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2020 Top Flite Gamer – Key Takeaways

DICK’s returns the Top Flite Gamer returns to its roots as “the original multi-layer distance ball”Measured compression is similar to Titleist Velocity and Tour SpeedAt $22.99/dozen it cost significantly less than other “premium ionomer” golf balls

With the 2020 Top Flite Gamer on shelves at DICK’S Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy, I suppose we could say a classic fan favorite is back. The thing is, though, that many of you may not have noticed it was gone.

The original Top Flite Gamer developed a bit of a cult following among golfers. In 2017, however, DICK’S scrapped the Surlyn side of the Gamer’s family tree and decided to focus on the three-piece, urethane-covered Gamer Tour. While you may have lamented the loss of the original, at $25 a dozen the Gamer Tour was a solid bargain in the “kinda like a Pro V1” category that golfers on a budget find so attractive.

Unfortunately, DICK’S had some issues with its TPU cover process. The durability wasn’t what it should have been – and certainly not what golfers expected coming from the original Gamer. With the Maxfli Tour series more than meeting expectations, DICK’S decided to scrap the Top Flite Gamer Tour and return the Gamer to its roots.

The New Top Flite Gamer

To that end, the 2020 Top Flite gamer is a three-piece ionomer ball designed to compete for your attention in the emerging “Premium Ionomer” category. I’ll spare you a rehashing of my rant on why that term is an oxymoron and instead focus on what DICK’S hopes to achieve with the new ball.

I’ll leave it up your judgement to decide how you feel about Bryson DeChambeau’s process to outsmart the Winged Foot rough, as outlined by Jonathan Wall at Golf.com. But you have to admire the dedication of both DeChambeau to give himself added confidence, and of the Bridgestone R&D to spend the last Friday night before Labor Day on a Zoom call talking shot pattern standard deviations.

Nice work by Wall and the folks at Bridgestone to piece together this U.S. Open aftermath piece on DeChambeau’s quest to prepare for the high rough and how his 8, 9 and PW would react.

With one of the fastest club-head speeds on Tour, DeChambeau figured he could generate sufficient spin, and a playable ball flight, from the rough to score around the course — even if he wasn’t finding the fairway with a nuked drive.

“If he normally generates 10,000 RPMs with a pitching wedge from a clean lie and knows a flier will knock the spin down to 7,000 RPMs, he’s able to calculate how much longer he’ll hit it in that situation. A lot of players are just guessing when they get a flier. The testing we conducted was all about helping him build those numbers for the clubs he figured he’d use often on approach shots — 8-iron, 9-iron, pitching wedge.

Again, tip your cap to him. But is this where we begin asking if things are maybe not headed in the right direction?

The Scotsman’s Moira Kerr had the backstory on the Australian millionaire Greg Coffey buying the Ardfin Estate ten years ago on the remote Hebridean Island famous as George Orwell’s happy place to write 1984.

And now the £50m renovating later, the Jura House and farm buildings is an upscale “accommodation” with another £20m spent on Bob Harrison’s 18-hole golf course that opened to just a few people in 2015.

The UK Golf Guy’s full review can be read here, but a snippet:

However, in early 2020 it was announced that the course would be open to visitors – but only for those willing to pay stay on the property. I cover the logistics, accommodation and overall package in the Tour Tips section below.

But if you strip away the myths, strip away the cost and strip away the exclusivity, what is the course itself actually like?

Oh why give a more, check out the link and here’s the hole-by-hole flyover.

Jim Walsh in the Cherry Hill Courier-Post paints quite the bizarre picture of a ballot initiative facing the eleven constituents of the borough of Pine Valley. Yes, that Pine Valley.

The club’s George Crump and H.S. Colt course is typically ranked first in most rankings of top American courses despite losing some aesthetic and architectural edge in recent years. The “borough” of Pine Valley now appears to be adhering to Governor Phil Murphy’s push for shared services between boroughs with lower property taxes as the end goal.

So this November 3rd, you Pine Valley borougherers—all eleven of the thirteen registered to vote—you must decide whether to form a citizens’ commission to decide shared services in the region!

“This is a preliminary step, but an important one that the borough believes is prudent to consider,” Pine Valley Mayor Mike Kennedy said in a statement provided to the Courier-Post.

The ballot question – to be decided by the borough’s 11 registered voters — is “consistent with these goals,” Kennedy said.

