Golfing News & Blog Articles

Mirim Lee eagled the final hole at the ANA Inspiration to get herself into a three-way playoff that she won on the first extra hole.

South African George Coetzee shot a 5-under 66 to win the Portugal Masters by two strokes on Sunday.

I started to write this article about hitting straight drives with your driver. In my research I learned about the bulge and roll across the face of every driver that creates a “gear effect” which causes your ball to curve back to the center line of your swing direction. Then my research stumbled on the way to gain 20 to 50 yards with every drive. The pros do this, so why don’t you?

As an over 70 year old golfer, I can hit my drives 220+ yards but I wanted to know how to turn that into 250 to 270 yards. I have limited strength and a limited swing speed. I just wanted to find that magic formula to gain at least 30 yards on 75% of my drives. I found it with a higher launch angle.

I’m not going into all of the theory of the science behind distance but I do want you to know that topspin and too much underspin both reduce the distance that your ball travels. So we need to eliminate topspin and minimize underspin. Gear effect (caused by hitting off center) will draw or fade the ball back into our target swing path so that should not be a major factor unless you are killing your shot by impacting near the hosel or the toe of your club.

Swing speed is another important way to gain distance. Unfortunately if you have a swing speed which is crossing the face of the ball, you can either add a duck hook or a violent slice on your ball. So power and swing speed really have limitations for all recreational golfer.

The Magic Distance Solution [“Strike Plan” by Adam Young]
It’s a combination of swinging to launch a ball at a higher angle about 4 degrees up (plus the angle of your club face) without adding underspin to the ball. You can minimize the spin by impacting exactly on the perpendicular face of your driver launch angle.

On a day when eight players held or shared the lead, Brian Stuard, James Hahn and Cameron Percy emerged in front for a three-way tie atop the Safeway Open leaderboard.

If you were unaware of Saturday’s (mostly) social media goings on, a quick recap…

The PGA Tour reported no positive tests this week at the Safeway. That wonderful news tempered a bit by Mark Calcavecchia revealing on September 6th he tested positive and Tweeting Saturday that he is struggling with COVID-19.

Update from Covid-19 Ville. This shit is very real! And it sucks. I’ve never had so many symptoms hit me all at the same time. I keep moving around the house trying to escape it. Please be safe and wear ur mask. I thought I was but with this evil shit you never know 🤬🤬🤬🤬

The former Open Champion is the second known full-time Champions Tour player to have tested positive for COVID-19 and he deserves plenty of kudos for his disclosure despite still suffering from serious side effects.

Hang in there Calc and wife/caddie Brenda.

Steve Stricker shot a 6-under 64 and is tied with Miguel Angel Jimenez atop the Sanford International heading into Sunday's final round.

Brooke Henderson, who started Saturday's round trailing by 6 strokes, shot a 65 and is now tied with Nelly Korda atop the leaderboard at the ANA Inspiration -- a major.

South African golfer George Coetzee will take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Portugal Masters after shooting 5-under 66 in the third round on Saturday.

PGA Tour player Kevin Kisner said he used "poor judgment" in posting a "reckless comment" on Twitter in response to a COVID-19 post by former NBA star Rex Chapman. The PGA Tour said Kisner's comment was "disappointing and out of character."

Barring a strong headwind, the 15th calls for a lay-up short of the creek, with more risk beyond 240 yards in the form of slope and trouble left. (A carry of 325 or so will get you over the creek, Bryson and fellow protein shake drinkers).

I know I’m beating this point home, but hit pause when the flyover reaches the green. The contours are somewhat apparent—a scary notion in midday light when seen from a drone—but it’s the shape of the green that is so fascinating from a modern design point of view. With USGA greens construction, capturing these nuances or even the upslope in the back left, is no easy task. The overall effect restores the green to a huge size but that extra square footage is offset by the difficulty of new hole locations restored and the intimidation factor lost when a green becomes more crowned instead of protected by rough.

These are factors to note the next time you hear a critic insisting green enlargement will make a course easier.

Anyway, on we go in advance of the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, courtesy of the USGA and Deloitte:

Winged Foot’s 15th hole is a 426-yard par 4 with a downward sloping fairway toward the creek. The closer a tee shot lands to the water, the more blind the second shot becomes, putting a premium on strategic play.

In collaboration with @DeloitteUS. pic.twitter.com/w0L6ZWONys

Phil Mickelson is rooting for the bettor who placed a $45,000 wager on him to win the U.S. Open at 75-1 odds, for a potential payday of $3.3 million. "Hoping for both of us I have a 3 shot lead on 18 tee," Mickelson joked on Twitter.

Monday’s final round of the Tour Championship on NBC drew a 2.4 rating, essentially the same as the previous week’s BMW (2.23). However, that event finished later in the day and on a Sunday. It also featured arguably the most spectacular late dramatics since Tiger’s 2019 Masters win.

But the Tour Championship is also supposed to be the culmination of the PLAYOFFS(C) and now features an easier-to-follow, if flawed, format. Drawing a number consistent with other “Return to Golf” events might be disappointing to the event backers.

Also, TV folks say Labor Day Monday is generally tougher for ratings in normal times. Yet with fewer people traveling, not as many kids returning to school and absolutely no significant sports competition that day, this year’s edition seemed primed for a large audience.

The rating could be seen as a positive given that a fan-free East Lake was even more mojo-free than normal and the event lacked certain ratings draws.

Ratings positives courtesy of NBC and Golf Channel:

Heard someone place 45k on me to win the open at 75-1 (pays 3.3 mil)
Hoping for both of us I have a 3 shot lead on 18 tee.

You have to love Lefty’s sense of humor as the U.S. Open returns to Winged Foot where he had a strong chance to win in 2006, on of six (!) runner-up finishes in the national championship.

