"If the great Bobby Jones walked onto most golf courses today he would find the delivery systems haven’t changed much since the 1920s."

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Real estate agents Hilda Allen & George Logan penned that beauty of a line in a post advocating the golf industry do things to update its business model. Most you've heard--cater more to women and juniors, embrace social media, do more to bring in what's left of the middle class, etc... and update those delivery systems.
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"Forstmann's lawyers said he never would have bet against Woods since IMG represented him and would benefit if Woods won tournaments."

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Thanks to Pete Finch for Tweeting William Cohan's in-depth look at the lawsuits filed against IMG owner Ted Forstmann. The story has remained off the radar as a TMZ item. But this gets into details which, while still leaving suit-filer James Agate's credibility in some doubt, leaves little question that Forstmann loves to bet, helped put Agate in debt with the IRS and Forstmann was undoubtedly betting on things he shouldn't have been betting on as the IMG leader. Worst of all, he Forstmann is not denying that he ran his bets through Agate, who worked through bookies in Vegas and Costa Rica.

Legal or not, after Forstmann bought IMG, which represents major sports stars, and then kept placing bets through Agate -- often on IMG's clients -- his gambling fairly reeked of poor judgment. The Tennis Integrity Unit has said such betting violates its rules but that Forstmann's betting occurred before its creation; an NCAA spokesperson says Forstmann is not under its jurisdiction "but that the expectation is that those providing services to the NCAA will not wager on sports." While Agate, by all accounts, including his own, seemed to grow increasingly desperate and unstable, Forstmann has come around to the view that he made a mistake; he has since instituted a ban on college-sports gambling at IMG.

There wasn't one before?

As for the explosive charge of betting against Tiger, it still sounds sketchy. Though not sketchy enough to likely offend Woods or any other client learning that the boss could be rooting against you.

Agate also claims Forstmann bet "several times against" Tiger Woods, also an IMG client, to lose to Vijay Singh, another (now former) IMG client and onetime friend of Forstmann's. Forstmann's lawyers said he never would have bet against Woods since IMG represented him and would benefit if Woods won tournaments. Agate's charge "defies logic and common sense," they wrote. (Of course, by betting for Federer in 2007, Forstmann was necessarily betting against IMG client Nadal.)

But how much does IMG really benefit from Tiger winning tournaments?

On a less important note, there was this:

That's when Agate gave a copy of the proposed suit to gossip website TMZ. Forstmann was served the lawsuit, plus a copy of the still-unfiled complaint with the betting records, two days later on a Saturday in the parking lot of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, near his home in Southampton, N.Y.

A few weeks later, hearing nothing from Forstmann, Agate filed the amended complaint with the betting information. All hell broke loose.

The Real Reason Titleist Salesman Dress Like Pat Boone

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My Golf Spy provides the answer to one of the game's most elusive questions: why Titleist reps wear white sports coats when they represent their company at trade shows:

For more than 50 years the Titleist White Coat has been the symbol of this organization’s commitment to Leadership. In the early days, when touring professionals traveled around the country to compete in tournaments, they were told to look for the local market Titleist Representative who could easily be distinguished by the White Coat he or she wore. Since none of the participants were paid to play equipment at the tim

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Taylor CEO Calls For Bifurcating Pro And Amateur Rules

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Friday we learned that Taylor Made's Mark King, who just eight years ago couldn't see the makings of trouble down the road now wants a re-write of the rules because the game is not growing.

Now in an online video interview posted Saturday at Golfweek.com he goes further, calling for all-out bifurcation that manufacturers have steadfastly refused to even consider as an alternative best suiting the game (skip to the two minute mark unless you want to hear him hump the new white driver).

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Just When Dana Garmany Thought He Was Out, Troon Board Pulls Him Back In

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Jack Crittenden reports that Troon has re-installed Dana Garmany as CEO after his one year of retirement. This is mostly only of interest to those in the golf course industry, but Garmany is one of the rare breed of CEO types who play do the b-speak game but who also has a big picture view with plenty of interesting things to say. Glad he's back in the game!
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"The financing for the acquisition included $1.5 billion of senior debt, $1 billion of mezzanine debt and $800 million of corporate debt, of which $200 million was previously converted to equity."

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Did you get all that?

Bloomberg's Hui-yong Yu and David M. Levitt report on the seizing of some of CNL Hotels and Resorts, placeholders for some of America's best known golf resorts like La Quinta, Doral, PGA West, Wailea and the Arizona Biltmore, by a combo platter of hedge funds, investors, banks and gulp, mezzanine debt collectors.

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