The Camden County borough, which was incorporated in 1929, keeps a low profile in a forested area behind a rail line along East Atlantic Avenue.

There’s an understatement. I wonder if there are lawn signs with the lucky few Pine Valley residents announcing their position?

Dustin Johnson leads the top five players in the world who have committed to play the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, the start of a two-week stretch of relocated Asia events that includes Tiger Woods returning to California.

What happens when you get golf ball experts from competing manufactures in the same room?

Plenty of spirited conversation.

Dean Snell (Snell Golf), Adam Rehberg (Bridgestone), and Alan Hocknell (Callaway) sat down (virtually) with MyGolfSpy staff to discuss a variety of pertinent golf ball topics.

No company makes a perfect golf ball 100% of the time. But, should golfers get a refund for balls with known defects?

Watch Now

The post [VIDEO] Off Center Cores – Golf Ball Roundtable appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

Titleist’s CNCPT irons are $500 a pop, Personal Launch Monitors are good but not great, and Bryson reignites the distance debate all on today’s episode of No Putts Given.

1:11 – Titleist holds nothing back, including the price tag on their new CNCPT irons.7:12 –  Our Most Wanted buyer’s guide for Personal Launch Monitors is out today15:38 –  Bryson reignites the distance debate, featuring Dr. Brandon Horvath25:47 – Practical solutions to the distance “problem” that don’t require rollbacks

Watch Now

Also available on:

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The post The Distance Debate Reignited | NPG 59 appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

2020 PERSONAL LAUNCH MONITOR BUYER’S GUIDE

Golf launch monitors have become ubiquitous with the pros.  At every PGA TOUR event, you see a variety of launch monitors on the range. Foresight, TrackMan, and FlightScope are the leaders. Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion, uses launch monitors from two brands to dial in his game.

Given that many of the best players in the world use these devices to drive both equipment and on-course decisions, it’s understandable that average golfers would be hungry to do the same.

Personal golf launch monitors are the Holy Grail for the average golfer looking to improve their golf game. Technology is developing rapidly, and personal launch monitors have improved over recent years. These gizmos might still need a few years to become more accurate and provide more data points, but they’re able to offer enough information to help you reasonably dial in your game, with your expectations managed.

The enterprise stuff is expensive … really expensive. But for $500, there are a number of pocket sized devices that offer plenty of data for a reasonable cost.

If you’re considering purchasing a personal launch monitor or want to see how these devices measure up, read on.

In Joe Beditz’s National Golf Foundation analysis of August’s 20.6% year-over-year increase, this was interesting:

But nothing about the past few months seems structurally different for golf, whether with the product itself, the service that supports it, or the overall user experience … unless you count extended tee time intervals, which for a time seemed to produce faster, smoother and more enjoyable rounds. Either way, we weren’t suddenly marketing ourselves differently, onboarding new players differently, or managing customer relationships differently. (In fact, remote check-in procedures may have made it more impersonal.)

Time, time, time, safe, time and safe.

And more on the huge summer for retail, already noted here with regard to evening golf becoming popular. Beditz writes:

Total sales of golf equipment on- and off-course were $331 million in August, extending a record-setting summer for the retail side of the business.

Golf retail sales in August were up 32% over the same period in 2019 ($251 million) and readily surpassed the previous record for the month of $287 million in 2006. Golf Datatech has been tracking golf retail sales since 1997.

Five equipment categories set all-time sales records for August: balls, irons, wedges, bags and gloves. Bags were the best-performing equipment category for the month, up 55% over last year.

It would have been a somber, fan or partially fan-free Ryder Cup last weekend played under ideal weather conditions. But with Wisconsin reporting 2000 new cases four days in a row and a huge positivity rate as well, combined with the lack of fan access, and it looks like the 2020-In-2021 Ryder Cup looks like a wise postponement to 2021.

While I still think toning down the fan element and other theatrics would have been a good thing, a date the week after the rescheduled U.S. Open was, in hindsight, less than ideal and might have led to a severely diminished event.

The Golf.com Confidential crew addressed and noted things lost, all of which might not have had their usual luster set against the 2020 backdrop.

Shipnuck: Being right. I have no doubt the young, talented Americans who have been dominating the golf world were going to win to touch off a decade of dominance. Now, who knows how much momentum will be lost over the next year. Alas, Europe even wins the pandemics.

