TPC Signature: Issue 7

LONE STAR SHINING

# 7 — s p r i n g 2016

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117 years until we end unconscious bias in the workplace?

Put gender on your agenda. #WomenFastForward ey.com/womenfastforward

a

Reade Tilley

publication

Matthew Squire

e d i to r

publisher

Robin Barwick

Matthew Halnan

m a n a g i n g e d i to r

a r t d i r e c to r

group art director

special thanks & contributors

Leon Harris junior designer

Kieron Deen Halnan founding contributor

Arnold Palmer special contributors

Cori Britt, Doc Giffin contributing photographers

Patrick Drickey, Dan Murphy / stonehousegolf.com, Getty Images, Meghan Tilley, Wake Forest Historical Museum, PGA TOUR vp , operations

Joe Velotta head of advertising sales

Jon Edwards advertising sales

Deric Piper Dean Jacobson Patrick Cadore Taylor Sargeant executive advisor

Carla Richards finance administrator

Philip Callis

Clive Agran Joe Buttitta Jeff Caulfield Craig Cliver Staci Cooper Shiel Costello Malcolm Crease Peter Dredge Matt Flory Brandon Gantt Christine Gorham Lauren Harrison Melanie Hauser Levi Hill Lisa O’Hurley Tijuana Jenkins KJ at Rocco’s Tacos Henry Marburger Larry Mize Pete Moison Ed Morris Dan Murphy Robert Nader John O’Leary Amblin Over Nick Punto Ginny Sanderlin Louise Scham Dave Shedloski Jennifer Smart Art Spander Jordan Spieth Kristen Wagner Bobby Weed

© 2016 TMC USA llc Reproduction without permission is prohibited. The articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinion of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publisher. The contents of advertisements and advertorials are entirely the responsibilty of advertisers.

No responsibility is taken for unsolicited submissions and manuscripts.

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cov e r i m ag e

Jordan Spieth, Texas, 2015

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Record crowds bode well

T

he New Year brings renewed promise of another exciting year of golf, after 2015 gave us one of the most exciting PGA TOUR seasons in recent memory.

As expected, the year started off with a bang at the fan-favorite Waste Management Phoenix Open hosted by TPC Scottsdale. A year removed from its renovation, crowds came in droves to the ‘Greatest Show on Grass’—breaking three previous attendance records in the process, including a new weekly attendance record of 618,365. Familiar faces from 2015 leaderboards showed up strong and there was no shortage of drama, which saw 23-year old Hideki Matsuyama narrowly edge Rickie Fowler in a playoff after beginning the final round trailing by three strokes. If this is a preview of the rest of the TPC tournament slate we are in for a treat.

Fast forward to April, which brings TPC-hosted events just about every single week. It all kicks off with the Web. com Tour’s Servientrega Championship presented by Efecty April 4–10 at TPC Cartagena, one of our newest Caribbean properties. The following week sees TPC Sugarloaf play host to the PGA TOUR Champions’ Mitsubishi Electric Classic in Duluth, Georgia. TPC San Antonio is the spot for the TOUR’s annual Valero Texas Open, which saw a hometown hero Jimmy Walker win last year, with another Texas native, Jordan Spieth as the runner-up. Take a look inside this issue as Walker recalls that exciting finish and for an in-depth look at TPC San Antonio’s two championship golf courses and adjacent resort.

April’s jam-packed schedule ultimately ends up in

‘The Big Easy’, where the best in music, classic Cajun cuisine and professional golf combine for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Just two short weeks later, golf fans will flock to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida for the ‘fifth major’, THE PLAYERS Championship at the PGA TOUR’s flagship property, TPC Sawgrass. The world watched in 2015 as Fowler owned the Stadium Course’s island green after Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner tied him to force the first three-hole playoff in PLAYERS history. Mark your calendars for May 10–15 because if history has taught us anything, it’s that magic happens on Hole 17 and you don’t want to miss it.

In total, TPCs will host 19 events across the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Web.com Tour and PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Tour in 2016, giving fans across the globe an opportunity to view golf at the highest level all year long. Even better, fans can walk the same fairways as their favorite TOUR players with a tee time, vacation or membership to one of our 34 properties in the United States and Caribbean, all of which were designed to host the most prestigious events in golf. No matter how you plan to enjoy the game in 2016, we invite you to make the TPC Network your home for great golf.

Charlie Zink Co-Chief Operating Officer PGA TOUR

spring 2016

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editor’s

letter

In Praise of Perspective

W

e all had teachers who ruled their classrooms as despots rule their kingdoms, offering fully armed responses to even the most minor of infractions while wielding maxims by the likes of France’s 17th century Cardinal Richelieu, who had it that “Harshness towards individuals who flout the laws and commands of the state is for the public good; no greater crime against the public interest is possible than to show leniency to those who violate it.”

But then some of us also had teachers like Wake Forest’s “Pop” Carroll, by all accounts a genial astronomy professor who didn’t mind when Arnold Palmer slipped out of class five minutes after it had begun (p100). Arnie knew he didn’t want to be an astronomer and Prof. Carroll did as well, and so rather than threaten the young golfer’s athletic scholarship and reputation by tying his position at Wake Forest to his ability to calculate the outset temperature of primordial nucleosynthesis (116 gigakelvin), Prof. Carroll reportedly just said, “Hit ’em good today, Arnie!” as he watched Palmer slip out of class—every time.

What if Prof. Carroll had punished Palmer with hours of fruitless labor in the astronomy department? Or worse yet: what if he’d had Arnie dropped from college somehow?

It’s easy to imagine that if Palmer was sitting through every hour of astronomy class he would have had less time to practice golf, and if Palmer wasn’t practicing it doesn’t take the Callan-Symanzik equation to understand the potential impact to his game and, by extension, to the sport in general.

Ergo, by Prof. Carroll having perspective he allowed Arnold Palmer to slip out of class to practice golf. By allowing Palmer to practice golf, Prof. Carroll helped Palmer to change the world. Ergo, Prof. Carroll changed the world.

Here’s to Prof. Carroll, then, and to all teachers who invest themselves in helping their students to be all they can be, even if those students’ talents lie outside the parameters of a specific academic discipline. This issue of TPC Signature features powerboat luminaries Mal Crease and Peter Dredge (p144), the work of audio genius John Bowers (p148), hard-driving infielder Nick Punto (p96), veteran sportscaster Joe Buttitta (p90), BBQ maestro Brandon Gantt (p150), top golf course photographer Dan Murphy (p109) and so many more, all of whom likely benefitted from a teacher who knew when to push and when to back off. To all such professors, a hearty thank you from everyone here at TPC Signature. Heaven knows that the Copenhagen Interpretation still has us baffled, and we just thank our lucky stars that we won’t be quizzed on it tomorrow.

Living by the Palmer Dialectic: that negative numbers can be positive,

Reade Tilley

spring 2016

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publisher’s foreword

Turn Off, Tune Out, Tee Up

A

s a boy growing up, the talk was that computers would replace the work of man, allowing us all to live lives of increased leisure. Fast-forward 40 years and the Internet has revolutionized life, largely for the better. However, rather than having more leisure time, I—like many others—seem to be working harder and for longer hours than ever.

Accordingly, time with family, friends, on the golf course and enjoying life’s luxuries has become increasingly precious to me. And in my view this is where the digital boundaries need drawing: I cannot virtually hug my daughters, neither can I truly celebrate a wonderful round with friends over a virtual glass of Johnnie Walker Blue in a digital 19th hole nor test drive a new Bentley online. The very best experiences in life can only be shared in reality, in the now, not on a screen.

In the business world, similarly, digital communication has changed forever what is possible in a way that all of us in media are eager to embrace. But luxury brands, resorts and the golf industry also need to act with consideration.

The Internet is wonderful tool for consumers seeking to compare prices, but does it always build value for brands?

If I compare leather bags online and one is $150 and one is $6,000, what makes me desire the $6,000 luxury option?

Certainly not the price comparison site, search engine nor the aggravating “pop up,” that’s for sure.

For daily fee courses the promise of tee-time booking engines was to radically increase business, whereas for many

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spring 2016

the net result is all they have done is driven prices down, put costs up and commoditized what should be a treasured golf experience.

Likewise the decision to join a private club has to be made for emotional, social, golfing and personal reasons. If golfers stop perceiving that real value of being a private member and start to compare online the price of membership versus the aggregated cost of rounds played, then the universal club member experience we enjoy today will be reduced down to that of a souless transactional item.

Maybe we should all take a leaf out of Pine Valley’s Golf Club’s book on exclusivity and not have a website at all. Arguably America’s No.1, the club is not only thriving, but I have also never seen a pro shop so small generate such enormous revenue. In any case, I sincerely hope you enjoy this latest issue of TPC Signature—whether you have a printed copy in hand or are reading online!

Matthew Squire

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Issue 7 Spring 2016

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Taking to the hills

Viva Tampa

Deep in Heart

When it comes to big-sized thrills and even bigger stories, look to TPC San Antonio and the Valero Texas Open

TPC Tampa Bay has a new look, a new restaurant and all the great golf one can manage: are you ready?

Hogan, Nelson, Spieth...

What’s in the water down there? Texas and the game, in all of its glory

48 56 64 70 82 90 96 100 109 115

Return of the champ Jordan Spieth made an emotional return to Augusta National Taking on Augusta Arnold Palmer’s strategy at the Masters Masters plan Where to stay and play during Georgia’s busiest week No.16s Our dream courses continue with 16th holes Local Produce Examples of greatness that came in clusters Calling home Sportscasters’ signature calls on the biggest hit in baseball Nick Punto Newly retired, the infielder will have time to get that .5 handicap down...

Yearbook Wake Forest memories from a few of Arnie’s classmates How [not] to take bad pictures Your golf course photos look like lawns? We’ll fix it TPC Signature Holes A feast for any golfer’s eyes, courtesy of the TPC Network

spring 2016

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Issue 7 Spring 2016

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Bold & Beautiful

Over the top

La Vida Margarita

Bentley’s Flying Spur might be the marque’s finest example of balance yet—and you can’t help but notice

The secret to great BBQ is the sauce, according to a man who knows a thing or two about fast service and slow cooking

Artisan takes on the tequila favorite from the expert mixologists at Rocco’s Tacos in Orlando

123 138 144 148 160 164 170 174 178

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Gift Guide Step into spring with these fine products Stories of the Rhine Loving life on a luxury river cruise Wicked fast Vector Martini Racing is putting powerboat racing back on the map Solid gold Top audio firm Bowers & Wilkins celebrates its 50th anniversary Your Life, Your Solution Bespoke life insurance solutions from CastleRe Insurance Golf Safari Walk softly (in custom-fit shoes)—it’s a jungle out there Green season The top team at APDC is designing the future of golf The Mighty 3 Everything you need to know about hitting a 3-wood off the deck Light speed The superlative Concorde

spring 2016

Local resident Jimmy Walker was a popular champion at the 2015 Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio

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Stretching across southern reaches of Texas Hill Country, TPC San Antonio is taking golf in Texas to new heights

O

ne of the most memorable Sunday afternoons of the 2015 PGA TOUR season was played out at TPC San Antonio last March. In the final round of the Valero Texas Open the crowds swarmed around the final group; tournament leaders for whom they had been rooting all week with local resident Jimmy Walker going head to head with a 21-year-old Texan two weeks away from re-writing Masters records at Augusta, Jordan Spieth. The 2014 FedExCup champion, Florida’s Billy Horschel, added stardust to the three-ball but he would be the support act on this occasion.

It was not just the local connections that gave this final group so much kudos. Walker—Oklahoma-born but resident 35 minutes north of TPC San Antonio in Boerne—had already won once in 2015 and led the FedExCup ranking going into the Valero Texas Open, while Spieth—Dallas born and bred and former University of Texas star—had won his last start, at the Valspar Championship, and was hot on Walker’s heels in the FedExCup in second place. Walker took a four-shot cushion into the final round, but on the AT&T Oaks Course even a four-shot lead can vanish in the flash of a loose long iron.

TAKING TO THE HILLS spring 2016

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Jordan Spieth [right] in action at the 2015 Valero Texas Open, while playing partners Jimmy Walker [left] and Billy Horschel [center] look on

“I’ve come out here a few times and I know its little quirks and tendencies.

When the wind blows even par is a really good score” - Jimmy Walker “It’s a hard golf course,” confirms 37-year-old Walker, “and a four-shot lead can evaporate pretty fast. I had to really stay on top of what I was doing. Everybody was making bogeys, everybody was making birdies, so nothing really felt safe.”

Local knowledge was a factor and not a golfer in the field knew the course—which has staged the Valero Texas Open since 2010—better than Walker.

“The more I play here the more comfortable I get,” says Walker, who likes to make the short journey down to TPC San Antonio to practice in the build up to the tournament each year. “I’ve come out here a few times and I know its little quirks and tendencies. When the wind blows even par is a really good score.”

Head Professional Robert Nader joined the team at TPC San Antonio two months before the resort opened in

January 2010, and he knows its two golf courses as well as anyone. “The AT&T Oaks Course is all-around a truly difficult golf course,” he says. “Golfers need to be accurate off the tee and into the greens and when golfers miss a green they are likely to find some trouble. The golf course is a difficult test physically and mentally. Sometimes you just need to hang in there and outlast it. It challenges every part of a golfer’s game so it is a great place to find out where a golfer is on a competitive level.

“The TOUR players are thinking about the green when they are on the tee and working out what the best approach shot will be, so a particular pin location dictates what kind of tee shot they will play. If a pin is tucked on the left-hand side of a green then the golfers probably want to come in from the right-hand side of the fairway to give them more green to work with on their approach. It is a difficult test and if golfers place their shots in the wrong places there is always the chance their score will blow-up on them.”

Just ask PGA TOUR golfer Kevin Na. Playing the par-4 ninth hole in the first round of the 2011 Valero Texas Open, Na clocked up a 16 after repeatedly failing to extricate his ball from thick woods to the left of the fairway.

He set a PGA TOUR scoring record for a par-4 after an escapade that included two attempts off the tee, a couple left-handed swipes in the woods, an air shot and worst of

spring 2016

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all, a two-stroke penalty when his beaten-up ball bit back, rebounding off a tree and striking Na in the leg.

“You can get on the wrong side out here pretty quick,” adds Walker. “It’s that kind of golf course. It’s hard, so you have to really concentrate and hit the right golf shots.”

That is exactly what Walker did in the final round last year. He stayed out of the woods, found the greens and when Spieth made a late charge with four straight birdies from the 14th, Walker holed a couple of clutch birdie putts of his own to keep Spieth at bay and win by four.

“It was a cool week and the golf course was in great

morning and then move across to watch PGA TOUR golf in the afternoon.”

That’s what you call a golf day and therein lies the magic of being a resort with a pair of TPC golf courses; the Oaks, designed by Greg Norman with Sergio Garcia as player consultant, and Pete Dye’s Canyons Course, both of which opened in unison six years ago with the 1,000-room JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa. The Canyons course also has a PGA TOUR heritage of its own, having staged the San Antonio Championship on the PGA TOUR Champions from 2011 to 2015.

The 11th hole on the AT&T Canyons Course [left] and Jimmy Walker [right] with the Valero Texas Open trophy last year

shape,” says Walker, a five-time winner on the PGA TOUR. “It played hard and the greens were really firm. You had to be very careful. Just to play that well at home in front of everybody was amazing, with that huge support and having everybody there for me. I don’t know how else to describe it. It was special.”

It was a “cool week” for many of the 400 members at TPC San Antonio too, who enjoyed certain perks to their home club hosting a PGA TOUR event, as Matt Flory, General Manager at TPC San Antonio, explains: “A lot of our members enjoy the private members suite on the course, and they get to attend a private clinic with a golfer in the field, and there are about 10 Honorary Observer spots around the course where our members can walk inside the ropes, so the majority of our members use the tournament as a time to enjoy the fact that many of the world’s best golfers are playing at their home club.

“The AT&T Canyons Course also stays open during tournament week and it is right next to the AT&T Oaks course, so our members and guests can play golf in the

“One of the great features of TPC San Antonio is how different the two golf courses are from one another,” adds Head Professional Nader. “The AT&T Oaks Course is a phenomenal test and also beautiful with a lot of cedar and oak trees. The AT&T Canyons course is a challenging and fun course to play. There is more room from the tees so golfers can hit their ball a little bit offline yet still find the fairway, but then they are hitting into much smaller greens so there is an emphasis on the second shot on this course.

“Pete Dye creates a lot of fun on his golf courses with different visual perspectives and with his bunkering. When you stand on the tee there are often a lot of visible points that can play with your mind a little. Sometimes it might appear that there is little room on the fairway, but then when you actually get out there you see there is plenty of room. Those sightlines and the questions Dye asks of golfers make this a really fun course to play. You can score pretty well and there are a lot of tee boxes to challenge players of all skill levels.

“There are nine holes that go out and nine that come

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The next step for TPC San Antonio is to extend its appeal beyond Texas and neighboring states back, so golfers get a long way from the center of the resort and out there it is very quiet. The golf course gets you out into nature and with such a variable topography there are a couple tees in particular when you can see out for miles and miles.

“Our members enjoy having two completely different golf courses here.”

Adds Flory: “The Oaks Course is very traditional.

It is tree-lined and features a lot of doglegs and it does not really marry the typical topography you see in this area, whereas the Canyons Course features very dramatic elevation changes and is more typical of the Texas Hill Country, with a background of breathtaking views over the Cibolo Canyons.”

Complementing 36 holes of world-class golf and practice facilities and the JW Marriott accommodations are a multitude of resort restaurants and even a giant waterpark that has just been extended in time for Spring 2016. There is plenty here to keep the membership content and to keep visitors returning.

“It is a really notable property far beyond the two golf courses,” adds Flory, who joined TPC San Antonio nearly a year ahead of its 2010 opening. “We are golf-focused and it certainly helps having two courses that are very different in design but with the hotel, restaurants, spa and water park the resort’s amenities as a whole are genuinely unmatched The 13th green on the AT&T Oaks Course

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spring 2016

in this area, and in most other regions too.

“Our key is that we are one of a rare breed of private resorts. We are a strictly private club that is not open to the public so if there are rounds of golf out there that we are not getting that is self-imposed from the standpoint of being a private club. Then the resort does a great job bringing in what we call the ‘accomplished guest’ who tends to play golf.”

The next step for TPC San Antonio is to extend its appeal beyond Texas and neighboring states.

“We do a fantastic job of bringing in golfers from within our region, but we do have some work to do to get our name out beyond our region and to a national scope,” admits Flory. “We have a lot of Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma residents driving in and we have to allow some time to grow our reach given that we have only been open for six years.

“In that regard the Valero Texas Open is a great advertisement for us. We ask our guests, ‘How did you hear about TPC San Antonio?’, and the number one response is always because of the PGA TOUR event, month in and month out, and the TV networks do a fantastic job of highlighting the full property during tournament week.”

More final-round dramatics enacted by golfers like Walker and Spieth in the Valero Texas Open will ensure the guest list at TPC San Antonio continues to reach further from its home in the Hill Country.

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Viva Tampa TPC Tampa Bay has a fresh look, an award-winning new restaurant and a tremendous Bobby Weed-designed course.

No wonder it’s one of the best operations anywhere.

S

panish explorers in the mid-16th century found Florida’s Tampa Bay area a morass of heat and thick native grasses, difficult to navigate and nearly impassable on foot. Golf course architect Bobby Weed thought the same thing, and so when it was time to design what would become TPC Tampa Bay, Weed saddled up.

“It’s the only way we could see anything because the grass was so high,” he told us. “You couldn’t see any of the stakes marking the layout—the tee stake, angle-turn stake at the landing area, the green stake … You couldn’t see them because of the grass. There were some stables nearby and we talked them into saddling up a few horses for us. My wife was with me over a few weekends, so we rode the site a couple of times, got comfortable with the stakes, made adjustments until we had the preferred way, and then we got that tall, scrubby grass knocked down.”

When it opened in 1991, TPC Tampa Bay was immediately considered one of the best golf courses—if not the best course—in the area, earning a four-and-a-half star rating from Golf Digest’s “Places to Play” and appearing among the top courses in Golf World Magazine’s “Reader’s Choice Poll” and in numerous state and local publications.

TPC Tampa Bay was the proud host to the Champions Tour Event for 21 consecutive years and has top ratings in online reviews for both top course conditions and the excellent level of service provided.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the club also boasts a reinvigorated personality, thanks to new owners Heritage Golf Group and a $1.4 million facelift that’s seen the addition of a top-rated restaurant, ¡CUATRO

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(a play on the word “fore”), along with upgraded locker rooms, bathrooms, common areas and pro shop.

“I kind of feel like it’s TPC Tampa Bay 2.0,” says General Manager Craig Cliver. “We’ve just spent a tremendous amount of money on the infrastructure, and invested a lot of sweat and money into the property. We’ve always had a golf course that’s been a ’10,’ but the rest of the facility was a mid-1990s facility. Now, we finally have a clubhouse and facilities that are equal to the golf course.”

Ah, the course. By the time the grass was knocked down and Weed could dismount and start properly building TPC Tampa Bay’s track, he had something special in mind.

A longtime student and personal friend of maestro Pete Dye, Weed said a lot of Dye’s strategy and perspective came into play designing TPC Tampa Bay. “There were maybe three trees on the entire site, and the rest of it was tall grass, scrubby,” explains Weed. “There were a number of wetlands on the site, filled in on the edge with Cypress trees, which we were always going to protect and which were going to be part of the design—we weren’t cutting any of that stuff down.

“It was always going to be a development golf course, so we had to work with the land planner on that, as the two had to go hand in hand. So we had to be sensitive to the development layout as well as the wetlands. And then of course we had to build a good golf course.”

After balancing environmental concerns, developmental plans and other challenges, the resulting course was a monumental achievement with a massive amount of dirt moved, all kinds of variables considered and many hours

I feel like it’s TPC Tampa Bay 2.0 —the work here has been incredible of both drawing board work and sweat equity poured into the project. Rather than simply routing a solid track with a few “Wow!” moments, Weed said the entire plan was for balanced excellence across a series of technical challenges.

“I don’t really endorse the ‘signature hole,’” he says.

“I’m trying to build 18 good golf holes. The media may come out with something like that, but from my perspective I’m always trying to build 18 good holes. If anything, the land was completely flat and so I was more concerned with draining the site, with cut and fill: cut for your lakes and fill the other areas. The main thing on a flat site is that ultimately you make sure it all drains. If it doesn’t drain, it doesn’t work.”

In fact, Weed ended up with plenty of elevation, going with the Stadium Course format of creating raised areas along fairways to accommodate fans and plenty of strategy to keep things interesting.

“You’re going to have holes left-to-right and rightto-left. You’re going to set greens to, overall, give you good balance. It’s all about angles: creating angles, left-to-right and right-to-left angles to set up strategies.”

Comparing the site to Dye’s work at TPC Louisiana, another site that presented a rather flat canvas with which to work, Weed emphasizes the strategic elements of designing for such topography and adds that while he’s influenced by Dye’s work, he gave TPC Tampa Bay his own touch.

“Well we’re going on a about a 40-year relationship, both professional and personal,” Weed says of Dye, “so yeah, not only is he my mentor, he’s one of my best friends and I’ve been really fortunate to work with him. We’ve continued to collaborate over many, many years. I think he’s the best modern day architect of our time. And like I said before, it’s all about creating angles, left-to-right and right-to-left. He probably does his a little more linear, and on [TPC Tampa Bay] we didn’t go quite so linear with some of our features. Nonetheless there are similarities when it comes to a lot of the design-related items such as creating situations where you have to think about strategy from the

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tee all the way in through the green. You get a lot of that being on site and personally shaping the features. I got all of that working with Pete and I understand that there’s no substitute for being on site and working in the field.”

Weed’s hands-on approach worked, as the course is popular with locals and with visitors alike.

“It’s a tremendous golf course,” says Cliver. “It’s all the golf you’d want to play but not the kind of course that bloodies your nose every time you come out. That’s the thing that I think is the real art of a great golf course, designing a course that you want to play over and over is the hard part, and that’s this kind of golf course.”

While TPC Tampa Bay is accessible to players of all levels, Cliver emphasizes that it is a pro-level course and that it’s best if you bring your game when playing here.

“The good thing about this golf course is you tee off the first couple of holes and it warms up to you. But by the back 9 it expects you to know where you’re hitting it. As opposed to punching you in the mouth right off the bat, it really doesn’t expect you to bring it until the back 9, starting at 13 and 14. When you get into 15, 16, 17 and 18, you’d better be warmed up by then.”

When visitors to TPC Tampa Bay come off the course—noses bloodied or not—there’s a whole new world of hospitality awaiting, and that starts with the reinvigorated clubhouse.

“The bones of the building are the same, but starting from the entrance everything is new in there. The restrooms now have subway tile walls, there are white tiles in the entrance and new dark carpeting throughout. It’s a very modern, sleek look. There’s marble everywhere in the restaurant, which has a big, massive marble bar, and a fantastic draught array for the beer. We have six high-top tables, industrial marble tables that look like they were built into the facility. I don’t even know how many inches of televisions we have—two 60-inch TVs, two 50-inch TVs—and an extensive bourbon list and wine list for those with discerning palates. The locker room showers were all redone, the locker rooms have new carpeting and have been modernized, the ladies’ is totally redone, and it just goes on and on.”

The pro shop, specifically, is not only a new design for TPC Tampa Bay, but it’s a completely new take on the idea of what a clubhouse pro shop should be.

