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Par4

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Posts posted by Par4

  1. 6 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

    I’ve never understood why the members would want to give up their course for a month+ during some of the best weather of the year.  Once every 10 or 20 years for a major or Ryder/Presidents Cup?  Sure, the juice is probably worth the squeeze.  But giving up March every year, when the cold is mostly gone and we aren’t in the blast furnace yet?  Fuck that.

    We lose it for 2-3 weeks in October for overseed, typically this aligns with the nicest weather of the year. In order to ensure the seed takes the course has to overwater all winter changing the condition of the course for November and December.
    The week of the tournament is great. All the other factors that go into it SUCK.

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  2. 10 hours ago, Revolution512 said:

    The members made pretty crazy demands. There isn’t another course around Austin built for this. Austin golf is pretty shitty.

    As a member, I might be biased, however I think the fact that we tried to negotiate for a increase in the contract was the least of the factors that ended this deal. 

    1. The PGA tour went to Dell to try and get more money out of them for sponsorship. Dell balked and wanted to share the load with Intel, it was reported that the initial discussions with Intel did not go well. 

    2. Jim Crane now owns the Houston Open and has openly expressed his willingness to financially contribute to getting his spot back in the PGA tour rotation before the Masters (currently the spot occupied by the Dell Match Play). 

    3. The WGC events are dying. They rely exclusively on the OWGR to determine the field and this hands a microphone to Greg Norman to bash the PGA tour for not including his LIV players that occupy some of those spots. He also gets a platform to lobby OWGR to change their formulas. 

    4. We were on the last year of our host contract. The first contract was approved by the members with 92% in favor. The second contract with approved with roughly 55% approval. On that trajectory do you think it was going to pass another vote unless the PGA tour stepped up to make it worth our while? How would the PGA tour look if the membership didn't vote to extend another contract? Our board negotiates with the Tour, but the members have to approve the contract. Keeping things status quo was not going to fly. What type of PR hit would it be for the PGA Tour if it didn't pass?

    We are 7 years into this deal and the wear and tear on our facilities is starting to show. We lose access to our golf course for 6-7 weeks a year and access to our other facilities for 3-4 weeks a year. During those times I can't use my golf course and facilities I am STILL REQUIRED TO PAY DUES, so our membership is paying $1500-$2000 to the subsidize this event. The tour then charges us $750 a ticket to access the course for the tournament so we get double dipped. FYI...The club nets between $1.5-$2M for hosting. We have a 10 year waiting list, we don't need the notoriety any longer we just want our club back. 

    I am sorry that Austin is losing this event, but it was inevitable in it's current form. I am pretty sick of the membership getting blamed for it ending. We stepped up when Austin  needed us and have made it an amazing event. It has run it's course. The membership share of the blame for it ending is only a small factor. 

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  3. 15 minutes ago, Blotto said:

    Your user name alone tells me you probably know a whole hell of a lot more about it than I do, so I'm curious about the sentence in bold....is membership referring to ACC members, and if so, how did they subsidize the tournament? Were they taking a lower fee than the tour usually pays a course? I always presumed that there are any number of country clubs looking to make a name for themselves that would jump at a PGA tour event, so I'm curious about the statement that the PGA needed ACC a lot more than the other way around. 

    I am sure you are correct in assuming there are plenty of courses that would jump at the opportunity to host an event. ACC is a little bit unique in that it is a member owned club (one of only 2 in Austin). The membership as the final say. This is opposed to a set up like Barton Creek which is owned by the Omni Hotel Group who could take the money and tell the membership to deal with it. 

    At ACC the golf course is closed to members for approximately a minimum of one month every year directly related to tournament activities (2 weeks in October to over-seed the fairways and 2 weeks in March). Dues are still charged for those times even though access is limited or prohibited, when you factor in the whole membership it would be somewhere between $1.25 and $1.75 million dollars of dues collected while the PGA has the course. Membership tickets to the event are $750 per to access the club and course they are paying not to use. I know the first year the club netted well under $1M in profit from the event. I know that got better, but I don't think it ever passed $2M. 

