Golfing News & Blog Articles

When I was younger, I watched the group ahead of me head straight to the back tees. At my local course, they were called the “pro tees.” Naturally, I assumed anyone playing from the pro tees had to be, well, a pro.

It didn’t take long to learn otherwise. A six-hour round later, I realized those tees weren’t reserved for pros. Instead, they were often chosen by average joes, most of whom didn’t have the game to belong there.

If you’re heading to the back tees to make you look like a good golfer, it might be time to rethink it. Here are five signs you’re not ready for the back tees.

You’re hitting hybrids or fairway woods into every par-4

If you’re reaching for a hybrid or fairway wood on nearly every approach shot, you’re playing a course that’s too long for your game.

According to the USGA’s “Best Tees” initiative, golfers should be hitting 6-iron or shorter into most par-4s.

Rain stays away for most of the day as players practice and crowds take in wet Oakmont. Plus, Matt Vogt returns to the place where he caddied, Quotables and several course perspectives.

Justin Thomas knows it's far-fetched, but he still wondered aloud Monday what it would take to catch world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

Can anyone stop Scottie Scheffler? Will Rory McIlroy find his game? We break down the U.S. Open field at Oakmont from the clear favorites all the way to the players looking to make the cut.

When it comes to limited edition golf gear, most brands follow a predictable playbook: slap some stars and stripes on everything, throw in a few patriotic slogans, and call it a day. TaylorMade could have done exactly that for this year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Instead, they’ve created something a bit more interesting.

The Heritage Collection manages to honor both the championship and TaylorMade’s own legacy in a way that feels authentic rather than forced. While red, white, and blue elements are present throughout the collection, they’re balanced with a deeper story that connects TaylorMade’s founding to the host venue.

The Pittsburgh connection

The star of the Heritage Collection isn’t just another flag-themed staff bag. It’s a love letter to TaylorMade’s origin story and the city that’s hosting this year’s championship.

In 1979, TaylorMade founder Gary Adams created the Pittsburgh Persimmon, a stainless steel driver that would fundamentally change the game. The name was a deliberate nod to industrial Pittsburgh, symbolizing a new age of metalwoods in golf.

Ryan Fox hit a towering approach on the fourth playoff hole to seal the RBC Canadian Open. Here's the 3-wood he used.

The post Here’s the 3-wood Ryan Fox used for shot of his life at RBC Canadian Open appeared first on Golf.

Phil Mickelson finished off his pre-U.S. Open LIV Golf event in style, holing an insane sideways flop shot Byrson DeChambeau called "magic."

The post ‘Pure genius!’ Phil Mickelson holes insane sideways flop ahead of U.S. Open appeared first on Golf.

Ryan Fox’s soaring 3-wood to close out his Canadian Open win was a stunner. Here’s how he pulled it off, and what you can take from it.

The post Ryan Fox called it ‘the best shot I’ve ever hit.’ Here’s what you can take from it appeared first on Golf.

The 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont was Dustin Johnson's major breakthrough, but a bizarre rules controversy loomed over Sunday's final round.

The post The U.S. Open rules controversy that rocked Oakmont: An oral history appeared first on Golf.

The 2025 U.S. Open is here. Here are the 156 players who will vie for the championship at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania.

The post 2025 U.S. Open field: Here’s who is playing at Oakmont appeared first on Golf.

Golf's best will descend upon Oakmont Country Club this week for the 2025 U.S. Open. But some notable faces will be missing.

The post 8 surprising players you won’t see at the U.S. Open appeared first on Golf.

The GOLF.com staff makes its sleeper selections for the U.S. Open at Oakmont following Bryson DeChambeau’s victory last year.

The post 2025 U.S. Open sleeper picks to watch: Who might break out at Oakmont appeared first on Golf.

The GOLF.com staff makes its picks to win for this week's U.S. Open at Oakmont following Bryson DeChambeau’s victory in 2024.

The post 2025 U.S. Open picks to win: Here’s who our staff is betting on at Oakmont  appeared first on Golf.

While Oakmont’s penalizing bunkers and diabolical greens are familiar to most, lesser known areas on property also showcase club history.

The post In Oakmont’s venerable clubhouse, history lives around every corner appeared first on Golf.

Six strokes off the lead with one round remaining, a voice in Johnny Miller's head provided a U.S. Open-winning tip.

The post ‘Open your stance way up’: Johnny Miller revisits divine tip that led to 1973 U.S. Open win at Oakmont appeared first on Golf.

In its quarter century of dominance, the Titleist Pro V1 has become the golf ball against which all others are measured. That’s not a particularly enlightened observation, but it is an important one. It’s the number one ball in golf on Tour and with consumers by, oh, I don’t know, at least a mile—maybe more.

