Summertime Golf Excursions

Spanning the globe to find great golf is a never ending pursuit. In the next couple of months I’m traveling to a diverse group of destinations to play some great courses and write about them.

First up is Venice, Italy. Yes, you read that correctly. Not Venice, Florida.  A group named Amazing Venice Golf, a marketing coop, says there are about a dozen courses in close proximity to the canal-only city.  I’ll play and tour courses like the Golf Club of Venezia and Golf Club Montecchia in nearby Padova. I’ve been to many unique golf destinations in my career—Kenya, The Canary Islands, Morocco and China to name a few—but this one should be very special.

Later this month I’ll go to Panama City, Florida, which has exceptional courses like the Greg Norman designed Shark’s Tooth and Tom Fazio designed Camp Creek Golf Club. What saddens me is the anxiety the NW Florida Gulf Coast tourist area is undergoing about the massive oil spill and what the eventual effect it will have on the beaches. Right now, they’ve discovered a few isolated oil balls, but who knows what the future holds especially in the next few months, which is also hurricane season.

In early August, I’ll venture to Sun Valley Resort in Idaho. Everybody knows the area as a great snow skiing destination, but I’ve been told there’s some pretty good golf up there as well. I’m anxious to play the Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed Trail Creek Course, which is a Golf Digest “Top 75 Resort Course in North America” and the 18-hole Sawtooth Putting Course, a 52,000 square-foot nirvana for the flat stick. There’s also a new 9-hole layout called White Clouds, which I’m told, has stunning views of surrounding mountains. I can’t wait. It’ll be a nice reprieve from the sweltering Florida heat.

Tiger Woods 2.0 a Big Dud

So far, Tiger Woods’ return to tournament golf has been about as exciting as the movie Caddyshack II and Michael Vick 2.0.

Instead of the swashbuckling Woods that stalked the fairways before his “Cocktail Waitresses Across America Tour”, we’re getting the somber, somewhat bewildered Woods who misses cuts and bails out because of a sore neck.

It seems so long ago that CBS's Jim Nance would wax poetically about “Tiger being on the prowl”. Nance always seemed to notice “the look in Tiger’s eyes”.  Now, the only thing Nance can drone on about is whether Tiger will make the cut. Hey, that super slow mo of Tiger's errant swings off the tee is interesting, too.

On the course, instead of magical shots to win tournaments, Tiger gives a weekly lesson in military golf-left, right, left, right… That seems to be where most of his drives end up.  If I want to see crappy driving like that I can go to my local muni and camp out at the first tee.

Why does Tiger continue to wear his red shirts on Sunday? The intimidation he once exuded is long gone. Heck, it seems like every twentysomething on the PGA Tour, from Rory Mcllroy and Jason Day to Rickie Fowler and Ricky Barnes has shown Woods up lately. Even 16-year old amateur phenom Jordan Speith has grabbed the spotlight from Woods. Tiger might want to switch Sunday colors, perhaps a lavender or chartreuse?

Off-the-course, Woods actually seems to be grateful and accommodating to interviewers like CBS’s Peter Kostis. The grumpy, suspicious Woods after a round is a distant memory.

You gotta wonder, too. What happens if Woods gets his act together and actually wins a tournament?  Most likely his estranged wife and kids won’t rush out to greet him. Sadly, he might be surrounded by his agent Steinie (Mark Steinberg) and perhaps a Las Vegas showgirl.

It’s so sad. Truth is, I’d rather watch Caddyshack II than watch Tiger Woods play golf these days. No, it's not that bad, but I certainly don’t enjoy watching Tiger Woods 2.0.

Top 10 Oceanside Caribbean Golf Courses

A decade or so ago, let’s face it, golf in the Caribbean was a distinct afterthought. With only a few true championship courses, most visitors were more interested in snorkeling the gin clear waters, searching for the best Mojito and maybe parasailing on a whim.

Oh, how things have changed.

New, phenomenal golf courses have been springing up regularly in the Caribbean and many of them capitalize on stunning ocean settings. I’ve traveled to the region several times in the last couple of years and here’s my list of top oceanside courses to play:

Bahia Beach Golf Club (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico)—Designated a Certified Golf Audubon International Signature Sanctuary Course, this Robert Trent Jones, Jr. designed course weaves along two miles of scenic coastal beach surrounded by patches of coastal forests, within view of El Yunque National Rainforest.