“We’ve moved from a traditional pro shop to a ‘general store’ feel, to the point where it’s now called ‘The Shop at TPC Tampa Bay.’ There’s a kids’ corner for that grandparent that comes into town, beautiful ladies cashmere throws for that guy who wants to bring back something nice for his wife, and so much more… It’s more of a hotel, resort, ‘boutique’ feel. Now, of course, we have the staples: tremendous fitting carts and everything you normally need to play golf, but then we throw a wrinkle in it with honey and candles. We even have a John Deere tricycle in the shop next to a surfboard

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¡CUATRO With a name inspired by a fun take on the word “fore” and also combining four culinary traditions, TPC Tampa Bay’s new eatery isn’t just one of the best clubhouse restaurants in the area, it’s one of the best restaurants period.

“It will rival most restaurants anywhere,” says General Manager Craig Cliver. And he isn’t kidding. Executive Chef Benjamin Clark worked with lauded Chef Michael Toscano (formerly of Thomas Keller’s Bouchon and Sous Chef to Mario Batali at Babbo) to create a menu that celebrates Florida’s freshest local ingredients while offering incredible signature cocktails and a fantastic setting. Already claiming numerous victories in culinary competition, the restaurant is a must-visit while in the Tampa Bay area and the perfect end to a beautiful day at TPC Tampa Bay. Visit tpctampabay.com and cuatrotampa.com to learn more about TPC Tampa Bay and ¡CUATRO restaurant.

from the Johnny O line, and [shop manager] Justin just won ‘Merchandiser of the Year’ in the chapter.”

All of the special touches with the new clubhouse mean that guests and members are receiving an upgraded environment and opportunities, no question, but it wouldn’t mean a thing without the staff at TPC Tampa Bay providing excellent service, which they do. That, combined with Weed’s inspired layout, is at the heart of TPC Tampa Bay, and that’s ultimately why it’s one of the most successful operations in the state, never mind in its region.

“We have a tremendous following locally because the golf course is that good,” says Cliver. “And then as people come into town for various events, flying in from the Northeast, the Midwest, and so on, the fans continue to grow. We can’t keep enough Wisconsin logo ball markers in the shop! More and more types of people are becoming our clientele, and just like our local members we’ll continue to ensure that everyone has a tremendous experience here.”

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Byron Nelson

Deep in the Heart 36

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Ben Hogan Ben Crenshaw

Maybe it’s waking up to wide-open vistas every morning or always hearing what might sound like the roar of a crowd in those winds.

Whatever it is, a lot of Texans have done right well in golf. Scion of the state and lauded writer Melanie Hauser, who shared a class with Ben Crenshaw at University of Texas, explains why the Lone Star State tees it up so well

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B efore you read any further, there is one thing you need to understand: the Scots may well have invented golf centuries ago, but it was Texans who pretty much perfected it. No, don’t shake your head. This isn’t just some of that famous bragging you’ve heard rising up from down deep in the heart of the Lone Star State.

No state has a richer history or broader array of iconic players, fascinating characters and game-changing inventions. Nor can any other state match the sheer volume of honest-to-goodness true tales that are spun—not just told—on the tees, in the locker rooms and at the bars of Texas.

To be bluntly honest, golf hasn’t been the same since Ben Hogan invented practice. Tiger Woods forced golfers into the gym 20 years ago and Hogan had a comparable impact on the practice ground 50 years before. He also set the standard for how deep a man can dig from within with his miracle comeback from a near-fatal, head-on car accident. Then there were the temperature records from an ice-cold stare that could wither an opponent with the same precision with which Hogan’s shot-making took down a golf course.

To Byron Nelson, Hogan’s lifetime friend; two names mentioned in the same breath as much as Palmer, Nicklaus and Player. Nelson and Hogan, fellow caddies at Glen Garden Golf Course in Fort Worth, laid the foundations for the explosion of golf in post-war America that Palmer would spearhead on color TV. In 1945 Nelson won 11 consecutive tournaments and 18 in total that year; man will reach the sun before anyone gets near that record.

A year later, the gentleman revered as much for his character as he was for his elegant swing bought a ranch and retired from competition, although he would remain a figurehead for the sport. The hardest decision for a professional athlete is when to stop competing. Many wait until injury forces the decision but not Nelson, who never lost sight of a broader picture. Nelson was one of the finest players ever, but he drew his inspiration from simple things like faith, honesty, love and grace. We still marvel at his 1945 season but we are in awe, too, of the faith he had in himself to step away in the prime of his career.

There was a marked contrast between the personalities of Hogan and Nelson—something the writers could grab and shake around—but Houston-born Jimmy Demaret came from a different dimension. No one could keep up with him. Whether it was delivering his legendary wisecracks and singing in hotel lobbies by night or winning tournaments by day, he was one of a kind and a man with his own vision. He and irascible buddy Jackie Burke from Fort Worth founded one of the few golf-only clubs in the country in Houston in 1957—Champions Golf Club—and in 1978, Demaret threw a little lawn party in Austin called the Legends of Golf that set the wheels in motion for what is now the multi-million-dollar PGA TOUR Champions.

Talking of legends, the stories of Lee Trevino will never dull. This young caddie from Dallas grew up hustling golfers by taking them on with a taped-up Dr. Pepper bottle for a club. It was Trevino who said: “You don’t know pressure until you play for five bucks a hole with only two bucks in your pocket.” The bottle probably did nothing for his swing but he wound up winning five major championships anyway.

Ben Crenshaw won the Masters twice with more emotion than a Janis Joplin ballad—remember: golfers don’t always have to keep their feelings suppressed—and there was Tom Kite’s windblown U.S. Open. Lefty Stackhouse, Titanic Thompson, names like comic-book heroes. Dave Williams and his 16 NCAA titles at the University of Houston. Kathy Whitworth, whose 88 US tour wins are

[Above] Kathy Whitworth, one of golf’s most prolific champions.

[Left] Lee Trevino brings his inimitable charm to Royal Birkdale

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the most by any player, male or female. Justin Leonard’s iconic putt to clinch the 1999 Ryder Cup and Harvey Penick, whose simplistic approach taught golf and life in the same lesson. Dave Marr’s wit and elegance. Tommy Bolt’s temper. Betsy Rawls and Betty Jameson. Ralph Guldahl and Lighthorse Harry Cooper.

And, of course, the river flows to Jordan Spieth, the fresh-faced, humble kid from Dallas who reached No. 1 in the world aged 22. He won the first two majors in 2015 and came this close to winning the other two. His achievement reminded the golfing world of the last golfer to win the first three majors of the year: Hogan, back in 1953. The comparison carries enough weight to crush most young pretenders, but Spieth went for three in a row in the [British] Open at St Andrews and nearly pulled it off, finishing just a shot shy of a play-off.

But perhaps this is too anecdotal. Let the statistics weigh in: Texans have won 14 Masters Green Jackets, a dozen U.S. Opens, five [British] Opens, 15 PGA Championships and a dozen Women’s U.S. Opens. Nine Texans have captained a total of 12 Ryder Cup teams and 22 Texans are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame—Whew!

Unity in rivalry As individuals the greatest Texas golfers are as disparate as their swings and personalities, but there’s a bond; deep roots connect them across generations, and those just can’t be broken. Consider the Champions dinner at the Masters: when Lord Byron stepped aside as host of that annual occasion he asked Crenshaw to succeed him. It wasn’t a request, but rather a golden chalice bestowed from one man to his dear friend.

And when you look back through all those generations what catches the eye is how there wasn’t just one great player at any one time, but two or three or even more, pushing each other on. Nelson and Hogan were born six months apart in 1912, the same year Sam Snead came into this world. Demaret was two at the time and Guldahl was one. A few decades later, they would all be traversing the country on trains or in cars, making a living by playing a game they loved.

There were no world rankings back then, no private jets, social media or 24/7 news coverage, just tournaments,

With Demaret lighting their paths, Burke and Marr were the bridge between that first iconic group and a couple of Austin kids, Crenshaw and Kite Jimmy Demaret shined in the early Masters tournaments

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money lists and long car journeys. Hogan and Nelson would pretty much keep to themselves on the road, while Demaret was the life of every lobby and he usually closed the night down. Despite their opposing personalities it is seldom remembered that Demaret and Hogan were in fact firm friends. On the course Demaret was fierce, never doubting a shot and seldom missing one.

One morning Demaret awoke at Pebble Beach after one of those long nights and it had snowed. “I know I got loaded last night,’’ he said, “but how did I land up in Squaw Valley?”

Guldahl, an impressive figure at six-foot-three, was first up and out in that group, winning a pair of U.S. Opens in 1936 and 1937 and three Western Opens, but after that the desire began to fade. Ironically, Nelson’s first Masters win came in 1937 when he beat Guldahl. Three years later, Demaret won the first of his three Masters and in 1946 Hogan won his first major, the PGA Championship.

Hogan, who lived no more than 30 minutes away from Nelson their entire lives, was driven by the game. He was the best ball striker golf has seen, spending hours on the range practicing every shot he could conceive. He struggled early in his career but broke through and was already one of the great players when his career was almost cut short by that horrific car accident in 1949.

He and wife Valerie were hit head-on by a Greyhound bus near Van Horn, Texas. He threw himself across his wife and suffered a double-fracture of his pelvis, a fractured collarbone, fractured left ankle, a chipped rib and blood clots. Doctors didn’t know if he would ever walk again, but he left the hospital 59 days later, played the 1950 season and, in 1953, won five of the six tournaments in which he played, including three majors.

Hogan’s playing career didn’t end until the first round of the 1971 Houston Champions International when he took a nine on a par-3 and wrenched his knee.

He withdrew and that was it. Hogan never played another competitive round.

Burke and Marr had pretty much grown up together on the golf courses of Houston. Marr once won a shotgun as a prize for winning a junior tournament—yep, a gun was a prize at a junior tournament (Marr’s playing partner that day, Bobby Moncrief, opted for a power lawnmower)—but he didn’t hold on to the weapon for long, losing it after 18 holes the next day in a bet with a young Tommy Bolt.

With Demaret lighting their paths, Burke and Marr were the bridge between that first iconic group and a couple of Austin kids, Crenshaw and Kite.

Burke was the better player, winning 16 times on tour, including both the Masters and PGA Championship in 1956.

Marr went to work for Claude Harmon at Winged Foot and didn’t start playing on tour until 1960. He won five times and one of them was the 1965 PGA Championship.

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Ben Hogan and his wife, Valerie, after Hogan won the 1953 Masters

Hogan, who lived no more than 30 minutes away from Nelson their entire lives, was driven by the game Burke left the tour to open Champions GC with Demaret in 1957. At the time the area was in the middle of nowhere. A kind of can’t-get-there-from-here place, but Demaret and Burke had a vision of a golf-only club and made it happen. To this day, the club roster is filled with an impressive number of single-digit handicappers and is the only club in the country to number four PGA Champions as members over the years. It even had three men—and one six iron—that went to the moon.

Burke became one of the great teachers of the short game and had everyone from Crenshaw to Hal Sutton and Phil Mickelson drop by for lessons. Marr, meanwhile, followed Demaret by taking his story-telling talents to television where he spent almost 20 years commentating with ABC. No one was quicker with a phrase and a story.

The great Texas triangle Among the past glories celebrated at the World Golf Hall of Fame is a unique trio from Austin; the legendary Penick and his protégés Crenshaw and Kite.

Ben was 10 when he and his older brother Charlie were playing at Austin Country Club one day and a new kid, just moved down from Dallas, asked if he could join them.

He had a serious look about him and a pro golf bag almost as big as he was and his name was Tom Kite.

That was the start of a long rivalry and friendship and very soon an unbreakable bond with the club pro. Having caddied there since the age of eight, Penick took the head pro’s job at Austin when he graduated from high school and his list of students couldn’t be more impressive, starting with Rawls, Whitworth, Kite and Crenshaw. In Penick’s later years he teamed with Texan author Bud Shrake on a best-selling series of books that delivered his homespun teachings to a global audience. ‘Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book’ cleared its first million in sales over 20 years ago.

Penick never worked with Kite and Crenshaw together because he knew just how different they were; Crenshaw was a natural while Kite was a grinder. As kids you’d find Crenshaw at the pool while Kite would be on the range and Penick knew exactly what each player needed.

They played against each other in high school—

Crenshaw at Austin High; Kite at McCallum—and together at the University of Texas, where they won two NCAA team titles and Crenshaw won two individual titles and shared a third with Kite. They wanted a playoff but the NCAA denied them.

Crenshaw’s career was one of ups and downs, twists and turns. He won his first official PGA Tour start at the 1973 Texas Open and that—coupled with his charisma— had everyone talking about ‘Gentle Ben’ and his putter, ‘Little Ben’. His career ebbed and flowed and in 1984 he got that first major championship at the Masters. His last win came there too—an emotional, tear-stained tribute to his teacher, just a week after Penick died.

Kite’s career was marked by consistency. He shut down practice ranges, became the first player to reach the $6 million, $7 million, $8 million and $9 million marks in PGA Tour earnings and for years was the tour’s career leading money winner. He ground his way to wins and came so frustratingly close in so many majors before winning his, the 1992 U.S. Open.

Remarkably—or was it destined?—Crenshaw and Kite ended their regular tour careers with 19 wins each and were back-to-back Ryder Cup captains, Kite in 1997, Crenshaw in 1999.

Innovative minds

e dg

Tom Kite won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 1992

Te x a

sW e

A lot of people don’t know it was a Houston Country Club member and car dealer with severe arthritis, Dick Jackson, who took an industrial maintenance cart and designed the first golf cart during World War II, so he could ride around the golf course instead of enduring his increasingly painful walks. Another Houston member, E.K. MacClain, crafted the first sand wedge back in 1929, which Walter Hagen subsequently manufactured. But there was a problem: this club had a concave face and was ruled illegal, opening the way for Gene Sarazen to take the bows for his modern sand wedge a few years later. And of course there’s the Texas wedge; the go-to shot for so many players—using a putter rather than a wedge from off the green—which was adopted to battle dry, hard-running greens whipped by the Texas wind.

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An enduring spirit A year ago, Crenshaw and those close to him were already talking about the seamless Texas symmetry that might unfold during Masters week in 2015. Crenshaw was about to play his final competitive rounds at Augusta and Spieth looked poised to win his first major, having finished runner-up at Augusta in 2014. The nearer the Masters came the more ready Spieth looked. He and caddie Michael Greller had picked the brains of Crenshaw and longtime Augusta caddie Carl Jackson for inside knowledge on everything about the course. Faultless execution is usually coupled with thorough preparation.

Crenshaw knew there was something special about Spieth the first time he met him, and the golf world saw it when, as a 16-year-old amateur, he tied for 16th at the 2010 Byron Nelson Championship at TPC Four Seasons, Las Colinas in Irving. Five years later he set a clutch of scoring records in winning by four shots and slipping on the first of what might well be a few Green Jackets.

Thriving TOUR tradition The PGA TOUR will stop in Texas for five tournaments on its 2016 schedule and the Valero Texas Open is the elder statesman of the pack. Inaugurated in 1922, it has become one of the great institutions of American golf and is the third-oldest tournament on the PGA TOUR. Always held in San Antonio, the tournament’s home since 2010 has been the AT&T Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio. The roll of Texas Open past winners reads like a history lesson of the greatest players of the last century, including Walter Hagen (1923), Byron Nelson (1940), Ben Hogan (1946), Sam Snead (1948, 1950), Arnold Palmer (1960, 1961, 1962), Ben Crenshaw (1973, 1986), Lee Trevino (1980) and Justin Leonard (2000, 2001, 2007). The defending champion this year is San Antonio resident Jimmy Walker.

Since the turn of the millennium, no PGA TOUR event has raised more charitable funds than the Valero Texas Open. It raised $10.5 million in 2015 alone and became only the fourth PGA TOUR event to surpass $100 million in total charitable donations.

Spieth came of age at only 22 and he represents a striking blend of the Texans who went before him Crenshaw watched that win from his home in Austin and fired off a text to Spieth when the final putt dropped: “I can’t wait to welcome you into the Masters Club. You are a Masters Champion. I’m so happy for you.” Then Crenshaw drove a few miles to the UT campus to see its famous tower bathed in orange in honor of the win. Two months later, Crenshaw was in front of the tower again, celebrating Spieth’s U.S. Open win.

By then, everyone was talking Grand Slam for the golden child, and he came tantalizingly close. Having finished tied for fourth in St Andrews, Spieth finished second at the PGA Championship, three shots behind winner Jason Day. Last year saw Spieth come of age at only 22, and he represents a striking blend of the Texans who went before him. He has the character of Nelson, the work ethic of Hogan and Kite, and gradually we are seeing emerge some of the charisma of Crenshaw, Demaret and Marr. We’re just wondering if he hides a hint of Tommy Bolt’s temper to complete the picture.

Spieth’s legacy is off and running. The questions that remain are just how good will he be in the next decade? And which now-tiny Texans will follow him?

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Jordan Spieth [left] has reaped the benefits from Ben Crenshaw’s intimate knowledge of Augusta National’s golf course

The Texas train kidnap Gene Sarazen is likely to be the only professional golfer ever kidnapped on a train. It was 1932 and Sarazen was heading east through Texas, having decided to pass up the Texas Open despite his train’s passage right through host city San Antonio. But the committee men of the Texas Open would do anything to add Sarazen’s name to their entry sheet. They found out Sarazen was aboard this train and took a westbound service to meet him. The group boarded Sarazen’s train 30 miles before San Antonio and in that short space of 30 miles they persuaded Sarazen—a golfer who would go on to complete the career Grand Slam at the 1935 Masters—to disembark for their tournament. How they convinced Sarazen remains uncovered but he could not have minded too much; Sarazen almost won, ultimately finishing a shot behind Clarence Clark.

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In the end he won only half of the majors on offer (no one’s perfect) but nonetheless 2015 was the year Jordan Spieth came of age— and he was only 22. The Texan usurped Rory McIlroy as the new world No.1 and made a strong statement on tour. Now, in 2016, the one to watch has become the man to beat. Here, Jordan Spieth spoke to Kingdom about his first return to Augusta National as reigning champion, and what it’s like to share a locker with a King words: Robin Barwick, with additional reporting by Art Spander

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The Masters presentation cabinet in the Champions’ Locker Room at Augusta National

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t was December and the end of a long and tremendously successful season. Jordan Spieth, Masters champion, U.S. Open champion and world No.1, took a few days out to enjoy one of the great benefits of owning one of those Green Jackets: he took his father up to Augusta National for a few rounds of golf.

The Spieths drove up Magnolia Lane, walked into the famous clubhouse and paused a minute to consider the tasteful decor: “There were two things that were unique about going back to Augusta National for the first time since winning, that really stood out,” starts Spieth in an interview with Kingdom earlier this year. “The first thing was going into the clubhouse and seeing the actual Masters trophy. A lot of people don’t realize there’s a Masters trophy at all, but there is—it’s huge—and it sits in the center of the room when you walk in through the main entrance to the clubhouse. Engraved on the trophy are all the winners and the runners-up, too. So my name was first on the trophy from finishing runner-up to Bubba in 2014, but this time I was able to go back to the trophy, pick out my name as 2014 runner-up, and then look one year down and there’s my name as the champion, with the winning score. That was really cool to see.

“Then, to even top that, we walked up to the Champions’ Locker Room and of course I had been interested to know all year who I would be sharing my locker with, and I didn’t know, but I walked up and saw my name with Mr. Palmer. That was pretty awesome.”

The Champions’ Locker Room is an intimate room of limited proportions, yet perfectly presented and recently renovated, where Masters champions share the hardwood lockers, with unobtrusive brass nameplates featuring many of the greatest players of recent generations. At the start of Masters week each year the champions’ Green Jackets are hung in their lockers, ready for their annual airing at the Tuesday night Champions’ Dinner.

The room has some serious history that pre-dates the Masters by 80 years, as it was part of the original 14-room Manor house that was built in 1854 by plantation owner Denis Redmon.

To discover he was sharing with Palmer was one of a few poignant moments last year that helped Spieth grasp the enormity of his achievements.

“In the Champions’ Locker Room they have like a presentation of what happened at the last Masters, which is pretty cool, and it brings back memories. It’s something I would like to continue to have in there, so we’ll work hard to win again and get back. As satisfying as it was to see my name there, it was definitely motivating, too.”

It has been 58 years since Palmer earned his locker in that room, after winning the first of his four Masters titles in 1958, and Spieth is his third locker buddy, after the great Byron Nelson (champion in 1937 and 1942) and Fred Couples (1992).

“I have shared my locker with a couple players over the years,” Palmer confirms in an exclusive interview.

“When I won my first Masters I was assigned to Byron Nelson’s locker, and when Fred Couples won he joined me. I was pleased to hear that Jordan and I are now sharing a locker. I’ll just try to stay out of his way!

“I do like to go in there when I am at Augusta, whether I am playing or not. My visits during Masters week are usually pretty busy so I don’t stay for long. Some guys avoid the crowds in the dining room and have lunch in there. They serve traditional items like the pimento cheese sandwich or a club sandwich. The Champions’ Locker room is a good place to go for a little peace and quiet and to see some of the guys.”

“I walked up and saw my name with Mr. Palmer.

That was pretty awesome” - Jordan Spieth

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Winter golf, Georgia style The Spieths made the most of their December visit, packing in four rounds in three days, and they got lucky with the weather.

“We had temperatures of around 75 degrees,” says Spieth. “It was just beautiful, and being warm the ball was flying further than it normally does that time of year.

I’ve played Augusta in December before when it’s been 40 degrees, and then you are hitting a 4-iron into the green on the first, whereas in April in the tournament you hit 8-iron.

“When it’s cold Augusta plays more difficult from tee to green than it does during the tournament, although overall I wouldn’t necessarily say it plays harder because the greens aren’t as fast and the pins are usually not in the same places. The grass around the greens is mown a lot tighter in April, too, so the course as a whole is much more challenging during the tournament.

“But playing last December it was warm and they had sped the greens up, and for the first round we played the same pins as last year’s Sunday hole locations, which was pretty cool. So the course actually played somewhat similar to the Masters, although the ball still didn’t roll on the fairway as much as in April as they are growing the grass in.”

One of the most impressive Masters statistics concerning Spieth’s young career is that in two Masters appearances—finishing tied for second and first—his eight tournament round scores vary between a low of 64, eight under par, in the first round last year, and a high of 72, level par, in the final round of 2014, when he finished three shots behind Bubba Watson. Eight Masters rounds, seven of which were under par and the other one was level. That is uncanny consistency for a golfer of so little Masters experience, although it should be no surprise it was not a standard Spieth could maintain in December.

“I don’t remember exactly what my scores were,” he says, “but they were something like 76, 66, 67, 74. I was keeping score but I had not practiced going into it. In that first round I hit like four or five water balls, although I birdied 17 and 18. Then in those middle two rounds I played 36 in the same day and played great, and then on the last day I just hacked it around again.”

As it happens, those erratic scores of 76-66-67-74, with a 10-shot swing between the first and second round, add up to a total of 283, the same as Spieth’s final Masters score in 2014.

Palmer was another golfer who enjoyed occasional off-season visits to Augusta National.

“Last December it was warm and they had sped the greens up” - Jordan Spieth

Arnold Palmer in the Champions’ Locker Room after his final Masters round in 2004, 50 years after his Augusta National debut

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The Masters, View of green blazer in clubhouse locker room at Augusta National, Augusta, GA 4/4/1996 (Photo by Jim Gund/ Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)

“Jordan definitely has the potential for successfully defending the title.

He knows his game” - Arnold Palmer “I did visit Augusta from time to time—outside of the Masters—but not very often,” says Palmer. “I was always busy. Part of me wishes I had spent more time there over the years but that would have meant not being at some of the other tournaments, occasions and business obligations I had, and I would not have wanted to miss them.

“Once I became a member and stopped playing so much competitive golf I would take a foursome of friends up to play a few times each year.

“It’s always fun to play Augusta when there are very few players. During tournament week your focus is on the tournament, naturally. But when you play Augusta any other time of the year you can really take in the beauty of the course and see views that are usually blocked by the gallery and tournament structures. It still is one of my favorite places to play.”

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Palmer has been drawn to Augusta National since his first visit as a rookie for the 1955 Masters. Like Spieth, Arnie won his first major title here, in 1958, and it was here where he collected his final major triumph, in 1964.

Over 50 years Palmer played in the Masters without missing a tournament, and he has continued to return each year since to enjoy the annual Champions’ Dinner and to catch up with an extensive set of friends at Augusta.

As for Spieth, he is up to two years in the Masters and counting, with many more surely to follow.

“By now, Jordan has been in the spotlight plenty and knows how to handle the pressure,” adds Palmer. “With the kind of golf he’s been playing, Jordan definitely has the potential for successfully defending his title.”

If he does, he’ll join an elite club of only 17 multiple Masters winners, guys like Nelson, Hogan, Palmer, Player, and Demaret. Of the 17, only three successfully defended their titles: Nicklaus (1965/66), Faldo (1989/90) and Woods, with Tiger’s repeat coming in 2002 when he was 26.

Consider this: should Spieth win this year’s Masters he’d be the fourth to successfully defend in history, a storied veteran of the game—at the ripe old age of 22. But whatever happens in April, we’re thinking he should make room in his locker anyway. At this point, another Green Jacket or two hardly seems like a question of “if.”

Bubba Watson [left] helps Jordan Spieth into his Green Jacket after the 2015 Masters

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Taking on

A

ugusta Arnold Palmer tees off during the 1960 Masters, watched by Gary Player [left] and Jack Nicklaus [second left]

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Bobby Jones wrote of Augusta National that “if you snap at her, she snaps right back”.

Arnold Palmer always listened carefully to any advice from Jones, but that didn’t mean he would always heed it. As Dave Shedloski writes, Palmer’s strategy for Augusta was to “Go at it”.

