Molinari said his data-driven approach has helped him most with strategy – more specifically, it has opened his eyes to use his driver more often off the tee.

“Strategy is a big thing,” Molinari said. “I think off the tee especially, I’m a good driver of the ball, and once I started looking at the numbers a bit more in-depth, I realized I could hit driver a lot more often than I used to. So I would say, these days, I hit driver a lot more than other players simply because, A) I’m more accurate than average and, B) I’m a little bit shorter than average. Especially on shorter holes, I try and push it up a bit more, as much as I can, and I feel like I’ve been gaining shots in that area for sure.”

On that note, Molinari recently switched into Titleist’s new GT3 8-degree driver, which he said provides more consistent spin rates and roughly 5 to 6 more yards of distance compared to his previous driver.

On the lower end of his setup, Molinari uses four wedges (PW, 52, 56 and 60 degrees) – a decision that was solidified by the proof he found in the data.

“Looking at the numbers, I realized that I could gain a lot more with the wedges … if I didn’t have a 3-iron,” Molinari said. “So I basically have a bit of a bigger gap between my 4-iron and the hybrid. But the thing is, once you’re that far away from the green, all you’re trying to do is just trying to hit the green. So I don’t need a perfect number there, but I’m happier to have some more options around the greens, and especially from shots in the 75- to 125-yard range.”

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.

We have plenty of galleries from Truckee, California, assembled for your viewing pleasure, so let’s get to it.

General Albums

• 2024 Barracuda Championship – Monday #1
• 2024 Barracuda Championship – Tuesday #1

WITB Albums

• Barclay Brown – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Ryan Brehm – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Marcel Schneider – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Pat Steffes – NorCal PGA Section Match Play Champ – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Mitchell Schow – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Ricardo Gouveia – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Todd Clements – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Gunner Wiebe – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Oliver Wilson – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Louis De Jager – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Mats Ege – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Andrew “Beef” Johnston – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Mike Lorenzo-Vera – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Jeong Weon Ko – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Alex Fitzpatrick – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Manuel Elivra – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Ian Gilligan – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Fabrizio Zanotti – WITB – 2024 Barracuda Championship

Pullout Albums

• TaylorMade putter covers – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Kevin Dougherty’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Camilo Villegas’ custom Cameron putter – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Cameron putters – 2024 Barracuda Championship
• Oliver Wilson’s 1 off Odyssey putter – 2024 Barracuda Championship

See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

To say that the drama was real is an understatement. Eagles and birdies won two tournaments on the final hole, and one event finished with a five-golfer playoff that lasted three holes and 36 shots. The one competition that concluded with a four-shot win was tame by comparison. It’s mid-season and it’s total tour golf. Time for another Tour Rundown.

LPGA @ Evian Championship: Furious Finish from Furue

Ayaka Furue made a run at the past two US Open championships, finishing T6 at both tournaments. She made an even bigger run at the fourth LPGA major championship of 2024, the Evian. Furue held the lead after two rounds, only to find herself one behind Stephanie Kyriacou through the end of day three. The top pair did mighty battle on day four, with Kyriacou closing with 67 to reach 18 under par. Her finish included three birdies over the final four holes, marred only by a bogey at the penultimate green.

Unfortunately for Kyriacou, Furue made a trio of birdies of her own down the stretch, made a par at 17, then closed with a thunderous eagle at the last, to win the title by one slim stroke. The win was Furue’s second on the LPGA circuit, coming nearly two years after her inaugural win, at the 2022 Scottish Open. For Kyriacou, the Evian was a painful step closer to her first LPGA win. The solo second represents her first top-five finish on the tour.

An incredible eagle finish for @kodebuchanayaka to win her first major at @EvianChamp ? pic.twitter.com/gNZ5BhFM07

— LPGA (@LPGA) July 14, 2024

DP World Tour/PGA Tour @ Scottish Open: Mighty Mac wins Scottish for country

Adam Scott appeared to have his hands around a comeback victory at the Rennaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland. The Australian held the lead in the closing moments, but Robert MacIntyre came from nearly nowhere, to bring victory to his countrymen.

Scott teed off in the penultimate pairing, with American Collin Morikawa, and posted 67 to reach 17 under par. The final duo contained MacIntyre, who electrified the assemblage with a 16th-hole eagle, surging into a tie with Scott. On the 18th hole, the same one that Rory McIlroy birdied last year for victory, MacIntyre ripped driver into the right rough, then ripped his approach to 22 feet. With nothing but homeland glory on the line, the lefty dropped his putt for three and a one-shot win over Scott. In the space of two months, MacIntyre has climbed from the ranks of decent tour players to proven winners. He certainly emerges as one of the favorites for this week’s Open Championship at Royal Troon.

What a shot @robert1lefty!! ???????

After a lucky break, MacIntyre joins the lead after an eagle on the 16th.#GenesisScottishOpen | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/jBRJS6mAdA

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 14, 2024

Korn Ferry Tour @ The Ascendant: Del Solar is no longer “just” Mr. 57

Cristobal Del Solar is a mighty talent from the world’s thinnest country. The Chilean was known best for his four PGA Tour Americas titles, and the 57 that he shot in February of 2024, at the Colombian stop on the Korn Ferry Tour. After a 22-under-par performance at TPC Colorado this week, Del Solar now adds another line to his Wikipedia entry: tour champion. Del Solar outpaced runners-up Brian Campbell and Matthew Riedel by four shots, to win for the first time on the KFT.

Del Solar had just four bogeys on the week in the elite air of the Rocky Mountains. He nearly matched that number with eagles, including two on the closing day. The champion reached the 646-yard fifth in two mighty strokes, then holed a 33-foot putt for the rare bird. He followed that master sequence with another, at the 585-yard 15th. Despite the watery beckons on the right, Del Solar again reached the putting surface in two, then sent a 40-foot effort to the bottom of the tin. He added birdies at 16 and 18, turning a compelling finish into a runaway victory.

Cristobal Del Solar is back on top??

A 39-foot eagle gives him a two-stroke lead @AscendantGolf. pic.twitter.com/LsJa0htlMB

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) July 14, 2024

PGA Tour Champions @ Kaulig: With no Bert in sight, Ernie takes care of business

Since he turned 50 in 2020, Theodore Ernie Els had finished inside the top ten in 12 senior major events. Until Sunday the 14th of July, he had not hoisted a single, senior major trophy. That all ended when he outlasted a field at the Kaulig (nee Senior Players) Championship at Firestone. Els was pitted in a duel with perennial finisher Steve Stricker, until the Wisconsin stalwart went bogey-triple at the 14th and 15th holes on day four. The path to the top was cleared a bit for Els, but then Y.E. Yang arrived on the scene. The 2009 PGA Champion reached 10-under on the week at the 69th hole, but bogeyed number 72 to finish at nine deep.

Els appeared to not want the title that much when he made bogey at the par-five 16th hole, falling to minus ten. He dug deep himself, however, and managed a pair of pars to hold off Yang by one shot. Jerry Kelly finished third on minus-seven, while Stricker and K.J. Choi finished T4 at six under par.

A perfect drive on 18 from @TheBig_Easy ?

Ernie Els needs a par to secure the win @KauligChamp. pic.twitter.com/KuFFgTz6nR

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) July 14, 2024

PGA Tour @ ISCO: Hall (no Oates) emerges from crowd with win

No true fan of golf considers the Open Championship to be THE event of July. It’s tournaments like the ISCO, where the grinders and journeymen find salvation, security, glory, and truth, that define the essence of professional sport. Once again on Sunday, the fairway fighters of men’s professional golf took to the corridors of Keene Trace to find the magic that extends careers, defines them, and encourages their inauguration.

Harry Hall is a 26-year-old competitor from England. Before he could consider the football match between his home country and Spain, the UNLV alumnus had other business to sort. Hall found himself in second place after 54 holes, one shot out of the lead. Trouble was, a number of other, hungry golfers also posed a challenge. Among them were leader Pierceson Coody, golfer-turned-architect-turned-golfer Zac Blair, Rico Hoey, and Matt NeSmith. Four golfers would reach 20-under par, but that labor would earn them but a four-way tie for sixth.

The aforementioned quintet, with Sunday numbers like 69, 64, 64, 69, and 70, would meet at the crossroads of 22-under and tied for first. Hoey and NeSmith each made bogey at the last, to fall to that status, while Coody and Blair made closing birdies to rise up. Only Hall made par at the final, regulation green. Three holes later, he would also stand alone. Bogeys at the 18th in overtime meant a farewell cap tip for Hoey and Blair. After the surviving triumvirate again made pars during round two at the watery closer, the playoff shifted to the par-three ninth. Both Coody and NeSmith missed the green left, then pitched within ten feet for par. They never had a chance to hit their putts.

With all the improbability that a 45-feet chip brings, Hall found landing spot, line, and pace, then merged the three for the perfect stroke. He drained the recovery shot for a deuce and a first PGA Tour victory. On to Royal Troon!

One of the shots of the year! ?
@HarryHall just chipped in for his first career PGA TOUR win @ISCOChamp! pic.twitter.com/B8PpxmYGbh

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 15, 2024

3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 X

• Check out more in-hand photos of Robert MacIntyre’s clubs here.

Hybrid: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Rescue (19 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 105 X

Irons: Titleist 620 CB (4-9) Buy here.
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

• Check out more in-hand photos of Robert MacIntyre’s clubs here.

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F) Buy here, SM9 (50-08F, 56-10S) Buy here, WedgeWorks (60-08K) Buy here.
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 Onyx (46, 50), Dynamic Gold S400 Onyx (56, 60)

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Buy here.
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol

• Check out more in-hand photos of Robert MacIntyre’s clubs here.

Ball: Titleist Pro V1 Buy here.

Grips: Golf Pride Z-Grip Cord (woods, wedges), Grip Master (irons)

Check out more in-hand photos of Robert MacIntyre’s clubs here.

The winning WITB is presented by 2nd Swing Golf. 2nd Swing has more than 100,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.

The bedrock of GolfWRX.com is the community of passionate and knowledgable golfers in our forums, and we put endless trust in the opinions of our GolfWRX members — the most knowledgeable community of golfers on the internet. No other group of golfers in the world tests golf clubs as frequently or as extensively or is armed with such in-depth information about the latest technology and gear.

On that note, we just launched our 2024 GolfWRX Members Choice awards, and the polls are now open, so head over to the forums to make your voice heard.

Please vote in the Members Choice categories below!

• Best driver 2024
• Best fairway wood 2024
• Best hybrid 2024
• Best irons 2024
• Best wedge 2024
• Best blade putter 2024
• Best mallet putter 2024
• Best tour golf ball 2024
• Best graphite wood shaft 2024

With The Open teeing off less than a week from now, we wanted to highlight some of The Open Championship’s finest links courses that should play when you make the journey to golf’s homeland:

• Old Course at St. Andrews 
• Carnoustie 
• Muirfield 
• Royal Portrush 
• Royal Troon 
• Royal Birkdale 
• Royal St George’s 

Old Course at St. Andrews 

Do we even need to say anything else? The “Home of Golf”, host of 30 Open Championships, the most coveted tee time in the WORLD, there are a million reasons to have St. Andrews on your links golf bucket list. From the double greens, to the tee shot over the Old Course Hotel, to the walk up 18th fairway with the town buildings framing a picturesque scene (especially at dusk), every golfer should make the voyage to St Andrews at least once in their life.

Carnoustie 

Carnoustie – Championship Course

Roughly 25 miles north of St. Andrews lies the devious links of Carnoustie, often recognized by the large white Carnoustie Golf Hotel as the backdrop of the 18th green. While the course has only hosted The Open 8 times, it is considered to be one of the hardest layouts in The Open rota (just ask Jean Van de Velde) although not that long, playing just under 7000 yards from the tips. 

