Golfing News & Blog Articles

Filed under probably not coming to a retail store near you, TaylorMade and Callaway, the market leaders in the driver category both have new models on the USGA’s Conforming Clubs list this week.

As per usual, the USGA doesn’t provide the measure of specificity we’d like, and so while we wait to hear back from both companies, all we can do is speculate.

TaylorMade SIM Tour

Missing among a 3-deep sea of SIMs at retail this season was a SIM Tour. For the past several generations of drivers, TaylorMade has offered an undersized tour head in the 430-440 cc range. With three drivers in the lineup and golfers still clinging to the myth that TaylorMade has too many SKUs or updates its driver lineup every six months (it doesn’t – hasn’t in years), it made sense not to offer a small driver at retail. Given a choice between a wee-headed, low spin, low MOI Tour head and a high MOI draw-biased head, the numbers say SIM MAX D was the smarter choice for the mass market.

As I said, it’s speculative, but given how TaylorMade has used the Tour designation recently, the odds are that this is the sub-460 model missing from January’s launch.

Are you one of the many convinced there are no real frontiers left for golf equipment? Even the hardest-core dreamers believe we’re pretty much maxed-out. With that as a backdrop, the recent announcement by Cobra that it has begun leveraging 3D Metal Jet printing qualifies as a Grade-A big deal. It may very well be the next great revolution in golf equipment manufacturing.

That’s right, manufacturing. 3D printing has been a valuable R&D tool for years, but Cobra is jumping with both feet into golf club manufacturing using HP 3D Metal Jet printers.

And the deeper you dive into the possibilities, the more it becomes clear that this technology has the potential to completely change damn near everything.

Brave New World

“We first started thinking about 3D metal printing maybe eight, ten years ago, thinking it would be 15 to 20 years out,” Mike Yagley, Cobra’s VP of Innovation and AI, tells MyGolfSpy. “Here is it less than a decade later and we’re doing it.”

You’re probably familiar with 3D printing: an actual “printer” connected to a computer that squirts out a three-dimensional object. 3D printing has been used in the golf space for years; first to create plastic mockups and then to create actual prototypes.

Everybody is watching.

That was Commissioner Jay Monahan’s statement at the PGA Tour’s first event back. And through two events—at least to anyone watching at home—the PGA Tour looks like a collection of very fine golfers, caddies, volunteers and officials who see themselves as above taking measures to ensure the safety of themselves or others.

Just consider the other sports on television this weekend while the storm-delayed RBC Heritage played out (ultimately won by Webb Simpson in the stunning Hilton Head twilight).

The Professional Bull Riders and everyone around them wore masks on CBS.

The pit crews and drivers at NASCAR have been showing on Fox broadcasts how seriously they are taking the privilege of competing in a time other sports are stalled (granted, they do have other disgusting and potentially fatal issues to deal with).

Webb Simpson celebrated another victory on Father's Day, this time with a tartan jacket instead of a U.S. Open trophy.

No, he didn't win the RBC Heritage. But he was in the conversation for the first time in 10 months. That's no small thing in a condensed schedule with three majors still looming.

So Yeon Ryu closed with an even-par 72 to win the Korea Women's Open on Sunday. The two-time major champion donated her over $200,000 in prize money to coronavirus relief funds.

A father vowed to play Pebble Beach with his three boys. Two years before he died, he did it.

Come to Hilton Head Island and act like it never happened!

Or something like that, at least if you go by post-round comments at the RBC Heritage where players wondered if Nick Watney was an unlucky victim of a lax distancing and mask scene.

Justin Thomas was probably the most blunt about the scene, as Joel Beall reports for GolfDigest.com.

"Yeah, obviously, I was bummed [about Watney]. I don't want to—it's a shame because ... we have done such a great job these first two weeks,” Thomas said. “I mean, no offense to Hilton Head, but they're seeming to not take it very seriously. It's an absolute zoo around here. There's people everywhere. The beaches are absolutely packed. Every restaurant, from what I've seen when I've been driving by, is absolutely crowded. So I would say it's no coincidence that there's got to be a lot of stuff going on around here.