It was an attacking philosophy that didn’t always win, but four times famously it did

Patrons enjoy the action in the 1955 Masters [above] and Arnold Palmer [right] made his Masters debut that year

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pon first setting foot on the pristine golf course at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, Arnold Palmer sensed an immediate and overwhelming connection, visceral and indisolluble. It was a practice round prior to the 1955 Masters and the tour rookie was enthralled. That was, perhaps, destined given how thoroughly Palmer had been immersed in the game from childhood and how impeccably Augusta National was committed to presenting the game in a wholly elevated fashion.

“I always felt something powerful about Augusta.

Something magical,” said Palmer, who qualified for his first Masters after winning the 1954 U.S. Amateur. “Augusta is the ultimate in terms of presentation of a golf tournament and a golf course, its design and conditioning.”

Palmer played in 50 Masters, winning four Green Jackets—the first man to do that—and finishing in the top 25 on 19 occasions overall, starting with a tie for 10th place on his debut. The period from 1957-67 was his finest; he never finished out of the top-10 and won in 1958, ’60, ’62 and ’64, and he could probably look at 1959 and ’61 as two others that he well could have won. In that 11-year stretch, Palmer’s finishes read like a combination to excellence: 6-1-3-1-2-1-9-1-2-4-4. He was 46 under par collectively in 45 rounds, which included a four-under-par 68 in his 1962 playoff victory over Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald.

Danger at Amen Corner Though it took Palmer a few years to grasp all the subtleties of the layout designed by Bobby Jones and Alister Mackenzie, he understood almost immediately that his attacking style of golf could be effective. This ran counter to Jones’ philosophy of strategic design that he infused into his prized golf course on the former tree nursery. Writing in Sports Illustrated prior to the 1959 Masters—when Palmer was defending for the first time—Jones asserted that “if you snap at her, she snaps right back.

“You can’t cow her with brute strength and you can’t overpower her,” Jones wrote. “If you drop a stroke, you mustn’t try to get it back too quickly. If you do, you’ll find yourself dropping another and another and then going into complete collapse. This is a course which tests a man’s temperance. There is a lot of temptation on this golf course.

And a lot of frustration.”

In his prime, Palmer seldom found the course frustrating, though he found it undeniably tempting. A second-shot golf course by nature, Augusta National, he surmised correctly, could be cowed with brute strength if combined with the proper care in shot placement off the tee. But even then, he swung from the heels knowing that if he missed his target, there was still a way to navigate to the green. He might not be in position for a birdie, but he could make his par and go on and attack the next hole with the same zeal.

Meanwhile Jack Nicklaus, the six-time champion who overpowered the course himself with his high-flying irons and long drives, tended to tack carefully around parts of the golf course. Even on the par-5 second hole, which he could reach in two shots with relative ease, he would back off to not get himself in trouble left of the fairway, where trees and a creek could conspire to induce a round-wrecking score.

Another Palmer contemporary, Billy Casper, was more cautious, playing the percentages all around the property and taking what it gave him, which was in the mold of Ben Hogan, who had great respect for the devilish nature of the layout. Once, when Hogan missed the green at the par-four 11th hole from the middle of the fairway, a reporter asked Hogan how he could have missed his target.

Hogan, whose shot had ended up just left of the green, replied that he didn’t miss it. He purposely placed the ball in that location, taking the pond guarding the front-left of the putting surface completely out of play.

“That is, perhaps, one example of when I might have been a bit more careful,” Palmer allows, referring to the dangerous green at 11. “But if I

put my tee shot in the right side of the fairway and had the proper angle, I knew that I could be a little more aggressive depending on the pin position.”

Though a draw (for a right-hander) seemed to be the optimal ball flight for attacking Augusta’s tree-lined holes, it didn’t necessarily set up well for Palmer, who not only hit a hard draw, but also employed a low ball flight that seemingly wasn’t a good fit for holding Augusta’s firm, fast putting surfaces. In fact, in many instances, Palmer had to fight his swing, ensuring that he wouldn’t lose a shot left at holes like at No. 11. Real danger in the form of hazards also awaits to the left of holes two, nine, 10 and 13.

Still, Palmer seldom let his foot off the gas. The lone exception where Palmer always stepped lightly was the par-three 12th. “I never wanted to make a big mistake there,” he said. “But I did once when I had a chance to win and it cost me the tournament.”

That was in 1959. Palmer had a share of the 54-hole lead with Stan Leonard and he still led until suffering a triple-bogey at No. 12. He dunked his tee shot in Rae’s Creek guarding the front of the green, pitched his third over the green after a penalty drop and then needed three more strokes to find the cup. He remained in the hunt, however, but missed two short putts on 17 and 18 and finished third behind Art Wall and Cary Middlecoff.

The irony was that the 12th hole was pivotal to his victory the year before. Palmer’s tee shot into the green on the hole named Golden Bell embedded into the soft turf just behind the green. A wet-weather local rule was in place, which allowed Palmer a free drop, but a tournament rules official named Arthur Lacey forbade it. Arguing vehemently that it was his right to do so—and backed up at the time by playing partner Ken Venturi—Palmer declared that he would play the shot twice; he would play it as the rules official instructed and then his way. In the first attempt, without a drop, he gouged the ball out of the embedded lie, moving it only 18 inches and ending up with a double-bogey

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The Famous four Arnold Palmer carried a five-shot lead onto the 15th tee in the final round of the 1964 Masters. It was a situation in which most golfers would play safe: lay-up short of the water in two, spin a wedge up to the pin and hope to hole the birdie putt. If the putt misses, no harm done with par.

But Palmer just didn’t see things that way. When he sees an opportunity to attack that is what he does. Here is Palmer’s account of how he played the hole that day—in a fashion that epitomized his exhilarating style of golf—as he marched on to become the first golfer to win the Masters four times.

Hole 15 – Firethorn

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Par 5

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500 yards (in 1964)

Arnold Palmer: “Back then there were less trees and I could be aggressive with my driver. I often favored the right side of the fairway, which usually gave a good angle in for most pin positions. But even if I pushed or pulled my drive, there was enough room out there that I could usually get home in two. It is hard to single out any hole at Augusta as being better than another, but I really like 15 because it is the last of Augusta’s par fives and I always played for birdie, with the hope of an occasional eagle. A good score would make up some ground or maintain my lead coming into the final three holes.”

AP: “I actually pushed my drive further right than I had wanted. I had to hit a high 3-wood to clear the pond in front, yet land softly enough to hold the green. I knew I was leading, but anything can happen at Augusta so I had to go for it.

“With the sun sinking low in the Georgia pines, my playing partner and good friend Dave Marr looked at me as if I’d lost my mind when I pulled the 3-wood from the bag.

I bore down and really crushed the ball but lost it flying into the glare of the sun. For an instant I felt a surge of panic.

I glanced anxiously at Dave and he looked at me with that wonderful laid-back Texas smile of his and said dryly, “Hell, Arnold, your divot got over.”

“My second shot ended up on the right side of the green and I two-putted for a birdie. I went on to win by six. I felt that win was my greatest achievement in golf.”

This was the bottom of the15th fairway, pond and green [right] during the final round of the 1964 Masters at Augusta National

Famous fives

five. Then he returned to the spot, took his drop, chipped it stony and tapped in for a par.

His fate was left in the hands of the tournament rules committee, but he eagled the 13th—with Jones watching from his cart—after two big shots and a 20-foot putt. He was in the fairway at the par-five 15th hole when club representatives informed him that his par at 12 would stand.

Emboldened, Palmer birdied the last for a 73 and 4-under 284, which stood up for a one-stroke win.

“That was the epitome of Arnold Palmer as a golfer,” Casper, who died last year, once said of Palmer’s charge in 1958. “I always said, and I said this to him once, if they put a flagstick on a limb of a tree he’d figure out a way to get that ball to stop on the limb. The most obvious thing about Arnold at Augusta was that he always had great determination there, and he used such brute force on that golf course to subdue it. He played aggressively everywhere, but at Augusta he possessed more determination, like the place was a part of him and he deserved to succeed there.”

Palmer wouldn’t dispute that assertion.

“When some people said that I would never be able to play Augusta because of the way I hit the ball (low), I said, ‘To hell with that.’ I just would go at it,” Palmer said.

“I played it aggressively from the start and I never played it any other way.”

Confirming that philosophy was Palmer’s caddie in those early years, Nathanial ‘Iron Man’ Avery. Interviewed in 1963, Avery said that Palmer’s strict adherence to his own approach was inviolable. “It’s all or nothing. This man don’t know what it is to play safe,” Avery told the Associated Press. “Most people playing here for the first time are just happy to make the cut. Mr. Arnie was not satisfied with nothing but winning. That’s the way he is.”

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If the 12th was a time for a pause in his push, the 15th, Palmer thought, was always the key to the round. “It’s the hole where you can make up the most ground,” he said. “It was a good hole to gamble on if you knew what you were doing. And coming late in the round it was a crucial hole.

“But the par fives in general, I thought, were the key to playing the golf course. Those holes were where I was at my most aggressive and frankly, I didn’t care for the most part where I drove it. I certainly wanted to be in play, but I just wanted to set myself up to try to reach those greens in two if I could and make a birdie at the least. And if I didn’t drive it particularly well I knew I could likely make a par. The one thing you didn’t want to do is give shots back.”

“The thing that stands out about Arnold was that there was never any give-up in him,” the late Byron Nelson, a two-time Masters champion whom Palmer revered deeply, said many years ago. “When he won his second Masters [in 1960], Kenny Venturi was in the clubhouse waiting. Kenny and I have always been close. He shot 80 in the last round playing with Sam Snead, but his first three rounds were about as beautiful as could be played at Augusta. I met Kenny after his round and congratulated him on his fine play, but I said nothing about winning. You knew that if there was someone on the golf course like Arnold it’s never over. Well, Arnold birdied 17 and 18 and beat Kenny by a shot and I just felt terrible for Kenny, but you couldn’t help but be impressed by how driven Arnold was to win.

He had that unusual finish to his swing but he was a great competitor and a beautiful putter.”

If one player today most emulates the Palmer strategy it’s Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion. Winner in 2004, ’06 and ’10, the left-hander with a bit of the same go-forbroke mentality as Palmer has repeatedly said that he holds nothing back on his tee shots when playing Augusta National.

“The golf course itself, as difficult and challenging as it is, when I go through the gates I don’t feel like I have to play perfect golf,” Mickelson said. “I feel like I can have mistakes and still make pars. I don’t have to drive it perfect. I can go in the trees and hit shots under the trees and up by the green somewhere and with my short game salvage par. At Augusta I feel like skill and touch and short game are always factors to help you to salvage par.

“Obviously there are places you can’t play from. There are misses you can’t afford. But you can get away with a miss here and there. The real key is playing smart with an aggressive mindset for scoring.”

Which sums up the Palmer approach, which wasn’t all that different from the way he always played the game as his father instructed: “Hit it hard boy, find it, and hit it hard again,” Deacon Palmer told his eldest son.

At Augusta National Golf Club, Pap’s advice worked out splendidly.

Arnold Palmer won his second Masters title at Augusta National in 1960 [left]

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Augusta calls Augusta National is a golf club like no other but there is a lot more to Augusta city than the home of the Masters. We consider where to stay, what to drink and we uncover nine holes designed by Arnold Palmer that the discerning golfer should not miss

T

he Bon Air Hotel was the place to be in Augusta.

That was where the players stayed during the first Masters tournaments—before the Second World War—and the dinners before and after each Masters tournament were held in the Bon Air’s opulent ballroom. Those Masters eve dinners were essentially Calcutta betting parties at which golfing odds would be agreed and bets wagered.

The giant Bon Air was built in 1889 as Augusta evolved into a winter retreat for the rich. The hotel boasted of 300 guest rooms “and over 100 baths”, Augusta National president Bobby Jones would become the hotel’s legal counsel and the hotel built the original golf course at Augusta Country Club.

The wealthiest families from New York—the Morgans, Rockefellers, Pulitzers and Astors—had established the Jekyll Island Club just off Georgia’s Atlantic shoreline, amid the secluded Golden Isles, and Augusta was beginning to attract its own set. One poster boldly proclaimed: “France with her chateau district has nothing to offer like Augusta”.

The Bon Air declared that Augusta was the “Winter golf capital of America, with average temperatures warmer than Nice or Naples”.

“Augusta was really the southernmost point for visitors before Florida developed,” starts Levi Hill, an Augusta native and club historian at Augusta Country Club, where he is also a past club president. “There was Savannah as well but Augusta was a center for those early winter homes.”

With the Bon Air on the hill in the Summerville district,

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the smaller Partridge Inn opened on the other side of the street in 1910. Offering more of an authentic southern and personal style of hospitality than the glitzy Bon Air, when President Warren G. Harding headed to Augusta for a Spring break in 1923 he opted for the Partridge Inn. Having enjoyed the Georgia weather and golf at nearby Augusta Country Club, the Augusta Chronicle reported that the President bid public thanks for “the gracious, generous and most delightful hospitality accorded me by everybody in this community… I like the atmosphere in your city”.

When Augusta National did open for play in December

Bell hops arrive for duty at Augusta National in 1932 [bottom left] and the Savannah River flows through Augusta today [below]

1932, bell hops from both the Bon Air and Partridge Inn doubled up as the club’s first caddies.

After the Great Depression and the Second World War the costs of running the Bon Air took their toll.

Augusta National developed its own amenities so it could hold its dinners at the end of Magnolia Lane, while many northerners seeking winter warmth were diverting to the shores of the Carolinas and Florida.

Today, subsidized accommodation is provided in what has become the Bon Air Apartments. The Augusta Marriott, which is connected to the city’s Convention Center and overlooks the Savannah River, is now the dominant hotel, while the Partridge Inn—itself saved from demolition in the 1980s—is now part of Hilton’s Curio Collection of boutique hotels and has benefited from an extensive program of renovations over the past two years.

The Partridge Inn’s Bar and Grill on the first floor opens out to a long and broad verandah at the front of the hotel, and stepping out there on a warm Spring evening—as we did the night after the 2015 Masters—is to be transported back to Augusta’s pre-war heyday. It is a great place to contemplate the week just gone and the season ahead.

Poem given to a Partridge Inn server by a guest in the early 1930s: When winter whips the north with sleet And dull days drag with snowy feet, When icicles hang on eaves and walls, Augusta calls.

DOWN BY THE RIVER Just to the northeast of Augusta, where the state line between Georgia and South Carolina follows the meandering Savannah River above the town of Evans, Champions Retreat is a private golf club hidden among Georgia’s famous pine forests. The club offers its own brand of southern hospitality, complete with a homely alternative to Augusta’s hotel accommodation.

More than that, Champions Retreat is the only club in the world that can offer three nines of golf designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. With 34 major titles between them—including 13 Masters titles— The Big Three collaborated to create 27 holes that blend

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unobtrusively into this riverside wilderness. Palmer designed the Island Nine, Nicklaus created the Bluff Nine and Player masterminded the Creek Nine.

“The Island Nine is flanked on one side by the broad Savannah River and on the other side by the Little River,” explains Palmer. “The spectacular hardwoods and pines along the river bank have been saved and the fairways have been raised to take advantage of the beautiful vistas out in the rivers. There is not a better setting for golf in the South.”

The luxury cottages at Champions Retreat are available to rent or purchase and vary in size between three and six bedrooms. Rustic and woven into the landscape, the Arcadian cottages are complete with all modern amenities and finished to the highest standards with hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings and panoramic windows.

With its Grille House, Bluff Overlook Sports Bar, night-lit putting green and driving range and Party Barn, Champions Retreat offers hospitality options for groups of all sizes. Limited accommodation, dinner reservations and tee times are still available during the 2016 Masters (championsretreat.net).

follow the last group probably from the fifth hole. There was still a lot of golf to watch. It was great; I would get into the place for free and I got a little lunch ticket. I loved it.”

Mize’s father Charles got down to a one handicap despite picking up a golf club for the first time in his mid-30s.

As a beginner, Charles Mize was instructed to swing a nine iron in the back yard repeatedly without a ball to hit, a task to which he doggedly stuck.

“My dad was a good athlete,” recalls Mize, “and having swung this club in the yard for a while, when he finally played his first round he shot 90. He had learned to swing the club without messing it up by trying to hit a ball.

That was a pretty good round for a beginner.”

Aged 13 and 14, Larry Mize worked on the scoreboard beneath the third green at Augusta National

LOCAL CONNECTION Aged 13 and 14, Larry Mize worked on the scoreboard beneath the third green at Augusta National during the Masters of 1972 and 1973. It was a job he loved; he would spend half the day on the scoreboard and the other half watching the golf, getting autographs from the practice ground and picking up the odd tee left behind by the likes of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Billy Casper.

“I really liked working at the third scoreboard,” Mize, now 57, tells Kingdom in an exclusive interview. “If I was on the afternoon shift, once the last group had come through the third hole we pulled all the numbers down and I could

spring 2016

A cottage interior at Champions Retreat [below] and its golf courses [right] have been designed by The Big Three

Larry Mize [left] leaps in the air as his pitch from 140 feet drops in the hole on the 11th to win a playoff against Greg Norman at the 1987 Masters

Charles and son Larry—from the age of nine—honed their games at Augusta Country Club, three blocks from the Partridge Inn and backing onto Augusta National GC. “Summertime was all golf for me,” says Mize. “I would get dropped off at the club and I would swim—I was on the club’s swim team—but apart from that it was all golf and I would pretty much be at the country club all day. I was very fortunate.

“It was a fabulous course for me to play as I grew up; a really good test and a friendly course.”

Adds Levi Hill: “The course was built in 1906.

Founder member William Henry Harrison and the club’s first professional, David Ogilvie, laid out the course and then Donald Ross was commissioned in 1928 to remodel it. He converted our sand greens into grass, changed the routing and added some bunkering. The golf course remains challenging today. We have four sets of tees and it plays as Donald Ross intended it.

“Ogilvie was the pro at Augusta for 40 years and his son, David Ogilvie Jr., played in the Masters.” That was the inaugural Masters tournament in 1934 and Ogilvie Jr. finished in a tie for 38th.

“There are a lot of good holes there,” adds Mize, “but I always liked the fifth because it was a par five where

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I could always go for birdie. The ninth runs behind the 11th green, 12th green and 13th tee of Augusta National. We would always look over the fence and drool. We wouldn’t ever dare to jump over the fence but we would joke about it.”

Despite a rich heritage and storied history in its own right, and despite being established three decades before Augusta National, Augusta Country Club is sometimes, inevitably, seen as the ‘club next door’. The club is now braced for change as much of its ninth hole is to be sold so Augusta National can extend its par-five 13th.

“We are good neighbors and we have a connected history,” says Hill, “particularly as several of our early members became founding members of Augusta National.

Bobby Jones played Augusta Country Club a number of times and so we feel some level of kinship. We are proud of our history and our golf course and we are certainly proud that Augusta is home to the Masters.”

In 1984, 11 years after working on the Masters scoreboard, Mize teed up as a Masters player, with Palmer, Nicklaus and Casper all in the field. Three years later, he pitched in from 140 feet at the second playoff hole against Greg Norman to become Masters champion.

“It was an amazing thing just for me to get into the tournament and play here in the first place as a professional golfer,” says Mize, who is set to appear in his 33rd Masters this year. “That is something in itself, but to win it, that was the golfing thrill of a lifetime for me.

“You know, I might be in awe of Augusta National even more today than I was as a boy because as you get older you learn to appreciate things more. As far as golf goes Augusta National is the place to be, particularly for an Augusta boy. There is no other place like it.”

Ben Crenshaw [left], Larry Mize [center] and Arnold Palmer gather in the Champions’ Locker Room prior to the Past Champions Dinner at Augusta National in 1990

A TASTE FOR PEACHES The property that became Augusta National Golf Club in 1931 had previously been the thriving Fruitland Nurseries, which was owned and developed during the second half of the 19th century

by Belgian father and son, Louis and Prosper Berckmans.

Prosper Berckmans is credited with growing Georgia’s fledgling peach industry into a business of international acclaim.

When the Berckmans moved to Augusta in 1857 there were 100,000 peach trees in the state of Georgia, and Fruitland Nurseries would ultimately plant over three million. The nurseries grew 300 varieties of Georgia Peach and it was Prosper who had an avenue of magnolias planted along the approach to the manor house from Washington Road.

The Fruitland name was revived in 2014 by the Fruitland Augusta brand of Georgia Peach Vodka and Georgia Peach Tea and its products are made with Georgia peaches only.

If readers have the opportunity to enjoy a cocktail on the verandah of the Partridge Inn, we recommend the hotel’s original and signature cocktail, which is made with Fruitland Augusta Georgia Peach Tea.

“Augusta National is the place to be, particularly for an Augusta boy” —Larry Mize 68

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Kingdom’s series of imaginary golf courses, comprising real golf holes of the same number, reaches the 16th. Bringing together the old and the new, American and European, this is one of the more spectacular golfing layouts ever conceived.

Like all our dream courses, this collection of 16th holes poses a severely stern golfing test, and is particularly distinct by a leaning towards par threes. We have seven of them, and they are beautifully balanced by a super six of par fives, leaving a famous five of par fours. The tee awaits

Sweet 16 70

spring 2016

Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

1

Shinnecock Hills, New York PAR 5, 542 YARDS, HANDICAP 6

We begin our golfing journey in Long Island, New York, at one of the oldest golf clubs in the United States and on a golf course that regularly, inevitably features in our fantasy compilations, Shinnecock Hills. Founded in 1891, Shinnecock Hills was one of the five founding member clubs of the USGA and the original 12-hole course was built with the help of 150 Shinnecock Indians from a nearby reservation. The club hosted the second U.S. Open in 1896 and has held the event three times since, including its 100th anniversary in 1995, with the 2018 chapter also slated for the Long Island club.

The existing 18-hole championship course was designed by William Flynn and opened in 1931 and it occupies an exceptional parcel of land with Peconic Bay on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. An open course over which winds frequently change direction—as do the holes—and with over 150 bunkers, Shinnecock is often likened to the finest British links.

The par-five 16th—called ‘Shinnecock’—runs to 542 yards from the back Red tee and that is where we are heading due to the predominance of par threes in our course, even if it means golfers toiling against Shinnecock’s prevailing wind. An ‘S’ shaped fairway is well protected by bunkers on both sides and by the thick golden meadow grass that can reach knee high. Rarely is par such a good score on a par-five of this yardage.

2

Cypress Point Club, California PAR 3, 233 YARDS, HANDICAP 3

Golfers must hold their breeches for what is probably the most awe-inspiring—or the most intimidating, or both—par three tee shot in world golf. Seth Raynor, who originally laid out Cypress Point, had the 16th hole as a short par four demanding a 200-yard carry over the craggy ocean inlet from the tee to the fairway. After Raynor’s death in 1926 Alister Mackenzie was recruited to complete the task and he agreed with his predecessor that this spectacular edge of land should be a par four. Marion Hollins though, the redoubtable Cypress Point founder, had none of it. She was determined the 16th would be a par three to eclipse all others, to break with golfing convention and present the ultimate par-three test. She knew most attempts at a 233-yard tee shot would fail but she wanted to give the opportunity for players to enjoy the fantastic thrill of occasional success.

To emphasize the point she took Mackenzie down to the hole, teed up a ball where she wanted the tee and promptly drove it to where she wanted the green located.

Admittedly, Hollins was a past U.S. Amateur champion and remarkable athlete, but that shot won her the argument and ever since golfers have battled against the Pacific breezes to try and find the 16th green with a single majestic strike.

Mercifully there is a bailout area to the left of the green but it still demands a 200-yard carry. This would have made a great par four, but instead it is a heroic par three.

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Patrick Drickey / stonehousegolf.com

3

Firestone (South), Ohio PAR 5, 590 YARDS, HANDICAP 7

Tour golfers do not like being reminded about the eights, nines and 10s that occasionally blot their scorecards, but Arnold Palmer has been reminded so many times about his eight at the 16th on Firestone’s South Course that he has become immune (kind of…).

It was during the third round of the 1960 PGA Championship and the triple bogey pushed Palmer out of contention for the only major title he couldn’t secure over his career. He had begun the third round in third place, two shots off the lead, but ended the day with a score of 75 and sitting in 11th place. Palmer branded the hole a “monster” and the nickname stuck.

That PGA Championship took place just after Robert Trent Jones Jr. had redesigned a course originally laid out by Bert Way in 1928, when Harvey Firestone commissioned the course as a gift to the employees of Firestone Rubber.

Today, the downhill, 667-yard hole remains among the longest on the PGA TOUR, although we are sending you to the ‘Hybrid’ tee and a yardage of 590. A snip of a par five. A lot of tour players don’t even need any help from the back; both Bubba Watson and Keegan Bradley have touched driving distance of 442 yards off the ‘Blue’ tee in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

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Augusta National GC, Georgia PAR 3, 170 YARDS, HANDICAP 15

The 16th at Augusta National—Redbud—boasts golf’s most famous pin position; back-left for final-round Sunday.

The tee shot, on a hole that plays to a moderate yardage of 170, remains one of the great tests of golfing nerve come that Masters final round, with the Green Jacket on the line and three holes to play. From tee to green golfers are faced with a slender pond to clear, yet by professional standards it is only the scrappiest of mishits that fall short.

But like all greens here, the key is to find the right part of it.

The real magic comes in the slope that runs down the heart of the green, from right to left as golfers stand on the tee. When the pin is placed high on the right, golfers watch in despair if their ball slips down the slope to leave a difficult 50-foot two-putt for par. Yet on Sunday, with the pin placed back left, roars from the packed crowd reach a crescendo when precisely pitched tee shots catch the slope and slowly feed down towards the hole. It is the finest of golfing drama; every year we know these moments are coming but that doesn’t detract from the thrill when they arrive.

