by Gary Williams | Mar 30, 2023 | Blog
My first journey to the Sand Hills of Nebraska was twenty years in the making and I was only going to embark on the trek with my best friend in life. On the Sunday afternoon of our first day at the mecca built and designed by the team of Coore & Crenshaw we found ourselves sitting on Ben’s porch, affectionately named after one of the co-designers. The founder and visionary of the club, Dick Youngscap, had come out to the club that Sunday afternoon and he asked us to join him and his wife for lunch. Dick’s story and the construction of Sand Hills is a screenplay, and the 18-hole course signified a real change in the future of design and golf clubs. On 8,000 acres in what is truly the most fertile and holistic terrain I’d ever seen in the United States was 18 pristine holes. Among the many questions I asked Mr. Youngscap in that hour lunch was simply why not more holes. His answer, which I assume was not orchestrated or premeditated, was the most eloquent, colloquial and succinct response I had ever received from someone in my career. He started by asking me a question. “Gary, do you know what we do out here?” To which I responded, “no sir, I do not.”. He followed with, “Well, we are simple people, and we build fences. This is my land; this is your land and when I think about Yankee Stadium I think of four bases and when I think about the Boston Garden I think of two rims. Golf is 18 holes. Sand Hills is 18 holes.”
As we prepare for golf’s global renewal at Augusta National, I am reminded of the uncomplicated things, the proper things and the little things. Sand Hills was open almost 60 years after Augusta National, but it leans on the experience it provides and trusts that the things that were then, can still be valued now. Sand Hills could have 150 holes and a short course and posh cottages, but it doesn’t need it. Augusta National and the Masters could have television partners who would gladly show every shot struck from the ceremonial first tee shot to the last putt holed each day. The market for hospitality experiences for a small percentage of Masters partners led to the creation of Berckmans Place which is the most refined onsite, yet completely secluded, hospitality venue in golf history. Beyond that, everyone on the grounds essentially has the same experience down to the continued placement of lawn chairs around greens early in the morning. Lawn chairs? In 2023 the dignified placement of a 15-dollar lawn chair will ensure hundreds of people a seat to watch the most famous golf tournament in the world. It’s possible that concessions this year may challenge the long-standing theory that two beverages, two sandwiches and two bags of chips still produces change from a twenty-dollar bill. Even if it doesn’t, the simplicity of the transaction and the modesty of the tariff required for purchase makes it a relic in today’s high-end sports experiences. The U.S. Open tennis tournament is everything the Masters is not. Concessions that border on extortion and a viewing experience which feels disorienting from the noise to the behavior.
Stubbornness is a challenging quality to navigate be it with an individual or an organization and plenty of people may call Augusta National stubborn as it relates to the no cell phone policy on the property to the broadcast windows to the green jacket ceremony in Butler cabin. I heard for years that the broadcast times were to ensure that those on the grounds were getting something that the viewing audience could not get. If you put every shot on television what’s the motivation for those with badges to be on the property all day? Fair point, but the Masters created the finest digital experience well before their fellow major championships and it hasn’t deterred anyone from getting there early and staying late. The no cell phone policy is something that would truly keep many people from going to any sporting event, let alone a golf tournament, but Augusta National won’t cave to modern convenience. Can you imagine fans being told they could not bring their phones into the Super Bowl, The World Cup final or the Kentucky Derby? I know, golf is quiet, and silence is inherent to the execution of golf shots. Yet phones can be silenced, and all other golf tournaments permit them, but not Augusta National. Because the experience is supposed to be special, and it’s intended to be singular and different. We g
o through life telling others how great every moment is through text or Instagram while we are taking time away from that experience to talk about that experience. At the Masters, you walk with your head up, you watch golf shots not record them and then you talk about the shots you just witnessed with the people you are with. Yes, talk, and when you get home you don’t show people your pictures or videos you took while not watching golf, you talk to them about the shots you saw. Not to mention the people you ran into while you were there because your head was up, and you made eye contact. Yes, eye contact with an old friend as opposed to running into the sign indicating where Amen Corner is while trying to send a photo. It’s amazing how busy we all are that we must be on our phones every waking moment until the invite to the Masters comes and suddenly our pseudo oxygen supply can be cut off for eight hours. Not eight minutes, but an entire day.
