Graphite Design Tour AD HD Key Takeaways

The Graphite Design Tour AD HD represents the 2020 extension of its premium Tour AD lineup. In case you were wondering, the HD stands for Hyper Drive, which presumably speaks to the speed story we’ll get to in just a bit.

The Graphite Design Tour AD HD can reasonably be described as a modernization of the Tour AD MT profile. It shouldn’t be considered a replacement.

As I’ve said with every Graphite Design release I’ve covered, the company prefers to extend the line rather than replace models. Graphite Design likes to keep the catalog intact for fitters who have grown comfortable with certain designs knowing it can take a couple of years for a new shaft to catch on.

It’s also true that while the profile of the Tour AD HD is similar to the AD MT, there’s likely enough differentiation between the two that the older model may perform better for some golfers.

As a member of the European Tour’s Board of Directors, I didn’t expect Paul McGinley to tip his hand much in this Sky Sports piece endorsing the PGA Tour alliance announced Friday.

As I reported Friday, the board McGinley sits on had been briefed on the offer and opened the European Tour books to Raine Group. And on a careful reading and even a shred of imagination there is plenty to read into McGinley’s endorsement.

After calling the deal the “right partnership” for the European Tour and the sport, he gets to some of the primary motives of the “alliance”:

The idea is that we become a little bit more international in terms of the schedule of the world's top players, so they're able to visit other places and play in other events on the European Tour.

Three of the four major championships are played in America every year and a lot of the World Golf Championships have migrated back to the USA. I think the players can eventually expect, hopefully from a European point of view, a more international flavour to the world's best events.

The Alfred Dunhill Championship traditionally delivers the best nature shots of the golf year. And as always, the European Tour broadcast provided plenty of images from Leopard Creek’s location next to Kruger National Park.

This handy roundup was posted by the European Tour social team:

A post shared by European Tour (@europeantour)

Chief Executive Colorfully Coordinated sported a less-than-comforting black-on-black motif for Friday’s hastily-arranged Zoom to spin the European Tour’s “landmark strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour.

Based on the reports by those partaking in the call, Keith Pelley remained light on details about the surprising Thanksgiving Friday announcement. Skepticism was in order given that it’s traditionally a day reserved for only Grade A, First Team, All-World news dumps.

The Daily Mail’s Derek Lawrenson noted the 72 hour mention by Pelley and suggested the announcement was meant to torpedo an upcoming announcement.

The alliance has been years in the making but came together in the space of 72 hours as both tours look to kill off the upstart Saudi-backed Premier Golf League. 

The PGL have promised untold millions to the top players and were rumoured to be ready to make a big announcement next month regarding a circuit for the elite they hoped would be up and running by 2023.

South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout held off Sean Crocker to win the 2020 Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek. And while the 26-year-old’s second win came over a so-so field, Bezuidenhout picks up a win in his native land, comfortably moves inside the all-important world top 50 (41st), and has solidified himself as a player-to-watch heading into 2021.

But as Brentley Romine reminds us, it’s the Bezuidenhout journey that is even more incredible.

Bezuidenhout has much to be proud of. For those who need a refresher, here are the spark notes: Bezuidenhout nearly died when he was 2 years old after unknowingly drinking from a Coke bottle that had been contaminated with rat poison. The poison took a toll on his body, affecting his nervous system and causing a stutter, which in turn led to bouts with anxiety and depression. When Bezuidenhout turned 14, his doctor prescribed him medication that helped him “enjoy my life again,” Bezuidenhout wrote last year in a blog post for EuropeanTour.com, but the beta blockers were also a banned substance, and despite Bezuidenhout being adamant that he filled out the proper paperwork, he was disqualified from the 2014 British Amateur and subsequently banned for nine months.

“It felt like my life was over. ... I was inconsolable,” he wrote in the same post. “However, I eventually turned this into energy to help me come back stronger.”

His emotional post round interview and the Director’s Cut of the final round highlights.

As the 45th President winds down his tenure, Donald Trump made his 292nd visit to one of his properties on Thanksgiving day.

