Golfing News & Blog Articles

Despite the recent additions of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, LIV Golf is still struggling to attract viewers. 

Last Saturday, the final round of LIV Las Vegas drew 297,000 viewers on the CW. The telecast finished 51st for all sports programs that day, on par with the Golf Central pregame show in advance of PGA Tour coverage. 

The PGA Tour audience for the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open was nearly six times the size, coming in at 1.7 million viewers and ranking No. 3 in sports programming for the day. And those were actually the worst third-round ratings for the event in more than a decade, coming in 32 percent lower than the previous year (2.54M). 

Two weeks ago, LIV’s Mayakoba tournament got a significant break when the final round of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am wasn’t played due to weather. LIV produced a record 432,000 viewers—but a CBS Sunday re-air of the third round from Pebble Beach brought in three times that audience. 

Even when factoring in the inherent advantage of the PGA Tour being on network television, it is pretty clear that the audience is resonating more with the legacy product. 

MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of golf balls. Today, we’re reviewing the 2023 Seed SD-01. To learn more about our test process, click here.

About the Seed SD-01

The SD-01, the first ball Seed designed, now is on its third iteration. This ball is available in white and yellow with a new orange version reportedly on the horizon later this month.

Founder Dean Klatt says they “don’t design for tour players” but rather the “focus is always on improving performance for normal golfers with normal swing speeds and launch conditions.” The SD-01 ball “tends to fit the widest array of abilities” and is their top selling ball, he says.

During our 2023 Golf Ball Test, we noted the Seed SD-01 ball was as a high-launch, high-spin ball. This may a be a consideration for you low-launch, low-spin golfers looking for a little help from your equipment.

The Seed SD-01 is manufactured at Foremost in Taiwan where the Maxfli Tour Series, Wilson urethane and VICE urethane (excluding the VICE Pro Zero) balls are produced.

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 We Tried:

Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. These tech-packed sunglasses feature onboard speakers and a FPV camera for capturing video and photos. They also integrate seamlessly with Meta AI to answer questions, take phone calls and send text messages.

Who Tried It:

Connor. Director of Soft Goods Testing and resident sneakerhead. Outside of golf, tech is my favorite hobby. Just ask my wife how many different phones I’ve had in the last two years. When I see something cool in the tech world, I gravitate towards it.

Wait … What’s the Application to Golf?

You’re probably wondering why the heck I’d review smart sunglasses. Just hear me out.

What if I told you Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses could be the future of online golf coaching?

There are not many things better than a Saturday afternoon 18 with your buddies on a perfect summer day. Everyone is on a heater, music is playing and the vibes are feeling right—but it still feels like something is missing … Enter our favorite side golf gambling games.

Whether it is adding stroke-play or match-play format, simple side bets, skins or specific games (which we will feature here), there is no shortage of ways to add some extra incentive to your round. These popular games offer options for groups of as few as two golfers to a foursome and beyond. Whether you’re up for a monetary wager or random challenges, give these games a try the next time you’re on the course to raise the stakes! Besides, who doesn’t enjoy a little extra pocket cash taken off their friends?

Games for Foursomes

Let’s kick things off with a foursome game that is a favorite of mine.

Vegas (also known as Las Vegas)

Vegas is a betting game typically played for $1 per point. The key designation with Vegas is that scores are put together, not added together. The high score from the hole is put behind the low score for each twosome.  For example, Player A and B comprise Team One, competing against Player C and D. Player A shoots a 4 and player B shoots a 3, making a team score of 34. Players C and D score a 5 and a 4, respectively, for a total of 45. At $1 per point, Team Two now owes Team One $11. You can play a full 18-hole match with your set teams or switch it up at the turn and reset the match to $0 and start again. 

Options/Exceptions

It is important to note that there are some exceptions to scoring when playing Vegas. If a player scores a 10 or higher on any given hole, the higher number goes first. This allows for a safeguard to be put into place to keep points, and money exchanged, from getting out of hand (e.g., Player A shoots a 10 and Player B shoots a 3, the score is recorded as 103 instead of 310). 

Tiger Woods said he was suffering back spasms during his last few holes at Riviera Country Club on Thursday, when he shot 1-over 72 in his first start in an official PGA Tour event since the Masters in April.

Patrick Cantlay opened with three birdies in four holes and finished with a 7-under 64 to take a one-shot lead at Genesis Invitational.

Tournament chairman George Thimsen said a contingent from the Phoenix Open traveled to Los Angeles on Tuesday to meet with the PGA Tour and players. He said the meetings resulted in the players offering support for the tournament.

Tiger Woods isn't just sporting a new apparel brand this week at the Genesis Invitational. He also has a new ball in hand.

The post Tiger Woods swapped to *this* golf ball — maybe you should, too: Our Picks appeared first on Golf.

Get an inside look at the GOLF team's Wednesday on the ground at Riviera Country Club, host of this week's Genesis Invitational.

The post Inside Genesis Invitational Day 2: Tiger’s new swing and Tom Kim’s recommendation appeared first on Golf.

