Divot Mix

Some things cannot possibly happen, because they are both too improbable and too perfect. The U.S. hockey team cannot beat the Russians in the 1980 Olympics. Jack Nicklaus cannot shoot 65 to win the Masters at age forty-six. Nothing else comes immediately to mind. -- Thomas Boswell

Woodward selected GCSAA CEO

Mark J. Woodward, golf operations manager for the city of San Diego has been selected chief executive officer for GCSAA.
His selection by the GCSAA Board of Directors comes after conducting a national search to replace Steve Mona, who became the chief executive of the World Golf Foundation March 3. A familiar face to GCSAA, Woodward has been actively involved as a committee participant, a member of the board of directors and 68th president of the association in 2004. He is in his 30th year as a GCSAA member and became a certified golf course superintendent in 1986. He is the first golf course superintendent to serve as GCSAA’s permanent chief executive.

"We were extremely pleased with the quantity and quality of candidates that were interested in the position. Without a doubt, Mark presented the best fit for the association," GCSAA President David S. Downing II, CGCS said. "He is a talented individual with a myriad of skills and abilities that will serve him, the membership, the association, the industry and the game well. He has a strong track record of service to GCSAA and success as a golf course superintendent and an administrator. His efforts have earned him rave reviews in bolstering golf operations for the city of San Diego."

For more on Woodward, and his background, click here.

Looking for a unique view of Augusta National?

It's Masters week, so it's only natural that interest would be focused on Augusta National Golf Club. But the folks at GolfFlyover are offering a view of the course, or just about any other course, that you could only get if you own a helicopter.

At www.GolfFlyover.com you'll find remarkably real virtual flyovers for golf courses around the world. The site offers a virtual tour showing every hole of a golf course as if you were riding in a helicopter stopping at each tee, fairway and green for a closer look. It is a free service with no membership requirements or signups to view golf course flyovers.

"We help golfers visit their choice of golf courses by allowing them to virtually fly over the course and see the course’s layout map before getting there," said Robert Nelsen, GolfFlyover’s CEO. All course information is provided free of charge with no membership needed to view the courses. However, to properly visit the courses, Google Earth must be downloaded and installed.

If your course isn't available on the GolfFllyover site, you can request that they add it here. The company may need a map of the hole layout for your course in order to create a flyover

Rounds up in February

Same-facility rounds in the U.S. were up 10.4 percent in February 2008 vs. February 2007, bringing the year-to-date number to +3.4 percent. Where the largest volume of rounds is played in the month of February, rounds were mostly up: Central/South Florida (7.2 percent); Gulf Coast (8.8 percent); Southwest (-0.8 percent).

The February increase was the result of an additional day due too leap year and a slight increase in play days due to better weather.

Large percentage increases in February in the Northeast and Upper Midwest are not meaningful. The majority of facilities in those regions had no rounds in both February 2007 and February 2008. A few facilities had a small number of rounds, and they saw an increase.

Rounds Played, 2008 vs. 2007:

Public facilities fall into one of three categories based on peak season weekend green fees with cart: Premium (High) - Above $70; Standard (Middle) - $40-$70; Value (Low) - Below $40. Region 10 includes Hawaii; Region 11 includes Alaska.

Bunker raking rule clarified, etiquette restored

In the wake of a recent ruling involving Stewart Cink at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the Joint Rules Committee, made up of representatives of The R&A and the USGA, have issued an interpretation of Rule 13-4a.

Cink hit a shot where his feet were in a fairway bunker, but not his ball. He hit his ball into a greenside bunker.

His caddie smoothed the sand in the fairway bunker, and Cink was penalized for smoothing sand in a bunker from which he had not made a stroke, when his ball lay in another similar bunker. To avoid such an act being a breach of the Rules in the future, the JRC has decided to make public its agreed position on smoothing a similar hazard.

The effect this could have on good golf etiquette is obvious. After discussion, the JRC agreed on the following position, effective immediately:

"Rule 13-4a prohibits a player from testing the condition of the hazard in which his ball lies or a similar hazard. Yet Exception 3 to the Rule, which was introduced in 2008, allows a player to test the condition of one hazard after playing from that hazard into a similar hazard. Although Decision 13-4/0.5 lists smoothing a bunker with a rake, club or otherwise as an example of testing the condition of the hazard, the Etiquette Section of the Rules of Golf provides that "Before leaving a bunker, players should carefully fill up and smooth over all holes and footprints made by them and any nearby made by others."

The committee said it is not the intent of Rule 13-4a to prohibit players from practicing the proper etiquette of the game when more than one bunker is involved. Therefore, when the player’s ball lies in a bunker, it would not be a breach of the Rules if the player were to smooth the sand in another bunker, provided (a) the smoothing is for the purpose of tidying up the bunker, (b) the smoothing does not breach Rule 13-2 (Improving Lie, Area of Intended Stance or Swing, or Line of Play) with respect to his next stroke and (c) there is not a reasonable possibility that the smoothing could affect a subsequent stroke by the player.

Sustainability of golf in the Mediterranean

The Fifth International Congress of Golf and the Environment is taking place in Malaga April 16-18, 2008 and will focus on the definition of a sustainable development model for golf courses in the area.

The opening and keynote presentation is entitled "The Tourist Golf Product in Mediterranean Countries," by Jerónimo Pérez Casero, president of the Euromediterranean Centre of Knowledge, Innovation and Tourist Training at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaga.

The congress hopes to attract the interest of golf course superintendents, professionals, golf course directors, builders, officials, consultants, managers and designers both from Spain and from other countries in the Mediterranean region, to which end the organizers  have arranged the participation of leading specialists, both national and international. For more click here.