UK Golf Guy On Golf Digest's Latest World Ranking: "The methodology for selecting the list is fairly awful."

UK Golf Guy maintains a compilation hybrid list of the world's best courses based on various lists, but he's decided to no longer include Golf Digest's stab at an international list due to a long list of problems.

He details them in this post and while his concerns are not shocking given the awfulness of their last attempt in January 2016, the latest effort seems even more peculiar.

He writes:

Well, the 2018 edition is out and despite the title 'World's 100 Greatest Golf Courses' they have stopped bothering to rank golf courses from all over the world. Instead they have made this a list of their top 100 golf courses outside of the USA. And thoroughly disingenuously, they have shown the previous positions of the golf courses in the rankings - despite the comparator including courses from the USA.

This allows many courses to claim they have moved up places in the world rankings. The tweet below from Bluffs Ho Tram in Vietnam is a prime example.

The methodology for selecting the list is fairly awful. The Golf Digest team ask 'international panelists organized by our affiliate magazines around the world'. Oh dear, that would be the affiliate magazines who rely on the course's advertising to pay their bills, the associate magazines whose staff get wined and dined by the latest new courses wanting to make a splash.

The Weekend Of (Golf) Instagram, 1-14-18 & 1-15-18

Thomas Lombardi, err Bjorn is pretty pumped about that EurAsia Cup win over Team Asia. Guess he's warming up the voice for this fall in France...

Olé olé olé!!!! Very proud of my players today 👊

A post shared by Thomas Bjørn (@mrtbjorn) on Jan 13, 2018 at 11:02pm PST

A lost Coore and Crenshaw seen long after its closing…

The 9th at Sugarloaf Mountain by Coore & Crenshaw (NLE) #PlayorPerish

A post shared by Sugarloaf (@sugarloafsocialclub) on Jan 13, 2018 at 5:37pm PST

Lit cups on Rolling Hills Country Club’s new Himalayas-style putting green, courtesy of Seamus Golf.

The urban resort @rhccgolf @dmkgolf features a large punch bowl style green with 🔥 cups for night putting // #farandsure

A post shared by SEAMUS GOLF (@seamusgolf) on Jan 14, 2018 at 12:07pm PST

Who says the kids today don’t work the ball?

Grass skipper! Rate 1-10 #GMgolf @snipergolf

A post shared by Garrett Clark & Micah Morris (@gm__golf) on Jan 14, 2018 at 4:42pm PST

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Instructive Day: Sony Open Telecast & The Golf Channel Dispute

No one feels good about a labor dispute and we certainly didn't need to be caught in the middle of negotiations between Golf Channel and the union representing the channel's technicians.

Fan feedback was obviously not kind.

Mercifully, the NFL put on two thrilling playoff games, so thanks to PGA Tour scheduling a final round against the second game, few saw much of the broadcast. And when they checked in, there was no way of knowing what was going on without checking golf website.

The telecast did start with this:

Fairly blunt golf channel intro: ‘Folks we’re focusing on the final groups and final holes tonight because some technicians walked out on the job earlier today.’ pic.twitter.com/ttidkYs0Op

— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) January 14, 2018

The taxing day for all involved, which started with a rough Web.com Tour telecast, followed by a shockingly competent Diamond Resorts Invitational, was not helped by going deep in sudden death for the Sony. Insiders say buses took a huge haul of staffers down to the Diamond Resort outside Orlando to fill in for the striking workers, while the Sony Open was less fortunate. In Orlando, George Savaricus, Bill Kratzert and Jim Gallagher Jr. handled five hours of broadcast commentary, while the pictures were presented from on-site by a few non-striking technicians and even on-course commentator Jerry Foltz.

Jerry Foltz, man of many talents, in the tower behind the camera on 16 😳 pic.twitter.com/dGdG97R4wv

— Brian Wacker (@brianwacker1) January 15, 2018

While the day revealed a dispute between employee and employer, the effort to get something on the air from Honolulu reminded us how many people are devoted to bringing us the world of golf. The six hole playoff won by Patton Kizzire over James Hahn, with limited production values, also reminded us how good the pictures and sound tend to be during golf's neverending days.

