Golfing News & Blog Articles

Srixon Z-STAR Golf Balls for 2023 – Key Takeaways

Updated Z-STAR, Z-STAR XV, Z-STAR DiamondZ-STAR XV is now single core, three-layer; previously dual-core, four layersUpdated DIVIDE for Z-STAR and Z-STAR XV$47.99/dozen; available Feb. 15DIVIDE available April 14

The new Srixon Z-STAR golf balls differ, for the most part, by just a few tweaks, adjustments and enhancements from the 2021 models. There’s nothing revolutionary here. According to Srixon, they’re going to be better. Not sure by how much, but better is better, right?

If you like the Srixon Z-STAR line, you’ll like these a little better. If you didn’t, well, you probably will like these a little bit less, I guess.

You will find a major change in the 2023 Z-STAR XV, some noticeable tweaks to the Z-STAR Diamond (probably to make Brooks happy) and some minor improvements to the Z-STAR. And the changes on one hand are barely skin-deep.

On the other hand, the upgrades cut deep to the core.

That, friends, is what’s known in literary circles as foreshadowing. Or it’s an allusion. I can never remember.

Jon Rahm wins again, Brooke Henderson makes an equipment switch and the best from golf this week.

Jon Rahm outlasted rookie Davis Thompson, closing with a 4-under 68 to win The American Express by one stroke on Sunday. He's now won four times in his last six starts worldwide and moved up to No. 3 in the world.

Brooke Henderson was dominant throughout and delivered a 2-under 70 on Sunday at Lake Nona to win the season-opening Tournament of Champions.

Steve Stricker closed with a 7-under 65 for a six-shot victory in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

- Jon Rahm got off to a hot start and shot a 7-under 65 on Saturday on PGA West's Stadium Course for a share of the lead with tour rookie Davis Thompson in The American Express.

Brooke Henderson went from complete control of her game for two days to having to scratch out a good score Saturday. The result was a 3-under 69 and a three-shot lead in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

Rookie Davis Thompson made three more eagles Friday, carded an 8-under 64 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West and took a 2-shot lead into the weekend at The American Express.

Brooke Henderson ran off four birdies beginning at the second hole, was 9-under par by the time she stepped onto the sixth tee and played mistake-free for a 6-under 66 at Lake Nona and a 4-shot lead in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

Davis Thompson birdied three of his first four holes and then made eagle on both par-5s on the front nine en roue to a 10-under 62 at La Quinta and a two-stroke lead over Jon Rahm and four others at The American Express.

Her balky back feeling stronger, Brooke Henderson attacked Lake Nona on Thursday with six birdies for a 5-under 67 to take a 1-shot lead over world No. 2 Nelly Korda at the LPGA Tour's Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

LIV Golf has reached a multiyear U.S. broadcast television and streaming agreement with the CW network to air its live tournaments.

Mizuno announces the ST-Z 230 and ST-X 230 drivers.They feature a speed-enhancing CORETECH chamber.A lightweight ST-X 230 PLTNM model is also available.Retail price is $499 for the standard Z and X and $549 for the PLTNM model.Availability begins Feb. 23.

The new Mizuno ST-Z 23 Z and ST-X 230 are part of the company’s ongoing quest to shed its identity as an irons-only brand.

On one hand, it’s not the absolute worst problem to have. The company achieved its highest-ever market share this year and recently it has claimed about 15 percent of the market. It routinely over-indexes among MyGolfSpy readers with more than 20 percent of you reporting that you play Mizuno irons.

That’s good.

The less good?

Mizuno has announced new S23 wedgesGame-improvement design with wedge-specific technologyRetail price is $160/wedgeAvailability begins Feb 23.

The Mizuno S23 wedge is a solution to a problem you likely didn’t know existed. In fact, Mizuno could argue that it created a new category of wedges and you’d be hard-pressed to find evidence to the contrary.

You might recall the ES21 wedge which, odd looks aside, pushed the conversation of CG location in a different direction. Literally and figuratively.

To clarify: the direction is more towards the geometric center of the face.

Ultimately, the Mizuno S23 is the game-improvement wedge that doesn’t necessarily look like it.

Mizuno announces the ST-Z 230 fairway wood and hybrid.Both feature a speed-enhancing CORETECH chamber.Retail price is $299 (fairway) and $249 (hybrid).Availability begins Feb. 23.

