Maria Fassi rode a smooth putting stroke to an 8-under 62 at the rain-softened Pelican Golf Club, giving her a two-shot lead in the Pelican Women's Championship.

Steven Alker shot a bogey-free 64 on Friday to retain a one-shot lead over Padraig Harrington in the Charles Schwab Championship.

Tony Finau made 10 birdies on Friday and matched his career low with an 8-under 62 to build a big lead in the Houston Open.

If you’re looking for the best golf hitting net, we’ve got you covered.

When we discovered this hidden gem, I went straight to the boss and said, “We need to switch our Most Wanted screens. Today.”

Yep, it was that impactful for us, considering how many shots each screen gets in one year—more than 150,000!

We usually go through two or three screens per bay during the year. Our current screens tend to sag, rip and look tired, even after one test. And what about the other 10-plus tests we conduct over the year, let alone labs and practice sessions Phillip and I conduct?

So, you ask, how do I know this is the best golf screen on the market?

This is the fifth in a series of blogs to help you simplify your knowledge of golf and hopefully improve your game. [These tips are distilled from an article published by Luke Kerr-Dineen for a GOLF franchise called “Play Smart”. These nuggets of knowledge are designed as a quick reference to help you as they have helped so many other golfers.]

17/ Don’t Try to ‘Fix’ Your Miss. Narrow it: For decades, conventional golf wisdom has bemoaned the terrors of the “two-way miss.” Lou Stagner, the data lead over at Arccos Golf, is here to tell you it’s not so bad—and he has an army of statistics to prove it. Stagner puts forward Dustin Johnson as a prime example. Lauded as one of the statistically best drivers of his generation, DJ’s drives have missed left 2,203 times and 2,238 times to the right, almost an exact 50-50 split. It’s a trend that holds all the way down through the Tour. While it is true that it’s beneficial for players to have a preferred shot shape (DJ’s, for instance, is a slight left-to-right fade), the statistics simply don’t bear out that players use it to eliminate one side of the course. “As a player, you’re better off trying to narrow your biggest left miss and your biggest right miss,” says PGA Tour coach Shauheen Nakhjavani.

18/ Pay Attention to Posture: As human beings, we’re hardwired with an innate instinct to balance ourselves in order to avoid falling over—and, potentially, hurting ourselves. It’s what helps us take our first steps, but, sometimes, it can throw your swing out of whack.
For the average male golfer, your head encompasses about 8 percent of total body weight; your trunk about 55 percent, your arms about 12 percent and your legs make up the rest. If you’re not in a balanced setup position to start, your body will attempt to balance itself during the swing—and it won’t be pretty. That’s why GOLF Top 100 Teachers like the middle of a golfer’s foot, kneecaps and armpits to form a straight line with each other when viewed from down the line. That’s the position of optimal balance at setup because it “stacks” your heavy body parts in one line. The official term is “joint centration.”

19/ Know Where Your Clubface Is Pointing at Impact: Where your clubface points at impact, has the greatest influence on what direction the ball will start its flight pattern. For a right-handed golfer, an open clubface (relative to the target) will result in the ball starting right of the target, and if the face is closed, the ball will start left of the target. According to TrackMan, around 80 percent of the ball’s starting direction is dictated by where the clubface is pointed at impact, with the remaining percentage caused by the direction the club is traveling (club path). Configuring the clubface with club path at impact will help you create a more consistent ball- flight, shot after shot.

Tony Finau made 11 birdies, including a 60-foot putt on the par-3 second hole, to finish at 5-under 65 for a share of the lead at the Houston Open.

- Steven Alker matched Padraig Harrington's early birdies and kept playing steady golf, giving him a one-shot lead over the only player who can pass him for the Charles Schwab Cup.

The Pelican Women's Championship will be 54 holes because of heavy rain from Tropical Storm Nicole, and Hye-Jin Choi has withdrawn, meaning Atthaya Thitikul has clinched the Rookie of the Year award.

Two years after it first invested in women's golf, Golf Saudi is raising the prize money of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International from $1 million to $5 million, making it equal to the men's prize fund and the seventh-highest in all of women's golf.

The 51-year-old veteran chased rankings on the PGA and Korn Ferry tours. A change in his focus has given Alker a different outlook and more success.

Nearly two years have passed since we last asked you to take our One Word Survey.

As brand perception surveys go, this one is simple and doesn’t leave much room for nuance. It’s more a word-association game than a deep introspection into how you feel about the leading brands in golf. Perhaps the simplicity is why the past results from this survey have been so compelling.

