Golfing News & Blog Articles

Thanks to all who sent in John Hawkins’s Morning Read look at the pending downscaling of Golf Channel and demise of GolfChannel.com. I held off on posting the story while awaiting comment on the recent building closure and ensuing disappearance of all studio shows. While a network spokesman has not able to give an answer about what was happening, channel listings do show Morning Drive and Golf Central returning next week. At least, for the time being. (Before a scaling back when the network moves to Stamford, Connecticut for “geographic consolidation” and tax breaks with one studio show covering pre and post games.)

Multiple sources say the headquarters, closed to ensure safe working conditions after a class action suit was filed against the neighboring Lockheed Martin facility, will reopen next week, while GolfChannel.com has received a very slight reprieve from the expected year-end shuttering first reported on by The Athletic.

Hawkins writes:

The layoffs were made public in June, to be conducted in a two-stage process, and that process is still shaking itself out. The coronavirus hasn’t made things any easier. Nor has a class-action lawsuit involving 11 Golf Channel employees and defense company Lockheed Martin, which owns a plant near the GC complex and is accused in a class-action lawsuit of instigating an “environmental nightmare” with its alleged mismanagement of hazardous toxins.

A source with close knowledge of the case confirmed today that the Golf Channel employee portion of the case has swelled to “about 100” plaintiffs from the 11 originally reported by the Orlando Sentinel.

Given the ongoing pandemic, the PGA of America will not hold the 2021 “Show” this coming January.

Instead a virtual show will take place. A cutting edge one at that.

The PGA Show’s Virtual Experience & Marketplace will drive business, education and networking through a cutting-edge, highly interactive virtual platform featuring:

New product launch events

Dynamic exhibitor showrooms

Golf Datatech reports over $1 billion of golf equipment sales in 2020’s third quarter, making it the highest Q3 on record and the best quarter since 2008. The sales are up 42% over the same period in 2019.

From their release: 

“The story keeps getting better as golf continues to surge coming out of the shutdown, and Q3 equipment sales suggests that 2020 will likely end up positive for the entire year,” said John Krzynowek, Partner, Golf Datatech, LLC. “Year-to-date sales for total equipment are now up 0.2% compared to 2019, and considering the size of the hole created by the shutdown in April and May this recovery has been nothing short of remarkable. While the US economy will not enjoy a ‘V Shaped Recovery’ in 2020, if golf continues on this trajectory we will be there soon.”

The category leaders in sales for September were golf bags at +19% and wedges at +18%, while golf shoes were +2%. Overall, the golf club category was +0.9% for the month, with balls and gloves trending slightly lower, -2.7%.

 Wait, they left out the part about the huge spike in $600 driver sales! Because that’s what grows the game! Or, more time for safe outdoor recreation.

After a successful late summer run of negative tests prior to the U.S. Open, Adam Scott becomes the third star player in as many weeks to test positive for the coronavirus.

PGA TOUR Statement on Adam Scott

PGA TOUR member Adam Scott has withdrawn from the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD after testing positive for COVID-19.

Scott, who last competed at the U.S. Open in September, will have the PGA TOUR’s full support throughout his self-isolation period under CDC guidelines.

“While it’s difficult news to receive – as I really looked forward to playing this week – my focus now is on recovery for the final stretch of the fall,” said Scott.

With the Houston Open benefiting the Astros* Foundation set to welcome 2000 fans a day at a hefty price, Phil Mickelson added another wrinkle to the imminent return of galleries.

The perennial week-before-a-major player says he’s not so sure about returning in front of galleries and risking exposure that could force a Masters WD.

Speaking before the ZOZO Championship, Mickelson said he’s mulling options.

“I think the PGA TOUR's done an incredible job, I mean an incredible job of getting the players to play and compete in a safe environment,” he said. “We've had a few people test positive. It has not spread from those people. They've kept everybody at a good social distance so if somebody does have it, it hasn't affected and carried through the Tour. I think they've done a phenomenal job of having us feel safe.I think that they will do a very good, safe job in having 2,000 people at the Houston Open. However, for me personally, I don't like the risk that having that happen the week before the Masters. I just feel like the week before the Masters, like that's a big tournament we have and I just don't want to have any risk heading in there. So it has made me question whether or not I'll play there.”

Mickelson later reiterated he would likely play the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Challenge in Phoenix as long as fans were not part of the equation.

The late Mickey Wright has left her entire estate and possessions to the USGA, news announced by the organization today.

Beth Ann Nichols got an exclusive look at Wright’s items and shared her observations in this Golfweek.com piece.

Wright carefully charted everything, from her calorie intake to a stock’s performance, the latter with hand-drawn graphs. She was particular about wanting her desk taken up to Far Hills. They also took the adding machine, a lamp, a 2014 Curtis Cup mouse pad and stacks of ledgers. She’d often write to the authors of the investment books she read seeking advice.

A green Titleholders jacket hung in her closet. One of her books, “Play Golf the Wright Way,” was opened up to a spread showing her driver sequence. Wright filled up notebooks with swing thoughts and kept dozens of VHS tapes of her golf highlights. She even had a professional studio preserve certain clips, giving future generations priceless footage of a swing Ben Hogan once lauded as the best in golf.

The best of the existing course rankings—Golf Magazine’s World Top 100 came out strong last year under Ran Morrissett’s fine-tuning to present a strong international list rewarding architecture over some obvious oddball inclusions.

The new U.S. Top 100 is coming out any day now and they’re already discussing it on GolfClubAtlas.com and is eye-opening.

The obvious theme of panelists from my first glimpse: restorations rooted in historical accuracy and fun are sending courses up the rankings, while half-hearted-or-worse-redos took big hits with the elite panel.

At first glimpse it’s hard not to notice the fall of name-brand, legendary layouts that present the golfer a mixed bag of design changes.

Since the last Golf U.S. list in 2018:

Derek Lawrenson explains the USGA and R&A’s new World Handicap in his weekly Daily Mail column and is not entirely sold, as well-intentioned as he found the new world order as of November 2.

For the amateurs who play a significant percentage of their golf outside their home course, the changes will be welcomed. It’s obviously simplistic to take an eight handicap at a straightforward inland course and think it translates to playing off the same mark at, say, Royal Birkdale. This more nuanced approach will make the necessary adjustments.

The reason I’ll get a couple of extra shots at my home course is that it has a high slope rating, meaning it is more difficult than your average track.

Why introduce this in the middle of a pandemic is a valid question. But when we’ve grown accustomed to the changes, it ought to make sense.

In the meantime, you can always take refuge in the cheerful conclusion reached by our handicap chairman: ‘Do not become overwhelmed by all the information, the calculations and the formulae: remember, the computer will do it all for you.’

I laughed out loud a few times during Golf Digest’s “Undercover Caddie” with Joel Beall tackling the tricky topic of PGA Tour events without fans.

While a few veteran stars maybe haven’t had their old home field advantage without fans giving them an extra adrenaline boost, it’s been apparent players have enjoyed not dealing with gallery inconveniences. The unnamed caddie acknowledges that the PGA Tour has “feels less like a professional sports league” and “more like a very serious member-guest that’s being televised.”

But says for caddies, life has been way easier and for players too, including Wednesdays.

OK, one thing is better: no pro-ams. Do you see brokers in the layup line at an NBA game? How about salesmen taking hacks in the batting cage at Fenway Park? Listen, the Wednesday events do a lot for charity. We meet some interesting people through them, and no, they’re not all chops. But if you’re asking if I’d rather my man prep for a tournament by (a) playing with fellow pros or (b) acting as a tour guide … I think you know my answer.

This reminds me: this week’s ZOZO Championship at Sherwood features a pro-am with players only obligated to play nine of the 18-hole round. And as odd as they are compared to other pro sports, they are integral to the PGA Tour’s business and most of all, the charities.

Returning to Sherwood Country Club for the ZOZO Championship, Tiger Woods was asked about the speed chase by players.

TIGER WOODS: Well, distance has always been an advantage. Now that we have the tools, that being the launch monitor, the fitting of the golf clubs, the adjustability. I think all that plays into the fact that you're able to maximize the capabilities of a driver. There's no reason why you can't pick up more yardage and guys have done that. They've changed shafts, they've changed lofts, they've changed weights on their heads and length of clubs. Driving is such a huge part of the game and it's so advantageous if you're able to get the ball out there. It just makes the game so much easier.

And this on distance was nice. Someone else has lost patience.

Q. Just one last question, and on the back of an earlier question about driving distance of the ball. As you know, the administrators are a little worried about where the game's going. Should they be worried?

TIGER WOODS: They should have been worried a long time ago, but the genie's out of the bag now. It's about what do we do going forward and how soon can they do it. I don't know if they're going--you're not going to stop the guys who are there right now. You can carry--guys are figuring out how to carry the ball 320-plus yards, and it's not just a few of them. There's a lot of guys can do it. That's where the game's going. There's only going to be a small amount of property that we can do, we can alter golf courses. I just don't see how they can roll everything back. I would like to have--like to be able to see that, as far as our game, but then we go back down the road of what do you bifurcate, at what level? So that's a long discussion we've had for a number of years, for 20-plus years now, and I think it's only going to continue.

As we begin the November Masters run-up, the player scouting trip narrative is likely to be different. Or non-existent.

In recent years, players have increasingly seemed more willing to turn up the weekend prior and go. (As opposed to the 2-3 day trip months out when course conditions are radically different.)

Perhaps it’s familiarity with the course through television. Or maybe a change in how players view local knowledge. Plenty have been burned by not seeing the course in tournament week conditions, which get pushed Wednesday evening after the practice round. So it was not a huge shock to see Collin Morikawa plan to take a modest approach to his first Masters.

From today’s ZOZO Championship press conference, the first event for Morikawa in his native southern California since winning the PGA Championship in August:

I don't want to put any of these things in my head where I'm going to have to show up and, man, this is going to be so much harder to prep for than another event. I think I've done a really good job every course I've gone to for the first time in figuring it out and I feel like I'm very prepared. I never feel on a Thursday like, oh, man, I wish I had one more practice round. I don't think that's going to be the case at Augusta. Yes, I'm going to want to be out there a little more just to figure out some greens, figure out the slopes, but I'm not going to just go out there at 8:00a.m. in the morning and leave at 6:00p.m. just because it's Augusta National. I'm going to spend my time-wisely and really get my rest because at the end of the day you want to feel as prepped and pressure fresh by Thursday.

Opportunities don’t come around like this often, but given the multiple TPC Sawgrass renovations, it actually might be a stretch to say while supplies last.

From Rich Mueller on Upper Deck’s return to golf cards, with a very special gift included.

Upper Deck announced Monday it would be launching three golf releases in 2021, including Artifacts, which will launch the series at an as yet undetermined date in the spring.

Artifacts Golf will have a 50-card base set, a 30-card rookie set, a Multi-Majors Winners Memorabilia subset, signed memorabilia cards and Diamond Relic insert cards that can include up to four “lab created” diamonds per subject. 

All three golf releases will include Legendary PGA Tour Course Relic cards featuring sand and dirt from the famed TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, home of The Players Championship.  

Ok the sand I can see. But dirt?

The December event hosted by Tiger Woods and his TGR Foundation will sit 2020 out due to pandemic travel restrictions. Certainly this is an understandable outcome for an event hosted by an international sponsor and played in the Bahamas.

According to ESPN.com’s Bob Harig, consideration was given to a Florida playing.

Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, said there were some discussions about playing the tournament in Florida but that a bigger issue was the contingent of Hero MotoCorp executives and guests traveling from the company's base in India.

While it seems like four years ago, the 2019 edition of the Hero was memorably marred by Patrick Reed’s practice swing exploration of waste bunker sands.

The PGA Tour is already scheduled to play the Mayakoba Classic the same week as the Hero was planned, suggesting this move should come as little surprise.

Lauren Ohnesorge’s of the Triangle Business Journal takes a look at the USGA’s testing center move to Pinehurst and it’s certainly exciting to see the potential development of talent, turfgrass and museum exposure to more eyeballs.

But the notion of a manufacturing center remains very odd in Ohnesorge’s characterization.

As N.C. Commerce Secretary Tony Copeland outlined in an August letter supporting the project, made available through a public records request, officials envisioned a golf cluster in North Carolina.

“Having the Test Center in Pinehurst will focus the attention of the entire golf industry on North Carolina and will very likely attract many golf equipment manufacturers and suppliers to not only Moore County but also the region so they can be in close proximity to the Test Center,” Copeland wrote.

You know UPS, DHL and FedEx are all good shipping options for clubs to be tested.

That said, if the golf manufacturers picked up and moved offices to the area I’m at a loss how that benefits the sport in the way of less expensive clubs or more manufacturing jobs in the United States. But it does not take a wild imagination to see such a move—as unlikely as it is to everyone by the state commerce secretary—helping the USGA enact effective equipment regulation.

A $10 million bonus pool designed to encourage players to show up at the Wyndham Championship will be ending after two years. This, after top players didn’t show up to collect their rewards and the entire thing was poorly conceived from the beginning.

Sympathies to all Wyndham employees who were affected by this awful idea and to the happy faces when this was announced in September, 2018.

John Lombardo at Sports Business Journal confirms what GolfNewsNet’s Ryan Ballengee had first hinted was looming.

