Golfing News & Blog Articles

As the PGA Tour visits Sherwood Country Club below, Wayne Gretzky has listed his Richard Landry-designed and Lenny Dykstra-redecorated estate for $22.9 million, reports the LA Times’s Jack Fleming.

Overlooking the course hosting this week’s ZOZO Championship, the home has quite a history.

It’s actually Gretzky’s second time selling the home. The NHL Hall of Famer was the compound’s original owner after having it built in 2002, but five years later, he sold it to former baseball star Lenny Dykstra for $18.5 million.

The sale kicked off a dramatic saga that saw Dykstra lose the property to foreclosure after declaring bankruptcy, at which point it sold at auction on the steps of the Ventura County Courthouse for $760,712 (with the winning bidder taking on about $12 million in debt owed on the property).

Then, two years ago, Gretzky reunited with the home, shelling out $13.5 million for the promontory estate. That’s $5 million less than the price at which he had sold it to Dykstra roughly a decade earlier; if he gets his price this time around, he stands to make $9.4 million in profit.

Never one to be entirely consistent, former PGA and Open Champion John Daly took in the 2020 Presidential debate as a guest of Donald Trump. Along with buddy Kid Rock, the pair had to be asked to pull up masks, as mandated by the debate commission, Des Bieler reports.

Not long after the two settled into their seats at Belmont University’s Curb Event Center, they were reportedly asked to put on masks. Daly and Kid Rock complied, but to judge from a number of photos taken of them, they weren’t always assiduous in keeping them pulled up.

Daly, diabetic and battling bladder cancer, was a mask advocate in April and withdrew from the PGA Championship over California’s COVID-19 infection rate.

His post last night from the debate:

View this post on Instagram

Beyond blessed to watch one of best @realdonaldtrump #Trump at #PresidentialDebate2020 #Debates2020 with my boy @kidrock TRUMP MTHA FUCKAS 🚂🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

October 24, 2020

2020 NCGA Tournament Volunteer of the Year–Phil Sexton

 

After nearly six decades of playing golf, Rancho Murieta Country Club member Phil Sexton got a nudge from his good friend, Doug Ruley.

“He suggested I become a volunteer tournament official for the NCGA,” Sexton said.

October 24, 2020

2020 NCGA Course Rater of the Year–Kern Hunewill

 

Kern Hunewill is one of those people who, when he does something, he’s going to give his all. There is no halfway.

At the age of 12, he got a job at Yancey Lumber Yard in his hometown of Newman.  Now 69, today he owns the business.

Since its inception in 1959, the Nippon Shaft mantra has been Steel For Life.

In 1999, Nippon added “light” to the steel equation with the 950GH. It was the industry’s first sub-100-gram constant-weight steel shaft. Since then, Nippon has released more light hits than Air Supply. That light quest culminated in 2013 with the Nippon Zelos line – the lightest steel shafts you can buy.

Now, we’d like to get some feedback from MyGolfSpy readers.

Head to the Nippon Zelos iron shaft testing thread in the forum to APPLY

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.

What We Tried

Fiix Elbow, a tennis elbow treatment device that leverages established therapeutic practices in the comfort of your own home.

Your Fiix Elbow User

Tony Covey – resident jack-of-all-trades (and master of absolutely nothing) who missed out on the better part of six months of golf with a bad elbow. I can’t be the only one.

How I Got Here

About a year and a half ago, I noticed stiffness in my right arm while lying in bed. The pain wasn’t intense; more of an I should stretch that kind of feeling.

You want something fresh and different in golf broadcasting? Of late it’s been slim pickings after CBS’s run this summer, but huge points go to LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan for working as an on-course reporter.

Whan covered round one of the LPGA Drive On Championship near Lake Oconee and pulled off a veritable miracle in modern golf: on-course, mid-round interviews.

From Beth Ann Nichols’ Golfweek report on the Whan experiment:

Whan even conducted mid-round interviews, asking players what they would do if they were commissioner for an hour.

“Hire Mike Whan back!” said Kang, who looked more nervous than usual with a mic in her face.

The video:

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Sebastian Munoz twice holed out for eagle from a combined distance of 219 yards and added eight birdies for an 8-under 64 and a one-shot lead in the Zozo Championship at Sherwood.

Tiger Woods played three par-5 holes over par in the same round for the first time in his PGA Tour career Thursday on the way to a first-round 76 at the Zozo Championship at Sherwood Country Club.

He hinted that there was still plenty of work to be done before his Masters title defense in a few weeks. All an opening-round 76 at the Zozo Championship did was illustrate he was right all along.

Danielle Kang shot a bogey-free opening round of 65 for a share of the first-round lead with Jennifer Song in the LPGA Drive On Championship-Lake Reynolds Oconee.

Nothing against the fall or even the ZOZO, rather miraculously rescheduled despite the sponsor having no place in the American market. But this is typically not a time of year you see players bend clubs, blow off the media, tell dad to lose the tips, or grind on the range until dark.

