Golfing News & Blog Articles

Derek Lawrenson explains the USGA and R&A’s new World Handicap in his weekly Daily Mail column and is not entirely sold, as well-intentioned as he found the new world order as of November 2.

For the amateurs who play a significant percentage of their golf outside their home course, the changes will be welcomed. It’s obviously simplistic to take an eight handicap at a straightforward inland course and think it translates to playing off the same mark at, say, Royal Birkdale. This more nuanced approach will make the necessary adjustments.

The reason I’ll get a couple of extra shots at my home course is that it has a high slope rating, meaning it is more difficult than your average track.

Why introduce this in the middle of a pandemic is a valid question. But when we’ve grown accustomed to the changes, it ought to make sense.

In the meantime, you can always take refuge in the cheerful conclusion reached by our handicap chairman: ‘Do not become overwhelmed by all the information, the calculations and the formulae: remember, the computer will do it all for you.’

I laughed out loud a few times during Golf Digest’s “Undercover Caddie” with Joel Beall tackling the tricky topic of PGA Tour events without fans.

While a few veteran stars maybe haven’t had their old home field advantage without fans giving them an extra adrenaline boost, it’s been apparent players have enjoyed not dealing with gallery inconveniences. The unnamed caddie acknowledges that the PGA Tour has “feels less like a professional sports league” and “more like a very serious member-guest that’s being televised.”

But says for caddies, life has been way easier and for players too, including Wednesdays.

OK, one thing is better: no pro-ams. Do you see brokers in the layup line at an NBA game? How about salesmen taking hacks in the batting cage at Fenway Park? Listen, the Wednesday events do a lot for charity. We meet some interesting people through them, and no, they’re not all chops. But if you’re asking if I’d rather my man prep for a tournament by (a) playing with fellow pros or (b) acting as a tour guide … I think you know my answer.

This reminds me: this week’s ZOZO Championship at Sherwood features a pro-am with players only obligated to play nine of the 18-hole round. And as odd as they are compared to other pro sports, they are integral to the PGA Tour’s business and most of all, the charities.

Returning to Sherwood Country Club for the ZOZO Championship, Tiger Woods was asked about the speed chase by players.

TIGER WOODS: Well, distance has always been an advantage. Now that we have the tools, that being the launch monitor, the fitting of the golf clubs, the adjustability. I think all that plays into the fact that you're able to maximize the capabilities of a driver. There's no reason why you can't pick up more yardage and guys have done that. They've changed shafts, they've changed lofts, they've changed weights on their heads and length of clubs. Driving is such a huge part of the game and it's so advantageous if you're able to get the ball out there. It just makes the game so much easier.

And this on distance was nice. Someone else has lost patience.

Q. Just one last question, and on the back of an earlier question about driving distance of the ball. As you know, the administrators are a little worried about where the game's going. Should they be worried?

TIGER WOODS: They should have been worried a long time ago, but the genie's out of the bag now. It's about what do we do going forward and how soon can they do it. I don't know if they're going--you're not going to stop the guys who are there right now. You can carry--guys are figuring out how to carry the ball 320-plus yards, and it's not just a few of them. There's a lot of guys can do it. That's where the game's going. There's only going to be a small amount of property that we can do, we can alter golf courses. I just don't see how they can roll everything back. I would like to have--like to be able to see that, as far as our game, but then we go back down the road of what do you bifurcate, at what level? So that's a long discussion we've had for a number of years, for 20-plus years now, and I think it's only going to continue.

Tiger Woods said on Tuesday that he is considering adding another tournament prior to the Masters -- the Houston Open.

Long drive champ Kyle Berkshire, whose ball speed has topped out -- so far -- at about 230 mph, is ready to return to the more conventional game and hopes to eventually earn his way into tour events.

For the first time, Augusta National is offering online shopping -- but only to patrons who are on record as having tickets.

As we begin the November Masters run-up, the player scouting trip narrative is likely to be different. Or non-existent.

In recent years, players have increasingly seemed more willing to turn up the weekend prior and go. (As opposed to the 2-3 day trip months out when course conditions are radically different.)

Perhaps it’s familiarity with the course through television. Or maybe a change in how players view local knowledge. Plenty have been burned by not seeing the course in tournament week conditions, which get pushed Wednesday evening after the practice round. So it was not a huge shock to see Collin Morikawa plan to take a modest approach to his first Masters.

