Imagine building 26 golf courses at the height of the golf development bubble, with nine figures in public pension money — in an effort that now loses money year after year. Welcome to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
In theory, 12-hole designs should be cheaper to play, build, and maintain. But in the staid industry of golf course development, there’s been no rush to test the theory. The minds behind Sweetens Cove are ready to change that.
Twenty years ago, the Supreme Court affirmed Casey Martin’s right to use a golf cart in PGA Tour events. Two decades later, it’s not clear that the story has a happy ending.
Episode 1 of the Lying Four podcast explores the landscape of golf media, from the entanglement of traditional media with the subjects they cover to independent media testing new revenue sources.
“I think it was Bill Coore that put the philosophy best: ‘You want to maintain this golf course so that it browns in, rather than greens out.’ You’re constantly working that edge where golf ends and where the site begins”
“There are a lot more drawbacks to this than there are positives. For my players, I’m just trying to find a way to challenge them to get better, which I think is an important job for a coach.”
“I’m really thankful that we were playing the way we were, and that we were as hot as we were. Imagine having to go into this break playing poorly and not feeling good. This is the best that it’s felt in our program for two years.”
Like countless other Americans, mini-tour golfers at the mercy of their next paycheck have little choice but to keep working as long as mini-tour organizers keep flaunting the coronavirus pandemic.
“Throwing a bunch of money at it doesn’t equal great golf. Just because it’s done for a reasonable price and with thought for where the money’s going doesn’t mean it’s cheap.”
Climate change isn’t merely coming for southern golf courses, it’s already here. But as with the rest of America, preparation lags far behind the problem.
Pine Oaks Golf Course in Ocala, Fla., is a literal relic of segregation. How should we feel about the death of a course whose original purpose was to strong-arm the victims of white supremacy into buoying it?