Golfing News & Blog Articles

The U.S. Open champion gave an interview on Sirius/XM and was asked again about last week’s “mockery” comments from Matthew Fitzpatrick. Like Einstein and Newton, Bryson’s approach will be better understood by future generations.

“You Look at Einstein, you look at Newton, you look at all these big-time names in the science field there’s been a lot of people that have been called crazy. Decades later they’re like, wow, that person was actually pretty interesting, he did a lot of amazing things. I’m not saying that’s what I’m going to do but, shoot, I hope so one day. That’d be fun.”

That would be fun.

If the governing bodies cared about this distance stuff and the amazing cascade of events we’ve witnessed this year, they’d be alarmed by other DeChambeau suggestions of “no end game” to the distance pursuit and this on long drivers:

”They’re still 25 mph faster than me. I mean, there’s so much room for improvement, I feel like.”

Those thirsting for the original links won’t quite get it at the Fairmont St Andrews, a Sam Torrance design that looks overshaped and, well, isn’t Crail, Elie or the Old Course. But it beats the silliness of Shadow Creek!

Brandon Tucker offers this preview in case you saw St. Andrews on your European Tour listing and got excited. The fall Dunhill Links this is not, but we’ll take something seaside with St Andrews in the title no matter what. Lee Westwood headlines the Scottish Championship Presented by AXA.

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Jerry Tarde’s “Last Call” column in the pre-November Masters issue makes a terrific case for what’s been lost with the end of true three-shot holes.

There’s something about the symphony of a par 5 that makes it greater than the sum of its shots. It requires more forward thinking, more self-restraint and sufferance, risk and reward at once. It can be cataclysmic like Sam Snead’s triple-bogey 8 when all he needed was a par on the last hole in the 1939 U.S. Open, or heroic like a 5 on the 18th at Pebble Beach any day of the week.

I was standing on the green of Pine Valley’s behemoth uphill 15th hole, measuring over 600 yards, about 15 years ago, when the second shot of the club’s pro, David Clark, bounded onto the putting surface, stopped and glacially rolled back off the fringe. David is a good player, but not Bryson DeChambeau. I remember thinking, Have I just witnessed the death of par 5s?

He eventually includes Tom Doak’s views on how to roll things back to restore relevancy and you’re feeling really good about the case Tarde’s making.

There used to be a list of what Tom Doak called in 1982 “the untouchables”—par 5s that had never been reached in two. In researching Golf Digest’s ranking of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses today, we’ve found only one untouchable left—the 675-yard 16th at Olympic’s Lake Course.

**Blogger’s note because the fact checkers are gone: even that 675 tee is one, only used for the 2012 U.S. Open. Go on…

Your setup for every shot on a fairway may need adjustments. Every course is rated with a SLOPE. It is drastically affected by the rolling terrain of the fairways. Every time that you find your ball on side sloping ground or a forward or backward sloping surface, you need to make adjustments or your will lose control of your shot.

Find a FLAT Surface for Your Tee Shot
The simplest mistake that I notice is when recreational players don’t check out the slope on the tee. Premium courses ensure that the tee is flat but many club and public courses don’t pay enough attention to the flat surface on every tee. A side slope to the left will automatically force your ball to pull to the left and a slope to the right is just as dangerous. Find a flat surface to setup your tee shot to avoid pulls or pushes or slices.

Setup for any Shot
Clay at Top Speed Golf recently pointed out the importance of your body position for your setup:
1/ Ball position (forward or back in your stance) affects your angle of attack and shot shape. Practice and know what to expect from your swing.
2/ Let your arms hang to avoid stretching to reach your ball.
3/ Your stance width relates to your stability and power, You need a shoulder width stance for driver power, a narrower stance for irons and even narrower stance for gentle chip shots.
4/ Bend your back forward (don’t hunch forward) at your hips (and stick your butt out) for more power using any club.
5/ Shoulder tilt is so critical to ensure that your club path will add launch angle to your drives.

Hitting from a side hill lie can throw your ball 20 yards in the wrong direction. Adjust your direction based on the severity of the slope.

Adjust for Slope (side, up or down)
A. Your mind expects to make every swing on a flat surface. It is difficult for you mind to adjust for your swing on sloped surfaces. Adjusting for the 5 points listed above will all be affected. To help your mind adjust, make a full speed practice swing on the same slope where your ball is resting. You need to “customize and sensitize” your body and mind for the swing that you need to make. Then duplicate that exact swing without changing your swing speed.
B. You swing a golf club in an arc. Expect that a side slope to the left will pull your shot to the left. If the slope is to the right and you are standing above the ball, you are faced with more problems. You may have to bend your knees a little more (or widen your stance) to reach the ball and to keep your balance. Your club will not lie flat on a down side slope. A severe side slope can catch your hosel and twist your club before impact. Don’t expect a miracle shot. Prepare for the worst and take your medicine to reach a safe location for your next shot.
C. When you hit from any up or down slope, adjust your stance to ensure that you swing on the plane of your slope and your club will bottom out just after your ball. Use a higher lofted club for a down slope and a lower lofted club for an up slope to compensate for added or reduced angles.

