Golfing News & Blog Articles

Cleveland RTX ZipCore – New Finishes Key Takeaways:

Cleveland adds two new finishes – Black Satin & Tour Rack (Raw) – to RTX ZipCore wedge lineCleveland is also adding 4 custom sole and 2 leading-edge grind options to the Tour Rack offeringPre-sale starts today, with retail availability October 2nd.

We have two stories to unpack with today’s update to the two-month-old Cleveland RTX ZipCore wedges. One was totally expected. The other is more of an interesting and pleasant surprise.

The party of the first part we knew was coming. When the Cleveland RTX ZipCore was released in July, the company promised two additional finishes later this year. The party of the second part, however, should be Christmas in September for the resolute Wedge Geek. For the first time since its MyCustomWedge days,  Cleveland is giving you the opportunity to custom order your preferred sole grind and your preferred leading edge.

We’ve already given you the deep dive into what makes ZipCore ZipCore, so we won’t belabor that point. Instead, let’s jump into what’s new, shall we?

Cleveland RTX ZipCore – Tour Rack?

Until now, the Cleveland RTX ZipCore has been available only in Tour Satin. Today we get two additional finishes: Black Satin and Tour Rack.

What, pray tell, is Tour Rack? We’ll get to that in a bit.

Honma TR21X Key Takeaways

The Honma TR21X is a new offering in the player’s distance categoryIt replaces the Honma T/World TW-X, MyGolfSpy’s Most Wanted Player’s Distance Iron of 2019.The TR21X is the most forgiving iron in the TR line.

Honma could use a fresh start and it is hoping the TR21X can deliver just that.

Like many of us, Honma has endured a bumpy 2020. The brand mutually parted ways with Justin Rose, leading to the predictable, though perhaps uninformed, speculation about the quality of the product. It launched its TR20 line only to see momentum and awareness lost to COVID and, somewhat quietly, CEO John Kawaja left the company.

Suffice it to say things didn’t go as planned but with the equipment season turning toward 2021, the launch of the TR21 lineup creates an opportunity for Honma to reinvigorate its brand and regain its footing as the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) brand most likely to succeed in North America.

Honma TR21 Fairways and Hybrids – Key Takeaways

Honma has introduced new fairway woods and hybridsThe TR21 FTI Big LB is an oversized 3-wood designed for distanceThe TR21 F is a compact option designed for distance and controlTR21 Hybrids offer stronger lofts and more refined shapes

Within its TR21 lineup, Honma is pairing a big, distance oriented 3-Wood with compact offerings across all available lofts. It’s not an entirely unique approach to the fairway market, but with the majority of major manufacturers playing to the middle, Honma believes it has an opportunity to succeed on either side.

Honma TR21 FTi BIG-LB Fairway Wood

The TR21 FTi BIG-LB Fairway wood is a nod to Honma’s heritage and the age of persimmon drivers. Honma (and the BIG-LB) may be relatively new to you, but the company has been making golf clubs since 1959. It’s not a brand without history.

The original BIG-LB (the LB stands for Low Balance) was an oversized driver. The LB featured a partially hollowed out head. The cavity was injected with a resin composite, and a heavy steel soleplate was anchored to the sole. Even if designers didn’t fully understand the physics at the time, Honma knew that when you concentrated mass in the sole, good things happen.

From the USGA’s notes after Bryson DeChambeau’s 2020 U.S. Open win:

Champion Bryson DeChambeau tied for fifth in greens in regulation (46), despite tying for 26th in fairways hit (23). 

DeChambeau’s total strokes gained of 7.90 is the fourth-highest by a champion since 1960. Johnny Miller (10.77 in 1963), Arnold Palmer (9.29 in 1960) and Jack Nicklaus(8.19 in 1967) were higher.

This was just the third time since 2000 that the champion was the only player in red figures (Tiger Woods in 2000 and 2002).

If the fairways hit number stood out, it was historic but also not that far off from a couple of recent wins.

Xander Schauffele off a fourth-straight excellent U.S. Open performance, sounds conflicted about where things are headed as he saw Bryson DeChambeau overpower Winged Foot.

Q. What are your thoughts on Bryson just in general and what he's done in transforming his body?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, he's a man of his word. I said it last night, if there's anyone that I was worried about, it was him. Everyone talked about hitting fairways out here. It's not about hitting fairways. It's about hitting on the correct side of the hole and hitting it far so you can kind of hit a wedge instead of a 6 iron out of the rough. Yeah, he's sort of trending in the new direction of golf, and he said he wanted to do everything he's doing, and yeah, happy for him. He's playing unbelievable.

This answer was especially fascinating:

Q. Going back to what you said before about Bryson,do you feel like he's revolutionizing the game?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No. If you look at just people that have dominated, it's always been distance. Obviously, Tiger had the mix of touch and feel and everything. If you look back at he was sort of the first guy to really hit it far with those clubs. Jack hit is really far as well. All the greats hit it pretty far for the most part. It's no longer sort of a touchy-feely game. The only way to make a golf course really hard is to firm up the greens and grow the rough. It's going to make it hard for everyone, and you'd rather be the guy in the rough with a lob wedge than with an 8 iron or 7 iron. Revolutionize? Maybe he's just exposing our game in terms of, if he keeps hitting it further and further, I don't see why he wouldn't be able to win many more U.S. Opens.

If they’re hitting drives like this with a helping breeze, Winged Foot’s 9th might be drivable in 2028, 2031 or whenever Winged Foot hosts the U.S. Open again.