Muirfield 

Located right next to this week’s host of Scottish Open (The Renaissance Club), this fantastic links layout has hosted the prestigious Championship 16 times since 1892. The narrow fairways and penal rough requires precise shots off the tee while avoiding the devious pot bunkers is a must. The course is set away from the coastline so you won’t get the sweeping ocean views, but a round at Muirfield is one the premier tee times in all of Scotland (so make sure you book early – 12-18 months at least).

Royal Portrush 

A view of the new 572 yards par 5, seventh hole designed by Martin Ebert on the Dunluce Course at Royal Portrush Golf Club the host club for the 2019 Open Championship in Portrush, Northern Ireland. © 2018 Rob Durston

Our next stop brings us across the Irish Sea to the northern coast of Northern Ireland and the popular Royal Portrush. Having hosted The Open only twice in its illustrious history, Royal Portrush is a golfer’s dream with 36 holes of pure links golf set against a gorgeous backdrop of the ocean and cliffs. The Open Championship will return to Portrush in 2025 and YOU CAN BE THERE to watch it all in person! 

Royal Troon 

TROON – JULY 26: General view of the ‘Postage Stamp’ par 3, 8th hole taken during a photoshoot held on July 26, 2003 at the Royal Troon Golf Club, venue for the 2004 Open Championships, in Troon, Scotland. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

The host of this year’s Open Championship, Royal Troon is home to one of the best par-3 holes in all of golf, “The Postage Stamp.” A downhill 125-yard tee shot to a minuscule green surrounded by bunkers on all sides makes it one of the more challenging holes. Another hole that adds to the challenge is the 601-yard par 5 that used to be the longest golf hole in Open Championship history. This year will be the 10th Open Championship held at Royal Troon, the first since 2016 when Mickelson and Stenson had a battle for the ages in the final round.

Royal Birkdale 

For the next course on the list, we have to head down to the northwest coast of England just outside of Liverpool. Consistently ranked in the Top 10 courses in all the UK, this 10-time host of The Open has hosted many other prestigious events such as Ryder Cups, Women’s Opens, and more! The course is laid out with fairways running through flat-bottomed valleys surrounded by high dunes which provide many blind shots throughout the course. The Open returns to Royal Birkdale in 2026 so it won’t be long before it is back in the spotlight.

Royal St. George’s 

For the final course on our list, we are staying in England, but heading across to the southeastern side of the country to Kent. Royal St. George’s is 4th on the list of most Open Championships hosted with 15 (1 behind Muirfield) the most recent being Collin Morikawa’s victory in 2021. RSG is the only active course on The Open rota in this part of the UK, but two former hosts (Prince’s and Royal Cinque Ports) are within 3 miles of the property. The expansive course is laid out with holes separated by dunes with heavy rough, undulating fairways, and deep pot bunkers to challenge your game. While it may not be mentioned in the discussions of St. Andrews, Carnoustie, and the like, Royal St. George’s is still a Championship layout that is worth the trip across the pond.

With these big-name courses in such high demand, it is important to note that if you want to play them, you need to start planning your trip early. Golfbreaks by PGA TOUR, the world’s #1 rated golf tour operator, suggests planning and booking your trip at least 12-18 months in advance in order to secure a tee time at the courses you want. The UK & Ireland specialists at Golfbreaks by PGA TOUR have the knowledge to help tailor the perfect golf trip for your group so you can play big-name courses and hidden gems you might not have heard of. If you’re ready to start planning your bucket list trip across the pond, make life easier and go with Golfbreaks by PGA TOUR.

Editor’s note: This article is presented in partnership with Golfbreaks. When you make a purchase through links in this article, GolfWRX may earn an affiliate commission.

WITBs and custom putters are here for the viewing, including some very cool looks into the bags of some players whose setups we haven’t had the pleasure of shooting so far in 2024.

Check out all our photos from the Bluegrass State below!

General Albums

• 2024 ISCO Championship – Monday #1
• 2024 ISCO Championship – Monday #2

WITB Albums

• James Nicholas – WITB – 2024 ISCO Championship
• Marcus Kinhult – WITB – 2024 ISCO Championship
• Adrien Saddier – WITB – 2024 ISCO Championship
• Stephen Stallings, Jr. – WITB – 2024 ISCO Championship
• Espen Kofstad – WITB – 2024 ISCO Championship
• Daniel Iceman – Kentucky PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 ISCO Championship
• Cooper Musselman – WITB – 2024 ISCO Championship
• Alex Goff – WITB – 2024 ISCO Championship
• Angel Hidalgo – WITB – 2024 ISCO Championship

Pullout Albums

• Kevin Streelman’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 ISCO Championship
• Cameron putter – 2024 ISCO Championship

See what GolfWRXers are saying about the photos in the forums.

While you’re here, check out BK’s breakdown of the WITB of Davis Thompson, last week’s winner.

Yeah, it’s been quite the first half of the year for Wilson Golf. Wilson is serious about establishing themselves as a major player in the golf industry. They’ve made new hires, bringing on Markus McCaine (by way of Cobra Puma) as the Head of Global Marketing. Willie Mack, Padraig Harrington, and Kevin Kisner (to name a few), are playing their products on Tour. As we mentioned earlier, they’ve released a ton of new products. But, with all of that being said, how do these new products really stack up?

That’s where we come in. Wilson Golf wanted to reach the hardcore golfer. The equipment junkie. The person who tries everything to find the right fit for optimal performance. They weren’t looking for someone who already had Wilson products in the bag, who would have attended this trip and predictably said great things about their newest line of products. They wanted to prove how Wilson Golf, the brand, and their new products, can truly compete with the major golf manufacturers. With four lucky GolfWRXers in tow, we headed to legendary Pinehurst to meet Wilson Golf’s team of product experts, to test (and get fit) for the full 2024 lineup of Wilson clubs — and play not-yet-open-to-the-public Pinehurst No. 10! The four WRXers — @TLUBulldogGolf, @TM golf guy, @Shilgy, @Olson12— enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime experience in North Carolina thanks to Wilson.

Members on Wilson Fit AI

TM golf guy: “The AI experience was super cool. 3 swings and it fit me basically exactly into what I expected.”

Shilgy: “The new Ai fitting tool is legit. First answer a few questions and then there is a fitting iron that measures everything. It’s almost scary how easy, and accurate, it is. Started me with a shaft that was too light but based on contact it changed to 115g DG. About as expected. I was fit into the CB with the Dynapower forged as the 5 and 6 iron.”

First impressions on the Staff Model and Dynapower irons

Olson12: “After warming up, Ed had me hit a handful of shots. It took maybe five or six shots, and we decided it was enough. Of the six shots, I hit four pretty well, one perfectly, and one really bad one. The app spits out recommendations based on all the data it collected and gives you both a steel and graphite option. On the graphite side, it went straight to the Steelfiber 110s, so that was the first one we tried. Ed built up a 7-iron in the Wilson Staff CB with the Steelfiber 110s, and we were off to the races.”

“I currently play a Titleist T100/T100s combo set with Nippon Modus 120x shafts. I bought this used set from a local shop after bouncing around a few different sets. (Thank God for the 90-day playability policy.) We’ve all heard the standard saying, “you want 1k spin x the number of the club.” For me, I’ve never even come close to getting 7k with my 7-iron. I’ve always hovered around 5500 and just learned to play with the rollout. My first few shots with the Staff CB were 7400, 7600, and 7100 with the Wilson Model X ball. Nice high cut, landed soft, PERFECT. Didn’t need to hit any other combos.”

TM golf guy: “I am currently playing i230s, and am generally happy with the performance. I had a feeling I would wind up with the Dynapower Forged, but I went in with an open mind to see what was suggested. After getting my numbers, Ed put together a Dynapower Forged with the UST Recoil Dart 105 F4 (stiff). It didn’t take me more than a few swings to know this was the set for me. I’ll do a formal review with side by side with my i230s later after I get them back and get more time with them, but I think these are going to be gamers. I was able to move them either direction, and they felt better than the i230 based on my limited experience so far.”

TLUBulldogGolf: “The MBs flat out perform, if you want that classic look they should be on your shortlist to try, they nailed the shape and the sole design and turf interaction were just what I expect out of a blade. The options to combo with the CB and new utility should appeal to anyone after that classic look with performance.”

Shilgy: “First swings warming up on the range and I could feel the difference, in a good way, between a properly built set and more mass produced. The balance of this set is fantastic. I’ve always been partial to heavier shafts and heads but the T150 always felt too head heavy to me. The balance on this Wilson set is perfect.”

“Suffice it to say both the CB’s and Dynapower irons were quite good today. Hit it solid and you will get the same result every time….miss it a bit and you’ll still get a very playable result.”

First impressions on the Staff Model ZM wedges

Olson12: “I currently play 50, 54, 60 Vokey SM9 wedges but decided to give the 58/6* a whirl, and I’m glad I did. I mentioned to the staff earlier that I never use my 60 for anything longer than 50 yards. I’ve never felt comfortable with a full swing lob. Going to the 58* gives me more confidence on full shots but was still able to hit all the chips and bunker shots I normally hit with my 60*.”

“Guys… These are fully forged wedges for $150. I just ordered my three Vokey wedges a few months ago for like $600. What the hell, man! If you are in the market for wedges, do yourself a favor and just give them a shot. Nice traditional shape and a super soft feel. Not too clicky but still gives audible feedback on mishits.”

TM golf guy: “The Staff ZM wedges were something I was really interested in as I loved the head shape, and the feel and performance didn’t disappoint. They have a really nice shape to them, and the sound and feel is also excellent. I’m a big fan of the 60° that I got. The grind really allows for a lot of versatility around the greens as well. My only regret here is that I didn’t get the Staff gap wedge instead of the Dynapower one.”

TLUBulldogGolf: “The wedges are really solid as well, I feel like I can flight them with ease and they spin like crazy.”

“I have the 60-06 and it’s similar to a Vokey T grind, maybe a touch less demanding. The 56-10 plays very similar to a Vokey S grind.”

First impressions on the utility irons

Olson12: “I’ve played Srixon & Ping Utilities for a while now. I recently gave up the Crossover and went back to a 3 hybrid because the offset was just not working for me. Since the club was just announced today, we had just the stock HZRDUS Black shaft in both the 3 and 4 iron. I hit the 3 and realized it’s been a really long time since I hit a long iron. It took a few swings, but I started to find my groove. Minimal offset, satin finish, and a good-looking topline. This thing is going to compete with the big boys. Hell, @TLUBulldogGolf was getting 150mph ball speed when hitting it off of a tee.”

TLUBulldogGolf: “The utility is the real deal, just seems to want to go straight. A little longer heel to toe than my T200, and it just feels easy.”

The utility surprised me, I knew it was good at my last range session but it seems to come off lower despite having more loft than my T200. I hit it over the green from 240 on a par 5 which shocked me. The stock HZRDUS 4G stays with me and seems to be a good match for my irons.”

TM golf guy: “This utility is stupid good. The first swing I made I hit rather toey, and it flew straight as an arrow. Off the tee it’s a more penetrating flight than my Srixon, but still has good height. Like @TLUBulldogGolf said, it really wants to go straight. Definitely a winner.”

GolfWRX Members on Wilson Golf:

TLUBulldog: “They want to get everything on the golf side right.”

“I came away super impressed with what Wilson is doing and the direction they are taking the brand.”

“I’m hoping this (and their overall strategy) can up their visibility because the new product is legit.”