As we sift through the results, we’ll not only look at what you had to say this time around but we’ll take a closer look at how perceptions have changed over the nearly five years we have conducted this survey.

Which brands are trending up?

Which brands are trending down?

Tiger Woods, who hasn't played since missing the cut at St. Andrews in July, announced Wednesday he would return to competitive golf with the Hero World Challenge, Dec. 1-4.

MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of the golf balls on the market to help you find the best ball for your money. Today, we’re taking a look at the 2022 Srixon Q-Star Tour. To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.

About the Srixon Q-Star Tour

The Srixon Q-Star Tour is the company’s entry into what we call the “non-Tour” urethane category. It’s a class of balls typically marketed to slow to moderate swing speed golfers. Balls in the category are invariably softer than those played on the PGA TOUR. Relative to something like a Pro V1, they’re typically higher-flying and lower-spinning as well. The commonality is the urethane cover though, generally speaking, non-Tour urethane balls will spin less than true Tour offerings.

The prior generation of the Srixon Q-Star Tour has the dubious distinction of being one of the worst balls tested to date. Transient issue at the factory or an indicator of a systemic problem?

With the 2022 version of the Q-Star Tour, we hope to find some clarity.

Tiger Woods came out No. 1 for a second straight year in the Player Impact Program. That's according to Rory McIlroy, who told the Associated Press that he finished second.

Scottie Scheffler looks to dethrone Rory McIlroy, the Pelican Women's Championship boasts a loaded field and Tiger Woods is back -- at least in some capacity.

The Best Black Friday Golf Deals 2022

For the third year in a row, most retailers are opting for online sales rather than in-store. While golf clubs and balls are lacking this year, there are plenty of deals to be had in the electronics category. We’ve compiled the best Black Friday deals from across the web with your golf needs in mind. It’s a great time to buy holiday gifts for the family, get some new golf tech or upgrade your closet.

MyGolfSpy Exclusive Promotions

20% Off SuperSpeed Golf Training System with code MGS – $184 ($230)

Top Amazon Deals

FlightScope Mevo Personal Launch Monitor – $399 (20% OFF)adidas TOUR360 22 Waterproof Golf Shoes – $165 (21% OFF)PuttOUT Starter Studio Putting Trainer Set – $100 (29% OFF)Precision Pro NX10 Golf Rangefinder – $250 (17% OFF)Garmin Approach S62 Golf Watch – $350 (30% OFF)

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Top Global Deals

20% Off Your Order with code FRIDAY20 (exclusions apply)30% Off Apparel with code SAVE30PING Hoofer Craz E-Lite 2021 Stand Bag – $200 with code FRIDAY20 ($290)Mizuno JPX 921 Tour Irons – $1,040 with code FRIDAY20 ($1,300)PING Sport Tech Golf Gloves – $12 with code FRIDAY20 ($20)

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Top PGA TOUR Superstore Deals

PING G425 Max Driver – $400 (27% OFF)adidas Men’s ZG21 Motion Golf Shoes – $110 (39% OFF)Srixon ZX Utility Iron – $150 (32% OFF)EVNROLL ER8v Midlock TourMallet Putter – $300 (30% OFF)

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Top Golf Galaxy Deals

Maxfli 2021 Honors+ 14-Way Stand Bag – $95 (50% OFF)TravisMathew Polos from $36 (60% OFF)Hydro Flask 21 oz. Standard Mouth Bottle – $23 (36% OFF)Under Armour Sweater Fleece Pullover – $30 (60% OFF)NIKE Air Zoom Victory 2 (White/Blue only) – $68 (62% OFF)

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Q3 Financial Reports: Callaway and Acushnet – Key Takeaways

Callaway sales top $988 million in Q3 with $38.5 million in net profit.The new Topgolf Callaway Brands expects to hit nearly $4 billion in sales in 2022.Acushnet Q3 sales top $558 million with nearly $52 million in profit.Acushnet projects 2022 sales to approach $2.25 billion.

 

Golf’s two biggest publicly traded companies officially have closed the books on 2022’s Q3. And it doesn’t take a financial wizard to realize Acushnet and the newly rebranded Topgolf Callaway Brands aren’t playing the same game as PING, TaylorMade, COBRA or anyone else, for that matter.

You can’t even say they’re playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers. It’s more like Acushnet and Topgolf Callaway are playing three-dimensional chess in while everyone else is playing Chutes and Ladders.

Or Old Maid.

Or Go Fish.

Tiger Woods will team up with world No. 1 golfer Rory McIlroy against Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in The Match on Dec. 10.