Corales (Punta Cana, Dominican Republic)—Opened in April, the oceanside beauty will undoubtedly take its place as one of Caribbean’s best. Dramatic panoramas, ocean cliff-side holes, a rock quarry and lake-front green sites are just a few of the elements that make this Tom Fazio designed gem a memorable, challenging and fun golf experience.

Emerald Reef Golf Course at Sandals Emerald Bay (Great Exuma, Bahamas)—A Greg Norman design that features six signature holes framing the perimeter of Emerald Bay’s peninsula overlooking the Caribbean Sea. An added bonus: the course uses an environmentally friendly seashore paspalum grass, which creates a lush, verdant turf to play on.

Faldo Legacy Course at the Westin Roco Ki Beach & Golf Resort (Punta Cana, Dominican Republic)—Nick Faldo is a very underrated golf course designer. He’s got several courses around the world, but this one has to be at the top of his resume. The Legacy winds through a lush mangrove forest and into highlands flanked by rocky cliffs and breathtaking azure Caribbean Sea.

Ocean Club at Paradise Island (Bahamas)—Designed by Tom Weiskopf, the Ocean Club has spectacular oceans views and several seaside greens and tee settings. If you want to know where your “wind game” stands, play this breezy beauty.

Ocean Course at Rio Mar Beach Resort (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico)—Designed by Tom and George Fazio, this venerable layout gets overshadowed somewhat by the resorts’ other course, the River Course, designed by Greg Norman. The Ocean Course with its ocean views, elevated greens and iguanas sunning themselves on several fairways is a Puerto Rican golf experience not to be missed.

Playa Grande (Dominican Republic)—Set high above the ocean it plays along 100-foot bluffs. It has 10 holes that play alongside the ocean. Hilly in spots, the course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and opened in 1997.

Punta Espada Golf Club (Cap Cana, Dominican Republic)—Some golf publications are intimating that this Jack Nicklaus signature design is the best course in the Caribbean and Mexico. No doubt, it’s a stunner with 8 holes that play along the sea and fantastic views from just about everywhere on the course.

Teeth of the Dog at Casa de Campo (La Romana, Dominican Republic)—Perenially ranked as the number one course in the Caribbean by golf publications, this classic Pete Dye designed oceanside gem, with its holes lined by jagged and rugged coral rock, never gets old. It definitely has to be on every golfer’s “Bucket List”.

Tryall Course at the Tryall Club (Montego Bay, Jamaica)-Stretching from the oceanside up into wooded areas and past coconut groves, this classic course has some stunning Caribbean Sea panoramas. They’ve got some great caddies at Tryall as well.

New Corales Course a Must Play

I just returned from a four-day jaunt to the Dominican Republic. It was my second visit to the “D.R.” and I came away more impressed than ever. My primary reason for the visit was to see and play the new Corales Golf Club Course at the PUNTACANA Resort & Club.

The course has been getting a lot of pre-opening buzz and I went down to see what all the fuss is about. Believe me, this one deserves the buzz. Think Pebble Beach oceanside style holes with Caribbean colors. Set between rocky cliffs, coral reefs and the expansive Caribbean Sea on the eastern shoreline of the country, Corales promises to take its place as one of the world’s great, exciting seaside golf experiences.

Designer Tom Fazio was on hand for the ribbon cutting and he summed up his latest masterpiece this way: “Corales encompasses a dramatic blend of captivating vistas, ocean cliff-side holes, rolling inland terrain and salt-water lakefront green sites, as well as with a memorable mix of variety and strategy. With a variety of short and long holes, holes playing into the breeze as well as downwind and a tremendous mixture of visual elements, playing Corales will be an experience to remember, and is sure to set the new standard of quality golf in the Dominican Republic.”

Here are some brief observations from my round:

• Six of the 18 eighteen holes are oceanfront, including the final three, which have been dubbed “The Devil’s Elbow”
  
• The fairways are gargantuan wide. Because of the prevailing winds, Fazio gives even the most struggling mid-handicappers more than ample landing areas.
  
• The entire course (tees, greens and fairways) has the same grass—a plush carpet of Paspalum Supreme.
  
• Currently there are no homes on the course. Plans call for a low-density focus with only 124 home sites.
  
• The director of golf is highly-respected Jay Overton, who you may know from his many years at Innisbrook Resort near Tampa.
  
• Construction on the course started in 2006.
  
• My two favorite holes are 17 and 18. When you stand on the green of the par 3 17^th you’ll feel a refreshing spray of Caribbean ocean against your back as the waves crash a few feet away. On 18, you hit across turquoise/blue waters from one craggy cliff to another. You can play safe leaving yourself a long second shot or bite off a big chunk resulting in a short wedge to the green.
  
• The landscaping by world-renowned Spanish landscape designer Jesus Ibanez is phenomenal.
  

My advice: If you can play only one course in the Caribbean, make it the Corales.

Masters Musings

Where Will Tiger Play Next?

You won't see Tiger at Quail Hollow, The Players or any other upcoming tournament. Let’s face it, he played in a well protected environment at the Masters with overly polite fans afraid they would have their badges yanked if they got too rowdy. Once the beer guzzling, “You da Man” types, get a hold of Tiger at a regular event, watch out. Can you imagine Tiger at the island hole 17^th at TPC Sawgrass at the Players, which is framed by thousands of beer swilling fans (not patrons)? If you think the Florida v. Georgia game is “The World’s Largest Cocktail Party”, you haven’t been around the 16^th  and 17^th greens at the Players on a hot spring day.

Best Round at The Masters

Like much of the golf universe, I was glad to see Phil Mickelson slip on the Green Jacket at the Masters. Phil played great and that 207 yard, 7-iron, between the trees off pine straw on the 13^th hole is a shot for the ages. That said, Tiger’s final round was unbelievable. How can anyone, except Woods, jack one in the bunker, miss a one-footer, hit drives into other fairways all day and still shoot a 69. Almost every other pro would have shot 78.  Regardless of what you think of Tiger and his “Cocktail Waitresses Tour Across America”, the guy is still the greatest golfer on the planet.

Tiger No Longer Untouchable

First, Masters Chairman Billy Payne ties into Tiger and admonishes him about his off-the-course behavior and diminishing role model status, then announcer Jim Nance takes Tiger to task in a post Masters radio interview about Woods’ on-course cussing and general rogue behavior after a bad shot. There used to be a day when nobody, and I mean nobody, ever criticized Tiger. Those days are long gone.

Anthony Kim Will Win the Masters

One player overrun by the Tiger v. Phil morality play and golf tournament was Anthony Kim, who had a stellar Sunday. Kim is a virtual birdie and eagle machine at Augusta National. If he can get his injured thumb back to normal, he’s my early favorite at next year’s Masters.

 

Tiger Won't Make Cut at 2010 Masters

If Tiger Woods makes the cut at the 2010 Masters, he’ll go down as the greatest sexual escapade comebacker since William Jefferson Clinton. The former president was somehow able to compartmentalize and still effectively govern the last few months of his term. Clinton has even evolved into a respected statesman on the world stage despite his, shall we say, checkered past.

I don’t think Woods can pull of a Clintonian-style miracle. With his image shattered--and who knows about his psyche-- from months of non-stop mistress accusations, sensational tabloid and celebrity web-site headlines and intensive rehab, I believe Woods will need to be superhuman to make the cut, much less contend or even win the Masters this year.

While golf media types everywhere drivel on endlessly about how “the Masters is the most controlled environment in sport and is seemingly impenetrable” to drunken unruly fans and sleazy media types, they might be right about the rowdy beer guzzlers, but the tabloids and celebrity websites will, no doubt, go into commando mode to ruffle the feathers of the Green Jacket crowd and Tiger fans everywhere.

First, they’ll find out where Tiger is staying for the week. Then they’ll pay outrageous prices to scalpers to get inside the Augusta National gates, and they’ll slip a few greenbacks to every landscaper, bartender and garbage collector who can feed information on Tiger, his family, entourage, agents and corporate hanger on types.  Moreover, look for all the mistresses to resurface during Masters week to add on a few minutes to their “fifteen minutes of fame”

The 2010 Masters is shaping up to be an epic battle for the ages: The Tabloids versus The Green Jackets. I’m going with the Augusta National types who could teach a couple of things to Homeland Security. However, I think the additional hassles Tiger will face and the fact he hasn’t played competitively since November will make it difficult for him to shoot consistent rounds for four days.

Tiger has often been a slow starter on Thursday and Friday and I don’t think he’ll make it to the weekend.

If Woods proves me wrong and blocks out the craziness TMZ.com, radaronline.com, the National Enquirer and other celebrity news outlets throw at him, then he truly is the greatest golfer who ever walked the planet.

Until then, Jack Nicklaus is the greatest.

 

Go Fish and Golf

I once saw a sign at a tackle shop in Key Largo, Florida that aptly summed up fishing’s universal appeal. The sign read: The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions of hope.

Hmm, sounds a lot like golf to me.

Both sports require mental flexibility—the ability to adapt to changing conditions and situations. Also, a great golf swing and a perfect cast both involve exceptional timing and coordination.

Many golfers tout fishing as the ultimate escape from the mental rigors of golf.  Golf icons Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus, PGA Tour stars like Davis Love III and David Duval and Champions Tour players Andy Bean and Joey Sindelar are professed anglers.

My favorite place to fish is around Panama City Beach in the Florida panhandle, where you can fish offshore in the gulf, surf fish, pier fish or drop a line in the bay or many of the lakes in the area. If you’re looking for a charter to fish the Gulf of Mexico and the Big Bend area, I recommend Captain Steve Sharp (850-984-5839) in Panacea, Florida, about 30 miles south of Tallahassee. Sharp holds a Coast Guard Master’s license and has been taking charters for 18 years aboard his 30 footer. Quite simply, he knows the water and he knows the weather.

I look at fishing and golf as a sort of “Fusion Getaway”. Mix a little of each in your recreation menu and it makes for a very relaxing way to spend a few days.

Whether you want to do a little angling on a course between rounds, fish lakes and rivers with the help of a guide or go after big game fish on the high seas, rest assured, there’s a golf resort or destination awaiting to accommodate your fishing desires once you stop chasing the white dimpled ball for the day.

Baypoint Marriott Golf Resort & Spa (Panama City, Florida)—It has two excellent championship courses—The Meadows and the Nicklaus Design Course. For anglers, fishing boat rentals are available as well as 23 stocked lakes and a 205-slip marina that accommodates yachts up to 120 feet long. The venerable Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament held each July offers the largest purse for billfish in the continental United States. Blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, tuna, wahoo, and dolphin rate as the big catches.

Kiawah Island Golf Resort (Kiawah Island, South Carolina)—What a great spot for outdoor enthusiasts! First, the golf. How about five golf courses with designer tags like Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player? Fishing wise, you’ve got everything from fishing creeks and marshes for redfish, spotted sea trout and flounder to near coastal fishing for tarpon and barracuda to surf fishing.

Melia Cabo Real Beach & Golf Resort (Los Cabos, Mexico)—The golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. meanders through rugged desert terrain and every hole has a spectacular ocean view. In Los Cabos, the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean meet, creating some of the best marlin fishing in the world. Enough said.

Sandestin Beach Resort (Destin, Florida)—When you get done playing the resort’s 4 championship golf courses (Baytowne, Burnt Pine, Raven and Links), the on-site, 98-slip Baytowne Marina offers opportunities for bay, beach and gulf fishing opportunities.

Sea Island The Cloister & Lodge (Seas Island, Georgia)—In shore you can cruise the marshes in search of trout, redfish, flounder and whiting. Offshore, there’s bottom fishing over an artificial reef for mackerel, cobia, barracuda and sailfish. The Sea Island Yacht Club has six custom boats designed for fishing and touring the Georgia coast.

Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort (Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pennsylvania)--It has 27 holes of golf including A.W. Tillinghast’s first ever design built in 1911. Fishing is on resort grounds in the Delaware River and encompasses the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The “Big D”, as locals call the river, has seasonal runs of shad and striped bass, along with resident populations of trophy trout, smallmouth bass, walleye and muskellunge.

Sunriver Resort (Bend Oregon) --For fly fishing enthusiasts, this resort is bounded on two sides by the Deschutes River, an outstanding river for brown, rainbow and steelhead trout. Also, there are over 100 lakes and 450 miles of rivers located within one hour of the resort. Golf offerings include three championship layouts and a nine-hole short course.

WaterColor Inn & Resort (Near Destin, Florida)—In addition to having access to great courses like the Tom Fazio designed Camp Creek, Greg Norman designed Shark’s Tooth and Davis Love III’ s innovative Origins 6-hole layout, guests can easily set up fishing expeditions through Old Florida Outfitters, a store adjacent to the hotel that specializes in fly-fishing and light tackle. They’ll set you up with an experienced guide or charter.

Must Play in Tallahassee, Florida

I make several treks to north Florida every year from my home in Orlando. Some of my favorite courses in the panhandle near the beaches include Camp Creek near WaterColor, The Hombre in Panama City Beach and Burnt Pine and Raven at Sandestin Resort in Destin.

Inland, I recommend the SouthWood Golf Club in Tallahassee, an upscale, public-access course designed by PGA Tour player Fred Couples and architect and design partner Gene Bates.

Set on rolling hills framed by large stands of moss-draped oaks, SouthWood has a decidedly Old South flavor. You’ll have to go further south if you want a palm-laden experience. At SouthWood the holes are routed around a wetland area, through thickets of pine and oak and stretches of open meadow.

The golf experience is a pleasurable four-hour walk in the park, so to speak. SouthWood is enrolled in Aubdubon International’s Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses to ensure that the course helps protect the local environment, conserve natural resources and provide wildlife habitat.

I’m not the only one that thinks SouthWood is a great place to play. A host of top-notch college programs are teeing off Friday through Sunday (March 12-14) for the 2010 Florida State University Seminole Intercollegiate tournament. The teams playing are Arkansas, Baylor, Cincinnati, George Mason, Georgia State, Mercer, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Texas, South Carolina, Troy, Western Carolina and Vanderbilt. Both Florida State and South Carolina are ranked in the top-10 in the nation by Golfweek/Sagarin.

If you get to Tallahassee either on business or pleasure, make sure you play SouthWood. You’ll love it.

Finally, Some Good Golf News

Are you sick and tired of nothing but bad news about our lousy economy, golf resorts going into Chapter 11 and everybody bemoaning Tiger Woods’ absence? Surprise. I’ve actually got some good news to report. How about these happenings:

Camilo Villegas

It’s about time a flashy star stepped forward in Tiger’s absence. Villegas’ impressive five-stroke victory at the Honda Classic at PGA National has put the young Colombian back in the spotlight. Known as “Spider-Man” for his contortionist, pretzel-like technique while lining up putts, Villegas has the kind of youthful energy and star power the PGA Tour desperately needs. Let’s face it, even when pre-mistresses Tiger was going strong, the PGA Tour had become somewhat stale because nobody really paid much attention during the many weeks Tiger did not play. Since Tiger typically teed it up less than 20 times a year on the Tour, there were lots of weeks fans just didn’t care. Granted, a non-Tiger Tour has lost a major amount of sizzle, but the PGA Tour will be better off if it develops a larger galaxy of stars like Villegas, Anthony Kim, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and others. I’d love to see Camilo go back-to-back and win this week’s WGC-CA Championship at Doral.

Great Golf Travel Deals

These sorry economic times have rewarded us with some great golf travel deals. For instance, Golfpac Travel is featuring the “Amelia Island Plantation Unlimited Golf Package”, which is good to December 31, 2010. The package costs $386 per golfer (based on 4 persons sharing a resort view three-bedroom villa). Amenities include two nights’ accommodations, unlimited green and cart fees on Ocean Links, Oak Marsh and Amelia River courses and resort service fee and taxes. Daily housekeeping is not included in villa units, but can be added for a fee. For those not familiar with Amelia Island Plantation resort, it’s located 29 miles northeast of the Jacksonville, Florida airport on 1,350 acres between the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway.

Terrific New Course

There’s a lot of gloom and doom with new golf course construction in the U.S., but there are some excellent new layouts debuting around the globe. One of my favorite new ones is The Black Pearl, a Pete and Perry Dye design on the tropical island of Roatan, 35 miles off the northern coast of Honduras. The centerpiece of the 400-acre Pristine Bay Resort, the course has ocean views on 14 holes and a signature island-green, par-3 11^th hole. Play starts oceanside, rises into the island’s rolling foothills and then takes golfers back to the seaside clubhouse. A five-star, 120-room resort hotel and spa is slated to open in February 2011.

Major Florida Golf Resort Files Chapter 11

More bad news on the golf travel front. On Monday, Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. If you somehow don’t know the property, the hotel is the site where the media congregated a mile or so away from where Tiger Woods made his public apology.

Apparently while Woods was singing the blues, the resort was putting the finishing touches on its bankruptcy plan. Court documents pretty much blame weak corporate and group bookings for the miserable financial shape the resort finds itself in.

Golfers visiting the property won’t notice much if any difference, however. “This action is in response to the current global economic environment and the fact that an agreement on a restructure with the lenders could not be reached,” said Jeff Mayers, general manager of the resort in an e-mailed statement to the media. “This process will protect the resort and allow us to continue to operate business as usual. We are firmly committed to maintaining our world-class operation and forsee no changes in the day-to-day operations at Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa.”

Situated adjacent to the PGA Tour headquarters, the 348-room resort with 83 golf villas has three restaurants, 56,000 square feet of meeting space, a 25,000 square foot spa and other amenities. For golfers, perhaps the resort’s biggest perk is that it has the exclusive right to 85 percent of all starting times each day at the TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course and Valley Course for resort guests for the next 78 years.

The wretched economy has been terrible for golf resorts.  Preceding Marriott Sawgrass to Chapter 11 are well-known resorts like St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in California, Amelia Island Resort in Florida, Daufuskie Island Resort in South Carolina and Four Seasons Resort & Club Dallas at Las Colinas in Texas.

ESPN Wide World of Sports, Annika, Disney Golf & Tiger Updates

I took a short break from following golf and on Thursday February 25^th and Friday February 26^th I stayed at the Disney’s Beach Club Resort while attending a host of activities associated the rebranding of the Wide World of Sports complex, which is now called ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

The complex holds a slew of youth sports and professional sports events annually (more than 300). Sprawling some 220 acres, the complex encompasses The Fieldhouse, a 165,000-square-foot facility with 5,500 seats for basketball; Champion Stadium ballpark with 11,500 seats where the Atlanta Braves hold spring training; Hess Sports Fields, which include multiple baseball, softball and soccer fields; Jostens Center, an 80,000 square-foot multi-sport fieldhouse; and Innovation Lab, a real-world testing ground for the ESPN Emerging Technology group to develop ground-breaking on-air products like Ball Track and ESPN Snap Zoom.

Among the sport celebrities in attendance where NFLer’s Chad Ochocinco (Cincinnati Bengals), Maurice Jones-Drew (Jacksonville Jaguars), Garrett Hartley (New Orleans Saints), Josh Freeman (Tampa Bay Bucs), Adam Vinatieri (Indianapolis Colts) Teddy Bruschi (formerly of the New England Patriots), soccer star Brandi Chastain, Olympic gold-medal gymnast Shawn Johnson, South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier, softball star Jennie Finch, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, Atlanta Braves pitcher Tim Hudson, golf icon Annika Sorenstam and ESPN personalities Skip Bayless and Ron Jaworski. The celebs all strolled down a green not red carpet, which was staged to look like a football field.

Annika Sorenstam Update

It was great to see Annika Sorenstam at the Disney Wide World of Sports activities. Sorenstam is transitioning to an entrepreneur. She’s combining her passions-golf, fitness, fashion, cooking and wine—into various businesses under the ANNIKA brand. Heading her blossoming portfolio of business interests are a golf course architecture company, a golf academy at Ginn Reunion Resort in Orlando, a clothing line with Cutter & Buck, a signature perfume called “ANNIKA” and wines in partnership with Wente Vineyards in Livermore, California.

Disney Golf Update

I’m not sure if many golfers realize it but Disney has downscaled somewhat from five championship golf courses to four. The Eagle Pines layout designed by Pete Dye does not it exist anymore. The land is being utilized for a Four Seasons resort set to come on line in the future. Disney golf offerings include the Magnolia and Palm courses near Disney’s Polynesian Resort; Osprey Ridge near Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground; Lake Buena Vista near Downtown Disney; and the Oak Trail, a 9-hole, par-36 layout near Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

Tiger Woods Endorsement Scoreboard Watch

Gatorade announced over the weekend that it’s dropping Woods as an endorser. If you’re keeping score at home, AT& T and Accenture has dumped Tiger and Gillette and Swiss watchmaker Tag Huer have de-emphasized him in their marketing programs. According to my records, still hanging in there with Woods are Nike, EA Sports, Golf Digest, NetJets, Tateer: The Tiger Woods Dubai, TLC Laser Eye Centers, Upper Deck and his wife Elin.

What Tiger Woods Should Do Next?

