The post This genius golf-course amenity solves for one of nature’s biggest nuisances appeared first on Golf.

The post This genius golf-course amenity solves for one of nature’s biggest nuisances appeared first on Golf.

Ah, fall golf.

Cool, crisp air. Lush fairways and greens. And a kaleidoscope of brilliant reds, oranges and yellows that makes you feel emotions you didn’t know you had.

If only golf this time of year didn’t also bring with it one of the game’s supreme nuisances: fallen foliage. We’ve all been there: You pure an approach to 15 feet only to stroll up to your ball and find your putting line obscured by dozens of dead leaves, if you can find your ball at all.

What to do?

Well, at least a few courses — including one major venue — have gotten creative, adding to their greenside offerings a suburban garage staple: leaf blowers. Clever, right? A few sweeps with the handheld machine and your line, if not the whole putting surface, is clean and green.  

At a recent round at Hazeltine National, TikToker Katie Kelby posted a video that showed a battery-powered Milwaukee leaf blower parked by a green next to a sign that reads: “This blower is to assist you in cleaning debris from the putting line.”

“One of my favorite parts about this golf course,” Kelby says of the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and Ryder Cup site.

Here’s another course with the same amenity, complete with a handsome holster:

When blowers are used appropriately, the results can look like something like this:

No blowers at your course? Bring your own! No, seriously. If Twitter is any indication, plenty of golfers have taken to the practice. Stuart Bottrill, a PGA professional in England, shared this picture recently from his local club:

And here are a couple of more sightings:

Canada is more commonly associated with snow blowers, but at 4 Seasons Country Club, in Ontario, the leaf-clearing variety have been known to see some action:

On the Metro Detroit Golf Podcast a couple of years back, golfers who pack blowers became a talking point, with one of the hosts saying, “I’ve never even heard of this but people were posting…that they were bringing portable leaf blowers to the golf course to blow the leaves away as they were looking for their golf ball. Part of me doesn’t even think that’s real.”

“I believe it’s real. I 100% believe it’s real,” another voice chimed in. “Look, I wouldn’t do it because I would be royally made fun of…but it would make it easier. If you’re putting and there’s leaves everywhere and you want to give yourself the perfect pathway to the hole, why not?

“It’s crazy,” the first host said.

Perhaps, but in all the right ways. Blower-toting golfers, we salute you…

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The post ‘The most maligned tool in our industry’: Why Stimpmeters are so polarizing appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘The most maligned tool in our industry’: Why Stimpmeters are so polarizing appeared first on Golf.

“How are the greens running?” golfers often ask.

For superintendents, it can be a loaded question. One way to answer is with a Stimpmeter. But Stimpmeters — which will most certainly make an appearance at this week’s U.S. Open — can be a touchy topic, too.

“It’s the most maligned tool in our industry,” says Chris Tritabaugh, superintendent at Hazeltine National Golf Club, in Chaska, Minn., and a longtime member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

Conduct a survey of greenskeepers, and you’ll hear the gripes.

“I don’t even own one.”

“I use mine as a doorstop.”

“I melted mine down and bent it to fish balls out of ponds.”

Why the bad rap? Partly, an obsession with the numbers themselves.

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Designed to help ensure consistent green speeds across a course, Stimpmeters were never meant to inspire a pace race. But a focus on Stimp readings has come with a push to get putting surfaces faster and faster (“What are they Stimping at today?”), regardless of whether those speeds are appropriate for the course or the golfers playing it.

In short: a frequent headache for superintendents.

On top of that, going lower with a mower can be tough on turf.

“And so,” Tritabaugh says, “there’s this idea that the higher the speeds, the worse the conditions become.”


Tritabaugh sympathizes. He gets the misgivings. But he doesn’t share them.

He owns a Stimpmeter (actually, he owns two), and he doesn’t use them as doorstops. At Hazeltine, he takes readings every day.

He knows what the numbers mean. Many golfers don’t. Come to think of it, many golfers know little about the Stimpmeter beyond its spelling.

Because it never hurts to get an education, we asked Tritabaugh for a primer on the Stimpmeter, and why he sees it as “my most important tool.”

A brief origin story

At the 1935 U.S. Open, with the turf at Oakmont running lickety split, Gene Sarazen putted off a green into a bunker. Among those watching was an accomplished amateur golfer named Edward Stimpson. Eager to help the game get a grasp on green speed, Stimpson came up with a simple gizmo: a wooden track, fit for a golf ball, with a notch that ensured a consistent release point. Elevate the track, release the ball and measure the rollout. The distance, in feet, gave you your metric: the Stimp reading. Nowadays, Stimpmeters are made of aluminum. But the basic design and mechanics are the same.

