Recuperation In Progress

Just as the phoenix rose from the ashes, so have the golf courses in the Red River Valley area of Minnesota and North Dakota risen and survived the flood of a lifetime.

Last spring, the worst flood to hit the Red River Valley in 170 years did incredible damage to golf courses in and around Grand Forks, N.D., and East Grand Forks, Minn. A typically short golf season was made even shorter because the courses could not open until mid-summer at the earliest, and even then some playing conditions were marginal.

"Even if we would have had perfect conditions, we probably would not have had a lot more players because people had a lot more important things to worry about, like rebuilding their lives, their homes, their businesses," said Leo Marchel, the head professional at Grand Forks Country Club.

Every course in the valley suffered damage from the flood and all incurred damage to their clubhouses. But they were fortunate in that they were not totally wiped out, as were many businesses, and that they were able to do at least some business during the '97 season.

This spring, there is great optimism among golfers in the valley. Through March, snowfall this winter was less than half of what the area received a year ago (42.6 inches, compared to 98.6) and it was also a warmer winter than normal. The rivers crested early and not nearly as high as a year ago.

The course affected most by the flooding was Lincoln Park Golf Course, which is adjacent to the Red River in Grand Forks. By the time the flood waters receded, there was between six and 24 inches of mud caking the 18-hole municipal course. "We washed the greens and saved all of them," said Lincoln Park professional Steve Christian. "Almost everything else, we had to till and reseed. The part of the course that got hit the worst didn't get growing until September."

The course, which normally opens about mid-April, did not open last summer until early June, and then on just nine holes. All 18 were playable at the end of September, but the total rounds amounted to just 14,000, compared to the usual 36,000 to 38,000.

"We'd have a full house for three days and then wouldn't see anyone for two weeks," Christian said. "People would play golf just to get a break from working on their homes. Then we wouldn't see them until they needed another break."

Lincoln Park has recovered from the flood, but its future is uncertain. A proposed $301 million dike system, which could be finished as soon as 2004, would run through the course. The dike plan also includes the removal of 330 homes, an apartment building and several businesses. "We know we'll have an 18-hole course for at least another two years," Christian said, "but beyond that we don't know."

Depending on the routing of the dike line, it's possible nine holes could be saved, which then would be used primarily as a course for kids. If the dike is built, the Grand Forks Park District, which owns and operates Lincoln Park, would take the proceeds from the sale and put the money into its new Arnold Palmer-designed municipal course on the south end of town. Palmer's group is offering its services at half its usual fee.

"The flood changed the timetable," said John Staley, director of the park district. "It's almost certain that we will lose at least part of Lincoln Park, which is the only municipal course in town."

The managers at River Bend Golf Course are optimistic for the first time in three years. The nine-hole course opened in July 1995, was closed until mid-July '96 because of flooding, and finally opened for play Aug. 25 last year.

"It's been a tough three years," said owner Dennis Blackmun, "but it looks like we'll finally get one this year. My dream of owning a course has turned into a nightmare. But I'm still optimistic we can make it work."

In '97, River Bend reseeded seven fairways and five greens. But another flood in July, this one caused by heavy rains, put three greens and fairways under water and closed the course again.

At Grand Forks Country Club, about 95 percent of the course was under water at one time. The club had seven holes open by late May and gradually built up to 18 holes by early August. "Considering what the course went through, it came through this winter great," said Marchel. "We're looking for a good season."

At one time there was 6.5 feet of water in the lower level of the clubhouse, and total damage at the club was some $490,000, of which about $192,000 was covered by insurance.

About the only course not drastically affected by last year's flooding was Ray Richards Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the University of North Dakota. The nine-hole course sits about a mile from the Red River, and a coulee that runs through the course drained much of the flood waters quickly.

"We were flooded completely, but we did not have to redo any greens or anything else," said manager Nancy Poole. "The most damage we suffered was from the ice storm in April that knocked down the fence on our driving range. That hurt us more than anything, revenue-wise, because we did not open the range all summer."

Over the winter, a new fence was installed on the range and there was no spring flooding. "After a bad year," Poole said, "you want to get going as quickly as you can."

