Golfing News & Blog Articles

Dustin Johnson is back after missing two tournaments due to testing positive for COVID-19.

STITCH Golf, is known for designing handcrafted premium golf bags, headcovers and apparel. Stitch is pleased to launch the limited edition Welcome to Georgia Collection in honor of the year’s last Major.

Take A Peak

The post Stitch Golf – Welcome to Georgia Collection appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

It's one week before the Masters, and the PGA Tour heads to Texas for the Vivint Houston Open. Our experts offer their best bets.

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 Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash. 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.

Let’s start with an admission: the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash is perhaps an odd choice for our ninth Ball Lab. I’d wager some of you have never heard of the ball. That’s not particularly surprising given that Titleist says it’s for less than 10 percent of the market and, because of that, Titleist doesn’t’ say much about the ball.

And, sure, in situations like these it’s reasonable to defer to the manufacturer’s assessment but given how Left Dash’s performance characteristics align with what golfers want (more distance throughout the bag with enough spin for most around the green), I’d suggest the company is somewhat stubbornly missing the plot.

It’s also reasonable to wonder if part of Titleist’s positioning is about not infringing on sales of the mainline Pro V1 lineup.

The Ladies European Tour postponed two tournaments on Tuesday which were due to be held in Australia in February, 2021 due to the ongoing travel restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Golf.com’s Alan Bastable was able to access the first-ever Masters patron-only shop. He reviews some new and surprising items, and also explains the setup:

How long the inventory will last is anyone’s guess. God willing, we’re unlikely to see another November Masters anytime soon, which means this year’s gear will have a special one-off cachet for collectors. The tournament has leaned into the timing with fall-themed course prints and holiday decorations, including tree ornaments and a Santa garden gnome.

Buyers are limited to two check-outs, but given the ease of online shopping (and the fact that fans won’t have to lug their merchandise home with them from the course), it’s not hard to imagine Masters-happy customers’ buying more than they would have if they’d been shopping in the brick-and-mortar shop at the tournament.

Which, makes the future of this approach something plenty will watch.

But back to those surprising items. The most bizarre of all has to be the Masters food spread.

Even with a Masters invitation (somehow) on the line and of course, the all important FedExCup points, Brian Gay’s Bermuda Championship win still had fewer Golf Channel viewers than the Timbertech Championship.

That event featured Darren Clarke holding of Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer for his first PGA Tour Champions win.

Saturday’s third round of the Timbertech “won” the weekend and averaged 43,000 in the coveted none-Villages demo.

The Bermuda Championship’s Thursday and Friday telecasts draw enough of an audience to crack the top 150 cable shows.

ShowBuzzDaily with all the numbers.

Harry Higgs has withdrawn from this week's Vivint Houston Open after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Looking to add distance, Phil Mickelson is planning to use a driver with a 47.5-inch shaft at the Masters.

The post 3 New Vessel Bag Options For 2021 appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

30 Year Olds versus 60 Year Olds. What’s Changed in Your Game?

Key Takeaways

Golfers, on average, lose 30 yards of driver distance from age 30 to age 60.Older golfers have a better putts-per-round average than younger golfers.

Improved Performance Through Data

Big data is a powerful tool. Not only does it allow golfers to assess individual parts of their game but it provides an opportunity to examine performance from a variety of perspectives.

Golf stat tracking and performance management companies like Shot Scope help golfers better understand their on-course performance. However, by aggregating data from golfers around the world, we get a more complete picture of the realities of amateur performance.

So, as we delve into a relatively straightforward topic, think about where you find the most difficulty on the course. Does age matter when it comes to handicap?

Driving Performance Average Distance By Age

Observations

You lose nearly 30 yards of driving distance if you’re in your 60s compared to when you were in your 30s.Handicaps from age 30 to age 60 are nearly identical despite an ever-increasing distance gap.

While there is close to a 30-yard gap in driving distance, that difference doesn’t always equate to a lower handicap. The phrase “drive for show and putt for dough” may still have some merit at the amateur level.

