August 2012: #Reaction: Golf Digest

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Our readers react to Augusta National News....Predictably

Monday, August 27, 2012

Reaction to Augusta National's decision to admit female members has generated mail, but not tons of it. James Owens of Marion, OH, was disappointed for Sergio Garcia that missed out on his chance for a Golf World cover. Harry Frank of Ann Arbor rued our failure to mention Marion Hollins' role in the creation of Augusta. (She created Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz, CA, that served as a model for Augusta National). None of the letters, interestingly, was celebratory. There was, I think, a feeling of inevitability, a sense of the time's come, as Marcia Chambers makes clear in her interview on Golfdigest.com.

But there were also readers who felt that the time should never have come, for example, this one from Notre Dame:

Now that constitutional freedom of association has been eroded by the campaign to stampede Augusta National into sex integration—abetted by Golf World—will your magazine now advocate for women’s clubs to be required to admit men? Or will Golf World continue to be a bit hypocritical and incoherent? If women’s clubs are unobjectionable, why not men’s clubs? Not to allow the latter is indeed sex discrimination. (And what about all-female basketball and softball teams—and golf teams?) Your “public role” argument with respect to AGNC as a special case is easily rebutted, as well. Have you heard of the League of Women Voters?

Otherwise, keep up the good work.

John F. Gaski, Ph.D.
Notre Dame IN

Should Women Be Celebrating? I find it funny when any group or organizations spend so much time and energy to break down barriers when the energy can be spent elsewhere. The recent case of Augusta National allowing two women to join is fine by me, I don't care. The decision was Augusta National's. Women's groups are celebrating because two women were able to join the club.

Martha Burk was chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations and boasted the membership was 30 million women. Here's my thinking: If Martha were to ask every member for a $10 contribution, she would raise $300 million dollars. That money could be used to build a golf course, clubhouse and still have money to keep it running for years. This would be a private club for women only and more women would enjoy it rather than just two. Augusta National, a non-profit agency, chose to open its doors to women and was not forced by the courts system. I'm sure there are male institutions that have opened its door to women either because of possible lawsuits and/or chose to for added income.

Now will the LPGA, Bryn Mawr College, Atlanta Women's Club or women-only fitness centers open its door for a male? I think not and many men really don't care if there are women private clubs/colleges. We let it slide off our backs. Some men just don't care.
Dan Lancaster
Toledo OH

By the way, Marion Hollins founded the female-only Women's National Golf and Tennis Club at Glen Head, on Long Island, in 1923. For years it fared better financially than did Augusta National. David Owen wrote about Hollins and the club earlier this year.

Posted by Bob Carney

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Reaction to Augusta's big news

Monday, August 20, 2012

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Reader: Another ridiculous penalty! C'mon USGA!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

By Bob Carney

Golf World Reader Ron Lowry of Marietta, GA, who wrote to us after the Webb Simpson penalty at the Zurich Classic in May, is once again irate, this time over the penalty to Carl Pettersson at the PGA. Pettersson was penalized two strokes for moving a leaf on his backswing during a shot from a hazard on the first hole of the final round. Are you kidding, asks Lowry:

This follows a previous email I sent last year. This time, the victim of the overly-officious USGA was Carl Pettersson. Already there has been tremendous public outcry about the patently ridiculous penalty in question.

The USGA has demonstrated time and again that is not a good steward of golf and needs to be replaced. The USGA dropped the ball on equipment years ago, letting hot, low-spinning balls, oversize titanium drivers and cavity-back irons destroy the necessity for shotmaking. I have played this great game for over 50 years. When I started the Rules of Golf were in a pamphlet about 15 pages in length. Now the Rules are in a book 201 pages in length--and even that's not enough. Now there is also a 2-volume bound treatise called "Rules Decisions."

The effect is that nobody plays by the USGA Rules, not even the PGA professionals because nobody understands them. The Rules are too complicated and there are too many of them. Also, the Rules are subject to multiple interpretations and the decision often comes down to who is doing the deciding. Remind me, why exactly did Dustin Johnson get penalized 2 strokes and miss out on the playoff at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits? Grounding his club in a bunker (that was really a waste area) you say? Well, every "bunker" at the Ocean Course was declared a waste area and even those that were obviously really "bunkers" were treated as such allowing players to take sand with practice swings and ground their clubs. So much for the Rules.

How much longer will the public stand for this? The game of golf is becoming a joke because of the USGA. Simplify the Rules USGA or get out of the way and let some other organization take over regulating golf!!!

