Loose Impediments

Golf in Rio?

What does today's announcement of the 2016 Summer Olympics being awarded to Rio de Janeiro mean for golf's chances of inclusion in those Games? Perhaps nothing, but I have a feeling it certainly can't help.

The other three finalists, Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo, all have numerous golf courses, not to mention a long golf history and an understanding of the game among its citizens. Any sort of golf tournament in those cities was bound to produce a well-attended (by both players and fans) event at a worthy course. 

There are no such assurances in Rio. In our 20-year history, we have written about golf in Brazil exactly once, which I suspect is more than any other U.S. golf publication. I know nothing about golf in Brazil, but a little search has turned up two decent sites in Rio: Gavea Golf and Country Club and Itanhanga Golf Club. The photos seem OK, but the layouts don't compare courses like Cog Hill or Kawana, which would have been great Olympic courses. 

I'm not sure how it works, but Brazil's lack of a golf culture certainly has to play a part in the decision of whether golf will be included in 2016. We'll know in a week, when the IOC announces which two sports will be included from among seven candidates: golf, baseball, karate, roller sports, rugby, softball and squash.

Of course, golf is just a tiny reason for choosing an Olympics host, but you have to believe that for those with a stake in golf's inclusion in the games, Rio was last on their ballots. 

Hefty Green Fees

While NBC was all but declaring Cowboys Stadium (left) the eighth wonder of the world last night during the Cowboys-Giants game, I couldn't help but thinking that at $1.15 billion, it's not even the most expensive stadium to open—this year!

Of course, that honor goes to the new Yankee Stadium, which cost $1.5 billion. And that amount was second to the new Wembley Stadium in London, which cost nearly $1.6 billion when it opened two years ago. (That figure should have an asterisk, since the weak dollar had a lot do with the inflation of that amount.)

Since we've crossed the 10-figure threshold for building arenas of play, it seems to me that some of golf's priciest courses seem like bargains in comparison. After the jump, a list of some of the most expensive courses ever built.

Bally of Sin

LINKS Magazine doesn't do golf course rankings. They're hard to get just right, and you invariably wind up having the owners, members, pros, architects, greenskeepers, waiters, etc., of every course except one (No. 1) mad at you. 

But like anyone else, I enjoy looking at the various lists to see how my personal evaluations of these courses compared to these rankings, which a great man once referred to as "a collective guess, an objective average of subject opinions."

That said, I fully expect the 7,294-yard Ballyhack Golf Club outside Roanoke, Virginia, to be on the short list of the best courses of the year. Architect Lester George built some dramatic holes on former farmland. After the jump, some more pics to get the award season started. (Click on the images for full-size versions.) 

Bethpage: Beyond the Black

There is little doubt that the Black course is the big star at Bethpage State Park, especially this week for the U.S. Open. But Bethpage is hardly a one-course show. While plenty of golfers come from far and wide and go to great lengths like queuing overnight in the parking lot to play a U.S. Open course, many regulars opt to play one of the park's four other courses.

That's because in addition to the Black's difficulty, the course is tough to navigate. It is walking only, and the pace of play is predictably glacial. Before the USGA came calling, it wasn't all that hard to get on the Black because of these factors.

I grew up on Long Island, and have played all of Bethpage's courses—Black, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow—scores of time. I have played them in all seasons, in all weather conditions, during all times of day. There is little doubt that a round on the Black should be on the to-do list of every golfer. But while you're here, it would be a shame to not take the time to play one or more of the other courses here. 

If you're interested in camping out at the park—or at least in the parking lot for tee times—for a few days, here is a guide to the other Bethpage courses.

Second Shot

In an odd but most welcome scheduling hiccup, I was able to play two of the best courses in Northern Ireland twice last week. I played Portstewart and Royal Portrush (fairway bunker on the 17th hole, pictured) before my conference then got to play both in a single day the day after.

What struck me was how much my opinion of the Strand course at Portstewart changed during my second visit. After my first round, I thought that the course too extreme. The front nine is routed over and between some of the biggest dunes I have ever seen on a golf course—some were 200 feet high. 

