Golfing News & Blog Articles

A serious illness after the Ryder Cup left U.S. captain Steve Stricker hospitalized with inflammation around his heart, a high white blood cell count and liver woes, he told Wisconsin Golf in a story published Thursday.

Is $50 a lot of money?

For a hot dog and an adult beverage at the turn? Yes.

For a new BMW M5? Nope.

What about a dozen golf balls? Now, that should elicit some visceral replies.

All that said, the point is that as with any product or service, the relationship between price and value is inherently subjective. A round of golf is no different.

It’s the RUSH in your swing, to hit it longer, that kills your consistency. Just stop and think about this. Your major mishits happen when you try to get more distance out of your swing. When you rush your swing to add POWER you are actually messing up your chance to keep your body in sync for your perfect swing. The pros that we watch on TV seem to get away with a very fast back and down swing. You are NOT a pro.

Your golf swing only finds consistency when your arms have time to reach the top before you hips start your downswing. Rushing your arms by a fraction of a second will throw each physical component of your swing out of sync. I have seen this a thousand times and I know that I have done the same thing every time I hit the ball narrow, thin or heavy. Just watch your playing partners and analyze why they hit the perfect shot and at other times they miss-hit their ball. It’s almost impossible to see them speed up their arms by a fraction of a second but that’s all it takes.

Watch for the Signs
Rushed players may pause a little longer before they start their takeaway as they build up power in their brain to get an extra 30 yards. That extra time just builds up tension in their arms and back. Then BANG, there goes a booming slice or topped ball. Loosen your grip and enjoy the moment.

Take Control of your Mind and your Swing
1/ You can’t afford to put a lot more energy into your drive and then expect to hit your next shot with a different lofted club with less energy. Your body will just be out of sync.
2/ It’s too easy to rush your arms for a faster backswing and downswing. When you do this, your hips and shoulders will have a delayed reaction.
3/ The only club that you want to hit longer is your Driver and possibly your 3 or 5 wood when you are trying to get further down the fairway or to reach the green. The longer shaft on these clubs are designed to do the work for you. The whipping action of your wrist release generates a faster club head speed with a longer shaft. The coiling and uncoiling of your body for a longer shafted club and a shorter shafted club should be completed at the same speed.
4/ You don’t need more swing speed to gain distance with your irons. Just select a lower lofted club (for more distance) and make your controlled swing.

Your backswing should take twice as long as your downswing. When you are setting up at the first tee or for an important shot, mentally count “1 and 2” where 2 is the start of your downswing. Take more time to coil your body and create wrist lag as you bend your leading knee to start loading weight forward at the top of your swing.

Viktor Hovland's been in Hawaii a week as he readies for the Sentry Tournament of Champions. His clubs? Due to a series of travel snafus, they made it six days later.

Everything you need to know about how to watch the PGA Tour, Masters, PGA Championship, FedEx Cup playoffs and more on ESPN and ESPN+.

XXIO will be launching two new putters in 2022. This raises a couple of questions.

How do putters fit into the overall XXIO brand? Is there a XXIO-esque technology that will be incorporated into the putters?

And, of course, one more question.

Did you know that XXIO makes putters?

XXIO 12 Metalwoods – Key Takeaways

XXIO 12 is designed for the moderate swing-speed demographic.Technology such as ActivWing and Rebound Frame promise target golfers lost yardsDriver $649.99, fairways $399.99, hybrids $299.99Available at retail on Feb. 11

To fully appreciate the new XXIO 12 metalwoods lineup, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with two new concepts. One is called ActivWing. The second is known as Centripetal Force.

ActivWing is new because it’s a name XXIO came up with for its new metalwood technology. Centripetal Force isn’t really new as it’s part of Newton’s Second Law but I’ll confess it was new to me.

Admittedly, I didn’t pay much attention in high-school science classes.

XXIO says these two concepts, along with a slew of additional technology, give the new XXIO 12 metalwoods some new punch. As with any XXIO release, there’s a lot to dive into.

XXIO 12 Metalwoods: Who Are They For?

XXIO is part of the Srixon-Cleveland-XXIO golf empire under the auspices of Dunlop Sports and Sumitomo Rubber Industries (the SRI in Srixon). Launched in 2000, XXIO considers itself the pioneer in ultra-premium lightweight purpose-built clubs for moderate swing-speed golfers. It’s been a popular brand in Asia from the get-go and has found a solid—and growing—market in North America.

XXIO 12 Irons – Key Takeaways

XXIO 12 is the 12th iteration of the moderate swing-speed-specific XXIO flagship.New tech includes new Super TIX® 51AF titanium face with Rebound Frame.Irons are priced at $199.99 each; a five iron set is $999.99.Women’s packaged set includes driver, fairways and hybrid, priced at $2,999.99.

The good folks at XXIO are introducing the new XXIO 12 irons and metalwoods today, just in case yesterday’s tsunami of product launches wasn’t quite enough for you.

Lightweight equipment designed specifically for what OEMs call “moderate swing speed golfers” used to be a niche. Then it became a thing. Now it’s a full-fledged market segment. And, with apologies to Billy Joel, XXIO did, in fact, start that particular fire. The first XXIO debuted in 2000 and, since then, XXIO has been taking a holistic, grip-to-tip design approach. The company, with some justification, feels it knows this particular market segment better than anyone.

If you’re in the target demographic, the new XXIO 12 irons feature some interesting tech.

Or it could annoy you.

That’s just the way it is with XXIO.

The PGA Tour heads to Maui for the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Here are our best bets for the event.

PGA Tour actions comes to ESPN+ this week with the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course at Kapalua. Here's how to watch.

With three wins on tour, Homa is working on building his game and his self-confidence as he tries to reach his ultimate golf goals.

Cameron Champ has withdrawn from this week's Sentry Tournament of Champions event after testing positive for COVID-19, the PGA Tour announced Tuesday.

 

The post Rule of the Month: Help! My Ball Moved! appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.

From Tiger's return to who wins all the majors and the FedEx Cup -- and everything in between -- we look ahead through the one-of-a-kind eyes of America's Caddie.

TaylorMade Stealth Irons – Key Takeaways

Stealth replaces SIM2 MAX and MAX OS irons.Key tech removes 10 grams of weight from the toe to lower the center of gravity.$999 steel, $1,099 graphitePre-order today, available at retail April 1

We can say one thing for sure about the new Stealth irons: TaylorMade is going to sell a lot of them.

How they’ll perform against a stacked and loaded pack of game-improvement irons is an open question, however.  Looking back over the past four years’ worth of Most Wanted testing, TaylorMade’s game-improvement offerings have been, to put it kindly, meh performers.  The M4 finished third overall in 2018 but, since then, the SIM, SIM MAX, SIM MAX OS, SIM2 MAX and SIM2 MAX OS haven’t sniffed the medal podium.

In last year’s Most Wanted testing, SIM2 MAX was high and long but it was neither the highest nor the longest. It finished smack-dab in the middle of the pack in overall performance which, for a performance-distance brand like TaylorMade, is decidedly off-brand.

Despite all that, the SIM2 MAX line was a huge seller for TaylorMade which is decidedly on-brand. Realistically, TaylorMade could throw damned near anything out there in 2022 and it’d be a top seller. But to the company’s credit, the upgrades to the TaylorMade Stealth irons are aimed squarely at the SIM2 MAX shortcomings.

TaylorMade Stealth Irons: Higher, Faster, Longer, Lower?

The SIM2 MAX finished seventh out of 14 in our game-improvement testing. All in all, it was an OK iron.