New Year

PGA Show - Later this month, the annual gathering in Orlando of the golf industry. Despite recent setbacks and high profile non attendee's, the show remains a sizeable affair as many people connected with the golf world, from various parts of the globe use it is a chance to see old friends, conduct some business and catch up on the latest buzz in the industry. It always strikes me that with the high cost of participating as an exhibitor, the future of such events becomes more doubtful. It is quite easy to rationalize why not to attend and how you can better allocate your resources more efficiently elsewhere...but human nature likes eyeball contact, shake a hand, meet a new associate...as much as the communications revolution is changing how we work and how we play, there is a place for everything. Please still buy newspapers because they like the medium....while also getting other information from the internet...email has not replaced the post office.

Barnbougle Dunes - On the north coast of Tasmania, near the town of Bridport, one of Tom Doak's latest creations and it is a gem. Situated in the middle of nowhere, the golf course has the feel of Sand Hills in Nebraska, it was sculpted from the terrain with minimal earth movement. The facility has accommodations on site and reminds me of a cross between Bandon Dunes and Sand Hills.if you get to Australia, find 1 or 2 days to fly over, you will not be disappointed. This is a curious site as the land is quite flat except for this chain of sand dunes, 500 yards inland it is pasture. There are some delightful wineries in the area, including Pipers Rock (20 minutes).

Cape Kidnappers - Situated on top of the cliffs to the east of Napier, on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, it is a spectacular venue. The course is difficult, but in my view fair. There are a number of exceptional holes, not least of which is the view from the 16th tee looking over Hawkes Bay. I could best describe the experience at Cape Kidnappers as Old Head (Ireland) with a great course. The views are spectacular, the routing creates many memorable holes, sadly the finishing hole falls into the average category, which is just not the case with the previous ones.

Kauri Cliffs - The course leapfrogged into the Top 50 in the world when it opened. It is a good course with many excellent holes and a superb location. With the recent fine additions to the golf scene in Australasia I think it may be under pressure to hold it's spot in the rankings, but the experience at Kuari Cliffs is outstanding. The rooms are as well designed and comfortable as I have seen. The staff is attentive and the food is excellent. It is a must stop on any golf trip to New Zealand. You may come to think of the golf course as more resorty than others you will play but it is very definitely at the highest end of resort golf.

Wairakaki - Built in the 1970's near Lake Taupo in the middle of the North Island. The course was originally under indirect government ownership but was sold into private enterprise. Three New Zealand businessmen now own the facility and the course is very good. An inland course it has hosted numerous professional and amateur events through the years. It has been updated and is a great test of golf.

The National Golf Club (Moonah Links), Melbourne, Australia – A Greg Norman design on the Mornington peninsula, to the south of Melbourne. If you can ignore the flies which can become rather bothersome, the course is excellent. Any number of fine holes and worthy of making the effort to play.

Handicaps versus tee's - I played in a match play event recently which provided no handicaps to the participants, but rather there was a defined set of tees to play from based upon your handicap. An interesting concept which created a number of competitive matches (and upsets). I believe the purpose was to demonstrate the need and benefit for every golfer playing the tees which were designed for their capabilities...give it a try at your club.

Air travel - Remains as challenging as ever although I have found three web sites which are pretty handy if you have the time to research your travel plans; For Business Class passengers this site reviews every premium seat in the sky - www.flatseats.com ; for the more mainstream coach class passenger the following site provides some great insights, often I have THOUGHT I had reserved the perfect emergency row seat only to discover I was one row off in a seat which neither reclined nor had extra leg room - www.seatguru.com and finally a site which provides thoughtful insight into the ongoing changes in the airline industry - www.airlinequality.com .

Communications - In an earlier blog I had touched upon the rapidly changing face of communications with Skype and Vonage. A simple story speaks volumes about the new times we live.....sitting in my hotel room in Queenstown, New Zealand on a Sunday morning, I logged into our phone system using a local Atlanta (GA) phone number which rings on my laptop....a prospective client of PerryGolf (in Calgary, Canada) calls our 800 number and as I am the only person logged into the system (Saturday in Atlanta), the call is routed to my laptop and I spend 15 minutes on the phone with this gentleman from Canada. He has no idea, who or where he is speaking to, but probably assumes it is an office in the United States. Cost to PerryGolf...same as if I was sitting in my office! The world is....correction, has changed!