Golfing News & Blog Articles

#MyTubSpy asks, should anyone play cheap golf balls? Also, the Best Rangefinders of 2020 and Top 5 Golf Equipment Trends, all on this week’s No Putts Given.

0:43  – Meet Phillip Bishop, our new Director of Hard Goods Testing6:33  – Should you buy cheap golf balls?24:38  – The Most Wanted Rangefinders of 202026:32  – The Top 5 Trends in Golf Equipment26:56 – 3D Printing36:16 – Large OEMs embrace DTC37:53 – Golf retail is dying45:30 – A shift away from traditional marketing49:00 – The rise of the personal launch monitor

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The post Should Golfers Buy Cheap Golf Balls? | #NoPuttsGiven 45 appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

Let’s start with a not-so-amazing thesis: The material used to construct every golf club is important. For that matter, so are the design, construction and geometry.

That’s not particularly hard-hitting information. But consider how much of the marketing chatter around drivers, fairway woods and hybrids features buzzwords like Triaxial carbon crowns, Inverted Cone construction and the ever-popular catch-all “multi-material technology.”

The answer is “a lot.” It’s an order of magnitude greater than Bryson DeChambeau’s daily calorie intake.

What’s clear is manufactures want consumers to associate certain materials or processes with different levels of quality.

What’s less defined is how much merit one should assign to these sometimes audacious claims.

On this very day, Odyssey will be announcing and releasing their Odyssey Stroke Lab Black Toe Up Big Seven putter.

Yes, you read that right. I’m going to give you the scoop on this new putter today and it should also be in your golf shop today as well. Let’s hear it for instant gratification!

For any other putter release, the fact that you can buy one on the same day that it is announced would be the big deal. But there is something even bigger going on with the Odyssey Stroke Lab Black Toe Up Big Seven.

Sing it with me!

Everybody
Rock your body
Everybody
Rock your body right
Backstryke’s Back, Alright!

As far as trades go, this is huge win for San Francisco, Harding Park and the PGA Tour from what I’m reading in Ron Kroichick’s San Francisco Chronicle story.

In a nutshell: the PGA Tour and City of San Francisco contract called for several events, including the 2026 Presidents Cup (which now moves to 2027, one year closer to Olympic Club hosting the 2028 PGA). Instead, the already-once-failed attempt at a Steph Curry-hosted fall event has been resurrected. Originally slated for Lake Merced the first go-round, Kroichick says next month’s PGA Championship host will end up the regular site instead of the Presidents Cup.

Workday, sponsor of last week’s one-off “Charity Open” at Muirfield Village was the likely sponsor the last time a Curry-hosted event was considered and seems the likely sponsor for the new fall stop.

In his pre-Memorial media session—which came after a virtual luncheon…these strange times—Commissioner Jay Monahan said the likely next event to be played before humans will probably be the U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

JAY MONAHAN: You know, obviously we've canceled -- we're not going to have spectators and we're not going to have pro-ams through the TOUR Championship in Atlanta. Right now you look at the PGA TOUR schedule, the next event up is the U.S. Open, and I know that the USGA continues to work with the state of New York and is making plans to return fans. If I had to guess, that would be the first week that we would do so.

I think to give a little more texture to your question, we're spending a lot of time in each of the subsequent tournaments or each of the tournaments in the fall working on a number of different ways to stage the event, which includes full capacity, partial capacity, and obviously the way that we're operating now, which is no spectators, and that will be largely dependent on what we hear from the communities where we play.

As noted yesterday, New York’s newly imposed quarantine restrictions on visitors from pretty much any place with a population seem like a bigger issue for mid-September’s rescheduled U.S. Open at Winged Foot. That said, even a small crowd would make a huge difference in giving the event a major championship field—if safe to do so. Oh, and help move some 2020 merch.

How refreshing to see Bryson DeChambeau tackle a question about distance, equipment rules changes and Martin Slumbers’ recent remarks with both class and wisdom.

Many players might bristle or give signs of a narcissistic blow. Mercifully, DeChambeau is confident that the recent advantage he’s gained would likely remain if the governing bodies ever did something to lessen the role of technology over skill. He seems fine with any rule change and willing to take responsibility for adjusting to the rules. Many a lesser man would have taken all of this personally.

From today’s pre-Memorial Tournament presser:

Q. I wanted to ask, Slumbers talked about the fact that they're going to have to address what's going on, and you seem to be now the newest poster boy for this. Would you be upset if they rolled things back in regards to equipment because you've shown them that you can hit the ball as far as you can hit it?

