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More On The $200 Green Fee At Erin Hills

Friday, January 28, 2011 Comments
After a recent blog about a $200 green fee at Erin Hills in Wisc., I spoke to Russ Evans of Golf Exchange Radio (ESPN in Florida) about the price to play the site of the 2017 U.S. Open.

Here's the clip:
 


The tour is at Torrey Pines this week. Click here to read a recent Away Game, a story about my trip to play golf (and drink beer) in San Diego. 

Coronado for $35--if there's a better deal in golf, tell me about it by tweeting me (@Matt_Ginella) or in the comments box below.

--Matty G.

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Blogging From The Bob Hope, Day 6

Tuesday, January 25, 2011 Comments
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In the end, we can say we broke 100. 

Team No. 33 finished T98 out of 128 at the 2011 Bob Hope Classic Pro-Am in La Quinta, Calif.

On the fourth and final day of team competition, we scored our third-straight 11 under; I had two birdies and a few pars where I got a stroke, so thanks again to Dave Alvarez of the Jim McLean School of Golf for a spontaneous lesson on Thursday afternoon. 

On Saturday there was a lot less gallery than we had the day before. We were no longer with a pro in contention and we were over on the Nickluas Private course (the masses were watching the celebrities play the Palmer Private).

The pro for our last competitive round was Zack Miller (pictured above, second from left). A Stanford grad, Miller has spent three years in the minors before making his official PGA Tour debut two weeks ago at the Sony in Hawaii.

Before we go any further with Saturday at the Hope, let’s go back to the last few holes of the Sony, where Miller birdied the 35th hole to get within one shot of the cut line. 

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Blogging From The Bob Hope, Day 5

Saturday, January 22, 2011 Comments
So I’m on the practice putting green a few minutes before the start of round three and I see our pro for the day, Jerry Kelly. I had reintroduced myself the day before and he knew we were going to be playing together so I say, “We’re going to get ‘em today.”

No response. He keeps putting. So do I.

I say, “You’re in a good spot, Bud.” (He was in the top 10.)

He keeps putting. So do I. And I say, “Don’t you think you got the tough scoring courses behind you?” And I was going to continue with, “Don’t you think the Palmer and Nicklaus are playing easier than SilverRock and La Quinta?” But he cuts me off, looks up and says, “I don’t really give a sh*t. I’m going out to play golf, you understand?”

“I do,” I said. “I get the message. Loud and clear.”

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Blogging From The Bob Hope, Day 4

Friday, January 21, 2011 Comments
“Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress.”~Mahatma Gandhi

It was for Team 33. After the struggles of Wednesday, we had another slow start to our round at SilverRock, an Arnold Palmer design. 

D.J. Trahan, a Clemson grad and a seven-year veteran on tour, was our pro for the day. There was at least a two-club wind when we teed off  (we started on the 10th hole) and we go par-bogey to fall back to a total of six under. When you’re 121st out of 127 teams, you don’t think about going backward, or that you can go backward, but we were. And we weren’t happy about it.

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Blogging From The Bob Hope, Day 3

Thursday, January 20, 2011 Comments
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(There was no sign of Team Ginella on the Bob Hope leaderboard.)

It could’ve gone better.
 
On my way to La Quinta Country Club I realized that I forgot my player’s badge. Then I forgot my parking pass. Then I was wearing shorts, and they’re not allowed. Then I found out one of my playing partners is a Giants fan. (He wore a solid-orange Giants shirt and black hat that said so.) Then the announcer on the first tee said, “Next up, from Oakmont Golf Club in Glendale, Calif., Matt Ginella.” He mispronounced Ginella, and the Oakmont Golf Club I’m from is in Santa Rosa, Calif., not Glendale. 

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Blogging From The Bob Hope, Day 2

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 Comments
The winner of the 2011 Bob Hope Classic? 

It’s Me. (And we haven’t even started yet.)

Here’s the five-day forecast for La Quinta, Calif.:

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And here’s the five-day forecast for Wilton, Conn./Golf Digest headquarters:

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Blogging From The Bob Hope, Day I

Tuesday, January 18, 2011 Comments
Not every call I make as a reporter ends with an invite to play in a tour event. But the one I made last Tuesday did.

“We have a spot for you in the Hope,” said Davis Sezna, a main vein of the festivities in and around La Quinta, Calif.

And so I’m playing in the second pro-am of my ridiculously charmed career.

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Q&A: Trent Dilfer On Golf, Travel And Ravens LB Ray Lewis

Friday, January 14, 2011 Comments
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(Dilfer says putting is the strength of his game.)

Trent Dilfer might be having a better career off the football field than he ever had on it. He’s established himself as a perceptive analyst for ESPN and he’s a plus-something golfer who boasts a career-low round of 62.
 
When I spoke to Dilfer at length for a Golf Digest Q-and-A, he was refreshingly honest about his shortcomings as an NFL quarterback. “I have no problem saying this: I feel like I never reached my potential as a player,” he said.

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Erin Hills: Worth The New $200 Green Fee?

Monday, January 10, 2011 Comments
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I couldn’t help but consider it absurd. Then I made a call to Erin Hills (above), and by the time I hung up, I was convinced that an increase in the green fee, even in this economy and fickle golf industry, might make sense. You, the consumer, will be the ultimate judge.
 
Erin Hills is just off Dairyville Drive in Off The Grid, Wisc., and in this offseason, in the wake of significant course and turf changes, the addition of three cottages (16 beds), another clubhouse and a maintenance shed, management decided to raise the green fee from $160 to $200. That’s a 25 percent increase, and if you consider there are no carts and that caddies are encouraged, you’re in for another $50 plus gratuity. So the host of the U.S. Amateur in August and the U.S. Open in 2017 will cost you a trip to the outskirts of Milwaukee, plus $300 for a round of golf.
 
Rich Tock, VP and Director of Operations at Erin Hills, assured me the total golf experience will be worth your money.

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The Maturation Of Chambers Bay

Thursday, January 6, 2011 Comments
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(The 396-yard 16th at Chambers Bay runs along train tracks and Puget Sound.) 

I read recently that Chambers Bay in University Place Wash., continues to struggle financially. 
 
 
The gist of the article: “Meanwhile, the Pierce County enterprise that was built around a celebrated golf course in 2007 continues to lose money and needs loans to survive.”
 
So, a mega-muny--where it’s hard to walk, harder to score and not exactly easy to afford--tucked into a former gravel pit on the outskirts of Tacoma Wash., is struggling?
 
I wonder if Chambers Bay, still just a Big Baby, will ever live up to the expectations of hosting a major.
 
The course opened in June 2007; seven months later it had been awarded the 2010 U.S. Amateur and the 2015 U.S. Open. It has been three and a half years and if you strictly look at the Chambers Bay books, you might say success seems unlikely.
 
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