The Florida Panhandle will be the site of the next destination golf venture by Dream Golf, the company announced.
Brothers Michael and Chris Keiser, the sons of Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser, have signed architect Tom Doak to build Old Shores, an 18-hole public-access course in Washington County, north of Panama City Beach, and won approval from local officials for a 1,400-acre development. No construction timetable was announced.
“I’ve walked the routing with Tom Doak numerous times,” Michael Keiser said, “and I know this will be world-class.”
Bandon Dunes, a seven-course destination on Oregon’s central coast, has won critical acclaim since opening in 1999. The Keiser brothers have added Sand Valley in Wisconsin and are developing Rodeo Dunes in Colorado and Wild Spring Dunes in Texas.
Only one course is in the initial plan for Old Shores, but the Dream Golf model has been to build multiple high-end courses with top designers at its resort sites. READ MORE
After “The Match” earlier this year attracted a tiny audience to watch four of golf’s biggest men’s and women’s stars, the made-for-TV event has shifted its focus.
The 10th edition of “The Match” has abandoned its PGA Tour roots – remember when Tiger Woods faced Phil Mickelson in 2018 in the hyped inaugural edition? – and will feature eight celebrities and former athletes. Actors Bill Murray and Mark Wahlberg, comedian Nate Bargatze, basketball’s Charles Barkley and Blake Griffin, baseball’s Ken Griffey Jr., swimming’s Michael Phelps and hockey’s Wayne Gretzky will compete in a two-night event on November 21-22 at Breakers West Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. TNT and Max will broadcast the event, which is being billed as “The Match: Superstars.”
In February, barely 500,000 viewers tuned in to see Rory McIlroy defeat Max Homa, Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang in a skins-game version of “The Match.” It was the lowest-rated edition in the series. READ MORE
Even a deadly hurricane that ravaged parts of the Southeast didn’t derail golf’s continued growth in participation in the U.S.
Rounds played rose 3.6 percent in September compared with the same month in 2023, despite Hurricane Helene’s destruction in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, according to the latest monthly report by Golf Datatech. Despite drops of 7.8 percent in the South Atlantic region that includes the hard-hit North Carolina mountains and a slide of 2.0 percent in the South Central region that includes the area of Helene’s September 26 landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the trend continued.
With the monthly bump in play, the year-to-date total is running 1.7 percent ahead of the first nine months of 2023, Golf Datatech noted in its National Rounds Played Report. Entering the final quarter of the year, the number of rounds played is running almost 2 percent ahead of last year’s record-setting pace, according to the report. READ MORE
TAP-INS
Ozzie Smith, the former St. Louis Cardinals shortstop and Baseball Hall of Fame member, was named winner of the Old Tom Morris Award by the Golf Course Superintendents Society of America. The award recognizes someone who has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by the late Old Tom Morris, a four-time Open Championship winner in the 1860s and the first “keeper of the green” at St. Andrews’ Old Course. Smith, who is president of the Gateway PGA Section Reach Foundation, will be honored February 6 at the GCSAA’s conference in San Diego, California. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon