DeChambeau, the tournament favorite, had an up-and-down first round. He finished at 2-under for the day, but that doesn't tell everything about his long-hitting, shot-hooking, bush-finding day at Augusta National.
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He swung for the fences. But Augusta National swung back. Still, Bryson DeChambeau finished off his wild first round with a good score and a promise to keep swinging away.
Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus attended Tiger Woods' Champions Dinner at the Masters earlier this week and noted how touched they were by the reigning champion's remarks.
There is a lot of cool gear in the golf equipment world that doesn’t always fit neatly into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised.
What’s a Force Pedal?
The Force Pedal is a spongy disk that claims to help you generate more clubhead speed by effectively using the ground during your swing.
Depending on your skill level, you’ll use either the soft or firm disk. The soft (orange) Force Pedal is an introduction to the process. It’s designed to teach you the basics of how to use the ground. It’s more stable than the firm Force Pedal, making it easier to maintain posture and balance.
After you’ve moved beyond an introduction to ground use with the soft Force Pedal, the firm disk is designed as a challenge. The yellow disk is intended to make your muscles work harder to maintain balance and stability.
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Product Expert
Hi, I’m Harry and I am a professional golf product tester. (Yes, they exist.) I actually test a lot of things at MyGolfSpy and play professionally when I’m not checking and comparing specs on gloves, rangefinders, bags, ball retrievers, etc. You can call me the Senior Director of Product Testing here at MGS. You can also just call me Harry. That’s fine, too.
Turns out there is some normalcy to this Masters: rain. Weather suspended play shortly after the first round began on Thursday morning.
To be answered by the fall 2020 Masters, in no particular order:
The Lords of Augusta are going to let CBS fly a drone over the property? While the Masters is going? I’ll believe it when I see it.
Will players survive without their teams due to COVID restrictions?
With no crowds (and revealing roars), slow scoreboards and no cell phones outdoors (unless you’re Sir Nick), will players even know where they stand on the final nine? Could that impact a strategic decision down the stretch?
What will a Monday finish look like? (Sorry, folks with non-refundable reservations but Thursday’s forecast is not peachy).
Lance Barrow will slide on a headset one last time this week as he bids farewell producing CBS’s 2020 Masters coverage.
He’s penned a lovely Golf.com recollection of his time working for CBS. As always I suggest reading the full piece. A teaser:
My starting salary was $60 a week. You learn, and you rise, by doing, by listening, by watching — and by getting the job done. Chuck would say to me, “Humble yourself: Get me half a cup of black.”
In golf and TV, your classroom is everywhere. In my early years there were many Sunday nights when, after a tournament, I found myself on the same flight back to Dallas-Fort Worth as Don January, Lee Trevino and Charles Coody. They would all be in their sports coats, of course, so I would be, too. They would talk about the shots they hit, what the other players were like under pressure, rules disputes. All I did was listen.
Swinging a putter is a pretty simple process. Or is it? Why is it so difficult to choose a line and then to putt a golf ball up that line? Unfortunately sloped greens affect our choice of direction and our bodies are designed to swing a putter in an arc. Putters are not designed to be hit in a straight line like a croquette mallet. You have to learn the tricks to swing in a straight line at the point of contact.
Your goal in putting is to plan for a straight putt on a planned target line. Unfortunately your chosen direction and speed of you swing will determine how much your straight putt will break. I love the tip that Rory McIlroy uses in putting.
1/ He checks the slope from below his putting line to the hole as he stands perpendicular to the line of his putt.
2/ He then stands behind the hole to see the break at the hole where the ball will break the most as it slows down.
3/ Then he stands behind his ball for a final check on the slope of the green and to choose his target line. He actually imagines hitting directly at the hole to get a feel for how far his ball will fall down (D) from the hole if he hits the perfect weight to reach the hole. Then he chooses a line to hit his straight putt so that it will fall about the same distance (D) down to the hole.
Now that you have your target line you need to swing your putter with enough force to pass the hole by about a foot (or it will never go in the hole).
You need the skill to hit a straight putt on your target line.
• 85% of your initial putt direction is caused by your putter face direction and 15% is caused by your swing direction. Both must be on the right line-up and your ball needs to be slightly in front of the centerline between your legs to allow the upward impact of your putter to start the roll of your ball.
• Your putter grip should have a flat surface which is perpendicular to the putter face. Let your thumbs line up on the flat surface of the grip and ensure that the back of your leading hand is pointing up your target line.
• Use the rocking motion of your large shoulder muscles for straight putt. Take any wrist or hand action out of your putt to avoid shaking hands.
• Your body naturally want to swing in an arc (around the axis of your spine). KEY FOR SUCCESS: Swing through the point of impact, lock your eyes on that point and let your arms SWING UP at the point of impact instead of arching around your body.
Learn to putt straight using GOLFSTR+ to lock your leading wrist. You may want to try releasing your trailing hand at the point of impact so that you leading hand will carry your putter straight up your target line. (It’s the only way I can swing my putter straight up my target line. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com
Golf Truism #33 The wind is in your face on 16 of the 18 holes.
Bill Fields wraps up the annual State of the Masters press conference featuring Chairman Fred Ridley, including details on some nice community outreach efforts prompted by this summer’s civil unrest.
Of course, there was the annual distance talk and one of the non-bootlickers thankfully asked.
From Adam Schupak’s look at Ridley’s comments on distance in response to Schupak’s question.
“I’ve been reluctant thus far to make any major changes regarding adding distance to the golf course,” Ridley said, forgetting, of course, that the club stretched the par-4 fifth hole, Magnolia, under his watch, to 495 yards in 2019. “I think sometimes when you do that, I mean, I think there are unintended consequences that come out of that. The scale and the scope of the hole, it changes when you add distance. It changes more than just adding distance. The look of the hole changes. And the design philosophy of the hole changes. And that’s something that we have always and I have always been very focused on is maintaining the design philosophy of MacKenzie and Jones.”
It’s a tad late on that front due to changes by previous administrations, but nice to see the Chairman gets that no walking back to tees to help tip toe around manufacturer bottom lines is, well, unbecoming.
How about that rough?
There is plenty to wonder about regarding the feasibility and success of this year’s rescheduled Masters. The Associated Press’ Paul Newberry addresses many of those questions in this pre-first round column yet calls the 2020 edition a “weak imitation” and a “nondescript college tournament”, all before a shot has been struck.
Certainly the atmosphere will be dead. So many traditions are not taking place and the atmosphere will be quiet. (Jon Rahm’s incredible skip shot and the silent reaction gave us an indication that the 2020 Masters will not be nearly as fun as normal.)
Still, Newberry slaughters the tournament before it has even begun. I supposed you could say he’s paying tribute to the joys of early-week Masters festivities and that overall strength of the tournament’s ability to captivate sports fans. But reaching that conclusion already is a curious call when 72 of 72 holes remain to be played.
Newberry writes:
Looking ahead to April's Masters, chairman Fred Ridley said Wednesday that while he hopes it "will be more normal than it is now," there were no assurances it will be any different than the event that starts Thursday.