The company will continue to keep its title sponsorship of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro. Its current title sponsorship deal runs through '26. The Tour in a statement said it fully supports Wyndham's "decision to focus solely on this long-standing event that has made such an impact in central North Carolina. We look forward to the continued growth and success of the Tour Top 10 program and expect to have further information in the coming months."

Two years ago it all sounded so brilliant, if you were an executive whose bonus depended on this silly idea.

Not long ago the Astros* enjoyed a secure home field. And now the Houston Open benefiting the Astros* Foundation has taken on Vivint Smart Home to sponsor the fall PGA Tour event.

Everyone needs some home security in their lives. Especially the Astros.

PGA TOUR, Astros Golf Foundation partner with Vivint to sponsor the Vivint Houston Open in 2020

Astros Golf Foundation returns event to Memorial Park Golf Course for first time since 1963

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – The PGA TOUR announced that Vivint Smart Home, Inc. (NYSE: VVNT), a leading smart home company in North America, will become title sponsor of the Houston Open for 2020 in support of tournament host and beneficiary, the Astros Golf Foundation. The Vivint Houston Open will be played November 5-8 and returns to Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston for the first time since 1963.

First round live odds

On paper, a lightly watched fall event from Las Vegas without fans was the perfect spot to start incorporating sports betting into a PGA Tour event. While the early round execution was as laughably awkward—but befitting of the low budget Korn Ferry-style broadcast effort by Golf Channel—the real eye-opener came during Sunday’s CJ Cup final round.

Jason Kokrak had a one-stroke lead over Xander Schauffele as they arrived at the par-5 18th. And this wagering opportunity—where legal—came from BET MGM as they waited on the tee:

The announcers ran with the bet and instead of a rather traditional conversation about what needed to happen (Xander must make birdie…no kidding!), this side bet of who would win the hole became mildly interesting and fueled good pre-tee shot conversation.

And then Kokrak unleashed a doozy of a tee shot. The bettor or speculator who was all in on Schauffele making birdie to Kokrak’s conservative par? They lost quickly after this clutch (and huge) tee shot by Kokrak:

He’s back with the flatbellies at this week’s ZOZO Championship outside L.A— but Phil Mickelson is now 2 for 2 on the PGA Tour Champions after passing Mike Weir to win the Dominion Energy Classic.

He may make some odd course management decisions, but the flexibility and strength at 50 is so impressive and why he could be competitive a long time:

"If he gets this on the green, he's Superman."

🦸 pic.twitter.com/GAZo1QJNG8

His post-65 final round comments:

He's done it again! @PhilMickelson after second win. https://t.co/JPTFcJ2JxL

If you watched—and judging by the crickets on social media you didn’t—the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek produced a rewarding finish where a journeyman finally broke through after a mind-numbing 233 starts.

Jason Kokrak has contended so many times and finally broke through in the Asia Swing event moved to Las Vegas, holding off Xander Schauffele at Shadow Creek.

Kokrak’s first PGA Tour victory comes in his 233rd career start and as Ben Everill notes, the long-hitter won this on with the short stick. And maybe some local knowledge.

With just a little research we would have known Kokrak is part of at BetMGM-sponsored crew who often play Shadow Creek – one of the more exclusive courses in the U.S. While the majority of players in the field this week had never played the course or had less than a handful of rounds at the place, Kokrak guesses he’s been out here “north of 20 rounds.”

“I have played quite a few rounds here at Shadow Creek so I know the greens pretty well, I know the little intricacies of this place. Not like some of the local caddies, but it is definitely a place that I feel comfortable at,” he said.

And he played with that sort of familiarity, leading the field in Strokes Gained: Putting for the first time in his now 10-season career.

Kokrak “gained” 10.293 strokes on the field with his putting.

Happy 160th birthday to The Open and that grand October 17th day at Prestwick when a small gathering played for the belt.

No author is listed, but what a perfect way to commemorate the beginning of it all (for pro golf at least) by highlighting what the world looked like then. And I’m sure all of the grateful pro golfers aound the world today uttered a thought or two of appreciation today for the pioneering work of the Morris’s and Park’s that has allowed them to stockpile Porsches and bloated annuities.

A few of my favorites from 1860, courtesy of The Open site:

- Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States of America, making him the first Republican to hold the office.

- In 1860, there were only 33 American states, as opposed to the 50 that exist now, while the population of the USA was approximately 31 million. Today, the US population is over ten times as great, at 330 million.