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Golf Channel, Rory McIlroy launch GolfPass. Will you subscribe, GolfWRX Members?

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Today, Golf Channel solicited the help of Rory McIlroy to launch GolfPass. The subscription service will offer customers instructional videos, a bevy of discounts, and one round of golf per month for $9.99 per month or $99/year.

“It’s sort of like, for me, like Golf Channel 2.0,” McIlroy said at the launch press conference. “If you’re going to start a golf business, you probably wouldn’t do a 24-7 TV station or network like what happened 25 years ago.”

The service draws inspiration from Amazon Prime, which, in addition to streaming video, offers free delivery on goods and other benefits. Will McIntosh, Golf Channel’s executive vice president, hopes GolfPass will help hobbyists make the jump from watching golf to playing the game and offer a nice perk for avid golfers.

With respect to playing, more than 7,000 golf courses are available. Not surprisingly, GolfNow, also owned by NBC, is the facilitator of this element of the service. TPC Sawgrass, PGA National, Pasatiempo Golf Club, and Royal Portrush are among the course offerings.

While GolfPass won’t include any live tour events, the service will offer on-demand instruction videos (more than 4,000), including several featuring McIlroy himself. Original features, such as “My Roots: Rory McIlroy,” will also be offered.

Subscribers will also get a dozen TaylorMade balls and assorted discounts on apparel, accessories, and golf resort stays.

“I’m really trying to carry the torch that Arnold lit 25 years ago,” McIlroy said. “I know I have very big shoes to fill and I’m not trying to compare myself in any way to Arnold, but I was able to forge quite a good relationship with Arnold in the later years of his life and I know how much the game meant to him. I think he would be very proud that I’ve taken on this role to try and give golfers a better experience of playing the game and living that golfing lifestyle. I couldn’t imagine my life without golf.”

Rory McIlroy will co-host (along with Carson Daly) a monthly podcast via the service.

GolfPass+, a premium membership, will be offered for $199 per year. The “plus” version will include cancellation protection and waived convenience fees on GolfNow.

McIlroy discussed GolfPass on an appearance on Morning Drive.

So, what do you think, GolfWRX Members, will you be signing up for GolfPass at any of the subscription levels?

Will you subscribe to GolfPass?

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18 Comments

18 Comments

  1. Jim

    Feb 6, 2019 at 12:06 pm

    If it’s associated with GolfNow, I wouldn’t trust this deal! GolfNow is not a good product, too complicated by excessive rules and conditions supported by lousy customer service!

  2. Randy

    Feb 6, 2019 at 11:07 am

    Not happy with Golf Now’s no refund policy. Looked for a Sunday tee time on a Tues. night. The time I selected was then not available so it said search a new time. Instead of staying on Sunday times it sent me back to Wed. (which I didn’t notice until booking a Wed. time). Called the course first thing Wed. am and cancelled. Golf Now gave me a credit only good for Hot Deals after 12 Mon-Thurs. Thanks for nothing! Double bogey service. Will use Tee Off or call. No more Golf Now.

  3. Tom Grady

    Feb 5, 2019 at 5:37 pm

    Lindsey Vonn is c oalburning m udshark. She has betrayed her race dating dirty n iggers.

  4. c

    Feb 5, 2019 at 4:21 pm

    this is weird considering Rory has said he doesnt care about growing the game

  5. Clancy

    Feb 5, 2019 at 3:49 pm

    I’ll hold off to see the list of participating courses.

  6. Tom

    Feb 5, 2019 at 3:42 pm

    Golf Channel’s Morning Drive has become like the “View” a bunch of people with opinions that I don’t care to listen to. Not much substance from GC anymore, they basically went off the air from mid Dec thru early Jan….running old shows and tournaments.

  7. Tmack

    Feb 5, 2019 at 3:12 pm

    As a cord cutter if it included the actual golf channel live golf coverage I would be interested.

