"Talk about fiddling while Rome burns."

Thanks to reader Rich for Steve Pike's rebuttal to PGA of America President Jim Remy's rosey take on rounds played.

As usual, however, the PGA of America doesn’t see – or refuses to see – the real picture. The latest example is the July National Rounds Played Report from Golf Datatech. According to Datatech, rounds played in the U.S. were down 5.1 percent this past July compared to July 2009. For the year through this past July, rounds played were down 3.3 percent compared to the same period in ’09.

Public access play was down 5.2 percent for the month and private course activity was down five percent. Golf Datatech said a total of 3,660 courses are represented in its report.

Make you wonder what kind of excuses the kids from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., will try to spin on this one. Perhaps none. They’re too busy gearing their Sept. 7 appearance on The New Stock Exchange to announce the Captain’s Picks for this year’s Ryder Cup team. Talk about fiddling while Rome burns.