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Sunday, April 01, 2001

Tom Tanto is well aware he is bucking the trend. At a time when golf participation is down and some private courses are hurting for members, Tanto is getting ready to unveil his 18-hole project in Westmoreland County -- Totteridge Golf Club, the first course in Western Pennsylvania designed by Rees Jones.

The course will open sometime later this year, probably in the summer.

"Anytime from June on -- it could be July, it could be August," said Tanto, who owns Meadowink Golf Club and a course-construction business. "We're not going to open until it's pretty good. It's a little different golf course for Pittsburgh. It's a little mixture of parkland and links-style holes."

Tanto said he decided to make Totteridge a private club, even though the trend nationally is to build courses that carry a steep daily-fee but are accessible to the public. The decline in private-course construction began when the government no longer allowed companies to take entertainment deductions for membership fees and dues, Tanto said.

"And here I am going private," Tanto said.

But, he added, "Clubs with good golf courses, they still have a waiting list. Some of those bumper pool-type of courses, it's not the price, they're just not good golf courses. You can't make racehorses out of donkeys."

Course construction has been on the rise nationally, with a record 524 courses having opened in 2000, according to the National Golf Foundation. By the end of last year, the number of golf facilities in the country topped 17,000, according to the NGF.

However, participation has started to bottom out. Rounds played in 2000 were down 1.7 percent, compared to a 0.2 percent increase in 1999, according to Florida-based Golf Datatech. Most public courses in Western Pennsylvania did fewer rounds in 2000 than 1999. Some of that is because of weather. Mostly, though, it's because there's more competition among public courses.

In the past 10 years, the Tri-State area has seen more than a dozen new courses open to the public -- Links at Springs Church, Olde Stonewall, Tom's Run, Deer Run, Madison Club, Glengarry, Hickory Heights, Mystic Rock, Cedarbrook, Indian Run, Blackmoor, Palmer Course at Speidel (W.Va.), Castle Shannon and Cherry Creek -- plus new nine-hole additions at Pittsburgh North, Lindenwood, Butler's, Pheasant Ridge and Fort Cherry. That does not include private clubs such as Nevillewood, Diamond Run, Southpointe and Treesdale.

"If you make a good golf course, people will come," Tanto said. "We're going to offer a great golfing experience. The good courses will always do well."

Totteridge, named for a small town outside London, is built in a hollow and will have homes on the hillsides overlooking the fairways. Tanto will also have a Scottish Golf School on site. The course is located off Route 819 in Hannastown, about 4.5 miles from the intersection of Route 22 and Route 66 in Delmont.

"People expect certain things from me because I've been in the business 32 years," Tanto said. "I needed to build something good."

Trivia question

The 213-yard fourth hole is the most difficult par 3 at Augusta National. For proof, only one person has ever recorded a hole-in-one there during the Masters. Who was it? Answer at end.

Legal driver

There is a little panic spreading through the ranks of players who have purchased any of the three 300 Series drivers made by Taylor Made Golf. The reason:

They saw a list of the clubs that have been ruled nonconforming by the United States Golf Association, the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. On the list, which appeared in the March 18 edition of the Post-Gazette, was three Taylor Made drivers -- the R300, the R320 and the R360.

Don't worry, your money (retail $399) hasn't been wasted.

Those drivers are sold only in Europe and are not the same as the 300, 320 and 360 series drivers sold and marketed in the U.S. The ones sold in this country, which have been deemed legal by the USGA, do not carry the letter "R."

"I've been inundated with calls," said local Taylor Made rep Rich Berglund.

The R300, R320 and R360 are nonconforming in this country because their coefficient of restitution exceeds the USGA's allowable limit (0.83). Those drivers can be used overseas because the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, which sets the rules for the rest of the world, does not have a legal limit for COR.

The 300 series driver has become a hot-selling item for Taylor Made -- it is the leading driver on the PGA Tour.

And another thing ...

Ely Callaway, chairman of the company that makes the nonconforming ERC II driver, gets upset at the insinuation Arnold Palmer has endorsed his controversial club because Callaway bought out Palmer's struggling equipment company.

