Golfing News & Blog Articles

Greenside Bunker Play – Key Takeaways

Lower handicaps have better chances to save par when in the greenside bunkerHigher handicappers miss the green 50% of the time once in the bunker

Improved Performance Through Data

Big data is a powerful tool. Not only does it allow golfers to assess individual parts of the game but it provides an opportunity to examine performance from a variety of perspectives.

Golf stat tracking and performance management companies like Shot Scope help golfers better understand their on-course performance. However, by aggregating data from golfers around the world, we get a more complete picture of the realities of amateur performance.

So, as we dive into a relatively straightforward topic, think about where you find the most difficulty on the course. How many shots does it take to get it out of the bunker? And what’s the proximity to the hole when you do get the ball out?

Results From the Greenside Bunker

Observations

Highest percentage of golfers that get the ball inside 6 feet are the two handicappers.The lowest percentage remains true with 2 handicappers regarding missing the green. 2 handicappers show a mere 10% and only 1% of the time the ball is being left in the bunker.The highest handicappers get the ball inside 6 feet of the hole only 5% of the time, miss the green 50% of the time once in the bunker and leave it in the bunker 21% of the time.

The trend shows the lower the handicap you have, the greater chance of getting it inside 6 foot. Lower handicappers tend to hit the green a lot more than higher handicappers. A 26 handicapper misses the green 50% of the time from a greenside bunker.

Proximity to the Hole and Up and Down Percentage

Observations

When hitting the ball out of the bunker, the average proximity to the hole by a 2 handicapper is 12.5 feet.The average proximity to the hole with a 26 handicapper is 17.7 feet.The up and down percentage is highest among the lower handicappers and in-turn the lowest with the higher handicappers.

Again, nothing surprising here. The lower the handicap, the better chances you have hitting it inside 6 feet, closer to the pin, hitting the green and getting up and down. The higher the handicap you have, the percentages go down, proximity to the hole increases, your up and down percentage goes down and you’re more likely to miss the green.

Though Bob Parsons has already let the cat out of the bag on Instagram, today marks the official release of the PXG Blackjack putter, the first in PXG’s new Battle Ready Collection line of premium putters.

When you first look at the PXG Blackjack putter, another mallet probably comes to mind. Undeniably, there is a whole bunch of TaylorMade Spider DNA in the Blackjack. However, the engineers at PXG have spun some new threads into that classic mallet fabric. Yes, I consider the Spider a classic putter head shape. It’s not an Anser-level classic as of yet but, based upon the number of takes on the design, it has achieved archetype status.

Let’s take a look at how the PXG Blackjack putter spins the Spider-verse.

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Tiger Woods, Lorena Ochoa and Serena Williams inspired Mariah Stackhouse and let her know that possibilities were limitless. Ahead of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, Stackhouse reflects on being a role model for the next generation of golfers.

Thanks to reader John for Simon Cambers’s New York Times look at historic Wentworth as the rescheduled BMW PGA Championship begins.

Wentworth held the Ryder Cup in 1953, but to many golf fans the club will always be remembered for hosting the World Match Play Championship, which it held from 1964 to 2007.

Staged each October, shown live on the BBC and often played in challenging autumnal conditions, each match was played over 36 holes, a test of stamina as much as skill. Though it later expanded to 16 players, it began as an eight-man knockout event, with Palmer the first champion, beating Neil Coles of England in the final.

Ernie Els, who won the event seven times and later helped to redesign the West Course, loved Wentworth long before he got to see it himself.

“The history speaks for itself, especially the World Match Play,” Els said in an interview. “All the great players played there. Growing up in South Africa, we’d read all about Gary and Jack and Arnold winning there. Then watching Greg, Seve, Faldo, [Sandy] Lyle and Woosie [Ian Woosnam] in the 1980s. It was an iconic tournament and venue.”

Another range parking lot was inundated by Bryson DeChambeau drives before he was asked to move back, begging two questions: why does the ball need to go so far and who keeps putting parking near a range.

Anyway, check out Steve DiMeglio’s entertaining compendium of clips from Bryson’s pre-Shriner’s Hospital For Children press conference, as the U.S. Open champion returns to PGA Tour action for the first time since Winged Foot.

Four par-4’s figure to get a crack, and the iron distances are befitting the desert air and elevation. And the incredible distances DeChambeau hits the ball.

“There will be holes where I’m going to try and drive them, get it up as close to the green as possible,” DeChambeau said. “It’s just fun having a 7-iron go 220. That’s unique. And 4-iron, 265. There will be holes where I had to hit 3-wood and now I’m hitting 4-iron off the tees.”

I believe this was said in a serious tone:

Bryson DeChambeau said Wednesday that he's been working with a 48-inch driver with the hopes of unveiling it for the Masters at Augusta National next month in order to increase the length of his drives.

Brooks Koepka has committed to play in the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek, the event moved from South Korea to the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will be Koepka's first tournament since August.

