When Coore and Crenshaw unveiled Sugarloaf Mountain in central Florida just two years ago, the course was immediately catapulted into the upper echelon of design in the United States.  Having moved almost no dirt, the pair were able to design an architecturally stimulating, challenging, and aesthetically pleasing golf course.  It was a Picasso among Monet waterlilies in that its bunkering was natural, rough was indigenous, and tee boxes less than plush.  As such a digression from standard central Florida design protocol, the minimalist course caught a lot of attention.

The postage stamp par 3 11th hole.

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Unfortunately, the attention attracted for the design could not sell home lots.  Less than a handful of the planned 600 have been sold to date - a fact not lost of golfers who come to the course and see hundreds of planted stakes to indicate property boundaries.

The lack of income from selling the non-golf real estate has effectively crippled owner Hampton Golf from operating the course like they should.  Though the course claims that the poor conditions on the course, aside from the putting services, is a product of dormant grasses and a colder winter, it is evident that the club is suffering from money problems as two independent sources indicated to me. 

The shame of it is that Sugarloaf Mountain clearly was an incredible track at some point.  The course defies typical central Florida topography with its vast elevation changes, including multiple holes with two hundred foot drops off of the tee.  The lay of the land gives the player views of Lake Apopka and tremendous rural scenery.

The natural state of the bunkering and the rough is a beautiful site.  Though it caught me off guard immediately, the penalty for a poor shot is to face a difficult shot.  It is a fair penalty, though one that can crush the spirit of a high handicap amateur on a bad day.

There are several blind shots on the course, including the par 4 fourth hole.  It is reminiscent of the entire course - requiring strong placement of the ball, consistent roll into variable positions at times out of your control, and a small green with precarious pins all over the surface.

A player can be imaginative at Sugarloaf Mountain.  The high arcing chip shot can come out of the bag entirely in favor of the Texas wedge.  On several occasions, I putted the ball from up to 20 yards off of the green.  The sand-base hardpan made that not only possible, but preferred.

Playing shots from the fairway was a big adjustment compared to the plush fairways of the Disney tracks, or even the modestly green fairways here in the mid-Atlantic.  Had the chance to do it all over again, I would have used my driver twice all day and let roll handle the rest.  Though the course features a handful of short, seemingly benign holes, that is when the brilliance of the design comes into play.  With elevation changes and visual cues of trouble just beyond safety, the course is an iron technician's paradise.

That said, the poor course conditions contributed to making the round joyless for my group.  Had the course been able to be maintained like it should - modest water for the fairways instead of leaking pipes around transplanted trees - Sugarloaf Mountain could easily have been my favorite course on my trip.

Instead it leaves me wondering about the business model of golf courses in the United States.  At the high point of the housing bubble, golf course owners could plunk down lots of land anywhere on the property and expect to sell them within days.  With easy credit, exotic mortgages, and better prosperity, it seemed like everyone was in the market for a second or third home.  When CDS, toxic assets, and TARP became part of the lexicon, that model died. 

Sugarloaf Mountain was one of the early victims in this crisis.  Though the course still remains, it is a shell of its potential.  Private courses can no longer expect to open in the middle of nowhere - where land is cheaper - spent several million dollars and expect cash-strapped individuals to plunk down money for a rarely used resort property.  In Sugarloaf's case, its aesthetic divergence from the rest of the scenic Orlando area also hurt its allure to real estate investors.

Making the connection between real estate and golf course design is nearly impossible in Sugarloaf's case.  Coore and Crenshaw design to the themes of rustic, minimalist, and pure.  Golf course home buyers use adjectives like green and plush.  The incongruity with which Sugarloaf exists as a course and 590 empty home sites indicates that problem.  And it will continue to be a problem for the game in the years to come. 

Since new course construction has practically halted in this country, there are scores of courses developed as also-rans to real estate ventures that will likely suffer provided the continued oversupply in our real estate market nationwide.  Though that supply is beginning to be met with demand again, it is a more practical fashion.  Golf course homes will be primary residences, not just another post on Vacation Rental By Owner (VRBO).  Until that imbalance is again created, a golf course cannot be the focal post of most new real estate development.

Coore and Crenshaw's design is the victim in this poor business model.  It's one of many, but this course in particular holds so much potential that is going to waste because the financial ducks were not in order.  The natural feel of this course can sustain more play, but it will require a new approach to bring players to a course that is a sandy oasis in an otherwise lush geography.

I was standing just off of the 12th green at Stoneybrook West Golf Club in Winter Garden, Florida.  My approach shot was slightly fanned to the right of the green.  It was a good thing, too.  Had I connected with a draw, I would have faced an impossible chip down a ten foot slope to the pin. 

While I was waiting to hit my bump-and-run 8 iron to the cup, I looked back to the fairway to see how our third group of four did with their drives.  Looking back, I didn't see our guys.  There should have been three guys back there, including a man in a lime green shirt that was practically unmistakable.  It wasn't them.  Instead, it was some guy with a Srixon staff bag with his underdressed ladyfriend in the cart.  They were evaluating a ball on the OB line.  Well, he was.  She was reading a magazine.  In the fairway was an older looking gentleman taking practice cuts.

I pointed out to the two future in-laws playing with me that these guys had to have cut in front of our group.  We figured that our guys had just let them play through and it was no big deal.

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I've been down here in sunny (but not all that warm) Orlando, Florida since Wednesday night.  I came down here to play in what's known as the Old Greensburg Cup.  It's a four day golf outing with a ton of future in-laws of mine.  Three generations of family are here - and some non-family, too - to play some killer golf courses.

In the first two days, we have teed it up at two Disney tracks: Magnolia and Osprey Ridge.  The first day was Magnolia.  I probably played 12 really good holes and six abysmal ones.  First round of the year, first round with an entirely new set, and likely the pressure of playing in a competition did it to me.

The concept is simple: each round has two nine-hole match play affairs based on net score per hole.  Play better than your handicap and you'll do nicely.  Don't and prepare to get rocked - like I have.

I was seven shots better yesterday at Osprey Ridge, but honestly it could have been another seven.  I played stupidly with the driver in my hand on holes that I didn't really need it.  Then I had a couple of obscene three-putts.  It just was not all there yet.

In about 90 minutes, we tee it up at Sugarloaf Mountain.  It's a Crenshaw co-design that has been recommended to me by literally everyone I have talked to about this trip.  I've got a great round planned today even though I have absolutely zero chance to win the Cup.

Since I hadn't posted in two and a half days, I wanted to keep everyone apprised of my activities.  There's a lot more to come from the trip, including posts on some of the architecture I have seen, what I did with my future family, and some equipment reviews.

In the meantime, do you take a golf vacation each year?  Who do you go with?  Is there anything on the line?

On a cold October afternoon, I drove up to New Jersey to play in an American Express cardholder event featuring two USGA champions - Morgan Pressel and reigning US Open champion Lucas Glover.  After being in Boston the day prior thanks to an insane $20/each way fare from JetBlue, I was a little tired. 

The morning of the outing, I went over to Trump National Bedminster to get warmed up to play.  Warming up wasn't possible.  It had to have been 20 degrees that day.  Kind of windy, really cold, and rainy is no way to play fall golf.  I would be damned, though, if I was going to give up an opportunity to play Trump's baby and have a showdown with these two players.

Fifty balls, some 30 putts, and a $100 Trump National logo-embroidered Adidas fleece (fleece is the right word in multiple ways), I was ready to go.  Well, as ready as it was going to get.  My partner from AmEx and I got off to a rough start.  Starting the round on a par 3 is never fun, but those are the breaks in a shotgun.  That first hole was a total wash, leaving my partner and I just one hole to get our act together before the Lucas Glover hole.

The next hole was a par five whose fairway doglegs left enough to bring a pond into play.  I was short of the green in three, but with no feeling in my hands or with my wedges, I made seven.  Awesome.  Getting into the cart to cross the street to the Glover hole, I hear a loud medal "BOOM!" that only a quiet forest, a 460cc driver, and a US Open champion can create.

My partner and I make our way down to the tee box, exchange formalities with Lucas' people at the hole while G. Lover finishes playing out the short par 4 with the group in front of us.  The plan is to each hit a drive with Lucas and then play out the hole with the best ball.  There was no question whose ball that would be.  Mine.

I was going to outdrive Lucas Glover, wow him and the ten or so people on the tee box, and drive the 320 yard hole.  After all, during the summer, I was routinely crushing drives 310 yards.  In a scramble tournament, I averaged 330 off of the tee.  That was in 80 degree weather, though.  This was a cold Jersey morning with wet hands and sleet in the forecast (which would come just two holes later).

Lucas Glover hits the tee box, done with the last group, and shakes our hands. Like a man who has done this a thousand times before, he grabs his driver, tees up the ball, and swings in the span of maybe 30 seconds.  He crushes it.  This is undoubtedly headed for the green.  He misses ten yards low and right.  Quickly, someone gets him another ball.  I guess the first one was a mulligan.  Second time - five yards low and right.

My partner and I draw for which of us will try to impress first.  I lost.  I tee up the ball and take a practice cut.  I should have taken fifteen of them to get my head together.  Seriously?  Drive the green in the fall?  What kind of asshole am I?

Sure enough, I swing too hard.  I hit a decent drive, but not by my standards.  It went maybe 265 yards and into the left fairway bunker.  My partner, admittedly not that great at golf but likes to play, does pretty well and puts the ball in the fairway, though short of my drive.

With bruised pride, I hop in the cart, drive up the left side to pick my ball out of the bunker and head up green side to the long drive contest winner.  Arriving at Lucas' ball, we see that the ball has come to rest on a mowed area about pin high.  We play from here.  Ok, losing the contest isn't so bad. 

Lucas steps up and chips the ball maybe 37 of the 40 feet to the pin.  Good effort and he would've nailed the birdie putt. 