From today’s ZOZO Championship press conference, the first event for Morikawa in his native southern California since winning the PGA Championship in August:

I don't want to put any of these things in my head where I'm going to have to show up and, man, this is going to be so much harder to prep for than another event. I think I've done a really good job every course I've gone to for the first time in figuring it out and I feel like I'm very prepared. I never feel on a Thursday like, oh, man, I wish I had one more practice round. I don't think that's going to be the case at Augusta. Yes, I'm going to want to be out there a little more just to figure out some greens, figure out the slopes, but I'm not going to just go out there at 8:00a.m. in the morning and leave at 6:00p.m. just because it's Augusta National. I'm going to spend my time-wisely and really get my rest because at the end of the day you want to feel as prepped and pressure fresh by Thursday.

Opportunities don’t come around like this often, but given the multiple TPC Sawgrass renovations, it actually might be a stretch to say while supplies last.

From Rich Mueller on Upper Deck’s return to golf cards, with a very special gift included.

Upper Deck announced Monday it would be launching three golf releases in 2021, including Artifacts, which will launch the series at an as yet undetermined date in the spring.

Artifacts Golf will have a 50-card base set, a 30-card rookie set, a Multi-Majors Winners Memorabilia subset, signed memorabilia cards and Diamond Relic insert cards that can include up to four “lab created” diamonds per subject. 

All three golf releases will include Legendary PGA Tour Course Relic cards featuring sand and dirt from the famed TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, home of The Players Championship.  

Ok the sand I can see. But dirt?

Cobra KING Tour Irons – Key Takeaways

Cobra’s new KING Tour irons are the first Cobra irons made from Metal Injection Molding (MIM).Cobra says the process creates an iron that feels softer than premium forgings.KING Tour is a player’s cavity-back iron set with what can be considered “traditional” lofts.

Golf innovation goes by many names. The new Cobra KING Tour irons won’t give you anything fancy-sounding like Thru Slot Speed Pockets or Super Metal L-Face Inserts. But then again, Cobra isn’t promising explosive distance, either.

And when you’re the kid brother in Golf’s Big Five, innovation wears different clothes, too. With the Cobra KING Tour irons, innovation wears work clothes – specifically, a factory worker’s clothes. The innovation is more in how the KING Tours are made, which Cobra says impacts how they perform.

The new Cobra KING irons aren’t forged nor are they cast. In fact, they are Cobra’s first full iron set manufactured using Metal Injection Molding – or MIM – technology.

So when it comes to innovation, MIM’s the word.

The MIM King

Cobra may be the baby of the Big Five family but it takes a backseat to no one when it comes to manufacturing innovation. Whether it’s Metal Injection Molding or 3D Metal Jet printing, Cobra seems intent on reinventing golf club manufacturing. Cobra broke new ground early last year with its KING MIM wedges. But a full set of MIM’d irons? That, dear reader, requires a deeper dive.

Mizuno ST-X and ST-Z hit USGA conforming listWill likely be marketed to mid-slow swing playersPricing remains unknown for the probable early 2021 release

 

Two new Mizuno drivers hit the USGA conforming list on Monday – the Mizuno ST-X and ST-Z. As per usual, what we know is a combination of reasonable assumptions based on the provided images and some dot-connecting with prior Mizuno driver releases.

Starting with the ST190 (released fall 2018), Mizuno metalwoods began trending in a more competitive direction. It’s not that Mizuno lacked the technical know-how or design capabilities to manufacturer a tour-ready driver. Simply, it just wasn’t a point of emphasis.

So, the ST190 was a positive step and in January 2020, the ST200 line was arguably the first bonafide “tour-ready” flagship Mizuno driver.

So, where does that leave us now?

The December event hosted by Tiger Woods and his TGR Foundation will sit 2020 out due to pandemic travel restrictions. Certainly this is an understandable outcome for an event hosted by an international sponsor and played in the Bahamas.

According to ESPN.com’s Bob Harig, consideration was given to a Florida playing.

Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, said there were some discussions about playing the tournament in Florida but that a bigger issue was the contingent of Hero MotoCorp executives and guests traveling from the company's base in India.

While it seems like four years ago, the 2019 edition of the Hero was memorably marred by Patrick Reed’s practice swing exploration of waste bunker sands.

The PGA Tour is already scheduled to play the Mayakoba Classic the same week as the Hero was planned, suggesting this move should come as little surprise.

Lauren Ohnesorge’s of the Triangle Business Journal takes a look at the USGA’s testing center move to Pinehurst and it’s certainly exciting to see the potential development of talent, turfgrass and museum exposure to more eyeballs.

