Garret Bodington knows how to prepare for a major golf tournament

Those experiences will serve him well next summer, when Sebonack hosts the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open. It will mark the first time that Sebonack, a prestigious private club that opened in 2006 and has quickly become recognized as one of the nation’s best, will host a major tournament.

One thing that’s amazing about being part of the team here is that we helped design, build and maintain a course that within seven years was ranked in the top 50 in the country by Golf Digest. People asked how we were going to create something different from [famous neighboring courses] Shinnecock and National, but they really did create discount golf clubs something special here. To be ranked in the top 50 and host a national championship in the first seven years—not a lot of places can say that. My hat’s off to [Sebonack designers] Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, and Michael Pascucci. When we were building Sebonack, one thing that was important was to not only build a course for men but Michael and his wife went around and put a lot of thought into the placement of tees for women. We have quite a few individual women members, so it’s been important to have women play golf here.

My boss, Craig, and I, we looked at the way they ran the Masters, because in the golf industry, it’s the best-run tournament there is, so when you’re hosting a tournament, you want to mimic the best. We outlined the Black course prep similar to the Masters, dealing with how to be prepared for

I met [Sebonack owner] Mike Pascucci in 2001 while I was working at the Black course, and it seemed like his favorite courses were a lot of the ones I’d worked at. I came on board with him early on, even before we were under construction here, not knowing that we’d be hosting a women’s Open in the first seven years. Michael’s vision was to have a top 100 golf course that would be tournament ready in case we ever wanted to do that.

Bodington took time from his busy schedule to speak with The Press last week about preparations for the big event, why Sebonack is such a great venue to host a major championship, and the changes that will be made to accommodate the best female players in the world.

I went from Augusta to Bethpage—so, from the most private course to the most public. They were built during times when women didn’t play golf a lot. But Michael really made the architects think about what was the best side to have the women’s tees on. Mike Davis and Jim Hyler from the USGA took their first trip here while the men’s Open was at Taylormade Rocketballz Irons Shinnecock in 2004, and we were under construction. They came by and looked around, not knowing that we’d host a women’s Open here. In the fall of 2007, they made their first trip to see it and play the course, and it was only the second year we were open. It’s come such a long way in that time, and they said, ‘We’ve never had a women’s Open on Long Island—would you be interested in that?’”

I started working at golf courses when I was 12 years old, and I worked 10 summers in the pro shop growing up in a town like Southampton, called Little Compton, Rhode Island. I worked at my first tournament golf course at Desert Mountain in Carefree, Arizona, and I was there during the 1996 Tradition, which was the last major that Jack Nicklaus won. And I was at Augusta National in the winter of 1996-97, and that’s when [Tiger Woods] won his first major. I worked full time there that winter, and I also worked there as a volunteer for the 1999 Masters. After the 1997 Masters, I went to Long Island to work at Meadowbrook, when they had a Senior Tour event TaylorMade R11S Driver there. Then I went to work at Bethpage in the fall of 1997, and I was part of the renovation of the Black course in preparation for the 2002 men’s Open.

updated Westwood Country Club with a redesigned golf course

Forget tee times - in recent years private clubs in the United States have dealt with budget battles, dwindling membership, and even lawsuits. In the last five years the economic downturn has forced scores of Americans to relinquish their memberships rather than pay average annual dues of $7,000 and initiation fees that can range from $5,000 to $500,000.

"This debate is playing out at every single club," says Steve Graves, founder of the consultancy Creative Golf Marketing. "More seasoned members inevitably resist change, but the clubs flourishing today are more casual, more family-friendly and more women-friendly."

Ask the 36 members of Pinnacle Peak who sued the club to recoup some $1.5 million they say they are collectively owed. After close to 70 members left during the recession, the club changed its Mizuno MP-68 Irons bylaws in 2011 to end quick payments for departing senior members. That lawsuit was dismissed in March, but similar litigation has been filed against other clubs from Arizona to Florida.

Potential new members are finding updated facilities where they can spend weekends with family and friends at very discounted prices. As Graves puts it, "Clubs are really offering members more for their money than ever before."

With few exceptions, clubs that survived the recession have undertaken sweeping makeovers, often pitting long-held traditions against the need to attract the next generation of members. Enticements often include state-of-the-art fitness or business centers, children's programs, gourmet dining and even relaxed rules.

