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Early Reviews Are In And Phil's Obnoxious Greed Comments Going Over Like You'd Expect

Phil Mickelson’s “obnoxious greed” claims have not gone over well in a variety of ways, namely that he’s in Saudi Arabia collecting a hefty appearance fee from some pretty shady characters.

His comments were posted on Golf Digest’s Instagram account and earned this reply from Brooks Koepka:
DK if I’d be using the word greedy if I’m Phil…�””

The Daily Mail offered this headline to Derek Lawrenson’s story, which ran for some time on its home sports page.

After his opening 67 in the PIFSIPSIA, Mickelson was sort of asked about his comments to Golf Digest.

Q. There's a lot of buzz this week; is the sport itself the true nature, the competition, something to lose, to gain?

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Bad Swing Habits Are Not Easy to Break

It’s fun to see the pros who are leading tournaments on TV, consistently hitting every shot close to their target. If they can do it, why can’t YOU make consistent shots when YOU golf with minimal pressure? On the other hand, if you are an average golfer, you may hit 60% to 90% of your shots with reasonable success. So why are you missing 10% to 40% of your shots?

Why Do We Miss-Hit SOME Shots?
During every round of golf, we try to duplicate our perfect swing for every club. Unfortunately, each swing must be CREATED for the club that we select; the slope of the ground that we are standing on; the weather conditions and for the target that we have selected. Those variables are all eliminated when you practice your skills on the DRIVING RANGE.


There is even less pressure to execute a shot with any club on the DRIVING RANGE. If you are miss-hitting shots on the driving range, you will definitely make more miss-hits during a round of golf where the conditions are constantly changing. What do we all need to do to perfect our swing on the driving range so that we can take those skills to the course?

You need a positive swing thought for consistency every time you setup and swing.

1/ Identify the Weakness in Your Swing: I was watching a friend slice balls on the driving range and immediately noticed that his leading wrist was drastically cupped in his backswing. He was not aware of this fault and had a real difficulty in changing to a flat leading wrist. After many practice swings with a flat wrist on a shallow plane, he hit a perfect, straight shot on his first swing at the ball. Take lessons from a pro to identify the right way to make a golf swing with every club.
2/ Practice for Perfection: Don’t try to swing at 100% of your physical capability. Practice at 80% to control the direction and distance with every club. Make 5 (or more) perfect shots with 1 club and then change to another club. Build confidence in your swing and take it to the course.
3/ Understand Why You are Miss-Hitting: When you miss-hit shots on the range after hitting a series of perfect shots, sort out the reason. In most cases you will realize that you just tried to add more speed into your swing. A faster backswing will tend to minimize the time for your completed shoulder & waist rotation, your wrist lag and starting your weight shift to your leading foot at the top of your backswing. ALL 3 will reduce the power and distance in your shot.
4/ SOLUTION: Golf is a Mental Game: If your mind is focused on the perfect swing for a result that you have achieved in the past then why can’t you repeat the same hit every time???? Your problem is that your mind is drifting. The great golfers like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods place their mind in a focused trance. Jack visualized his shot and only feels 100% of that memory during his swing.


Learn the correct swing for your physical strength and flexibility to hit perfect shots with each type of club. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn to control your arms and wrists for 6 swing fixes. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com.

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Golf Channel Is Back In Orlando And No, A Nuclear Bomb Did Not Go Off

Pebble Beach is the Louvre. It isn’t just the Louvre, it’s everything in the Louvre, too, with all the artists gathered around. BING CROSBY

/ Geoff Shackelford

Nothing screams corporate passion like returning to your old stomping grounds the way Golf Channel has this week. Apparently the return of studio shows to Orlando is due to the bleak Winter Olympics in already awful Beijing necessitating NBC use of the lavender-tinged broom closet in Stamford, Connecticut.

While some might see a post-Chernobyl vibe to the former newsroom emptied of people, it’s also a fitting way of saying, “yes, we know a lot of people are paying attention to golf with no NFL and with the Saudi and Pebble events this week, but guess what? We just don’t care, plus we’d have to pay camera people and electric bills to go in the old studio just over their shoulders. And our partners, sponsors and viewers don’t deserve quality!”

Or, maybe it’s a way of signaling to a buyer? You know, one who’d like to return to where Arnold Palmer started the channel and it remained until his passing? And they tried to put out a good product? If only we the sport of golf could be so lucky.


Hoge with one-shot lead at picturesque Pebble

Tom Hoge had a 9-under 63 and heads into Friday with a one-shot lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Alex, Hataoka share LPGA lead in Fort Myers

Marina Alex and Nasa Hataoka are tied for the first-round lead at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony.

Mickelson: Tour's "Obnoxious greed that has really opened the door for opportunities elsewhere."

Phil Mickelson unleashed a torrent of criticisms at the PGA Tour from the Saudi International. After a fairly benign press conference session, Mickelson told GolfDigest.com’s John Huggan that he’s been forced to consider various business opportunities because of the Tour’s “obnoxious greed.”

