Although others are open to allowing LIV Golf players at next year's Ryder Cup, Rory McIlroy reiterated his stance to the contrary, saying "I don't think any of those guys should be on the Ryder Cup team."
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Should I replace my driver with a new 2023 driver this year?
The answer is, “it depends.”
How long has it been since your last upgrade? Has your swing changed in any meaningful way?
Golfers replace their drivers roughly every four to five years. For avid golfers, it’s a little more often and, of course, we all have played with that guy who has a 10-year-old driver in the bag.
Performance gains are typically incremental (and often minimal) from one year to the next. This is a case where the “average” guy probably has it right.
If your swing has changed, you might want to consider a new driver but, before you drop $600, it may be worth working with a fitter on a retro-fit of your existing club.
Carbon. We’ve seen it once; will we see it again?
TaylorMade is 100-percent committed to carbon technology so you’ll definitely see more carbon-faced drivers from them in 2023. Stealth drivers weren’t the company’s first go-round with carbon but it was kind of Gen 1 for the mass-market.
For Gen 1 tech, it was excellent but the weight savings weren’t what they could be. Ample opportunities for improvement remain.
As far as TaylorMade’s competitors go … We’ve heard the requisite stories about the limitations and deficiencies of carbon as a face material. I expect the chatter will continue but I’d be surprised if we don’t eventually see a carbon fiber-faced competitor with a good story explaining why the new tech is different (and better—it’s always better) than TaylorMade’s.
That won’t happen this year, however. For everyone else, it’s titanium-faced drivers for the next little while.
Should I focus more on accuracy, forgiveness or distance?
When we had Titleist’s JJ Van Wezenbeeck on No Putts Given last week, he emphasized the importance of fitting for center-face contact when he works with Tour pros. In a world where every data point spit out by the launch monitor can be over-scrutinized, I think that’s a super-simple, infinitely important and grossly overlooked element of the fitting equation.
I do think that performance of most (not all) drivers is similar enough that average golfers would be better served by trading away a couple yards of distance to bring the ball closer to the centerline.
Having said that, if your fitter can dial in consistently center-ish impact, then distance, accuracy and forgiveness will follow.
What’s the next big change for metalwoods? Carbon woods? Both.
I’m not sure what it is but you can bet there will be something. Speed sells so there’s always going to be a speed story.
For TaylorMade, we know it’s going to be the evolution of carbon face. I’d wager Callaway is ready to move on from, or at least build on, the Jailbreak story in a way that’s different than what we’ve heard for the past few years.
Beyond speed, most everyone is looking to fit the widest swath of the market possible so I expect we’ll continue to see three to four models in every lineup with an enhanced ability to move weight around.
Golfers will compete for $50 million, the richest purse in the sport's history, in LIV Golf's season-ending team championship, which is scheduled to be played at Trump National Doral Miami from Oct. 27-30.
Annika Sorenstam will be the host of a Tampa Bay-area LPGA Tour event starting in 2023. The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican will be the final event before the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
PING’s 2023 putter line features 10 new and reimagined classic putter models.The line includes both milled and PEBAX insert faces.Pre-orders begin Sept. 13 with a MSRP of $300.
PING’s 2023 putter release is an odd one. Not that the putters themselves are especially odd but rather the overall theme of the release. Maybe that should be the lack of theme.
Most new putter releases feature some unifying piece of new technology. A company develops a new widget and then builds the putters around said widget. This putter production plan has persisted through the years for just about every company. At Odyssey, everything gets a Stroke Lab shaft. Most TaylorMade putters have PureRoll inserts. When was the last time you saw a Scotty Cameron putter without the round sole weights?
Naturally, PING has a long list of putter design innovations and families of putters showcasing those innovations. In recent years, we have had Heppler’s flat faces, Sigma 2’s adjustable shafts and multiple lines with TR grooves with each of their putter lines being built from a core technology.
For 2023, PING’s design team took a different approach. Rather than focusing on a single technology, they focused on the putters.
