Golfing News & Blog Articles

Scott Parel shot a bogey-free 7-under 65 on Friday to take the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions' SAS Championship.

2021 NCGA Tournament Official of the Year–Drew Boyd

October 15, 2021

A general interest got Pleasanton resident Drew Boyd hooked.

Following retirement after a 43-year career managing corporate training and customer service operations, Boyd one fateful day in 2009 was perusing the NCGA Golf magazine when he noticed an article on becoming an NCGA volunteer.

Boyd went on to apply, and a year later joined the tournament official corps. Eleven years on, the 77-year-old Philadelphia native not only is a volunteer, but has numerous times been the tournament chairperson for NCGA qualifiers and major championships.

NCGA Course Rater of the Year—Jerry Zavagno

October 15, 2021

 

Once a salesman himself, it was a friend who pitched the idea of becoming an NCGA course rater to Novato resident Jerry Zavagno.

“Russ Adamson, a longtime friend was an NCGA volunteer course rater. At the time, we both were members at Peacock Gap. We had qualified for a Zone Championship,” Zavagno said. “While at NCGA headquarters, I went ahead and filled out the form to become a course rater.”

Robert Streb shot an 11-under 61 Thursday in Las Vegas at the CJ Cup to grab a one-shot lead after the first round.

Jon Rahm's struggles at home continued on Thursday with a 7-over 78 that matched his second worst round ever as a professional and left him 11 shots off the lead at the Andalucía Masters.

Football Hall Of Famer Ronnie Lott To Sponsor APGA Tour Member Michael Herrera

October 14, 2021

Ronnie Lott, the Hall of Fame defensive back for the San Francisco 49ers and the University of Southern California, will sponsor APGA Tour standout Michael Herrera going forward in a gesture of support for a new friend and for the APGA Tour’s mission of driving greater diversity in the sport of golf.

Herrera, who won one event earlier this year in APGA Tour competition, is a pro golfer with dreams of making the PGA Tour. In pursuit of that aspiration, Herrera plays the APGA Tour schedule and major regional tournaments while pursuing qualifying opportunities with other tours in professional golf. Lott will cover travel and competition-related expenses as Herrera works to advance his career.

The opportunity for Herrera came about in August at the Eighth Annual Cedric “The Entertainer” Celebrity Golf Classic Presented by Lexus at which Herrera was one of the participating pros. He met Lott on the second tee at Spanish Hills Country Club in Camarillo, California, and they had extra time to connect while Lott’s group waited to play the next hole.  In those few minutes, they forged a bond that will now give Herrera his best chance of succeeding in the sport he loves.

Lott is the owner ofTracy Toyota, a prominent auto dealership 60 miles east of San Francisco. Herrera will wear Tracy Toyota logo identification on his attire while competing during the course of the sponsorship.

“Chris broke it.”

That was the statement by Alex Dee, VP of Fujikura Composites, during my recent visit to Fujikura’s R&D facility in Carlsbad, CA. The “it” to which he’s referring is ENSO, a $300,000 3D motion capture system.

Full disclosure, I didn’t really break it. But, for 10-15 minutes, plenty of nervous people considered it a real possibility.

Though this near-miss created a dash of levity bookended by several moments of panic, it revealed an important fact.

ENSO is Fujikura’s sacred cow.

The 2021 Australian Open and the 2022 Women's Australian Open have been cancelled as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to play havoc with international travel plans.

 

The post Stocker Cup appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.

Pairings/Results

 

The post NCGA Team Match Championship appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.

24th NorCal Womens’ Cup

 

 

NorCal Cup Matches – History

This annual cup competition brings together the top twelve female competitors in the NCPGA/LPGA to compete against the top twelve WGANC/PWGA competitors in a Solheim Cup style format.  The inaugural event began in 1997.

MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of the golf balls on the market to help you find the best ball for your money. Today we’re evaluating the Titleist Pro V1. For more information, visit our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.

About the Titleist Pro V1

By any reasonable measure, the Titleist Pro V1 is the #1 Ball in Golf. Individually, it’s the best-selling ball at retail and it, along with the Pro V1x, is the most played ball on the PGA TOUR. As it happens, it’s also now the top-ranked ball in Ball Lab.

Sorry if that spoils the surprise.

Two-time NBA champion JR Smith, making his collegiate golf debut for North Carolina A&T, finished in 81st place out 84 entries after shooting a 79 in the final round of the Phoenix Invitational.

