Golf After Dark: Full Moons, Mulligans and Mai-Tai's CBS Sports GolfWeb  August, 1999 By Brian O'Connell Blindfold your average golf fanatic and place him on the first tee of Marriot Resort's Mountain Shadows Gold Course twenty minutes after dusk, and he might think he was staring down runway five of LaGuardia Airport. Lining the pitch black fairways are hundreds of luminous candles, each embedded in small lunch bags filled with sand. In the distance, a ring of candles surrounds the green, with a special illuminated flagstick casting a faint glow in the distance. No, it's not designed for seances to communicate with heavenly duffers. It's the layout for golf after dark and nocturnal linksters can't get enough of it. "Our guest's love nighttime golf," said Chris Major, director of golf at the Scottsdale, AZ-based resort. "It's new and innovative and there's a bit of a party atmosphere to it. And, it's a great revenue producer for us." Golf after dark is not an entirely new gimmick, but it is one that is starting to catch fire. "There are hundreds of courses now that offer night time golf on a regular basis in the US alone and over 100,000 courses internationally offer (night golf) as well," said Jane Griffin, international sales manager at C.N. Is Believing, a Wolfeboro Falls, NH-based golf equipment manufacturer that specializes in glow-in-the-dark balls and clubs. "We export our night golf equipment to 59 countries and the demand is only growing hotter." Griffin adds that courses in countries like Sweden and Norway, where daylight lasts through the midnight hour, and Singapore and Hong Kong, where broiling 105-degree temperatures discourage mid-afternoon rounds, have offered night golf for years. "We've averaged 90%-100% bookings over the past couple of years," commented SS Ong, golf course manager at Singapore-based Jarong Country Club. "It makes up for the slack we see from thin afternoon traffic due to the heat and humidity." In the US, though, golf after dark is a relatively new phenomenon. "I think we were the first course that I know of to offer nighttime golf," explained Mike Lorch, whose Scottsdale, AZ-based Marriot Camel Back golf course started offer post-sundown rounds in 1989. "It was - and still is - expensive to undertake but night golf is also a heck of a lot of fun." The Camel Back golf staff treats the gambit like a theme party, with bells and whistles galore. "I remember we had a Merlin-themed event called Magical Moonlight Golf where we had magicians at every hole and our staff was dressed like monks with glow-in-the-dark faces and accompanied golfers around the course," said Lorch. "On the first tee we had a guy dressed up like Merlin appear from behind a cloud of smoke on a pedestal where he read a scroll welcoming golfers to the tournament. We had three food and beverage stations set up along the course complete with checkered tablecloths and belly dancers. It was wild." "Wild" is an adjective that frequently pops up when discussing moonlight golf. Cocktails flow freely and many golfers treat every hole as if it were the 19th. "With a 100 people or so playing in one of our night time tournaments, you definitely have a party atmosphere," admits Lorch. "But that's part of the appeal." Camel Back's night time links excursions don't come cheap - currently it costs each golfer $250 to tee a glow-ball up - so his business comes mainly in the form of corporate outings. "It's usually a scramble format which often means 10 people playing the same hole at the same time. That's one reason why we send out staffers with each group," he added. Carts are left by the clubhouse to prevent a well-oiled, wayward moonlight linkster from falling butt-over-teakettle into a sandtrap. "There is a liability issue that you have to concerned about," he said. About 500 miles due west of Camel Back, golfers are teeing it up after hours at Houston's Treeline Golf Club. In stark contrast to the carnival atmosphere that marks most after-dark outings, course owner Cliff Rampy says night golfers at his club are in it more for the mental challenge than for the martinis. "These are serious players," he said. "One of our players got back-to-back hole in ones in a recent outing." Rampy keeps his nocturnal teetimes to a bare minimum, hosting events twice a year; once in the spring and once in the fall. "We try to keep it affordable and have some fun with it," he said. "We'll go out for a shotgun start at dusk and then come in for a meal after nine holes. Then, we'll break out the night light balls and go out and play another nine." At Treeline, it pays to keep your eye on the ball. "You only get two of the night light balls," added Rampy. "If you lose one or both, you've got to borrow some from another player in your foursome. With eight balls in a group, our golfers place a premium on tracking each other's shots. "At $6 a pop, that's a good habit for moonlight hackers to get into.  One complaint that Rampy said players voice from time to time is the laggardly reach of the luminescent golf balls. "The night light balls don't travel as far. They average about a club length or two shorter than a regular golf ball. But they fly very true," he said. Golfers with 20-20 vision can usually follow their moonlit drives for about 230 yards. After that, good luck. "Tiger Woods might have a problem following his shots," he added. Another problem Rampy concedes is reading breaks in the greens. "Actually, you can't."  