Golfing News & Blog Articles

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 are Salted Smart Insoles?

Salted Smart Insoles are force plates that fit inside your golf shoes. If you’re unfamiliar with force plate technology, imagine a mat or platform loaded with sensors that, for golf purposes, measures how your weight shifts during a swing.

Force plates aren’t exclusive to golf. In fact, they have a variety of uses in health care and orthopedics. Force plates measure and map the ground-reaction forces during movement. Understanding your weight distribution and swing pattern can be an invaluable tool to help you gain yardage and improve your game.

In simple terms, during your swing, your body weight can shift from one foot to the other. These changes in weight can be measured in percentages and, when used in the right way, can teach you how to use the ground and transfer weight correctly.

Salted has taken force-plate technology and made it accessible to golfers as they play in game-time scenarios.

So much about this Masters will be different -- the course, the conditions, the lack of daylight, the absence of the roars. Oh, and it will have been 19 months since Tiger Woods walked off with the green jacket. The countdown is officially on.

Cobbs Creek may be the best public course in America just waiting to be restored. Now, after years of efforts by locals and financial contributors, this gem may once again recapture its unlimited potential.

Thanks to reader AF for Julie Coleman’s Philadelphia Inquirer story on Cobbs closing this fall to undergo a $20 million renovation of Hugh Wilson’s design.

The renovations, which will be funded by the nonprofit Cobbs Creek Restoration & Community Foundation, aim to replace the clubhouse, fix the floodplains, and create wetlands around the creek to prevent flooding, according to Chris Maguire, who chairs the foundation’s board of directors. The revamp will also add an educational program for young golfers.

But for Philadelphians who love the public course’s tight-knit community, affordability, and convenient location, the renovation is a double-edged sword.

“It is kind of a rarity to have a challenging public golf course like [Cobbs Creek] that is close enough to the city to be able to be used by people in Philadelphia,” said Paul Nowyj, who has been playing there for five years and made friends with many of the older players.

It can be scary to lean on Gary Player’s views as he’s been known to advocate for some unusual ideas, but while visiting the KPMG LPGA he offered this on the golf ball:

However, he added: “What perturbs me is the golf manufacturers, particularly the golf balls, they're reluctant to change. All golf balls go the same distance now. No one golf ball goes further than the other. I've tried them all. They're not allowed to go further.”

Farther, but we know what you meant. Go on…

“So if we cut the balls back further, 50 yards, it's not going to affect their sales. Whoever is No.1 now will be No.1 then because the reason you're No.1 is because of your advertising and your marketing. That's the only reason you spend more money and you have more players using it and endorsing it. That's the reason. Not because it's a better ball.

“So we must cut the ball back, and it will happen. As sure as I'm standing here, it will happen, otherwise they're going to make a mockery of these golf courses, and we cannot make them longer because we're running out of water.”

I’m not certain an across-the-board rollback can be sold on the public, but as Player notes, ball supremacy has mostly been nullified and the major differences are slight. So why dance around the perceived differences at the expense of the game? Oh, right, the governing bodies favor the needs of a few capitalists over the game. Silly me.

Tyrrell Hatton secured a signature European Tour career win at the 2020 BMW PGA Championship, as Ewan Murray reports for The Guardian.

But as Golf.com’s Nick Piastowski notes, Hatton did so sporting a hooded shirt, aka a “hoodie”, making this easily the most significant win for an article of clothing oddly attractive to the coveted demo (for now).

Tyrrell Hatton shot a 5-under 67 on Sunday to win the BMW PGA Championship, one of the premier events on the European Tour. WHILE HE WORE A HOODIE. Midway through the round, he dropped into a tie for the lead, then peeled off four birdies on the back nine to pull away. WHILE HE WORE A HOODIE. The victory came on a Wentworth Golf Club course that he visited as a kid. WHILE HE WORE A HOODIE. 

Piastowski goes on to share the lively social media views on Hatton’s optional head covering.

Hatton lifted the “hood” for his trophy ceremony photos.

Martin Laird made up for a boogie to win the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on the 18th hole by nailing a 20-foot birdie putt to clinch it in the playoff.

Ernie Els took a 1-stroke victory over Colin Montgomerie in the SAS Championship, where Jim Furyk's bid to become the first player to win his first three PGA Tour Champions events ended with a T-9.

After 10 tour wins, Sei Young Kim finally was victorious in a major, capturing the KPMG Women's PGA Championship by shooting a final-round 63.

