Tiger Woods says his last-minute decision to go back to the shorter Scotty Cameron putter came from "stubbornness," but it worked out, as Woods shot a 3-under 68 in the first round of the Northern Trust.
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2020 BALL RETRIEVER BUYER’S GUIDE
MyGolfSpy is consumer first. We tell you which drivers work for your swing speed, the best irons to take your game to the next level and the best balls on the market. So if you’ve dialed in your game, why would we be content to let any of that equipment sit at the bottom of the lake or in some questionable rough? Protect your investment! Get yourself a ball retriever. They might have a stigma equivalent to being the pocket protectors of golf but you’ll be saving money.
Whether you’re in the market for a new model or just curious how many variations of golf ball retrievers exist, this guide is for you.
How We Test
We're here to help you find the perfect golf ball retriever to fit your needs.
To do that, we employ a thorough and fully independent testing process that leaves no feature unexplored, no detail unchecked, and no stone unturned.
Our Metrics
Ball retrievers are tested head to head using rigorous protocols.
The metrics we consider when rating Golf Ball Retriever include Extension, Ball Security, Sturdiness, Handle, and Storage.
FEATURES THAT MATTER
Ball Security: You can’t retrieve it if you can’t secure it. Scoop designs work best for soft mud but the ball can fall out if the retriever turns upside down. Well-designed options like the I Gotcha excel at securing the ball but can struggle with softer ground.
Jessica Korda, one of the top U.S. hopes at the Women's British Open, withdrew from the first major of the year because of medical reasons before the first round started Thursday.
A question I’ve gotten and seen asked a far amount with this week’s AIG Women’s Open and two men’s majors to go: why didn’t they reschedule The Open for the fall?
Given that events seem to be able to play without horrible travel restrictions and other constraints, it’s a fair question. But the R&A had pandemic insurance and this, in Ewan Murray’s Guardian story quoting Chief Executive Martin Slumbers suggests the R&A only recently saw an opportunity to play this week at Royal Troon:
“But if I’m really honest, it was probably only a month or so ago that we were really comfortable that we could get this away. It has been an enormous effort by an enormous number of people, and our thanks go to not just our partners but the government both in Westminster and Scotland who have been tireless in helping us try and make a statement of putting this championship on.”
As the AIG Women’s Open Championship kicks off at historic and legendary Royal Troon, one of England’s great hopes admitted she’s not fan of links golf.
Ewan Murray reports for The Guardian from Troon on Charley Hull’s forthright assessment of links golf:
The prospect of Charley Hull ending her wait for a major title this weekend at Royal Troon has diminished after the 24-year-old admitted her indifference towards links golf. Hull risked offending those immersed in the ancient form of the sport by admitting she will visualise holes at the famous Ayrshire venue lined with trees during the Women’s Open when it begins on Thursday.
“I’m not the biggest fan of links golf,” said Hull. “I like playing with my friends and stuff as a bit of fun but I find it hard to score around sometimes. I like parkland golf courses and American-style.”
“I just try to picture the fairways being tree-lined because I like really, really tight golf courses. I like to feel like tunnel vision, where this is kind of open and flat and it’s hard to pick your lines because it’s hard to pick out the fairways sometimes. So you’ve just got to be really focused.”
Well then, we’ll be looking elsewhere with out investment strategies this week.
AP’s Doug Ferguson looks back at Collin Morikawa’s 2020 PGA Championship win at Harding Park and tries to pin down the winner on where various artifacts are headed. The caddy gets the loathsome Giants-themed bag no lifelong Dodgers fan would want, but the shoes and the world famous driver? Morikawa isn’t sure.
“The driver, who knows when TaylorMade is going to come out with a new one and I’ve got to switch,” Morikawa said. “I’ll probably just mark it with a little ‘PGA Championship,’ maybe a Sharpie on the head to remember it.”
And then?
“Probably just stick in my other bags at home when I start collecting them and they start piling up,” he said. “I really don’t know.”
I bet there will be plenty of prominent places happy to display that one when it gets loses a place in the rotation.
With two majors looming, Brooks Koepka might still get well in time for his favorite events, but in withdrawing from this week’s Northern Trust at TPC Boston, the gym-rat and major-slayer is also giving us a peak into the future of “athletes” in golf.
From Ryan Lavner’s bleak assessment of Koepka’s physical health and WD from the Boston stop which means no more 2019-20 playoff events:
The 3 1/2-month coronavirus shutdown should have come at a perfect time. Gifted a total reset, he could rest and rehab his body. He could sort out his swing. But other than a sterling final round at the RBC Heritage, he wasn’t a factor until his title defense at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, where he chased Justin Thomas down the stretch before a water ball on the 72nd hole. The following week, at the PGA, he was two shots off the lead heading into the final round before fading badly on Sunday. He’ll end this lost season with only two top-25s in 13 starts.
The good news? The season restarts in September with a schedule featuring a U.S. Open and a Masters, so the man now synonymous with majors has plenty to get well for. Assuming he does not need the assistance of a surgeon’s scalpel.