Charlotte Thomas will begin a 14-day quarantine after she was in close contact with her caddie, who has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Golf is a strange game. Successful swings have evolved over the years. It really is surprising that we can almost recognize any golfer by their different profile and swing. They all have their quirks. Matthew Wolff and Bryson DeChambeau are 2 of the most quirky swingers but their risky swings are really turning out to be rewarding.

So what is this new quirky swing by Matthew Wolff doing? If you watched the US Open, you definitely saw that strange knee wiggle and looping swing by Mathew Wolff. He does a quick practice trailing knee bend to start his swing sequence. He’s actually feeling his impact position so that he can feel it before he swings. He knows where he wants to end up at the point of impact.

Matt also uses a wide takeaway (like Jim Furyk) with a loop at the top to swing from the inside to straight up the target line. His swing is risky because he doesn’t hit a high percentage of fairways but he certainly uses this power and swing motion to hit a lot of greens in regulation. Especially out of the rough.

Matt Wolff adds a knee wiggle, a foot lift waggle and a huge loop at the top. The pros don’t recommend this as there are too many angles that can go wrong. Matt has a high percentage of fairway misses but he sure can get them out of the rough and on the Green in Regulation.

Bryson DeChambeau’s collection of irons that are all the same length; adding on muscle for more swing speed and his leading arm-lock for every club in his bag are all new innovations. He starts with a FLAT WRIST and keeps it throughout the swing. He is just cutting down on angles for a square club face impact.

Why not try out something quirky to improve YOUR Game
1/Swing to Putt Straight Up Your Target Line: Release your trailing hand at the point of impact and swing your leading hand Straight UP YOUR TARGET LINE. (This is my favorite.)
2/ Trailing Knee Bend Wiggle: Find your point of impact with your trailing knee before you start your swing. (Ala Matt Wolff)
3/ Setup with a Straight Leading Arm: Moe Norman and Bryson setup this way for extreem direction control.
4/ FLAT LEADING WRIST: Either setup with a flat leading wrist or waggle your driver to flatten your leading wrist before you start your backswing (keeping your leading wrist flat). That flat leading wrist will force your trailing elbow to bend into your side for an inside to out swing.

This week, the LPGA tees it up in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, for the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Here's what to watch as the women compete for the $4.3 million purse.

A few folks old enough might remember that majors and Tour events did not always put leaders together or out last, so the rescheduled Women’s PGA Championship plan should not be a big deal. Nonetheless it will be odd to see leaders sandwiched in certain tee time slots Sunday to accommodate TV, which has NASCAR to get to.

From Beth Ann Nichols’ Golfweek story quoting Kerry Haigh:

NBC will air the championship on Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. ET and on Sunday from Noon to 2 p.m., ahead of NASCAR. To make that work, the leaders won’t be teeing off last on Sunday. And if play from Friday pushes to Saturday morning, the same will hold true for the third round as well.

“We feel it’s important that everyone watching the telecast will see the leaders,” said Haigh, “see the leaders play all 18 holes, and we think that is important. And although it’s a little different and out of the box, we as partners with the LPGA and KPMG are prepared to make those changes for what we think will be a greater and a better championship for everyone to observe.”

With even less daylight this November and a thrilling NFL match-up to get to, I wonder if the Lords of Augusta might consider something similar to help ensure proper morning golf course preparation? Or split tees? To be continued.

MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of the golf balls on the market to help you find the best ball for your money. Today, we’re taking a look at Costco’s Kirkland Signature Performance+.  An overview of the equipment we use can be found here. To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.

Costco made a huge splash in the golf ball market in 2016 when it launched its Signature four-piece golf ball. Supply never quite matched demand. A subsequent four-piece offering was pulled due to significant quality issues.

Recently, the giant warehouser has expanded its reach deeper into the golf equipment world. Demand for Kirkland Signature putters and bargain-priced wedge sets is high. Throughout all of it, Costco’s urethane-covered three-piece Performance+ has been a mainstay on Costco store shelves.

In this report, we take a closer look at the Costco Kirkland Performance+ Three-Piece Golf ball and let you know how it stacks up against other golf balls on the market. Finally, we’ll give you the True Price – how much it costs to get a dozen “good” golf balls.

Derek Lawrenson explains how new LA resident—don’t get used to this blissful traffic Franky—Francesco Molinari is finally resurfacing this week.

The 2017 Open Champion is the last recent major winner to dust off the clubs and return during the COVID-19 era, teeing up at the Shriner’s over the European Tour’s BMW PGA. He hasn’t reached Anthony Kim levels of intrigue given the sheer absurdity of 2020, but it’s still remarkable how long Molinari has sat out. He has failed to register a top ten since the 2019 Masters.

Because they aren’t hitting it long enough and the air isn’t thin enough to make 400 yards an expected thing, new Titleist’s are turning up at their favorite testing grounds: TPC Summerlin.

Twenty years after the first Pro V’s showed up in Vegas and instantly turned most Titleist staffers into decathletes, it’s that time of year. Sources close to absolutely no one predict the new new Pro V1’s and Pro V1x’s will be longer and, wait for it, I swear, really, like, really straighter.