Olson12: “I’ve been really impressed with the quality of the Wilson product. What stands out the most is the people behind the scenes. This group of people is IMPRESSIVE. They love golf, they are competitive, and they want to compete with the best of the best. I’m thankful to be part of their story, and once we get the full set and get a chance to play them out in the wild, I’ll be able to give a more thorough breakdown.”

TM golf guy: “They are a group of super passionate people who absolutely love what they do, really have a lot of great ideas, and are a really cool group of people to talk to (they also know their way around a golf course!). They were incredibly open to feedback, and were also very candid about their thoughts on things as well. The people a company chooses to represent them says a lot about the company, and Wilson has picked an incredible group. I think Wilson has an extremely bright future ahead of them, and they’ve certainly made a fan out of me.”

Shilgy: “We all definitely need to add Wilson golf to our must play equipment. You’re definitely doing yourself a disservice if you don’t at least try them out and with the new AI fitting tool every fitter out there can be a Wilson expert fitter.”

Shilgy, Lindsey Lasater, TM golf guy, Markus McCaine

One final thought

If you’re in the market for a new ball, a hidden gem emerged during this trip. Our members were impressed with the new ball from Wilson. Coming from the Chrome Tour X and TP5, Olson12 stated that the feel of the X around the greens was “pretty damn good.” While TLUBulldogGolf shared, “I’m liking the Model X. Very natural transition as a V1X player.”

We’re looking forward to diving even deeper into the trip and what Wilson has to offer over the next few weeks. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to follow along in the forum.

Bethpage Black will join Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester (1995) as the second Empire State course to host the event. The Ryder Cup matches were played in the metropolitan New York area once before, in 1935 at the Ridgewood Club, in Paramus, New Jersey. It’s fair to say that metro NYC is due to host this world-stage, golf event. I can’t wait. The USA’s loss to Europe in 2023 adds to the considerable drama.

What makes Bethpage Black an outlier in the world of championship golf, is its mere existence. It’s a state park golf course, one of five on property, each with a colorful name. The Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow join big brother Black as outstanding tests of golf in Farmingdale. Of the five, only the Green was not originally built as a state course. The Lenox Hills Country Club, designed by Devereux Emmet, opened in 1923. By 1932, the club had closed and the land had become property of the state. Its birth date made the Green the oldest of the five courses. New York State began to build on a series of adjacent parcels, guided by the hands of Alber “A.W.” Tillinghast, Joseph Burbeck, and Alfred Tull. The Yellow course, built entirely by Tull, was the last of the five to open.

State park courses just don’t hold major championships. Private clubs and elite resorts are the typical sites that receive the nod from the world’s golf bodies. It’s a testament to the lovers of Bethpage, the New York state government, and the PGA of America (among others) that Bethpage is as good as it is, and that it continues to improve. It’s a fitting site for the 2025 Ryder Cup matches, but the 2025 Ryder Cup matches need a beginning to their story. I’ll do my best to provide it.

The quintet of courses near Bethpage, New York, is just the beginning of the New York state park golf course system. 19 parks in total offer golf from the tip of Long Island, to the shores of Lake Ontario, through the Catskill mountains, to my home town. I’m a Western New York guy. The Buffalo area has been my home for most of my 58 years on the golf ball known as Earth. I live two miles from the westernmost, state park golf course: Beaver Island. The Beav, as everyone calls it, was designed by William Harries. It opened the year I was born, which means that it is close to 60 years old! Unlike the Bethpage property, where topography is king, the Beav is a flat course, albeit full of enough interest to bring you back for more.

As I considered the magnitude of the state park system, I realized that golfers who frequent those 19 state parks can point to their home course and say, “You know, the Ryder Cup will be at a state park course next year.” I started to count on my fingers, the number of state park courses I had played: Beaver Island, Green Lakes (Syracuse), James Baird (Poughkeepsie), and the five at Bethpage, I realized that I had played eight of the 23 total courses, and had visited a mere four of the 19 parks.

Bethpage is the only, multi-course state park across the Empire State. Other venues range from pitch-and-putt, to nine-hole, to regulation 18-hole courses. The majority occupy nice tracts of land, and feature 18 holes of memorable, enjoyable golf. PGA Tour professionals Joey Sindelar and Mike Hulbert grew up on one of those courses, and Dottie Pepper spent a bit of time on another, near her hometown.

There will be many stories that trace the path to Bethpage and its 2025 Ryder Cup, and I look forward to reading and hearing them. This one is my own, and I’m proud (and a little frightened) to undertake it. I’ll visit each of the remaining parks over the next 16 months, and report in with images and words that tell the story of each park and its golf course.

The Ones I’ve Played

The Bethpage Five

As mentioned above, I’ve played eight of the 23 courses, but the majority of that number is owed to a 2011 pilgrimage to Long Island. The Black had just hosted its second US Open championship, and the ink for the 2019 PGA Championship was not yet printed. I spoke with a Bethpage caddy, in anticipation of the trek. I wrote a series of articles on the courses on my own site, BuffaloGolfer. Down the road of this, current series, I’ll discuss the most poignant piece that I connected with Bethpage. That’s a story for another time. After all, Bethpage is a five-course meal.

It’s safe to say the the Bethpage property is unlike any other, municipal, golfing space in the world (at least, those not named the Links Trust of St. Andrews!) The park encompasses nearly 1500 acres of wooded land and offers much beyond golf to its visitors. As pilgrimages go, Bethpage is it. For a New York state resident, on a weekend, it would cost a total of $257 dollars … to play all five courses. Even for those outside the state, the trip to Bethpage is worth consideration. Each course rambles over uneven, heaving land. Holes carry along falloffs and bend unexpectedly around corners. Greens are benched into hillsides and settled into valleys. All five courses remind you of the others, yet none of them says to you “You’ve played this course before.”

James Baird State Park 

One of the hats that I wear, is high school golf coach. Each spring, golfers from my team travel to Poughkeepsie to play the James Baird State Park golf course. Pronounced “Bard,” the course was opened in 1948, after a middle-aged, Robert Trent Jones, senior, put pen to paper to lay out the course. Jones was about to become a household name, as he would offer renovation advice to many of the country’s classic clubs. He was most famously associated with the Oakland Hills Country Club near Detroit, the host site of the 1951 US Open. You know, the one where Ben Hogan purportedly gasped “I’m glad I brought this course, this monster, to its knees.”

Trent didn’t leave a monster in Poughkeepsie. What he left was something that locals call Baby Bethpage. The James Baird course is blessed with topography similar to its five-course cousin, but it offered a challenge that Bethpage does not: a huge expanse of marsh across the belly of the property. There was not going over nor through it, so Jones simply went around it. He created something that he never, ever did: a short par three. Jones was a fan of the brutish, 200-yard plus, all-carry, par three hole. For the third hole at Baird, he had all of 120 yards, and it was downhill! Jones placed a green in the marsh, connected to the mainland by an earthen bridge. He then turned north for a time, then returned south, outside the marsh. Trent Jones had another stretch of tricky land to navigate, this time, on the inward half. He brought a trio of holes (pars 4-3-5) through a challenging corner of the property, before returning to the open meadow that hosts the majority of the layout.

James Baird is a tremendous golf course, one that prepares our high school competitors well for the next step: the state federation championship at, you guessed it, Bethpage Black. Six golfers move on to compete against other, high school divisions, at the big brother of them all.

Green Lakes

The Baird course came to life 13 years after Trent Jones opened his first, New York state parks course. Originally from Rochester, New York, Trent ventured 90 minutes east to Manlius, near Syracuse, in 1935, to lay out one of his first ten courses. RTJ was gifted the magnificent land that abuts the two glacial lakes in central New York. The lakes are meromictic, which we all know means that surface and bottom waters do not mix in the fall and spring, as happens with dimictic lakes.

Trent Jones placed his clubhouse and finishing greens (9 and 18) in an interesting portion of the property. The ninth hole is an uphill, par five that plays fifty yards longer than its measured distance. Once home to upper and lower greens, the lower has been expanded and enhanced, and the upper is now abandoned. On the other side of the clubhouse, the sneaky 18th moves out of a corridor of trees, into the open space beneath the clubhouse. It’s a bit reminiscent of the 18th at Bethpage’s Green course. It’s not a long hole, yet when you walk off with five or six on your card, you wonder where you went astray.

The front half of the course plays along a vast meadow, above Green Lake, the larger of the two, nautical bodies. The inward side forages among the tree above Round Lake, before finally emerging at the home hole. The apparent contrariety of the two nines is resolved through expansion of fairway corridors on the treed nine, and the constriction of playing paths with bunkers and doglegs, on the exposed side.

If you’re a walker, Green Lakes will make you a fit one. It will also demand all the clubs and shots that you can fit in your bag.

Beaver Island

“Tame” isn’t the proper term to describe Beaver Island, the state park course near my home. I believe that “calm” is a better term. It may seem ironic, given that the 1965 course occupies a tract of land at the southern tip of Grand Island, where the Niagara River splits east and west, before reuniting at the north end. When we think of the Niagara, we think of the mighty rapids and cascades near the brink and bottom of the falls. At the southern split of the river, however, you can throw a canoe in the water and have a paddle. Beaver Island knows that it is adjacent to the river, but you never get the sense that this golf course borders water. I’ve redesigned the park hundreds of times in my head, moving the golf course to the banks of the river, where the trails, beach, playground, and other amenities are currently found. In the end, not every great golf course can, nor should, be built.

William Harries trained under the famed competitor and architect, Walter Travis. Despite this exposure to the master, Harries went his own way with his golf courses. The most striking difference is in green construction. While Travis was extraordinarily creative and daring, Harries was the polar opposite. His greens are routinely flat and easy to navigate.

He designed a number in the western New York area, including Brookfield Country Club. Originally known as Meadow Brook, the club hosted the 1948 Western Open, won by the aforementioned, Ben Hogan. The majority of Harries’ work was in municipal courses, and he designed Sheridan Park for the town of Tonawanda. That course hosted the 1962 USGA Public Links championship.

On Grand Island, Harries traced his layout around three ponds. The massive, western one, comes into play on the second through fifth holes. The middle one plays games with the approach to the eighth green. The final one, on the inward side, forces golfers to carry their tee shot over water, to the 14th fairway. Beaver Island bears no resemblance to the topography of the other locales mentioned previously. There is no heaving, no tumbling, no turbulence, along its fairways. Beaver Island is more St. Andrews in its flattish presentation, which makes it an honest, what-you-see, sort of golf course. It’s an enjoyable walk in the park, a not-too-demanding one.

Part Two: south-central New York-Soaring Eagles, Chenango Valley, Indian Hills, and Bonavista

Ryder Cup Trophy @ Bethpage – Photo courtesy of PGA of America

3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX

7-wood: Ping G430 Max (21 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Ping i210 (4) Buy here, Titleist 620 MB (5-9) Buy here.
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 50-08F) Buy here, Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (54-08M, 60-04T) Buy here.
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (50-60)

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #7 Buy here.
Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GTR Tour

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord

Ball: Titleist Pro V1 Buy here.

The winning WITB is presented by 2nd Swing Golf. 2nd Swing has more than 100,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.

On the equipment front, we spotted some new SuperStroke x Marvel grips and got an in-hand look at impressive custom Scotty Cameron putters. Our WITB galleries already feature a look at Jason Day’s wares, and general complement the spread.

Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more photos from TPC Deere Run!

General Albums

• 2024 John Deere Classic – Monday #1
• 2024 John Deere Classic – Monday #2
• 2024 John Deere Classic – Tuesday #1
• 2024 John Deere Classic – Tuesday #2
• 2024 John Deere Classic – Tuesday #3
• 2024 John Deere Classic – Tuesday #4

WITB Albums

• Jason Day – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Josh Teater – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Michael Thorbjornsen – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Austin Smotherman – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Joseph Bramlett – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• C.T. Pan – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Anders Albertson – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Seung Yul Noh – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Blake Hathcoat – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Jimmy Stanger – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Cole Sherwood – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Anders Larson – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Bill Haas – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Tommy “2 Gloves” Gainey WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Tracy Vest – Iowa PGA Section Champ – – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Jorge Campillo (Iniguz) – WITB – 2024 John Deere Classic

Pullout Albums

• Garrick Higgo – 2 Aretera shafts in the bag – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Jhonattan Vegas’ custom Cameron putter – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Bud Cauley’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 John Deere Classic
• 2 new Super Stroke Marvel comics grips – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Swag blade putter – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Swag Golf – Joe Dirt covers – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Swag Golf – custom John Deere cover – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Cameron putters – 2024 John Deere Classic
• Fujikura’s new Ventus Red and Black VeloCore+ shafts – 2024 John Deere Classic

See what GolfWRXers are saying about the photos and join the discussion in the forums.

The winning moment for The 121st Women’s Amateur Champion ?

And what a way to do it ? pic.twitter.com/WSyXQQaNLF

— The R&A (@RandA) June 29, 2024

Now, let’s run down all the world’s tours this week. We followed a national championship (Men’s US Senior Open) from storied Newport Country Club, the PGA Tour at Detroit, the DP World in Italy, the LPGA doing the tandem thing around Michigan, and the Korn Ferry down Illinois way. We’re spoiled during these summer months, full stop. Might as well enjoy these riches.

PGA Tour @ Rocket Mortgage

The results that came out of Detroit Golf Club on Sunday caused a few heads to be scratched. Nowhere to be found were the mid-60s numbers that traced across the leaderboards like sunflowers in Carmona. Missing, too, as the sun waned in the sky, were the expected, clutch performances of golfers chasing victory.

We’ve grown accustomed to birdies down the stretch, and numbers like Bhatia’s 72nd-hole bogey, and Young’s closing five-five-five, seemed strange and unfamiliar. Bhatia’s take that he knows how to close tournaments, and that it simply didn’t happen on this day, was equal parts explanation and compensation. Teachers teach well, writers write well, and golfers put the ball in the hole. That’s the measure of victory.

The lifting of the tournament trophy was left to Cam Davis, who did what the others could not. He concluded play with 70 for -18 on the week, hoping for a second RMC in four years. On his heels, all tied for second at -17, were Davis Thompson, Min Woo Lee, Aaron Rai, and Bhatia. Beyond Akshay, none has tasted tournament success on the US PGA Tour. Davis posted birdie at 17, then waited. Thompson made a late rush, with birdies at three of his final five holes. He needed one more. Lee took five shots at the final hole; he needed one fewer. As for the two-gloved Rai, his even-par 72 on the day left him a shot away from playoff.

A classy up-and-down birdie for @CamDavisGolf.

He leads by one @RocketClassic. pic.twitter.com/HSrJuetSzD

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 30, 2024

USGA @ Senior Men’s Open

Any hope that Hiroyuki Fujita held for finishing off the US Senior Open at Newport, went distantly away, courtesy of two unregistered opponents: fog and rain. The golfer that had played so brilliantly over 3.5 days (16-under through 63 holes) was forced to consider the ramifications of his situation. The golfer whose five cuts made in regular-tour majors included zero, top-forty finishes, stood three shots clear of the field, with no tourist guide to bring him home. Sunday’s dawn proved that he was mortal, and the game was afoot.

No worse pursuer than Richard Bland might have appeared. The Englishman had won his last USA start, and it was also a senior major championship. Bland captured the Senior PGA Championship in late May, winning by three shots over Australia’s Richard Green. The SPGA runner-up was also among the chasers at Newport, but a top-five finish would once again be his destiny. As for Bland, he did what experienced winners do. Consecutive birdies at 14 and 15 on Monday served notice that there would be no easy stroll home for Fujita. The Japan Tour stalwart stumbled over the same stretch of holes, posting bogey on three of his first four holes on day five.

Precisely when it appeared that Bland would conclude matters in regulation, he posted bogey at the 18th and dropped back to 13-under par. Fujita found the same number, and the duo went off to the first, two-hole playoff in US Senior Open history, and the first overtime session since 2014 in Oklahoma. After two pars each in the regulation session, they went to single-hole elimination. Each made bogey at the 18th, but the fourth hole gave resolution. Bland was able to earn a sandy from the greenside bunker, while Fujita was unable to secure par. Congratulations to Richard Bland on a second senior major in 2024.

Richard Bland is making a charge ?

He grabs the U.S. Senior Open lead after back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15. pic.twitter.com/5lOxI3EyEA

— USGA (@USGA) July 1, 2024

LPGA @ Dow Championship

Both Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand) and Yin Ruoning (China) will represent their nations in the 2024 Paris Olympic games. Olympic competition is individual-only for golf, which is a missed opportunity. Teaming to win medals for your country is the epitome of Olympic success. It’s a bit odd, then that the two would find success in a team-style, warm-up event on the LPGA circuit.

For most of the week, two golfers from the USA appeared destined for victory at Midland Country Club. Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho finished 36 holes in 128 strokes. They gave one back on Saturday, with 67, but came home on Sunday with a third 64 for the week. Despite an early passel of birdies, they were unable to save a single shot over the closing stretch. They finished at 21-deep for the week.

Paired with them, Thitikul and Ruoning were also finding par after par as they headed for home. At the watery 18th, Thitikul stuffed her tee ball inside fifteen feet, then read the surface flawlessly, and hit her mark. The putt broke slightly right, into the center of the cup. With that closing birdie, a playoff was avoided and a send-off celebration of Olympic calibre was in the works.

Team @jeeno_atthaya and Ruoning Yin fighting for the solo lead ?

Tune in on @CBS to catch the rest of the action! pic.twitter.com/Y4CkPBF7sc

— LPGA (@LPGA) June 30, 2024

DP World Tour @ Italian Open

16 months had passed since Marcel Siem last savored a DP World Tour win. His triumph at the Indian Open, in February of 2023, might have been a bit distant to leave residue of confidence. As he traversed the final arc of the Cervia golf course, his gaskets had unsealed and oil leaked everywhere. An outward 32 was undone by four bogeys from holes 11 to 17. The last one had dropped him from the lead, and only a majestic finish could return a chance at salvation. After he drove the fairway and reached the green at the closing trace, Siem assessed a 22-feet putt for birdie and found cup bottom.

In that moment, the round of 65 that England’s Tom McKibbin had fashioned, was no longer enough. He would need to do a bit more work, to secure a second Tour title. The duo returned to the final tee deck, and Siem once again faced a birdie putt. His approach was played brilliantly to about ten feet, but the putt drifted right. By the grace of gravity, it caught enough of the circle to fall downward, and a sixth career title belonged to the German champion.

The moment @SiemMarcel claimed his SIXTH Tour win ?#ItalianOpen pic.twitter.com/YysmH9FKAh

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 30, 2024

Korn Ferry Tour @ MHC by LRS

Max McGreevy has tasted the bitterness of defeat and savored delicious victory on the professional golf tours. He has lost a playoff on the PGA Tour, and now won twice on the Korn Ferry orbit. This week, McGreevey overcame a wee miss on the penultimate hole, to secure victory at green 72, with a xxx birdie putt. He and runner-up Steven Fisk each clinched a PGA Tour card for the 2025 season, based on 2024 peformance.

McGreevy eased a 36-yard pitch within two feet of the hole, at the par-five 16th, on Sunday. He converted the birdie putt and moved a shot lower than Fisk, with two holes to face. At 17, he played safely away from the tucked flag at the watery par three, and eased his 55-feet putt to precisely the same distance (26 inches.) And then, he missed. Gone was the lead, and present were the doubts.

As champions do, McGreevy refocussed and found his spot on the 18th fairway. His approach from 186 yards settled a dozen feet from the flagstick, and his read on the downhill slider was accurate. The putt dropped, and McGreevy avoided overtime.

Back to the winner’s circle ??@MaxMcgreevy brings home his second title @MHChampionship. pic.twitter.com/LIqPI1iXnO

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) June 30, 2024

 

Hashimoto’s research showed the average gains for golfers wearing Sqairz shoes compared to the golfers’ previous footwear was an average of an 8-yard extra carry distance, 13mph increased ball speed, 11-degrees increase in hip rotation, and a greater smash factor of 7%. Sqairz wearers leveraged the company’s industry-leading ground connection for better balance, energy exchange, and weight transfer for better ball speed and carry numbers.

As a refresher, here’s what we said about Sqairz golf shoe technology.

At the heart of the design behind the technologically advanced shoes is the patented squared toe. The interior design of the square toe allows the golfer’s toes to sit comfortably in the shoe, with a wider base and a heel stabilizer designed to provide enhanced balance and stability. The square toe also allows golfers a unique freedom for their toes to sit naturally with a full range of motion and a noticeable feel for the ground.

Sqairz testing found that added flexibility in competitive sneaker-like golf shoes promoted inversion, the foot (weight) moving to the outside of the trail foot. This is when the golfer gets stuck on the right side (for right-handed golfers) and not being able to shift the weight back to the lead side.

With the Sqairz golf shoe, golfers are provided with a structured upper material often used in sports such as football and soccer to provide structure for sudden weight shifts. Along with this upper material, the outsole and midsole have been optimized for the right amount of flexibility to promote efficient energy exchange and stability. In addition, Sqairz has engineered a heel stabilizer that keeps the heel down throughout the swing and prevents ankle roll-over injuries on all types of lies.

Sqairz shoes also feature the widest base and greatest amount of ground coverage of any golf shoe, which is proven to provide better balance and stability as well as offer efficient braking power. Braking occurs towards the end of the backswing and immediately before the ball is struck. Golfers shift the weight from the trail to the lead side and this optimized braking at the right time allows for increased swing speed.

To take the conversation further, we caught up with Hashimoto again, as well as Tyler Standifird, who is a Professor of Biomechanics and Kinesiology at Utah Valley University and a sports performance researcher.

GolfWRX: What is ground force, in simple terms, for the golfer who has heard it mentioned but doesn’t really understand what it is?

TH: How we use the ground during our swing to effect optimal performance.

TS: Ground reaction force is based on Newton’s 3rd law, which is the action-reaction law. Ground reaction force is the force exerted by the ground as a reaction to internal pushes, forces from our muscles and bodies. A desk won’t move on its own, it can only push on the ground at the same value, minute by minute year by year. But humans have the capacity to alter their interactions with the ground by using muscles to push on the ground to get altered forces from the ground that create motion in human movement.

Terry Hashimoto

GolfWRX: Why is ground force so important in the golf swing?

TH: Learning how to use the ground optimally will increase a golfer’s stability, range of motion, and lateral speed leading to greater ball speed, distance, and tighter dispersion.

TS: The ground is one of our two connections in the golf swing. It is impossible to create the motion you want in the golf swing without proper GRF. Just imagine swinging a golf club on ice, or in slippery conditions, it is incredibly difficult and takes out a key source of your power, the legs and the ground. GRF in the golf swing is what allows us to create efficient powerful swings, with forces that occur at the right time in the swing, in the right direction, and with the correct magnitude.

Tyler Standifird

GolfWRX: Growing up, golf instruction rarely seemed to mention the ground — or “using the ground” — why is this? How are things different now?

TH: That’s so true. It wasn’t until we started developing portable pressure mapping systems, BodiTrak being the 1st and traveling all over the world with Top Coaches and Players on all tours were we able to see consistent common denominators for all the shots required…from the putting to chipping to short iron play, long irons, hybrids, fairway wood and ESPECIALLY in the Driver we’re we able to share with the world the most relevant applications of how to use the ground. But wait, there’s one thing to consider…

What initiates the backswing? Would you ever get in your car – put it in drive before you started your car? NO is the obvious answer and it turns out this answer has THE most effective change on the Kinematic Sequence

TS: I think it is due to a bit of progress in technology and the availability of researchers and coaches. It’s like a trackman or other launch monitor, a lot of it wasn’t talked about until we could collect data, see numbers, and start to understand how they work together. GRF technology used to be reserved for high-level research labs, most of which were not doing research related to golf. Now there are a number of great labs at research Universities, and coaches using force plates to measure GRF and understand how it can help a player improve. Because force is invisible, we needed to start measuring it to really truly understand what a golfer was doing as a result of data collection. We needed to understand the principle of GRF before we could be confident explaining it to students. Now that we know so much more about how it works in the swing, it is something that can be an awesome teaching tool for coaches.

GolfWRX: How does a player “use the ground” optimally in the golf swing?

TS: Golfers use what we call the kinetic sequence. This is the process of how they synchronize the forces needed to move the body in efficient ways in the swing. It starts with a laterally directed force around the end of the backswing, the rotational forces called torques come next early in the downswing, and then a vertical push that comes very last but has to come prior to impact with the golf ball (maybe arm or club parallel on the downswing) so energy can be transferred out to the ball. Creating the proper order, at the right time is important to a proper golf swing.

GolfWRX: Since your feet are your only connection with the ground, it follows that shoes are a not unimportant piece, or are they? How much does footwear matter in the golf swing?

TH: Although not well known I’ve been designing golf clubs, shaft fitting systems, really popular products used by golfers all over the world, and 1000s of top instructors worldwide, the thing that drove me nuts is how golf shoes are designed…

The trail and lead side of your foot have completely different needs and even though we designed the FJ many years ago, it wasn’t until I started working with Sqairz, that I started to get some of the stability, mobility, and combination of both answers.

TS: I love footwear. I have researched it a lot in other sports and it can make a big difference to athletes. The footwear first and foremost needs to be comfortable enough for the player to wear during their round. Without that comfort component, performance doesn’t really matter much. I’d say that I think potentially there are a lot of golfers who could benefit a lot from proper footwear. For example, some golfers lack the proper stability in the feet/ground due to a shoe that allows too much movement in the shoe. In order to really understand, I always encourage golfers to hit some golf balls in different shoes and look at numbers/data to see how they feel. I’ve seen athletes, including golfers, gain a lot from getting the right footwear for their body and movements.

GolfWRX: If a player wears, say, shoes without spikes vs some sort of wide-based, structured shoe with SoftSpikes or the like (eg, Sqairz), how much of a difference will s/he see?

TH: We’ve seen distance gains using Sqairz shoes all over from 7 to 20 yards. Now they have shoes designed for lateral, rotation, and combo swinger, and I can’t wait to see with what they come up with next…

TS: So the name of the game with the shoe/ground experience is friction. Creating the correct connection with the ground so that a player can confidently interact with the ground without slipping. Here is a good example, the trail foot has to push really hard into the ground and away from the target in the backswing, with a secure connection with the ground, the ground will push back with a GRF that is pointed towards the target, helping them to initiate some motion forward in the golf swing. Now if they go to push and they were on ice, the foot would just go in the direction of the movement and the foot would slip out from under them. A key component of friction is the coefficient of friction, I tell my students it is the idea of how sticky the two surfaces contacting are. This is where cleats/cleatless and where the cleats are placed can play such a key role. They can really give the student the confidence to push on the ground with as much force as they can without fearing losing balance and stability.

Some players who play in a spikeless shoe with little traction may work just fine. My only concern is what are they leaving on the table. Simple numbers. If my shoe allows me to push on the ground with 100 Newtons of Force, but in my swing, I only can produce 80, then I won’t slip and I am fine with that shoe. But if I have the capacity to do 120 newtons of force then I have an issue, I either push with over 100 and slip a little, or I just push with 90 even though I can do more. It might be that people have almost started taking some athleticism out of their swing, because of their shoes. They think they don’t alter their game, but in reality, they are leaving some on the table. Like a basketball player who knows they will slip if they move too fast due to a bad court/shoes, they just move more slowly throughout the game as a result. I think similar things could be happening in the golf swing.

GolfWRX: Can you give us some background on some of the research projects related to everything we’ve been discussing?

TS: I did a great study headed by two of my students. Blake Morrill and Trevor Nielson. We tested golfers, 7 came through the lab at the latest data analysis, and we compared the Sqairz shoe to a spikeless flexible golf shoe. We had golfers hit a series of drivers while we measured trackman data and Ground reaction force during the swing. The trackman data showed a 5.5 mph increase in ball speed which was statistically different even with the small sample size. This led to a significant increase of 9 yards of carry distance. In terms of the force plate data, the trail leg force that creates part of the rotation in the golf swing was greater by almost 6% and was approaching significance, this would show a player had more ability to create rotational force with the trail leg. It was a small group, but the data showed that shoes can make a difference when looking at force production and ball speed/distance. We are excited to keep this study going, we’ve also measured foot mobility with my Colleague Dr. Melani Kelly to see if the golfers’ foot capabilities itself might lead to different data.

In my mind, we have barely scratched the surface of footwear in golf and it will be exciting to see what the future holds in terms of how we can understand footwear and how it can help a player create a better golf swing and hopefully play better golf!

The photos have begun to flow in, and as always, we have WITBs, general galleries, and some cool special galleries — including a look at Jason Dufner’s 3D-printed putter. Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more photos.

Check out links to all our photos below and see what GolfWRXers are saying in the official discussion thread.

General Albums

• 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic – Monday #1
• 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic – Monday #2
• 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic – Monday #3
• 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic – Monday #4
• 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic – Monday #5
• 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic – Tuesday #1
• 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic – Tuesday #2
• 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic – Tuesday #3
• 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic – Tuesday #4

WITB Albums

• Nate Lashley – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Hayden Springer – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Jackson Koivun – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Callum Tarren – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Luke Clanton – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Jake Knapp – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Angelo Giantsopoulos – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Nick Bienz – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Adam Svensson – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Stewart Cink – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Robbie Shelton – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Brandon Berry – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Miles Russell – WITB – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic

Pullout Albums

• Garrick Higgo’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Doug Ghim’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• TaylorMade proto iron – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
• Jason Dufner’s custom 3-D printed Cobra putter – 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic

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3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Atmos Tour Spec Black 7 X

Hybrid: Titleist TSR3 (19 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD Prototype

Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: Project X 120 6.0 (4-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 50-12F, 54-12D), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60-L)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Putter: Scotty Cameron TourType Timeless GSS Prototype

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Let’s be honest: after a major-championship week with a dearth of birdies, we should always have a birdie-fest where scores approach 30-under par. 59 should always be possible. Travelers gives us that relief. It’s the miracle drug we crave, after watching far too many putts and approach shots trickle off greens, into bunkers and scary places.

I normally don’t put together a Tour Rundown the week of a major championship, but with golf camp ending last Friday, I had some time on my hands. Time to get down with Rundown for this third week of June.

History for Cameron Young!

A 9-footer for par on 18 cards him a 59 @TravelersChamp ? pic.twitter.com/IXYhp3w7Jw

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 22, 2024

PGA Tour @ Travelers: Playoff? Scottie gets number six

Some golfers just win. 2024 should go down as one of the top-fifteen, great years on the PGA Tour. Scottie Scheffler has six wins so far, including one major title. He still has the Open Championship ahead of him, plus other events, plus the playoffs. It seems unlikely that he won’t secure another win or two. Imagine an eight-win season. Imagine that people forget about what happened in Louisville. Wowzers.

This week’s win was Scheffler’s first playoff of 2024, and the third of his career. He’s two and one in overtime, which means little to nothing in the long game. Scheffler came to 18 at River Highlands with a one-shot advantage over Tom Kim. Scheffler’s approach should have downslopped, but didn’t. He had a tricky putt for three to end it all, and left it three inches shy, in the jar. Kim’s approach might have been two inches to the right, dropped in for eagle, and ended things right there, but instead, it spun back to ten feet. He jarred it. Playoff.

The brief extra session saw both golfers find fairway, then Kim went for the win and found the sand. His fried egg left him zero chance of a close up and down, and his long putt for par went astray. Scheffler played for the center of the green, took two putts, and walked off with career win number fifteen. After the two at -22, Tom Hoge and Sungjae Im tied for third place at -20.

Scottie throws it in close, and Tom Kim finds the bunker on the first playoff hole. pic.twitter.com/HT0CJj5TgE

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 23, 2024

DP World Tour @ KPMG: Playoff?? Migliozzi can’t miss

If we’re going after translations, miglio in Italian is mile, so migliozzi would be a heap of miles. It’s odd that we would have a translation for miles, in a land where the kilometer is king, but that’s humanity for you. We do know that Guido Migliozzi has walked many miles, in pursuit of golfing greatness. He won a pair of DPWT title in 2019, then grabbed another, post-pandemic, in 2022. After a stirring week in the Netherlands, Migliozzi now has a quartet of championship trophies to his name, and a bit of impetus in the trek toward the year’s final major.

Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard held the lead on Saturday evening, but he and Andrea Pavan came up one shot shy of the three-man playoff. Hojgaard posted 70 on day four, but a 16th-hole bogey did him in. Pavan moved way up on Sunday with 65, but even a birdie at the last was not enough to extend his day. You see, all the cool kids were throwing fours at the par five closer: Hojgaard, Pavan, Migliozzi, and Joe Dean. The only one to make par was Marcus Kinhult. If the Swede had made four, we’d be writing about him.

Migliozzi made six birdies on the 18th hole this week. He had four during regulation play, and two more in act five. He, Dean, and Kinhult owned the hole on the first go-round, but only Migliozzi made four at 18 during the second extra hole. If the KLM organizers and The International club members are savvy, they’ll christen the closing hole as, what else, the Migliozzi Mile.

Five AMAZING shots from the @KLMOpen ?@DP_World | #KLMOpen pic.twitter.com/rRkNiMfxF0

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 24, 2024

Korn Ferry Tour @ Compliance Solutions: No slack from Pak

John Pak had what is known in medical circles, as a large-posterior lead, with 18 holes left to contend. Some tour golfers love an advantage, while others are well-aware of the onset of complacency. Pak did himself few favors when he made bogey at Sunday’s second hole. The last direction he needed to head was north. Fortunately, he righted the ship and played three-under the rest of the way. He finished on 23-under par, and liked his position.

Jackson Suber and Davis Shore found the fire that lit Pak’s first three rounds. Pak had a 66, a 65, and a 64 over the first three days. Suber and Shore went one better. Each signed for 63 on day four, and shout up the leader board. Suber’s card was clean, with nine birdies on the day. He had seven on his inward half, for a closing 29. Shore inked eight birdies, a bogey, and an eagle over his final 18 holes. For their efforts, Suber earned solo second place and Shore, a T4. Pak won in 2023 on PGA Tour Canada, and now has a KFT win on his dossier.

He dunked it! ?

John Pak extends his lead to five with 13 to play @cschampgolf. pic.twitter.com/n3y24rboj5

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) June 23, 2024

PGA Tour Champions @ DSG: Irish eyes are smiling, again and again

It’s a safe bet that property values in Endicott, New York, will go up when Padraig Harrington takes up residence. In 2022, the great champion won the Dick’s SGO by three blows. Last year, he eaked out a one-stroke win. This year, Harrington won his third consecutive DSGO, again by one slim shady shot.

Harrington held the 36-hole lead after Saturday’s festivities, and he was nearly chased down by one of the 2022 runners-up, Mike Weir. On Sunday, Paddy was all over the board, with an eagle, a pair of bogeys, and some birdies. He was not at his consistent best, but he was good enough. A four-under 68 came his way, and brought him to 15-under par.

Try as he might, Weir could not close the final gap. He had six birdies on the day, but his bogey at 13 was his undoing. He eclipsed the third-place trio of Mark and the Kens (Hensby, Duke, and Tanigawa) but could elevate no higher. The victory was Harrington’s eighth on the senior circuit. For a man who still relishes junior tour competition, there’s no end in site for the workhorse from Dublin.

317 yards of carry.
177 MPH ball speed.@Padraig_H puts himself in perfect position on 18! pic.twitter.com/XBhBNaRoNp

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) June 23, 2024

A birdie on the first and Amy Yang has extended her lead to three shots ?

Tune in now to catch all the final round action on @peacock ? pic.twitter.com/jGxBNTjIDN

— LPGA (@LPGA) June 23, 2024

The eventual champion made a first-hole statement on day four, with a fortunate bounce from the far-right shoulder to within two feet of the hole. Hey, a little luck is always welcome. The stroke saved was returned two holes later, when the trees of Sahalee (SahaTREE?) reached out and grabbed her approach shot. Unable to get up and down from forty yards shy of the putting surface, Yang suffered her only bogey of the outward half. Two holes later, Amy Yang secured birdie number two, to return to red figures. This wasn’t any old birdie; whether she misclubbed or misgroooved, Yang had to pitch from ten yards in front of the green, and she holed it! Moments later, her closest competition, Lauren Hartlage, matched the birdie, also from off the green.

Heroics from Lauren Hartlage to stay just one shot back ?

It’s shaping up to be a showdown at Sahalee, time to tune in to NBC! ? pic.twitter.com/PxGhAUEAwV

— LPGA (@LPGA) June 23, 2024

The birdie at five, unfortunately, was Hartlage’s last gasp. After par at six, she stumbled away with back-to-back, double bogeys. Hartlage ultimately finished tied for fifth, her top finish on the LPGA circuit. From holes eight to thirteen, Amy Yang added three birdies and a bogey, to reach three-under par on the day. There was only one other golfer on course that was remotely close to Yang’s brilliance, and that was Mao Saigo.

Saigo began the day outside the top thirty, and turned in two-under par 34. After six pars on the inward half, Saigo finished with a trio of birdies, to rise all the way to seventh place, with the day’s only, sub-70 round. Her 67 was three shots better than any other card turned in on Sunday.

Back to Amy Yang. After fifteen holes on Sunday, she looked to be on track for a fourth, sub-par round for the week. After Hartlage left contention, the only ones within a half-dozen shots of the leader would peak at four-under par for the week. Jin Young Ko and Lilia Vu each made birdie at the final green, to finish tied for second with newcomer Miyu Yamashita.

Just straight DOMINANCE for Amy Yang??

Catch the 18th on NBC! #KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/18iysSTffy

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 23, 2024

With three holes to play, the leader stood at 10-deep, the only golfer to reach double-digits under par all week. On 16, her drive was played perfectly up the right side, took the leftward slope, and caromed entirely across the fairway, through the first cut, into the deeper rough. Her approach was safely in the center of the green, and her longish approach putt settled some 30 inches from the hole. Whether it was a misread, a peek-before-you-connect, or a microscopic organism, Yang’s putt for par missed low, and she dropped to nine-under par. No concern; six shots in hand with three to play.

At 17, Yang perhaps gave a glimpse into why winning a major title is nigh impossible. There are times when you play toward the flag, and there are others where green center is the only play. With water short right, and the flag deep right, Yang’s tee ball somehow leaked rightward, landed shy of the putting surface, and trickeled into the pond. Her third from the drop zone found the frog hair, and she took two putts for double bogey. A massive lead was no longer so immense, but just one hole remained for negotiation.

If a child ever has trouble sleeping, consider having the baby watch Amy Yang’s golf swing. It is so at-ease, never accelerating nor slowing, always on tempo. With any number of demons, doubts, and distractions about, Yang slashed one more tee ball into the final fairway. With the confidence of a warrior, she eschewed an iron lay-up for the heavy metal, and promptly tugged her second shot left, into one final crown.

The ball might have ended up anywhere. It might have even stayed in the tree. What matters is, it did not. It dropped into the clear, and Yang pitched inside fifteen feet with her third. Two putts later, a journey had ended, and after 74 major championship starts, one low amateur medal, 16 missed cuts, 20 top-tens, and ten top-tens, Amy Yang finally acquired a green box on her Wiki page. Her victory total at Sahalee, in the tenth playing of the Women’s PGA Championship, stood at seven-under par 281. She was three shots clear of the third-place trio of Vu, Ko, and Yamashita.

At long last, the train had reached its intended station.

AMY YANG WINS HER FIRST MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP?? ?

Watch the celebration on NBC!#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/ULAuKgonm4

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 23, 2024

The dominant theme at this year’s, grand slam events has been consistency. No competitor will have the final-round charge as an option. No one is returning from five shots off with a 63 for the win. That’s the case at Sahalee as well, so the number of contenders has whittled to a handful.

The land of timber gave us another lesson in strategy on Saturday. Lapses in attention or execution were punhished with small cuts. One shot here, another shot there, and away went opportunity. Sunday should present more of the same, although hidden hole locations might force some into the mistake of chasing after them, and result in larger shot losses. Today’s installment of Five Things We Learned bids farewell to a few challengers and welcomes a smaller number of new faces to consideration.

Big shot. Big celebration.

Charley Hull with the perfect touch! ?

Watch all the #KPMGWomensPGA action LIVE on NBC. pic.twitter.com/06PTICWrUV

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 22, 2024

1. Amy with a Y in the A Position

Amy Yang doubled her one-shot advantage with a timely birdie at the 53rd hole on Saturday. She made two bogeys on day three, and followed each with a par-three birdie on the subsequent hole. Who knows what that means, beyond an ability to recover quickly and forget transgression with immediacy. Yang has totaled 10 birdies (3-4-3) over the first three days of competition. She isn’t harvesting the stroke-savers in bushels, but she is also avoiding large numbers of bogeys and others.

This is the prize recipe, the winning formula, for major championships. The prescription for Sunday is written, and one more opportunity for Amy to collect the elixir has arrived. She has played the outward nine in par figures or better each day. If she is able to secure one more, she should head to the stretch with the lead.

BOUNCE BACK!

Amy Yang with the perfect read on this putt ???

Catch all the action on @GolfChannel! #KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/ktIJWTL7Ot

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 23, 2024

2. Here comes Lilia

With the torrid six months of 2024 Korda, the achievements of Lilia Vu fell away from the public eye. It didn’t help that she was away from competition, recuperating from injury. Lilia Vu was a top-ranked amateur before training on the Epson and LPGA circuits. She is one of the world’s best now, with two major titles in her dossier. On Saturday, she was the best player on the course, and another performance like that one will be hard to restrain by her competition.

Vu began with a stumble on Thursday, posting three-over par. She began to make up ground on Friday with 70, and climbed back into contention on Saturday, with a six-birdie 68. The difference between her round and Yang’s was a pair of birdies. She’ll need more than that pair of birdies to summit Sahalee on Sunday, but another six stroke-savers on day four will provide the chance.

Lilia Vu starts things off right! She birdies on 1! ?#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/ZdZsfRLDXw

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 22, 2024

3. Sarah and Lexi have work to do

Sarah Schmelzel and Lexi Thompson entered round three with hopes of making a statement. The microphone turned off for both. Schmelzel doubled her two birdies with four bogeys, while Thompson made four bogeys that she could not afford, against three birdies. Both golfers will need the round of their lives on Sunday to hold off Vu and chase down Yang.

Fairways and greens is wished subconsciously as we pass fellow competitors on our way to different points on the course. It’s such a simple form of encouragement, but it will define the final day at the 2024 PGA Championship. If either Schmelzel or Thompson is able to reach 15 or more greens in regulation figures, she will find herself in contention. The putts will fall, and the finish line will reveal itself.

Lexi Thompson sticks it close & makes the birdie! ?

Watch the #KPMGWomensPGA LIVE on Golf Channel. pic.twitter.com/qZilXSbZLt

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 22, 2024

4. Could it be Lauren or Miyu?

Logic and wisdom say No, but logic and wisdom are not match for hope and opportunity. If Lauren Hartlage or Miyu Yamashita lifts the championship trophy (which should be called the Didrikson, or the Wright, or the Gunderson) on Sunday, it will put punctuation on the ultimate, outsider story. Neither one has a tour title to her name, and neither one has a top-ten finish in a major professional event. That’s the point where hope and opportunity need to knock.

Hartlage has posted consecutive 69s, after opening with 73. Yamashita has been under par each day, with 71-70-70. That’s some terrific golf for players with games suited to Sahalee. For the record, Sunday at a major is like none of the first three rounds. What Lauren and Miyu encounter on day four, paired with Amy Yang in the final game, will demand something they haven’t faced. It’s called, simply, the next step.

Lauren Hartlage climbing the leaderboard with this approach ?

She’s now T2 at -5 pic.twitter.com/PYiMThiSYh

— LPGA (@LPGA) June 22, 2024

5. Prediction Time!

The penultimate game features Lilia Vu and Sarah Schmelzel, and welcomes Caroline Inglis to the conversation. Inglis had her hiccough on Friday, when she dug but one birdie out of the round. Saturday brought a pair of birdies and a par-five eagle, and moved her to within four shots of the leader.

On Sunday, I predict that Inglis will duplicate Pajaree Anannarukarn’s hole-in-one, and that she’ll hole her tee ball on the par-three fifth hole. With that sort of start, Inglis will reach 66 on the day, an entirely-unexpected score, and will sneak past the field to claim her first LPGA and major titles.

Pajaree Anannarukarn with the first ACE of the #KPMGWomensPGA Championship?? ? pic.twitter.com/gEWI2wyN5H

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 22, 2024

The 2024 Women’s PGA is the second at the venerable club, eight years after Brooke Henderson won her first major title in a playoff. As often happens with the grand events, a mix of veterans and hopetobees has arrived in the final groups. The next 36 holes of play will bring drama and great viewing. How did we get here? Have a look at our five things we learned from day two at the 2024 Women’s PGA Championship.

Do you have this shot in the bag? ?#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/naihqnxfPs

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 22, 2024

1. First in the house: Sarah Schmelzel

I wrote about Cheyenne Knight making a move on Sunday. I was incorrect. It was Sarah Schmelzel who jumped up on Friday. The South Carolina alumna from Arizona etched six birdies against a single bogey on day two, to jump from one under to six deep, and from 14th to 1st position.

Schmelzel will tee it up in the day’s final game, tied with Amy Yang. In March, Schmelzel posted a second-place finish at Blue Bay, her best result on tour. She tied for 15th in last year’s PGA Championship; her best major finish as a professional was also at the PGA. In 2019, she came 14th. Sahalee would be a wonderful place for a double breakthrough (first LPGA and Major titles) but there are 36 fairways along the path, and much learning ahead.

How much learning? We couldn’t find video of her on Twitter, until we went back to her time as a USG Gamecock. Odds are, we’ll see a few reels on that platform today!

Sarah Schmelzel has no problem finding the fairway. She has shot par or better the last two rounds. #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/3TWubMUHPp

— Gamecock Women’s Golf (@GamecockWGolf) May 23, 2016

2. Next to the top: Amy Yang

If there were a trivia question about most top-five finishes in LPGA majors, without a major title on the resume, well, you know where I’m headed. Three at the Chevron; five at the US Open; two at the PGA; three at the British. That’s 13 top-five finishes for Amy Yang since 2010. If we add top-ten results, she has eight more.