Number of Putts Per Round by Age

Observations

Ages 19 and under have the same number of putts per round compared to golfers who are 70-plus, give or take .1 of a shot.The highest number of putts per round is from golfers in their 20s with 35.3 putts per round on average.The lowest average number of putts per round comes from golfers in their 50s with 27.9.

The youngest and oldest golfers in this data set have the same putts-per-round average. It is yet to be determined why the lowest putts-per-round average comes from golfers in their 50s but it could equate to them missing the green in regulation a lot and then chipping the ball close to the hole. It could also be the opposite, whereby they hit the green in regulation more than any other age.

One key to pro golf’s athleticism canard: this marketing narrative serves as a distraction from the real reasons the distance discussion never goes away. With more and more golfers hurt when their masculinity is damaged when it’s revealed their “athleticism” is only as good as the driver they are fitted with, the debate gets sidetracked. Then we easily forget that it’s the lost strategy of this great game fueling the the rollback question.

As Mike Clayton lays out for all schools of thought, strategy should still be the soul of the game and enough people miss it.

A key question for professional golf (a version of the game increasingly separated from the version played by the masses) is, “is brilliant, interesting design and the age-old concept of what constitutes strategy compatible with, and capable of, testing the best players in the game?”

“Increasingly not” is my not unreasonable conclusion.

I also enjoyed this as Clayton and friends do not downplay Bryson DeChambeau’s accomplishment at Winged Foot, but instead use it as fuel for the discussion.

With a 2020 title in the pocket and the injection of real muni golf onto the PGA Tour schedule, I will set aside my feelings about the cheating Astros*. And this week’s host, their cheating, thoroughly remorse-free owner, Jim Crane (along with various dishonest players).

While I’ll never quite fully grasp why this murky crew pushed one of America’s elite golf associations aside to take over a storied Tour event, we at least have Tour players prepping for the one-off Fall Masters on a low priced public course. This is a long overdue victory for the Houston Open and validation for the Bethpage effect we hoped had taken a stronger hold by now.

Josh Sens gives the revitalized Memorial Park a positive review and explains how the Tom Doak-Brooks Koepka effort does not try to protect par for this week’s Vivint Houston Open.

The work that made Memorial Park Tour-worthy once more — bringing the Houston Open back from the suburbs, where it was held for decades, to within the city limits — began in earnest in late 2018.

The first phase alone cost $18.5 million, but the money didn’t come out of taxpayers’ pockets. It was furnished by the Houston Astros Foundation (a non-profit founded by Jim Crane, the owner of the baseball team), which, in consultation with the city, tapped the noted architect Tom Doak to renovate the course.

I’m not sure there is much news here beyond the obvious: top players endorsing sports better. Even then, not exactly groundbreaking at this point. More intriguing will be what happens if any of these players grows uncomfortable with bettors feasting on a negative portrayal of their game by an official, PGA Tour-sanctioned site.

For Immediate Release:

DraftKings to Make Debut at 2020 Masters with Bryson DeChambeau in Exclusive Multi-Year Deal

Collaboration with the World’s Sixth-Ranked Golfer Underscores Significance of Golf Within the Gaming Industry

BOSTON—November 2, 2020—Today, DraftKings announced an exclusive, multi-year relationship with Bryson DeChambeau, who will become the first active professional golfer to represent the digital sports entertainment and gaming company via an integrated brand, content, marketing, and VIP centric collaboration that will feature Bryson DeChambeau as the face of DraftKings golf.

November 2, 2020

Watching the Growth of a Champion

The first time Patrick Parrish, a Monterey Peninsula PGA coach at the Club at Pasadera saw 13-year-old Bryson DeChambeau, he knew there was something special in him. In 2007, Parrish scouted for junior players all over Northern California to fill his NCGA Jr. All Star Team. DeChambeau was one of the junior players Parrish handpicked for the team. The team went on to win multiple tournaments including both 2007 and 2008 Pacific Southwest Cup and the 2008 Canadian Friendship Cup.

