Boston Olympic Bid

[Tim Gerrish]

So which course in the Boston area should host?  and realistically why?  TPC Boston can handle the crowds and has been Hansed.  TCC has the history? 

[Adam Lawrence]

Technically golf is not accepted as an Olympic sport for 2024 yet; it has to be reassessed post Rio and Tokyo

[Ross Harmon]

Mayor Walsh alluded to it being at a remodeled Franklin Park.

Let the bidding process begin!

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/12/11/walsh-2024-olympic-bid-could-open-doors-for-boston/

[Jaeger Kovich]

Technically golf is not accepted as an Olympic sport for 2024 yet; it has to be reassessed post Rio and Tokyo

Adam - I believe it actually gets voted on between Rio and Tokyo, but yes, it is guaranteed to be in both of those games, and nothing else, yet.

[Jaeger Kovich]

I'd rather see it at The Country Club. TPC Boston is kinda far from Boston, although its near Gillette Stadium in Foxborough so there would likely already be events out there. The infrastructure and super Tom Brodeur could handle it, thats for sure.

[Brad Tufts]

Of course, while having the event at the location of America's second-oldest public golf course would be undoubtedly cool, the current course is 6000 yards par 70.  To get 7K+ yards out of it, you would need to totally blow it up, which would be a shame!

There are only a few holes where you could reasonably find more length.

George Wright is in a similar situation...seems like lots of land, but pretty hemmed in on all sides.

Maybe the revamped TCC would be down for a limited-field event like the Olympics?

TPC is alright, but its known-commodity status wouldn't make it very special.  

How about revive the Bethpage-style renovation of Ponkapoag??  Plenty of land, you could keep some original Ross holes...could totally redo it in his style without blasphemy, as most of it is gone or laying fallow now....36 holes worth of land to pick a great 18 and maybe end up with 27....this would be awesome, yet pricey, which goes against the Boston Olympic Committee's plans so far...

[jeffwarne]

How about playing it on a classic Boston muni with an 85-90% ball.
Make an appeal to history, tradition,sustainability and practicality all at the same time.
Got a classic outdated out of fashion course?
problem solved and you save an infinite amount of time, effort, and money.

Would this be any bigger fiasco than the 2016 course has turned into?
and after all it's the Olympics-couldn't be any worse than a few of the past Russian judges.

[Joel_Stewart]

Seems like any course in Boston would have to be capable of handling the crowds.  TCC might do it but I'm not sure they have the infrastructure?  They handled the Ryder Cup but it had a very limited field.

Some of the other cities offer interesting challenges as well.  Paris, Rome and Doha? 

[Sam Morrow]

Are we really sure the crowds for Olympic golf are going to be bigger than a regular tour event or even a major?

[Tommy Naccarato]

Boston will not stand a chance against Los Angeles when it comes to the Olympics.  We have all of the facilities in place, ready to go with exception to ripping out the lower Coliseum seats that were added and which removed the track.  It won't take much to remove them and for the Coliseum to welcome the Olympics for the third time. This would also be a good thing for Golf Architecture research, as LA84 would undoubtedly be the recipient of a successful Olympics.

[Sam Morrow]

I dunno Tommy, what's left of the Kennedy clan learned bribery from the best, yall are gonna need to step your games up.

[Tommy Naccarato]

Sam,
Don't kid yourself. Most of Joe Kennedy's bootleg money was made in Los Angeles, as well as his favorite mistress resided here.

Dame Swanson!

[Sam Morrow]

I stand corrected.

[abmack]

I don't think there's a question that TCC would make the best venue. Having it in Brookline would make the event so much more special. The composite is easily among the world's top 10 championship courses. I've heard that the club is being seriously considered for another U.S. Open and that they have the necessary infrastructure to make it work.

More of a question though is whether the IOC is willing to send the Olympics back to the US. The experience of the last few years suggests that they aren't.

[Stephen Pellegrino]

By the time 2024 rolls around, it will have been 28 years since an Olympics was held in the US. This fact is one item that will most likely add to the plus column of Boston's bid. I imagine the IOC tries to move their two events around the globe in an effort to "share" it with different countries and different regions. That doesn't mean that the US selection for 2024 (Boston) will win out, but I have to imagine that each time a US selection is rejected, the odds of a US venue increase for the NEXT selection process. They can say no to the US, but they can't do it forever.

