golf unless required by club mandate.  Let's at least allow our professional golfers to have the choice.

Wave to me at Brora next time you see me there, I'm the tall one in shorts pushing a trolley which has my bag on it.

Tillinghast's Paramount (Dellwood) New City, NY

Hudson River Palisades - Paramount View

NEW City, no the "York" is not missing.  This very southern part of New York adjacent to that stretch of NY Thruway which runs East-West near the New Jersey border connecting the Tappan Zee to the main Thruway is not often on the list of places talked about regarding New York golf courses; the density is far less here than it is in the other areas of the Tri-State adjacent to the city itself. Close to but not on the west banks of the Hudson River (Basically directly across from Sleepy Hollow and Hudson National on the East Side) is where you'll find Paramount.  East-looking views to the Palisades crest-line of the nearby peaks makes up the simple new logo for the club.  Once standing on the green of the rather unusual and perhaps unique first hole,  looking back to the east, a wonderful view of the ridgeline and the magnificent basalt columns appears.  There is a lovely piece of land for the golf course split by a roadway that is truly in play and this high land comprises most of the first nine.  The higher land is fortunately encountered first and one marvels in the challenging land Old Dead Guy Architects of quality used to lay out golf courses in a time when a powered golf car was not even an option.  Tillinghast has laid a course on a steep piece of land elsewhere - most notably just a short drive down the Palisades to Alpine, but this first hole at Paramount is more vexing than the tenth at Alpine, but perhaps less accommodating, I offer that it depends on your particular skill set.  Tillinghast used less distinctly template designs but had them nonetheless and most importantly the 18th hole is a rather good and perhaps unique rendition of his "Reef" hole as featured in the Tillinghast writings. Once down from the high ground after the sixth green, the remainder of the course is laid beautifully on voluptuously rolling lands east of the centrally located clubhouse.

Last Monday we had a number of Tillinghast luminaries playing including Bob Trebus and Rick Wolffe, perhaps the two men most responsible for creating the great Tillinghast literature that we have available to us at a celebration of Paramount.  The occasion was the club's introduction to the Metropolitan Golf Writer's Association of this (last of the?) true hidden gem(s).  Originally a personal course, it was constructed on a property comprising over 800 acres.  The routing is however tight and central in the routing is the original estate main house as the clubhouse. Certainly a bit lost under the indistinct name of "Dellwood C.C." - now paying tribute to original origins the name - now Paramount pays tribute to the location as well.   Dell started as a truly personal course  for Adolph Zukor, more than 50 years head of the Paramount Studio in Hollywood, a nice nod to Mr. Zukor's legacy.  His original name was The Dells Golf and Country Club before Dellwood but now known as Paramount it shows up on the proverbial radar. It was from the start intended to rival the local private clubs created in the more traditional way for a group of members. Recently the Mandelbaum family bought Dellwood with the intention of renovating it to greatness.

Urbina holding Master Class

Jim Urbina,  best known as the on-site man for Renaissance Golf's Old MacDonald effort at Bandon Dunes has been hired to professionally restore lost Tillinghast features and sensitively add necessary changes for the modern day.  I was fortunate to have lunch with Jim on Monday  and I also want to give a nod to Phil Young, a fine author well-known in the circles for his writings on Arthur Warren Tillinghast who compiled a small history for the club on which I have relied to fact check some historical points. The work is not complete at this point and we were able to see Master Plan, work in progress and some just being completed.  The majority of the greens just need some expansion and re-capture as the contouring is at times breathtaking (save the wholly blind and highly elevated first green) and at speed provide superior challenge.  As with most golden age courses, bunkers have been removed and are being restored.

The first hole is really one of note with a daring drive across the highway followed by a vertical sixty foot elevated shot to the green.

First looking to green from fairway short of road

 Some likened the hole to a junior 15th hole at Tillinghast's Black at the Bethpage facility (I for one do not give Burbeck even co-credit - let's dispense with that now), I also found number one a bit reminiscent of the opener of the King's at Gleneagles.  If you've played either you now have a good idea to go along with these photos.

First Green from Second Tee

An enlarged green has been completed and short grass surrounds help keep delays to a minimum as there is challenge enough in the two shots required.  A little more tree removal on the right near the second tee will make the hole more playable for more players as for now the right side of the fairway does not always allow a shot to the green.  I'm not a particular proponent of "Fair", but one cannot dishearten the player too severely and certainly not at the start.

The second is just as it was on course opening, nearly 600 yards par 5 with a wicked slope downhill and to the player's right the entire way.