That is a sentiment heartily endorsed throughout the Red River Valley.

-- Gregg Wong

Wheels, But No Free Ride

W hen he won a Nike Tour event earlier this year, Casey Martin shortened the length of his path to The Olympic Club for the 98th U.S. Open. Taking advantage of Exemption L-9, which allows winners of designated events to skip the 18-hole local qualifying round, Martin stood only 36 holes from the final field.

Martin will take advantage of that exemption, thanks to his Open entry application, processed March 30 at Golf House. And although technically he is just another player among about 7,000 hoping to replace Ernie Els as reigning champion, Martin's presence at sectional qualifying will ensure an overflow press corps June 8 at Clovernook Country Club in Cincinnati, Ohio.

That's because the USGA Executive Committee has ceded to the spirit of Martin v. PGA Tour and will give Martin the extraordinary accommodation of motorized transportation in sectional qualifying and, if he makes it that far, the Open.

The Executive Committee decision, contained in a seven-paragraph press release that noted the processing of Martin's Open entry, will allow the former Stanford University player to ride in practice and competitive rounds.

"The transportation will be a single-rider cart," the USGA's press release stated. "Similar vehicles have been used at recent USGA national championships for transportation of spectators with disabilities."

The release noted that the USGA was not a party in the suit Martin brought against the PGA Tour, "and disagrees with the verdict." That decision is being appealed, but the appeal will not be completed before Martin's sectional qualifying rounds. In the meantime the USGA elected to "abide by the spirit of that decision during the 1998 U.S. Open."

The Executive Committee, however, was succinct in its treatment of Martin. The press release noted bluntly that "Mr. Martin will be the only player given such an accommodation."

The USGA will consult with the Association of Disabled American Golfers (ADAG) concerning the selection of a vehicle for Martin. The ADAG and the USGA have joined in recent years on a program that makes single-rider carts available to spectators at all 13 national championships. Those vehicles especially have proved their worth at the amateur events, where the lack of ropes and other gallery restraints has allowed disabled spectators -- often members of a competitor's family -- to ride in close proximity to the players while causing little or no damage to the course.

Ð Brett Avery

Is That a Free Lift From the Fax Machine?

The putting surface was slick and hard; the gallery was full of anticipation, among other things. Not even El Ni-o would ruin the Glenlivet Office Putting Championship.

A dusting of snow on the eve of the competition put everyone -- putters and fans alike -- in the mood. This had been the fourth-warmest winter in Chicago's history and it hadn't been easy for many of the 64 finalists at the Grand Ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel to keep their thoughts indoors. The early March snow, however, made it easier to concentrate on office hazards like wastebaskets, filing cabinets, clothes trees, desks, computers and the occasional potted plant.

Office doors at some of Chicago's leading businesses were closed for weeks with secret practice sessions for office qualifying. When the qualifiers arrived at the Fairmont on a blustery Wednesday night, they couldn't imagine the tension in the air before Mike Gillespie of Chicago, who works the floor of the Board of Trade for Smith Barney, and Geoff Kehoe of Glencoe, a marketing vice president for Econometrics, settled things on the final hole.

The competition was match play on five-hole courses that featured two par 2s, two par 3s and a par 4. Any ball touching office furniture was considered a lost ball and a change in carpet surface or other designated area was deemed to be a hazard and played as such. The cups, of course, were scotch rocks glasses and a ball striking them was considered holed.

Qualifiers, many with their business suits still on, ties slung over their shoulders, were intense. Gillespie and Kehoe were the survivors of a field that numbered more than 2,000 and could have been three times as big. The response to the tournament was overwhelming. More than 300 Chicago-area businesses applied to host office qualifiers and the lucky 64 were drawn out of a hat.

Three five-hole courses were fashioned on the ballroom's sculptured rug. The two outer courses -- named after famous Scottish layouts Carnoustie and Royal Troon -- were used to whittle the field to a final four. The St. Andrews course laid out for the final, fraught with five desks, five potted plants, four clothes trees, three filing cabinets and two computers, would decide who would win a trip for a foursome to Scotland.

