I thought when GPS range finder mobile applications and other digital mapping solutions are gaining momentum in the golf industry, a prestigious golf club like Royal Dornoch Golf Club would select Club Car's Visage solution. If they would take Visage then they would be able to provide a more sophisticated customer experience and increase revenues. Namely, the Visage system enables users to contact with the club house (=>sell more tee time), pro shop and restaurant. In addition to these useful solutions, it provides precise yardages and available hole flyover as well. Despite of all these benefits Royal Dornoch Golf Club... Continue reading

The 2015 Troon Challenge has just ended at Troon North Golf Club (August 22-23, 2015) after 12 weeks of hard-fought competition contested on 35 courses, spanning 16 states. The game attracted more than 1,200 amateur golfers. This was a shamble type (combines elements of scramble and stroke play) of competition. The winners are: Gross division: Steve Blackford & Joseph Fox, Poston Butte Golf Club: 63-64 = 127 Net division: Erin O'Hara & Marty McDonald, Centennial Golf Club: 65-65 = 130 Related articles How long will Ricoh sponsor the Women's British Open? 2015 Ricoh Women's British Open Championship stays at Turnberry... Continue reading

Don't worry, the owner Todd Perry will not shut down his golf club. Instead he selected Honours Golf to manage his golf club. The Calhoun-based golf club is considered as one of the best in northeast Louisiana. At the center of the club, is the 18-hole championship golf course co-designed by John Floyd (who worked under Jack Nicklaus) and Bill Zimmerebner. In addition to golf, Calvert Crossing offers a fully stocked golf shop and a warm and inviting pub-style restaurant featuring specialty salads, freshly-prepared burgers and sandwiches, and weekly Sunday brunches. The banquet facility hosts special events ranging from weddings... Continue reading

It looks like there is a retro feeling in the golf industry. Wilson Staff 88002 putter returned after 52 years in 2014 and most recently Callaway Golf's Great Big Bertha. Now Cobra Golf is introducing the new KING LTD driver. It is the next generation of product under the KING COBRA name. The KING LTD is a brand new flagship offering. Cobra Golf reassures that the KING LTD isn’t a replacement for anything in the current Cobra lineup. Cobra Golf together with The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and Nanoracks LLC conducted in the International Space... Continue reading

Cleveland Golf has just launched its 2 new game-improvement wedges, the Smart Sole 2.0 C wedge and the Smart Sole 2.0 S wedge. The Smart Sole 2.0 C wedge meant to eliminate the chunked wedge. The Smart Sole 2.0 C is encouraging crisper, more consistent greenside chips with easier control of launch and distance (see picture below). The Smart Sole 2.0 wedges are only offered in a premium Black Satin finish, which reduces glare and creates contrast between the ball and wedge for better alignment. The Smart Sole 2.0 wedges feature an improved Feel Plaque which dampens vibration while helping... Continue reading

Scotland is still excited about hosting The Solheim Cup in 2019. In March it was questionable whether Scotland will launch a formal bid in the summer. Now it is sure that they will officially bid for the hosting of The Solheim Cup in 2019. Scots take this bid really seriously. The Scottish Government (Jamie Hepburn, the Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health) is strongly supporting this initiative. The bid team has been lead by VisitScotland’s Events Directorate. After a long selection process, The Scottish Government, the Scottish Ladies Golf Association, Scottish Golf Union, Transport Scotland and current Scottish... Continue reading

In April I covered Cleveland Golf's new TFi line of putters, the Smart Square putter. Now here come the new models of the TFi line of putters. The new TFi 2135 putter and the TFi Smart Square putter are the latest edition of the TFI line of putters. Just like in the first edition of Smart Square, at the new models Cleveland Golf continues to focus on helping golfers to avoid misalignment and off-center hits. So the innovation in Cleveland Golf's TFi 2135 putters and the TFi Smart Suqare putters is the new alignment technology called 2135. Cleveland Golf actually... Continue reading

Of course DIRECTV will cover the 97th PGA Championship at Whistling Straits as part of their “PGA TOUR Experience". I think you have already noticed on your TV. In February I had already reported that DIRECTV signed a 5-year contract with the PGA Tour. DIRECTV's "PGA Championship Experience" will showcase its exclusive, four-in-one-screen Mix Channel along with an interactive menu of apps for instant access to player stats, bios, scorecards and tee times. You will not miss the highlights of this four-day event, if you download PGA's mobile app ( for iOS and Android mobiles). Did you know that 77%... Continue reading