Every challenger, be it a new offering from a mainstream competitor or an out-of-left-field Hail Mary from a direct-to-consumer brand you’ve never heard of, tries to call out the Pro V1 for a duel in the street at High Noon. Those challengers find out there are only two types of golf balls in the duel, the Quick and the Dead. And nobody outquicks the Pro V1.

For a brief shining moment back in 2016, the original Kirkland signature had its shot. Our own testing showed that very first K-Sig had what it took to challenge the Pro V1, particularly at $30 per double-dozen. Unfortunately for consumers, that original K-Sig was a unicorn.

Due more to manufacturing limitations than lawsuits, the original K-Sig was a brief shining moment in history that COSTCO simply couldn’t replicate. Its subsequent Performance Plus golf balls were, simply put, mediocre at best. They have lived a good life, living off the reputation of the 2016 ball, but testing showed them to be short, spinny and not terribly durable.

Kirkland Version 3.0: A new hope?

COSTCO launched Version 3.0 last year. MyGolfSpy’s Ball Lab rated well below average. Its compression was all over the place, as was its sizing. The Ball Lab score of 45 may have been generous.

Welcome to Part Two of my exploration of Vice Golf’s online fitting system. A few weeks ago, I walked you through the steps of Vice’s putter and ball fitting interfaces.

This time around, things get a little more complicated as I go through the online fitting process for irons and wedges.

We will see if Vice Golf’s online fitting can produce an accurate club fitting without seeing me hit a ball or directly recording my swing data.

Is that really possible?

Naturally, I also had to play around with the customization options. Let’s just say that Crockett and Tubbs would appreciate my final build.

The scene plays out weekly on PGA Tour driving ranges and if you know what to look for, it’s impossible to miss. There’s a player surrounded by six or seven people frantically working to dial in a backup driver.

Nobody needs to say what happened. Everyone knows: another driver failed its CT test.

For the uninitiated, CT (Characteristic Time) testing is the USGA’s method of ensuring driver conformity during competition. The process involves dropping a pendulum onto the face of a driver and measuring how long it stays in contact with the face. Effectively, the test measures how much the driver face flexes upon impact.

USGA rules set the limit at 239 microseconds with a 18-microsecond tolerance, creating a functional limit of 257 microseconds. Anything above that threshold and the driver is deemed non-conforming and must be removed from play.

The testing process itself introduces variables that complicate matters. CT values can differ depending on the specific gauge used and the operator conducting the test. A driver that tests as conforming on one device could fail on another, adding an element of randomness to an already imprecise process.

When the fastest drivers for big hitters are discussed, names like COBRA, Titleist and Callaway dominate the conversation. But one of the fastest and longest drivers of 2025 was the Srixon ZXi LS and it’s not getting enough attention for what it’s capable of.

It’s the fastest in the test

The Srixon ZXi LS produced the highest ball speed in the test at 163.04 mph. The carry distance it produced was over 278 yards and a total distance of just under 290. It’s not the longest driver in the test; the COBRA DS-Adapt Max K is about two yards longer.

The spin and launch numbers from the Srixon ZXi LS are good for high swing speed players:

By the numbers, the ZXi LS goes toe-to-toe with the COBRA DS-Adapt Max K, PXG Black Ops 0311 Tour-1 and Titleist GT4 and outruns most of them in ball speed.

So why isn’t it getting attention?

The Srixon ZXi LS has top-tier metrics and it had a strong performance in this high swing speed test but it doesn’t get the same attention as others. Srixon’s irons have started to gain attention over the last few years but the consumer perception of Srixon as a driver brand still lags behind.

Making birdies has a lot to do with strategy but you can’t ignore the equipment component. If you’re wondering what clubs the golfers who are making the most birdies on the PGA Tour are using, we have you covered. We took a look at each of these golfers’ bags and found a few things in common.

Below is the list of the top 10 birdie-makers on the PGA Tour this season.

Four wedges with consistent loft gapping

Nearly every player in the top 10 carries four wedges, typically spaced out in four- to six- degree loft gaps. This setup gives them a full range of distance and trajectory control. Fifty percent of the top 10 golfers have Titleist Vokey wedges in play.

If you want to give yourself more birdie chances, start with your wedge game. Know your distances. Don’t just rely on one club and guess. Also, make sure you go for a wedge fitting to ensure the bounce and grind on your wedges are the right match for the courses you play.

They’re not all playing blades

Part of giving yourself a chance to make birdie is making sure that you hit your approach close to the hole. When golfers think about birdie opportunities, they often think about hitting an iron close to the hole.