Golfing News & Blog Articles

Longtime golf writer Craig Dolch returns in the Palm Beach Post pages to share with anti-mask-wearing world just one more sad and profound consequence of COVID-19’s horrifying spread among Americans: some in group homes no longer can receive visits. Including his son Eric, now 29, who was struck with a bacterial infection at age 14 and requires group home care. In Florida, visitors are prohibited in such facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eric’s situation is no different than thousands of elderly and sick individuals throughout Florida who have been left isolated because of the pandemic. Families have been unable to say goodbye to their parents or grandparents, not to mention how difficult it is for those who have become prisoners in their facilities. More than 1,500 people have died in long-term care facilities in Florida due to COVID-19.

So excuse me when someone says it’s their right not to wear a mask. What about my son’s rights and others who have no control over how the public reacts to the greatest medical crisis of our lifetime?
Without a mask, they are the silent face of this pandemic. They have no say.

For weeks, I was counting down the days to July 1 – the date we expected the governor to allow visitors into these homes again. I stopped doing that two weeks ago when the number of positive tests in Florida started to spike.

Mostly because people won’t wear masks.

Doc Redman shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday to share the first-round lead with Scott Stallings and Kevin Kisner in the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

The PGA Tour created an additional spot in the Charity Open field for Chase Koepka after he chose to withdraw from the Travelers out of an abundance of caution.

He's had to fight through swing changes, and the blisters that come with swing changes, to find his missing game. It's only one round, but perhaps he's located it in Detroit, at a tournament in which his name is on the marquee.

The European Tour lifted Thorbjorn Olesen's suspension after his criminal trial was delayed until at least December 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The PGA of America is renaming its Horton Smith Award after a review of history revealed Smith defended the Caucasian-only membership clause when he served as PGA president in the early 1950s.

Score one for for Wendell Haskins, the PGA of America’s former director of inclusion efforts during CEO Pete Bevacqua’s years, who penned the organization to highlight how little they had done on the inclusion front. One highlight of the letter was his simple sentence noting Horton Smith’s overt racism.

Current CEO Seth Waugh reached out to Haskins and the two apparently had a healthy conversation that has now led to one noticeable change: the elimination of Smith’s name from the award for outstanding contributions to professional education.

For Immediate Release:

PGA of America Board Votes to Rename the Horton Smith Award

PGA of America sheds historic award with racial ties

GolfDigest.com’s John Feinstein follows up with Charlie Rymer about the longtime player and commentator’s COVID-19 battle. He’s back home in Myrtle Beach gradually recuperating. The story includes several noteworthy details beyond Rymer’s Tweets earlier this week, including his hospitalization, wife Carol’s role in his care and the comments from the lunatic he wasn’t expecting.

As always please hit the link, but just one part that stood out:

Country singer Vince Gill, a very good golfer Rymer has played with often, sent a video that was entertaining and funny. Former Acushnet CEO Wally Uihlein sent a text, and so did Pete Bevacqua, the president of the NBC Sports Group. Quite a few players also got in touch, including Harris English, who recently tested positive for COVID-19.

“I still can’t do a whole lot, so it’s been nice to sit here and read some of the notes and then take some time to respond and say thank you,” Rymer said. “I’d never say this is something I’d want to go through or would want to see anyone to go through, but I think in the end it can be a blessing.”

For many of us, there are one or two guys we’d rather not play with. For whatever reason, we just seem to play worse when paired with them. Someone I used to play with was a great guy but EVERY time we played together, I scuzzed it all over the course. Would it surprise you to learn that tour players deal with the same issue?

Last week, Bubba Watson was asked if it mattered with whom he played for the first two rounds.

“It matters tremendously. There’s guys that are a shot, maybe a two-shot, penalty when you see their name on that sheet. Maybe that’s what they say about me, too, so I guess it works both ways.” – Bubba Watson

I was curious if this could be quantified. Are there some players whose presence in a group causes others to play worse? Are there some that have the opposite effect and bring out the best in their playing partners?

Was it as challenging to play with Tiger in the fourth round as the commentators would have us believe?

The Courier’s Craig Smith explains plans for expanding the R&A Clubhouse (underground) along with other security updates. The building opened in early 1854 and now must accommodate the club’s inclusion of female members. Of course, none of this is open to the public so I’d understand your lack of interest. But it is golf’s most iconic clubhouse so…

However, the R&A’s new application for listed building consent for the proposed works represents one of the biggest changes in living memory.

It has not yet been revealed how much the redevelopment will cost but it is anticipated to be well into seven figures.

According to the proposals, 450 combined male and female lockers, providing adequate bench and hanging space, will be created along with showers and toilet facilities.

Bag storage areas catering for up to 500 golf bags and trolleys are planned, as are a drying room, a family-friendly meeting area to assist in the promotion of junior golf and a new arrival/drop off layby to improve the road network.