Don’t forget to use the water fountain behind the 16th tee for luck. The plaque reads: “Arnold Palmer had changed the game of golf with those heroic charges and appreciative legions of fans formed around him…”

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Hazeltine National GC, Chaska, Minnesota PAR 4, 402 YARDS, HANDICAP 4

Hazeltine’s founding father, Totton P. Heffelfinger, recruited Robert Trent Jones to design the course that opened in 1962, and while it is now established at the top table of American golf, it was not always. The club survived financial difficulties and occasional heavy criticism, none more so than after the 1970 U.S. Open when American Ryder Cup golfer Dave Hill was fined for the vituperative nature of his criticism. In settling his fine Hill paid twice the amount, claiming he still had plenty to say. Johnny Miller described the 16th as “the hardest par four I ever played.”

Trent Jones and son Rees carefully modernized and improved the course. It is built where verdant woodland meets the prairieland of the Midwest and where the fall colors will be a stunning backdrop to the 2016 Ryder Cup. The 16th was converted from par three to par four when the ideal area for a new tee was located between the 15th green and Hazeltine Lake. The result is one of golf’s great par fours, requiring more sound strategy than brute strength. The hole plays to 402 from the tips and so will we.

(In the Ryder Cup the 16th will play as the seventh.)

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Merion GC (East), Pennsylvania PAR 4, 408 YARDS, HANDICAP 2

Our odyssey leads to one of the greats, Philadelphia’s Merion Golf Club. Opened in 1912, the East Course was designed

by Hugh Wilson and despite his lack of experience—he was an insurance broker—Wilson crafted what probably remains the world’s finest course of limited dimensions, as it occupies a 125-acre plot of what had been farmland.

The East Course has staged the U.S. Open five times. Bobby Jones completed the 1930 Grand Slam here by winning the U.S. Amateur title and 41 years later, on winning the U.S. Open, Lee Trevino said: “I love Merion and I don’t even know her last name.” Justin Rose was the last golfer to lift the U.S. Open trophy at Merion, in 2013.

The 16th, the ‘Quarry’, played to 430 yards at the U.S. Open three years ago, but we are opting for the more civilized yardage of 408 from the ‘Middle’ tee. The hole is distinct by a limestone quarry that carves into the fairway from the left, and golfers must clear the inhospitable depression to reach a two-tiered green. The quarry starts some 280 yards from our Middle tee so bigger hitters might need to throttle back. A par here will feel like a birdie.

TPC Scottsdale (Stadium), Arizona PAR 3, 162 YARDS, HANDICAP 18

And to what is unequivocally the ‘Loudest hole in golf’, the infamous 16th on the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale, home to the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The February PGA TOUR event is marketed as ‘The Greatest Show on Grass’ and it is certainly the biggest, attracting over 600,000 fans each year. The first 30,000 of them head straight for the threetiered grandstands that surround ‘The Coliseum’ 16th. It is the only hole on the PGA TOUR that is fully encircled by stands.

Good tee shots are raucously cheered, bad shots are mercilessly booed and when the odd golfer bags an ace, as Tiger Woods did in 1997, mayhem ensues. The caddies used to race from tee to green too, complete with bags onboard, but the health and injury risks were too much for the PGA TOUR to bear.

Designed in 1986 by Jay Morrish and Tom Weiskopf, the 16th is a classic desert par three, with sand and scrub occupying most of the space between tee and the apron of the green. A broad, inviting putting surface is protected by five bunkers but it should be a routine shot into the green other than when the tour pros have to hold their nerve amid this hole’s unique tournament atmosphere.

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8

Southport & Ainsdale GC, Lancashire, England PAR 5, 528 YARDS, HANDICAP 9

Southport and Ainsdale, or ‘S&A’ as it is commonly known, is home to one of England’s great links although as it has never hosted The [British] Open it does not carry the same kudos as its near neighbor Royal Birkdale. On the Lancashire coast at Southport lie a trio of classic links with just picket fences between them; first S&A, then Hillside and then the northernmost Royal Birkdale. It is little wonder the local tourism office calls this ‘England’s Golf Coast’.

Scotsman James Braid—the first golfer to win the Open five times—laid out the S&A links in 1925 and immediate acclaim was confirmed when the course staged the Ryder Cup in 1933 and again in 1937.

The most famous hole at S&A is it’s mighty 16th— also known as ‘Gumbleys’ after one of the club’s founder members. Again, we are opting to play off the back tee here to savor the full experience into the prevailing wind. The outstanding feature of this hole is what must be negotiated with the second shot as a band of rugged sandhills and mounds cut right across the fairway, in the middle of which lie a bank of railway sleepers above two bunkers. The sleeper-armored sandhills rise up over 20 feet, rendering the second shot blind, and a mishit shot played into the sleepers is a dispiriting experience to be avoided at all costs.

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SentryWorld, Wisconsin PAR 3, 168 YARDS, HANDICAP 17

There might not be a golf hole in the world with more flowers within its borders. SentryWorld’s 16th—the ‘Flower Hole’, of course—has 33,000 flowers planted in front of the green and beside it; begonias, celosias, laurentias, petunias and zinnias.

Does this guarantee golfing quality? Absolutely not, but when the flowers are in bloom this is one of the more spectacularly colorful golf holes imaginable.

The Robert Trent Jones Jr. design at SentryWorld opened in 1982 and the golf course came through a 20-month redesign and renovation in Spring 2015 that was also led by Trent Jones.

The 16th reaches 176 yards from the Black tee and the green is half a club closer from our yardage of 168 from the Blue tee. It is a straightforward par three on the card but golfers must not to be distracted by the blossoms. A ball delivered into the petunias is lost as golfers are not permitted into the flowerbeds, although all is not lost as SentryWorld has a local rule allowing a free drop.

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Golf de Sperone, Corsica, France PAR 5, 580 YARDS, HANDICAP 8

Not many courses genuinely qualify by the old cliché of being a ‘hidden gem’. We love the idea of finding a sleepy, empty course over the ocean in a remote corner of a sun-drenched land. It would be over-stating to describe Golf de Sperone as obscure, but this club might be the nearest thing to that hidden gem. Certainly from the United States, Sperone is at the end of a long, less-travelled route, as it sits atop the cliffs that form the southernmost reaches of Corsica, the French island in the middle of the Mediterranean.

It is worth the journey, particularly when contemplating fate on the 16th tee, stuck out on a rocky promontory, 100 feet above the Mediterranean, with the Italian island of Sardinia visible on the blue horizon to the south.

Masterminded by Robert Trent Jones, the conundrum facing golfers is a stunning version of that all-time classic: how much of this corner dare I cut? Sharing a similar shape to the 18th at Pebble Beach, this par five curves round to the left and also like Pebble Beach, there is plenty of landing room for golfers who opt conservatively.

We are sticking to the back tee and a yardage of 580 which makes this a two-shotter only for very few, but to experience the complete sense of isolation we must take those extra southbound steps to the back tee.

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Cabot Cliffs, Nova Scotia PAR 3, 148 YARDS, HANDICAP 16

We travel up to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia to play the youngest golf hole ever featured in Kingdom’s collection of fantasy golf courses, the par-three 16th at Cabot Cliffs. This new links course, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, opened for ‘preview play’ in 2015, a year ahead of its official opening in June 2016. Already there is no question that a visit to Cabot Cliffs will exhilarate any golfer.

Playing 176 yards from the Black tee, on 16 we are cutting off a few yards to the green tee and a yardage of 148, to give all our readers the best chance of finding the putting surface on a hole where calculation of the wind is critical. Golfers tee off with far reaching sea views to their right, where the Northumberland Strait meets the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with the waters lapping in against the bottom of the cliff edge which draws a craggy line between tee and green.

There is a far right pin position which looks as if it is right on the cliff edge from the tee, but this is best way to play the hole as the slope of the green from the left feeds down to the right. Be warned though, this is obviously a slicer’s nightmare.

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Oakland Hills (South), Michigan PAR 4, 406 YARDS, HANDICAP 5

Ben Hogan could be counted on for candid course appraisals.

After winning the 1951 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills—Hogan’s third straight major title—with a peerless 67, Hogan claimed that if Trent Jones “had to make a living playing the courses he builds, his family would be on the bread line”. And that was from the guy who won. Trent Jones was unrepentant, claiming the world’s best players were in need of “shock treatment” as their game had outgrown so many courses.

Trent Jones had bolstered the defences of the Donald Ross-designed South Course at Oakland Hills, outside Detroit, which opened in 1918 and where Walter Hagen was the first pro. Trent Jones converted two par fives into killer par fours and the newspapers branded the course a ‘Monster’. The name stuck.

Shot placement is critical at 16, with a sharp dogleg right and pond that encroaches in front of the green from the right. We will play from the back at 406 yards for full flavour.

It was here that Arnold Palmer won the inaugural U.S. Senior Open in 1981 to become the first player to win both the U.S. and U.S. Senior Opens. Palmer is now an honorary member of the club that celebrates its centenary this year.

Waterville Golf Links, Co. Kerry, Rep. of Ireland PAR 4, 386 YARDS, HANDICAP 11

Waterville’s American connections run right back to its origins. The original nine was laid out in 1889 for the workforce who established the first trans-Atlantic cable link, and Irish-American owner John Mulcahy brought in Irish designer Eddie Hackett and Claude Harmon—the 1948 Masters champion and head pro at Winged Foot—to establish an 18-hole routing which opened in 1973. Tom Fazio later renovated the course and Payne Stewart accepted club captaincy in 1999.

The course occupies a promontory that reaches out into Ballinskelligs Bay, and with Waterville House offering the finest of traditional Irish accommodation and hospitality it is little wonder Waterville is so popular with visitors.

Waterville’s 16th occupies the northwesterly tip of the course—Waterville’s ‘land’s end’. Known as ‘Liam’s Ace’, the longest Blue tee yardage is 386 yards and that is what we are playing. There is room off the tee for a long iron or metal-wood, which is the smart play. Golfers should aim for the right side of the fairway to set-up a short iron into a two-tiered green.

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Jason Brown / Golf Club Images

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Vale do Lobo (Royal), Portugal PAR 3, 190 YARDS, HANDICAP 13

Vale do Lobo, to the west of the city of Faro, is emblematic of high-class golf on Portugal’s Algarve coast and to be more specific, the 16th on the resort’s Royal course is the most famous hole in Portugal and probably the most photographed in southern Europe. The Algarve has long attracted vacationers from the UK and northern Europe with its ever-reliable sunshine, golf and sandy beaches.

The 16th is one of Europe’s great death-or-glory golf holes, with the reddened cliff front cutting in between the tee and green. With the Atlantic surf lapping up to an idyllic beach below and to the left of the teeing area, this hole is not without a generous strip of bail-out fairway to the right, but even so, a White yardage of 215 is too harsh for our brand of vacation golf, in which we encourage a fair chance for all. The Yellow yardage of 190 is stern enough. From there golfers must clear 160 yards of cliff and scrub before reaching the safety of the enormous bunker in front of the green. The carry to the front of the green is 175 yards and wind will inevitably influence the outcome.

Jarmo Sandelin, five-time winner on the European Tour, concurs: “The tee shot on the 16th on the Royal has to be one of the most challenging shots in the world if the wind is against.”

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Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Florida PAR 5, 511 YARDS, HANDICAP 12

The 16th at Bay Hill began life as a par five when the Dick Wilson-designed golf course opened in 1961. Then with ever-increasing shot distance on the PGA TOUR, Arnold Palmer converted the hole into a ghoul of a par four for the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2007, immediately rendering it one of the toughest holes on the PGA TOUR. No surprise there: golfers were faced with a 485-yard par four with a dogleg and a stream flowing in front of the green. Reaching the green in two was nearer to immortalization than regulation. In three years as a dreaded par four the 16th accumulated a scoring average of 4.39. That’s the kind of statistic that keeps tour golfers up at night. Say what you like about beating the field being all that matters; the pros don’t like being beaten into a pulp.

So in 2010 Palmer took mercy, moved the tee back 26 yards and restored the 16th to its par of five. The stroke average nudged up to 4.51, but that is a figure that gets the pulse racing on the tee of a par five and it gives golfers the chance to pick up a stroke before taking on Bay Hill’s demanding climax over 17 and 18.

In respect to its perfect proportions, in our fantasy round we are sending golfers off the Palmer tee at the back at the full 511.

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16

Kingsbarns, Kingdom of Fife, Scotland PAR 5, 504 YARDS, HANDICAP 10

Baltusrol Golf Club (Upper) PAR 4, 437 YARDS, HANDICAP 1

The final par four of our 16th-hole expedition delivers us to Baltusrol, one of the grand old American courses, which held the ninth U.S. Open in 1903. A rich tradition continues in July when the club hosts the centenary PGA Championship.

Baltusrol’s last major was the 2005 PGA, when Phil Mickelson won the second of his five major titles to date.

While Baltusrol’s original Old course was highly regarded, architect A.W. Tillinghast disagreed, and when he was commissioned to create a second course after the First World War, he reportedly insisted on starting both courses—the Upper and Lower—from scratch. Tillinghast claimed both courses would be “equally sought after”. He was right, and while the Lower has held more high-profile tournaments and will stage the 2016 PGA, the Upper has also served majors with merit.

It is to Baltusrol’s Upper course that we turn for the final throw. Championship yardage is 447 but we will take the edge off and move up to the Tillinghast tee at 437 yards.

A classic parkland dilemma is posed off the tee as a cluster of bunkers protect the left of the landing area, while drives sent out to the right will leave the second shot blocked by a towering oak. Three bunkers defend the green and golfers must find complete control to wrestle a par from the 16th.

Dan Murphy / stonehousegolf.com

There used to be a theory that great links golf had to be ancient—an argument supported by the R&A’s policy of only taking The Open to links that have survived at least one World War—but this argument was crushed when Kingsbarns opened in 2000. It occupies a spectacular stretch of coastline in Fife, on Scotland’s east coast and five miles south of St Andrews. While the historic links of St Andrews primarily stretch over low-lying land with plenty of blind tee shots facing golfers, the advantage at Kingsbarns is that the course is built on land that rises from the sea, with each hole laid out in front of the golfers and with far-reaching North Sea panoramas that St Andrews can’t match.

The 16th at Kingsbarns epitomizes this great course.

The crescent-shaped par-five hugs the rocky beach and tour golfers playing in the Dunhill Links Championship must play over the beach from a Black tee that extends the hole to 565 yards. In the name of clemency we are playing off the White tee at 504 yards, but if any kind of breeze picks up from the north west this will still be a long walk.

Kingsbarns set a new precedent for Scottish golf. It was built by American Mark Parsinen and designed by Kyle Phillips without a lodge, villa or condominium in sight. In an era when many British golf courses were beginning to struggle for numbers, Parsinen proved that there remained a strong market if the course, facilities and service were all of the highest caliber. Archerfield Links, The Renaissance Club, Trump International in Aberdeen, Machrahanish Dunes and Parsinen’s own Castle Stuart all followed the trend.

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Port Royal Golf Course, Bermuda PAR 3, 180 YARDS, HANDICAP 14

The final hole of our fantasy 18—appropriately a par-three stunner—takes us to the Atlantic island of Bermuda and to Port Royal, a contender for the world’s finest governmentowned course. The former home to the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, Port Royal was designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1970, before former Trent Jones deputy Roger Rulewich was brought in to remodel the course in 2008.

Rulewich re-contoured many holes, rebuilt deeper bunkers, re-turfed the entire course and removed some non-indigenous trees that had betrayed the natural island, cliff-top habitat.

He also added 300 yards to give the course a total yardage of 6,800.

The 16th plays to 235 yards from the Black tee and over the edge of the Atlantic, but as our layout of sixteenths already has a number of nerve-jangling carries we are heeding calls from the holiday spirit and taking you to the Blue tee and a yardage of 180. With an ocean panorama stretching out to the horizon on three sides of the hole the wind is always a dominant factor. Golfers are assisted by the downhill lie from tee to green, but this makes club selection all the more delicate. There is room to bailout into the hillside to the right of the hole while a trio of sand traps provides the green with ample protection.

Kingdom Scorecard – Sweet 16 Hole

Course

Par

Yards H/cap

5 3 5 3 4 3 4 5 3

542 233 590 170 402 162 408 528 168

front nine

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Shinnecock Hills Cypress Point Firestone (South) Augusta National Hazeltine National TPC Scottsdale (Stadium) Merion GC (East) Southport & Ainsdale SentryWorld

Front nine

6 3 7 15 4 18 2 9 17

35 3,203

back nine

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

Golf de Sperone, Cabot Cliffs Oakland Hills (South) Waterville Vale do Lobo (Royal) Bay Hill Kingsbarns Baltusrol (Upper) Port Royal

Back nine

5 3 4 4 3 5 5 4 3

580 148 406 386 190 511 504 437 180

8 16 5 11 13 12 10 1 14

36 3,342

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Captain Billy McNeill leading out the Celtic team for the 1967 European Cup Final

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Occasionally a high school or neighborhood produces an athlete of incredibly rare, star quality.

Sometimes, hardly ever, the same community produces two or three stars at the same time.

Here we look at four of the most striking instances of sporting clusters that have occurred over the past 50 years

S

ome of the locals in the Swedish town of Örnsköldsvik say it is in the water. Örnsköldsvik is a small town with an uncanny habit of producing NHL hockey players, but more on that later. Some say it is in their clean air, others believe it is somehow linked to the stunning Northern Lights that randomly flash across the night sky. Some dismiss it as a fluke, others point to a particular coach.

The truth is that these clusters need to be fuelled by a combination of factors. All the four clusters detailed below required a great coach to nurture the talent, none more so than soccer visionary Jock Stein, who pulled together and inspired the great Glasgow Celtic team of 1967. But the coaches had to be in the same place and at the same time as the exceptional athletes, and they had to connect in a common cause.

The athletes had to have a lot more than talent, too.

Consider NFL stars Keenan Lewis and Mike Wallace when they were at high school together in New Orleans (more on them below, too); they had no role models from their neighborhood to follow into the NFL but they had the strength, courage and a shared dream to forge their own paths. They were the fire starters.

Then there is a golfer like Boo Weekley. This was a kid who dropped out of college and who wouldn’t go on tour without his fishing tackle. He used to practice his putting while drinking beer yet his ability is remarkable and eventually his work ethic matched it.

Call it fluke, or perhaps it’s destiny, but there is something beyond logic that has enabled each of these clusters to flourish far beyond the odds.

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The 1967 Celtic team celebrates with the European Cup

The Coal Streets The greatest prize in club soccer in Europe used to be called the European Cup—what has now morphed into the Champions League—and the first British team to win it was Glasgow’s Celtic team of 1967. The Scottish champions defeated Italy’s famous Inter Milan side 2-1 in a final played in Lisbon, Portugal. It remains the greatest moment in the club’s rich history.

Perhaps most remarkable was that of the 11-man Celtic team that night—a team remembered as the ‘Lisbon Lions’—10 were born and raised within 12 miles of Celtic’s home stadium, Celtic Park in Parkhead, in Glasgow’s East End. The one player who was not from inside the 12-mile radius, Bobby Lennox, was born only 26 miles away in Saltcoats.

Even manager Jock Stein, the mastermind of one of soccer’s great upsets, was born in Burnbank, just 10 miles south of Celtic Park, and he had known many of the players since their teens, having worked as youth team coach at Celtic before being appointed manager in 1965. This was a team carved from the industrial heartland of western Scotland—Stein himself had worked in the forbidding coalmines of Lanarkshire from the age of 15 before establishing his own playing career.

“We were all local boys,” recalled Billy McNeil—team captain and immoveable pillar of defence—years later.

“Bobby came from furthest away but the rest of us lived virtually next door to the ground.

“Before kick-off that night I was looking at the Inter Milan team, in their blue and black stripes, with their Italian

Celtic’s team for the 1967 European Cup Final, with each player’s place of birth and its distance from Celtic Park: Ronnie Simpson Jim Craig Billy McNeil John Clark Tommy Gemmil Jimmy Johnstone Bobby Murdoch Bertie Auld Bobby Lennox Willie Wallace Stevie Chalmers

Born: Kings Park, 2 miles Born: Govan, 4 miles Born: Bellshill, 7.5 miles Born: Larkhall, 12 miles Born: Motherwell, 9 miles Born: Viewpark, 6 miles Born: Rutherglen, 1.5 miles Born: Maryhill, 5 miles Born: Saltcoats, 26 miles Born: Kirkintilloch, 6.5 miles Born: Garngad, 1.5 miles

tans and good looks, and I looked at our mob and I said, ‘They must think they’re playing a pub team.’”

Remembers Lennox: “We were the wee guys from Saltcoats, Kirkintilloch and Hamilton, going out to play the giants of the world.”

The European Cup victory was well deserved. Celtic went 1-0 down when Inter Milan were awarded an early penalty, but then the underdogs attacked relentlessly, with goals from Tommy Gemmil and Stevie Chalmers bringing the European Cup to Scotland for the one and only time.

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Bubba Watson during a return trip to Milton High School

The Redneck Riviera Milton is one of those in-between places on the Florida Panhandle. It’s a small town 20 miles northeast of Pensacola, just off I-10 heading for Tallahassee. The town is built on the banks of the Blackwater River as it flows down from Alabama to the Gulf of Mexico, and folks here often like to hunt and fish. There’s no country club in Milton, and when kids played on Milton High School’s golf team it really wasn’t something to tell their friends about—that was until it somehow produced a trio of PGA TOUR winners, all born within five years of each other: Heath Slocum, Boo Weekley and Bubba Watson.

Slocum, now 42 and a four-time winner on the PGA TOUR, played in the same Milton High team as Weekley— also 42—who is a three-time winner on the PGA TOUR and member of the last American Ryder Cup team to win, in 2008 at Valhalla. Watson, 37, and the Masters champion twice in the past four years, was four years behind the other two at school, and would hang around Milton’s Tanglewood Golf Club after school hoping to get a game with his role models.

Slocum and Weekley could not have given first impressions that were more different as teenagers.

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Louisiana-born Slocum, clean cut and the son of a club professional, grew up hoping to play on tour. Weekley, Milton-born and with its rough edges, once missed English class because he spotted a deer on the way to school. He got his gun, shot it and hurriedly gutted it, before arriving in class with the animal’s blood on his clothes. It took Weekley longer to realize his tour destiny, and having dropped out of agricultural college he worked cleaning chemical tanks before taking golf seriously.

If there was one thing Milton did to help these three careers it was to force the teenagers to strike the ball cleanly on golf courses that were often much less than manicured.

“You have to understand, the courses around here when they were growing up weren’t always in the greatest shape,” said club pro Jack Slocum in an interview with Golfweek a few years ago. “It’s very sandy soil. The grass isn’t always perfect. This isn’t like Augusta; you have to learn to hit it. Because the ground around here is very sandy, if you don’t hit it crisp it could go anywhere. You have to hit the ball first.”

If nothing else, the trio’s success has changed one thing for Milton High: everyone wants to be on the golf team.

The Twilight Zone Perhaps light deprivation is the secret to hothousing worldclass athletes. In Örnsköldsvik, on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia and 400 miles north of Sweden’s capital city of Stockholm, it gets dark by the end of lunch hour in winter.

To fend off the Seasonal Affective Disorder that plagues populations around the Arctic Circle, locals play ice hockey.

“It’s on the ocean and it’s beautiful,” says Daniel Sedin, who grew up in Örnsköldsvik alongside his identical twin brother Henrik, both of whom now star for the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL. “In the summer it’s a special place.

Winter is dark and cold, but that’s when we play hockey.”

Two features define Örnsköldsvik—or ‘O’vik’ as the locals call it—in tangible terms: its paper mill and its ice rinks. They have ice rinks like American towns have

[Top] Örnsköldsvik.

[Left] Anders Hedberg with the New York Rangers. [below] Markus Naslund, Vancouver Canucks

baseball diamonds. Young, male athletes here are not split between football, baseball, basketball, soccer or swimming.

If you want to play sports in O’vik you play ice hockey, and if you are exceptional you play for the town’s Modo club in the Swedish Hockey League. O’vik and Modo has in turn served as a production line into the NHL, producing 20 NHL players players in the past 40 years from a population of only 28,000.

“It’s a small town, a blue-collar town,” says Peter Forsberg, an O’vik native who led the Colorado Avalanche to a pair of Stanley Cup triumphs in 1996 and 2001. He has since returned to O’vik and is assistant general manager at Modo.

“The people work in factories and they love hockey.

It’s really cold and all the athletic talent goes to play hockey.

Everyone in O’vik plays hockey. When I grew up, we had all those rinks and if you wanted to become a great player you could skate as much as you wanted. There were 15 people on the ice every night, throwing sticks to pick teams.

It was outstanding.”

Anders Hedberg was the first son of O’vik to make it in the NHL, playing for the New York Rangers from 1978-85, but it was a generation later when O’vik’s Forsberg and Markus Naslund—both born in 1973—didn’t just make it to the NHL but led it. At the end of the 2002-03 NHL season the two players were the league’s top two scorers.

Naslund captained the Vancouver Canucks for a clubrecord eight years and the O’vik connection in Vancouver has been sustained by twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who now lead the team. The pair has played together their entire careers and their interchanges on the ice look telepathic.

Summer is beautiful.

