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BANDON, OREGON—On a perfect July 4th afternoon, with no clouds in the sky and cool air coming off the Pacific Ocean, I stepped onto the first tee of Bandon Dunes’ newest course.

Having opened this past May, Shorty’s is now the seventh layout at the resort that recently celebrated its 25-year anniversary. Constructed on dramatic sand dunes bordering Bandon Trails, the 19-hole par-3 course was the brainchild of Rod Whitman, Dave Axland and Keith Cutten—the first new architects represented at Bandon since 2005 when Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore designed Trails.

The short course trend has been raging for a decade-plus now, so it only made sense that Bandon—one of the top golf destinations in the world at this point—would add a second one (the 13-hole Bandon Preserve being the first).

My day started with a 7 a.m. tee time at Pacific Dunes, the Tom Doak design that came online in 2001. Pac Dunes is a punishing yet beautiful brute. The test there is battling omnipresent winds that swat your ball into undesirable locations, being faced with long irons to greens defended by gorse and dealing with the consequences of taking on (or avoiding) ocean cliffs.

It is big, bold and brash, like a Ramones concert. It’s daunting and breathtaking, a thrill ride that gives and takes at a rate that can leave you feeling overwhelmed – in a good way. The golf you find and the views you see rival any course I’ve witnessed but it’s a place that can exhaust the senses. Pac Dunes is Golf with a capital G.

What does the PGA Tour's schedule look like — and what does it mean for a LIV-PGA Tour deal? We found out more this week.

The post The 2025 PGA Tour schedule dropped. Here’s what’s changing (and what it means for LIV) appeared first on Golf.

How to watch the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship on Thursday, including full TV coverage and streaming information for Round 1.

The post 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship Thursday TV, streaming: How to watch Round 1 appeared first on Golf.

Here are seven observations as Bryson DeChambeau and John Daly try to break 50 as part of DeChambeau’s YouTube series.

The post Bryson DeChambeau, John Daly — and 7 observations as they try to break 50 appeared first on Golf.

World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler isn't particularly fond of the PGA Tour's playoff format.

Hideki Matsuyama won't have his regular caddie and swing coach at this week's FedEx St. Jude Championship after the Japanese golfer and his team were robbed during a stopover in London.

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Scottie Scheffler has been the odds-on favorite to win the FedEx Cup off and on this season but cemented that position with his gold medal win at the Paris Olympics, according to one oddsmaker.

Hitting longer golf drives requires a combination of technique, physical fitness, and equipment optimization. Here are some tips to help you achieve farther drives:

1. Improve Your Swing Mechanics

• Proper Grip: Ensure you have a neutral grip on the club. A proper grip allows for better control and power transfer.
• Body Rotation: Focus on turning your shoulders and hips during the backswing. A full shoulder turn and hip rotation help generate more clubhead speed.
• Weight Transfer: Shift your weight from your back foot to your front foot during the downswing. This transfer of weight helps add distance.
• Swing Path: Maintain a proper swing path. An inside-out swing path can help achieve a more powerful strike.

2. Optimize Your Equipment

• Driver Loft: Choose the right driver loft for your swing speed and launch angle. Higher lofts can help launch the ball higher and farther.
• Shaft Flex: Make sure your driver shaft has the correct flex for your swing speed. A stiffer shaft may be better for faster swing speeds, while a more flexible shaft can help those with slower swing speeds.
• Clubhead Design: Modern drivers are designed to maximize distance. Consider using a driver with a large sweet spot and adjustable features to fine-tune your performance.

3. Increase Your Clubhead Speed

• Strength Training: Incorporate strength training into your routine to build the muscles used in your golf swing, particularly in your core, legs, and upper body.
• Flexibility: Work on your flexibility to achieve a full and unrestricted swing. Stretching and flexibility exercises can help improve your range of motion.
• Speed Drills: Practice swing speed drills, such as swinging with a weighted club or using resistance bands, to increase your clubhead speed.

4. Enhance Your Timing and Rhythm

• Consistent Tempo: Develop a smooth and consistent swing tempo. A rushed swing can lead to loss of control and distance.
• Practice Timing: Work on your timing to synchronize your swing. Use drills or swing aids to improve your timing and rhythm.

5. Work on Your Contact

• Hit the Sweet Spot: Striking the ball consistently in the center of the clubface maximizes distance and accuracy. Practice hitting the sweet spot of the driver during your swings.
• Tee Height: Adjust the height of your tee. Generally, teeing the ball higher can help you hit up on it, resulting in a higher launch and more distance.