“Unfortunately, that's not on Nick because I know he's very cautious and has done everything he can, but I would say a lot of people in this area of Hilton Head just aren't.”

On a white board somewhere in Ponte Vedra Beach, there was a list of reasons why PGA Tour needed to be careful in returning before most American sports.

I think we’d all agree that a top 3 lock sounded something like player and caddie safety in a time of pandemic. Next, there was surely something about doing damage to efforts at keeping golf or all other sports viable. Shoot, maybe something about not hurting the image of the game. Well, the PGA Tour.

Anyway, I’m fairly certain another top three reason would have been wishing the virus on a fellow player. Actually, no one in their right mind would think a player might…oh, wait, you said Sergio’s playing this week?

Sigh.

Following a third round 65 that has him two strokes off the RBC Heritage, Sergio Garcia accomplished at least one thing: he got Rory McIlroy out of the lead for the week’s Most Regrettable Comment.

Webb Simpson managed only one birdie on the back nine Saturday at Harbour Town, and that was just enough for him to post a 3-under 68 and join a four-way share of the lead at the RBC Heritage.

Chris Kirk won the Korn Ferry Tour's King & Bear Classic on Saturday at World Golf Village, a year after taking a leave of absence from the PGA Tour for personal reasons.

If it weren't for his fitness tracker showing an elevated respiratory rate on Friday morning, Nick Watney wouldn't have felt the need to request a COVID-19 test that came back positive, Sergio Garcia said on Saturday.

He tested negative when he arrived on site. Three days later, he tested positive. Along the way, his case uncovered some holes in the PGA Tour's system and showed again that this ongoing return remains complicated.

Michelle Wie West now has a little one of her own.

The PGA Tour announced Saturday that 11 people who were in contact with Nick Watney were administered COVID-19 tests and all the results came back negative after the golfer on Friday became the first player to test positive for the virus.

You’re here because it’s the day before Father’s Day and you’re just now thinking about what to get dear old Dad. Or maybe you’re here because you like a good discount.  Not only are we compiling some of the internet’s best Father’s Day gift ideas for the procrastinators of the world, but we’re guaranteeing that every one of them is a bargain.

What is MyGolfSpy Deals? You’ll likely recognize some past winners from Most Wanted tests, MGS Labs and 59 Awards. We’ll also toss in some staff favorites or products we’re actively looking to purchase ourselves. Beyond that, it’s a potpourri of items we think you might like or timely deals on seasonal gear. Only the best hand-picked deals will be posted. Only the most trusted merchants will be listed.

We find the best deals and pass the savings along to you.

The Best “Day After Father’s Day” Gift Deals

1. Srixon Z565 Driver

A #MostWanted winner for only $139….what?? That’s a no-brainer.

PGA Tour Statement On Nick Watney

News of Nick Watney becoming the first PGA Tour player to test positive for COVID-19 was met with a fairly consistent chorus of “a matter of when, not if”.

However, a quick review suggests the PGA Tour “bubble” has burst in just week two of the “Return to Golf.”

There will be wide-ranging implications for public health, Watney’s peers, golf tournaments going forward and even the entire sports business world. The “matter of when, not if” view discounts what appears to be sloppiness by Watney at the very least, and signs early on that PGA Tour policies were too lenient or simply not enforceable due to player apathy.

A review, starting with this sequence of events from AP’s Doug Ferguson reporting from the RBC Heritage on Watney’s movements.

Webb Simpson sank a 6-footer to birdie his final hole for a 6-under 65 and a one-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau and Corey Conners on Friday at the RBC Heritage.

Tiger Woods will not be part of a strong field for next week's Travelers Championship.

Nick Watney became the first player on the PGA Tour to test positive for the coronavirus and then withdrew from the RBC Heritage.