Clubs and Courses

I finally read the local sports page analysis of the BMW Tournament – the 3rd of four Fed Ex Cup events held at Dubs Dread, and my first thought was, “Is this what the PGA wanted?”

Only five players going into the fourth event in Atlanta (where Tiger Woods shot a 28 on the front nine today) have any chance of winning the cup, and only a few more can win any portion of the annuity being awarded. If Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods played all three of the events and did as well as they did in two of them that handful would be reduced to three players.

How can the PGA sustain player interest in the Fed Ex cup with such poor odds? The top three players in the U.S. have to skip most or all of this event for the rest of the field to have any chance. If this happens no one will bother watching it.

And that can't be what the PGA wants.

Two weeks ago Charlie's golf buddy predicted a big turnout at the BMW Championship (formerly the Western Open) at Cog Hill this week. He knew ticket sales were up from last year and tickets have to be directly bought through internet ticket sites or the PGA.

Unlike years past, Klees Golf Shop did not get tickets for this event to sell to our customers. It doesn't even look like the Western Open Association is even involved with ticket sales this year.

The Pro-Am event took place yesterday and one of our customers played in it. It cost him $5000 for that privilege. The money raised went to the Chick Evans Scholarship fund, which was the raison d'etre for the Western Open.

Duffy and his golf buddy went to first day of the tournament today. They came by late in the afternoon and told us that hardly anyone was there. It sounded like this round had a shotgun start so that the players would be done by 3:00pm to avoid forecasted rain.

Whether it was the warm, humid weather, the unorthodox start and end times, or something else, if fewer than 100 people showed up to watch this round it doesn't bode well for the rest of the event. Fortunately, it's supposed to cool off this weekend.

One of the sales reps is getting me a ticket (I hope). If that works out I'll be there on Sunday. I had a good time last year and I now know how to see the players.

I received notice that we are getting the new Scotty Cameron Limited Edition Newport 2 Teryllium Ten, Newport 2.5 Teryllium Ten and Red X/3 1st of 500 putters. The Newport and Red X have been shipped and the Newport 2.5 will probably ship next week.

I've seen pictures of the teryllium putters on Scotty's website, but they don't look like the original teryllium putters I remember from 10 years ago. These new “Ten” versions are much jazzier—graphics on the sole, black pearl finish (big improvement given how easily the original gun metal finish rusted) and fancy headcover.

The Red X/3 has a new black mist finish, bolder graphics and different shaft bend from the original Red X introduced three years ago. I've putted with the old Red X putters and they are as good a mallet putter as anything out there. I know at least two customers who swear by the Red X. These golfers play on municipal courses where the greens get a beating and mallet putters are perfect for those conditions.

The shopping cart I keep talking about is supposed to be ready this week. I intend to feature these new Scotty Cameron putters and a new Ping bag that I'll write about tomorrow. I'd like to announce the shopping cart feature with a big splash and this fits the bill.