My chance for redemption.  This is clearly a simple bump-and-run.  I got this.  Two practice chipping strokes to calm the nerves, and then the real deal.  It's up, hits the green maybe three feet on, and rolls out to within a foot of the cup.

I beat Lucas Glover.  I beat him.  If the universe relied on me winning that contest, humanity has been spared.  Clearly it didn't, and Glover probably could not have cared less.  It wasn't even really a contest on that hole or in life. He has the US Open trophy.  I have a Chevy Equinox.  Still, Glover told me "great shot!" and I went on my merry way.

I could not hold a candle to him or any professional for that matter.  99 out of 100 times, I would be bested by a pro in any scenario I could devise.  This isn't HORSE with Jordan, where luck might take over and a random guy could prevail.  It isn't Rich Eisen futilely running the 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine.  The skill that these guys possess makes them so good that they could beat me at almost anything golf-related.

The only place where I think I have them is hitting a putter off of the tee.  I can crush a good Wilson 8802 about 220 yards.  Beat that.

Liza Churchill hosts Goldie Bounce Golf on 95.9 WATD FM, and I've been a guest on her program previously.  I catch the show when I can on the Web/podcast, and a couple of weeks ago she was able to have PGA President Jim Remy on the program. 

I wanted to pass along the interview, especially since I've been kind of behind in doing my podcasts the last few weeks.

Take a listen and check out Liza's blog when you can.

A couple of articles and blog posts caught my eye yesterday that were related to the small (but growing) segment of golfers, course designers, and officials in the game that are ardently advocating for more environmentally sustainable golf course maintenance practices.

The mantra is simple: brown is beautiful.

Jim Hyler, the newly minted USGA President, made reference to the movement in his first address - is that the right word? - as man in charge.  Ron Sirak wrote a piece on the speech, and here are some excerpted lines:

"Many of the standards by which we construct and maintain our courses have become, quite simply, unsustainable."

"I believe that our definition of playability should include concepts of firm, fast, and yes, even brown, and allow the running game to flourish."

"We need to understand how brown can become the new green."

In other words, not only is the current mode of golf course maintenance unsustainable from an environmental standpoint, but for many clubs, also as it relates to the bottom line.

Geoff Shackelford makes a great point, though, at his blog.  The USGA and superintendents are not going to be able to change golf single-handed.  Golfers have to not only come to accept, but to love the look of a brown, firm, and fast course - much more akin to what Americans usually see once per year, on TV at the Open Championship.

Tom Dunne took the point to the next level by creating an album of golf course photography that he has collected or readers have sent it that show the beauty of a less-than-green golf course.

(I highly encourage you to take a look at the album.  The photography is stunning.  But, after you do that, come back here are tell me if you're ok with playing a golf course that isn't perfectly manicured and a shining lawn of green. )

This is a good and important discussion in our game and it appears that it is going to be a priority of Jim Hyler in his term as USGA President.  Here's my challenge to the USGA, though.  If it really means business about going green - well, brown - then it should make every effort to present the 2011 US Open at Congressional as carbon neutral and maintained using environmentally sustainable practices.

Congressional is a course that has much of its reputation because of its stunning green hue.  Were the USGA able to turn the tint knob on the course for a week, get the word out to golfers watching the championship, and rip off the Band-Aid on how people expect to see golf courses on TV, then perhaps the sport can take a giant leap forward.

Srixon Golf presents an interesting new product for 2010.  It's a bit of a throwback, though.  Now, reintroducing the yellow golf ball!

This time, though, Srixon is pushing a yellow ball with some science behind it that suggests that the colored ball may actually help you play better.

Srixon sent out a press release a few days ago introducing the ball and explaining the technology.

"By tapping into the psychology of hitting each shot and the visualization and calming effect at address, the Z-STAR"! and Z-STAR"! X Tour Yellow golf balls incorporate the science of visual perception with the psychology of color effect on the human brain."

"Science has proven that yellow is the most visible color in the visual spectrum and psychology has correlated green with calming and stress relief; therefore Srixon has combined the two colors based on these findings to tap into the player's mind and expand the benefits of playing a better ball."

It kind of makes sense.  A few years ago, Nike Golf came out with their Maxsight athletic contact lenses with specific hues for sporting performance.  The color that they chose for golf was grey-green.  They were designed to help with reading greens.

The lesson of the story is that Paula Creamer may have incidentally been onto something when she chose to play final rounds with a pink ball.  She may love the color - and it is part of her nickname - but it may also have a positive psychological impact, too.

At the PGA Show, I heard from Rob Hayashida at Golf Views about this golf cart that was for a single person.  I was kind of intrigued by the idea, but I never got around to finding it.  Rob did me - and the world - a favor, though, and shot some video of the Mantys.

The only way that I can describe this thing as a combination of a Segway and the Trikke - an obscenely overpriced piece of equipment that is like a scooter, tricycle, and rollerblades COMBINED. But just look at the Trikke go!

In summary: Trikke + Segway = Mantys.