The summer of ’16

The PGA Championship in July threw me for a loop. I enjoyed golf in the Olympics as much as the next guy (thank you, Matt Kuchar), but what I did not enjoy was golf’s four majors going by in what felt like the blink of an eye. It made my summer go by equally fast.

It was around the PGA Championship that I realized I had been in seven major cities over seven days. I saw a lot of golf, met a lot of people and maybe even learned a few things. But all that back-to-back travel meant some good stories died in my notebook. Maybe I can resuscitate some of them here.

My PGA Championship week started off with a trip to Milwaukee to play Erin Hills, host course of the 2017 U.S. Open. Jason Straka of Fry/Straka Design invited me out. We were joined by current ASGCA President Greg Martin of Chicago-based Martin Design. It was fun listening to Straka, who was part of the design team (along with Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Ron Whitten), talk about the course. Also great to bend Martin’s ear on the state of the game. He’s bullish on the industry.

Despite the shape of my golf shot that day, Erin Hills probably will go down as my most enjoyable round of the year. Great views, great company and a course that is as rewarding as it is challenging.

I got out to the PGA Championship mid-week, and of course Mark Kuhns and his team had Baltusrol looking phenomenal. I took time to watch some golf with my friends from the Plant Food Co., where we followed Tom Weinert’s bold lead and accessed the VIP area of No. 4 green. I like Tom’s style.

And if you know me, you know I have to mention the PGA Championship social hour that Kuhns and the GCSA of New Jersey put on in the volunteer tent. I reconnected with a lot of people and made some new friends. Check out Golfdom Gallery for photos from that event.

While in New Jersey I took the time to catch a train to Manhattan to meet up with one of my mentors, Joe Yanarella, editor-in-chief of Bleacher Report. It was great to catch up with Joe, who I hadn’t seen in a few years. What he’s done with Bleacher Report, which averages some 37 million readers a month, is remarkable. He was deservingly named AdWeek’s “Digital Editor of the Year” in 2015, and I hope I picked up a few tips from my old boss.

Next was the most arduous stretch of the trips, thanks to the airline losing my golf clubs. I eventually made my way to Graniteville, S.C., to meet the kind folks at Textron Specialized Vehicles at beautiful Sage Valley. They schooled me on everything involved in the development of the new Cushman Hauler.

All the flights, combined with playing with short sticks at Sage, wrecked my back. I’m on a first-name basis with my chiropractor again. (But hey, my clubs arrived just in time to schlep them back to the airport.)

I couldn’t take too long to recover because the next week held a trip to Dallas, where I toured Trinity Forest. My friend Kasey Kauff is superintendent there. The former landfill is the future host of the AT&T Byron Nelson. It’s obviously an interesting course.

Now I’m back home, ready to enjoy a few weeks of downtime. My mother-in-law bought me a new smoker, just in time for football season. Even though the summer of ’16 went by far too fast, the fall of ’16 could be just as much fun.