If I were the third hole at Trump National Washington D.C., I’d be concerned about my architectural future after this shot, assessment and reaction…

Christiaan Bezuidenhout held his nerve to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship by four shots at Leopard Creek Country Club on Sunday.

Poland's Adrian Meronk will go into the final round of the European Tour's Alfred Dunhill Championship with a slender one-shot lead.

Follow along as Charles Barkley and Phil Mickelson go up against Steph Curry and Peyton Manning in a charity golf match.

We knew the sides were talking months ago. Then news on a mega-tour merger went silent as the focus turned to merely getting 2020 golf tournaments off the ground.

Then we got the Friday-after-Thanksgiving news.

Belaboring the cynical timing of Friday’s “landmark strategic alliance” announcement could grow tiresome, but it’s also hard to filter much of anything out of the detail-light European Tour-PGA Tour release without returning to the odd rush to share so little detail.

This much is apparent: Jay Monahan joins the European Tour Board of Directors and with it, he brings a check of an undetermined amount to own a stake in their impressive television production operation. Less apparent: how much of that is an investment in a media operation versus a quick way to help the European Tour’s finances?

In a call with UK writers, ET Chief Keith Pelley refuted the idea that this was about finances:

Poland's Adrian Meronk carded six birdies and an eagle in a scintillating round of 66 to take a three-shot lead after day two of the European Tour's Alfred Dunhill Championship on Friday.

The PGA Tour has acquired a minority stake in the European Tour's media production company as part of an alliance that could be the start of a global golf schedule.

The Best Black Friday Golf Deals 2020

Just like everything else in 2020, Black Friday has adapted. Even though most sales are taking place online, it doesn’t mean you can’t score a killer deal. We’ve compiled the best Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals from across the web with your golf needs in mind. It’s a great time to buy holiday gifts for the family, stock up on golf balls, or upgrade your closet. We’ve divided the deals by category for your convenience.

Golf Clubs:

Taylormade: 20% off MyProducts

MyProducts allows you to personalize color, sightline, weights, and more.

Callaway Golf Preowned: 30-50% off used clubs 

At Callaway Golf Preowned you can find pretty much every used Callaway product available at a discount.

Poland's Adrian Meronk and Frenchman Robin Roussel hit seven under par 65s to share the lead by one stroke after the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club on Thursday.

The limited-run PING PLD Prime Tyne 4 is the first PLD putter PING has released since 2018.The PLD Prime Tyne 4 is a compact version of the Sigma 2 Tyne 4.The production run of the PLD Prime Tyne 4 is very limited.

With stealthy panache, PING recently released the limited-edition PLD Prime Tyne 4 putter, a cloaked-in-shadows version of their Tyne 4 putter.

Everything about this putter is shrouded in mystery. So much so that you can’t even find it on PING’s own website. The PLD Prime Tyne 4 putter launch may be the most covert release I have observed in my tenure as a putter collector.

Now that you know it exists, you probably have some questions about the Prime Tyne 4. What does PLD stand for? How does it compare to a normal Tyne 4? Where can I get one? Don’t worry. I’ve got the answers you need to bring this dark beauty into the light.

PING PLD: Putting Lab Design

PLD stands for Putting Lab Design. PLD putter lines are characterized by limited production runs and unique design ideas the PING engineers are experimenting with. The first time PING released a putter under the PLD moniker was back in 2017. The PLD1 program allowed golfers to design a custom Anser 2 using an online interface. That program was available for a very short time and has yet to be repeated. Again, PLD putters are essentially prototypes that release to the public.

It's a new, made-for-television golf match featuring some big names, with Steph Curry, Peyton Manning and Phil Mickelson. But all eyes will be on one man: Charles Barkley.

The Saudi International in its third year is shaping up as one of the strongest fields on the European Tour with commitments from Masters champion Dustin Johnson, U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau and a curious one from Paul Casey.

Yocha Dehe GC
November 13, 2020

Results

The second annual NCGA Senior Series Championship took place Friday at Yocha Dehe GC and crowned two Players of the Year for the Senior and Super Senior divisions.

How are event organizers able to pull off LPGA Tour stops and MMA fights during the pandemic? It's an incredibly complex dance.