Home favourite Tyrrell Hatton came through a final-round battle with France's Victor Perez to secure a four-stroke victory at the BMW PGA Championship in Surrey on Sunday.

Bryson DeChambeau has faded at this year’s Shriner’s Hospital For Children in Las Vegas, but another bomber moved to within striking distance of the lead.

Matthew Wolff posted a 61 Saturday and yet, it was slightly underwhelming if you dive deeper in this stats. As GolfDigest.com’s Christopher Powers notes, Wolff’s 61 came on the back of three eagles in five holes, including a hole-out form 115 yards.

But…

The only problem, if we had to nitpick, was his putter, a common theme in this early portion of his career. Incredibly, he shot 61 despite gaining only 0.2 strokes on the greens. He missed eight birdie putts of 16 feet or less, including on his final two holes, lipping out both times and watching 59 slip away. In reality, he could have shot 56 or 57.

Not that there is anything wrong with that!

Patrick Cantlay and Martin Laird, both previous winners at TPC Summerlin, share the third-round lead at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. Bryson DeChambeau struggled and fell seven shots off the lead.

Aronimink has produced an elite leaderboard topped by some of the LPGA’s finest, but there is a Cinderella lurking four back in Bianca Pagdanganan. The world No. 712 is making just her sixth career LPGA start and has never finished better than T28 in an LPGA event. She’s using power to differentiate herself at the Ross-classic where leaders will be teeing off early.

Mercer Baggs at GolfChannel.com with Pagdanganan’s story.

“I got back to the car [on Thursday], and my dad picked me up, and he basically just told me – he just looked at me and said, ‘Welcome to the majors.’ I was like, ‘Thanks, Dad, it's a great welcome,’” Pagdanganan said.

“My dad knows my game pretty well. He's with me in like every tournament, so he basically just told me, 'You've just got to stop thinking,' which I agree, because I do play better when I don't think. I'm not the most mechanical, technical person, I'm all about feel, so that's all he told me: 'You've just got to trust your swing – look at your target and just get it there.'

"That's basically what I've been doing the past two rounds, and it's been working really well.”

Recent LPGA majors have been filled with upsets and surprises, from this event last year, which was won by world No. 114 Hannah Green, to this year’s Women’s Open, which was won by No. 304 Sophia Popov.

England's Tyrrell Hatton took control of the BMW PGA Championship on Saturday as overnight leaders Shane Lowry and Matthew Fitzpatrick both failed to impress on day three at Wentworth Club in Surrey.

Sei Young Kim shot a 3-under 67 Saturday to hold the lead of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.

BMW PGA 36-hole leader Matthew Fitzpatrick declared Bryson DeChambeau’s approach to Winged Foot a mockery of the game after he studied some of the tracker data. From Ryan Lavner’s GolfChannel.com story:

“I just looked at Shot Tracker (Thursday), some of the places he hit it and how he’s cutting corners,” Fitzpatrick told reporters. “When he’s on, there’s no point. It doesn’t matter if I play my best; he’s going to be 50 yards in front of me off the tee. The only thing I can compete with him is putting. Which is just ridiculous.”

Fitzpatrick also lamented the idea of length overtaking the game.

“I really hope they do,” Fitzpatrick told reporters. “It’s not a skill to hit the ball a long way, in my opinion. I could put on 40 pounds. I could go and see a bio-mechanist and I could gain 40 yards; that’s actually a fact. I could put another two inches on my driver. I could gain that, but the skill in my opinion is to hit the ball straight. That’s the skill. He’s just taking the skill out of it, in my opinion. I’m sure lots will disagree. It’s just daft.”

Daft!

Patrick Cantlay, Martin Laird, Peter Malnati, Brian Harman and Austin Cook share the lead entering the weekend at the PGA Tour's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Klara Spilkova missed the cut at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship on Friday after she was assessed a 2-stroke penalty for slow play as she walked off the 15th hole at Aronimink Golf Club.

Five birdies over the final six holes lifted Sei Young Kim to a one-shot lead after the second round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship on Friday.

British Open champion Shane Lowry and local favourite Matthew Fitzpatrick both fired seven-under-par 65s in the second round of the BMW PGA Championship to share the lead at the halfway stage on Friday.

Brittany Lincicome and Kelly Tan each shot 3-under 67 on Thursday in windy conditions at challenging Aronimink Golf Club to share the lead in the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.