Callaway wants to set the record straight: He did not buy Palmer's equipment company and he did not pay $25 million, as has been reported in several publications. Rather, Callaway paid $1 million to Arnold Palmer Golf Co. for Palmer's endorsement rights. All the money went to Jack Lupton, the majority owner, not Palmer.

Callaway Golf is paying Palmer $400,000 annually to play Callaway irons and Callaway balls. That amount, Callaway said, is about 1.5 percent of Palmer's endorsement income. The contract is for 12 years, even though Palmer is 71 and plays a limited competitive schedule.

"He had a 12-year deal with the company and we picked that up," Callaway said.

Palmer has been widely criticized because he appeared at a news conference last October endorsing the ERC II driver for recreational use. Palmer does not use the club, nor does he endorse its use for professional or competitive players.

Rocking America

Hard not to notice that Annika Sorenstam -- Miss 59 -- has won the past three events on the LPGA Tour. What's more, she is combined 57-under par in her past three events and 60 under in her past 20 rounds.

But has anyone noticed that no American player has won an LPGA Tour event this year. The 2001 winners to date are Se Ri Pak, Sophie Gustafson, Grace Park, Lorie Kane, Catriona Matthew and Sorenstam.

Do not, however, point this up to Dottie Pepper, who is the highest ranked American player on the money list (No. 4).

"You know, I'm really tired of that question," Pepper said after finishing tied for second last week in the Nabisco Championship. "I'm playing the best golf of my career, and that's the end of the story.

"It's a long year. If you want to end the year at [eight] weeks, that's fine, but I'm not going to. I feel the best I have ever felt about my golf game. I'm ready to rock."

Quotable

LPGA Tour Commissioner Ty Votaw, when asked about Aree Wongluekiet, one of the 14-year-old twins from Bradenton, Fla. who finished tied for 46th at the Nabisco Championship: "She is without question the best female amateur golfer in the world."

Dissa and data

Take Advantage While You Can Department: Olde Stonewall, the 18-hole daily-fee facility in Ellwood City, opened this weekend and will charge a spring rate ($80) until May 1. Normal greens fee for 2001 will be $135, which includes use of practice range and locker room.

Larry Roytas been promoted to head golf professional at Southpointe Golf Club. Ned Weaver is director of golf.

Brian Esposito, 25, a New Castle High School and Penn State graduate, has been named head pro at the TPC at Canyons in Las Vegas. Esposito was formerly the head pro at TPC at Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., but returned to the TPC at Canyons, where he formerly was an assistant. Curiously, he was replaced as head pro at TPC at Deere Run by Shaler native Brian DeJohn, his roommate at Penn State.

Vijay Singh has played all 28 rounds in the 2001 season at par or better, pushing his streak to 32, dating to last season. Tiger Woods holds the PGA Tour record of 52 consecutive rounds, a streak that ended this season.

Jim Furyk is the latest PGA Tour player to try the long putter, joining Rocco Mediate, Vijay Singh, Paul Azinger, Bernhard Langer and Scott McCarron. Furyk made the switch at the Honda Classic a couple weeks ago because he thought he was using too much wrist in his stroke.

Mike McCullough hadn't won a PGA Tour-sanctioned event since turning pro in 1973. But he has won twice in the past month on the Senior Tour. There can be only one explanation: Sandals. McCullough wears Bite X-Golf Sandals on the golf course, not regular spikes. "I'm no longer bothered by blisters, which is the reason I started wearing them years ago," McCullough said. Never mind he looks like Fred McMurray.

The First Tee Program of Southwestern Pennsylvania, designed to introduce youths to the game, will be run by Blackhawk Golf Course. "We're trying to teach kids a lot of life's skills, like integrity and honesty," said Blackhawk pro Garen Steele. Interested should call 724-843-2542.

The LPGA veteran's committee has nominated Donna Caponi for membership in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Architect Ron Forse of Westmoreland County and Frontier Construction have restored parts of the Kahkwa Club in Erie to bring back some of the original Donald Ross design. They completely reconstructed the 17th and 18th greens, added 22 tees, rebuilt 12, restored 45 bunkers in the traditional style and added 19 new bunkers.

Trivia answer

Jeff Sluman used a 4-iron to ace the hole in 1992.