The good, the bad, and the ugly of the PGA Tour

Part 3 - The Ugly

Here are some of the ugly things that have been happening this year.

Tiger Wood’s rules run-in

I changed my writing of these blogs after the incident between Tiger Woods and Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee’s surfaced last week.  This may become the ugliest thing to hit golf in a long time.  You can check it out here.  If you click the link on Geoff’s site you can see all the run-ins Tiger had this year.  Saying Tiger was “Cavalier with the rules” sparked an ugly response from Tiger’s agent.  I’m not going to delve into this any more than this as I don’t want to be dragged into the lawsuit, although that may be great exposure.

Note:  Since the original writing of this story, Brandel has apologized over his twitter account.  However, Tiger says that wasn't the case.  You can read more on this exchange at www.geoffshackelford.com.

Phil Mickelson’s tax problem

Do you remember this comment? 

“If you add up all the federal and you look at the disability and the unemployment and the Social Security and the state, my tax rate is 62, 63 percent,” Mickelson said. “I’ve got to make some decisions on what I am going to do.”

Paying away 62 percent of your income would be tough to swallow. But many people don’t feel bad for someone when the left over amount is over $16 million. But it still means he lost over $26 million. I know that would upset anyone.

Still, those comments just put more fuel to fire that golf is a spoiled, rich man’s game. Heck, just the other week a question was asked on Family Feud to name a sport played by rich people and the person answered golf. That just about explains it.

These are just two things, but they happened to the biggest names in the sport.  It’s these types of incidents that gives the game a bad rap.  Golf still has a lot to overcome.  We have made strides in the environmental department, but there is still more to do.  We will get there and golf will remain a sport that people will play for a lifetime, and that’s about as good as a sport can get.

The good, the bad, and the ugly of the PGA Tour

Part 2 - The Bad

As I said in the good segment, you don’t hear people write about all the good the PGA Tour does.  That’s because writing about these things doesn’t sell.  They like to dwell on the problems.  It’s like an accident, when it’s bad you don’t want to look, but find that you do so anyways.  In that vein, here are some of the bad points the Tour brings out and how it impacts the game.

Making course conditions perfect

For 1 week a year a tournament visits a course.  For the golf course superintendent, it is 51 weeks of preparation for the event.  One bad comment during that week can mean a person’s job.  Course conditions have to be perfect, or as close as possible given Mother Nature.  So what we see at these courses is state of the art technologies.  You have Sub-Air systems that keep the greens, and in some cases fairway, at the proper moisture and firmness.  Bunker sand that has been trucked in for miles so they players get a perfect lie.  (Did we forget that these are hazards?)  And greens that are mowed to lowest heights possible to provide the best surfaces.

So a golfer or club member sees this on TV and thinks his course should always be like that.  They complain to their superintendent and put stress on them to keep the course in tip-top shape.  Courses spend more money than they need to on bunker sand hoping it will do the same for their game as for the pros.  We just keep pushing everything to the limit before something breaks and the person is booted out the door.

All this does is increase the cost of playing the game.  These added expenses to make the course perfect get added to the cost of a round of golf.  And when the course can’t cover the expenses, they either cut the budget and the condition suffers, a management company comes in, or it gets sold. 

Slow Play

Slow play is always a topic on the Tour.  But nobody will ever do anything about it.  Brandt Snedeker had a great idea that other day.  He basically said, “Start enforcing a penalty”.  Golfers, and especially kids, see guys checking the wind several times, getting yardages down to the fractions, and reading putts from six angles and they start to do the same thing.  Tell me how a twosome or threesome of Tour players, who take 70 or less strokes a round, don’t have to look for their golf ball or rake a bunker, take over 4 hours to play a round of golf.  I know they are playing for a lot of money, but many of these guys make more money off the course then on the course.  Brandt’s right, give a penalty and it will get cleaned up.

There may be more, but I'm going to dwell on that.  In the next blog we'll talk about the ugly.