There's steam coming off those keys, Mr. Lowry. And we know you are not alone in feeling that way. However, it's worth considering the USGA's point of view on this--or the PGA Tour's in this case, given that the Tour and the PGA of America accept those rules. Frank Hannigan, former USGA Executive Director, made a pretty strong case for the seeming unreasonableness of some rules a while back in Golf Digest.

It also strikes me that golf is not alone in this. A rarely-called ruling helped the U.S. women's soccer team defeat Canada at the Olympics, and that ruling brought the same reaction from Canadian fans as yours to the Pettersson ruling. That said, I think your sentiment on simplifying the rules is shared by enough golfers and heard often enough by the powers that be, that change will come. Stay tuned.

Bob Carney

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Reader punchlines to Michael Phelps joining Hank Haney on his Golf Channel show

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

At Golf World, we give our readers the chance to write for our magazine on a week-to-week basis. Our Front 9 Punchline Contest gives fans the opportunity to see their name right next to the biggest stars in the game!

Every Sunday, we invite readers to contribute a snappy comment for one item in the Front 9 feature each week. GW feeds the straight line on our Golf World Facebook page; readers contribute the punchline, which we publish.

But we've narrowed our list of finalists down to the five most witty entries.

This was the set-up line we supplied this week:

"Fresh off his history-making Olympics, Michael Phelps to be Hank Haney's next subject on 'The Haney Project'"

The winning punchline, supplied by Scott Goto of Mililani, Hawaii, appears in this week's PGA Championship coverage issue (August 20th magazine):

"We wonder if Haney is trading golf lessons for swimming lessons."

Other punchline finalists:

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A Modest Proposal for the PGA Championship

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Golf Digest's August issue has landed, and one story really got your attention: the oral history of the raucous1991 Ryder Cup at Kiawah, site of this year's PGA Championship. It all brought back memories of Kiawah, and provoked an idea for a dramatic change in the PGA Championship... but first that Ryder Cup story.

What a great article by Guy Yocom and John Huggan on the 1991 Ryder Cup. That was my first and only trip to a Ryder Cup. Will get back to one eventually. Going up and done those dunes was brutal. My wife (6 months pregnant) and I were standing behind 18 green on Sunday in prime position for the finish. As the matches progressed it looked as though the Cup would be decided early so I took off for 15 and 16. Never did get back to my wife until after it was all over. Did see Calc and Montgomery at 17 though. Ugly. Still miss Payne. Thanks.

Terry Schwab, Fort Scott, KS

The nine pages of reporting by Yocom and Huggan are riveting. Two decades after the "War by the Shore," participants in perhaps the most combative Matches in the Cup's history are willing to tell all--some still ready for combat. Here's Hale Irwin, whose match with Bernhard Langer decided the Cup, on the level of tension he felt at No. 17 on the final day.

My golf swing was sort of a mess that week, and for the first time my senses became overloaded. I couldn't process everything. I felt so much anxiety I was just playing by instinct. I was 1 up but missed the green with my tee shot. As I'm walking to the green I see Seve talking to a teammate in Spanish. Trying to keep things light, I say, "Hey, Seve, what did you say?" He looked at me and says, "I said, 'Too bad he didn't knock in in the water.'" That didn't bother me at all. He's competitive. That's fine."

Much more like that in the August issue. But now on to our idea.

Kiawah's No. 17 (above, during last year's recent Senior PGA) was a huge hole that week--and not only for Irwin. Remember Mark Calcavecchia's disaster there against Colin Montgomerie? Indeed, much of the drama of that Ryder Cup was due to that penultimate hole and Pete Dye's (then very new) design. No one does drama--or finishing holes--like Dye. He may be the best creator of 17th holes anywhere.

So here's the proposal. The PGA stages its Championship at the Ocean Course every two years. In between, it goes to Whistling Straits, another Dye course with another strong finishing stretch. Move the Ryder Cup around all you want, but stage the PGA only on those two courses.

Why? First, because viewers would love it. They'd learn the holes and especially the finishing stretches, of two very telegenic courses (just as they have with the Masters and the Players), knowing Dye's designs would deliver late-inning drama. Second, because doing so would set the PGA Championship apart. No more, "Hey, in '97 was that an Open or a PGA at Winged Foot?" No more "sharing" with the USGA. The PGA Championship would carry its own distinctive and identity on two modern and major courses, one north, one south, both with the feel of links. Third, because it would be a fitting tribute to the most influential golf architect of the modern era.

There are lots of reasons why this will never happen. But it would be pretty cool if it did. Think about it as you watch next week.

--Bob Carney

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