In the fall of 1990, I was newly graduated from college and was going on a trip with my parents and we were sitting in the Newark airport when my Dad told me that he was taking me to the Masters the next spring. I cried. I wasn’t necessarily a grown man, but I was old enough that the news of attending a sporting event seven months in the future shouldn’t have reduced me to tears. I was emotionally and intellectually invested in golf in ways others weren’t but Augusta National and the Masters Tournament were mythical to me. I expected to be somewhat deflated because of the buildup, but I wasn’t. Hand-operated scoreboards, simple and economical concessions, grounds where the “Get in the Hole Guy” is an extinct species, and the view of Amen Corner from the top of the hill on 11 for the first time or the thirtieth is majestic. Way too much today is oversold and habitually under-delivers but the Masters still provides an experience that is not only redeemable but memorable. It holds tight to tradition while evolving in logistical and technological ways that are industry-defining, but they adhere to the little things that will always separate it from too many sporting events that have made staying home a bonafide option.
by Gary Williams | Mar 15, 2023 | Blog
Have you ever had a conversation with someone, and it was very clear that your opinions were divergent and reaching a common place was unlikely? It is usually during those moments that one or both of the impassioned voices will utter the most reliable and disingenuous disclaimer ever voiced, “With all due respect”. It’s these moments where civility and a modicum of respect for the other point of view are on life support. It is likely to be that time now in the industry of golf as the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient have laid down their collective marker regarding their proposed answer to the ever-increasing distance in the game of golf at its highest levels. Where do we all go from here?
I’m not going to share the finite and technical details of the proposed modified local rule proposal right here because you can simply find those details anywhere and this is more about what now than what is it? The time it has taken to get to this place has been excruciating and for the governing bodies it’s been the white whale for decades. Governance is a thankless business and now more than ever, with blue check marks for sale, the opinions of the masses are weightier or at least louder. Change is discomforting and governing a game where scratch players think they can Monday qualify for tour events and grillroom legends think they have a vision for golf course design which would entice Dr. Mackenzie to want to pull up a chair to learn a thing or two about the craft, are plentiful. The game of golf is enjoying high times right now and naturally there were immediate outcries that now was not the time to make significant changes to the game, primarily at the elite level. That is one of too many lazy and half-cocked responses to the local rule proposal. Actually, there is no better time than right now to forge ahead with the changes because of what the future holds, and moreover, making any real change when times are bad generally reeks of desperation. This change for all the outcry is not about tomorrow. First off, it would not come into effect until January of 2026, but this change is as much about 2076 as it is about a couple years from now. The reactions from some would suggest the governing bodies are coming after their wallets and the truth is MANY who are invested in the game in different ways only see it that way. So, for any righteous indignation emoting from companies and individuals about the distance reduction ask yourself what is it that they have to lose? Maybe nothing, but to them they may have a very good thing going and they don’t want it to change. That’s not an unreasonable or unnatural reaction to have but it certainly doesn’t guarantee that they are actually thinking about the welfare of the game. Many simply are not. They are thinking about potential lost market share and for some of the elite players the potential loss of some competitive advantage. The game is inherently selfish, and I promise you many of the outcries I heard upon the release of this proposal are just that, selfish.
Bifurcation is an amazing word. No other 11 letter word sounds like a four-letter word to so many. It is now being weaponized by companies making equipment for all to use as the only thing that separates golf from dizzy bat. I’m sensitive to the cost associated with the research and development of an elite ball that would be required by all the manufacturers. I also recognize the economies of scale that are associated with mass production of balls used by all. However, there are several ball makers who already manufacture balls for a finite subset of the professional game. I also think there is merit to the ongoing premise that golf as a participatory sport makes the argument that we all play the same thing an argument with some merit. However, the rules that elite players abide by and the equipment that is built for them by the same manufacturing companies that consumers purchase from are barely recognizable to each other. Bifurcation has existed in golf for decades and decades and creating a local rule for the long-term betterment of the game for our grandchildren will not tear the game apart.
