Vessel Player IV Series Golf Bags – Key Takeaways

Two new models: Player IV and Player IV ProBoth available with six- or 14-way topsNew jam-resistant bottom club divider$395 for Player IV, $435 for Player IV Pro

 

The new Vessel Player IV Series golf bags seem like a bit of a backward launch. We’ve already seen the Player IV DXR stand bag in MyGolfSpy’s 2023 Stand Bag Buyer’s Guide (it finished eighth). The new Vessel Player IV and Player IV Pro, however, are being released today.  And, as is typical of Vessel, Player IV packs plenty of features and plenty of options.

Just don’t expect it to be a “budget” golf bag.

“Two words serve as our inspiration: luxury performance,” says Vessel founder and CEO Ronnie Shaw. “Luxury speaks to the materials we use. It speaks to the sleek design and to the way we stitch the bag together. Performance speaks to our features and how each pocket is designed. We want to make insanely amazing products.”

Are the new Vessel Player IV golf bags “insanely amazing”? We’ll have to get our hands on some samples to really tell. But the early returns do sound promising.

Hideki Matsuyama withdrew from the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play before his tee time Friday, giving Max Homa the day off and a spot in the knockout stage.

Welcome back to #ASKMYGOLFSPY where readers like you submit questions to our team of experts here at MyGolfSpy.  These week, we tackle a couple of more golf ball rollback questions, discuss the best tools for gaining speed, and more.

Submit your questions any time on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or in the comments below..

Q: Best swing speed improvement products? – Portell3

A: There are so many good ones now and more hitting the market seemingly every week.

I love the Stack System but it’s probably the most expensive and that’s before you buy something to measure your swing speed (required). Our putter guy, Dave Wolfe, is seeing good results with the RypStick. Super Speed is the original (and it’s backed by plenty of success stories). Finally, for those who want to hit balls as part of the training, I’d suggest Clay Ballard’s Top Speed as an option.

This year, Callaway dropped the Paradym lineup which includes the Paradym and Paradym X irons.

The first fits into the “player’s distance” category. The X is for those looking at a game-improvement set.

In both, we’re getting an AI-designed Face Cup, urethane microspheres and a lot of tungsten. And just for fun, Callaway threw in something new: a forged 455 stainless steel face.

As iron testing continues in the MyGolfSpy Lab, it’s important that we hear from our loyal readers.

Can we grab your feedback?

Alison Lee and Jenny Shin each reeled off four straight birdies in the middle of their rounds and joined Gaby Lopez at 7-under 65 Thursday to share a one-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA Drive on Championship.

Rory McIlroy capped off his Dell Match Play victory against Denny McCarthy by driving the 375-yard closing hole to just inside 4 feet for an eagle that was conceded.

The LPGA Tour says the Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA tournament is being canceled for the fourth consecutive year, citing operational factors.

— Brice Garnett returned to the course of his lone PGA Tour victory and played a clean round in a steady wind for a 6-under 66 and a share of the lead Thursday with Ben Martin in the Corales Puntacana Championship.

The longest drive ever recorded in a professional golf competition is 515 yards (471 meters) by Mike Austin in the 1974 U.S. National Senior Open. However, it's worth noting that this distance was not officially recognized by the PGA Tour, as it was not measured by a standard distance-tracking device.

In terms of the longest drive ever recorded with a standard distance-tracking device, the record is 475 yards (434 meters) by Davis Love III at the 2004 Mercedes Championships.

 

Today, PUMA Golf announced the newest collaboration with lifestyle brand Palm Tree Crew (PTC) and let me be the first to say the vibes are immaculate.

Together, the two brands have a history of eye-popping designs but the newest PUMA Golf x Palm Tree Crew Collection is nothing short of bold. I’ll let you be the judge but this one has Rickie Fowler’s name all over it.

The Details

Available online March 23 at PUMA and PTCExclusive access at PUMA’s flagship NYC store on April 3Highlighted by 11 apparel items, three accessory items and one pair of golf shoesCOBRA AEROJET x Palm Tree Crew driver ($599) and a COBRA AEROJET LS x Palm Tree Crew driver ($599) also available

Behind the Collection

The PUMA Golf X Palm Tree Crew Collection is the brainchild of one of golf’s most stylish players and the world’s most iconic DJs. Fowler’s flair and KYGO’s creative passion served as the foundation for the artfully crafted collection. Said to be inspired by “the art and music of golf”, the PUMA Golf x PTC Collection embodies the neon retro-tropical vibes of Miami Beach.

“Working with PUMA Golf to continue developing the collaboration with KYGO and PTC keeps me creative,” says Fowler. “Golf and music both have tempo and rhythm, bringing the art of them together through a fashion lens is unique. The Puma x PTC collection gives me confidence in my personal style that I can rock on the course. It’s cool.”

It’s noteworthy that the past PUMA Golf x PTC collections have taken on a more muted navy and gold color scheme. This newest iteration is a total departure from tradition in that regard.

You likely don’t hit the center of the club face nearly as often as you think you do. That’s the philosophical underpinning that drives much of the performance story in the new PXG 0311 GEN6 fairway woods and hybrids.

A bump in ball speed on a perfect strike is a clear benefit. However, it’s one that likely goes largely unrealized by amateur golfers. It’s somewhere between theoretical and marginally practical. Put differently: even the most accomplished golfers on the planet understand that forgiveness is an integral performance characteristic for any fairway wood or hybrid.

PXG 0311 GEN6 Models

As with the PXG 0311 GEN6 drivers, the fairway woods and hybrids come in two models with two distinct player profiles. The standard PXG 0311 GEN6 fairway wood and hybrid is a “one size fits most” proposition whereas the 0311 GEN6 XF targets golfers who can benefit from xtreme forgiveness.

Moreover, what’s true for the PXG 0311 GEN6 fairway woods is also true for the hybrids: materials, design specs, aesthetics. Yep, all of it. If you want to call the  0311 GEN6 hybrid a scrunched version of the GEN6 fairway wood, I suppose that works. The point is that, beyond the clear difference in footprint between a fairway wood and hybrid, the blueprints are the same.

It’s been one hell of a ride for PXG of late.

In the parlance of the stock market, it basically shorted COVID-19, staked a strong inventory position and fundamentally changed its business, shifting from a premium-priced brand to a high-volume, low-price model that changed perceptions of the brand both inside and outside of the equipment industry.

While the result what likely a net positive—the company has more (and more vocal) supporters than ever—PXG appears to have hit a few bumps.

Being the most nimble brand in golf isn’t all upside. The company just had a round of layoffs (at least partially the result of its direct-to-consumer model and transitioning its brick-and-mortar locations to five-day work weeks). Given the volatility in its pricing model (which might be described as chaotic), golfers have come to expect that, even if a PXG product doesn’t launch at a discount price, it will get there pretty quickly.

Given all of that, it’s reasonable to expect some misguided takes (“PXG is going out of business!”) and a reasonable cohort of golfers who will respond to this story with, “I’ll just wait until they’re $200.”

If you’re interested in where PXG is as a business today, I touched on that a bit in my story on the 0311 GEN6 driver family. (No need to copy and paste. You guys know how links work.)

For the 0311 GEN6 iron family, I’m going to go light on the introduction (for once) and jump right into the products.

PXG 0311 GEN6 Irons – The Basics

With the 0311 GEN6 iron family, PXG is streamlining things a touch. While the familiar P and XP models carry on, the 0311 T model is gone from the lineup.

Boo! Boo!

I’m not thrilled about that and we’ll dig into it later.

2023 Golf Glove Buyer’s Guide

If you could lower your scores simply by changing an inexpensive piece of gear in your golf bag, would you do it?

The best golf gloves cost less than a dozen golf balls and finding the right fit can have a major impact on your game. We already know that wearing a golf glove offers some performance benefits but just wearing a glove isn’t enough. Like any item in your bag, it’s important to find a glove that helps, not hinders, your performance.

Is your golf glove hurting your game? Is it helping?

Whether you know the answer to that question or are unsure, we’re here to walk you through the process … “hand in hand,” so to speak.

GOLFSTR Swing Tip blogs are all based on articles written about solutions recommended by professional golfers and trainers. I present their thoughts in a simplified version because I’m always looking for the magic that will set your game (and my game) on fire. In a recent tip by GOLFPASS I discovered a tip that solved a problem for one of my physical limitations and realized every golfer who can’t swing like a pro may be faced with similar problems.

Whether you know it or not, we all have physical deficits caused by historic injuries or wear and tear on our bodies. Every time you recover from a broken bone or a torn muscle or cartilage, other parts of your body adjust to accommodate repetitive motions. That’s also a reason why you have a difficult time trying to change your posture or your golf swing.

In a GOLFPASS on-line lesson I discovered my upper body limitation and a solution to overcome my rotation limitation to improve my swing power and driving distance. When I asked other aging golfers about this limitation, I found that this may be a common problem for most golfers over 50 years of age.

Adding lag in your backswing is a key component which allows you to add power in every swing. Your arm rotation allows you to add lag. The trainer suggested that we should:
1/ extend your trailing arm (right arm for right handed golfers) horizontally from our side
2/ bend it forward (horizontally) from your elbow
3/ and rotate your bent arm (elbow to your hand) vertically and beyond vertical if you can.

My deficit (like many aging golfers) is that I can only rotate my arm upward about 80 degrees. Scratch golfers can rotation their upper arm about 20% beyond vertical. That’s 30 degrees beyond my ability. So that gives them a 30 degrees advantage to add more lag (and power) in their backswing.

Keegan Bradley remained winless in 16 matches over 11 years in the Dell Technologies Match Play but said he was "excited" after rallying to scratch out a halve against Denny McCarthy in the opening round Wednesday.

What’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of ECCO Golf?

Of all the words used to describe ECCO, “traditional” surely isn’t at the top of that list.

For years, ECCO has been at the forefront of golf shoe innovation with their fancy BOA-ridden silhouettes and Gore-Tex waterproofing. But in a classic “back to the future” move, the Danish footwear giant has released an all-new, old-school spikeless golf shoe—the ECCO Classic Hybrid.

The Details

Available March 22White and brown color optionsRetail $220

A Closer Look

Highlighted by ultra-premium construction, the ECCO Classic Hybrid spikeless golf shoe lives up to its namesake with a classic dress shoe fit and finish. Unlike the golf shoes of old, the Classic Hybrid is fully up to speed in the performance category.

Beneath the leather exterior and classy façade, the ECCO Classic Hybrid features the brand’s FLUIDFORM Direct Comfort Technology. This refers to the process in which ECCO forms the midsoles for some of their shoes across a bunch of different categories, golf included. It’s basically a fancy way of saying the midsoles are molded in a way to fit the human foot, rather than just a flat board.

Rory McIlroy told the "No Laying Up" podcast this week that he supports the proposals to limit the distance golf balls travel when struck by elite players.