Golfing News & Blog Articles

This is our 30th edition of #AskMyGolfSpy. That feels like some sort of milestone. 

Anyway, AskMyGolfSpy is an opportunity to submit questions to our experts here at MGS. You can pass along your questions to the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or right here in the comments section below! 

Q: At what stage in your golf game should you start considering being fit for clubs? -FishookTX

As soon as one decides golf is worth pursuing with any regularity, it makes sense to get fitted. I understand basic arguments around being too inconsistent but it’s important to recognize that one of the goals of club fitting should be to deliver more consistent results. 

I’m not suggesting new golfers should blow $350 on a Ventus upgrade but really basic stuff like dialing in the appropriate length, lie angles and shaft weight can lead to improvement. 

Q: There is a recent claim by a Twitter person (highly respected coach) that face flex irons are bad for your consistency if your 7i club speed is over 75mph. Do you believe there is any truth to that? – LesStotler

I saw the tweet and I think I understand the larger point he was trying to make. My interpretation is that higher speed players don’t need to chase distance with their irons but instead should focus more on control (which is often a byproduct of spin). 

Talor Gooch upstaged the more-fancied names on the LIV Golf tour by shooting a 10-under 62 Friday to take a four-stroke lead after the first round of the inaugural Australian tournament at The Grange.

The teams of Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler, and Sean O'Hair and Brandon Matthews, each shot an 11-under 61 in the better-ball format to tie for a one-shot lead through the first round of Zurich Classic.

Peiyun Chien shot a 5-under 67 on a rainy Thursday in the transplanted Chevron Championship to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour's first major of the year.

Commissioner Greg Norman says LIV Golf has had discussions "on a regular basis" about adding a women's tour in the future.

“How do I find the right wedges?” 

It’s a question we get asked a lot. 

The simple (probably too simple) answer is to get fitted.  

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Enjoy the rest of your day. 

Also, good luck with that. 

Any guesses on how many golf GPS apps are available on the Apple and Android app stores?

For the record, we’d take a jillion as an acceptable – and probably correct – answer.

Some are free. Some are free but require in-app purchases for more functionality. And others you have to buy outright. But you do have a jillion choices and, chances are, you have your favorite. The SwingU Golf GPS app is becoming one of our favorites, partially due to its functionality but primarily due to what it can give you.

If you want it to.

SwingU Golf GPS App: An “OG” Golf App

Before we get too far into the weeds, one thing needs to be stated, especially for you youngsters out there. If you’re too young to remember playing with persimmon woods and finding yardage markers to pace off distance, don’t underestimate just how freaking cool a golf GPS app is.

The Dinah turns up in Texas, Koepka reflects, Tiger has surgery, USGA sees a record number of U.S. Open entries, Europe's Ryder Cup hopes look promising on paper, a new app to download and much more in the latest News & Notes.

Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson left open the possibility that LIV Golf players may be part of the U.S. team this fall.

Different venue, same title on the line. Here are five storylines to watch this week at the first LPGA major of the season.

Tiger Woods underwent surgery Wednesday to address post-traumatic arthritis in his right ankle caused by injuries suffered in a February 2021 car wreck.

The Masters is watched by more golf fanatics than any other golf tournament.  For many, it is like the First Rights of Spring to get tuned up for the new season.  The world starts to bloom as the grass turns green in Augusta, GA.  So I thought you might enjoy recalling memorable thoughts of golf to prepare for the your new season.

1/ Short putts never go in.

2/ The most important shot in golf is your next one.

3/ Breezy? Swing easy.

4/ Don’t kill the ball.  Even Scotty Scheffler hooks the ball when he gets excited.

Teamwork is a common thread between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf -- just not with each other. Here are the storylines to watch this week as the Zurich Classic and LIV Golf-Adelaide get underway.

There is more attention than ever focused on the golf ball. It’s also true that there are more golf ball brands and options than ever.

Most major manufacturers offer at least three urethane-covered options and many of the upstart direct-to-consumer brands have at least two.

The point is, you’ve got a lot to choose from. That makes us exceptionally curious about the golf balls you’re choosing to play.

