Golfing News & Blog Articles

Rory McIlroy reclaims the world No. 1 ranking for a ninth time, John Daly is back, the LPGA has a brief hiatus, and $50 million is on the line in the LIV Golf season finale.

The Great Big Bertha is a new ultra-premium offering from Callaway.It’s a technology-packed, lightweight design intended for moderate swing speed golfers.Retail price is $699.Available beginning Nov. 11

The fall release cycle is when Callaway typically launches products that fall outside of the mainstream. Some of my recent Callaway favorites have been fall releases: the Epic Super Hybrid, Big Bertha B21 and the grossly underappreciated Big Bertha Fusion driver come to mind.

While the mainstream stuff is designed to appeal to the masses (thanks, Captain Obvious), Callaway’s fall releases tend to target a narrower segment of golfers. That’s certainly the case with the latest incarnation of the Great Big Bertha family.

Billed as “ultra-premium,” the Great Big Bertha driver is packed with nearly every bit of technology Callaway has. The paint scheme is technically “sage” but, with a price tag of $699, it should probably be called “money green.”

Callaway Great Big Bertha Irons

Key Takeaways

Driver technology in an iron with titanium face and bodyUp to 145 grams of tungsten for low CG, easy launchLightweight construction, targeted at lower swing speed golfersUltra-premium priced at $449,99 each

The Great Big Bertha irons story may, for many of you, begin and end right here.

They’re $449.99 per stick.

But before you jump right to the Comments section and proclaim OEMs are pricing the average golfer out of the game, please note that we have checked the internet this morning. The golf industry did not force Sub 70 to close down. PXG’s 0211 line has not been pulled from the market and Tour Edge hasn’t locked its doors.

In fact, all of the game-improvement and super game-improvement irons listed online yesterday for less than $1,000 are still available today. You can still buy complete iron sets from Wilson, Cleveland, COBRA, PING, TaylorMade, Mizuno and Callaway anywhere from $599 to $999.

So before we dive into the new Callaway Great Big Bertha irons, let’s say it all together so the folks in the back can hear:

The Great Big Bertha is a new ultra-premium offering from Callaway.It’s a technology-packed, lightweight design intended for moderate swing speed golfers.Retail price is $499 (fairway), $449 (hybrid)Available beginning Nov. 11

Do we really have an equipment off-season any longer? Sort of, but not entirely.

Generally, Callaway targets the back half of the calendar year for releases dedicated to golfers who, for one reason or another, live outside the mainstream.

In this case, the Great Big Bertha family is an “ultra-premium” line where the list of materials is exceeded only by the price tag. Callaway bills the Great Big Bertha family as born from the Epic Star franchise, yet something entirely new.

The first hint is a subtle sage green colorway but it’s much more than an updated aesthetic with a familiar name.

Step on the Scale

It’s been so long since PING released an i2-something iron that I had to go back and check to make sure I hadn’t missed a release. Astonishing as it may be, the i210 iron has been current in the PING lineup since late summer of 2018.

That’s a hell of a run.

Score another for COVID, I suppose, but it’s crazy to think that PING’s update schedule for what is arguably the most versatile iron in its lineup isn’t too far out of whack with how often golfers typically replace their irons.

Seriously, if you bought the i210 when they released, enough time has passed that you can probably get approval for a new set.

“Honey, it’s been four years.”

 

The post Memories of a Junior Merit Program at Meadow Club appeared first on Northern California Golf Association.

Steven Alker birdied three straight holes to break out of a late four-way tie for the lead on Sunday and won the opening event in the Charles Schwab Cup on the PGA Tour Champions.

It's the ninth time Rory McIlroy has reached No. 1 in the world, behind only Tiger Woods and Greg Norman (both 11) for most ever.

Yannik Paul made a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole to win his first European tour title by one stroke at the Mallorca Open on Sunday.

Lydia Ko won her 18th career title in the country of her birth after completing a 7-under 65 final round at the BMW Ladies Championship on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy eagled the fourth and 12th holes and finished at 4-under 67 to take a 1-shot lead in the CJ Cup.

Yannick Paul powered up the leaderboard at the Mallorca Golf Open on Saturday to move to 16-under-par and a share of the lead with Ryan Fox.

Atthaya Thitikul hit five birdies on the back nine Saturday and will take a one-stroke lead into the final day of the BMW Ladies Championship.

Dale Whitnell took a one-stroke lead halfway through the Mallorca Open after shooting 8-under 63 on Friday to equal the course record set the previous day by fellow Englishman Marcus Armitage.

Jon Rahm's 9-under 62 on Friday gave him a share of the lead with Kurt Kitayama at the CJ Cup in South Carolina.

The PGA Tour has filed a federal lawsuit against Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund -- which finances LIV Golf -- the fund's governor.

An awful lot has happened since our last installment on LIV Golf and the Saudis. For starters, the PGA Tour has fired back with a new compensation package for its players, including a guaranteed half million dollars for all players. Cam Smith, the world’s number two-ranked player, jumped ship to the new league.

Official World Golf Ranking points is the new battleground. LIV Golf is trying to use the minor, and largely inoperative, MENA (Middle East North Africa) Tour as a proxy to score OWGR points for its players. We’ll see how that turns out. If it doesn’t, we have Golf Saudi’s Majed Al Sorour threatening to create his own “majors.”

Oh, and we can’t forget one boffo No Putts Given episode featuring the always candid Hank Haney.

In our first installment, we investigated behind-the-scenes connections between Saudi Golf, a high-powered Golf PR firm in the UK and some of the internet’s most successful influencers. In this installment, we talk with legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg and examine just what Saudi Arabia is looking for from its LIV investment.

Leigh Steinberg – the Original Uber Agent

Leigh Steinberg’s very first client was his college classmate, Steve Bartkowski, who just so happened to be the number one pick in the 1975 NFL draft. Over the years, Steinberg has represented over 60 NFL first-round picks, including the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Steve Young and Troy Aikman. He’s represented athletes from all sports, negotiating contracts in excess of $4 billion for his clients.

Andrea Lee shot another bogey-free round of 6-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead at the BMW Ladies Championship on Friday.

Atthaya Thitikul shot a 9-under 63 to set a tournament record and lead after the first round of the BMW Ladies Championship.