The us vs. them stance, even though players appear to have more control and influence over the PGA Tour’s operation, may not resonate very well with fans. Mickelson is aware of this danger but forged ahead with some incendiary comments.

“It’s not public knowledge, all that goes on,” Mickelson said. “But the players don’t have access to their own media. If the tour wanted to end any threat [from Saudi or anywhere else], they could just hand back the media rights to the players. But they would rather throw $25 million here and $40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets they control. Or give up access to the $50-plus million they make every year on their own media channel.

“There are many issues, but that is one of the biggest,” he continued. “For me personally, it’s not enough that they are sitting on hundreds of millions of digital moments. They also have access to my shots, access I do not have. They also charge companies to use shots I have hit. And when I did ‘The Match’—there have been five of them—the tour forced me to pay them $1 million each time. For my own media rights. That type of greed is, to me, beyond obnoxious.”

Two parts to this stand out. The rights to “my shots” would seem motivated by a desire to cash in on NFT’s. More concerning is the claim of personally paying $1 million each time he’s played The Match and the “beyond obnoxious” green of the Tour.

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Johnson in contention to defend Saudi title

Dustin Johnson's bid for a third victory at the Saudi International began with him shooting 5-under 65, leaving him 3 strokes off the lead held by Matteo Manassero after the first round Thursday.

Titleist Velocity and TruFeel Golf Balls

The new Titleist Velocity and TruFeel golf balls are not the models most golfers associate with the manufacturer of the “#1 ball in golf.” That’s not meant to disparage either model. It’s just the reality.

Titleist offers nine different models, four of which target golfers who are willing to pay a premium for a ball that sets the industry standard for quality and consistency with Tour-level performance—five if you include AVX. The remaining four (Tour Speed, Tour Soft, Velocity and TruFeel) serve a slightly different purpose.

Golfers tend to use one of two primary criteria when purchasing a golf ball: performance or preference. Performance-conscious buyers tend to scrutinize product details and are less responsive to small price increases. Conversely, preference buyers hone in on a single attribute (distance, feel, color) and don’t mind compromising on other features in exchange for a more budget-friendly price tag.

With that, let’s dive in.

Titleist Velocity







Value Golf Balls - Top Picks




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Best Golf Tees

To be clear from the start, if you are looking for more distance or straighter drives, a different brand of golf tee probably isn’t going to provide it. MyGolfSpy’s Golf Tee Test showed pretty definitively that specialty tees provided negligible difference from a standard wooden one. Still, there might be a best golf tee out there for you. Let’s look at a few options and the reasons that might make them the best.

1. Pride Professional Tee System, 3-1/4 inch ProLength Plus Tee

The ProLength Plus tee isn’t on this list specifically because of the brand, but instead because of the length. At 3.25″ (and available up to 4″) this tee is significantly longer than most course freebie tees. This is important because a simple way for a lot of average golfers to find more distance with their driver is to hit up on the ball. The easiest way to practice hitting up on the ball? Tee up that ball higher. Additionally, the ProLength Plus paint stands out from the grass and has a marked zone to help you consistently tee it the same height. That makes it the best golf tee to (maybe) add distance to your drives.

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2. YATTA Golf Telos Premium Golf Tees

Playing better golf often comes down to consistency. Consistency with alignment, routine, and swing. Consistency also matters in tee height, helping to control the strike point of the driver. While paint marks can help, YATTA has the golfers looking for a no-brainer covered. With the Telos tee, a small rubber disc fits around the bulged stem of the tee. Once set, insert the tee down to the disc and you’ll know it stays the same height. Additionally, the rubber material (while not unbreakable) can take more of a beating than wood tees. The best golf tee for consistency is the YATTA Golf Telos Premium golf tee.

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Best Golf Gloves

The best golf glove is a simple question with multiple answers. The right glove for you will depend on preferences and likely gender. The best glove for a man who prefers all Cabretta leather will be different than a woman who likes breathable performance fabrics. Let’s look at a few options and you can decide the best for you.

The Best Men’s Performance Golf Glove

MIZUNO ELITE

Performance gloves typically have a fine line between quality and durability. Premium materials tend to wear faster in spots. The Mizuno Elite line balances these two better than any other glove tested. Soft-fitted leather provides excellent feel and grip while mesh material across the knuckles improves the fit. It’s the best performance golf glove available.

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The Best Men’s Premium Golf Glove

PXG PLAYERS

The most premium glove you can get should provide the closest experience to not wearing a glove at all. The PXG Players glove receives top marks for both comfort and fit. This means you can improve grip and protect your hands without sacrificing feel. While they can only be purchased through PXG, the Players is the best men’s premium glove.

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Quadrilateral: Major(s) News & Notes February 3rd, 2021

Saudi week highlights the problem with Ryder Cup leveraging.

