Golfing News & Blog Articles

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Andrew Relinquishes His Honorary Membership In The Royal And Ancient

The best golfing grasses vary in color. They may be red, brown, blue, dark green, light green, yellow, and at times even white and gray. A golf course that is consisted entirely of one shade of green would be merely ugly. There is great charm and beauty in the varying shades of color on a golf course. ALISTER MACKENZIE

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David Hill Brought In To Help Norman-Backed League Change Golf On TV

A golf architect must approach each bit of country with an absolute open mind, with no preconceived ideas of what he is going to lay out, the holes have to be found, and the land in its natural state used to its best advantage. Nature can always beat the handiwork of man and to achieve the best and most satisfactory results in laying out a golf course, you must humor nature. WILLIE PARK Jr.

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Writers: Morikawa, Korda, Mickelson 2021 Players Of The Year

Full disclosure, I voted the Male Player of the Year was the the toughest category given the similarity in years between Morikawa and Rahm. But over the calendar year he had a slight edge if you ignored the Memorial mess. Previously, PGA Tour players voted Patrick Cantlay their Player of the Year and the PGA of America’s point system gave Jon Rahm the 2020-21 player of the year.

For Immediate Release:

MORIKAWA, KORDA, MICKELSON VOTED GWAA PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

HOUSTON (January 27, 2022) -- Collin Morikawa, Nelly Korda and Phil Mickelson have been named respective winners of the 2021 player of the year awards by the Golf Writers Association of America.

Morikawa, who turns 25 on Feb. 6, was voted Male Player of the Year for the first time. Korda, 23, earned Female Player of the Year honors for the first time. Mickelson, 51, who has never won the GWAA’s Male Player of the Year award, was voted Senior Player of the Year for the first time.

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Quadrilateral: Major News & Notes, January 27, 2022

A golf architect must approach each bit of country with an absolute open mind, with no preconceived ideas of what he is going to lay out, the holes have to be found, and the land in its natural state used to its best advantage. Nature can always beat the handiwork of man and to achieve the best and most satisfactory results in laying out a golf course, you must humor nature. WILLIE PARK Jr.

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Toughest Courses To Putt…Torrey Pines?!

The stretching out of holes to their last limit has often not only an evil effect on individual holes, but also on the layout in general and on the interest and quality of the course. It is refreshing now and then to find a club which has ignored the race for length and gone in for quality. ROBERT HUNTER

/ Geoff Shackelford

As the Farmers kicks off on its special Wednesday start, Data Golf posted the list of toughest greens to putt and Winged Foot continues to influence plenty of statistical categories. Hardly a shocker. But this week’s Farmers Insurance Open host and 2021 U.S. Open site Torrey Pines made the list twice. Much of this is the inevitable influence of “poa” and some of it highlights how a set of thoroughly unimaginative greens can wreak as much havoc as those with strong slopes (Augusta National).

Maybe without green reading books they’ll putt better?


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AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Announces Field, Celebs As Best They Can

There are tough jobs and then there is the task of dressing up this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, deserted by a number of stars and former champions given waivers to pursue PIFSIPSIA riches.

Certainly it’s not all bad, with great adds to the Pro-Am field in Mia Hamm and Mookie Betts. Otherwise, I’m not sure Der Bingle would know what to do with this…

MONTEREY, Calif., Jan. 25, 2022 – The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is poised to welcome back its unique vibe at this year’s tournament as spectators return to line the courses to watch the world’s top players join with celebrities, several making their debuts, in the popular pro-am format. The four-day tournament tees off Thursday, Feb. 3 with play on Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore course.

United States Ryder Cup teammates Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth and Daniel Berger, set to defend his AT&T title from a year ago, headline the professional field. Cantlay and Spieth finished tied for third place behind Berger who dramatically eagled the 72nd hole on Sunday to punctuate his victory. Other top professionals appearing are Matt Fitzpatrick, Kevin Kisner, Justin Rose and Maverick McNealy, the Stanford graduate who was runner-up to Berger in 2021.