Winter is dark and cold, but that’s when we play hockey

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Wide receiver Mike Wallace beats childhood friend Kendrick Lewis to the ball when playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012

Both were drafted by the Steelers within an hour of each other in 2009

The Crescent City The epicenter of this episode is the Behrman Stadium at “This just shows that hard work pays off,” said Lewis— O. Perry Walker High School, in the Algiers neighborhood who now plays for his home team, the New Orleans Saints— of New Orleans, sitting on the West Bank of the Mississippi at a summer football camp he and Wallace organized for River as it winds through the heart of the city. This is where 500 high school kids on the turf at the Behrman Stadium. football careers began for teammates Keenan Lewis and Mike “A lot of people didn’t see the hard work Mike and I put in Wallace, a pair of incredibly talented high school teammates when we could’ve been going to the movies or something who made it into the NFL against all odds. but we were here on a Saturday or Sunday at Behrman Wallace was offered a scholarship at Oregon State and Stadium working. It’s just an honor and a blessing from he insisted he would only go if best friend Lewis could join God for us to be able to live our dreams.” him. Lewis did head to Oregon, although Wallace ultimately “We never had things like this coming up,” Wallace followed high-school coach Frank Wilson to the University said. “It’s crazy how time flies and to see us now as the older of Mississippi. As fate would have it, Lewis and Wallace guys coming back.” were both drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers within an hour Algiers is a tough neighborhood. Disenchantment of each other in the 2009 NFL draft. lingers on every street corner, but Lewis refused to let go of “Nobody could believe that as close as they were, they his dream to play in the NFL while his mother worried he both went to the same team and in the same round,” Muriel was too skinny. Wallace’s parents came close to putting a Lewis, Keenan’s mother, told the New Orleans Advocate stop to his football as he battled asthma. newspaper. “Algiers literally just lit up that day. Fifteen “Both of us love the neighborhood we grew up minutes later, I had about 300 messages in my phone. in,” added Wallace, who now catches passes for the People were texting in church and everything. And today Minnesota Vikings. “We have a lot of kids with talent in they are still like brothers.” this neighborhood. They just need a little motivation and a Lewis and Wallace became the role models for more little guidance.” young talent at O. Perry Walker, as local boys Kendrick “We are trying to make a difference by stopping the Lewis is a safety for the Baltimore Ravens and defensive violence in our neighborhoods,” said Lewis. “Our main goal tackle Anthony Johnson is with the Washington Redskins. is to come out and change lives.”

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CALLING HOME 90

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Nearly every great Major League Baseball moment has been accompanied by great commentary. Here, veteran sportscaster and former ballplayer Joe Buttitta reflects on the art of the home run call

I

f you’ve ever watched sports highlights on the evening news, you know what a home run call is. If you played stickball in the streets or proper baseball on a manicured diamond somewhere—even in Little League—you not only know what a home run call is, you’ve probably made up a few yourself. Poorly phrased or badly executed, a lousy home run call goes about as far as a bad bunt. But well assembled and properly delivered, the phrase that follows a ball from pitcher to batter to over the fence becomes a sportscaster’s signature, a perfect exclamation point on a thing of pure beauty, as much a part of the moment as the home run itself and the tag that pins a specific home run to its page in history. Listen to Milo Hamilton’s 1974 call on Hank Aaron’s 715th home run— the one that broke Babe Ruth’s record—and you don’t have to be viewing footage of the moment to get goose bumps, you can see the hit perfectly in your mind: “Here’s the pitch

by Downing… Swinging… Here’s the drive into left center field…. That ball is gonna be-EE… OUTTA HERE! IT’S GONE! 715!!!! There’s a new home run champion of all time, and it’s Henry Aaron!”

People have strong opinions on the best home run calls, and those opinions are usually tied to where someone’s from. Hometown favorites prefer Vin Scully of the Dodgers, Phil Rizzuto and John Sterling of the Yankees, Ken “Hawk” Harrelson of the White Sox, and even (and personally this pains me to no end) Chris Berman of ESPN. Arguments on which are the best calls are common, and I’m happy to start or to finish them. Like anyone who’s played and loved the game I have my own opinions, and as a former sportscaster I even have my own home run call—but more on that later.

I haven’t heard every one of today’s big league announcers, but I’ve heard enough of the old guard’s classic voices to be able to form a list of those I like (and the one I can’t stand to hear). Your list is no doubt different than mine, and that’s where the fun begins.

Good home run calls share a few common attributes: They should contain originality, be delivered in a distinctive voice, and be issued with enough excitement to keep listeners tuned to a radio (you remember radio, don’t you?).

If fortune smiles, the call will accompany a hit of enough significance to ensure that both are remembered. Like the

"HERE'S THE PITCH BY DOWNING...

SWINGING... HERE'S THE DRIVE INTO LEFT CENTER FIELD... THAT BALL IS GONNA BE-EE... OUTTA HERE! IT'S GONE! 715!!!!

THERE'S A NEW HOME RUN CHAMPION OF ALL TIME, AND IT'S HENRY AARON!"

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proverbial tree falling in the forest, the greatest home run call ever might have come during the one bright spot in a 1–0 Cactus League yawner, but who heard it?

Among my examples of not-good home run calls, Berman’s bark of “Back, back, back, back, back..….Gone,” is as memorable as a root canal. And the staccato rhythm with which he delivers it drives me nuts. I’m not picking on Chris, who is an otherwise respected sportscaster, but if he never hears the crack of another bat it would be too soon for me.

I was born and raised in the Bronx, so my taste in baseball announcers is quite provincial and includes the Yankees’ Mel Allen, the aforementioned Scully and Red Barber of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Russ Hodges of the NY Giants. I listened to them all as a boy when the radio signals came in loud and clear.

We also enjoyed the exploits of three of baseball’s best centerfielders: The Mick, the Say Hey Kid, and the Duke— all in New York at the same time! Baseball was king!

You can tell I’m no spring chicken because these names date back to the ’40s and ’50s when baseball was only on radio and Big Bands were still the rage. Remember “Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye?” During that Golden Age, many notable sportscasters became popular, and for good reason. As Class-A originals they all wrote their own job descriptions. Guys like Ernie Harwell of Detroit and Harry Caray of the St. Louis Cardinals (later the Chicago Cubs).

According to the Baseball Almanac, the first baseball game ever broadcast on radio was in 1921, a game between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on KDKA. The Pirates won 8–5, and the tradition of carrying major league games on radio was off and running. And you know for darn sure that some unknown announcer made the first-ever home run call. We just don’t know who he was, and that’s a shame.

Announcers in those days didn’t often attend the actual games in person. They re-created games from the studio using info that came in over telegraph wires. They also created sound effects, like a bat hitting a ball, an umpire’s “ball/strike/yer out” calls, and fake crowd noises.

In the background you might even hear a guy hawking beer and Cracker Jacks. You got hungry for a hot dog. You really felt like you were sitting in the stands. Yep, as they might say in Brooklyn, “Dem was the days!”

The announcers were real, though, and near the top of my favorites list is a relative youngster: Hall of Famer Dick Enberg, who announced for the California Angels— and who still announces for the San Diego Padres. Enberg’s home run call was a good one: He would say, “Touch ’em all!” at the first sight of a long fly ball clearing the fence.

“Actually, my home run call germinated from my early 1960 days as an assistant baseball coach at Cal State Northridge,” he told me. “Whenever we needed the big blow, I’d encourage from the dugout, ‘Touch ’em all.’ In other words: ‘hit the big one!’

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“Several years later as the newly appointed announcer by owner Gene Autry, I needed that all-important home run call and tried it during winter minor league games. When skipper Chuck Tanner first heard it he gave me a thumbs up, and that was that. At a time when all the good ones were taken (for example, ‘going, going gone,’ and ‘kiss it goodbye’) I tried what I honestly urged for my Matadors of CSUN to deliver. It’s been a wonderful friend, all the way to Cooperstown.”

Indeed, Enberg was enshrined in baseball’s Hall of Fame last year and also won the museum’s Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting—and I’d like to think I had something to do with it! As a senior at CSUN I played for Enberg. I was one of his pitchers, a wily left-hander who managed to set a dubious school record for most walks in one season. My best pitch was usually way off the plate and so he aptly nicknamed me “Mr. High and Outside.” Not exactly encouraging for his coaching career, I like to take credit for driving him to broadcasting.

Playing endless games of stickball on 182nd Street in the Bronx my buddies and I would mimic Mel Allen’s

HAMILTON’S CALL OF AARON’S HOME RUN WASN’T REHEARSED, AND THAT’S LIKELY WHY IT WAS SO MEMORABLE

[Top] Dick Enberg prepares for pre-game ceremonies on opening day at Petco Park. [Above] Red Barber interviews Leo Durocher, Brooklyn manager. [Left] Hank Aaron poses with Milo Hamilton

iconic calls like, “There’s a White Owl Wallop!” Mel was often sponsored by White Owl cigars. When Ballantine Beer sponsored the game, his home run call might be, “There’s a high fly ball to right-centerfield… And it’s a Ballantine Blast!” Still, Mel is best known for his simple “How About That?” signature. And I loved what he said on a full count: “Three and two. What’ll he do?”

The Dodgers’ Red Barber was usually sponsored by Old Gold cigarettes, so his call was, “There’s an Old Goldie for ya!”, along with his favorite “Ohhh, Doctor.”

Coming back to Atlanta’s Milo Hamilton and his iconic call of Henry Aaron’s historic swat in ’74, it’s worth noting that home run calls aren’t always rehearsed. In the case of Aaron’s record-breaker, Hamilton’s call wasn’t prepared in advance and that’s probably one of the reasons why it was so effective: it was genuine. Also, Hamilton was smart enough to let the moment sell itself. After announcing, “The fireworks are going! Henry Aaron is coming around third! His teammates are at home plate!” Hamilton said, “Just listen to this crowd,” and then he shut up and let the roar of screaming fans set the scene.

Scully is an expert at that as well. He uses the crowd to tell some of the story by not talking too much. When in game one of the 1988 World Series a gimpy Kirk Gibson took Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley over the wall in right, Scully simply said, “She is… gone.” And then he went completely silent for a full 68 seconds, which is a lifetime in radio, letting the sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium punctuate the moment. I was there, and it was electric. And he’s a genius! Believe it: 2016 will be Vin’s 66th and final season calling Dodger games.

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In October of 1985 when the Cardinals’ light-hitting Mel was in the September of his years that day in Toronto, shortstop Ozzie Smith lined one over the wall in right, Jack and when he came into the booth he simply smiled and in that Buck (Joe’s Dad) went crazy in the booth. In fact, he shouted, distinctive Southern voice said, “Hello, I’m Mel Allen.” After “Go crazy folks! Go crazy!” And they did. some nervous chit-chat I begged him to take the lead and open Other favorite baseball announcers of mine were the the show. I would have been honored. “No. But thanks. This Yankees’ Phil “Scooter” Rizzuto, who usually shouted “Holy is your show. I’m just here to help if I can.” What a nice man.

Cow!” That’s exactly what he said at old Yankee Stadium Mel did the middle three innings, and it was all I could when Roger Maris swatted number 61 to pass Babe Ruth. do to stop staring at him. But no one homered while he Detroit’s legendary Ernie Harwell told his audience was on so I didn’t get to personally witness the home run that a homer was “Long Gone.” Ever popular Cubs’ call that I had listened to as a boy. In the 8th, though, with announcer Harry Caray came up with “It could be, it might me on the mic, an Angel batter ripped a ball toward center be…. It is! A Home Run!” field, and so I had the chance to put my own call in play: Seattle’s late cheerleader Dave Niehaus got long-winded “Don’t mess this up,” I thought. for a bases loaded homer with his, “Get out the rye bread and “Here’s the 2–2 pitch… And there’s a shot to straightaway mustard grandma, cause it’s GRAND SALAMI TIME!” Dave center… And this ball is… GONE–FOR–GOOD!” somehow made that work in the Pacific Northwest.

I went silent and let the crowd react, then I shot an And the Giants’ Russ Hodges became instantly famous awkward glance toward Mel. He smiled back and goodat the Polo Grounds when Bobby Thomson pounded a naturedly elbowed me in the ribs: “Hey, that’s a good one,” Ralph Branca pitch deep to left to beat the Dodgers and win he said. Good enough for me. the National League pennant in 1951. Hodges’ excitement needle apparently got stuck when he repeated over and over “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!” and so on before dissolving into a simple scream of “AAAAHHOOOOOO!!!!!” He usually just said, “Bye bye, baby!” but clearly this was special.

Harrelson of the White Sox wins my Blue Ribbon for originality: While the ball was headed for the fences, the big cowboy would stand up and shout: “You can put it on the board…(wait for it)………..Yesssssssssss!” He’s been huge in Chicago forever.

For my money, though, Melvin Allen Israel (shortened to Mel Allen) from Birmingham, Alabama, is my all-time choice. But this, too, is personal. Here’s the story: In 1984 I was the TV play-by-play voice of the California Angels on KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles. It was the crowning achievement of my sportscasting career. Big League ball, baby!

Mel Allen as he broadcasts a game over WPIX from the booth in Yankee Stadium I was in The Show and was privileged to be working with Hall of Famers Don Drysdale and Harmon Killebrew. It could not get any better than this, I thought—but it did.

The Angels were in Toronto getting ready for a weekend series with the Blue Jays. I was informed by my Great sports calls aren’t only in baseball, of course, and when it comes to golf producer that he was bringing in another announcer that the greatest comments have usually come with the greatest shots, and many weekend because someone had gotten sick. He asked me if I of those have been delivered by Tiger Woods. Here are two of the best: minded working with a guy they were able to get at the last minute. He asked me if I minded working with Mel Allen.

Verne Lundquist calling Woods’ Gary Koch on Tiger’s 60-foot putt If there is a heaven for sportscasters, Mel guards the improbable chip-in on No.16 at on No.17 at the 2001 PLAYERS pearly gates. My adoration, admiration and utter respect the 2005 Masters: CHAMPIONSHIP: for the former voice of the Yankees knows no bounds. Even Yankee haters admired him. He was the Vince Scully of his Oh my goodness… Oh WOW! I mean that’s… better than most. day. His popularity was such that he was the first host of In your LIFE have you ever seen That is better than most… the wildly popular TV highlight show This Week in Baseball, anything like that?!

BETTER THAN MOST! representing all of the game.

Tiger Moments

“

“

”

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”

THE

GENTLEMAN’S

WAGER II

J U D E L AW . Z H AO W E I . G I A N C A R L O G I A N N I N I D I R E C T E D BY JA K E S C OT T

WATC H T H E F I L M YO U T U B E .C O M /J O H N N I E WA L K E R JOHNNIE WALKER BLUE LABEL™ Blended Scotch Whisky, 40% Alc/Vol. ©2016 Imported by Diageo, Norwalk, CT.

Nick Punto One of the hardest-working men in baseball makes the transition from piranha to shark…

“

H

ey, sorry I missed your call before. So, where am I? I’m here in Arizona and I just retired. Yeah, just now, in the last couple days.” Thus began my chat with Nick Punto, the [former] infielder who earned big respect from fans and pros alike by playing all-out and working harder than the guy next to him since being drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 21st round of the 1998 MLB Draft. Moving among second base, third base and shortstop for teams including the Phillies, the Minnesota Twins, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics, Punto established a reputation as a grinder, steadily battling and working hard for his clubs. In 2006, playing for the Twins, his style was summed up when Ozzie Guillén, managing the White Sox, referred to Punto and three of his Twins teammates as “The Piranhas,” talking about how none was a big star but all always seemed to end up on base, nibbling away at the opposition by building one- and two-run innings that led to eventual wins. That’s Nick Punto the fighter, Nick the [now retired] baseball player. When it comes to Nick Punto the golfer, that “piranha” stuff can get tossed back in the tank, because on the golf course it looks like Punto might be more of a shark. The way we heard it the guy has a .5 handicap, and so we decided to give him a call.

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“It’s maybe a little lower than that right now,” he told us. “Right around zero. It doesn’t move much. I’ll go to a +1 or a 1, it stays right around there.”

There are plenty of good former ballplayers lighting up the fairways, but few of them are scratch golfers—and fewer still say they’ve never taken a lesson.

“Yeah, I’ve never had lessons, but a lot of my friends play: [PGA TOUR golfers] Pat Perez, Chez Reavie… These guys, you play 18 holes with them you learn more than you’ll ever learn in a golf lesson. I’ve played thousands of holes with Perez, and believe it or not he’s a great teacher.

Same with Mark Mulder [former MLB pitcher], he’s a great teacher. I learn stuff from him.”

While Punto didn’t grow up with the game, it’s fair to say that it caught him hard once he started. Naturally competitive (his professional nickname was “Shredder”) and with a well-proven work ethic, it’s not difficult to believe that Punto built his game on his own, for a number of reasons.

“My dad, we’d go to the park and chip and make up holes, hit in the trees and stuff like that,” Punto says. “I didn’t grow up on a golf course. But in 2004 I moved to Arizona and it’s kind of a Mecca for golf. I met Mark Mulder, Kyle Lohse [another former MLB pitcher], they’re pretty good golfers. I wanted to be as good as them. And you know how

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golf can be so addictive—it’s one of the worst addictions I’ve ever had. It sucks you in. I mean, I chewed Copenhagen for 17 years and that was easier to kick!”

Within golf, there are a fair number of ballplayers, and especially pitchers, which some attribute to their periods of rest between play. Spring training sees a lot of players spending plenty of time on course as well, and Punto says he’s not surprised.

“It’s a great game,” he says. “Baseball players love it.

It’s slow, methodical, there’s a lot of thinking that goes on.”

And of course there’s the competitive thing, especially among friends. Punto credits that to his relatively rapid— and certainly substantial—success with the game.

“When you play three days a week, you’re going to be pretty good,” he says. “I don’t like to lose at all. I would say that it’s more about beating my friends than competing with myself—and not losing money! That’s a big drive. Playing with Mulder and Lohse, we’re playing for some money, so you better be ready!”

Punto says he enjoys Whisper Rock, TPC Scottsdale, Greyhawk and other Scottsdale-area courses, and it makes sense: there’s a lot of room in the desert, and part of his low handicap comes from the fact that he can hit the hell out of the ball.

“I’m deep,” Punto says. “Deeper than any of those guys.

My game is a pretty solid game, not a huge weakness in it. I hit the ball far, I like par-5s. I hit it farther than Perez and he says I hit it farther than most TOUR players. I always have hit it far. Jermaine Dye, Eric Chavez [both MLB], they’re like, ‘how the hell did you only hit 20 home runs in your career?’ It’s just a good golf swing. It goes far and I don’t know why. It’s not like I’m a big guy, 190lbs. My short game’s good, too, but it’s always a work in progress.

“Any time you drive a par-4 everyone’s a little shocked, especially when they’re like, ‘Go ahead, you can hit,’ and I’m like, ‘No, there are people on the green.’ Like a 350-yard par-4, that was one of my better shots. [Scottsdale’s] Estancia Club, up the hill. I hit one to three inches on that par-4 and there was some good money on the line, so that was a good shot.

“I shot a 67 once and then a lot of 68s—a lot meaning three or four. My standard rounds are right around par, 73, 74.”

Remind us to not bet against Punto, then. And despite his success with baseball, why didn’t he go into golf?

“Baseball was a father/son sport for me,” he says, explaining that his father, Lou, had been drafted by the Boston Red Sox. Lou never made the big leagues, but he did become a successful coach, mentoring, among others, the aforementioned Chavez, catcher Eric Munson and of course From top: Batting for the Dodgers in 2013; On second base for the Phillies in 2001; Turning a double play for Italy during the World Baseball Classic, 2013

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Nick. “He was a huge influence,” says Nick, himself now a father of both a daughter and a son.

“I started in Little League, just like everybody else, and at 9 or 10 my father said, ‘Hey, you have a future in this if you want to work for it. It will be a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice, but if you want to do it you can do it.’ I just kind of ran with it; that was going to be my path.”

Punto grew up in Southern California and went to high school in Mission Viejo, but he wasn’t drafted in his early days.

“I didn’t get drafted in high school,” he says. “I was really skinny and little. I matured a little at [Saddleback] junior college and the scouts started coming around.”

When he finally was drafted by the Phillies, he was torn out of sunny afternoons in Southern California and taken to upstate New York.

“East Coast baseball is crazy,” he says, “especially up north. I started in Batavia, just outside Buffalo. It was awfully cold in April! Scranton, Pennsylvania; Redding, Pennsylvania; some cold, cold baseball. It took a year to get used to that, to play in that frigid air.”

While guys drafted out of high school or other heavily coveted prospects might be put on display immediately in the minors so that teams can evaluate them from the get-go, it’s not that easy for those drafted in the later rounds.

“You’ve got to make a name for yourself,” Punto says. “As a 21st rounder it took me a while to get into the lineup: The thirdrounder shortstop, fifth-rounder 2nd baseman… I had to wait for them to have a failure to get a shot. You’ve got to just hang in there and work, knowing you’ll get in there eventually.”

When his shot did come he made the most of it, and it paid off, with Punto getting the call to the majors that he says is everything you see in the movies—and more.

“The call, it’s so amazing. Mine came when the season ended at AAA. It ended at the beginning of September. I had a good year, but I remember I didn’t feel like I had a great year; I hit .230 or something. But what I did do was I led the league in stolen bases, I played good defensively. I didn’t think it was enough to get the call up, but sure enough the AAA manager called me in the office and said, ‘Sit down.’ I said ‘What’s going on?’ He looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to the big leagues.’ I just remember my eyes welled up, he was still talking but he was talking like the teacher in Charlie Brown—‘Wanh wanh wanh…’ So many years of hard work and sacrifice and everything, it really is a dream come true.”

Punto’s major league debut was against the Montreal Expos on September 9th of 2001. Playing as a pinch hitter he singled to right field in the 8th inning off Expos pitcher

Bob Scanlan, and he was on his way. After three years in Philadelphia Punto headed to Minnesota, where he became part of the “Pirahnas” along with teammates Jason Tyner, Jason Bartlett and Luis Castillo. Shortly after joining the Twins Punto turned in two solid seasons, batting .239 with four home runs and 26 RBIs over 112 games in 2005 and going .290 with 45 RBIs and 17 stolen bases over 135 games in 2006.

After seven years with Minnesota Punto signed a one-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and became a strong infield reinforcement during their championship season, playing 63 games as a utility player, batting .278 and making three hits in 14 at-bats during that year’s World Series, which the Cardinals won over the Texas Rangers four games to three.

From St. Louis it was two years with the Boston Red Sox, starting at second, third, shortstop and even first base (for five games). In August of 2012 he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, appearing in 22 games that year and batting .286. The next year saw him in 116 games, largely covering for the injured Hanley Ramírez at shortstop, though he left LA for Oakland at the end of the 2013 season. One year there led to a minor league contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks but in February of 2015 Punto decided to take the year off to spend time with family.

Over the years he represented Team Italy in various World Baseball Classics, and while his offensive numbers never got better than during his time with the Twins, his legacy, certainly, is on defense.

Various baseball statistics websites have him with +40 defensive runs saved at third base, +21 at shortstop and +21 at second base. With 104 career stolen bases his speed was a factor as well, while his go-for-broke style and “Shredder” alter ego earned him a loyal fan base that continues even into retirement. Looking back on his career, I opined that it must be tough to hang up the cleats.

“It is,” he says, “but the writing’s on the wall; you don’t get to play forever. If you do it the right way, and you played as hard as I did, then it’s easy to let go. Your talent just isn’t where it was when you were 30 years old. You see your skills diminish year by year. It’s hard to say that, but there’s a reason guys don’t play until they’re 45 years old: you just lose it, and so it was an easy decision. A good buddy of mine named Jim told me, ‘You’ll know when you know, and you’ll feel good about it,’ and it couldn’t have been more true. I sat down with my wife and said ‘That’s it’.

‘I gave it my all, gave it everything I had.’ And so now I need to get on that celebrity golf tour! I know I’ll take Mulder down. He won that Tahoe event in 2015, but I’ll take him down!”

On a par-4 they’ll say, ‘You can go ahead and hit,’ and I’m like, ‘No, there are still people on the green’

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[From Left] Popular Wake Forest eatery Dick Frye's, circa 1952; historic arch on the old campus; Cheer Squad in 1952; Frank Edens putting, Mickey Gallagher, Arnold Palmer, Dick Tiddy watching

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Yearbook A snapshot of life at Arnie's Wake Forest, from other students who called the college home during the 1940s and 1950s

I

n the fall of 1947, Arnold Palmer accepted a golf scholarship and followed his good friend Bud Worsham to Wake Forest College in North Carolina. Harry Truman was President, the Andrews Sisters “Toolie Oolie Doolie” was in the Top 40 and Groucho Marx had just launched his new radio quiz show: You Bet Your Life. Down in the town of Wake Forest, not far from Raleigh, students were dreaming big, working hard and growing up—some too quickly. Just a couple of years

into his college career, on an ill-fated night following a football game, Worsham died in a car accident along with another student athlete, Gene Scheer. It was a devastating loss for the small campus community, and it hit Palmer hard. Friends with both young men, Palmer quit college for a stint in the U.S. Coast Guard, but later returned to Wake Forest where he found success on the golf course and in life, turning pro in 1954 just before qualifying for graduation (he later received an honorary diploma). Here

are the recollections of a few people who shared those Wake Forest days with Arnie, in the years just before the college became a university and moved to Winston-Salem.

Edited for style and content, we cannot attest to the accuracy of every anecdote here, but it’s obvious by the personalities and the stories that Palmer wasn’t the only luminary of his time to come out of the small-town Baptist college with strong athletics, stronger character, and a continuing legacy of excellence.

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I. Beverly Lake, Jr. Retired Chief Justice North Carolina Supreme Court C LASS O F ’ 55

Arnie was ahead of me, a little older than me, but then he joined the service for a few years and he came back and we finished about the same time. I remember learning what little I knew about golf at Wake Forest at the time Arnie was there. He did not teach me, and I’m sorry; I might have done better if he had! He did extremely well, obviously.

I remember this one story told about Arnie: He was seen crossing the campus by the philosophy professor, I think it was Dr. Reid, and Arnie passed by with his bag on his back heading down to Paschal Golf Course, which is where he and I both played and where I learned to play (he of course learned a lot earlier than that). In any event he was crossing the campus and Dr. Reid said, ‘MISTER Palmer, do you REALLY think you can make a living playing with those sticks on your back?!’ And Arnie said, ‘Well Dr. Reid, I think I can.’ And that was the extent of their conversation. I don’t know if they ever got back together or not, but as you know Arnie made about 10 times what Dr. Reid made as a professor— maybe 100 times more. Anyway, Arnie went on and graduated ahead of me. We weren’t much together because I was not on the golf team and didn’t play much golf.

