Michigan Golf News, November 12, 2010

Photo courtesy of Michigan State University Library

Larry Packard In This Issue __/

Spring Meadows CC History Revised

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Pair of Seniors: By Jack Berry

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Huron Hills Proposal: By Chris Mile

1st Annual MGL "No Matter What" Golf Outing - November 20

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Michigan Golfer Magazine Fall Issue

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New Shows on GLSP

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http://michigangolfer.com/fall10/

Minzey's Musings

Devine Thoughts

Michigan Golf Calendar

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Michigan Golfer Archives

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Michigan Golf History

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Michigan Golf Association Links

http://michigangolfer.com/mgn/archives.html http://michigangolfer.com/mgn/history.html

http://michigangolfer.com/mgn/associations.html

__/__/__/__/__/__/___/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/ __/__/ Michigan Golfer Magazine 2010 Fall Issue http://michigangolfer.com/fall10/ Past Issues http://michigangolfer.com/#pastissues Michigan Golfer Television Michigan Golfer Channel http://michigangolfer.tv Michigan Golfer You Tube Channel http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?pi=0&ps=100&sf=added&sa=0&sq=golfer&dm=2 Michigan Golf News Subscribe http://lyris.dundee.net/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=michigangolfnews __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/__/ __/ __/ __/__/ __/ __/__/ __/ __/ __/ ===================================== SPRING MEADOWS CC HISTORY REVISED ===================================== Art, I am enjoying your Michigan Golf History by the decades. It is very interesting reading and by the way, in your listing of the architect for Spring Meadows CC in Linden ( I have been a member since 1973) you list Bill Newcomb as the architect but should be Larry Packard, who built it in conjunction with Wadsworth construction out of Chicago area. Larry, who is still alive to my knowledge, lives at Innisbrook in Tarpon Springs, FL were he designed all four courses. We had him come to Spring Meadows CC in 2003 for a "Larry Packard Day". He was 90 then.

Thanks for including me in your e-mailing list for Michigan Golf News.

Fritz Balmer Editor's Note: Thanks Fritz, I wrote that Michigan Golf History 10 years ago http://michigangolfer.com/history.html . At the time the Internet, while helpful, was not the powerhouse it is now. Every now and then, I think about redoing the series with the help of the many great online search engines, but the enormity of the task has caused me to pause. Here is the latest on Larry Packard http://golfarchitects.lib.msu.edu/packardel/packardelbio.htm Larry Packard's Michigan History Courses Designed Leslie Park Golf Course - Ann Arbor - 1967 Bay City Country Club - Bay City - 1965 Hampshire Country Club - Dowagiac - 1961 Pine Grove Country Club - Iron Mountain L'Anse Golf Course - L'Anse- 1962 Spring Meadows Country Club- Linden - 1965 Courses Remodeled Menominee Country Club. Menominee, Michigan

Huron Golf Club - Ann Arbor Cascade Hills Country Club- Grand Rapids - 1967 Lochmoor Country Club -Grosse Pointe Woods, 1960 Country Club of Lansing Lansing, - 1977 Midland Country Club- Midland, - 1970 Western Country Club- Redford,- 1961 Taken and edited from http://golfarchitects.lib.msu.edu/packardel/index.html =================================== HURON HILLS PROPOSAL: By Chris Mile =================================== A few months ago the City of Ann Arbor solicited proposals for a public-private partnership to operate Huron Hills Golf Course. After much thought, Miles of Golf decided to offer the city a proposal and we want to make sure we explain why we did this and what this might mean for Miles of Golf going forward.

Many of our staff live or have grown up in Ann Arbor and believe Huron Hills is a great place for residents to play and learn the great game of golf. We all feel that It would be a shame to see the golf course disappear. Here at Miles of Golf, we are fortunate to have a great range, golf shop, and teaching academy. We view this proposal as an opportunity to maintain Huron Hills as a golf course and add an offering to our customers. If given the opportunity to operate Huron Hills, we believe we could add to the enjoyment of the golf course for Miles of Golf customers and Ann Arbor residents.

What does this mean in the immediate future? Operations at Miles of Golf will not change. We would take the opportunity to develop programs for new golfers and give our customers more reasons to enjoy Huron Hills. We would be excited to explore the opportunities that a golf course would add to our business model. Having the ability to teach and fit on-course would enhance the Miles of Golf experience for our customers. For this reason, we could envision a time that Miles of Golf would add a golf shop, driving range and learning center to the property footprint at Huron Hills. In our opinion, this would create a truly unique and spectacular golf destination.

One of our core values at Miles of Golf is "helping golfers enjoy the game more". There would be no greater thrill for us than if we were chosen to do so for the City of Ann Arbor.

Taken and edited from a Miles of Golf release Note: We stopped by MOG and chatted with Bryan Carpenter, who works in the golf shop. Bryan indicated that the proposal is in and now they are waiting for the decision from Ann Arbor. He said all the employees are excited about the possibilities that this deal will bring. =========================== PAIR OF SENIORS: By Jack Berry =========================== Michigan returns to big time professional golf in 2012 with the United States Senior Open at Indianwood G&CC in Lake Orion and on the other side of the state, the PGA Senior Championship at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor. They are the two oldest senior major championships. Old playing the old?

