Golf may not be the first thing that comes to mind when people think about visiting the state of Maine, but the natural beauty and varied terrain have helped create some fantastically memorable golf courses. Between mountains and foothills, pristine woodlands and coastal winds, Maine has a unique set of features that make for some […]
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Scenery and selection are the names of the game when it comes to Michigan golf courses. The state’s natural beauty and dense forests create an outstanding setting for golf, and the 600+ public golf courses in Michigan are a testament to the fact that there isn’t a bad place to enjoy a round. Whether you […]
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From the north suburbs of Chicago to Effingham and throughout the state, Illinois is dotted with great golf courses that virtually every golfer will enjoy playing. Once the state finally shakes off the winter weather, you’ll be in for a treat with gorgeous greens and rolling fairways. And whether you’re near the Windy City or […]
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American golfer John Catlin and his caddie Nathan Mulrooney have been removed from this week's English Championship by the European Tour after they breached its COVID-19 protocol.
There are a couple of super reads to help you enjoy this week’s Harding Park PGA Championship just a bit more. Besides the obvious rare major championship playing at a public course, it’s the stories the Cypress can tell that makes this place different.
The San Francisco City has played such a part in that and Sean Martin looks at its history and the many stories to easily forgotten from that championship, with winners ranging from baggage handlers to future pro stars (with a famous 49ers QB contending a few times, too).
One man and multiple winner of The City stands above all others with his ties to Harding Park: Ken Venturi.
The Athletic’s Brendan Quinn takes a deep dive into the life, times and stammering issues overcome by Venturi when he found golf, a story that will certainly be addressed by his longtime CBS colleague Jim Nantz as the tournament unfolds. Nonetheless, this should give you an idea why the Venturi connection here is so profound:
The Venturis lived less than three miles from Harding. Ken played his first round there using borrowed clubs with hickory shafts. His father’s only advice was to count every shot, no matter what, including whiffs. Ken claims to have shot a 172 on his first 18-hole round. (He later said he quite possibly held the course record at Harding for both the lowest score, a 59, and the highest score, that 172.)
Ken stuck with it, playing alone. Blissful seclusion. Just him, his thoughts and his swing. He learned by replicating the swings he saw when caddying, then picked up lessons along the way. He’d play two balls at once, hitting only draws with one and fades with the other. He talked to himself as he played, finding and hearing his words. He saw a correlation between the rhythm of the swing and the rhythm of a sentence. The course became a second home as Fred stopped selling twine at the marina and took a full-time job running Harding’s pro shop. Ethel eventually joined him there, working alongside him in the shop, turning the place into their own mom and pop operation.
This week’s English Championship on the European Tour will be minus world No. 242 John Catlin and his caddie after the two dined out Tuesday night.
From Ewan Murray’s Guardian report on the strict bubble and consequences for a violation in Europe.
Catlin said: “I apologise to my fellow players and everyone involved with the tournament this week for this error of judgement. I understand the European Tour’s decision and accept the sanction.”
Catlin will be replaced in the tournament by South African Wilco Nienaber.
Among the other elements in this story noted by Murray: Catlin played last week and was familiar with the “bubble” policies.
Brooks Koepka goes for his third straight PGA Championship against the best field in golf in this season's first major. Here are our experts' best bets.
One thing you’re never short on in Arizona is sunshine. And another is scenic golf courses that welcome players from across the country and around the world to experience the unique atmosphere of desert golf. With literally hundreds of golf courses in Arizona to choose from, scattered across virtually the entire state, selecting your next […]
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With new Pro V1 and Pro V1x still several months away, Titleist has decided to pass the time by launching Tour Speed. It’s the company’s first foray into the not-quite-tour-level urethane golf ball category. I discussed this and other categories in my recent diatribe on soft golf balls. One of the defining characteristics is that despite urethane covers, per-dozen costs are less than the tour ball category. As it happens, most are also soft.
As a consequence, performance stories associated with these balls sometimes defy the laws of physics. Still, there’s little doubt that the category appeals to average golfers who prefer soft feel. For the most part, we’re also talking about golfers who aren’t keen on spending more than $40 on a dozen balls. By previously not offering anything in the category, Titleist was inarguably leaving money on the table.
