Today's Golf Course Brouhaha Files: At Least It Wasn't Over Slow Play

/

At least this one at Orange County's Casta Del Sol breaks the string of recent golf course spats/fights/assaults over slow play. 

From KABC TV, courtesy of reader Diane:

It all started with a game of golf at Casta Del Sol when Michael Payne allegedly got into a fight with four other golfers ahead of him at the 18th hole.

Nick Chambers says his 21-year-old friend was part of the foursome.

"He got approached from a guy from behind saying that he was stealing his golf balls," said Chambers.
Chambers said his friend denied the accusation, but the fight escalated.

Investigators accuse the 46-year-old Payne of punching one golfer in the face, then attacking Chambers' friend with a golf club, bashing him on the wrist as the victim tried to leave in a golf cart.

"He got in the cart to go get the marshal and go get help, and then he was chased down by the golfer with a golf club," said Chambers.


Phil "Crushed" By Diamond's Resignation

/

Jason Sobel on Phil Mickelson's comments about Barclays CEO Bob Diamond's resignation while Diamond testified before Parliament.

Following the news conference, Mickelson told one Golf Channel insider that he felt Diamond was being made a “scapegoat” for the Libor scandal that surfaced four years ago. He did not disclose whether he has been in touch with Diamond since his resignation.

“Personally I’m crushed because I have really enjoyed my time with Bob,” Mickelson continued in the news conference. “I think the world of him as a person, as a CEO, and I think that these last 5-6 years that I’ve been associated with the bank, the time I’ve spent with him, I’ve really enjoyed and I’ve cherished and it’s been one of the most interesting parts of my career.”

Unfortunately, Diamond put things in writing that may prove problematic.

The good news?

Barclays no longer sponsors next week's Scottish Open. Boy would that have been awkward.

16-Year-Old Posts Two Course Record 61's In A Week

/

Thanks to reader David for Bill Nichols' Dallas Morning News item on Scottie Scheffler posted course records at Northwood Club and Dallas Country Club.

Playing with friends on his birthday last Thursday, Scheffler shot 10-under 61 at Northwood, breaking the course record held by Hunter Mahan. This came exactly one week after Northwood celebrated the 60th anniversary of hosting the 1952 U.S. Open.

At least Scheffler paid homage, sort of, to Open champ Julius Boros by taking only eight putts on the back nine. In 1952 Boros had 11 putts on the back nine in the morning round then one-putted seven of the final nine greens in the afternoon.

Nichols goes on to detail the course record-tying round at Northwood and talks to instructor Randy Smith about his student.

The Bear's Club Homeowners Has Standards...Sort Of

/

Thanks to reader Larry for Paul Barrett's Businessweek profile of online .xxx domain tycoon Stuart Lawley, who has an office on PGA Boulevard and who tried to buy a $3.8 million home at the Bear's Club, but was briefly rebuffed this month by the homeowner's association over his profession. The story closes by reveal that Lawley eventually was approved.

Hopefully they don't put Lee Westwood through as much grief.

"I've never hit a golf ball. I've never set foot on a golf course. Everything I draw is from inside a 6-by-10 prison cell."

/

Max Adler ghosts Valentino Dixon's lengthy and (so far) extremely compelling July Golf Digest feature.

I say so far because it's a long one and I'm going to savor the rest in print or on the iPad, but here's a sampling from the Attica Correctional Facility resident's story of crime, redemption and terrific golf hole drawings.

Except for that one drawing for the warden, I never copy holes exactly. I use a photograph as a starting point and then morph the image in my own way. Sometimes I'll find a tiny piece of reference material, like a tree on a stamp or mountains on a calendar, and then imagine my own golf course with it. I find the challenge of integrating these visions very rewarding.

The past two years I've drawn more than 130 golf pictures with colored pencils and 6-by-8-inch sheets of paper I order through the mail. We're not allowed to have brushes and paints, but that's all right; I like pencils. When I was little, my mom and grandma used to slap my hand because of the unconventional way I gripped the pencil, until one day my aunt Gwen told them to stop and look at the comics I'd done from the newspaper. My mom didn't believe I'd done it without tracing, so she made me draw them again freehand as she watched.