Golfing News & Blog Articles

Your Path is Key

During our offseason, a plethora of gizmos, gadgets and golf equipment funnel through our facility door. We all know the golf industry is cluttered with training aids. There are new ones popping up with each passing month. With time as the enemy, it is impossible to test each one for effectiveness and impact on a golfer’s performance. However, an intriguing product fell into our possession: AI Golf’s Gatekeeper.

As a putting training aid, the Gatekeeper gave us a perfect opportunity to test it out. AI Golf’s slogan for the product, “Your path Is key”, is certainly the focal point of the training aid. Let’s take a look and see if the proof is in the putting.

The Gatekeeper

Endorsed by Stewart Cink, eight-time PGA TOUR winner and 2009 Open champion, the Gatekeeper has four main goals:

Promote perfect pathMinimize face rotationCreate perfect tempoProvide instant feedback

The Gatekeeper offers a unique twist and design. Its “removable cuff” design is integrated into the attachment clasp. This feature allows the device to be used on virtually any putter. Additionally, the Gatekeeper can be used at different heights along the putter shaft. These options make it extremely easy to use and setup.

From a visual standpoint, there is a hint that the designers took inspiration from Star Wars. Remember the Imperial shuttles? Well, the Gatekeeper’s retractable alignment tracks fold up and down just like the wings. This offers a sleek, compact design that is ideal for storing in your golf bag.

I’ve reviewed a lot of golf gadgets over the years for MyGolfSpy: GPS and laser range finders, swing trainers, electronic gadgets and general fitness sensors. In just the past year, I tried the Lagshot, Tag Heuer’s Connected smart watch, the Oura ring and, most recently, the Whoop 4.0 strap.

While conducting the reviews, I started wondering if there wasn’t a better way to accomplish all these goals with one single piece of technology. Do I really need all of these separate apps or are Apple Watch a better does-it-all solution?

I’ll admit that I’m late to the Apple Watch party. In fact, I kept calling it the iWatch for the longest time. But maybe this unfamiliarity is exactly why the Apple Watch kept jumping into my head. Obviously, I knew the Apple Watch existed. I just hadn’t spent time with one. That said, it kept sliding across my mind as the gadget that could accomplish nearly everything a golfer would need.

So, in the spirit of exploration, I ordered an Apple Watch. It was time to find out once and for all if this watch was the must-have piece of golf technology.

Apple Watch Golf Apps

Phil Mickelson, who qualified by winning the PGA Championship, will join the other three major winners in the field at the Jan. 6-9 Sentry Tournament of Champions.

As you finish the final 30 yards of every hole that you play, ever golfer has an equal chance to minimize their strokes. Strength is taken out of the equation for success. It all comes down to skill and intelligence. Your goal is to land on the green and sink your ball in 2 or less putts. Don’t play this game unless you spend time to practice the easy part of this game. Sharpen your chipping skills to get it close and then sink it in 1 or 2 putts.

Chip it Close
When your ball is within about 30 yards, all you need is the right club loft with a good “putting” stroke to hit your ball close to the hole. Think of your short chips as a putting stroke. You don’t need power but you do need a consistent cadence to swing through the ball with a putting stroke that will direct your ball directly at the point on the green where you are aiming for the right roll-out.

Your point of impact for your chip needs to be at the bottom of the arc of your swing. You are not trying to take a divot. You are only trying to direct your ball with enough power to let it roll out to the hole. Choosing the right lofted club is easy to figure out IF you practice with all of your higher lofted irons and wedges. You need “a feel” for each club for flight and rollout.

Putt it Close
Sort out the slope and break on the green before you chip and then again when you setup for your putt. Know the speed of your greens. Stare at the hole while you make your practice swings TO LET YOUR BRAIN TUNE INTO THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF SWING needed to pass the hole. Always putt to the high side as your ball will drop down to the hole or at least stay closer to the hole for an easy 2 putt.

If you can improve your chipping and putting game, you should be able to cut 9 to 18 strokes out of your score for every round of golf. Practice with GOLFSTR+ for your trailing wrist control with a slight lag when you chip and a flat leading wrist when you putt. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Last month, we asked you to take our What’s in the Bag survey. Here’s a first look at some of the insights we gathered from your answers.

In Part One, we’re taking a broad look at what clubs our survey takers had in their bags, not by brand (at least not yet) but by club type.

