Golfing News & Blog Articles

Steve Flesch has a two-stroke lead over Bernhard Langer and Steven Alker in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

Jeff Winther reclaimed the lead at the Mallorca Open with an 8-under 62 on Saturday.

Hee Jeong Lim took a four-stroke lead into the final round of the LPGA Tour's BMW Ladies Championship after a 7-under 65 Saturday.

Hideki Matsuyama shot a 2-under 68 on Saturday and will take a one-shot lead over Cameron Tringale into the final round at the Zozo Championship.

Steven Alker shot a 9-under 63 on Friday to take the first-round lead in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the first of three PGA Tour Champions playoff events.

Bryce Easton was leading the Mallorca Open on Friday when the second round was suspended because of darkness on the Mediterranean island.

New putter line from Inesis, Decathlon’s house golf brandIntended to be accessible and afforadable for all levels of golfersMSRP $129

Inesis is adding putters to their budget.-friendly line of golf products. Just to refresh your memory, Inesis is the store golf brand for the sporting goods retailer Decathlon. If you live in the U.S., you may not be familiar with Decathlon. As of today, the only two Decathlon stores in the United States are near San Francisco.

Should you be reading this from other parts of the globe, you are familiar with the Decathlon name. Though based in France, Decathlon has a worldwide presence.

As of May 2021, there are 1,714 Decathlon stores in 61 countries and they employ nearly 100,000 people.

Inesis=Decathlon

Decathlon is a huge sporting goods company. What separates them is their mission of selling inexpensive sporting goods that work as well as the big-name gear. I’m not going to go too deep into Decathlon since we’ve already discussed Inesis and Decathlon. Essentially, Decathlon wants to allow all people to play all sports.

To that point, Decathlon’s Inesis brand is all about access to the game of golf. This translates into providing low-cost gear that performs well in the hands of new or less-skilled golfers.

Hee Jeong Lim shot a 6-under 66 and first-round leader Na Rin An a 69 to leave the South Korean players tied for the lead after two rounds of the LPGA Tour's BMW Ladies Championship on Friday.

Hideki Matsuyama, who trailed by a stroke after the first round, took a one-shot lead after firing a 2-under 68 Friday at the PGA Tour's Zozo Championship.

Denmark's Jeff Winther carded a superb 8-under-par 62 to claim the lead after the first round of the Mallorca Open on Thursday.

2020-2021 NCGA Players of the Year

October 21, 2021 

NCGA Men’s Player of the Year—Brett Viboch

In the past, Moraga resident Brett Viboch had never really focused on NCGA Player of the Year honors.

Instead, the 38-year-old E-Club Sacramento member had entered each season targeting exemptions and a roster spot on NCGA Cup teams.

In August 2020, however, that all changed when Viboch decided he wanted to be a Player of the Year.

Are Odyssey’s Stroke Lab Shafts Changing the Game?

In 2019, Odyssey rolled out a new wave of technology, the Stroke Lab putter shaft. Billed as a potential game-changer at the time, there was plenty of buzz surrounding the multi-material golf shaft. As with any new technology, Stroke Lab brought with it promises of improvement. In putting, consistency is the name of the game. To that end, Odyssey says Stroke Lab putters shafts can improve consistency across several facets of putting, including backswing length, face angle, tempo, and velocity.

Of course, Odyssey wasn’t the only one modernizing the putter shaft, and it certainly wasn’t the only one promising better putting. For example, BGT offers multi-material models, and LA Golf Shafts offers a composite golf shaft. The same is true for Mitsubishi and Fujikura.

As a maker of the putter and the shaft, Odyssey has a leg up on its competitors and certainly accounts for the majority of multi-material putter shafts in the bags of average golfers. In that respect, it’s fair to call Odyssey the leader in the clubhouse, but it’s fair to ask if Stroke Lab putter shafts really produce better results.

We decided to take a look.

A Blast from the Past with a Twist

In 2021, Odyssey released a new lineup featuring the classic White Hot insert and an updated version of the Stroke Lab shaft. Notable in the updated Stroke Lab shaft is a shorter and stepless steel section. The change resulted in a 7-gram reduction in weight. Odyssey says the small tweaks further improve tempo, swing arc, and face impact consistency.

Japanese golfer Hiroshi Iwata shot a 7-under 63 Thursday to take the first-round lead at the PGA Tour's Zozo Championship.