Dethier: The crowds. The frenzied Midwestern crowds waking up on a crisp Wisconsin morning, getting out in some hideous star-spangled garb and rooting on their beloved Yanks in a too-close Ryder Cup on a super-fun golf course. Oh, and figuring out if Tiger Woods should be on the team — that would have been a blast of a debate too, no doubt.

Bamberger: The parades of the WAGs. The parade of self-importance, pre, post and during. 

Piastowski: The fans. They made the right call to not go on without them. It’s the event that needs a crowd the most. The one event where you can cheer for your team – and get after the other one. 

Hudson Swafford's second PGA Tour victory gets him into the Masters next April. He has not played in a major in more than three years.

A Tiger Woods backup putter from 2001 sold at Golden Age Golf Auctions early Sunday morning for $154,928, which is believed to be the most a putter of this caliber has ever sold for.

Adam Long ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch and shot an 8-under 64 that gave him a two-shot lead over Hudson Swafford in the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship.

A hornet sting early and a bunch of birdies late carried Hudson Swafford to a 5-under 67 on Friday for a two-shot lead going into the weekend of the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship.

Tyler McCumber fell into a four-way lead in the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship after he dropped a shot on his 17th hole.

Mark Calcavecchia detailed his "miserable" experience with COVID-19 on Thursday after venturing out for his first round since testing positive three weeks ago.

No fans will be allowed to attend the Scottish Open in October as the U.K. tightens COVID-19 restrictions.

The move from Japan to Southern California for next month's Zozo Championship at Sherwood won't keep defending champion Tiger Woods away.

Why is a flat wrist so important to your swing? As it turns out, you may already be setting up with a flat leading wrist for your irons, hybrids and woods. Unfortunately your forward teed up ball position for your driver forces you to cup your leading wrist. Pros have no problem changing that cupped leading wrist to a flat or bowed leading wrist but it’s not so easy for recreational golfers. If you are having problems creating a flat leading wrist in your backswing why not do it BEFORE YOU START YOUR DRIVER BACKSWING?

Iron, Hybrid and Wood Setup
When we setup with any of our clubs, the grip should run across our the fingers on our leading hand (NOT ACROSS THE PALM). Holding our shorter clubs this way allows us to point the shaft in line with our leading arm and shoulder. It also forces us to setup with a flat leading wrist (not cupped or bowed). This is one of the main reasons why we hit more consistent shots with our irons and hybrids.

Bryson DeChambeau, like most golfers, setups up with a flat leading wrist for his irons as well as for every club in his bag.

Driver Setup
When we setup with our driver, gripping with our leading hand in our fingers, you would think that we would get the same consistent result as our irons. The main difference is that we want to drive up on our teed-up ball so we place the ball forward in our stance. As we place our trailing hand on the lower part of the grip it naturally forces our trailing shoulder to tilt down but the shaft of our driver points at the center-line of our body. That forces us to cup our leading wrist during our setup.

Problems Adjusting Angles During Your Backswing
During your driver backswing your cupped wrist setup needs to flatten and then cock 90 degrees to create lag. Dustin Johnson actually bows his wrist immediately at the start of his takeaway to take advantage of his amazing power and release for more distance. Recreational golfers should NOT be trying to add the extra angles caused by bowing your wrist (according to Leadbetter, McLean and Hank Haney) . Your goal should be to minimize angles and keep your wrist flat throughout your backswing. Bryson DeChambeau flattens his leading wrist in his setup to avoid angles.

Bryson does NOT waggle his driver back to create a flat leading wrist. He setups up with a flat leading wrist and very sloped shoulders. Teaching pros do NOT teach this setup.

New Swing Opportunity
1/ Swinging with a flat wrist will help you avoid coming over the top and causing a slice.
2/ Keeping your wrist flat during your backswing allow you to shallow your club at the top of your swing.
3/ Your flat leading wrist also forces you to bend your trailing elbow to allow you to graze your side (with your elbow) as you swing from the inside and up your target line.
4/ As you swing from the inside you should imagine that you are hitting the inner quadrant of your ball (on the inside of a line running across your ball and up your target line). That also allow you to swing up on the ball to maximize your distance.

There are scores of golf courses to choose from in and around the Atlanta metro area, but none can compare to the sublime setting at Cobblestone Golf Course. Love life at the lake? Zip up I-75 about 30 minutes north of Atlanta and you’ll arrive at one of the most scenic public courses in Georgia. […]

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