Golfing News & Blog Articles

With Tiger Woods and his son, Charlie, set to play in the PNC Championship this week, it’s not particularly surprising to see TaylorMade Stealth and Stealth Plus drivers on the USGA conforming clubs list.

As per usual, the USGA pics don’t tell the entire story. But, they do provide plenty of potential talking points.

Most of what the purposely generic USGA photos reveal is expected – Speed Pockets, adjustable hosels, and a relatively familiar sole design. Business as usual sort of stuff.

CARBONWOOD?

That said, my hunch is many of you will focus on two elements. The  CARBONWOOD label on the sole and “Face: 60X Carbon” note in the section on identification markings. What this perhaps suggests is that Stealth will utilize carbon differently than in previous TaylorMade drivers. Given the potential deviation, it’s unlikely that TaylorMade would go down such a road without plenty of reason to believe that success is all but guaranteed. With that, too many of us probably remember previous carbon-face failures such as the 2001 Callaway C4. The primary foible with past attempts is that while much lighter than titanium, carbon is quite a bit more expensive. And a driver with more expensive materials without quantifiable better performance is well, likely why we haven’t seen any recent carbon-face drivers in the market.

NCGA Opposes Assembly Bill 672

December 13, 2021

The NCGA is aligned with other opponents of AB 672 [Conversion of Publicly Owned Golf Courses to Affordable Housing].

For background, AB 672 (Public Golf Endangerment Act) provides $50 million in developer subsidies to redevelop California’s municipal golf courses into housing complexes.

This bill singles out golf and only golf for residential redevelopment among the state’s abundance of park, recreation, and open space activities. This bill  proposes to only affect golf rather than putting ALL park, recreation and open space activities in play for redevelopment.

Municipal golf courses are part of the same park systems that provide soccer, baseball, swimming, picnicking, biking, pickleball, tennis, walking/riding trails and numerous other recreational amenities, the one difference being golf is generally more utilized than the rest. The one commonality being their indispensability in making possible high school and junior golf programs.

Golf courses preserve open space, sequester carbon, provide habitat, promote biodiversity and allow rainwater to get into groundwater basins. And in times of global warming and record high temperatures, golf courses reduce temperatures in their surrounding areas. Municipal golf courses provide these benefits almost entirely in densely packed urban environments where they are most needed, and in communities disproportionately identified as “park poor.” Converting them to hardscape exacerbates both problems.

When I give a playing lesson to a new student and ask them where their focus of attention was before and during a shot, I rarely find that it was on the same things. Apparently, golfers are very good at training their swings, but not as good at training their attention. The mind can become distracted, unfocused, and more concerned about the movement of the swing than the intention for the shot. Most golfers “go through the motions” during their Pre Shot Routine and convince themselves that they are focused, but really they are unaware of where they are directing their attention. 

External Focus For Golf

The swing and stroke needs to be trusted, and guided not by conscious thought about it, but by a sensory connection with the target and intention for the shot. When we are able to place our attention on what we are trying to do with the golf ball or the effect of our movement (impact) rather than the movement itself, it’s called External Focus for golf. Studies by the likes of Professor Gabriel Wulf show that generally speaking (and even more so for the short game and putting) having an external focus is the most effective way to play. When we become too focused on what we need to with the body (called “Internal focus”), energy is directed away from the intention for the shot and towards thinking about the swing. By doing this, the intuitive “athletic” mind, which is needed to play the shot, is pushed out of the process. 

As Bobby Jones once said: “the golf swing is too complex a movement to be consciously controlled”. 

A Holistic Approach Is Needed

One of the problems is that golf coaching and information to help golfers lower scores is, generally speaking, very technical. Few coaches teach players how to access the athlete within, and instead they have them trying to achieve a multitude of “correct” positions in their swing. I’m by no means undervaluing the importance of the technical aspects of the game (nor am I saying that you shouldn’t play with a “swing thought”), but my view is that it needs to be taught using a more “holistic” approach. 

As a golfer hits more poor shots during a round, it can cause them to become increasingly focused on the mechanics of the swing which further distances them from their intention for the shot, creating tension and a loss of rhythm and tempo. 

There is a lot of cool gear in the golf equipment world that doesn’t always fit neatly into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised.

What We Tried: The Whoop 4.0 Fitness Tracker

Dave Wolfe – MyGolfSpy writer and putter fanatic. I am always looking for ways to improve my game and fight off the impact of aging.

What’s a Whoop?

When I first heard the name “Whoop”, my brain naturally responded with the phrase “there it is.” My brain is a little off (duh) since that song actually says “Whoomp! There it is.” But, hey, thank you, Tag Team, for conditioning my response regardless. If you are in your 40s or 50s, I bet Whoomp! caused you to burn some calories in the ’90s. The minus-the-m Whoop 4.0 works in the other direction. Rather than driving your fitness, it measures it. From my experience, it actually does drive it a bit as well.

Maybe the Whoop 4.0 fitness tracker will not inspire a Geico commercial but it could inspire you to make some serious changes—and gains—in your overall fitness.

Jason Kokrak and Kevin Na birdied 12 of their last 13 holes Sunday in fourballs and closed with a 12-under 60 to rally from a three-shot deficit and win the QBE Shootout in Naples, Florida.

Marc Leishman flirted with an ace for the second straight day as he and partner Jason Day extended their lead in the QBE Shootout.

Jason Day and Marc Leishman had 12 birdies, two eagles and finished 1 shot short of the record for the scramble format, posting a 16-under 56 to lead the QBE Shootout by a stroke.

With its latest update, Arccos has launched what it’s billing as the first-ever on-course ball data capture system.

Cool.

Also, what does that mean?

The simple explanation is that the Arccos Caddie app’s round settings menu has been expanded to allow the golfer to track the golf ball used during every round.

2021 NCGA Annual Meeting

December 9, 2021

Gary Fox was officially named the 95th President of the Northern California Golf Association at Wednesday’s NCGA Annual Meeting, which was held at Poppy Hills Golf Course.  Other board members for the 2020 NCGA golf season were also confirmed at the meeting. The 2020 Annual Meeting was held virtually due to COVID-19.

Fox, a member at Spring Creek Golf and Country Club in Ripon, has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2014. Fox, whose wife is Darlene, is a retired executive in food services distribution and warehousing industries.

Fox succeeds Bob Goldstein, a member at Sequoyah Country Club. Also seated were Vice President David Pearson (eighth year) and Secretary/Treasurer Edward Quinn (fifth year). Current NCGA Board members that were re-nominated for 2022 were Kevin Peyton of San Jose CC (fifth year), Lance Parker (fourth year), Preston Pinkney (third year), Bill Carle (third year), Cathy Stroh (third year), Dana Carrigan (second year), Bob Miller (fourth year), Karl Rodefer (second year), Bill Self (second year) and Lynn Harvey (third year).

NCGA Board members who are either retiring or have met board term limits are Raymond Coates, Terry Fitzwater and Scott Gebhardt.

The Mizuno Pro line features three new models.It’s the most tech-rich MP release ever.Availability begins Feb. 3.

We’re running a few months behind but it’s finally Mizuno MP … excuse me … Mizuno Pro time. Typically, this is a discussion that’s as much about the artistry of design—clean flowing lines, precise shaping and the Mizuno tradition—as it is technology and performance.

Not this time.

Bucking Tradition

The demographics of golf have changed. We’ve talked about the influx of new golfers before. As it relates to Mizuno, those new golfers don’t carry with them much of a golfing memory. There’s at best minimal awareness of Mizuno’s traditional role in the market. The lines between iron brands and metalwood brands are fading and, with that, Mizuno sees an opportunity to start fresh.

Instead of dwelling on history, Mizuno hopes to make it. That means you’ll see less emphasis on Mizuno icons like Nick Faldo. You’ll hear much less about Mizuno traditions and all that days of yore stuff.