Parrish grew up learning under the tutelage of the legendary Ben Doyle who taught the book“The Golfing Machine”. While staying with Parrish, DeChambeau would bombard him with questions about the book and other physics questions. DeChambeau had an extremely inquiring mind at a very early age. It was the beginning of the incredible journey. Parrish tells his story here: 

 

I first met Bryson in the summer of 2007 when I recruited him to be part of my NCGA Junior All-Star Team. He was a skinny 13- year-old with clean good looks that teenage girls giggle over. I had known his father, Jon, through Northern California golf where he had excelled as a player in his own right.

 

Masters favorite Bryson DeChambeau will become the first golfer to wear a logo of a sports betting or fantasy sports company during the tournament as he will wear a DraftKings logo next week at Augusta.

November 2, 2020

NorCal’s Lee, Harigae Get U.S. Women’s Open Exemptions

Stanford alum Andrea Lee and Monterey native Mina Harigae will be teeing it up in the upcoming U.S. Women’s Open.

The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced that 10 players–including Lee and Harigae–have earned exemptions into the 75th U.S. Women’s Open Championship, which will be contested Dec. 10-13 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas. The 156-player field for the championship is composed entirely of exempt players due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The additions to the field have been made using the 2020 official LPGA Tour money list. The spots were earned by the top 10 players, not otherwise exempt, through the Drive On Championship, which ended Oct. 25.

Lee is at No. 37 on the list. Harigae is at No. 40.

Lee will be making her U.S. Women’s Open professional debut, having played in three championships as an amateur. Lee was one of only five amateurs to make the cut in the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston. With only 12 professional events under her belt, she has already recorded two top-10 finishes. Lee won the 2019 Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading women’s player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®, and played on two USA Curtis Cup Teams. Lee also earned a school-record nine collegiate titles while playing at Stanford.

November 2, 2020

Charities benefit from PURE Insurance Championship

The PGA TOUR Champions’ successful return to golf which began in July of this year, included a September stop at Pebble Beach Golf Links for the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting the First Tee. Monterey Peninsula Foundation hosted the three-day, pro-am golf tournament to raise funds for First Tee and many local nonprofit organizations. The broadcast only event exceeded expectations, crowning a Hall-of-Fame champion, Jim Furyk, and surpassing $1.5 million in total charitable awards to nonprofits throughout Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties.

“Golf provides so much for our community, and we are grateful to PURE Insurance, the players, partners, and volunteers who came together to participate in this very unusual year”, said Steve John, Monterey Peninsula Foundation CEO and Tournament Director. “In addition to supporting First Tee, we have been able to make a significant local impact supporting current, critical needs in our area at a time of increased challenges for so many.”

In lieu of hosting a traditional volunteer party after the tournament, volunteers voted to support local food pantries with a charitable donations going out to the Food Bank of Monterey and San Benito Counties along with Second Harvest Food Bank in Santa Cruz. Players showed support of the local area by directing a portion of the amateur entry fee to aid local fire relief and recovery in response to the devastating fires that recently impacted Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. A third critical focus area has been addressing the technological gap that has hampered student learning through the COVID-19 crisis with grants given to Digital Nest, Hartnell College Foundation, Loaves Fishes and Computers, Inc. and Rancho Cielo Inc.

Combined with other emergency-focused grantmaking since March 2020 , Monterey Peninsula Foundation has channeled more than $6.5 million to meet the needs arising from the pandemic and regional Fires.

Wilson Staff D9 Driver – Key Takeaways

Just hit the USGA conforming list this morningLikely replacement for the two-year-old D7Non-adjustable with carbon fiber crown and rear weight

Not that it should come as any surprise, but the new Wilson Staff D9 driver hit the USGA Conforming List this morning.

The D7’s two-year run is just about up, and this looks like Wilson’s update to what proved to be a sneaky-good driver.

We don’t know very much about the Wilson Staff D9 driver, but we’ve been able to glean a little from the USGA listing.

So, let’s take a look.

Intelligent Design

The only view we ever get from the USGA is of the sole, so bear with us.