The Pellucid Perspective - October 2017 - 17

THE LAST WORD

Improving, or approving, one's lie

n the latest tribute to the curative
effects of a friendly round of golf, I
read with some amusement the other
day of the golf outing enjoyed by South
Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham and
the Golfer-in-Chief himself, Donald
Trump. While not as surprising as if the
President had been accompanied by Bob
Corker or Nancy Pelosi, the pairing with
Graham, who has recently been critical of
a number of the President's actions and
statements, was noteworthy. Apparently
either politics was off the table during the
round or they stuck with topics on which
they agreed, because Graham posted a
cheery tweet afterward praising the day
and Trump's performance as a host. He
also announced that the GIC had posted
a tidy little "73 in damp and rainy conditions." Not bad for someone who had
declared his disdain for Barack Obama's
occasional golf outings during the campaign, vowing that he'd be too busy running the country to play golf. That, of
course, was before he exceeded Obama's
annual rounds total in his first few months
of making America great again.
I owe it to golf that I can actually
claim several personal interactions with
a President of the United States. During
my tenure as a senior editor with Golf
Inc. magazine, I spoke with the pre-politics Trump on the phone several times,
and received one note from him that in
retrospect was eerily revealing of a deeply ingrained personality trait of his. I had
written a cover story on the building of
Liberty National, the recent host site of
the President's Cup matches, billing the
course as the most expensive course ever
built. (Developed by Paul Fireman, the
former owner of Reebok, on a brownfield
site across from Staten Island, the course
cost well in excess of $250 Million).
Trump's note informed me that I was in
error - the most expensive course ever
built was his Trump National Los Angeles! Uh, couple of problems with that,
Don. For one, Trump didn't build Ocean

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Trails, which becameTrump National
LA, the Zuckerman family did, several
years before Trump had ever heard of
it. Sadly for the Zuckermans, the 18th
hole eventually fell into the Pacific, causing the course to be rebuilt, primarily at
the insurance company's expense. Along
came The Donald with an offer to buy it,
in part due to his hopes to develop some
of the pricey land on the bluffs above the
course. So, he neither built it nor rebuilt
it, but why let some facts get in the way
of another opportunity for self aggrandizement? In retrospect, it was a telling
insight into the character of the man
who has become, against all odds, our
45th President.
It continues to amaze me that so many
blatant provable lies can issue from the
Oval Office and, apparently, have virtually no impact on the President's supporters. It seems there are millions of folks
out there in America's heartland who,
like Sarah Huckabee Sanders, blithely
chalk them off as "a joke." Given that one
of golf 's most dearly cherished tenets is
truthfulness and honor, I'm wondering
how many of those 73 strokes the other
day were the result of another Presidential fibber's favorite "mulligans." On the
other hand, it must be true - Sarah Sanders attested it.

An odd alliance
Some of us in the industry have our
doubts about the role of TopGolf as a
grow-the-game agent. There are no reliable statistics regarding the number of
folks who have taken up "real" golf after
their initial exposure to ball and club at
a TopGolf venue, although one company
official told a group of media members at
an ING function that a survey commissioned by the company showed that 24
percent of TopGolf visitors subsequently
tried golf at a traditional course, a claim
that has not been verified, to say the least.
I have nothing against TopGolf by all accounts, it's an enjoyable way to

spend some time, whether you're a golfer
or not. It almost certainly inspires "some"
customers to experiment with "real" golf,
if only to visit their local golf course driving range to try to improve their score
the next time they visit TopGolf. I guess
that's why I can't really understand the
business relationship forged with TopGolf by the PGA Tour. Apparently the
Tour gets some access to TopGolf venues
for Tour-sponsored events, presumably
at those TopGolf facilities located near
PGA Tour sites, while TopGolf gets access to Tour media promotional videos
and other attractions.
Where it gets complicated is when
the Tour gets involved in negotiations
between TopGolf and potential site locations. The story earlier in this issue regarding the failed attempt by TopGolf to
secure a new site adjoining a 9-hole golf
course in El Segundo, CA did not include
the fact that PGA Tour Commissioner
Jay Monahan sent what was supposed to
be a "confidential" letter to El Segundo
officials supporting the TopGolf bid. That
became public to the Tour's dismay, despite the fact that "private" communications in an attempt to sway a municipal
vote are strictly verboten. Hopefully, lesson learned.

Millennial gateway working
Earlier this year, we wrote about a
program introduced by Southern California-based JC Resorts at their more
than a dozen San Diego and Riverside
area courses. Called "The 20-30 Club,"
it is open to players in that age bracket,
offering significantly reduced greens fees.
A recent promotional release offered free
enrollment in the program until Nov.
1 - the usual fee for the year is $30. JC
Resorts VP for Golf John McNair reports that the program "is going fantastic. We've got just under 1,300 members,
which is way over our original expectations." Obviously even Millennials like a
good deal.
-Jim Dunlap
The Pellucid PersPecTive

http://www.PellucidcorP.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - October 2017