WaPo on Avenel

[Carl Nichols]

Today's Washington Post has an extensive article on the $25million (!!!) renovation at Avenel:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/26/AR2008052601929.html

[Jason McNamara]

This quote from the article stuck out:

Whether Washington area golf fans will ever see Woods walk up that new 18th fairway remains to be seen. Woods has never set foot on the property, before or during the renovation.

Greg McLaughlin, president of the Tiger Woods Foundation and the tournament director for the AT&T National, said last week that he [Tiger, presumably] has not yet been out to see the changes, mainly because he would like to view the finished product rather than a work in progress.

"There's no question we'll be looking at the golf course," he said.

A budding architect disinclined to see a course during renovation?  That's a little odd, isn't it?

[Matt Varney]

I am a big Tiger fan and I also was suprised to see that he was not interested in seeing the course during construction only when completed.  Golf course design is in your blood and one of the great things is seeing a course design take shape from raw land to shaping and then grassing.  I take pictures and then go back and look at them so you can compare the changes and show people what the land looked like when you started in the beginning.
 

[Mike Erdmann]

Tiger is surely one of the busier men on the planet, and I can't imagine there's anything THAT special or unique at Avenel that would somehow warrant Tiger making a special trip to see the construction in-progress.

[Matt Varney]

Mike,

He has been off for 6 weeks rehabing his knee and by the way he was at Congressional today for media day regarding his AT&T National tournament.  I understand he is busy but, when the PGA is spending $25M to create a new golf course at Avenel you should go take a look.  They have had input from many pros, designers, architects and consultants on this project to make this facility first class.

If that was not enough Tiger is working with The Cliffs to create his first course design in the USA and it will be under the microscope by all the critics.  If he just took a ride in a Range Rover around the property it would at least show he was interested in course design. 

[Jason McNamara]

Mike, I'd be more inclined to go along with your point if the quote had been more along the lines of "he hasn't been able to make it just yet" rather than what seems to be disinterest in the process.

[Mike Erdmann]

Tiger has all the opportunities in the world to learn about course construction, if he chooses to seek that information out, and for all we know he's doing that elsewhere.  Or not.  I just fail to see why him skipping a look at what's being built at Avenel in particular either takes away from his education as an aspiring architect, or takes away from the eventual end product at Avenel.  I scratch my head when Jack Nicklaus speaks of never seeing Sand Hills before building Dismal River, but I see no reason to be critical of Tiger for skipping the drive-by, photo-op construction tour of Avenel.

As to Jason's point, I'd rather get honest disinterest than some PR hack's false excuses about "not being able to make it just yet"

[Jason McNamara]

No argument there, Mike - I certainly don't want some PR guy to fabricate an excuse.  If Tiger's schedule interferes with his ability to see the course, fine.  (Don't make me defend the marketing guy!)

But "he'll check it out when it's done,"  or the like?

I am not generally opposed to honest indifference, but I would hope a would-be designer is not honestly uninterested, especially if he may be hosting a toon-a-mint there.

So, anyone know if he made the 4-minute trip from Congressional today?  Weather was upper 70s and a sprinkle or two.

[Chris Garrett]

It's tough to critique based on a small portion of one sound bite.

As a former employee at a TPC club, I can tell you that the Tour has struggled and is continuing to struggle with its line-up of courses and clubs.  The courses are all too often bland and forgettable, mismanaged, and in a game steeped n tradition the Tour continues to consistently change their brand.  For example, what was once TPC at Avenel, became TPC Avenel about two and a half years ago.  Now the course will be known as "TPC Potomac at Avenel."  It is only one small example, but exemplifies how the Tour continues to miss the mark.