Not exactly. In fact senior majors are quite young. There are five of them, but every one is younger than the Masters Tournament which is the youngest of the four majors including the British and United States Opens and PGA Championship.

The senior majors, and their birth year, are the PGA, 1937; the USGA, 1980; Senior Players, 1983; British Senior, 1987, and the Tradition, 1989.

The PGA Senior Championship started thanks to Bobby Jones who five years earlier invited golf’s best players to a tournament at his new club in Augusta, Ga. That was the birth of the Masters Tournament and was won by Horton Smith who later became professional at Detroit Golf Club.

Jones felt that older pros needed a tournament of their own and the first two Senior PGAs were played in the fall at the Augusta National Golf Club before moving to Florida and switching to winter when old club pros from the north could play.

But despite Sam Snead winning the PGA Senior six times, Gene Sarazen and Julius Boros twice and Tommy Bolt once, all winners of golf’s majors, it took more than 40 years before the old boys got a second major of their own – the USGA Senior Open – and the impetus came from television.

Producer Fred Raphael sold Shell Oil Co. on sponsoring Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, two-man matches played on beautiful courses around the world. Snead, Sarazen, Byron Nelson and Hogan played, so did “kids” like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. It was a huge hit and for the nostalgic, it still is.

Then, in 1978, Raphael came up with the Legends of Golf, pitting two-man teams of players 50 and older against each other in a 54 hole tournament. Snead and Gardner Dickinson beat Australians Peter Thomson (five time British Open winner) and Kel Nagle in the first one and Boros and Roberto De Vicenzo beat Bolt and Art Wall in a playoff in 1979 that featured one astounding shot and putt after another.

The Legends and Wonderful World led the PGA Tour to start the Senior (now Champions) Tour in 1980 and the USGA got the message. Old is gold. It wasn't just a bunch of veteran club pros. These were names golf fans knew and they responded and so did sponsors.

“As a result of the remarkable growth of senior golf, both at the professional and amateur levels,” the USGA statement said, it was establishing the USGA Senior Open.

But whereas the PGA Championship from the beginning set the entry age at 50, the USGA already had set 55 as the senior entry age when it established the USGA Senior Amateur in 1955.

The USGA learned in a hurry that 50 was better for a Senior Open. The 1980 championship at Winged Foot, with 55 the entry point, was won by Roberto DeVicenzo but the gallery consisted of many more trees than people. So it lowered the age to 50 and headed to Oakland Hills.

Just coincidentally, Palmer, 51, now was eligible. Bud Erickson, who was the tournament director at Oakland Hills, said they started getting calls for “the Arnold Palmer tournament.”

It was a hit and even drew a large gallery including office-dressed men for the Monday playoff which

Palmer won over Billy Casper and Bob Stone.

Nicklaus turned 50 in time for the 1991 Senior Open, again at Oakland Hills, and beat Chi Chi Rodriguez in a playoff. It was another hit.

Indianwood isn’t likely to get Palmer, who will be 82 then, or Nicklaus, who will be 72. Maybe Tom Watson who will be 62 will play. The leaders now are Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Tom Lehman, Mark Calcavecchia, Nick Price and Corey Pavin, all major championship winners, and Paul Azinger and Kenny Perry hit the Champions Tour age mark this year.

Indianwood and Harbor Shores are fresh territory for the seniors. Indianwood is a fine course that hosted golf’s stars in its early days and was a favorite of Detroit resident Walter Hagen. Gene Sarazen won the Western Open, then considered a major, in 1930 and the club hosted two successful U.S. Women’s Opens, in 1989 won by Betsy King, and 1994 won by Patty Sheehan.

Harbor Shores is brand new, period. The Jack Nicklaus design opened this year with Nicklaus, Palmer, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller playing a fund-raiser on Aug. 10. Nicklaus routed three holes along the shore of Lake Michigan (no danger of getting your feet wet) and the par 71 is unusual in that there are five par threes along with four par fives and nine par fours.

The two majors are Michigan’s first step back onto the big stage since the Buick Open expired in 2009, victim of the economic plunge. The Senior Players Championship had 17 years in Dearborn with the first one at Dearborn Country Club and the next 16 at the Nicklaus-designed TPC Michigan.

The Champions Tour’s 18-year ride in Grand Rapids at the Highlands and Egypt Valley ended in 2004 and the LPGA’s Olds tournament ended a nine year run in Lansing in 2000.

Ironically, Wisconsin which had only two majors in the last century, the 1933 PGA in Milwaukee and the 1998 Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, suddenly is overrun with riches, thanks to industrialist Herbert Kohler, and a new course which Golf Digest architecture editor Ron Whitten had a hand in.

