"The world's No. 1 tennis player spends 90 percent of his time winning, while the world's No. 1 golfer spends 90 percent of his time losing. Golfers are great losers." -- David Feherty

Verdi gets PGA of America lifetime award

Bob Verdi of Northbrook, Ill., has been named recipient of the 2004 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. He is the 15th individual to be selected.

Verdi, 58, will be honored April 7, at the Golf Writers Association of America Annual Spring Dinner and Awards Ceremony in Augusta, Ga.

“The PGA of America is proud to present this award to Bob Verdi, whose journalistic journey in sports has brought us all closer to the subject, no matter what arena we may be in,” said PGA of America President M.G. Orender. “There are few writers today who exemplify the talents of Bob in getting us into the same room with his interview subjects, and providing good humor, keen insight and motivation.”

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Verdi spent his youth on Long Island in Port Washington, N.Y., and would make his first pilgrimage to standout golf layouts while setting up tee times for his neighborhood friends at Bethpage Park State Golf Course. Verdi estimated that he has covered every golf major championship since 1980, interrupted only during the 1990s as he also covered the 1996 Summer Olympics and the Chicago Bulls’ run to six NBA titles.

“I’m extremely humbled by this honor, considering those who have preceded me,” said Verdi. “I’m from the old school when it comes to covering sports. I’m not of the ‘assassin’ school of journalism. I couldn’t get mad four or five times a week. I awaken every day looking at the sports world as games."

Past winners of the award include: Dick Taylor, Herbert Warren Wind, Jim Murray, Frank Chirkinian, Bob Green, Dan Jenkins, Furman Bisher, Jack Whitaker, Dave Anderson, Ken Venturi, Jim McKay, Kaye Kessler, Nick Seitz and Renton Laidlaw.

Climate monitoring network is operational

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says its new high-tech network designed to track the nation’s temperature and precipitation trends is operating in 28 states.

The U.S. Climate Reference Network will improve the ability of America’s decision-makers to form policies about programs impacted by climate variability and change.

"The climate reference network helps us fill an important land based gap of data in the United States that we will need in the larger and more comprehensive Earth observation system being developed by more than 34 countries in what could be the next 10 years," said Conrad C. Lautenbacher, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere. “With important links like the CRN, the Earth observation system will help address emerging global issues and lay the groundwork for improved environmental decision-making and economic growth and prosperity.”

The United States has already made significant investments in space and surface-based observing systems, including its ability to monitor the ozone layer using spacecraft and aircraft and the TAO/Triton Array of buoys that have helped forecast the most recent El Niño six months in advance. The CRN will provide the United States new data points in a swift and affordable manner.

Currently, there are 46 CRN stations deployed in 28 states. Additional deployments for the next two years are scheduled at a rate of about 27 each year. Officials said a total of 100 stations are planned throughout the rest of nation by 2006.

NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites transmit the data received from these ground-based stations in near real-time to the NOAA Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C. NCDC posts the observations online in near real-time to users around the world.

Florida course faces homeless dilemma

The national news has been filled lately with reports about a homeless Florida man who claimed to have lived on a golf course for 40 years. He said he'd been evicted because golfers complained about him.

According to Carlos McKeon, manager of golf operations for Miami-Dade County and a former superintendent, the story is something of a cautionary tale for golf course managers.

According to the story distributed by The Associated Press, Kenny Bethel, 55, said he first came to Palmetto Golf Course in 1963. He collected and resold stray golf balls, used the club's showers and toilets at night and slept in an area on the course that housed the showers. "This course became my job and, later, my home," he said.

He said that recently, however, he gets chased away by the staff when he tries to hunt for balls and that the restrooms he used are now locked at night.

The complete AP story is available online.

But McKeon, who oversees four 18-hole and three nine-hole courses, says there's more to the story. "This is a public course that belongs to Miami-Dade County, so lots of people cross the property, some of them hunt for golf balls, despite county regulation prohibiting such activities. Mr. Bethel has been doing it most consistently, but he hasn't lived on the course for 40 years."

According to McKeon, the first anyone recalls seeing him there all the time was after hurricane Andrew in 1993. The current manager and superintendent of the course, Marcus Prevatte, who worked at Palmetto as an irrigation technician in the 1980s doing night watering with a quick coupler system, said he never saw Bethel there at night.

Because the property is only 125 acres, all of which is maintained as turfgrass, there wasn't anywhere for Bethel to be out of sight. Golf course staff repeatedly told Bethel he couldn't stay on the course, but without any other place to go, he always returned.

McKeon said, "Throughout the years, as he's lived on the course we've told him that he can't be there, he's trespassing. We reported him to the police, and they removed him from the course on a number of occasions, perhaps as many as 25.

"We were conscious of it and understood that no other agencies were going to do anything about it. Our society didn't have any way to deal with this particular situation," McKeon said.

When golfers, especially women, started contacting the county to complain that he was a nuisance, and that his presence near the restrooms was scaring them, the staff was forced to take action.

"He's out here in violation of county ordinances. Despite being offered a job on the golf course on more than one occasion; he's chosen to continue his lifestyle," McKeon said.

For others in the business, McKeon offered, "When this kind of an activity begins, be careful of the precedent, because inaction can lead to the assumption that approval has been granted."

If nothing, else, the outcome should be a warning to anyone who manages a golf course in the warmer climates.