First landing area on #2

These are really brilliant strategic holes requiring a thoughtful placement of each and every shot on the hole.  A great member's hole, one must always look forward to the challenge of this hole every play.  Properly laying up and being familiar with the demand of a short shot down the hill to the green provides a never tiring challenge to the player.

Second landing area on #2

Tillinghast was rather good at understanding the difficulty of constructing a demanding, interesting yet fun par 5 that holds interest and one must look forward as a member to playing such a varied hole every single time.

Immediate on the card, one is offered a lovely version of Tillie's "Tiny Tim" playing 145 at most and uphill to a semi-blind (a common Paramount visual) green with more than a handful of slope to conquer.  This is not a cupcake nor a breather in any way. Golf is so much better with this sort of hole rather than four 200-250 par threes on a course.  The challenges it presents to all levels of golfers, especially while giving hope to even the weakest golfers for a possible birdie putt is more of what golf needs - especially in modern design where all too often it seems that 6-iron is the requirement on the "short hole" for the course.

The "Tiny Tim"

All the par 3's are of note with Tiny Tim 

Reef Hole

and Reef pictured -









- these being noted Tillinghast named holes with the 13th requiring 250 yards, a driver at opening create quite a set! 

An Historical note - not just #18 (Reef) is a finishing par 3 but #9 is also a one-shotter completing the  distinguished four with a short wetlands carry and a well-bunkered  devil of a green for a mid-iron shot.  Both nines finish on a par three hole and as far as I know this is unique.

Reverse canted 12th fairway

A very wide variety of par 4 holes are at Paramount - from drive pitch holes,
reverse-cant dog-leg (Not "Elbow" to the true Tillinghast student) holes playing as much as 50 yards longer than the card length to those requiring a long precise play in after a demanding tee shot.

12th green

Overall #10 comes closest to indifference as it is merely least quirky yet a fine hole.  But as with what one comes to expect from Tillinghast, one does not struggle in the least to recall any hole at Paramount.  There are heroic uphill tee shots such as the fourth,

A True Skyline

 a superior true skyline green par 4 hole at the sixth and out of bounds in play long on par 4's at Paramount just to give a sampling.

Seventh Hole with O.B. Over the green

Staking of proposed bunker

I've included just a smattering of photos as I plan to return to update.  For example where




the yellow

Completed bunker by Urbina

flagged bunker locations laid out will be completed as shown from the par 5 17th.  I hope to direct some attention to this gem and to specifically note that the Metropolitan Golf Writer's Association is and has been loyal to the Tri-State NYC region in bringing such wonderful courses to our attention so I can offer to the architectural fans out there who follow me such tid-bits.

 Consider this post merely an introduction.

Fifth hole, Classic Tillinghast "Look"

Previously we at MGWA were introduced to North Shore on Long Island as a Tillinghast course but found that it was not even Robert White (Who had been a staff Professional) as suggested by an early consulting architect but actually Seth Raynor who likely built NSCC as his first solo work. (I had a pretty good feeling by the Road Hole but left the historical detective work to the men who do it best.)  I published that course here and Steve Shaeffer eventually divined the Raynor provenience.  No such detective work is needed for Paramount, its history is particularly well-documented. The irony of that last point is rather amusing in that Tre-Wolf and Tillinghast Association records did not discover this course until recently with the announcement of  this event.

Paramount is perhaps the least well-known course of quality I have come across in quite a number of years.  Stay with redanman for more.

2012 The Open Championship and beyond

Royal Lytham & St. Anne's provided unrivaled agony and ecstasy at the finish in 2012. I certainly held amazingly polar feelings simultaneously at the finish.  as  a long time Ernie Els fan, I was very happy that he won the event, win it he did.  Statistically he played the best round of the day and he had put himself in a reasonable position to contend.  Now a major winner in three decades, he is among elite, where he belongs; had it not been for balky confidence to go with his balky putter he would be the one with 15 majors now, not Woods.  Els has left a lifetime of putts on-line left short in majors; one might argue that he has always been so self-effacing that he was too nice to be a killer but good enough to still be great. As a human being, he has done a great deal for humanity while having quite a career as a golfer. It is good to see him win another, this writer hopes it is not his last.

On the other hand it was difficult to see Adam Scott whittle away his lead, but he did let it go and at the wrong time.  P r e s s u r e.  It was indeed a collapse, but collapses can be as little as an inch or three once or four times, Tom Watson surely collapsed at Turnberry two years ago as did Van de Velde in 1999, a matter of degree, we golfers all know it.  Coupling a slow & gentle collapse with a strong 32 final nine finish, Els was and is a worthy champion.  He did enough and did it at the right time.

