What’s In A Name? Vol. 328

In this Desert Sun story on new Coachella Valley course openings, Larry Bohannan reveals what is opening now that the fall overseeding is growing in. He also shows us that clearly they’ve just run out of names for desert golf courses.

“Real estate is behind three of the courses that will be opening in the coming months,” Bohannan writes. “Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells, Andalusia at Coral Mountain in La Quinta and Escena Palm Springs…”

Starting to sound eerily similar to prescriptions drugs, aren’t they? Andalusia? Escena? Toscana I can see. Barely.

And these names all make the new Palmer course, SilverRock, look sublime. But what’s with the capital R?

Duncan : Who are designers appeasing?

Travelgolf.com's Derek Duncan asks “Who are designers appeasing when they lengthen golf courses?”

He writes, “The mistake in all of this is that both architects and owners assume a foregone yet faulty conclusion, and that’s that longer golf courses are somehow necessary. They aren’t.”

He goes on to explain the essence of the distance problem. As these things tend to do, all paths lead back to Far Hills. If Duncan plans on covering a future U.S. Open, he can count on an especially chilly greeting from the USGA’s cranky media man, Craig Smith.

“When enough audiences turn off the television because they’re tired of watching the pros play pitch-and-putt on our heralded courses, when millions refuse to tune in to view another middle-of-the-road pro win a major because the equipment masks his relatively marginal skills, and when sponsors and advertisers then begin to get itchy and pull their support, then maybe the USGA will rethink its policy.

Torrey North Going South?

Even though all accounts say it’s in better shape than the South Course, they just can’t wait to blow up the North Course at Torrey Pines to make it more maintenance friendly. Well, not everyone is eager to rev up the dozers.

According to Tod Leonard in the San Diego Union-Tribune (reg. required), one city council member wasn’t so pleased after hearing what Rees Jones had planned for the first nine holes.

"My opinion was that they ruined the South Course, but at least I understood why they did it – to get the U.S. Open," Michael Zucchet said yesterday. "I love a tough golf course, but I miss the old, historic South.

Interesting concept: you have to ruin a course to get a U.S. Open. Actually, there’s a lot of truth to that!

The story also notes more changes that will be made to the South Course, where two par-5’s will be converted to par-4’s to strip as much interest from the course as possible. The 18th fairway will even be regraded to make it work as a par-4. Because Lord knows, the excitement on the 18th at this year’s Buick would be unacceptable at a U.S. Open!