The good, the bad, and the ugly of the PGA Tour

With the 2014 PGA Tour season just beginning I thought I would touch base on how the Tour affects the game of golf.  Over the next couple blogs, I’ll look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of the tour.

The Good

Economic Impact

There are about 46 PGA Tour events in the year.  These events go all around the country and the world bringing golfers and fans with them.  This provides a huge economic boost to a community.  For instance, the Tour announced that it is moving the Fry.com event to the Silverado Resort in Napa, CA for 2014.  It is already estimated that this will bring in between $20 million and $40 million for the 7-days.  That is a huge boost to the local businesses.  Just think what the Tour does in small markets like the Quad Cities and the boost it gives.

Charitable Contributions

What about the aforementioned charities the Tour supports.  We haven’t seen the numbers from 2013, but back in 2012 the Tour surpassed $130 million in donations.  You can see that they have donated over $1.86 billion to charities and have probably already surpassed $2 billion in total donations.  They do great things in the communities they visit.

Golf on TV

TV exposure is also great for the game.  There are 37 weekends a year where golf is on either CBS, NBC, or ESPN.  Include the events on the Golf Channel and you can find a golf event on TV for just about every Thursday-Sunday.  Compare this to pro and college football, which runs 24 weekends a year, golf gets about twice as much TV coverage.  You would think that would help to lure golfers, but it just doesn't work out that way.

Unfortunately, all of this good the Tour provides is behind the scenes and you don’t hear much about it.  You’ll get the blurb during the telecast, but that’s about it.  I’m not sure what more can be done to expose the game and show the qualities it holds.  Maybe someday someone will figure it out.

In the next blog I’ll talk about the bad the Tour provides for golf.

Why don't we play more fall golf?

Fall is usually a busy time of year for golf course architects.  Construction projects kick in as every year play slows down after Labor Day.  I was out visiting three courses last week and it always strikes me why the courses get such little play in the fall.

I’d like to see the golf course owners make a stronger case for golf in the fall.  The weather in the Midwest was great last week.  Temps in the mid 70’s and clear, blue skies.  We have received little rain this fall so the courses were firm and fast, just how you’d like them.  Why not promote that and get more people out.  Here’s a comparison to golf conditions over the course of a year.

March and April – Usually the beginning of the golf season here and golfers are eager to get out after a long winter.  But course conditions are usually not the best.  The grass is just starting to grow and the ground is still soft from the frozen turf.  This gives us many mud balls and the courses don’t play like they should.  You also have barren trees so the courses are not very attractive.  Yet it still remains the one of the busiest times of the year and a good spring can mean a great year for revenue.

May and June – These are probably the best months to golf.  The days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, trees are leafing out and flowers are blooming.  What more can you ask for!

Pinecrest Golf and Country Club on a perfect fall day.

July and August – Nice warm weather but sometimes it gets too hot and humid.  Courses begin to battle diseases and dry areas.  Still a great time to get out, but not that comfortable when its 95 and 100% humidity.

September and October – To me, these months are just as good as May and June for golf.  Great weather and firm conditions.  If you can get around the aerification days, and they do this in the spring as well, you can get courses in their best condition of the year.  The leaves are turning giving great fall color.  After a summer of playing your game is in the best shape giving you the chance to post low numbers.

Courses need to take advantage of the fact that our fall weather is perfect.  Here’s a few things you can do.

Promote your course to the stay at home parent.  The kids are off to school so they can get out and get in a round.  Get a stay at home league going for the month.  If the parent is a first time golfer, offer them a lesson and golf day.  Since it’s not as crowded you won’t be disturbing as many golfers.

A lot of people are going to say that courses are always aerifying in the fall.  This is true and much needed.  But if your community has a couple courses they could complete this in different weeks.  Tell your golfers to try out the other course on the week you’re completing the work and vice versa.  You’ll get less play one week, but that will allow your staff to increase their productivity.  This means completing the work faster and giving you more time to heal.  

I’m sure there are a few others, but you get the idea.  Take advantage of these last days of good weather.  You got all winter to recharge the batteries for next year.