Aug 25, 2018 By Mike Dudurich for The 4 min read

So, we now know when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will put on their made-for-TV extravaganza over Thanksgiving weekend in one of the most elite golf courses in the country, Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.

They’ll play for $9 million of someone else’s money and the winner will no doubt donate a portion of that windfall to a charitable entity. That’s a very nice thing.

The event will be staged at a time of day so that the finish will take place under the lights, adding to the showbiz aspect. Woods and Mickelson will have the option of inserting side bets — longest drive, closest to the pin, etc. — into the proceedings, increasing the money exchanging hands.

Since I haven’t taken a poll, I can’t be sure how golf fans feel about all of this. On the surface, it sounds like a nice break from the football overdose that is always a key part of Thanksgiving weekend. Long-time golf fans will remember that the very popular Skins Games were played over Thanksgiving weekend with the greats of the game like Palmer, Nicklaus, Player, Miller, et al, competing.

As watchers of sports, we expect to be able to do so when we want and how we want.

The Skins Games were on network TV, but that’s not going to be the case with this thing.

It was announced this week that it will be a pay-per-view extravaganza, casting one more bit of mystery in how this will all work out. The organizers are counting on people reaching deeply into their pockets for the privilege of watching two guys play a meaningless exhibition.

My initial thought on the matter is that I’ll stick to football that weekend and read about the exhibition on the internet later. What we don’t know is what the fee for this is going to be.

Big-time boxing matches charge upward of $100 for pay-per-view. That’s a very high-rent district, especially for this matchup that means nothing.

For some reason, the pricing has not been revealed for this one. I saw on the internet in last couple days that a rumor suggested perhaps something in the $12-$15 dollar range.

My opinion is this: making this thing a pay-per-view is a bad idea. What’s to be gained other than lining the pockets of whatever entity is behind the production?

It’s a bad idea for golf, which always seems to be looking for ways to grow the game. I’m not so sure a pay-per-view event is the way to do that from the game standpoint.

Best of luck to all concerned.

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I heard something last week that I found really hard to believe.

As we have struggled for weeks with rain, cart path only has become a way of life at many courses, roped off areas are a way of live and some courses will be doing work from now until winter repairing damage caused by all of the rain.

But a friend told me that a group of his buddies made a trip to Buffalo for a weekend of golf and were shocked by what they found. They said each of the courses they played were almost rock-hard. Firm and fast were the operable words.

I wonder how that possible just four hours from here?

The guys swear it was the truth.

I do really miss seeing a ball bounce in the fairway.

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If you have an interesting story about your club or course or an individual who has done something special? Let me know. Send your story ideas to mike.dudurich@gmail.com.