Your clubs are designed to hit from flat surfaces. If you don’t adjust for sloped surfaces you can expect direction and distance control problems. GOLFSTR+ is a great training aid to help you learn the correct swing for every club in your bag. Golfing on sloped surfaces needs your special attention. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

It doesn’t take the eye of a predatory bird to spot the Orlando World Center Marriott resort, a 2,000-plus-room hotel and conference center near Walt Disney World. When this marvel opened in 1986 it was the largest hotel in the state of Florida. And accompanying it from the very start was an 18-hole golf course, […]

The post Hawk’s Landing Golf Club in Orlando Reveals New Island Green appeared first on Golf Blog, Golf Articles | GolfNow Blog.

October 14. 2020

Course Rating—Under the Hood of Your Handicap

One of the benefits of NCGA membership is a core foundation of the game of golf – your unique official USGA handicap index. You use this GHIN number to enter your 9 or 18-hole scores into the my NCGA mobile app, a golf course kiosk or online website – all connected to the World Handicap System.

Starting this year, with the WHS, your index is re-calculated every day with a set of algorithms. This all sounds like a simple database automation, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. What goes into making it all happen is much more impressive.

Just think about it – when you enter your score, you are indicating which course you played and from which set of tees. Part of the handicap calculation is course rating and slope. No doubt you see these numbers on the course scorecard. Who figured them out? NCGA Course Raters! A best-in-class team–which includes volunteers–visits every course in Northern California to rate the relative difficulty of scoring a par on that course for a typical scratch golfer and a typical bogey golfer.

These course ratings take a full day and follow a comprehensive process that includes (1) identifying course obstacles such as topography, bunkers, fairways, rough, green surface, water and trees (2) playing the course and (3) recording and analyzing all the detailed data to produce the course rating and slope – for each tee.

Who is worth investing in, and whom should you fade? Our experts offer their best bets for the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek.

MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of the golf balls on the market to help you find the best ball for your money. Today, we’re taking a look at the Maxfli Tour from DICK’S Sporting Goods.  An overview of the equipment we use can be found here. To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.

I’m not sure if it qualifies as common knowledge but Maxfli now is a house brand of sporting goods giant DICK’S Sporting Goods. Sorry, folks. DICK’S doesn’t own the rights to the Noodle franchise.

DICK’S Maxfli Tour lineup consists of two models; the three-piece Maxfli Tour and the four-piece Maxfli Tour X. One of the differentiators, if not the selling-point, for the Maxfli Tour family is that the balls are CG (center of gravity) balanced at the factory. DICK’S has invested heavily in what is essentially an industrial-strength Check-Go-Pro device.  The process aligns the sidestamp with the golf balls’ center of gravity. While DICK’S stands behind the quality of its product, CG balancing is an extra strep that it believes makes its balls just a bit better than those of its competitors who compete at lower price points than the Titleists and Callaways of the world.

In this report, we take a closer look at the Maxfli Tour golf ball and let you know how it stacks up against other golf balls on the market. Finally, we’ll give you the True Price – how much it costs to get a dozen “good” golf balls.

The world No. 3 revealed pre-CJ Cup in Vegas that he, too, is looking to find more clubhead speed despite already having plenty in his tank. (Thomas has perennially averaged between 116-117 mph.)

Adam Schupak at Golfweek.com on Justin Thomas seeing what Bryson DeChambeau has done with modern technology and dieting.

“I’m not far off. It’s really about messing with some different stuff and different training and explosiveness to be able to pick up something,” he said. “There’s different ways to do it. I mean, the absolute No. 1 thing is I’m continuing to stay injury free and I’m continuing to progress in a good direction in terms of staying healthy and staying fit. But if I can do that while incorporating some more speed, then that’s big.”

Thomas has recovered from a 2019 wrist injury to be one of the game’s elite. While it’s great to read his strength work is centered around injury prevention, it’s hard not to wonder about the injury implications in pursuit of speed.

However it is quite easy to wonder if anyone in St Andrews or Far Hills is concerned by what they are reading.

I’m not sure there is much to analyze in the dreadful golf ratings last weekend given the confluence of MLB playoffs, NBA finals, college football and NFL.

Showbuzzdaily.com has the 2020 Shriner’s and KPMG LPGA numbers, with golf easily the lowest on their list of weekly sports ratings.

Dustin Johnson becomes the highest-profile golfer to test positive for COVID-19 after reportedly asking for a follow-up test at the CJ Cup upon feeling virus symptoms.

The world No. 1’s WD from the event at Shadow Creek was announced by the PGA Tour.

From Joel Beall’s GolfDigest.com report:

“Obviously, I am very disappointed,” Johnson said in a statement. “I was really looking forward to competing this week, but will do everything I can to return as quickly as possible. I have already had a few calls with the TOUR’s medical team and appreciate all the support and guidance they have given me.”