My great-grandfather was a preacher, a very prominent preacher up in Virginia, and he was offered the presidency of Wake Forest College in the early days. He was always sorry he didn’t take that position, but he elected to say ‘Thanks but no thanks.’ He stayed with his churches. But that was my first family connection with Wake Forest. His son, my grandfather, then came down to Wake Forest and he became the physics professor at Wake Forest College from 1899, which is when he came to Wake Forest, and he taught physics until

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Southern Conference Champs: Buddy Worsham; Frank Edens; Dick Tiddy; Arnold Palmer; Coach Johnny Johnston; and Sonny Harris and Mickey Gallagher of Wake Forest, N.C.

1934, which was the year I was born. Then my grandfather’s son, my father, got his undergrad degree at Wake Forest and then he went to Harvard and got his law degree, and then he came back to Wake Forest to begin the law school there. I lived most of my life in Wake Forest—I didn’t know I could go anywhere else!

It was pretty strict at the old campus.

It loosened up a bit at the new campus.

I don’t remember whether they had any dances at the new campus; they did not at the old campus. We had to go to Raleigh to hold the Midwinters and other dances.

We listened to all the big band music, but events were held outside the campus grounds. There were several local diners in Wake Forest proper, which adhered pretty strictly to the rules of the school. On each of the three main roads leading out of Wake Forest, right at the one-mile mark—those were the places. They had to go out as far as one mile before they could sell any beer, but they were generally frequented by the college students.

I met my first wife at the old school, and we got married shortly after we both graduated from Wake Forest. I had an

old Chevrolet, managed to get me around pretty well. It was beige, brown or beige, pretty nondescript old car but it would go pretty fast—I had it fixed so it would— and I managed to pick up a few tickets.

I thanked one highway patrolman very sincerely for saving my life. He arrested me one time and scared me to death, convinced me I would have to obey the speed limit—at least where he was. We had this one particular chief of police called ‘Knuckles,’ which is a good name for a policeman.

Everybody associated with Wake Forest pulled extensively for Arnie when he was playing professionally. I’m just very proud to be able to call him ‘Arnie.’

He knows who I am and I know who he is, of course, and I’m glad to say he was a classmate of mine. I tell some people in jest that since we were at Wake Forest together I got him started in golf. Most people know that’s not true in any event. I don’t play any more, my swing has just gone to hell and so there’s not much I can do with golf. Was I any good? Oh I was fantastic! But don’t tell Arnie I said that because he’ll know I’m not telling the truth!

Mr. Richard Day Insurance executive, Day Insurance Company President of the Class of 1956 C L ASS O F ’56

When the professor saw him slipping out of class, he'd say, 'Hit 'em good today, Arnie!'

Photos courtesy Wake Forest Historical Museum

The ever-popular Shorty's, circa 1950

During my sophomore year Arnie was a senior, and I had one class with him: astronomy. This was considered a real ‘crip course’ at Wake Forest [a course that’s easy to pass]. I had a full load, so I thought, ‘I’m going to take one crip course.’ There were a lot of athletes when I walked into that class!

The professor was known as ‘Pop’ Carroll because he’d always have pop quizzes. I’ll never forget: Pop Carroll loved athletes and he particularly loved Arnie because maybe he thought he had a notion of how famous he would end up being. Now Pop was very liberal about how long you had to stay in class. The class met three times a week, and

Arnie would always sit in the back row. He would stay in there about five minutes and then he’d get up and you’d see him slip out the back door. Pop Carroll would see him leaving and he’d always say, ‘Hit ’em good today Arnie!’ He used that expression every time he saw him slipping out.

Wake Forest in those days was small, probably less than 1,200 students when I was there. But because of the size it was a very friendly campus; you literally knew most of the people by name, and even if you didn’t know them you never passed anybody on campus where they didn’t say hello or call you by name. It provided a great opportunity for students to find their own pace, to do what they wanted to do. They had a great fraternity system and debate team, band, orchestra, anything you wanted. It was small enough you could just volunteer and get involved. It was a wonderful way for a student to mature and find their own interests and bring themselves out.

There was a little Exxon station between the old campus and the town of Raleigh, about 15 minutes from Raleigh.

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A lot of the guys dated girls in Raleigh at Meredith and at St. Mary’s particularly, all-girls schools. Any of us, including Arnie, wanted to call a date, you could drive out to the Exxon station. From in town at Wake Forest phone calls were a quarter because it was long distance, but out there at the Exxon station it was a local call. You could save enough on the call to buy a beer while you were out there.

Also, Arnold was a real pool shark! He could shoot pool with the best of ’em. There was this place called Shorty’s downtown, kind of the local pool hall. The guys would go down at night after class, grab a hamburger and play pool sometimes. Arnold took money off everybody down there—he was really good. I knew I wasn’t good enough to even try to beat him. His hand-eye coordination was so good with everything.

I had some friends that played, but very rarely were they able to stay with him.

He lived at Colonial Club, a shabby place, well below par as far as living standards. That’s where all the athletes lived. I can’t tell you anything more than that it was built out of cinder blocks—and they’re lucky it was because it would have fallen down if it wasn’t! It was just adequate; most were double or triple rooms with little bunk beds. There were some big boys lived there, and some tough ones. Our football team was mostly out of the coal regions of Pennsylvania and they saw a way of getting out of what their parents had done, and that was the coal mines. We had a coach named ‘Peahead’ Walker, and he put that team together. That team could stay with any team in the nation and they all lived at Colonial Club, and Arnie lived there. As I say, it was bare bones.

Wake Forest was just a wonderful place to go to school. These professors were so dedicated, and they made very little money. The basketball coach Murray Greason, they didn’t pay him very much at all. He had these athletes no one had ever heard of, but he took them and molded them into a team that could play with anybody—Duke, Carolina, anyone.

A player from an opposing basketball team once said to me that the toughest thing about playing at Wake Forest was that when

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you went up for a layup you had to make sure you didn’t come down on the popcorn machine, because it was such a little gym. It was probably the smallest gym around in the conference, with folding bleachers that pulled out, but that gave us a home court advantage.

As I say, it was a wonderful place to go to school.

Years later, I was on the Board of Trustees with Arnold, and one more thing I’ll never forget about him was that while he couldn’t make every meeting, whenever he was there or we had a banquet or something, he was always the last person to leave the room. He wanted to make sure everybody had a chance to talk to him, no matter who they were. He never changed no matter how famous he got, he was just a good ol’ guy, the same Arnie we knew at Wake Forest.

Wake Forest College vs NCSU at Groves Stadium, early 1950s

You never passed someone on campus without saying hello, even if you didn't know the person's name

James Wilson Mackie Retired Executive and Philanthropist

Photos courtesy Wake Forest Historical Museum

C LASS O F ’ 60

My father had gone to Wake Forest, I grew up in the town, I had no reason to go anywhere else. I started in 1955. It was a quiet town and the college was the center of the universe from the town’s standpoint. It had a cotton mill at one end of town, a rural section of farmers, it had the town business people and it had the college people. My father was the college physician and my mother was considered a ‘Faculty Wife.’

The Faculty Wives club met at our house on one occasion and Arnold was the guest speaker to talk about golf etiquette. At the meeting he invited the ladies in attendance to meet him at the Paschal Golf Course, the college golf course, the next morning when he would be there to practice. He said that he would help the ladies with their golf.

My mother attended as did a number of the ladies. Arnold was always thought of as a gentleman and highly respected by those who knew him.

The town had a community house that was built by the WPA and it was used during the war to have the USO entertain the soldiers that were stationed at Wake Forest, which became an Army finance school during WWII. The social life in the town was not like you’d find in a large city, and the students provided their own social setup; you had fraternities and dances. It was kind of a quiet town, but the college was what gave it its vibrancy. If you think about it, when you had a town of 3,000 people and if you had a football game with Duke or Carolina State, you might put 15,000 people in the stadium. I live outside of Philadelphia part of the year, and that would be like inviting 10 million people to see an Eagles game.

A lot of the people in town got to know the students in some ways because students lived in professors’ houses or in

Rev. Larry Williams Pastor Emeritus Louisburg Baptist Church C L ASS OF ’ 58

[Top] A few of the brothers of Kappa Alpha hanging out; [bottom] the Magnolia Festival, both photos from the early 1950s

townspeople’s houses. The girls were not allowed to live outside of the girls dorm, but the men were allowed to live in dorms or private homes. Because the town was so small you could live in a place and walk into the town to the two movies and the multiple restaurants, to class or anywhere.

You didn’t need a car to get around to be a student. When Arnold’s roommate was killed, people heard about that.

Arnie was ahead of me, so we weren’t there at the same time. I arrived in 1954 and graduated in 1958. He had achieved his notoriety at that point, and while he was certainly known I didn’t hear a lot of conversation about him at that time. I can tell you that Wake Forest then was a small school. You know, it wasn’t a big university kind of setting and so you knew there would be a lot of contact with your professors, a lot of interest from them. They all had an open door policy: you could go in and talk to them any time. It was a very friendly school. We had the understanding—it was one of our traditions—that everybody spoke to everybody when you went across campus.

You might not know them but you still spoke.

My senior year in high school I felt the call to go into the ministry. My mother was very involved in the church. My father was not involved in the church, although he

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[Above] Brothers of Kappa Alpha; [Below] Winter ball; both photos early 1950s

was very pleased when I made the decision to go into the ministry. Wake Forest has relations with the Baptist State Convention, of course, it was the denomination that founded the school, and you had required chapel at that time, two days per week. Of course there were a lot of students who didn’t like that and read the newspaper during chapel.

I knew Arnold enough to speak to him; he was the best golfer we ever had, he won them all

blind date; my roommate set it up. He was going with a Meredith girl too. I was pinned to another girl at the time but we were having our big dance, Midwinters, and my girl I was pinned to couldn’t come, so I needed a date and my roommate’s girl set it up. We had all of our big dances in Raleigh at Memorial Auditorium. Well, she called me up afterward and told me she had a good time and all, and so I asked her out and then I got my pin back from the other girl and I pinned her. We’ve been married for 65 years. Still married, and I still live in Wake Forest. I had a car in my last two years, a Buick convertible.

Played for the fraternity, football and baseball and basketball. Arnold went into the Coast Guard. I knew him enough to speak to him. He used to play golf every day; he was the best golfer we ever had, he won all the tournaments. You know I’ve got a picture of Arnold on my refrigerator, on my refrigerator right now. We had ‘Arnold Palmer Day’ a few years ago and he came back to the old school, the old campus, and we had Arnold Palmer Day. Well I went and my wife had her picture taken with him, so I’ve got that on the refrigerator.

Mr. Watson Wilkinson Retired President, Wake Forest Federal Savings & Loan

We were there at the same time. Our fraternities were right next door and so we occasionally would walk to campus together, just across the street to get to the campus. It’s the best school in the United States. My dad went to Wake Forest, he’s a doctor. I was a CEO. I majored in history and minored in English; if you study history, you’re preparing to do anything.

My wife was at Meredith in Raleigh. She was going to school there and I was going to school here, and I used to go over there three, four times a week. We met on a

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Photos courtesy Wake Forest Historical Museum

C LASS O F ’ 4 8

It’s knowing you’re not perfect. Yet hoping that maybe, just for one swing, you can be. It’s gaining complete focus. Pristine, laser-fine focus.

Because that focus isn’t just what’s required, that focus is why you’re here. Everything else dissipates into nothing. Sounds muffle. Touch is sharpened. Every detail is in the highest definition. And there you are.

In the moment. After this you can go back to all the flaws, the fears, the doubts and the doubters. But not now. Now there’s you and the ball.

And the opportunity for a split-second of perfection. Wouldn’t that be nice?

How [not] to Take Bad Pictures Avoid boring golf course photography with advice from a top photo pro

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h, Hawaii. Land of surfing, Mai Tais and hula.

A golfer’s paradise. And so it was on a clear day with the golden sun streaming down across one of the islands’ most beautiful tracks, I breathed in the fresh air, pulled out my camera and took a picture— of somebody’s lawn. Seriously, is that a golf course or is it a soccer field? It looks like a future expansion site for that condo complex next door. Sadly, making an otherwise stunning course look flat, bright and boring is surprisingly easy. To learn why that is, we asked Dan Murphy, general manager and a photographer at Stonehouse Publishing, which offers spectacular museum-quality images of the world’s finest golf courses and holes. If you can’t be bothered to press a shutter yourself, visit stonehousegolf.com and leave the hard work to the pros. But if you’re headed for paradise and don’t want to come home with another boring slide show, read on.

We assume you’re pretty good at taking pictures of lawns; here’s how to take a picture of a golf course:

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Nebraska Light Really, 90 percent of it is good light, low in the sky, sunrise or sunset.

That elongates the shadows from the trees and shows the contours in the course. Also, that long light tends to have more of a yellow hue to it so it warms everything up. Try to get out in the first hour of day or the last, but of course that’s not always possible on every golf course.

The 150-yard rule Most people, when they’re hitting their ideal shots, they’re 150 yards from the green. So a par-3 tee box or 150 yards out from the green, it really shows the complex of the hole.

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Stonehouse have some great shots from Nebraska—of Sand Hills Golf Club, specifically—and after Kingdom visited the state it’s easy to see why: For one, Nebraska holds some of the best golf courses anywhere, including Sand Hills, Dismal River, Prairie Club, Quarry Oaks and so many more.

Second, the state is simply stunning. Nearly anywhere you point a camera you’re going to get a great picture. The Old Market district in Omaha is a fun place for people-watching and Kingdom saw plenty of charming small towns and good people across the state, but it’s the Sand Hills to the west that captured our hearts—and that’s where the magazine shot some of our best work for a recent feature. Great people, a beautiful landscape and fantastic golf: Nebraska should absolutely be on your shortlist for travel.

Where to Stand

What You’re After

In an ideal world I’m standing in a 45˚ direction from the light, it’s coming in 45˚ from the front or behind. I like it when the shadows are coming towards me. Behind me, shadows going away from me, sometimes things get concealed. At Stonehouse we take pictures from the golfer’s perspective. We do occasionally use ladders, maybe I’ll stand on the roof of the cart—which is fine for photographers; I don’t know if the course would like it if all the players were jumping up on top of their carts!

Ideally you really want to photograph a course in good peak light, with a clear view of the sun coming through right before sunset or just after sunrise. It gets so low in the sky you start to see all of the moguls and bumps and undulations. You know they’re there when you’re physically present but they can be hard to get in a picture. I’ve got a great image of Prestwick in Scotland and it looks like a mogul run on a ski slope. You never would have guessed what was there, and it’s fun to see those moments come about because of the light.

This shot of Sand Hills No. 17 illustrates exactly how low light accentuates undulation

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Look for Other Possibilities

Ideal Picture

One summer at the Open Championship, with all the rain one morning, the course was flooded. It pooled up and filled in some of the undulations and you could really see how the course wasn’t as flat as it appeared.

In an ideal world you’ve got a combination of great light, good clouds, fog rolling down the hills, maybe Jesus rising from the skyline… But seriously, just look for a good combination of features one might look for when playing the particular course. Maybe find a historical landmark or the clubhouse or maybe even a water hazard that everybody remembers because it gets everyone the first time they play that specific course. That hazard may not be a good memory but it’s a shared memory of the experience. Finding ways to tell the story is what makes a good image. Even if you don’t have good light, if you follow that kind of thinking you can still make a good picture.

And then there is the “decisive moment.” Here at Sand Hills, capturing the exciting lightning display was all about good timing

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Nikon D810 If you want the big gun, this is it. With 36.3 megapixels and no Optical Low Pass filter, the potential image quality here is phenomenal, making it possible to crop tightly into photos and still maintain fantastically usable images. Unbelievable sharpness, a wide dynamic range and fantastic metering and image tonality make this a landscape photographer’s dream tool. Pair it with a good lens and some patience, and you’ll be well rewarded.

What to Use You can’t use them professionally because they don’t have the resolution needed, but I’ve captured some great pictures with my cellphone. Of course there are a lot of good cameras out there now: mirrorless, DSLRs and more.

Look around.

Camera:

Lenses: My sweet spot is anywhere from 80mm to almost 150mm. A 50mm lens is roughly what your eye sees but I like to get more information into the picture. If you’re using a wide-angle lens, you’re really just framing the things that are five feet in front of you and everything else is really small in the background. A longer lens lets you bring more information into the frame, if that makes sense. Spend money on your glass, and maximize that by getting fixed focal length lenses. They offer the sharpest pictures and typically are cheaper than zooms.

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PLAY TH E C OU R SE, CHER ISH T HE M EMORY Nothing so honors a place or an event like a

color fidelity for a century or more. Optional

framed Stonehouse giclĂŠe print. While you

graphic customization options for logos,

may forget the score, Stonehouse wants to

names, dates and scores make certain each

ensure you preserve the memory. Our exact-

print is truly one of a kind. The Stonehouse

ing production standards, precise in every

lifetime warranty guarantees your print won’t

detail, ensure an image that stands the test of

tear, warp, discolor nor fade. And, the print

time. Archival watercolor-based inks and

itself guarantees your memory will last a

museum-quality paper guarantee absolute

lifetime, too.

Prints of all 2015 Major Championship courses available.

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TPC S I G N AT U R E HOLES TPC properties open a whole world of fantastic lifestyle possibilities for their members and guests, and chief among them is good golf.

With courses and clubs that are among the best anywhere, there are sites to fit every personal taste and style of play. Here, we look at just a few signature holes from the TPC landscape. As it turns out, in the TPC Network inspiration is everywhere.

TPC SNOQUALMIE RIDGE TPC BOSTON

TPC RIVER HIGHLANDS

TPC TWIN CITIES

TPC JASNA POLANA TPC DEERE RUN

TPC MICHIGAN

TPC POTOMAC

TPC STONEBRAE TPC SUMMERLIN TPC HARDING PARK

TPC LAS VEGAS

TPC VALENCIA TPC STADIUM COURSE AT PGA WEST

TPC SCOTTSDALE

THE OLD WHITE TPC AT THE GREENBRIER

TPC RIVER’S BEND

TPC WAKEFIELD PLANTATION TPC PIPER GLEN

TPC SOUTHWIND

TPC MYRTLE BEACH

TPC CRAIG RANCH TPC SUGARLOAF TPC FOUR SEASONS TPC SAN ANTONIO

TPC SAWGRASS

TPC LOUISIANA

TPC TAMPA BAY TPC PRESTANCIA

TPC EAGLE TRACE

TPC TREVISO BAY

RESORT/DAILY FEE PROPERTIES PRIVATE CLUBS

TPC CARTAGENA AT KARIBANA

TPC AT BAHA MAR

TPC DORADO BEACH

CARTAGENA,

NASSAU,

DORADO,

COLOMBIA

THE BAHAMAS

PUERTO RICO

TPC Louisiana HOLE 9 Similar to the 17th hole with water in play all the way down the left side, the 207-yard, par-3 9th at TPC Louisiana offers a true test to TOUR professionals during the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. This public Pete Dye course just outside ‘The Big Easy’ stretches over 250 acres of wetlands. But water isn’t the only hazard; be careful to avoid Tripod, the three-legged alligator who roams the ponds and is just about as famous as the TOUR pros themselves.

TPC Dorado Beach EAST COURSE, HOLE 4 Originally designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and later restored by his son, Robert Trent Jones, Jr., the 525-yard, par-5 4th hole is the East Course’s most famous hole.

Known as the ‘Z’ hole for its double dogleg design, the green is reachable with two well struck shots that carry over two water hazards. Be careful when hitting this classic ‘risk-reward’ tee shot as the prevailing trade winds present a challenge.

The Old White TPC HOLE 7 Known as “The Plateau� due to its unique, flat green, the par-4, 430-yard 7th hole is deceivingly challenging for the pros during the annual Greenbrier Classic as well as the thousands of golfers who visit The Greenbrier each year.

With eight strategically-placed bunkers including one on each side of the fairway, the hole requires accuracy off the tee and an approach shot to attack any of the pin locations on the thin green.

GOLF AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL.

GIVE IT A SHOT.

LOOKING FOR THE BEST IN GOLF? LOOK FOR TPC ® .

Of the world’s 34,000 golf courses, only 34 exceed the standards of the PGA TOUR ® at every turn. For design. For agronomy.

For providing a professional level of golf and service to every devoted golfer. Play with the confidence of a champion. Play TPC.

For tee times, golf vacations or memberships visit playtpc.com.

TPC San Antonio Host of the Valero Texas Open

gift guide

Objects of desire

Whether it is for golfing, indulging or presenting as a gift, we have selected a few favorite items that will brighten occasional moments

Johnnie Walker John Walker started out with a single small store but the determined young Scot was driven to succeed. No doubt, he would have been proud that over a century later, in 1934, his company was awarded a Royal Warrant. John Walker & Sons King George V commemorates that milestone. It is created using only the finest whiskies from distilleries that were operating during the King’s reign (1910 – 1936). Some of these distilleries, like the famed Port Ellen, no longer exist, leaving behind everdiminishing stocks. These precious whiskies are blended together to reflect the distinctive Walker style of the era. The final product is opulent and regal with a kaleidoscope of flavors and aromas - a true luxury spirit.

Johnniewalker.com

Alfred Dunhill From another legendary British brand founded in the century before last, Alfred Dunhill’s Duke Large Zip Tote is constructed from double vegetable and chrome-tanned calf leather with ‘polished brass’ finished hardware. The bag features a centrebuckled strap closure and padlock, along with two internal hanging pockets. It is perfect for a sporting weekend and for all those that comport with style.

Dunhill.com

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Saeco The elegantly designed GranBaristo Avanti is the world’s first high-end, fully automatic, connected coffee machine, with which users can orchestrate their favorite coffee drinks from their tablet. The GranBaristo Avanti takes the coffee experience to an entirely new level, delivering the ultimate in variety with over 18 drink options. From a short, intense, full-bodied ristretto to a well-rounded filter coffee taste, or the perfect cappuccino, coffee lovers can experiment with a variety of specialties at the touch of their tablet. Its user-friendly app connects to the machine via Bluetooth, ensuring every coffee need is available right at their fingertips. Perfectly hot, professional quality coffee can be enjoyed in no time thanks to next-generation thermo-speed technology. williams-sonoma.com

Stack’s Bowers Stack’s Bowers Galleries are not only the perfect introduction to coin collecting, they are a trusted solution to valuing your existing old coins and paper money. Located in the heart of Manhattan since 1933, the company has bought and sold the greatest coins and collections over the years—so whether you are interested in hard assets such as American Gold Eagles, rare collectors’ items or simply want a valuation on that box of old gold coins that your grandfather has in the bank vault, Stack’s Bowers Galleries are ready to serve and advise with a combination of expertise and professional integrity. Visit their offices at 123 West 57th or go online.

StacksBowers.com

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Glenmorangie Milsean Each year Glenmorangie releases a rare one-off single malt to intrigue and delight connoisseurs and collectors alike. This latest release in the Private Edition range, Glenmorangie Milsean, invites single malt lovers to explore the effect of toasted wine casks. The rich resulting liquid drops hints of a sweet and spicy character, reminiscent of the sugared delights in tall glass jars which once decked the shelves of every traditional confectionery.

We suggest readers drink for pleasure and collect for profit. glenmorangie.com

gift guide

LV Harkness

Kitchen Aid’s Torrent Blender

The highly coveted Vanderbilt Mixologist Box is number 22 in a limited production series of only 100 units. The Italian-made rosewood veneer case opens to reveal three thoughtfully designed compartments and a drawer, as well as more than a dozen accoutrements for crafting and serving your favorite cocktails. The multi-functional mixologist box is an ultimate luxury for entertaining in any situation or location. This limited edition treasure is sure to be the center of attention at your next gathering, and for many years to come.

Back in 1919 while testing the “H5”, the world’s first household eggbeater, a company director’s wife exclaimed: ‘I don’t care what you call it, it’s the best kitchen aid I’ve ever had’. A brand was born. Today from America’s best comes a blender with serious power that is seriously easy to use. With just a touch of a button create beautifully blended juices, soups, smoothies and more. Better still, the Torrent blender’s pitcher, lid, ingredient cap and funnel can go straight from the countertop to the dishwasher. Blending and clean-up doesn’t get any easier.

lvharkness.com

KitchenAid.com

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin When it comes to wireless sound quality, Zeppelin Wireless pushes the envelope further than ever before.

It’s not just a new Zeppelin, it’s a whole new level of performance. Every feature is improved and it works seamlessly with all your favorite apps and devices.

Zeppelin Wireless supports Bluetooth, Apple Airplay and Spotify Connect. No matter what device you use, amazing sound is always at your fingertips. It’s never been easier to play your music. bowers-wilkins.com

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Paolo Scafora One of the few great luxury leather artisans left in Italy, Paolo Scafora has been designing and hand-crafting shoes and leather goods for over 50 years. Every pair of their shoes is testament to a quest for perfection and uncompromising eye for detail.

In addition to Paolo Scafora’s range of leather accessories, this family company also boasts a golf range that stands apart from anything else on offer to the discerning golfer. paoloscaforanapoli.it

Vessel Bags

Rolex

You don’t need a suit to mean business with the slim profile and easy access briefcase from Vessel. This fully-featured bag comes with multiple storage and organization options; a laptop pocket with secure velcro flag and 10 interior pockets, making it perfect for all tech requirements. Keep it sophisticated with luxury performance leather or go casual with multifunctional canvas.

The best part: for every briefcase sold, Vessel donates a school backpack to a child in need.