Golfweek’s David Dusek reviews and previews the Pro V’s history at the Shriner’s and what can be expected as the conforming ball is put into play.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Titleist Pro V1 at the 2000 Invensys Classic. That week, 47 players in the field switched into the new multi-layer, urethane-covered ball, including Billy Andrade, who went on to win.

Historically, Titleist brings prototypes of the three-piece Pro V1 and the four-piece Pro V1x balls to Las Vegas to get feedback from players, then makes the balls available to consumers in late January of the following year.

The company is not providing any details regarding modifications it has made to the balls at this time, but it is likely that the balls are receiving refinements instead of significant overhauls. Why? According to Titleist, about 73 percent of all the players on the PGA Tour last season used either a Pro V1 or a Pro V1x. That number jumps to 75 percent on the European Tour and 83 percent on the LPGA Tour.

Which means, when we take 12 dimples off it and make it a few millimeters larger, it’ll still be the most popular! Right Wally?

Given the continued onslaught of daily positive COVID-19’s reported in the United States, including a shocking White House outbreak, it’s a bit of a miracle that Tony Finau is the only PGA Tour player known to have tested positive since two cases at the U.S. Open. Before that, the Tour had enjoyed a six-week run of virus-free events.

Finau’s announced the bad news taking him out of this week’s Shriner’s Hospital Classic In Las Vegas:

Earlier today, I received a positive result for Covid-19 under PGA TOUR on-site testing protocols and have begun a period of self-quarantine to protect others around me. I am feeling well, and am otherwise in good spirits.

— Tony Finau Golf (@tonyfinaugolf) October 6, 2020

From Bob Harig’s ESPN.com story on Finau becoming one of the highest profile players to test positive.

Finau is just the 14th player to test positive for the coronavirus since the PGA Tour's return from a 13-week break at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial in May. Two players tested positive at the U.S. Open, but prior to that, the tour was on a six-week run of no positive cases.

Tony Finau has withdrawn from this week's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open after testing positive for COVID-19.

In a MorningRead.com exclusive, Bradley Klein catches up with Eric Trump, overseer of Trump Golf properties, who says the “golf business has never been better” for the company and predicts their best year ever. Though it may not look that way on tax returns that reportedly show huge losses.

“The portfolio isn’t losing money,” said Trump, referring to the firm’s golf holdings. “You can make an operating profit, and that’s not the same as a tax loss based on depreciation, on legitimate write-offs on a schedule. That’s how real estate works.”

Klein focuses on the loss of tournaments from Trump branded properties, with only the 2022 PGA currently scheduled at Trump Bedminster. This, after Trump properties hosted 30 significant events across multiple tours from 2001 to 2017.

In typically upbeat tones, Eric Trump said he anticipates getting back to holding major events beyond the 2022 PGA, though he did not assign a time frame to the goal.

“When he gets out of politics,” Trump said of his father, “we’ll do a million tournaments.”

Charlotte Thomas will begin a 14-day quarantine after she was in close contact with her caddie, who has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Latin America Amateur Championship, which was scheduled to be played in January 2021 and carries an automatic invite to The Masters and The Open, among other events, has been canceled due to the pandemic.

Noteworthy and unfortunately for multiple reasons, including—I believe—as the first significant 2021 tournament cancelled due to the pandemic. (Here is a list of 2020 events cancelled courtesy of GolfDigest.com’s Ryan Herrington.)

The organization’s previously cancelled the Asia Pacific Amateur scheduled for this fall.

For Immediate Release:

2021 LATIN AMERICA AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP CANCELED DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Future championship plans to be announced at a later date

LIMA, Peru – The 2021 Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC) has been canceled due
to complications presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The LAAC, conducted by the USGA, The R&A and the Masters Tournament, was scheduled to
be played January 14-17, 2021, at Lima Golf Club in Lima, Peru. Future championship plans will
be announced at a later date.

Founded in 2014 by the Masters Tournament, The R&A and the USGA, the LAAC was established to further develop amateur golf in South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The event annually moves to top courses throughout Latin America and showcases the sport’s rising talent in the region.

Notable alumni of the championship include 2018 LAAC champion Joaquin Niemann of Chile,
Sebastian Munoz of Colombia and 2019 champion Alvaro Ortiz of Mexico.

Niemann competed on the 2019 Presidents Cup International team and became the first Chilean to win a PGA Tour event with his victory at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in September 2019. After winning the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship in 2019, Munoz finished in a tie for eighth in the 2020 PGA Tour playoffs. Last year, Ortiz became the first player from Mexico to compete in the Masters since 1979, finishing as the Low Amateur Runner-Up.

The champion of the LAAC receives an invitation to compete in the Masters Tournament, The
Open, The Amateur Championship, the U.S. Amateur Championship and any other USGA
amateur championship for which he is eligible. The champion and runner(s)-up also receive an
exemption into final qualifying for the U.S. Open.