One course manager is phasing out night golf, even though he concedes it's as popular as ever. The problem he says, is money. "By the time I charge for greens fees and add on the cost of glow-in-the dark golf balls, glow necklaces (for golfers to wear so they don't bump into each other - or worse), and lit fairways and greens, I barely break even," complained Lynn Shackleford, manager at Simi Valley CA-based Sinaloa Golf Club. "Then the next day you've got to go out and pick up the beer cans that litter the course and replace divots and fix ball marks on the greens. It got to be a hassle for me, even though our players loved it." Still, night golf events are sprouting up across the US like wildfire, especially for special holidays (like Halloween) and once-in-a-blue moon events (like bachelor parties). "I've seen night golf events where people put on laminated paints and act as human targets," said Griffin. "It's crazy, but it's popular." So the next time you're driving by a golf course after dark and you notice candle-lit fairways and monks strolling about with trays of drinks in their hands, don't panic. Instead, grab your clubs and your wallet and join the conga line to the first tee. Continental Airlines Magazine  When St. Andrews Gets Its 500-Year Check-Up, Not Everybody Is Happy  August, 1997 By Brian O'Connell The names roll of the tongue like a wee dram of 12-year-old scotch: Deacon Sime, Swilcairn Burn, The Valley of Sin, and the infamous Road Hole, the signature stretch of windblown grass and bonny heather at world famous St. Andrews golf course. But thar's a trouble a'broon at The Old Course, laddy, after the Royal and Ancient Golf Club - the caretakers of St. Andrews - recently completed a significant renovation at the world's oldest known golf course.  In fact, some of the world's most accomplished golfers have their kilts in a lather over the restoration. Seve Ballesteros, 1984 British Open Champion at St. Andrews, fired off a hot letter to club secretary Michael Bollaneck. Two-time British Open Champion Greg Norman called it a shame.  But course manager Ian Forbes of the St. Andrews Links Trust, the operator of the Old Course and half-a-dozen other courses in the surrounding area, says that wear and tear on the 500-year-old course has taken its toll and required some "cosmetic" restorations. "Sure, players like Ballesteros were against the changes," says Forbes. "They thought we shouldn't tamper with history and that the course has never really been changed before, save for some of the tee boxes. But we weren't fooling around with the hazards and bunkers that make St. Andrews so unique. We think we made (the golf course) more playable and thus more enjoyable." What Forbes, Royal & Ancient Golf Club secretary Michael Bonalleck and St. Andrews head greenskeeper Eddie Adams did was extend the course from roughly 7,000 to 7,200 yards to make the course tougher for long hitters like Tiger Woods and 1995 British Open Champion John Daly. "The restoration involves distance changes at five holes to bring the course's traditional hazards back to play," says Forbes. "In recent years, the pros were flying their tee-shots well over the hazards." Forbes adds that with the British Open Open returning to St. Andrews in 2000, it's better that the changes were made now. "It gives everybody a chance to get used to the added length," he says, pointing to the 13th and 15th holes, where the most significant changes were made. "The 13th was a subtle change - we only added four yards off the tee," he explains. "But we took the tee box and moved it away from the side gourse (the Titleist-grabbing vegetation that most St. Andrews linksters prefer to avoid). Before, golfers were aiming so far away they were driving their balls well into the other fairway right into the path of oncoming golfers." The changes at the 15th hole were more blunt, says Forbes. "We've added about 50 yards off the tee to give the hole more distance. In 1990 (the year Nick Faldo won the Open at St. Andrews), the hole's overall score was 15 under par. And in 1995, Mr. Daly played it rather easily, especially on Sunday, which was a dry and sunny day, if I remember."  Of the other holes at St. Andrews that underwent the landscaper's scalpel, the 6th, 9th, 10th, and 16th (some minor work was also done at the 3d tee), only the length at the 10th (50 yards added off the tee) and the 16th (44 yards added off the tee) can be considered significant. "We felt that, despite what some think, that there was universal agreement that these changes had to be made," adds Forbes. "Now we think we're positioned well for the British Open here in 2000." Many golf course specialists agree with the painstaking, respectful manner in which St. Andrews handled the changes. "The key to making changes to a St. Andrews is that you don't want to fool with its integrity," says Robert Lohman, owner of Lohman Gold Course Designs, a Marengo, IL-based golf course design company. "You can address the length issue by moving the tee boxes or target an isolated issue like a drainage problem or a problem bunker, but you've got to respect the original design and that's not easy to do." By the next Open at St. Andrews, maybe some of the sting will taken out of the words golf traditionalists are using to decry the restoration at The Old Course. Who knows? Maybe if Ballesteros or Norman can tame the bonny highlands of St. Andrews three years hence, their criticism of the restoration will abate. Hoot Mon! And what a grand site that'd be. NBC's Golf.com What's In a Name? April, 2000 By Brian O'Connell The era was of tail fins in the parking lot, dry martinis in the  clubhouse, and a Persimmon driver in every bag, when PGA Tour events  once had the cachet that only Frank, Dean and Sammy could lend them.  