Jin Young Ko couldn't quite manage an LPGA Tour scoring record for consecutive rounds in the 60s but her South Korean compatriots packed the leaderboard after the first round of the BMW Ladies Championship on Thursday.

Donald Trump's company is under criminal investigation by a district attorney in a New York City suburb into whether it misled officials to cut taxes for a golf course there, according to The New York Times.

Getting out of any bunker with a short or long shot is every golfers dream. A recent blog by GOLF Magazine gave us the 10 steps for success. These steps may not guaranty that you make more SANDIES (a bunker chip plus 1 putt) but they should at least help you reach and stay on the green.

1/ Balanced Stance: Setup with equal weight on both feet.

2/ Forward Ball Position: Your club must contact the sand before it slips under the ball so place the ball a few inches forward of the center of your stance and aim for your club to enter the sand directly in the center of your stance.

3/ Shuffle Into the Sand: You want to lower the height of your body to ensure that you club will power through the sand. Dig your feet down so that the soles of your shoes are below the level of the sand.

4/ Swing to Take a Dollar Bill of Sand: Your swing needs to enter the sand just before the ball but more important it needs to take sand under the ball and well after the ball. Imagine that you are placing a quarter after the ball and that you have to clear the ball and the quarter out of the trap.

Trackman and Titleist have partnered on a new (sorta) golf ball. The Titleist Pro V1 RCT is the first golf ball specifically designed for use with Trackman in an indoor environment.

What?

Let’s back up a bit.

Golf is traditionally, perhaps even fundamentally, a game played outdoors. But, when you consider lessons, fittings, and a fully simulated golf experience, there is inarguably a massive number of shots being hit indoors. It’s also true that we live in the age of data. Very few of us are banging balls for the sake of banging balls. The shots we hit indoors need to be measured, and they need to be measured accurately.

That’s where the Titleist Pro V1 RCT comes in.

Spirit of the Game: Al Espinosa

October 19, 2021

Al Espinosa, a native of Monterey, was one of the earliest Hispanic golfers to play on the pro tour in the United States. He was active on the PGA Tour in the 1920s and 1930s, with multiple victories.

Among his most significant victories:

1924 Missouri Open1926 Oklahoma City Open1928 Florida West Coast Open1928 Mid-America Open1930 Houston Open1932 Ohio Open1933 Ohio Open1934 Miami International Four-Ball*1935 Indianapolis Open

*with partner Denny Shute

Highest and Lowest Courses

October 19, 2021

 

Our Course Raters spend time traveling to courses throughout Northern California rating courses for our members.  A recent road trip really spoke to the diversity of golf courses we get to enjoy in our part of the world.   The team visited Furnace Creek GC the world’s lowest elevation golf course at 214 feet below sea level, located in Death Valley.  That same week the team made the trek to Mammoth to Sierra Star GC – at a full mile and a half (8,000 feet) above sea level it is the highest-elevation golf course in California.

The team rises early to get the job done and according to Jim Cowan, NCGA Director of Course Rating the Sunrises at Furnace Creek GC are pretty spectacular as the sun first hits the mountain peaks to the west and then descends to the valley floor where the golf course is located.   Palm and tamarisk trees frame the fairways and majestic mountains are visible from all areas of the course.  Playing and rating this course present unique challenges as you test your mettle against the low elevation and the low barometric pressure.

The rating team really has stayed focused at Sierra Star GC as they took in the rolling hills, the tree-lined fairways and some of the most breathtaking views of any course in North America.  They also have to pay attention to their calculations, the course sits at an elevation of about 8,000 ft., meaning your ball can fly a long way.

Welcome back to the latest installment of History’s Mysteries. MyGolfSpy is jumping into the DeLorean and taking a 1.21 jiggawatt-fueled look at the long life and quick death of Spalding Golf.

Titleist has been the Ball King for so long, it’s hard to remember a time when it wasn’t. Turns out it was just 20 years ago. Throughout the 90s and into the early 2000s, Spalding and Titleist were running neck and neck in golf ball production.

Spalding spent over 125 years as a sporting goods giant. As the 21st Century dawned, it had impressive sales and deep-pocket owners, but in reality, it was staring down the barrel of a gun. Within three years, it would be gone for good.

This is the story of Spalding’s Final Countdown.