How has Amy Yang not won a major championship? None of us around the coffee shop has any idea. She has five LPGA titles to her credit, and she seems to be the sort of disciplined golfer that wins major titles. On Friday, Yang drilled home four birdies for 68, and joined Sarah Schmelzel at the top of the pyramid. She and Schmelzel will be joined by Hinako Shibuno in the day’s final triumvirate. Yang’s card has been clean since the 4th green on day one. Continued pursuit of that scoring system will no doubt bring her again to the top five. Perhaps she can finally be the top one in Washington state.

Amy Yang finishes her round in STYLE! ?

She is tied for the lead heading into Moving Day! #KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/yUCFNKjifn

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 22, 2024

3. Lexi hangs tough

Lexi Thompson has a pair of major titles on her resume. As she heads toward an announced retirement, she no doubt looks back with both smiles and frowns. Great champions always look back and see “I dids” and “What ifs.” If you’re not pulling for Amy Yang to break through, or Sarah S to double break through, you should be pulling for Lexi T to head off with one more major title.

Lexi stood seven-under par as she turned to Sahalee’s first nine holes, her second of the day. Four holes later, she had lost three shots, to double and single bogeys at two and four. Birdie at six, and bogey at eight, and Thompson was in for even-par 72, but not out of the running. She’ll peg her ball on Saturday in the penultimate trio, alongside Jin Young Ko and Hae Ran Ryu. Thompson’s quest is simple: make some birdies and avoid the bogeys.

It will be tough to catch Sarah Schmelzel but Lexi Thompson is up for the task after her second round! #KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/XKfxCIqHAz

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 21, 2024

4. Jin Young and Hinako rise to podium

Both JIn Young Ko and Hinako Shibuno are major champions. Each also has a set of nearly-dids on their resumes. Last month, Shibuno came second at the US Open. Ko hasn’t found the magic since a ninth-place tie at Chevron in 2023, but is too good a major-championship golfer to stay away for long.

Shibuno will tee off in Saturday’s final game, while Ko will be one group ahead. Shibuno has posted four birdies against two bogeys, each of the first two day. If she keeps up with that pattern, she’ll reach minus-eight by Sunday evening. Depending on course conditions and weather, that might be enough. As for Ko, Thursday’s four-birdie, four-bogey card was replaced by one that contained five birdies and one solitary miscue. More of the later, will give her the opportunity to add major title number three to her Wiki.

Hinako Shibuno with the absolute dart ?

Check out the rest of Round 1 on @GolfChannel! pic.twitter.com/5c3SGtVNHv

— LPGA (@LPGA) June 21, 2024

5. The ones we shall miss

Inexplicably, Nelly Korda once again suffered through an undesirable round in a major title. She began round two with four consecutive bogeys, and added a fifth at the sixth hole. She did not make her first birdie until the closing green; it served to bring her one shot shy of the cut line. She will be back, and soon, and all in golf hope that she is able to sort out the current malady. Golf needs Nelly.

Miss Korda wasn’t the only surprise struggler at Sahalee. Pornanong Phatlum, Nasa Hataoka, US Open challenger Wichanee Meechai, and Carlota Ciganda were there in the end, staring across the gate at the weekend. Sahalee is an acquired taste, bowling-alley narrow in spots, and symbolic of the extraordinary trees that inhabit the region. If your driving game isn’t on, recovery from the hardwood is nigh impossible.

Nelly Korda played this from the bunker perfectly ??#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/NisDs2fPdw

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 21, 2024

Sahalee runs against the grain of golf’s current championship trend. The northwest USA course is known for its well-treed fairways and its narrow fairway corridors. You’ll not find the land-and-release style of architecture and conditioning that featured so prominently last week’s US Open at Pinehurst. Instead, players will have the opportunity to strategize carry-and-hold distances, more closely associated with the American style of play.

Regardless of your preference, welcome to another major championship week. The Women’s PGA championship celebrates its 10th playing this year, and it won’t be too heavy a lift to learn a quintet of news items each day from the field’s play. Settle in with a nice cup of coffee and enjoy the five things we learned on day one at the 2024 Women’s PGA Championship.

1. Lexi will not go quietly into that good night

Lexi Thompson has been, on many occasions, the featured competitor in the resolution of major titles. At far too many of those events, victory has fallen away, to the opposition. In Lexi, we see ourselves. She experiences in front of the camera, what often happens to us each weekend. She rises, time and again, to confront the impossibility of closing a tournament, of claiming glory. No matter how easy it may seem, it isn’t remotely easy to do.

When Lexi announced that the 2024 season would be her last, we both understood and regretted. She has taken time away from competition over the last five years, to recenter her life and balance her emotions. She has been vocal and public about the challenge and the struggle of growing up in competitive golf, and playing so hard, for so long. The announcement, and fate, have made us desperate for one final and great victory for the Floridian, so that she might ride off into this sunset with a triumphant smile.

On Thursday at Sahalee, Lexi rose to the first-round lead, thanks to six birdies. A pair of bogeys brought her back to minus-four, but she stands one shot clear of Nelly Korda and Patty Tavatanakit. Lexi isn’t one to fear the bogey lady, so her performance this week will depend on her ability to seek the birdies, and not hold back. Aren’t all of our fingers crossed?

Lexi Thompson with the field high!

Make it 6?? birdies on the day ???#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/VZTp8qlslD

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 21, 2024

2. The Chasers

Nelly needs no introduction; she is the top-ranked player in the world, with six wins (one of them a major) thus far in 2024. Tavatanakit burst onto the LPGA circuit with a 2021 major championship win at the ANA. Her second tour title came this year, at Honda Thailand. Last month, Nelly missed the cut at the US Open, while Patty did not figure in the outcome. One is at the top of her game, while the other seeks a return to the elite tier of women’s professional golf. Sahalee plays right into both golfers’ hands, so expect both to around through Sunday.

Like Lexi, Nelly had six birdies on the day. Her engine was momentarily derailed by a double bogey at the fourth hole, but she returned to the tracks and finished off a minus-three 69 on day one. Patty offered a streamlined round of three birdies and zero bogies, to match Korda’s performance. That’s what makes Sahalee so compelling: there will be rounds of high drama, with many birdies and a few others, alongside others with clean cards but fewer shots saved. We have no idea how this one will play out, and we’re engulfed by intrigue and mystery.

Nelly Korda looked comfortable in Round 1??

She takes the lead with a birdie on 9?#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/anLXAi9CaR

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 20, 2024

3. Eleven is a lucky number

Eleven golfers are tied at two-under par, a pair of shots off the lead. Among that assemblage are European golfers Celine Boutier (the Nelly Korda of wins in 2023) Leona Maguire, Charley Hull, and 2023 US Open champion Allisen Corpuz. That quintet of golfers sits at either one or zero major championships over their career arcs. As aficionados of the game know, majors elevate you to a higher strata, and each opportunity offered is a chance to ascend.

Among the Sahalee’s Eleven, Madalene Sagstrom offered the most interesting tour of the high 18. She posted five birdies, offset by three bogeys. Hinako Shibuno arrive next, with four birdies on the day, including a run of three in five holes, over the second nine.

Charley. Hull. ?

We’ll let the audio do the talking here ?#KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/ANFbxp5V3E

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 20, 2024

4. Who struggled?

That’s the part of tournament coverage that no one relishes … finding out who didn’t have her best game, and what the second day might have on offer. Minjee Lee appeared to have one hand on the US Open trophy last month, only to lose her way over the final nine. She opened with 74, and has work to do to make the cut and contend.

Lydia Ko is one win away from the earned LPGA hall of fame, a hall like no other. Votes don’t get you in; wins do. 75 in round one doesn’t help her cause, but she has history with Sahalee, going back to that runner-up finish in 2016. A comeback from Ko would be an amazing story for the Return to Sahalee.

Lilia Vu has been on the PUP list for a few months, and was champing at a return to competition. Like Ko, she posted 75 and will need to reverse course to be around for the final 36 holes. Most confusing of all is the 76 turned in by Rose Zhang. Despite bursting onto the tour with a first-event win in 2023, and following that with a victory at the 2024 Founders Cup, the former, world top amateur has struggled to find her game in major championships. Perhaps that’s part of the learning curve. The curve continues this week for Zhang.

WHAT. A GROUP!

Brooke Henderson.
Lydia Ko.
Ariya Jutanugarn. #KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/wrtxZnxQr4

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 20, 2024

5. What’s in store for round two?

Despite hosting major championships adjacent to the LPGA, PGA, and Champions tours, Sahalee is an unknown commodity. Out of the public eye for vast stretches of time, it doesn’t boast signature holes and familiarity, as happens with other tracks. What is known is this: the putting surfaces will reward a true roll of the rock, so the emphasis will continue to be on the driver. Bomb and gouge doesn’t play well in Washington, due to the influence of the abundant tree population. Your accurate driver will have the best opportunity to stand tall through 36 holes. We’re going to pull out a surprise, second-round leader, by the name of Cheyenne Knight. We see the Texan reversing course in round two, with way more birdies than bogeys, with her reward being a place at the main table.

Have a day at the beach, Cheyenne Knight! ?? She birdies from the bunker!

Coverage of the @KPMGWomensPGA continues on @GolfChannel pic.twitter.com/mFIMph6s7F

— KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (@KPMGWomensPGA) June 20, 2024

While this is the world’s first official look at the final versions of the Opus line of wedges, Callaway staffers have actually been involved In the prototyping and design process for around two years, according to Callaway Tour Manager Joe Toulon.

“The Tour launch is basically when we’re introducing it to the Tour players officially for the first time,” Toulon said on Tuesday at the 2024 Travelers Championship. “We’ve done a lot of work with this wedge in the prototyping stages. It’s a project that we’ve really kicked off 2 years ago, when we really started digging into this category and understanding what the best players in the world look for in a wedge.”

Of course, Callaway’s research and design team has been studying the wedge category for decades, but this time around – during the design of the new Opus wedges – Callaway put more power than ever into the hands of PGA TOUR players. Toulon and team paid close attention to everything Tour players wanted from a wedge, including the look at address, the shape of the leading edge, how the club sits on the ground with the face open, the shaping of the sole, the sound, the feel, and how the wedge interacts with the turf at impact under various conditions.

Although all factors were considered, the most significant barrier to entry for Tour players is their first impression of the shape of the wedge at address.

“The shape is really something we spent a lot of time with, and getting it to look good to the majority of players – it’s something that you may not hit everybody’s eye exactly right, but this is something where we got countless hours of feedback and testing from Tour players, and this is kind of the final product,” Toulon said. “…I think one of the things that players really focus on when they set a wedge down for the first time is what it looks like at address, and what it looks like when you open the face, and we did a lot around that; the shaping and the roundness of this wedge.”

Toulon calls it the “final” product, because there were various iterations of the Opus wedges before this. Actually, these final versions of the Opus wedges are based on the sixth prototype, specifically.

“[The Opus wedge] was code named ‘S6’ during the process,” Toulon said. “We stamped every wedge out here (on the PGA TOUR) in this shape with S6, and that basically just stands for some of the shaping designs we went through. That was the sixth shape design that we settled on based on what the player feedback was. That’s really the whole story behind this wedge; tour-inspired, tour-driven. These guys out here designed this wedge. This is just the final cosmetic and final design that we went with.”

Read the full piece here.

There’s a balance to the universe, as Shipley gets a top USGA medal

Despite their given name, Neal Shipley and Luke Clanton played like the main attraction on Sunday. That’s not to say that their games were more elite; just similar. Case in point: Clanton played the final four holes bogey-bogey-par-bogey and lost the silver medal by two shots. Shipley closed in bogey-birdie-bogey-par and won a silver medal, to go with his runner-up silver medal from the 2023 US Amateur.