Celebrities making their tournament debut include:

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2023 Drive, Chip And Putt Registration Open

I forgot where it happened but in the middle of a round which I was regarding with the usual distaste, a small voice within me said, you know, you don’t have to do this and I thought, No, by God, I don’t. A great wave of relief came over me and on D-Day 1968, I put the clubs up in the loft with the water tanks, closed the hatch, removed the steps and walked away. Nor have I for one second regretted it.
HENRY LONGHURST

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Same Old Story: Pretty Much No One Watches AmEx Final Round

I forgot where it happened but in the middle of a round which I was regarding with the usual distaste, a small voice within me said, you know, you don’t have to do this and I thought, No, by God, I don’t. A great wave of relief came over me and on D-Day 1968, I put the clubs up in the loft with the water tanks, closed the hatch, removed the steps and walked away. Nor have I for one second regretted it.
HENRY LONGHURST

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Women Better Then Men Files: Hilton Grand Vacations TOC Results

I forgot where it happened but in the middle of a round which I was regarding with the usual distaste, a small voice within me said, you know, you don’t have to do this and I thought, No, by God, I don’t. A great wave of relief came over me and on D-Day 1968, I put the clubs up in the loft with the water tanks, closed the hatch, removed the steps and walked away. Nor have I for one second regretted it.
HENRY LONGHURST

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No More Nice-Sounding Golf Orgs: "We Are Golf" Becomes "American Golf Industry Coalition"

The World Golf Foundation’s lobbying and educating efforts have a new name: American Golf Industry Coalition.

Clean. Tough. No grey area! We don’t need no stinking badges!

Let’s face it, the seemingly neverending threats to the municipal sport always seem to forget golf’s economic impact and it appears the group highlighting the $84 billion economy, 2 million jobs and $4 billion charitable impact decided it was time to send politicians a more pointed message with its name.

Acronym-wise it’s not ideal but neither was We Are Golf. But highlighting that there is a real industry with jobs and livelihoods on the line seems shrewd.

The website is now Golfcoalition.org.

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Better Than Most Putting Contest Weeks

The true line to the hole should not always be the center of the fairway. TOM SIMPSON

/ Geoff Shackelford

I thought it was time for the first of several pre-Masters, pre-Chevron player rankings but decided the silly season vibe meant we’re not ready just yet.

But silly did not necessarily equate to boring, as I round up here in The Quadrilateral, with notable work by players at the American Express, Abu Dhabi, Hilton Grand Vacations TOC, Singapore Open and Latin America Amateur.

A preview for all and full roundup for the loyal subscribers.


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Caymans Islander 2022 Wins Latin America Am

The true line to the hole should not always be the center of the fairway. TOM SIMPSON

/ Geoff Shackelford

Aaron Jarvis of the Cayman Islands and a freshman at UNLV captured the 2022 Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC).

The 19-year-old will play this year’s Masters, The Open, The Amateur and U.S. Amateur.

Jarvis was No. 1,669 in the World Amateur World Ranking (WAGR) to start the week at Casa De Campo. He posted a final round 69. Besides the exemptions, he also got a trophy to check his healthy head of hair. The highlights:

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Santiago Tarrio Hits Backward Flop-Shot In Competition

The true line to the hole should not always be the center of the fairway. TOM SIMPSON

/ Geoff Shackelford

Here’s something you don’t see every day. Especially in competition. From the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship:


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Hatton Rants About Unreachable Three-Shotters And Centerline Bunkers*

It’s been a while since we’ve had a player drop a big, whiny and strange rant about golf architecture. In this case it’s Kyle Phillips Yas Links in Abu Dhabi, home of the Abu Dhabi Championship won by Thomas Pieters.

But it was defending champion Tyrrell Hatton who unraveled after making nine to end Saturday’s third round. The Guardian’s Ewan Murray delivered a few account. From his story:

“It must be one of the worst par fives that I’ve ever seen in my life and, over the last two days, I’ve clearly played it about as well as it was designed,” said Hatton, who took seven there on Friday.

The problem seems to be the lack of reachable and a centerline bunker splitting a huge landing area, with the left round shortening the route to the hole.

Pressed on what precisely is wrong with the 18th, Hatton was not of a mind to back down. “What’s wrong with it? Where do you start?” he asked. “It shouldn’t have a bunker in the middle of the fairway and it shouldn’t be over 600 yards from a forward tee. If you hit a good drive as a pro you should have at least a chance to go for the green in two, otherwise the hole becomes a par three [after the first two shots] and that’s if you play it well. Hardly anyone will get there in two today.”

