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Morning 9: WGC-HSBC Champions canceled | Feinstein: How to put the “playoffs” in the FedEx Cup Playoffs | Molinari: I’m not burnt out | What is GolfWRX BST?

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4 years ago

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1. HSBC Champions canceled 
AP report…”The International Federation of PGA Tours on Wednesday canceled the HSBC Champions World Golf Championships event in China.”
  • “The tournament was scheduled for Oct. 29-Nov. 1 at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai. The Chinese government announced in July that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country would not host international sports events for the rest of 2020.”
  • “We have worked extensively with all tours, international officials, the China Golf Association and other local parties to find a solution to host the WGC-HSBC Champions,” Ty Votaw, PGA Tour executive vice president, international, said in a statement. “In line with Chinese government guidelines and being mindful of the logistical implications, we collectively made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 event.”
2. Feinstein: How to make the Playoffs a playoff
Leave it to John Feinstein to offer guidance as to how to put the “playoff” in the FedEx Cup Playoffs…
…”increase the payoff for regular-season performance, and then start everyone at zero for the three-tournament playoff series You can use the current formula going from 125 players to 70 to 30 in each successive event, or you can give more players the chance to play the first week, say 150 (it was 144 the first year of playoffs) and then drop to 100 and, finally, send 64 players to Atlanta. This gives the TV guys the chance to warble about guys on the bubble both weeks, and it makes it less likely that stars will be cut before the final weekend.”
…”Play 36 holes of stroke play and let the top 16 advance to match-play bracket. If there are ties for the final spot or spots, play off. That creates real drama early in the week. Then, have four matches on Sunday afternoon: the two finalists for the title, the two losing semifinalists playing for third place, and the four quarterfinalists playing for fifth and seventh. Make the money difference from third down at least $1 million. Plenty of drama there. Championship match goes off last so, barring a rout, it’s the last one to finish.”
…”If you can’t convince the networks to go for match play, then you go back to stroke play and pick the number you feel best about sending to Atlanta. But everyone starts at zero when you get there. The first two tournaments are strictly about qualifying. No one starts with a lead, Sands can retire his white board for good and there’s just one winner.”
3. Molinari cites moving, not burnout 
ESPN’s Bob Harig…”the Italian star, who won The Open in 2018 and was the 54-hole leader at the 2019 Masters won by Tiger Woods, said Tuesday that he is not injured, nor are there any burnout issues keeping him from playing.”
  • “In a series of tweets written in Italian, Molinari, 37, said it was more about a family move to California that has kept him away.”
  • “I see a lot of questions,” he wrote. “I didn’t hang up the bag. I took a break to manage a life change with my family. I have no physical problems. I don’t feel burned out, but only time will tell.”
  • “It will be hard to get back to the levels of 2018, no doubt; it wasn’t easy the first time. I am the only one who has not returned. I am well aware of it, but it is not the first time that I have made different or unpopular choices (see Rio 2016).”
4. Rahmbo stops by Winged Foot 
Only 23-25 minutes with reasonable traffic, 23-25 hours at rush hour, away from me!
Josh Thomson of The Journal News…”As Jon Rahm strode off the 18th green Tuesday afternoon at Winged Foot, what appeared to be a handful of members and workers were gathered along the gravel path to the clubhouse. A few filmed the scene on their cellphones and one called out a word of encouragement, telling Rahm that he hoped to watch the world’s No. 2-ranked player sink a putt on the final green later this month.”
  • “Rahm grinned….”I hope I don’t need to,” he said.”
  • “Rahm visited the notoriously tough West Course Tuesday to prepare for the U.S. Open, which will be played at Winged Foot Golf Club on Sept. 17-20.”
5. How the 2020-2021 PGA Tour schedule is stacking up
Golfwek’s JuliaKate Culpepper…“Less than one week after the Tour Championship at East Lake wraps, the 2020-21 season kicks off with Safeway Open at Silverado Resort and Spa North in Napa, California, Sept. 10-13.”
  • “Notable changes to the 2020-21 schedule include last season’s Masters Tournament (Nov. 12-15) and U.S. Open (Sept. 17-20) being moved to the new season’s schedule and the removal of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier after 10 years. With the Masters and the U.S. Open officially a part of the 2020-21 season, there will be six majors during that campaign.”
  • “The Zozo Championship has also moved from Japan to California to become part of a three-event West Coast swing.”
6. Adler on Winged Foot in general, its pratice range in particular
Max Adler at Golf Digest…”First-timers to Winged Foot Golf Club are often surprised to find the practice range is what it is: a single strip of artificial turf with a net towering on an angle above a row of pine trees some 200 yards away, a sign displaying a stern warning of disciplinary action should one hit over it. Up to this point in the experience-the winding entrance past imperial iron gates, a gracious greeting from the busy caddiemaster, the cool smell of history wafting from the metal lockers-every element befits what might be the greatest collection of 36 holes in one place. And so the warm-up strikes some as discordant.”
“…The Golden Age refers generally to courses built from 1910-’39, though this period coincided with the Stone Age of practice facilities. A good place to hit balls was simply not a priority then, and masterful layouts with “afterthought” ranges are a mark of A.W. Tillinghast, who built both of Winged Foot’s courses in 1923. Today, the West is No. 11 on Golf Digest’s list of America’s 100 Greatest Courses, and the East is 52nd. Quaker Ridge Golf Club, Tilly’s design across the street, is No. 71 and has no range. For big events, you hit balls down the 17th fairway, where they’re quickly gathered before the first group comes through. Tilly’s Baltusrol Golf Club, part of any discussion for greatest collection with its Lower and Upper courses ranked 41st and 61st, creates a range when major championships stop in.”
7. Zac Blair’s Buck Club golf course finally going ahead? 
Adam Lawrence for Golf Course Architecture…“PGA Tour player Zac Blair’s long-held ambition to create his own golf course, to be known as the Buck Club, has moved a step closer after he closed a deal to acquire a site for the course, outside the city of Aiken in South Carolina.”
  • “Blair will co-design the course with design firm King-Collins, who will also supervise construction. The 407-acre property, described by architect Rob Collins as “sandy, rolling terrain and in the ‘don’t mess it up’ category” is an existing tree farm.”
  • “When Zac and I first toured the property, the names he and I were thinking about were Pine Valley, Morfontaine and Pinehurst No. 2,” said Collins. “Given its current usage, the course will have trees on it, but we’ll clear out under the trees and we’ll have very natural transitions from fairway to unmaintained ground.”
8. Vinsanity at the Tour Championship? 
PGATour.com staff report…“TOUR Championship officials and the PGA TOUR announced today the creation of the ‘Golf With A Purpose’ Charity Challenge, a televised nine-hole charity exhibition to benefit the East Lake Foundation and the TOUR Championship’s other charitable beneficiaries.”
  • “The match, which will be played in a scramble format, will take place Thursday, Sept. 3, on the back nine at historic East Lake Golf Club on the eve of the TOUR Championship. Newly retired NBA legend and recent member of the Atlanta Hawks Vince Carter will team with four-time PGA TOUR winner Ryan Palmer, while former Pittsburgh Steelers running back, NFL Hall of Fame member and Super Bowl XL champion Jerome Bettis will join forces with 2020 Payne Stewart Award recipient, East Lake Golf Club course record-holder and 12-time PGA TOUR winner Zach Johnson.”

Full piece.

9. GolfWRX BST (Buy-Sell-Trade)/Classifieds
If you’re unfamiliar, in addition to offering a “forum” for your opinions and the perspectives of the most plugged-in folks/golf equipment degenerates, the GolfWRX forums are a place to buy, sell, and trade your golf wares.
  • In the spirit of introducing our BST to a larger audience, I’ll occasionally be including some of what you can find there.
Member Arnoldc22 – Mizuno MP-32 iron set…The Mizuno MP32’s are still one of the most loved sets of irons ever made by the popular Japanese, and finding them in good shape continues to get harder and harder. Here’s your chance to scoop one of those good sets up.

Member mpstein – Miura CB-57 set heads only...If you have golf shafts, we have club heads! This is a 4-PW set of Miura CB-57 irons in fantastic shape and ready to be built. Plus if you check out the listing you might find a few more goodies.

 

 
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Equipment

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

Published

5 hours ago

on

May 9, 2024

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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

Published

1 day ago

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May 8, 2024

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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

Published

1 day ago

on

May 8, 2024

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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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