Joey's Golf Bag

From the very nice GolfClubAtlas website, Daniel Wexler discusses the changes to Augusta National over the more than 70 years since its creation.

In My Opinion.

It is a true paradox in the world of golf course design.

Consider the game’s two most famous layouts, the Old Course at St. Andrews and the Augusta National Golf Club. The former is a product primarily of nature and a timeless, almost mystical evolution – as though whatever cosmic forces govern such things have gently massaged the landscape (with a little help from Alan Robertson) over the course of several centuries. The latter, conversely, ranks among the most carefully planned layouts of all time, its creators – the legendary Bobby Jones and Dr. Alister MacKenzie – building it as the embodiment of a clearly articulated set of cutting-edge design principles. Yet as the game has changed immeasurably over the last 110 years, St. Andrews, a golf course “built” with virtually no plan whatsoever, has remained largely constant. Augusta, on the other hand, a layout based on the strictest of concepts, has been altered nearly beyond description.

Go figure.

But Augusta, after all, is not your local neighborhood golf course; indeed, it is not even your standard, run-of-the-mill, Major championship venue. By hosting The Masters every peacetime April since 1934, it has inevitably been subject to the sort of nipping and tucking that generally takes place perhaps once a decade (when a U.S. Open or PGA Championship visits) at places like Winged Foot, Oakmont or Pebble Beach. But at Augusta, well-intended ideas to improve the golf course seldom are tempered by several years’ worth of study and debate; with the next Major never more than 12 months away, they happen quickly – and, in the contemporary era, with almost numbing regularity.

Golf Magazine has an article on the renovation of the course in Organizers hope a redesign will save struggling Byron Nelson Classic. I will attend the tournament on Sunday to see the winner come in and to check out the new course design.

After holing out for a 67 and the first-round lead at the 1983 Byron Nelson Classic — the first Nelson played at the just-opened TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas — the dependably impolitic Lanny Wadkins addressed the media by the 18th green. The moment begged for a kind comment about the eager-to-please new venue, but Lanny couldn’t help himself. “This is not my favorite golf course,” he said.

Wadkins was only saying aloud what others were whispering and what they would continue to mutter under their breath through the years. Although the superbly maintained course had good bloodlines — Jay Morrish designed with Ben Crenshaw and Nelson consulting, and it was a hit with members and resort guests — these are Tour players we’re talking about. They had played gems like Augusta National and Harbour Town before the Nelson, and would play Muirfield, Colonial and the U.S. Open after. By comparison, the TPC Four Seasons Resort was as clunky as its name, a themeless journey between its namesake office park and tile-roofed homes built in the Texas-giant architectural style. So when Byron died in 2006, and the tournament got an unattractive date two weeks after the Masters, a lot of the best players, by which we mean Tiger and Phil, found something else to do.

Another article from the Dallas Morning News, Golfers give TPC a round of applause.

At the TPC Four Seasons at Las Colinas on Monday, it seemed that the drugs had taken effect.

“These are some of the best greens I’ve seen,” Tour player Troy Matteson said after walking off 18.

Veteran Paul Goydos also appeared to be hallucinating as he practiced for the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, which begins Thursday.

“The conditions are mind-boggling,” he said.

Wasn’t this the course that was awash in criticism last year? The one where players cursed the brown, bumpy greens? That same course was swimming in superlatives Monday.

Players hailed the remodeling job of D.A. Weibring’s Golf Resources Group. They praised the smooth greens, lush fairways and uniform rough.

I won’t be able to take photos unfortunately, as cameras aren’t allowed during the tournament and I’m not going to be able to sneak out of work and take in a practice round.

Here in Big D, we’ve had a pretty mild winter until today. Around noon, rain started and has since turned into snow. Out the back door, a flock of seagulls has landed on the sixth fairway of Coyote Ridge!

Texas, not just a state, but a state of mind!

Golf to return to Cuba.

Now that Fidel Castro has retired, perhaps he can find the time to work on his golf game.

In 1962, Mr. Castro lost a round of golf to Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who had been a caddy in his Argentine hometown before he became a guerrilla icon. Mr. Castro’s defeat may have had disastrous consequences for the sport. He had one Havana golf course turned into a military school, another into an art school. A journalist who wrote about the defeat of Cuba’s Maximum Leader, who was a notoriously bad loser, was fired the next day.

The golf course will be a fine place to celebrate Castro’s passing, don’t you think?

Today, while we were playing the Creeks course at Indian Creek Golf Club, Chinh gave us a little comic relief. We were playing off the blue tees, and the hole was playing very short, about 105 yds into the wind. There’s a tributary of the Trinity River flowing at nearly flood stage to the right of the hole (see diagram). I’d just hit a pitching wedge fat just short of the green, so Chinh steps up to the tee, sand wedge in hand, and says, “Watch this shot I’ve been practicing on the range.”

Chinh proceeds to hit a hosel rocket right into the creek, where the ball skips beautifully with the curve of the creek. I’m guessing the ball skipped 10 or more times before finding its watery grave.

I guessing he wasn’t practicing that shot on the range… 😉

We all broke up laughing!

CNN reports on golf in my city in Dallas: 72 holes in 72 hours. The courses (none of which I have played — yet) are:

• The Tribute Golf Club
• The TPC at the Four Seasons
• Texas Star
• Cowboys Golf Club