This week, the LPGA Tour tees it up at Royal Troon in Scotland for the Women's British Open, the first women's major of the 2020 season.
Rex Hoggard looks at the “hosted experiences” apparent at last week’s Wyndham and does so through the eyes of Tournament Director Mark Brazil, a way to get some sponsors on site and commence what will be a slow, strange process in keeping sponsors happy and eventually welcoming spectators back to tournaments.
“It’s better than nothing and it allowed us to give a special thank you to Wyndham and all the key sponsors who stayed with us,” said Mark Brazil, the Wyndham Championship tournament director. “It wasn’t the 5,000 we planned on a day but I think the Tour has made the right call as far as fans go.”
Brazil built three hospitality-style tents adjacent to the 18th green to accommodate what the Tour has dubbed a “hosted experience.” What that means varies wildly from market to market depending on local and state COVID-19 regulations, but at the Wyndham it meant that 25 guests were allowed to gather outside and 10 were allowed inside the tents.
It seems, at least based on what we know now about COVID-19 spread, that the golf course and even hospitality areas will generally be safe if spaced and mostly outdoors. It’s getting to the site—without a long shuttle bus ride—that will be the long term issue for many tournaments.
Oh, and we’ll need some form of rapid testing or a system to confirm one is asymptomatic and eventually, inoculated against the virus. No problema!
If golf wasn’t so bloody difficult, we could all be scratch golfers. Each facet of the game forces you to examine so many setups for the condition of the lie of your ball and the target that you are trying to hit. No wonder why this game drives us all crazy. Your analysis and your execution is the reason why we love this game so much. Most of us play for personal self-satisfaction. To enjoy this game, you really need to narrow your focus for each shot to get all of that clutter out of your brain.
Mentally we all set an outcome that we want for every round. Why not set an easy objective to take the pressure off: Break 100, 90 or 80. Success in Golf really comes down to a few decisions. Start with a mental goal, appraise the hole that you are on, plan the right shot and setup to execute the right shot.
A beginner just wants to hit the ball but recreational players with a reasonable skill level know that they can work back from the hole to decide where they want to land their ball on their first shot. If they don’t hit their target, they just rework their plan to layup or go for the center of the green. All of this is obvious for a golfer but it does come down to the club you select, the setup that you need and the swing that you plan to execute.
The Moment of Truth: Your Swing Thought Sequence
Each club demands a unique swing thought so choose wisely by testing out your focused thought during your practice swing. What is your primary thought?
–A mental image of the shape of your shot to hit your target
–Using a waggle to loosen up your body or as a reminder to start you backswing with the rotation of your hips (followed by your shoulders and then your arms)
–Keep your wrist flat at the top of your backswing
–Start shifting your weight to your leading foot during your transition
–Count “1, 2“ during your backswing to add time to cock your wrists at the top
–Shallow your swing to ensure that you swing from the slot to the outside
–Keep your head and eyes focused on the ball location until after impact
–Finish your swing balanced on your leading foot as you marvel at your shot
[The text in red are my 2 key thoughts.]
Tom Lehman and Shane Bertsch shared the first-round lead Wednesday in the Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops Big Cedar Lodge.
Tiger Woods has entered next week's BMW Championship, the second of three FedEx Cup playoff events, potentially meaning that he would play four events in five weeks, including the U.S. Open.
Slow play is a focus as the women turn up at Royal Troon for a major and, other than Laura Davies going out first to set the pace, the forecast calls major gusts by 9 am. So how long golf can be played remains to be seen.
From Beth Ann Nichols story on Davies, playing in her 40th Open, also working this week for Sky’s broadcast team.
“I played 18 holes yesterday morning at 7:30, basically on my own, in two hours and 15 minutes,” said Davies, “played every hole properly, chipped and putted on quite a few. I’m not saying we can get ’round in two hours and 15 minutes, but we should be ’round in under four, as long as the weather is not crazy. If the weather is crazy then obviously you get up on those holes around the turn, anything can happen. You can spend half an hour on the tee if you’re unlucky.”
The weather on Thursday doesn’t look promising, with wind gusts of up to 55 to 60 mph predicted around 9 a.m. Tournament Troon will look nothing like what they’ve faced in the practice rounds thanks to what they’re calling, “Storm Ellen.”
Martin Dempster points out how the R&A is preparing for delay scenarios, including shortening of the tournament or a 36-hole Sunday. A Monday finish is not in the cards.
The R&A has lined up some incredible future hosts for the AIG Women’s Open, including surprise of all surprises, Muirfield in 2022. The home of the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is not currently penciled in for a men’s Open but is still in the rota after relenting and agreeing to admit female members.
Also of note: all but Walton Heath can be classified as a links, steering the championship to primarily links courses after a mix or predominant number of inland courses. Wales will also be hosting its first Women’s major with Porthcawl’s berth.