After watching Tiger Woods’ press, err, prepared statement conference, on Friday, there’s little doubt his head is probably spinning with all the advice he’s been receiving lately. After all, the audience in that weird room with the blue curtain and wood lectern appeared to be full of corporate and sports rep types who probably had a hand in orchestrating the entire performance.

Up to this point, I’m convinced Tiger and his advisors have made nothing but bad moves in dealing with the biggest crisis in his life.  I strongly disagree with the current structured approach by him and his handlers, which seems like a desperate attempt to hang on to his crumbling corporate image. Let’s face it, too many corporate entities have a vested interest in returning Woods to his lofty perch among America’s most trusted athlete endorsers.

Once Woods matriculates from rehab, I suggest he turn his back on all the corporate hangers on and everybody else making money off of him. If I were Woods, I’d build an entirely new life that would enhance the possibility of solidifying his family life and build on his already regal golf legacy. Here’s my multi-step process I suggest for Mr. Woods:

Move to Sweden—The only way to keep the celebrity websites, newspapers and television shows away from your family and your personal life is to leave the premises. These people know how to hide in bushes and pay off bartenders and cocktail waitresses so Tiger will never have any sense of freedom here in the U.S. His kids will grow up in relative anonymity in Sweden and his wife will be near her family, which should help his marriage and be a minor payback for the turmoil she’s had to endure. Swedes are essentially private people who won’t invade your space and Stockholm is a cosmopolitan city of 2 million residents so it should be a nice easy going lifestyle, though he will need a couple of parkas during the winter. During the summer, daylight lasts till 10 p.m. so there’s lots of extra time to play with the kids and practice nine iron approach shots.

Dump all Endorsements Tomorrow—Get rid of all your endorsements and corporate agreements and start all over. Tiger won’t be beholden to anybody and he’ll have a sense of freedom. The only person he’ll have to answer to everyday is the person in the mirror. Instead of having a bunch of yes men who’re dependent on him for their next paycheck, he’ll control his own destiny and image.  Tiger needs to become his own man, not one beholden to Corporate America. Woods is the best golfer on the planet. He can make more than enough prize money to have a good life. Instead of doing obligatory corporate meetings and promotions, he can spend more time with his family and practicing golf. He should downscale like the rest of America and sell his real estate holdings, yacht and other toys. Instead of chasing money, he should put the emphasis back on developing a simpler more enjoyable life for his family and winning golf tournaments. Sucking up to corporations for endorsement dollars and doing silly television commercials is a fame and fortune trap he doesn't need anymore.

Play Golf Globally—To stay out of the limelight in the U.S. and to escape the tabloid media, play the world’s major tours in Europe, Australia and Asia. Woods is a great enough golfer that he can earn enough money to have a decidedly upscale lifestyle without having to play the PGA Tour and be constantly harassed by the press. With no endorsement contracts he won’t have to play a certain amount of events. Plus, his name still sells tickets and there will be more than a few tournaments offering large appearance fees.

Play Only the Majors in the U.S.—The only tournaments Woods should play in the U.S. are the four majors, which would still enable him to reach Jack Nicklaus’ record. If there’s one thing Woods wants to accomplish in his career, it’s Jack’s Major championship record. Just play the four big ones each year and be done with it. With the British Open, that would mean Woods would only have to play three tournaments a year in the U.S. The more he stays away from the tabloid websites, blogs, newspapers and television shows the better.

Become a Coach—With no corporate responsibilities and a limited PGA Tour schedule, Woods will have more than enough time to coach his kids’ sports teams. He can serve the same role to them as his father did to him. Tiger will quickly see it’s a more fulfilling role than that of a corporate shill and he’ll build a great relationship with his kids that will last a lot longer than any of the toys he can buy with his corporate bucks.

 

Five Ways To Attract more Golfers to Resorts

With a few golf resorts filing Chapter 11 and others singing the low occupancy and diminished rounds blues, I’d like to offer a few suggestions to help them once again hear that magic phrase “Cha-Ching”.

Here are five suggestions to get more golfers to visit your resort:

1. Stop with premiums on your headliner course and drop the price so you can introduce the course to others that have previously been shut out. I’ve played hundreds of golf courses around the world and with the exception of Pebble Beach, Shadow Creek and a few others, no course has an entertainment value worth more than $300. These days, if I have to choose between taking my wife out for a three or four hour dinner at a top restaurant or spending three or four hundred dollars on a five hour round of golf, I’ll choose the dinner. I love golf, but in this economy you’ve got to identify your priorities, or, better still, your wife’s priorities if she doesn’t play golf.
   
