Rejecting my Top 100 course and inventing John Daly

Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this weekend 9. Think of it as a place to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will have thoughts. We will have advice. We will have tweets. But only nine in all, though sometimes perhaps more and sometimes perhaps less. But who am I? The following paragraphs tell some of the story. It can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

We could buy whatever we wanted from the club. I walked out with a bag tag and a glass.

They even let us take a cart up to tee 1. The view alone was worth the drive west to Mullen, where the horizon never ends and cell service is lost.

As far as rejections go then, the one we got a little over a decade ago at Sand Hills Golf Club went about as well as we could have hoped. We were easily disappointed. They didn’t laugh. We didn’t cry.

But it was still a quick no.

I was thinking about all this after this site recently published the newest Top 100 courses in the world list — and Sand Hills checked in at No. 10. The Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw gem in Nebraska has always held a high spot in the rankings, and that has made the thought of playing it ridiculously appealing to most anyone who lives in the Cornhusker State, which I have for about 15 years.

Not to mention that the course is ultra private.

Sand Hills, unfortunately, is not a place where you just drive up and ask to play.

Or was it?

Maybe we can try it?

So my wife and I did. We planned it. We went later in the year, when conditions can keep overseas visitors away. We went on a football Saturday in Nebraska, when the Big Red dominates the hearts and minds of the state — and the golf courses remain empty. On Friday, we stopped in Gothenburg and played Wild Horse, which is a must if you’re even remotely close. On Sunday, we found several paid courses — no clubhouse, no caddies, just a box — including one called Augusta Wind, a course name that, yes, covers both those who enjoy the Masters and those who love puns.

Saturday afternoon, we drove up Crenshaw Drive.

We parked. Three cars in tears.

I will offer $300 to play. Our point would be that we would promise not to tell a soul. We would be in and out. No social media. There are no photos. How could they say no?

Like this:

Sorry, no.

But we could buy anything we wanted from the club. And we could take a trolley up to the first peak.

We did it. We stared for about 15 minutes. I saw what appeared to be a high five, but no one else. ‘Looked’ like one of the best courses on this site. Smells like it, too. But we never managed to touch it.

Was the trip stupid? Hell no. I would do it again. And maybe I will again, in some other golf masterpiece. Maybe next time I’ll get a yes.

Or maybe I’ll run into someone again with the almost unreal discipline to turn down a guy, a girl, and a few hundred dollars. This was actually impressive.

Let’s see if we can find eight more items for the 9th weekend.

A delivery for the weekend

2. It was the announcement of the LPGA’s new television deal – where all rounds of every tournament will be shown live – one of his biggest moments ever?

yes.

But how will they retain viewers?

Is having a platform enough? A kind. In particular, the PGA Tour is dealing with this. You would think that golf would be enough, but the message is that people want something more than what they see. So I’d argue that new LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler saying he’s aware of all the variations of “something more” is just as important to the tour as the TV deal.

On Wednesday, before this week’s CME Group Tour Championship, Kessler spoke to reporters, and I thought this was interesting (reporters’ questions are in italics):

What do you think of LPGA competition? And I honestly think what I’m getting at is how does it take the attention that women’s soccer and the WNBA is getting that frankly golf has felt like it’s been left behind?

“You used the most important word,” Kessler said. “We compete in the attention economy. It’s not just against other sports. Should I put on Netflix, should I go out to dinner, should I hang out with friends, should I play in the backyard, should I go play a round of golf. Anything that has the potential to get a fan’s attention, we’re competing against that, so every job is interesting and amazing to be different in our mind. the way we can.”

On the player side, what kind of message did you give to those you got to put your oars in the water?

“I had two meetings with the players,” Kessler said. “The first players’ meeting — and I’m very grateful that they did. The players asked, ‘What can we do to help?’ And the answer was, ‘Nothing yet. Let’s do our job and when we have concrete answers, we’ll come back and ask at the right time for you to do your part.’

“This past week at the Pelican … they asked again, ‘What can we do?’ And we said, ‘Here’s what you have to do. If we ask you to be a global superstar, back it up. Show up with culture wherever you can. If we ask you to walk and talk, not only you, but also your friends, try it.

“”Let’s – we need you to do your part.” And finally I asked, ‘Who’s in?’ And almost every hand in the room went up. Now it’s up to us to bring it to life.”

Another weekend treat

3. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour may be down. Ahead of this week’s RSM Classic, said Harris English The tour may start its schedule after the Super Bowl and “they’re going to go more to where 20 events are all the same, all the points, all the money, everything the same.”

So what’s the point of moves, should they happen?

I guess it depends on what you like. You will get less professional golf. But you will probably get the most improved golf. But isn’t every week important? Or should there be a proper break?

Again, the impact of LIV Golf cannot be overstated. How many of these changes would have happened without the league?

4. Speaking of LIV, the New York Times published an article this week with a headline that said, “Saudi Arabia’s prince has big plans, but his giant fund is short on cash.”

You can read the full story, written by Rob Copeland and Vivian Nereim, here.

A guide tip for your weekend

5. Lindy Duncan was honored with the LPGA’s Heather Farr Endurance Award this week, and the transcript of her acceptance speech is worth a read. You can do this by moving below. (Click the white arrow in the middle of the post to view each slide.)

A story that interests me

6. I thought the story belowfrom Skratch’s “Vanity Index Podcast”, it was interesting. In it, co-host Chad Mumm describes a conversation with John Daly — about how the John Daly drink got started.

“So John Daly, we were getting ready in the green room for this talk,” Mom said, “and we were talking about some restaurant people and I said, ‘Hey, how did the John Daly cocktail come about?’ I was like, ‘How great is that?’ Like, did you lean into that and name it? It is, of course, based on Arnold Palmer. Are you leaning on this? Did someone else invent it and you just picked it up? Because he has John Dalys – this Good Boy brand of vodka, they make their own John Dalys.

“And he says, ‘No, I made that up when I was 9 years old. So he tells this story. He says, “Yeah, I was in Darnell, Arkansas, and we won – I was 9 years old, our little league team, we were sponsored by Piggly Wiggly. We won the little league championship in our town. And so we went back to our sweet home to celebrate. You know, sun tea … And daddy loved his vodka and so all the kids are celebrating. So we lined it all up and every kid got a good taste.

“‘And I looked at my brother and said, ‘If one of us becomes famous, we’re going to have to patent this drink. It’s either going to be called Jamie Daly or John Daly.’ And so it was invented.”

You can watch the clip with the mom by scrolling right below.

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7. Speaking of Daly, a place he visits every year during Masters week, the Hooters located about a mile from Augusta National, was destroyed this week. Below is a picture of a piece of work.

A question that interests me

8. I thought of the video below it was interesting. In it, MLB players were asked: Is golf harder than baseball?

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