Gillespie got to the final by defeating Dennis Wilson, a senior vice president of Vienna Beef, while Kehoe got past ad man Jack Liles of Leo Burnett, one of the few who admitted to putting in the office. "It helps me think," he claimed.

The final came down to the last hole, a narrow straightaway par 3 with a wastebasket and file cabinet on the right and a hazard down both sides and behind the hole. The fairway got narrower and the hole shrank with each shot.

Gillespie, who putts cross-handed and shoots in the 90s outdoors, managed to avoid the hazard on his tee shot but found himself stymied by the wastebasket. Kehoe grazed the wastebasket and took a penalty shot. Gillespie compounded his problem by putting past the hole and into the "hazard" on his next shot.

Kehoe, an 8-handicapper at Cog Hill's Dubsdread Course, needed only to sink a two-footer for the win. He boldly rammed it past the hole and into the hazard. Sadly, he missed the next one, too. Gillespie then made a two-footer for a 4, the victory and the trip.

"I had an easy two-footer," said Kehoe as a bagpiper piped and Gillespie's office colleagues toasted his victory. "You make them all the time, but with that much on the line, it makes a difference. I thought I had it. I feel like Greg Norman at the Masters." -- Reid Hanley

Still Only One Champions

It seems that there is only room enough in golf for one "Champions." In a settlement between The Champions Golf Club of Nicholasville, Ky., and Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas, site of the 1969 U.S. Open, the Kentucky course agreed to change its name in the face of a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by the Texas course.

In 1995, a federal trial court ruled that Champions in Kentucky could retain its name -- notwithstanding the Houston's club federally held trademark for "Champions Golf Club" -- as the Houston course had not sufficiently demonstrated that a "likelihood of consumer confusion" existed between the two clubs' use of the same name.

That decision was overturned in March 1996, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit found that the trial court had improperly applied the legal standards for determining likelihood of confusion.

"The issue was not whether a golfer standing on the first tee at Nicholasville would think that he was standing on the first tee at our club," explained Tom Alexander, attorney for Houston Champions. "The issue was whether that golfer might think that Houston Champions had somehow endorsed or authorized the Nicholasville club to use its name."

Just weeks before a second trial was set to begin, the clubs settled their dispute, agreeing that the Houston course shall retain its name, while the Kentucky club both shall be permitted to use only the singular "Champion" and shall be permitted to use that term only in combination with another word, such as Champion Trace or Champion Greens.

Nevertheless, the name "The Champions Golf Club" still may remain memorialized in Kentucky. The settlement permits the Kentucky club to retain its existing stone tee markers bearing the disputed name and logo. According to the club's general manager Libby Hassan, "We only plan to replace one if it is hit by lightning or otherwise destroyed." Under the agreement, any new or replacement markers must reflect the club's new name.

For its part, the Houston club is not quite done. At least two other U.S. courses have taken the name "Champions," and attorneys for the Texas club have already demanded that those courses change their names.

"When someone takes the name Champions, we are going to protect our rights to our name," says Jackie Burke, who co-founded the Houston club with Jimmy Demaret. "When Orville Moody says that he won the 1969 U.S. Open at Champions, people don't know which club he's talking about. We can't have that happen to us; no club can. And no club should have to put up with it."

-- Ted Curtis

Retailers With a Big Problem

The popularity of Callaway's oversized drivers has apparently caused some people to break the law in order to get them.

Dozens of smash-and-grab burglaries have been reported to authorities over the past several months, and in virtually every case the thieves have been after Callaway's Great Big Bertha and Biggest Big Bertha drivers. Although most of the break-ins have occurred in the South, a number of stores in the area around Sacramento, Calif., also have been a target.

It has gone so far that Edwin Watts, the namesake of the golf retailer chain, has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those who have stolen from his stores. He says the break-ins that have taken place at his stores since last summer have resulted in the loss of some $500,000 worth of clubs.

In the wee hours of March 24, thieves using cinder-blocks bashed through windows at three stores in Augusta, Ga., within an hour and made off with nearly $30,000 worth of the clubs.