I'll just be sure to stay on Cape Cod during the summer of 2024 is Boston get the nod. The traffic...

[Sean Leary]

Boston will not stand a chance against Los Angeles when it comes to the Olympics.  We have all of the facilities in place, ready to go with exception to ripping out the lower Coliseum seats that were added and which removed the track.  It won't take much to remove them and for the Coliseum to welcome the Olympics for the third time. This would also be a good thing for Golf Architecture research, as LA84 would undoubtedly be the recipient of a successful Olympics.

They already chose Boston as the US bid, Tommy.

[Zack Molnar]

By the time 2024 rolls around, it will have been 28 years since an Olympics was held in the US. This fact is one item that will most likely add to the plus column of Boston's bid. I imagine the IOC tries to move their two events around the globe in an effort to "share" it with different countries and different regions. That doesn't mean that the US selection for 2024 (Boston) will win out, but I have to imagine that each time a US selection is rejected, the odds of a US venue increase for the NEXT selection process. They can say no to the US, but they can't do it forever.

I'll just be sure to stay on Cape Cod during the summer of 2024 is Boston get the nod. The traffic...

Well, if South Africa puts in a bid, no one else has a chance. Plus, i think the IOC considers having the winter Olympics just over the border in Vancouver a few years ago as practically being in the US, so there is that working against them as well.

I personally would really like to see the Olympics use amateur players, and I think it would be great for them to use the rolled back ball. I think it would be easier to get a bunch of amateurs eager to represent their country to try something new than a bunch of pros stuck in their ways used to having the best of everything. Also, basketball is played under the international rules at the Olympics rather than NBA rules and the USA seems to do just fine adjusting, no reason why golfers can't adjust a little bit as well, right?

Distance from Boston probably isnt an issue. Having a few sideshow sports be a distance away hasnt really been an issue before (see canoeing in Atlanta a decent distance away, same with Beijing on a couple sports). I agree TCC would be ideal with the history, and maybe the club would want to add the Olympics to their already amazing resume, but I can only see them going for a more modern course such as TPC Boston due to its known infrastructure, or renovating a local muni for a feel good story and to show a positive lasting effect from the games when most of the time it ends up being a burden on the city in the long run.

Also, I agree with the sentiment about getting out the city that summer. London was practically empty as people rented out their flats to tourists for princely sums and had a nice month vacation out in the countryside.

[Jaeger Kovich]

The more I think about it, TCC is likely not a candidate to host both the men/women because of the wear on the greens and rest of the course. 6-8 days of tournament golf + practice will likely result in re-grassing greens and more. If you split the men/women to different venues, it would work, but that is double the tents.

Remember when Pinehurst #2 hosted back to back opens, they re-grassed the greens the next week. The greens at TCC are very small probably cant handle Olympic speeds and ware without committing to shutting the place down for a year - a.k.a not likely.

[Sean Leary]

The more I think about it, TCC is likely not a candidate to host both the men/women because of the wear on the greens and rest of the course. 6-8 days of tournament golf + practice will likely result in re-grassing greens and more. If you split the men/women to different venues, it would work, but that is double the tents.

Remember when Pinehurst #2 hosted back to back opens, they re-grassed the greens the next week. The greens at TCC are very small probably cant handle Olympic speeds and ware without committing to shutting the place down for a year - a.k.a not likely.

They just had a US am there. Wouldn't need to be any different than that and it would be less play than an Am field, wouldn't  it?

[Jaeger Kovich]

They just had a US am there. Wouldn't need to be any different than that and it would be less play than an Am field, wouldn't  it?

The Am is matchplay and the field gets smaller every round. They also split the stroke play rounds to 2 courses, so its half the field at a time. The Olympics are stroke play so there are more players per round (60 x 4 rounds x 2 tournaments), trampling the same small greens and pins... Not sure if they do a cut. I don't see anything about that.


US Am - 156 - 156 - 64 -32-16-8-4-2 = 440

Olympics - 60 x 8 = 480

[Mike_Young]

I just don't see a reason for golf to still be an Olympic sport after 2020.    And if it were I would not expect to see many on site fans....