Day one at Sherwood saw a bit of everything and the stunning scoring you might expect with perfect conditioning, a healthy purse and players seeking momentum into the rescheduled Masters (November 12-15).

A stout 24 players posted 68 or better, with leader Sebastian Munoz 64 despite two bogies and a double. He leads by one over the sizzling Tyrell Hatton and Justin Thomas who finished his round eagle, birdie, birdie.

While spectators are not allowed, local boy Matthew Wolff did have family and friends moving around the property as he predicted Wednesday. Imagine the pride of walking off the fourth tee with Tiger Woods:

Wolff opened with a 69 that included a lost ball at the par-4 14th. He drove the first green, hit the oak next to the surface and made a 17'10” putt for eagle.

Laurie Canter shot a career-best 12-under 60 to open up a four-shot lead after the first round of the Italian Open on Thursday.

 

The post Amateurgolf.com Winter Invitational appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.

 

The post Amateurgolf.com Christmas Classic appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.

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Ben Hogan GS53 MAX Driver – Key Takeaways

The new Hogan GS53 MAX driver is a more forgiving version of last year’s GS53.It’s 460cc and features a bigger face and a lower and deeper center of gravity.The GS53 MAX offers three real-deal shaft optionsThe price won’t make you gag.

The new Hogan GS53 MAX driver is further proof the Ben Hogan Company is planning to stick around. Seriously, there are so many Hogan comeback stories flying around you’d think they’re getting ready to remake Follow The Sun.

Hogan has launched more than a dozen new products since its rebirth three years ago. Last season’s original GS53 driver was the first new driver bearing the Hogan name since the CS-3 in the early 2000s. The GS53 and its companion fairway woods made Hogan a full-line equipment company once again.

So, do we agree, no more comeback stories?

Good. With that out of the way, let’s see what makes the new Ben Hogan GS53 MAX driver tick.

Hogan GS53 MAX: Bigger, Taller, Deeper

The original GS52 is staying in the lineup. However, at 445cc with a forward-ish CG, it’s not the most forgiving stick on the rack. The new Hogan GS53 MAX, however, is meant for us mere mortals.

Thanks to all who sent in John Hawkins’s Morning Read look at the pending downscaling of Golf Channel and demise of GolfChannel.com. I held off on posting the story while awaiting comment on the recent building closure and ensuing disappearance of all studio shows. While a network spokesman has not able to give an answer about what was happening, channel listings do show Morning Drive and Golf Central returning next week. At least, for the time being. (Before a scaling back when the network moves to Stamford, Connecticut for “geographic consolidation” and tax breaks with one studio show covering pre and post games.)

Multiple sources say the headquarters, closed to ensure safe working conditions after a class action suit was filed against the neighboring Lockheed Martin facility, will reopen next week, while GolfChannel.com has received a very slight reprieve from the expected year-end shuttering first reported on by The Athletic.

Hawkins writes:

The layoffs were made public in June, to be conducted in a two-stage process, and that process is still shaking itself out. The coronavirus hasn’t made things any easier. Nor has a class-action lawsuit involving 11 Golf Channel employees and defense company Lockheed Martin, which owns a plant near the GC complex and is accused in a class-action lawsuit of instigating an “environmental nightmare” with its alleged mismanagement of hazardous toxins.

A source with close knowledge of the case confirmed today that the Golf Channel employee portion of the case has swelled to “about 100” plaintiffs from the 11 originally reported by the Orlando Sentinel.

Given the ongoing pandemic, the PGA of America will not hold the 2021 “Show” this coming January.

Instead a virtual show will take place. A cutting edge one at that.

The PGA Show’s Virtual Experience & Marketplace will drive business, education and networking through a cutting-edge, highly interactive virtual platform featuring:

New product launch events

Dynamic exhibitor showrooms

Golf Datatech reports over $1 billion of golf equipment sales in 2020’s third quarter, making it the highest Q3 on record and the best quarter since 2008. The sales are up 42% over the same period in 2019.

From their release: 

“The story keeps getting better as golf continues to surge coming out of the shutdown, and Q3 equipment sales suggests that 2020 will likely end up positive for the entire year,” said John Krzynowek, Partner, Golf Datatech, LLC. “Year-to-date sales for total equipment are now up 0.2% compared to 2019, and considering the size of the hole created by the shutdown in April and May this recovery has been nothing short of remarkable. While the US economy will not enjoy a ‘V Shaped Recovery’ in 2020, if golf continues on this trajectory we will be there soon.”

The category leaders in sales for September were golf bags at +19% and wedges at +18%, while golf shoes were +2%. Overall, the golf club category was +0.9% for the month, with balls and gloves trending slightly lower, -2.7%.

 Wait, they left out the part about the huge spike in $600 driver sales! Because that’s what grows the game! Or, more time for safe outdoor recreation.