Golfing News & Blog Articles

Viktor Hovland made consecutive eagles and closed with consecutive bogeys while overcoming a six-shot deficit to win the Hero World Challenge on Sunday and keep Collin Morikawa from reaching No. 1 in the world.

Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson both had to take 2-shot penalties at the Hero World Challenge after starting the ninth hole from the 17th tee en route to finishing in the last two positions.

Daniel van Tonder wins the SA Open as fellow South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout secured a year-ending position in the world's top 50 and a spot at next year's Masters.

With sights set on becoming the No. 1 player in the world, Collin Morikawa raced away from a 20-man field Saturday in the Hero World Challenge with an 8-under 64, building a five-shot lead with one round left

Jazz owner Ryan Smith typically would be in Utah for a home game against the Celtics. But he took a part-time job for the week. Smith is at the Hero World Challenge as the caddie for Tony Finau.

Bryson DeChambeau made five birdies in a six-hole stretch and overcame a late double bogey to shoot 8-under 64 and lead the Hero World Challenge by 1 stroke over Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and Tony Finau.

Architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr. Visits Poppy Hills For Refinements Project

December 3, 2021

Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach had a special visitor earlier this week.

Architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr., who originally designed Poppy Hills when it first opened in 1986, was there to review progress on a current refinements project.

The project primarily involves modifying the greens on the par-3 2nd and par-4 7th holes and the installation of a new practice green. Some modest teeing ground enhancements are also being implemented.

The course is owned and operated by the Northern California Golf Association, whose headquarters are located at Poppy Hills.

The U.S. Golf Association is providing a national championship for players with disabilities that will start next year on the No. 6 course at Pinehurst.

USGA Unveils New National Championship for Disabled Players

December 3, 2021

The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced the U.S. Adaptive Open Championship, a new national championship that will showcase the world’s best golfers with disabilities. The inaugural competition will be conducted on Course No. 6 at historic Pinehurst Resort & Country Club on July 18-20, 2022. The 2nd U.S. Adaptive Open will also be held on Pinehurst No. 6, and will be conducted from July 17-19, 2023.

The U.S. Adaptive Open Championship will serve as the association’s 15th national championship, joining such iconic events as the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur. Champions of this new event will see their names recorded in the annals of golf history alongside many of the game’s storied figures.

The announcement of the championship follows through on a 2017 pledge by the USGA to establish this championship for the adaptive golf community.

“Since 1895, our championships have provided the world’s best players with an opportunity to showcase their skills on a global stage, compete for a national championship and achieve their dreams,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA senior managing director, Championships. “After years of planning and delays caused by the global pandemic, we are proud to bring that same opportunity to the adaptive golf community through this championship, and to do so at Pinehurst, our second home. We believe this effort will spur participation for golfers with disabilities and hope it inspires others in the industry to make the game and its competitions more welcoming to all.”

FlightScope releases update to Mevo+FlightScope Mevo+ Pro package is a one-time fee upgradeThe upgrade is $1,000

FlightScope has been making moves in the personal launch monitor space for a while but now, they have upgraded their Mevo+ device for a one-time fee.

We have seen the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Bubba Watson use the FlightScope brand when practicing before a PGA TOUR event. But the Mevo+ isn’t just an outdoor launch monitor. It can be used inside as well with a couple of small adjustments.

Like many companies, they have targeted the personal launch monitor space as more and more golfers are seeking personal swing data. But it is hard to put a price on accuracy.

We have seen PLMs in the $500 to $2,000 space and, believe me, they’re not all created equal. The FlightScope Mevo+ on the other hand holds its own and is one of the more consistent PLMs on the market.

The Technical Details

Here are the juicy details.

Rory McIlroy's opening-round 6-under 66 at the Hero World Challenge was good for a share of the lead with Daniel Berger and Abraham Ancer.

The new Precision Pro ACE Smart Speaker  retails for $149.99.The ACE plays music plus relays yardages at a touch of a button.The Bluetooth speaker offers multiple features.

Music on the golf course seems to divide the golfing population. Nevertheless, more and more companies are designing Bluetooth speakers to fit their products. So welcome the ACE Smart Speaker.