To the degree that the Mizuno ST driver franchise finds success in 2023, it should also prove beneficial for the ST-Z 230 fairway wood and hybrid. And like its JPX line of game-improvement irons, Mizuno is providing plenty of evidence that it’s much more than an iron brand for better players.

Maybe that’s not the rosy, unicorns and rainbows lede you were expecting. But it’s the nature of the arduous task ahead for the brand that, fair or not, has a penchant for reminding golfers that “Nothing Feels Like A Mizuno.”

To its credit, over the last four years, Mizuno has put a substantial amount of resources behind its metalwood development and believes the 2023 line is a culmination of those efforts.

Mizuno ST-Z Fairway

The ST-Z 230 fairway features a carbon composite crown, expanded Z-axis weighting and the same CORETECH Chamber technology as in the ST-230 series drivers. In addition, Mizuno is sticking with the thin MAS1C face, albeit with a slightly altered topology.

Titleist has added the T Grind to its Vokey SM9 retail lineup.The T Grind is a popular low-bounce option on Tour (and with MyGolfSpy staff).Lightweight shaft options have been added to the lineup.Availability begins March 10.

Filed under “It’s about damned time” or perhaps more eloquently under “Finally!”, Titleist and Vokey have made the glaringly obvious (to me anyway) decision to add the low-bounce T Grind to the Vokey SM9 retail lineup.

Because the design parameters are the same as other SM9 wedges, we’re not going to rehash the particulars here, though it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you wanted to read all the details of the Vokey SM9 lineup here.

As far as the T Grind itself is concerned, if you haven’t heard of it, it’s an exceedingly popular grind on the PGA TOUR. To date, Vokey has made the T Grind available only through its custom WedgeWorks program.

The retail offering of the Vokey SM9 T Grind is much the same as what you’d find through WedgeWorks. It’s available in 58 and 60 degrees, both with four degrees of bounce. The SM9 T Grind solidly qualifies as a low-bounce option and, for all intents and purposes, should play as the lowest-bounce wedge on the market today.

TaylorMade launches the new Spider GTX and GT Max putters.The Spider GTX adds a new weight element to the 2022 Spider GT design.The Spider GT Max features innovative adjustable weight technologies.Spider GTX will be available for pre-order on Jan. 19 and at retail beginning Feb. 24 with an MSRP of $349 USD. Spider GT Max arrives this spring.

Every year, TaylorMade either revises or radically redesigns their popular Spider putter. In 2023, they are doing both. Granted, accomplishing this feat does require more than one new Spider model. More Spiders? Sounds good to me. Is there really such a thing as too many new putters?

The Spider getting a revision this year is the 2022 Spider GT. The new 2023 Spider GTX retains most of its predecessor’s architecture. The body shape is mostly the same, with the new GTX featuring new colors and a new rear weighted design.

The other putter, the Spider GT Max, hides its newness a bit. At address, the Spider GT Max resembles the Spider GT Splitback. However, that similarity ends as soon as you flip the putter over and see the new adjustable weight system. No, we are not talking about the usual sole weights that swap in and out. The weights on the Spider GT Max are moveable, not removable.

This new weight scheme is a radical departure from the norm.

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Cleveland CBX Full-Face 2 Wedges – Key Takeaways

Updated, full-face version of Cleveland’s CBX wedge lineFeatures ZipCore, HydraZip and UltiZip technology$169.99 per wedgeAt retail Feb. 3

The new Cleveland CBX Full-Face 2 wedges make up the newest song in Cleveland’s concept album, Dark Side of the Wedge.

But seriously, folks …

Cleveland debuted its ultra-forgiving, cavity-back CBX wedge line in 2017. Back then, Cleveland told us that if you play game-improvement irons but not game-improvement wedges, you’re probably doing it wrong. And since 84 percent of us play game-improvement irons, well, you can do the math from there.

Two iterations and a couple of sub-launches later, we’re getting a full-face version of the most recent CBX. On the face of it, this launch looks like a simple line extension of the 2021 CBX ZipCore.

But in actuality, the face of it is the thing that tells a slightly different story.

Busy week in the world of majors and surrounding nonsense!

In the latest weekly news and notes I dissect news of the CW taking on LIV plus scheduling reveals for NBC and CBS major coverage.

Plus, the bvest of GQ's Netflix doc story, Davis Love is back (again), the 2031 Ryder Cup favorite is in Spain, Scott Stallings gets his invite (finally), old auction news and a bunch of Reads.