Plus, the Vic Open steps in for Open qualifying, the ANWA field is set, tech and tracer news, the week in ageism, reads and an old Pebble Beach photo.

PGA Tour and Trackman Expanding "Use of club and ball tracking and tracer technology" for nearly every shot to help enrich the fan experience

I don’t have much to add until we see how this plays out, but you know the old saying: you can never have too much tracer on a golf broadcast. By most accounts, Trackman remains by far the best and most accurate of the launch monitors, so kudos to the PGA Tour for pushing this technology and hopefully making the fan viewing experience even better.

The most exciting potential revealed may be in the second to last paragraph, with the announcement of a mobile system to catch more shots from the fairway. Or, perhaps, the trees when a player has to shape a shot and viewers theoretically get to see the bend of the ball traced.

Overall, this means more data, better tracer coverage and more of it on PGA Tour Live coverage. How much is adopted by the networks using the Tour feed remains to be seen.

For Immediate Release:

PGA TOUR selects TrackMan™ tracking and tracing solution beginning in 2022

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Viewing Times: PIFSIPSIA From Glorious Royal Greens

Pebble Beach is the Louvre. It isn’t just the Louvre, it’s everything in the Louvre, too, with all the artists gathered around. BING CROSBY

/ Geoff Shackelford

With a number of players looking to broaden their horizons and soak up the culture of Saudi Arabia, they’ve chosen to take up residency on the Asian Tour this week in the Public Investment Fund Saudi International Powered By Softbank Investment Advisors (PIFSIPSIA).

For American viewers here are your broadcast times:

The PIF Saudi International is the first event of the 2022 Asian Tour season and will take place this week from Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. Dustin Johnson has won two of the past three editions of the tournament (2019, 2021) and looks to defend last year’s title. 

Live coverage begins Thursday at 3 a.m. ET on GOLF Channel. 

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Best Vice Golf Balls of 2022

A few years many golfers might not have never seen a Vice ball if they stumbled across one in the woods on their local course. Those days are long gone as Vice is now a known and respected brand. Like the major OEMs, Vice offers a full line of balls suited to a variety of golfers. Since you can’t pick up a sleeve to try in the pro shop, however, how will you know what ball is best for you? Here, we’ll look at the best Vice golf ball for a number of different types of player.

BEST VICE GOLF BALL FOR HIGH SPEED SWINGS

Vice Pro Plus

The Vice Pro Plus golf ball has 4-Piece construction with a cast urethane cover. Vice designed the ball to provide the lower launch and spin desired by many fast swingers. MyGolfSpy ball testing also showed the Pro Plus to be a strong performer with irons. It finished within the top 10 for distance with high speed iron swings, but with a manageable spin number to hold greens. That’s what makes the Pro Plus the best Vice golf ball for high speed swings.

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BEST VICE GOLF BALL FOR MEDIUM SPEED SWINGS

Vice Pro

For golfers who sit in the center of the bell curve for speed, spin, and ability, the Vice Pro is an all-around strong performer. The three-piece design, mid-firm compression, and cast urethane cover hit the mark for distance, green-side spin, and feel. While it might not lead the pack in any particular area, it also doesn’t fall behind. With no need to compromise, the Pro is the best Vice golf ball for medium swing speeds.

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Berger out of Pebble Beach Pro-Am with injury

Defending champion Daniel Berger was forced to pull out of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Wednesday because of a back injury.

Mickelson: Threat of rival league helps players

Phil Mickelson says the threat of a rival golf league has already been good for PGA Tour players.

PGA best bets for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

The PGA Tour continues with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Thursday. Here are our best bets for the event.

How to watch the PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on ESPN+

The stars are out this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Here is how to watch on ESPN+.

Which player is ready for their breakthrough moment on the PGA Tour?

Luke List got his a week ago at the Farmers Insurance Open. A bunch of other players -- some names you should know, some you should learn -- appear ready for their time.

LPGA All-Access Episode 2 From The CME Group Tour

The Monterey Peninsula was designed by nature as a great golfing center. The ocean had eaten its way into the coast and made innumerable little bays and arms of the sea. There are sandy beaches, headlands and capes covered with good turf and grass. The setting offered a wonderful opportunity for the genius of the architect. SAMUEL MORSE

/ Geoff Shackelford

Episode 2 of the LPGA’s all-access docuseries is now live on YouTube and embedded below. The stories of Gaby Lopez and Amy Olson continue, including a pickleball primer from Olson.

As noted yesterday when Ep. 1 was posted, this comes without the Netflix-sized budget and massive star power, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Check it out.

This gives me an idea too: imagine a channel devoted to the game that would share these stories. Like, just spitballing here, an all-inclusive place that really is devoted to the sport? You just leave it on all day, they care about the sport we love that has an $84 billion economic impact in America but it also beloved around the world. Too crazy?


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