Golfing News & Blog Articles

Long drive champ Kyle Berkshire, whose ball speed has topped out -- so far -- at about 230 mph, is ready to return to the more conventional game and hopes to eventually earn his way into tour events.

For the first time, Augusta National is offering online shopping -- but only to patrons who are on record as having tickets.

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?

Cobra KING Tour Irons – Key Takeaways

Cobra’s new KING Tour irons are the first Cobra irons made from Metal Injection Molding (MIM).Cobra says the process creates an iron that feels softer than premium forgings.KING Tour is a player’s cavity-back iron set with what can be considered “traditional” lofts.

Golf innovation goes by many names. The new Cobra KING Tour irons won’t give you anything fancy-sounding like Thru Slot Speed Pockets or Super Metal L-Face Inserts. But then again, Cobra isn’t promising explosive distance, either.

And when you’re the kid brother in Golf’s Big Five, innovation wears different clothes, too. With the Cobra KING Tour irons, innovation wears work clothes – specifically, a factory worker’s clothes. The innovation is more in how the KING Tours are made, which Cobra says impacts how they perform.

The new Cobra KING irons aren’t forged nor are they cast. In fact, they are Cobra’s first full iron set manufactured using Metal Injection Molding – or MIM – technology.

So when it comes to innovation, MIM’s the word.

The MIM King

Cobra may be the baby of the Big Five family but it takes a backseat to no one when it comes to manufacturing innovation. Whether it’s Metal Injection Molding or 3D Metal Jet printing, Cobra seems intent on reinventing golf club manufacturing. Cobra broke new ground early last year with its KING MIM wedges. But a full set of MIM’d irons? That, dear reader, requires a deeper dive.

Mizuno ST-X and ST-Z hit USGA conforming listWill likely be marketed to mid-slow swing playersPricing remains unknown for the probable early 2021 release

 

Two new Mizuno drivers hit the USGA conforming list on Monday – the Mizuno ST-X and ST-Z. As per usual, what we know is a combination of reasonable assumptions based on the provided images and some dot-connecting with prior Mizuno driver releases.

Starting with the ST190 (released fall 2018), Mizuno metalwoods began trending in a more competitive direction. It’s not that Mizuno lacked the technical know-how or design capabilities to manufacturer a tour-ready driver. Simply, it just wasn’t a point of emphasis.

So, the ST190 was a positive step and in January 2020, the ST200 line was arguably the first bonafide “tour-ready” flagship Mizuno driver.

So, where does that leave us now?

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.

The Washington D.C. Beltway can be a loud, blustery place – especially in an election year. That makes the serenity of a day spent at Pleasant Valley Golf Club worth savoring. This golf course void of a residential component presents a natural, scenic and quiet 18 holes just 25 minutes west of the district. Located […]

The post Pleasant Valley Golf Club offers serenity near Washington D.C. appeared first on Golf Blog, Golf Articles | GolfNow Blog.

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.

Tiger Woods' annual Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dustin Johnson's agent said the golfer is feeling better after his COVID-19 diagnosis last week, but he is still low on energy, which is why he is withdrawing from this week's Zozo Championship.

Charles Barkley will partner with Phil Mickelson in a golf match against Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning on Nov. 27, with proceeds going to historically Black colleges and universities.

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.

Is it fair to kick people off the course based on what color socks they’re wearing? We talk this and more on today’s episode of No Putts Given.

0:23 – Does golf really need a dress code?11:43 – Are junior clubs just another market for manufacturers, or are they genuinely growing the game?19:22 –  Love It or Leave It:19:55 – Bryson winning the Masters20:38 – Vice golf balls21:32 – Graphite shafts in irons22:23 – Pros playing blades

Watch Now

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and all major podcast apps.

 

The post Does Golf NEED a Dress Code? | NPG 62 appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

October 19, 2020

2019-2020 NCGA Players of the Year

NCGA Player of the Year—Alexander Chin

A few early wins made Alexander Chin realize he was on the right path, but it wasn’t until he reached the quarterfinals of the California Amateur Championship that he began aiming for a loftier goal.

“It wasn’t really a goal to be Player of the Year,” said Chin, a 21-year-old senior at the University of San Francisco. “After I saw where I was in the standings after the California Amateur though, I figured I had a shot.”

The Pleasanton native, who honed his skills on the Junior Tour of Northern California, added a new goal, and the pursuit was on. In the end, Chin would win Player of the Year honors with a total of 1,326 points. Runner-up Matt Cohn would finish at 1,223 points.

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.

The Tour Edge 48-Hour Guarantee

On paper, Tour Edge’s guarantee is about as straightforward as it gets. The company says it “offers an unprecedented 48-hour nationwide delivery guarantee on custom fit orders.”

Seems easy enough, right? Get fitted online or in-person and bang, boom, presto, two days later your clubs arrive at the doorstep.

We live in an increasingly connected world where consumers expect (at least) the option of instant gratification. Because whatever we want, we want now. If not sooner.

However, what Tour Edge promises is a bit different. I wanted to see for myself what this was all about.

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

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 17, 2020

His post-65 final round comments:

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

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 18, 2020

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.