A belief by authorities that the burglars are interested solely in Callaway clubs evidently has merit. When thieves broke into a store in Birmingham, Ala., a video camera showed them going right to the Callaway equipment, pulling 130 hard-to-get left-handed drivers, and then exiting the store, all within minutes.

After a store in Atlanta was hit, the manager began to lock his Big Bertha clubs in a storage area overnight. When a group of would-be thieves broke into the store, they left without stealing a single item rather than take other brands.

Aces for 31 Readers

More than 1,000 readers completed the Rules Quiz in the January/February issue, and the good news is that every entrant got at least one correct answer. (For three of you, however, that was the only one.) The better news is that 31 respondents went a perfect 17-for-17. Here are this year's quizmasters:

Lew Blakey, Alexandria, Va.

Larry Cofer, Jacksonville, N.C.

Joan Coffman, McLean, Va.

Paul D'Antoni, Lake Charles, La.

Bill Davis, Chambersburg, Pa.

Richard Davis, San Francisco, Calif.

David Finney, Morgantown, W.Va.

Brad Gregory, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Lyman Hevle, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Jim House, Brawley, Calif.

Fayann and Jan Kikta,

Masontown, Pa.

Don Kowitz, Sublimity, Ore.

Al Krueger, Alamo, Calif.

Brian Lewis, South Haven, Mich.

Clyde Luther, Burke, Va.

Tim Merry, Midlothian, Va.

Joe Miller, Edmond, Okla.

ÔNez Muhleman, Houston, Texas

Phil Pendergrass, Irmo, S.C.

Gordon Price, Chesterfield, Mo.

Charles Savoca, Venice, Fla.

David Senner, Smyrna, Ga.

Warren Simmons, Englewood, Co.

Skip Small, Neptune Beach, Fla.

Alan Tarter, Armonk, N.Y.

Mary and Tom Weadock,

Grand Blanc, Mich.

Mike Weinhaus, Chesterfield, Mo.

Marvin Weinstein, West

Bloomfield, Mich.

Glena Wirtanen, Phoenix, Md.

The Hall's New Home

The old World Golf Hall of Fame had no trouble fitting into the understated village of Pinehurst, N.C. Nearly hidden from view by the dense thicket of pines along Midland Road, the facility that overlooked the fourth and fifth holes of the famed No. 2 Course could have been mistaken for a museum, a library or a city hall. It was a busy day if a few dozen people went through.

The possibility of oversight will not exist when the new facility opens this month in St. Augustine, Fla., as part of the World Golf Village created by the World Golf Foundation.

The structure that is certain to serve as a head-turner for the 100,000 people who pass by daily on Interstate 95 presents itself in true Disney-like fashion, and the Magic Kingdom here is a 190-foot-high tower that is the centerpiece of the Hall of Fame.

The World Golf Village and its facilities encompass some 6,300 acres in central St. Johns County, just south of Jacksonville. When it is completed years from now, it is projected to welcome some 500,000 golfers and tourists annually.

In addition to the IMAX Theater that is part of the 75,000-square-foot Hall of Fame, whose list of honorees grows to 74 with this year's induction of Johnny Miller, Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo, the complex will include three 18-hole courses, a hotel and convention center, a complex of vacation ownership villas, a 31-acre condominium village, a golf teaching center, a golf library, and an array of stores, restaurants and galleries. PGA Tour Productions was one of the facility's first occupants, moving its extensive video archives into a three-story, 32,000-square-foot building next to the Hall of Fame. There will even be a new community, Saint Johns, that will include residential areas, schools, parks and a mixed-use development of retail, commercial, industrial and warehouse space.

Additional information on World Golf Village is available through its website at www.wgv.com

Necrology

If there were a title of Mr. Minnesota Golf, it would undoubtedly have been bestowed upon LES BOLSTAD, who for three-quarters of a century was one of the state's legendary figures.

"He was the kind of guy who'd sit there in the cold or the wind or the rain and watch you hit balls," said Tom Lehman, who played at the University of Minnesota after Bolstad officially retired as the team's head coach. "He was an extremely dedicated individual, a wonderful, loyal teacher." Bolstad, 89 at the time of his death, was an accomplished player long before he signed on to coach the Gophers. He won the Minnesota high school championship in 1923, the state junior title in '24 and two Big 10 individual titles. He was the only person to win each of Minnesota's four major titles: the state amateur, open, PGA and public links.