I love to see great tips from the old pros like Lee Trevino. I notice that his swing, like Jack Nicklaus’ swing evolved as he got older. They added features to increase rotation to minimize distance loss as their bodies tightened up with age. Lee suggested these changes:

1/ MOVE YOUR FOOT AWAY: Move your trailing foot back a few inches off the line parallel to your target line. It allows you to rotate for more backswing and avoid swinging over the top and slicing the ball.

2/ MOVE YOUR BALL BACK IN YOUR STANCE: Lee noticed that most of the aging golfers and want-to-be-golfers impact the turf about 2 to 3 inches behind the ball. Of course, that kills the distance. He suggests moving the ball back in your stance slightly for every shot that you make. He points out that you are swinging your arms around you body in a circular motion which pulls your club away from your ball and your target line. If you hit a lot of THIN shots, just move your ball back in your stance. (Pros shift their weight forward to avoid thin shots.)

3/ SWING STRAIGHT BACK: By swinging the head of your club straight back to start your backswing, you will force your shoulders to rotate more. You need to rotate your hips and shoulders and your arms but if you rush your swing you often miss the chance to rotate all 3 and add lag with your wrists. Remember: there is no need to rush your backswing. It is just the windup for your body and it only gets your club in position for the perfect shallow downswing and release.

4/ AIM FOR THE INSIDE QUADRANT: Swing down to hit your ball at 7 o’clock (where 6 o’clock is directly back and 12 o’clock is straight up your target line). When you aim to hit up the inside quadrant of your ball you are adding draw to your flight path for more distance.

The PGA Tour said Tuesday that it would adopt a new local rule, effective Jan. 1, 2022, that would allow high-level tournaments to limit driver length to 46 inches.

We tested how mud and scuffs affect the flight of your ball with some eyebrow-raising results. Also, how satisfied with you on your irons, and what club would you never take out the bag?

1:19 – Mud Ball (VS) Scuffed (VS) New8:10 – Warming up with range balls?9:47 – Should you take your balls out sooner?13:48 – Working with mud/damage17:23 – The Iron Satisfaction Survey28:04 – MAILBAG! – What club will you never take out the bag?

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The post TESTED: Mud Ball (VS) Scuffed (VS) New | NPG 95 appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

The Callaway Epic Max Star driver and fairway woods target “force-limited” golfers.The new offerings rely on lightweight design to increase clubhead speed and distance.Retail price is $699.99 for the driver and $429.99 for the fairway wood.

As we’ve mentioned before, fall is the season when Callaway typically releases its more, shall we say, “niche” offerings. Just last week, the company launched the APEX UW, the promising—though somewhat unusual— lovechild of a hybrid and a fairway wood. This time around, Callaway is launching the Epic Max Star family—a premium-priced offering that targets “force-limited” golfers.

To be sure, the golf industry loves its candy-coated euphemisms and so, yeah, “force limited” is the sweetest possible way of saying “slow,” but for golfers in the Epic Max Star wheelhouse, money may not be able to buy happiness but it might just buy you some distance.

If you take nothing else away from the story of the Callaway Epic Max Star, all you really need to know is that it’s long, and light, and gold.

Ultra-Premium

That last one won’t be on the test but you can bet the accents are meant to convey that Epic Max Star is a premium or perhaps even ultra-premium product. If for whatever reason the paint doesn’t deliver the desired messaging, the price tag certainly will.

Callaway Epic MAX Star Irons and Hybrids – Key Takeaways

Callaway updates its ultra-premium, ultra-light irons and hybrids.A.I.-designed, specifically for slow swing-speed players.Available in 3- through 8-hybrid righthanded (3H-6H for lefties) and 5-iron through sand wedge$349.99 per club. Available Sept. 30

Today’s stories on the new Callaway Epic MAX Star lineup may make you:

A: Grumpy
B: Outraged
C: Grab your torch and pitchfork
D: Intrigued

Your answer, of course, will depend entirely on your swing speed, demographic and bank account.

You can read all about the new Callaway Epic MAX Star driver and fairways in our companion post so this piece will focus on the Epic MAX Star irons and hybrids. If you answered D to the above survey, I look forward to your comments below. And if you didn’t answer D to the above survey, well, I really look forward to your comments below.

This should be fun.

Ex-NBA player JR Smith shot a 12-over-par 83 in Round 1 and then a 7-over 78 in Round 2 for North Carolina A&T at Elon's Phoenix Invitational.