Golfing News & Blog Articles

Lydia Ko won her 18th career title in the country of her birth after completing a 7-under 65 final round at the BMW Ladies Championship on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy eagled the fourth and 12th holes and finished at 4-under 67 to take a 1-shot lead in the CJ Cup.

Yannick Paul powered up the leaderboard at the Mallorca Golf Open on Saturday to move to 16-under-par and a share of the lead with Ryan Fox.

Atthaya Thitikul hit five birdies on the back nine Saturday and will take a one-stroke lead into the final day of the BMW Ladies Championship.

Dale Whitnell took a one-stroke lead halfway through the Mallorca Open after shooting 8-under 63 on Friday to equal the course record set the previous day by fellow Englishman Marcus Armitage.

Jon Rahm's 9-under 62 on Friday gave him a share of the lead with Kurt Kitayama at the CJ Cup in South Carolina.

The PGA Tour has filed a federal lawsuit against Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund -- which finances LIV Golf -- the fund's governor.

An awful lot has happened since our last installment on LIV Golf and the Saudis. For starters, the PGA Tour has fired back with a new compensation package for its players, including a guaranteed half million dollars for all players. Cam Smith, the world’s number two-ranked player, jumped ship to the new league.

Official World Golf Ranking points is the new battleground. LIV Golf is trying to use the minor, and largely inoperative, MENA (Middle East North Africa) Tour as a proxy to score OWGR points for its players. We’ll see how that turns out. If it doesn’t, we have Golf Saudi’s Majed Al Sorour threatening to create his own “majors.”

Oh, and we can’t forget one boffo No Putts Given episode featuring the always candid Hank Haney.

In our first installment, we investigated behind-the-scenes connections between Saudi Golf, a high-powered Golf PR firm in the UK and some of the internet’s most successful influencers. In this installment, we talk with legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg and examine just what Saudi Arabia is looking for from its LIV investment.

Leigh Steinberg – the Original Uber Agent

Leigh Steinberg’s very first client was his college classmate, Steve Bartkowski, who just so happened to be the number one pick in the 1975 NFL draft. Over the years, Steinberg has represented over 60 NFL first-round picks, including the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Steve Young and Troy Aikman. He’s represented athletes from all sports, negotiating contracts in excess of $4 billion for his clients.

Andrea Lee shot another bogey-free round of 6-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead at the BMW Ladies Championship on Friday.

Atthaya Thitikul shot a 9-under 63 to set a tournament record and lead after the first round of the BMW Ladies Championship.

Rory McIlroy and Tom Kim were the star attractions Thursday at the CJ Cup, finishing the opening round a shot back of leaders Trey Mullinax and Gary Woodland.

The Saudi Golf Federation CEO walked back comments about starting his own majors if LIV Golf players aren't permitted to play in the existing ones

The post Spirit of the Game: Joe Louis Barrow Jr. appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.

“We need to figure out North America.”

That was the stock business development objective from most every Japanese equipment manufacturer circa 2017. Walking the floor that year at the annual PGA Merchandise Show (aka home of the $19 chicken wrap), it was clear that a) the United States is still the No. 1 market for golf equipment and b) every brand without a footprint in the U.S. was looking to create one.

On paper, getting into the U.S. market makes sense. Actually, it’s a no-brainer. According to a report from Allied Market Research, the global golf equipment market was valued at $7 billion in 2020 and is projected to crest $10 billion by 2030. Diving deeper, golf clubs accounted for nearly half that total in 2020, a scenario experts expect to continue.

Beyond that, North America has the highest current ($3.5 billion) and projected ($4.75 billion) revenue contribution to the market. Even a very small slice of a multi-billion-dollar pie is enough to satiate a small brand looking to carve out a permanent, albeit modest, seat at the table. Sidenote – When companies mention North America, it’s often with an implicit understanding that while the U.S. is the focal point of the region, Canada ($1.3B in 2021) and Mexico are extremely important markets as well.

Boutique brands such as Miura, EPON, Yonex, Yamaha, Vega, Fourteen, ONOFF, PRGR, and Honma, among others, seemed poised to make a run. Five years later, the North American landscape is largely devoid of a serious JDM (Japanese domestic market) equipment brand.

Atthaya Thitikul shot a 9-under 63 to set a tournament record and lead after the first round of the BMW Ladies Championship

This is the second in a series of blogs to help you simplify your knowledge of golf and hopefully improve your game. [Includes abbreviated tips from an article published by Luke Kerr-Dineen for a GOLF franchise called “Play Smart”.] I have only distilled nuggets of knowledge from his article to provide you with a quick reference to sharpen your games.

5/ Understand the loft and spin relationship: A properly hit golf ball will create an undercut or reversing spin on every golf ball. [Not to be confused with side spins caused by the path of impact or the open or closed face of the club which cause a draw, fade, hook or slice.] Too much spin with a driver will rob you of distance. That’s why your driver has a very low loft and you typically gain height with the launch angle off a tee. (A topped ball is never desired as it creates an over-spin which will force your ball to dive down and along the ground.)

The more loft on your club, the more it’s going to spin the ball. That’s why your pitching wedge stops on a green much faster than lower lofted clubs. A little extra spin can help you hit the ball straighter off the tee or land softer on the green, but too much of it can send the ball ballooning up into the air. Less spin can help you hit the ball lower for more roll-out. The key is getting control over spin, which starts with a good club-fitting

6/ Adjust Your Tee Height: Changing tee height has a direct impact on the launch and spin of the ball off your driver and can be used to help you get more distance with a simple adjustment. A higher tee also creates the opportunity to hit the ball above the middle of the club face. These 2 factors increase launch angle and reduce spin, which, in turn, help optimize launch conditions for up to 25 yards more distance. So, if you’re struggling to keep up with your buddies off the tee, experiment with teeing the ball higher. You could pick up serious yards.

7/ Practice Swinging in Slow Motion: Will Zalatoris said “Whenever I’m working on something, I rarely ever do it at full speed. My practice? A lot of slow-motion work. It’s something my dad really drilled into me growing up. It helps me with my body awareness and matching stuff up.” [Will’s recent successes may indicate that he is on to something.]

The post 2022 NCGA Course Rater of the Year–Alicia Meiners appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.

The post 2022 Tournament Official of the Year–Joe Cioni appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.

Cameron Young has been named the winner of the Arnold Palmer Award as the PGA Tour's top rookie on Wednesday.