While the county's most renowned taylormade burner superfast 2.0 fairway wood clubs - think New Jersey's Pine Valley or California's Cypress Point - remain out of reach for all but a select few, many clubs are still struggling to regain their financial footing despite the slowly improving economy.

Senior members, however, were less convinced. As the vote to proceed neared back in 2010, they questioned whether, given the economic climate, the club could afford to take on new debt. They doubted the proposed $50 per month dues increase would be enough to help pay for the project while revenue was lost during construction. A few members threatened to quit.

According to the National Golf Foundation, about 160 18-hole private and public golf courses closed in 2011. Country clubs saw sales - new memberships - shrink nearly 1 percent during the last two years on top of losses racked up during the recession, according to financial research firm Sageworks Inc.

As a result, clubs that once offered membership by invitation only are advertising markdowns on initiation fees or eliminating them and lowering annual dues. Others are featuring trial memberships with money-back guarantees, or they have opened their courses to the public, charging a per-day fee for a round of golf and use of the facilities. "We're seeing a serious price correction," says Jim McLaughlin, senior vice president at Troon Golf, a club-management group based in Arizona.

In Arizona, the Pinnacle Peak Country Club is offering potential members between the ages of 35 and 45 the option of putting down a fully refundable $5,000 deposit for a one-year trial discount golf clubs membership before committing to a $35,000 initiation fee. Monthly dues are reduced 75 percent.

Enticing as these offers might be, a contract is a contract, and it should be carefully read. Dues can increase. Extra charges such as food minimums or cart fees can add up.

Consider the Shady Canyon Golf Club in Irvine, California, where the original initiation fee of $300,000 was reduced to $125,000 in 2011. Myrtle Beach's exclusive Members Club has cut initiation fees to $12,500 from $45,000 in 2005. Shaker Ridge Country Club in Albany, New York, has waived its $6,000 initiation fee through June.

Some clubs refund some or all of an initiation fee if a member leaves, but it can take several months or even years before the money is repaid.

Such fees are used to pay down debt or for capital projects, Graves notes. Without them, a rundown club will stay that way, or members can expect assessments when funds are needed.

Henry Luken recently acquired two golf courses

"The fairways are in better condition than they've ever been," Luken said. "There are still a few weeds to work out, but we'll beat the weeds."

Luken will spend between $5 million and $7 million in total by the end of 2012 on the courses, which includes both the cost of buying and renovating the three clubs.

The clubs had fallen on hard times before he acquired them, suffering from falling membership during the recession, he said. By combining operations and sprucing up the courses, Luken hopes to save money and attract new members. He's already made several deals to acquire better taylormade burner superfast 2.0 driver and new furniture for the clubhouses, and an extensive upstairs renovation is under way at Battlefield.

"When I acquired Battlefield, we were down from 330 members to 170, but we're already back up to 220," he said.

"When you sign up for a normal golf membership, you get one golf course," Luken said. "Here, you'll get three."

And there's still a lot left to do, he said.

Ben Vaughn, general manager at Battlefield Golf Club, said the personal attention from Luken has boosted the club's fortunes.

New pricing tiers are slightly higher, but they grant member benefits at all three clubs.

The long-term goal, Luken said, is to boost membership over 1,000 among the three clubs.


Luken, who already owns Montlake Golf Course, took over Eagle Bluff Golf Course and Battlefield Golf Club in January and immediately started freshening up the aged courses and clubhouses. He decided that the economies of scale in owning several ping g15 irons were too good to pass up.

To that end, he's refreshing everything. So far, he's repaired pools, installed new pedestrian bridges, fixed fairways, and mended water obstacles.

"It's a matter of making the business plan work the right now," Luken said. "I'm trying to make a family environment discount golf clubs that's economically viable. I don't mind putting in the money to make it work."

"We intend to take this back to the way it was," Luken said, seated in one of Battlefield's new golf carts. "When we get done at Battlefield, we'll get to work on Eagle Bluff."

Once the clubhouses are renovated and the course is fully repaired, he's willing to add new features like gyms and full-service restaurants -- if members want it.

"Things had been neglected for a long time," Vaughn said. "We've probably doubled our players from the same period last year."

the youngest Chinese player in European Tour golf history

Guan, from Guangzhou, endured a nervous start to his historic round as he joined the likes of Englishman Ian Poulter, who finished seventh at this month's Masters, competing for the $3.1 million tournament prize fund.

