My Day at a LIV Event

By Tom Lang

    PLYMOUTH – I’ve not been a supporter of LIV Golf, but I’ve also not been against golfers doing what they wish to do, either. 

    It’s their game. 

    It’s their family. 

    It’s their business.

    Yet when LIV Golf announced that it was coming to Michigan in late August for their team championship at Saint John’s Resort, I knew I needed to experience it for myself. Good, bad or indifferent, I wanted to see what it offered.

    There were no real surprises. 

    What we have all heard about LIV and what we have seen on TV (not that much) is pretty much what LIV was for at least one Friday in Michigan. Players in shorts. A fair share of wonderful golf shots. Lots of food and drink choices and fan frivolity. The irony of a volunteer holding up a ‘quiet’ sign right in front of large music speakers. Lots of fan movement and noise – the music and the people. Mostly people under the age of 40.

    There were big crowds following one or two premier groups and almost no fans following the others. It’s a golf exhibition stacked with some very talented and great names in the game, but mostly a field of players I’ve never heard of – not that much different than the PGA Tour, frankly.

    Thankfully, I was able to spend some quality time with the host course designer of The Cardinal, Ray Hearn (who was almost Kir-plunked in the head by an errant golf ball hit by Lee Westwood), and thought readers would prefer to learn of his perspective. So, here we go:

    Hearn is by his own admission old-school. A Jerry Matthew’s disciple, Hearn’s current niche in golf course design has become restoration of ‘golden age’ golf, loosely defined as golf courses built in the 1900-30s timeline.

   “You have different opinions on LIV, of course,” Hearn told me. “Even some of my clients on the older courses I’m redoing are saying, ‘Ray, congratulations. These are some of the best players in the world, and this is your new baby (the course), you’ve got to be thrilled.’ And I am.

    “I’m a traditionalist. I love USGA events, and the PGA, and some traditionalists said to me, ‘Ray, you’re not going, are you?’ And I said ‘absolutely I’m going to attend. I’m going to enjoy this and I’m going to embrace it.’

    “The players have been friendly. LIV has been very professional to me. It’s been great, so I’m thrilled.”

    Like any designer, Hearn was seeking course feedback.

   “There’s been compliments from the pros on the actual greens design, and on the green speeds, so compliments to myself and to (course superintendent) Kevin Peck,” Hearn said as we toured the course together on a perfect-weather afternoon. “And the overall comments that the greens are pretty complex, meaning, these slight breaks that they really have to read from multiple directions. From an architect’s standpoint, that’s the type of compliment I want.”

    Hearn added that LIV and the players on the setup committee wanted a 13.5 stimp reading.

    “I’m really proud of the greens here at The Cardinal,” he said. “As you know, when any architect is involved with a tournament, 96 percent of the year, I’m worried about (Joe Golfer) and every resort golfer that ranges from scratch, all the way up to the high-handicap beginner. Multiple tee systems takes care of a lot of that, and the fairways are generous enough, the bunkers are strategically placed. So, it works. We didn’t take driver out of their hands; they are hitting a lot of drivers, and they are complimenting me on that.”

   All in all, The Cardinal looked fabulous in person, and on TV during the final round. Which of course pleased Kevin Doyle, COO of the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, the owners of Saint John’s Resort.

   “They’re using it the way we designed Saint Johns to be; where you can do a bunch of different events and activations all at the same place, all throughout the week,” Doyle told me. 

    “We designed this entire resort with the golf course, restaurants, hotel, to be a place that could be a one-stop shop – to do an event without ever having to leave the property and it’s been very rewarding this week to hear the feedback from LIV and their players that this is exactly that type of setting to them. And they’ve really liked the golf course and the conditions we gave them.”

   It’s TBD if LIV returns to Michigan, but Doyle wants to have that conversation.

   It’s also TBD if Hearn will use some of the things he experienced with the pros in any of his future course designs. 

    We’ll be sure to let you know, once we do.