Year 2000 summary: 5 new courses. 9 holes added to 1 course. No courses closed.
Five words: The Legend of Bagger Vance.
The Salk Institute has found the gene that controls plant growth and we may be seeing
new strains of short grass that won't need mowing more than, maybe, 4 times a year. Could
be great for the short rough, back tee-box, or your back yard. Initial seed offerings may
be only a few years away.
A tree fell over on the 14th hole of the Slim Park GC in Wichita in April, crushing a
golfer in his cart. His partner was not in the cart, but setting up his second shot on the
par 4 hole.
Four words: "Kathy Ireland LPGA Classic". Hey, we also chuckled when we first
heard "Hooters Tour".
The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a $10,000 hole-in-one prize for a golfer in
Linton who missed his first shot but got the h-i-o on the second shot after using a
purchased mulligan. The court ruled that since use of the mulligan wasn't specifically
excluded from the hole-in-one competition it could be used there. That will add some fine
print to the signup sheet at charity outings.
Mel Simon's digs (on Ditch Rd north of 96th St.) just weren't big enough so he bought
another 14 acres and is installing 8 more greens and enough tee boxes to make 18 more
holes. Yep, 18 more holes - doubling his private playing pleasure. The new holes are
designed by Steve Smyers who did the Links at Heartland Crossing.
Shheeesh.
2 (3?, 4?) words: Jean Van de Velde.
When Wisconsin bowed out of the "Sweet 16" in the first round last April, Bear Slide GC had 40 no-shows on
Sunday after masses of Badger fans went back north before the weekend.
Rick Kaldor of Manhattan, KS hit a hole-in-one at an outing the Bighorn GC and won a
Bentley Arnage Red Label worth about a quarter million. Word is he had to buy Subarus for
everyone in the bar.
A pair of guys were nabbed in Massachusetts in May with more than 35,000 balls they
stole from at least 3 driving ranges, two in New York and one the police haven't tracked
down yet. After 17,000 balls came up missing one morning at a range near Syracuse, NY
another range owner volunteered a license plate number of a duo who spent 30 minutes
hitting a small bucket and looked to be casing the place. Voila, the police found a pickup
truck with a bed full of balls.
Out in Oregeon the Anarchist Golfing Association took credit for $300,000 damage at a
Pure-Seed lab breeding herbicide-resistant creeping bentgrass. The group claims
"these crops are grown for profit and the pleasure of the rich and have no social
value."
Mike Langella played a par 3 hole at 49 different golf courses in 15 days. The courses
were in each of the lower 48 states and DC - that's and 11,000 mile trip. Chipshot.com, a
web retailer, donated 8,250 to his favorite charities for the feat - $250 for each of 25
pars and $1k for each of 2 birdies he shot along the way.
Mark Johnson was disqualified from the Arizona Mid-Amateur in June for using two
caddies. A teenage friend, it seems, handed his caddie the putter from Johnson's bag (Rule
6-4 see Decision 6-4/2.5 but also see 6-4/4.5). It was father's day. His 14-year
old son was his caddie. It was his son's birthday. But the truly sad part of the story is
that Johnson was 11 strokes in the lead. We really don't make this stuff up.
Meanwhile, a golfer was barred from competing in the Southern California Special
Olympics because he needs to use a cart. The SO folks say the cart would give the
legally-blind Michael Russell, 37, an unfair advantage. We couldn't make this stuff
up. Most area SO games allow the use of carts.
And lastly, a player in the Connecticut high school championships was disqualified for
wearing his hat backwards. Nobody could make this stuff up.
Asked which of her sponsor's cookies Juli Inkster would eat to celebrate her victory,
she replied "I'm going to have a SnackWells Coors Light".
A study at Arizona State U. found a 7-day cycle in rainfall in the eastern U.S.
Overall, the chance of rain increases Thursday, Friday, and Saturday then tapers off
Sunday through Wednesday. The cause: dust and other small particles (pollution) in the air
due to industry and autos. It builds up during the week but blows away on Saturdays and
Sundays. Bottom line: it's 22% more likely to rain on a weekend day than a weekday. Not a
surprise, huh?
The Golf Club of New England that is being built in New Hampshire will be "the
only fully networked, business-professional golf club providing high-speed, broadband
wireless access for email, web transactions and laptop computing with real-time video
conferencing throughout all 18 holes of play, as well as the clubhouse." So the head
honcho says ""As an avid golfer and active businessman. I have been in constant
search of the pristine golf experience, where tee times, crowded fairways, and other
distractions are non-existent." The sound of "You've got mail" must not be
a distraction.