This 2023 iteration of our  Golf Ball Survey is an opportunity for us to learn about your buying (and playing) habits. In addition to taking the survey, feel free to share additional thoughts on all things golf ball in the comment section.

Oh … for those of you who have been asking, yes, we are planning another robot ball test. It’s going to be the biggest one we’ve ever done. We’ll have more information as we get closer.

The new Shot Scope Pro L2 laser rangefinder is a box-checker.

As in, it checks a lot of boxes.

Are you looking for a high-performing laser? Check.

How about a high-performing laser that acquires the target quickly and vibrates once you do? Check.

How about a high-performing laser that acquires the target quickly, vibrates once you do and has a slope function you can turn off for tournament play? Yep, another check.

I’m old. I not only remember the original Big Berthas. I played them. I played the driver and 3-wood a bit but it was the irons that really stood out in my memory. There has always been this idea bandied about that God couldn’t hit a 1-iron. But I had the original “brick on a stick,” the utility iron before we knew they existed—the Big Bertha 1-iron. 

If most 1-irons were so sharp and thin that they could be mistaken for a butter knife, the Big Bertha 1-Iron had a top line so wide and flat you (and your entire family) could sit down for dinner at it. 

As ungainly as they were, those were the blueprint for a lot of the irons we play today, what with their 360-degree undercut cavities, unsupported faces, cavity badges and ungodly amounts of offset. “Demonstrably Superior, Pleasingly Different,” as Ely Callaway requested from his staff. And for a lot of golfers, they were a lot of fun, making the game easier than it had ever been.  

While Callaway doesn’t use it all the time, the Big Bertha name screams fun and forgiveness in a way no other model name in the Callaway back catalog does. But it’s back and, in my best Vin Diesel voice, it’s all about family. Drivers, fairways, hybrids and, most importantly, irons. But like any family, every member is significantly different from one another, even if they share a common name.  

Callaway Big Bertha Irons 

The Big Bertha irons aren’t necessarily aimed at the MGS core audience. They aren’t scratch golfers using a Ventus Purple. They are for golf’s Everyman, who plays once or twice a month and want to enjoy the 19th hole as much as the course. They want to hit the ball higher and further and probably need some help with a slice. And they are probably using the whole club face while doing it.  

Let’s face facts. Most women swing the club slower than their male counterparts. In addition, they are not as tall and less muscular than the average man. So it just makes sense that if a female golfer wants a set of clubs off the rack, that set is built differently than a set of men’s standard clubs.  

Voila!   

The new Callaway Big Bertha REVA golf clubs are designed for women. Do they share a lot of technology and visuals with the Big Bertha range (read about it here)? Sure. But these are designed specifically for women and that technology is generally tweaked for higher launch and spin to keep the ball in the air longer.

REVA la Revolution 

That’s Reva, pronounced like revolution. It’s the second-generation Big Bertha Reva, by the way.  

According to Kim Johnson, Callaway Retail Marketing Manager and Women’s Task Force Lead, “we’re proud to be making the best performance products for women. We’re No. 1 on the LPGA Tour and we make something for every woman, no matter where they are in their golf journey. 

Jim Furyk will be a part of the inaugural World Champions Cup, an event that was originally booked to debut in 2021, but was pushed ahead to Dec. 7-10 of this year at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida.

It’s rare that a golf equipment company runs unopposed in any category. I mean, given that more than one reputable brand makes a chipper, you wouldn’t think TaylorMade would have the mini-driver category all to itself but that’s how things stand right now as the company launches the BRNR Mini Driver.

This latest iteration, as the vowel-less name suggests, is a bit of an aesthetic throwback to TaylorMade’s classic Burner TI Bubble 2 lineup.

By my count, the BRNR is TaylorMade’s fifth foray into the category and, other than a large PING fairway wood and a singular Callaway Big Bertha mini-driver, nobody else has bothered to compete.

Why?

The simple explanation is that mini-drivers are niche products that don’t fit neatly into the mix for most players. As we dig into that and why you may or may not want to consider one, it makes sense to start with the obvious question.