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Daily Mail: Captain Luke Sounding Good To Harrington

I don’t suppose anybody alive has ever done more for the game, not Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, not anybody, except possibly the Scotsman who invented it in the first place. The Scots invented it, but Hope and Bing Crosby popularized it. When they used to do their wartime fund-raising tours, the game was popularly believed to be the private reserve of guys who ran railroads or owned oil wells. It was restricted to posh country clubs the average Joe got into only for school dances. Hope changed all that. He brought the game down to the level of the common man. If Hope could play it, anybody could. BOB HOPE

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R.I.P. Bob Goalby

The 1968 Masters champion, 11-time PGA Tour winner and longtime NBC golf announcer passed away at age 92.

The team at KSDK in St Louis was first to report the sad news. 

Dan O’Neill’s lengthy and detailed remembrance for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is a fitting salute to the only native of that city to win a major. He opened with this:

Shortly after he won the 1968 Masters, Bob Goalby received a letter from Bobby Jones, the legendary patriarch of the championship. In his correspondence, Jones wrote:

“I ask you to always remember that you won the tournament under the rules of golf and by superlative play.”

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Who Needs A Pro Jock? Bhatia Wins Korn Ferry Event With Girlfriend On The Bag

A little known fact about the PGA Tour is that several of your big names out here would rather spend a week in a cage with squealing lunatics than play in the Bob Hope Desert Classic.
DAN JENKINS (as Bobby Joe Grooves)

/ Geoff Shackelford

The 19-year-old prodigy who skipped college and turned pro has only shown glimpses of greatness. But facing uncertain Korn Ferry Tour status Akshay Bhatia, pulled off a win that will change his year, notes GolfChannel.com’s Brentley Romine:

Bhatia got into this week’s field courtesy of the category reserved for Nos. 151-200 in FedExCup points, and his original goal, one that remained as he began his final round, was to finish inside the top 10 and automatically qualify for another week. Such is the life of a tour pro without full status. Only Bhatia, who played his final nine in 5 under with birdies on three of his last four holes, no longer has that problem.

He finished the win off in style, hitting the 18th hole flagstick:

The week started off with Bhatia and girlfriend Presleigh Schultz explaining the partnership that all started with an Instagam DM and without her knowing anything about golf. (But she is a content creator and business manager!).


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American Express To Keep The Desert Tradition Going Through 2028

Larry Bohannan reports the stellar news for what was once a staple of the PGA Tour schedule which has seen a revolving door of sponsors and hosts. But armed with a blue chip sponsor, The American Express is enjoying its strongest field in years.

The story says Phil Mickelson’s foundation will continue to benefit from tournament proceeds through 2024, but there is no mention of Mickelson’s role as host (announced in 2019) and he did not give a pre-tournament press conference.

American Express Extends Sponsorship of The American Express through 2028

Title Sponsor, American Express, helps TOUR continue sixty-two-year tradition in the Coachella Valley  

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA — The PGA TOUR today announced American Express will continue its role as title sponsor of The American Express in La Quinta, California, through 2028. The annual tournament, which features a unique pro-am format, takes place January 20-23 at PGA WEST Stadium, PGA WEST Nicklaus and La Quinta Country Club.

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CBS Returns With Saturday Farmers Finish And More Technology

The CBS golf gang briefed media on plans for the upcoming 2022 season, the 65th consecutive for the network. A few highlights:

CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said the relationship with the PGA Tour “has never been better” as they start a new production arrangement

The Tour provides “below the line” personnel and pictures, CBS retains control of personnel and ability to deliver enhancements

McManus credited Farmers for “coming up with” this year’s Saturday finish to avoid AFC and NFC Championship games

Jim Nantz will work the opening Farmers event remotely from the AFC Championship game site and said “my longing for golf is the one that I feel the most” of sports he covers.

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du Preez: 6-Foot-9, 144 M.P.H Clubhead Speed, 212 M.P.H. Ball Speed

Allan Robertson, that great giant of the game in the days that are gone, was no gigantic driver. It was his accuracy, combined with his imperturbable sangfroid, that pulled him through victorious in so many fights. HORACE HUTCHINSON

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GolfLynk.com