    • Scott Francis

      Feb 5, 2019 at 3:31 pm

      Exaclty like someone else menioned if included a Pga Tour live subscription I would but $200? pass on Golfpass.

  8. Mike Knights

    Feb 5, 2019 at 1:50 pm

    I dont understand why tour pros promote going to a website to watch a video to fix your swing when we all know they spend 100’s of hours with their coaches working on their swings. why in the world would you tell and Amateur to go watch a video and they will get better. Ugh!

  9. Gunter Eisenberg

    Feb 5, 2019 at 1:47 pm

    Doesn’t the Golf Channel also own Revolution Golf that offers that same instructional video content?

    • JJ

      Feb 6, 2019 at 11:25 am

      That’s where the 4000 videos will come from

  10. Scott

    Feb 5, 2019 at 12:46 pm

    Is there a place to find out what 7,000 courses are playable with the free round each month, and what restrictions there will be on that? I can’t seem to find that information on the GolfPass website.

  11. Stixman

    Feb 5, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    Sorry, Rory is not the torch-bearer you seem to think he is, he just isn’t, he’ll let you down and send you the memo.

  12. Matt

    Feb 5, 2019 at 11:45 am

    Carson Daly? WTF

  13. Thunder Bear

    Feb 5, 2019 at 11:45 am

    Wait, so for $9.99 per month, I can play TPC Sawgrass or one of their other elite courses once a month? That seems too good to be true even if you have to play on Monday thru Thursday.

    • Simms

      Feb 5, 2019 at 12:44 pm

      Guess again, it will be the same as with all their “Hot Deals” specials..it will be afternoons Monday thru Thursday..and many courses will be exempt..In California you will be playing after 12 in months you cannot finish because of time change. You have to think about the fact also there are only so many “HOT DEALS” after 12 in your area..Hot Deals do not bring any money into the golf course and are only given out by the course to Golf Now for advertising and use of computer scheduling programs….and many course look down on that “HOT DEAL” tee time and treat you like your cheating them…..and notice with the $99 price there is no mention of waved fees or free cancellations that comes at the $199 price….

  14. Joshua

    Feb 5, 2019 at 11:24 am

    The free golf seems enticing into you read the fine print. If I didn’t have a job and could golf Monday thru Thursday afternoons…

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Equipment

Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.

This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.

Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.

The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.

Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.

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Equipment

Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.

Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.

Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.

According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.

He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.

Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

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Equipment

Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

So, with a couple of weeks off following his latest start at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Thomas sought to re-address his driver setup with the remote help of Titleist Tour fitting expert J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. About two weeks ago, Thomas and Van Wezenbeeck reviewed his recent driver stats, and discussed via phone call some possible driver and shaft combinations for him to try.

After receiving Van Wezenbeeck’s personalized shipment of product options while at home, Thomas found significant performance improvements with Titleist’s TSR2 head, equipped with Thomas’ familiar Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft.

Compared to Thomas’ longtime TSR3 model, the TSR2 has a larger footprint and offers slightly higher spin and launch characteristics.

According to Van Wezenbeeck, Thomas has picked up about 2-3 mph of ball speed, to go along with 1.5 degrees higher launch and more predictable mishits.

“I’d say I’d been driving it fine, not driving it great, so I just wanted to, honestly, just test or try some stuff,” Thomas said on Tuesday in an interview with GolfWRX.com at Quail Hollow Club. “I had used that style of head a couple years ago (Thomas used a TSi2 driver around 2021); I know it’s supposed to have a little more spin. Obviously, yeah, I’d love to hit it further, but if I can get a little more spin and have my mishits be a little more consistent, I felt like obviously that’d be better for my driving…

“This (TSR2) has been great. I’ve really, really driven it well the week I’ve used it. Just hitting it more solid, I don’t know if it’s the look of it or what it is, but just a little bit more consistent with the spin numbers. Less knuckle-ball curves. It has been fast. Maybe just a little faster than what I was using. Maybe it could be something with the bigger head, maybe mentally it looks more forgiving.”

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

 

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