Of course we all have our quibbles with how golf is presented or how to move the golf broadcast into the future, but if nothing else the dispute highlighted just how devoted Golf Channel is to the game, and how competent the men and women are at bringing pro golf into our living rooms. Let's hope both sides agree and we never have to do this again!

Sony Open Coverage May Be "Limited" Due to Labor Dispute

No Laying Up first reported the issue and Golfweek's Forecaddie fleshes out what could be an uneven day of golf coverage on Golf Channel, with statements from some of the parties.

The issues involve a rejected contract by the IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts) and Golf Channel/NBC Sports.

Early coverage from the Web.com was very rocky, with PGA Champions Tour coverage from the Diamond Resorts Invitational smoother with only some audio and camerawork issues so far.

Sky Sports has already warned of Sony Open coverage being upended:

Rory Gives British Press Heart Scare With Heart Scare Revelation

Rory McIlroy gave The Telegraph's James Corrigan an update on his last three months of tournament inactivity and the Northern Irishman says his rib is fine, but revealed a recent heart scare.

“But I’ve got a bit of an irregularity with my heart that I have to keep on top of.

“I have a flat T-wave and I’ll have to get an echo [cardiogram] on my heart every six months and an MRI scan every year.”

After the story spread a bit uncontrollably, McIlroy took to Instagram to calm everyone down on Fleet Street. And among his fan bases.

A post shared by RORY (@rorymcilroy) on Jan 12, 2018 at 7:30pm PST

More noteworthy were Rory's comments to Corrigan in this item about Tiger's game, which he saw up-close before the Hero World Challenge following an invite to play from Woods.

“I was on my way there worrying thinking, ‘what will I see?’, but it was incredible,” McIlroy told Telegraph Sport. “My dad [Gerry] also played with us and we both couldn’t believe it. I remember mouthing to Dad, ‘WTF?’. And on the drive home afterwards, we said: ‘Where the hell did that come from?’ Tiger was that good; playing every shot, not having to hold back.

Whoa Nellie: R.I.P. Keith Jackson

The lifelong golfer and legendary broadcaster who will be remembered for his iconic college football work, gave one of his last on-camera interviews to Callaway Live.

This is from October, 2016:

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Brett Favre Would Rather See His Grandsons Play Golf

It's nice to see the quarterbacking great acknowledge the safety of the Royal and Ancient.

From Tom Schad of USA Today, quoting Favre on a concussions documentary the former Green Bay Packer has produced:

"I got three grandsons. I'm not going to encourage them to play football, I'm not going to discourage them, but I would much rather be a caddie for them in golf than watch them play football," Favre said on Tuesday's show. "And that's crazy. People say, 'I can't believe he would say that.' But you know, head injuries are going to continue. The quality of player is only going to go up, and that means concussions are not going to go down. So it's a scary issue."

“This new tax bill will really hurt golf.”

Golf course operator and former PGA of America President Ted Bishop opines for MorningRead.com on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's elimination of a the 50-percent tax deduction for business expenses.

Bishop says the golf industry changed for the worse when that deduction went from 100% to 50% and sees the problems continuing with the move to zero percent. He says this to President Donald Trump, who signed the bill into law:

Regardless of golfers’ political-party affiliation, the fact that a president who owns and operates golf clubs signed the legislation into law Dec. 22 was no Christmas gift for a struggling industry and is rich only in irony

Bishop isn't the only one seeing problems. There is this from Linda Rogers (R), Indiana State Senate candidate, a former president of the National Golf Course Owners Association.

“When the business write-offs for golf were cut to 50 percent in the 1990s, that was the start of the decline of the golf business, in my opinion,” she said. “This new tax bill will really hurt golf.”

We Are Golf head Steve Mona was unavailable for comment but there was this from Jay Karen, the chief executive officer of the National Golf Course Owners Association:

“No one has measured the scope of business golf spending, nor the behavioral changes that might occur with the removal of the deductibility,” Karen said. “Despite the chance for a negative impact, my hope is the effect will be marginal, at best.”

"If Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth were hitting the same clubs into greens as Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, or Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, they would be no less appealing."

Those who worry about distance gains expanding the footprint of golf used to be mocked and in general, were anti-capitalist technophobes. We still are in certain parts of Massachusetts.