The experience wasn't so much links golf as it was mountain golf. The back side was much flatter, and the holes were so different from what had preceded them. After putting out on the 18th hole, I felt disoriented, as if I had just finished riding a roller coaster. Hours later at dinner, even after gathering our wits, my playing partners and I couldn't figure out the layout.

Somewhere over the Rainbow

I have a conference for travel writers in Belfast. So naturally, I took the opportunity to arrive a couple of days early and get in some golf. Today's round was at Rosapenna. On the 17th hole, I saw the biggest, most vivid rainbow I have ever seen. Alas, there was no pot of gold at the end of it, but the pint of Guinness after the round was treasure enough.

Ranking Augusta's Holes

It's always to fun to stand by the 1st fairway, near where many spectators enter the grounds of Augusta National, and see the awe on their faces as they see the course for the first time. These first-timers are happy just to be among the sea of perfectly manicured turf, tall pines and hills that match the course's epic scale.

As they learn more about the course, they will soon learn that not every verdant fairway is created equal. Here is how the 18 holes rank in one observer's view:

1. Azalea, No. 13
Par 5, 510 yards
The ultimate risk/reward hole. A perfectly sculpted tee shot can leave a mid-iron into the green, protected by a tributary of Rae's Creek. But the hole's excitement comes after an average drive, which leaves the player with a tantalizing second shot that is short enough to be reachable but long enough to put serious doubts in the player's mind.

The King and His Court

OK, now we know that Pat Perez can get just as hot with his golf clubs as with his temper. At the 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer*, his rounds of 61 and 63, which set a new PGA Tour record for the first 36 holes, were downright rude to the tournament host, especially considering the 61 came at the PGA West Palmer course.

At any other event, shooting 124 in the first two rounds would give a player a huge lead. But at the Hope, Perez was just two shots ahead and there were NINE players within five shots. Low scoring has always been a tradition at the Hope, where the courses are relatively easy (the Palmer course measures just 6,950 yards), greens are soft and the weather is as perfect as inside a dome.

Waialae Country Club

I was introduced to Seth Raynor in high school, although I had no idea who he was at the time. The occasion was a match at the Creek Club on Long Island. It was a great course, and I enjoyed playing it, but I didn't really appreciate the experience.

Now that I've learned a bit about Raynor and his work, I wish I had paid more attention to the course instead of trying to win my match. (I didn't, but here's my excuse: My opponent, Louis Body, against whom I wound up playing in college as well, was a Creek member so he had a significant advantage.)

Similarly, I imagine players in contention on Sunday will give little thought to the architect as they play Waialae, the only course on tour designed by Raynor, one of the leading lights of the Golden Age. Raynor was an engineer hired by C.B. Macdonald to help build the National Golf Links of America, the country's first great course. They worked together so well that they collaborated on other great courses like Mid Ocean in Bermuda and Long Island's Lido, widely considered to be the best course that no longer exists.

Overlooked Genius

I have found that there is a pretty significant range of knowledge among golfers when it comes to golf courses and architects. While Bill Coore is highly regarded by aficionados, the name usually draws a blank stare from the average golf fan, who may offer a glint of recognition only after the mention of Coore's famous design partner, Ben Crenshaw. (And chances are, they know Crenshaw the player, not as an architect.)

For these casual observers, much of their knowledge of golf course architecture is determined by what they see on TV. American golfers expect to see wall-to-wall green at their courses largely because of the standard set by Augusta National during the Masters, the most widely viewed tournament of the year. There are other examples:

• Pete Dye had built some pretty good courses, but he didn't become famous until Jerry Pate threw him into the lake beside TPC Sawgrass' 18th green after winning the 1982 Players Championship.
• Very few people can name an original course built by Rees Jones, but everybody knows that he is the "Open Doctor" who has renovated numerous U.S. Open (and PGA Championship) courses.
• Gil Hanse is poised to be an A-Lister, but his star didn't begin to rise until he received praise for his renovation of TPC Boston during the telecast of the 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship.
• Even with the 0.7 rating of the made-for-TV Kiwi Challenge, far more people were exposed to Tom Doak being interviewed about his New Zealand course Cape Kidnappers than have played his masterpiece, Oregon's Pacific Dunes.