Tag: usga

Episode 67: George Waters

Episode 67: George Waters

George Waters began his design career after spending a summer living and doing course maintenance in Dornoch, then getting an internship with Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design. He worked construction projects for a variety of designers, including Doak, then wrote the seminal book on sand based courses, Sand and Golf: How Terrain Shapes the Game.…

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The Game is Alright

The Game is Alright

Let’s get one thing straight: the numbers are never going to work. They’re not coming back. At least not anytime soon. I’m talking about the swirling brew of statistics that portray golf as an imperiled game, including diminished annual rounds played, the plummeting number of committed players, golf course closings, shrinking memberships, a paucity of…

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Fast Play Manifesto

Fast Play Manifesto

First off, this is not about J.B. Holmes, that poor, maligned social media avatar for tortuously slow play. This is about you, your friends and foes, your family and your foursome. It’s about pace of play. A pox of slow play consumes the game of golf — relentlessly and severely — and we’re no longer…

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Episode 51: Bruce Charlton

Episode 51: Bruce Charlton

Bruce Charlton joined Robert Trent Jones II in 1981 and the two have been building courses across the globe for nearly 40 years. The firm has earned considerable acclaim for their entire body of work, but their undisputed masterpiece is Chambers Bay near Seattle, site of the 2015 U.S. Open (won by Jordan Speith). Built…

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Episode 49: Rees Jones

Episode 49: Rees Jones

Rees Jones has spent nearly 35 years preparing, modifying and remodeling golf courses for major championship events. In addition to the 100 original courses and dozens of renovations he’s orchestrated, he’s infused his vision into such venerable American tournament courses as Pinehurst No. 2, Oakland Hills, Medinah No. 3 and The Country Club for the…

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Do Not Grow the Game, Preserve the Game

Do Not Grow the Game, Preserve the Game

We’re in trouble. That’s the theme the U.S. golf industry has been gaslighting since 2004 when it became evident participation rates and the number of annual rounds played were in free fall. In the time that’s passed, golf’s powers-that-be have responded to the game’s waning popularity and subsequent economic bottom-out with a unified call to…

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