Justin Thomas is denied rules relief during the first round of the Genesis Invitational. Then he risks “something very bad happening.”

The post Justin Thomas denied rules relief. Then risks ‘something very bad happening’ appeared first on Golf.

Complete 2024 Genesis Invitational tee times for Round 2 on Friday at Riviera, featuring Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas and more.

The post 2024 Genesis Invitational Friday tee times: Round 2 groupings appeared first on Golf.

See Tiger Woods' tee time for Friday's second round of the 2024 Genesis Invitational, where Tiger is making his return to the PGA Tour.

The post See Tiger Woods’ tee time for Friday at 2024 Genesis Invitational appeared first on Golf.

Closing at 125-1 to win the Genesis Invitational, Tiger Woods is the biggest long shot he's been for any PGA Tour event in more than 15 years. Despite the immense odds against him, the public rushed to wager on him.

How to watch Tiger Woods on Thursday at the 2024 Genesis Invitational, including Tiger's tee time, TV coverage and streaming times.

The post How to watch Tiger Woods on Thursday at 2024 Genesis Invitational: TV, streaming appeared first on Golf.

The 2024 TaylorMade TP5 and TP5x golf balls are all about commitment. As in, TaylorMade is committed to being a bigger player than it already is in the golf ball market.

That commitment comes with a price tag: a cool $100-million investment in its golf ball business.

A big chunk of that went to buying the Nassau ball plant in South Korea outright. The deal adds considerable capacity to TaylorMade’s ball-making machinery. There’s also the South Carolina plant, which puts cast urethane covers on Nassau-made cores. And TaylorMade owns a major stake in the Foremost ball plant in Taiwan.

The company has also made huge investments in golf ball R&D over the past three years and has built a state-of-the-art indoor test range at its headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif. Additionally, TaylorMade has completely remade its outdoor test area, with Trackman units lining the range to capture performance data at every stage of ball flight.  

Why all that investment? There are two key reasons.

Tiger Woods is making his return at the 2024 Genesis Invitational at Riviera, a course where he has never won. He explained why on Wednesday.

The post Why Tiger Woods hasn’t won at Riviera — in his own words appeared first on Golf.

After an exhaustive R&D process, TaylorMade is set to release the most tech-packed TP5 and TP5x golf balls they have ever made.

The post How TaylorMade improved TP5 and TP5x golf balls for 2024 appeared first on Golf.

There is a fine line between an entertaining fan experience and debauchery. 

Many in the golf community are talking about where that line should be drawn. 

Organizers of the Waste Management Phoenix Open—easily the most-attended, rowdiest golf tournament in the world—have admitted their tournament crossed that line last week. 

It was Saturday when the horde trying to get through the main gate was so massive that tickets were no longer being checked. The problem was exacerbated by Friday tickets being honored for Saturday due to a lengthy weather delay early in the tournament. 

Too many people flooded the grounds, leading to alcohol sales being stopped. The gates had to be closed. Estimates said there might have been half a million people on property at that time. 

Topgolf Callaway’s 2023 sales are up 7.2 percent over 2022.Topgolf, Golf Equipment and Active Lifestyle segments all top $1 billion in sales.Topgolf is the largest revenue creator at $1.76 billion.Net profits for 2023 are $95 million, down 40 percent from 2022.Decrease due to increases in interest expense and accounting write-offs.

The Topgolf Callaway 2023 sales and financial report is out and once again it’s a fascinating look into where golf’s biggest company is heading.

First the headline: 2023 sales hit the $4.285-billion mark. That represents a 7.2-percent increase over 2022. Topgolf Callaway’s nearest publicly traded competitor – Acushnet – finished 2022 at $2.27 billion. (Acushnet usually releases its annual financials in March.)

All three Topgolf Callaway business segments cracked $1 billion in sales, led by Topgolf at $1.76 billion. The Golf Equipment segment reached nearly $1.39 billion in sales while the Active Lifestyle segment rocked in at $1.13 billion.

There’s a lot to unpack here, particularly how $4.285 billion in sales generated only $95 million in net profit. (There’s a simple reason.) But, first, here’s our standard disclaimer:

We are not nor do we claim to be financial experts, investment counselors or Wall Street-level business analysts. We’re simply golf industry geeks who like to read.

Today, PUMA Golf announced its most advanced golf shoe ever.

Introducing the PHANTOMCAT NITRO. Bolstered by PUMA’s responsive NITRO foam and new FLEXSPIKE cleats, the PHANTOMCAT NITRO aims to strike a chord with golfers looking for a comfortable and stable spiked golf shoe.

Here’s what you need to know about the latest (and, hopefully, greatest) from PUMA Golf.

Tech Specs

NITRO foam in heelAnatomically shaped lastRoomier toe boxFLEXSPIKE cleatsLeather upperRetail of $180

Reinventing the Wheel (or Cleat)

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The real story of PUMA’s new PHANTOMCAT NITRO is the FLEXSPIKE cleats.

Rather than going with something tried and tested, like the SoftSpikes Tour Flex Pro, PUMA bet on themselves and created their own cleat.