When he captured the 1926 U.S. Amateur Public Links at age 18, he became that championship's youngest winner; today, more than 70 years later, that record still stands.

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"I've got my limit," FRED BRAND would say, "14 clubs." He wasn't speaking of wedges, drivers and the like. He was leaning on the Rules of Golf for a little chuckle. This was his wry way of telling you that he belonged to 14 clubs, among them Augusta National, Burning Tree, the Royal and Ancient, Carnoustie and, back home in Pittsburgh, Oakmont and Allegheny. Six of these memberships, it should be noted, were honorary.

This was one way to measure the man. Another was by the tributes that rolled in following his death March 14, at age 88, in a hospital in Savannah, Ga., after a fall in a parking lot in Hilton Head, S.C.

Fred Brand Jr. was the man who called everybody "laddie," a throwback to his Scottish heritage. He had two crowning achievements in the game. He won the U.S. Senior Golf Association's title in 1965, and last year he was the recipient of the USGA's Bob Jones Award.

Brand remained an amateur golfer all his life, and he was a good one in his prime. He won a number of Western Pennsylvania tournaments and 11 club championships at five different clubs, the latest being the senior title at Laurel Valley at age 75.

A member of the USGA Executive Committee from 1959-69, he served as a Rules official at 30 U.S. Opens, 37 Masters and three Ryder Cups. A man who spanned organizations as well as years, he was also a member of the PGA of America Advisory Board for 35 years and was president of the Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania golf associations.

-- Marino Parascenzo

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BILL CASS of Laurel, Miss., was a member of the USGA's Regional Association Committee from 1986-95. He served on the Green Section Committee beginning in September 1996, and was on that committee until his death.

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All the players in this year's Women's Amateur Public Links will enjoy the fruits of Robert F. Dwyer's labors, and one will benefit from his generosity.

As a member of the USGA Executive Committee from 1962-74, the resident of Portland, Ore., was an enthusiastic supporter of the WAPL's formation. When it was first played in 1977, it was Dwyer, a long-time member of the Public Links Committee, who donated to the USGA the trophy presented to the winner.

Leading up to the first WAPL, there were questions whether there would be enough entries to fill the field, let alone justify 27 qualifying sites. To the joy of Dwyer and others, 686 women entered. "The quality of play produced by the final 32 in this championship," he said after Kelly Fuiks was crowned, "was as good as anything I have seen at the Women's Open."

He served on various committees for 38 years, including Public Links when he died, making for one of the longest tenures in history.

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During its formative years, the European Women's Tour often had only one bona fide journalist in attendance: BILL JOHNSON, 64, whose coverage was picked up by countless media outlets. Johnson, who became a member of the Association of Golf Writers in 1971, had served as the Lancashire county secretary for 18 years after playing for his county 45 times between 1952 and 1964.

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At the 1935 British Open, PERCY BELGRAVE (LADDIE) LUCAS, then 19, was low amateur, an effort that earned him a spot as a reserve on the '36 Walker Cup team. It was another 13 years before he returned to a Walker Cup lineup, this time as Great Britain and Ireland's captain. Following his competitive golf career, he became a member of Parliament and retired to become a distinguished author on golf and military aviation.

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JAMES R. RASLEY, 73, served as executive secretary of the Iowa Golf Association for 25 years and was voted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame. He served on the USGA Handicap Relations Committee from 1968-82 and from '76-82 was a regional liaison, the forerunner of the Regional Affairs Committee.

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DUDLEY WYSONG JR., 58 when he died in late March, was a semifinalist in the 1959 U.S. Amateur and the runner-up in 1961. He turned pro shortly thereafter and won two PGA Tour events: the 1966 Phoenix Open and the '67 Hawaiian Open. In 1965 he finished tied for eighth at the U.S. Open, and the next year he shot a tournament-low 66 in the third round en route to a second-place finish at the PGA Championship. A native of McKinney, Texas, he served as a longtime pro at McKinney Country Club in more recent years.