That's right -- the days when golf tournaments were named after crooners  instead of compact disc makers. In linksters' lore, the names invoke  images of a bygone era -- the Crosby, the Hope, and the Williams. Hell,  even Corporal Klinger had a tournament named after him. But times move on, celebrities up and die on us, and sooner or later  golf tournaments have to turn somewhere else to pay the bills -- another  brand name, some more deep pockets. These days, that means the Fortune  500 -- where the living may be as easy as the old-style tour events, but  no longer wired with the carefree panache of Bing, Bob and Arnie trading  barbs on the first tee. These days it's Fred from sales, Barbara from  marketing, and Peter Jacobson standing by No. 1 tee box with a bemused  look on his face. But is that really so bad? Not if you're one of the companies sponsoring  a PGA Tour event, certainly not for the players pocketing $100,000 for  finishing fifth, or if you're a PGA official who knew all along that the  Sony's, Nissans and Buick's of the world were the tour's real  rainmakers. "I think the days when many tour events were named after celebrities  were crucial to the development and popularity of the PGA tour," says  Ric Clarson, vice president of title sponsor relations for the PGA. "And  while we still have a tremendous amount of celebrity involvement on the  tour, like at the Hope and at Pebble Beach, I think everyone is really  benefiting from the sponsor relationships we've forged over the years  with some of the world's greatest companies." This Brand is My Brand, This Brand is Your Brand . . .  Certainly, you wouldn't find any arguments from the local communities  and charities that significantly benefit from corporate tour event  sponsorships. Sony raised several hundred thousand dollars in charity at  least week's PGA Sony Open in Hawaii and the PGA Tour is recognized by  sports organizations worldwide as a valuable source of charitable  revenue. And you won't find the networks bleating about ratings. Thanks to bigger  purses, marquee names like Tiger and Ernie, and a worldwide love affair  with the links, the television networks are grabbing the biggest market  shares they ever had. At this year's season-opening Mercedes Open, the Sunday telecast --  which featured a duel between Woods and Els that went well past the  dinner hour in much of the U.S. -- drew ESPN's largest golf audience  ever, Clarson says. But it's not just the viewers who keep coming back for more. Corporate  sponsors, heady from breathing the rarefied air of Augusta and Pebble  Beach, are only too happy to dig deep and sponsor tour events. It's not cheap. The Anderson Consulting world championships cost the  worldwide consultant giant millions of dollars in sponsorship fees. Sony  also ponied up several million for last week's Sony Open, as will  Chrysler for this week's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, and so on down the  calendar until Christmas, where it starts up all over again. That's okay with the sponsors, who recognize a brand-reinforcing  opportunity when they see one.  "Let's face it, pro golf is a great way for us to target a specific  target," offers Steven Roberts, general manager of global operations and  sports marketing for Sony. "The older men and women who can afford our  products are watching the events. We want them to think of us as they  do." Roberts adds that the company makes great hay with its tour ties.  Company executives tee it up alongside PGA pro's in the tour ams and the  company hires the likes of Donnie and Marie to entertain guests at  pre-event parties. "Our executives and customers get to rub elbows with Tom Lehman and  Corey Pavin -- they're likes kids at Christmas," Roberts said. Of Cars, Pars and Cash-Free Bars At Buick, where the auto maker has parlayed 42 years of PGA tour  sponsorships into four tournaments and a sponsorship deal with Tiger  Woods, the world's most recognizable athlete, company executives loved  the idea of professional golf so much they bought a tournament. "The Buick Open, along with the Kemper Open, are the only two events  left on tour that companies actually own outright," says Jim McGovern,  director of Buick marketing at Detroit-based Kaleidoscope Sports  Entertainment, which handles the PGA events for the company. "So I'd say  we're committed to the tour." McGovern is firmly in the camp of corporate advocates who say that the  public prefers a Nissan Open to a Glen Campbell L.A. Open or an AT&T  Pebble Beach over the Crosby. "If you look closely and see how much good the companies do in terms of  charity work you'd say that corporate sponsorships really work -- for  the tour and the community," McGovern said. But don't the corporate guys yearn just the slightest bit for the days  when PGA Tour events had a human, more glamorous touch in their names? "Not really," says Roberts. "I don't think there's a backlash at all  over the corporate sponsorships. The public likes it, the golfers, who  make a lot more money now, like it, and the tour likes it, too. We're  doing a lot of good out here."