In this post, Hanno Kross, the CEO of Estonian Golf & Country Club continues to explain how can we get rid of obstacles of golf participation: I heard already few years ago that there is a company in Italy which develops the ball and a club where it has a chip inside so when you hit your shot, you can see the statistics from your device in detail and of course you can search your ball also and find it. I personally don't care if there is someone somewhere who says that this is not allowed and I wouldn't allow... Continue reading

Honma Golf found an interesting venue to present and sell its golf clubs. From now on, we will be able to test or even buy Honma Golf's golf clubs at iPlayGolfUK. Mathieu Humel, a Honma Golf expert from Paris trained the local PGA professionals about what makes Honma Golf unique (e.g. hand-crafted). It is an interesting opportunity to compare Honma Golf with other premium brands like Callaway Golf, Titleist or TaylorMade. However, Honma Golf should look for more exclusive places (e.g. private golf clubs) to provide a more suitable context to its golf clubs even though iPlayGolfUK is a good... Continue reading

Last month, I had been to Estonia where among the others I visited the Estonian Golf & Country Club and met with the CEO Hanno Kross. What makes Hanno's golf club interesting is that they were able to think in strategy that includes such cooperations and partnerships like the European Tour or designing their new golf course by Annika Sörenstam. Now they are planning to build a hotel with spa. In the following you can read his thoughts about how to get rid of obstacles of golf participation. Definitely for the last five years I have heard in many conferences,... Continue reading

By winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on last Sunday, Shane Lowry has achieved a two-fold victory: became a full PGA Tour member + world golf ranking of No. 19. Actually this is Shane's first PGA Tour victory since 2009 when he became a special temporary PGA Tour member. By winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Shane Lowry earned $1.57 million. He played with: 4th generation Z STAR XV golf ball, a Srixon ZTX fairway wood (18°), Srixon Z 545 irons (#4 - #5), Srixon Z 745 irons (#6 - #9), Cleveland Golf 588 RTX 2.0 wedges (48°, 52°, 56°, 58°). Wears a Srixon... Continue reading

I've got good news for the 218,000 Scottish Golf Membership Card holders. Thanks to the new partnership with MacDonald Hotel & Resorts, card holders will get 15% discount at Macdonald Hotel & Resorts across the UK. This means a cheaper access to more than 40 venues acrross the UK, as well as all 5 of Macdonald Hotels & Resorts golf venues which includes, Macdonald Spey Valley in Aviemore, Macdonald Portal Hotel, Golf & Spa, Macdonald Hill Valley Hotel, Golf & Spa, Macdonald Cardrona Hotel, Golf & Spa and Macdonald Linden Hall Golf & Country Club. It would be interesting to... Continue reading

On the 1st of July, I have already reported about American Golf 9 Hole Championship. In that time I wrote that Justin Rose, a TaylorMade brand ambassador will be the main prize (the winner can play with him). Then suddenly American Golf canceled (?) the tournament or Justin Rose/TaylorMade changed his mind. Now I hear that half of the qualifiers are complete . There were 10 qualifying events take place over 10 regions. Today the organizer does not mention, with whom can play the winner from the TaylorMade brand team. It is good to hear that the England Golf endorsed... Continue reading

By seeing the success of Shopify, Product Hunt and Shyp, Amazon did not remain idle. On July 28, Amazon unveiled Launchpad, a platform for hardware and physical goods startups to “launch, market and distribute” new products on Amazon. The store so far features more than 200 items, from more recognizable new startups to lesser-known products. Now Game Golf is testing the new platform. The program offers a streamlined onboarding experience, custom product pages, a comprehensive marketing package, and access to Amazon’s global fulfillment network, all geared toward helping startups successfully launch their innovations and share their stories. Unlike in other... Continue reading

Do you remember the old Callaway Golf Great Big Bertha Driver? I think you will find quite a lot of changes in the new Great Big Bertha Driver! Check out the details below. Callaway Golf has just announced the new Great Big Bertha Driver and Fairway Woods. They have also announced the new Big Bertha Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond Driver and Big Bertha Alpha 816 Fairway Woods for better players, but in this post I will discuss only the Great Big Bertha product family. There are couple of technology solutions that we can also find in Big Bertha Alpha... Continue reading

Irish Golf Expo decided to move this year to a location to hold the event (November 28-29, 2015). The place is in Northern Ireland's newest and largest exhibition venue at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn. Although this is a consumer show (B2C), Irish Golf Expo is thinking about to come up with a golf trade show (B2B) in the future. The organizers set a really ambitious target of 10 000 visitors, despite of in 2014 they had only 4 000 visitors and cca. 60 exhibitors (e.g. TaylorMade, Bridgestone Golf, TrackMan, Turkish Airlines, Portuguese Tourist Board + local golf clubs,... Continue reading

