Golfing News & Blog Articles

More money has been bet on Tiger Woods to win the U.S. Open than has been bet on any other golfer at William Hill sportsbooks, although Phil Mickelson has attracted the largest single bet.

The Australian PGA Tour, scheduled to take place on the Gold Coast in December, has been postponed until 2021 as Australia's strict border controls cause a major obstacle.

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Martin Davis considers the role playoffs have played in creating epic U.S. Open memories. While I don’t agree with some of the sentiments expressed in the story questioning the end of Monday 18-hole playoffs—one unnamed voice calls it the equivalent of a pop quiz—the new format remains befuddling after so many years of lectures about the importance of 18 holes to decide a tie.

The USGA settled on two-hole aggregate playoffs when The Open and PGA Championship use three holes (The Masters remains sudden-death). The two-hole setup is especially curious this year given the natural three-hole loop and this:

If a playoff is required at Winged Foot, it will be decided by a two-hole aggregate playoff on Holes 10 (a par 3 of 214 yards with the deepest bunkers on the course) and 18 (a dogleg left par 4 of 469 yards to an elevated, well-bunkered green) immediately after play. If the playoff results in a tie, play will continue on a hole-by-hole basis on Holes 10, 11 (a short par 4 of 384 yards) and 18, repeated, if necessary, until a champion is determined.

So in the aggregate playoff setup, the 11th hole providing a natural bridge to the 18th tee will be skipped, but in sudden death it would be used. Presumably the two-hole idea is for television, but it sure chips away at the championship’s cache, particularly when it’s so obviously setup for a perfect three-hole playoff.

Above is the overhead of the holes in play, with the 10th at the bottom. That’s 10, then a cart drive to 18 tee, but in sudden death the sequence would be 10-11-18. Ok.

Guardian Management of Handicap

 

Beginning in January 2021, digital profiles will be required for all golfers accessing the GHIN Mobile App and ghin.com.

Per the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), golfers designated as minors (under 13 years of age) will not be able to provide an email address, create a digital profile, or directly access GHIN Golfer Products (Kiosk, GHIN Mobile App, ghin.com).  Their profile must be linked to a guardian who can access the products and post on their behalf.  A minor is defined as a golfer who is under 13 years of age per the date of birth in their golfer profile.

The Guardian Management program will be introduced in mid-October to provide adequate time to link a guardian to each minor before digital profiles are introduced in January 2021.

Included below are suggestions as to how you and your clubs can prepare for this change to minimize disruption.

Paul Sullivan of the New York Times considers what the loss of normal U.S. Open revenue means for the various initiatives receiving USGA support. The story, as with others on the topic, mentioned a general number of $165 million in tournament revenue with $70 million in profit.

The two entities mentioned that got my eye:

Girls Golf, which works with girls to teach them golf and life skills, was hit with a double whammy in March. It receives $1 million from the U.S.G.A. and the L.P.G.A., the governing body for women’s golf, which halted its season in March.

“We didn’t really know what was going to happen,” said Nancy Henderson, chief teaching officer and president of the L.P.G.A. Foundation. “Our initial focus was our Girls Golf sites weren’t able to do programming in person, so we moved a lot of it online.”

While grants from both organizations came through, Ms. Henderson remains worried about next year. “That’s the big question,” she said. “You don’t know if you’ll be back to a new normal.”

Regarding the new normal and the sites hosting, there is a startling change in fees for 2020 host Winged Foot. According to Bryan Marsal, the chairman of the 2020 U.S. Open, the club will see only about 10% of what was expected.

“Our compensation was based on the number of fans that came to watch the tournament, plus the amount of merchandise that was sold in the merchandise tent, plus the corporate tents that were sold and the rental of the property,” he said. “We’ve had a 90 percent reduction in the revenue going to the club.”

If you’ve watched early week coverage from Winged Foot, you know the 18th green just has something special going on. I don’t recall that sense the last time the West hosted in 2006. So we’ll chalk up that eye-catching quality to the restoration work reclaiming both shape, size and artistic flair to this historic location.

John Fischer takes us back to the putt that changed golf history and forced a 1929 U.S. Open playoff. Carve out a few minutes to go back to his moment, which now is easier to visuale in 2020 thanks to the green reclaiming its identical look.

The 12-foot putt that Jones faced on the 72nd hole was downhill on a fast green, with a left-to-right break. Jones took a few extra seconds to look over the putt. The gallery had swelled to 7,000, some standing back as far as the knoll in the 18th fairway to get a good view of the green.

Jones decided on his line and aimed 1½ feet above the cup. He stroked the ball amid dead silence from the huge crowd. The ball slowly rolled down the slope and seemed to hesitate at the edge of the cup. The gallery let out a collective gasp. Then, after seeming to hang on the lip, the ball fell into the cup. Thunderous cheering and applause followed. Jones had done it. He had tied Espinosa.

