2007 Brings a New PGA Tour

The PGA Tour is competing with the NFL, MLB and others for television viewers and hopes their changes to the 2007 schedule will do the trick.

PGA Tour LogoSports Illustrated is reporting that the PGA Tour will make major changes to its schedule for the 2007 season. The changes, mirroring the rumors the mills have cranked out over the past few months, include a playoff system and four late-season events, according to USA Today. Tim Finchem, the paper said, will present the changes on this Wednesday at the Tour Championship, but must wait until the policy board meets at PGA Tour headquarters on November 7th for final approval.

PGA Tour veteran Davis Love III along with other players on the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council have not publicly discussed the changes that will soon be announced but Davis did have this to say, “We’re looking to create a better product.” Davis also says there will be the same amount of tournaments in ’07 as ’06, if not more.

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Episode 001

The first Podcast talks about Jean Van de Velde’s plans to play the Women’s British Open, compares Tiger’s year to Annika’s year, and much, much more. Tune in!

PodcastThe Sand Trap .com is proud to announce today the first Sand Trap .com Podcast. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download the MP3 file. In the future, we’ll also post notices to the site with “show notes” – links to articles we discuss in the show and additional information. This week, for our first episode, that additional information includes a description of our plans for the future.

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Sand Trap Pals

The side bar has been reorganized a little and now we have room to link to our Web Friends!

I did a little reorganization today. You may not see much difference, but the right-hand sidebar/navigation area is a little cleaner. It may change even later today.

Cleaning up the sidebar allowed me to put in the long-overdue “random link.” We don’t have the room for a full, permanent “linklist,” so we’ve compromised by linking to one of our Web Friends at a time. The source of our random list is available here. If you’re not on it and you feel you should be, email us. We do want to keep our random list filled with only frequently updated blogs, so if your last post was in August 2005, well, there’s little need to inquire.

Ryan Moore

Following Ryan Moore from his dominant college days to success on sponsor’s exemptions has been fun to watch. Look for him to get even better.

ProFilesWhen Ryan Moore turned pro prior to the Barclays Classic there was plenty of reason to believe that he could qualify to play on the 2006 PGA Tour. But would he? No one since Tiger Woods had played his way onto Tour and no one has done it with as much flair.

In 1996 Tiger played the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the British Open as an amateur and turned pro prior to the Greater Milwaukee Open where he tied for 60th place. 5 events later he was hoisting a trophy at the Las Vegas Invitational. Two weeks beyond his first win he captured the Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic. While Ryan Moore has yet to win an event on Tour, he has five top-25’s under his belt so far and is well on his way to a solid career as a professional. His amateur performance is as good as any.

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Alpha C830.2 Driver Review

The Alpha C830.2 is the one of the newest offerings from Alpha Golf Clubs. Don’t be put off by the obscurity in the name. This club should be one of the first clubs you try, not the last.

Alpha Golf LogoAlpha has been a large player in a secondary market. On the Long Drivers of America (LDA) circuit, you can find the C830.2 drivers in quite a few bags. Not all golfers are going to swing out of their shoes like those guys, but Alpha has designed a solid club that goes toe to toe with the best drivers out there.

Golf Digest even singled out the Alpha C830.2 earlier this year in their Hot List as one of “the best drivers you’ve never heard of.” Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway: those we’ve heard of. It is easy to dismiss the so-called “second-tier” clubs, but Alpha is a great example of a small company making quality clubs. After spending a few months with the C830.2, I remain surprised.

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Jean Van de Velde to Enter Women’s British Open

Since women are now allowed to qualify for the men’s British Open, Men’s European Tour player Jean Van de Velde plans to enter next year’s women’s British Open

European Tour veteran Jean Van De Velde says that he will attempt to enter next year’s Women’s British Open. The 39-year-old Frenchman is upset that the Royal & Ancient Golf Club will allow women to qualify for next year’s (men’s) British Open. The only thing that could even come close to being more disturbing than Jean blowing the 1999 British Open on the 72nd hole is that he says “I’ll even wear a kilt and shave my legs.” What a moron.

“My whole point is where do we draw the line?” Van de Velde asked. He believes the rule change is ridiculous. “If we accept that women can enter our tournaments, then it applies that men can play with women,” he said.

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The Top Thirty

There are two weeks left for the top 30 to be decided. Who will be in and who will be left out? We can rule out a few, but the rest are going to fight to the finish.

The Numbers GameThe chase for the top 30 continues. All the players are scrambling to get into the Tour Championship at the end of the year. They all want to be invited to the party, but we know that most will be on the outside looking in.

Even the PGATour.com is pumping up the action with a section on their website dedicated to the chase. Heck, they even have a corporate sponsor… the popular soft drink company with the red can. I wonder how much that cost. Anyway, they (PGATour.com) are focusing in on 25-45. Here is the list through last week’s tournament:

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Nonsense in the Technology Debate

Geoff Shackelford, a golf course architect, takes issue with the answer the R&A’s Peter Dawson gave to a question about technology.

R&AThe Secretary of the R&A, Peter Dawson, has recently opened himself up for Q&A from the golfing public. Recently, a man named Neal Walker Coventry wrote in to ask “Should something be done to prevent technology’s influence on the game?” In this day and age, “technology” is being blamed for just about everything that’s “wrong” with the game of golf, and the Secretary’s answer to the question bothers at least one of the self-appointed guardians of the game. On his blog, Geoff Shackelford, a small-time author and golf course architect, replies with the blather typical of his side of the technology debate.

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Steranka Named New PGA of America CEO

The PGA of America names Joe Steranka as the successor to Jim Awtrey as chief executive officer.

PGA of AmericaThe PGA of America announced Joe Steranka as chief executive officer Wednesday. Steranka, 47, will become only the second CEO to serve The PGA of America following the retirement of Jim Awtrey. Awtrey, the longest tenured CEO among America’s leading golf associations, served the PGA 19 years. Steranka joined the PGA of America in 1988 as as Director of Communications and Broadcasting and has served as Managing Director of Communication and Broadcasting since 2003.

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