The full press release:
WORLD-CLASS VENUES ANNOUNCED FOR THE AIG WOMEN’S OPEN THROUGH TO 2025
19 August 2020, Troon, Scotland: The R&A has underlined its commitment to enhancing the AIG Women’s Open’s status as a leading major sporting event by announcing five world-class venues for championships being played from 2021 to 2025.
The future championship venues for the AIG Women’s Open are:
2021 – Carnoustie
The Women's British Open will be held in two years at Muirfield for the first time as part of a strong rotation that includes a return to Carnoustie and St. Andrews.
Brooks Koepka has withdrawn from the Northern Trust at TPC-Boston over a lingering knee issue, ending his 2019-20 season and putting his status in doubt for the U.S. Open.
The FedExCup playoffs begin at TPC Boston, where Tiger Woods will be back in the field. Is he worth a wager? Here are our experts' best bets.
Arccos Caddie Strokes Gained Analytics is a significant upgrade to the Arccos platform.Strokes Gained data will replace the Arccos Handicap system. (Handicap metrics will remain available.)Compare your performance to golfers of any ability level.Golfers can drill down for more granular insights than before.The upgrade is free (included in the next app update).
While the recently released Arccos Caddie Link represents a step forward for Arccos on the hardware side, Arccos Caddie Strokes Gained Analytics is nothing less than the company’s most significant advancement since it screwed its first sensor into the butt-end of a grip.
Arccos 101
If you haven’t used Arccos, here’s what you need to know. The previous versions took your shot data and turned it into a handicap for each of five facets of your game; driving, approach, chipping, sand and putting.
It provided a scoring breakdown (percentage of birdies, pars, etc.), tracked personal bests (longest drive, lowest score, that sort of thing), all with the intent of providing insight into what you needed to work on if you want lower scores.
The platform was reasonably intuitive and inarguably advanced for its time. However, as Strokes Gained took over the golf stats world, the analytics side of the Arccos platform started to feel a little basic. The data was OK but it wasn’t overly specific and didn’t provide nearly the detailed insights that some golfers (me) crave. That lack of detail often made targeting specific opportunities for improvement challenging.
That’s the question I can’t get past after reading John Hawkins’ Morning Read rant about the $60 million “playoffs” forging ahead this week with the same purse and winner’s total ($15 million).
While we can all snicker at forced talk of seedings and birdie putts that move someone up five spots, on Thursday, with a stroke play reset before East Lake, I’m struggling to see how even the most rabid capitalist feels good watching players compete before the full $60 million with pandemic-induced 10% unemployment.
Shoot, the money wasn’t even enthralling fans when times were good. And that’s why Morning Read’s John Hawkins wonders out loud and in great detail if this year’s FedExCup playoffs—starting Thursday—will hurt the Tour’s mostly successful “return”.
Public perception is important, but it doesn’t pay the bills and it sure as hell doesn’t cover the $1.35 million awarded to Daniel Berger for his victory at Colonial.
Call them money-grubbers. Question their collective conscience. But don’t ever forget that the folks who run the most powerful organization in pro golf are overseeing a mighty empire at which the top priority is to serve its players. Always has been, always will be. That’s not going to change just because Aunt Gladys is now pumping her gas with a facial covering.
Perhaps, but hopefully money talk will be emphasized and at the minimum, some players pledge to do offer some of their winnings to a noble cause or two. We’re glad to have the game showing it can function in these bizarre times, up to a point.
Knowing how heartbroken so many with the European Tour must be, I can only say that Kate Wright was one of the great friends to golf media members and players. Maybe you weren’t so sure upon meeting her but in time you quickly appreciated Kate’s wit, brains and efficiency at running what is, essentially an adult day care center. AKA a media center.
Her tragic passing at 36 from cancer was noted in this lovely European Tour write-up, and while nothing about losing such a young, valued member of the golf world and planet earth can be spun in a positive light, I did get a nice smile imaging her getting coaching from Poulter. What a scene that must have been:
As the Tour’s Media Relations Co-ordinator for the past 12 years, Kate was a hugely popular figure amongst staff and players, but also amongst the journalists and broadcasters she worked with in media centres around the world.
Known affectionately as ‘Wrighty’, Kate was an accomplished golfer at Leighton Buzzard Golf Club, in Bedfordshire, England, where she was coached as a youngster by future Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter.
After graduating from Staffordshire University with a BA Hons in Journalism, Kate initially worked in cricket, another sport she had a passion for, taking the role of Media Relations Assistant for England & Wales Cricket Board in 2006 before joining the European Tour’s Media Department in January 2008.
She quickly became a familiar and popular face in Media Centres as the main point of contact for all accredited international media and broadcasters and, through her role, helping to co-ordinate European Tour press conferences.
Kate passed away at her family home in Great Brickhill with parents Brian and Sue and her cat Frankie at her side.
She will be missed in so many ways and for those visiting from afar, the European Tour will never be quite the same without Kate. From her boss and friend, Scott Crockett:
