Oliver Bekker shot a 6-under 66 to take a share of the first-round lead at the Catalunya Championship on Thursday.

Tiger Woods, after finishing 47th in his return at the Masters, is playing a practice round at Southern Hills ahead of next month's PGA Championship, sources confirmed to ESPN.

The post Net Central: April 18-26 appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.

2022 Golf Travel Bag Buyer’s Guide

With the summer approaching, golf travel vibes are taking flight. But what are you doing to protect your golf clubs?

All golf travel bags are not created equal.  After testing nearly all travel bags the market has to offer, we can prove there are huge differences between most of them.

A couple of tips:

The more wheels, the better. More wheels allow you to push or pull your golf travel bag with ease.

Some bags have extra legs and wheels that extend allowing you to pull or push your clubs with one finger. It’s just that easy.

Every golfer has the strength to putt and sink putts. The best putters read the break and match the right swing weight directly up their target line to sink every putt. Easier said than done. Even Cameron Smith can’t sink every putt but he does give himself an excellent chance by setting up correctly and swinging with the right swing to start his ball rolling OVER and DIRECTLY UP HIS TARGET LINE. So why do YIPS creep into YOUR putting stroke?

I recently read the benefits of the EyeLine Putting Alignment Mirror. Unfortunately, it can’t tell you the 3 most critical features to make putts: (1) How to read the break: (2) The amount of swing required to reach the hole and (3) How to avoid the YIPS. You need to start by practicing on a variety of greens with different roll speeds to build confidence. Great putters learn to feel the right swing speed to manage the break and power the putt with a confident swing into the hole. To do this you need to swing with your shoulders AND avoid the YIPS.

A Putting Mirror is an aid to help you setup:
1/ Square up your feet and your shoulders with your target line.
2/ Your eyes should lineup directly over the target line or slightly inside of that line.
3/ Your head should not sway with your putter backswing or follow-through.

What You Can’t Learn from a Putting Mirror:
A/ Learn to swing by rocking your shoulders TO AVOID THE YIPS (using the LARGE MUSCLES IN YOUR SHOULDERS and not the small muscles in your wrists).
B/ Your putter must swing directly back (like a pendulum) and directly up your target line BY ONLY ROCKING YOUR SHOULDERS.
C/ Make a long enough putting practice swing WITH YOUR SHOULDERS to feel the power required to reach and pass the hole by 12 to 18 inches (to avoid a deflection from green imperfections as your putt slows down near the hole).

Avoid the YIPS and shaking hands by locking your leading wrist flat and lining-up your leading forearm with the shaft of your putter. Only use your shoulders to swing your putter like a pendulum up your target line. GOLFSTR+ helps you practice by locking your leading wrist to eliminate the YIPS. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Stephen Curry is expanding his "Underrated" brand into golf by launching a series of five tournaments in conjunction with the American Junior Golf Association. Competitors will ultimately vie for the "Curry Cup."

A record 290,000 fans are expected to attend The Open, which will be played at St. Andrews. The record is currently 239,000, set at the 2000 Open that Tiger Woods won at St. Andrews.

The Best Golf Gear of 2022 

After months of testing, with tens of thousands of shots, hundreds of hours, and nearly 100 human testers – we put together a list of the top-performing products of the 2022 season this far! From drivers to shoes, gloves, and more our mission is to inform and protect the golf consumer.

We want you to get the most out of your money, time, and performance. That means providing you with reviews you can trust, as well as honest reporting on the latest issues affecting the game today.  As testing continues and winners roll in, check back for the running collection of MyGolfSpy’s Best Golf Gear of 2022.

Golf Clubs:

2022 Best Driver: PING G425 MAX

The PING G425 MAX earned the highest overall score across the 2022 Most Wanted Driver Test. The G425 MAX was near the top for most metrics and finished on top of the Accuracy category.

One of the main reasons why PING G425 MAX is the overall winner of the 2022 Most Wanted Driver Test is accuracy. Its Playable Shot score was the highest in the test and its Straight Shot score was in the top five.

Best Blade Putter: COBRA King 3D Grandsport 35

With a stellar performance from 10 feet, COBRA’s KING 3D Printed Grandsport 35 takes home the crown of Best Blade Putter of 2022. Finishing at #1 for the 2022 season, this has the team excited for what is to come in the future of 3D printing in golf.

Steve Loy, Co-President, Americas of SPORTFIVE, issued the issued the following statement today: pic.twitter.com/okZdMIv5P4

Tiger and Phil are entered, but Mickelson’s agent issues statement suggesting his disruptor client is keeping all options open, including a possible Saudi payday.

But does this already suggest Mickelson will return in the disruptor mode that got him in trouble? Thoughts in The Quadrilateral.

JR Smith added another impressive feat to his resume -- but this one took place in the classroom, not on the court.

Phil Mickelson registered to play in the PGA Championship and U.S. Open and has requested a release from the PGA Tour to allow him to play in the first event of the Saudi Arabian-financed LIV Golf Invitational Series.

Gretzy, the daughter of the Great One, and Johnson, a two-time major winner have been engaged since 2013. The couple tied the knot at a resort in the Tennessee mountains.

OUR JOB IS YOUR GAME

The most comprehensive driver test of 2022.

If your swing speed is 90 mph or below, this article is for you. These are the best drivers for low swing speeds. Read on to discover what our extensive testing has revealed before you even consider buying a new driver.

How We Test

For our 2022 driver test, 35 golfers tested 38 different driver models over more than 400 individual sessions. Data was collected using Foresight GCQuad Launch monitors. To minimize variables, all testers hit Titleist Pro V1 golf balls. Outliers were removed and data was aggregated before scores were calculated.

MOST WANTED SCORING

For 2022 (and beyond), Most Wanted testing will use a 100-point scoring system.