The simultaneous pairing of emotions was something only golf can do.  ESPN was at its most shameless at Tiger hucksterism this Open. Trying to pull in the sport rather than the golf fan is their primary motivation and it shows to an embarrassing degree.  Golf's default is that one never knows until the end who the champion will be as was illustrated again this year at The Open as it has the other two hostings I mentioned.  Tiger Woods has been reminding us just how monumental his run was.  Those students of the game will know the likelihood of return to that level is no more possible than Rory McIlroy becoming the next one.  Golf's charm is partly in its cruelty, it is so much as is life charming, rewarding, heartbreaking and fickle - rare so all at once as this special Open.  We'll be off next to Kiawah's Ocean Course for a very unusual and worthy US PGA - certainly golf's red-headed stepchild major. It will be the hardest major in years to handicap, but there is one sure bet - Tiger v. The Field.  The field in a walk, guaranteed.  Tiger has no chance.

Ramblings on False Idols, Heroes and Sport

Outside of golf, the big sport story leading up to the Olympic Opening in 3 days is the sanctions handed down to the Pennsylvania State University yesterday in the wake of investigations and deliberations by the NCtwoA after pedophilic abuse convictions of Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky.

My history includes three major events that lead to my opining on the matter and to offer a couple of questions although I will add some other anecdotal history that I hope is interesting.  All of us that love sport have our heroes and those that we admire for skill and perhaps also for grace and courage.  I loved baseball before golf, golf had come to me in the early 1960's but not doggedly so until I gave up on baseball and more importantly idols.  The place of sport and the men and women who play it in society is what really came under fire yesterday in Indianapolis at that press conference.  That is the message that one should take from the events of yesterday.  It was very sad to see some Penn State students commenting on how their beloved football had been taken away, I can't excuse the mindset of youth for that.

In the spring of 1962, I attended a pre-season baseball game in West Palm Beach, FL, that changed how I viewed sport forever in the course of perhaps 15 seconds.  We all wanted to see Mickey Mantle, no one it seems wanted to see Roger Maris that or any day, Mickey was THE Man (You daMan!).  He didn't play and over 300 of us waited for Mickey at the visitor's clubhouse door for probably 30 minutes, maybe more. Those of you that know me have might have heard the blue version, but that's not for here.  Suffice it to say that 300 people kids, young adults, fathers, grand-parents - all were silent and walked away changed, me forever and unforgivingly so.  I learned that maybe we ought not get so invested in someone of such character.  Golf had its episode recently, too but now that so many sports fans are on board with golf winning seems to be all that matters.

In golf, I discovered an admirable, if not particularly pleasant man who was as strong an individual that I have encountered in the public realm who could be a hero, he remains one of my few today.  Unfortunately, I never got to see him play but know or have known a dozen people who personally knew him including a man who bought his company, a company legendary for his dedication to quality and its mere association with his name.  I played 3 sets of his irons over a course of over 30 years, only changing because I liked a new model better  and needed new clubs.  I admired this man for his dedication, his values and as a surgeon - for what he overcame in the primitive medical conditions of when he was injured.  Obviously that man is Ben Hogan, the only man ever to win every Major Championship available to him in a calendar year - a feat in golf unmatched since.  He overcame so much in his life personally and as he neared death and after we learned - psychologically so.  There is no "greatest of all time" categorically, but he fits my set of criteria as a most remarkable man as well as golfer.

In an amazing sense of irony, I did not even play American Football (great big lug that I am) until my junior year of high school - living in Florida of all places.  I had a funny little illness at age 18 months and my dear Mother was to be kind a bit protective.  She finally reneged to my requests to play and I went from jayvee to starter at Defensive Tackle in less than a season. I didn't like like it, did not like the coaches teaching me ways to cheat and not get caught (rather goes against Golf's Ethos) and especially did not like those illegally blocking my 6'5" frame.  I escaped injuries that season and never cared to play again, Basketball was far more important to me as well as the golf.  So the basic tenets of American Football were not really consistent with how I viewed sport as we parted ways.  I was also a student first, got to speak at Graduation Day.