Drivers

Observations

Right off the bat, 93.63 percent of those who answered the survey carry one driver. No surprise there. We’d say that’s …  pretty normal. It’s also not completely abnormal that 1.49 percent don’t carry a driver at all. Those that don’t bag drivers likely struggle to keep their driver in play. It’s a guess but a pretty solid one.The 1.79 percent who said they carry two drivers probably have a standard driver and a par-3 or “keep it in play” driver.Out of curiosity, we’d love to hear if you carry more than two drivers. Why? Who hurt you? Are you trying to pick your favorite? One for rain, one for sun? What is it?It’s also worth mentioning that  2.09 percent of survey responders carry a mini driver.

Fairway Woods

Observations

As we mentioned above, more than 93 percent of respondents play at least one driver. When we dive into fairway woods, the results are a bit more varied.The 3-wood is the most popular among those who have at least one fairway wood in their bag. Seventy percent of those who carry a fairway wood have a standard (14.5- 15-degree) 3-wood in their bag. The 5-wood is the next most popular.The 7-wood is carried by 13.23 percent of golfers who have at least one fairway wood in their bag. That number will likely increase in the coming years.High-lofted 11-woods are offered by only a few brands and, not surprisingly, are a rare find in your golf bags.

Hybrids

Observations

Seventy-six percent of respondents said they carry at least one hybrid. The 4-hybrid is most often used, followed by the 3.Of the golfers who carry at least one hybrid, almost 21 percent of them carry a 5-hybrid. This was an interesting little nugget. We weren’t expecting it to be that high.There was nothing remarkable to note about the higher-lofted hybrids. Higher lofts fall off dramatically after the 5.

Utility Irons

Observations

Just over 20 percent of golfers who took the survey carry at least one utility iron. That’s less than one-third of golfers who carry at least one hybrid.While higher-lofted hybrids weren’t as popular, higher-lofted utility irons fared better. The 2 was the most popular utility iron and 3 followed right behind.There are some who are still determined to carry a 1-utility iron. Thanks, Titleist.

Irons

Observations

The 4-PW is the most popular set configuration among our survey takers, accounting for nearly 30 percent of all sets. The 5-PW comes in second.The 6-GW is more popular than the once-standard 3-PW and that’s likely because no one makes a 3-iron anymore.

Wedges

Observations

Last, but not least, wedges. Not everyone carries a pitching wedge. We suppose that’s a little surprising. But nearly everyone who does carry a pitching wedge plays a set-matched pitching wedge

The sand wedge is a bit more popular than the gap wedge among our survey takers. That may change in the coming years as the gap wedge is becoming a necessity with increasingly stronger lofts.Just under 60 percent of your gap wedges are set-matched, meaning nearly 40 percent are opting for something like a Vokey, Callaway JAWS, MG3, etc.Only 82.23 percent of golfers carry a lob wedge. We say “only” because, even though that’s still a high number, it’s the only wedge type where usage rates are sub-90 percentSand and lob wedge lofts skew heavily towards specialty wedges with only a single-digit percentage of golfers choosing set-matched versions. Folks … at SW and LW lofts, almost nobody is milling grooves in their set-matched wedges. You should almost certainly be playing something else.

Stay Tuned. In the next coming weeks, we’ll dig deeper in your bag to better understand what’s in it.

The post What’s In The Bag Survey Results Part 1 appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

The NCGA Mourns the Loss of Past President Frank Brunk

December 21, 2021

The NCGA mourns the loss of Past President Frank Brunk, who passed away yesterday.

Brunk, who served as NCGA president in 1991, was the recipient of the first Hall of Fame Service Award at Cal-Berkeley, an honor that recognizes a former student-athlete, coach, administrator or friend of Cal Athletics who has made an outstanding long-term contribution to ideals of the Athletic Department.

The award is presented to a deserving individual for demonstrating exemplary leadership and setting a standard for excellence in enhancing the Cal student-athlete experience. A three-year letterman for the Golden Bears football team from 1947-49, Brunk once returned a kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown against USC that helped secure Cal’s spot in the 1950 Rose Bowl.

Spirit of the Game—Babe Zaharias

December 21, 2021

Olympic gold medal winner in track and field. All-American basketball player in college. Champion golfer. If there was a Jim Thorpe among women athletes, it was Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias. As a professional golfer, she won 31 tournaments, including three U.S. Women’s Opens, and helped found the Ladies Professional Golf Association. “Babe changed the game of golf for women,” said Patty Berg.