From the 2020 U.S. Open final round where all three players made “eagles” after video game length drives.

Bryson DeChambeau, the “short” one of the group at 374.4:

Matt Wolfe, outdrove himself from Saturday’s 377 yarder and gave himself a wedge approach Sunday after this 388.5 yard tee shot.

And without the aid of a cart path, lucky bounce or any other known assistance beyond strength, launch optimization and some roll, a 418.8-yard drive from Dustin Johnson.

This 2020 U.S. Open post-final round comment from Rory McIlroy has been getting mostly negative reviews and I believe, incorrectly so. McIlroy posted a final round 75 to finish T8 at Winged Foot.

Q. Your golf followed from Tiger's and Tiger's followed from Faldo, Watson, and back to Nicklaus, very kind of straight line. Then you see this guy doing it completely in his own way, and I'm wondering what that says to you about the guy and about the game.

RORY McILROY: So I think -- about the guy, I think it's brilliant, but I think he's taken advantage of where the game is at the minute. Look, again, whether that's good or bad, but it's just the way it is. With the way he approaches it, with the arm-lock putting, with everything, it's just where the game's at right now.I'm not saying that's right or wrong. He's just taking advantage of what we have right now.

DeChambeau’s approach should raise questions about whether this is where the game should head. But you have to admire how he’s taken advantage of technology and put his body on the line in ways no one ever has. McIlroy seems to be saying that with his where the game “is at the minute.”

Which is also code for: where the game is because the governing bodies did not adequately anticipate many things that are happening.

Matthew Wolff struggled in Sunday's final round and lost to a red-hot Bryson DeChambeau. Still, he finished second in his first appearance at the U.S. Open. At 21, he's just getting started.

Georgia Hall earned her first LPGA Tour victory in the United States on Sunday when she beat Ashleigh Buhai on the second hole of a playoff at the Cambia Portland Classic.

No one can question Bryson DeChambeau's methods now. He overpowered Winged Foot and the field to win his first major championship.

Jim Furyk joined Arnold Palmer and Bruce Fleisher as the only players to win their first two PGA Tour Champions starts.

September 20, 2020

NorCal’s Bryson DeChambeau Wins U.S. Open

Clovis native Bryson DeChambeau is now a U.S. Open champion.

DeChambeau, who honed his skills as a junior on the Junior Tour of Northern California, shot a final-round 3-under 67 Sunday at Winged Foot to win the title by six shots.

He joins Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win an NCAA individual title, a U.S. Amateur title and a U.S. Open.

“It’s just an honor. I don’t know what else to say,’ DeChambeau said. ” It’s been a lot of hard work. Mr. Nicklaus has been always awesome to me. He gave me a sponsor’s invite. Tiger has always been great to me. I can’t say thank you enough to them for them helping me push me along to be a better person and a better golfer, as well. But to be in the likes of the names of that company is special. I’ll forever appreciate that.”

They pulled off a fall U.S. Open and there were many more winners than losers at Winged Foot.

Winners

Bryson DeChambeau – You’ve taken enormous risks, listened to no shortage of doubters and now are a worthy, convincing major championship winner. Most impressive is the accomplishment coming on a course supposedly rigged against your aggressive style of play. Plus, no run-ins with the rules or officials, and you gave credit to your parents for the sacrifices they made. Classy win.

Matthew Wolff –  Just two majors and already a second place and a T4 at age 21. Oh and an ebullient style when so many players look so joyless.  

Westlake Golf Course – Wolff’s home away from home is also where Chris Como, DeChambeau’s distance-boost coach, got his start in the game. What a day for Thousand Oaks. Check out Sean Martin’s story here on the little course that is producing so many characters.

Bryson DeChambeau was the only player under par in the final round at Winged Foot as he cruised to a U.S. Open victory.

Mel Reid shot a 7-under 65 on her 33rd birthday Saturday to take a two-stroke lead over defending champion Hannah Green into the final round of the Cambia Portland Classic.

Ernie Els missed a chance to build a big lead during the second round of the PGA Tour Champions' Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach on Saturday, but he holds a 1-stroke lead over Dicky Pride, with Jim Furyk and four others 2 shots back.

Lee westwood after round 3

Think about all the effort put into juicing the roughs with fertilizer, fine tuning the lines a bit to make the players lay up so the ball doesn’t have to be regulated and the excitement at seeing them punished!

Not happening. At least, not for the 2020 U.S. Open leaders.

The most stout rough we’ve seen in some time is not meaning a darned thing at Winged Foot, as Matthew Wolff takes a two stroke lead into Sunday. Two, also happens to be the number of fairways hit in a 65 that featured two very makeable birdie misses. Wolff has hit 12 fairways after three rounds leaving him tied for 58th. The bottom portion of the fairways hit ranking:

In second place sits Bryson DeChambeau, whose found 17 of 32 fairways, placing him T31 in that category.

Matthew Wolff is 21 years and attempting to win the U.S. Open in his very first appearance. He will chase it in silence. It worked for another 20-something last month when Collin Morikawa won the PGA Championship. Is it about to happen again?

While there are no spectators on the property at Winged Foot Golf Club, that didn't stop those nearby with a view of the course from heckling Patrick Reed on Saturday. Reed had bigger problems, though, as he shot a 77 to fall 8 shots off the lead.

Matthew Wolff hit only two fairways Saturday and still matched the lowest score ever at Winged Foot in a major, a 5-under 65 that gave the 21-year-old Californian a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau going into the final round of the U.S. Open.