• The KillerFrogs

OT - Colonial GC

F

First Tee Frog

Active Member
HToady said:
There's a long standing contention that the PGA would like to relieve Colonial and Byron Nelson from it's tournements and move the whole lot to a newly developed course near it's new headquarters in Frisco. In the past, when I have queried about moves (badging, entertainment, hole location, etc) I was always told the "the PGA makes that call" If that is the case maybe PGA demanded more revenue, thus forcing the extra VIP suites instead of general seating. Now the PGA will have another excuse...poor attendance, enthusiasim. The head of the PGA, wasn't even at the Colonial, and had to "drive over" to make a statement about Grayson Murray.
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That isn’t the pga tour which is headquartered at Tpc sawgrass. That’s the pga of America who has its headquarters in Frisco. Two seperate entities. Also, not well known is that the pga of America has nothing to do with the golf course. Omni built, owns and operates the entire thing. The learning center over there is the only pga of America operated facility and they pay Omni a huge amount of money in rent.
 
gohornedfrogs

gohornedfrogs

Tier 1
HToady said:
There's a long standing contention that the PGA would like to relieve Colonial and Byron Nelson from it's tournements and move the whole lot to a newly developed course near it's new headquarters in Frisco. In the past, when I have queried about moves (badging, entertainment, hole location, etc) I was always told the "the PGA makes that call" If that is the case maybe PGA demanded more revenue, thus forcing the extra VIP suites instead of general seating. Now the PGA will have another excuse...poor attendance, enthusiasim. The head of the PGA, wasn't even at the Colonial, and had to "drive over" to make a statement about Grayson Murray.
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Holy moly. You were given terrible information. As Wexahu and First Tee said, the PGA of America is the entity located in Frisco. They only operate the PGA Championship, Senior PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup.

The PGA Tour is located in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The commissioner does not go to every event, believe it or not. Therefore, he flew in on Friday, he didn’t drive.

Furthermore, though Colonial is a PGA Tour sanctioned event, it is not “owned” by the PGA Tour. By charter, PGA Tour events are set up separately as 501(c)3 or 501(c)4 non-profit entities (there are some exceptions). Colonial owns and operates the tournament and has very wide latitude to make the decisions on what corporate packages to sell and where they will be located. From time to time, the PGA Tour makes some suggestions to the tournaments, based on best practices communicated through their Tournament Business Affairs department. However, of all the tournaments on the PGA Tour, Colonial has the reputation for operating the most autonomously from the tour headquarters, to the point of it causing friction many times over the years.
 
ShreveFrog

ShreveFrog

Full Member
hometown frog said:
For something like this, I’d suggest it might not be appropriate to quote “man w a tournament badge” until there’s more real information out there.
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Sorry, I know that was a basic description I gave. But I took him as a very solid, knowledgeable source associated with the tour. Not some random volunteer wandering around.
 
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P

Putt4Purple

Active Member
HToady said:
There's a long standing contention that the PGA would like to relieve Colonial and Byron Nelson from it's tournements and move the whole lot to a newly developed course near it's new headquarters in Frisco. In the past, when I have queried about moves (badging, entertainment, hole location, etc) I was always told the "the PGA makes that call" If that is the case maybe PGA demanded more revenue, thus forcing the extra VIP suites instead of general seating. Now the PGA will have another excuse...poor attendance, enthusiasim. The head of the PGA, wasn't even at the Colonial, and had to "drive over" to make a statement about Grayson Murray.
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He flew in from his home in Virginia according to the broadcast interview on Saturday. He flew in after making the original statement about Grayson Murray’s death.
 
P

Putt4Purple

Active Member
Chongo94 said:
Would be interested in seeing attendance numbers for this year’s tourney, cause it looks awful but then again the lack of seating around some holes probably contributes to that sensation. There may be many many people standing in the shade that I cannot see on tv.
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You last sentence is true from my personal experience on Friday. Very unfriendly access for ground pass fans. The clubhouse was an unrecognizable traffic jam with people not knowing where to go and or how to get to their desired location's. The back nine had terrible fan traffic flow. I’m assuming that given another year since the course transition is complete that the walking and access around the greens will be adjusted for more patron accommodations. I hope that will happen anyway. We shall see.
 
hometown frog

hometown frog

Active Member
Putt4Purple said:
You last sentence is true from my personal experience on Friday. Very unfriendly access for ground pass fans. The clubhouse was an unrecognizable traffic jam with people not knowing where to go and or how to get to their desired location's. The back nine had terrible fan traffic flow. I’m assuming that given another year since the course transition is complete that the walking and access around the greens will be adjusted for more patron accommodations. I hope that will happen anyway. We shall see.
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Agreed. We followed Min Woo Lee on Friday and it was a chess match to figure out how to get from the 18th green over to 1 fairway area. You had to walk up into the 9th green patio to get back over to 1 without heading back down 9 fairway and crossing over.

several other strange mesh points out there that I don’t remember before. And those damned VIP pavilions completely surrounding several holes and blocking grounds pass holders from seeing play.
 
ShreveFrog

ShreveFrog

Full Member
Putt4Purple said:
You last sentence is true from my personal experience on Friday. Very unfriendly access for ground pass fans. The clubhouse was an unrecognizable traffic jam with people not knowing where to go and or how to get to their desired location's. The back nine had terrible fan traffic flow. I’m assuming that given another year since the course transition is complete that the walking and access around the greens will be adjusted for more patron accommodations. I hope that will happen anyway. We shall see.
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I expected something more harsh from you. If the tournament does not coincide with the Big XII baseball tournament in Arlington, I doubt I'll be back. It's ruint! Turrible! I'll check out the Byron in McKinney instead.
 
F

FrogBall09

Active Member
Putt4Purple said:
You last sentence is true from my personal experience on Friday. Very unfriendly access for ground pass fans. The clubhouse was an unrecognizable traffic jam with people not knowing where to go and or how to get to their desired location's. The back nine had terrible fan traffic flow. I’m assuming that given another year since the course transition is complete that the walking and access around the greens will be adjusted for more patron accommodations. I hope that will happen anyway. We shall see.
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Assuming you notice the large construction zone between 18 and 1?

The plan is to have more grandstands back in future years but frankly they needed to control numbers this year since area around the course is still under construction
 
gohornedfrogs

gohornedfrogs

Tier 1
ShreveFrog said:
I'm assuming the average fan still has places to sit.
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Unfortunately, like we've seen in college and professional football, golf is going down the path of selling the "premium" experience...and there are enough suckers out there to buy it. Pro sports are no longer about selling tickets to the average fan. It's easier for them to sell 1/3 fewer golf tickets, especially if they can sell them at triple or quadruple the price. This is not a PGA TOUR mandate, it's something that's come about as learned "best practices" from all the Tour events around the country. Tournaments share ideas and concepts that work with one another. This is where it has led. Just look at how many tournaments are trying to recreate the 17th hole experience at Scottsdale, and what a mess that is. LIV Golf built an entire business plan on taking that concept to the extreme.

If you want to see this concept in full bloom, look at ticket options for F1 races. They are insane, and you can't see any action!
 
P

Putt4Purple

Active Member
ShreveFrog said:
I expected something more harsh from you. If the tournament does not coincide with the Big XII baseball tournament in Arlington, I doubt I'll be back. It's ruint! Turrible! I'll check out the Byron in McKinney instead.
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Why expect a hard response? You prefer baseball over golf does not matter to me. There is no one sport I prefer over another. Just FYI! Go Frogs!
 

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