So, to address what Titleist sees as both a performance and market opportunity, the company expanded its Ball Plant #2 by 4,300 square feet, filled it with the equipment necessary to make injected TPU covers and launched the new Tour Speed ball.
Perhaps we’ll jump into the weeds with this some other day but in the interest of a quick refresher, urethane golf ball covers fall into two categories – cast and injected. Titleist’s top-tier offerings (the Pro V1 family and AVX) feature cast urethane covers. TaylorMade and Snell use cast urethane. Competitors like Bridgestone, Callaway and many of the factories that design and manufacture balls for DTC brands use injection-molded urethane covers.
The year's first major comes with plenty of questions, and not only because it's the first one in 13 months and the first one without fans. We go through each and give some answers.
If you’ve been watching other return sports of late, you know from the mistakes and other oddities that what the CBS golf team has pulled off in a time of pandemic has been nothing short of astounding.
This week they bring more extras, goodies and personnel to Harding Park for the first major, though they are still working with teams in different parts of the world to bring everyone the PGA Championship.
Ad sales have been brisk, according to CBS Sports head Sean McManus. So, with a new deal starting this year, it seems the PGA of America may have negotiated a package that may make for a cleaner broadcast than with the past (awful) contract.
Dave Shedloski reports for GolfDigest.com:
Regardless, ad sales for the network have been strong, and McManus was proud to point out that only a few units remain unsold, and, more importantly for viewers, 50 percent of the national inventory is of the “two-box” variety, also known as the “Eye On The Course” feature that keeps half the screen on the action.
There wasn’t much from Tiger’s press conference/Zoom Tuesday at Harding Park. He was sharp, all smiles and sounding confident in a quest to win major No. 16.
Bob Harig at ESPN.com covered the most pertinent details, including the lower back talk.
And with temperatures hovering in the 50s in the mornings and likely to not reach 70 for most of the week, the ability to get loose will be part of the struggle for Woods.
"I think that for me when it's cooler like this it's just make sure that my core stays warm, layering up properly," he said. "I know I won't have the same range of motion as I would back home in Florida, where it's 95 [degrees] every day. That's just the way it is.
"Talking to some of the guys yesterday, they were laughing at their TrackMan [a measuring device] numbers already. They don't have the swing speed or ball speed they did last week. It's just the way it is. It's going to be playing longer. It's heavy air weather and whether the wind blows or not, it's still going to be heavy. The ball doesn't fly very far here."
A shorter PGA Tour season because of the pandemic has led the PGA of America to modify its two major awards for tour players.
Bryson DeChambeau’s disruption of the pro game with his launch angle attack—a rekindling of early 2000’s Bomb and Gouge—meets its first real threat in the form of a major.
We got Bryson’s answer via a Golf Channel interview with Todd Lewis (I could not find it online but will post if it’s linked.)
Dylan Dethier summarized here on Twitter:
Interesting hearing Bryson break down TPC Harding Park:
-Says the course "suits a bomber"
-Says the setup is straightforward: "Not really too much to it"
-Says he'll be hitting driver as far as he can everywhere, because the rough is playable enough to still hit the green
Tony Finau, another top player with abnormal length off the tee and a desire to try more aggressive approach, said this in his Tuesday press conference at Harding Park.
Jordan Spieth said his "No. 1 goal in the game of golf right now" is to complete the career Grand Slam, which he can accomplish by winning the PGA Championship.
Despite his lack of tournament preparation of late, Tiger Woods made it clear that the majors like this week's PGA Championship have been his focus. "This is what I've been gearing up for," he said.
Brooks Koepka begins his quest for a third straight PGA Championship alongside two major champs.
Here are the featured groups and tee times for the first two rounds of the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park.