Daily readings

Stimp readings are part of Tritabaugh’s morning routine. If his schedule is light, he’ll do all 18 greens, and never fewer than six. He has a designated area on each. Following Stimpmeter protocol, Tritabaugh doesn’t just roll one ball. He rolls three in one direction, and then another three the opposite way. The averages give him his Stimp reading.

Margins of error

The greens at Hazeltine aren’t wildly rollicking. But they’ve got movement. And slope, of course, can affect rollout, creating unacceptable margins of error. There’s a way to deal with this variable, though. If the difference between a downhill and uphill reading is more than 18 inches, Tritabaugh applies what is known as the Brede equation, an industry standard that accounts for the influence of gravity. The math behind it is too high-brow for us here. But eggheads have tested and say it works. Q.E.D.

Misreadings of the readings

Some superintendents post their Stimp readings for all to see, an understandable impulse that is also problematic. For starters, a lot of golfers have no idea what the numbers mean. What’s more, it can be a set up for unreasonable expectations.

“Let’s say my greens are 12 today, and the next day it rains, and they’re 11.5,” Tritabaugh says. “Then, you’ve got golfers saying, ‘Hey, yesterday, they were 12.’ Instant disappointment.” Where’s the upside? Tritabaugh doesn’t see it.

Lifestyle

How he handles the numbers

Tritabaugh keeps close track of his readings but doesn’t share them unless he’s asked. He knows how his membership likes the greens, and the numbers are a valuable reference. They tell him where he stands, and what he needs to do to keep his golfers happy. The readings change as the season unfolds. Early in the year, as the turf emerges from its winter slumber, the greens are usually in the 9 to 10.5 range. As the weather warms, the next goal, Tritabaugh says, is to get them to 11. By the end of the season, he’s pushing 12, even 13.

The toll on turf

For big-time tournaments, the goal is to get greens firm and fast. In 2016, for instance, when Hazeltine hosted the Ryder Cup, the putting surfaces Stimped at around 13, Tritabaugh says, though the PGA of America didn’t ask for the number; the organization’s course set-up man could tell that Tritabaugh had them right.

Mowing super-tight for tournaments places a strain on turf that is fine for the week but not sustainable in the long run. So, Tritabaugh doesn’t shoot for those conditions all the time. But he needs to keep things primo. Stimping every day helps him keep close tabs, so he knows exactly how far he can push it without doing anything detrimental to the turf.

Artificial numbers

On rare occasions, the pressure to get greens running Augusta-quick has prompted superintendents to manipulate their readings. This can be done by giving the Stimp meter what Tritabaugh calls “the olé” — raising the track to a steeper angle to make the ball roll farther. Tritabaugh emphasizes that this doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it can further skew the public’s understanding of the Stimp.

“A lot of times, golfers think they want a higher speed than they actually like,” Tritabaugh says. “What golfers think is a 12, often is more like an 11 or even less. When you start getting up around those numbers, you’re talking about greens that are running pretty darn fast.”

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The post Best golf courses in Minnesota, according to GOLF Magazine’s expert course raters appeared first on Golf.

The post Best golf courses in Minnesota, according to GOLF Magazine’s expert course raters appeared first on Golf.

For every great course that made GOLF’s 2020-21 ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the U.S., dozens of more must-plays were left on the outside looking in — including at least a handful in your home state. Some of these designs just missed out on a Top 100 nomination, others finished deeper down the ranking, but all are worthy of your time. To shed light on the best courses in every state, we broke out the full results of our Top 100 Courses polling into state-by-state lists. Here’s a closer look at Minnesota.

Minnesota golf by the numbers:

Number of courses and U.S. rank: 483 (11)*
Number of golfers per capita rank: 1*
Average public-course greens fees: $$ out of $$$*
Average daily temp and rank: 41.2 (47)
Annual precipitation and rank: 27.3 in. (37)

*Source: National Golf Foundation

Best Minnesota golf courses (2020/2021)

1. White Bear Yacht Club (White Bear Lake) [1]

William Watson deserves the credit for laying out the holes that are the backbone of today’s course, though the club historian notes that Donald Ross “gave freely of his advice in its development.” The two Scots were surely bewitched by the opportunity to work on this roly-poly landscape. The view from the 1st tee of the 18 foot-deep greenside bunker tells you this is going to be different, though nothing really prepares you for such a one-off hole as the elegant 12th with its long fallaway green. A course can measure 6,500 yards and still make the Top 100 but it needs both awesome land and architecture, which this course enjoys in spades.

