"He had a wonderfully dry sense of humour and his love of golf and his job was always apparent. He will be much missed."

Douglas Lowe's paper gets around to acknowledging his passing with a lovely collection of remembrances from a diverse group of golf dignitaries.

Golf Digest To Let Golfers Sample 15-inch Cups...

Peter Finch with the details on a one day event at Pine Needles to play with 15-inch cups for $100 in the W-I-D-E Open, a response to the Flogton/Mark King kvetching about the USGA having a hand in all world evil.  Finch also Tweeted a photo of the proposed cup size.  Ron Whitten Tweets that the cup cutter was created by Baltusrol mechanic Todd Simms.

The 18-hole event will feature holes created with a specially designed cutter that measure 15-inches in diameter. That's more than three times the diameter of a standard golf hole and only slightly smaller than a basketball hoop.

The competition was inspired by recent comments from Taylor Made CEO Mark King, who suggested using 15-inch holes as a way to make golf more fun and appealing to newcomers. Intrigued by the idea, Golf Digest Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde created Thursday's W I D E Open event to measure how fun experienced players -- from club pros to scratch golfers to high handicappers -- would have on such a course set-up.

"Dougie - you were a super colleague, a trusted friend and you'll be very sadly missed."

More tributes for late golf writer Douglas Lowe, starting with Martin Dempster in the Scotsman:

Five months ago we reported together on Colin Montgomerie leading Europe to a thrilling Ryder Cup victory, but the high of that occasion has now been replaced by a feeling of shock and disbelief. Diagnosed with a brain tumour early in the new year, Dougie passed away at his Helensburgh home surrounded by his family at the age of 59 - the surgery he had undergone and subsequent treatment having proved unsuccessful.

Dougie, a long-time member at Helensburgh, was our 'statto'. He knew everything from the vagaries of the World Golf Rankings to how many children had been introduced to clubgolf.

He was also a stickler for the rules, as was witnessed when one of his playing partners conceded him a putt during a media event in the build up to the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry. Dougie didn't do anything wrong but, still, he played it by the book and penalised himself, though, thankfully, that didn't stop him from winning that day.

Dougie wasn't your all singing, all dancing types, but he certainly made me laugh when recalling a story about himself last year on the walk back to his house from Helensburgh railway station after a night out in Glasgow. Passing the local park, he ventured in and made a bee line for the football pitch, where he duly scored an imaginary headed 'goal'.

Little did he know that he was being watched by two members of Strathcylde constabulary who, after letting him finish his subsequent celebration, had a quiet word in his ear before sending a smiling Dougie off into the dark to finish his journey.

Press rooms won't be the same this season.

Bernie McGuire, contributing golf correspondent for the Daily Record and Herald, posted this in the comments on the initial post:

Sadly, it was while I was out in Abu Dhabi earlier this year when I learnt my good friend Dougie Lowe was suffering from a brain tumour.

As a contributing correspondent for the Daily Record along with the Scottish Herald, it was a huge shock to be informed Dougie would probably never return to report on the European Tour. However, I had the rug pulled right out from under me today (MON) when Jim Black (The Scottish Sun) advised me Dougie had passed away.

I first met Dougie around 2003 and soon after he had been appointed golf correspondent for the Herald.

Dougie quickly settled into life on the Tour and I remember his immense delight in being afforded the job of covering the Walker Cup later that year in the States. But it was early in 2004 when I really got to know Dougie better.

That was in when Dougie travelled to Australia.  So excited to be out covering golf he bought himself an around world ticket. Dougie pencilled in coverage of the co-sanctioned Heineken Classic in Melbourne and the ANZ Championship just north of Sydney. He thrilled at being offered a spot in the Pro-Am at Royal Melbourne and delighted also at the thought of spending the next week in a beach cottage at Nelson Bay, some two hours drive north of Sydney.

It was the year Laura Davies accepted a highly-controversial sponsor's invitation to compete against the men in the ANZ. Dougie was his element, surfing every morning before breakfast and then heading off to cover the event before delighting all of us around a barbeque later in the day with his unique style of humour. Davies finished last in the field but it was Dougie who came out on tops.

Next stop on his reporting schedule was the WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship. And as Dougie had spent so much time on the beach, I remember saying to him before he left to the States he looked so tanned he could have easily passed for a native Australian.

My partner and fellow European Tour journalist, Fatiha Betscher last July delighted in joining Jim (Black) in spending the week of the Barclays Scottish Open as guests of Dougie in his nearby Helensburgh apartment.
I teased him about a pile of un-ironed washing in the corner but Dougie was a great host that week. Fatiha cooked meals and Dougie entertained the three of us with more of his tales and jokes.

Bizarrely, as you look out his lounge room window the building dominating the view is the church right across the street from where he lived and from where he will be buried next Monday. Dougie - you were a super colleague, a trusted friend and you'll be very sadly missed. 

Golf World Redesign Chatter

Golf World's Geoff Russell responds to reader complaints about eliminating the scores and stats for more New Yorker style commentary from hacks like me. Any subscribers here care to weigh in?

"David Fay To Write Column For Golf Digest"

My money is still on Fay becoming Dick Ebersol's Tom Hagen for the golf side of NBC Sports/Versus/Golf Channel, also allowing him to still do his rules thing during USGA events.

But for now Jerry Tarde nabs the former USGA Executive Director to write a monthly column "from the perspective of the passionate player."

New York, NY—Golf Digest has signed on former USGA Executive Director David Fay as a monthly columnist beginning in the April 2011 issue.
 
“David Fay has one of the brightest minds in sport, as his friends in golf have known for 30 years,” said Golf Digest Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde. “He’s incisive, witty and opinionated. He understands the game at the highest level from the perch of the U.S. Open—and the lowest level as a passionate golfer with a bag full of hybrids. He has participated in every major decision and event in golf for the last generation. And he brings to all this a democratizing sense of inclusion. It was no accident he’s known as the man who took the Open public. This kind of refreshing attitude and insight is what he’ll share with readers. In other words, don’t be fooled by the bowtie.”

GeoffShackelford.com In Partnership With GolfDigest.com**

So let's just get the inevitable speculation and conjecture out of the way: Tiger's failure to renew with Golf Digest deal was not caused by the need to free up funds to pay me.

But yes, the day has finally arrived when this site has taken on a partner. I'm also joining the Golf World masthead as a contributing writer, though subscribers know I've been contributing to their pages for a few years now.

Naturally I'm thrilled and honored to be part of the Golf Digest family. To your inevitable second question...no, I don't plan to change.

Oh, you eagle eyes may spot subtle changes in tone or raise an eyebrow when I link to a GolfDigest.com item, but my intention and emphatic instruction from Golf Digest is to continue doing what I do in the style you are accustomed to.

A feed of my most recent posts will now appear on the revamped GolfDigest.com News And Tours page, as will occasional contributions to their website.  Otherwise this site remains at this URL with the same attitude and mission that began after The Future of Golf was published: to cover state of the game issues with insight and, on occasion or when appropriate, a touch of wit (something the late, great Stu Schneider encouraged during this site's early days).

And if you haven't hit refresh yet, then you don't know that the site has been freshened because, well, it was time.

The old site look (click to enlarge)A few changes and incorporation of suggestions:

-A new masthead debuts incorporating the same postcard art, but modernized, refined and tuned up by Photoshop artist Tom Naccarato. GolfDigest.com's logo now adorns the sage scrub hill of Rustic Canyon and we've added an "Established 2003" to recognize the nearly eight years the site has been around. (Internet age-wise makes the site 56 years old.)

- A white and blue color scheme in coordination with GolfDigest.com and because I think it looks clean. Simplicity and ease of reading remains a priority.

-An RSS feed of recent GolfDigest.com postings now tops the lone sidebar on the right. You'll find everything else in the sidebar to be pretty similar, with links to other sites and my past articles, except...

- Improved (I hope) site speed on mobile devices and when you are visiting via a slow connection speed. 15 posts appear on the homepage now instead of 20. Condensed are the long lists of Amazon links. This is still a work in progress depending on early speed reviews. However, I plan to create a new "recommended reading page" and intend to continue interviewing authors and promoting books no matter how hard the publishing industry tries to remain in the 20th Century.