    I don't know if you live in Austin so you might not be familiar with the history. There was a private group led by Joe Ogilve (former PGA player) that had private money to build 2 high end golf courses designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore along with a hotel etc. They were asking the City of Austin to provide a 99 year lease on the property that was currently unaccessible parkland in far east Austin. This was pitched with a behind the scenes commitment from the PGA to come to Austin and make the venue home. They were going to return a percentage of profits to the City of Austin Parks Department to maintain other properties in the system. The Austin CIty Council voted it down because golf was elitist and couldn't justify giving this land to the proposal. (https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/print-edition/2015/04/17/golf-in-austin-far-from-running-its-course.html)

    ACC stepped up and agreed to host. The first contract was approved by 90+ percent of membership. The renewal 4 years later passed with 55% approval. A new contract was going to have to be pretty lucrative to pass a vote. 

     

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  4. PGA is throwing ACC under the bus a bit to try and save face with Dell/Intel. Jim Crane has the rights to the Houston Open and is willing to pay to get his spot back in the Spring (week before The Masters). PGA is taking the sure thing with Houston after this year, but I don't really understand shitting in the pool right as you move out. The membership subsidized that tournament for many years and the PGA needed them a lot more than ACC needed the tour. 

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  5. 15 hours ago, Zeus said:

    Joke conference

    Here's your highest ranked undefeated team big 12 bros, almost a half full stadium

     

    1667711067219714-sp.jpg

    I think this photo was from some Tech fans long before the game started. I was at this game (college visit) and it was fully packed at kickoff. TCU is certainly beatable fyi. 

     

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  6. Terrified of Bigfoot. Probably started when he made an appearance on The Six Million Dollar Man, but I also remember a documentary that was on TV. I asked my Dad how long it would take Bigfoot to walk from Washington state to Austin. I would have a nightmare and crawl to my parents room under the windows so he wouldn't see me. Five year olds imaginations are pretty intense. 

     

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  7. 6 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

    Also...

     

    speaking of the band being there and our fans being there.....

     

    the announcers made sure to point out that Texas' band is WAAY the fuck up and away along with their fans.... they laughed and said it was great.

     

    WE do that same shit  and everyone freaks the fuck out that somehow we are classless

    That only matters agains SEC teams. They are the ones that have needed to invent drama. 

     

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  8. My primary memories of the West Mall were:

    1. The 1990 frat protests and general discontent led by student body president Toni Luckett

    (https://notevenpast.org/we-dont-have-to-boo-it-uts-black-lesbian-student-government-president/)

    2. Happening upon Poi Dog Pondering sitting around the fountain jamming on a sunny afternoon. Although they were mostly a bunch of stinky hippies, I enjoyed their music. 

     

  9. 55 minutes ago, Litig8r said:

    Perhaps posted in wrong thread but golf podcasts are my new deal.  Two favorites, SubPar (with Colt Knost and Drew Stotlz) and Chasing Scratch with Mike and Eli.  Subpar is PGA geared and interviews are always great.  The caddie interviews really open up as to what goes on inside and outside the ropes.  Chasing Scratch is about two guys who are trying everything to become scratch golfers.  Both are funny as shit

    It only lasted for 2 seasons and they are a little dated now but ClubProGuy Podcast (https://clubproguy.com/pages/podcasts) were hilarious. He has mostly moved his stuff to Youtube and Instagram. 

    I am a fan of SubPar as well. Thanks for the rec. for Chasing Scratch. 

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  10. That is a gut punch. Ron Franklin was the voice of college football for me, more so than Keith Jackson at the time. Jackson may have called the bigger games, but Franklin called "my" games. His son was a UT student when I was there furthering our claim to him. Non of this ESPN favoritism, we always had Ron Franklin on our side. 

     

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  11. On 1/4/2022 at 12:24 PM, Lobo said:

    I gave it a few listens at first and couldn't get into it.  And I was an avid listening of his 590 show.  Was just curious if he's still in my neck of the woods in Austin.  I used to see him all the time IRL but haven't in ~3 years or so.  He could be doing that show from anywhere I guess during pandemic.

    Also, his light bulb logo looks like a right hand jerking off a cock 'n balls.  

    Pretty sure he still lives in West Austin (Westlake neighborhood). He has young kids (second wife) and I think that keeps him busy. I have seen him a couple times over the last year in Westlake eateries. 

     

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