I attended the University of Florida from 1969-1974, a true big time American College Football school as there is, certainly Top 10 for how importantly one associates the name of the school with Football above all else.  I was in athletics, a non-scholarship athlete who chose, given the opportunity, to live in famed Yon Hall under the east stands of The Swamp, eat at the training table and live with the top athletes of that era of that fine (Academic & certainly sports) institution.  I didn't do steroids and wouldn't so my potential as a shot putter was limited although I did throw a mildly respectable 54' 11" best.  The best part of Yon Hall was meeting athletes and learning about how big time college athletics worked.  I knew John Reaves and Carlos Alvarez - the dynamic QB -WR team that led UF from obscurity to Gator Bowl Championship in one season and saw the divergent paths each took.  Reaves had a minor NFL Career with some bad luck and timing contributing to a long devolving personal horror story and Alvarez (Carlos Alvarez Vasquez Rodriguez Ubieta) declining to become a Dallas Cowboy to attend Law School and excel in his chosen field.  I also more importantly learned first-hand just how inappropriate American College Football is viewed in America.

My days at Florida took a great turn when I quit the track team - Head Coach Jimmy Carnes had promised scholarship money to me if I reached a certain goal, (which I did my sophomore year) and reneged when I asked him about it.  Karma* caught him in 1980.  I went to play golf on my own time at the UF course for $33 per student quarter (about the cost of 3 dozen balls).  This in that time allowed me to play with all the scholarship players such as Gary Koch, Andy North, Andy Bean, Fred Ridley, Woody Blackburn, Suzanne Jackson (UF's first great Lady Golfer who became a world-class rules official before leaving this world far too early at age 46) and non-scholarship try-out players, most notably "Fast Eddie" from Long Island.  I am particularly proud to remember Suzanne as my good friend.  I never even  tried to try out; I knew after a few rounds with Koch that I had zero chance of reaching THAT level. I did get my 6 or more rounds in a week and nothing ever came close to golf in my heart after that.  The Donald Ross gem we had available to play also really got my interest in design started.  It was the first non-pancake (SoFL) course I got to know intimately.  I have a Gator Golf Bag for caddies to carry, but it is for the Golf Team, no one else.

Fast forward to Denver Metro area 1987, fall, first "Full Pads Practice" for the Denver Broncos in Fort Collins, CO.  Front page news, SRO.  A couple of years later even what John Elway (the man who broke all of Reaves NCAA QB records, incidentally) gave out for Halloween candy was big news, his reaction to it being published might have even made the news.  Anyway, the mis-placed idolatry for NFL Football came to the fore.  I believe that summer day of full pad taught me the meaning of "Get a Life" as did no other event could.  The bonus was that Saturday during CU Buffaloes (another big-time school for football) games and Sundays during Bronco games, I could play 3 hour rounds of golf.  You can still find me on a golf course on Sundays in the fall after 1 p.m. wherever I am in America.  Only GolfFans, not sports fans are out then.

So yesterday the NCAA made a statement about priorities, it might not have much impact, but they did make that statement and they reiterated that they did say so.  Football unites families, but perspective is lost and I frankly find the start-stop nature of it annoying, I don't really watch except to be polite company.  I prefer what the world calls football and we call soccer.  It has an occasional great human being as a superstar, too.  Didier Drogba of the Côte d'Ivoire, named by time as one of the world's Top 100 influential people for his role in abating civil war in his country.  Certainly World Football has its problems with riots and racism, too.

Sport needs putting into perspective, maybe this set of actions can contribute.  I personally have no grudge against Penn State, its many Alumni many very fine people, let me make that clear.  Many Penn State Alumni are my friends, take no offense.  My Florida brethren neither you as well, this is a national culture issue that I see needing address.

So my questions:

Do the vacated wins for 1988-2011 for Penn State affect in retrospect the contracts of the coaches and A.D. at Penn State?  Certainly the main effect was to not reward Paterno as the "Winningest Coach of All-Time", but did the decision to vacate cause financial impact to those who knew or might have acted?  Sport is a small community and to believe knowledge was limited to a very few is challenging to believe. 

Is America ready to put academics and sport in proper perspective at least at the College level? (Tuition has historically been several thousand dollars more for Penn State College Station (Main PSU Campus) students than any other Pennsylvania public University, little wonder why.  I make a plea to education at all costs, especially Science, Math and non-English language studies, that is why we should go to University.

Finally - My condolences go out to the unknowing punished by all of this and those unintendedly harmed - the game day sellers, the swag merchants, the hawkers of team rah-rah stadium favors.  There is always unfortunate collateral damage in any action.








A perhaps unimportant note is that Jimmy Carnes Karma* payoff was that he was named Head Athletics Coach for Team USA in 1980.  For those that forget, James Earl Carter did not allow the USA Athletes to attend the Olympic games in Moscow.  A totally hollow appointment, just desserts.