If you want to keep going back, why not get a little Grantland Rice in your life. His dispatch well after that day and one of the last things he authored.

Sam Harrop loves golf and knows music. He has combined his passions to become the golf parody song hit-maker. This week, for the U.S. Open, he finally got to write a song for his favorite player, Phil Mickelson.

Dustin Johnson comes in hot for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Is he the best bet to win on this difficult track? Here are our picks for the tournament.

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 taking a look at the Bridgestone Tour B XS.  An overview of the equipment we use can be found here. To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.

The Tour B XS is Tiger’s golf ball. While we probably don’t need to say much more than that, Tiger is almost certainly the reason why the Tour B XS is now neck and neck with Bridgestone’s traditional bestseller (Tour B RX) at retail.

In this report, we’ll give you the rundown on what we learned about the 2020 Tour B XS and let you know how it stacks up against other golf balls on the market. Finally, we’ll give you the True Price – how much it costs to get a dozen good golf balls.

About the 2020 Bridgestone Tour B XS

Tiger hasn't been great since the restart. Is the U.S. Open at Winged Foot the place he finds his game? He's just one of the big question marks going into the year's second major. There's Phil and Bryson and the difficulty of Winged Foot.

Despite years of planning and the USGA’s extensive data on distance, it appears Bryson DeChambeau’s U.S. Open driving range work will force a Tuesday evening change to Winged Foot’s temporary fencing.

I'm told the USGA plans to move the netting back on the temporary range set up on the East Course. Bryson was bombing balls over it in the direction of parked cars. Send him out there with the scissors and add it to the list pic.twitter.com/1ritnMO25H

— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) September 15, 2020

I’ve independently confirmed from two sources the veracity of Brendan Porath’s Tuesday Tweet based on an email to members.

The temporary range was not deep enough for today’s triathletes who’ve been armed with launch monitors, plant-based diets and conforming non-conforming equipment. And now the fence must move.

If you know anything about the USGA, you’re aware of the planning, refinement and expense that goes into a U.S. Open site preparation. Rarely does something like this happen. They’ve done this before.

We have a lot going on in American sports. It’s an unprecedented situation and sports ratings have been all over the map. But golf has retained its audience and even shown increases while most sports are seeing declines.

Then there was last week.

The final round of the LPGA’s second major and the 2020 Safeway Classic aired up against NBA and NHL playoffs, the first NFL Sunday, U.S. Open tennis finals, and major league baseball. Then there is cordcutting. And a pandemic. Still, not even at The Villages, where Golf Channel reigns with the non-coveted demo Americans, were many watching last weekend.

Golf Channel’s airing of the ANA and season-opening Safeway were lightly watched in the way Korn Ferry and Tin Cup reairings of reairings are watched.

The numbers from Showbuzzdaily.com are embedded above, with the previous week’s Tour Championship-Monday finish omitted (but covered here).

The energy normally provided by spectators will be missing this week when the U.S. Open gets underway at Winged Foot Golf Club in Westchester County, New York, and Justin Thomas said that will take a lot out of the proceedings.

Due to poor air quality caused by wildfires, the LPGA Tour's Portland Classic this weekend has been reduced to 54 holes.

Tiger Woods called Winged Foot Golf Club, site of this week's U.S. Open, one of the most difficult courses in the world.

Todd Montoya entered a St. Jude's charity raffle not expecting to win. Then, while caddying at the Safeway Open, he found out he won a $500,000 home. He ended up having a better week than his golfer, Brian Stuard.

Lee Wybranski’s logo edition print.

The groupings are out and even with the field reduced to 144, it’s hard not to notice the size of those tee time windows. Times start about 12 minutes after sunrise and barring a shockingly fast pace of play, the last groups out will be playing well past sunset. Friday’s cloudy forecast suggests a Saturday morning finish is possible.

But hey, they’re playing a U.S. “Open” at Winged Foot, so what’s not to love?

Here is the field “by the numbers” for those wondering how many former U.S. Open Champions and how man Pub Links runner-ups made it.

Some themes are discernable but nothing like years past.

Of course, without fans I’m not sure why I’m even highlighting groups worth singling out to watch!

Gary Woodland will begin defense of his U.S. Open title alongside Open champion Shane Lowry and U.S. Amateur winner Andy Ogletree on Thursday at 1:05 p.m. at Winged Foot Golf Club.

Titleist teases their new TSI 2 + 3 Drivers as being played on tour. Plus, Dustin downplays his victory, and we read the best of the worst comments from Most Wanted Speakers.

0:48 – Chris’ Japanese Head Cover Collection3:54 –  Dustin Johnson wins the FedEx Cup with a somber celebration7:14 –  Titleist TSI 2 + 3 drivers appear on the USGA conforming list15:25 – Best of the Worst: Speaker Review Comments25:46 – Harry’s English Phrase: Double Feature

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