Golfing News & Blog Articles

November 2, 2020

Watching the Growth of a Champion

The first time Patrick Parrish, a Monterey Peninsula PGA coach at the Club at Pasadera saw 13-year-old Bryson DeChambeau, he knew there was something special in him. In 2007, Parrish scouted for junior players all over Northern California to fill his NCGA Jr. All Star Team. DeChambeau was one of the junior players Parrish handpicked for the team. The team went on to win multiple tournaments including both 2007 and 2008 Pacific Southwest Cup and the 2008 Canadian Friendship Cup.

Parrish grew up learning under the tutelage of the legendary Ben Doyle who taught the book“The Golfing Machine”. While staying with Parrish, DeChambeau would bombard him with questions about the book and other physics questions. DeChambeau had an extremely inquiring mind at a very early age. It was the beginning of the incredible journey. Parrish tells his story here: 

 

I first met Bryson in the summer of 2007 when I recruited him to be part of my NCGA Junior All-Star Team. He was a skinny 13- year-old with clean good looks that teenage girls giggle over. I had known his father, Jon, through Northern California golf where he had excelled as a player in his own right.

 

Masters favorite Bryson DeChambeau will become the first golfer to wear a logo of a sports betting or fantasy sports company during the tournament as he will wear a DraftKings logo next week at Augusta.

November 2, 2020

NorCal’s Lee, Harigae Get U.S. Women’s Open Exemptions

Stanford alum Andrea Lee and Monterey native Mina Harigae will be teeing it up in the upcoming U.S. Women’s Open.

The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced that 10 players–including Lee and Harigae–have earned exemptions into the 75th U.S. Women’s Open Championship, which will be contested Dec. 10-13 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas. The 156-player field for the championship is composed entirely of exempt players due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The additions to the field have been made using the 2020 official LPGA Tour money list. The spots were earned by the top 10 players, not otherwise exempt, through the Drive On Championship, which ended Oct. 25.

Lee is at No. 37 on the list. Harigae is at No. 40.

Lee will be making her U.S. Women’s Open professional debut, having played in three championships as an amateur. Lee was one of only five amateurs to make the cut in the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston. With only 12 professional events under her belt, she has already recorded two top-10 finishes. Lee won the 2019 Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading women’s player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®, and played on two USA Curtis Cup Teams. Lee also earned a school-record nine collegiate titles while playing at Stanford.

November 2, 2020

Charities benefit from PURE Insurance Championship

The PGA TOUR Champions’ successful return to golf which began in July of this year, included a September stop at Pebble Beach Golf Links for the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting the First Tee. Monterey Peninsula Foundation hosted the three-day, pro-am golf tournament to raise funds for First Tee and many local nonprofit organizations. The broadcast only event exceeded expectations, crowning a Hall-of-Fame champion, Jim Furyk, and surpassing $1.5 million in total charitable awards to nonprofits throughout Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties.

“Golf provides so much for our community, and we are grateful to PURE Insurance, the players, partners, and volunteers who came together to participate in this very unusual year”, said Steve John, Monterey Peninsula Foundation CEO and Tournament Director. “In addition to supporting First Tee, we have been able to make a significant local impact supporting current, critical needs in our area at a time of increased challenges for so many.”

In lieu of hosting a traditional volunteer party after the tournament, volunteers voted to support local food pantries with a charitable donations going out to the Food Bank of Monterey and San Benito Counties along with Second Harvest Food Bank in Santa Cruz. Players showed support of the local area by directing a portion of the amateur entry fee to aid local fire relief and recovery in response to the devastating fires that recently impacted Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. A third critical focus area has been addressing the technological gap that has hampered student learning through the COVID-19 crisis with grants given to Digital Nest, Hartnell College Foundation, Loaves Fishes and Computers, Inc. and Rancho Cielo Inc.

Combined with other emergency-focused grantmaking since March 2020 , Monterey Peninsula Foundation has channeled more than $6.5 million to meet the needs arising from the pandemic and regional Fires.

Wilson Staff D9 Driver – Key Takeaways

Just hit the USGA conforming list this morningLikely replacement for the two-year-old D7Non-adjustable with carbon fiber crown and rear weight

Not that it should come as any surprise, but the new Wilson Staff D9 driver hit the USGA Conforming List this morning.

The D7’s two-year run is just about up, and this looks like Wilson’s update to what proved to be a sneaky-good driver.

We don’t know very much about the Wilson Staff D9 driver, but we’ve been able to glean a little from the USGA listing.

So, let’s take a look.

Intelligent Design

The only view we ever get from the USGA is of the sole, so bear with us.

The Crossknit DPR “Low Am” will be available worldwide in limited quantities on adidas.com and the adidas app beginning Monday, November 9th at the following times:

U.S. – 8 a.m. PT / U.K. – 9 a.m. GMT / Canada – 9 a.m. ET / Japan – 10 a.m. JST / South Korea – 11 a.m. KST

*Available in China on Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. BST

If you cant wait for a new pair of golf shoes, check out adidas Tour 360 XT Spikeless version boasting $75+ dollars off right now!

The post adidas Celebrates Masters Week With The Crossknit DPR “Low Am” Golf Shoe appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

To the casual social media observer, Sub 70 Golf may seem like an overnight sensation.

It isn’t.

