Comments on Golf Happenings

In case you missed this on the home page, there is a real battle going on to save Normandie Golf Course in St. Louis. Click on the logo to read the story and see some interesting photos of this historic golf course, the oldest 18 hole public course west of the Mississippe River.

Looked to me like Sergio got a lot of bad breaks in theFedEx Cup playoffs?

I read an interview with Nick Faldo a while back, and here is part of it:

"Q.: Has the game changed too much? "

Nick Faldo: "Well, yeah, it really has from my era, which was only -- wow, it's 15 years ago, that's all, and it's a totally different style of golf. We all drove the ball with Persimmon drivers, the big hitters were 260. You know, maybe that was probably -- a good carry in those days was 245, 250. The big guys hit it 260. Now Tiger is hitting a little fade out there in cold weather at 310. (Laughter.) Yeah, comes up on ShotLink, 310, we're going, "What?" When he launches one, it's 320 and there's plenty of guys who hit it 280 through the air, 300 through the air. That's the difference."

So I did a little research on www.pgatour.com and came up with historical data on driving distance on the big tour and developed the following:

Before John Daly came on the scene in 1991, the distance in 1981 of 280.1 yards actually decreased in the next 9 years to 279.6 yards in 1990!

In fact, the top driving distance leader on the 2007 LPGA Tour is hitting the ball further than anyone on the PGA Tour in the years 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1984! And no doubt further than anyone in the preceding years, before records were kept. This would include Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and a host of other greats. Just imagine what they might have done with today's equipment!

Any more questions about how the length of top players has changed the game?

Caught this some time ago on the 'net - Rural Missouri "Editor’s Choice" awards for Best Golf Course were as follows:

First: Bent Creek, Jackson
Second: Eagle Knoll, Jefferson City
Third: (tie) Highland Springs, Springfield and Tan-Tar-A, Lake of the Ozarks
Golf Digest agrees, Bent Creek Golf Course in Jackson is for real.

Not bad, huh???

This was on the Wire some time ago - Geoff Shackelford has some poignant thoughts on "the good of the game". Click here to check it out. Also check out Geoff's web site. there's a link to it at the end of the article.

Aberdeen had another successful season last year.  If you haven't yet had the opportunity to try out this track, try to get your licks in soon as it’s really becoming busy.  If you haven't heard, it's patterned after the links courses of Scotland; quite different from the normal American midwest golf course. The Zoysia fairways are now great. Be sure to visit the clubhouse after golf and have a cold beer and hot dog to cap off the round (and maybe even a wee dram, laddie).

Still busy at Meramec Lakes. The 10th green was opened for play - pretty dramatic if I may say so myself. The improvements made over the past several years go a long way to make this a presentable track; things are looking up at "The Lakes".

The back nine at The Bridges in Columbia, Illinois opened this spring. Worth the wait, this track has some of the most unique and memorable holes in the St. Louis area.

Lake Forest is in absolutely outstanding condition; Matt Siefert, the Superintendent, is always babysitting the course, even on Saturdays and Sundays. I don't remember ever playing the course without seeing Matt busy at work.

The Players Club at St. Louis is now Crescent Farms Golf Club. Under new ownership and managed by Walters Golf, the future looks bright for this facility. It is still the best bargain for a private golf club in St. Louis. Check out their web site at www.crescentfarms.com for more information.

That's about all that's going on around St. Louis, so I have a lot of time on my hands. Started designing web sites - if you're interested or just curious, visit my site at www.stlwebs.com and take a look at some of the others I have done, they are shown on the portfolio page.