For fans of the amateur race, three were fortunate to qualify for the weekend’s 36 holes at Pinehurst. Gunnar Broin was in fine position at +3 through 36 holes, but a day-three 81 took him out of the running for the no-pay honors. He did close with 72, to finish at +16 and a tie for 70th place. Shipley and Clanton, as if scripted by Hollywood, were partnered in the 12:04 game, and would not have to look beyond their own fairway, to determine how they stood.

Shipley opened with a birdie, but gave the stroke back to Old Man Par at the very next hole. A double bogey at the tricky 8th brought him to the halfway house in 37 strokes. Clanton had bogeys at four, six, and eight, but a birdie at seven kept their low-am match even as they turned for home. Clanton found a pair of birdies at 10 and 13, but a bogey at 12 kept him even with Shipley, as they headed for the closing four. No stretch of holes could be any more disconcerting than this quadrilateral. Two par threes, sandwiched around a par five that plays as a par four, concluding with a par four that climbs uphill to a massive closing surface.

THAT close to a hole-out for eagle on 18 for @FSUGolf sensation Luke Clanton, and a well-deserved ovation. pic.twitter.com/sWdS3tqsPL

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 16, 2024

After both amateurs missed the 15th green and took three to get down, they both drove the fairway of 16, and faced 210-yard approach shots. Clanton put his shot some 50 feet from the hole, while Shipley rifled an iron to five feet. The former took three to get down for bogey, while the later drained his putt for three. In that instant, a two-shot advantage was forged. On 17, Clanton found the putting surface with his tee ball and made three, while Shipley returned a shot with another bogey four. On 18, Clanton hit a miraculous recovery iron to five feet, but his attempt to jam home the birdie for the tie was awry, and he missed the subsequent (and meaningless) putt for par. Shipley’s textbook fairway-green-two putts for par at the home hole conlcuded the mission.

Two clear with two to play! ?@OhioStateMGOLF product Neal Shipley has low amateur honors in his sights. pic.twitter.com/sB2iywnYxE

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 16, 2024

The Main Event: The Professionals

It’s all  endurance, as DeChambeau claims 2nd US Open

They say that there are two types of folks that watch races: ones looking for excellence, and others that hope for crashes. We should have known that the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst #2 would end with a gut-wrenching crash. All of the elements were present: super-fast greens, surface edges that fell off into disaster, and wire grass-laden waste areas where consumate luck was the determiner for back-of-ball contact. For every Francesco Molinari moment (he of the 36th-hole ace to make the cut on the number) there were myriad stories of unfortunate bounces and pulls of gravity.

My prediction of a playoff missed by one shot. My prediction of a Matsuyama victory missed by four shots. All in all, I wasn’t far off. I made those predictions while hoping, privately, for a Rory McIlroy victory. When he took a two-shot advantage at the 12th, and preserved it at the short 13th, matching Bryson DeChambeau’s birdie three, those in the know, knew that it was far from over.

Let’s back up to the beginning of the fourth round. Let’s recall that DeChambeau held a three-shot advantage after 54 holes, which those in the know, know is nothing. One wayward swing brings double and triple bogey into the realm of the possible, and that trio of shots goes away in a gust. When DeChambeau made bogey at the fourth, his first of the day, a friend texted Bryson is imploding! True, there was much hyperbole around the place, but those in the know, knew that bogey at the long fourth was not nearly as large a speed bump as bogey at the par-five fifth, which Rory made.

Bryson DeChambeau’s front nine was a boring affair. Apart from that solitary bogey, he had nothing but par on the card. For those … all right, no more “in the know.” Eight pars is a sign of strength in the US Open. Even when McIlroy laced an iron fifteen feet above the hole, then drained the putt for two, DeChambeau didn’t flinch. Even when McIlroy added three birdies over the next four holes, DeChambeau didn’t flinch. Recall, please, that DeChambeau followed a 52nd-hole double bogey with a 53rd-hole birdie on Saturday. All who love Rory, know that controlling his emotions and preserving balance, is elusive. For DeChambeau, it was his greatest strength. They wrote and said that Ludvig Aberg had the cool of a gunslinger, but he finished 73-73 for a 12th place tie.

It was as if the denouement of the Amateur race turned into an eerie, Groundhog’s Day-effect. Over the closing four holes, McIlroy made three bogeys, while DeChambeau closed in plus-one. McIlroy’s two-shot advantage evaporated, thanks to missed putts of four and two-point-five feet on the 18th and 16th greens.

Rory unable to get up and down from behind the green.

It’s a bogey on 15, he’s now tied with DeChambeau at -7. pic.twitter.com/fVSPU4SDQ9

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 16, 2024

Worst of all was the iron that he played into 15. It was reminiscent of Tom Watson’s approach to the 72nd hole at Royal Troon in 2009. Needing only to put the ball on the front of the green to guarantee par and a major title at age 59, Watson momentarily forgot about adrenaline, and bounded over the green for bogey. This year, it was McIlroy’s turn. His tee shot landed in the middle of the rock-hard putting surface, and bounced, then rolled, over the target and up against a toupee of wire grass.

Thus spake Zarathustra, and thus did fate annoint Bryson DeChambeau the 2024 US Open champion. The big man from Texafornia did everything he could to give the tournament to McIlroy, but his grit and his guile would not allow that result. Few would ever have called the brawny Bryson the consumate US Open player but, in joining Brooks Koepka as the only golfer since Tiger Woods to win two of them, that might be his legacy.

THE BUNKER SHOT OF HIS CAREER!@b_dechambeau has this putt left to win the U.S. Open! pic.twitter.com/Vleb6k6PvO

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 16, 2024

1. Holes 1 and 2 are not to be assumed

Thomas Detry’s hard work went away in the space of 35 minutes. He opened with bogey and followed with double, at Saturday’s first two holes. Pinehurst #2 can still be managed, but it’s a lot harder when you’re already three over par on the day. Neither the first nor the second is particularly daunting from a distance perspective. One plays slightly downward, and two is even more downhill, but the challenges around the green are regrettable, when not properly planned. Detry made five from the middle of the first fairway, thanks to three putts from the front of the putting surface. He followed with six at the second, victimized first by the piney sands along the fairway, then by the bunker that guards the right edge of the green. Detry fell away to two-over par after his 76, and will wonder how the formerly-benign opening sharpened its claws so quickly.

Solid Quote: Yeah, didn’t really get off to a great start. 3-putted the first. We (Detry and Caddy) kind of misjudged the yardage on the 2nd, which left us in a horrible spot. So double there.

Honestly, couldn’t have been a worse start because I didn’t really miss a shot, to be honest. We kind of misjudged the yardage. Laid up in the bunker. Kind of game over. 3-over after three, not good.

But I kind of regrouped nicely after that. The greens are a little bit bumpy, moving a little bit more. I shaved a couple of edges. Felt like I was a little bit unlucky on the greens. I’m looking forward for some redemption tomorrow.

It’s the toughest hole on the course!

Tony Finau moves to one stroke off the lead with a birdie on 2. pic.twitter.com/Jh0c4UU82O

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2024

2. Hole number three, while early, can be pivotal

The USGA was content to push the tees up a bit on the short, third hole on Saturday. It paid off, as players went after the green with their tee shots. Eagles were sparingly made, and birdies came more often than on previous days. If a player stands even or a bit under par after the opening pair, then finds birdie or eagle at three on Sunday, heartbeats will quicken and the game will be truly afoot. They’ll need to follow the leads of Neal Shipley and Cory Conners, both of whom found the putting surface in one on Saturday.

Solid Quote: Out here you can’t play defensive golf. If you (Morikawa) play defensive golf, it goes offline a little bit more, you’re 35 yards away from the pin.

Neal Shipley’s the FIRST to drive the 316-yard par-4 third hole ? pic.twitter.com/gZZqmey0gv

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2024

3. Make your move in the round’s middle

Bryson DeChambeau picked up four shots on the card on Saturday, from holes five through eleven. The strong man from Texafornia (grew up in California, then played college golf in Texas) saved strokes at five and seven, then packed consecutive birdies at ten and eleven. The middle holes at the Deuce aren’t necessarily soft. They are attractive to scoring, especially when you’ve found a way to survive the first quartet. You gain momentum at the fourth, with the massively-downhill drive, then build opportunity with a well-planned fifth, the first par five of the day. The long holes are finished at the tenth green, but holes eleven through fourteen offer the chance to save a few more shots, before the long trek home.

Solid Quote: … on 13 I (DeChambeau) was going for the flag knowing the wind was off the right. It it went over to the left, totally fine. But I pushed it just a little bit and drew it back perfectly at the flag on 13. I knew that was in the realm of possibilities. Got a little lucky there.

Then 14 I was trying to hit it more toward Ludvig’s ball. I hit a great shot, just didn’t start out with any draw spin and the wind pushed it right towards the flag.

That’s kind of what you’re doing out here, is you’re trying to play conservative golf that gives you the opportunity to hit it close in some scenarios. That’s the best way I can describe it.

Taking on the flag from the fairway bunker?!

That’s Bryson, man. pic.twitter.com/M55toDBH75

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2024

4. Hold on through the finish

Pinehurst’s number two course closes with two par threes, a par four that was built to be a par five, and an unforgettable finisher that conjures up images of fist pumps and sighs of relief. It’s hard to build a rhythm when you hit iron-drive-iron-driver over the closing quartet.

Solid quote: You (Pavon) feel like sometimes you are flying a little bit, your game, everything is going on, and then at some point you just miss one green, can see a bogey, and then all of a sudden it starts to be harder in your mind and in your game, and you still have to finish the round.

McIlroy drops a shot on 17 and the lead is now FOUR for DeChambeau. pic.twitter.com/gnOrQW94rR

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2024

5. How do we sort this out?

With a three-shot advantage, the joystick is in DeChambeau’s hand. He forces everyone to shoot 67 or better, if he posts 70. His pairing in the final game with Matthieu Pavon is not ideal. The Frenchman has the potential to play a solid round, but his inexperience with the klieg lights of a major championship, fourth round, final pairing could lead to a high number. Does this faltering then distract DeChambeau? Perhaps. I believe that will happen, and he will post 72 on the day, finishing at minus five.

That wee wobble opens the door for the penultimate pairing. Cantlay and McIlroy will feel like the final day at a Ryder Cup, perhaps even a rehearsal for 2025 and Bethpage Black. They will be uber-focused on beating each other. The expectation will be that no other leader is better suited to handle Sunday’s pressure. Win the battle and you win the war. One of the two of them will post 68, and will reach a playoff at minus six.

The other playoff participant will come from a bit farther back. Either Hideki or Ludvig will inscribe 66 on his card on day the fourth, and will join battle for another two holes. We haven’t had a US Open playoff since Tiger Woods defeated Rocco Mediate in 2008, which means that we’ve never experienced a two-hole, aggregate score resolution.

We’ll have one on Sunday, plus one more hole. If contestants are tied after the aggregate, they move to sudden victory on the third playoff hole and beyond. After the two golfers match scores on one and eighteen, the 2024 US Open will be decided on the second playing of the first hole, and the winner will be the first male Japanese golfer to claim a USGA Open title: Hideki Matsuyama. For him, it will be fun.

Solid Quote: Yeah, I (Matsuyama) think I would be able to enjoy tomorrow if I can adjust my shot and putt well. It will be something fun tomorrow.

“Hey Siri, sum up Hideki Matsuyama” pic.twitter.com/SBBwSXtVDj

— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) June 15, 2024