Miracle On Breeze Hill

One of the more unusual--and entertaining--golf books I've read recently is Miracle On Breeze Hill: The Making of Atlantic Golf Club by Lowell Schulman, the man who created this great golf course on Long Island. What makes it unusual is that much of the narrative deals with the business side of building the club from scratch. This may sound like a dry subject of interest only to bean counters, but Schulman brings it to life with a chatty, effervescent style that adds a lot of human interest to the topic.

I've had the pleasure to play the golf course, too, which makes the story even more fascinating. Atlantic is a spectacular track that ranks right up there with its neighbors in the Hamptons, The National Golf Links, Shinnecock, and Maidstone. Schulman found the property, envisioned the course it could become, and hired Rees Jones to make it a reality. The story of how they turned farmland into a fine links-style golf course makes a fascinating read for any golfer with more than a passing interest in the sport.

In addition to telling his side of the story, Schulman enlisted the other major players in the tale to give their accounts. Rees Jones, greenkeeper Bob Ranum, and general manager James J. Glover all added insights. I was especially fascinated by Tom Julius, who shepherded the project through a Byzantine approvals process that could easily have brought it to a halt. The golf world is a better place for their efforts and the world's library of golf books is better for Lowell Schulman having added this volume to it.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Met Golf Writers Welcome New President

Ralph Wimbish, Late Night Sports Editor of the New York Post and my partner in many golf adventures, has been elected president of the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association. He succeeds Ron Sirak of Golf World, who served for the past three years.

Bruce Beck of WNBC TV-4 and Peter Morrice of Golf Digest were re-elected vice presidents.

Wimbish, who has worked for The Post since 1988, previously worked at newspapers in St. Petersburg, Fla., Westchester Rockland, N.Y., Pontiac, Mich., Pittsburgh, Rome (Italy) and Middletown, N.Y.

He joined the MGWA Board of Directors in 2006 and became a vice president in 2008. A native of St. Petersburg, FL, and a graduate of the University of South Florida, he lives with his wife, Grace, in Mount Vernon, NY.

Re-elected to the MGWA Board: Sirak; Dave Anderson, New York Times; Daniel Berger, DMB Media Network; Martin Davis, The American Golfer; Damon Hack, Sports Illustrated; Ed Ingles, WRHU-FM; Pete Kowalski, U.S. Golf Assn.; Andy Lavine, Trump National Hudson Valley; Ann Liguori, Ann Liguori Productions; Jay Mottola, Met Golf Assn.; Howard Munck, freelance; Pat Norton, On Course Strategies; Bill Pennington, New York Times; Bruce J. Smith, Sporty Bear Productions; Chuck Stogel, freelance; Tony Wimpfheimer, The Met Golfer.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

USGA and R&A Finally Acknowledge Wind Broke The Rules

The USGA and the R&A finally changed the rules of golf to reflect the reality of playing in windy conditions. Following an exhaustive, four-year review of golf’s 34 playing Rules, nine principal Rules have been amended to improve clarity and ensure penalties are proportionate. The most significant change that will affect most players is one dealing with a ball that moves after a player addresses it:

Ball Moving After Address (Rule 18-2b). A new exception is added which exonerates the player from penalty if their ball moves after it has been addressed when it is known or virtually certain that they did not cause the ball to move. For example, if it is a gust of wind that moves the ball after it has been addressed, there is no penalty and the ball is played from its new position.

Hopefully, this will end situations like the one during the final round of this year’s Open Championship when Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was penalized when his ball was moved on the seventh green by the wind after he had addressed it.

Padraig Harrington, three-time Major winner and R&A-Working for Golf Ambassador, said: “I am delighted with the changes, in particular the ball moving after address. Every time the wind blows I am worried that my ball is going to move and I am worried about grounding my putter, distracting me from trying to hole my putt.

“This change will speed up play, there won’t be as many suspensions and players won’t be getting penalized or disqualified unfairly. It is definitely giving us players a little bit of a break.”

Among the other changes are these:

Ball in Hazard; Prohibited Actions (Rule 13-4). Exception 2 to this Rule is amended to permit a player to smooth sand or soil in a hazard at any time, including before playing from that hazard, provided it is for the sole purpose of caring for the course and Rule 13-2 (improving lie, area of intended stance or swing or line of play) is not breached.

Time of Starting (Rule 6-3a). The rule is amended to provide that the penalty for starting late, but within five minutes of the starting time, is reduced from disqualification to loss of the first hole in match play or two strokes at the first hole in stroke play. Previously this penalty reduction could be introduced as a condition of competition.