The challenge right now is to cut through the propaganda on both sides and get to the real issues and real concerns that are and will continue to be masked by players and equipment companies who will profess a commitment to and for the well-being of the game when in reality they care about their stock price and their bonus pools. Neither of which has to be affected at all starting in 2026.
Where do you think the cost of trying to keep up with the changes required in the game have been felt for the past 20 years? Not by the elite players who are making obscene amounts of money, not by the manufacturing companies who have been enjoying record profits but by the consumer who pays dues, initiation fees and green fees at every entry point of the game. Plus, the planned obsolescence when each club company rolls out a new driver that is longer every single year that you can’t live without. The thirst for more yardage, new tees, faster greens, which comes at an extraordinary price tag gets peddled onto the recreational golfer. Restoration and renovations are far outpacing new construction and these projects cost millions and millions per facility. So, this plea to not put the cost exclusively on the ball companies rings hollow. Assessments, initiation fees, monthly dues have all been exponentially increased as distance has continued to go up. Augusta National has deep pockets but they paid in the tens of millions for a strip of land owned by their next-door neighbor just to try to insure the viability of their most famous, amongst all of the famous holes, on their golf course.
As for the leading players in the game acting as if this is blasphemous, their words and their statements have little to no weight. Justin Thomas called the USGA selfish. This on the heels of the PGA Tour’s best players closing off most entry points to their biggest tournaments to ensure the continued gravy train of new cash in the system, produced in large measure from the existence and presence of LIV golf, going to a small pool of players. Any player who advanced the idea last summer in Delaware of turning the designated event series into a grab ass of 40 to 60 players needs to sit this conversation out. They were thinking only about themselves and their newfound leverage as a way to make more at the expense of the overwhelming majority of the tour’s membership and its future members. It’s hard to see beyond what something might mean other than what it means to you right now but that is exactly what this proposal is intended to do. This is not easy, and it will require a fair amount of forward and unselfish thinking. Many of the voices who can and are heard every day are paid messengers. For all the concern about not being able to play what the players play because they have so much influence over the recreational golfer, why have the equipment companies turned away from paying top players as much or as many to paying “influencers”… many of whom couldn’t break wind in a baked bean eating contest yet they have value now because their audiences are dedicated and have exhibited brand loyalty. I’m not sure of their feelings about a distance reduction but when and if I hear similar talking points that equipment manufacturers released after the announcement being regurgitated by paid messengers then those words are weaker than water.
Finally, this initiative was going to have to be taken on by some front person and in the case of the USGA its Mike Whan. Mike has a varied background which included a chapter in a marketing capacity. He will have to sell this to not only the invested golf companies and organizations who run elite golf events, but he will have to be accessible to the people who talk the game, many of whom will want a pound of flesh. Some people were cut out for certain jobs and Mike Whan is the right person to advance this because he’s pragmatic and a good communicator. The best communicators are great listeners and Whan is that, plus he is wired for performance without it feeling like it’s just for show. He will be equipped with all the data points, but his greatest strength is his willingness to not only see the other side but recognize the merits of the opposition to the proposal. I worry about the sustainability of not only the most cherished courses in the world but also the never-ending necessity to keep up. I want to see the examination of the best players be more thorough and that is also being compromised. Speed is a skill, and its refinement is jaw dropping and I do not want to see that severely diminished, and I do not think that will be the case as all early evidence is that the longest may experience an even greater reward than before. Those things are to be determined. Let’s all try to see beyond who gets affected most right now and I understand that is not normal in the human condition. Let’s also acknowledge the real concerns and challenges both sides of this argument have and listen to them without resorting to name calling. And if you are one to scream that amateurs with 15 handicaps shouldn’t be governing the game, please lose the lazy line or just sit this discussion out because these “amateurs” are devoting their lives to the game and study it every waking moment, from rules, to equipment testing standards to course and agronomic conditions. These are serious people making serious decisions. I support the distance reduction, but I want this conversation to be constructive and I will remember, like I hope you can, that reasonable minds can differ.