A feathery golf ball made in 1830 was sold at auction to the Valderama Golf Club in
Spain for $42,600. The ball was signed by the maker, Lang Willie, a ball maker at St.
Andrews.
During last summer lots of people dumped on Callaway in a Yahoo financial bulletin
board specific to Callaway's ELY stock. It turns out the biggest screaming voice was a
Steve Cade who posted under 27 different names. Who's Steve Cade? He's the CEO of LaJolla
Club - a rival clubmaker that specializes in women's and junior clubs. While bashing a
competitor isn't polite, this was worse because Cade was selling Callaway's stock short -
betting that it would go down - and using these posts to influence other traders.
Here's a happy man. David Howard of Brookings, SD made a hole-in-one July 10th and
bowled a 300 game on July 11th.
Prolific golfer and IndyGolf contributor, Martin Mahern, is starting a campaign to
change the name of Sarah Shank GC.
"To have a course with the same name as a shot so horrendous that many golfers won't
even say the word is disgraceful. It was named for the wife of the Mayor at the time the
course was built but she's been honored for 75 years and it's time for a change. I'm sure
Sarah, who was a member of the Park Board ( I guess nepotism wasn't considered poorly back
then) besides being the mayor's wife, was a wonderful woman but we need to move on. The
name is so inappropriate for golf that Shank was named one of the 10 worst course names in
`98 by Golf magazine."
The five separate streakers (3 women, 2 men) at the 2000 British Open got a total of
close to $900 in fines.
March 29 - The public Florida Club in Stuart, FL has finally filed suit against a local
pig farmer alongside the 15th tee. He's been there since before the course was built but
he's now pumping loud country music to the pigs. He says it makes for a more tender BBQ.
The course wants to buy the land. We at IndyGolf played there last year and thought it was
amusing but now both sides have hired lawyers.
July 12 - The Florida Club which you may remember is in a dispute with a neighboring
pig farmer over loud country music along the 15th hole. The music is played to soothe the
pigs. The pigs stink up the place. The farm was there first - although without the music.
The club has tried to buy the pig farm. The farmer just wants the world to go away. It
went to court last Monday and the jurors visited the farm and course yesterday. We at
IndyGolf hope they can find a way to make everyone happy short of bulldozing the golf
course back into swamp.
July 26 - Hopefully it's all settled between The Florida Club and the pig farmer. The
court said the pigs could stay but the music has to be turned down. The farmer will also
have to face the loudspeakers toward the pigs and away from the 15th tee. Sort of
anti-climatic but you might like to know.
Jerry LaBonte of Indy won the Eco Golf hole-in-one shootout at Riverside Academy last
July with a drive to within 6 ft on the 145 yd 9th hole. He didn't get the big payoff for
a h-i-o, but won an evening vacation in downtown Indy - Embassy Suites, Rathskeller,
carriage ride, etc. He qualified for the final by coming within 5 ft of the hole at South
Grove (with an inspired bounce off 2 trees).
Go to your dryer and get a used dryer sheet and put it into
your golf bag..While playing, stuff it in your belt. It keeps mosquitoes away. I put one
under my cap in the mornings and it keeps those pesky gnats off my face! - Charles Ray
Harmon
Ryan Shrecongost, Assistant Pro at Pebble Brook GC does some
professional singing at the course bar and elsewhere. For a sample mp3 see http://www.pebblebrookgolf.com/staff.htm.
An unusual charity outing in August. 18-holes on a par 3 course (Indianwood G&CC in
Lake Orion, MI). $5,000 entry fee. $2,500 closest to the pin on every hole. Plus $1
million hole-in-one on every hole, all day. They say it's the "Richest Day in
Golf" because the total payout (18 h-i-o by all 144 entrants) could be $2.5 billion.
Gotta love their thinking.
Two guys in Cambridge, Ontario, were arrested last July for theft of 4,000 golf balls.
Evidence includes the 4,000 balls and the scuba gear they were wearing when arrested near
a pond on a local golf course.
HUD has awarded a $20,600,000 grant to rebuild an old public housing project in
Danville, VA The new community on the site will include a day care center and a golf
course.
Troy Gillespie had a 1-shot lead over Jeff Smith at the Rolling Meadows Club
Championship when they reached the 16th. Both drove into the water on the left of the par
5 hole while trying to shortcut over a tree guarding the creek. Then disaster struck. Troy
dropped on the wrong side of the lateral water hazard (2 stroke penalty) and then tried to
go over the massive tree again. Back in the water. The next two attempts over the tree . .
. well, he finally carded a 14.
