Dare any American enter one of our golf clubs these days and enthuse about soft Irish rain. Man, it's been wet. Not quite as wet as Townsville, Australia, which had 33 inches of rain over three days this week. But it's been wet just the same.
Inevitably, "Course Closed" has become a familiar sign on parkland terrain. In fact Clontarf GC has been closed for 23 days since the end of last October, compared with only four days last winter - and none of those was before January.
On the other hand, the lush setting of Beech Park GC in Rathcoole, with five lost days, has escaped fairly lightly. According to Jim Noonan, this represents a significant improvement on the 14 days lost in 1985, when he was the club captain. And the change didn't happen by chance.
Meanwhile, The K Club, where director of golf Paul Crowe admits to erring on the side of caution, has been closed for six days so far this winter. Even the links terrain of Royal Dublin was flooded last week, when the Links Society Outing had to be postponed.
And what of the venue which boasts the most accomplished greenkeeper in the country? Could the acknowledged expertise of Aidan O'Hara win the battle with nature? Interestingly, at the end of a year in which it accommodated 40,000 rounds, Mount Juliet has not lost a day to the weather.
"We have had no closure due to rainfall in the last three years," said O'Hara, who recently became the first person from Britain and Ireland to be certified as a member of the Golf Course Superintendent's Association of America. "And I'm not surprised at the success of Beech Park."
He went on to pinpoint extensive sanding as the key. Beech Park are now reaping the reward for having treated their fairways twice a year from 1994 to 1996. But the Mount Juliet approach has been on a far greater scale, to the extent that since 1993, the fairways have been covered with sand up to a depth of three and a half inches. Most of this was completed by 1995.
The K Club have done similar work. But as Beech Park have proved, the treatment can also be applied effectively on a more modest scale by smaller, less affluent clubs. For instance, 6,100 tonnes of sand at a cost of about £10 per tonne in the Dublin area, would cover the fairways of an average course to a depth of one inch.
But O'Hara warned: "The process must be ongoing and it is pointless sanding flat fairways unless they are properly drained." He went on: "In the absence of sand, the air is squeezed out of the wet soil with the result that the grass-plant is suffocated, leaving the weakened turf prone to disease. In this respect, it is the frequency of the recent rain and not its intensity that has caused the problem."
Mount Juliet's man concluded: "We must recognise the fact that many courses, parkland and links, are being overplayed. I would impose a maximum of 45,000 rounds per year, though it is clear that many of our busier courses, especially in Dublin, are handling well in excess of 70,000 rounds. That's simply too much."
"Most of you play fourball matches on the weekends, so how do you pick a partner? One thing is certain: you don't want one who complains if you hit a bad shot or tries to give you swing lessons during a match," Tom Watson.
Two golfing legends are currently in the news. Jack Nicklaus will celebrate his 58th birthday next Wednesday and Arnold Palmer has returned to a rather special event that he missed 12 months ago.
It was feared that Palmer might never play again when he withdrew last January from the Bob Hope Classic because of prostate cancer. This had particular significance insofar as he won its first staging in 1960 and had a record, fifth success in 1973, which happened to be his last of 60 tournament victories in the US.
But he made a highly emotional comeback at Bay Hill in March and now, at 68, Palmer has returned to Indian Wells this week, even if his game isn't as sharp as he would have liked. "I'm not in the groove just yet," he said. "I feel I'm capable of making the shots but I'm not sustaining a good round of golf."
He continues to remain remarkably active. For instance, he had a central role at last week's USPGA Tour awards dinner, where he presented the Arnold Palmer Award to Tiger Woods as the leading money winner for 1997. And he is off next week to Hawaii for the Senior Skins with Nicklaus, Hale Irwin and Raymond Floyd on January 24th and 25th.
Speaking of awards, the Vardon Trophy, presented annually by the PGA of America, went to Nick Price for a scoring average of 68.98 over 58 rounds during 1997. Instituted in 1937, it is considered to be a splendid measurement of playing skills, a point reflected in the fact that it has been won by Sam Snead (4 times), Ben Hogan (3), Byron Nelson (1), Palmer (4), Billy Casper (5), Lee Trevino (5) and Tom Watson (3).
Indeed all the great players have captured it, except one. Remarkably, it was never won by Nicklaus.
While playing golf in Florida, two elderly men were suddenly confronted by an alligator. "What are we supposed to do?" one of them inquired anxiously of the other. "We run 10 yards forward, then turn at right angles and run like hell," replied his friend, who was aware that while alligators can travel quickly in a straight line, they are rather cumbersome when turning.
"But I don't run fast," bemoaned the first man, now decidedly ill at ease. "You don't need to run fast," his friend reassured him. "All you have to do is beat me."
A Palmerston correspondent, William McEwen, found a clear, if unintended link between pieces in this column over the last two weeks. The first had to do with slow play and last week's item was on the decision to limit a player's clubs to 14.
He wrote: "I believe too many club golfers carry far more clubs than is necessary. From my experience as a moderate golfer with a fair amount of success, I feel I am qualified to say that I never needed more than nine clubs in a second-hand set bought from Royal Dublin professional Leonard Owens. I never used a wedge and I found that using only the essential clubs made my game quicker."
As I reported last week, the official view from the Royal and Ancient is that their 1939 decision to impose a limit of 14 clubs was almost certainly arbitrary. I have since come across an interesting item, however, in the book Golf - A celebration of 100 years of the Rules of Play, by John Glover and David Cannon.
It points to a "long conversation" which the great Bobby Jones had with contemporary Tony Torrance in the car park at Pine Valley during the 1936 Walker Cup. The book states: "Bobby asked Tony how many clubs he had in his bag and Tony said 12. Bobby said: I was carrying 16 in 1930 (when he won the Grand Slam). So they compromised with 14." Interesting, but not very plausible.
This day in golf history . . . . On January 17th 1966, Trish Johnson was born in Bristol. Mention of her name in Irish circles is almost certain to revive memories of 1986 at Blairgowrie, where she was beaten by Claire Dowling (nee Hourihane) in a play-off for the British Women's Strokeplay title. As it happened, David Feherty won the inaugural Scottish Open, also in a play-off, at Haggs Castle on the same day.
But Johnson has also been very much a winner. For instance, she gained the distinction of capturing four points out of four in the historic British and Irish Curtis Cup triumph at Prairie Dunes in 1986. And in the course of a highly successful transition to professional ranks, she became the first European player to gain back-to-back LPGA Tour victories in the US.
By winning the Las Vegas Canyon Gate and the Atlanta Championship in 1993, Johnson actually led the money list there for several weeks. That effort had much to do with the confidence gained in a 2 and 1 win over the great Patty Sheehan in Europe's remarkable Solheim Cup triumph at Dalmahoy the previous year.
In Brief: Noel Cuddy informs me that the Babies in Intensive Care Golf Masters will be held at Portmarnock Hotel and Links on April 9th. Details from (01) 8461405.
Teaser: An area of casual water preceded by high rough is in a hollow not visible from the tee. A ball driven into the area is lost. The ball may be lost in the casual water or it may be lost in the high rough. Is there reasonable evidence that the ball is lost in the casual water?
Answer: No. In such circumstances, there is not reasonable evidence that the ball is lost in casual water. The player must proceed under Rule 27-1 (Ball lost or out of bounds).
