I Guess This Rules Out Herb Kohler Buying A Ryder Cup For St. Andrews

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Thanks to the readers who sent in Rick Romell's story on Herb Kohler's "largely in the red" operation in St. Andrews, which likely ends any dreams we might have of him joining the bidding process for a future Ryder Cup. It also can't bode well for Hamilton Hall when another fixer-upper has been such a huge drain.
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“Everything -- Adidas, Puma, Nike, except the Tiger brand.”

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The most fascinating thing in Alex Sherman's story about the decline in sales of Tiger apparel is not that people have stopped by the ugly stuff Nike has been designing for him, but the news that so many other lines are up in this economy. I'm not sure what it means, but it does seem interesting. Or not.
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"They (the USGA) want to have data to present against emotional arguments."

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Ryan Ballengee adds a few important details about the USGA's ball testing event in Canada and features quotes from an equipment company goon perspective.

"[The] USGA may have progressed on collecting data with short distance balls," the source said.  "[A] few years ago, OEMs were asked to provide balls with 20% less driver distance."

So, is there a desire to roll the ball back?

The source says the data collection may be done in the event that a ball rollback is eventually needed, but that it is not imminent because of the flattening of distance increases in the last three years.

The source added, "They (the USGA) want to have data to present against emotional arguments."

Actually, the manufacturers getting emotional on this topic clouded their judgment and has them now boxed in a corner with little wiggle room for club innovation. All to protect those little white balls that we'll always have to buy to play the game, no matter how far they fly.

Sea Island Sold For $179.5 Million

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WSJ's Carrick Mollenkamp and Lingling Wei report that investors are walking away from $340 million in debt. Thanks to reader Stone for this:

As part of a pact expected to be announced Wednesday, funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management LP of Los Angeles and Avenue Capital Group in New York have agreed to pay $197.5 million in cash for Sea Island. Under the deal, Sea Island also is expected to seek bankruptcy-court protection Wednesday.

The 84-year-old resort is famed for its Cloister hotel, four golf courses, exclusive clubs, a private development called Ocean Forest Golf Club, and hosting a Group of Eight summit in 2004. Sea Island hit a financial wall when it couldn't repay debt taken on by Bill Jones III, the company's chief executive and the fourth generation of his family to lead Sea Island, as part of a $395 million renovation and expansion of the resort in 2006 and 2007.

What These Wild And Crazy (Ad Agency Guys) Will Do For Adidas Golf!

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Thanks to reader Stuart for Rich Thomaselli's AdAge look at the new, authentic outreach by adidas Golf to circumvent the lack of organic social connections found in your every day television ads: send two finalists chosen from an applicant pool of thousands who are will to do anything for a job working at adidas, and film the entire thing in a Survivor meets Big Break in the vein of Amazing Race social media campaign aimed at...golfers!?
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