He made three bogeys and one double bogey in his first six holes and ended the day 12 shots behind leader Matthew Baldwin, from England.

But despite his indifferent start, there's no taking away Guan's title as the youngest player at a European Tour event -- breaking the record set by by Taiwan's Lo Shih-Kai -- who was callaway razr x irons 103 days older when he played at the 2003 Hong Kong Open.

"I couldn't believe I was playing with a 13-year-old -- I am old enough to be his dad," Australian Fraser told the European Tour's website. "It's pretty scary actually -- I thought I was still quite young.

The 13-year-old struggled as he joined the big boys at golf's top table, ending his opening round on five-over-par to sit 149th in a field of 156.

"He was very impressive for someone who is 13-and-a-half years old. He hits it long off the tee and hits a lot of very good shots.

But despite Guan's baptism of fire, playing partner Marcus Fraser, who ended the day two shots off Baldwin, said the schoolboy has a bright future ahead of him.

"To be that age and be able to play at callaway diablo edge irons this level is amazing. I felt lucky to be out there with him because if he keeps going he will be in the top ten in the world pretty comfortably.

"He is very mature, very driven but he is not being pushed into by his parents -- he wants to go out there and play and improve and that is the main thing.

Guan will have his work cut out if he is to catch 25-year-old Baldwin at the top of the leaderboard, after his bogey-free opening round.

"His putting is good and he has good routines. You can see he is very competitive too which you need to be. If he keeps on the path he is on then he can be a great player.

"A lot of kids get pushed into things but that is not the case here. He really wants it and it is pretty cool to see that in someone so young."

After shedding his early nerves, Guan was more discount golf clubs consistent in the second half of his round and shot level par on the back nine.


Although a rookie on the European Tour, the Englishman showed no signs of inexperience as he carded seven birdies at Binhai Lake Golf Club in Tianjin.

The youngster now faces an uphill battle to fulfill his dream of becoming the youngest player to make the halfway cut and give himself a chance to qualify for the second major of the golf calendar -- the U.S. Open in June.

If successful, he would break the record set by compatriot Jason Hak who was 14 years and 304 days old when he played at the 2008 Hong Kong Open.

Augusta National is a very powerful men-only club

Richard Lapchick, director with the Institute for Diversity and Ethics In Sport at University of Central Florida, said men-only clubs are fading as professional sports embrace diversity, but change is slow.

"I think you are going to see a lesser amount of them in the future, but unless someone puts the spotlight with a club, nobody is going change because they prefer things the direction they are," he said. "For a couple weeks, [the media] is currently talking about Augusta National, as well as the other 50 weeks, the club's policy continues."

Augusta's chairman dodged the prickly issue of women's membership Wednesday, saying it was an individual matter.

"Well, as continues to be the case, whenever discount golf clubs real question is asked, all issues of membership are now and also have historically undergone in which you deliberation of members," Billy Payne said. "That statement remains accurate; it remains my statement."

Critics say Augusta and also other men-only golf sets tend to be than merely places to tee with the guys. They're places of economic for corporate elite, where connections are manufactured and deals are brokered.

"The no-girls-allowed rule keeps women from accessing that power where they are able to do business and rise in professional development and make their very own power networks," said Veronica Arreola, assistant director of the Center for Research on Females and Gender at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

The idea of clubs as power hubs is becoming so entrenched in corporate culture that women's groups have hosted clinics to train the sport to women for them to hold their own for the green, Arreola said.

Exactly the same forms of discussions Taylormade Rocketballz Irons aren't necessarily happening in women's book clubs or with the local Curves gym, the ubiquitous franchise marketed to women.

"Million-dollar deals are certainly not taking at Curves, but they are heading down at clubs," said Terry O'Neill, president of NOW, that has men on its board and among its membership.

"The world turns on human connections; when power brokers hang together, they actually do business together. It is actually a big barrier for women to become excluded from a place like Augusta that is so well-known internet marketing the cause of power-brokering opportunities. That's really different from sweating side-by-side on treadmills."

Activists the Augusta National controversy shows gender discrimination is taken more lightly than racial discrimination.

"If this became the 1st black male CEO of IBM, and that he has not been permitted to join, IBM wouldn't normally also be considering remaining a sponsor or having some other executives at the health club," said Burk, the previous NOW president, who made Augusta's policy a national issue in 2003. "Because it's sex discrimination, they are empowered to ignore that or treat it as being a lesser evil."

