BC GOLF MUSEUM & HALL of FAME NEWSLETTER

From the office of:
Barrie McWha
Executive Director

Meet the new Directors of the BC Golf House Society

On June 18th the BC Golf House Society held its annual general meeting to receive reports from the President, Sylvia Mellish, Treasurer Peter Young and Executive Director Barrie McWha. The report of the Nominating Committee was ratified and the following members were elected to the Board of Directors:

    •     John Snyder - President

    •     Sylvia Mellish - Past President

    •     Peter Young – Treasurer

    •     Michael Mather – Vice President

    •     Michael Riste – Director

    •     Karen Vanzella – Director

    •     Terry Wong – Director

    •     Jeff Ciecko – Director

Thank you Marine Drive Golf Club

Marine Drive hosted the 2009 edition of the Tradition Golf Classic. This is the second most substantial source of funding for the operation of the Museum. Michael Mather, VP of the BC Golf House Society (left) is shown here presenting a plaque to Club President, David Mills (right) in appreciation for hosting our event. Next year we are off to University Golf Club.
 


 

Such a Landlord!

University GC is more than a landlord The BC Golf Museum sub-lets the building and the site it sits on from UGCC Holdings Ltd. However, it is anything but a typical lease relationship. The management and staff of the University Golf Club is so fully supportive of the Museum and its operation that they are regularly providing assistance in the form of hanging baskets and flowers and shrubs for the grounds, to entering a team in the Museum fund raising golf tournament.

When the Museum was getting ready to celebrate its 20th anniversary in May the course maintenance crew did a full out blitz to make sure trees were trimmed and worn turf was replaced so the entrance to Museum would look its best. It really is a cooperative venture. The team of employees at UGC take their lead from management and are helpful at every opportunity.

On behalf of the golf community in BC....thank you, University Golf Club!
 

What's Been Happening?

On June 16th I was invited to conduct a hickory hole on the par 3 16th hole at University GC during the BC Women's Hospital Foundation tournament with over 100 players taking part. The tournament chair very kindly mad a donation to the BC Golf Museum.

I also conducted a long drive contest for the Coast Hotels and Resorts tournament at Westwood Plateau on June 24th. It was great fun for all to not only have a chance to tee off with 100 year technology but to watch the surprised faces when they saw how well the clubs performed. Thanks to Coast Hotels and Starbucks we were able to raise over $500 for the Museum on that day!

Hickory holes are a great way to raise awareness of the Museum and educate golfers on the past history of golf clubs. It gives people some appreciation for the abilities of the players of yesteryear!

On June 25th the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Board held their June Directors meeting at the Museum. They then proceeded to the Museum putting green to have a hickory putting competition.

On July 7th the Executive of the University GC Men's Weekend Club held their monthly meeting at the Museum.

I have a couple more events booked for July and August.....maybe we'll see you at one of them.

These are wonderful opportunities to introduce the Museum to golfers who then informally spread the word!

Meet our Volunteers

Currently we are fortunate to have the services of four volunteers ensuring that there is always someone to greet guests and to work on important projects within the Museum.

Bob Tate and Glen Muri are both working at telephoning golf courses around the province introducing themselves and the Museum and updating basic information for our historical files.

Denny Peck has been working on restoring the hickory clubs that we use in hickory events (we have participated in five so far this year).

Mitzi Bonshor works one day a week and volunteers one day a week working primarily in administrative support.

Without these dedicated and talented people committing their energies to the Museum much of what is getting done would not be possible!

Thank you all!
 
 

Visit The Amazon Golf Course

The next time you feel like the course conditions are too tough, think about what these folks play on...a very interesting story and worth the visit to the website.

Read more about this interesting course

Letter from John Solheim, CEO of PING Golf
 

PING Chairman And CEO John Solheim Calls For New Groove Rule To Be Abandoned via golf business wire

June 29, 2009; Phoenix Arizona: PING Chairman & CEO John Solheim, who has adamantly opposed the USGA New Groove Rule since first proposed February 27, 2007, released the following statement today from the company's Phoenix, Arizona headquarters:

"The new groove rule harms the game and golfers and should be dropped. The recent uproar about it from PGA Tour players demonstrates this fact," said Solheim.

"However, the PGA Tour's proposal to delay implementing the rule is not a solution. You can't turn a bad idea into a good one by waiting an extra year to adopt it. We hope everyone who cares about the future of this game keeps that simple concept in mind."

A summary of Solheim's concerns that were shared with the USGA and R&A since the "New Groove" Rule was proposed is set forth below:

1. It is simply wrong to place the potentially biased concerns of a small number of Tour professionals above the needs of tens of millions of amateurs. Why are amateurs being needlessly harmed and told to reach into their pockets to pay for an alleged problem that the USGA believes applies to just the PGA Tour?

The PGA Tour has undergone tremendous economic growth and success over the past decades, in concert with golf club innovation. Innovation is one of the oldest and most important traditions of golf. Professionals who get their clubs for free should not be causing the rulemaking bodies to force amateurs to buy new clubs.

2. Once the rulemaking bodies approve a golf club, it should remain approved. Golf needs respected and responsible rule makers. Respect is earned -- and it can easily be lost.

Tens of millions of golfers purchased hundreds of millions of irons and wedges based on the fact that the rulemaking bodies said these clubs conformed to the rules. It simply is not fair to say to the golfing public, "You know those clubs you bought, the ones we said conformed to the rules?