But the worrying types are no longer mocked thanks in part to the USGA and R&A suggesting all was well and gains weren't happening in the same year we saw a reachable 687-yard par-5 in the U.S. Open. Now, a younger generation isn't really buying that massive distance gains are making professional golf more fun to watch, causing heartburn in the millennial-obsessed executive ranks who think the kids are shallow and only about the long ball.

So I urge the few stragglers who aren't buying our view to check out Bill Fields' short MorningRead.com piece entitled "Too much of a good thing."

I don’t know a critic of the current situation who has contempt for the golf-equipment R&D folks smart enough to design multi-layer, solid-core balls, big, thin-faced metal drivers or machines that allow players to optimize their gear – ingredients that have fueled where we are. But appreciating their ingenuity isn’t the same as believing that it has improved the essence or aesthetics of golf, particularly as played by the best in the world.

If Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth were hitting the same clubs into greens as Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, or Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, they would be no less appealing. If Justin Thomas were using the same iteration of club and ball as Greg Norman three decades ago, there is no reason to think his skills wouldn’t stand out as they did in his 2017 Player of the Year season. If, eventually, there occurs a sane throttling of what our eyes are seeing and the stats are documenting, the best still will be the best – and that will be so for those who manufacture the equipment as well as play it. Think of it as returning to the moon instead of trying to reach Mars. In a game, this game, the moon is enough.

You go Bill!

Anyway, read the whole piece. It's short. And good.

Gentle Ben Is 66, Jaden's Got Speed & More 1-11-18 Instagram

January 11th was Ben Crenshaw’s 66th birthday and the Criquet team posted this sweet shot of the two-time Masters champion practicing at Lions Muni, which he’s now working to save from University of Texas development.

From Criquet:

Happy Birthday Ben Crenshaw. Thank you for your dedication to the game and to preserving Lions Municipal Golf Course (@savemuny) here in Austin. Photo by @brenthumphreysphoto for @gardenandgun

A post shared by Criquet Shirts (@criquetshirts) on Jan 11, 2018 at 2:08pm PST

And Ben today playing Lions…

Ben Crenshaw turns 66 today, and we're guessing he'll be able to shoot his age just fine for awhile. Here he is at his childhood haunt, @savemuny in #atx. Said Jack Nicklaus to @matt_ginella , "While the game has given so much to Ben, he continues to give back through his work as a wonderful designer and a true ambassador." What's your favorite Coore-Crenshaw design? (📸 @brandontuckergc )

A post shared by Golf Advisor (@golfadvisor) on Jan 11, 2018 at 7:56am PST

The sweetest-swinging Dodger fan I know, Jaden Soong, is all about speed in 2018. Keep up the great work big guy!

TBT.. my best swing in 2017.. @jamesjordangolf SPEED SPEED SPEED.. looking forward to more for 2018!!!☺️💪🏌️‍♂️ * * * * #underarmour #uanext #espn #sportscenter #golfchannel #golf #golfswing #callawaygolf #progolfswing #younggunzelite #jordanspieth #rorymcilroy #tigerwoods #genesisopen #golfgods #barstoolsports

A post shared by Jaden R. Soong (@jadenrsoong) on Jan 11, 2018 at 8:17am PST

Most won’t ever get in the gates of Seth Raynor's Mountain Lake, but at least we know they have a mean Biarritz thanks to the Outpost Club:

What better way to start off the OC year than with a Seth Raynor gem. #biarritz #sethraynor #raynorretreat #whyilovethisgame #golf #golflife #golfcourse #golfcoursephotography #intsagolf #golfstagram photo by @mariovbellomo

A post shared by outpostclub (@outpostclub) on Jan 11, 2018 at 10:52am PST

A mesmerizing drone shot of Pebble Beach’s glorious 7th hole is also a reminder that the green has virtually none of its original shape:

Think you could hit the green from here? 🎯 📷 @hakan_paris #mypebblebeach #pebblebeach #7thhole #par3 . . . #golfstagram #heavenonearth #top100golf #beautifulgolfcourses #dronephotography #aerialview

A post shared by Pebble Beach Resorts (@pebblebeachresorts) on Jan 11, 2018 at 1:04pm PST