The Akron Beacon Journal had a strangely interesting story about B.F. Goodrich's
attempt to develop an "Atomic" golf ball in the 1950s. Seriously. A bit of
radioactive material in the ball would be detected by Geiger counters so it would be
unlosable. Of course you needed to be within 5 feet of the ball, and you couldn't carry it
for more than 3 hours per day. And you couldn't store a dozen of them in your golf bag
without losing your hair.
The Tampere Research Center of Sports Medicine in Finland studied 55 men who were
encouraged to not exercise and 55 men who were encouraged to walk 18 holes several times
each week. After 20 weeks, the golfers lost 5 pounds and 1 inch of waistline. They also
had decreased blood pressure and cholesterol. They warn, though, that during a winter of
not golfing you can expect to loose all those benefits.
The birding world (that's birdwatchers to us philistines) is all atwitter at CBS's
coverage of the PGA. Seems a white-throated sparrow could be heard during the PGA
Championship. And again during the NEC. Kentucky and Ohio aren't don't have any
white-throated sparrows in the summer. Leslie Ann Wade of CBS Sports says they put out a
microphone near a dish of birdseed and blend it into the production audio but they
sometimes need to resort to taped bird calls.
Dean Brinker of Evansville has been forgiven by the USGA for appearing on a billboard
and having "Brinker's Jewelers" on his golf bag. Both are technical violations
of USGA's rules of amateur status.
Following that Titanic kid, GolfDigest.com interviewed with Bill Clinton (who estimates
himself at a 12 handicap). "I think I'm the only president whose handicap has gone
down while he's been in office."
To help golfers avoid burns and skin cancer, APA Optics has developed a UV-watcher
wristwatch. Using a built-in UV meter, it warns you when you've had too much sun and can
be set to personal tolerances and is adjustable for various SPF levels of sunscreens. Also
functions as a digital watch. $90.
Now there's the Pure Bull putter with a shaft "made from the reproductive organ of
American bulls. Seriously. $99.95.
Golf Course News reports that lawyers are suggesting NO MULLIGANS signs citing an
increase in personal injury lawsuits when players are caught unaware of a partner's second
tee shot. They say an increase in the number of golfers is the cause. Or it might be an
increase in the number of - - nah, that's too easy.
Neither Johnny Bench nor Mike Schmidt advanced out of the first round of Q-School - but
they did try.
Two golfers were standing over looking a river. One golfer looked to the other and
said, "Look at those idiots fishin' in the rain."
Gary Player not only dresses in black, but he also uses black tees.
John Daly's license plate: PGA 91
A record at the British Open is 400,000 pints of beer sold at Royal Lytham in 1996.
Some climbers are taking balls and a driver up Russia's 18,480ft Mt. Alburus in July as
a promotional stunt for Taylor Made. They will attempt a long-drive record in the thin air
and hope to get 600yds.
What's the oldest course in the Americas? Some claim it's Oakhurst Links in southern
West Virginia. Laid out on Russell Montague's farm as entertainment for a Scottish
nephew's visit to the States in 1884, it reverted back to farmland in the 1920s but was
restored by Lew Keller and Bob Cupp in 1994. You can now play the par 37, 2,235yd layout
for $50. This includes loan of the mandatory old-style replica clubs (4 - including a
long-nose driver, driving iron, lofted iron, and putter) and even a gutta-percha ball. You
also get a short course on making tees are from the sand and water buckets at each tee
site. Mowing is by sheep power and you can drop from "castings". The only change
from the 19th century is bentgrass greens.
The most remote golf course in the world may be in Cook, South Australia. It's at a
railroad fueling stop in the middle of 303 miles of perfectly straight track on the
Trans-Australia route. Cook has a population of 3 but has train crews as overnight guests
and a 6-hole course with sand tees, sand fairways, and sand greens. The rough is rock and
scrub. But there's no charge to play.
Jack Nicklaus' first pro paycheck was for 50th at the 1962 L.A. Open. He got $33.33.
The first British Open was in 1860 at Prestwick with 8 entrants and had a £10 prize.
The first US Open was in 1895 with 11 entrants.
Weather does affect the response of golf balls. Heat alone will add considerable
yardage. The following table is of dubious origin but probably accurate enough.
| (Fahrenheit) |
35° |
45° |
55° |
65° |
75° |
85° |
95° |
105° |
| Carry |
196 |
205 |
212 |
216 |
220 |
222 |
224 |
226 |
Joseph Boydstone of Bakersfield, CA hit aces on the 3rd, 4th, and 9th holes during one
round of golf at the Bakersfield CC on Oct 10, 1962. This is thought to be unique.
Floyd Rood played across the US in 1963/64 in 114,737 including 3,511 penalty strokes -
he lost 3,511 balls.
The mulligan was named for David B. Mulligan by his regular playing partners at Winged
Foot in 1937.
