Golfing News & Blog Articles

Tiger Woods' 2019 Masters title came 11 years after his last major win. He's not the only elite athlete to have a long wait between championships.

Welcome back to another edition of #AskMyGolfSpy where readers like you submit your top questions to our experts here at MGS. You can pass along your questions to the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or right here in the comments section below!

If the USGA and R&A have a set of testing protocols for drivers to be conforming (distance) and a majority of drivers meet those protocols, why would I buy a new 2024 driver? – @SlowMoSwing

You should only buy a new driver in 2024 if it’s measurably better than what you have now, although I will accept “because I wanted to” as a valid reason for buying a new club.

For all intents and purposes, USGA regulations are limited to volume, length, moment of inertia (MOI) and Characteristic of Time (CT). 

As we’ve discussed, there’s some wiggle room between CT and the old COR limit that does allow drivers to get slightly faster. Off-center performance continues to improve with each new release and, while the benefits are largely limited to faster players, there’s no cap on aerodynamic efficiency. 

Titleist has introduced their 2023 lineup of golf stand bags. The new Players StaDry 4, Players 4 and Players 5 were designed with a focus on functionality. The goal? Make your walk more enjoyable.

Release Details

Available now at golf retail shops and online Players 4 StaDry, Players 4 and Players 5Retail of $295 for Players 4 StaDry, $265 for Players 4 & 5, respectively

What’s New for 2023?

Titleist Players 4 StaDry

The 2023 Titleist Players 4 StaDry golf stand bag features waterproof construction without sacrificing function. The Players 4 StaDry features plentiful storage, including a full-length apparel pocket. It weighs just under four pounds. Lightweight design is a key feature for any good golf stand bag.

Waterproof construction, including seam-sealed zippersSix pockets and dual carry strapsFour-way club dividerFull-length apparel pocket and external drink sleeve

Titleist Players 4

The 2023 Titleist Players 4 golf stand bag features premium materials and lightweight construction to make your walk more enjoyable. Between the dual carry strap and ample storage, the new Players 4 should be a suitable carry companion.

Four-way club dividerFull-length apparel pocket and external drink sleeveHigh-grade aluminum legsYKK zippers

Titleist Players 5

The Titleist Players 5 golf stand bag is the biggest and most robust of the new 2023 collection of Titleist stand bags. It features a five-way club divider for better organization and even more storage for the golfer who needs an a few extra balls (or boxes).

Dual carry strapSeven storage pocketsFive-way club dividerVelcro glove patches

Give It To Me Straight

Let’s be real. The upgrades to the Titleist lineup of golf stand bags are marginal. Similar to the upgrades in clubs, you aren’t going to see an insane jump in performance. That said, if there’s anyone who understands the benefits of premium zippers and well-thought-out pockets, it’s me.

Natthakritta Vongtaveelap shot a 2-under 70 to hold onto a share of the lead at Hoakalei Country Club, while Frida Kinhult shot a 76 to fall six shots back.

Viktor Hovland's round of 7-under 64 at the rain-delayed RBC Heritage on Thursday gave him a first-round lead for a second straight week while Masters champion Jon Rahm was eight shots behind.

Cobra Limited Edition 50th Anniversary AEROJET Drivers – Key Takeaways

·       Special AEROJET and AEROJET LS models to celebrate COBRA’s 50th anniversary.

·       Black and gold color scheme with 50th anniversary graphics and head cover

·       $599 each, available starting today

The new COBRA Limited Edition 50th Anniversary AEROJET drivers couldn’t come at a better time. Not only do these new drivers celebrate COBRA’s first half-century as a corporate entity but they also break the Special/Limited Edition release gap that’s lasted all of 22 days.

Sure, it’s black paint and gold accents on regular AEROJET drivers. But c’mon, 50 years in business is worthy of celebration. And if you’re a COBRA fan, it just might be a collectible you just might want to, uhhh, collect.

Well, we thought this might happen.

The new PXG 0317 CB is here but it’s more than just PXG’s latest iron release.

It likely marks the end of the “0311 T” model which combined a thin-face architecture with player-preferred aesthetics (less offset, thin topline, compact footprint).  But what the PXG 0317 CB seems to suggest is that the 0311 T wasn’t the ideal fit for the target golfer.

So let’s collectively pour one out for arguably the second most famous Model T.