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Sergio Garcia faces a fine from the DP World Tour after his withdrawal from the BMW PGA Championship. Garcia pulled out before the second round of the tournament after posting an opening round of 76 and was then pictured at a college football game.
Arizona State golfer David Puig, ranked ninth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, is joining the LIV Golf tour.
Did you know almost every PGA TOUR pro uses a Bushnell rangefinder to get dialed in? Now they’re upgrading to the new Bushnell Pro X3.
And you can, too.
The new kid on the range looks similar to its older, Most Wanted Winner, brother, the Pro XE. So what makes it better?
The Bushnell Pro X3
Bushnell Golf says the Pro X3 incorporates some significant updates and features.
Slope with “Elements” Compensated Distances with Adjustable Home ElevationDual DisplayPatented Locking Slope-Switch TechnologyPatented PinSeeker With Visual JOLTIntegrated BITE Magnetic Cart MountIPX7 Fully WaterproofRubber Armored Metal Housing600-Yard Range to a Flag7X magnificationBluetooth Connectivity to Mobile AppSo, what’s different compared to the Bushnell Pro XE? Not much but something, for sure.
The next time you tee it up with your semi-regular foursome, it’s a fair bet that by the turn the conversation will turn to LIV. The thrust-and-parry between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continues unabated, and each week brings a new twist, turn, press conference or cast change. A LIV contingent acquitted themselves well in the shortened BMW PGA Championship in the UK this past weekend which, due to the death of Queen Elizabeth, was shortened to 54 holes. That was a DP World Tour event, but if the PGA holds true to it words, none of the LIV jumpers will be welcomed back on its tour.
Greg Norman and the Saudi backers of LIV are making their intentions clear. They will be – and in fact, already are – a disruptive force in professional golf. And they have a bottomless well of money to stay in the game for the long haul.
But so far, the talk has been about the sport of professional golf. There is another element to this story that’s a little closer to the game of golf that we play. And that’s the Saudi’s growing interest in recreational golf, golf tourism and the world of golf information and social media.
A story making the rounds several weeks ago painted a fascinating picture linking the Saudis with a high-powered golf PR firm in the UK. What made the story juicy was an additional connection to three of golf’s leading social media influencers. Today’s piece is the result of a detailed investigation by MyGolfSpy in an effort to put that story into its proper context.
Things, as the saying goes, aren’t always what they seem.
It will be generally agreed that the intense importance should be attached to utilizing every feature of the ground . . . to depend to the maximum extent upon nature and to minimum upon art, makes for interesting golf and moderate expenditure. Players are beginning to see how it is to place bunkers at correct distances, but few perhaps realize how difficult it is to arrange for the natural features to provide to the fullest possible extent the necessary excitement for the course, and to supplement these features without destroying the natural beauty of the site. H.S. COLT
Padraig Harrington won the Ascension Charity Classic for his third title this year on the PGA Tour Champions.
Ally Ewing ran off five straight birdies on the back nine and closed with a 7-under 65 to hold off Xiyu Lin and win the Kroger Queen City Championship in the LPGA Tour's return to Cincinnati.
Ireland's Shane Lowry produced a masterful third round to win the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday, his first title since winning the 2019 Open.
Padraig Harrington bogeyed the final hole Saturday for a 5-under 66, leaving him just a stroke ahead of Steve Stricker and Bernhard Langer with a round lead in the Ascension Charity Classic.
Ally Ewing shot into the lead with a fast start and stayed there on a soggy course on Saturday for a 5-under 67 to build a one-shot lead over Maria Fassi in the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati.
Soren Kjeldsen carded a second-round 64 at the BMW PGA Championship to share the lead with Viktor Hovland at Wentworth on Saturday.
Scottie Scheffler capped off his remarkable rise when he was announced as the PGA Tour Player of the Year.
Bernhard Langer and Padraig Harrington each shot a 65 for a one-shot lead in the Ascension Charity Classic in St. Louis.
Ed Orgeron wasn't too upset to leave LSU, LeBron James gives props to Frances Tiafoe, Rory McIlroy throws more shade at LIV and JR Smith has a Michael Jordan trash talk story.