Tony Finau, who tested positive for the virus had intimated he was hopeful of a return this week at Shadow Creek, but the world No. 17 withdrew from the event late Tuesday afternoon.

Content with his game, Bryson DeChambeau is taking a month off from tournament play leading into the Masters. DeChambeau said he will focus on increasing his swing speed, at least with the 48-inch driver he plans to use, to 200 mph.

Dustin Johnson becomes the 15th player on the PGA Tour to announce they tested positive for COVID-19.

While cargo shorts are no longer the scourge they once were in the eyes of stylistas, they are a staple of certain rallies where cut-off sleeve shirts and bald eagle-adorned golf shirts dominate.

I’ve never fully grasped the offense taken by golf clubs toward cargos. Maybe it’s the overall “working class” vibe that makes Thurston uncomfortable. Perhaps those extra pockets are just too convenient of a place to hide stolen silverware or, gasp, a mobile phone!

The offensiveness of hoodies also confounds as much as the perceived functional benefit of golfing in one. They are the millennial’s quarter-zip. If wearing one makes them more comfortable playing golf, then have at them. Or, apparently not.

After Tyrrell Hatton’s BMW PGA win in an Adidas hoodie, we have evidence of clubs taking a cargo-like stance against this sinister fashion trend. From The Club:

Sunday : One of the world's best golfers won a big tournament wearing a hoodie. Maybe golf will progress and trust people to dress themselves?

Tuesday : pic.twitter.com/5xpMX2qOtE

South African golfer Jbe Kruger has withdrawn from the field in this week's Scottish Championship on the European Tour after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Spain will stage the Solheim Cup for the first time in 2023 and it will be played at the Finca Cortesin course in Andalucia.

2021 Callaway X Forged – Key Takeaways

Callaway has launched two new offerings in its X Forged CB Series.The X Forged CB iron is a technology-driven iron designed with PGA TOUR players in mind.The X Forged UT utility complements the CB with a higher-launch, more forgiving utility iron.Retail Price is $200 for the X Forged CB iron and $250 for the X Forged UT Utility.

At the most basic level, Callaway’s objective for the new X Forged CB iron (and X Forged UT utility) was to bring a little bit of innovation to a category where we typically don’t find it. To do it without sacrificing consistency, control or feel … all the better, I suppose.

That’s not to say Callaway is alone in this endeavor. The case can easily be made that options like the Mizuno MP20 HMB and the TaylorMade P770 represent the same sort of irons.

Callaway puts the X Forged CB in the (better) player’s iron category and, by any reasonable measure, it’s a legitimate TOUR iron.  It doesn’t get much better player’s than that but there’s enough technology to suggest the design straddles the player’s side of the player’s distance category.

Callaway Apex MB – Key Takeaways

Callaway blades are on a three-year product cycle.Non-adjustable weight port allows for swing weight versatility without affecting the center of gravity.Custom orders only – no stock shaft or grip offerings.

You don’t usually associate Callaway with three-year product cycles, do you?  Well, today’s updated Callaway Apex MB is an on-schedule third-year refresh of the previous Apex MB, introduced in October of 2017.

And that, friends, was an on-schedule third-year refresh of the original Callaway Apex MB, which debuted in August of 2014.

Does that make you happy? It should make you happy. But then again, the muscle back blade technology parade marches to its own very slow tune. Yeah, blades are blades, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing new to check out. Specifically, the updates to the new Callaway Apex MB are primarily aimed at simplifying Tour-level fitting.

So, even if you can’t stomach the Apex name on anything other than a Hogan, let’s take a peek under the hood.

Callaway Apex MB – Do No Harm

To paraphrase the old proverb: blades maketh the OEM. That applies less to Callaway (and the rest of the Big Five, for that matter), but a nice set of sex-on-a-stick blades is an iron maker’s bona fides.

Apparently this whole athlete thing also entails weight, diet and equipment work leading into a major, not exactly a boost to the PGA Tour that loves the jock narrative and who pulled off a miraculous salvation of the lucrative CJ Cup and ZOZO Championships. Irony can be inconvenient.

From Steve DiMeglio’s post-Shriner’s wrap of U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau’s pre-November Masters plans.

“I’m going to be working out like crazy. The first week back home, I’m not really going to touch a club too much and going to be training pretty hard and getting myself up to hopefully around 245, something like that, in weight. Be the first time I’ve ever done that, so I’m going to be consuming a lot and see and working out a lot and see what we can do from there.”

Gotta be ready to go twelve rounds.

Now, as for the whole skill vs. equipment debate, DeChambeau eed up the governing bodies to take action. At least, in a world of governing bodies that like to govern. That’s because the other focus of DeChambeau’s preparation involves equipment testing.

This week's broadcast from the CJ Cup will feature live betting odds for the first time, the PGA Tour announced.