Spieth enters the weekend at the Waste Management Phoenix Open with a shot at his first win in four years. But he has been here before. Is now the time?
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New Zealand's Ryan Fox carded a second consecutive five-under-par 65 to take a share of the lead in a rain-affected second round at the Saudi International on Friday.
NCGA Alum Justin Suh Gives Back
February 5, 2021
San Jose native and two-time Junior Tour of Northern California Player of the Year Justin Suh literally paid it forward.Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, Suh finished tied for 37th at the Farmer’s Insurance Open, earning a check for $34,125. So what did Suh, who was playing in just his 17th career PGA Tour event do with his winnings?The 23-year-old donated half his winnings back to the tournamentSuh, who is waiting for the PGA Tour Latinoamerica season to start, said his decision came as a result of seeing the impact COVID-19 has had on his home state.
“It was a shock to see how many tents are out on the street and how many businesses have cardboard and wooden planks on the windows,” Suh said. “So it’s extremely sad going back home. I played [in the Farmers] last year and was lucky enough to get a spot again this year, and it just felt like the right thing to do. The tournament, the Century Club, they’re the ones who take care of us as players. And they’re the ones out there—from taking our COVID testing and making sure the security is right—just helping out and making the experience the best that they could for us as players.”
Joining Suh in giving back was his caddie, A.J. Montecinos, who also donated half his earnings from the week. The two had made the decision early on in the week before the tournament started.
It caught Marty Gorsich, the second-year tournament director and CEO of the Century Club completely by surprise, with Gorsich telling GolfChannel.com, which first reported Suh’s donation, that in his nine years with the organization he had never had or heard of a gesture like that from a player in the tournament.
The story of the new TaylorMade Distance+ golf ball is as simple as it gets for the category.
Distance+ is an inexpensive ball designed to hit a price point. It’s positioned for the no-frills’ golfer looking for affordability, distance and, in this case, an integrated alignment aid.
Distance+ Alignment.
And there you have it.
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We want to hear from you – your golf habits, information you find valuable, and how you select equipment that’s right for you.
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Taneka Mackey is the first Bahamian woman and the only Black woman caddie on the LPGA Tour full time. The former competitive golfer discusses managing her multiple sclerosis while on tour and being the first but not the last.
Introducing Astro Tour V501 Irons from Masters! Astro Tour V501 irons are made with forged S20C mild carbon steel featuring an undercut cavity back shape. The undercut cavity design allows further lowering of the CG as well as improving MOI and helps create softer feel at impact. Although the Astro Tour V501 irons are a forgiving under cavity back design, it is also designed to provide great workability and excellent turf interaction preferred by better players. Another feature of the V501 irons are the addition of two 5g tungsten weight screws on the back which helps with lowering CG that helps with easier launch. The Tungsten weight screws also helps with creating a larger sweet spot and a head that creates stronger impact. Easy to launch, larger sweet spot and stronger impact are 3 of the most important design characteristic for optimal distance performance in irons. The face features precision laser milling which creates consistent friction that works to create consistent back spin on every shot. At a micro level, the surface of the ball pushes in further into the face milling creating a very soft compressed sensation at impact.
Astro Tour V501 irons have lofts that are modern with a 43 deg PW which seems to have become the norm for some one piece forged irons … perhaps should be referred to as “semi-game improvement forged irons?” Now that the multi-material irons are available in a more player’s category you need stronger lifts to keep up performance wise, yet the one piece forged will still promise better feel over the multi-material counterparts. Offset is quite small with a face progression spec of 4.0mm for the 5 iron and 4.5mm for 6-AW. Astro Tour V501 irons are offered with Fujikura 7 Axis graphite shafts as well as the popular NS 950GH and Dynamic Gold steel shafts.
Astro Tour V501 Iron Specification
| Head material/manufacturing method | S20C (soft iron) forging | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Half mirror finish CNC precision machining undercut | ||||||
| Count | # 5 | # 6 | # 7 | # 8 | # 9 | PW | AW |
| Loft angle | 24 | 27 | 30 | 34 | 38 | 43 | 48 |
| Lie angle | 60.5 | 61 | 61.5 | 62 | 62.5 | 63 | 63 |
| F.P | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Head weight | 254g ± | 261g ± | 268g ± | 275g ± | 282g ± | 290g ± | 292g ± |
| Shaft | Fujikura 7-axis carbon | NS950GH | Dynamic gold | ||||
| Length | 37.25 inches (# 7) | 37 inches (# 7) | 36.75 inches (# 7) | ||||
| Flex | R / S | R / S | S200 / X100 | ||||
| Gross weight | 380g ± (# 7 R) | 413g ± (# 7 R) | 436g ± (# 7 S200) | ||||
The post Astro Tour V501 Irons appeared first on TourSpecGolf Golf Blog.
Matthew NeSmith, who shot a 63 to be tied atop the Phoenix Open on Thursday, said he got "about six claps" after nearly hitting a hole-in-one at TPC Scottsdale, where attendance was capped at about 5,000.
Englishman David Horsey hit form with seven birdies to take a one-shot lead over Scotland's Stephen Gallacher in round one of the Saudi International.