There is good reason why Rolex is the world’s leading luxury brand. Marketers and clever advertising folk can study the company all they want but behind its enduring success is the straightforward fact that year in, year out, Rolex simply creates the most desireable timepieces on the planet. Featured here is a timepiece in 18kt Everose gold; the 42mm Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller. No wonder Arnold Palmer has been exclusively sporting a Rolex for almost 50 years.

vesselbags.com

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rolex.com

gift guide

Stonehouse Imagery Photographer Dan Murphy traveled to the ‘Home of Golf’ to produce five iconic images of the world’s oldest links, one of which—Number 17—was recognized by St Andrews in honor of the 2015 Open. Select yours and if you have been fortunate enough to play the Old Course or any of the other hundreds of leading courses shot by Stonehouse, you can personalize your picture with names, dates and scores. Your vivid and treasured golfing memories are preserved with Stonehouse. stonehousegolf.com

Nikon AW1 Shockproof, freezeproof, and nearly idiot-proof, Nikon’s incredible AW1 with interchangeable lens shoots great pictures on course and if you shank one into the lake you can video up to 49 feet underwater. Built-in GPS lets you geotag images too.

Incredible durability lets you play unfettered. nikonusa.com

Ahead The Palmer by Ahead is Arnie’s hat of choice when in warmer climes. It provides maximum sun protection and easily rolls or packs for travel to your favorite summer golf destination. The Palmer is popular among the world’s top golf photographers. aheadweb.com

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XR16 Driver In developing the new XR16 driver, Callaway called on the worldleading aeronautical expertise of Boeing technichans to redefine what’s possible with ball speed and aerodynamics. The result is a combination of Callaway’s most forgiving shape ever and the speed of Boeing through a re-engineered Speed Step Crown. The XR16 features a next generation R*MOTO face that’s lighter and thinner than previous models to enhance forgiveness and ball speed across the face. callawaygolf.com

Chrome Soft The new Chrome Soft features the proprietary Dual SoftFast Core™ for fast ball speed off the tee, while four-piece construction should boost control throughout the bag. The ball is built with low compression for a soft feel, while performance is boosted by a Tour Urethane Cover. callawaygolf.com

OPTICOLOR GLOVE Callaway’s Opticolor gloves come with full leather construction, perforated palm and fingers for breathability, an optifeel closure and bright color choices. Promising premium feel, fit and comfort, and moisture reduction thanks to increased breathability, the Opticolor Gloves come in Red, Black, Green and Blue. callawaygolf.com

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FOLLOW ALL THE FEDEXCUP ACTION DURING THE 2015-16 PGA TOUR SEASON 速

SIRIUS208XM92

Bold & Beautiful A statement on four wheels, the Bentley Flying Spur makes a grand entrance—and when you’re ready, a determined and breathtaking exit

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B

entley automobiles have never been understated affairs, even if they are refined. Their sheer size alone means that they command the immediate attention of anyone caught in the light coming off their formidable grilles. This is a good thing, befitting the car’s stature (and usually that of the person or people within). As one moves through the range of Bentleys from the roaring thrills of the Continental to the regal procession that is the flagship Mulsanne, that attention remains consistent, even if it shifts in tone from gasps and wide-eyed stares to raised eyebrows and quiet murmers. And so it was that our reaction to the new Bentley Flying Spur was a perfect blend of excitement and stately admiration, for indeed the car is a beautifully balanced member of the Bentley family: less obviously aggressive than its sporty two-door sibling, more obviously racing-inspired and perhaps more accessible as a daily driver than Bentley’s top-of-range statesman.

Balance is key to all Bentleys, most of which have a near 50/50 weight distribution and all of which manage to offer performance and luxury in equal (and in tastefully delivered) amounts. But perhaps no single Bentley is as indicative of this balance as the Flying Spur, which marries thrilling sports performance to sublime appointments, resulting in what might well be argued to be the one of

the only true luxury sedans on the road today. In each of its three available trims, the Flying Spur looks the part and acts the part of a purely refined motoring experience.

But of course, across those three trims it also delivers performance-wise, leaving no doubt in one’s mind as to its marque’s racing heritage. A complete car, then, which we were only too happy to drive for a few days around the open roads of Central Florida.

Power and More Power The base level “Flying Spur V8” uses Bentley’s solid 4.0 litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine, and sees its 500hp delivered to the all-wheel-drive system via an 8-speed transmission that can handle things for you or be manually controlled via steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters. The “Flying Spur V8 S” adds 21hp and increases torque to 502lb-ft from 487lb-ft, helping to shave three-tenths of a second off the 0-60 time (4.6 seconds in the V8 S) and increasing overall top speed to 190mph from the base model’s 183mph.

If that’s not fast enough for you, the top-of-range “Flying Spur” lacks a suffix but adds four more cylinders, employing Bentley’s superlative W12 engine, a 6.0 litre powerhouse that delivers 616hp and 590lb-ft of torque to deliver 0-60 in 4.3 seconds and a top speed of 199mph.

A perfect balance of supreme luxury and performance

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Each trim upgrade also adds suspension tweaks and styling refinements appropriate to the performance enhancements, though truly you’d be hard pressed to find anything “base” about the base model, which is more than powerful enough, and certainly refined enough, to suit most tastes.

Inside things are top drawer, of course: nearly everything hand-fit and tailored, beautiful lacquer, wood and leather, plenty of useful electronics and top audio components as well as a few niceties. For example, rear-seat passengers will be seriously comfortable, with adjustable seats and fold-down tray tables complete with lighted vanity mirrors, and the removable Touch Screen Remote (docked in the rear console) can allow passengers to control numerous in-car functions such as window blinds, climate and media content, and additional digital content, should the optional in-car 4G LTE WiFi hub be installed.

It takes 130 hours to build a Flying Spur, and it’s no wonder. The amount of handwork, care and precision that goes into any Bentley, from the first stroke of the engineer’s pen to the last bit of polish on the bodywork from the finishing team, is extraordinary in scope and in delivery. The quality and capabilities of the brand are evident in the growl of the Continental range and in the perfectly-adjusted fit of the Mulsanne. But here, with the Flying Spur, Bentley also displays—perhaps better than ever—its incredible sense of taste in its discerning allocation of power and luxury both mechanically and aesthetically. From sporting cues in the lines of the body to the machined pedals and formidable power plants to the supple interior with its elegant and cutting-edge appointments, we found that the Flying Spur added exactly the kind of balance to our lives that we appreciate. Wear a tailored suit while winning the race? Why not.

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Bentley Established in 1919 by W.O. Bentley, Bentley Motors is one of the world’s great automotive marques. Boasting a legacy of racing success since its fabulous Le Mans victories of the 1920s, the maker continues to turn out some of the fastest and most luxurious autos from its factory in Crewe, England. The “Flying Spur” name has been in use variously since 1957, denoting a high-performance luxury sedan, one of the world’s most popular.

M A D E I N EN G L A N D Since 1973 Discover Molton Brown’s iconic bath & body collections in five-star hotels, stylish homes and high-end specialty stores across the world.

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Stories of

Clive Agran’s wife Rose was not interested in Pebble Beach and not impressed by the thought of St Andrews in Fall. The Spanish resort of Sotogrande also had the scent of closely mown greens but a European river cruise was a golf-free zone, so that is what they did. Agran reports exclusively for Kingdom from Germany’s magnificent Rhine

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ot only does my wife Rose not play golf but she also doesn’t much like the game.

This frequently renders conversation difficult but, more importantly, it makes choosing a mutually appealing vacation almost impossible. Hard though it is for me to contemplate a week without so much as one testing par four, I am obliged to for the sake of our marriage.

This year was no different from the previous 32.

Somewhat facetiously, because I know she suffers badly from motion sickness, I suggested a cruise. “Down a river might be nice,” she remarked. My research revealed a plethora of possibilities from the Avon to the Zambezi.

Being both a romantic and a dreamer—even at 66 I still believe I can win at least one major—I proposed ‘Castles along the Rhine’, a cruise offered by the evident market

the Rhine leaders at the elite end of the business, Uniworld.

Having never cruised before, my wife and I had no idea what clothes to take. Because Uniworld is ‘upscale’, Rose fretted that everyone would be ridiculously formal and forbade me packing any golf shirts. Since they account for 85% of my wardrobe, excluding them at least made the selection process much easier.

The SS Antoinette was moored (not parked, you notice) on the upper reaches of the Rhine at Basel in Switzerland, just a short hop from the airport. The length of a modest par-three, it’s sleek with cabins—or staterooms as they are called—on three levels and either side of a central corridor.

Ours was on the middle deck and featured an enormous bed, magnificent en-suite marble bathroom, plentiful closet space, a large TV and best of all, a huge picture window that opened and closed electrically. (My only complaint was the

window controls were on Rose’s side of the bed, but I can’t blame Uniworld for that.)

We were on the same deck as the elegant Restaurant de Versailles and one below the Salon du Grand Trianon.

The main lounge, the Salon was at the top of a sweeping double staircase of the sort often featured in Busby Berkeley movies. The staircase spiralled around a splendid chandelier to further augment the decidedly opulent feel. Right on top of the ship was a massive sun-deck the size of one of St Andrews’ double greens, another bar and a smaller lounge called L’Orangerie.

At the far end of our corridor at what we sailors call the stern of the ship, was the fully equipped fitness centre.

Above that was a spa and swimming pool.

In what would become a familiar pattern, on the first evening we were all briefed on the following day’s

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Zach Johnson Class of 2003

The Path to the PGA TOUR.

速

Every year the Web.com Tour awards 50 PGA TOUR速 cards. Former Web.com Tour players account for three out of four current PGA TOUR cardholders and over 421 PGA TOUR victories, showing that the Web.com Tour produces some of the best golfers in the world.

Congratulations to the Web.com Tour class of 2015.

Patton Kizzire Class of 2015

Spacious sophistication defines life onboard a Uniworld cruise ship [above] while Colmar [below] is distinct by an incredibly vivid color scheme

programme by Ann, the delightful cruise manager. She talked us through the various options (thankfully the on-board language was English), which were predominantly sightseeing opportunities. There was great flexibility and guests could do as much or as little as they liked. A printed daily programme was put in our rooms each day so we could carefully study the various alternatives.

Dinner followed the briefing. Eager to make a favorable impression but anxious not to go over-the-top I wore my second-best shirt. Rose and I picked a table at random and ended up sitting with some extremely nice

What struck me was the outstanding quality of the food and the remarkable friendliness of the waiters and waitresses

people, all of whom were Americans. This was less of a coincidence than it might appear as the passengers—apart from a few Australians, South Africans and Europeans— were overwhelmingly from the USA and Canada.

Of the six others on our table, no fewer than five were golfers and one was even wearing a golf shirt, which was something I felt obliged to mention to Rose later that evening.

What struck me most about the first meal was the outstanding quality of the food and the remarkable friendliness of the waiters and waitresses. It was fine dining at its friendliest. After dinner, there was live music and dancing upstairs in the Salon du Grand Trianon. Because it’s ‘all inclusive’, I was able to drink and dance without worrying about either the cost or having to drive home.

Rose and I were fast asleep by the time we left Switzerland and had set sail for Breisach in the wee hours of the morning.

Conscious that many of us had recently endured a weary flight, our first full day was thoughtfully less busy than those that were to follow. After a tasty buffet breakfast, I sent emails and watched the world slip by while Rose attended a demonstration of how to make the perfect Black Forest gateau. After lunch we went on a guided walking tour of the delightful little town of Colmar. Through electronic audio devices, we were able to hear the excellent guide without having to crowd around him. Re-charging the devices’ batteries, picking up a map at the front desk of wherever we were and swiping our room cards whenever we left or boarded the ship became part of our daily routine.

Being rather susceptible to travel sickness, one thing Rose very much appreciated was the fact that the places we were taken to by coach were usually only about 30 minutes away and never more than an hour.

We enjoyed another magnificent dinner in the company

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Marksburg Castle in its imerious grandeur [above] and the SS Antoinette cruises the Rhine [right]

of some more delightful guests on our second evening and I heard the saddest golf story of all time when Bernie from the Bronx told of the time he nearly played Augusta National but was rained off. Even Rose understood and sympathised.

Dining on board the SS Antoinette was not unlike playing golf on a weekend morning at my club. The temptation is to fix a game beforehand and be sure of good company but the most honorable thing to do is play with whoever is available when you turn up. Although it’s something of a gamble, meeting someone new and unknown is almost invariably rewarding.

As the week and striking scenery slid by, we walked around Strasbourg, Speyer, Heidelberg, Rudesheim, Koblenz, Cologne and Amsterdam and I certainly learnt more about European history, culture and architecture than I had ever done before. Mind you, I’m still not absolutely certain as to who had attacked who and precisely why, so epic were the medieval wars and shifting boundaries of the upper Rhine.

Of all the delightful towns and impressive cities we visited, you could say Speyer inspired me the most. With its colossal cathedral and extraordinary old ruin of a synagogue dating back to the 12th century, it somehow symbolised the pain, hope and extraordinary upheaval that has rocked Europe for more than a thousand years. While it’s easy to be depressed by the seemingly regular episodes of cruelty and inhumanity, there is nevertheless palpable optimism today that learning history’s harsh lessons could at last lead to a happier and less volatile future.

Although we toured a castle, more of which in a moment, we missed out on visits to a winery and cuckooclock factory, but you can’t be at two places at once.

Anxious not to put on too much weight, I spent a fair bit of time pedalling furiously in the fitness centre imagining I was powering the world’s largest pedal boat.

Improving my stamina made the ascent up a significant hill to Marksburg Castle comparatively easy. Dating from

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the 12th century, Marksburg is arguably the best-preserved castle on the Rhine and has survived nearly 1,000 years of battering relatively intact. Today it affords both magnificent elevated views over the Rhine and an authentic glimpse of life in the Dark Ages. With a torture chamber, austere décor and emphasis on mere survival, it also provided a spectacular contrast to the comfort, fun and joy of the SS Antoinette.

Among the highlights of the extra on-board activities was a wonderful classical concert given by a string trio and a fascinating talk on the history of the Rhine. And quite unforgettable was the afternoon we all sat on the sun deck staring up as we passed beneath more than 40 perilously perched castles clinging to the craggy sides of the gorge that is the middle stretch of the Rhine valley.

By the end of the cruise I think we must have met most of the 150 or so other guests and I had firm invitations to at least half-a-dozen different golf clubs. As for the overall experience, I fear I must now grudgingly concede that sailing up and down in a luxurious ship can be every bit as much fun as getting up and down for par on a championship course. Rose and I will almost certainly go river cruising again, only next time I’ll take a few of my more prestigious golf shirts.

WALK WITH LEGENDS. Colin Montgomerie

Jeff Maggert

Bernhard Langer

“Experience the most accessible, accommodating and engaging entertainment in professional golf.”

- Fred Couples

Mark O’Meara

Tom Lehman

WICKED FA S T Hear that? Vector-Martini Racing is laying down thunder, rocketing across the water and setting one record after another.

The best part: you can get on board

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nyone who lived through the 1980s remembers Miami Vice, the groundbreaking television show that brought the glitz and glamor of South Florida to homes around the world. Among the many compelling images in the show’s opening sequence—along with bikini-clad girls and golden beaches—was the sight of a long, sleek powerboat rocketing across the waves, cutting a white strip through a luminescent blue-green sea. Posters of such boats adorned many a young man’s wall in the years the show was popular, and now Vector Marine hopes that such posters find their ways to those walls again.

“The powerboats always used to be there,” says Malcom Crease, CEO Vector World and Vector-Martini Racing. “When I was a kid I had my ‘wall of aspiration.’

There was Airwolf with the helicopter, Knight Rider, Miami Vice, that kind of thing. You may never own these things but you can aspire to them. The boats disappeared from that wall. We not only want to succeed with media and in manufacturing with the brand, we want to reignite that aspirational element.”

Far from just creating incredibly fast and beautiful boats that set hearts afire (though they do that) Vector is seeking to redefine the marine space, using an F1-inspired business model to build its record-breaking Vector-Martini race team, a factory class racing series for private owners, and high-performance commercial and defense powerboat options. As important as all of that, everyone at Vector just wants to help you go fast.

RACING HEART People of a certain age will remember the Martini brand’s blue and red stripes adorning race cars in F1, at Le Mans and Sebring, and in rally events. The brand is synonymous with success, and its racing pedigree—which began in 1968—was reignited in 2014 when a Vector-Martini Racing team Vector V40R powerboat helmed by Peter Dredge blew the competition away at the iconic Cowes Offshore Classic, besting their rivals by more than four nautical miles in the race that sees top teams racing from Cowes (on the Isle of Wight) to the English city of Torquay and back. Winning again the next year was incredible enough, but they’re going for a three-peat this year, which would add yet another record to their quickly building list as no one’s managed a consecutive hat trick with the event.

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“Having those famous Martini stripes goes a long way,” says Crease, explaining that the brand recognition put people in Vector-Martini’s camp before the powerful engines of the V40R power boat had even started. Combined with the wins and records (which are stacking up), the VectorMartini partnership is attracting attention from other top marques, such as Porsche, and even from Hollywood, with potential film and television projects on the horizon and a growing list of VIPs like racing driver Bruno Senna and model David Gandy climbing aboard via the company’s iRace Pro Team, which sees celebs train seriously to be active members of crews for world record attempts and races. A less-intensive iRace program puts clients and others on 100mph+ rides at events where Vector is present—a ride that speaks to the poster-on-the-wall enthusiasm Crease is seeking to build and a privileged experience to be sure. After all, as he points out, one could hardly go to an F1 race and jump into a car for a spin around the track.

“It’s a bucket-list experience,” he says. “Most people have been on a track day, but stepping into one of these things is like stepping into a fighter jet, they’ve no idea.”

Dredge concurs: “It’s an experience they would never get anywhere else. We take them out in complete safety and get them up to 100mph or as near as we can if the weather’s not right. In 2014 we took out more than 100 guests, and every single one of them came off the boat with that smile you need to knock off with a chisel.”

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VECTOR V40R RACING BOAT Top Speed: 120+mph Engines: 1,100hp Mercury QC4v Length: 40’ Beam: 11’ 2” Range: 400nm

Clockwise from top left: Vector-Martini in action; Vector-Martini Rosso above the waves; Winning team, L-R: Peter Dredge, Mal Crease, Simon Powell, David Gandy

FAST FORWARD Vector-Martini Racing and programs like iRace and iRace Pro are about building the overall Vector brand, which offers a limited number of high-luxury, high-performance powerboats for sale as well. Their V55, for example, will be the “pinnacle of its class,” as Crease says, very limited and incredibly well designed and apportioned with amenities like an audio system from Bowers & Wilkins. Beyond that, Vector is hoping to get a sufficient number of enthusiasts into powerboats to launch a One-Design racing series, much as Porsche has done with its cars. Vector has also gone into uncharted waters by creating unmanned versions of their craft, super-fast and robust marine platforms aimed at helping governments with marine border patrol, surveillance, anti-piracy operations and more. Together, the company’s operations create an exhilarating overall effort, one that’s been lacking from the marine space for years.

“We’re winning,” says Crease. “We offer brands something with F1 levels of excitement but with an experience you can really get into.”

That, world records, race victories and putting real people on the water at more than 100mph all add up to huge amounts of excitement. The next step: Vector posters, coming soon to walls everywhere. Count on it.

Learn more about how you can get on board at vectormartiniracing.com

SPEED OF SOUND This year, Bowers & Wilkins took “the speed of sound” to a whole new level when the firm partnered with Vector Martini Racing as part of the effort to help the powerboat group break the water speed world record for crossing the English Channel. B&W will provide the audio equipment for the race team and operations crew, offering the latest in sound performance with wireless headphones for the race team and a complement of equipment for crew and media assisting with and filming the effort. It’s a perfect match in many ways as both firms share an enduring commitment to excellence in performance and design.

People come off the boat wearing that smile you need to knock off with a chisel

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SOLID

GOLD

I

n 1966 when John Bowers founded the audio company that bears his name, the only gold he imagined likely would have been in the wires and speaker connections he used in his quest for audio perfection.

But after 50 years building the best loudspeakers and audio components in the business, Bowers & Wilkins arrives at its golden anniversary as cutting-edge as ever.

The only thing one might consider quaint about the company is its setting, in the South Coast English city of Worthing, where it has been for all of its history. Otherwise, what began as a small operation hand-assembling loudspeakers in the back of a modest electronics shop is now a global business that provides the finest loudspeakers to discerning audiophiles everywhere. Perfectly timed with the firm’s 50th anniversary, B&W released the new 800 Series Diamond, a complete reinvention of the series that launched in the 1970s and which has set the bar for audio clarity and precision ever since. A complete overhaul many years in the making, the new 800 Series Diamond retains fewer than 10 parts from the original, though those include the masterful and epically thin diamond tweeter diaphragm, fashioned from diamond dust and delivering the clearest high frequencies one could imagine. The drivers throughout the loudspeaker, covering the entire range of sound, are fashioned from different materials (diamond, B&W’s proprietary material Continuum and the construct in the new Aerofoil woofers) but are impeccably engineered to function as a single unit, delivering clarity and presence that must be heard to be believed. In a previous issue of Kingdom, we were fortunate enough to visit B&W’s headquarters and to hear the new loudspeakers in action, and the emotional experience cannot be overstated. With eyes closed, it’s impossible to believe that the musicians aren’t performing directly in front of you.

It’s part of the “disappearing act” for which B&W engineers strive, in accordance with John Bowers’ maxim that “The best loudspeaker isn’t the one that gives the most, it’s the one that loses the least.”

The loudspeakers aren’t there to color the sound, but to deliver it as perfectly and as accurately as possible, and there’s no question that the new 800 Series Diamond loudspeakers do just that. Of course the top-of-range 800 Series aren’t the only product in the Bowers & Wilkins catalogue. Here’s a quick rundown on just a few of the firm’s other excellent offerings, all designed to get out of the way and to let the music shine—like gold, as it happens. bowers-wilkins.com

Top firm Bowers & Wilkins celebrates 50 years of sublime audio

P5 Wireless Rich all-leather-and-metal construction mean these are comfortable and solid. Hi-Fi drive units mean the sound quality is fantastic. A built-in microphone and three-button controls built into the right ear cup mean they’re ergonomic whether switching tracks or taking calls. And Bluetooth aptX and a 17-hour battery mean they’re cable-free. All of that means a superb, uncluttered listening experience.

Zeppelin Wireless Inspired design meets audio brilliance to allow room-filling wireless streaming of music via a number of apps, sources and devices.

600 Series Loudspeakers The range includes full floorstanding larger units and compact bookshelf units, all of which are supreme examples of Bowers & Wilkins’ commitment to delivering top-quality audio—and big sound—to any space, no matter the size.

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Over the top BBQ

is meant to be a laid-back kind of thing. In contrast, food truck businesses usually operate at a frenetic pace, shoving out food to people in a hurry. So it’s safe to say that we weren’t expecting much when we stepped up to the Caro-Bama BBQ truck at the LPGA’s Coates Golf Championship in Ocala, Florida, this year.

But oh how surprised we were when we bit into their Caro-Bama pulled pork sandwich, with its mix of Alabama white sauce and Carolina vinegar sauce—no kidding: the sandwich was better than many we’ve had at sit-down joints, and would you believe we visited the truck every day of the golf tournament. We figured anyone who could make BBQ this good from the back of a truck was worth talking to, and so we asked owner/operator Brandon Gantt if we could come aboard and get in his way for a few minutes. He obliged, and shared some seriously good advice (along with his fantastic BBQ).

“Kitchen work is hard no matter where you do it, but I think a restaurant is more of a marathon and we kind of sprint,” he said, musing on the challenges of a mobile operation. “And sometimes it feels like we’re trying to sprint a marathon.”

Alabama native Gantt and his wife Lora (from South Carolina, hence the Caro-Bama name) serve up great pulled pork, beef brisket and chicken at events across Florida with

a crew that includes Dexter St. Surin, in whose way I also managed to get. Meats are smoked for 20 to 24 hours then kept in the constantly heated-smoker/grill to be ready for the crowds. In terms of cooking technique, “Start slow and finish strong,” Gantt says. “They say 225˚ or so and that’s about right, but I’m not a science guy. I just keep an eye on it and turn up the heat towards the end.”

In terms of seasoning, Gantt says he saves that for the sauce: “On the meat we just use salt and pepper and occasionally some garlic. But there’s a lot of flavor in the sauces, and we make those ourselves. Our Alabama White Sauce is a mayonnaise-based sauce, which we’ve tweaked.

Our Carolina vinegar sauce is unique: my father-in-law came across the recipe years ago, and I was around a few years before he’d talk to me about it. Then we have a sweet sauce, and a mustard sauce that marries the sweet and the tangy.”

In fact, Caro-Bama BBQ manages to hit upon most of the best traditional BBQ styles, and while you won’t be getting Gantt’s sauce recipes any time soon you can have some fun at home with the following, which should give you a fair sampling of what various regions like. For the real thing, visit Caro-Bama BBQ online at caro-bamabbq.com and find out where they’re going to park their truck. They cook slow but they move fast, so catch them where you can for the quickest slow-cooked meal of your life—and some of the best BBQ you’ll find standing up, or sitting down.

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TICKETS AND TRAVEL PACKAGES AVAILABLE AT THEPLAYERSTRAVEL.COM

MAY 10-15 TPC SAWGRASS PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL

NORTH CAROLINA DIP The original dips were out of Lexington and the state’s Western hills, but the basic and thin tomato-based mix of vinegar, pepper and chili flakes—a recipe credited to African slaves—is found throughout the region and forms the basis for most American BBQ sauces. Containing little to no sugar, this type of sauce is used as a dip or topping (not as a baste). It gets into the meat, cuts the fats in the mouth and offers just enough heat to keep things interesting.