August 4, 2020
As this week’s PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park gets set to tee off, we thought we’d take a look at some of the facts and figures heading into the championship, courtesy of Elias Sports
Brooks Koepka is seeking a third consecutive PGA Championship title. The only player to win the Wanamaker Trophy three years in a row was Walter Hagen, who won four consecutive PGA Championship titles from 1924 to 1927 – back when the event followed a match-play format. Here are the other players to win a particular major tournament three times in a row: Young Tom Morris (Open Championship, 1868-1872, four straight, with no event held in 1871), Jaime Anderson (Open Championship, 1877-1879), Bob Ferguson (Open Championship, 1880-1882), Willie Anderson (U.S. Open, 1903-1905) and Peter Thomson (Open Championship, 1954-56). In addition, Ben Hogan won the US Open in 1948, 1950 and 1951, but did not compete in the 1949 event as he recovered from his automobile accident.Koepka has finished among the top 10 in each of the last five majors in which he has competed. It’s the longest such streak since Jason Day had five consecutive top-10 finishes in majors starts, bookended by the 2015 and 2016 US Opens. No player has had six or more consecutive top-10 major finishes since Vijay Singh had seven straight, from 2004 to 2006.Koepka has won four major championships, bookended by the 2017 U.S. Open and the 2019 PGA Championships – a span over which he competed in eight majors. Since WWII, only three other players won four majors over a span of eight attempts: Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, most recently from 2006-2008. A win at this week’s event would give him five major victories over a span of 11 attempts. Over the last 100 years, only five men have accomplished that feat: Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, most recently from 2000-2003. Note that Jack Nicklaus is not on that list.The last official stroke-play PGA TOUR event held at TPC Harding Park was the 2005 WGC-American Express in 2005. That event was won by Tiger Woods, ultimately in a two-hole playoff over John Daly after both players finished 72 holes at 270 strokes (-10). Sergio Garcia, Colin Montgomerie and Henrik Stenson finished two strokes back. Tiger started the final round two strokes back of third-round leader Daly, but charged to the top of the leaderboard after birdieing the 10th, 11th and 12th holes on Sunday. No other player birdied each of those three holes in the final round.Tiger Woods is the only player with more than one major victory played in the state of California (2000 and 2008 U.S. Opens, at Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines, respectively). Webb Simpson (2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club) and Graeme McDowell (2010 U.S Open at Pebble Beach) are the only players in the field this week who could join him on that list.Tiger, who won at least one major in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, could become the first golfer to win a major in each of four decades.Eight of the last 10 PGA Championships were won by players under 30 years old. That’s the highest such total among the four majors, ahead of the U.S. Open (six of last 10 winners were under 30), the Masters (four of last 10) and Open Championship (three of last 10).Justin Thomas will be playing his first major tournament as the OWGR #1. He did not compete in a major during the four weeks he was ranked first overall from May 13 to June 9, 2018. Over the last 10 years, here’s how other #1s fared in their first major championship played as the top-ranked golfer in the world: Martin Kaymer (2011 Masters, CUT), Luke Donald (2011 US Open, t-45th), Adam Scott (2014 US Open, t-9th), Rory McIlroy (2014 PGA Championship, Won), Jason Day (2016 Masters, t-10th), Dustin Johnson (2017 US Open, CUT), Justin Rose (2019 Masters, CUT), Brooks Koepka (2019 US Open, 2nd). Note that following recent former #1s never started a major with that distinction: Lee Westwood, Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm. Most Top-10 finishes at major tournaments without a victory, among those players who are currently under 50 years old: Lee Westwood (19 Top 10s, 47 years old), Matt Kuchar (12, 42 years old), Rickie Fowler (11, 31 years old), Brandt Snedeker (9, 39 years old) and Paul Casey (9, 43 years old).
Not to spoil the plot, but I’m not actually suggesting that anyone should take their pitching wedge out of the bag. I click-baited you. Don’t expect an apology. A dubious ploy, perhaps, but I’m hoping I can persuade you to think differently about a spot in your bag for which you may never have realized that you have options.
Have you ever considered ditching your set-matching pitching wedge for a specialty alternative?
Before we get too deep into this, let’s define specialty wedge. I’m not suggesting it’s time to take the Square Strike plunge. For our purposes, a specialty wedge is any legitimate wedge that isn’t sold as part of an iron set. Legitimate is subjective but what I’m talking about are familiar names like SM8, T20, Mack Daddy, MG2, RTX, etc.. You get the gist.
Almost all of you carry at least one specialty wedge. For many of you, both your sand and lob wedges are specialty wedges.
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