Tom Fazio: "Old Courses Aren't Always the Best"

I agree with anybody who says that ranking golf courses is like rating clouds – it’s all in what is seen by one set of eyes..

I used to play a Robert T. Jones public layout that has never received an accolade except from those who played and knew a bit about golf. I’d bet it would make the top-100 if there were metrics applied in the same fashion to all courses.

I take current course rankings as an editorial gimmick to sell magazines. And to generate advertising.

Let’s take another look at Tom F – his office, place of business and home is in Hendersonville, NC – I don’t doubt he has a second home in Florida – but his home base is Hendersonville.

His business operation is one floor above the offices of an organization to which I belong – Tom bought a very prominent bank building on Main Street and condominium-ized the upper floors. We bought the entire third floor. I see Tom only occasionally. I could not even be called an acquaintance of his but we say “hello” in the elevator – he knows who I am and where I get off the elevator.

Tom and his wife, Sue, personally funded the founding of the local Boys and Girls Club several years ago and financially carried it until it could function on its own – The Fazios continue to be very active in not only the Boys and Girls Club but also in other philanthropic organizations. They are classy people.

The columnist says Tom is the.the best/most famous/whatever designer….I take exception to that. Name one of Tom’s courses that has hosted a major – that’s right: None. Tom doesn’t like that fact – he has done some good work and has reason to be proud.

But Pete Dye has. (Disclosure: I went to college with Pete) Pete also has exhibited more originality than most other contemporary designers. Pete’s courses are tough and he is relentless about putting out a course that is difficult but playable, for the run-of-the-mill player.
Pete is in the Golf Hall of Fame as a result of his work. Check out how many other designers or architects are there.

I sense a degree of jealousy in the “golf course designer” business. Neither Pete or Tom is calling himself a golf course architect because neither is an architect – both are talented enough to get the job done and in a professional manner. “Google” both men and you’ll see one of them generating his own publicity.

Concerning Augusta National – “tons of trees”— true, if you mean there are a lot of trees there – but false, if you are inferring they have cut tons of trees – prior to the building of the National the property was a nursery and trees were brought down. The second cut was ordered by the club- Fazio did what he was told to do. And, that goes for pulling the first tee way the hell back into the putting green, etc. and now moving it forward. The grand poo-bahs no longer have a very strong leader such as they had in Cliff Roberts who wouldn’t have held still for the cock-a-mamie goings on with the course in the past few years.

Reworking the greens constituted installing the drainage/drying system. The contours are essentially the same (check out #9 years back before, and after). Please tell me the greens that have be re-done and have new contours.

 “Course on the brink” – I don’t know anything about that – financially it probably is the most solvent private club of its type. After the upcoming Masters ,check out their contributions both to golf-oriented organizations as well as local Richmond County (Augusta is in Richmond County, GA) and nearby counties. Example: Last year they gave $1,1000,000 to the local Community Foundation serving 5 counties surrounding Augusta – if you ever drove to Augusta from any direction you would see the need for financial help.

They donate very heavy sums to The First Tee – Royal and Ancient – PGA of America, etc.

Another disclosure: I lived in Augusta and worked for one of the founders of the National and I played the course many times while entertaining customers – Johnny Miller’s caddy was my steady caddy.

The columnist did not do a quality interview with Tom Fazio – she missed a lot.

I think Ryan Ballengee needs to take some of his own advice, “Insert foot in mouth”. rcrusoe’s post was very accurate, and very humbling for Ryan. Lorne Rubenstein’s article was poorly done, and Fazio’s words were taken out of context. Also, if you’re going to pride yourself in being a writer, blogger, columnist, whatever, you should probably proof read your articles before posting. “Tom Fazio, the man who helping” – nice start. Also, look up ways to avoid run on sentences, i.e. second sentence of article. Regardless, please do a little more research before writing about a topic you clearly know nothing about to avoid the foot in mouth.

I want to start by saying that I am amazed that I find myself writing on posibly the most irrelavant blog have ever encountered. The reason I am here is because I was about to click the back button on my browser and I noticed maybe some interesting information. About 2 seconds later (after reading the first paragraph) I realized that I have stumbled upon someone that is obviously extremely desperate for attention. I agree with Foot in Mouth (hence why I named mine Foot in Mouth 2) about the whole proof reading bit. If you are ganna try to spread rumors and information about things you have no idea about atleast use correct grammer to show that u have a high school education.

It is always very easy to criticize and slander someone who has become successful. “comments stings of someone whose ego is very fragile about his place in golf history. " This quote here displays Ray Ballengee’s ignorance. He seems as if he knows Tom Fazio has an ego. Does he? Oh turns out Ray is the one with the ego. Seems egotistic to me to bad mouth someone THEN to have real factual information (posted by rcrusoe) show Tom is actually a good guy. If you are going to criticize these types of people shouldn’t you do some research. Like rcrusoe. He seems to know what he is talking about. He has actually met the guy apparently. Bases information and his opinion on real facts. This guy Ray Ballengee is obviously an idiot and ignorant. He shows this by trying to bad mouth a person that has contributed to society in a positive way. rcrusoe has said that Tom has funded the boys and girls club and stated "The Fazios continue to be very active in not only the Boys and Girls Club but also in other philanthropic organizations. They are classy people.” Although I don’t believe everything I read. It seems rcrusoe is telling the truth and basing his opinion on actual information. The article by Ray seems to try to portray Tom as not only a bad arcitect but bad person. This is why I am writing on this blog. To let Ray know that his ignorance has disgusted me. Not like my opinion matters…. just like Ray’s blog here dosn’t matter.