Sure, there are lots of Bluetooth speakers that play high-quality music but the ACE has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. The speaker links with the Precision Pro app and gets you dialed in while listening to your favorite tunes.

Precision Pro ACE Smart Speaker

If you’re a golfer who wants all the bells and whistles, listen up!

Precision Pro says the ACE Smart speaker is “groundbreaking.” That might be reaching just a touch as a version of this speaker has already been accomplished by Bushnell. However, the MYSLOPE technology that ACE has linked to their app is very advanced and pushes the industry forward.

“ACE” stands for “Audio Caddie Experience” which keeps you dialed in on every shot without the need to check your phone. Instead, data is pulled from the Precision Pro Golf app (IOS and Android) via Bluetooth which is adjusted for slope based on your own personal swing data, altitude, wind and weather. The ACE will also display and announce yardages to the front, middle and back of the green which can be customizable over the music, podcasts or any other platforms you might vibe to.

The best way to lower your scores is to land on more fairways, hit more greens in regulation and make more putts. That’s easier said than done. The most important shots in golf which hold mid- and high-handicappers back are hitting more greens in regulation. That’s the key to getting more two-putt pars and the occasional birdie. If you are missing greens you are faced with bunker shots, short sided chips out of the ruff and bladed or chunked chips which really boost your scores.

In a recent issue of GOLF Magazine, using data from ARCCOS Caddie Link, they shared how many greens in regulation their users are hitting. [NOTE: ARCCOS is a system that records your golf statistics for every shot on every round your play.] Five handicap golfers average 8 greens in regulation per round, while ten handicap golfers average 6 GIR per round and fifteen handicap golfers average over 4 per round.

Cameron Smith is the current PGA Tour leader of greens in regulation (GIR) by hitting 80.56 %, and the Tour average is 68.20 %, which is about 12.5 greens in regulation per round (based on 18 holes, including the par 3’s). Those two numbers are not too realistic for weekend warriors.

The following chart lists the handicap (in the white circles) and corresponding GIR percentage for golfers

who use the ARCCOS data recording system

Based on my personal experience with Greens Hit In Regulation, these percentages seem to be lower than they should be. This chart shows that 15 Handicap golfers are hitting Greens In Regulation a little over 4 times every time they play. [That seems to be surprisingly low.] To hold a 15 handicap those golfers must be chipping and 2 putting on 14 holes for about 14 bogies. I suspect that these golfers are taking a lot of gimmes.

Rule of the Month: Loose Impediments and Movable Obstructions

December 1, 2021

Loose impediments and movable obstructions are two categories of items that the Rules do not consider part of the challenge of playing the game, and therefore they can be moved. Loose impediments are unattached natural objects such as sticks, leaves, twigs, and blades of grass so long as they are not fixed or growing, solidly embedded in the ground, or sticking to the ball. Movable obstructions are artificial objects that can be moved with reasonable effort such as a water bottle, scorecard, broken tee, trash can, bench, etc. Click here to learn more about movable obstructions.

Loose impediments and movable obstructions can be moved anywhere on the golf course, including in bunkers and penalty areas, even when your ball also lies in the bunker or penalty area. If your ball moves when moving a movable obstruction, there is not penalty and you simply replace the ball. However, you will need to be careful when moving loose impediments because if that causes your ball to move, you will get a one-stroke penalty and must replace your ball. The only time a penalty does not apply is if your ball lay on the putting green when moving a loose impediment caused it to move.

FAQs:

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On the last day of this year’s golf ball test, we had a little extra time to run a few smaller experiments. As a curiosity, we wanted to see how temperature changes can affect golf ball performance.

To see how an increase in temperature can impact performance, we left a portion of our test sample exposed to the Arizona heat.

To understand the impact of extreme cold on a golf ball, we stuck a portion of our sample in a freezer for the better part of a day.

We (well, the robot) hit both the hot and cold balls along with a sample of balls that had been kept inside, out of the sun and at room temperature. The test was conducted with a nine-degree driver and a swing speed of 100 mph.

As a follow-up to the preliminary data, we ran some tests inside the Ball Lab. We measured compression changes after placing balls under a 115-degree heat lamp for an hour and after six hours in a freezer.