But the notion of a manufacturing center remains very odd in Ohnesorge’s characterization.

As N.C. Commerce Secretary Tony Copeland outlined in an August letter supporting the project, made available through a public records request, officials envisioned a golf cluster in North Carolina.

“Having the Test Center in Pinehurst will focus the attention of the entire golf industry on North Carolina and will very likely attract many golf equipment manufacturers and suppliers to not only Moore County but also the region so they can be in close proximity to the Test Center,” Copeland wrote.

You know UPS, DHL and FedEx are all good shipping options for clubs to be tested.

That said, if the golf manufacturers picked up and moved offices to the area I’m at a loss how that benefits the sport in the way of less expensive clubs or more manufacturing jobs in the United States. But it does not take a wild imagination to see such a move—as unlikely as it is to everyone by the state commerce secretary—helping the USGA enact effective equipment regulation.

The Washington D.C. Beltway can be a loud, blustery place – especially in an election year. That makes the serenity of a day spent at Pleasant Valley Golf Club worth savoring. This golf course void of a residential component presents a natural, scenic and quiet 18 holes just 25 minutes west of the district. Located […]

The post Pleasant Valley Golf Club offers serenity near Washington D.C. appeared first on Golf Blog, Golf Articles | GolfNow Blog.

A $10 million bonus pool designed to encourage players to show up at the Wyndham Championship will be ending after two years. This, after top players didn’t show up to collect their rewards and the entire thing was poorly conceived from the beginning.

Sympathies to all Wyndham employees who were affected by this awful idea and to the happy faces when this was announced in September, 2018.

John Lombardo at Sports Business Journal confirms what GolfNewsNet’s Ryan Ballengee had first hinted was looming.

The company will continue to keep its title sponsorship of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro. Its current title sponsorship deal runs through '26. The Tour in a statement said it fully supports Wyndham's "decision to focus solely on this long-standing event that has made such an impact in central North Carolina. We look forward to the continued growth and success of the Tour Top 10 program and expect to have further information in the coming months."

Two years ago it all sounded so brilliant, if you were an executive whose bonus depended on this silly idea.

Tiger Woods' annual Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dustin Johnson's agent said the golfer is feeling better after his COVID-19 diagnosis last week, but he is still low on energy, which is why he is withdrawing from this week's Zozo Championship.

Charles Barkley will partner with Phil Mickelson in a golf match against Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning on Nov. 27, with proceeds going to historically Black colleges and universities.

Not long ago the Astros* enjoyed a secure home field. And now the Houston Open benefiting the Astros* Foundation has taken on Vivint Smart Home to sponsor the fall PGA Tour event.

Everyone needs some home security in their lives. Especially the Astros.

PGA TOUR, Astros Golf Foundation partner with Vivint to sponsor the Vivint Houston Open in 2020

Astros Golf Foundation returns event to Memorial Park Golf Course for first time since 1963

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – The PGA TOUR announced that Vivint Smart Home, Inc. (NYSE: VVNT), a leading smart home company in North America, will become title sponsor of the Houston Open for 2020 in support of tournament host and beneficiary, the Astros Golf Foundation. The Vivint Houston Open will be played November 5-8 and returns to Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston for the first time since 1963.

Is it fair to kick people off the course based on what color socks they’re wearing? We talk this and more on today’s episode of No Putts Given.

0:23 – Does golf really need a dress code?11:43 – Are junior clubs just another market for manufacturers, or are they genuinely growing the game?19:22 –  Love It or Leave It:19:55 – Bryson winning the Masters20:38 – Vice golf balls21:32 – Graphite shafts in irons22:23 – Pros playing blades

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The post Does Golf NEED a Dress Code? | NPG 62 appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

October 19, 2020

2019-2020 NCGA Players of the Year

NCGA Player of the Year—Alexander Chin

A few early wins made Alexander Chin realize he was on the right path, but it wasn’t until he reached the quarterfinals of the California Amateur Championship that he began aiming for a loftier goal.

“It wasn’t really a goal to be Player of the Year,” said Chin, a 21-year-old senior at the University of San Francisco. “After I saw where I was in the standings after the California Amateur though, I figured I had a shot.”

The Pleasanton native, who honed his skills on the Junior Tour of Northern California, added a new goal, and the pursuit was on. In the end, Chin would win Player of the Year honors with a total of 1,326 points. Runner-up Matt Cohn would finish at 1,223 points.