2. Interlachen (Edina)

3. Northland (Duluth)

4. Hazeltine National (Chaska)

5. Somerset (Mendota Heights)

6. Minikahda Club (Minneapolis)

7. Spring Hill (Wayzata)

8. Giant’s Ridge, Quarry (Biwabik) [3, P]

Book a tee time at Giant’s Ridge.

9. Windsong Farm (Independence)

10. Minneapolis GC (St. Louis Park)

SYMBOL GUIDE

1 = GOLF Top 100 Course in the U.S.
2 = GOLF Top 100 Course in the World
3 = GOLF Top 100 Resort
P = Resort/public golf course

Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.

Course spotlight: Northland Golf Club (Duluth), ranked 3rd in Minnesota. Situated high above Lake Superior, this is one of the more stunning and surprising courses on the list to play. Putts that experienced golfers read as breaking X feet actually break twice that much, such is the invisible pull of the Lake. Donald Ross renovated the course in 1927 and in his vast portfolio of courses, this remains one of his most distinctive efforts. — GOLF Top 100 Course Rater

How we rank America’s best golf courses

For the newly released 2020-21 U.S. list, each panelist was provided a list of 489 courses. Beside that list of courses were 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists considered a course to be among the top three in the country, they ticked that box. If they believed the course to be among Nos. 4-10 in the U.S., they checked that box, followed by 11-25, 26-50, and so on.

Panelists were also free to write in courses that they felt should have been included on the ballot (we had fewer than a handful of such additions in the U.S. vote).

Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its aggregate score by the number of votes. From those point tallies, the courses are then ranked accordingly. It is an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it invariably produces results that are widely lauded. Like the game itself, there’s no need to unnecessarily overcomplicate things.

For much more on how we rate courses, click or tap here.

Meet our course raters

We empower and hold accountable a group of 97 well-traveled — and well-connected — golfers/aficionados, each capable of expressing their own sense of design excellence at the highest level. The group is seasoned and experienced — we look for raters who know what’s out there, what’s changing and what’s coming down the pike. And from judging posts across four continents, our panelists are positioned to place courses from different regions around the globe into proper context, one of the main reasons GOLF’s Top 100 Courses rankings are the most esteemed in the game.

Other ranking outlets employ thousands of raters. Our less-is-more approach creates a more meaningful and thoughtful list. Think about it: When you plan a golf trip, do you call every golfer you know for their take? No. You contact a handful of people whose opinions you value most.

Meet our full crew of panelists here.

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The post Michelle Wie gives tearful interview after opening 84: ‘I’m not entirely sure how much more I have left’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Michelle Wie gives tearful interview after opening 84: ‘I’m not entirely sure how much more I have left’ appeared first on Golf.

Michelle Wie has had a rough year — at least as far as her competitive golf career is concerned. Back in October, Wie revealed that she had undergone hand surgery and would be out for the remainder of the season.  When the 2019 LPGA season began in February, Wie finished T-23 at the Honda LPGA Thailand, but had to withdraw during the first round of the following week’s HSBC Women’s World Championship due to lingering issues with her right hand.

Wie intended to play the Kia Classic in late March, but also ended up withdrawing from that event. She then missed the cut at her next two events, the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, Calif. and the LOTTE Championship in her native Hawaii, before announcing in April that she would be shutting things down again for an undisclosed amount of time to let her hand continue to heal.

In May, Wie announced she would withdraw from the upcoming U.S. Women’s Open in Charleston, the season’s second major championship. Wie’s appearance at Hazeltine National for this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was hotly anticipated, as it’s her first competitive start since April. In her pre-tournament press conference, Wie said she began the week “feeling hopeful”, but those good feelings quickly dissolved after her first round at Hazeltine National.

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She said yes: Michelle Wie gets engaged to boyfriend Jonnie West

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The post Our Favorite Items From the Ryder Cup Merchandise Tent appeared first on Golf.

The post Our Favorite Items From the Ryder Cup Merchandise Tent appeared first on Golf.

There’s no shortage of Ryder Cup swag for sale at Hazeltine National, but these items really caught our eye. 

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