[FallJimerks]

Here is a sneak preview of our article tomorrow 18 Holes with Alex Miceli.



Hole #5 – What are your thoughts on the groove rule?

AM – I think that you can’t legislate technology. I think it is a mistake. I think that you have to learn how to design courses, not just lengthen them, in a way that technology does not overtake them. If technology can find a way to deal with golf courses, I think golf courses can find a way to deal with technology. I think the new groove rule is horrible, not because it’s a way to set the better players apart, but its terrible because its trying to change every aspect of the game and the cost peramiters involved are so heavy that I just think it does not make any sense. Our game is so hard to begin with, that the thought of making it harder just because we want to, try and increase the expense of playing just because we need to are just bad for the game. The USGA is doing a horrible job at what they are doing right now.

Hole #6 – What are your thoughts on adjustable drivers?

AM – I think some are good and some are bad. First off, I think adjustability is good, because golfers tinker all the time. The problem is that we don’t have a universal thing going with the tips. I don’t know why the manufacturers do this. Think about this, if I want to buy a shaft and stick it in whatever head I want to whether it be a Cobra head, a Taylormade head, a Tour Edge head, or anything else, I can’t. At the same time, now what it is, is I can’t even buy a shaft from some manufacturers with the tip in it, because I have to buy the club head. Adjustability does not work as well as it should. I’m lucky because I can go to the different trailers on tour and they can do that, and that is what it should be, but most consumers can’t. The manufacturers won’t do that. People should be able to go to any store and say I want this shaft with this head and they can’t.

Hole #7 – If you could be LPGA commissioner for a day what three things would you do?

AM – Wow. I would probably start by getting rid of the entire organization that is there now. The operational staff almost to a person and the board to a person is part of the problem and not part of the solution. So that would be the first thing I do. The second change I would make is to bring in all the best players and sit down with them and kind of map out a goal of what we are trying to do. I don’t think they have a goal. I think the board has always thrown different things at the commissioner and said go after it. Then when they go after it, the board says no, that is not exactly what we are looking for. The players are the ones that got rid of the last commissioner, the players are going to be the ones that live and die by the new commissioner, so I think the players need to sit down and we all need to come up with a plan and execute the plan. I do not really think they have ever done that. The third thing I would do is sit down with TV people. That means ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, The Golf Channel, and try to figure out exactly where my predacessors screwed up and how I could get it fixed. At the end of the day, the only way I am going to survive is with television. If they cannot do that, there probably won’t be a
tour in the future.