No one knows anything, or so the saying goes. Especially in a time of pandemic where the unknowns and mysteries keep even experts guessing, so you can’t blame the PGA Tour for altering their guidelines almost daily. The latest adjustment comes in the case of Cameron Champ, who arrived last week from Houston, tested positive for COVID-19, withdrew but subsequently tested negative twice.

And now, he gets a rule in his honor.

For Immediate Release.

PGA TOUR Statement – Health & Safety Plan Updates

July 1, 2020

With Titleist asking a few pros to hit shots with a dimple-free demonstration ball—video below—Golf.com’s Jonathan Wall says it reminds us how important those little indentations are to the modern ball.

So the next time you hammer a drive and watch the ball soar downrange, take a minute to tip your cap to the ball designer working diligently on the dimples. Without them, you’d need to be Iron Byron to keep it on the map.

Maybe we take just a few off for the pros-15 or so?-make it spin just a little more and see who really hits on the sweet spot? Or who knows how to use the spin to shape a shot? Think of the tracer fun!

Again, just a thought…

The PGA Tour announced a significant change to its COVID-19 policies Wednesday that will allow players or caddies who test positive but are asymptomatic to return to competition if they return two negative test results at least 24 hours apart.

Bubba Watson and Harold Varner III beat Jason Day and Wesley Bryan in a nine-hole exhibition match at The Rocket Mortgage Classic Wednesday that helped raise more than $1 million for Changing the Course, the event's charity initiative.

After withdrawing from the Travelers Championship as a precaution, a recharged Webb Simpson is ready for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and he said he believes golfers are taking protocols and safety measures more seriously now.

The USGA is leaning more on the world ranking for pros and amateurs, along with current money lists on American tours, to create a U.S. Women's Open field that will not have qualifying because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The PGA Tour heads to Detroit July 2-5 for the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Here are our experts' best bets.

That may seem like a pretty strange phase for a golf training solution but stay tuned and I guaranty that it will turn your drives on.  Yes, shallowing your driver in the backswing will be a key for your future power and consistency with your driver. The length of your driver is actually messing up the swing that you have honed with your irons. It’s easy to make your downswing from the inside with your iron and not as easy with your much longer driver.

We are all watching the pros swing their driver on TV and it appears so easy. They seem to swing back on one plane and then swing down on a slightly lower plane. Well as it turns out for recreational players it ain’t so easy.

David Leadbetter and Jim McLean both talk about swinging from the inside or from the slot. It’s easier said than done.
Top Speed Golf Blog gave us 3 areas to focus on at impact (for right handed golfers)
1/ Your left bicep should be squeezing against your left chest or peck muscle,
2/ Open your hips first (as you are rotating them toward the target)
3/ Your swing is to the right of your target line or you may feel that way as you shallow your club in the downswing.

You’ve heard about them, maybe seen them too. Everyday products are being hyped in your Twitter and Instagram feeds. They’re sometimes endorsed by pros, celebrities, and influencers alike. But do they live up to the hype? We take a closer look.

What are Golfers Talking About?

In 2017, Brooks Koepka issued Nike a challenge. He said, “Design me a running shoe that I can golf in.” Nike responded, “Let’s do it.”

Nike knows itself a thing or two about a good running shoe. The mega-brand integrated elements originally designed for running shoes and soccer cleats and combined it with Nike Zoom Stroble technology, first utilized by the NBA’s Kevin Durant.

The end result? The Nike Zoom Air Infinity Tour. They got the thumbs up from Koepka and Nike claims his swing speed increased as compared to his speed while wearing previous Nike models. How much? Nike doesn’t say, but we’re here to see if the Air Zoom Infinity Tour lives up to the hype.

Product Expert

Hi, I’m Harry, and I am a professional golf shoe tester. (Yes, they exist.) I actually test a lot of things at MyGolfSpy and play professionally when I’m not checking and comparing specs on gloves, rangefinders, bags.. ball retrievers.. etc. You can call me the Director of Soft Goods Testing here at MGS. You can also just call me Harry, that’s fine too.

During the “Return to Golf’s” initial three weeks, wannabe J.J. Watt stunt double and elite PGA Tour professional Bryson DeChambeau’s bulk-up, Bomb and Gouge approach has had him in contention.

But his style of play that sees drives air mailing design features raises questions about whether this is what the future of golf should look like. Particularly in making a mockery of courses built long ago and with no chance of imagining the regulatory complacency of the last twenty years to retain some sort of challenge.

DeChambeau is at least apologetic and respectful of a legend like Donald Ross, designer of the latest course to have no chance against modern equipment. After playing the front nine at Detroit Golf Club, home of this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, DeChambeau says he will be taking the fairway bunkers out of play.

From Will Gray at GolfChannel.com:

"I haven't played both sides yet, so seems like it's fairly tight, a lot of rough," DeChambeau said. "I think there's a lot of bunkers that are around like 290 (yards), so hopefully I'll be able to clear those and take those out of play. So, sorry, Mr. Ross, but, you know, it is what it is."