The Best Cart Bags of 2021
It’s hard to reinvent the wheel. Right?
Yes, you can tweak something here and there but you don’t mess with the basic concept. A car still needs wheels and a chassis, a house still needs walls and a roof and a golf club still needs a shaft, a head and a grip.
Just like the basic golf bag. While the concept remains the same—you have to put your clubs somewhere, right?—it is being continually refined and improved.
As a result, more and more bags are contending for this year’s No. 1 spot in our Best Cart Bags 2021 competition. Yes, there are some that are crap but there’s less mediocrity. There’s little in-between. It’s either good or it’s not. We’ve looked at the “good” and now we are telling you what we consider the “best.”
Whether you’re looking to buy the best cart bag today, seeking some buying advice or just want a closer look at what’s on the market right now, we’re here to help.
The Waste Management Phoenix Open is known for its raucous, boozy atmosphere. Not this year. Instead of people everywhere and noise all the time, the volume will be turned down.
Women’s Golf
Most NCGA events are open to male & female players, but we have over 25 championship tournaments and qualifiers that are women-only!
The post NCGA Women’s Events appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.
In our last blog we recommended slowing down your backswing to allow more time for the weight shift during your transition. We are actually trying to achieve a number of movements during our back swing but you may not realize this. All of the movements seem to melt into one consistent motion. If you miss one key element in your backswing you will destroy the downswing and your perfect impact.
I noticed that the top golfer in the world, Dustin Johnson, starts his takeaway by bending his trailing wrist back to flatten his leading wrist. Bryson DeChambeau sets up with a very rigid straight leading arm and flat leading wrist which points down along the shaft of his club directly out from his leading foot. No other professional golfer setup with this rigid leading arm setup. It actually makes him look like a stiff robot but the power he generates is even greater than Dustin’s so it must be helping.
Dustin ends up bowing his leading wrist at the top of his backswing and adding more angles that need to be adjusted in his downswing. An even worse situation is that many recreational golfers cup their wrists.
Bryson keeps his leading wrist flat at the top of his swing and just unloads his straight arm down and through his ball whipping the head of his club through the ball with the explosive force of a catapult. We all need to learn from his powerful swing.
Hank Haney used these images in Golf Digest to illustrate a flat leading wrist to eliminate angles. Images to the right show cupped and bowed wrists which should be avoided.
Opportunity
1/ FLAT LEADING WRIST: Setting up with a rigid straight leading arm and wrist (like Bryson) is obviously not anyone’s preference (as no one else is doing it on the pro circuit). Why not setup with a straight leading arm, then flatten your leading wrist as the first move in your takeaway, the way Dustin does it.
2/ ADD RHYTHM TO YOUR SWING: Slow down you take-away to give yourself time to flatten your leading wrist and then cock that wrist to create lag at the top of you swing. That slower take-away also give you time to put some rhythm in your backswing as you transfer your weight to your leading foot. To slow down my takeaway I often mentally say: “1 aaand 2” with the rhythm of a 2-Step.
–“1” to start my take-away as I flatten my leading wrist
–“aaand” as I load up my back-swing with lag and start to shift my weight to my leading leg
–“2” to start my downswing. I shallow my downswing from the inside and up my target line to a balanced pose.
Now that I have slowed down my backswing I have added about 10 yards for every club. I love the extra distance but it requires some adjustment to drop down a club for each distance. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading arm straight and also to keep your leading wrist flat. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com
Rory McIlroy, speaking Wednesday about his embedded ball situation at Torrey Pines over the weekend, said a volunteer emailed the PGA Tour on Monday, alerting the tour to the fact that they had stepped on McIlroy's ball while searching for it.
Augusta National and the Masters Tournament are providing property and donating $1 million to help with COVID-19 vaccinations in the area.
R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers is optimistic some number of fans will be permitted at Royal St. George's for The Open in July but said that the major championship will be played regardless.
Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele have cleared the air after Schauffele was unhappy about Reed's rules controversy.
Getting the Hole-In-One Grand Slam
February 3, 2021
Rocklin resident and NCGA member Ben Menold has the ultimate score on each of his home course’s par-3s.
Back in November, Menold, 73, aced the par-4th hole at Whitney Oaks GC using a No.4 hybrid.
The hole-in-one was significant, as it marked the completion of a ‘Grand Slam Hole-In-One’ cycle on each of Whitney Oaks’ four par-3s—Nos. 4, 8, 12 and 16. It all started with an ace on No.16 in April 2012. In July 2013, he got his second ace, that coming on the 164-yard par-3 12th. Another year later in 2014 he had his third ace, getting on the 160-yard 8th using a 6-iron.
Al that had been left was an ace on No.4. Menold estimates he played the hole over 400 times in the last six years. He wouldn’t get the final elusive ace until he again struck gold last November.
The PGA Tour heads to Scottsdale this week for the Waste Management Open. Our experts offer their best bets for the event.
Bryson DeChambeau said it's "really cool" to see conversation about potential changes to regulations to control distance off the tee.