6. Optimize Launch Conditions

• Launch Angle: Aim for an optimal launch angle for your driver, usually between 10 and 15 degrees, depending on your swing speed and skill level.
• Spin Rate: Manage your spin rate to ensure that your drives are not spinning too much, which can lead to higher trajectories and less distance. A lower spin rate can help achieve longer drives.

7. Mental Approach

• Confidence: Approach your drives with confidence. A positive mindset can help you execute your swings more effectively.
• Visualization: Visualize your shot before making it. Picture the ball’s flight path and where you want it to land.

8. Get Professional Instruction

• Golf Lessons: Consider taking lessons from a professional golf instructor. They can provide personalized tips and feedback to help improve your driving distance.

9. Track Your Progress

• Use Technology: Utilize launch monitors or golf simulators to track your swing metrics, such as clubhead speed, ball speed, and launch angle. This data can help you make adjustments and improvements.

10. Practice Regularly

• Driving Range: Spend time on the driving range working on your driving technique. Focus on making consistent, powerful swings.

Additional Tips

• Stay Relaxed: Tension in your grip or body can inhibit your swing speed. Stay relaxed and fluid throughout your swing.
• Conditioning: Maintain good overall physical conditioning to support a powerful and sustainable swing.

By incorporating these tips into your practice routine, you can work towards achieving longer and more effective drives on the golf course.

Only three weeks remain in the FedEx Cup, and golf's best have their work cut out for them as they chase one of the game's biggest purses. But that's not all that's at stake.

In many ways, the new TaylorMade Hi-Toe 4 wedges released today are typical of the overall high-toe wedge genre.

There’s very little middle ground in the high-toe wedge category. You either like the look or you don’t. You either find the large face confidence-inspiring or you don’t. What can’t be argued, however, is that high-toe wedges are, at least in the higher lofts, the most versatile wedges you can game.

You want to open it up and play all kinds of creative shots around the green? High-toe gives you options. You want wide soles and unique grinds? You got it. Do you want to really open it and be a flop shot wizard? High-toe has you covered.

If nothing else, the high-toe genre is a fascinating study in club design and job-specific utility. Let’s dive deeper into the new TaylorMade Hi-Toe wedges and see if they deserve a spot in your bag.

Do you need a high-toe wedge?

High-toe wedges are like multiple-sole grinds. If you want to be taken seriously in the wedge game, you must offer both. Unless, of course, your name is Vokey. If your name is Vokey, you can do as you damn well please.

Recently, I wrote about my five favorite golf shoes, and five that I won’t be wearing again. Those pieces were, in large part, focused more on performance and function than anything else.

The purpose of this piece is quite the opposite. Sometimes, I just want to wear a pair of golf shoes because they look darn cool. Because they float my boat. Tickle my fancy.

However you say it, I’m of the opinion that golf is more fun when you wear what you think is cool. Performance aside (that’s what Most Wanted testing is for), these five golf shoes I’m about to highlight only make my list because they look freakin’ awesome.

Performance be damned. These shoes could feel like bricks and I’d still give em’ some run. Here are my current five favorite golf shoe designs.

1. NIKE Victory Tour 3 Electric

If you’ve been a follower of mine on social media, this should come as no surprise. I love orange and I love prints. This special pair of NIKEs made their Olympic debut this past week but that’s neither here nor there. If NIKE told me to make my own golf shoe, the design would undoubtedly look similar to what they’ve come up with here.

I’m a big fan of watching the game’s best. That might be underselling it, actually. I’ve long been that guy who watches Sunday of the Barracuda Championship after having already watched the Open Championship for six hours.

My childhood was timestamped not just by Tiger’s major victories but by other moments in his career. There has always been a certain comfort to the golf calendar. Starting in Hawaii while most of the country watches from the depths of winter; the West Coast swing of familiar venues like Riviera, Pebble Beach, TPC Scottsdale and Torrey Pines; the Florida swing with my childhood hometown Honda Classic (it’s now named something different, which I refuse to acknowledge), the Players Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational; little gifts along the way like Harbour Town, Colonial and Muirfield Village, and, of course, the major season with its peaks.