Well, we changed our mind. Sorry about that, and you will need to get some new ones." This not only harms amateur golfers, but it damages the respect many have for the USGA and the R&A.

3. The skill of driving accuracy continues to be richly rewarded. In proposing this roll back of the Rules, the USGA stated: "The skill of driving accurately has become a much less important factor in achieving success while playing [on the PGA Tour] than it used to be...."

That statement is not correct. The data from recent US Opens and from PGA Tour events (including its improved ShotLink data - which was ignored by the USGA) establishes that there remains a significant penalty from landing in the rough.

In fact, the USGA is able to define, and obtain, the level of penalty ("Cost of Rough") it desires through its course set-up. Any tournament is free to do the same.

ShotLink data also establishes that accurate drives at PGA Tour events continue to result in the ball ending up much closer to the hole after the second shot (a true measure of an accurate shot). In short, there continues to be a significant penalty from hitting into the rough, even for the best players in the world.

4. In targeting grooves, the rulemaking bodies ignored numerous changes that likely impacted the game over the past 30 years. It is nearly impossible to conclude that a single variable (grooves) caused any observed changes to the game at the PGA Tour level over the past twenty five years.

To attempt to do so requires that you ignore all of the other changes to the game since 1984 (the year square grooves were allowed), including the following: course conditioning changes, driver improvements (such as large-headed drivers made with exotic materials), shaft improvements, improved golf balls and golf ball cover materials, improved agronomy, increased athleticism, improved player conditioning, improved player training aids, launch angle fitting and even improved coaching.

As an example, tremendous course-conditioning changes have occurred on the PGA Tour since the 1970's. According to historical PGA Tour Course Conditioning Guidelines, since the 1970's the length of the primary rough has been reduced by as much as 60%.

The height of the intermediate rough (also described as the first cut), is now as short as some fairways used to be. The grass on the fairways & greens is also shorter. If the USGA/R&A are concerned whether PGA Tour pros find it too easy to hit out of the rough, why didn't they focus on changes to the PGA Tour's course set-up guidelines?

If the PGA Tour's set-up guidelines were reviewed, why weren't they mentioned in any of the reports? It is unfair to make amateurs buy new clubs, just so PGA Tour pros can continue to play courses without the deeper roughs yesterday's pros were forced to tackle.

5. The "money list/driving accuracy" rank correlation analysis cited by the USGA to justify its change in grooves is fundamentally flawed. The downward pattern in this correlation cannot be tied to the introduction or increased use of square grooved irons.

We believe it is more closely linked to PGA Tour player behavior than the introduction of any particular equipment innovation. We undertook extensive statistical analysis of publicly available PGA Tour data. We quickly discovered the number of tournaments played annually by the top 10 money earners has been gradually decreasing since about the mid-1990's.

In fact, the number of PGA Tour events with 3 or more of the top 10 money earners in the field has dramatically decreased since the 1980's. The decreasing trend in participation by the top money earners at PGA Tour Events closely mirrors the decreasing trend in the money list/driving accuracy rank correlations, and could be the cause of it. All of this was demonstrated, graphically and otherwise, in my letters to the USGA.

6. The USGA has not demonstrated that any change in any PGA Tour statistic is due to grooves. If the rule making bodies believe that grooves are wreaking havoc on the PGA Tour, why is it that among the hundreds of statistics kept by the PGA Tour, no one has ever deemed it worthwhile to identify the specific grooves each individual PGA Tour Pro is using in his irons and wedges.

If grooves truly are a problem, it seems obvious that someone would gather and analyze this easily obtainable data before telling tens of millions of golfers the USGA is reversing its prior approval of hundreds of millions of golf clubs. The failure to do so suggests there may be something else going on here.

7. What happens to hundreds of millions of "Used" golf clubs - which have always been an important asset in golf. I believe it is important to many golfers, particularly PING customers, that their used clubs maintain a great trade-in value, often for twenty or more years.

I am concerned that declaring that hundreds of millions of previously approved clubs will later be non-conforming will impact the resale value of those clubs. It is wrong to diminish the value of these previously approved clubs purchased by hardworking men and women simply because a few Tour pros (who get their clubs for free) seem to complain that "golfers today have it too easy."

I do not know of a single golfer who quit playing the game because "it became too easy." This new rule will also harm the tradition of passing clubs to children and grandchildren. Used clubs are also an affordable way for many beginners to give the game a try.

These concerns may not resonate with some, but they mean a lot to many who love this game and want to pass the passion for golf on to the next generation. Again, are we throwing all of that away simply so the PGA Tour can keep its rough shorter than it used to be?

PING is proud of its 50 year history of developing quality, innovative and custom fit golf products that are designed so all golfers can "play their best."

PING is also proud of its history of challenging, when needed, golf's rulemaking bodies in an effort to promote better decision making that will benefit this game we all love.

With a tremendous group of employees, and continuing ideas for golf club innovation, PING looks forward to leading on both of these important fronts for a long time to come.

Trivia Contest for July

Prize:
Golf for two at the University GC

Background:
The July trivia question, comes from our good friend at bcgolfnews.com, Barry Sharpe. The BC Amateur Championships for men and women will be conducted by the BCGA in July. The men will play at Duncan Meadows GC and the women at Canoe Creek GC in Salmon Arm.

Question:
On only one occasion has a husband and wife managed to win their respective BC Amateur titles in the same year. Who was the couple, and what was the year?

Click here to enter your answer

We'll announce the winner in next month's newsletter.


For questions or comments please contact our us at office@bcgolfmuseum.org or 604 222-4653.