TERRE HAUTE — For 31 years The LPGA’s Corning Classic was held at Corning Country Club in Corning, N.Y., with Corning Glassware as its title sponsor. This year, however, was the end of an era as LPGA players played their final rounds in its’ longest-running event. Due to many factors Corning chose to not renew their contract for 2010.
The bad economy was an obvious culprit, but was not solely responsible. Corning Glassware was hit hard by the global recession, which led to a 13 percent reduction in its workforce (650 jobs. There was also a 50 percent drop in sponsorship support, which amounted to $500,000. Projected cost increases for the 2010 event were $300,000, and for 2011, when the purse was to increase from $1.5 million to $1.7 million, meaning the cost increase for the sponsor would be $675,000.
Not only are the purses for events increasing, television production costs will be going from $255,000 a year to $425,000 in 2010, with five percent increases each year through 2013. The reason has to do with the LPGA’s new business plan, referred to as “Vision 2010”.
Vision 2010 is a business plan that reorganizes the LPGA into three key business units: Tournament Operations and Player Services, New Business Development and Worldwide Sales, and LPGA Tournament and Schedule Development.
According to an article in the June 1 edition of Golf World, the LPGA tour wants to increase purses and improve benefits for players. That amounts to added costs for tournaments though. Specifically, an added cost that would become the full responsibility of the events are the scoreboards. Currently that cost is shared with the LPGA.
There is also a large increase in the sanction fee, as well as making tournaments pay half of the Golf Channel’s production costs. The LPGA has been somewhat flexible on those counts, but only for the near term, a delay of one year. The Corning organizers looked at the long-term picture and decided that the numbers couldn’t work for them, hence the end of an era.
Over the last year, other events that have gone by the wayside are the Fields Open, Ginn Open, Ginn Tribute, SemGroup Championship, SBS Open and the ADT Championship. The LPGA Tour Championship will be played in November without its previous title sponsor Stanford Financial. For next year, the Phoenix event doesn’t have a sponsor lined up, nor does the LPGA Championship, which will lose McDonald’s after this year.
McDonald’s is pulling out, and the LPGA is raising rates? Do they know something we don’t know? It seems like they should be cutting costs in order to keep sponsors, not raise rates.
I guess we will all have to wait and see what new events come about under Vision 2010. I’m guessing many of them will be international events. The LPGA already has 11 tour events played outside of the United States: five in Asia, two in Europe and three in Mexico. Meanwhile, the LPGA is struggling to generate interest in its home country. Some serious marketing of the tour needs to be done along with the new business plan in order to make it work. Otherwise, I’m afraid the LPGA is just going to get smaller or just pack up and move to another country.
n Twin Bridges Is fun and not far — Last weekend, Andy and I drove to Danville, Ind., to play a course called Twin Bridges. Twin Bridges, which opened in 1997, was designed by Robert Lohmann more than 250-plus acres along White Lick Creek. From the back tees it is 7,058 yards with a rating of 74.4. From the gray tees, the next tees forward, it is 6,568 yards with a rating of 71.6. I was impressed with the large greens with lots of undulations, making a three-putt a definite possibility if your approach shot didn’t end up near the pin. The best part of the day though, as many of you in the Terre Haute area would understand, is that there weren’t any gnats!
Greens fees on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are $24 for 18 holes. Saturday, Sunday and Holidays they are $33. Cart fees for are $14 for 18 holes.
Every Wednesday they run a special called “Wild Wednesday”. On those days it’s only $22 with a cart for 18 holes or $11 with a cart for 9 holes. You can make tee times online at www.twinbridgesgolfclub.com or by calling (317) 745-9098.
n Quote of the Day — “You can complain about it or you can accept it. At this point, we’re grateful to have tournaments.” — Reilly Rankin, a six-year LPGA pro currently ranked 89th on the tour’s money list, commenting on the tour’s shrinking tournament schedule and higher percentage of limited-field events.
On & Off the Course
ON AND OFF THE COURSE: In a bad economy, should LPGA raise its fees?
- On & Off the Course
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Some things on golf course are worse than steep putts
It’s not often that anything gets more scary on a golf course than a steep downhill putt, but on some courses around the world, things a little more on the supernatural side might give you a bigger fright!
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The shot heard round the world
I don’t know if the Golf Channel will show a “Best Shots of 2011” highlight reel, much like ESPN does for baseball or football.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The Red, White and Blue visits the Isle of Green
In 2006, the Ryder Cup was held in Ireland at The K Club in County Kildare.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Fall may be coming but golf season is far from over
Once the major tournaments are over with, what’s there to look forward to in the world of golf?
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Golf… simplified!
Golf is not a simple game. A golf course is made up of 18 holes, all different. There are par-3s, par-4s and par-5s; they all vary in length and elevation, and each has its own challenges. There can be water hazards, trees, sand bunkers, tall grass, hills, valleys — and then, if that’s not enough, there’s probably wind too.
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On and Off the Course: Northern Ireland builds on golf history
Northern Ireland is only about 5,452 square miles in area and has a population about the same as West Virginia, which is about 1,880,344.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Women’s Open at the Broadmoor
This is the weekend of the U.S. Women’s Open, and this year it’s being played at The Broadmoor, East Course, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The Fort Golf Course: A Walk in the Park…
Indiana has some pretty spectacular state parks, but one of them gives you the ability to “spoil a good walk” by chasing a little white ball.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Father’s Day is a good day for golfers
Most people consider the time around Christmas to be the gift-buying season.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Playing with lead a difficult task
As exciting as last week’s Masters was, with six players being tied for the lead at one point on Sunday, it was very difficult watching Rory McIlroy fall apart to shoot an 80.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Masters a rite of spring
This is Masters weekend, the grand kickoff to the golf season for a lot of golfers. Sure, there have been tournaments on TV, because the professionals have been playing in Hawaii, California, Texas, Dubai, and other areas not so affected by winter as we are here in the Midwest, but to me, watching The Masters is a rite of spring.
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ON THE OFF THE COURSE: Some history on the Ryder Cup
I fell asleep in way too many history classes to ever qualify as a history buff. However, since I have grown up a bit (not much), I enjoy learning about all kinds of history. I often have questions about how something began, or how something came to be.
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On and Off the Course: Purdue's Kampen Course a gem in Indiana's rough
About a month ago, Indiana was still heavily mired in heat and humidity, making outdoor activities such as golf less appealing than usual. At that time it felt like the repressive heat would never go away, it would never rain again, and all of the grass was just going to continue to wither and die. And the month prior to that we kept getting rained out of golf events!
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On and Off the Course: Successful golfers know ... focus is the key
I have a good friend who coached his daughter’s basketball team for a number of years, and told me that his theme with the girls was always “focus”, until it was ingrained in their brains. Now when they play high school ball, if they hear “focus” yelled from the stands, they know the source.
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On and Off the Course: Technology adds even more fun to the course
You’ve hit a drive into some brush in an area marked as a hazard, but you can’t find the ball to prove it is there. And no one actually witnessed it go in the hazard. You just think that’s where it probably is. What is the rule for this situation?
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On and Off the Course: Anthony Gonzalez First Tee Classic a worthwhile charity event
On Monday, I worked as a volunteer for the Anthony Gonzalez First Tee Classic, Golf Tournament and Auction at Eagle Creek Golf Course in Indianapolis. It was an absolutely beautiful day, with clear blue skies, just a few wispy clouds here and there and a high temperature of about 76 degrees.
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On and Off the Course: Trends show golf in decline
You don’t have to watch the news or read the paper to understand that America is struggling on the economic front. The evidence can be witnessed at the local golf course.
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On and Off the Course: Remembering former South golfer Ian White
It’s usually a bit of a struggle for me to figure out what my topic will be for this column. This week I could have written about Tiger’s withdrawal from the Players’ Championship due to a bulging disc in his neck, or by association, the health hazards a violent golf swing can have on the human body, or any number of other golf-related topics.
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On and Off the Course: Ochoa’s departure to impact LPGA
LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan already had a tough job, trying to promote the LPGA tour and keep the 25 events that they have on the schedule, but that job was made tougher last week when the tour’s No. 1 player announced her retirement from the game at the ripe old age of 28.
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On and Off the Course: Examining the square groove rule change
Even though the Masters is going to have its own little drama going on with the return of Tiger Woods, an interesting thing to note will be how well the players are able to hold the hard fast greens at Augusta. An underlying part of the bigger picture that everyone might not realize is a rule change that could dramatically affect most, if not all, of the players. That rule change took effect on Jan. 1.
- On and Off the Course: President's Cup should be entertaining Just when we thought golf season was over, and it was time to concentrate on football, we must awaken from our naps, because there’s going to be some exciting golf for us to watch next weekend. The President’s Cup will run from Oct. 6-11 at Harding Park in San Francisco.
- On and Off the Course: The obscure of golf's rulebook Golfers know that the rules that govern the game are abundant. The game originated in the 15th century on the links of Scotland, and somehow as time went on and people became more civilized, rules were adopted.
- ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Women’s City Match Play had tough competition I played in the Terre Haute Golf Association Women’s City Match Play Tournament a couple of weeks ago.
- On and Off the Course: One for the ages … well, almost! I wonder how long people will be referring to last week’s British Open, as “one for the ages.” They could also refer to it as “one for the aged!” Tom Watson’s near miss of a 9th Open Championship (as the Brits prefer to call it, and as it rightly should be by virtue of its longevity) was a rallying cry to all those golfers who have toiled for so many years at their game, but had given up hope as for ever getting it back to where they had it twenty years ago.
- ON AND OFF THE COURSE: In a bad economy, should LPGA raise its fees? For 31 years The LPGA’s Corning Classic was held at Corning Country Club in Corning, N.Y., with Corning Glassware as its title sponsor. This year, however, was the end of an era as LPGA players played their final rounds in its’ longest-running event. Due to many factors Corning chose to not renew their contract for 2010.
- ON AND OFF THE COURSE: ‘Average golfer’ ready to face challenges of Bethpage Black Golf Digest, in association with the USGA and NBC Sports, has asked the question, “Can the ‘average golfer’ break 100 at Bethpage Black under U.S. Open conditions?”
- On and Off the Course: Golf is for Mother’s, too I’d like to wish all of my readers who are mothers, whether they play golf or not, a Happy Mother’s Day — and if you do play golf — I hope you have a fine day today and that you find the time to get out on the course.
- The Haig changed golf off the course
- On and Off the Course: Fall a great time on the course If I could have fall weather year-round, I would take it. I love the crisp air, the blue skies, and the bright sunshine. Ever since my childhood I have associated a beautiful fall day with Turkey Run State Park, one of my favorite places to go, especially in the fall. This is Covered Bridge Festival week so many other people are seeing the beauty of the fall in the trees, rivers and bridges in Parke County too!
- On and Off the Course: Life’s lessons on the golf course During the Ryder Cup last weekend, there aired a number of commercials for RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) that starred participants from The First Tee, a program founded by the World Golf Foundation to enable kids from every walk of life to participate in golf, a game that teaches values for life and can be played for a lifetime.
- More On & Off the Course Headlines
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Some things on golf course are worse than steep putts
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