Rory McIlroy said Tuesday that for the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to "try to mend fences," LIVE Golf CEO and commissioner Greg Norman "needs to go."
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MyGolfSpy Experiences believes there’s one fundamental truth in the cosmos: the best bucket list golf trip is the next one.
And even though it may not be first on your list, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better “next one” than Destination Kohler.
If you want a great state for golf, don’t sleep on Wisconsin. From Hudson to Milwaukee and from Green Bay to La Crosse, the Badger State is home to some outstanding public courses. And you won’t have to wear a wedge of cheese on your head to play them.
Unless, of course, you want to.
Destination Kohler and its crown jewel, Whistling Straits, are on the bucket list for many. In this edition of MyGolfSpy Experiences, we’ll share our thoughts on where to stay, where to dine and, of course, the golf itself.
Why do golf balls have dimples?
Dimples are responsible for the lift and drag properties of the golf ball. Dimples create turbulence, giving the airflow something to cling to as the golf ball travels through its flight.
Simply put, dimples help the golf ball get in the air and stay there.
What would happen if a golf ball didn’t have dimples?
Having seen this in person a couple of times, I can tell you that the flight looks a bit like a Tim Wakefield knuckleball. Without dimples, air separates quickly from the ball. From what I’ve seen, it causes it to fly unevenly before suddenly diving out of the sky.
What if the dimples are uneven for some reason?
Lots of things can impact the aerodynamics of a ball. A common example is mud but things like scrapes and gouges and uneven paint fill from the factory can cause problems. It’s also not unheard of for factories to accidentally mix molds and put different patterns on each half of the golf ball.
Regardless of the cause, a golf ball will generally move opposite of aerodynamic disruption. If you’re a right-handed golfer and you’ve got mud on the side of the ball away from you (the right side), that ball is going to move left (draw/hook). The same thing is true for a big scrape or a gauge.
OK, so dimples are important but how hard is it to create a dimple pattern?
Mike Madson, Senior Director Golf Ball Research and Engineering at Titleist, tells us that creating a dimple pattern isn’t that hard but creating a better one is extremely difficult.
There’s no magic formula and R&D guys don’t always know what will and won’t work.
You can’t be certain either way until you create the molds and put the pattern on an actual golf ball. Bottom line: Creating a new pattern is a costly and time-intensive endeavor.
To put all of this in context, over the last 20 years, Titleist has developed nearly 3,000 different aerodynamic patterns with only one to two percent of them making it onto a final product.
Adelaide has won the race to host the first LIV Golf tournament in Australia, with international stars including Cameron Smith teeing up at The Grange GC in April next year.
Padraig Harringto broke the PGA Tour Champions 72-hole record with a 27-under 257, but it was Steven Alker who won the season-long Charles Schwab Cup title by placing third.
Nelly Korda pulled ahead for a one-shot victory Sunday in the Pelican Women's Championship and reclaimed her position as the No. 1 player in women's golf.
Tommy Fleetwood rallied to retain his title at the Nedbank Golf Challenge and end a three-year winless drought. This was the first Sun City tournament since Fleetwood won it in 2019.
Tony Finau stretched his Houston Open lead to eight shots on the back nine and sailed to his third PGA Tour victory of the year.
Allisen Corpuz's second-round 5-under 65 Saturday gave her a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Pelican Women's Championship.
Tony Finau kept bogeys off his card, had a 2-under 68 and kept his lead at four shots going into the final round of the Houston Open.
Padraig Harrington took a five-shot lead over Steven Alker after Saturday's 9-under 62, but has some work to do if he's going to overtake Alker for the season-long Schwab Cup.
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.
Understanding your swing and club face direction will help you understand your ball flight. [RED Arrows are the swing direction, BLUE is for the club face direction]
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.