It’s been in the works for more than 25 years. And, with the help of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, Sub 70 Golf has become a golf company for the new decade: nimble and consumer focused with a growing legion of cult-like followers.

A quarter of a century is quite the gestation period for an overnight sensation but that’s what makes it a compelling story. To paraphrase the late, great Ted Baxter, Sub 70 Golf started in 1993 in a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh dorm room, an illegal internet connection, and a crazy dream.

And a guy with the testicular fortitude to give it a shot.

I’m feeling a distinct Studio 54 vibe to Bryson DeChambeau’s pre-Masters speed build-up teased not long ago on Instagram. Maybe some strobe lights and a disco mirror ball?

From Steve DiMeglio after he caught up with the U.S. Open champion preparing for next week’s Masters.

As was the day he crashed the 400-yard barrier for the first time. DeChambeau, 27, who topped the PGA Tour in driving distance with an average of 322.1 yards last season, posted on Instagram a picture of his FlightScope X3 launch monitor screen that revealed eye-popping numbers – a ball carry of 403.1 yards and a ball speed of 211 mph. And he did so with a 45-½ inch shaft in his driver, not the 48-inch shaft he’s experimenting with.

“I was speed training, there was a lot of electricity in the air, a lot of music going on. I’m up there for 45 minutes swinging my butt off and the numbers go up and they go down and they go up and they go down,” he said. “And all of a sudden, I swung as hard as I could and caught one really good in the middle of the face.

“I turned around and saw 211 and I just went, ‘Oh, my god.’ I was jumping up and down and then I saw the carry distance over 400 and I went, ‘Oh, my god.’ I was going crazy. That was moving it. It was a bit of a draw but it was really good.”

The Palm Beach Post’s Tom D’Angelo followed up with Jack Nicklaus following last week’s provocative endorsement for President Donald Trump’s re-election. D’Angelo says the idea to make the social media endorsement came from Vice President Mike Pence.

“I’m delighted to do that,” Nicklaus, the North Palm Beach resident, said Friday, speaking about the controversial post for the first time. “I said, ‘You know how I feel about him. He’s been very supportive to everything we’ve ever done. He’s asked for nothing. If I can just on my own do that, I would be happy to do it.’

“And I know it was going to cause me some grief. So, that’s what I did.”

Later in the story, D’Angelo reports Nicklaus’s claim of hospitals attempting to profit by false-reporting COVID-19 deaths, a recent claim of President Trump.

Nicklaus told a story about two people he knows whose parents died from something other than COVID and, according to Nicklaus, they were asked if the cause of death could be changed to COVID and declined.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announced lockdown measures were announced last week and include golf getting a not-so-special shout-out for England.

Outdoor exercise and recreation encouraged and is unlimited - only with your household/bubble, on your own or with one other person from a different household (golf is not allowed)

Sean Ingle and Ewan Murray report that a reprieve may be coming for golf, tennis and swimming.

The possible compromise could come after Johnson has been pressured by England Golf and its chief, Jeremy Tomlinson, to reconsider. A petition has garnered over 250,000 signatures.

In an open letter to “fellow golfers”, Tomlinson took issue with protocols revealed by the prime minister on Saturday. “I would like to make clear England Golf’s intention to respectfully challenge the government’s rationale for closing golf courses. We will do so utilising all in our network – MPs, colleagues, media and friends – to make sure we are heard by government,” he said.

Darren Clarke won the TimberTech Champions on Sunday for his first PGA Tour Champions title, two-putting for birdie on the par-5 18th for a one-stroke victory over Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer.

Brian Gay piled up nine birdies over his last 14 holes, including one extra hole in a sudden-death playoff, en route to his fifth career PGA Tour title Sunday.

England's Callum Shinkwin won his maiden European Tour title in a playoff to win the Cyprus Open on Sunday.

Former Duke star Ana Belac won the Carolina Golf Classic on Saturday at Pinehurst No. 9 for her first Symetra Tour title, wrapping up an LPGA Tour card with the breakthrough victory.

Darren Clarke shot a 10-under 62 and Robert Karlsson a 66 on Saturday to share the lead at 13-under 131 after the second round of the TimberTech Champions event.

Doc Redman managed the wind at the Bermuda Championship on Saturday, giving him a 1-shot lead over Ryan Armour, Wyndham Clark and Kramer Hickok heading into Sunday's final round.

Jamie Donaldson will look to seal his first European Tour title in more than six years after taking a one-stroke lead at the end of the third round of the Cyprus Open on Saturday.

Aljean Harmetz’s NY Times remembrance of Sean Connery (thanks reader Chris for sending):

Like the months that 12-year-old Charles Dickens spent working in a factory that made shoe blacking, Mr. Connery’s deprived childhood informed the rest of his life. When he was 63, he told an interviewer that a bath was still “something special.”

His anger was never far below the surface. What he called his “violent side,” he told The Times, may have been “ammunitioned” by his childhood. The same was true of his odd combination of penury and generosity.

A passionate golfer — he discovered the game about the same time he discovered James Bond — he was the only player at the Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles who carried his own bag.

Other stories, including one from Jim Nantz (embedded below), indicate he was a lifelong walker/carrier even where caddies were required.

While Ryan Armour and Wyndham Clark hold the lead at the Bermuda Championship, 64-year-old Fred Funk stole the spotlight Friday by shooting a 72 to make the cut.