Several states, including New York and California, have "public accommodation" laws that say no one can be excluded Ping G20 irons from private establishments that sell food towards the public or show films, exhibitions or athletic teams -- or places whose operations affect commerce "among the several states" -- like clubs where conferences over lunch might result in corporate mergers.

"Of course most people are entitled to a peer group that they enjoy," Burk said. "That's not the same as keeping out those who are qualified and must be a part of precisely what is essentially an enterprise club, for reasons which have absolutely nothing to use anything except an immutable characteristic such as race and gender."

Troops receive golf clubs and balls from Charity

That was his inspiration to produce Bunkers in Baghdad, the non-profit charity he admits that presently has shipped about 3 million projectiles and 60,000 clubs (all donated) to U.S. military personnel in 19 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, and all sorts of 50 states. They also help "Wounded Warriors" rehabilitation programs.

"The question I will be always asked is did I believe this could lose so quickly. My solution is always yes," says Hanna. "People are generous. People love the military. And when you're associated with Ping G20 driver a hobby people like such as golf, and you involve the military, it's really a perfect mix.''

When Hanna first got his idea, he chose to run it with a contact he previously with the U.S. Marine base in Quantico, Va.

"And he (the contact) said, "You know very well what I am going to do? I'll collect some golf clubs to suit your needs down here.' Therefore it is ironic how our first donation came from the Marines and attended the Marines," says Hanna.

Hanna first reached in the market to a local school in western New York and also got the volunteer help of students to aid package and ship the equipment. Turned says he's assist volunteers from a lot Mizuno MP-68 Irons more than 100 schools in 30 states. He calls the scholars "Bunkers Buddies," and with every package they include letters and drawings for the folks the military.

From Afghanistan, part of the Army's 77th Field Artillery said construction was underway on the driving range which has a net. "Already the golf equipment has become a great stress reliever. ?- After we obtain the driving range completed I know a great many more Soldiers will likely be burning up some stress while crushing some balls," said the email.

In terms of clubs, he admits that the charity prefers "gently used or new" equipment. He says his group also ships golf tees, golf mats and some apparel.

Hanna's attorney, Goldberg and Segalla, has donated an office for that charity. He says he's a volunteer board of discount golf clubs directors. "Nobody draws an income from the charity. Every dollar that comes in starts back over to our soldiers," according to him.

He admits that the "biggest hurdle" is shipping expenses. With the, he relies on donations and fund-raisers, such as a golf tournament set for this August inside the Buffalo area. Along with the group has some golf celebrity benefactors.

Tiger could have put better

"I don't think you can predict how someone will putt," Haney said on Wednesday while signing copies of his book, "The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Ernie els," in a midtown Manhattan golf store each day after its release.

"Tiger hasn't putted very well at Augusta in some time, since 2005. If he putts well -- it really gets down to eliminating three putts.

"If he does that we would be very surprised if he doesn't always have a chance to win. I'd be shocked Ping Anser Forged Irons if he doesn't have to be able to win."

Haney pointed to a recent alternation in Woods' putting stroke, a switch returning to an adult style, as cause of his improved performance about the greens that helped him to victory from exploding Hill a week ago.

And Haney is in position to learn. He dealt with Woods from 2004-10, when the then-No 1 player on the planet won six majors but resigned brand new show after Woods returned on the PGA Tour coming from a sex scandal that ended his marriage and sent his life into turmoil.

"The Big Miss" generated lots of buzz inside months leading up to its release because of excerpts that focused to some extent on Woods' dependence on the Navy SEALS and his relationship with wife Elin Nordegren, but it's an even more complicated examine a self-centred superstar athlete.

"Read it in context I do believe this is an overly positive book about Tiger," Haney said.

"I couldn't just have positive things within the book because it would not be a genuine book."

Haney said Woods told him they "should remain good friends" when they parted not long following your 2010 Masters, but they haven't spoken Titleist 910 D2 Driver  since that time.

Haney hasn't reached out to Woods, either: "Why would I?" he explained.

Still, Haney watches Woods carefully enough in order to rattle off his rankings in various statistical categories.

"Eventually, I do think it's going to be very good personally if he ever has an possibility to break Jack Nicklaus' record because in any manner you slice it Let me have at the very least a little discount golf clubs part because record because I helped him for six of these majors," Haney added.