I’m a PGA Tour nerd. There is something calming about watching golf. As much as I enjoy watching other sports (mainly hockey and football), a great golf tournament with memorable characters is perfection for me. There is something intoxicating about the anticipation of a final round followed by the rapid fire of big moments happening so quickly. I love watching golf.

That’s why I was surprised when my golf watching time dropped drastically in 2024. It wasn’t a conscious decision. It’s not like I had a kid or saw my leisure time cut down—if anything, I had more free time than ever. Still, I watched a lot less pro golf.

My guess is that I watched about 70-80 percent less golf in 2024. The year is not over, of course, but I’m not expecting the FedEx Cup and Presidents Cup to change my trend.

If you are on a mission to lower your handicap, tracking your current golf game is one of the best ways to start. When you track, you collect data and gain valuable insights into your strengths and weaknesses.

Players often look for extra yards in a driver or more spin in a wedge when, in reality, their approach shot with the 7-iron or putting from five feet is their weakest link. That’s where Strokes Gained stat tracking comes in. Let’s look at traditional stat tracking versus Strokes Gained and help you decide which is best for your game.

Traditional stat tracking versus Strokes Gained

Traditional stat tracking includes these key components.

Fairways hitGreens in regulationPutts per hole/roundScrambling (bunker saves, up-and-downs, etc.)

These stats are easy to track by simply making a quick note on your scorecard. The problem is that they lack depth and context. You may three-putt several greens but your putts were more than 50 feet each at the start. Your stats would show a problem with putting when, in reality, your approach shots are pretty far from the hole.

Strokes Gained is a more advanced metric. With Strokes Gained, your performance on every shot is compared to the average performance of other golfers.

Fresh wedge grooves can make the difference between sticking an approach close to the pin for a tap in or rolling past the hole and needing to sink a long putt. When the recommendation to replace wedges is after 75 rounds, cost can add up quickly. Today’s deal saves you money on one of the best wedges we tested in 2023.

Save $40 on the Taylormade Hi-Toe 3 wedge at Golf Galaxy.

Why We Love the Hi-Toe 3

Milled design maximizes consistencyTaller in the toe area (66mm) engineered to create better spin and launch resultsMultiple sole options for fitting include standard, low and high bounce

Scroing a 9.4/10 in our 2023 wedge testing, the TaylorMade Hi-Toe 3 is a great option to refresh the worn grooves on your old wedges. Take advantage of this deal today!

The post This Wedge Was Among The Best in 2023… and it’s on Sale! appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

It's time for the 2024 FedEx Cup playoffs! Check out PGA Tour information on events, dates, rules, and more now.

When you understand that there are 2 arcs in every golf swing and low points in each arc, you will have a better chance to control direction and shape for every shot. This may sound a little confusing, but your club is swinging with a Target-Arc up your target line as well as a Body-Arc wrapping around your body. Its your job to sort out what is happening with the position of YOUR body at the Low Point with each arc on every swing. Use your practice swing to determine your low point before you move forward to your ball. First we are looking at iron swings.

Target-Arc (swinging up your target line)
Danny Maude was the inspiration for this blog as he described the bottom of the swing arc as either FORWARD, CENTERED or BEFORE the ball:
-FORWARD is typical for High Handicappers who bottom the arc 1 to 4 inches beyond the ball.
-CENTERED for Low Handicap Players bottoming the arc at the ball position.
-BEFORE for Professionals who bottom their arc 1 to 4 inches before impact.

Recommendation: If your body is out of sync with your Target-Arc, setup with your leading knee slightly bent to ensure that the bottom of your swing arc happens before you impact your ball to compress it before you take any divot.

Body-Arc (swinging around your body)
Right handed players impacting the ball before the low point, will push the ball to the right. Impacting it after the low point will pull the ball to the left. A closed or open face at the point of impact will add more motion to a draw or a fade and turn them into a hook or a slice.

The bottom of your arc is normally below your leading armpit so you can’t afford to allow your body to sway back during your backswing and freeze-up in that position during your downswing. That’s why you need a consistent tempo throughout your swing so that your body can recover with your follow-through.

If you're struggling with how to aim in golf, GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jim Murphy gives some on-course tips that can instantly improve your game.

The post This on-course hack will improve your aim and alignment, says top teacher appeared first on Golf.

Viktor Hovland said he's struggling ahead of this week's FedEx St. Jude Championship. And sometimes golf is "just not that fun."

The post Viktor Hovland says he’s struggling. And sometimes golf is ‘just not that fun’ appeared first on Golf.