The 3rd generation Srixon Q-STAR golf ball is designed for mid to high handicap golfers who demand premium performance. Srixon believes that the new Q-STAR golf ball delivers exceptional performance in all aspects of the game at every swing speed unlike other all-ability golf balls. The new Srixon Q-STAR golf ball comes with: next generation SpinSkin to give golfers unmatched feel and control: The 2nd generation SpinSkin increases frictional force by 18%; the Energetic Gradient Growth core and Speed Dimple technology combine to deliver exceptional ball speed and distance: The 324 Speed Dimple technology combines higher dimple uniformity and surface... Continue reading

The battle rages on among golf swing analyzers. Early this year Cleveland Golf launched its Cleveland Golf Wedge Analyzer fitting system powered by Swingbyte technology and Epson their M-Tracer golf swing analyzer. I think I do not have to introduce you SkyCaddie's SkyPro (it was launched in 2013, just a year after the product category evolved at the 2012 PGA Merchandise Show). The new feature of SkyPro golf swing analyzer is the Attack Angle feature (added it in July 2015 upgrade). Unfortunately, Attack Angle is only available now for SkyPro users with Apple iOS smartphones and tablets. This came a... Continue reading

How shall I start? Tiger Woods finished the Quicken Loans National at T18 (at 8-under 276). This was probably his best performance for a long time. But, what is more important is the victory of Troy Merritt. He got Wilson Staff back in the winner's circle. Troy Merritt joined in January the Advisory Team of Wilson Staff. He finished the game with 11 birdies. Troy Merritt won with: Ball: Titleist Pro V1 Driver: TaylorMade R15 460, 9.5 degrees 3-wood: Callaway XR Pro, 14 degrees Irons (2, 4-PW): Wilson FG Tour V4 Wedges: Wilson FG Tour (50, 54, 58 degrees) Putter:... Continue reading

Last year PGA Catalunya Resort was awarded as '2015 Golf Resort of the Year for Europe' by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO). Now PGA Catalunya Resort proves that they have not received the recognition in vain. PGA Catalunya Resort has enjoyed significant year-on-year increases in visitor numbers, driven by a 16% rise from the UK, a 7% increase from Switzerland and a 5% rise from both France and the Nordic countries. A similar growth was seen at a domestic level, with 5% more Spanish golfers booking rounds to play the two critically-acclaimed Tour and Stadium courses. An... Continue reading

Ricoh, signed an agreement with the Ladies Golf Union and IMG on Wednesday (July 29, 2015) to continue as title sponsor of the Ricoh Women’s British Open through 2018. The company has been the title sponsor of the Ricoh Women’s British Open since 2007. The sponsorship of Women's British Open is one of the longest serving sponsors in women’s golf. Last year worldwide spending on golf sponsorship was around $1.65 billion, up 3.1% from 2013, according to IEG Research. The 2 most active sponsor of golf worldwide were BMW and Rolex. As we can see below, Ricoh's commitment to golf... Continue reading

On Thursday will start the 39th Women's British Open Championship at Turnberry's Ailsa Course. This was not 100% sure if LPGA will agree to hold the championship at Turnberry after Donald Trump's remarks on Mexican immigrants. LPGA, PGA of America, PGA Tour and USGA immediately dissociated from Donald Trump's view. However due to time constraints LPGA decided not to look for a new place for the 2015 Ricoh Women's British Open Championship. However there were companies (Macy’s, NBC Universal, Univision, and Nascar have all cut ties with Trump in one way or another.) who cut ties with Donald Trump. I... Continue reading

What can a UK golf club do when golf participation is declining and soccer participation is growing? The easiest solution is to enable footgolf. In the US, footgolf is so popular that even NGCOA has recognized the American FootGolf League (AFGL) as the “Governing Body for the Sport of FootGolf in the U.S.” and it’s “Official FootGolf Organization". Robert Balestrini (Founder, American FootGolf League) believes that footgolf is a good way to introduce both millenials and minorities (e.g. Hispanics) to the world of golf. In the UK, footgolf is not totally new. Today, you can find cca. 120 golf clubs... Continue reading

As part of TaylorMade Golf’s 15 years of Driver dominance a VIP event was held at Macdonald Rusacks Hotel. Junior golfers from Scotland were invited to celebrate with their heroes including Stephen Gallacher, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson. These kids were invited as part of Macdonald Hotels & Resorts' close relationship with Ryder Cup player Stephen Gallacher, who is golf brand ambassador for the hotel group. During private Q&A sessions VIPs and media were able to ask about their experiences and give insights. Hopefully such up-close experience will bring kids closer to golf or motivate them to play... Continue reading