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU: Hmm. No, I wouldn't. No matter what rules they give me, I'm going to try and do my best to maximize my athletic ability. They can't take working out away from me. I know that. At least as of right now. Whatever -- look, 1998 the COR test was put in stone where you couldn't have a certain number off the face, and they've used that ever since. It's now a CT test. The ball speeds coming off the face are what they are, and they really haven't changed that much. If anything, the clubs have gotten longer, the shafts have gotten stiffer, and we can swing it faster with more control. Back in the day, the shafts were a little more flexible, and LA Golf Shafts has provided me with a shaft that's super stiff, super stable and allowed me to swing at the speeds while retaining the same control with the face.

Yeah, it's a lot of work on my end, too, to gain strength and to swing it hard, to train. It's a lot of hard work. People don't realize how hard I've worked to get here. It's been working out for at least an hour every single day for the past five, six months, fixing my body when it breaks down. I have to go, okay, I've got to go fix my body and work out and train in the right way to be able to tolerate all these forces going through my body and out of my body.

So in regards to whoever is saying we're going to have to look at equipment, I've got no problem. I'm, again, just going to look at my game and how I can improve it in the best way possible, no matter if they roll the ball back there's still going to be a percentage difference. Even if it gets rolled back there's still going to be a gap. Whether it's closer now, it is what it is. I'm not really worried about it. I'm just going to keep trying to make those athletic gains so that I can be the best golfer that I can possibly be.

Commissioner Jay Monahan, who is on the record as pro-distance, was asked about DeChambeau and distance in his pre-Memorial session with reporters on hand. He mentions how DeChambeau disrupted himself (his bacon and milkshake supplier would concur) and then largely dances around the R&A/USGA position.

More bets and more money have been wagered on Tiger Woods to win the Memorial Tournament than have been placed on any other golfer at multiple sportsbooks.

PGA commissioner Jay Monahan said Wednesday that he's hopeful of having at least some spectators in attendance for tour events before the end of the year.

Why are there so many styles of putters and so many different ways to improve your putting? We are all made up with different body structures, minds and strengths. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another.  Some methods work better than others and stubborn golfers find it hard to change.  As it turns out there are only 3 consistent skills that you need to master for putting success.

You need to understand that every method of putting CAN BE successful. Every different style of putter and putting stoke has won the US Open and The Open (British). You can be successful by swinging your wrists or rocking your shoulders and swing in a straight line or arc. You can also jab at the ball or swing with the consistency of a pendulum or accelerate through the ball. Only you can determine what works best for your physical limitations and ability.

I recently read an article by Phil Kenyon, who is now the director and principal owner of Harold Swash Putting in the UK. He has trained many of the top professional golfers and recent winners to the US Open and The Open  to help them hone their personal putting styles. He believes that they must achieve three key outcomes to have success.

The 3 Key Skills:
1/ Control the starting direction of the ball,
2/ Control the speed of your ball.
3/ Predict the break of your ball.

July 15, 2020

Safeway Open to Kick Off 2020-2021 Season Without Fans

The Safeway Open presented by Chevron announced today that the 2020 event, the first of the 2020-2021 PGA TOUR season, will not have fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual PGA TOUR event held at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, CA will be played as scheduled, September 10-13.

“The health and safety of the Napa community, as well as our players, volunteers and partners, has remained of utmost importance throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re disappointed to announce that we will not be able to host our tremendous fans at this year’s event and we will continue to work closely with the PGA TOUR as well as local, state and federal agencies to ensure the well-being of all who are allowed onsite during tournament week,” said Executive Director Jeff Sanders.

With deadlines approaching tied into the operational logistics of running the Safeway Open presented by Chevron, conducting the 2020 event with fans onsite was not a possibility in the current health climate.

He looks bigger. He swings harder. The ball travels farther. The numbers of just how much farther will leave you shaking your head.

Even with the outcome having been determined, the fill-in Workday Charity Open on CBS edged FS1’s prime time NASCAR to rank as last weekend’s top rated sports broadcast, notes Sports Media Watch.

Showbuzzdaily.com has the full listing here.

The Workday final round from Muirfield Village, won in a playoff by Collin Morikawa over Justin Thomas, competed against NBC’s live airing of the American Century Championship.

Compared to the same weekend in 2019, the Workday easily beat the John Deere Classic while the American Century held steady.

Golf organizers fixed an oversight Wednesday by agreeing to move the pandemic-postponed Curtis Cup so that it doesn't conflict with the Solheim Cup.

Tiger Woods is in the field as the PGA Tour remains in Dublin, Ohio, this time for the Memorial Tournament at Jack's place. Here are our experts' best bets.

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

That grand old saying has been credited to everyone from Seneca the Younger (4 BC-65 AD) to Oprah Winfrey and, as sayings go, it’s as axiomatic as they come. It’s also an accurate descriptor of Birdieball, its award-winning Birdieball putting mat and the company’s 17-year journey to overnight success.