Another change is the announcement of publication of a single set of rules with a common cover, something it only took the two groups 60 years to accomplish. Commenting on the revisions to the Rules of Golf, USGA Senior Director of Rules of Golf Thomas Pagel said: “We have produced a unified code of the Rules of Golf for 60 years and although the context has been the same, we often found the perception that there were different Rules in place depending upon where you were to play the game.

“Now the book will not only have the same content, but it will also be presented in a uniform fashion with similar formatting and covers; this will truly be a single code governing the Rules of the game that reflects the strong collaboration between The R&A and USGA.”

There has been a unified code of golf since 1952 but until now The R&A and the USGA have published the same rules in separate editions, thereby giving the impression to some that the rules were different. However, this year sees identical publications with only some spellings and respective logos changing depending whether the edition serves the U.S. and Mexico or the rest of the world.

Golfing legend Arnold Palmer welcomed the announcement of a jointly published edition of the Rules. He said: “What has happened with The R&A and the USGA is wonderful. In the years I have been associated with the game and got to know The R&A and what their efforts are and having lived with the USGA all my life, one of the things I have always thought we should be closer together.”

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

The Science Says My Putting Sucks

In my endless quest for lower scores (that's why we play this game isn't it?) and not willing to leave well enough alone, I spent some time with club fitters Woody Lashen and Kevin Gregorios from Pete's Golf Shop. The task: measure my putting stroke. The results: my stroke flunked almost all the tests.

Actually, it wasn't all that bad, but I have to say my confidence was pretty shaken after I saw what was really going on when I tried to use what I thought was a pretty effective putting technique. Kevin had me hit five putts--about ten-footers on a pretty straight line--and recorded them using the Science And Motion's PuttLab. The technology uses ultrasound to measure 28 parameters of the stroke.

I won't bore you with all the numbers (mainly because I'm not sure I completely understand some of them), but a few jumped out at me. Here's how my aim looked at setup.

Pretty ugly, huh? I've been told by neutral observers--some of whom snickered as they said it--that I typically address the putt with my shoulders aimed right. I guess I subconsciously compensate by aiming my putter face left, or closed.

Then there's the path my putter follows.

Kind of looks like it follows the direction of my shoulders, doesn't it? If this was all I'd seen, I might have tossed my clubs in the lake and retired to the chess board or some other game where aim doesn't matter. But then Kevin showed me what my putter face looked like at impact.

Now that's encouraging. My putting stroke may look like Jim Furyk's full swing--once described as an octopus trying to change clothes in a phone booth--but it puts the putter face squarely behind the ball at the moment of impact when it counts.

One thing I found that really surprised me, though, was the amount of loft I was adding to the putter with my stroke.

This was a real shocker because I've been working hard lately on doing just the opposite. I read Dave Stockton's book on putting and had just delved into Michael Breed's new book (reviews to come) and thought I was de-lofting the putter with a forward press. Guess not.

Of course, there were loads of other data in the report Kevin sent me after the session. He also measured the swing path, loft and rise of the club, the timing of my swing, and its dynamics (remember that octopus analogy?) as well as where on the putter face the ball made contact. It was all very helpful and I hope to spend more time with the system someday.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

A Unique View Of Golf

Steve Sunenblick expresses his views of the game of golf in a fascinating way. An award-winning artist with studios in Portland, Maine, and San Miguel, Mexico, Sunenblick is an avid, nine-handicap golfer. Like the writer who writes what he knows, he paints what he knows....in this case, golf.

Sunenblick received his BFA from the Maine College of Art in and his work has been exhibited extensively in Portland, including several gallery exhibits at Le Galeyrie in Falmouth, Maine. In addition, Steve was selected for the 2006 juried Biennial for the Maine Center for Contemporary Art.

Sunenblick's work has also been exhibited and featured at high-profile events at the Desert Golf and Travel Show in Palm Springs, Calif.; at the Harmony Institute Golf Invitational in Harmony, Fla.; at the Essex Country Club in Manchester, Mass., and at the Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. To learn more about this interesting golfer/artist, visit www.artofgolf.com.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

First Tee Celebrates Ten Great Years

President Bill Clinton and NBC Sports personality Dan Hicks headline The First Tee of Metropolitan New York’s 10th Anniversary Gala, to be held at the American Museum of Natural History on October 5th. The event will celebrate the success the chapter has had over the past 10 years, and honor the Rudin Family, founding partners the MGA Foundation and Met PGA, and other key supporters.

To hear more about the event, click here (mp3 audio). For more information about the Gala contact, Rachel Newman at rnewman@thefirstteemetny.org or call 718-655-9164.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.