Didrikson didn’t even take up golf seriously until she was 21. She was introduced to the game by Grantland Rice in Los Angeles during the 1932 Olympics. Somewhere in between winning gold medals in the javelin and hurdles-she might have won the high jump, too, had she not been disqualified-Didrikson joined Rice and three other sportswriters for a round of golf at Brentwood C.C. According to Rice, the Babe shot 91 that day and regularly hit drives measuring 250 yards.

The following year, while she was touring the country with the House of David baseball team, Didrikson traveled back to Los Angeles and took golf lessons from pro Stan Kertes at Brentwood. Two years later, she won the Texas Women’s Amateur Championship with an eagle on the 34th hole. The United States Golf Association ruled the following day that as a professional athlete Didrikson could no longer compete in amateur events.

There is a lot of cool gear in the golf 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.

There were a lot of innovative, impressive and helpful things for golfers on the market in 2021 and we tried as many of them as we could. Some were downright awesome. Others left varying amounts of room for improvement.

Here are the highlights of our 2021 We Tried It tests and golf equipment reviews.

Technology

Foresight Sports GC3

Data-minded golfers anxiously awaited the launch of the Foresight Sports GC3 launch monitor. Its older brother, the GCQuad, is the Holy Grail. So is the next addition to the Foresight family as accurate?

We put it to the test. Check out the results below.

 It was fantastic to see Tiger Woods making birdies again last weekend at the PNC Father Son Championship. Let’s hope it was a sign of things to come and he can make it back to his best again and compete in the majors in 2022. 

It was interesting to hear some insights from Tiger about how he is being a parent to a junior golfer, his son Charlie. He said in a recent interview with Golf Digest that:

“His temper carries over into another shot, another shot, another shot and compounds itself. [I said to him] Son, I don’t care how mad you get, just as long as you’re 100 percent committed to the next shot. That’s all that matters. That next shot should be the most important shot in your life. It should be more important than breathing. Once you understand that concept, then I think you’ll get better.”

At his peak, Tiger had the strongest mental game in golf and it was undoubtedly why he was able to dominate for so long. But what few of us realize is that he worked on it. Hearing nuggets like this give us a look into the work he did, such as how he responded to bad shots and got himself ready to hit the next one. Like Tiger is sharing with his son Charlie, these are great lessons to instill in youngsters if you are a coach or parent to a junior golfer. 

Responding To Feelings

After hitting a shot, any number of different feelings can arise – it could be joy and excitement from hitting a good one, or disappointment or frustration from a poor one. Whatever feelings arise, you don’t have control over them. What you do have control over, is your response to those feelings. If you’re a parent to a junior golfer, helping them manage the feelings that arise in a round is an important part of helping them get the best out of themselves. 

Junior Legacy–Most Improved Junior Golfer

December 20, 2021

Last Friday, Eva Denten was presented the Junior Legacy–Most Improved Junior Golfer Award at Green Hills Country Club in Fairfield.

Denten is a member of The Olympic Club and Green Hills CC. How did she win the award?  Data was taken from a range of scores from 1/1/21 to 10/31/21.
Her starting handicap was 54.0 and her ending handicap was 19.2 Her ending handicap as of 12/17/21 was even lower at 18.1
There were 6,600 golfers in the pool for the determination.

 

Welcome to another edition of History’s Mysteries. It’s our effort to look back at some of golf’s bygone brands and find out what happened to them and why. Today’s look back should be an adventure.

Do you remember the original Lynx Golf?

Talk about an aptly named company. The lynx, of course, is a feline and we all know cats have their allotted nine lives. By our count, the current iteration of Lynx is its eighth. The company’s journey from disruptive early ‘70s innovator to corporate cog to mothballed store brand to European niche is a fascinating one.

So let’s jump in the time machine, buckle up and take a trip back in time.

History’s Mysteries: The First Life of Lynx Golf

History, it’s said, is written by the victors. Today it’s pretty much accepted in golf canon that Karsten Solheim is the man who made investment-cast irons a thing. But would it surprise you to know that the first truly successful investment-cast club was designed and sold by Lynx?

A full Quadrilateral 2021 PNC Championship recap open to all subscribers and looky-loos in celebration of Tiger Woods’ comeback.

At some point we’ll have to start speculating on a return to majors but for now, enjoy what was a better-than-most weekend of silly season golf.

Tiger Woods showed signs of his old self in three days of golf with son Charlie at the PNC Championship. But he was riding a cart, in a relaxed atmosphere. What does that mean in terms of his return to competitive golf? Only time will tell.