The Colorado-based Birdieball copped top honors in MyGolfSpy’s Putting Mat Buyer’s Guide for 2020. In this article, we’re going to share with you the story of Birdieball and its two signature products: the odd-looking but surprisingly fun-to-hit Birdieball and the award-winning Birdieball putting mat.

But to really understand this 11-person family business, let’s jump into the WABAC Machine and set the dial for April 1999.

Running Down a Dream

“What I’ve learned in life is nobody buys your dreams,” says Birdieball founder, president, owner and inventor John Breaker. “You have to show them the dream in concrete.”

It’s been about 1.5 years since we first told you that Arccos Caddie Link was coming. We’ll forgive you if you’ve forgotten about it or simply assumed it was vaporware. The Link wearable wouldn’t be the first bit of promising technology that never went anywhere.

Here we are, 18 months or so later, and Arccos is finally launching its Link device.

If you’re just hearing about Arccos Caddie Link, all you really need to know is that it eliminates the need to either own and wear an Apple Watch or keep your phone in your pocket during your round.

I’ve been firmly “in the pocket is no big deal” camp from the earliest days of Arccos. I didn’t understand the complaints about keeping your phone in your pocket. However, when women chimed in with “at least you have pockets,” I realized why Arccos’s phone problem was such a deal breaker.

The focus across sports -- around the world -- is the coronavirus. But with athletes, there is another health factor: Avoiding injury. So how is the PGA Tour juggling that in a social distance world?

Tiger Woods returned to Muirfield Village for a practice round with Justin Thomas and spoke to media soon after. The session didn’t reveal much, though the big buried lede came when discussion last week’s Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village when Collin Morikawa and Thomas went to a playoff.

Tiger revealed that he was watching on his computer like most after CBS successfully produced excellent live early round coverage for Golf Channel, then sent viewers to its app and website to watch continuing live coverage all so the final round could be shown on tape in its regularly scheduled time slot.

Q. You've been in this situation before, too, but I'm sure you saw on Sunday J.T. holes a 50-footer. If there's a crowd around like Memorial usually gets and they react to it, how much harder is it for Collin to make his putt?

TIGER WOODS: A lot more difficult. I just think that the energy -- even it felt weird as I was watching on my computer at home, like 14, when Collin hit the ball on the green there, and granted, they've never had the tees up there during the Memorial event, but if they were and had that same situation during a Memorial event, to have someone drive the ball on the green that close to the hole, I mean, that whole hillside would have been going nuts.

Now, I’m speculating here, but work with me: Tiger Woods went to Stanford, he has a big yacht, he loves sports, and watches a lot of those sports on TV in the comfort of his home. I’m thinking he has a pretty nice TV setup, maybe even a “guy” who set up a sweet system complete with surround sound, Sonos through the estate and every channel known to man.

ESPN.com’s Bob Harig reports on Jack Nicklaus’ most intriguing pre-Memorial Tournament press conference comment: the 80-year-oldlegend intends to maintain the tradition of greeting the likely winner with a handshake after they’ve completed 72 holes.

"I'm going to shake their hand. I going to walk right out there and shake your hand," Nicklaus said during a virtual news conference at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. "If they don't want to shake my hand, that's fine. I'll give them a fist bump or an elbow bump, but I'm not going to give them COVID-19, so that's -- I wouldn't put anybody in that position. I wouldn't do that, and if I was in any danger of doing that, I wouldn't shake their hands.

"And incidentally, I like shaking their hand, too. I think that's a great tradition, but it was as much fun for me as I hope it is for them."

The PGA Tour has repeatedly asked players, caddies and officials not to shake hands or even fist bump, though Commissioner Jay Monahan and Rory McIlroy couldn’t help themselves at Harbour Town. But the view of Nicklaus stands out because he had recorded a PSA back in March imploring younger generations to protect those of his age group.

"Many of you kids, you're going to a lot of places that may bring that home to a senior citizen. I don't think that's what you want to do," Nicklaus said. "Let's all make sure we wash our hands. Let's make sure we're very smart about where we go, and when we go, let's try to stay away from public places. Let's just be smart. Americans have always been smart, and Americans have always gotten through these things, and we'll get through this one."

The PSA:

There is a key detail missing in Doug Ferguson’s AP report saying the PGA Tour is exploring a move of its fall Asia swing to the west coast of the United States.

Naturally, there will be no creativity shown with field size and format but some fall west coast golf is a nice alternative. Tough conversations will have to take place with sponsors whose primary sponsorship interest lies in bringing top players to their part of the world.

So no, those aren’t the details missing. It’s something else.

Wait, I’ve got it!

The rest of the world, flattening the curve, will want no part of a mostly-American group of golfers, their luggage handlers, and a tour featuring COVID-19 positive-testing-but-not-negative groupings (going off in two twosomes with GMac quietly added to that dubious division).