That’s a reach. But, whatever.

2023's big winners, losers and somewhere in-betweens from another memorable week in Augusta.

The Quadrilateral’s traditional post-Masters roundup of the week.

Natthakritta Vongtaveelap and Frida Kinhult each shot a 6-under 66 to share the first-round lead Wednesday in the LPGA Tour's LOTTE Championship.

New Masters champion Jon Rahm is back in action at RBC Heritage this week, but he's not the only one. Here's everything to look forward to in the PGA, LPGA and LIV.

Watching The Masters is a great opportunity to learn from the MASTERS of GOLF. Augusta put the leading golfers from throughout the world to the ultimate test. Unfortunately, the TV coverage is focused mainly on the leaders’ performance on each day of the tournament. On the Sunday coverage we saw Jon Rahm at his best, Brooks Koepka struggling and Phil Mickelson (with very little TV coverage) plodding along to end up tied with Brooks for second place. You can definitely learn from these master golfers.

They all get into the same problems as we do but they often recovered with intelligent shots.

Attitude: Jon Rahm started his final day 4 shots behind Brooks Koepka and finished the day 4 shots ahead. He placed most of his drives in the fairway and kept his cool when he made poor chips or putts. His patience paid off. After making up 2 strokes on the first hole played on Sunday he reminded his caddy that he had a lot of holes ahead of them.

Luck (“Rub of the Green”): Jon was 4 strokes ahead on the final hole when he duck-hooked his tee shot into the trees. The TV camera followed his shot deep into the forest, but his ball landed short and in the middle of the fairway. He parred the hole.

Cool Head: Brooks Koepka lost his lead with a few weak chips and a number of errant tee shots in spite of some miraculous golf shots. On the tee shot to start his 4th round he landed about 75 yards offline in the next fairway but his recovery shot to the green allowed him to make par. On the 10th hole dogleg left, he hit the dreaded straight shot behind a pine tree. He avoided a risky shot under that tree and hit safely to the fairway. That was followed by a perfect shot to the green and a putt for par.

Controlling Emotions in Golf with Self Awareness or “Mindfulness” 

“Being your best means creating a space between stimulus and response, and in that space you have the freedom and power to choose a response that is in alignment with your values and goals.” – George Mumford

Part of doing the “Inner Work” for golf is reflecting on your rounds and identifying the events that can trigger the thoughts, feelings and emotions which hold you back. Once you’ve done this, you will know what to look out for on the course. Noticing your thoughts, feelings and emotions will help in your controlling emotions in golf, rather than them controlling you.

The key word in the previous sentence is “noticing” and this is what Self Awareness or “Mindfulness” is all about.

To illustrate this, let’s take look at the behaviour cycle:

As you can see above, emotions, thoughts and behaviors are all connected in a loop. Without noticing, the loop just continues, i.e., emotions create feelings, which trigger thoughts, which increases the potency of emotions which changes our mood and “performance state”. Remember that one of the main goals of improving your mental game of golf is being able to upwardly maneuver between performance states. The first step in this process is mindfulness. This is an especially valuable skill in golf. In most other sports, the game happens faster so there’s less time to be influenced by your emotions and thinking (engagement in the game keeps your mind focused on the present). But in golf, for most of the time you’re “playing”, you’re in between shots with plenty of time to let your emotions and thoughts around them interfere and affect how you play.

Here are some of the career highlights of John Daly:

• Winner of the 1991 PGA Championship: Daly won his first major championship at the age of 25, becoming the youngest PGA champion since 1921.

• Winner of the 1995 Open Championship: Daly won his second major championship at the Open Championship, beating Constantino Rocca in a playoff.

• 5 career PGA Tour wins: In addition to his two major championships, Daly won three other PGA Tour events: the 1990 PGA Tour Championship, the 1992 B.C. Open, and the 2004 Buick Invitational.

• 2 European Tour wins: Daly also won two events on the European Tour, the 2001 BMW International Open and the 2001 WGC-American Express Championship.

The PGA Tour has released its 2023 fall schedule, which features seven official events with over $56 million in prize money up for grabs.

Customization and personalization are a trend, not just in golf, but pretty much everywhere. The desire to have it your way (regardless of what it is) is the reason TaylorMade is launching MySymbol – a golf ball personalization program for its TP5 and TP5x golf balls.