Kohler hired Pete Dye to design two courses at the American Club, a five star resort with the finest plumbing available (Kohler of Kohler), and 10 miles north of there, Whistling Straits. The 2004 and 2010 PGA Championships and 2007 USGA Senior Open were played at Whistling Straits and it also will get the 2015 PGA and the 2020 Ryder Cup. Blackwolf Run gets the 2012 Women’s Open.

Erin Hills, 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee, was designed by Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry. Randall Mell of Golf Channel, stopped at Erin Hills after covering the PGA at Whistling Straits and described Whistling Straits as a manufactured course and Erin Hills as a course made by nature. Erin Hills opened in 2007, had the 2008 Women’s Amateur Public Links, will host the U.S. Amateur next year and then the big one, the U.S. Open, in 2017.

It’s ironic that Wisconsin is getting all that big time golf and yet it lost its oldest tournament, the Milwaukee Open that dated to 1968. The PGA Tour gave it a deadly date – opposite the British Open – and no sponsor wanted to spend money on a Class B event so that ended in 2009. Milwaukee gave Tiger Woods a sponsor exemption for his pro debut. And then he never went back.

================================================================= 1ST ANNUAL MGL "NO MATTER WHAT" GOLF OUTING - NOVEMBER 20 ================================================================= Michigan Golf Live invites you to break out the mittens, long johns, ski caps, and golf clubs for a unique way to round out the golf season and help care for the hurting and homeless at the same time!

Hosted by MGL's Bill Hobson, the "No Matter What" Golf Outing will be a blast for all who play, if for no other reason than it's golf when you least expect to be playing! All the details are below and if you have any questions, please email them to: mglive@tds.net What: Fun, friendly golf outing specially designed for the insane, diehard golfer who refuses to pack up his/her clubs for the season, even in November!

Where: The Majestic Golf Club in Hartland near M-59.

When: Saturday, November 20th - 10am shotgun start, lunch and awards to follow Cost: $50 per player ($20 is tax deductible) - includes: 18 holes with cart, range balls, lunch and prizes plus proceeds will be donated to Carriage Town Ministries (homeless shelter in Flint) to care for the hurting and homeless during the cold weather months. ==================================================== MICHIGAN GOLFER MAGAZINE FALL ISSUE NOW ONLINE ==================================================== Contents http://michigangolfer.com/fall10/ Senior Tournaments Put Michigan Golf Back on the Map: By Jack Berry Michigan Tournament Round Up with Tim Hygh Strom Storms From Behind to Win Women’s Michigan Open Andy Matthews Wins Over Fouch and Do at the Tournament of Champions Brehm Wins Second Michigan Open at Orchard Lake CC Ron Beurmann Wins PGA Championship at Eagle Eye Teaching Pros Compete with the Touring Pros: By Brad Shelton Dyebolical: By Jack Berry The Golf Club at Harbor Shores Grand Opening: By BR Koehnemann For Pete’s Sake, Enough is Enough: By Bill Shelton Manitou Passage: Rebirth of King's Challenge: By Terry Moore Michigan Golfer Fall Issue http://michigangolfer.com/fall10/ Past Issues 1996 - 2010 http://michigangolfer.com/#pastissues ============================== NEW SHOWS ON GLSP NETWORK ============================== Michigan Travel Television

Frankfort Film Festival - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O45VjDDnjQA

Michigan Skier Television

Lake Placid Olympic Winter Games Site - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NirpdgzVvYc

Michigan Runner Television

Run to Hell on Halloween - http://michiganrunner.tv/2010runthruhell/ Marathon Oasis de Montreal - http://michiganrunner.tv/2010montreal/ GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon - http://runningcanada.tv/2010victoria/ Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon - http://michiganrunner.tv/2010grandrapidsmarathon/ Manistee National Cross Country Invitational http://michiganrunner.tv/2010manistee_xc/

================= MINZEY'S MUSINGS ================= HISTORY LESSON The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s: Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell . . . brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip an d fall off the roof.

Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence: a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus,someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer...

And that's the truth... Now, whoever said History was boring! =============================== 2010 MICHIGAN GOLF CALENDAR =============================== NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER Nov 30 - Dec 2 Michigan Golf Business Conference and Vendor Fair, Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids http://www.mgcoa.org JANUARY 14-16 Columbus Golf Show, Columbus http://www.northcoastgolfshows.com/ FEBRUARY 11-13 West Michgan Golf Show, Grand Rapids http://www.showspan.com/WMG/Home.aspx 18-20 Cleveland Golf Show, Cleveland http://www.northcoastgolfshows.com/ 25-27 Lansing Golf Show, Lansing http://michigangolfshow.com/lansing/ 25-27 Chicago Golf Show, Chicago

25-27

http://www.chicagogolfshow.com/ Indianapolis Golf Show, Indianapolis http://www.northcoastgolfshows.com/

MARCH 4-6 Michigan Golf Show, Novi http://michigangolfshow.com/ 26-27 he Mid Michigan Golf Show, Birch Run Expo Center, http://orvshows.com JUNE 20-26 LPGA Futures Tour - Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass http://www.sweetgrassgolfclub.com