He replied to the news that someone has faith in his abilities next week, as reported by William Hill where the wager was placed.

Whoa! Someone dropped $45k Thursday on Phil to win @usopengolf at #WingedFoot for a potential return of $3.375 million with @WilliamHillUS in Vegas.

Guy may or may not have been wearing aviators and lost a lot of weight recently.

With the 14th, the mid-back nine closing stretch is where Winged Foot West gets a little less memorable in my view. While this 452-yarder features a beautiful uphill, obstructed view tee shot. I’ll be curious to see if the tight, bending fairway contour forces 3-woods off the tee. Even then it’ll still be a short iron in for today’s jocks.

That said, the 14th is a hole to keep an eye on. The green sets up for a right-to-left bending shot but lacks a greenside bunker that players from 2006 will not see. Instead, deceptive cross bunkers are its main defense in addition to the usual Tillinghast contours.

Dan Hicks, NBC’s lead voice on the broadcast and a Winged Foot member, shared this about the 14th when talking about the course this week:

But there are so many that are, they're all good and I think probably the hole that probably looks, it will look the most different from all of them is 14. It's got that little cloverleaf bunker over the teeing area as you go out to the fairway. They brought a bunker in that's going to, that could cause some problems on the approach. But the biggest difference is the tree removal. That 14th green looks totally different from the fairway because as you look up it has this infinity look to it, it's absolutely gorgeous. They took away that bunker short left of the green, so I think that hole will look the most different of all of them.

Here’s the flyover in advance of next week’s tournament courtesy of the USGA and Deloitte:

Sam Burns made nine birdies in a 7-under 65 to get to 15 under at Silverado Resort, with Harry Higgs two strokes back after closing with an albatross.

Miguel Angel Jimenez's bogey on the par-4 18th put him in a three-way tie for the lead with David Toms and Dicky Pride at the PGA Tour Champions' inaugural Sanford International in rain-soaked South Dakota.

Nelly Korda had five birdies and a clean card for a 5-under 67 to build an early two-shot lead Friday in the ANA Inspiration.

In golf architecture we have seen Mother Nature’s natural features accepted no matter how annoying. While design elements created by humans are typically met with derision.

Then we have unnatural objects accepted as part of a tournament setup: grandstands, temporary boundaries and other infrastructure. In recent years, grandstanding has become a thing at recent PGA Tour stops in Austin and Detroit, where players intentionally using unnatural objects to get a good bounce or drop.

And now, the ultimate backstopping at this week’s ANA Inspiration. The reachable par-5 18th, normally backed by a small stand for humans, features a blue tarp wall with sponsors promoted. However without fans, such an option was unnecessary and is not only stopping balls from entering the water long, but getting used as a backboard by those mulling a go at the green in two.

Ryan Lavner reports for GolfChannel.com on the player’s “surprise” at seeing the blue wall.

“I was actually thinking about what 18 would be like without the bleachers, because visually, that is just a protector for most of us,” said Madelene Sagstrom, who shot 67. “I know there’s water behind it, and I don’t think that would visually be a very nice shot to go for in two. I don’t really know the reasoning for the thing, but I’m kind of happy it’s there if I want to go for it in two, to be honest.”

First-round leader Nelly Korda said that fellow competitor Megan Khang threw a ball underneath the structure and it still rolled into the water behind the green.

“Honestly, I wish they didn’t have that wall there, because I think it would play really cool as an island green,” Korda said. “It’s, like, really close to the green this year. Usually the palm trees, you have to play around them or they come into play, but this year it’s very close to the green.”

North Carolina’s John Locke Foundation “believes in free markets, limited constitutional government, and personal responsibility” and clearly holds no affinity for the state’s governor, Roy Cooper. The organization’s founder Art Pope, was the budget director for former Republican governor Pat McCrory, who lost to Cooper.

Some political stuff to keep in mind in Kari Travis’s story talking to two of their researchers charged with monitoring the state’s government and no fans of the legislative deal to bring more USGA to the Tar Heel State.

In a nutshell: they are not fans of deal re-written legislation passed and hastily signed this week securing 35 $80k+ USGA jobs, the move of various departments from Far Hills, and future majors for North Carolina.

“I’m so tired of these things, I can’t even work up fire for it,” Joe Coletti, JLF’s senior fellow for fiscal and tax policy, said after the USGA announcement. “This is the state helping Pinehurst Resort with something that was probably gonna happen anyway.”

Coletti has spent countless hours tracking North Carolina’s economic struggle through the governor’s COVID-19 shutdown. In short, he’s exhausted. And now, despite the state’s significant tax losses and slumping economy, the legislature managed to scrape together enough money for a golf deal. 

As with many states in the COVID era, North Carolina’s hospitality industry is in trouble and Colletti takes issue with the lack of any immediate effort to help the sector.

The project will yield $2 billion for North Carolina’s economy over 25 years, USGA estimates. 

“None of these numbers are real, except for what’s being paid out by the state,” Coletti said. 

Feel is inherently subjective. And while it’s often part of the club buying decision, we don’t all experience it the same way. One golfer’s soft is another’s mushy. What one golfer describes as firm may be harsh to another.

For those firmly in the firm camp…yes that was intentional, the PING Heppler putter may be for you. Offered in the same models as the flagship Sigma line, Heppler offers a solid flat machined face that provides a firmer feel at impact. It’s bundled with a stunning black and copper finish that provide effective alignment cues.

Testers Wanted

We’re looking for four golfers who are motivated, detail-oriented, and committed to providing a thorough review of the PING Heppler putters and sharing your thoughts and grades with the MyGolfSpy forum community.

Testing is open to golfers in the US, Canada and UK.