Golf Ball Customization Today

Fun fact: Roughly 15 percent of the golf ball market falls in the category of souvenirs, novelties and corporate gifts. That covers anything from a logoed golf ball at the resort course you just paid way too much money to play (looking at you, Andy and TPC Sawgrass) or the buckets of logoed balls that litter the high grass and tree lines after every large tournament at your local course.

A good bit of the rest of the custom side of the ball business is your custom player number stuff. Too cool for 1-4? If you’re willing to pay a bit more, most ball manufacturers will print a custom player number for you.

I see you, Mr. 47.

That’s fine, I guess, but with its MySymbol Golf Ball program, TaylorMade hopes to take golf ball personalization to the next level.

Despite an Easter Sunday finish and Saturday's mess, the 2023 Masters scores impressive ratings. Plus, a notes on CBS's added production touches.

Jon Rahm's chase down of Brooks Koepka at the Masters delivered the tournament's highest final-round rating in five years.

There is a lot of cool gear in the golf world that doesn’t always fit into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised.

What We Tried

PUMA Ignite Elevate Wide Spikeless Golf Shoe

Your Thick Kick Tester

Dave Wolfe– Though I mainly talk about putters, I also have feet so wide that ducks hide theirs in shame.

We Tried It: Puma Ingite Elevate Wide Golf Shoes

The Wide Golf Shoe Search Continues

Welcome back to Dave’s Fat Foot Follies, my ongoing series exploring the available golf shoes for the thick of kick. Last time, we took a look at the adidas S2G Wide BOA Spikeless golf shoes. Since that review, the adidas S2G Wide BOA has continued to perform well, even through the nasty winter we had here in NorCal this year.

This time, I’ll be taking a look at another spikeless shoe, the PUMA Ignite Elevate Wide spikeless golf shoe. 

Everybody stay calm! It’s finally happening.

Today adidas announced Ultraboost Golf, the first golf variant of the ever-popular adidas Ultraboost. Based on the original 2015 design, the all-new adidas Ultraboost Golf shoes feature the same comfortable technology that made the OG a fan-favorite silhouette.

Release Details

Three distinct styles including two limited-edition colorwaysSpecial silver/olive colorway available to adiclub members on April 13General release at adidas.com and limited retailers on April 21Golf-specific updates to Ultraboost model include rubber lugs, reinforced PRIMEKNIT upper with hydrophobic yarn and anti-slip sockliner.Retail $200

OG with a Twist

What makes the Ultraboost Golf different from its casual counterparts? At first glance, it’s clear adidas wanted to keep the DNA of the Ultraboost largely the same. And why not? The Ultraboost is one of the most successful shoes of this decade, after all.

I, for one, love that the shoe is instantly recognizable as an Ultraboost. Between that and the nod to the OG design with the release of the iconic black/purple colorway, there’s no doubt this pair will excite even the most hardcore Ultraboost fans.

“At the heart of Ultraboost is a silhouette that perfectly blends high performance with streetwear fashion and that’s something we wanted to bring to the course,” said Masun Denison, Director of Global Footwear, adidas Golf. “Even though it’s been around for less than a decade, it’s such an icon within the brand, so we took our time to only add pieces that would benefit golfers while still keeping the DNA that make this shoe so great.”

You’ve heard about them, maybe even seen them. Everyday products are being hyped in your Twitter and Instagram feeds. They’re sometimes endorsed by pros, celebrities and influencers alike. But do they live up to the hype? We take a closer look.

Jordan Golf Shoes: What’s Feeding the Beast?

Between Tony Finau, Nelly Korda, Justin Rose and Keegan Bradley, Jordan golf shoes are becoming more mainstream on the pro tours. There’s no denying their popularity among the amateur ranks as well. I can hardly walk onto a golf course or scroll my social feeds without the iconic Jumpman logo staring into my “sole.”

Nothing fits the definition of “hype” quite like an Air Jordan golf shoe. Think of hype like an engine. In this scenario, Jordan golf shoes are the fuel. Influencers, celebrities and professionals are pumping the accelerator.

With no brake lights in sight, it’s fair to ask: Will the Jordan golf shoe hype ever stop?  If I were a betting man, I’d have a hard time picking against MJ and his squad. The Jordan brand has the formula down and, thus, the hype machine keeps on turning.

So, do Jordan golf shoes live up to the immense hype?