* * * * *

1 1/2 cups white cider vinegar 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup ketchup 1 tbsp brown sugar 1 tsp black pepper

* 1 tsp crushed red pepper / chili flakes

* 1 tsp salt * 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Combine all in saucepan, bring to boil, reduce to simmer, cook til the sugar dissolves. Allow to cool and store in the fridge.

buy it:

Keaton’s Famous BBQ Sauce

SOUTH CAROLINA MUSTARD SAUCE Germans migrating to the South Carolina region in the 18th century brought their mustard with them. Years later, when the grill gets hot, people there turn to a sauce with a yellow cast.

* * * *

3/4 cup yellow mustard 1/2 cup honey 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 2 tbsp ketchup

* 1 tbsp brown sugar * 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce * 1 tsp hot sauce

Mix it all together and refrigerate.

buy it:

Slap Sauce

With its perfect balance of mustard and vinegar flavors, this sauce put Firebud Brands on the BBQ map. Check out their other offerings as well. firebudbrands.com

Since 1953, Mr. Burette Walker Keaton’s chicken has brought people off the main roads and to the town of Cleveland, NC (pop 871 at last count), roughly an hour north of Charlotte. The restaurant claims that this sauce is the reason they make the trip. keatonsoriginalbbq.com

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* * * * *

ALABAMA WHITE SAUCE

BIG GREEN EGG

Mayonnaise-based with vinegar, if you’re from upstate Alabama, this is the BBQ you grew up with.

To its fans (“Eggheads”) it’s known simply as “The EGG.” To those inclined to technical descriptions, it’s a kamado-style cooker, a modern version of an ancient Japanese oven/smoker capable of producing some of the best culinary results possible for beginning grillmasters and experts alike. Using natural charcoal and a two-damper system for temperature control, the ceramic EGG allows grilling and searing at high temperatures, controlled smoking and cooking at low temps and brilliantly executed standard oven work for poultry, lamb, beef, vegetables and more. Everything’s tastier because juices and flavors stay locked inside, everything’s moist and tender because of the controlled and balanced nature of the EGG. Available in a number of sizes, the Big Green Egg is the original and best of its kind. Believe it: food from an EGG just tastes better. biggreenegg.com

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup white wine vinegar 1 tbsp ground black pepper 1 tbsp Creole mustard

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1 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar 2 minced garlic cloves 2 tsp horseradish

Whisk it all together and chill.

buy it:

Big Bob Gibson’s White Sauce

Tangy, peppery and as famous as a white sauce can be, this has been an Alabama staple since 1925. A perfect sauce for poultry and pork—and nearly anything else. bigbobgibson.com

MEMPHIS STYLE Thinner than most tomato-based sauces, nice balance of sweet/spice, usually served on the side.

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1 cup ketchup 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup pureed onion 2 tbsp minced garlic 2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp molasses 2 tbsp mustard

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2 tbsp brown sugar 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp paprika 1 tbsp mild chili powder 2 tsp dried oregano 2 tsp dried thyme 1 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients (vinegar last), reduce heat and simmer over low for 12-15 minutes.

Allow to cool. Store in an air-tight container or jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 week after preparation.

buy it:

Brother Juniper’s

You get the sweetness, then the spice, and then a big, rich flavor. The “wow” factor here helped this sauce win the coveted Memphis in May International BBQ Festival in 2007. brotherjunipers.com

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FITNESS. CONFIDENCE.

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The basics are simple: tequila, agave and lime juice—but what a thing of beauty when mixed by an artist. We met with the experts at Rocco’s Tacos Orlando to marvel at the powerful potential of the margarita (and to enjoy a feast).

Visit a Rocco’s location yourself for a great time, or take inspiration from their menu and mix things up at home. Just don’t forget the salt...

Black Diamond With roughly 400 tequilas to choose from, mixologists at Rocco’s Tacos can be picky.

Their Black Diamond Rita utilizes Maestro Dobel Diamond, a blended tequila that is the first-ever multi-aged clear tequila. Mixed with Black Cherry Purée, Simple Syrup and fresh lime juice, it shines under its Black Sea Salt-garnished rim. fresh lime juice is a must

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Rocco Rita Bearing the name of the house, you know this straightforward version of the drink is going to be a solid choice. The always-dependable Patrón Silver is mixed with Citrónge Orange Liqueur and Rocco’s Housemade Sour Mix to offer a refreshing margarita with just enough bite. You won’t get Rocco’s mix recipe, but try fresh lime juice and your sweetener of choice, like agave syrup or a bit of sugar, as a homemade substitute orange

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a bittersweet lift

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Strawberry Basil For this garden-fresh spring wonder, Rocco’s uses Casa Nobel Crystal Tequila. Casa Nobel tends to harvest its agave later than other houses, waiting until the agave is fully mature, up to 14 years. As a result, its tequilas have a clear, rich quality that demands fresh mixers—and that’s the case here, with fresh strawberries, fresh basil and fresh-squeezed lime juice joining agave nectar in the glass. use fresh everything

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Chili Mango A bit of a departure for margarita purists, Rocco’s Chili Mango uses mezcal as a base instead of tequila. But the mezcal in question—Zignum Silver Mezcal—is actually a premium smooth spirit that’s light on the smoke common to most mezcals. There’s just enough character to ensure it holds its own between the sweet Mango Purée and agave nectar mix and the heat and bite of fresh-squeezed lime juice, Rocco’s Spice Salted Rim and a healthy slice of jalapeño as garnish. Bringing both the sweet and the heat, this is one fantastic libation. try mezcal for a rich twist

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Your Life, Your Solution 160

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Far from being a passive “buy it and forget about it” purchase, life insurance can be—and should be—an active and contributing part of your financial structure.

Along with its conventional role of providing maximum benefit when the policy holder’s life comes to an end, there are lifetime “safety net” benefits. And unlike any other insurance arrangement, those benefits include a client’s ability to access the policy’s reserve (cash value) to help when cash is needed, as in the event that an opportunity arises. Interestingly, that cash is also maximized when the insurance is designed to maximize the death benefit, when it is needed the most—late in life. Overhauling how life insurance is designed, priced, and how the cash value is protected and invested is why Castle Re (CRe) was founded and why it exists today. Here, CastleRe President Pete Moison offers some perspective on his company and the dynamic benefits of custom-built life insurance:

KM: What was in your background that helped you realize life insurance needed to be overhauled?

PM: I grew up in an insurance family and practiced law for 26 years advising many high-net-worth families. Over time I realized life insurance would better serve the needs of the high-net-worth client (HNW) if it was looked at from a “concept” perspective and not as a product. HNW clients have unique issues that demand unique solutions. A product orientation of life insurance assures the solutions will not be unique but rather a solution the insurance company wants to sell to you. We are not in the product business: we are in the custom solution business. This means we listen first, understand what the HNW client and his/her advisors need to solve the client’s unique issue or issues, then we develop the solution.

KM: So you’re saying that life insurance does not need to be packaged as a product that is sold to the client by an insurance agent or insurance broker?

PM: Exactly. CRe has no agents or brokers. We do not pay for business by paying commissions. The HNW’s advisors work for the client and need to negotiate and charge the HNW client a fair fee for the work they do for their client. It is our view the advisors work for the HNW client and not for us. If we pay commissions the loyalty shifts to one who compensates for the work. We want that loyalty to be to the HNW client and not to us. This creates a fiduciary model, and such a model has been our business model since we started.

Interestingly, the U.S Department of Labor has just issued proposed regulations that impose a fiduciary model for variable annuities.

KM: What else do you do differently?

PM: In addition to listening and understanding the needs of the HNW client first, we help the HNW client’s advisors understand the components of life insurance and how the costs impact the long term benefits. We are able to guarantee costs. Almost all other insurance companies sell on a current scale of costs that are not guaranteed.

Thus they have the ability to increase how much they charge for risk and for profit. Recently, several large domestic life insurance companies increased their charges. We do not engage in such activities. We guarantee the risk cost and what we charge to cover overhead and profit. Notably, our guarantees are less than the current cost assumptions generally used in the traditional marketplace. We also believe our charges should be transparent; transparent means easy to see, identify and understand. Advisors and their clients know where we make money and where we do not. For example, we do not mark up the cost to insure the risk. Why? Because if we did we would have an improper incentive to increase the risk component in order to make more money. We also receive no revenue from any investment manager or any hidden fees from the investment portfolio.

Similar to the risk cost, our model is the account or cash value is to be invested in a manner that makes sense for the contract. If we receive a fee to put an investment on the contract’s platform then one has to wonder if there is an improper incentive to use that investment.

We do not want any such appearance. That is why our entire fee is negotiated as part of the contract design process. Once the fee is

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finalized the fee becomes part of the final life insurance contract and is guaranteed in that contract.

KM: Does being in Bermuda offer cost advantages?

PM: Very much so. Unfortunately there is an undeserved stigma that if you are “offshore” something nefarious is the reason. There is as much, if not more, monkey business in the U.S. Fortunately, however, that monkey business is the exception and not the rule whether business is done in the U.S. or in Bermuda. From a cost perspective costs can be guaranteed and should be designed to be significantly less than a traditional product approach. It is important to note we do not charge a DAC Tax fee, there is no reduction in premium paid for state premium taxes, no federal premium excise tax since we are a U.S. tax entity, no reduction for commissions, no M&E charges, and no surrender penalty. The last issue is key. If we cannot continue to earn the HNW client’s business the client should be free to move the business elsewhere without penalty. There is also another component that needs to be considered: the safety of the reserve that backs the risk of the life insurance contract.

KM: We understand Bermuda has a unique set of rules that helps to segregate and to protect the reserve for each CRe insurance contract. How does that work?

PM: You understand correctly. Bermuda’s Segregated Account Companies Act (SAC) allows an insurance company such as CRe to register as a segregated account company. We are so registered. The benefit to the HNW client is the reserve (cash value) for the client’s insurance contract is segregated into its own separately identifiable account. Such account is not a general asset of the company and can only be used for purposes of the HNW client’s contract. Thus, cash value is not subject to potential claims against the company by either general creditors or the owners of other insurance contracts. In addition, since the contract’s reserve is segregated it can be invested and managed by an independent investment manager. We believe such management is more cost- and investment-efficient than the way it is done in the traditional marketplace.

KM: Is the timing of the need for the death benefit for the HNW client different than for a younger person just starting out?

PM: In most cases, yes. We are generally involved in long term estate planning. Such planning is quite different than the planning involved for young families where income replacement if the bread winner or winners die too soon is the need. In the HNW arena the concern is mostly with living too long. If you can qualify for life insurance it is a very good bet you are going to live a very long time. Given the same, the emphasis should not be on maximizing the initial death benefit as you do when you are concerned about an early death, but rather maximizing the death benefit when the HNW client is most likely to die. It is a very different dynamic and one that can be used in a very cost-efficient manner. However, since we are in the business of helping to develop custom solutions, if the HNW client is concerned about dying too soon the death benefit can be designed to address that concern. The cost to do is more because the risk cost is more.

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The client and advisors, however, can consider using two custom contracts, one for dying too soon and one for living a long time, to help reduce the cost and hedge the bet. We do not make money on the risk cost thus we have no economic interest in designing a contract where the risk cost is more than it should be to achieve the client’s objectives. We are here to serve the needs of the HNW client but we also take an educational approach in order to help the advisors design a contract that suits their clients and is consistent with their advice to their client.

KM: What does the “Re” mean in Castle Re? PM: This will probably sound a bit corny, but “Re” normally means the insurance company is a reinsurer. In our case “Re” is short for “reinvent.” When I set out to create a new business model for life insurance it was clear we needed to reinvent the way a life insurance company must be structured and the way the insurance contract must be developed to help the HNW client solve his or her unique issues. We are not a product or sales shop. We listen first, ask questions and only after we feel we have an understanding of what the need is do we go to work with the HNW client’s advisors to help develop the appropriate solution. You can only do this if you take a custom contract approach to life insurance and not a product/salesoriented approach. We want the HNW client to win and we want the business to remain on the books until the client dies. The success of one contract is not based on other contracts lapsing as it is, at least in part, in the traditional marketplace. The success is based on an overall understanding of what the HNW client needs, protecting the reserve and the investment of the same, and guaranteeing and minimizing all the costs. We also take pride in providing outstanding customer service.

KM: I take it CRe is not a mass marketer of life insurance policies?

PM: That is what really sets us apart. Policies sold by other companies are products that are mass marketed and sold in high volume generally by commissioned agents and brokers. We prefer the term insurance contract. Our business model is not to mass market insurance policies. We take time to help develop each insurance contract to meet the needs of each HNW client. You cannot do the same if you take a mass marketing policy approach. Thankfully Bermuda does not require us to use a pre-approved policy form as is the case in the U.S. Bermuda still allows the insurance company the dignity to work with the client’s advisors to help develop the most appropriate solution. As noted, we do not use agents or brokers and we pay no commissions. We do not buy business. Thus the incentive for the HNW client’s advisor to use us is because they want to do the best job for their client.

KM: How does a HNW client work with CRe? PM: We work with the HNW client’s advisors. They are the ones who are closest to the HNW client and know the wants and needs of the client. They also are the ones who are advising the HNW client with respect to long term estate and financial planning. For example, when a HNW client meets with his/her attorney the attorney is not

selling a product to the client. The attorney is trying to understand what the HNW client’s long term planning issues are. The attorney has an array of legal concepts that can be used to help the client.

Each of those concepts must be developed into a unique solution for such client. Life insurance at this point is simply one of those legal concepts. Essentially the same is true for any fee based fiduciary advisor. These advisors come to us because they are looking for a way to help develop the concept solution of life insurance into a life insurance contract that is consistent with such solution. We practice insurance the way I practiced law. I did not sell products then and we do not sell products now. Just like the HNW client’s advisors we take

We are in the business of building unique contracts of life insurance based on the recommendations of our clients’ personal advisors

an advisory approach and listen to those advisors. If advisors agree a proper insurance solution can be created they take that information back to their HNW client. The final contract is completed and executed in Bermuda KM: In closing how would you best summarize how CastleRe has successfully reinvented life insurance?

PM: Let’s compare traditional insurance product offerings to track home communities: For many, buying a home in a planned community works; you get to pick from the limited models the developer offers, and if there’s one that fits you then that’s great. But if you want a custom home, you do not hire a track home developer.

You hire an architect to design the home you want and then you hire someone to build that home for you. That is our model. We are in the business of building that unique contract of life insurance based on the recommendations of the HNW client’s personal advisors— advisors who work for and who are paid by the client. We have reinvented life insurance by going back to basics: Find out from the client’s own advisors what the client wants and needs first, and then work with the advisors to build the solution in a very cost-efficient and transparent way.

Bermuda allows the insurance company the dignity to work to serve specific client needs

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As we stand atop the first tee box and stare down the fairway, the adrenaline races through us like lightning. Who knows what adventures await: thick jungle, burning desert, native grasses, rushing streams and deep lakes, biting insects and even alligators, perhaps‌ Travel well, and remember to keep a firm grip—it can get wild out there

Abalone Cufflinks from dunhill

Adventure Kit

Links & Kings Trunk Caddy; print Extra Dry polo by Golfino; club cover by Rose & Fire; sunglasses by Leisure Society; Titanium flask by Snow Peak; custom-made shoes by Left Shoe Company

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Little Discoveries Collection

Hasselblad 903SWC film camera with bag by Domke

London via the World from Molton Brown

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Heather Interlock Pullover

by Peter Millar

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Artisan Cologne

by John Varvatos

spring 2016

Plans for Shingle Creek Golf Club in Orlando

Green Season

Spring has sprung for the Arnold Palmer Design Company, and a rush of new projects will surely bloom into some of the greatest golf on offer— we can hardly wait

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t home and around the world, the talented be looking south, as well, just a couple of hours down team at the Arnold Palmer Design Company the highway from Orlando in Bradenton. There, upscale is shaping the game of golf, building and housing developer Lennar Homes is expanding their area refreshing courses to bring the best of the development with the new Lakewood National Golf and modern game to pros and to enthusiasts Country Club, which plans to offer 36 holes of golf. The alike. The spring of 2016 looks green indeed, with projects first 18 will go in as part of the development’s Phase One, at nearly every corner of the United States and as far afield and APDC is the firm of choice. as the original home of golf, Scotland. We’ll start closer to “They offer a good product, a wide variety of product home, though, much closer in fact, with a project almost from single-family homes to condos. You buy a property down the street from APDC’s Bay Hill headquarters at and you’re a member,” says APDC architect Brandon Shingle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Florida. Shingle Creek Johnson. “And they’re delivering an Arnold Palmer course opened in 2003 and has been consistently recognized as a to their members, which elevates the experience from what top area course since then. a lot of others are doing. We’ve worked with them on their “It’s awesome to be able to work on something close land plan and the golf course is going to look great. There’s to home,” says APDC architect Thad Layton. “They’re only one golf hole planned with housing on both sides; the expanding their hotel significantly, and to accommodate rest of the front 9 is parallel golf. Many of the homes get that they need to decommission a few golf holes, then build water to golf views, there’s wetland on the one boundary, three new ones to replace the ones coming out of service. and so you get some seclusion. It’s going to be really nice.”

They’re also planning on renovating the rest of the course in With Lennar’s legacy of delivering top quality, May, and it should be an entirely new product by the time Lakewood National should be a great addition to the area, we’re done this fall.” and we’re always excited to see a new Palmer course. Along Specifically, Layton says they’ll be helping to “up” the with Shingle Creek, it will join yet another Florida project, strategy level, eliminating some bunkers, working on the this one across the state at Frenchman’s Reserve Country greens and setting up possibilities for some great pin positions. Club in Palm Beach Gardens.

“We’re basically going to grade through half the course, “We’re working with the club to do more of a concentrated from 150 yards out all the way to the greens. restoration,” says Johnson, explaining that the on-site It will be the same routing aside from the flip-flop of the Arnold Palmer Signature Course is in need of refreshing. three holes, but it should be an entirely new golf experience.” “They’re going to re-grass the course and they’re taking the Groundbreaking should start any time, and we’re opportunity to do some upgrades and to really recapture the looking forward to seeing the progress come fall. We’ll original sizes and shapes of the greens, which over time had shrunk significantly. There might be some bunker reduction, Team APDC imagining the possibilities at Castle Stuart maybe eliminate some of the bunkers, but also increase the strategic value and aesthetic value.”

We noted that bunker reduction seems to be a theme with golf course work these days, and Johnson was able to shed some light on why.

“There was a period in golf course architecture when ‘more was better,’ and now it’s ‘less is more,’ certainly on the bunker side,” he says. “They’re maintenance-intensive, and reducing the amount of bunker square footage on property helps with that, but in turn helping with the maintainability of the golf course helps with its playability, makes it maybe a little more fun and more approachable. I think they’re one of the many features that a golf course architect can use to make the game more interesting or to induce strategy into a golf hole or golf course. I’ve kind of said that bunkers are the face of a course, you can really change the look and feel of a course by changing the look and feel of the bunkers. It’s one of those things that when you distill it down to the core characteristics, one perfectly placed bunker can and should be more effective than ten splashed all over the place.”

It’s that kind of refined level of taste and thoughtful design that’s led to the team at APDC being tasked with

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some of the most important projects going, and certainly top among those is the new course in golf’s ancestral home of Scotland, at Castle Stuart.

“We’re still going through the permitting process, which is a very rigorous process,” explains Layton. “Lots of materials need to be provided to ensure everyone’s happy: there are environmental concerns and Scottish heritage concerns, and more; everyone has their own particular requirements that need to be met. We’re going to ensure that the golf course is going to be a good neighbor, the developer has all the confidence in the world that everything is going smoothly, and hopefully we’ll be in the ground this summer.

We’ll see.”

Mr. Palmer has said that he’s incredibly excited to be working on this project as it will be his first course in Scotland, and that certainly it’s going to be one of his best designs. Really, this is one that has us making sure our passports are up to date.

Back in our hemisphere but still out of the country, APDC has been hard at work on the Ironwood project in the Cayman Islands. Part of a massive project that involves building a new road to connect the east and west sides of Grand Cayman, and which also includes a formidable new medical center and residential housing, the course here is one of the most exciting golf developments the Caribbean has seen in a long time. It will join the other amenities in creating one of the most substantial (and environmentally friendly) projects of its kind, and it’s sure to be a stunner.

Layton says the big hurdles are out of the way and they hope to be under construction this summer.

As sunny but with far less water surrounding it, the much-lauded SilverRock Resort in La Quinta, California, is benefitting from the APDC touch.

New development on site will affect the 18th hole, and so the property has brought in APDC to help make some routing adjustments to the Arnold Palmer Classic Course there, which played host to the Bob Hope Classic from 2008 to 2011.

“There’s a new 11th hole planned,” says Johnson, “and the new 12th, which is the current 13, will have a tee shift. And there’s a lot more. I think that, really, the key with SilverRock and Frenchman’s and some other work is that, as a company, we’re very engaged with our existing courses, with our existing designs, and we’re really looking to keep the architectural integrity of these courses, working with the clubs and their memberships as the golf courses evolve. Golf courses

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are living and breathing entities, constantly changing and evolving, and sometimes these courses get to an age where there’s an opportunity to make some upgrades.”

Other ADPC work includes a project at Franklin Hills in Connecticut, which will be in the throes of winter for a while, and the highly anticipated project at The Greenbrier, which is set to get started this spring. A joint project involving Palmer, Nicklaus, Player and Lee Trevino, it won’t just be an amazing course: if owner Jim Justice gets his way, it’ll be the site of a future U.S. Open. Stay tuned.

A bird’s-eye view [above]; teamwork at Greenbrier

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The Mighty

3

The 3-wood off the deck: a shot that epitomizes golfing risk and reward. Watching the best drivers strike a tee shot is inspiring, but a 3-wood off the fairway to a par-5 green over water… That is the stuff of legend. Arnold Palmer knows it, and nothing energized him more in competition than taking on the most famous risks in golf (see our feature on Palmer’s Masters strategy on pages 56-62). To help us get it right, we paid a visit to Orlando to ask Bay Hill’s Director of Instruction John O’Leary how and when to go for 3-wood glory

Seizing the moment “An easy way to know when to go for it is to ask yourself, ‘How comfortable am I with my short game?’ If you’re comfortable with it, go for it. For example, if the green is guarded and there are a lot of bunkers, but you feel great about your bunker game, then why not? Take out the 3-wood.

“On the other hand, if you tend to hook and there’s water to the left, then it’s not the time to go for it. I’ll tell my students to be more aggressive when I know their short game is solid. Mr. Palmer never hit a shot he felt he couldn’t pull off but his touch with a wedge was fantastic—underrated I’d say—so he had the confidence to get up and down if the 3-wood didn’t find the green.”

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“Mr. Palmer left burn marks on the grass, he hit the ball so low and hard. If he stared long enough at a ball on the green he could get it to move! His dogs always knew he was the boss, we know he’s the boss and the ball knows he’s the boss.”

The club “Us mortals must beware current lofts. My dad worked for an equipment manufacturer and in 1983 a 3-wood had a loft of 17˚. Over the years that’s shifted down to lofts of 15˚, 14˚ and now 13˚ has become common, while shafts have become longer too.

“The reason for the changes is that the pros are asking for it. They are bigger, stronger and generating more clubhead speed, spin and ball speed. But now the weekend warriors are playing with the same specifications and they shouldn’t be.”

“In reality most of us don’t have enough clubhead speed to launch the ball effectively with 13˚. Most players—if they are not what they thought they once were—should look into a ‘high launch’ 3-wood. Mine is 17˚ and adjustable and I’ve got it down near 16˚.

“Golfers hitting a driver with 11˚ or 12˚ of loft don’t need a 3-wood at 15˚ or less. Jason Day’s 3-wood is 16.5˚.”

At address “The ball should be positioned inside the forward heel by roughly 2 inches.”

The backswing “A full swing is critical. The key is to finish that backswing.”

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Impact “You can let the club swing down a little to take a divot. If you try to help the ball up into the air—if your upper body rises through the ball—you are not going to succeed. With 16˚ of loft on my 3-wood even my bad shots have a chance with a full swing.”

The finish “Accelerate through the ball to a balanced finish. As you complete the swing you should be balanced on your front leg.”

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Supersonic speed

January 2016 marked the 40th anniversary of Concorde’s first commercial flight, from London Heathrow to Bahrain. Concorde not only broke the sound barrier, it set a new mark for airborne glamor It was the fastest passenger aircraft of all time, and before its maiden voyage on January 21, 1976, Concorde and its ground-breaking Rolls-Royce engines had been subjected to the longest tests in the history of aviation, lasting six exhaustive years. The thoroughness paid off as Concorde’s commercial debut—from London Heathrow to Bahrain— was completed without a hitch.

Before being withdrawn from service on October 24, 2003, British Airways and Air France combined to fly over 2.5 million passengers via Concorde, with British Airways notching 50,000 Concorde flights alone, the majority of which flew from London Heathrow to New York’s JFK. A journey time of at least seven hours on a Boeing 747, Concorde covered London to New York in just three hours, 20 minutes, cruising at an altitude of 50,000 feet. Concorde maxed its altitude at 60,000, more than 11 miles high, from

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where passengers could see the curvature of the Earth. Up that high there was the added comfort of less turbulence.

Onboard, guests were offered vintage Champagne and strictly gourmet fare was served on Royal Doulton bone china. Menus featured foie grass mousse, caviar, prime fillet of beef and crayfish tails garnished with sautéed pimento.

Arnold Palmer was among a host of golfers to enjoy the transatlantic speed and glamor of Concorde.

“The captain invited me up to the cockpit on one flight,” Palmer tells us. “Up there or in the back, I always enjoyed the ride.”

While British Airways has no plans to resurrect Concorde, a number of aviation engineering companies are looking to develop a new generation of supersonic commercial aircraft. We’ll keep our eyes on the sky...

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