2. Let people walk and give them a discount if they do. For too long, resorts and other golf courses have gotten hooked on the easy money generated by cart fees. These resorts are like addicts that can’t stop renting carts.  Interestingly, some of the most successful golf resorts right now, places like Bandon Dunes Resort, allow walking. If people want to walk, let them.
   
3. Don’t charge kids under 17 if they’re playing with a paying adult. Too many resorts give lip service to junior golf and then sock it to them and their parents on greens and cart fees.
   
4. Treat your returning customers royally. Find out who’s still coming to your golf resort even in the bad times and put a gift in their cart (like extra sleeve of premium golf balls, towel, hat, etc) with a hand written note letting them know how much you appreciate their business.
   
5. Pull a Vegas. Attract golfers to your resort with extra low room rates, cheap breakfasts, big spa discounts and other attractive amenities. 

My State of the Golf Travel Business Address

My fellow golf travelers, why lie? The golf travel business is in the dumper. Occupancy is down. Rounds played are down. Revenues are down…

What is extremely troubling to me is the decline of the corporate market, which is such a large part of golf travel revenues. I write frequently for the corporate and incentive market and all I hear is nothing but gloom and doom. Corporations are now afraid of the golf course, so to speak. Afraid they’ll be labeled as wasteful and uncaring spenders during tough economic times. From the AIG fiasco last year at a golf and spa resort in California to President Obama lambasting destinations like Las Vegas, the corporate market is taking more hits than Rocky Balboa. Incidentally, that resort AIG had booked, the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, was foreclosed upon by one of its lenders.

How bad is it?

Some resort operators are so scared of the perception problem that they’re dropping the word “resort” from their names. Among those who’ve dropped that oh so perceptively bad “resort” from their official names are Westin Stonebriar Hotel in Dallas, Loews Lake Las Vegas, Loews Ventana Canyon in Tucson, Loews Coronado Bay and Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Everybody is paranoid these days. Now, event planners have to worry about arranging too good of a time for their clients. This is loony.

Adding to all the negative vibes corporations are experiencing with meeting and conventions are increased airline baggage fees, fewer flights, airport security hassles and a general malaise that the economy is not improving and you better horde a few bucks.

Wake me up, when this nightmare is over.

 

Tiger's First Tournament Back

The speculation about Tiger Woods returning to the PGA Tour has ramped up the last couple of days and it got me thinking about what will be different when he tees it up again.  Here are a few thoughts:

• Rest assured, Woods will be on his best off-the-course behavior. He’ll be so squeaky clean he’ll make Tim Tebow look like a party hound.
  
• Don’t expect any major mea culpa or press conference where Tigers spills his guts. It’s just not his style.  How about a staged, well orchestrated event where Woods is in control with no reporter's questions? Woods is all about “scoreboard”.
  
• While some players have lost respect for Tiger as a husband and a father, I guarantee they still regard him as the best golfer in the world. Woods has been playing the game since he was two years old. I don’t care how long he stays out, he won’t forget how to play and he won’t forget how to win.
  
• Get ready for the tabloid press to be lurking behind bushes and in trees everywhere. Forget about Lindsey Lohan and Lady Ga Ga, Tiger Woods is, arguably, the biggest celebrity in the world and there will be an army of paparazzi at the first few tournaments following Tiger’s return. After all, don’t we all need something new? How many times can we see that photo of Elin Woods coming out of the Thai restaurant in Orlando?
  
• I look for the golf media to be a little more daring in their questioning, but I’m not holding my breath. Even an image injured Tiger is imposing and intimidating.
  
• I predict golf television analysts will play up the big comeback from sex clinic story. The American public absolutely loves stories of redemption and if they bought it from Kobe Bryant and Bill Clinton, they’ll surely buy it from Tiger Woods.
  
• To be honest, I can’t wait till Tiger’s first tournament back. The sports world has never seen anything like this before. With the exception of Ali’s return to the ring, I can’t recall an event that had more anticipation surrounding it.
  
• I hope the best for Tiger Woods and I’m cheering for his redemption. I believe he’s a good person who made some absolutely horrific life choices.  But, if Russell Brand and David Duchovny can make it back from sex addiction, I guess Tiger can too.