- The daily quote atop the site is now going to be Tweeted (@GeoffShacQuotes), which will allow those of you who rely on Twitter as a news source to subscribe to the quote feed. As many requested, you will now have the ability to scroll through an online archive on the @GeoffShacQuotes Twitter page to find posted quotes. I've been Tweeting the quotes since Christmas day, 2010. Both feeds can be viewed and accessed via the Twitter widgets in the righthand sidebar.

- @GeoffShac will continue to be my primary Twitter account and act as a source for my site feed, but I will also still chime in with real Tweets or re-Tweets. For those who don't like the cold nature of a straight feed to Twitter, I hear you, but it saves me a lot of time having posts go straight to tweets and for readers accessing the site via Twitter, Flipboard or other new ways. For those of you who don't use Twitter, ignore the preceding comments.

- Archives remain intact. GeoffShackelford.com remains the URL which not only allows you to keep the same bookmark, but keeps six years of archives in place. In recent months many of you have asked about finding an old post.  You have several options. Besides the excellent Search option at the top of the page, the Topics and Archives options make it pretty easy to find old content. Those links are now found immediately below the masthead.

- Commenting remains open and unregistered. I'm hoping when Squarespace updates their excellent hosting technology that they'll allow for the option to have registered commenters as well as anonymous posting so that registered users can communicate with each other more fluidly, search past postings and do many of the other things you requested.  Sorry, I know this wasn't the answer many were looking for.

I hope you continue to find many reasons to visit the site in 2011 and please don't hesitate to comment on the new look, but go easy on the new partner!

Update on 2011-01-10 17:11 by Geoff

**John Marvel welcomes me to GolfDigest.com.

**The official press release from Golf Digest with needling from Jerry Tarde.

“Geoff’s influence in the golf community is profound,” said Jerry Tarde, Chairman and Editorial Director of Golf Digest Publications. “I sometimes even agree with him, but his perspective always resonates at the highest levels of the game. Our partnership continues a commitment toward delivering the most complete, accurate and insightful news to readers via whatever platform they want.”

Steiny: It's The iPad's Fault!**

Darren Rovell Tweets this quote from Tiger agent Mark Steinberg on the split with Golf Digest:

Update on 2011-01-07 03:31 by Geoff

**Steinberg provided a similar quote to Michael Buteau, writing for Bloomberg.

"Each week, from both sides of the Pond, the twosome of Huggan and CBSSports.com's Steve Elling will kick at corpses and hornet's nests, tip over a few sacred cows, poke and prod..."

Great news Ty! Your two favorite writers will be gathering in the same spot every week to bicker about golf!

From the first Pond Scrum between Steve Elling and John Huggan at CBSSports.com. The topic is the Hyundai Tournament of Some Champions:

Elling: I have no problem with the notion of appearance fees. The purses in Europe are lower. They need to draw the top guns. The point being, if the PGA Tour's season opener was any more sleep-inducing, they'd need to give hammocks to the 1,000 fans that are actually in attendance. Maybe Mark Rolfing of NBC Sports has it right. Open field to guys who have won over past two years. More warm bodies that way. Then, maybe Hawaii is the right locale for the opener. It's a sleepy start. The whales are cavorting in the Pacific. Sharks like Tiger and Phil stay home. Everybody in the States gets to watch the palm trees swaying in prime time. No stress, no strain ... little drama?
 
Huggan: Open it up to European Tour winners! What a concept, eh? Cooperation between tours.

There was also this from Huggan on young players to watch:

Huggan: Matteo Manassero also springs to mind. But that is hardly an original thought. Pencil this 17-year-old Italian in for the next Ryder Cup in Chicago. Schwartzel wants it more than Oosthuizen, who already shows signs of being happy with what he has already achieved.

Ooshuizen did his best to confirm that fact with this quote about staying in South Africa to play a minor event instead of flying to Hawaii to test out that new PGA Tour card.

"I decided not to go and play the two tournaments in Hawaii because that won't leave me with enough off time before the start of the new season," Oosthuizen said in a story posted on the European Tour's website